~Slow This Bird Down~

Greetings,

This might end up being the last tour blog for this Spring Tour of 2007.
Maybe not though, who knows.

Right now we're in Richmond, Virginia. There's a great mediteranean restuarant here across the street from the venue and boy is it tasty. Havent eaten a thing in 24 hours so it tasted like paradise.
The venue (Hyperlink) looks LEGIT, guy. Woah. Cant wait to play here with our friends Tulsa Drone tonight. They're awesome. This show is going to kick ass. Last night in Greenville, NC was a total surprise. A crapload of kids showed up and turned it into a massive party. It was amazing. This tour has been incredible.

When you get to the end of tours like this its impossible to make sense of everything that has happened. I keep trying to put it all together and stuff it in a little box up in my brain but the fact is experiences like this dont belong up in the brain, they end up being the most comfortable in the spirit, or soul, or heart. or taint. Whatever. Its hard to explain. We've met so many beautiful, special people out here this time and re-connected in new, more improved ways with old ones. Here are some random pics from our trip through the South.


This is us with our homeboys in Tennessee. We've known these dudes for a year now and this time we went and played in a park in their hometown on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Hanging with these dudes and their families was one of the most memorable tour experiences we've had yet. Plus some of these guys started a band called REST that made their debut performance happen that afternoon as well. They OWNED it. Watch out for them.


Back at their folks house, these dudes have a rehearsal space/recording room and we spent the better part of the day jamming with them. Too bad we didnt end up recording some of these sessions, they sounded awesome.


Something about this pic captures the good natured, inviting hospitality of the South to me. After our show in Chatanooga, TN with our friends from Ours To Alibi we went back to their friends house and kicked until late in the evening. Spending quality time with people that we care about is what makes long ass tours like this bearable. Without houses like this to chill in we'd surely go insane.

Tender Tennessee

We've made it to TN at the casa of our friends Tim and Clay. They've been trying to get us here forever and this time we made good. It just so happens that this place is palatial. Huge fields, an enormous garage with tools to fix our gear, practice space to jam, beds, internet, laundry, big grill to cook food, it goes on and on. Its something else.

The show in Baton Rouge was pretty sick. There were 200 or so people there and we played outside at midnight. The vibe was as hot as the steaming humidity. After getting some late night breakfast with our friend Dorian we hit the road at 3:30am to make it up here for the afternoon show. After the sweaty 8 hr. drive we got here, took showers and went over to the show. This tour has definately been the tour of excessive driving. There is only one semi-long drive left and for the next few shows we'll be rolling a lot easier from show to show. The show yesterday was outdoors in a huge park. The weather was PERFECT and though we were tired (I hadnt slept in 35 hours) we played the best we could and played LONG. The atmosphere was really casual and layed back with friends and family kicking it with each other all afternoon. It was a welcome break from the standard bar show.

Hard to believe that in a week we will be back in Massachusetts. Seems like forever ago that we left even though its only been 3 little weeks. Thats how tour goes. This one will be the hardest one to forget for a million different reasons - almost all of them amazing ones. I'm starting to get nostalgic and we still have a week left. Shucks.

Lone Star State

Word. I'm pretty friggin bored right now I wont lie. I always forget that tour is a jam packed rollercoaster of travelling, playing hanging, and loading gear punctuated by long stretches of sitting around waiting at clubs or in cars doing nothing. While you're sitting around drifting off into space you get a good chance to watch people do their thing. Right now I'm sitting on a nice leather couch in the lovely air conditioning of the proletariat in Houston watching our friend Nathan run the door and collect cash for tonights show. I'm right near the door and everytime someone comes in a gust of HOT STICKY AIR comes rushing like a smelly dog into the room. Its rank but this is the south and thats just how they roll down here.

Joe and I ate a disgusting slice of pizza earlier that we both have promised to forget ever happened. That slice was the stuff of nightmares. In fact I'll probably have raging dreams of that foul place haunt me until I make it back to Boston and have a decent slice. The opening band just started and they sound pretty cool. Some nice guitar licks streaming over here from the stage.

Did a radio interview at Rice University this afternoon. The mics were off for the first half of the interview. We laughed it off and it was all good. Trying to sum up what we think the The Four Trees is about in a few sentences on a radio show is tough for me and I should stop trying to do it. But I blabber on anyway. We get to play with Loren Dent tonight again which is great. He is like Stars of the Lid except even denser and more engaging. Cant wait. The other thing I forget about touring is all of the amazing bands you see pop out of the woodwork. If people tell you that music "these days really sucks" have them get in a van and go on tour. They may just change their mind.

