Dearest..friends and subtle appreciators…

We have exceptional NEWnews for you all…
We have finished "ExitingARM"
Our 3rd full-length record on LEX.
The release date for "ExitingARM" is: 5/13/08

Pitchfork is currently previewing,
"unlikely rock shock"
it will be up all weekend…

"unlikely rock shock" off of "ExitingARM"
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/48414-subtle-unlikely-rock-shock

and for those of you who care
to scratch further past the surface…

(inside)ExitingARM
A brief capture of both the men and meaning behind... subtle,
and the makeing of "ExitingARM"...
our post-modern-pop opus
and the 3rd instalment in
the epic of HourHeroYes..

(inside)ExitingARM
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=27390670

we hope you enjoy it all to bits,
we have put every ounce of our all,
into this one…

stay tuned…
there is so much more to come…
from fine-details to top-secrets…

love
theSubtle6

Hello wide world...

as of
11/13/07...

doseone & Apurple100 go digital...

subtle "earthsick"
doseone "skeleton repelent"
doseone "soft skulls"

& the now "out of print"...

doseone "Ha"
doseone "slowdeath"
doseone "hemispheres"


will all be available through your favorite digital distributor...
i-tunes...emusic...and all other mp3 windows of the world...

so further expand your "art-rap-rock" collection,
or just replace the classice your best friend stole from you...

and remember...
burn the flag
burn your bra
but don't burn good music....

love adam kidd & purple
C.E.O. and c.o.C.E.O. of Apurple100

on October 23rd "Yell&Ice" hits stores…

"yell&ice" … by Subtle
is an inspired collection of remakes, featuring collaborations with Why?, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Tunde Adebimpe of TVOTR, Markus Acher of the Notwist, and Chris Adams of Hood. Like "wishingbone" revisited Subtle's first LP "a new white", "yell&ice" explores and reinterprets their critically acclaimed and most recent full-length, "for hero: for fool".
Both "wishingbone" and "yell&ice" were fashioned to further explore Subtle's conceptual protagonist, Hour Hero yes, while creating a medium for the band's love of collaborative music making. Unlike a typical collection of remixes, "yell&ice" utterly reapproaches the lyrics and music of "for hero: for fool". In order to better suit the pallette and prowess of each respective collaborator, poems were rewritten, sounds resampled, and time signatures unlocked. Then these songbones were sent to our collaborators/confidantes who then rewrote, sang, and sequenced to the tune of their talents.
Since it's genesis in 2001, Oakland-based sextet Subtle has been home-recording its way to the far side of song. Drawing from a diverse palette of instruments: sampler, synth, guitar, cello, winds, electronic and acoustic drums, and the unmistakable voice and prose of Doseone, the band fashions a self-sampled and live-mic'd honest-to-genreless music.
In support of the forthcoming "yell&ice", Subtle tours the US this autumn with Minus the Bear. Not to be missed, the band's live performance parallels and elaborates on the complex and natural lengths of their recorded material. With painted backdrops, stageprops and a whole lot of middleclass mojo, it is in the midst of live performance that Subtle's works of song complete themselves.
Subtle is currently hard at work in the studio, recording their next full length "ExitingArm" for Lex records. Due out May 2008, it is the third and most adventurous installment yet, in the ever widening epic of Hour Hero Yes…

Subtle is: Adam "Doseone" Drucker… voice and samples
Jeffrey "Jel" Logan…electronic drums
Jordan Dalrymple…drums guitar and voice
Dax Pierson…voice synth and programing
Marton Dowers…winds and keys
Alexander Kort…electric cello



And for those of you who grind your day dial down in the central and eastern standard time zone…
The nice ice men cometh once more….
Rememeber tell a friend tell a foe…


2007-09-22 eugene wow hall
2007-09-23 *spokane WA service station
2007-09-24 *missoula MT the badlander
2007-09-26 chicago IL abbey pub
2007-09-27 *detroit MI st. andrews hall
2007-09-28 *cleveland OH grog shop LATE SHOW
2007-09-29 *pittsburgh PA diesel
2007-09-30 *buffalo NY tralf music hall
2007-10-01 *toronto ON opera house
2007-10-03 *boston MA the middleeast
2007-10-04 *boston MA the middleeast
2007-10-05 *brooklyn NY warsaw
2007-10-06 *new york NY irving plaza
2007-10-07 *sayerville NJ starland ballroom
2007-10-08 *philadelphia PA theatre of living arts
2007-10-09 *baltimore MD ottobar
2007-10-10 *washington DC the blackcat
2007-10-12 knoxville TN pilot light
2007-10-13 atlanta GA drunken unicorn
2007-10-15 austin TX emo's
2007-10-17 tucson AZ plush

• supporting minus the bear

written by adam kidd
on behalf of theSubtle6

Well welll welll…here we go again….

Subtle sets their skin to touring….and our hearts to stun….then poof, we're on the road again…some months older, unwiser, and dare I say happy….




2/15

bus it….the fun begins…again at the door to soundwave studios in sunny west Oakland….jordan arrived in style in our new isuzu suv rental type thingy….
We embrace, and begin to shlep our bags and boxes full of gadgets into room d….

I have realized after a few rehersal sessions at soundwave…that there is most certainly a circle of hell, in which there is a "neverendless" hallway, and every door leads to a room full of bad band in mid jam….it dawned on me as I waltzed past a half dozen rooms…one with the white roots in it…one covering "lovely lady lumps"…two sleeter kinney's, and a testament….

So we set up and sung…
We had quite a few talks about what to do with ourselves…practice wise that is…not metaphysicaly…

And so we set our sights on adding and tightening vocal parts….got big jel to back me up on all the "back… black …fact", singing on wallet, and anywhere else his brain could split…and big marty dowers came through with the goods….finding his harmonies to my and jordan's parts, and sticking it…..watching someone split their brain across their hands and mouth at the same time is always entertaining….

We spent some time on all the tricky parts, looping midsections of songs…till everybody's fingers and throats were working seperatly but in sync….

And then we just worked on nailing the nature of our songs…and of coarse before a big tour like this, we went through a whole case of whitening strips….

We also added our top secret cover tune….deadicated to the hell-ish nature of my past three months, and patrick's undeniable influence and sway over the way we hear music and ourselves….

Then we called it a day, and Jordan and I went back to my new pad on the lake of merit, and kicked it rockstar style…steak dinner, red stripe, joints, and half finished songs in the air….

We listened to all our new demos, for "yell&ice" the partII of "wishingbone"….an even more so , cohesive work of song inspired by the songs and un-song center of "for hero: for fool"….
now this is between me and all ten thousand of you….only….cause un-god forbid some of this falls through…because the busy get busier and so on….
But so far we have….chris adams a.k.a. bracken of hood….yoni "the pocket pussy" wolf of why?....tunde and co. of tvotr….grizzlybear….the dearest acher brothers of the notwist….and quite a few brand new interpretations of our own….all in mind for "yell&ice"

We also recently got in touch with charles Hayward…so we have bound our fingers crossed that we can find a suitable and liberating way to make a collaboration with sir Hayward happen…..

Then I made said steak dinner….and we watched mitch hedberg till we fell asleep….

So a few days before this day I had a very curious dream…
I pick up the phone in my apartment…and it is this 45 ytear old woman…who I am apparently dating, because she is calling me honey yet yelling at me to go over to her mother's house, apparently her mother's roof is infested with some sort of critters, and I have to go over and deal with it, because she is to old to get on the roof…and so on…

So I head over to the mother's house, upon getting there, the lady I am supposdley dating comes out with a broom, and says there is a ladder round back, take this broom and go clear the roof….
So I go round back and start m,y weay up the ladder….when I get to the roof, I look up, and there are some 20 walrus , all sunning on her roof….and I am supposed to dispense of them with my broom….
And then I woke up laughing…..

2/16
day two of rehersals…
we spent some time on our new cover…and then continued looping our sticking points and having at our older songs….

Went great, we are fresh and seasoned in our songs….

I also discovered that I can do a very annoying ragamuffin vocal breakdown in F.K.O….and yes one lucky audience will get to see me do it live…after which we will immediately fuck the song up with laughter on our lips….

Then we ran the tvotr opener sets….45 minutes of banger….
We made two sets…one alpha one beta…for the cities in which we play two nights….and for our own personal sanity, in case we get spent on one set or another….
So we spent the time streamlining said set and order of the songs their in….

Then we quit, and head for homes….jordan and I went to the parkway and saw "children of men"….quite enjoyable indeed….not quite as good as pan's labrynth, but great nonetheless…

We returned home, and I finished refurbishing the many subtle props….i gave whitey a nice clean coat of whiteness…re-striped all my skulls…dipped a foot fork in red, made new blood puddles….re sprayed my chains…and epoxyed the many half broken facets of our road weary wonderland's parts….

And to bed with us….

2/17
day mufucking three….

You know the M.O. by now….more precision subtle rehersal, which is sort of like "jumbo shrimp"….but we done did it nonetheless….old and new songs sound great…and our sets are ready to tighten themselves across the ribs of our five headliner dates before we meet up with the t.v.'s on the radio….in providence rhode island….

It's actually a great way to lead into a tour…feels half natural and half professional….and has all our hearts and heads in order….

So practice was a suck of singing new parts and cutting whole songs correctly…and went off without a hitch….

Alex went to astropitch and scooped our new merch….stickers and the new t-shirt…both came out great….unfortunatly the jel jock straps, and doseone tounge rings were still not in….we'll have to hit the road without them once again….

Then we packed our posse and parts into our rental vans….

And headed to my home, for my welcome home/ disengagement party….
Twas a coke party….only coke and liqours that go with it…
I also fashioned a few adult cotempoary classic party games….
Such as pin the penis on the party fetus..
And pin the pussy on Garfield…

Which no one wins, but all enjoyed…

We also played drunk pictionary on the blackboard…and topped it off with 12" plush dice drinking games…

All my most loved ones were there, and the long laughs were in full effect…

The last of us, laughed till tears came, at the many coloring books jeff and I have sexually abused over the past five years….poor Baillie bren jen and lucy were crying for many minutes in a row….

Then we passed out….
To set ourselves to tour the next morning…

Preface belated: on 2/14 I went to amoeba with a stack of wack records and a half dozen promo graveyard cd's…and decided it was new music time for my old ass….i also realized in moving, how many seminal records I had lent to one looser or another who never returned them….you know who you people are, you permanent borrowers, I have always wonderd is it like being color blind, can you not help it, or do you really just have borrowing problems….constantly at war with yourself about all the cool shit you must oneday return…to someone or other…
Records that turned up missing….my favorite Robert wyatt's…savath and savales(1st record)….neutral milk/airplane over the…neon golden…nas illmatic….first broadcast full length….so on and so forth…
Anyway…with my trade in dollars I got….the new Joanna newsom….robert wyatt dondestan and schleep…camberwell now….critical beatdown….the new ultramag for giggles….1000 hrtz…grizzly bear yellow house…and…

The point of this entire belated preface is simply this….i was digging through the clearance rap cd's for you know who….i asked juan the hiphop head at amoeba, if by any chance they had the first tim dog record "penecilin on wax" somewhere….and he said…."oh yeah, came in last week, I took it to bump in the back"….i was so excited and giddy when he gave it to me, I could barely shake his hand and pay for everything correctly….
Needles to say, the subtle6 could have no better omen before a tour, than this, the finding of tim dog's seminal record….
By laughter and tirechain we will make the most of this hitting of the road….


2/18

things begin with a trip to dax's….
jeff Jordan and I went over, for a hang and hug…we heard some new dax music, he's been working on in apleton live…which is sounding awesome….we had cup cakes for brunch, exchanged demos and mp3's….and hugged hard for our goodbye…

we then hit the road, headed to jordan's in ventura….
We bumped the new old timdog….grizzlybear…and the staples…fly pan am, steely dan, thisheat off into the sunset…

I got to do a phone interview with dennis cook from pitchfork….and it was really great…so nice to meet people who receive our music completely, it makes for far more stimulating conversations and tangents….so we chated it up for a good hour for our fork feature…speaking on everything from lemy's easy hippie pussy fetish to the similar nature's of both subtle and tvotr…our different directions beneath one arrow-ness….

We hit jordans in the early evening, and rikki cooked us all supper…we then huddled around the t.v. and watched "old grey whistle test" footage….which, much to my surprise was very entertaining…especially when we fast forwarded the chatty british people who spoke between every song….very entertaining…lets see, we learned that the young alice cooper looks strikingly like peaches….and that edgar winter is the craziest 8foot albino to ever play a strap on keyboard…..what else…eno's long hair balding roxy music hairdo is timeless….bill withers had a smiling drummer….and that rock and roll highschool, is one of the worst songs in human history….
But most importantly the resembelence between young alice and peaches is startling….

Rikki found another flightless monster moth, which despite some requests, would not show us his probiscus….

And we crashed into the soft faculty of sleeping bags…


2/19

we woke and bounced "the ends" files for chris adams…..
and then….
drive drive drive…


we consumed a massive amount of music….
Grizzly bear arrangements,Classic kool keith and brave Joanna being the highlights…

I worked on the next subtle stack of prose…
First on cleaning up the new "yell&ice" poems….giving them the old presidents edit…

And then on the next records writing…still no title for it….it is somewhere in the next few months, but not in me yet….nearly….i am at the heavy hump…and exciting yet stresslike portion of putting it together…its 13,000 words are ripe and ready for order…it consists of about 6 dozen almanac-like entires…like a fable collection….some of them all bones, some all flesh, as in one great idea in a sentence…or a lot of great writing with out a spine to stem from…..
So I began to have at them one by one…each section at a time…I know they have a natural order to slip into , I just have to find it, now that I've found most of its parts…

And then the tough part will come somewhere along this tour….when I actually have to write the pieces for YES, reverend pitman, doc moon or gun, l.v.o.t.l., the headache twins..….since so many of the other pieces are about them and their exploits, I can forsee it being rather difficult to find their own entries finally finished….

In the wee hours of our drive we passed the best sign in 600 miles…

It said:"state prison
Surprise
Next exit

And we pulled into jeff's sister's in phoenix, on the late night…

Met his lovely new neise…and had homemade beer before bed….


2/20

we woke to the sound of a logan family breakfast…jeff's mom was there as well…so we ate, coffeed, stared at the baby…and then bounced bright…

and so we drove….through the prettiest rocks in america…and the several size of desert sun…watched out for scorpions at the rest stops….and so on…

I worked on the poem pile all the live long day…and we mused about relationships and the sort of photographs that do speak volumes in their single frame of frozen moment…

We stopped in somewheres south nowhere to get fire works…
We got some tanks and slightly swollen bottle rockets…
The cat behind the counter asks us if we are in a band…
We say "yes"
He says what kind of music is it….jazz…"
And Jordan says "fuck no"
Then he says "we'll s'longaint that hiphop bullshit"…
We laughed and left…

just before dawn we stopped at a rest area…after peeing, we walked out in unison…and gave gander at the newage southwestern hoki half hopi mural…and then we noticed the name of the artist who'd painted it….
Gay Elder…

And I shit you not…
we laughed into the night, bumping lali puna and funkdoobiest….
Got some dinner and kept on trucking…

Headed for the ghosts and warmth of a motel six in van horn texas….

I hope we get to see an episode of white rapper tonight…I am still saddened that I never got to see lord jamar punk the one kid….it's funny to watch search manufacture and exploit the very thing he became famous for agonizing over…..vanilla ice with a
cable-tv-ghettopass, is still more vanilla ice in the universe…

But wait..

Just when you thought it was safe…
Enter the long vein of the law….
So, not to air our dirty laundry, but I imagine we're all digital friends here, so you can keep a secret….but the subtle6 does pot….

So there we are rolling in the wee hours of evening through west texas…...
And we happen upon a border checkpoint….
And we have less than a gram of pot in the car….so we are feeling lucky, or stupid, one of the two…
Now, jeff had been having a very long day, so he decides to raise his voice with the state troopers…sort of talking to them like one does to a dog in trouble….
Next thing you know, they request us to pull over for a quick k-9 search….

Now as we start to sweat….
I have a moment of ex;criminal clarity…and decide to put the weed in the salt and pepper potato chips…..
And lo and behold…it worked….they doged the whole car, and kept saying…one of them has it on them….but no shuggie in the end…

So…
We duped a texas drug dog, with a bag of chips and some chipper cop talk….
And that was that…we made it to the motel6 feeling a little more lucked than usual….


2/21

at long last…it is the day of a show….
I can't wait…last time we played Austin, it was the new front room at emo's and the show was pretty damn good…great crowd pulling our strings….hopefully this time will be no different…

Look out 6th ave…
I am going to get a taz eating another taz tattoo on the small of my back….
And" remember to eat" in tupacish goth letters tattooed across my stomach….

Note: the best thing about texas is stars of the lid….
And Nolan ryan's bronzed nutsack, which is kept in a glass tophat in the center of a beartrap on a chopping block in the far corner of the alamo's only basement….

Well we hit the strip of sixth in due time…the usual Austin traffic….
I felt surrounded by men who casually collect nazi parafenalia…
But I could have been imagining things….

Patrick was waiting outside emo's to meet us….wearing a shirt that says " I made it"….
We loaded into the new emo's room, and did the do….

Rolled shirts and such…brushed the dust off display cases….

And sound check ensued….

We had two interesting openers….cockerspaniels being the first…..a very nice young man…he and his guitar and angst and us….

Then it was cry blood apache….not so hot….but they did have a mad man in a speedo wifebeater in work gloves, bashing a shopping cart with an iron comb and box cutter….and at the end of the set he did a panic attack trash smashing and shoppingcart crashing solo…rather entertaining….

Got to see a lot of our good friends and finer fans in the A town…we never seem to pack the show there…always a healthy amount of happy people…but it grows steadily and sure by a most interested few….

Something sort of clicked for me as I spoke to a gentleman at the bar…he was saying how he was sorry it's not sold out and such…and that we are under appreciated and so on…and I realized that for me at nearly 30, it is the presence of people that undoes the absence of missing crowd members, and not the other way around….so in a nut shell half full is indeed the only way to slice it….

We also got an offer to open for minus the bear on their late april tour….looks like we might do the west coast dates….you know…momentum ain't just a river in Egypt….

Then at a steep 2 something am…we packed the van and hit the motel6 for sleep….



2/22

we woke to the sound of old dirty bastard on my ring tone….
Twaz the WZA from the far off lex office…
And found out our tour merch was ready for our pick up…..at the Austin ups depo…
So we hit the austinness for morning of errand and the like…

I got a new onespot at the guitar shop…and we ate vegan goodness at mr. natural….always nice to accomadate Patrick, he who starves across the states in our honor…being vegan and all…
Rental car…whiteout pens….and the abaominable merch pick up….we crunched 10 boxes into 4….and bolted on a b-line for baton rouge….

In fact our dear friend aaron Scruggs at the Spanish moon in baton rouge….is in many ways the reason we are on this tvotr tour…it was he who brought us up to tunde, and prompted me to contact him by relaying his interest in our music, and the likeness between our arts,…..and the rest is history…so we will reward his generosity, by krushing a Friday night under his roof….

And so we drove…sun in one half of the windows to the bayou….

We pulled in at midnight….jeff and I went down to the spansih moon and did shots in the ribcage of 80's night….

2/23

for some reason…everyone was watching "lorenzo's oil" all morning….and so the day was a mine field of lorenzo's oil jokes and so on….

We hit the club early to soundcheck…
The Spanish mooner's came with the raw shit…quite a few local demos…such as joe Mexican….and the blazin Caucasian….which we will no doubt bump in the whip tomorrow as we track down Alabama…
Apparently aaron is having grizzly bear in town in a week, so we put together a care package for them…of subtle things, and the bones of the song about theifs we had spoke of doing together….i'd rather use the hands of good people than ups anyday…
And then aaron and miles took us out to dinner and dine…
So we ran off other couples in the back room talking dirty over grilled oysters
And drink….

