We’re in San Francisco today.  The last time we were here was two or three years ago.  It was right around the 4th of July, and we had a few days off to hang out.  It was amazing to see the Independence Day fireworks over the Golden Gate Bridge!  Tonight we’re heading back to Café Du Nord, the same club we played back then.  If the pattern of this tour holds up, we’ll be seeing a lot more of you tonight than the last time we were here.  That was definitely true of last night’s show at the Troubadour in L.A.!  L.A. is one of those industry towns, like New York and Nashville, where it sometimes feels like everyone in the room is very hard to impress.  You know that they’re either a better musician than you, and they know it, or they’re in the back of the room with their arms crossed, typing away on their blackberry.  Last night at the Troubadour was different.  It felt like a room full of our fans…people who love the music we make and just wanted spend a night enjoying what we do.  I admit, I was a little intimidated playing such a legendary venue.  I was well-schooled in the ways of 80’s rock by my older brother, and seeing those old pictures on the wall of Van Halen and Guns n Roses made me want to throw on some shredded jeans and a few bandanas.  Maybe next time.  We’re headed up the west coast all this week, so come say hello!  See y’all soon.

- Joe

When you’ve been in a band for ten years, gradually making fans, playing 200 shows a year…you come to appreciate the small steps that build on each other to create a career.  We just finished a series of ten sold-out shows in a row.  How did we get to this point?  I still remember how excited we were the first time we got paid for playing music.  I still remember sitting up at night in our dorm room at Furman, talking with Bear about how great it would be if we had a van and trailer.  I still remember the first time someone talked to me about how much one of our songs meant to them.  That’s really what this is all about.  The music that we craft somehow makes its way to someone and in some form or fashion affects them.  That’s why I love playing live.  It’s our direct connection with the people who get what we do and value it enough to buy a ticket, come to a club and show us.  Thank you to all of you who buy our records, come out to shows, put up posters, call radio stations and tell people about NEEDTOBREATHE.  We appreciate it immensely.  I guess all of this is to say…I’m really happy, and I don’t care who knows.  I’m off to bed now to sit up with Bear and talk about how great it would be to have a trailer that isn’t busted-up.  We’ll see y’all soon.

- Joe

Our Chicago date for The Outsiders Live has been upgraded from two shows at Schubas to one show at the brand new Lincoln Hall.  All tickets purchased for the Schubas shows will be honored for the Lincoln Hall show.  You can order tickets at the url below.  We'll see ya in the windy city!

Chicago Tickets:
https://secure.tecture.com/lincolnhallchicago/cart.aspx?returnURL=http%3a%2f%2flincolnhallchicago.com%2fShows%2f10-30-2009%2bNEEDTOBREATHE&cart=vA2b3YrAadJBXzCH%2fsfcYg%3d%3d

Due to overwhelming demand, we have just added a third show at the Handlebar in Greenville, SC!  The Friday and Saturday shows have already sold out, so get your tickets for the Sunday show NOW!  We’ll see y’all soon!

We’re a little over a week into The Outsiders Live tour, and I’ve been absolutely blown away every night!  It’s incredible to see so many new fans coming out to shows!  The trend so far has been at least doubling the attendance of our previous shows in these cities.  We were in Knoxville last night, and the show sold out before doors even opened!  We’ve been saying for a while that this is the period of our career that’s really going to be fun.  The places we’ve been putting so much time and effort into since we first started almost ten years ago are turning into sold out shows.  It’s been great having the guys from GRO out with us again.  I remember the first shows we did with them in Texas a few years ago, and it’s cool to see how well they’re doing.  It’s always a bonus to tour with people that you really mesh with.  Serena Ryder’s been killing it every night!  She’s such an amazing performer!  I can’t wait for y’all to see her.  We’re in Carrboro, NC tonight at Cat’s Cradle, and then it’s the big hometown show at the Music Farm in Charleston!  We’re pumped to have our pals from Charleston, Crowfield, on these next couple shows.  Y’all are definitely in for a treat.  Time to load-in now.  Gotta go lend my substantial physical prowess to the effort.  We’ll see y’all soon!

- Joe

Our show at WorkPlay in Birmingham is nearly sold out so we are happy to announce that we have added a 2nd night on Sunday October 4th! The show on Sunday night will start an hour earlier so you can make it to school or work a little easier the next day. Look for each show to be different so come see us both nights - we'd love to see you there.
Tickets will go on sale this Friday, September 11 and you can buy them HERE!

We’re all still a little in shock right now.  We just found out yesterday morning that our new record, “The Outsiders,” debuted at #20 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums!  It’s amazing to us to see how our fans have rallied around this record and we couldn’t be happier!  It was a labor of love making this record, and we feel like it’s the best music we’ve ever done, so it’s incredibly exciting for us right now.  We’re also really excited to see so many people coming out to the shows!  We’ve been out with Griffin House and Green River Ordinance for the last couple weeks, and the crowds have been phenomenal!  It was especially rewarding for us to sell out the 40 Watt in Athens.  The 40 Watt is a club we grew up hearing about all the time, so that was a very special night for us.  We just want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who went out and got the record last week!  Let’s keep it up!  We’ll see y’all soon!

- Joe