We just added two shows to our UK dates: Coventry on Friday, June 22 and an afternoon show at the old Brixton Windmill on June 23. We're still looking for a good show in the east of France on June 29th. Tell your friends in Lille and Strasbourg and Annecy. We hope to see you at one of these fine locations:

• Jun 21 - London, UK - Meltdown Festival @ Queen Elizabeth Hall - w/ Cornershop
  
• Jun 22 - Coventry, UK - Taylor John's House - w/ Lawrence Wasser and Honeytrap
  
• Jun 23 - Brixton Windmill, day show
  
• Jun 23 - Chatham, UK - Milk @ Tap N Tin
  
• Jun 24 - Norwich, UK - Norwich Arts Center - w/ Kimya Dawson
  
• Jun 25 - Zurich, CH - El Lokal - w/ Cheese On Bread & Crazy for Jane
  
• Jun 26 - Bern, CH - Dampzentrale - w/ Cheese On Bread & CrazyforJane
  
• Jun 27 - a private party in eastern France, maybe a house party in Colmar also
  
• Jun 28 - Lyon, FR - Le Citron - w/ Cheese On Bread, Crazy for Jane, & Jane Kidder
  
• Jun 29 - ???
  
• Jun 30 - Paris, FR - La Tryptique - w/ Lisa Li Lund & Wave Pictures
  
• July 1 - Louvain-la-Neuve, ( near Brussels, BE) - w/ Cheese On Bread
  
• July 2 - Berlin, DE - Festsaal Kreuzberg - w/ Stanley Brinks & Clemence Freschard
  
• July 3 - Bergen, NO - The Garage - w/ Stanley Brinks & Clemence Freschard
  
• July 4 - 7 - Egersund Visefestival, Norway (we play on the 5th and 7th)
  

As usual, we may need places to stay or vehicles and drivers to borrow or help promoting (switzerland specifically). Let us know if you are interested.

In processing friend requests I noticed I am seeing a lot of Mr Bungle in the favorite music lists. What's going on? Is there some kind of Mr Bungle reunion happening that's popular with the youth these days? A little fun fact for you, Jeff was a huge Mr Bungle fan in college.

Anyway, check it out:

We are going to drive ourselves crazy running across the US chasing Dr. Dog in March. Fighting amongst ourselves, driving ten hours a day, losing money, losing our minds, and destroying the stage each night. Hopefully you can come see us when we are near you and bring some friends and then it will all be worth it. But be sure to come early, we are the first of three acts. And actually, we're still deciding if we should come as Jeff solo, Jeff and Jack duo or as a trio.

But here's a list of the shows that we'll be opening for Dr Dog with Bobby Bare Jr as the second act:

13 - Tucson
14 - LA
15 - San Fran
16 - Portland
17 - Seattle
18 - ???
19 - ???
20 - Denver
21 - Omaha
22 - Minneapolis
23 - Chicago
24 - Chicago
25 - Detroit
26 - ???
27 - Cleveland
28 - Colombus

Have a suggestion for where we should go on those ??? days. Have a house we could stay at in one of these towns or somewhere in between? Send em in here or to Jeff at weja5@yahoo.com.

tour is good
almost done
just another 2 days or so, whew.
also the following exciting things just happened

drummer dave missed his flight to Paris and thus the Paris show. 
We rented a car which only drummer dave could drive cause it's stick,

though Jeff did learn and did a fine job

we went from Paris to Amsterdam down to Switzerland then to Sapin and up up to Brussles. whew 
medical issue:
though I've been mostly healthy the whole tour 
I cqught  an infection fo some sort, which I am now treating. whoo.

almost home,

Thanks to everyone we played with

Nina and Cape May, Danileson; TVPs; Victoria and Ben, Mistys's, Kate Goes and David Ya Ya (others I've missed)
and our UK drivers Luke and Sean.

and everyone who let us sleep at the houses, you are many and we couldn't do this without you. (extra thanks to Sean and Miriah who got us out of a little jam in Amsterdam) hmmm,

we remain as independqnt as we can, and survived, DIY or Die,

thanks again to everyone who came out to the shows, cheered, clapped or bought a CD or shirt, we love you.