Back at the club…
Did an interview with a very nice half one eyed man….
Some very fine folks in the south…and they can put em back…makes for some fine interaction…
There was a loud and liquid white rapper…
And a burning-man modern dance maniac lady with balls for brains….
She con tinued to explain to me how phycaderlic music just meansd that its more danceable than other musics…and while doing so she would sporadicly break into "kelp dancing" to sort of punctuate her sentences and deepest beliefs…

In all earnest…baton rouge is a highlight of the tour…from folks to club and back….some five years ago jeff and dax and I had our worst tour nightmare to date in new Orleans….
And now here we are finding a home away from home….
Did 198 people…including subtle that makes 205…which means satan doesn't kill any puppy's in hell tomorrow….we got astral werks to set up a deal…it's cool…satan supports us and seems to really understand the direction our music is both so naturally and eventuialy headed in….

And so we played…great show…great crowd…things were continuing to click…we are still a show away from full stride…new vocals are sounding great…

Unfortunately the thieves did strike…my foot long red fork went down to thief fist on this only the second show of the tour….luckily there are bigger theifs to fry at this stage in my life, so we'll let this one walk without a hex….

And so things settled to a late night…
A warm good bye to aaron , miles and co…
And then to motel 6 it was….
Where we began to slide through our days treasures…
Of demo we took, saving some for the next hours of drive left ahead…
And to bed….


2/24

Birmingham here we come….

Last time we were in birmingham…u.k….that is…

Jordan got roudy and pissed on the steps of the venue…
We were all calling him dan boeckner for the rest of the night….
We'll see if we can't keep him in check tonight…

It 'll be nice to play a new city…always is…aaron was saying it's a fine club…and good folks…

And apparently there is a vegan eatery for dear Patrick and his vegetable problem…

We hit the road bumping…joe Mexican…the blazin Caucasian…wee lil witness…and lefty lefterson….into the unsunset of a half grey day in LA….

Well sometimes you play a town that's new, and coco rosi or mum is playing down the street, and it kills your turnout….this time it was a tornando….

So we braved the tornado warning in the bottle tree along with some form of 50 people…
And it was quite nice…
Easy to play hard for a patchwork crowd of huge appreciators who all drove as far as we did to be at the show…

And the bottle tree was dope…great staff great room great art on the walls and so on….we actually all slept in the "airstream" that they converted into a green room….we were hoping to ride the tornado in a silver bullet….but that didn't happen…

Inside joke note:
We have a friendly competition amongst the subtle6…to put the most ridiculous and corn-ball stickers on one anothers gear and cases…
Somem of the classics are
On jel shit
Ricky martins face
"silly boys trucks are for chicks"
"school rules" w/ grover
crispin glovers face
"space invaders against racism"
"supfucker"
and "drummerbitch"

On Patrick shit
Two skunks fucking
Wisky shit vomit
WWJD
"Itchyfish"
Al ska pone
"asstomouth instructor"
"zeuscock"
"jaccuzzi's attempt to die asshole"
"powerful lesbian"

On my shit
Fanny pack
"dog boartding is not a crime"
"make hiphop not bullshit"
"sexmexican"
"Cleveland reggae .com"
womanarchy

so anyway…
During the coarse of the night
I happened upon a centerfold of burt Reynolds naked in a sports illustrated 3-d swimsuit issue…
So I cut it out and mounted it on alex's cello case….
We died laughing….and were born again…both while doing it and while watching alex find it later…faces hurting…
Before bed we all " jam"ed it up in the back stage area….it was quite the exhibition in obnoxious behavior...we're talking bright eyes unplugged ,except with didi ramone and edgar winter…

And we went to sleep to the sound of heavy rains in a stationary mobile home…


2/25
sprecanze off-day…
we woke late in the silver bullet….loaded out…and hit the road…

heard from Andrew broder today, who was flying to Colorado….on northwest airlines…and lo and behold on channel 12a …"middleclass kill" was playing…. How bout them apples….we were shocked, and of all the songs to see more light of day, it is somehow the heaviest one on the record…must be a channel deadicated to the clarity that comes from bancrupcy….subtle and NWA together at last….

we did the cracker barrel morning thing…uncle hershals fool…and we sat amongst all the rebounding church clothed families….our waitress decided to call Patrick mr. plant for the entire dining experience, siting his need for only water….

And so we drive to whitewoman southcarolina, for a motel 6ing….

I am trying to get these fools to see a movie today…instead of just ride the un-rollercoaster of highway all day…we'll see how I do….

Nope no movie….ruby Tuesday's, and motel six…after hours of car…
I continued to plow down into the next subtle records many parts…
At the hotezy we watched the end of the Oscars…pretty lame…
I hate that shit…they make the men all look the same…and the women get dressed like easter eggs…and everyone is holding their tounge as they talk, unless you're a comedian then you can make jokes about the oldest actor there and so on…as long as the last joke is about your own carreer, anything goes…
They should have some one giving birth live at the Oscars, it would be far more interesting…
Or a live neutering of a stray dog…

Anyway…then we watched some more garbage and giggled off to sleep…


2/26

awwww snap….
Still no clear skull by the way young world…
.i have looked in gas station and headshop alike….from mini mall to tiny town….there isn't one for me to find….

There is a nice fellow in san Francisco who made me Yes shirt a whilke back….and apparently he also got me a clear skull, but lost it on the bart…so he gave me a silver skull with light up eyes instead….i striped it and named it brighteyes…

So there we are in virginia, sun is shining, snow is sulking…

We pulled into the rock and roll hotel…quite cool…new to us, only 6 months old…
Apparently it used to be a funeral parlor…and below the stage is a smaller stage once used to vault the caskets….

So we loaded in and checked, all's well…

My uncle and wonderful cousins arrived soon after…and so we kicked it with them in the chairman mao red green room….

And our freinds rosetta stoned showed up….greatest folks in the capital city….great to share the stage with them As well…they have been pushing themselves quite a bit and you can tell….makes me very happy….

And then it was set time…show was the best yet….kinda stuck that shit…getting our motors running…cousins were in the front row…good people abound…not a huge turnout…but what can you do, everything except new york and bean town remain a tough nut to crack for us, on the east coast that is…

And much to the surprise of my fellow band mates, I did the raga muffin breakdown on f.k.o…..and man was it great…no one could back me up they were all too busy laughing and ducking their heads….felt pretty fucking good…

And that was that, hung out with some nice folks after wards, said buy to the family, and we hit the highway maze for the motel sizix…


2/27

so we woke and went shopping…nothing fun…
my bullet mic keeps dying on me….the cable is shorting where it shoots into the mic….and we are without sottering gun…it went out again last night hardcore…and pissed me off for the last time….so we went to guitar center and I got a new one…

then we played like the handi capped in the keyboards room…Patrick actually found the keyboard that has the human "dow" sound on it….and we laughed till we cryed all taking turns doing "dow dow " solos…

then we went to jiffylube…panera bread…711…you name it…

newyork should be great tonight….can't wait…I love me some big city shows…makes me feel like teenwolf….

My pop will be there, which also makes me bout as happy as I can get….
Peter agoston…and hopefully some other old friends who tend to slip out of the newyorkcity wood work…

So we hit the club…and began to set up…
Went to meet the night managers at the knitting factory…and turns out one of them is actually an appreciator of our music….its always nice when that happens really makes the club feel more like a home than a hotel…

So we soundchecked and got dinner at this Belgian spot a few blocks away…very expensive, but it feels good to eat a fine meal before a bigcity show…

My dad showed up, we hugged laughed and had beers,
And things ensued…the opener was quite interesting…another "juliard" newyork band, they don't have a cd out, but they have a bunch of songs and always seem to open for us in new york….i always expect a dance rock band with perfect haircuts…shows what I know…

Our set was great…the heat got broughted….things are clicking to a bang….
We also did our top secret cover tune….the breakup song encore mega block….
It was pretty punk rock, as in we butchered it in some ways….but felt great…and it was the last encore for us for quite a few concerts…say 25…

And then we hung out with peter and my pop back stage, cracking wise and catching up…

I had an epipahany while talking to peter…about the next themselves record…
Peter is an old friend from our pre-anticon tape trading days…and he is quite intouch with the wide world of rap….so jeff and I asked if he could track down some of our favorite rappers, and get them to record a poem line of mine, which jeff and I would later cut onto a themselves song off cdj…..

We asked for timdog…chubb rock…master ase…and sadat x….

And all praises due to peter, it looks like he can actually get them all for us….
Only time will tell…

We loaded out and drove to our hotel in somewhere's Connecticut….a lil super 8 this time….


2/28

we woke to a rather lovely half winter morning…
went to dunken donuts and drove…

we stopped at a bridal mall to stretch our legs….
They actually had the real "mystery machine"…
Jeff did some great bootsy Collins into scoobydoo impretions…and we soaked up cold sun under simpson clouds…

We are on our way to my family's house, for some R&R and quality time….

Ahhhh the homestead….everyone interneted their bills to sleep for another month…and we all hot tubbed….the word perfect comes to mind….

Had a big grill bbq dinner and rejoiced…..with every mewmber of my nuclear and wonderful family……

Dj jeff jel was getting sick, so my momma sedated and vitamined him and sent him to bed….

And the rest of us hung with my kid sister and folks….talking up a storm…

Alex wore a towel all night, like burt Reynolds….


I slept in my kid sisters room, on her sleepover friend hide abed….with a cat at either arm….

3/1

the big day begins…

we all did the morning ritual rituals….
Kicked it with my momma, till come time came…

The guys watched all three back to the futures in the front room…
While jeff and I pillaged limewire for classic rap….single songs from records we once owned that our ex-rap crew members lifted off us, at one time or another…

Such as…
Jj fad supersonic….
Couple Egyptian lover tunes
"I be stroking" by clearance carter…
(really what we did is look for all the songs that used to play on the box when we were in highschool…)
lick the balls
its at your own risk
h.e.al.
appetite for destruction
the super bowl shuffle
saafir casual battle
back to the grill again
and a shit load of tech-a-nina…

the industry is punks is my new crowd killing theme song….
Haven't heard that shit since the first themselves tour… with alias and anti-mc….


Deffinatly doing a tech nine ode on the next them,selves record…you'll know it when you heart it….


Then we packed our humble whips and rolled on into lupos…

Nervous like kids to do what we do best…

Met all the tvotr boys….great folks from moment one….
It was a joy to hug tunde…seems like the two of us have quite a bit in common, in a character sense….and nice to put a face and throat sound to all the emails and songs…

We did the old festival setiup…while they soundchecked….sounded great…they played a few songs for big fans…like a soundcheck pre-show….
Then we set up and were done 1 minute before doors….
As soon as we start soundchecking…gerrard begins field-recording us, which gave me the warm fuzzy right away…a head after our own hearts….

I got to get my kid sister and her homegirl tes backstage, to teach them how to shoot bottlecaps from a snap….and let them kick it in the bellfry with the boys…
Then I took them back out into the steadily expanding sea of people….before we went on…

And before we knew it we were on….
Killing it…lots of nerve to our bite…rushing things a wee bit…but playing with fire and fervor….i think our calm will come back to us as we adjust to the jumbo size venue feel…

Utterly No complaints here…give me a full room and pull the cord…
There are no chains between me and me on fire for the first time in three years…


My momma and kid sister loved it…
And alex and I worked the booth…

A nice couple gave me a belt they had made for me…
And I got to say hi to some old friends…

Then just as the night was ending, out of nowhere….dave Tompkins, hua hsu and jazzbo…all waltz in from the past, they all drove up from nyc tyo see the show….and it was great to see their faces…and the three of them together after all these years…like famous rappers only appearing in public in groups….really made me smile ear to ear….

Merch booth was pretty kick ass…40 for hero for fools…40 singles…and more than that you could just see the excitement in the virgin eyes of some of these tvotr fans….it was really healing for us roadwary subtle few…

Then we packed all the things we belong to and loaded out…kicking it with the tv's at the fire exit, cracking wise and getting to know one another….

Hit the highway and arrived at the drucker family home…for beer flatbread, and more hot tub….

Again, the word perfect comes to mind….

3/2

we woke to the sound of my mothers 17 year old Chihuahua on deaths door….her heart is so swollen it is closing her trachea…and the sound of her coughing to breath, was so heavy it stirred me from my sleep….

Fortunately the death attack subsided, as the invincible sadie sue rose to best death once again, and live by my mommas side in full suburban swing and total affection…

We went out for a family breakfast and hit the road…tiny leap of highway up to boston….

And so we parked beside the greenmonster….

To the sound of tunde singing the word December….

Unloaded and stared at tonights hall…all hollow and preshow….gave tunde and david my last two copy's of the for hero for fool board game….and music for the whole gang…

And we set up….
And checked our sound….

There was a three foot stretch of carpet at the base of the green room steps that we were positive is where they wash the dog everyday….

Other than that the club was pretty, lots of jetsons style furniture and expensive Budweiser signs from the future…

I was bumping "the industry is punks" by tech nine….that and "health and efficiency" by thisheat are my fight songs…I had the two on repeat while I stacked and counted merch…

So before we knew it we were on….the opener crowd was small for song one and two…but then pretty deep….set was great…tight…still getting used to the size of the ceiling and stage….banter is working, humans are smiling…

Its pretty crazy the front row is all kids….young and unrestless…
I am quite enjoying these shows…its like a mass cold call….of humor and prose….

Met lots of nice folks at the booth…a gentleman who bought the record and became a fan , all thanks to the cokemachine glow review…..a father son tandem who I saw from satge nodding heads in unison….some familiar faces….a guy who traded me a leper joke for a pin…and some friends as well….

Then we packed and kicked it on the tvotr tour bus…with david and timmy…bumping demo's and humor hearted music…david showed us samwell "what what in the but"…and we played him big john bass and sissy penis factory….

Then we rolled to the mo mo 6….and slept like the dead till dawn…


3/3

we woke and hit the mu'fucking barrel…for unc hershals…and such…

alex got the best crossword hint of the tour…"sitcom starring scott baio"….

Then we hit the road to border…
Hopefully it will all go smooth no nonsense….

Remember….
Don't eat the California roll…
Cause we're not in California….

Border was a breeze…

The customs woman we got had already dealt with tvotr that morning…
So she was rather easy on us…almost likeable….

I love the customs office department seperation- same officer different window phenomena…
Its like looney tunes…
One cop starts you off at immigration….then he sends you two windows down, to customs, after which he walks down two windows to help you….it would be nice if they at least put on a hat or handlebar mustache, when they pretend to be a different branch of law for the free world…

So we cruised into montreal, relatively on time….
And were met by copious amounts of snow and brian, one of our favortiest promoters on eaerth…
We embraced and loaded into the rather massive Olympia theatre….it was some celine dione shit…mixing desk from the future…chandelabras….you name it….

Note to self: winter is laughing at me , in my Mohawk and chuck tailors…
Eating me up….

Nice thing was we got to share a dressing room with tv…and we got our bond and beer on…


Show was the best yet…stuck it, tim dog style….
The language barrier was in effect for some of my more wordy banter….
But they were with us…all 1500 of them…

And tv was on fire…best set for them yet as well…slaying it….

And we all came out for one of the encore songs, and beat on shit…
Really felt great…calcified our togetherness…and was a blast….my egg shaker arm was throbbing…

Then we kicked it…lots of laughter and loud…
Really nice to get to know one another in the wake of a good show…
There is little better than that in fact…

I had a brief tussle with the corporate pho-cops about the merch count and their 20 percent….they said "let us count out your merch, or we take the right hand…"
I quickly replied…."these are not the droids you are looking for…"
And then they walked off……

So by the time we loaded out I was pretty fucking drunk….
Trying to battle jeff, in the snow, hitting Patrick with snowballs while he loaded the van…

Then we drove to a friend of patricks house and crashed with a cat that plays fetch with bottle caps….and another who was stray and pinned between the winter and the window….

Before bed we went and got montreal bagels…which seems to be the tradition…and despite the winter walk, they were wonderful….


¾

so the next morning, alex wakes us up an hour early….and we decide to go back to sleep….
After which I have a short dream, that alex and his wife are driving me across oak-town….we are all in one long front seat, like in old buicks…
And in my lap is a deadman…and every time we turn a corner, I get all weirded out about his head moving, trying not to have it touch my face….and no matter what I did, I kept falling asleep while driving along, and my head would fall and lean on the dead mans chest…
And then I'd jerk awake and get the willies again….
And so on, on repeat till I woke up…

So we later rose, and hit the road….
Pulling out of our snowdrift infront of haseedic jews and a goth girl…
We drove through a bit of live snow…safely….to Toronto…

And the koolhaus….was lodged smack dab in the industrial nowheres of Toronto….
Resembling an enlarged dance club….

Patricks friend brought us date almond smooties…and we prepared for the soldout 2400 person show….

So right before we go on , as we lean into huddle, david knocks on the door, and says "don't get caught being square" and hands me a piece of hash….
Very cris kringle of him…
And so with grin we hit stage…

Well…holy wow…
It was a pretty boomy room…and they had the crowd barraceded off some twenty feet from me…

Yet, the show was fantastic…we were on….
Few wobbly moments…due to slapback o rama strange stage sound…
But other than that it was pretty damn nifty…

And the fountain turned on at the merch booth…very nice to see…all those folks taking our cold call to heart in the right way…makes me smile wide…
So while I was packing my gear…we were basically in the lobby with a stripe of portable fencing behind us….and I got to meet mark from coke machine glow….and it was apleasure….we spoke briefly amidst the scrambling sublte members and our half packed stage act…

Then we got pretty fucked up again…must say…
Tvotr had a sort of half after party…and we all hung then went to sweaty betty"s
Where we got the drink on longer…
Was quite nice, tunde and I had a little time to get to know one another…talk turkey, art and self….quite the nice time indeed…one thing leads to another and I was pretty drunk again…

In the out of order jukebox, at sweaty bettys,
There was a cd by the group the3tards….and it was called "crystal balls"
The lead singer was quite the bruiser….all tatted up, and he was wearing a michael Bolton t-shirt…so after I stop crying with laugh, I read some song titles…such as…"big dog little dick" and "sodomy road"….

And apparently Jordan was well past drunk….he had to show his meal to the side of the road, a few times on the way back to the hotel…..



3/5

uhhhhh…hangover city…

thank god for off-days…

so we drove back into Toronto to eat, and meat tunde and co. for a movie in the afternoon…

on the way to the theatre , we stopped at a red light…as it turns green, alex comes running up from the van behind us and taps on the window…he points to the big venue /bar on the far corner….we look, and lo and behold on a banner outside, it says…playing Thursday…."the3tards"….

we saw zodiac….not bad, not great…deffinatly long….and informative….with respect to said mass murders…
I thin k it was professor plum, with the pipe bomb in the vomitorium….
Alas we'll never know…

Tunde and gerrard stayed to watch a double feature…t saw ghostrider…and gerrard saw pan's labrytnh….but we had to bail for borderdom…as they with bus had second helpings of moviefilm…

Apparently our off day was during the coldest day in toronto since i943….or 6…

And it felt like it as we left the movie and the cold air cut through our jeans and California footwear like a rambo knife…

Then we drove to the border for some cop faced fun….we ditched the fireworks which we happened to smuggle into Canada…on accident….and our two loose coronas…

The cop was nice, for a meatpuppet….and we were off…to a snow shrouded motel6 in buffalo….
Where we slept like outofwork kings in our off day bodies…




3/6

well we rose and haD breakfast at friendly's which none of us had been to since we were children….

We all stared at the Sundays and tried to remember which ones we always got….

