Funk

Achachay! UPDATE JULY 2012

A MESSAGE FROM RYAN GREENBLATT, DRUMMER ON BEHALF OF ACHACHAY!

Hello to all of my Achachillians! I hope each and every one of you is having an amazing summer and loving life!

Over the past few months Achachay! has unfortunately decided to disband. It is with a very heavy heart that I relay this information to you, and I can only say that I am extremely grateful for all of the support we received over the years from you guys. We are NOTHING without our fans and I felt like we had some of the best fans in the world.

We all appreciated the countless shout-outs, the attendance of concerts, feeding us on the road, giving us shelter and places to sleep on the road, the super-fun party times, the excellent and enlightening conversations, and all of the just general good-vibes that we got from you guys over the years. I humbly and earnestly submit this message in the hopes that you can feel my deep appreciation and gratitude.

A few short things to accompany this:

1. Look forward to getting similar posts from Hooch and Jordan, so they can share what they want to say to all of you.

2. Would anyone like free Achachay! swag? We have extra t-shirts, cds, koozies, sunglasses etc that I am happy to give away if anyone wants anything just contact me on FB or on twitter (@theBlattAbides) and we can arrange a way for you to get it no matter where you are in the world.

3. I am now currently playing in another band and I would appreciate you showing us the same love you showed Achachay!, or at least giving us a chance! We are called Southbound Drive and you can check out all of our tunes here for free: http://soundcloud.com/southbounddrive, at our facebook page www.facebook.com/southbounddrive, or you can go here to download a FREE copy of our EP Agnes: southbounddrive.com/Agnes.zip. I also want to make clear that I did NOT leave Achachay! for this band, and this had no bearing on the disbanding whatsoever.

So thanks again, from the bottom of my heart, and with all of my love, body and soul.

Sincerely,

Ryan Greenblatt

Pagosa Springs and the Hot Springs!

We make our way south from Telluride earlyish. I use the word ‘early’ loosely… When we are on the road we rarely get on the road before 2 pm so leaving around noon is early… We get to Pagosa about 5 and the sun is just starting to go behind the mountains. We have a few hours to kill and Pagosa Springs is known for its hot springs. Everytime we mention Pagosa people say, “Did you visit the hot springs?” and until now we always said “no”.. But I can now happily say we have been to the hot springs and it was just what a back that’s been sleeping on floors needed! When I heard springs I expected some sort of rock landing with water spewing out of the ground… But it was really nothing like that… It was a nice resort type place. They had tubs indoors as well as outdoors on the roof. The roof was pretty crowded but it’s still sweet to check out the sunset and stars over the mountains while soaking in the tubs filled with spring water. After a couple hours of soaking our tired bones we head to the venue. The Bear Creek always takes care of us. The staff there is super friendly and the locals are awesome too. We play a long 4 hour set and then we hit the road to head back to Austin. That does it for the Colorado tour. It’s been a blast as always and if we weren’t heading back to Austin it would be hard to leave! 23 hours and we are home! Hooch over and out!

I’m Going Going, Back Back to Teullride…

After our amazing impromptu show in Salida, we made our way back to Telluride. Telluride is a small ski town in the mountains that has an incredible view from main st and is home to some really cool people, including our friends and perennial hosts, Kate and Wily.

The show this time around was at Fly me to the Moon. Originally we had a show scheduled at the Bubble Lounge, but between December and February (we had just played the Bubble in December) something changed and the venue shut down (apparently without warning the staff or patrons). BUT luckily for us, the booker and our friend Roxy, didn’t make us cancel the show and worked out a deal with Fly Me to the Moon so that we could still play in town.

The first time we ever played in Telluride it was at FMTTM in March of 2010 and it was cool/funny to see our tags in the green room from back then. Our show went well, but we had to compete with a few other shows that night and the weird situation explained earlier causing the venue change.

Telluride is still one of my favorite places to go and to play, so I am looking forward to coming back. Hopefully next time it will be smoother!

