What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

Well folks, it's over - sadly the SRP tour of 2009 has come to an end. Last night the band played an emotionally charged set at St. Mathias in Asheville, grabbed some pizza at Barley's and got on the road for Greensboro. It was strange for us all to not have to get up and drive or think about playing a show today - in fact the only thing most of us are thinking about is hibachi for lunch - Mmmmm!! We've been talking about it since like Day 2, and now we get to indulge. Not quick hibachi either...we're talking about one of those deals where they cook it in front of you, and the chef throws knives and makes jokes the whole time.

I have to say, it's been a fantastic experience traveling with these guys and listening to them play for the last ten days. Not only are they amazing musicians, but they're incredible people as well. We've seen and done things over the last 240(ish) hours that none of us will ever forget. I used to wonder how big bands tour for literally months at a time, and now I think I have answer - it's all about love. Love inside the band, love from the communities we played for, love for the music and love for God. I wish I could sit here and continue to wax poetic about this amazing experience, but hibachi is calling and we're all really hungry.

So until next time River Rats (and there just might be a NEXT time), thanks for all the support and so long from the road!!

~The SRP

8 Down & 2 To Go

Hard to believe that there are only TWO shows left in the Sloan River Project’s 2009 Summer Tour! We’re currently back in Chattanooga and just finished setting up and sound checking for the show tonight (5:00 btw). The band seems really happy, and everyone’s energy seems to be really high – even those of us who got on the road @ 5am today and drove across TN. Thanks again to Star Smith for encouraging the trip, driving to Tunica, putting us up for a couple hours of sleep, and otherwise being absolutely awesome. Also the band would like to give a shout out to Star’s very good friend Chris Parnell – we’re hoping for a guest appearance as the opening act next tour, or at least a pre-recorded intro and an autograph.

When I stop to think about it, I have a hard time believing we’ve only been seven days on road – but I can’t decide if it feels longer or shorter. Last Monday feels really far away but the tour as a whole seemed to go by incredibly quick. Sitting in tonight with the band is guest bassist Allen Shikoh – a good friend of Mr. Hopkins. Allen mentioned to the band that he’s been playing a lot of jazz of late and is really looking forward to playing something different tonight.

So Josh just had to change his shirt (it’s crazy hot outside again) I just noticed that he has an interesting black ink tattoo on his chest…I'm curious what it means, so I'm going to ask.

Me: Josh what does the tattoo mean?

Josh: Well, they’re Chinese characters, and it translates to “impermanent”. It’s my reminder that even things that we think last forever really don’t.”

That’s pretty profound for a tattoo I think, and it’s a very relative sentiment for this tour. Somehow I think we all thought it was going to last forever, even as we talked about our post-tour plans and going back to our regular lives. Everyone has really been living into the moment – every day has been a new adventure in one-way or another. There have been new venues, new dynamics and new challenges and those things have kept us from really appreciating how brief this little experiment has been, and how quickly it will be over.

But all good things must come to an end, and this is no exception. The last two shows will be amazing (I’m particularly looking forward to tonight), then we’ll have a final band meal in Greensboro (Hibachi) and be on our way. Tonight though, after the show is over, and everyone has gone home, there is only one thing the members of the SRP want to do – GO BOWLING!!!

 

Until tomorrow…

Matt & Sam vs. Tunica

Tonight after sending the rest of the band on their merry way to Chattanooga, myself, Sam, Star Smith and the Burress siblings decided to take on Tunica. By the light of of the full moon the battle was waged, and in the end - we emerged triumphant. (to the tune of +$800)

I don't care what happens for the rest of this tour, nothing can bring me down now!! :-)

Small But Powerful

"We're small but powerful tonight!" That's how Sam introduced the show this Friday night - and it's true. The crowd is on the smaller side, but the energy is good and everyone is having fun, which is what counts.

Travel today fun - we stopped in Nashville and had lunch with Trone Sawyer and the soon to be Mrs. Sawyer, Catherine Nelson. Many tacos were consumed, and a good time was had by all. Catherine was also given the important job of tallying the final results for the band mix contest. It was a close affair, but in the end Mix #1 (crafted by yours truly) came out on top. The set-list went as follows,

Up Around The Bend (Credence Clearwater)
Trashcan Song (Delta Spirit)
Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine Show)
10,000,000 Slaves (Otis Taylor)
The Boxer (Carbon Leaf)
I Could Sleep (Band Of Horses)
Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones)
Cherub Rock (Smashing Pumpkins)
My Name is Jonas (Wheezer)
Electric Feel (MGMT)
Paper Planes (MIA)
Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots)
See The World (Gomez)
Rivers of Babylon (Sublime)
Walking In Memphis (Rockapella)
Night Swimming (REM)

I'm honored to have won, but in the end what we really had were 6 hours of really great tunes to listen to as we traversed the country. I highly recommend this little game for anyone planning a road-trip in the near future.