Then we set the compass for Cleveland…and drove…
Not too much snow….very blue sky'ed in fact…

As can be expected the neighborhood the agora theatre was in, was slightly burned out…

Apparently tvotr, had a bit of the old frozen fuel problems in Toronto…and as they arrived at the agora, the steering column fell out…
Apparently / fortunately all was fixed by load out…

We all loaded in, and read the yellowed old articles sealed beneath the bar counter plexi glass…all detailing the 40 plus years of agora rock and roll history making…
Most of it was piuctures of meatloaf in different outfits…
There was also a few great articles on wendy o williams, who apparently was arrested for showing her breastes at the agora quite a few times….
Wearing only whip cream and electrical tsape she would sing her savage songs…
We determined that the first time she went to jail in cleveland, she met someone she liked….so she kept going back…
Jail is a great place to meet people…

We checked…sound was kinda crappy….but the venue was smaller and therefore a nice change… abit more intimate….

Whilst at the merch booth, two very nice gentleman from the land of cleve, whom we met at the last grogshop show…they brought us some flammable medicine, we were very greatful….and loaded them up with merch….nice to have some people who are close to our music….at the show…

Side note, it has been rather alarming how many people, see our set, and come to the booth to say, hey I had no idea doseone was in this band….they must have thought me dead….

And so the show began….sound was a bit garblejunk….but it felt good…a looser set…
I did my "eat pussy and kill people " joke…kind of hit the ears of all there like a ton of bricks…which made me laugh….

I spoke to the nice guys who brought us our gift after the show, and they told me they were looking around at faces half way through swanlmeat…and all mouths were agape…everyone's face distinctly reading that they had never seen anything quite like us before….and so the three of us sort of thought about how cool that was…since we three had all been trying in varying capacities to get nice people to listen to our music for some time now…thme by cd-r…me by hook or crook….

Tv killed it, and we played percussion on method and devil….
I would really like to be singing method with tunde, but I have to headphone it…I switch verse one and verse two lyrics around…I'm sure by the end of the tour, I'll have my p's ….q's…and notes in order….

Telling you though…my shaker arm is going to be huge after this tour….
Jordan slicerd his hand open pretty nice on the jingle bells…

Backstage we had a rather large carrot fight…pretty fun….it began with three of us trying to throw carrots in martys gingerale, with out him noticing…

Then we loaded out in the snow…and headed for the hotel motel….

Where we watched almost famous…which I must say I hate…but despite my complaints…there was little else to watch….

Sad note: my mothers wonderful little saved Chihuahua died today, at 17…it is a sad day for certain…we love you sadie sue….

3/7

well today got off to a splendid start….

We woke and had brunch at panera bread…

Then we all politely walked over to the Christian store…

And jeff And I HIT PAY DIRT ON THE COLORING BOOK FRONT…
"bible stories to color and tell"….
And man o man is it choc full of wonderful drawings to x-rate….

So we piled into the frozen Suzuki, and drew ourselves all the way to Columbus….

Well a few hours later, jeff and I had done some signifigant damage in said coloring book…well giggled and punchy we pulled into the Newport music hall…

Gerrard was eating tabooli, and matt and timmy were doing there gearwire thing…
We loaded in, and scattered to eat before our check….

Things were pretty boomy, but all the glowing mountain dew adds really made up for it….so we checked and so on…

I hit up a large Garfield mural in the band room…during which tunde stopped nby and we all talked about our experiences…both pos and neg with being a part of the major label realm…

I did first shift on the booth tonight…it was fun…had about a dozen tvotr fans come in, and then start hyperventilating when they realized we were the opener….
Was very nice, to realize we infact have some exactly overlapping fans….

And before you know it we were on again…
Shiow was good….you could deffinatly feel the "college" temperature in the air…and at times it worked for us…at other times against us….
By and large we had a blast….they had that crowd to mouth barrier thing going again….keeping me from my people…

Got to meet chet at the merch booth after the show….
Was great to finally put a face to the font….we had quite a nice talk…everything from rap spangled Ohioan days to religion as it takes to the ribs of whats modern day….
It was quite nice….hopefully next time we won't have to do it acroos a merch booth beneath a modified Budweiser bug light….

Then we got on stage with tvotr…for method and devil again….and it keeps getting better and better….and then things broke out into the gradual kick it of post encore….

As we packed ate pizza and cracked wise on the world….

Then it was off into the deep of ohio for a motel 6ing…..
We watched a little aqua teen and crashed….

3/8

and another morning commeth…

got some positive feedback from the boston herald on my blackberry this morning…very nice to hear…

and then we hit the big barrel for uncle hershals and some peg game and water for Patrick….

We also did a wall mart run….i needed forks…both clear and small white….
I also got a more suitable ten dollar sweatshop winter shoe….
One borat dvd…and cdr's so I can burn some mitch hedberg and timdog for the tvotr boys….


Then back on the road for the not so long haul to Indianapolis….
Which will be a first not only for subtle…but for dj jeff and I, in all our well traveled ness….

Met some very nice appreciators of our work while hanging at the merch booth before the show…who would have thunk it….in inianapolis….

Well, I was all psyched to get on stage, and say "congratulations on the Minneapolis goats winning the super bowl…."

But I punked out….the crowd seemed a bit near turning on us at points….the drunken college sort, gives off that imprerssion, weather it was there or not I do not know…

So we did the show with out the good joke….and it went pretty well…not amazing but solid….

Had a great time at the merch booth with Carmen…there were some definite drunk fools…
There was a waitress wearing a total "appetite for destruction" get up…it was pretty intense…

And the young man who came to do the "shut up and vote" booth, or whatever it is indeed called….was caught in ear shot by Carmen and I, telling two women he was with the band….at which point we realize his fly is wide open, we're talking 6 year old stytle….shirt coming out of it and everything…

And so we packed and prepared for some party…

However as we loaded the van…and then went to shut the back door….bullshit happened…

The minivan trunk door would not lock…so we each had little individual panic attacks regarding how to best navigate this situation…can't really bunge cord a 1000 pounds of gear into a mini van…so alex called hertz….meanwhile,,,
Jeff was sticking his swiss army knife into the lock like a kid….and sure enough…poof…jeff fixed it….so we took him to tacobell,as a treat, and us to the hotel….

3/9

well we woke…
and hit the barrel once again….party as usual…

then we hit the road….
Look out louisville….

We actually got to the venue before the tvotr guys…
Very fancy schmancy….
Seated style….which is always interesting…
For some reason you just feel more watched than enjoyed….

We had an opener…people sounds….
Who I just so happen to know the drummer…a gentleman named matt, who played bass for boombip….back some 5 years ago…we were always explaing European things to him….or so it seemed…

It was good to see him, and his band….

Then it was our turn…

Torture….

Fucking union sound men….jive ass turkeys….see when you have a guy who is not union, and you have 20 minutes till doors, it accelerates the speed and effectivness at which they wrok….not with these union guys, they just seem to slug along even slower….

So long story short, hometurtle, rewires everything after soundcheck…and so the stage sound was just plain horrible…makes you have to dial it in at points, which I hate doing…blah blah…then done…

Best thing about the crappy sounding gig, is its ending….

The entire venue was crawling with elredly women ushers….they were very sweet….

Tvotr was great….sounded good in the house…but poopiepants back on stage…much like our set….

Seems the folks in attendance were very happy to be there….and the merch was good, so despite our sour time, the folks we sang at were happy….

Then we packed gradually…and all decided to go to a bar called faigen and saiegn , or saigenfaifgen….

Which was the highlight of the night in many ways…
Inside was a bluesband….a whiteboy blues band….they were playing along to rocky IV…and at points it was amazing….

They played tied to the whipping poll, as Apollo creed died…
And seemed to speed and slow in the throws of the movie perfectly…

I am still not sure if their soundtracking was intentional or we were all drunk….
So tunde marty and jeff and I all played trivia…tunde won…served king marty of trivia…

Best exerpt'''
The wall of sound technique of music production was developed by what producer…

B} dr. dre

Happy birthday Carmen…..may you never un-young yourself….

And we giggled at rocky and the bluesers and ourselves until our blood was just north of toxic…….and then departed…

3/10

well we drove a healthy drive…6 hours or so, through the none belt of midwestness…

not too much to tell…I worked away on this next subtle record…to be named later…and finished my "yell&ice poems….

And would take breaks to bless the bible stories coloring book with jeff…

It will be great to finally show it to tvotr…see what they think about the themselves manner of sensless tour energy channeling…..

Then we pulled into Missouri and Columbia majoris….where we paced until our cue was caught…

I talked to the house manager about tech n9ne…who had been there not long ago…and we scampered about…

Apparently, there was a skin head hate rally….by the time we arrived the only remanent was posters in windows that read….no hate in our town….which made all of us realize independently that there must be hate somewhere in this town,….

So we curb stomped some nazi infants and felt more accepting about the state of hate culture as it mingles at a distance with our tour plans….

And there was a slow cascade of technical problems…and next thing we knew it we were on….

Show was great, we were on again, after the lousiville torute union gig…and we did earthsick to spare our set satrurated heads….

I think we have decided to not really do set a and set b…but rather swap out sections of the set we keep sticking for other songs…feels more fool proof…and momentum friendly…

Tvotr was on as hell as well…

And so another college town was won….



3/11

driveday….

Car……..gas station……car…..gas station…..car……walmart…..
Car……

Then we passed a red car on the highway with kyp and his friend in it, driving to Chicago…
Then……car……gas station…..car…..chicago….

We got in around 9 pm….and all went and had dinner with theo….
Then we all headed over to see 300 at the late show….

300 was curious….bad of coarse….with some fun violent screensaver action….
The army recruitment air it had, was a bit unsettling….long speeches about living forever in fear, and never not being outside the hard palm of survival….always at war always deadly….
Not to mention the Persians…whom which they tried to give a "brown people are bad " mystigue….with their sorcery and foreign monster ways….
They even had their own goat god on electric guitar….

Anyhoo…I enjoyed it….
And then we hit the sack in the Patrick&jesse compound,
With some adorable saved kittens and maisie….

3/12

Chicago show one….
The weather was beautiful….
We all did laundry….then
We went and ate where theo works, quite delicious…
And then we went down to the metro,
And paced around for a bit,
Got some more t-shirsts in the mail….
And before long we were soundchecking….

And then in came the folks…
The show was great…we were pretty dern on…
Crowd seemed to enjoy it….

The metro had some interesting facts in their restroom…
Every year 1500 left handed people are killed by right handed machinery…
80% of what you learn in a day is lost….

After the show, we hung out with some friends…KLF…
And got up with tvotr for the mass thing beating….which is getting more and more fun…
I've never had to hold 16th notes for that long before….it puts hair on your chest….

Tunde and I decided to go work on music together the next morning….
And then we left everything at the club, and went down the street to get drunk…

And we did…met some of the cokemachineglow friends at the bar….and talked…
And I talked to some strangers and non strangers….
Until sleep….

3/13

woke quite hungover….coffee rolling off me…

we all went back to where th metro is and had breakfast…
tunde came and met us….
Seems kyp was still sleep in the hotel room….so t and I had more coffee and got to pow wow….then we went and did a little comic shopping….
And record brousing…
Tunde found a great singing midget record….
I got the new tech n9ne at best buy, while tunde looked at cameras…
And then it was time for soundcheck….

So we returned to the metro…
Where things were checked counted and all accordingly…

When I got in the production manager informed me that there was a blurb/ show review on pitchfork with photos….which was very flattering, and honest…really nice to see a review of your work the next morning….was quite inspiring for us….

Got to meet dom from cmg….
Seemed like a total sweet heart….i was a bit frazzled when we met…
Sweat soaked and trying to disassemble my rig in a half lit hallway…
But it was nice to meet him and share some air for a moment…
Thax came by, and we got to hang out for a little bit….
We went on, and had a ball…
A little less tight than the night before….but fun…was nice to cut loose for a change….
The dirty coloring book was kicked around quite a bit that night….


And then back to the beds….
For tomorrow we drive 7 hours….

3/14

Minneapolis tonight…which is quite the haul….
7 hours I believe….

Breakfast and patrick's at our backs…
We rolled wheels all day, across the nothing,….

We did pass the hotel where Patrick plans to shoot his mummy movie….

The rest was shells of towns and the petrol wells between them…
No clear skull…..
I did get two tiny guns….for midas gutz….

We arrived at 1st ave…shortly after that Andrew showed up, and we all rejoiced….bear and Julie also came….after pizza luce, we came back to the 19 and up swelling crowd….

And then we played….
Its interesting but our connection to the audience in chicago and Minneapolis, were not as strong as I'd hoped….they kind of stared at us more than the college towns…which was odd….

Nonetheless, we laid into it….
And then watched tvotr with Andrew…
And all went up and beat on shit for the encore….

And we headed back to Andrew and julie's thoroughly tired and ready to become bed spread….
So we did….

3/15

day two in mine-haha…
Andrew and I were musing about how we always end up running some weird errand together when we have tiome off in his town….
Todays was drumheads in saintpaul….

Before we did so, we had a nice fruit and bagle breakfast,
And all listened to the new why? Songs with Andrew and bear….
They sounded pretty dern amazing…
We talked at great lengths about weather it should be one record or two…
But only time and yoni's will will tell….

Then we watched borat, andy and Julie had never seen it….
And we all laughed just as hard as the first time we saw it amongst silence in berlin, all the germans dragging themselves toward laughing at anti-semitism…

Sasha is deffinatly more genius than comedian…

Then drum heads, then the repeat performance…

I enjoyed tonight a bit more….looser….but still slightly stiffened by the audience reception….they went in and out…talking about us to the people next to them while we were still in full swing….so much can be expected sometimes…

and then things seemed to be on fasstforward….suddenly the sets and vans and loadout was all done….

And we drifted back to andy's for more pizza luce….and laughter….

3/16

Andrew gave m,e wes's copy of ultramag "new york what is funky"….which I only had on vinyl…and a mastered copy of "ditherer" the new fog record…
then we listend to it as we drove off into day…some six hours to Madison Wisconsin….

Which everyone would remark, "is a cool place"

And they were right….
Inland empire was playing in the same theatre as we played/…so the whole pre show , backstage we were surrounded by dr. lynch's soundtrack….
And…
Best crowd of the tour….hands down…they were warm from moment one and responsive to the bone…..
More than that they enjoyed us….not studied or sounded out…
As if they were on fire…

Both our set and tvotr's were awesome….

Not much else happened however, the night ended quickly, as it began…we packed and headed to the hotel…

Where we had a big old subtle powwow, doing our dirty laundry, seeing how so many people wearing one group can get stuffy sometimes…so we had some long talks about us and the individual us's…..and went to bed….

3/17

woooohoooo
8 hours in the car….

I woke up feeling sick…throat phlegm taste feeling….so I slept all day….
While jojo and pat drove….across the nothing,…
On st. Patricks day….

Stopping at a rest stop, jeff found the best graffiti we've seen in a hot minute…
"love thy boo"
we photo'd it and drove off….

Well we arrived at the casino…v ery Disney land indeed….they had a floating façade of neworleans like buildings aimlessly beside where were to load in…
The staff was slightly tool like at first…but they warmed up, and were all quite nice….
In the end…
The casino was a sight for numb eyes….
We ate beside the koby teeth restaurant…in which there were dueling pianos doing "crazy"…and "rock and roll all night"….a fifty foot star spangled guitar hung on the ceiling…and his Mexican food section on the menu was entitled "stays in mexico"…there were freedom fries and even klan-sandwiches…….
You could even get a little bib with hood and eyeholes for your infant ….

We dined at the buffet…I felt like a 10 year old…I got some of everything and ate nothing….jordan and I enjoyed the people watrching and then we went back stage for a bit….i was a bit over boarded…sick, and not on beer….only broccoli and earl grey….
The show was actually fun…I was a bit exhausted….but the crowd was renmarkably resilient, for a casino kept audience….

Before we started, as I was fading up swanmeat…I heard from the far right of the room…."play some skinnard"….and expected the worst…

But we were wrong….

Afterwards I spoke to quite a few nice people…and drunk temporary Irishmen and women….someone asked me if I like prince again….to which I reply, no just dino and Johnny gill….
A very lovely lady called me a poet, like one calls a person by their position….and an older woman told me her son had told her to come….

We found some fake bats backstage and bent their tales to be penis's and giggled in the nightclub belfry….beside the gaming commission office….

Hung out with david for a bit on the bus….and the rest of the gang backstage….then we had to get my sick ass to a bed….

Jeff and david went in for a quick gamble….apparently david has luck on his side…
Tunde and Jordan were joking that jeff will come back out , in a barrel….

Seems like by the end of the night…gerrard, and kyp were both getting their version of what I got….sick that is….

We decided to cancel our demoinse show…and sincerely apologize to all those who will miss us there….it is never something we do lightly, but if I am to make it through the next week…we need the rest…so sadly we did so, and hit the sack in a motel 6 in tech n9ne's home town….




3/18

still sick…
we woke and hit the cracker barrel…
I bought some mad libs, for me and jeff style word suggestion…
Similar to our coloring book style…an adult and embittered childish sense of fun….
And Jordan bought a Hitchcock collection…

then we went and saw 23…

we decided it should be called "jim carrey with tribal tattoos and a saxaphone…."
And that the author was right in all his hamhandedness…
There are 23 muscles in the human sphincter…
There are only 23 things on earth more wack than bernie mac…
Tim allen has 23 new-potatoes for brains…
Rene zelwigger has 23 teeth along the sides of her labia
Marry poppins was shot 23 times in the forhead for purgury in the virgin islands
Burt Reynolds has 23 comunicable stds
Ben gibard has 23 16 year old women who generate the majority of his lyrics kept in a pen beneath the pixar grounds in el Cerrito ca…

There are far more than 23 reasons to not see this movie…

We should have seen ghostdog or silence of death….

Now we hit the road…with a me half sick….and nothing but mad libs and poems ahead of us….

We passed a sign that said "liberal Kansas"
And I thought it said" live-a-little Kansas"…

I was wrong, the way things are was right…

And so we drove cross Kansas, Denver on our minds….
23 in our mouths….

And we drove and drove
Until we landed at a motel six on the uncoast of a half nowhere….

The gutted warehouse beside our hotel was converted into a movie theatre….
They were playing 23…..oooooo weee eeee ooooo…

I slept like shit nightmares and an utterly stuffed nose…
Hotel sick sucks….

Morning approached….


3/19
and we woke…

less sick than before but nothing new…

we ran some errands and hit the walmart again…
I got more forks….

I worked on poems for me and tunde to eat at…
"this will not work,
like barb wire on pollen…"
And some of the next two new subtle records….

And we drove…into Denver….
Got our motel6…and hit the town…

Went to watercoarse….which was moved…
They had ravi zupa paintings….which were a pleasant surprise…

I called Baillie and got the dirt on sxsw
And then we called ravi and invited him to tomorrow….

Then we hit up the record stores….i got ultra….which I had on vinyl….can't get enough keith and tim lately….that's for sure…
Looked for some Wesley wilis…but no luck…

Then we went to see the host….
Holy smokes…best movie I've seen in a hot minute….
Won't spoil it for anyone, simply say go see it….
Viva korea…

Then we went back to the hotel and hit the sack….


3/20

morning in denver…fucking 70 and sunny…really wonderful….

The phlegm has moved to my throat…and frogged me out a bit….
What are you gonna do….the sick has been weathered, with minimal damage….to self and esteem…

We broke for town, and had breakfast…

I watched a special on dekiembe mutombo….and thought about what it wwould be like to be 7ft tall, and how I probably neveerr would have been a poet…which led me to think that the only reason I take things the sort of wordy serious I do is because of my overall average ness…height build upbringing….anything less middle would have probably ground me out completely different…

And then I realized a month from tomorrow I will be 30….

We hit the rest of the record stores….found my Wesley willis…
Also listened to the new arcade fire….neon madlib….not so hot…to me…
And the new do make say think…pretty cool….
Constellations????
The el-p….interesting…
and so on…
sometimes I get a bit dorky with the listeneing booth,
I liken it to my lack of sweet tooth….can't stand it usually,but every so often I snap and over indulge….

So then we hit the venue, hella early….and sat around…found tvotr…and walked around the less than stellar neighborhood…

Apparently timmy the tvotr tech extrordinare got threatened with a morning star by a tenth level cleric from the hood….


