January 2007 - Posts

• L.A. Story

  Los Angeles We've played the Troubador a million times. This time, we moved to the El Rey. We were stoked. It's bigger and nicer and something new. Unfortunately, the staff was weird. I heard them being rude to people in line outside. I heard them treating Asobi Seksu (the opening band we are touring with now) with less than acceptable kindness. The monitor guy messed up at the end of the set, so we couldn't play one of the songs we had planned on playing. None of us even met the promoter until the end of the night. When we complained about the attitude of the staffers, he went and bitched them all out while we were still there, so we left feeling like everyone who worked there not only didn't like us but thinks we're divas, too. Oh, L.A.! (With Asobi Seksu and The Botticellis.) San Diego The first time we played the Epicenter, we were opening for Mars Volta on their first tour with The Anniversary, who broke up years ago. It was 2001. I had an eye infection that night from dropping a booger in my eye in bed the night before. I haven't told many people. It's so embarrassing. We had been on tour for three months straight without a break. We were pissed at The Anniversary because some lame tour things happened and we felt slighted. We bonded with Omar and Cedric from Mars Volta. They bonused us money because they thought the guarantee from The Anniversary was insulting (which it was). Jason's kick drum wouldn't stay put, so he asked if anyone could sit in front of it (he was kidding). This man of short stature (I am politically correct and don't use the m word) volunteered. So this man of short stature sat in front of the drum for half the set. It was a sight. He also had a big afro, as many At the Drive In fans had at that time. He did some freestyle rapping in the parking lot after the show, too. He ruled.   This time around, we realized how nice everyone in San Diego is. We chatted with some kids after the show, and they talked about how they think our music is happy on the surface but dark if you analyze it. I liked them.   The saddest part of the day was taking Magnolia and my mom to the airport. They are going home for a week. They need a break. So do we, but we have to make our mortgage money. I went into the airport with them. There were lines everywhere. That feeling of saying goodbye to your family in an airport has always been hard for me. I walked with them all the way to the security gate. Mags kissed me and we said, "I love you," to each other. Then I started crying while I hugged my mom and said, "Take care of my baby." My mom knows we're tired. She knows we've worked hard. She knows I'd rather be home with my kid. She has always been happy for us that we're "following our dreams," but as I get older, I realize my dream is just being a good mother, daughter, friend. Music is the soundtrack, not the goal.   See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Jan 29 2007, 02:01 PM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• Love-In

  New York City — V Magazine party Jetlagged and on the go again, we got free, swanky hotel rooms and a thousand bucks to play in front of models, magazine people and designers. I felt short and ugly when I walked into the party room at the W hotel. But people listened when we played, and we got to invite twenty of our ugliest friends (just kidding; all of our friends are hot) to mingle with fashionistas. The V people are sweet. San Francisco (our favorite city in the world) There is no better feeling on tour than returning to San Francisco. When people ask Magnolia where she is from, she replies, "Tan Pranpeepco" (San Francisco). She has never lived there, but maybe she just feeds off of our desire to return.   We played two nights at the Great American Music Hall. When the crowd sang along to the line "tired of singing" at the end of the first night's set, it almost made me cry. It's like all of our hometown friends were saying, "We know, we get it, this is where you are loved. We'll take care of you and we'll sing with you to make it better." I'm so cheesy, but I just f'n love this place.   Another holiday on the road, Thanksgiving. We went to a co-op preschool with some friends and ate the best turkey molé sauce I've ever had and watched Mags play with kids in the Bump a Dump room of the school. This is a room covered in mattresses: a huge, floor-level bed to jump on.   We took a morning to visit the Habitot Museum in Berkeley. Mags couldn't get enough of it. Clay, face paint, a spaceship with tons of buttons, and music. Given its multiculturalism and welcoming vibe, I'd buy a yearly pass if I lived here. Speaking of which, we looked at a house in Berkeley for sale. Still too expensive here. Maybe someday.   See this post in its original format here.   + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Jan 22 2007, 01:53 PM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• 14 Things We Hate (And Love) About You