Anyway, I know this is kinda short but none of us got a whole lot of sleep last night for various reasons, so I'm a little tired. On top of that we have a fun filled evening ahead of us in the form of some cosmic bowling...so I'm going to wrap this up. I might add on later...but who knows. If not, then the next thing posted will be the band video interview I did earlier this afternoon. Best wishes and have a good weekend!!

Live Blog From Rhythm & Brews!!

(7:25) I'm blogging live from the show at R&B where the band just opened with "SunFlower Land"! I'll be updating this blog every five minutes or so, which is as close to a live feed as I can get with the technology we have right now. So far the show is sounding really excellent - the sound system here is really fantastic, and is simply better than what you can haul around in the the back of a Honda and a Volvo. Best part of this place so far though? Bands drinks for free... :) 

(7:30) Second song of the show is "Little Help From My Friends" and I can't help but think about how much this applies to a band. The fact is, not everyone in a band is going be on their game every show, every night. Heck folks might not even be in the best mood every night - but band members lean on each other. They support each other when they're not feeling up to snuff, and they lift each other up on stage - it's a real group effort, and you can see that when these guys are together, and esp. when they are on stage. I'm not going to lie, there was some tension in our little family earlier today for whatever reasons, but now the conversations have been had, the show has started and everything is fine. Pretty awesome. Third song tonight, "Prodigal Son". Pretty ironic that Sam prefaced this song with a humorous story about squandering wealth. 

(7:35) Band intro's...could anyone look more Scottish than Drew? And yet Steven Hopkins get the biggest round of applause. Who says we don't have groupies? Next song on the list is U2's 40, which I really love....esp. with our guest base player tonight  really bringing out the bottom. Tonight's benefit concert is to help raise money to help feed and shelter the homeless, and so I find this song to be particularly apt. When you're hungry and on the street, how hard must it be to wait patiently to be uplifted,  and when it happened, how can you not sing a new song to the Lord? Sadly not every soul is uplifted, which is why nights like tonight are important and necessary. Tonight The Sloan River Project is doing something truly Christian, and maybe even holy.

(7:45) Next up..."Broken". Really nice sounding vocals on this one tonight. Also lyrically inspiring. Band went into "Shine On" after that, which feels like a really good transition. Sadly Josh cut the very entertaining song intro about the hippie commune up north somewhere, which is where this song was purportedly written - maybe because I had a good chuckle over said story last night, but whatever. Sometimes less is more, though I do think the origins of this song as worth explaining sometimes. Josh got a nice and well deserved round of applause at the end of "Shine On" - he sounded excellent. Now, "Trying To Find A Purpose" by Vertical Horizon. I love this song!

 

(7:55) You know what's really entertaining? Watching five white guys do a reggae song  like "One Love" which is what's going on right now. It's such a happy song, everyone starts dancing in place while the audience sings along. It's a good time. Having the esteemed Kathy Tuggman singing harmony is a really great addition as well. Now Sam is introducing "Umbrella" which means we're getting to the high point of the show, at least in my humble opinion - from here the band will go into "Long Train Runnin" (LTR for short) which is unquestionably the best song SRP has. Right now though, we're in the middle of "Umbrella" and with the energy these guys put into this song, it's hard not to get up and dance. I'm watching the crowd to my left, and everyone is singing and grooving to the beat. Fun stuff! Sam's totally right on about a comment he made earlier, the lyrics to this song really are more meaningful than I think Rhianna or whoever wrote them meant for them to be. 

(8:05) And sure enough LTR ends the show...hope you've all enjoyed this little stream of consciousness experiment. I'm gonna shut down and listen!

Band Pic From ATL

I know it's only one...but here is a picture of the band taken last night in ATL. I'll get more up as soon as time allows! Thanks for reading!

Back to the 'Noog

A Blog Entry By Steven Hopkins:

Today was yet another eventful day on the road. We woke up early, said goodbye to the Robertsons (who are very generous for letting us crash at their place), and headed for Atlanta. The listening portion of the mix CD contest ended today as we heard the final two mixes. I'm going to need some time to figure out which one to vote for. They pretty much all sound good, except that mine is the best...clearly. 