 

= Jack

The Jeff Lewis Band is looking for drivers with vehicles for our upcoming tour. We need two different drivers in the UK and another driver for Europe. It doesn't have to be a big van, we don't need too much space. We will be three people and a bass, guitar, three backpacks and two or three roller bags full of merch (that's the big part, no amps or drums, etc). We will pay you plus all gas and tolls, etc. If you are available for any of these times and you are interested and have a vehicle please let us know. Be prepared to not stop moving, sleep in random places every night, and to have a lot of fun. Please let us know what kind of vehicle you have, how reliable it is on a scale of 1 to 5 and if you have a sound system or not. Thank you so much...

Here are the dates:

The first leg:
Nov 17 - Manchester with Dufus
Nov 18 - Liverpool
Nov 19 - Sale with Nina Nastasia
Nov 20 - Edinburgh with Misty's Big Adventure
Nov 21 - Glasgow with Nina
Nov 22 - Norwich with Nina
Nov 23 - Bristol with Nina
Nov 24 - Coventry with Nina
Nov 25 - Birmingham Bar Academy
Nov 26 - Cambridge with Nina
Nov 27 - Leicester with Nina
Nov 28 - London with Nina
Nov 29 - Brighton with Nina

...then we are flying to Glasgow so the second leg in the UK would be:
Nov 30 - Glasgow with Danielson
Dec 1 - Hull with Danielson
Dec 2 - Nottingham with Danielson
Dec 3 - London with Danielson

...the europe leg:
Dec 5 - we arrive in paris
Dec 6 - paris - amsterdam, nl 6h:40
Dec 7 - amsterdam - utrecht, nl 1h
Dec 8 - utrecht - darmstadt, de 5h:22
Dec 9 - darmstadt - St-Gallen, ch 5h:12
Dec 10-St-Gallen - Düdingen ,ch 3h
Dec 11-Düdingen - Lyon, fr 3h:50
Dec 12-Lyon - Barcelona, es 8h:20
Dec 13-Barcelona - Bilbao, es 7h:50
Dec 14-Bilbao - Bordeaux, fr 4h:30
Dec 15-Bordeaux - Tours, fr 6h
Dec 16-Rennes - Brussel, be 8h:30

If you are interested but aren't available for a whole chunk of a journey, let us know when you are available and maybe we can piece together a few different rides. Thanks again.

-the creeping brains

Diary Peek into end of Jeffrey Tour with Dufus & Chriss Southerland, Oct 2006

Last 3 shows of the me/Dufus/Chriss tour are better
than most on the tour and thus the tour wraps up on a
positive note. In Buffalo it's really cold, half the
city has power knocked out by recent snow, space is a
really cold weird room in warehouse type building, lit
by dim red lights, crappy P.A. but pretty well
attended by interesting weird local scene folk,
including Al Larson and his wife Stella and their
child. I forgot they were living in Bufallo! Great to see them. Couple of fans who arrived early offer to get us all
food (we're starved and everything seems closed) I
give them 20 bucks and they go out before the show to
get pizza and buffalo wings for us all, when they eventually return the food is great but then they try to
give me my 20 back! Finally they just take the 20
and spend it on merch. Luckily me and Chriss still
have half a bottle of Jim Beam, anybody wanting to
stay warm at this show is drinking whiskey. Gaybot
(noise duo from Purchase) plays. Final act is total
loud noise guitar-drums-screaming trio of total noise and chaos and porn blow-up doll, the
screamer guy takes off most of his clothes (and it's COLD in there!), throws
shit around recklessly, breaking chairs, cuts his
finger open accidentally and thus gets blood all over
everything, breaks open big box of detergent crawls
around in it. Goes on a bit long but pretty
crazy (even if the Iggy/GG thing falls firmly in the cate-gory of already-been-done in this day and age, you gotta respect a guy who gets real bloody). Next
show in Rochester at the Bug Jar, only real club show
of the 12-date tour, REALLY cool little rock club, gotta play
there again. Good stage, good sound, good size, great
crowd, Gaybot's hometown so they have a crazy 6-piece
band doing a noise set to close the night and they
really promoted the show. Apparently I have a number of fans
are in the audience, including... Peter, the Mountain
Goats bass player, who lives in Rochester! And is
friends with Brian of Gaybot. Then final night, Pete's Candy Store NYC,
at first seems like totally empty, I'm regretting not
sending out a reminder email to NYC list, but it
totally fills up past capacity, people can't get in,
these are weird fans whom I don't know, perhaps accumulating from
having seen the recent Jeffrey Lewis Band sets at Bowery Ballroom and Other Music! ALSO a photographer from the New York Times is there to shoot
my set! I don't get to ask what for, it's too hectic.
Is a wee bit of NYC fame finally brewing?! Would be an
interesting time to try headlining somewhere medium
size, see how well it does... too bad we won't get
the chance.
Tao of the Mammals gave me 2 tickets to see him play
at Carnegie Hall on Tues night Oct 17 so I go with John Kessel, it's a
"Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Friends" show,
unfortunately no Mammals set like I'd expected, just
various interlocking mini-sets by Ladysmith with
guests like Natalie Merchant, Sarah Mclaughlin, Tao
playing with grandfather Pete Seeger, it's interesting
but makes me too late to see Calvin Johnson play in
Bushwick.
Been wanting to bump into Tunde and give him Fuff 4 figuring he'll appreciate the cover story, finally do run into him today and luckily I have a copy in my backpack (never walk around Williamsburg without it)! Fuff 5 shipment of 2,000 copies due to arrive at my parents' place any day, I keep checking but still hasn't shown up.

