December 2006 - Posts

• Even More Tour Kids!

  Minneapolis! Jason has wanted to play here at First Avenue since he was a young skater boy discovering punk rock and early indie bands. His entire family showed up tonight. Magnolia gets to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Hammel's house for a few days and play with her cousins. We like staying there too, of course. At the show, I mentioned something about dancing. Before we knew it, thirty-plus people climbed on stage to dance. It was chaos. Just amazing. Those moments playing live are the ones you remember. When people just want to join you, to be a part of it. And even though I worry about chords getting unplugged, and even though I wouldn't welcome it every night, tonight it felt so right.   See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Dec 28 2006, 12:00 PM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• More Tour Kids!

  On tour with the Starlight Mints We're heading out for a three-week tour with Starlight Mints. Magnolia can't wait to do sound check and play Daddy's drums. She also loves Ryan, our sound guy, and has informed us she will be playing hide-and-seek with him every night. The best part is: the Mints have a daughter, Penny, who is two. We love that they will have playdates on tour. Sound check used to mark the most annoying hour of time each day. Now, it's Magnolia's time to perform. Mags likes the drums the best, but only if she can sing into a microphone at the same time. She loves sound check. She also loves Penny.   Highlights from the Starlight Mints tour (Boston-Montreal-Ann Arbor-Minneapolis-Philly-Lancaster-New York and a bunch more places in between) 1. Magnolia making best friends with Penny, Marion and Andy's daughter. Gotta love the tour kids. 2. Penny and Magnolia chasing each other for hours, sound-checking with the parents and hiding in the gear cases. 3. Watching Marion dance while the Mints played every night. I have no idea where she gets her energy. 4. Deciding that Lancaster, PA, is eerie. People have a glaze in their eyes there. Not too far from Three Mile Island. Of course, the people at the show were all completely sane and an amazing crowd. But our suspicions about creepy Lancaster were confirmed the next day when that horrible shooting at the Amish school happened. We felt the sadness in the air before anything even happened. 5. Sold out Irving Plaza in NYC for the first time. After playing the Big Apple twenty times in our lifetime as a band, we were stoked. 6. Dancing on stage for that "Woo-hoo" song by the Mints. 7. Okay, this sounds absurd for a highlight but . . . Magnolia threw up for the first time on this tour. Motion sickness in the mountains while driving. Even though it was heartbreaking, it was a lifetime first — a milestone, if you will. We moved her car seat up a row in the car and told her not to watch the trees out the window anymore. Right after she ralphed she said, "I really didn't like that." Smart girl. 8. Jam session in the old rectory-turned-band-housing at the Parish in Pittsburgh. We used the piano and some old, out-of-tune hand drums and world instruments. It ruled. 9. Playing Mafia with everyone on tour. Mafia is our favorite parlor game. You try your best to lie to your friends. You learn a lot about your friends' dark sides. 10. Playing a modified version of Mafia with just Jason and Suzi. We lied to each other and tried to see if we could detect any subtle face movements. You know those people who can detect liars 99% of the time? We're working on that skill. We just took turns lying to each other over and over as Magnolia slept ten feet away. 11. Ryan from the Mints coming on stage during "Running Out" and pretending to play bass. He "plugged-in" to a suitcase. See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:49 AM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• Tour Kids!

  On tour with Death Cab for Cutie When Magnolia walked into her first arena venue she did not want to talk to anyone. We tried our best to get her to say hi to the band and crew but she got shy. We were a little overwhelmed too. This place was meant for hockey games. And here we are with Death Cab, a band we've know for seven years. We watched them play at Bottom of the Hill to 300 people. We went on tour with them three years ago on their first bus tour. We were eating sushi one night with Ben and his girlfriend when we first announced we were pregnant. We watched them go from being this respected indie band to superstars. And you know what? They are still the best band ever. They know how to treat an opening band and they know how to put on a show in an arena. Magnolia had to take her naps in the dressing rooms backstage, so we brought a little mattress for her and put a "shhh, Magnolia is sleeping" sign on the door. The Death Cab crew gave her her own dressing room after a few nights. By the end of tour, Magnolia started pounding it out with the boys. Every rock kid should know how to give knuckles. See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:46 AM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• Down Under