Tunde and I walked and got some serious Turkish coffee, tasted like fishtank water and spicket…
We talked about writing, fronting things….and how good it feels to have gotten close to each other…much like Andrew and yoni, we are birds of a feather….from a deeper connectedness to same generational everymanness…
Then we put a sticker on gerrards keyboard….and got busy…

After a bit of shit schlepping,..
David and I went and got some food….we talked about fist fights and tools in the industry….and lastly about the few diamonds in the rough we've met along the way…

Then it was check time…and show time after that…

Man everytime, the altitude gets to me, has me breathing like a trucker…panting between songs…I fgured out what it is….i have certain syllables I drop for quick inhales, they are staggered in certain places, usually far apart…and in denver, I find myself having to breath a bar before my usual breath, so I do, then I miss my next breath, and so on….into the pant…

But all in all the show was great….did fko for the first time in a long while…

After the show we had to drive an hour and a half to cheyene,
On the way we got mcdonalds, and bumped "rock and rool mcdonalds" while the cashier gave us our food…we were laughing like children…and it was thuroughly enjoyable….

3/21

this mufucker is soon to be 30
I will have lived half my life then if lucky…
I am glad to see the twentys fall from me like husk…or get buried beneath the slim resolve I seem to now have…
Its all right…
The un-score kept between my scars and soft spots…is not so uneven…
I still laugh like a little one…and am proud to be in the vessel I'm in with such good people all armed around me…

I have a perfect and curious nuclear family,
And friends the size of boulders…
And I have stayed inspired across the ribs of some rather vulgar days as of late…
In sum,
At the lip of my old age, I am feeling like a young icecube…

So we pull up to the venue…and david is sitting outside on his new scooter…
Helmet and all…I jumped out and drove it like a wimp…someone else's new bike syndrome…but man was it dope….tunde and Jordan also span it in the slc dusk, like wimps as well….

Then we loaded into a very weird club….kind of euro cultural center…very roller rink…
Sound was not so hot…and tvotr was having amp problems…but nothing to crippling…

Then will showed up and we had a beer and hung for moments…shooting pool in our leopard print and red walled jumbo size green room…

And the show was great, the sound was something to ignore…but we were having fun…we had quite a few fans in attendance…feels like slc is the new seattle for us…
No complaints on my end…
Doing method and devil were fucking great tonight…still they get better every time….
I got a pinch of the sads today, as we only have three more shows left with our new friends…but I shucked it…

And we stared at daves scooter and cracked wise in the low lite till it was time to roll out…
Then jeff Jordan and I got denny's in the we hours…roudy in an empty American restaurtant…

And then bed…


3/22

drive day…throat resting day….
Poem editing day….

We peel out for Portland…probably gonna roll into Oregon andf motel 6 it….
Who knows what sorts of boredom await us on the road today….


Three words for you all….
CLEAR SKULL CITY….

Today was the day…I found the very same clear skuill I had stolen from me so many tours ago….

I bought two this time….from this nameless truck stop in idaho….
And I smiled deeply…..

It is indeed the little things in life, that complete one;'s circuit more often than not…

So I sat in the car grinning ear to ear for the rest of the day….

we listened to some
storm and stress
swirlies
mitch hedberg
and ultra today…

I did very little poeming…
Rather jeff and I killed each other in grand theft auto for several hours….
Same thing only different…

And then beforte we knew it we were in pendelton Oregon, where we found some thai food…thank god…anything but cheeseburgers or shallow sandwich options…

Alex and marty went to do karaoke at the red lion motel…..
Which we heard was a blast….

While we watched skulls and fell asleep….

Again my lack of closure hammered heart dreams plague my sleep…
I have had nothing but them since this tour began…
Even when I lay down clear headed and bright hearted…
My sleep is run by those things which I cannot fix and can only repress…
I can no longer take it I woke at 7 am, grinding my teeth, and dreaming of arguments….

I am going to total recall, to have my mind put under the digital knife….
I want to come out a gardener…a content and pitched down gardener…
Who can juggle of course…


3/23

Portland here we come…

We get to see ms. Alicia rose tonight….always a joy….we are going to have her do our next set of photos….this spring…she did the shins and the decemberists….
Can't wait to work with a creative pro….will be such a blast…

Plus we are three blocks from powells…where I will undoubtably spend too much money on peoples poems….and font books….as usual…..

I always like to go into the 80's vintage toy store down the street as well….and stare again like a younger me full of smaller longings at all the complete g.i.joe collections and he men…not to mention the few hundred toys…I owned and didn't even remember the names of….

Plus jackpot…plus great town in general….

We got in…and did the powells. Run…
I got actual air, for the 5th time….permanent borrowers strike again…
Two maralyn hacker books I'd never seen before….
New moleskin…
And a shit load of font books…

I could go broke in there….

Some whole foods action….then we hit the roseland…and hung with tv gang enjoying our last few shows air together….

All our doug fir posse showed up and made the night a perfect one….
We consumed the ryder with force, and all had a half routy time in our green room area…

A very interesting woman dressed in all safety gear approached me during the evenings antics…and was going insane about my knock off sweater….asking me…"what am I doing…." Repeatedly, until gerrard came in and grabbed her….

I thought it was very intriguing, and being that she was dressed in safety gear, I could not tell if she was taking the piss or not….

The next morning I find out she was scout nibblet…..who's drums I have jacked and records I own….

So, the show was great…we poured it out….for the peoples….and the tvotr encores…are getting doper every time we play them….i was always to posture heavy to ever join a drum circle…but these encores have jumped me into the joy's of beating on something for 120 bars in a row….

And tonight was rather unique…jordans dad and sister flew in for the show…and his pop came on stage and joined us for devil….i must say it was pretty fucking hard….

Early on, david saw jordans dad back stage and asked who the dude from the FBI was….and we all laughed heavy and hard…

We later went back to the Jupiter hotel…and kept partying….we then joined our beautiful doug fir friends in gnome village for heaven before hotelness….

3/24

wack drive….
All the way up to Vancouver…..
So we hit the road late…hungover as a motherfucker….

The drive was a blur….the border was a breeze…the cops didn't want to work today so they let us through with out a fuss….

We hit the town and had to rush ourselves together…before doors….
I got to see my friend tristen….and we got some Korean quick food and then were on stage before we knew it….

The crowd was a bit cold fishy at first….but warmed up across the ribs of things….
We finally nailed "prayer to god"…in my ex-hometown….and it felt good…highlight of the set for me…

Two nice women came up to me after the show and said…."hey we saw you here last time as well….and we just want to say, your new haircut is better…." Which they then followed up with…"and the last soing was a little bitter"….
Which all made me laugh quite hard…

I also had another gentleman….who said "do you like to collaborate" and I said yes…and he said "well, I make beats here's my card…" which I proceed to read and it says he is a rare stones dealer…..i look up… and he says"well I sell stones too…"…

We all got poutine and crashed at chris's pad for the night….
Listened to some records and began to snore….

Apparently while we fell sleep….the tvotr bus driver had a seizure in a 711….which was a pretty startling thought….he is now fine….and luckily nothing like that happened while he was sdriving….its always something….
Luckily Louisa got it all handled….and the show quickly back on the road….


3/25

last day…sad for sure….

A lot of tours have gone down around us….and tv on the radio has had their sahre of tours a s well….more often than not, it's two separate bands two setlists, and a smash of song collections…

There was something more to these shows…a sort of gumption between what's new in music….as spread between our to different yet similar arts….from good people connecting across their works, to unmistakably great shows….

Needless to say this tour has been both healing and heightening for us…
And we have made some very dear and inspiring friends….

So we drove , u.s. border wait was nearly eternal…
But we actually had a rather chipper cop…
He said last week he had bob Dylan through…jordan asked what kind of car he drove….

Then he said that he had rod stewart come cross after that…and we all actually joked about how much wacker the one famous person was than the other…

Apparently tvotr got their bus dogged….but to no avail…and the cops bitterly let them pass….

We hit the seattle streets quite late…

The tall tom brown flew out to see us , from far away London town….it was great to see him….and have him see us play with the big boys…

Show was quite on….we were going for the throat…and many a human was happy….
Humor and hits were all in a row….

After the set I gave tvotr my will killed hour glass bird….for their selves….i had a waking dream that I gave it to them…so I had to do it….
The least a killer can do for another fine group of killers….

Their set was hard as well….we played in the last of our shared light, and did it justice….

The seated audience seemed to absorb it quite well….
I actually made them all do a wave….
Which was rather enjoyable….more rapper heaven points for me….

Then we drank and hugged a lot…very warm and fuzzy…

I drew a garfield on their chocolate cake….and wrote fuck in flavored tums along the bottom….

It was very romantic….

Tunde had a brilliant idea to scrap their tour bus for voltron parts…
But we were a little on drink to begin such the undertaking…

Then we followed kyp and tunde to the Havana room by neumos….
Wher we bumped into onry ozbourne of old dominion…
And we drank and laughed and on and on…in the hiphop party, where they played several diamond d cuts in a row…which was curious…

Once the lights came up…alex was so drunk it was astounding….truly a blast….he kept yelling"comeback on Monday…." In the timdog inflection…over and over until it becam :gumpuk a monay"….tunde recorded it…and we laughed ourselves into our respective vehicles….

And we got grub and went night night….

3/ 26

and so the tour ended…

we had a nice brunch with tom brown…we are forever trying to make a science of the wide world liking our ever so challenging and often rewarding music….
Sometimes, its blood from a stone…sometimes we are lucky as lightning…

And then we hit the cars for money counting and the 14 hour drive home….

Tomorrow I will, go abduct tunde from their itunes recording session, and we will go record midas gutz II in my humble abode….some pho84 and Oakland creativity…

Plus I get to squeeze my cat and open all my many bills….

Coming home clear skulled, and envigorated….with a mildly ground down voice, and all of us just above the rent line….

Many a tour, or concert can go by, and we've wondered if we are actually affecting the outside world or simply entertaining the few wonderful people who have come to seek us out….over and over…
But on this tour, we could step back every night and say, well there;s a slab of people touched that were before foreign to us….a tangible and chest settling product of our hard work and favorite thing on earth….

And so the tour diary dies, in the old ides of march….
We are as happy as we were the day we began our trek, if not happier….
And we are surely more fortunate in all the most meaningful ways….
Until next time…
"Love thy boo"
and keep making your most must amongst the dusts…..

love
theSubtle6…

p.s.
and as I hit "command s", my phone rang, we got ATP….
Look out more famous bands, here we come….
With our skulls, spring and songs….

subtle would like to formally CONGRATULATE...

Buddypeace,

for crafting the winning submission to
the MERCURY CRAZE RMX CONTEST.

you can go hear it on our myspace page,
http://www.myspace.com/subtlesix

or on our website...
www.subtle6.com

Buddy won after a long line of several listens to nearly 50 remixes...
the decision was not an easy one...
so we would like to also formaly thank everyone out there
who ground their teeth and made something new from our work...
we are forever in your debt,
and happy to be so...

We the subtle 6 would also like to extend our specific and sincere thanks to
jake jones
&
playpad circus
they recieve our most honorable of mentions...
who's equally wonderful remixes made our decision a difficult one...

in all we are greatful,
and hope you enjoyed making music from our song bones,
We sincerely hope you enjoy the
Buddy peace arteryknot remix
of
the mercury craze....


in similar veins...

the mercury craze single is OUT NOW europe wide...(released november 20th)

the mercury craze 12"
featuring...a rmx by softpinktruth
and "middleclass haunt " featuring dan boeckner of wolfparade

enhanced cd single
featuring...a rmx by softpinktruth
and "middleclass haunt " featuring dan boeckner of wolfparade
"the mercury craze" video by sssr

and 7"
b/w "middleclass haunt " featuring dan boeckner of wolfparade


and it will be released in the states
late this january whilst we tour the west coast...
1/17/2007 Casbah San Diego, CA
1/18/2007 Howie & Son's Pizza & Beer Parlor Visalia, CA
1/19/2007 Troubadour West Hollywood, CA
1/20/2007 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA
1/21/2007 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA
1/23/2007 Nightlight Lounge Bellingham, WA
1/24/2007 Richards on Richards Vancouver, BC
1/25/2007 Lucky Bar Victoria, BC
1/26/2007 Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room Seattle, WA
1/27/2007 Doug Fir Portland, OR


we are currently confirming our eastcoast U.S. tour in late march,
begining with SXSW and heading east to a theatre near you....

we will also be playing all your favorite festivals come summer time in europe...

we are all home and gradually decompressing after the fall tours...
the response to our rather tragic tourvan robbery has been overwhelmingly wonderful...
the kind words and support runneth over,

i would like to personaly thank everyone who has donated to our deficit by theif...
i have done over 100 portraits so far and am having a blast doing so...
so thank you...

if you would like a portrait for pennies...see the link below,
http://www.astropitch.com/doseone/

and stay tuned for more fine music spangled
and tragedy packed
adventures of...

the unstopable
Subtle6

Written by
adam kidd tour
on behalf of
theSubtle6




9/8 to 9/13 Days one through five..
the rehearsal gauntlet..

dear diary...
things began at jordan..s wedding party, we all rejoiced and drankdrinks beneath the emerryville moon...it was great to see dax, and quite a few of our old amoeba co-workers...why and the handsomeboy anticon youth crew showed up...

Somehow L-ron da-versafier turned up...

He and I sat and spoke on this era of rap and the next..he and I always had a certain sort of connection..so we mused about the indestructible and ever wild, P.E.A.C.E.....and how pharcyde never rapped until they saw fellowship...apparently they were all dancers...and L-ron told me that ..soulflower.. was there first song, they ever recorded....which made me laugh outloud..since,back in 93, it was only after I heard that song that I read the source and saw that madcap and fellowship were also of this newschool L.a. scene...
So I told L-ron about me buying the only copy of inner city griots, at funkomart if philly....
And he told me about everlast trying to punk him at blowed many many moons ago, apparently everlast was rolling with a squad of rent-a-cholo..s...and danny-boy tried to fight pick on their behalf...

Then there was a weeks worth of nights on jeff..s couch and yoni..s hideabed...
Jeff and I threw around words and ideas for the next themselves..and he gave me his new demo...and I played the ones I..d been working on..
Yoni and I talked about women, therapy, our respective head spaces,
And then unfinished songs..

So we rehearsed at soundwave in Oakland,
apparently why? Is rehearsing there as well..
It was quite nice, we are used to practicing in an abandoned office in west Oakland...so this was like the ritz for us...

The hallways were lined with ginormous faithnomore posters, and digital underground....all signed....they even had a big ol.. tony tone toni plaque...

In the vending machine there were 9volts and rolling papers...

We added four new songs...a tale of apes I..a tale of apesII...nomanisisland..and midas gutz...we also did a pretty signifigant overhall on the mercury craze...and added the I heart L.a. II breakdown to I heart l.a....

And it all went pretty well...a tale of apes seemed to be the toughie...the others clicked quickly..but this way when we hit show 15 we still have a groove to get into...
Cause eventually your playing everything for a fifty-eth time, and wishing it were day one again, when you still knew not how these songs would work...





9/13...Drive day

We drive to grants pass...
And motel 6 it...
Nothing to exciting here...i spoke to Lawrence at astral werks..for the first time..and he schooled me on this soundscan future that was thrust upon me....after all my anxiousness, it really isn..t a big deal at all...i simply have to be , that much more of a flying merch bitch....

Well there was one exciting thing...we got the finished cd..s of for hero for fool...i was of coarse paranoid that the cover would be upside down...orthe booklet would be missing two pages....but alas, it just looks great...we were some very happy campers indeed...jordan and I swung by dax..s to drop off a stack..we embraced, and were off...

In the car I tried to generate new banter material, as I usually do, by being foulmouthed..we call it tour mouth...
I found a few endlessly humor fringed tyraids...to nurse..
And I also found another of the subtle/fog stolen romance novels from duke university..the first one, which I read from at the shows for interlude and laughter purposes..I painted up the cove r and titled it, ..when midnight comes.. by henry Rollins....
This one I titled..sex,karate,and science.. by albert Einstein...
And I had big plans for it.....but....see 9/15 Bellingham....


That night I dreamt....
I was a part of this collegiate traveling student group..we were attending a seminar in this ski-resort sort of a high rise building...and there was a rumor that robin pitt wanted to kick my ass for talking to his girlfriend...(robin pitt was my partner in crime/mind in highschool, we memorized rap, did drugs, and punched people and things)..he had recently found me on myspace..hence his dream time cameo..
Any way so after many odd and dream timed events, including a four alarm fire and a swimming pool full of two foot piranha, which ate half the traveling class..things seemed to calm down..and there was still no sign of robin pitt anywhere...
Moments later I find my self in the parking garage, it is poorly lit...and I see one of my professors...who is locking her car and looking very nervous to traverse the dim lot alone..so I approach her, and startle her, and she sees its me and we begin to walk together toward the exit....
Parked just beside the exit is a navy-blue pickup truck...as we get closer I can see there is someone sitting in the drivers seat...i squint to see who it is , and suddenly I just know it has to be robin pitt, come to kick my ass...so I tell the professor to run for the door, and she does...
As robin steps out of the car, and removes his hood, I realize it is noneother than hulk Hogan...

So hulk takes me and slams me up against the wall..suddenly I..m wearing a bookbag...he rips it off my back and starts to rifle through it...he says he..s looking for weed..and he knows I have it, and if he finds it he..s going to kick my teeth in....suddenly he finds a ziplock bag....but as he pulls it out, it seems to be filled with dry bean sprouts...he looks pissed like I..m pulling a fast one..unbeknownst to him this bag of sprouts is a surprise to me as well...he thrusts his arm into the bag deeper and finds two full heads of lettuce..which seems to piss him off even more...he thrust into the bookbag one last time...and finally finds a bag of weed...
He forces me to eat the bag of weed , ziplock baggie and all...
And then I wake up.

My pre-tour dreams are always some of my most fanciful and mundane at the same time...




9/14..Portland OR

jarring at best, there is this cold pool leap effect to the first night of tour...and I often feel pushed...into the deepend of counting t-shirts...doing whiteout pricetags...and finishing all my props and back drops...but we done did it...all was up and running with little to no pain...

And the show was great,....portland seems to specifically expand by 30 people everytime we come back...always a genuine laugh liking audience...in fact probably the most humor friendly audience we have...

And we vowed to always start at the doug fir...nothing like a nice hotel and restaurant..good sound, and an excuse to get drunk and stumble to your room some three feet from the venue exit...

They also have this massive bowl of salsa..ever daunting and middleclass rider proof...

Much to jordan..s chagrin,
Samweissgange the dj could not make the show, unfortunately...
He would harp on this for weeks to come..





9/15 bellingham WA

behold Bellingham...our new edition to our northwest u.s. romps...
The NEW Eugene...

We had played in eugene OR like clock work for some five years now...and when big abe neilson was there it was truly a great place to play..the wow hall and calyn always take care of us....but our last two adventues there seemed to be falling on deaf ears...all of the venue employess were front and center, and happy to have us....but the college town itself was not so gracious...

So we got a hot tip to switch to bellingham and we did...

And we had the best opener name by far.....stabbing hobo.....which makes me think of my young wigger friends from north philly, who used to light bums on fire and shoot them with bb guns...

Unfortunately, none of that happened...just rapping...

The audience was great..some very nice folks, and true believers in our solemn songs...

Also there was a very large woman, who came to me after the show, and said, ..my cousin lives in orange county and has a record label.., and that she was rushing home to burn our new cd and send it off to her sister, and that we are as good as signed....

Another nice gentleman gave me a hand blown pipe, which was quite beautiful, but you can..t take them into Canada, so we donated it to the nice monitor man..

We saw the beginning of a new occurrence, all these nice folks were buying ..for hero:for fool......and then going out to the car and listening to it , and then coming back in to see the show...it reminds me of me..bent very certainly over the few things that move me...

Plus its nice to pass peoples first listen tests...i think our fans expect a lot from our records...and its nice to see that we deliver on their faces....