So of course I leave a ton of crap to do the day Im supposed to fly. Instead I waste the whole day trying to get an airport card for this junky G3 Jeff has. No luck, day wasted. On my bike home to pack I have a very NY celeb sighting. Vincent Gallo. Later on the plane ride over to I have a very LA celeb sighting. Flavor Flav. And he flies coach. And he wears his big clock around his neck.

LA is stressful. Luckily my friend Kate picks me up and I eat tacos and hang out with old college friends. Jeff and I stay at their house and in the morning I bump into Jon Rosenthal of The Giraffes and camp 180 fame. he leaves and Jeff and I watch 3 episodes of Freaks and Geeks (decent). We go snorkeling with dave and other freinds, despite the Steve Irwin incident. It's fun wearigna wetsuit. I can't beleive they work so well. But I don't last long. I'm scared cause its my first time and the ocean is damn scary. Jeff gets smashed by a wave and loses his goggles. They cost an extra $25 at the rental place.
we meet up with our driver Jess and her vehicle. She runs a country band, Younger Sister with our drummer Dave in NY and was out West for the Burning Man Festival.
The show is fun. The sound guy is amazingly precise and overly professional. A true pleasure. Were also graced with the presence of our original drummer Anders Griffin sitting in with us on percussion (and some great trumpet on Posters).
we try out our new soft version of "If Life Exists" and hit them hard with "Will O." "Kids on Tour" and the usual videos.
Jeff says we set a new record for merch sales for the US.
During Adams set he pulls a shy Hispanic kid in a hoodie up to dance with him during Dance with Me (he does this often when he plays this song). Its hard to tell if the kid is enjoying it or totally embarrassed as Adam kisses him on the forehead and gropes him from behind.

I see some old faces from school. Also Mika from Giant Drag comes, which was a nice surprise. Also there to see Adam is Har Mar Superstar, Ryan Gentles and Drew Barrymore. (though I only spot Sean and Ryan).

The next day we have a long hot drive to San Francisco. We yell at each other over what went right and what went wrong at the LA show. It's our usual post show routine, but it's the first time Jess has heard us all yell at each other. I hope we don't scare her away. Through the desert we watch forest fires burn on a mountain/hill. I strip down to my underwear its so hot. I cant wait till San Fran and the cool Bay breeze. When we get there its freezing. I cant win.
Most of my friends I were hoping to see cancel cause of work, but I hang out with one, Johnny, which is nice.
The crowd is pretty dead, hardly moving a muscle even when we do "punk history." We do a decent version of "Deer in the Woods" Tonight we are joined by Eric Frasier on Indian flute, Daves old roommate now living in Oakland. Sound great on Jeff's video for "Crow" and "Roll Bus Roll" I kind of mess up Last Time I Did Acid" but Jeff somehow screws up the lyrics to four songs "They Always Knew," "Acid" and more. There is at least one actual fan who requests Dont be Upset, which we do and Jeff flubs some lines there as well..
Dave our drummer runs off to catch a Greyhound to visit friends in Oregon. Jess, Jeff and myself are trying to decide which route to take to Portland. We have a day off to drive and we could take the quickest = 12 hours and little scenery or the famous Route 1 along the California coast and through the Redwoods, which might take up to 16 total hours.

