Hi blog fans! I know, I know I've been really lagging on the blog thing lately, but as the great modern philosophers say, "Don't hate the player, hate the game!" The game, in our case, has kept us extremely busy with both work and fun. I hope that this blog will help us all catch up a little bit and get to know each other once again…
The biggest news is that we've now been on tour with Hootie and the Blowfish for about two weeks, or for eight shows. The tour has been incredible. Not because we are playing great (which I, in all humility, must say that we are), and not because we are playing in front of consistently larger crowds than ever before, and not because it feels great to be playing in front of a group as famous as Hootie and the Blowfish, but really the tour has been great because the guys in Hootie and their crew are some of the best-tempered, laid-back, helpful and just plain cool guys we've ever had the chance to work with! Seriously, they have made us feel welcome and appreciated in too many ways to list here.
So far on tour we've played in Texas, New York, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Right now we're on our way to Nashville to do things like get a little work done on our bus, hit some media interviews tomorrow, and then play at the Wildhorse Saloon downtown on Wednesday! We're psyched to be bringing the tour to Nashville and hope to see a lot of our friends there…
We are almost to the pictures section of my blog, but before I go there, I need to tell everyone who doesn't know yet (duh!) that our new album "Crossroads" is available on iTunes in it's entirety – so if you want it just go and get it!
Okay okay – here are some pics!
First, here's a shot from my vantage point from the first gig of the tour. Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX is the oldest continually operating Honky-Tonk in Texas (and maybe in the world!) The guy in front of my microphone is Johnathan "Cowboy" Hepner, who until he went on tour with us was a 98 lb weakling working in a Chinese firecracker factory. (Actually, he was the second mix engineer on our record and has worked with the incredible Billy Decker making hits in Nashville for the last year!)
Next up is a pic from New York. The boys and I played on Long Island, near my father's house on the 3rd of July and on the 4th we celebrated America's birthday in my dad's backyard. Here's the Sams Club shopping cart full of our party supplies… it was a great party!
Everyone had something to do at the party, games, relaxation, bodybuilding/croquet competitions…
Bocce Ball!
Roger needs some tape cuz he's RIPPED!
Here's me, undoubtedly saying something stupid and Dave mugging for the camera.
This table doubles as a beer pong table too…
The 4th party was a blast and we hope you all had a good one too! For me seeing my family and friends was an amazing addition to an already fantastic summer!
Leaving Long Island, we took a ferry ride across Long Island sound – it was foggy and empty, check it out…
Fortunately, the next day we were in Hampton Beach, NH and the sun came back out! Here's the world champion Wiffle Ball team starting their post-game cool down…
Here's one from yesterday at the Wolf Trap outside of Washington D.C. This pic is from soundcheck, but if you use your imagination you can see what we saw during the show… all of those seats filled up with screaming new DDB fans!
And finally here's one of our front of house soundman, Mike "Hottie" Hotovec learning why you never, ever, ask Drew about his hair care products!
Also, we've been without our trusted companion, John "Johno" Arthur for the past week or so (he's been at his sister's wedding) and I know I speak for all of us when I say "Hurry back Johno!"