I was happy with the show this evening. I thought everyone played really well. It would sound a lot better if Ben hadn't left us, but Sam and Josh are doing a really great job holding the bottom down in his absence. The set was similar to the previous night's with a few minor changes here and there. As always, "Umbrella" seemed to be somewhat of a hit. Thanks Rihanna :)

After we loaded all the gear, the band went it's separate ways for the night. Josh and I drove back to Chattanooga and we're staying at my (parents') house on the mountain. We spent the evening going over some songs for the show tomorrow. The rest of the group stayed in Atlanta and will drive up here in the morning to get ready for the concert. Speaking of, it's at Rhythm & Brews at 7:00. Ticket info: here. FYI, the money goes to charity, so come on out.

Until some time later,

Steev

P.S. We did laundry tonight. Sweet.

Hot, Hot, Hot-Lanta

Happy Hump Day readers!

If there’s any draw back to planning a concert tour in June, in the South it’s that you can almost guarantee the weather is going to be HOT and Atlanta is no exception. It’s about 4:30 and the SRP has been here since about 3, setting up and doing the sound checks. The first thing the band asked for? - four pitchers of ice water. I’m still sweaty and I’ve been inside for 15 minutes. Basically unless you were born on the sun, today is crazy hot. All that being said, as long as no one passes out, I think this has the potential to be one of the best shows of the tour. The band is actually set up on a REAL stage, the vocals sound fantastic and everyone is well rested. Today’s show is also part of a combination dinner/concert fundraiser that Holy Innocence is doing for their upcoming mission trip, and the attendance is expected to be 100+. That’s pretty exciting stuff.

The trip down from Gastonia was an uneventful 3.5 hours ride, during which the contest mixes were finished (no winner has been determined yet) and the remaining time was spent playing Random Car Trivia, including such questions as “Name all six light-weight characters in Mario-Kart?” And “Luke Skywalker didn’t want to clean the new droids because he was going into __________ to get some _________.” Are we big time geeks? I think so.

A few quick notes about the shirts – first it has been determined that the official color of the tour shirt is Rangpore Green. Does that color exist in a box of Crayolas? No probably not, but Sam Hensley said it was so, and hence it is. Also, we’ve sold all the tour shirts we ordered for this trip, but if you would like a shirt, just send an e-mail to mailtheSRP@gmail.com with your size and shipping address, and as soon as we get enough people for a minimum order, we will place one. You can also send any comments you have for the band to that same address, unless your comment is negative, in which case you have poor taste in music and can stick it in your ear. (j/k the SRP is certainly open to constructive criticism.)

A special thanks goes out to last night’s crowd – you were both fun and generous, and as always, we appreciate it. Also further “thank-you’s” are in for the entire Robertson family for feeding us (twice) and for housing us. Without generosity like theirs and the other families and friends who have put (and will be putting) us up, this tour would probably not be possible.

Btw, here is last night’s set-list…

Heal This Land
Amazed
Trying To Find A Purpose
Let Your Light Shine
Blue Boat Home
Sunflower Land
40
Prodigal Son
Broken
Shine On
Where Is The Light
Help From My Friends
Umbrella
Long Train
Turn Turn Turn

Ok River Rats…I’m going to pause this blog now, so the laptop can charge up a little, then maybe I’ll try and have a live band interview session before show time tonight. Peace out for now!

And we’re back! Ten minutes till show time, so we’ll sneak a few questions in…

Me: You’re stuck on an deserted island for the rest of your life. You can take one album from the past ten years to listen to...what do you take?

Josh: That’s really tough. Really, really tough.

Me: So is being stranded on an island.

Steven: Are we all going to have to answer this?

Me:Yep.

Steven: Ok, I'll start putting some thought into it now then.

Josh: I’m on an island – so probably some Jack Johnson. Very islandy. Definitely not Brushfire.
Probably Sleeping Through the Static.

Drew: I’d take the new DMB album – I haven’t heard it yet, but I bet it sounds sick.

Sam: Bruce Springstein – "The Rising". That is an amazing album.

Josh: I can’t believe you didn’t’ say the WL 33 album.

Sam: I flip-flopped on it.

Steven: I have to take metal.

Drew: No metal.

Steven: Quiet - this is for me.

Drew: No, for me.

Steven: And I would have to say Devin Townsend's "Terria".

Me: Why?

Steven: Because it’s beautiful, loud and I can listen to it over and over again. I’m going to make everyone listen to it on this tour.

