So we trucked it on down to the south side on Tuesday and warmed up the already toasty Reggie's Music Joint. It's a groovy joint with nice lights and sound and music memorabilia on the walls and in the table tops. As cozy as it is, it could hold quite a crowd on any given weekend but Tuesday's turnout was actually impressive. The stage was a perfect size for our quartet and we put it to good use.
I'm gonna stay away from really talking about the setlist (seeing as there is now a setlist archive on our website) but I will say the show clipped along at a great pace. The staff and sound crew was uber friendly and we played better than we have played in awhile.
This is why the setlist archive will start with Reggie's. For the devoted fan, I personally wanted to start the archive when we played Duffy's last week. That was our first show of the year and it would have made logistical sense. But I'll be honest. I wasn't as organized as I should have been and the setlist was lost forever:) But! Reggie's was the beginning of the "right idea" for where we want to take this band. So it makes common sense that we would begin there. Many more setlists to come and new songs are ready to be played. It is gonna be a great year in Gunslingerland. 2008!
Reggie's Music Joint
Comments (0) ... Leave a comment
The Plan
What up peeps? First off, thank you to Des Plaines for the hospitality last weekend. Feelin' the love for sure. We had an awesome 2-night stand in Gordon's hood.
Hard copies of Love Free Work are now available online as well as a download purchasing option. As always, you can count on our website for the latest information and studio efforts. It will be THE spot for our current tour schedule as well as new photos and other fun stuff to read...like this journal.
MySpace, however, will be more interactive. We will continue to add more live tracks of newer songs so you can hear what we are currently up to, even if you have to miss a show from time to time haha. You can chat with us freely and we'll try to respond as fast as possible.
Either sign our guestbook on the website or check us out at MySpace and TELL US WHERE TO PLAY NEXT! We will be listening. So grab an album online and we'll see you on the road. We're off to see the country!
Hard copies of Love Free Work are now available online as well as a download purchasing option. As always, you can count on our website for the latest information and studio efforts. It will be THE spot for our current tour schedule as well as new photos and other fun stuff to read...like this journal.
MySpace, however, will be more interactive. We will continue to add more live tracks of newer songs so you can hear what we are currently up to, even if you have to miss a show from time to time haha. You can chat with us freely and we'll try to respond as fast as possible.
Either sign our guestbook on the website or check us out at MySpace and TELL US WHERE TO PLAY NEXT! We will be listening. So grab an album online and we'll see you on the road. We're off to see the country!
Wise Tools Pub
First and foremost, we as a band would like to apologize to our fans for the way you were treated by our venue at our CD release party. We have always had a great experience with Wise Fools and expected nothing less on Friday night. The waitstaff was very professional and courteous all night as well as the sound crew. But as the management cut our mics while we were still playing and herded you all on to the street without jackets, the band was very offended and we wish to apologize. We will continue to make sure that, to the best of our knowledge, the venues that you attend to see us play will be inviting and a pleasant experience all around.
Now that that monkey is off my back, let's get down to the good stuff. Bad things aside, the CD release party was INSANE!! A great big and sincere thank you to everyone who came out and supported us. Every member of the band was blown away by the response. It was quite an experience. Thanks to Josh Bjarnarson with Hedroom Productions for makin' us sound great and to Sirsy and Soma Star for making great music with us. The name of the album, Love Free Work, is a shout out to all the faces we saw that night that were directly involved in making our music career work thus far. Whether you know it or not, the little things you gave us along the way made the difference between us standing on that stage releasing an album and going nowhere at all. Gee, this is mooshy. I'm almost done!
Personally, that night I got to see some friends who I knew way back as the band was just getting underway. They'd be chillin' in the living room while we were writing the songs that would eventually end up on Love Free Work. It just brought everything home for me. It was like we had been aiming at this night for three years and it had finally arrived. It was like all the hard work dissolved into a moment that will be cherished well into the late years of my life. It was like one step was over and another was just beginning.