I think the girl working the door got me sick...she was caughing and so on..she even did the big cough in the hand, and then handshake maneuver...and said sorry I..m sick don..t get too close to me..

We didn..t see much of the town...but cept for the two dirt lots outside the venue...

Unfortunately, the fan as thief motif arose again...(and would continue to arise on this tour)...some of my appreciators, are overcome with the urge to steal from me...and honestly, it makes me want to punch them in the face....
Some folks take forks, and that is part of that metaphor..and it..s fine..and elates me..

But when people steal my arms, or go for my skulls....it drives me crazy..I have a total insta-beatdown kneejerk reaction to it...
You can..t go stealing a man..s props...
so anyway...there was this kid trying to steal my skull..the house soundman told me he was keeping him at bay..and I let him have it..called him a thief at heart and all...later he came and apologized to me, and gave me a kiss on the cheek...

However when I returned to my keyboard stand, I found that
..sex,karate,and science.. by albert Einstein..had been stolen...
Two days into the tour...
And my kind heart spoke hate yet again..

I need S1W..s to guard my props...

So the owner of the club takes me into the office to settle, and we share a joint...
And lo and behold find out we are both jersey boys...so we reminisce about dirt park floors and Bergen county..then he says to me, ..want to see my prized possessions.....and I say ..sure....and he proceeds to show me a gigantic biz markie doll, complete with four finger ring and down syndrome glare, and next is his barbells signed by henry Rollins....and a cue ball with a bono death threat and Rollins autograph...
And lastly we stashed our merch in their venue and made for Vancouver via seattle..





9/16 seattle wa..

as always we love playing at chop suey..always intimate and passion ready...
And frankly seattle has become one of our most gracious and large audiences to date....they know how to get our goat...and we theirs..

While prancing around looking fo internet cafes....jordan and I found a poster for..radiodread...and they will be performing all of o.k. computer in reggae fashion..sadly we will miss it...

We also realized we wouldn..t be able to make it to the henry darger exhibit..which is truly a shame...my fiancé and I have been dying to see his work in the raw...

They closed my favorite..or rather the ..across the street.. junk shop and coffe spot...

I began to feel rather sick, chills throat sting and so on...but a manageable constitiution quake...bellingham whooping plague..

We were the chopsuey headliner..s for the decibel festival...
And the venue was full of two things...very nice volunteers who love music and appreciate it to the bone....and self important ..seattle.. music scene tits who kept trying to tell me and Jordan where we can and can..t put our merch...

I digress...this is why I hate cmj and sxsw... the performances themselves usually go down in a conveyorbelt and nearly savage manner... Lambs to the distracted slaughter..of a half attentive, half self absorbed insider audience...

So, see you at south by southwest...xoxoxoxo

Anyway..so the night was long, we all felt ancient by the time we hit the stage..and I think our fans did as well..

So despite a less than focused monitor man, and over wired small club stage being used for a festival format...we had fun...

Tried to skin our songs for those who care...




9/17 vancouver BC

always a pleasure to cross borders...NOT....

while we love Vancouver and Vic island..and montreal..and toronto...
We also hate cops...
Cops are for cooking and eating..not talking too...

While we were in there, a little girl came in with her dad...she was maybe 5 or 6..she wore shades and instantly saw the border for the silly thing it is...
Eventually she tried to wake the stuffed snakes which they keep in a contraban tank...along with ivory...gator stew..tiger bone powder..and a moniter lizard pelt..

So long story short, we made it across the border...

Jeff and I got a new coloring book...(.for the past 5 years, jeff and I have been..redrawing coloring books...usually and largely in a vulgar fashion...)
We hope to oneday..compile them ino a themselves coloring book...which will defiantly be rated R..

The one we picked up today is....I know the zoo.....

We arrived at my apartment...and rejoiced in the presence of my fiancé...
and cat...
At the venue, all was sound..Malcolm our Vancouver promoter, is pure peach...great guy through and through...

We had a Sunday crowd...not with respect to attention span, but simply size wise...

Yet they held on by the ears to every last bit of subtle showtime...

I..d have to say this was the best show of the tour so far....
There are a few people in the world,who when they are in the audience...empower me to the enth degree...my fiancé erin..my pop...yoni wolf...tom brown and Robert curcio...

Don..t know why, but I feel as though I can do no wrong when they are around..

So we did both encores..and called it a night...

Ribs beer and pot were consumed at our apartment until the beds came calling for us...

p.s. we got a parking ticket..




9/18 driv e day..

heading to salt lake..we plan to stop in boise this evening...ahh boise...ahh motel 6 in boise....infact, this is the very motel six where I did the intro to ..dark sky demo.....rapping on the streets of Idaho..

We stopped in Bellingham, to do banking..and unbroke ourselves...
We also picked up our stashed merch at the nightlight...and made for the ten hour drive...

Hopefully today I will find a ..clear.. skull at a truck stop...my last one was stolen from the edge of my keyboard stand..in london....

I cracked into the next subtle record writing today...adding to a few of it..s fetal poems and half tales....someparts look to be great...with a ton of elbow grease and reapproaching..and some parts are great already...
One day it will be done..

And the day was done without acusition of a second clear skull...

We arrived at boise at 4 am...dead tired and so on...

The hotel was a place of ghosts and the heavy set...
We awoke at 8:30...to make it to SLC the next day by 3....






9/19 Salt lake city UT

well I..ll be damned...

You can always expect one show that will, broadside you...sometimes in a positive way..sometimes negative..

Well this was all positive...we did about 250 folks on a Tuesday night..in salt lake no less...

And more than that they were a genuine crowd of the good hearted and..drunk...fine folks..

Really helps us pry the lid off of being in the moment, and have an exceptional 110% percent night...

The nice people at slug magazine handed me a trophy just after a tale of apes I&II...it read ,.....subtle...cross-genre achievment award...apparently it was a poetic gesture and attempt to tie in my tale about smuggling john peel trophys a few years ago...it made us very happy indeed...

I also got the chance to see Brisk,,,,a graffiti writer from slc..and old friend of mine...he is the gentleman who pressed ..hemispheres.. on vinyl some 8 years ago now....it reminded me of a definite and glorious time he, dibbs,jel,j.rawls,fatjohn, and myself had coming up in the rap game...

We also saw adverse...a deer old friend and fellow freestyle heavyweight...

So, in the beginning of the evening..a nice fellow comes up to me, and hands me a painted truckers hat...which says my name and has a bee on it...unbeknownst to him bee..s are my achille..s heel...

And then he reminds me that he gave me a painting of a bird last time we were intown....and I recalled his face, and told him that said bird painting was hanging in my hallway at home amongst our many hung things...and he smiled...
Apparently he is one of the more gifted writers in SLC>..

Anyhow...so every once in a blue moon, our thought loving audience decides to get violent..and it truly puzzles me...when I crunch dice in my fist and hollar M-class kill...by no means do I mean punch thy neighbor...

So...just as we begin the last song in the set...swanmeat...i see the nice graffiti writing guy sort of pushing and pulling with people in the front row...it quickly aggravates...and we are still only on the swanmeat intro....i then see him bassicly swinging on these four 5 foot tall sweetheart young lady..s in the front row...
At which point two local press people, who were on the guestlist and very civil folks....take it upon themselves to try and drag angry graffiti man out of the crowd,,,,which only makes things worse...mind you we are now only finishing the first verse of swanmeat...

I have a few stone set perfromance rules....one of which is....don..t stop songs ever..don..t give hecklers their undeserved attention...or to yell at the sound man...or to act like your guitar or midi-controler is broken...

So long story short we keep playing through the heart of the melee....and somewhwhere just before the end of the song...the graffiti writers girlfriend comes charging at the stage and she also throws this exorcist- esque fist flying fit..and the same two nice press folks drag her flayling limbs and all out to the street...

And that was that...the crowd and ourselves quickly brushed it off as a slight case of appreciative retardation...and continued rejoicing...

And we drove off into the thinned and crisp salt lake air to our waiting motel 6 cell for what would be three hours slumber...




9/20 DeNVER CO

and so we drove....dead tired on our empty sleep tanks through the dead of the day to the door of the club..

jeff and I were excited to see ravi...who directed the themselves and why? Videos...

And we almost solved the case of the missing for hero for fool vinyl...
But not yet...

All of us were rather spent for this evening..running on the watered down juice of three hours sleep...but we pulled our draw string tight and did our bestest....

The show was good, the whole front row was very talkative...and their were quite a few un-funny comedians there...
None the less it was a good show...and the sleep after it was even better...

I lost my voice a bit..always happens...considering I had a flybynight flu for the last four days...i think my old boy throat did pretty well...

It will be nice to rest it in the rental car for the next 24 hours...

Their was a thick air to the show...but not one that is unfamiliar to us..we first noticed it on our westcoast tour after the car accident...our biggest fans, or closest folks rather...were looking at us differently...between dax missing and simply being worried about us..they sort of watched us like we were ghosts...
And it..s a heavy yet undeniable way to be watched...
Luckily it fades after the first time folks see us again...
At first it alarmed us, but then made a perfect sense...i would hope that at the very least our art makes an emotional connection to those who take it in...and this reaction to our ordeal and the weathering of it...proves there is a vested connection after all...



9/21 Drive day

well today is a heavy day..

today is the day, we all drive past the sight of our car accident..

and we somehow all know we will recognize the empty grass and highway stretch where all went so terribly wrong for us...

And while we are not entirely sentimental or supersticious people..the act of driving past the very point where all went black, for the first time...is somehow deeply unsettling and a task to get over with at the same time...

At least we began the day, with dax..s favorite road food...

..THE uncle Hershal..s breakfast.. at cracker barrel...it is the champagne of shitty breakfasts....catfish eggs and hash browns..grits and biscuits....we rejoiced and thought of dax with all our hearts...

I also bought the ..talking tucan.. again..since it was such a big hit on our former themselves tour...nothing like making a cute plush chicken say fuck...and other things far to grotesque and dirty minded for this here tour diary,,,,

And so we hit the mid America...
I burned some cd..s for the car..
Battles...
A classic rap collage..
The subtle6 mix...
Bracken...(the new chris adams of hood record)

At wallmart I bought enough plastic forks to last the whole tour...
I also bought a clear shower curtain liner and a can of proper red krylon to make portable blood puddles out of....

Our plan for this evening is to record our acoustic set in the motel6 tonight..as to not simply suffer the burden of our sensitive and dearly dax missing selves...

It would be the least sulking thing to do..and so it shall be done...

8 hours later...

Alex and marty decided to keep driving into iowa...marty sat on his glasses, and they wanted to get them fixed in minny...

So Jordan and I signed three hundred copies of the ..for hero:for fool.. cd booklet...while watching twilight zone...

No acoustic recording session tonight...

I dreamt..
I was the guardian of this one square block in brooklyn...
And the woman who lived below me, had three daughters..all of which were being terrorized on their way home from school...one of them was beaten to a pulp...the day before..
So I take to the corner and find these three hoods...i proceed to mutilate them with my bare hands...i actually snap one mans jaw with my two hands, like tarzan would an alligator....until this store owner pulls me off of them..
A few hours later I leave my apartment, to get a soda at the corner store...
I am quickly surrounded by a group of 10 to 12 hoods...
The leader a 6 foot 5 puertorican cat....takes out a day-glo green box cutter...two men grab my left arm....
The leader puts a silver dollar on the top side of my thunb...and then pulls the box cutter toward it...severing my thumb...
Then I woke up...




9/22 minneapolis MN

so we woke an hour late to my stubourn and Canadian cell phone..s time...

And hit the road...
We listened to some demo..s
And the last fly pan am record...

We drove past the great nothing much of the Midwest grounds....big sky and dead crop a plenty....

At long last my stress-kanker soar disappeared...and I feel full humaned again...

Tonight we play the seventh street entry...
Quite a few of my most memorable musical moments went down there...
The first time I rapped on stage with sean,tim, and bren, and jeff...
The first time jeff and I performed ..it..s them.. and quite a few of our then new songs...
Our first packed themselves show ever...
A cathartic and classic show with circus and the whole anticon gang...
The first ..the.. fog show...which I had a recording of,given to me by LSD wez...
And the place where I met anna bloomstrand...who led me to andrew..s door..


And in some ways I prefer it to the triple rock...it..s a bit more built for speed...dark, low ceilinged, and dingy...

I have still not found the clear skull I so deperatly desire..

I caught jeff tracing rjd2..s face in the car...he qickly drew a hitler mustache and hindu dot on it, as to try and confuse me...but I knew he was always copying rjddog at heart..

And we arrived, not to the clatter and skuttle of openers unknown to us...

Rather to the warm embrace of friends...
Tim and mike from fog were both there with their friend rob...and mel Gibson and the pants....who we have known of for many years now...

And it was a joy to play amongst friends..

The entry swoll itself with people, and a good time was had by all...

Probably the best show of the tour to date...no prisoners were taken...

We got tom see all our dear minny friends...from j-bird to big bear of fog...

So we giggled and rehashed all our inside jokes from the previous tour..and shared some of our still fermenting inside jokes from this tour...

Then bear lead us to andrew..s fine home, where we secured patches of floor, and slept for three hours...



9/23 chicago IL

three hours later..we are all zombie..d out and assuming our position in our respective car seats...

And we half slept our way to chi-tilla for the always wonderful,
WIRE festival...which jeff and dax and I played together some three years ago..
With black dice..and wolf parade...

This year our friends were frank rosaley&paul Flaherty... the punks and OM...always a medley when the wire caters...

The rain came pouring down as we stumbled through the ever clutterd stage arrangement, that is multi-band festival soundchecking...

So after a rather shitty souindcheck..we began to drink beers and enjoy the empty bottle ambiance...

A few moments later...dun dun dun....the ..for hero:for fool .. vinyl arrived...
And after 6 months of nail biting..I finally could lay out the boardgame before me...and much to my un-chagrin....it lined up perfectly..and all the game pieces fit like a charm...

I had been secretly fearing that all my meticulous boardgame crafting would be for naught....but alas, every so often best laid plans actually work...

My second favorite surprise of the show was ..radley.....the old black venue cat..who boldly trounced across our merch booth and snuggled up in the t-shirt bin....he also shared catfish tacos with me some two hours later..

My new friends from ONO magazine were there..and it..s wonderful to put faces to names and complete the circuit so to speak...we also got to spend some sped up but quality time around rob lowe...perenial good guy and great musician of the empty bottle, 90 day men, and Chicago acclaim...

And so the mayhem ensued..
frank rosaley&paul Flaherty...were great..they had never met before this evening...and it was a rather inspired scronk ..a-thon...which is a difficult thing to pull off, especially when you don..t know your fellow improviser...or maybe that makes it even easier...

Then came the punks....not so much my thing..or maybe it is...who..s to say..
Four nice folks playing an un-song for about 20 minutes...it was like a live interlude in the context of the night...

And then we played to a packed empty bottle...and the reception was nothing less than wonderous...great people make for great shows...
And we proceeded to tear the roof off....i made fun of the cowbell player from pavement, and got quite the belly laugh from the uber-music educated wire/Chicago crowd...all the songs went off with out a hitch, and our raw rap classic Chicago audience blended quite well with the OM and wire appreciaors...
In the middle of the set..a group of wonderful people began to chant....we love dax.....and before I knew it they were making me cry...it really grounded the set in not only the music we make, but weight of our world, and more so in the wonder of dax..s touch...as I realized that he is a product of such things as WIRE magazine, having read every issue cover to cover, and having been the one who saw subtle a s aband when we were just his acquaintances...and it gave a sense of order and purpose to our soverign set and place in the nights entertainment...

And then we scuttled our gear from the stage, very happy indeed, making way for the several amped wattage of OM...

As I made for the merch booth later in the night...i was stopped by a gentleman..who said ..I bought you a beer....still a bit in my on-stage mode I shyly said thanks and kept my head down...the gentleman then said ..it..s been twenty years.....and I thought...who the fuck would say something like that to me...or better yet who the fuck would I have known for twenty years...and as I look up, I realize..it is none other than alex Levine...my best friend from the ages of 8 years old to 12....whom which I never saw again after my parents got divorced and repelled away from each other...
So there we are 20 years later lookin into the child eyes of an old friend hung in the adult face of the men we are...it made for a truly magical night for me..I got to meet his wonderful wife, and talk about the ..everything.. that we don..t know about each other..
In fact ..dead cat clear.. the themselves song, is written at a memory..s length about a dead and half mummified cat that was wrapped in decaying news paper and hidden beneath alex..s porch...in weehawken new jersey..

And the night came trickling to a close, as we headed back to patricks wonderful home, and slept our weary selves sober...for a healthy and hearty 6 hours...




9/24 drive day

we awoke to a nice vegan breakfast burrito-ing..as jesse and Patrick cooked up a small storm...we petted cats and dogs, and drank coffee at a gardens mercy...

Bills were payed online, and I washed my ever so rancid show outfit...

I don..t know what it is about my profusely sweating self...but my 7 show soaked outfit smells like a burlap sack full of ten burning man vaginas and a pinch of vineagar...i may look rich and powerful up there but I have the scent of a pauper for sure....

So we left at around two..and the rest was straight driving...

We listened to...
Patricks cd collection..
Shellac
These arms are snakes..
Storm and stress
Fly pan am..
Windy and carl
And some neil hamburger pranks from 92...

Always a pleasure..

We arrived in pittsburg late that night...

Alex and marty signed cd booklets while jeff cell-phoned the night away...
And good sleep was had by all..




9/25 baltimore maryland

and the day began at bob evans....we all ate grease, and I drew a rather revolting nativity scene with the kids crayons and my placemat...

Hopefully today, I will find my clear skull at a pennsylvania truck stop...

Last time jeff and I played Baltimore, was slept 13th 2001, two days after we were stranded in none other than nyc for September 11th...

It was a morbid affair..but I expect this to be a bit more pleasurable...

Ahh the half packed show...it comes for you..when you most expect it...it is a slow affair..gradually asking your body to tire before it..s abscenece of crowd...
And nearly denying you the energy that bounces off the few fine folks who attend...

It was a pleasure to play with rosetta stoned, after much hastle and rigamarole....
They have the glow..and they have eachother to improve by, I expect to see good things come of them...

We had Indian food..

And jeff..s l.e.d. on the mpc went out...tragic glitch but hopefully we can find a way around it...unil jeff wins a grammy..and can buy a new one...

Or until he gets a deal producing the soundtrack for a disney movie, about two mics that are left alone in a shoebox in harlem, under a bed...and then one day...this mom comes into clean out her sons room, who was shot ina drive by...and she throws the two mics in the garbage, where they meeet an old cassette tape ,a broken record, and a cocaroach played by robin williams...and then the five of them go on an adventure to 118th st...to buy some chocolate thai,,,,and they get arrested by these two d,t,..s who always stop people with new jersey plates, or any pair of talking mics that hang out with a cassette and an old broken record...
So long story short, the cassette and record end up in juvie, cause they have no traceable parents....the cocaroach dies..beneath a whore..s high heel spike..
And the two mics are sent to a pawn shop in the bronx..where a greek gentleman marks them up to high and they simply sit , destined to collect dust , just like the heart of rap twitching dull in the chest of todays teens....



9/26 washington D.C...

tonight will prove inersting...winning .this eastcoast audience business is no easy task...lots of posture...posture posture and more posture....and we are after all...the def leopard of performance rap....so our hardcore goofy super self confidence, does not always jive with the local jive, so to speak....

but with krom, allah jah, and big baby jesus on our side we just might swing a fan or two from the tressle of his/her composure, down into the meat and teeth of our soverign songs...

Jeff finally renewed his lease on life..buying a new mpc 2000xl to replace his now burnt out one....it sure is pretty...we wish he could have gotten the limited orange sherbert colored rave model....but we are only so lucked..

My dear uncle, and two cousins will be there..they are two lovely young ladies, just having made it to the far side of puberty...15 and 14 years young..I truly enjoy showing them what their less than traditionally employed older cousin does for a living and love...