Josh: Not while I’m driving. Unless you’re there to explain to me what exactly it is I should be appreciating.

Steven: I’ll just remind you that it’s good.

Me: Drew, your #1 musical influence, who is it?

Drew: Carter Beauford. He’s good as keeping it simple, but also doing a lot of stuff without making it messy. He’s completely ridiculous.

Josh: Paul Simon for me and David Wilcox. He’s a Boone NC guy. He’s great...14 albums, singer/song writer. It’s theology in 3 minutes. Very good stuff.

Steven: Do I have to answer this too?

Me: I wasn’t going to make you.

Steven: It’s going to be really lame.

Me: Ok...

Steven: Devin Townsend – go figure. But also Ben Folds. Both those guys really taught me a lot about song writing.

Sam: James Taylor, Vertical Horizon and Fran.

Me: What do they have in common?

Sam: Well they’re all tall skinny white guys for starters. (much laughter)

Me: Right, true…but I meant more musically.

Sam: Oh. Right. It’s the guitar work. James Taylor has this amazing lyrical ability and he also plays such incredibly artistic guitar. It’s almost lead and rhythm at the same time. Vertical really showed me that acoustic guitar can be powerful if you use the right cords, and Fran gave me my start playing guitar on stage.

And now it’s 6:30 and show time is imminent. The band is working a few final acapella harmonies, and trying to relax. It’s still hot, but not as bad as it was now that the sun has gone down a little. That ought to last until these guys get on stage tonight – I’m predicting great things, but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m going to close down now and go get a good seat – more blogging tomorrow!

Overheard on Tour:

"Click."
“I’d like a nice strong kidney punch right before we go on”
“I think I got a side of gas with my combo meal.”
“The band left with out me?! What the hell man!”
"No whining."
"This is Arnold's pizza shop..."
"Want to go shoot some BBs?"

Pondering the Project

A Blog Entry By Josh:

Sans super-bassist (Ben Hackett), the group did a nifty job of pulling it together. Despite Sam and I having to cover bass parts it really felt good playing tonight--there were no surprises and it's truly fun to count on your bandmates to be as reliable and consistently strong as these guys. When that happens it gets easy to just relax and have fun. And that translates to better performance, better sound, etc. I'm not sure it's ever been this easy before.

In other news, tonight's accommodations are (once again) splendid. The Robertson's (Ben, Ellen and Anna) have graciously opened their fine and luxuriant bed and breakfast to the band, despite their otherwise clear judgment. I will be holed up in a queen sized, down-padded bed, replete with bottled water and a bundle of Burt's Bees shampoo, conditioner and body wash made of 96-98% natural ingredients.

Thus, in addition to an earlier stay at Chez Hensley (both Roanoke and Greensboro), and the good folks down at the Red Roof Inn, I can't say I've been roughing it. The music is fun, the people are great, and the trip is grand. This must be what rock stars feel like.

Also, the Right Rev. Ben Robertson would like the community at large to know that this NOT his blog, he has NO IDEA how it got here, and that he finds it to be "Not funny." :)

Breaking Up The Band

This morning at 5am we bid our friend Ben Hackett farewell for most of the rest of the tour. Not because we don’t like him or he wasn’t a killer base player, but because he had to go on vacation in the Virgin Islands with his family. I mean I don’t know who would pick sipping boat drinks (legal drinking age in the VI's - 18) in the sun and sand over traversing NC, GA and TN with five smelly guys and all their musical accessories crammed into two cars - but whatever, we’re trying not to hold it against him. Seriously though, travel safe Ben we’ll see you in Asheville.

Right now the SRP is rolling from Charlotte to Gastonia, and Drew was nice enough to volunteer to drive my car so I could type this. I’m a little worried though, as much time as he’s spent across the Pond, I wonder if he remembers which side of the road civilized people drive on. (j/k) So far so good, but we haven’t had to do much turning yet.

MIX CONTEST UPDATE:

With four mixes down and two to go, conspiracy theories abound with regards to what mix belongs to who. We’ve had bluegrass sightings (Sam), classic rock entries (Josh), some Umphry’s (Ben), some Devin Townsend (Steven), and a little U2 & DMB (Drew, Matt). With two entries to go, Mix #4 seems to be leading the unofficial polling. Btw, we’re still waiting for some of our readers to tell us what songs they would start (or end) their mix with. Best three song entry wins an autographed Sloan River Project tour poster.