And we began that step in Neenah, WI on Saturday night. Let me say this much. Gulliver's Bar & Grill has some friggin' awesome food!!! We love our food you see. Munchies are a bitch ;) and Gulliver's came through on that end. Two dollar pints of Sierra Nevada and Gunslinger's Dream all night?! W w w whaaat?! We played two massive sets for a very attentive crowd and had an absolute blast. I and II went places we have never seen before and So Far Gone was jammed into space only to be brought back to earth by the rock. In The Flesh was perfected and Byrn had the perfect vibe to kick the dance floor up a notch. Our encore was Spanish Rose which has been remixed and we held that song down for 15 minutes or so.
We stayed pretty sober the whole night so afterwards, it was time to get down to drinkin'. It started with shots of patron chased with pickle juice. That's right, pickle juice. How was it? Lemme just say I would recommend it to anybody. No lie. The drinking culminated in a chugging contest in which I destroyed the competition (of course) and payed for it 15 minutes later when the Sierra Nevada grabbed ahold of my brain and made sure I didn't say one coherent sentence the rest of the night. We ran into trouble as all the hotels were booked because of the Packers game (can't wait for the RV!) but we found some suites at a discounted price and stretched out after a long two nights. We shared some laughs about the CD release passed the hell out. But not before staying up for the start of the continental breakfast. It was us (probably stinkin' like shit) and a bunch of old dudes reading newspapers and discussing their plans for the day. It was a contrast that made me chuckle a bit.
The weekend ended with Kruser hookin' us up with some Modest Mouse tickets in Milwaukee. We finished it all off right watching some great music at The Rave and then driving quietly home. We have a week, or so, off to set our feet for the next step. We're looking into a tour and trying to finalize the online purchasing of Love Free Work and Gunslinger's Dream apparel. A couple more rehearsals and we go back to Des Plaines for a two-night stand. Looking forward to it! Thanks again to everyone and we'll see you soon! I'm goin' to sleep!
Now that that monkey is off my back, let's get down to the good stuff. Bad things aside, the CD release party was INSANE!! A great big and sincere thank you to everyone who came out and supported us. Every member of the band was blown away by the response. It was quite an experience. Thanks to Josh Bjarnarson with Hedroom Productions for makin' us sound great and to Sirsy and Soma Star for making great music with us. The name of the album, Love Free Work, is a shout out to all the faces we saw that night that were directly involved in making our music career work thus far. Whether you know it or not, the little things you gave us along the way made the difference between us standing on that stage releasing an album and going nowhere at all. Gee, this is mooshy. I'm almost done!
Personally, that night I got to see some friends who I knew way back as the band was just getting underway. They'd be chillin' in the living room while we were writing the songs that would eventually end up on Love Free Work. It just brought everything home for me. It was like we had been aiming at this night for three years and it had finally arrived. It was like all the hard work dissolved into a moment that will be cherished well into the late years of my life. It was like one step was over and another was just beginning.
And we began that step in Neenah, WI on Saturday night. Let me say this much. Gulliver's Bar & Grill has some friggin' awesome food!!! We love our food you see. Munchies are a bitch ;) and Gulliver's came through on that end. Two dollar pints of Sierra Nevada and Gunslinger's Dream all night?! W w w whaaat?! We played two massive sets for a very attentive crowd and had an absolute blast. I and II went places we have never seen before and So Far Gone was jammed into space only to be brought back to earth by the rock. In The Flesh was perfected and Byrn had the perfect vibe to kick the dance floor up a notch. Our encore was Spanish Rose which has been remixed and we held that song down for 15 minutes or so.
