Howdy folks! 

I know, it's been FOREVER since we last blogged, but I'm going to do my best to update you on all that's been happening in the hideaway...after all, getting one of five guys to do anything aside from making music can be a very difficult task.

First, we had a fantastic summer.  Thank you to EVERYONE who made it out to one of our many shows!  Our summer kicked off with our first benefit concert, "The Jamout To Help Ray Graham Out," where we raised more than $2,000 for the Ray Graham Associations.  Next year's Jamout is still in the works, and I'm really hoping to recreate the same fundraiser with bigger and better results.  Be on the lookout for more info. on that in the next couple of months!

After the Jamout, we played Kinetic Playground with one of our favorite bands, Amrita.  What a great show that turned out to be, and hopefully, we'll be there again soon.  About 2 weeks after Kinetic came the Taste Shows.  The Taste of Chicago was an amazing experience.  We met a lot of new friends and fans, and hopefully impressed the thousands of people who heard us perform an almost 2-hour long set!  Two days later, we performed at the Main Stage at the Taste of Lombard, which was nice "homecoming" of sorts for most of us.  We hope to play both of these events again in the summer of '09.  Stay tuned!

In July, mind's hideaway started recording their first, full-length album.  This is still in the works, but at least 11 tracks have been laid down and are just about ready for vocals.  The goal is to have the album complete in the next couple months. 

Our next show will take place at Silvie's Lounge in the city!  This is bound to be a really fun night with lots of great bands, and it's only $5 for 4 full bands!  Set times are as follows:

9pm - Eleven Dollar Life

10pm - 3 In Counting

11pm - Van Go

12am - MIND'S HIDEAWAY

We hope all of you can make it out!  If you need a ride, let me know, because I'll more than likely end up driving anyway, and I have room for 4 people in my car.  Music starts at 9, but goes all night long, so be sure to stay late to catch us headliners!  Oh, and there's this really good burrito joint right down the street...mmm...burritos...

Hope to see you all in the hideaway at Silvie's on Friday, 10/24!  Don't be a square!

Cheers and Beers,

Kelly O (and mind's hideaway)

Mind's Hideaway would like to extend our highest gratitude to all of our friends, family and fans for making 2007 a successful year.  Without all of our people, we would be hopeless (and sober).  That being said, here is a re-cap of some of the things we've done this year that we're proud of (there aren't many, but a few come to mind):

-The biggest accomplishment of 2007, by far, was the addition of our newest member of Mind's Hideaway, Mr. Joe Day (applause).  Not only has the Alaskan Native given the band a new, fresh, funky vibe playing keyboard, but his general music knowledge and expertise will continue to encourage and help the band progress in the future.  You can hear Joe's keys on various songs, including the fanbase favorite, "Invitation."  Joe also plays the trombone on one of Mind's Hideaway's newest songs, "No Reason."  And for those of you who haven't noticed, Joe can sing too!  If you're lucky, you may hear him sing a few covers here and there, as well as doing some back-up vocals to Graham & Heff.  Thank you, Joe, for joining the Hideaway.  Hopefully, you won't, and don't, regret it. 

-We officially released our 5th recording to date, the "Free Money" EP.  The EP consists of 5 songs: Epidemic, Lilya, Why Not, Free Money, and Carpet On The Wall.  The recording process took much longer than we anticipated, but it's finally finished, and we're pretty happy with the final result.  The cd is available now, and can be purchased at any of our upcoming shows, or by contacting anyone in the band.

-Mind's Hideaway has been playing other states!  Believe it or not, we're expanding our horizons beyond the Chicagoland area, as well as beyond the Illinois border.  We performed a show in Michigan for a private party back in September, then played at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL (it's almost in Iowa), and capped off the "tour" with a visit to Whitewater, Wisconsin, home of the UW-Whitewater Warhawks, in early November.  We've determined that there is nothing more fun than road-trippin' with the MH Caravan and Crew, but driving home hungover the day after a show can be brutal!  Kudos to all of you who tagged along and made the trips well worth it.

-Finally, Mind's Hideaway was interviewed live on college radio in Whitewater, Wisconsin.  Special thanks to 91.7 The Edge, WSUW-Whitewater for their help in arranging the interview, and then broadcasting live from Fat Jack's Roadhouse during our performance that very same night.  Cole Simmons, wherever you are, we owe you one.  Big Time.  Our band members also were able to record some breakers and promos for the station, so if you're ever 2 hours north of Chicago, tune in to 91.7 FM, on the low end of the dial.  Who knows, you may hear one of us on the air!  The interview will be up for everyone to hear shortly...but nothing beats hearing it for the first time, live over the air.