  Things we like about England 1. Hobnobs (good oatmeal cookies). 2. Boots brand chapstick. It's way less waxy than ours. 3. Clotted cream and scones (our nanny can't get enough) 4. Real BBC news television. The news seems a bit more realistic and less sensationalized than let's say, um, FOX. 5. Television actors aren't as overpaid as Hollywood ones. 6. Bollywood. 7. Indian food. You can find it everywhere, even at rest stops, even at McDonalds. Except, of course, when you are really hungry. 8. The way the one pound coin (quid) feels. It seems like you are holding a piece of gold from the olden days. It rules over the quarter, nickel, dime, penny and especially the paper dollar . . . and not just because it's worth more. 9. The old ladies. Older English ladies are sweet and offer you tea. They're not as snotty as the younger generation of English women. Plus, they're such bad dressers that it's cute. All those crazy hats and horrible floral dresses. 10. Fireworks day. They don't have July 4th over here, of course, but that didn't stop the Brits from finding some reason to have a national day for pretty bombs bursting in air. No one can convincingly explain the reason behind the holiday. 11. English commercials. They have made us cry and laugh. 12. It's not that far from New York. 13. Borat is actually English when he's not in Borat get-up. 14. The lottery TV show. We are addicted. They give you the first part of a word and if you can guess the second part, you can call in and win 20,000 pounds. It's so stupid but so good. (The first one was: head____). I tried to call in to guess "headless" (the clue was Halloween), but they make it kind of hard to get through. Things we hate about England 1. Snotty people. 2. Baby-talk sayings ("mushy peas," "cheeky monkey," "nappies," "nobbly") 3. Skinny roads not meant for anythings bigger than a mini. 4. Lack of street signs. 5. Rules, and the undying need to make everyone follow them. It makes me love not being proper. Live free or die! 6. The weather. Why would you live here if you know how great the sun feels on your face? 7. The food. How come these limeys aren't all fat? All we can find to eat is biscuits and chips. 8. NME, the weekly music mag. It sucks. But we like trying to find people we know in the pictures. 9. The feeling of entitlement. Everyone feels compelled to tell you what they think. 10. Where are the king size beds for families to sleep in? 11. Hotels are too expensive. (Hence, the RV.) 12. Why does every American who comes here start adopting the Brisitsh accent? It's catchy. I hear my friends starting to end their questions in an ascending fashion and feel concerned. 13. Assigned seating in movie theaters. So you still have a first-come, first-serve situation, only people take time picking their seats with the ticket window guy. It makes no sense. And if you want 'posh" seats, you have to pay extra. The posh seats are just a little bit cushier and a little farther away from the screen. 14. Catherine Tate, some British comedian. The only reason I say this is because people keep telling me I look like her and I've gotten the feeling she's not very attractive.   See this post in its original form here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Jan 16 2007, 12:41 PM by editors with 1 comment(s) Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• Ready For Her Close-up

  Nottingham, England We've played this town a bunch. The first time we played here at Rescue Rooms, some kids blew bubbles at us while we played. The second time, the kids who were blowing bubbles at us played in the opening band. The third time, we opened for the New Pornographers and no one posted that we were playing. This time, again with no promotion, we played in the much larger, 2,000-capacity venue, opening for We Are Scientists. They're Americans, but huge in England. It's so weird how spoon-fed the Brits are with music. There are a million dude bands that all sound alike. They all have one hit and they play these massive tours here, and NME, the weekly music rag, just goes on and on about how hot they are. Who cares? Well, just about everyone in this dreary country.   We've been a band for nine years. We booked our own tours all around the world for a long time. We've packaged up cds for mail order in our Motel 6 rooms and slept on nice peoples' floors. We toured in a minivan and finally graduated to a full-sized van when we added two crew members to make us a total of five people on tour (including Magnolia). Our four records, six singles and some other EPs were all released on independant record labels. We've always made the music we wanted to make and at one point I think we believed that we would be widely appreciated for doing something genuine and original. Not in England. I don't think we'll ever come back here.   Sorry to be so Debbie Downer. I got in a fight with some slimy little guy at the merch table. I was our selling T-shirts and cds (trying to, anyway). This guy got angry that he stood in the wrong line and when he realized I was in the opening band he proceeded to tell me what was wrong with our band: we needed to play a little more variety of songs, blah blah blah. I blew up. We had a "discussion" about the way people listen to music and where they get music from. He did admit that he mistook me for the other opening band and that he'd buy a cd for half price. I told him that this was how we made a living and that there was no way I'd give him a cd that cheap, especially after what he said. He felt he bought his right to tell me what he thought since he paid for a ticket. Well, I guarantee that his twenty pounds didn't reach our pockets. We will actually be losing money on this tour. The funny thing is — and I know I sound conceited here — we freaking kicked ass tonight. Sadly, no one noticed. Tomorrow will be better. Somewhere else in England We are at a camp site. There is a playground here. Magnolia played this awesome game with some little red-headed English boys. They made her a sword (a stick) and told her to point it at them and change them into different animals and characters. She giggled the most when they pretended to be old men. We showered at the camp site because the showers here are far better than the ones inside the club. I haven't washed my hair in days, but it kind of looks better that way. Magnolia talks in her sleep like her father. She woke up and reached her hands up in the middle of the night and said, "Uppy, uppy, uppy" before going back to sleep. It's not as bad as when I woke up to find Jason barking like a dog at the end of the bed in his sleep. I'm a light sleeper. I wish I could be such a heavy sleeper that I turned into a dog in the middle of the night. We all decided that the highlight of the day is seeing what kind of songs Magnolia comes up with when she plays her little guitar. She's fixated on this one called "Goodnight." We decided we might work that song into a new one we're working on.   Mags took her bath in the backstage sink after making her first on-stage debut. We Are Scientists do a cover of "End of the Road" (yes, the Boys to Men '90s hit) as an encore and all the bands return to the stage to sing the chorus with them. Since Mags was with us watching from the side of the stage, we brought her out with us. She waved to t he crowd at the end of the song and then immediately after leaving the stage, she shouted, "That was fun!!" Jason and I have this conversation all the time: We don't want her to be in band unless she fully realizes why it's not the best thing to do with your life unless you are absolutely passionate about it and can deal with all the bullshit.   See this post in its original form here.   + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Jan 09 2007, 12:29 PM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run

