O’Sullivan’s: Down with the Sickness….

I should preface this post by saying that I was suffering from food poisoning for the 2 days leading up to this show and a day or so after… so the things I remember from the show are minimal. We played an Irish Pub.  What you wouldn’t expect from an Irish pub is for the majority of the staff to actually be Irish. But O’Sullivans is different in that way. The bar staff was awesome and like I said mostly Irish. Everyone was friendly and there was good food (even though it was really hard to eat being sick and all). We had a great crowd that danced and kept the energy high to help me through a rough night. We also ran into an artist by the name of Sid who meshes together hip-hop and several other genres to create some awesome music. I haven’t been able to track him down online but once I do I will post some links to his music. After this show we had a couple days off for some much needed rest. I have recovered nicely from my little bout with food poisoning and all is well! That’s pretty much what I’ve got from that show. Hooch over and out!

Chilin in San Diego

Pic of the Pub

Random pic of Liza

Yucca Tap in Tempe

We started this tour off differently than most tours. Normally we swing up through Oklahoma and maybe make a stop in Dallas along the way to play a show. This time we started off with a brutal 15 hour drive to Tempe, AZ. After arriving in Tempe at the hour of 11 am… We do our best to sleep during the day and wake up to play the show that night at The Yucca Tap Room. I personally slept like a baby all day thankfully…. But onto the show…

The Yucca Tap Room is a cool bar with a nice room and stage. There is plenty of room for people to dance or sit down and enjoy music. They also have a nice selection of beers on tap (hence the name Yucco Tap Room). We played first then the headlining band ‘Flamingo’, and last ‘Tele Speaks’ played. It was a great night of music. ‘Flamingo’ was a cool funky jam band and Tele Speaks was a good band along the same lines of ‘The Kings of Leon’. It’s not often we enjoy all the band we play with but this was one of those rare occasions. We impressed a few people and really had a great first night on tour. Tempe hasn’t always been a strong point on tour but that seems to be changing. This show felt good and we made a lot of new friends and fans. Achachay’s Fall West Coast Tour 2011 has begun! Woo Hoo! Hooch out!

Ryan and Liza acting silly

Rockin' the stage

More Rockin'

Mandy hooked us up with the show!

Stubbs

We pull up to Stubbs running late…. I’m not going to say as usual… But well… It’s pretty usual. But anyway I’m a little bit stressed about being late and then I see the line of people out the door and down the side of Stubbs. It’s such an exciting feeling to see a line outside of a venue that you are getting ready to play! So after a moment to take it all in I have to start the pre-show agenda. Get the merchandise together for the merchandise person… Get all of my equipment together to go on stage. Run back to the van to get more CD’s, go pee, tune my bass, etc…. After all of this then we get to step on stage and that is the best part of the night (and week for that matter). Looking out to see our friends, family, fans, and soon to be new fans in front of us. It’s funny because I normally don’t have any nerves before a show. I’ve played well over a thousand shows. But when I play in Austin for the hometown crowd the butterflies are there. It’s a welcome feeling that reminds me why I do this. Why I sleep on floors and spend half of my year in a van. I love playing music. I especially love playing with Achachay! ‘my own band of brothers. So needless to say the show was awesome. The crowd was full of energy and fantastic. Full Service rocked our faces and The Rafiki Project was tasty as always. It’s only a few days before we hit the road again for a few weeks and I have to say that this was one of the best feeling shows yet. Thank you to all of our friends, family, and fans for making what we do worth it! Hooch out! (There are a few pics below and check out FB for more pics!)

Wichita and ‘The Manly Dancer’

We are getting caught up on our blogs from the short Oklahoma tour…. This blog is about Wichita, Kansas. Since I grew up in Northern Oklahoma I have been to Wichita a few times. I’ve been to the Zoo and the Race Track but that’s pretty much it. It turns out that Wichita has at least one pretty sweet bar called ‘The Pumphouse’. ‘The Pumphouse’ has a VERY large outdoor stage for shows and plenty of room inside if you don’t want to hear live music. The funny thing about the big stage is there is no house sound system or lights. The sound is no problem we bring our sound system everywhere we go but we don’t have any lights… So we had to improvise a little and use some lights the bar had used for maintenance inside the building. It worked just fine other than looking a little bit strange….

The show was a lot of fun. There was an interesting occurrence while we were playing… You know sometimes we will have women do let’s say… ‘seductive’ dancing while we play and I think people can deal with that even though it’s a bit embarrassing for the women… In Wichita it was a little different…. During the last hour of our set we had a grown man dancing ‘seductively’ to our set…. There were points where he was actually giving girls (seemingly against their will) lap dances. He would thrust and dance on the front of the stage. Facing the audience thankfully… It was pretty out of control. At one point ‘the manly dancer’ crossed the line and almost got his butt kicked by one of the women. So if I learned anything from this incident… It is that a guy should never go to a bar alone. Had this guy had a friend at the bar this little ‘tease’ would have never occurred.

Even with our ‘sideshow’ the show was a blast in Wichita. It was entertaining for us to watch the crowd respond to ‘the manly dancer’ and the crowd enjoyed watching us play so it was a super fun night. We really couldn’t have asked for more our first time in Wichita. This ends my after tour blog about the tour. Hooch out!