  Part 2: Brisbane, Australia As I waited in line to hold the koala, I noticed all the band photos on the wall. Every band that comes through the koala sanctuary is asked to leave a signed photo of the group holding a cute little marsupial. I realize that no one ever wants us to do that — leave a band photo. Not that I care; it's just another moment where I realize that we do not fit the mold. We don't look like a rock band. We don't act like a rock band. We're just this couple who makes music together. We tour around the world making this, I'm told, joyous music with an organ and a drum set. We sing really loud and look at each other because we want to make sure we are tight and people mistake that for lovey glances. We're dubbed as this cutesy pop band because we actually like each other. And here we are, getting ready to hold a koala as a couple, not as a band, even though you can't really separate the two. Anyway, who wants a normal American couple on the wall of pictures of hipster bands holding a furry beast?   Anyway, just so you know: male koalas stink. They emit a foul oil from their chest glands. It rubbed all over me. My koala was named Fabio. My entire suitcase smelled like Fabio for the rest of the trip. He certainly left his mark.   On the way to Australia, we filmed a video for the song "Like U Crazy." We basically got to play dress up and lip sync all day. By the time we were filming the last scene, we were supposed to be in the car on the way to the airport. I could tell Jason was stressed out about being late. You can tell by his face — at the end of the video, he's ready to go. In the scene, we're lost in space and we're still playing together with this lost-but-blissful feeling. Check out his expression. You can totally tell we're afraid we're missing our Australia flight and feeling threatened by the smoke machine.   Also in Australia: we played a few shows, played on a few radio stations, walked over some bridges, went surfing, dug a piece of glass out of Jason's foot with a needle for two hours, DJ'd at some dance clubs, and somehow lost my pillow, my favorite jeans and our DVD player. And somewhere in there, we fell in love with the whole continent.   We celebrated Magnolia's birthday when we got home. Her party was a "green party." Everyone wore green, her favorite color, and we ate green beans and green cupcakes. She got way too many presents and ate way too much sugar and threw her first full-fledged tantrum in front of the whole party. It was her party and she cried 'cause she wanted to, to the point where people said, "Oh, wow, I've never seen her like that."   A week or so later, we had to put our seven-year-old cat, Shadow, to sleep. We sang "Amazing Grace" to her while she left this world. She was a sweet cat, never hissed at anyone. She had a tumor in her mouth and couldn't eat. She was in our video for the song "Fluke” — she's staring out the window in the living room scene. We'll miss her.   See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Dec 21 2006, 11:41 AM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• Pack and Play

  Hi, this is Kori Gardner. Jason Hammel and I are married, and our band is called Mates of State. This year, we put out our fourth full-length record, said goodbye to our family cat, sold our house and toured the world. We played Coachella with Madonna, swam in the fountain of youth in Iceland, covered Kenny Loggins and David Bowie, and had our car broken into more than once. We did it all with our two-year-old daughter, Magnolia. And now you can read all about it in weekly installments! First, a quick compare-and-contrast: Touring before you have a child . . . An hour before you leave, pack backpack with three outfits. Sleep on floors. Party every night. Get a cold. Take two-hour nap in the van before the show. Drive ten hours a day, get to the club, eat. Wait. Wait. Wait.   Get very bored. Load equipment into club. Wait. Wait. Wait. Get even more bored. Find clean place to use a public bathroom in private. Go back to stage. Wait wait wait. Read books like The Dirt by Neil Strauss. Search in vain for a TV. Talk to other bands (who are also bored). Smoke cigarettes. Sound check. Kiss sound guy's butt so his attitude doesn't ruin sound for the night. Eat again. Drink. Wait. PLAY! WOO-HOO! ROCK OUT! Unplug. Load equipment out. Drive and find cheap hotel. REPEAT. Touring with a child... Find hotels ahead of tour with adjoining rooms and a pool. Rent van, pick up nanny, sound guy and merch guy. Drive no more than four hours to first show while child naps and then watches The Wiggles DVD in the car three times in a row. Check into hotel. Let child ride on luggage rack and make loud motor-type noise while pushing her and ten pieces of luggage into hotel. Walk around hotel and race with child to let her burn off energy. Find pool. Go swimming. Bribe child out of pool with gummy bears.   Find good restaraunt while others load in equipment. Convince child to sit down and eat noodles, because she's a noodlehead and that's what noodleheads do. Go back to club, do soundcheck while nanny plays hide-and-seek around dirty rock club with child. Stop sound check for a minute while child plays drums and sings songs for the opening band, who think it's amazing. (It is amazing. She sings about the birthmark on her ankle to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin?")   Take nanny and child back to hotel for bath and bed time. Get dressed. Do not wear sweatpants, as husband says no more blaming sweatpants on "I just had a child." Kiss daughter goodnight. Melt as she says she'll play here while mommy and daddy go play music. Tell her you will crawl in bed with her in a couple of hours. Get to club. Squeeze in fifteen-minute nap in van. Wake up, eat a banana or chips and salsa so you don't pass out while playing. PLAY! WOO-HOO! ROCK OUT! Unplug. Load out.   Go back to hotel. Oops, wake up child. Get her back to sleep. Shower. Fall asleep with ear plugs in and eye mask on. Wake up bright and early to hear, "Mommy, I want to get up now and get some apple juice." Bring child to nanny's room. Go back to sleep for two hours. Wake up. Chase child outside for a while while the rest of the crew gets all ten suitcases, toys and stroller-type items packed up. Bribe child into van with new gas station toy.   REPEAT. Except add in dirty diapers, car-seat-in-rental-van problems and the occasional bookstore, library or playground stop.   Next week, we go to . . . Australia!   See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Dec 11 2006, 11:38 AM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run