From Ryan: SXSW was a week of loud noises and drinking in the morning. “These are a few of my favorite things.” I noticed that it is impossible to stand out in Austin. Certainly not from any lack of trying. My favorite brand of band was the “Guns n’ Roses Hipster.” Low cut t-shirts down to belly button and tight jeans that strangled their exposed calves. I’ve never been one to hate on any social trend, but this one left me scratching my head, and singing “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times,” in my best Brian Wilson falsetto.  I will say though, everyone was amazingly friendly. All of those people were drinking all day and all night, and I never saw one fight break out. I didn’t even see anyone get angry. That really impressed me. Playing down in Austin was treat. I can’t wait to go back.

That being said, I went to Piccolo’s in Hoboken to get some soup when I got back. The owner Pat said to me “Hey, how you doing?” I replied like a wise ass, “Awful. You want to talk about it?”  Pat responds, “Go fuck yourself.”  Home.

From Mike: The Fire in Philadelphia is an unassuming venue, on a quiet shadowy corner with two signs out front. I don’t know what the one says but the other (smaller one) says “The Fire”.  We played there this past Friday.  The stage is set in the back of the second dimly lit room and lacks any sort of conventional stage geometry. It looks like a living room turned long ways. This, along with the railroad car shape of the rest of the room, makes for an almost vaudevillian like venue. The gypsy-like acts also add to this mystique.

Long story made shorter. The Fire is warm and great. The sound is not ideal nor the best we’ve had by far, but the charm and attentiveness of the audience almost makes you careless, without playing like you care less. I haven’t had a beer on stage in, well, I can’t remember how long. To be honest, I’d imagine one would feel a little strange without one at The Fire. Within the first song of the set, the room fell silent, something that is so removed from shows in NYC. The people wanted to be entertained and wanted to hear something new. They weren’t on their cell phones or talking about their week. They were trying to forget all of that.

This is what makes the Fire so special. Something like sitting around an actual fire with your friends.  As it were, the allure of the now infamous “beer” was what might have led to our demise in this newly depicted utopia. Four songs into the set, my amp stopped working. It didn’t just sound bad or start to crap out. It just stopped working all together. Luckily Ryan played a couple of songs he’d been working on to hold the set together while the sound guy and I trouble shot resorting to running the Acoustic in DI in time to close out the set.  I hope we play The Fire again really soon.

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