The next day we head off from Oakland, and decide to take the long route which is the end probably took 18 hours. The route along the coast is unbelievable, huge rocks jetting out of the sea and totally beautiful. It reminds me of Norway. I dont know why the ocean and cliffs are so breathtaking. What is it that is attractive? They just are. But the road is so curvy I get pretty car sick and have to close my eyes. We pick up a hitchhiker; late I the day, but then decide not to take him too far. We make it to the redwood forests and sleep in the car at a campsite.
The next morning we take another long route and check out some redwoods and more coastal vistas. We pick up drummer Dave in Southern Oregon and head off for Portland.
Its exciting cause my girlfriend, Marci, and I are moving to Portland in October. So I get to see the house well be staying in and meet up with my old friend Rebecca who lives there now.

More to come ... (I hope)

Well, hello from Jack.
I was just reading Blogs of The Blow and Yacht on the K records website and figured I'd write a little update.
We were crossing our fingers about some big festivals this Summer, but never got invited. Oh well. We did get invited to some other fests, but we decided it'd probably be best to take the summer off. Jeff has been up in Maine in his shack working hard on his comic books. I've been sweating it out in brooklyn mostly, (my roommates have air conditioning and I don't) working my part time job as a cashier at the MET museum. I've been putting the finishing touches of my new album (for Smoking Gun Records), which I keep fussing about on. It was originally going to be a collection of past recordings, but then I ended up recording a group of new songs with a new band at Emandee studio. (Raphi-"original" drummer, John Kessel ripping it up on guitar and Jesse 'Tugboat" Novak on keys). It was originally just a practice/record session but they sounded so good (ah ego) I wanted to release them. (We practiced each song once and then recorded it, except the vocals) Then I forced myself to write some new songs to add, and I wanted to get Chris Maher on the album cause he was a big part of the band before he left for tour, so we did some other stuff at Olive Juice Studio.
Jeff compiled a bunch of "lost" recordings and released them on OJ as well, he writes on his website. "NEWS: "Tapes From The Crypt", a compilation CD of 14 songs taken from Jeffrey Lewis home cassette recordings 1997-2001 is now available for sale!"
I'm still hassling him to perform some of those songs live. He's also putting the finishing touches on a semi-secret collection of songs he recorded at OJ that will be released at some point I think.
various tour plans for overseas are in the works, maybe: Jeff solo in August, Jack band in Oct., and finally Jeff and Jack band in November. Nothing is booked, so we'll see.
I'm hoping Jeff has some new songs when he comes out of his shack and also that he will want to play some of my new songs. Thanks to anyone who bought our new record. We're close to releasing it in the States and really want to tour around, If anyone books house shows, send us your e-mail. It'd be great to do something in Sept. We've never had great luck in the US or Canada, but I guess we should keep trying.
thanks for staying with us.
-Jack

This is jack's tour diary (some names have been changed to protect the innocent)
this is not by jeff, (he wants me to say this)

Day 1
Fly to London (I take two sleeping pills, but still I watch Goodnight and Goodluck before going to sleep)
Then fly to Berlin,
We meet our driver Jasmin she is super awesome and cool. It's great to meet a new cool person.
The woman that helped us get our driver. (we'll call her Susan)
There is some confusion and the car is a bit small.
Jeff tries to tell Susan that she can't really come, but she is mad. She flew from London to travel and play with us. This was all unclear because this tour came up so fast. We thought she lived in Germany and was friends with Jasmin, but she is not.
We decide to cram everyone in anyway and leave for Hamburg.
When we get into the city it starts pouring, we find out the next day it was a tornado. Everything is moving slow and we can't find the right street.
We finally arrive and Adam tells us we missed our show.
Only Son is playing. Jeff is able to play three songs (he does great version of Moving to about 1000 people). But it's great to see all the guys again (Jack, Steven, Parker, Nate and Adam and the crew Ranada, Erica and Pete)

We realize that it will not work out traveling with Susan. There are some personality conflicts. We tell her that it would be best if we gave her money for a train back to Berlin. She tells us that she wants to stay. Dave talks to her for an hour, but she still wants to stay.
At the end of the night we tell her she has to go back and we have a bad argument.
We give her money for a Hotel and train ticket.