Otherwise I will forever be their older cousin who once battled eminem....and that would be a shame...or truth, depends how you slice it...

I finaly got to paint my portable blood puddles...in the black cat..s already messy alley....they truned out almost how I thought..I will redo them for the European tour..using latex exterior house paint and a much thicker drop cloth...

I also stumbled into a very dated and dusty novelty shop..where I found something I was not aware I was looking for...it was a dozen clear plastic eggs...as to resemble the chorus on ..a tale of apes II.......to the far left of the cell, rest the shells,by a door cleanly cut neatly stowed, each end set completely in its opposite half in it..s particular pit, in its original crate....
Seems like it..s one of those choruses that demands to me made tangible example of, in order to get its guts...

So..the show was good..we burned our blood up for a small but serious crowd...105 to be nearly exact...

My young cousins enjoyed the show very much...
Jaron the eldest, was grilling me after the show...what do the forks mean....and the the arms..and the key...and the scroll...and the skulls..and..and...
And, it was quite nice to give her their honest explanations...

And we packed and left...maralyand motel 6 bound...

Marty seems to have acquired an eye in-fucktion...sort of swoll and reddened...
A good old fashione stye perhaps...




9/27 philadelphia pa...

so we got into town early...
And I took Jordan and jeff to jim..s steaks on south street, for the cliché yet bestest cheesesteak in philly experience...

We paroosed stores and I had flash backs to forty glazed nights and blunt hunting days...it..s always nice and re-orienting for me to walk the streets I walked when I first got into music, and being myself...

So I was in this fed-ex spot, faxing astral werks our sound scans for the last week..and jeff calls me and says diplo is riding his bike down the street, and just ran right past him...so of coarse, thinking he..s joking I step outside...and sure enough, riding down south street is diplo...so I yell out ..diplo.....and he stops and we chat for a second, I had no idea he was from, in, philly....and apparently we had a friend or two in common....he knew my boy krystoff...who was one of my best friends in high school...so I invited him to the show, and we were off...

The show was o.k..o.k.as in shitty..techincly...
But as always in philly...it was a great perfromnace...and close/small crowd...

So there was no opener, no promoter in sight..little promotion, and two monitors the size of an average sized Midwestern baby...
But somehow we still had a blast...jeff and I have played philly now 6 times..and everytime, we kill it...and everytime we come back there is no sign of us kicking heads in...same number of people..

But so it goes... we are subtle...the finest unhype band in the u.s. of a.....

My old friend robin was there...(see hulk Hogan dream from two weeks earlier)..whom I hadn..t seen in 7 years..it was good to see him again and catch up...we were blood brothers at a point..and in that regard always will be..

He actually went to cub scouts in the very base,ment we were performing in..said his scout master was a heavy set woman who always smoked, and would burn you when she wasn..t looking...

Alas diplo was a no show...

Patrick left us, to go make electro party on his own..and we hit the scoukil express way, motel 6 bound and well tired...




9/28 new york city newyork..

well here we are again, our only eastcoast sweet spot...
Last tour we had a packed house, yet I was utterly voiceless...
so tonight should go much better..since I am at about 70 percent full throat...
Which is more than enough for me to see red with...

And tonight we get to meet all the astral werks folks..face to face, shake hands and show them how we walk the dog...

I always save a certain coal in my chest for the new york and l.a. ahows...to burn at both ends....i do love a big show, in a big city..nothing fires my nerves more precisely...

Foulnote: I have been wearing the same socks for the past three days...

So, we hit nyc early...loaded in...and then, on jordan..s good idea...went to see the astral werks office...

And it was, without doubt, the best thing we could have done...
It was actually inspiring to meet this entire staff of nice folks, who will be working our record...
Lord knows every record I..ve ever done has been released on a label, that is more or less one person in a room, with a computer and phone...
So the notion of staff was quite intriguing..we..ll see if it..s effect is any different..

Hopefully it will create less cracks for things to fall through..and not the other way around..

I gave them a copy of ..art ofthe demo....and the head of internet promotion was quickly bumping, ..every body fuck now......

We also saw this u.s. map hung in the radio coordinator..s office...she said it was there since before she took the office over...and on the map where Canada was, there was the words ..unhappy rapper.. written....which we could only think was about buck...unfortunatly no one knew the true tale behind the odd and marked up map...

We grabed the new sparkle horse, some dfa stuff...and some captain beefheart...
Then we hit the cab again...

And returned to the knitting factory for soundcheck...

We got some good news today, we will be getting a spin magazine review..whether it will be good or bad, who knows....but it..s a first nonetheless...

And apparently atlanta..s major commercial radio station, has decided to put us in heavy rotation..which is a great thing..hopefully it will start a chain reaction amongst all the other wise closed doors to us....probably not..but hey..

We also got a review...stopsmiling.com..or something like that..it was wholly posititive...except for the writers insistence that I don..t really make sense...that I am in and of the thesaurus...
I can only assume, in this day and age, people refuse to read their records...and my lack of vocal line breaks seems to make mush of minds in a processing sense...
Still strikes me as amusing that people think I am a nerd on acid, throwing words in a raffle wheel and spinning them into some non order, which I then sing sung...

Alex found a nice Korean restaurant...around the corner..
And jeff,Jordan,marty and i..all went to a delicious restaurant..where we treated ourselves to a fine meal..

The show itself was great..less people than our last show, which was curious..but other than that, it was a far beter performance than the last NYC show, where I was completely voiceless..
Forks were thrown, laughs were had..mains were pushed...

And the best part of the night, was my father, sneak attacking us..he got off work early in rhode island...and quickly hauled ass down to our show..while we didn..t get to spend a heap of Q.T....he is my favorite audience..and next to dax, only hero....

So we packed it all up in the rain..and sped off about two hours to a super8 in upstate new york...

Four hours of sleep later...





9/29 montreal quebec...

Ahhhh the border..we shall see how this goes...usually some form of pure pain in the ass...today we have two venues that are exempt..so in theory we don..t need work permits...but it..s never simple...

So fingers crossed we push gas at pistons across rain and tarmac...toward the crowd of cops that await...

That would be great, if we could just do a small private show for 25 cops in a strip search room...all set up our gear and play naked for the cops, to show them that we are sober and serious about our art...that we work hard for our permits...
I suppose it depends how small the room is....

I worked on the new themselves poems I have today...slow and steady writing to the cadence..three songs are now hovering around the 80 percent writ phase...

Spoke to tom brown this morning..about emi, astal, and all things related...always nice to touch base...he and I seem to be forever trying to generate some decent and well deserved buzz for us...always a challenge always interesting....it seems that we have been placed in heavy rotation in japan, on what is normaly all J-pop....
Tom and I often have so many ideas and so little control..the best we can do is artfully set up the pins....and hope all gets knocked down...
Back to the task at hand..

Man o man....do I love me some montreal...
It is where I met my fiancé years ago..

And it seems to cradle us...in a careful and serious sense..
We had the club just below sold out...or rather Brian our fine promoter had it just under sold out...

And the crowd was utterly in the moment..shouting out line..s in French accents, and simply being present of person throughout...

We were lucky and happy to play with megazoid...sixtoo and hadji from wolf parade..s new electronic group....there are not two finer fellows in all the land..

Before the show..We had a nice dinner at this jamaican rotti place...dahl and all the fixins...

Jeff and I went back to the sixtoo/wolfparade studio before the show, and kicked it, we watched the new Xclan video and checked out all the walls rob had built in his fortress of record...
The place really seems great, comfortable and inspire wired...

Then we went back to the club to see the opener, gezzelle numba one....and it was interesting to say the least...ahh the ever unferling mystery of the white girl....

And after that things were all bread and no ends...happy crowd and happy bands...

Hadji took us to the late night fresh montreal bagel spot, and we rejoiced in the quick and cold early autumn quebec air....

And then it was off to sneak into our super 8...and crash with all our might...

We got the coke machine glow review today, and I must say, it was truly inspiring, to not have people write about my voice like it..s the content of my words...or simply fit our new record into their impression of our style of creativity...
In fact it focused on the wiriting and its pit...which is a very brave angle to take..and I commend both chet and aaron for doing so...it is defiantly the most difficult route to take in reviewing us...while both the music and words are twice textured on the record....focusing on the words means they actually read them..which is what all to many writers seem to refuse to delve into...
So hats off to the CMG massive...not only for taking in our wattage, but for having a good name...probably my favorite amongst the websites at large..





9/30 toronto Ontario


well I have had another one of these kanker soars on the back of my throat for the last few days...so I entertained some paranoia this morning..and began to wonder if they are nodes....but if they are nodes , I know not...could just be low immune system ,low rest, and high stress..which are sort of the three wisemen of touring...

If I get another one..then I..ll go see a good old doc moon or gun near a venue somewhere...

I digress...it..s morning...and we are skirting across the Canadian super highway...into the fair city of Toronto...

Our last show there was quite wonderful...very poor sound..
But the crowd was great..and the why? Band came up to see us, on their way to buffalo...apparently we played in the coke bar part of town...which is good because the why? Band is like lil..bolivia when they..re on tour...they also do
diet-heroin and gatorgum...

So we won..t have them there, but I did get a call from buck65 yesterday, saying he was in Toronto and would love to kick it...and so it shall be....i haven..t spent alone time with big rich in many many years....looks like we will be spending our off day with rich as well paroosing the Toronto streets and haunts..

So we hit Toronto in the right of rain...and unloaded in the wet...

The sound was pure medium...
And the first opener silent years was great..very perty music..

Then we had ninjashighschool...who must have eaten a good metric ton of candy bars before they hit the stage...
I don..t know what else to say about them...

The show was great...the shitty sound sort of subliminated into something doable...jeff and Jordan said it was no shuggie...but things still clicked ...

We did have ..drunkensmurf.. in attendance..jordan put it best..weather she was good people sober or not......instant asshole...just add alchol.....i said ..well put....and marty said....it..s a t-shirt......

Anyway..she immediately took offense to some of my banter...
..who would win in a fight..me ....or coco rosi.....
And then the jokes to follow seemed to get her more and more agro..
Until she was demanding to have the mic..and when I mocked her publicly...which I tried to hold back on....she then resounded with a drunk tounged ..fuckyou.....
Long story short...she kept reaching for props and the mic..and my leg...or balls it was hard to tell from my vantage point..

Either way I eventually got rather harsh with her and topped it off with ignoring her...until she evaporated..

Rich and I had some nice talks, it had been a hot minute since we were sharing air...and I asked him to do one of our subtle remakes with us...we..ll see what happens...

And then we loaded out in the rain..and retired to misosagua motel6dom..





10/1 off day

well we rode back into Toronto..and found non-denny..s breakfast..

Patrick and I had date walnut smoothies...and we looked in the city paper for when ..science of sleep.. was playing...

Then we tooled around till it began...nothing to interesting...

Oh yeah, we read the urb review of for hero:for fool...
And boy did it suck...
Urb can get the duck sick for sure...if I have ever read a one and a half listen..s later review, that was it...
Pure gleening of the surface...
If it aint a trend they won..t spend time with it...

But boy o boy, was ..science of sleep.. fantastic....
It..s always to great to see a work of art in the commercial byways...
Really got us all tilted on our ears, and thinking clear..

I even stole a line from it...

So Jordan and I had medium Italian food, and great conversation for dinner...

We tried to buy the new Joanna newsome..but much to our chagrin, it was not out yet...

And then we drove to London for the motel6sleep..





10/2 detroit Michigan...

Well here we are again, hitting the border...maybe we will win a baby cop this time..

Or maybe they will have the clear skull I have been so desperately scouring truck stop shelves for...

Today I got into the next subtle record again...adding the past two weeks of new ideas and stolen lines....and fleshing out the tales there in as it comes to me..it..s still in the pure potion and parts stage..some months before being ordered and intertwined with transitional pieces...last I checked,it was at 6000 words..and I still have quite a ways to go...
I am trying to enjoy the days where it knows no bounds, only beginnings and bright moments...

So we arrived at the magic stick..and began to bowl..

We later learned that we are going up against the suicide girls, who are in the main room....hopefully we wont get cold soars from using the same stair case...

Well wow..there is probably a more professional way to write the following sentence...however...
we just saw a new beck advertisement, for his new record..and I will be damned if he didn..t have some graphic designer somewhere rip off sssr...
We also heard he is setting his band up in a V, with his very own MPC player...
Yikes...blues thief ain..t just a river in Egypt...nuff said..

Unfortunately, we had about 60 people at the show..all be it, it, was Monday, but honestly it just felt very unannounced...or announced unto an indifferent reception...

Hey at least we got to bowl..

Our opener was the white roots...a term Andrew broeder of fog coined some five years ago, we had just both gotten back from our first u.s. tours..and he asked me in a frank and serious tone....did the white roots open for you in every city as well......and the answer was yes...

The show was about as good as we can dish out to a low volume of nice people in a very large room..sometimes such ratios are quite daunting...makes me feel like a maniac to be honest..throwing a fit for the few...

The banter was at a highpoint however...lots of raunchy jokes..and new twists on existing banter...i got to talk about the size of my mother..s vagina...her cezarian..what else..I talked shit on bobby mcferren and the guy from le tigre...

Just after the second song, a young man yells out to me..hey you were in my highschool ap English class....unfortunatly I did not completely recognize him...so it was not the uncovered connection wonder moment sort of thing...i kept looking at him and trying to place it, but only saw someone who maybe looks like someone I went to school with...

But alas...the night came to a close..

So we made the electronic parrot repeat the unspeakable on our hour drive to Toledo..

And had a psp gta mass bucking in the hotel room...

The rest was sleep...




10/3 cleveland ohio...

Yeeeee haw...it..s our release date....

Jeff and I always seem to be somewhere not so megalopolis when our release date hits...

Spoke to tom brown yesterday..and from what he says, the new boss at caroline..s new rule of thumb is...any record that can clear 1000 sales in the first week, is something to focus on...

So hopefully that..s us...one never knows...or put more plainly, I seem to have lost all gauge for the size of our appreciating audience...and it may have as well...but with a little luck our art will make the desks some money..and the number crunching concerns of the world will not impede the forward progress of our songs a sung...

I went to my senior year of highschool not far from where we will soon be...in shaker heights ohio...
It was an interesting place...my father got a job at what was then cap toy..s..they made stretch Armstrong and the spin pop..which as a side note was invented by two retired mailmen...and we had to leave philladelphia...which pretty much sucked for the young me..however all things break to later fit...in cleveland I met sam skeist, who was pretty much the catalyst for me beginning to freestyle all the time...we were without doubt birds of a feather..he transplanted from Chicago..and me from philly...together we wrote graffiti on rich peoples things and freestyled and listened to saafir on repeat...
And if it weren..t for the time we spent removed from major metropolitan areas..our boredom would not have driven us to our creativity..same goes for the time I spent in cincinnatti...


Today at an Einstein brothers bagel shop an hour outside Toledo, I was walking out the exit...i paused by the dailynews rack to gleen the death from the front page of todays paper, you never know it could have eaten my home town off the face of the earth...and suddenly someone bumps me...full on...just shy of a shoulder check in fact...i look up, and it is none other than sean lennon...so I say, ..oh excuse me.....and he says....yeah sure your sorry, you fucking sod.....i shit you not..so I turn around and look at jeff..and before I know it..Patrick our peaceful and vegan minded soundman, leaps out of line and smashes sean lennon over the head with a stout bottle of martenellis apple uice..as sean..s body falls to the floor..Patrick cry..s out, ..that..s for your inadvertent influence on the gradual dissolve of steve albini..s talent and relevance to the preogression of home recording and music in general....
Alarmed to say the least...we all shuffle off quickly making for the rental vans, as sean..s entorage and many managers blow past us, rushing to the side of their fallen angel..laying in good apple juice and broken glass by the daily news rack and yesterday..s death in fine print....

Well we hit Cleveland hts...early..and jeff and I went to do laundry..since our tour outfits were rancid..mine especially...and all our socks were soiled...
It was nice cause they also had tanning booths at the Laundromat...

Meanwhile the rest of the gang went to the rock and roll hall of fame....to see mick jaggers jump suit, and pete townsend..s goldened and gone chochlea mounted on a rose stem and sealed in a plexiglass box....

We walked the strip..which I walked as a 17 year old rap loving fire freestyling footballin paintmarkering highschooler...
It was oddly depressing for one reason or another..

Jeff and I bought patrick a ..bonus......it was a ten inch rockyiV pin..like the oldn.k.o.t.b.pins.....depicting a russian flag spangled boxing glove and a stars and stripes spangled glove colliding in an explosion....and it reads ..rocky iV....the war.....

There was a great article in the local paper...but we were sort of sure there would be no one at the show...

The grog shop had a great juke box..everything form my bloody valentine to the second ghetto boys re cord...

So the night rolled on...and people actually showed up...who would have thunk it..and many of them were down right pure appreciators, who made for quite the nice audience...

Some hour or so before the show...jeff was digging around in a beer coated file cabinet, and found the venue..s box of demos..

And I don..t know weather the world knows this or not, but I have recently become obsessed with the bad demo...

So we pillaged looking for the best titles band names and songs...
It..s sort of like picking cantalope..you just get that feeling or you don..t...
Here are some of the names that made us stop dead and steal...
Steve Dracula
Dudes of hazard
Al & the coholics
Bob..s country bunker
Money for gyros
crazyspoon
Utterless cows
Mother jugs and speed
Needles to say tomorrow..s long drive day will be entertaining...

The show itself was great..we dug in our cleetes and kicked teeth..the sound was a bit f.u.b.a.r...d for the first few songs, but it quickly picked up...i think our much neglected ohio faithful audience was fulfilled...and I was quite greatful to not be playing an empty house..so we spent our sweat..

And then all convened at the bar for our ..release day.. shots...and poof..
Fool..s was drunk...

We did have a tragedy at the end of the night...
While I was talking with a loud half drunk nice man at the bar about the paris &chuck d record...
Jeff dropped whitey, our bust and skull center piece, outside the venue...smashing him to about twenty pieces..

When I found him smashed, I was pretty heart broken...
I truly love whitey, he survived the crash,
and speaks volumes to me as our center piece..
So jeff and I got in a fight right quick..
And later made up...
And I quickly broke out my secret crazyglue stash and began glueing whitey back together...
And of coarse..it began to look much cooler half smashed than it did whole...
So tomorrow I will hit wall mart and get some proper epoxy, and red paint..and make ..A new whitey.....

Alex passed out in the backseat of the car...and refused to get up..we debated carrying him like a toddler...and decided instead to...just lock him in the car..and went to bed..

It was only for four hours anyway..




10/4 knoxville Tennessee

well another three hour night of sleep...
Always not so good for my tour worn throat...
But what can you do...
Old Knoxville ain..t getting any closer..

We got in the van and drovededed..

Patrick seems to think tonight might be alright...like Cleveland this is one of the ..first time .. city..s on the tour....so anything is possible..

We will remain optimistic after last evening...

Well, never a dull m oment on tour...
Unfortunately, while the audience was great,virgin,and happy..the sound was way under subtle spec...and my voice took the brunt of it...pretty much ran it down to a stump ....which sucks...makes me a big old stress ball when I can..t go 110 percent, cause my throat is down to 20....

We got to see kai which was nice and I also got to meet a nice guy named mike, who has a a cat named cisca that has no tail....

I find it interesting how I am always referring to my throat in percentages of a whole...like I have a diabetes voice quality pricker that I jab in the side of my throat...

The other big bummer..was some fuck stole our ..merch bitch.....my painting that hangs behind the merch booth..that everyone wants to buy,or steal apparently..after three tours..it was officially stolen...

So I would like to say, in all earnest...
.to he/she who stole it...
Fuck you..and skull fuck you beyond that...
You are not welcome at our concerts...
you steal from me...

I pity your parents and anticipate your grave...
May the maggots run you to the quick...and soon..

