NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN Tour 2009: Day off in bk/Asbury Park/Stamford, CT

(before we begin, you should know i had this nicely formatted and even a few pictures added in- not sure if it’ll translate- but it’s on our myspace too: www.myspace.com/cobaltandthehiredguns)

Day off in Brooklyn

A day off is a complete must. I never want there to be one while we’re booking the tour, but then once you’re out….I mean- I got 4 hours of sleep the first night. Not my fault. I blame the hot tub. But I thank the cops for making sure I remembered what time it is. Right around 3:45. But that’s Akron. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about.

I’m listening to The Hold Steady’s live disc “A Positive Rage” recorded @ Metro in Chicago by our good friend Chris Shepard of the Illustrious Chicago Recording Company. These were the first two Hold Steady shows I saw, and they were amazing. There’s a DVD too- I’m gonna wait to watch it on a real TV with speakers.

Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. Aaaaaaanyways…last Sunday (7/12/09) we spent rolling around Brooklyn. Well, the first part was laundry and making breakfast and getting up slowly and doing band work. A lot of time in front of a screen, repacking the trailer….wearing cargo shorts and sandals…that sort of thing. Real rockstar stuff.

Then we rolled out on the 3 train to brooklyn. Well- first we swung by a sneaker store. I got two pairs of shoes. If you follow us on twitter (@cobaltandthehgs) there will be pictures at some point. I may even take one for this post. A first pair of Jordans is a thing to be celebrated.
One of two: first pair of Jordans. Shot of the other to follow later.

But then we went to the barbeque. Which was a perfect combination of beer an meat, except Jesse, he had vegges and vegge burgers. Which is also cool. We hung with old friends. One of whom I met before I could walk. Literally. She’s my fav. You know who you are.
Then Matt got given a free Banjo for SIX BUCKS! So we had to tow a few things back to Flatbush later, but it’s ok. We left the barbeque and walked to Union Hall, where we have the final show of the NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN tour. Hence the name. I had no idea how fitting it would be when I named it that, but I bought benadryl today (special note:do not mix with alcohol, says so on the box. let’s stay safe kids. safety first. eat your vegetables. drink your milk.) so hopefully that’ll help. [Basically, you can’t sing if you don’t sleep]
Union Hall is awesome and gorgeous. Like someone throwing a party in their parent’s stately library that also has bocce ball courts in the back. We’ll be downstairs where they have the most private bathroom stalls in this universe or any other. This show is gearing up to be of legendary proportions. PLEASE IF YOU HAVE FRIENDS IN NEW YORK OR BROOKLYN TELL THEM TO COME SEE OUR SHOW AT UNION HALL. it’s a big deal. thank you.
We tried to take the train home, but we just kept HEARING trains. Apparently they have a cloaking device that they use at night. So I cannot confirm reports, but one of us might have gone and peed at the end of the platform. I’m not sayin’ it was me, but it was me. It’s a design flaw of train stations when you make me pay and then wait fully 45 minutes. It’s not like I went in their with that plan. I think the rest of the band may have filmed it. I’m sure there’ll be a youtube video eventually.
So we peaced and took a cab, which was the right call.

Monday, July 13th: The Saint in Asbury Park

We got to drive down the Garden State Parkway. It’s really picturesque. I have a picture uploaded here somewhere. Mobile uploads maybe?
Garden State Parkway on Monday 7/13/09

We got in a bit early so we went and ordered Tortas at a Mexican restaurant. They weren’t half bad, but the Horchata was boring.
For a rock band, we’re pretty patient about partying. It’s not that we don’t. We do. We most certainly do. It’s just that we’d rather rock you than rock ourselves. That’s me anyway. Some people are built differently, and I envy them. But then I’m kind of the jealous type about that sort of stuff.
The Saint though- holy fuck. So many great acts have played there- Josh Ritter way back in the day…Incubus when they weren’t all huge…so that’s encouraging. We’ve never been to Asbury Park, we didn’t know anyone there, and that was scary. But the opener- Lost in Society- an underage punk band had a bit of a draw and some of them stuck around, a few of our people showed up. They were a lot of fun and put on a great show. There are pictures on twitter.
They have a great stage. And Billy, the soundguy, was AMAZING. Seriously. Superduper sound. He was great. and funny and easygoing. but mostly just cause he made us sound amazing. and SECRETLY they recorded video of the show. And audio. but we’ll get to that.
I want to thank Drew, the lights guy- he was attentive in a way a small band from Chicago that doesn’t have a huge draw or songs on the radio could never expect. He blew us away. Next time we’ll send him advance copies of the disc and bring a cake. Also- Randy the Hot Dog guy outside is a real charmer. He’s a good dude. Scott and Meg took really good care of us. Scott runs the place. He’s just a really good dude. If you’re in a band, and you read this- go to Asbury Park and play the Saint. Then go back, and play there again. And when you get huge and sell out some monstrous venue, invite the vips to an after-party there.
The video is layered, giving it an 80’s/90’s look which is suuuuper hot. I fucking loved it. And they have quite the sound and lights system there. Basically it was one of the best nights so far and it was more than we expected in every way.
Check out the video of the Wreckage from the show. It’s one of our new tunes.
http://www.youtube.com/cob..altandthehgs#play/all/uplo..ads-all/0/J3G60gVsfQ0
That’s basically what it was like. Most of Lost in Society came up and joined us when we covered Ruby Soho…I could go on…but I feel like you get the idea.
and then we drank some and hung out. then we packed up and drove back to Brooklyn to sleep that night. That house in Brooklyn may be our New York City home base from now on. If they’ll have us. We need to get them something nice. Any ideas? Seriously- post about it.

The Seaside Tavern in Stamford, CT on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Stamford is another one of those places where we have a killer place to stay. They have a trampoline and TWO DOGS. (we all love dogs.) It was kinda traffic-y on the way up. But not too bad, all things considered.
The Seaside Tavern has an old pro at the sound board. His name is Jay and he toured with B.B. King for 14 years. Hotmazing. He was way on top of stuff and laid back, but didn’t fuck around. It was too bad that it was 21 and over- we had some dissapointed fans up there, but the crowd was enthusiastic and a lot of fun.
But crazy thing: Jay works at the Carraige House, where Brian Humphrey used to work. So he knows Brian, which is awesome.
We also debuted (debut’d? i’m not what you’d call a “speller”) a new song called Lazarus. It’s hard as hell for me to sing, but it’s coming along. So if you ACTUALLY request it, we may play it for you on this tour. But it’s still fledgling.
But the show went well, what can I say?

Anyway, they’re telling me we gotta pack up and head out to the Clementon, NJ show we have tonight. We’re playing the Cherrywood. I haven’t told you about last night’s show in Philli, but it’ll have to wait, sorry. You probably got done reading like 3 paragraphs ago anyway. I’ll get to it.