We sleep at the house of the band JaKoenigJa.
They are so nice and play us great records we never heard.

Day 2

The next morning we leave early for Leipsig, it's a long drive and I l sleep most of the way. We don't want to miss another show. We make it no problem.
We arrive and sound check. My bass seems broken. When I play the notes are all wrong.
Then I realize I used my tuner wrong and made all notes backwards (G=E, D=A, A=D, E=G) but once I realize and fix it, everything is fine. The sound guy looks annoyed. He only has to work with us (Adam and Only Son share a soundman) but he doesn't seem to like our soft loud, soft, dynamic.
We play, and it's fun. Great reaction to new song Kids on Tour. We sell a record number of CDs.

(people=1000)

day 3
another long drive to Essen, Jeff forgot my book in berlin, that bastard.
I sleep again.
We run out of gas cause everyone forgot to check. But it's not too bad cause
There's a gas station nearby,
We get to the club, which is a really nice movie theater. We've switched sets with Only Son tonight. We sound check and eat dinner. We play a really good show, but again I screw up cause I've plugged in my distortion pedal wrong. When I press it during Upside Down Cross (new song!) it just turns me off, but I tell the sound guy and I'm able to fix it in the middle of the song.
We sell a new record of CDs, we're almost out after only two days.
After the show we drive all night to Berlin,
(people=1100)

So lets see where were we?
day 4
In Berlin we have a day off, but we wake up late and check Internet at a caf.
Then we meet up with Andre Herman Dune and Freschard and Jules. We just saw them a couple weeks ago in Berlin. Had no idea we would be back so soon.
We eat at the delicious and cheap Turkish place I lost all my tour money two weeks ago (I also found it a couple hours laterI love that Turkish place. It has good luck.
Then we head to Andres and Freschards so Jeff and Jasmine can work on producing a DVD of Jeffs lo-fi videos.
I get really cranky and annoyed hanging there for 5-6 hours. I want to leave to see our friends the Wowz and Huggabroomstick at a bar where Jules is DJing. (Theyre all on tour in Germany)I also want to wake up early t go see the Berlin biennial.
But we dont get to the bar till 3 or 4. Still its a ton of fun to dance my ass off with Johnny D. Sam, Dashan, Le Horror Me, Christine and everyone else.
Also I kick as son the foozball table, winning three times in a row and later another three times. Unbeaten for the night! Though Andre HD gives me a run for the money, hes a surprising great offensive player. Ill have to challenge him soon.
Then we all leave. I stay at Jules just like I did before (read my Tour Diary comic)

day 5
The next day is our show, but we have the whole day and I go to the disappointing Berlin Biennial. Then I head to meet everyone at the huge place were playing the Tempoddrome. Its massive from the outside.
Its like a little stadium.

Its really weird to play such a huge place with a lot of our friends in the audience (The Wowz, Huggabroomstick, Andre and Fresh, Sibsi and the Berlin crew)
But he show goes pretty good well except that were pretty much out of CDs (our best way to make money on this tour) and Sanctuary (our record company in Germany) forgets
To bring us more CDs, so were out till Milan.