Trying to pick setlists every night is tough. I wish we had an hour and a half every night and could pack it all in.

I left my doc martens at The Living Room in Tucson. R.I.P. my chocolate rubber soled champs.

Got a show everynight until this is done. "Sweet".

My brain is turning to mush from Joe's perverted jokes. "Blumpkin".

Its hard to tell if people are really digging the shows or not sometimes. Gotta let it go.

Damn its hot outside.

Chris is somehow sleeping in the van right now in the heat.

Erin is wandering around somewhere.

Joe is drinking a red bull on the couch here. "Taint".

Tonight it'll be: Moksha, Quovis, Further Up, Further In, Crawlspace, ASA, Brombie, Sycamore I have decided.

VERY NAICE.

One Love-
P
and
C

Tempe Arizona - a NIGHT of pure quality

Caspian, Beware of Safety, and North at the Space Gallery. Tempe, Arizona. May 6, 2007

EAST.

Heya. Dont have the camera on me so I cant upload new pics (there are tons) but Ill get to that in the next few days no doubt. We made it out of L.A. alive - barely - and now its a direct shot east and up the coast back to Boston. L.A. was actually much more easy going and chill than the last few tours which was nice but there were some moments of insanity for sure. A lot of the good spirits had to do with the great people we met up with out there. The Cocaine show was indeed awesome.

The shows have been going splendidly. In fact last night in Tempe, AZ was probably the most fun we've had playing ever. The room had an incredible vibe, all of the bands sounded INSANE and we got to play more than the standard 35 minute set. There was something special going on inside there. We parted ways with Beware of Safety this morning...Sadness. Those guys are the greatest and our time with them from Seattle all the way to Arizona was inspiring and refreshing. Nothing but love. Last night after the show we all went to a "Boston Bar" in Tempe that they opened up just for us! We kicked it by ourselves there amidst the Red Sox banners and such drinking and eating pizza for a couple hours. It capped off maybe the best day of tour Caspian has had yet. Hard to explain. We'll miss those dudes and all that came with this west coast adventure.

To people that have been coming out to the shows - THANK YOU. We're looking forward to the last 2 weeks and to making it back alive.

Ill put up pictures soon.
WORD

The Green Monster Nearly R.I.P.

Hello good peoples.

Here's a nice pic we took yesterday in San Fran to offset the bad news forthcoming:


Beautiful eh? Thats just California. Probably the most beautiful state in the entire country and perhaps the world.

So, Yesterday we made it over to San Fransisco and the transmission on the van started to seriously fall apart. Went up a hill in the Muir Woods and an ugly sound echoed through the car that made our collective hearts sink and or total cash earnings thus far dissapear ($1300 and then some). We made the show in Redwood City and then got back in the car and limped it to L.A. around 7am this morning. Made it safely to our friend Steve's house (of beware of safety). He hooked us up with an amazing generous mechanic in West L.A. around 9am that is, as we speak, tearing the transmission out of the mighty beast and putting in a new one he found at a junkyard. Should be done by 10am tommorow which means we can hit up the UCLA radio interview and the show without a problem which is a huge relief.

We had to take our gear out of the back and throw in one of their corners at the shop. Here's a pic!


This all means we had to bail out of our ultimate favorite drive we planned on doing today on the highway 1 which runs down the california coast. This drive is sacred and this time we cant make it. We also had a sweet dinner set up for us at our friend Rachel's house in Santa Barbara that we have to bail on. We'll have revenge next tour for sure and it'll be that much better.

Other than this current setback things are going well. The whole northwest weekend in Seattle/Portland was one of the all time best era's of any tour we've ever done. Everything about it was incredible. Go to iamserio.us and you can download both the Seattle and Portland sets. BoS came out and helped us drum out the end of the new song. 6 drummers on stage slammin away. Brian Connolly made it happen with the recordings, again, and he remains the man.

We'll have a story or two to share after our L.A. weekend Im sure so stay posted. Lots happening in this city after all. Hope you all are doing well. Talk soon.

ALSO - we got new tshirts today so merchandise is back on track.

~Caspian.

Portland Venue...

Just a quick note to shout out to the Someday Lounge here in Portland, OR. Probably one of the most pro venues we've ever showed up at. The door guy is even letting me sneak in some underage kids who drove out for the show. Rock and Roll. Got a backstage with a shower and had a nice long soundcheck. This kicks ass all around.