Ohmstead, Hideaway debauchery, Cinci, and more

So after the Colorado/Iowa/Nebraska/etc. trip with Shaw Brothers we came back for like a day or two and then headed out again this time with the full band, minus Eric he had some work stuff he had to attend to. So the first night we played in Cinci at Stanley’s Pub. We really like this club as a good starting point for us in the town. ASB has not done a ton of Cinci yet so we hope to build a crowd here. We were supposed to be opening for Super Massive a band that plays every Wednesday but they ended up not playing for some reason so the built in crowd was a bit smaller than we thought it’d be. We love Stanley’s though and the juke box is full of good reggae! They were a sponsor of Ohmstead, we’ll talk about that in a minute. So we opted to go home after the Cinci gig, loots of riding in the car but our NEW van is AWESOME! Each seat is a bucket seat and they each have individual lights above them like an airplane, so cool! Next stop was Lexington Kentucky at Cheapside Tavern. Ryan who books/bartends/manages is a GREAT guy and thanks so much to him for having us. Another city we have not done a ton of but there is a huge college crowd that hangs out all over town. We sold like 6 cds right off the bat and had a real enthusiastic crowd up front, than it trickled off. I love this place though and the people are so nice. We will be back in November I believe. Cool thing is they put up bands two nights in a row Friday and Saturday (this time we played Thursday) so you get double the chance to get people out! We stayed over night in a Motel 6 outside of Lexington then headed to Louisville. I am really liking Louisville Kentucky! We stopped in Ear-X-Tacy and country legend Connie Smith was playing an in store performance! So I’m gonna be honest, I did not know who she was but when my dad told me she was the wife of Marty Stuart, um yeah it’s a big deal. Now I know that she has been doing country music forever and Marty Stuart is just awesome. We saw her perform “Amazing Grace”, it was her last tune we caught and it was really good. Next time we come to Louisville we are going to try to do an in store, they have bands all the time that are traveling through. Hideaway Saloon was where we played that night. Great place. Funny thing is the crowd doesn’t get there till like 12 or 1 and the bar stays open till 4am!! Slow start of the night but Sherry and Tracy the awesome bartenders were dancing to all our tunes! At one point in the night on a set break, Andy and I went outside to try to get some people in. We walked directly out of the bar and a huge group of 21 (and close in age) year olds were walking by. Andy and me said “music in here, yeahhhhh everyone come in” and they ALL walked right into the bar! It was hilarious, we walked back in like “alright guys, let’s start…that worked WAY too well”. Come to find out it was a guys 21st b-day party and they were all drunk already, oh well got them in to see us play! They were awesome and we played happy birthday to I believe it was Seth (?). The crowd got bigger as the night went on and they are a dancing crowd, I loove when people dance to our music, gets me really into the set. The Hideaway provides a “crash pad” for bands. I believe it’s the owner Jim’s house, at least part of it..it’s like two rooms blocked off from the rest of the house and it’s fantastic! Jim (or dad) got to hear Matt and Dale (who joined us on trombone for the night, AWESOME) talk about balls and what not and Matt ended up passed out  on the floor in front of the door with his arms crossed on his chest. My dad said he looked dead. Andy, Jim, and I went to bed early…well “early” was like 3:30, but Matt and Dale I guess partied it up. There was a completely unfinished taco on the table from Taco Bell and whiskey was just all over the table, it was hilarious. Matt wakes up and takes another swig of whiskey and proclaims “hair of the dog, hair of the dog”. Hilarious. On another note, Papalino’s pizza in Louisville is really good, we did not do Taco Bell, and I am glad we got this pizza great stuff!

So after we crashed..some of us quite literally, we headed back to Cinci area (actually near Oxford) to a place called College Corner Ohio..it’s really close to the Indiana border actually. This place was in the middle of NO WHERE, our phones did not even work…wtf? So we arrive at Ohmstead Festival kinda late just in time to load in to do our set. First let me say that Donovan, Dave, and Chet (The Ohms) are great great peoples! They are three dudes that have been playing their unique blend of reggae/punk/ska/dub/rock for over ten years! Dave is only 27, so you can imagine how green he was when they started! They do an excellent blend of Sublime-esque reggae rock mixed with more gritty dancehall-esque vocals and then they’ll throw in a Chili Peppers cover in there, it’s kinda all over the place but it works really well. Andy and I talk about how amazing it is that there are only three of them, all the members hold it down on their instruments…man good stuff! So anyway, they have this festival every year and this was the tenth annual Ohmstead. These guys have been doing it hard for a while and their fans are loyal, singing in the front row to almost every song..it was a really fun experience to see and be a part of that. They played sets each night at this camping festival. Oh and there was an amazing food truck called “Bones’ Burgers” there…wow grass fed organic burgers!! Amazing! I really loved the band The Clifftones as well. This band has a lead singer, two guitars, bass, trombone, sax, drums, hand drums, and keyboards. It is a biig sound! Though I some times get turned off at people doing “accents” when they sing, if they can do it well I don’t care. The lead singer of The Clifftones does it really well, you’d never know by looking at him that that’s what he sounds like…it’s a sight to see! I danced like the whole time they were playing it was so fun. The bass player really held the group together and a bunch of the band members would chime in with harmonies that were spot on! Overall a really fun trip I really liked having Dale platy trombone with us, really filled out the sound even with out another horn player. My fav was at the end of Shuffleroo he filled in the third part harmony on trombone that is supposed to be vocals, it blended perfectly! Oh, our set was really fun and our new friend Baoku said that our version of “Could You Be Loved” was the “BEST version I have heard of that song” …wow, high praises! Thanks so much Baoku! And thanks to The Ohms for having us. Next stop is Dayton at the Trolley Stop!

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