After the show its off sleep. And the next day to Munich.

day 6
Its beautiful and sunny and feels like Italy but Ive never been (be there in a couple days)
We again have the whole day to explore. I look for a museum but get lost. Were playing in what looks like an old Palace. Its pretty decadent. We also need a place to stay.
We ask the audience but no one offers.
After the show were deciding about what to do. Outside there are a couple Adam fans waiting for him and one of them Kirk and his girlfriend Dorethee offer their place which is very nice. (thanks guys)
The next day its off to Austria, Vienna.

day 7
Hello again (written a few days ago)
Right now were in a small city in Austria called
Lintz, with
Some very nice Internet wireless, Im trying to think
Of all the emails I should send.
Last night we were in Vienna playing our first stand
Up show,
All the shows before were sit down. I was hoping
Adrian's family would come, but no luck. No Michna's at the
show. There was this weird couple who videotaped Jeff for an
interview and after the show `forced` me to take them
backstage. I had half a joint on our table back there,
and then it disappeared,
when I asked where it was they said they didnt know,
then it magically appeared and they said they found
it. then they asked if the projector was ours and when I
said yes they said they wanted to take it but now they
wouldnt I wanted to wake up early and see some of the city,
but I didnt feel so inspired, and slept in.

Tonight we get on the tour bus, I hope it goes okay, I
and we head to Italy, I hope I have time to see some of the city,
Maybe even the Sistine chapel?
Well see.
Day 8
First night on the bus and its a little hard to sleep in my little bunk, but its cozy.
Its really weird and amazing on the bus. Were so used to our DIY travel, but here we are on damn tour bus sleeping at night and driving to the next town, watching DVDs.
I want to play some play station but there arent any games.

We have a day off in lovely Verona, its nice to wake up in Italy, my first time here,
Nate, Parker, Jeff and I walk off and find a caf for breakfast and cappuccino.
We walk along a beautiful canal and up a large hill to a scenic outlook on the whole city.
Verona Im told is where Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet, supposedly based on a true story. We hang out on the hill and soon jack and Steven show up. I guess everyone had the same hill in mind. We all head down and walk through the market I buy some presents and walk around. Jeff buys a canola, but its a fake one, arg, not like the nice ones we get on the LES. Theres a lovely little Coliseum here that looks like the one I hope to see in Rome. At night we head out to dinner and then its back on the bus for the trip to Rome.
day 9
I wake up in traffic in Rome; eventually we arrive at the club. It turns out Black Dice are also playing tonight, a late show, Its a nice bonus. Jeff and I leave quickly to find the Sistine chapel and real Coliseum. Taxis wont stop for us but still we wait a half hour. We get the subway and totally get twisted up and it takes us an extra hour to finally get to the Vatican, hurray, I cant believe we actually have this chance. We get to see the Sistine chapel and then take the train to the Coliseum and then its back to the club for sound check. We play to just a few people but its fun and then we hang out with Black Dice who are super nice folk and play a cool show with projections and drum percussion
Also there in Rome another surprise. Its Susan (remember her from day 1?) she seems okay and pretends nothing happened. Oh dear.

Then its off to the bus for sleep and Milan.
day 10
Wake up in Milan, and go to a small market to buy more gifts for my girlfriend and friends back home. Were in the suburbs but one of the promoters tells us how to get to the center by subway and I head off by myself. Its another amazing European city with a grand Cathedral and classic architecture. I walk around quite awhile, I think I like it more then the bits I saw of Rome. I see some posters and believe this is where a lot of Di vincis work it, I think The Last Supper is here, but I dont really look for it. I still have found out if this was true. Its back to the venue where we play to a small crowd and Jeff ends the set short sending Dave and me in awful moods. Arg, I go and sulk on the bus and then write some postcards and get some gelato to cheer me up. . I forgot to mention I bought the cheapest Playstation game I could find in Verona- a 10 euro racing game, thats pretty bad, but okay for a little entertainment. I play the video game to console me as well.

The next day we travel to Zurich.

From jack:
Anyone booking any summer festivals, let uz know,
we're avalable to rock your socks off. Just to make things clear: I'm happy people like us and suggest festivals for us to play, but we don't have a manager or booking agent to book us at these things. We have to sort of wait around to be asked. So while it's nice to suggest festivals to us it also hurts a little bit. Like someone telling you about a cool party you're not invited to. It'd be better if you contacted those festivals and told them you wanted us to play. On the other hand since we do a lot of things for ourself we don't rely on festivals for our fan base. But every year another summer passes and we sort of wait around (true, we did do Greenman last year)
Right now it doesn't look like we'll be heading over seas this summer. Jeff will probably spend it up in his shack drawing comic books and maybe I'll get to hang out with my girlfriend for a while. and Dave can curse us 'cause drummers always want to tour.
-jack