Salida: A last minute show to remember!

Today we are traveling from Preblo, CO to Telluride, CO. We got a late start and didn’t get out of town until about 2 PM. We have a night off so we decided to stop in Salida to see a friend of ours Ty. We met Ty through couchsurfing a couple years ago and have been tight ever since. We also decided since we had the night off we should see if we could find a place to play. We hit up a couple of bars and they were all very receptive to live music but were booked. There was also a place with a patio that we could play on. But playing a show in 20 degree temperatures didn’t sound too appealing… The last place we popped in was the Tenderfoot. Ryan did the talking and the Bartender Mary was more than happy to let us play. We decided to go have dinner and make a decision about whether we were going to play a show or drive across an icy mountain pass after dark. Looking back now, it seems like the obvious decision was to play the show… The show was awesome. We had the bar packed all night. People were dancing and having a great time just like we were! It was another one of those times where we are on tour and randomly things come together for an awesome night of music. We will definitely be back in Salida. A big thanks to the Mary’s at Tenderfoot for having us play. It was such a blast!

Puebloooooooooooo!!!!!

Us and the famous Slopper!

After a few days of R&R spent in Colorado Springs, we headed south to Pueblo. Pueblo is a cool, little town that is famous for a food  dish called the Slopper. A slopper, for all you N00bs, is 2 hamburgers (meat (cheese if you like it) and buns) smothered in green chili sauce and topped with fries. For those of you not familiar with the Souther CO and New Mexico ‘green chili’, this is more of a sauce than a soup and is quite tasty. Sloppers can have as many as 6 hamburger patties and can also have red chili (beans/meat typical chili) on them as well. Our new couchsurfing friend Jenny took us to the Coors Bar, known for the best sloppers in town, and we were not disappointed. I should also mention one  can order a slopper “Christmas style” which is a combo of red and green chili on top (yum!). I think, personally, I need to create a sort of Texas-slopper. Maybe chopped beef or brisket sandwiches, covered in red chili (with more tasty TX BBQ meat), and then with some bacon (because bacon is FUCKING AWESOME) and yeah, I guess, if you want, you can add cheese (I’d be down for queso!).

Anyways, enough food talk (can you tell what my favorite part of Pueblo was?), our concert was also fun. Wednesday nights aren’t typically the best, but this show wasn’t bad at all. we played a place called the Downtown Bar, and we had a good crowd including our Couchsurfer and her friends, some friends from CO Springs that came down, and other locals. We went over well and had a great night which ended with a late night trip to Denny’s, the second in three days (no joke).

Friends and fans with our new T-shirts on!

I’m stoked to come back to Pueblo and play again for our new friends!

BLATTTTTTTT!!!!!!

Motherloaded in Breck Pt. 2

We started our day off right with breakfast out our Couchsurfer Mark’s home outside of Durango. The night before we arrived at Mark’s place and managed to get the van stuck in the driveway… Turns out the tires aren’t as good as they were new! After some slipping and sliding and pushing and well… all that fun stuff that comes along with having a 2 wheel drive van on the snow… We finally managed to get the chains on the tires and drove out of the driveway with ease. Man I’m glad we picked up those chains! So moving on… We had a 6 hour drive from Durango to Breckenridge through some amazing mountain passes including the Red Mountain Pass. Fortunately the passes were clear of snow and it was just a gorgeous drive. We arrived in Breckenridge around 8 pm and the Motherloaded was already hopping. The Motherloaded Tavern is such a fun venue. It’s the perfect environment for funky upbeat music like ours. They have a table that is bolted to the floor so you can dance on the table and people use it! The drinks were flowing and the crowd was dancing and eating up every bit of funk we could cook for them. It was such a fun night. I really can’t say enough about the Motherloaded. They really take care of us(check out the pic of the tip jar, lol)  and this place is just a blast!

Ska Brewery, Y’all!

Another reason I love Ska: the awesome branding!