• British Invasion

  Iceland Airwaves Festival This year has been packed: record-release stuff, touring non-stop in this country, Europe on our own, then with The New Pornographers, then back home for a tour, then selling our house, or trying to, then going back to England. By far, Iceland was the best stop we've made. Have you heard of the Blue Lagoon? I believe it is the fountain of youth. It's a giant hot springs with healing blue-green algae and possibly radioactive water. We felt younger after being in it. Rumor has it that Lou Reed was here a couple of weeks ago. Supposedly he hates sight-seeing and only wants to stay in his hotel when on tour. After being coaxed into visiting the blue lagoon, he apparently got up every single morning he was there and took a dip in the world's biggest bath tub. It is seriously addictive. England Tour with We Are Scientists Last night we tried to give Magnolia a proper Halloween in a London airport hotel. She wanted to be a tiger, and she wanted me to be the mommy tiger. So, I brought the costumes and whisker make-up and got excited with her as we paraded around the hotel lobby as the only Halloweeners. Then we all decided to take a bus ride to an indoor shopping area. Magnolia managed to get a few packs of gummy bears trick-or-treating the hotel staff when we got home. The next morning, I woke up suddenly and reached for the phone. Then I realized it was not the phone making all the insanely loud beeping. Perhaps it was the bathroom light? So I ran for that. I didn't want our very tired toddler to wake up. Hitting every button in the room, it dawned on me that it was, in fact, the hotel smoke alarm. I opened the door to the hallway with one eye still closed and saw this sweaty little bellboy running down the hall. He nearly pulled me out of the room, shouting, "Fire!"   I mumbled, "Let me get my baby." He shouted back, "Hand me the baby! Let's go!" Um, no. She was awake at this point and I didn't need him to make things worse by carrying her. She's scared of strange men. So am I. We headed downstairs in our pjs only to find out that it was, as I expected, a false alarm. The showers apparently set off the smoke alarms due to too much steam or something. I also realized at this point, standing there in my black boots and pajamas (sans bra) that I had the flu. Throughout the ordeal, Jason was busy getting the RV. Suzi, our nanny, was downstairs waiting for the amps and organ to be delievered to the front desk. Thankfully, some genius parent thought to add a toddler gym to the hotel lobby here. I can blow my nose in peace and save my singing voice for tonight while Magnolia plays on the gym mats and makes faces in the funhouse mirror.   And so begins our fourth overseas tour this year. We promised each other last time that we wouldn't stand for the chaos associated with U.K. touring this time around. But, hey, here we are again.   See this post in its original format here. + DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT Posted Jan 02 2007, 12:03 PM by editors with no comments Filed under: mates of state, band on the diaper run