9/02/09 Evanston, Illinois @ SPACE (Society for the Preservation of Art & Culture in Evanston, Illinois)
This was the night of our first show on the road with Anni Rossi and our second show at SPACE, which at this point has become one of our favorite venues in the Chicago metro area!
The crowd at the show were lovely, just a cool as you'd hope for, and so were all the folks at SPACE, whom started to feel like family. The Space people are exceptionally kind, and good. It's one of the sweetest venues we've ever played. If you haven't been to SPACE - and you live in or near Chicago - GO. You won't be sorry.
We've also started to feel a growing love affair with Chicago audiences. They took a while, I'll admit. I think they'd been playing hard-to-get. Looking forward to the next trip to SPACE!
9/03/09 Des Moines, Iowa @ Vaudeville Mews
We had played more than a few times @ the Mews by now, and this show might not have been the most thrilling experience in DM, to be quite honest. But the young, all-age crowd was filled with optimistic, un-jaded, energy, and this was a fun, shot of adrenalin for us.
The other enjoyable thing about our early evening show, was watching our number 1, teenaged fan, Andrew Fish, do a solo performance to open the show. I felt like I was watching one of our fans growing up - before my eyes. I got to meet Andy's dad too, and we talked about his boy. Mr Fish mentioned that Kaiser Cartel had big influence on his son, which immediately feel we'd become some kind of role models. Jeez, what a concept!
That night I could see - the more we go around and play in different towns, meet the locals, etc, the more I begin to feel somehow, personally involved in the lives the people in these towns.
9/04/09 Denver, Colorado @ Hi-Dive
After a ridiculously long day of driving we reached Colorado. All I can remember from the drive was eating some truck stop food and being SHOCKED at how good it was. Or was it that I, through constant touring, had become a trucker and felt instantly at home with the food of my trade. I may never know the answer to this...
Another BIG THANKS to Bill Kelly and family, our very generous, hosts in Denver. Not only were they great hosts, but lots of fun to talk with - and jog with ( as I discovered on my morning run with Bill - before our show ) I think Bill gave me a run for my money. For the first time, in a while I felt I had to prove myself ( as a serious jogger) to someone else.
The show @ Hi Dive was fun because of the fact that WE Kaiser Cartel, for the first time were the headliners, and the audience were all there to see US. There crowd was totally cool, easily our best show in Denver!
Also on the greatest hit list- for this trip to Denver, was a HUGE picture in the Denver Post to promote the show. There was great write-up to go along with the photo, written by our new friend, Ricardo Baca. When we interview with Ricardo, he was exceptionally easy-to talk with and, laid back. Thanks for the excellent interview Ricardo!
Without any further delay, here is said write- up:
Courtney Kaiser and Benjamin Cartel lead a charmed, if sometimes tricky, life.
The best friends tour the country as KaiserCartel, spreading their sugary-yet-substantive indie pop to the masses as they visit some of their closest friends across the lower 48. But they're also independent musicians, and that means broken down vehicles, inconsistent paydays and pay-as-you-go benefits.
It's a lifestyle that works well for the Brooklyn-based Kaiser and Cartel, who will drive into Denver for tonight's gig at the Hi-Dive in support of their forthcoming EP, "Rock Island." They were born for the road, as they've spent nine or 10 months of the last year on tour.
"We enjoy this kind of life with the travel and the music, and we're lucky to be able to do it," Cartel said via speakerphone last week. "It's special for us to do these shows in our friends' towns. One of the songs on our new EP is called 'Memphis,' and it's about a story that was told to us by our friend Brad Postlethwaite, who lives in Memphis.
"You're out here making music and touring all the time, and the people who are supporting you, they are everything. And they're the best people you could know. A lot of our new EP is about hanging out with those people, and some of the stuff we have on 'Rock Island' are about conversations we've had with our friends."
Sure enough, one of the "Rock Island" songs focuses on another long-distance relationship.
"My friend Matt Suhar has a booking agency and management company in Chicago, and I've known him for years," Kaiser said. "He's married, and they have a daughter, Stella. The song 'Stella' is about that family, Matt and Susan and their life. I love to go to Chicago and see them. The kids come to the sound check, and it's so great to be in their life for 24 hours.
"When I'm there, I play with Stella all day long. She wakes up at 6 a.m., and she's outside my door asking, 'When will Courtney be awake?' Because as soon as I'm awake, she wants to play and brush my hair and put it in ponytails. If I wasn't in a touring band, I'd have to fly there, and there's no way I'd see them more than once every couple years."
Traveling defines much of KaiserCartel's creative life. The band was in Denver in late July, playing a couple of big sets at the Denver Post Underground Music Showcase.
And the "Rock Island" EP, out Sept. 22, was hastily recorded onto quarter-inch tape after a lengthy, sleep-deprived drive from Colorado Springs (where they have some good friends) to Columbia, Mo., and eventually Rock Island, Ill., the home of the Daytrotter studio/blog.
The low-fi EP is the obvious result of a live recording sans overdubs. The songs, all originals save for a cover of Lucinda Williams' "Something About What Happens When We Talk," contain an immediate and raw electricity that is as stunning as Kaiser's blue eyes.
"When we listened to it, we could tell that we hadn't slept very much before the recording," Kaiser said.
Added Cartel: "But we also really liked it. At the time, we hardly knew what we sounded like. It sounds like an intimate, homey record, like we're in your kitchen singing to you."
The band recorded its debut, "March Forth," with producer Matt Hales of Aqualung in London. The songs were so undeniably winning that the duo went back across the pond to record their next full-length, tentatively titled "Secret Transit," with Hales. And now they're on their way to Los Angeles, where they will finish the recording for "Secret Transit." And play some shows. And hang out with some quality friends.
"It can be hard," Kaiser said. "The long drives are tough, and our management jams a lot in there. We'll play Nashville, and then have a radio gig in Louisville on the way to Cincinnati the next day. But to be able to get to a place and have someone you know, someone you're happy to see, it keeps you grounded."
-Ricardo Baca
BC