After our very fun night in Grand Junction, we headed to Durango to play the Ska Brewery. If you haven’t heard of the Ska Brewery, it is an awesome micro-brewery that’s been open almost 20 years and produces a variety of awesome beers. Check them out at www.skabrewing.com.

So the show was an early 5 pm show and we played for a few hours. It was fun, and between our new CouchSurfing friend Mark and the other patrons at the brewery, we got down! Not to mention we also got free, delicious beer!

We ended the night hanging out with Mark and getting the van stuck in the snow outside his house. It made for a pretty hilarious/arduous process the next morning that entailed pushing the van, putting chains on the back tires and praying for traction. I always enjoy Durango, and this time was no exception!

Ft. Collins at Hodi’s

Ahh we are back in Ft. Collins. We have had so many good times taking brewery tours, hosting jams, and playing jams. This is our first real showcase type show in Ft. Collins at a great venue Hodi’s Halfnote. Hodi’s is a great place to hang out as far as just having a good vibe but then on top of that there is a great room with a big stage and excellent sound. We played with another band from Colorado called Able Minds. They are a cool mix of electronic and traditional (guitar, drum, etc.) type music. It made for a great night of upbeat danceable music. We had fun catching up with a friend of ours Liza as well. You may remember her as our merchandise representative for our last west coast tour. It was great to catch up and it was just a great night in Ft. Collins. Hooch over and out!

Back in Boulder!

After our 16 hour drive from Austin to Boulder we had about two and a half hours before our show in Boulder. We took our time, set up, ate some dinner and drank some coffee. We were playing back at the Darkhorse, at least our 4th time. But this show would be different.

Us and the In Due Time Guys

I felt surprisingly well, even though I was running on only a few hours of sleep. I didn’t even get energy-drink’ed out. Boulder is always a fun show, but tonight we were bringing a surprise with us: a horn section. Two of our friends from the band In Due Time, Kyle and Tony, brought their Sax and Trombone and ripped through about 15 tunes with us. It was fucking AWESOME! I really can’t stress enough how well it went. Sometimes we manage to get all of our Boulder and Denver friends to bring out their friends and come party with us in Boulder, but this time only a handful of our friends were able to make it. The horns took care of the rest: we had people dancing, moving, grooving, and LOVING the music. It was fun, and re-energizing just when we needed it.

So if you haven’t checked out In Due Time yet, please go to their website here: https://www.facebook.com/induetimefunk and give them a listen…you will not be disappointed! Til next time Dark Horse!

Alma Rock City

My college-roommate rockin' out! Can you believe we shared a dorm room?!

The town of Alma is residence for about 200 people. It is located approximately 90 miles southwest of Denver, tucked in the mountains, and it is also the highest (at 10,578 feet) incorporated municipality in the US. Alma is one of those town you have to pass through to get to other destinations in CO, but last Friday we found out there is much more to Alma than that. Alma has 2 bars (and 2 dispensaries  awarding the town with the distinction of most dispensaries per capita in CO (and possibly the US?)) and we played Alma’s Only Bar (the OG of bars for Alma). Whoa that’s a lot of parentheses! Anyways, because of a booking snafu we opened up the night at AOB for the local group Spider Murphy and the Pushovers. It was early, too, like 9:00 pm start time and we had low expectations of a crowd, but sure enough the place had a good crowd about 5 minutes into our set. We played for just over an hour and totally won the place over, old and young, rocker and hippie alike. It was nice that even though this show was starting on a weird note because of the booking debacle, it turned out to be great.

The rest of the night was great as well. Spider Murphy and the Pushovers were great: think low-key, laid-back, groovy music with bass, guitar/banjo/4-string guitar, harmonica, and drums. They were great and we hung out with the locals and got to know the town for the rest of the night.

We also had a very gracious host that everyone called Hector. Hector has a great house in town where he hosts bands that come through to play, as well as travelers and others who need a place for a while. All in all, our night in Alma was great and I think we will have a great time next time we roll through to play the entire night.