To sum it all up, we've had one hell of a year, and there is still plenty more chances to catch Mind's Hideaway on the road here in late 2007.  Once 2008 rolls around, we'll have plenty more shows and dates to perform between writing and recording some more songs.  We'll be in and out of the studio, but we'll of course continue to bring you your "fix" of live, loud, rock music.

Thanks again, and we'll see you all in the Hideaway.

Mind's Hideaway Crew:
Hey, whatsup its Nick the Bass Man. Since we have a show today I wanted to bring up an interesting question posed by someone I work with:

"So, what's it like to do a show?"

Well, I'll tell you.

First, getting a show can be a hassle. Most places want to see a CD, stickers and other assorted merchandise. They'll even check your myspace page to see how many buddies you have. I think that's crap. We here at Mind's Hideaway prefer the quality of friends over the quantity. Like Dad said, "I'd rather have one friend than fifteen assholes hanging around." Then comes the inevitable debate on who to bring to the show, what order everyone's going to play and so forth.

Needless to say, trying to plan a show out to the minute almost never works. A band takes an extra five minutes playing, or someone isn't there on time, or the guitarist needs to use your amp, etc. etc. and pretty soon you have a certified clusterfuck. Things happen, you move on and you deal with it.

Breaking down your gear, loading it, unloading it, setting it up on stage, breaking it down from the stage, loading it back up and setting it back up at the practice spot is a laborious process. In a typical show day a band member or helper will handle hundreds of pounds of equipment and do enough walking to make a Buddhist monk sweat. People sometimes ask us if we work out (I do occasionally, but nevermind) and we always say, "Nope. We're in a band."

Despite all the crap you have to go through in order just to get there, I can't think of any thrill greater than playing in front of a cheering crowd. There's simply nothing like it. What's it like before the show, like right now, sitting in front of a computer screen in my cubicle at work...it's kind of like getting blood drawn. It's uncomfortable and you just want the day to be over. Sitting around waiting is excruciating (arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgghhhhh...there, kind of like that). I can't think of anything else other than the third measure on "Comin' On Up" and things like that. You worry.

Anyways, in a very, very small nutshell, that's kind of what it's like. Pippin said it best: "I don't want to be in a battle. But standing on the edge of one I can't avoid is worse."

Peace. Hope to see everyone at Stage 83, 9pm sharp tonight.

-Nick

MH Crew:

Sorry about the delay, but we had to pass an official "THANK YOU!!" to all of our friends and fans for a record-setting show at Lunar Brewing Company two weeks ago. According to the owner Charlie, Lunar has never had that many people in the bar at one time...and they've never sold that much beer! You crazy alcoholics tapped them out--literally! They had to brew more batches of beer to replenish their stock. Nicely done everyone!

That show meant a lot for us. We had an excellent time, and despite a few inevitable technical glitches it went smoothly. From where we stood all we could see was a sea of inebriated, smiling, happy faces singing along to everything we threw out there. FYI--one of our good buddies is putting together a live recording CD of the Lunar show. We'll have copies of that by request and the best ones will be up on myspace, iTunes, Zune, and other major mp3 outlets.

As for the EP...patience please. It'll be out soon! We promise.

We love you all. Stay tuned for more news and check out our upcoming shows...we'll be doing a Lunar show again at the end of April and we want nothing less than a packed house.

XOXO,

MH

Mind's Hideaway Crew,

Thank you to everybody that came out Friday for the Underground Lounge show. Despite the small size and overwhelming smokiness, we pulled it off. Hope you enjoyed the three brand spankin' new ones we played. We'd also like to think the other bands, particularly Laz who always dazzle us dead.

Just another friendly reminder to mark your calendars for February 17th! It's going to be an amazing show and we just might (fingers crossed) have some advanced copies of our new CD! (No promises)

Speaking of said new CD, the MH crew is hooking up with our producer tonight for round one of our polishing-up. We'll be releasing the EP name and track titles soon.

Thanks again everyone. If you could put us on your "Top 8" that would be swell. We need more traffic to our site and none of us have the time to keep up with it!

Cheers,

MH

MH Buddies,

Hello everyone, MH here. We would like to apologize for not keeping up with the Myspace site, first and foremost. It's a difficult thing to find time for, what with everyone struggling through winter bills and deadlines. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is good.

We know it's short notice, but we'd love for everyone to make it out to the Underground Lounge tomorrow, Friday January 5th. There's an opening band, then us and then our good buddies Laz (who never fail to bring the noise). Be on the lookout for three BRAND NEW, NEVER HEARD BEFORE songs from us. We'll also rock the five songs featured on our soon-to-be-released EP (as of blog time untitled, but we're working on that).

We hope you all had a great holiday and we hope even more to see you at the show.

P.S. Our EP release party will be held at the Lunar Brewing Company in Villa Park on St. Charles Rd. Admission is FREE!

Party on,

Mind's Hideaway