Well that’s going to be about it for now…but before we wrap this up, here is the set-list from last night’s Cary show. Thanks to all of you who came out – we hope you enjoyed the show. A special shout out to Dr. Tommy who was in attendance, had a smokin’ rendition of Umbrella dedicated to him, and then joined us for a late dinner at Cosmic Cantina in Chapel Hill. (where four band members who shall remain anonymous consumed a total of 5 and a half burritos and a chimichaunga)

Anyway, set-list for Cary, 6-1-09

Heal This Land
Amazed
Sunflower Land
Blue Boat
Stone & Light
Prodigal Son
Let Your Light Shine
40
Broken
Shine On
Where Is The Light
One Love
Help From My Friends
Umbrella
Long Train Runnin’
Turn, Turn, Turn

We just pulled into Gastonia, and the band can’t wait to see Ben and Ellen and everyone else at All Saints! Hope lots of you can make it out to the show tonight!! (7:30) See you there!

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: When playing tambourine, it is important to be conscious of how hard you are hitting your thigh, and to occasionally change location. For more information, or to arrange a tambourine safety class for you church or school, please contact Josh Edwards.

P.S. – Special thanks to E-Ha, my unofficial copy editor for this blog. She does a fantastic job of finding my many misprints and misspellings, informing me of them and generally making me feel like I should have paid more attention in middle school English. :-)

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @ http://www.blogger.com/www.twitter.com/thesrp

Live From The Green Room 6/1/09

Today, after a health-conscious breakfast of Krispy Kreme hot glaze and Biscuitville biscuits, SRP hit the road. As sugared up as the drivers were, and as awesome as the first two entries into the mix contest were - well lets just say we made good time. We arrived at St. Paul's in Cary a full two hours ahead of schedule. Someone should probably check the Scripture, but I am reasonably sure that a band being on time for anything, (much less early) is sign of the Apocalypse. That would be really unfortunate too, because SRP is really starting to gel musically. The rhythm section sounds particularly good right now – and Mr. Courtright received some spontaneous applause after his solo in Long Train Running last night. (Might have had something to do with the venue, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

The rest of this blog was written live on the fly, so bear with me...

Right now the band is killing time in the “Green Room” @ St. Paul’s before our 7:00 start time. The current conversation is about the number of people who will be at the show – it’s a small source of nerves for this band, and probably any band, before getting on stage it seems. Not that anyone has an issue with playing to small groups, so long as the band isn't bigger than the audience, which Josh says happened to him once and it wasn't fun. Now feels like a good time to ask some general band questions, so here goes…a little impromptu interview session.

Sloan: What do you guys think about before going on stage?

Ben: I don’t think about things before shows, I try and stay open. I don’t think about the lines or anything show related. If I do, I’ll freak out.

Sam: I wonder about how the rest of the band feels. I hope that everyone is still having a good time.

Ben: I’m having a better time now that my bass sounds good again.

Sloan: If you didn’t play your part in the band, what would you play?

Josh: I would love to play lead guitar. I mean I would have to learn how, but it looks like it would be a lot of fun.

Steven: No, it sucks.

Josh: Yea I would like to rip some nasty solos and licks. Heck I might never leave my room if I could do that. (click)

Drew: I would love to play keys or organ. I like how applicable the sound is in any song.

Sam: If you can play good piano, you can rule the world.

Drew: Plus it’s easier to serenade people with a piano than with drums.

Sam: But you can’t do it outside their window.

Drew: True.

Sloan: So Steven, does the length of your hair affect your ability to rock out?

Steven: I don’t really do a whole lot of rocking out in this group….(much laughing from band).

Josh: No no, this is true. I have seen Steven rock out and what he’s doing now isn’t it.

Steven: But yes, I would say it does overall.

Sloan: Ok last question, If you guys had to pick one person in the band to perform heart surgery on you…without any prior training, who would it be?

Josh: Sam.
Ben & Drew: Josh. Josh would probably do the most research.
Sam: Sloan….Sloan has a good chance of getting it right somehow.
Steven: I pick myself. (laughter)
Josh: I feel like Sam would do everything he could to get it exactly right.

With that, the door opens and the band is told the crowd is ready - it's time for the show. Humming a little to themselves everyone ambles down the hallway, into the parish hall and onto the stage. No introduction, no preamble - straight into Heal This Land, and the Cary show is underway. I'm going to stop typing now and listen so I can help critique the show later tonight. Thanks for reading! Hope to see some of you in Gastonia tomorrow!

Tuesday's Show:

7:30
All Saint's Episcopal Church
1201 South New Hope Road
Gastonia NC

See you there!!