..
And to all those other folks at the show, thank you, cause it was without doubt, a wonderful and unprecedented reception...and we felt very welcome at the pilot light...as the band we are...

The jacking of the merch bitch was an unfortunate end to an otherwise great night..

Hopefully my toy voice will make it, in some sembelence to the next off day, some four more downsouth shows from now...

And to bed we went..




10/5 atlanta GA

well, we left the motel6 and crossed the street to partake in the cracker barreling..
uncle hershals fool...

I actually won the peg game to...playing all grumpy and voiceless...

I will be gargling with salt water at every truck stop...

At least I get to hit up the good soul food place tonight..and whole foods...two of the finer things in life...greens and toothpaste without sodium laurel sulfate...

Health corner: to those folks out there who get kanker soars on a regular basis..it could very well be your toothpaste..a lot of people are allergic to sodium laurel sulfate, and don..t know it...dax hipped me to it....over 90 percent of todays toothpaste contains it...
Rembrant makes a sodium laurel sulfate free toothpaste that I recommend...
The other options are the non-commercial healthfood one..s that generally taste like a burlap sack..or have strange over developed natural foaming properties...
So if this sounds like you, give it a shot...from dax and adam...

Got a text message from Baillie while slanted in stopped tennesse traffic...
Pitchfork review is in..and we got recommended music...and an 8 out of 10...and I would like to humbly say, fuck yes....and all praises due to ..the fork....we truly appreciate your listening in...

After the accident and before I sort of re-constituted myself, to be able to begin doing music full time again, I had a long hard look in the mirror/skull, regarding press and critics...and truly felt like, if we are not selling a million records, or selling out shows...and only making music for those who seek it out...then we should have critical acclaim..in an honest to goodness sense....it is the least we deserve and the most in line with our type of music making things could be...i.e. if your not working at the hit factory, you should at least be something for critics and appreciators to dig into...
And with this in mind I mustered a lot of the ..focus.. I used to finish ..for hero :for fool......so its nice to be regarded by the houses of good and constructive criticism....CMG...the fork...the wire....
So here..s to symmetry amongst parts, however different their die-cuts may be..
Twisting the night away...
Thank you good/interested listeners of the world...


So I get a call from Christian our booking agent...and he says, ..are you ready for this.....and I say....sure......and he says ..primus would like you to open for them.....and I said ..you have to say that three more times before I think your not kidding.....and he wasn..t ....unfortunatly we will be on tour in Europe for exactly the duration of their tour..so it..s a no go....but the idea of it was very entertaining...i will send them a nice thank you letter..never know, could be fun...at least I..d have good monitors...
Jeff kept singing ..big fat beaver .. all night...

So we arrived in the ATL...and quickly made our way to the whole foods...

I got some nice sea salt to gargle with...and my toothpaste...i also though it wise to eat matzo ball soup in the fever hot Atlanta sun....which proved to be unwise...

Eminem..s mom was outside the venue, and she kept yelling ..hey white boy.. at jeff..she was a hope smoker for sure..

We did a massive email checking...and then went to EATS...this great soul food spot right down the street from the drunken unicorn..best jerked chicken in town..or at least close to the venue...great greens...they also have a pasta line for the white people...

So then we sound checked...and boy was it crappy..but we knew it would be...but we didn..t know how bad it would be....dead monitors..dead mixboard channels...ahhhh the romance of our finite popularity...

That being said we were prepared for this....last time the sound was less than spectacular...so I drank a lot of tea, and we danced and sang...

In fact, the only kn own cure for bad sound, is a great crowd...and luckily we had one....just like last time only twice the size...really amazing folks there....young and old alike...there are some especially nice folks...who drive all the way from florida....and I must say they made the night worth it...

In fact this was the first time the audience began to bring tale of apes I to life...responding at the crowd cueing portions...and spelling ..everything is empty.. back at me...the song was always meant to be played live....

And that is that...we packed as quick as possible, since tomorrow we have one of those 9 hour drives...which also means we get four hours sleep..

Fortunately the folks in baton rouge are the homies..so it should be a great night...no matter the sleeplessness...


10/6 Batonrouge LA

ahhhh waffle house....the juke box stuffed with wafflehouse propaganda...the waffles....the air conditioning..
and fyi..if you ask for a waffle house ..fry cook.. hat they have to give it to you...

We passed taladega speed way..and there were thousands of motor homes cramed in the lot..awaiting cars in a circle at high speeds...looks like cowshawitz in california...which one must drive through in order to get from sf to la...

Where is my clear skull...i keep seeing hopi Indian heads and abe Lincoln busts, and pewter teddy bears..but no fucking clear skulls...

We stopped in laurel missisippi..for an oil change, .wow a truly burnt out town...made me wonder what the fuck sufjan stephens is writing about....i haven..t heard his states records..but it would shure be cool if he was writing from the space some of these states lost towns are in...but he probably isn..t...
Anyway..the downtown was like any old downtown...except everything was closed...or half closed...all that was missing was tumble weeds...even the pramenad and all its grass and plants were dead..brown before brick and busted window..dead neon lights half hung off ateout facades...the ghost of a woolworths sign shown in slightly cleaner brick on the towns largest and most empty building...
Jeff and I also saw the same woman beat the shit out of her kids in two different stores...
So heavy it sung...

Well we arrived into the arms of our wonderful lousianna promoters...

Probably the nicest staff and humans we have that host us on tour...
Spanish moon for president..
True gentleman...puts the roamnance back in rapping for peanuts...

Infact it is thanks to them and their good people radar, that we are becoming friends with tvotr...its always nice to add another wing of good people to the fold...

And things were well and fine...my voice was pretty haggered all day...three hours sleep and horse throat..just don..t mix....
But somehow it seemed to make it...i actually used both in-ears for the first time...and it was a saving grace for my low level voice..but I felt like I was inside a vagina all night...or bubble wrap around my head...for the most part I could ignore it and still zone out up there...but doing the banter, I just felt like my voice was following me around..like I was paging myself in an airport...but two more shows and I get to rest my throat like a ton of bricks..

Blah blah...

Show was great..rip roaring...there were some funny folks in the front row..almost grumpy..three dudes..and I somehow kept picking them out in my banter...and they would try and straight face me...they must have been artists or record store employees....or both....
All in all it was a pretty full house and everyone was quite into the moment...

About a half hour before I went on, a really nice woman came up to me, and said ..hi, I saw you last time..and I brought a friend, she is deaf...so I was wondering if you could really act things out tonight......
Which was rather intense, and set me thinking off into the distance...luckily, I am a pretty hand gesture-ish human being as is...
I did not get to see them later, but I hope she enjoyed it...

And I kept trying to work out this primus opener gig thing all day..crunching tour dates and flight re-scheduling fees...and it..s still up in the air...it looks like it would be pretty tuff for us to do it, and not sort of de-rail what we already have going on..but I..ll give it another days worth of managerial umpf..and see what happens...

And then when all was said done and loaded out...we fell asleep with a moments notice..at our lousiana motel 6....


10/7 austin texas

well we did waffle house again...and I could shit, just typing about it...
But man is that juke box great...


And into texas we go....cops, cops cops....texas cops...they are like the raremeat of all police, no fat, no bone,.. and they will give you the hard time you have been avoiding your whole life...

Hopefully we won..t meet any today...

It will be nice to eat well in austin, patrick has a lock on the good vegan spots..and I lost one of my old school rap leather bracelets..so I will go into one of the 8 goth apparel spots on the cum guttered streets of Austin...

Dirty city, but good folks..and it has one of my favorite record stores..waterloo...where I bought all my Daniel Johnston tapes...
That now collect dust in a box because of my currently tapedeckless existence...

Well I got hit by writing lightning today..first time in a while...i was getting the feeling I should crack open the next subtle record...and sure enough..the dyke burst...wrote a good three pages..in various portions of the piece...really had a breakthrough with the long vein of the law..s legend, and relationship to YES and the great nothing much....also fired off some great odd-heavy lesser lore...
And so, in light of this writing...
It was an irreplaceable day...
In a car stretching across highway..

We loaded in swiftly after the endless drive...much to our surprise, emo..s has a new room..and it has real monitors....whoooohooo...we rejoiced..it was actually a pleasure to play the new room..the feng shui of the joint is not so perfect yet...some weird bench placement, and ex..danceclub walls in the wrong place...but the vibe was much better..and considerably less dingy..

The crowd was one of the best so far..well numbered and opener proof..they stayed with us all night...

I used both in ears again..and it was a bit more tuned in than the first time I did it...we put it down, big city style...and had a blast...

I stole plastic forks from the club...about seven swollen handfuls...there I said it...

Look at me calling lightning to srike he/or she who stole my merch bitch painting...and then stealing forks the next night...i suppose it..s caddy to steal plastic forks and be on a major label...or indie..one of the two..or both..

The back stage smelled of sewer flowers...and incense used liberally like whiteout..

We had another sort of dickhead appreciaor innovation...a gentleman ran on stage and tagged my Corinthian column...he wrote.....L V T....in a rather pathetic un-graffiti font ....and for some reason it didn..t bother me...must have been the Austin air...i will white it out soon enough...

At least he did something destructively different...

The bartender tara was very nice, as was max the soundguy...both made it a cordgial and welcome emos experience..fo a change...its usually pretty punk rock bouncer outa my way kid kind of vibe...

All of us spoke to folks, and met quite a few really cool and down to ground people...it was a pleasure of a night..

Then we took to load out, on the apeshit going Saturday night on 6th ave...
I would later call it ..retard-igra.....i did see a midget showing off with his stripper girlfirend...struting in the wileout air...

We got hotdogs from a cardboardbox, and krept to sleepcomas in the motel6...


10/8 denton texas..

so we got some good sleep..and awoke to cater to patricks vegan breakfast desires for once..he deserves it ten times over...running with us meat eaters across diet un-friendly portions of the u.s.a. and Europe...

and we drove back into Austin for mother..s breakfast...
We then went to two closed gutar shops...

Jordan had a premonition he would buy a new guitar with Patrick in austin...and so we set out to see if he was right...
We went to waterloo, and bought some music..I got me a couple Daniel Johnston shirts..couldn..t help it..his art is more gangster than god...jordan got the police dvd....and then we went into whole food central, to get lost looking for juice and toothpaste...

Texas is fucking hot, no other way to word it...it..s like an activity in and of itself, simply being you in such heat in mid autumn...

We then went to guitar center of all places...where..dun dun dun...jordan found his guitar of Patrick and his choice...a Silvertone ..63...

Can..t wait to hear it in the set...

I am trying to get Jordan to let me smash his old guitar into jeff..s old mpc....but they are both being bitch made about it...

And then we roled slow and brief to big denton...which is always a welcoming crowd for our many selves...

We arrived nearly late..to the nice folks who work at hailey..s...we loaded and checked....jordan..s new guitar sounds vundeba....and then we got shitty bar food around the corner....

Our openers were four nice whiteboy..s with 6 laptops....they also had two syzrup southern rappers who did to songs with them...i have always wished I had a southern accent...in some far corner of me...and I truly admire the drawl and syzurp style, when its at its best...this sort of commandeering of all slang...and their swagger, the heavily sedated yet in complete control delivery...gave me some fodder for thought...

We missed fog on this hallowed night...this was the city where we had a terrible turnout, and a shit load of fun...andrew had bought tim a knights helmet, and we all had fun trying it on and slapping eachother...

This time around despite the Sunday-ness...we had a pretty good turnout..enough humans to fill the front of the room and make us feel at home...

The show was good, we were all a bit bushed...it has been a long two weeks...14 shows in 15 days...is always somewhat brutal....nonetheless there were some bright moments...
The uncomfortable thing about hailey..s is that there is no backstage, so we have to get changed in the slight hallway where they stash the monitors and old disco globes....
As usual with denton, we had some thoroughly drunk fans in attendance...saying the most interesting things in confidence to you...

Before the show, there were a large handful of folks stuck outside the door, waiting for it to open so alex lit off his south aquired fireworks....apparently it was a big hit...

And that was that...it was one of those shows that fell into the category of work day...
And then motel 6..and then sleep..and then day...



10/9 drive day....

ahhhhh the sprawling and arid lengths of texas...

Today we will drive all day and still not reach its ends...

Still no clearskull for darkboy...i got close, I found a skull smoking a joint on an ashtray, but alas this is not the point I..m trying to get across...

I leaned into the subtle writing again...when it rains it pours, I had another very healthy fleshing out of things...and uncovered some things I had zero recollection of writing...which is always nice, it..s like finding jewelry in a box in your atic...

Not that I..ve ever had an attic to find things in, and know what that feels like...but that..s what movies are for...

I got into the reverend pitman and his twin sons quite a bit, which led me to debts officer promise and his origin....it..s nice to finally write these pieces, since these characters have been in my head for so many years now..sort of waiting their turn to become word...and not just whimsy...

I also did a word count, and was rather shocked...14,684 words...looks like I have me some editing to do...and quite a bit of it, at that...i..d say I have another two three months of raw writing before I really can get into editing it and approaching it as a whole....these are the best of writing times..where its all about the fresh meat...no grooming, no stressing...only unferling...

And the day rolled on, nothing terribly exciting...some hail...some thunder and lightning displays...some cheeseburgers...some restrooms..and so on...

We stopped in vanhorn texas for motel6ing..and quickly realized we have stopped there before...jordan recognized our hotel, and jeff recognized ..chewy..s.. the Mexican restaurant deadicated to john madden...it..s called joh madden..s ..haul of fame.....yet from the looks of the place, he had only stopped there once...and they just took that shit and ran with it...

And that was that, sleep was had... And morning came..


10/10 tucson az

well today is my father..s birthday...unfortunatly he is france, so I can..t ring him...i hope he..s painting the town red..he deserves the savored day...

Jeff and I both need to go to bank of America today, the desperate deposit before our bills set on fire once again...i assume we..ll do so in el paso....just before we leave texas...

Tucson is always interesting...it has always been a 68 person audience, however we love steve eye, the guru of all things Tucson, unfortunately we won..t be playing in his palace, we..re playing plush....which sort of sucked last time...

Lasttime..
Jeff and I both spent an hour with a shit talking fan who was telling us about all the shit talking sole had been doing about us to him..as much as we expect this sort of thing...it sort of made for an unpleasant cap to a medium evening..

Alas, ricky, jordan..s wife is driving out to see us...or Jordan more specificly, which will be nice, it..s always a pleasure to kick it with her....and it gives us someone to play for...in the family..

This morning before we left vanhorn, we stopped in ..vangoh..s museum.....i was sort of determined to get a new ..merch bitch.. painting to paint over..and had feeling he had one...so we swung in..it was actually interesting, this gentleman had been repainting and revamping vangoghs paintings, they were all 1000 bucks and 2000 bucks..and I don..t know that he had ever sold any....but somewhere in a back corner I found the perfect painting...a woman with a guitar...whom which I would paint over by the days end...

Bit of confusion as we hit town...apparently we were playing second...yet the headliner had not showed up yet..asobi sesku...so we sound checked anyway...
Limbic system opened up, and were great..this was one of the few, all good music, concerts of the tour...

There was great turnout for a tucson Tuesday...150, just shy..
The crowd was a bit sleepy..attentive yet they felt timid...unfortunatly this was not actually the case...
Seeing as some ten minutes after we performed..someone stole patricks laptop from behind the mixing desk...
Another gentleman told us he saw the guy swipe it and storm off...wheter this guy was a fan or a professional asshole, we were all shocked to say the least...
There is no undoing a thief....which seems to be a theme on this tour...so jeff and pat and I ran around a ten block radius, looking for anyone with a laptop..but with no luck...

So the night ended on a heavy note...

Jordan went to the congress with his wife ricki, and we motel6..d it..
The motel was crawling, with what smelled like pimping..a sort of weird and paranoid permanent two point men, who would point the way to men of various shape and size...either pimping or drugs..either way they were not saints..


10/11 scotsdale AZ
well we awoke to sirens and a young girl who had tried to kill herself, she was laying facedown in the dirt beside our van...

It..s like a rooster on a fence, only different..

Patrick called all the pawnshops in Tucson while I faxed in the soundscan sheets..

Today we get to see jeff..s sister and husband to be..jeff has a little neice on the way, who will be in eutero attendance tonight at the show..watching her uncle play zip disk with the nimblest of digits...

And so we rolled on into the phoenix greater area...

Got in very early...and met all the facing newyork people in full force...truly beautiful folks..we hit it off quite well at a moments notice...and so we froliked in the dollar and bible store isles together, talking shop over subway...until load in ensued..

The venue was indeed dive-like...good vibe but more bar than club..more dive than bar almost as well..

In the dollar store the old man behind the counter sold brass knuckles in a package that read ..belt buckle.....and a hounddog cain that sheeths a scabbard...he suggested we would need them later at chasers..our venue for the evening..

Alas it was peaceful..no new violence..
Facing new york killed it from stem to sternum...despite some lowtech housesound problems...

And the audience was both ample and into it...
Jeff and I got to see our old friend Jason aka nobody the unkown stuntman, a rapper breakdancer, and homie from the 1200 hobos cincinati days..it wzs good to see an ever friendly face in the low club light..

And then poof it was the next morning..


10/12 l.a. CA


the day of the rush...we got up awful early to make the amoeba instore in l.a....which we did with relatively no major pains...

We pulled into the knitting factory around 4:30..soundchecked like Rambo, and bounced to amoeba to do the subtle ..unplugged.. set for the first time...
However technicly its not unplugged, since jeff has a shitty boss drum machine...
I..d say subtle ..simplified.. is more appropriate..

Alex on cello,
marty on sax, bass clarinet, flute...
Jordan on acoustic guitar..
Jeff on shitty drum machine..
Me on mouth..

So we learned a few things...one we need a pick up mic for jordans guitar..and two we could stand to rehearse it a bit more...

That being said it was nice to do something new...and parts of it were quite dope...but on the whole it was defiantly something to ..undo.. when performing at the knitting factory later on...clean the slate on ourselves..

We got our store credit on...i got wondershwozen season 2...god bless them and their way with wit....a used robot chicken, which my non cable having ass has yet to see, but alias said I..d like it, so I..m sure I will..
Then on the way out, resolute in my not spending any money...i don..t have to spend...patrick shows me the ..thisheat.. box set, with everything they..ve ever done, most of which I do not have on cd or vinyl since its so hard to find...and I am a late bloomer to them...
so I shelled out the 90 beans..and a smile spread across my face..

Facing new york was again, gargantuan...made my neck heart..or hurt rather...

Got to see the extended family of coarse...robert curcio from mush,...boombip...chris martins from filter..and chris ruffatto of awake films

Always nice to have more than one friend in the house..helps me be in the moment a bit more...sometimes a packed show with no friends makes you feel like the guy in the micky mouse suit at a theme park...

For us, it was probably the best performance of the tour...both loose and tight...relaxed with pep as rakim would say in his first twilight...

And then we packed up slowly , spending as much time with our friends as ..loadout..-ingly possible...and rolled to jordans home in ventura to crash the night away...

Unfortunately winona rider did not show up with Edward furlong and devandra barnheart..maybe next time...
however I did piss on an abandoned spotlight on Hollywood boulevard...


10/13 pamona CA


we awoke and did money math over coffee..paying out the dole on credit cards maxed and fully extended...rental car..s..plane tickets purchased..and so on...
We also did our head down individual eamil rounds...and saw more kind words on pitchfork, this time about mercury craze...all hail to the fork...
Once again a great wording of someone seeing eye to eye with our work...
Makes us grin...

After said money counting and cleaving, and emailing, we got some breakfast...

And then we were off to Pomona, a whole one and some hours away...
I have a good feeling about the show tonight , we shall see, if we are in the big room it could be a bit creepy..but you never know, it is a Friday.....

Well turns out that facing new york brought in quite the healthy amount of fans....we actually had 4 more people than we did in l.a....which was a welcome surprise...

The show was good, a bit underwhelming on our part...after the big l.a. show it was kind of hard to stay focused...in comparison....but we played loose tight again...the sound on stage was a bit rec-center..to boomy...no clear earful...
We had fun nonetheless...