We stayed pretty sober the whole night so afterwards, it was time to get down to drinkin'. It started with shots of patron chased with pickle juice. That's right, pickle juice. How was it? Lemme just say I would recommend it to anybody. No lie. The drinking culminated in a chugging contest in which I destroyed the competition (of course) and payed for it 15 minutes later when the Sierra Nevada grabbed ahold of my brain and made sure I didn't say one coherent sentence the rest of the night. We ran into trouble as all the hotels were booked because of the Packers game (can't wait for the RV!) but we found some suites at a discounted price and stretched out after a long two nights. We shared some laughs about the CD release passed the hell out. But not before staying up for the start of the continental breakfast. It was us (probably stinkin' like shit) and a bunch of old dudes reading newspapers and discussing their plans for the day. It was a contrast that made me chuckle a bit.
The weekend ended with Kruser hookin' us up with some Modest Mouse tickets in Milwaukee. We finished it all off right watching some great music at The Rave and then driving quietly home. We have a week, or so, off to set our feet for the next step. We're looking into a tour and trying to finalize the online purchasing of Love Free Work and Gunslinger's Dream apparel. A couple more rehearsals and we go back to Des Plaines for a two-night stand. Looking forward to it! Thanks again to everyone and we'll see you soon! I'm goin' to sleep!
"Where did you get your name?"
We've had a lot of questions recently regarding the name of our band and where the hell it came from. So here's the story:
Chai and I were checkin' out a local music store in Bloomington. I had just joined the band and we were debating many different band names. All of which had no unanimous "yes" votes. I can't even remember an example of what we were working with so I digress. So we were lookin' at pedals and an associate came over and we struck up a conversation. We got to talking about the blues and how much fun it is. The associate disagreed explaining that he was a drummer and that he just plays the same thing over and over when he plays the blues. Highly debatable because if you've ever heard a great blues rhythm section then you know it's a sight to behold. But, pertaining to guitar players, he said the blues are a gunslinger's dream. So we left the music store and I was like, "Hey Chai, what if that was the name of our band?" He shrugged and said, "Possibly." We took it to the band and they all liked it so there it was. We've been Gunslinger's Dream ever since. The name Gunslinger's Dream represents the idea of a free-form writing style. "Wingin' it" so to speak. Because our songs draw from so many genres, we never know what's gonna happen next. We're kind of "shootin' from the hip." Ah the cliches keep on coming:) Well that's all she wrote. Hope this was informative enough for you. Long live The Dream! Later skaters.
Chai and I were checkin' out a local music store in Bloomington. I had just joined the band and we were debating many different band names. All of which had no unanimous "yes" votes. I can't even remember an example of what we were working with so I digress. So we were lookin' at pedals and an associate came over and we struck up a conversation. We got to talking about the blues and how much fun it is. The associate disagreed explaining that he was a drummer and that he just plays the same thing over and over when he plays the blues. Highly debatable because if you've ever heard a great blues rhythm section then you know it's a sight to behold. But, pertaining to guitar players, he said the blues are a gunslinger's dream. So we left the music store and I was like, "Hey Chai, what if that was the name of our band?" He shrugged and said, "Possibly." We took it to the band and they all liked it so there it was. We've been Gunslinger's Dream ever since. The name Gunslinger's Dream represents the idea of a free-form writing style. "Wingin' it" so to speak. Because our songs draw from so many genres, we never know what's gonna happen next. We're kind of "shootin' from the hip." Ah the cliches keep on coming:) Well that's all she wrote. Hope this was informative enough for you. Long live The Dream! Later skaters.
Lock Stock & Barrel does NOT disappoint!
It was a perfect night. Illinois beat up on Minnesota, we played our asses off and I got wasted:) Perfection. Crammed into a mini-van I got anxious thinking about the day our trailer will arrive. No more resting my chin on my knees for three hours. But it was totally worth it as our first stop at Lock Stock & Barrel was a night to remember. Highlights include II, Agnus (again...we're kickin' that songs ass) and In The Flesh (which we opened the second set with). We're comin' back in December with our album in tow. Love Free Work. The title says it all. Thanks to everyone for the compliments afterward and the service throughout the night. The staff was incredible. Come check us out next time we're in Decatur and see for yourself!