The Q Spot: Right on cue…

Ahh the Q Spot. I grew up playing pool at the Q spot and now we get to play shows there. Pretty awesome. David is always great to us. From the Apple Pie shots to the great crowd that he has come out on Tuesday nights. It’s just great to come back to the Q. Another surprise at the Q spot is who I will see from my childhood. It’s always crazy to see people I haven’t seen in well… 15 years…. Every time there will be a couple of people I would never expect to see. It has always been that way in Enid but lately more and more people seem to come out and really dig the funk we are growing.

That pretty much sums up the evening. A great crowd and venue. Catching up with old friends and just having a great time. So far this little tour has been a blast! Gotta keep the good times rolling! Hooch out!

(PS: Most of these pics are from the after party at The Ramada)

Denton for the first time

Yesterday was the first day of our late summer mid-western tour.  Over the next 10 days we will be playing shows in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Last night we were in Denton, TX at Andy’s Bar.  Andy’s is a pretty sweet music venue. There is a nice sized stage with good sound. There is also a basement where you can get away from the loud music if you just want to chill out. The show went really well. There was a group of 20 or so really enthusiastic people hanging out and dancing during our set.  They reallllly liked screaming Achachay!

While we were loading out of the venue we saw an episode of cops first hand. A woman that had come into the bar for a drink and was turned away because she was too drunk. After walking out of the bar she got in her car, backed out of the parking spot, and then proceeded to pass out at the wheel. Fortunately the car just idled up against the curb. It took about 5 minutes for the police to show up to arrest the woman. It is pretty scary that people will get behind the wheel of a car in a state like that.

Overall it as a great night. We played a solid show, made some new fans, and got to see an episode of cops in person. Gotta love life on the road! That concludes the fist installment of our Midwestern Summer Tour. Hooch over and out!

Grand Junction

We’re back! Back in Grand Junction again! (Aerosmith melody here). After a beautiful drive from Tulluride we headed straight to the radio station KAFM in Grand Junction. There was a short interview and we played a couple songs on the air. Other than a little mishap with a cowbell it went very smoothly. After the radio interview we had some time to hang out around town. It was a beautiful day so I decided to relax in the park for a bit. Apparently I looked a bit too comfortable in the park because I was offered some food by a good samaritan. Musicians can often times look like homeless people and sometimes are homeless people. We fortunately are not homeless… although it does feel close when we are on the road. After the fun in the
park I headed to a coffee shop to meet up with the other guys and head to the venue. The show was awesome. Quincy’s is a sweet bar. The staff there really takes care of us and we had a great crowd. No complaints from me about Grand Junction. Even if I was mistaken for a homeless person at least the people were friendly! Gotta love Colorado…. Hooch out!

Ashland, Oregon at the Caldera Tap House

After spending the afternoon watching some great bands play at Apple Jam we head into Ashland to play at the Caldera Tap House. We have played the Caldera two other times and they always treat us right. With 18 of their own brews on tap it really makes it easy to have a great time! My personal favorite is the Oatmeal Stout. It totally hits the spot. We had an awesome crowd that was totally into the funk and really made for a bad ass night. After the show it was back to Apple Jam to have a little more fun! Those Karrgo Bossahova guys know how to throw a party! That pretty much does it for the night.  Hooch over and out!

Bay to Breakers and a show in SF

It’s 8 AM and after a Red Bull I’m feeling almost normal on the ride into San Francisco. We arrived in Los Altos at 4 am the night before from Sacramento and that my friends makes for a short night…. You might ask why we are awake at 8 in the morning. There is good reason and it’s called Bay to Breakers. You may not of heard of The Bay to Breakers Race (I had not) so I’m going to give you the ‘low down’. Bay to Breakers started out as a race across San Francisco to raise the spirits of the city after a devastating earthquake in 1906. It still starts as a race for the runners at 7 am but for the rest of us it’s a huge walking costume party. The race starts at one end of the city near the bay and ends at the beach (aka ‘the breakers’). Every costume from sexy saxogram guys, balerinas, lumberjacks, superheros, flashers… they were all there.  There was even a group of smoking (cigarettes and well they were pretty cute) flight attendants hassling walkers.  We didn’t really know what we were getting into so we were pretty much the only people not in a costume or nude.  There were 55,000 registered for the race this year and thousands of unregistered taking part in the event. We walked the 7 mile route making new friends and just enjoying the fact that we had a reason to party at 8 am with 50,000+ other people. There is really no way to describe the energy that is created and all I can say is if you get the opportunity to participate… Do it.  It was the most fun I’ve had in a while and well…I have a lot of fun a lot of the time!  Check out the pics below to get a little taste of the fun.

After getting some much needed rest we headed to the Grant and Green to play a show. We had a decent sized crowd for a Tuesday and the show was fun as always. It’s been another great time in the bay are and now we head north! Hooch over and out.

Long Beach

Last night we played in Long Beach at a bar called DiPiazza’s. DiPiazza’s is a restaurant/bar/live music venue. The bar has a good vibe and a friendly staff. Before the show we had some time to kill so we made our way down the street to a coffee shop called ‘Daily Grind’. Good coffee with a good atmosphere and most importantly good prices. We’ve always had a good time in Long Beach. There’s a nice laid back vibe and people are friendly. The show was fun. We had a crowd that I would call small but fierce. Jordan had a few friends come out and they were our ‘fierce’ fans. It was a fun but overall uneventful night.