I would have to say that getting to know the facing newyork guys was one of the highlights of the tour for me..great fucking folks...true blue...and their one hell of a band...pleasure all the way around..

I also got to see yet another old friend...
This has been by far the most old friend reconnecting tour jeff and I have ever been on...
our boy andre highland, aka tracey dean...was there, and it is always good to see him..let me rephrase, I haven..t seen him in 6 years, so it was really great to see him again...he is in fact.. one of my favorite artists...always himself...

What else....the nice young woman who made the all felt purple dressed as jesus shirt..made a for hero for fool dress...which was rather lovely...she consistently blows my mind...i like that in a person...lots of other familiar and friendly faces in the house as well...

Chris martins was there again, and it was a pleasure to spend some more human time with him, since we are usually rushing around in concert/work time...squeezing in emails between tasks....more ever good people in my book...

During the show..I was doing my schtick before the mercury craze..and all of the suddon..this fan has an uncontrollable love for jeff outburst...from nowhere he was consumed with the urge to yell ..JEL.. at the top of his lungs...gotta love the name callers...shouting out our real&code names with all their heart..

Marty got some sort of food poisoning...he was Ralph cramdening all night.....nothing worse than poison...in food..or worse still poison food in marty..

And we watched wondershowzen season 2 in the hotel...ahhhhhh the genious...more raunchy than we could ever anticipate...we the subtle6 are fans..to the bone and beyond...

One more soundcheck...left..


10/14 sanfrancisco CA

so on the last European tour, we made zero dollars...costs ate profits...so in order to keep us going on the tour, in a lighthearted but focused fashion...we would say ..last show in Europe.., before every show...

So in honor of such practical practices,...tonight we will also say....last show in Europe.....

Spoke to dax this morning, he is not feeling so well...said his operation last week went well...but he sounded exhausted...hopefully he can still make it to the show tonight...won..t be the same without him there...so our hopes are crossed..

We have some photoshoot before the show...we will be wearing our sweat stained and paintchipped 20 shows deep performance outfits...should be nice and riperaw...like grandma..s hair in the morning...


We did denny..s breakfast for the last time until the spring...oh woes us...

Thisheat box set for president...

And then we passed cow-shwitz...the five miles of cattle cramed corrals..the air is thick with animal dissasemblage and excretion..it is a treacherous tourist detraction that features itself on the drive from l.a. to s..f. ...or the otherway around...

Hot damn...when all was said and done...s.f. was the best show of the tour...
All of our loved ones in attendance..dax..s being there making things especially signifigant...
It is still very difficult to deal with the dichotomy that has become, our new situation...to go on the road without dax, is something that is truly heart breaking..simply not having him there for the everyday nuance, nonsense and dilemma of being on tour...and when I see him, like last night, I get pretty overwhelmed with how much I miss him...so long story short, it was a joy to see him, for the twenty minutes of cramped club time...
And inspiring yet heavy to see him watching us..his presence will always be missing on stage...

The show was soldout..quite early...and the crowd was a dream...we played like kings for our friends and hometown..

Got to see branden(the pedestrian)..and catch up..it..s been 8 months or so since we last saw eachother..and that is too long...something I realized lately..with a fresh face, is how much I miss these guys...

Passage played a stellar set...complete with pure passage and pantomime...it was really great to play with family...and big shaun..dj sodapop scored the evening for us...

Also got to kick it with tony espinoza...and to hand him our combinate baby..a finished copy of for hero for fool...he is our new ushermuch..

Lucy brought me ..the toe lover.. a R&B rap-ish demo about a young man from the streets and his foot fettish...there is even a spoken word accapella ode to toes...

We slowly loaded the gear for the last time..dispersed the merch..and then Jordan and Patrick and I went home...to motel6 one last time...we actually did not sleep...jordan stayed up to take Patrick to the airport at 6am...while I counted money...

Alas we cracked a profit..slim but rentlike...and more than that the tour was a total success...we played our hearts out for those we love, and who love us...from dive to dive...from promoter to gas station...

That being said boy is it nice to be done..to fall from my skin and songs...into an irresponsible and recharging two weeks of rest and loved one...

And then there was the trip back home...to erin..
Brief and typical airport experience..I worked on the straights of this here tour diary and began to relax...

And will release to the stiffened schematics of planning the lengths of our European tour specificly...coffee mapquest and bestguess based decisions...in two weeks time it will somehow all get done...between Jordan and i...
We are hoping that we see the effects of Emi behind us, when we get across the broad water...the states seemed to be more of the warm and gradual welcome of our hard work..and wonderful fans...
We shall see..
The air of gamble surrounds us...


And when it all came to a halt, there was still no clear skull to be had..

..the Mercury Craze.. RMX CONTEST (updated)

Hey young world...

In the spirit of swapping blood..
and subtle..s honest to goodness collaborative inklings..

we present..
..the Mercury Craze..
RMX contest..

please feel free to download....the mercury craze.. accapella
at the link below...

www.subtle6.com/goodies/mercury_craze_vocals.php

And go for what you know...
As with all subtle songs..there are no rules..
Please take our song where it has yet to take you..

email an mp3 of your finished mercury RMX to:
thepropmaster@subtle6.com
there are no time limits..
or length constraints..

The Winner of
the Mercury Craze RMX contest,
as crowned by the subtle6...
will have their remix posted on our various sites
both on our website and myspace page,
receiveing full credit and our unending praise...
We will also send you the ..entire.. subtle collection...

..summer..
..autumn..
..winter..
..spring..
..earthsick..
..A new white..
..wishingbone..
..for hero:for fool..
..Hour Hero Yes.. spangled clothing..
and some gifts to be named later..

thank you in advance for your creativity,
and time spent taxiderming our solemn single...
Into something new..

Love,
theSubtle6

www.subtle6.com
www.lexrecords.com

hello all...

i have a massive tourdiary blog entry that i will be posting soon...

but in the mean time...

thank you entirely, to everyone who came to our concerts
splayn across the past few weeks....

they have all been night's to remember...
and to europe at large we will see you in a few short weeks....

and thanks to every one who is or has bought the record...it means the small world to us...
and remember, burn your friends, face, or fingers...but not our art....

below is a small slew of "for hero:for fool" press...
we'd like to personaly thank all the folks behind these kind and critical words....

love theSubtle6

http://cokemachineglow.com/
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38937/Subtle_for_hero_for_fool
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/5353/subtle-for-hero-for-fool/
http://www.30music.com/rev.php?rev=1731
http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/subtle/forheroforfool

Spin.com exclusive stream of 'Middleclass Haunt' (available on an upcoming digital single out 11/21):
http://www.spin.com/features/heythisisawesome/2006/09/060929_subtle/

hello to all and to all ahello...

below is the press release for "for hero:for fool"...
written by chris martins...
marking the fineline between information and folklore....
do enjoy...

"for hero:for fool" will be released october 2nd in the u.k. and 3rd in the u.s.
"the mercury craze 12"" will be out october 16th....

and please visit pitchfork for an exclusive press release regarding our signinging to EMI...
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/37602/Exclusive_Subtle_Sign_to_EMI

SUBTLE FOR HERO:FOR FOOL PRESS RELEASE

Subtle is the four-dimensional, mostly physical embodiment of our best hopes for great music. They exist decidedly on the fringe of the modern body of song, yet pump bare-handed the still-beating heart of that bloated beast. They are an amalgam of art gallery and visceral performance, raw outpouring and studied execution, wild fantasy and cold-gutted reality. With one foot in Oakland, California, and another in the cosmos, Subtle concoct music like youve never heard. Consider the rhythms, cadences and collagist
tendencies of hip-hop bounded on all side by the warm familiarity of rock (post- or otherwise) channeling bops considerable ear for freedom and complexity, all glazed over with thin layer of electronic frost. (No amount of genre name-calling would breathe wide enough to encompass what they do.) Subtle is a band of six meneach with a wide-cast net of good art and associations; each with a veritable arsenal of devices with which to wage pitched battle against all things drab and unimaginativetogether recording, playing, improvising and hoping their way to the far side of song.
Subtle began in 2001, its six disparate pieces pulled together and given a name by Bay Area musician/Amoeba Records dayshifter/consummate good guy Dax Pierson. The project is mothered and manned by Adam doseone Drucker (the Anticon poet-throat behind such celebrated ventures into the art unknown as Themselves, cLOUDDEAD, and 13 & God). Adam is the face and voice of the Subtle6, while the bands sweetmeats are comprised of: The cello and bass playing Alexander Kort; drummer, guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Jordan Dalrymple; drum machine maestro, Anticon aural lynchpin and Themselves better half Jeffrey jel Logan; and woodwinds mesmerist Marty Kalani Dowers. Dax works voice and harmonica. All six are composers, producers and ideasmen. They are also van crash survivors, incessant daydreamers, honest lovers and confused humans.
And this is For Hero:For Fool.

---

Three years ago Adam was steeling himself behind a merch table in Anywheresville, U.S.A., writing furiously on the scenes playing themselves out around him, lending their details so nicely to his long-evolving set of modern man obsessions. Hed finished the words to A New White (Subtles 2004 debut opus) and somewhere between his next beat and blink, a new chapter began to unfold. The Subtle albums, he knew, were meant to be a trilogy: a modern day mythology/poem following the misadventures and transcendence of a middleclass poet born of the rap gauntlet (not unlike Adam himself). Hes an honest mans rapper plagued by B-movie dreams and midday terrorshalf-hallucinations that hint at a parallel universe of propmasters and fear-exploiting gods. And while A New White (part one of the story) takes place in the bedroom and in breakdown (as the rapper named Hour Hero Yes susses his way out of or into his own body, tracing its lines and following its innate maps to some sort of core), For Hero:For Fool sends our hero out into the world that we already know and lands him at the door of the one hes yet to explore.
In January of 2005, Adam etched out a rough score in hack notation to accompany the obsessively preened story, Xeroxed the set, then handed a stack to each of his compatriots. Jordan dove first, deciphering the notes and translating them into actual sounddemos that the band would play to later while recording their improvisationsand then Subtle left to tour the U.S. A month later on I-80 between Omaha and Des Moines, their van hit a slab of black ice and overturned. Five members of the band and their sound man received only minor cuts and bruises, but Dax broke his neck upon impact. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital, X-rayed, and told that he was paralyzed from the nipple-line down. Dax, the heart of the band, is now quadriplegic.
Back home after the accident, everyone sunk under the heavy air. Thoughts of Daxs hell and healing wore on them. He was recovering in a hospital in Texas, closer to his parents, and progress was good, but the grief was tangible. Subtles improv sessions would sputter to a halt, old songs didnt sound right anymore, the new ones were stalled. But this is not a sob story. None of these men was a stranger to hard luck, and each understood that life comes with tragedy (and that to imagine it the other way around was to give up entirely). And while they were in their darkest corners at night alone, together they filled themselves with thoughts of how lucked they were to be breathing, to still have Dax, and to have a window for their honesty and innerselves to jump out of.
Adam and Jordan started exchanging demos and ideas again from their respective bedrooms in Vancouver and Ventura. All the while, Dax was toughening his backbone in Houston, beaming positivity through the pain and gaining strength from an international community of artists and friends offering support. For Hero:For Fool was not to be 11 songs about surviving catastrophe; it would be the album Subtle had set out to make. Theyd stay to the original planthe chronicle of Hour Hero Yesand attempt to channel the intentions of Dax as they went. Adam, Jordan, Marty, Alex and Jeff met in Oakland under the roof of Daxs studio (under his love and care) to flesh out the songs, sending music to the rehabilitation center every step of the way. Then Adam took it home and disappeared into his poets cave again, arrow-headed and determined to break his limitations as a vocalist.
In January of 2006, Subtle was finally six again, looking into each others eyes for the first time in nearly a year, and then down the gullets of their nearly finished songs. Jordan and Adam hosted individual sessions, isolating each members input and weaving it into the composition like a rare and prized thread. The final step was a week of daylong Dax sessions. He was nervous to sing again, the accident having diminished his lung capacity so much that the heft of a well-hocked loogie was but a mere memory. Soon enough though, Dax was grinning and crooning his way through the album. At the sound of the first note sung, Adam burst into tears.
A month later, Subtle was mixing The Return of the VeinDaxs favorite song on For Hero:For Foolin San Francisco. Theyd just finished their final listen and were mostly lost in thought when Dax suddenly laughed out loud. Anyone want to see me move my thumb? It was the day after the one year anniversary of the crash.

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For Hero:For Fool a rare thing worthy not just of hype, but of trust. Let it pull you into its uniquely skewed universe, and your senses will gladly adjust themselves to take it in in turn. The electro Dada stomp of A Tale of Apes I announces the album as the curtain literally opens on Hour Hero Yes. Hes onstage giving the insatiable crowd what they want: a heaping helping of stagerap machismo. Adam narrates in his most swinging spit-spun verses while the band blends organic, synthetic, electric and acoustic with nary an audible stitch. The songs sequel (A Tale of Apes II) depicts two art guerillas hard at work creating something so much bigger than the tiny basement theyre in to a dreamy soundscape of guitar acoustics and burbling static, heartbeat bass pumps and celestial washes of synth. On Midas Gutz Adam cycles through styles like a one-man hip-hop crew (gruff western slur-slang, a deep-voiced exaggerated baritone, his trademark polyrhythmic falsetto, cadence-heavy spoken word and candy-throated croon) as he illustrates a ludicrous scene: rappers competing to find out who has the grandest guts by disemboweling themselves on a table and measuring the length of their intestines. The Mercury Craze makes itself an apt single as the band turns their collective discerning ear toward stacking melodies over a bouncing soundtrack that wouldve heralded the coming of Gnarls Barkley had it been released when it was recorded. And Daxs voice triumphantly carries the chorus.
Throughout For Hero:For Fool, Subtle effortlessly shift moods and sounds, weaving individual songs with the utmost care, but upholding the art of composition all the while (see the cello and skittering drum-based Bed to the Bills and the jangly Dax-borne epic The Ends, both of which are standalone works of beauty and vital pieces of the aural/lyrical puzzle). Its the culmination of each members fearless career in music thus far, of their five years spent jamming together, of their one heartbreaking and blissful year thats felt like ten. Adams continual obsessionsthe neuroses and shadowy characters that have populated his songs for yearscongeal here into a fantastical vision. You need not be a cradle to grave devotee to partake, to crawl inside of the eggshell and poke at the yolk. You only need to be a dreamer yourself. This September, Subtle will take to the road again, where onstage For Hero:For Fool will come alive in a traveling storm of props and projection, band theatrics and virtuosic performance as worthy of playhouses as concert halls as rock and roll dives.
And Hour Hero Yes will march proudly forward through the doors of good luck and whats not yet known.

"now, this is how you design a flying hoarse" - a homeless man twinkle twinkle There will be no ape with a fire for a face singing a word like fate while banging a fork on a plate no gates no stakes no plants that are fake… just the simple tetrahedron and it's vagina of states. did you really think that hydrogen was made to make apes… or maybe made to make an ape to make a net for catching whales in space… and that's why we whale I'm crack some ink hugging the rock wind wound around bone… every raindrop calling earthsick. the universe is playing a close relative of bowling with our… "Eneby kurs" or "could you let it be a rock…" I see how kite and bones I really am and you'd excuse me if my throat fell out say I'm a window… and windows? and then that, while I'm in headphones in headphones…on an airplane in an earthquake skull sighted I can't see far away but I can see the entire universe and then I caught that…on a teeter totter feeling… like a fever or rash and all for my shoet film… arsenic sheik…she wore arsenic sheik flash flood in a plastic egg this is the obvious boy hitting… I saw a man hop a barb-wire fence with a baby under his arm a matress on the sidewalk next to a bike chained to a tree… earthsick One out of three says I'm a lie… One out of three says I'm alive… and the other third can't even say hi. and that's just a third of the time… "I haven't yet written the scene's that make up my movie" I'm american brood 21st century fair mad rat…the latch…and fame of he in that flown maze he shakes still coffe at the probable cigarette this here is a banger for the lonely, my age, and in therapy… bang life grows in a cut and bang it's a sunny rut… I don't care who thinks that it was them t'was money made the light bulb stem the final marble of math does not go further than the loaf of bread Wage that's why I write lines for space… in zero denial come on tax-man repo this A twenty odd year young man washes his hands he drew a line in the sand a foot from the water and said "free trips from here to the ocean 5cents" then he threw up a stand, and made a few million clams until a whale beeched at his feet then he judged and he quit and he walkedbuck naked back to the pert city where he then bent a railing around his throat for protection see what I was trying to explain was the way a boy on a bike floats across a busy intersection. all the world knowing that he's only late for dinner, and all that balance unferling across the sockets in his skeleton… he's not the million parts soapy water of a bubble… not the ninehundreth percentile. I saw a woman still reading hamlet to her murmering baby although I wouldn't know… we were all watching a 64 inch screen play black No one's plane had arrived yet I over hear two dying men with a lead wisper say "that there on the t.v. there is footage from the afterlife live srtreemed straight over the child pipe" wrists wreeking of cut glass… cut… it's the well water black of a digital clock.. it's what happens… the first lie is that you are unique in a remote way. a natural please child squeezing the earth around it's skin shedding fist. as soon as the stick came off the sand…they knew… that there was that magnetic something to the number seven… your son's band still isn't on the radio your perfectly good money was wasted on his com-degree he'll still refuse a blue collar like yours cause he saw what you got…. and what you got was mom… and then you made him. and there is still him. this one goes out to the angry fellow in his traffic… on our way to practice. don't let a sick sort of smile drive your vehicle besides… he plays guitar and no one needs guitar no more note: I guess sometimes you want to go bony and clyde with that skeleton. by no means does this song truly attempt to make any legitamate judgments regarding your son's band or "how was your day at work?" "I'll run till my wallet falls out" "I lost a switch blade running across a field one time" my ghost? A bad spelling of my wording…till the date that I go bad by. the half baby pour that wells up in my navel reminds me of children caughing from coma's up wing tips a tophat or both their losse teeth on their mind touning blood in the mouth of eighth grade picture takers while knowing to well that their plaster cast childhood hand print's already been hung out to dust on the yellowing wall of their go-going gone grandparents house… the second thing on mars was monkey bars the first was the big laugh, the last big laugh the fourth thing on mars was a gal the third was a bird the fifth a tile floor, still in its box and the sixth… the sixth I can't recall and the seventh I can't recall also… oh it's a shame only that stuff made it to mars oh it's… it's really all so silly so awfully awfully silly… oh it's a dismal planet all covered in stuff there are entire television programs man produced and ran with the single intention of likening the rock-star to the modern man and or woman sitteng with them as they speak things like plans for marridge and about straying from one's diet this is why it comes as no surprise that extinction in this day and age can be considered a lesser of two evils especially with regard to the last of it's kind being a male so long to live… every time you see a fly it's lived half of its life already now touch your face…sort of see with your fingers and feel for that skiull do you understand this I can't drive a car nor fly a space ship And in a response to such I will not donate my body to science I was in my bath tub the other day wishing for it to be bigger… looked up and was in the entire solar system… This goes to those who see the moon as another older earth's skull… Sometimes your thrift store hat still does belong to the dead and is still just perfect for the shape of your head Wow…am I lucky… that dream was like a skematic diagram of the back of my color television… Morning becomes a clamp and continues and there you are washing one of those paper weights with a real bee inside it in a real sink…and a nother… and another…and another…and.... all to the visible man-show-eye of your record collection, and the screeching of a once young head full of math. It's one hundred miles an hour from the swings to the pungent ugly honey of a dead thing. lastability of skulls lastability of sujects No one rushed the first fish to crawl for their more modern introductions to the egg… Pause: "is a bone an egg?" The lastability of skulls that sort of nonsense The lastability of subjects a light…that sort of thing… it drives…the act. the dark people I know fall the most beautiful things…why? the line slash line…it bites…it drives.