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The Legend of Ol' Rapey
Tuesday we rolled into Columbus (Capital of Ohio!) casually, but with purpose. We were greeted at the door to The Treehouse by the sweet sound of the guitar-accompanied ballad of a local legend, Zombie Dog. The tales of Zombie Dog were, in turn, told in song by every patron in the bar. That dog gets around.
It was then that we discovered the other legend, the more important one, the legend of OL' RAPEY. Ol' Rapey is the ghost that haunts The Treehouse. He is about 2' tall and hangs from a string that suspends him about the same height as your head. The line is pulled across the entire interior of the Treehouse. He runs back and forth on a motor (kind of like this GI Joe figure I had, except there is also the option to have Rapey go "AUUUUUUWOOOOOOOOOAAAHHHHHHHH... AUUGHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHH..." like canned-Scooby-Doo-ghost style).
Rapey.
Anyhow, Rapey starts and stops when he wants, where he wants, and then kind of just chills there for a moment or ten minutes and then starts again on his ponderous journey, back and forth across the room.
The "Ol' Rapey" part comes when you switch off his voice and he just silently travels to and fro, creeping up on you and molesting the back of your unsuspecting head as he comes by. It gets funnier as the night goes on, I promise.
So there's this band Jaguar Club from Brooklyn that freaking rocks and they did so this night, on command. They're very well trained to provide sweet beats and atmospheric guitar and extremely good bass playing at a moment's notice.
Next up were the Seedy Seeds, and we played to a warm reception of smiling folks, nestled happily around the giant tree that grows up out of the middle of the club. We like the Treehouse. There really is a tree and it's pretty big. I think I might be slightly allergic to it.
We were followed shortly thereafter by our pals Wing and Tusk. They are the artist-in-residence at the Treehouse for September and this was the last night of it; W'N'T pulled out all the stops. They are a very talented and engaging band and sweet folks to boot.
After an extremely long day we began the journey home. We stopped at a Pilot, where Brian successfully used the bathroom without being leered at by a Creepy Pilot Gas Station Bathroom Cowboy; this breaks his unbelievable streak of three cowboys in the last three Pilots in three states. Good job, Bribot!
The Jaguar Club
Wing and Tusk
—Mike
Haters : Go Hate Elsewhere
MidPoint Music Festival is awesome! It is a three-day, city-wide festival during which close to 300 bands from the city, the region and all around the world showcase their music in bars, coffee shops and makeshift venues. We Seedy Seeds were booked to play the Contemporary Arts Center opening night of the Festival with Chemic, Loyal Divide and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir.
I love MidPoint. No other show can ever compare; each year we're in a new setting, playing to our hometown crowd with excited, anxious energy all around. I woke up on Thursday morning already practically too excited to do anything besides pace and not speak in clear and proper sentences until show time.
I was totally excited about premiering the song we'd just finished, "We Are Missing." Since our very first MPMF showcase three years ago we've made a tradition out of debuting a new song during our MidPoint set. We're all particularly excited and proud of "We Are Missing," and I was anxious to get a response from our audience on it.
Brian picked me up in Bavana shortly after 6 P.M. and we began our descent on downtown.
One of the neater aspects of our showcase this year was that we were just about as excited to see every band on our bill as we were to actually play the bill. Chemic's Scott Kirkpatrick is a personal friend of mine and a darn good musician, Loyal Divide are a band we've played with several times and are incredible live and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were using their slot to celebrate a new release, so basically our stage was going to be a party all night long.
When we arrived Loyal Divide were unloading their gear as well. We gave each other high fives, smiles and hugs, and got our stuff into the CAC via a very large service elevator. We were to play the black box theater, which boasts a capacity of 200 and a very large projection screen. There were some 100 or so chairs set up in the room, which clearly weren't going to make nice with a dance party—and clearly Cincinnati agreed because as soon as folks started arriving, chairs started leaving.
Brian and I began to situate our gear on the side of the stage as the first MPMF-goers entered the venue. A particularly animated gentleman introduced himself to me as our biggest fan and told me the tale of how TSS first won him over during a set of ours at the Northside Tavern. He had a nickname not uncharacteristic of a super hero, and even offered me a drink. I took him up on his offer and began setting our discs and stickers out. While I was setting our merch display up, Scott arrived and we exchanged high fives, smiles and hugs.
Right before Chemic took the stage, our stage manager informed us that The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir had been in an accident on their way from Chicago to Cincinnati and wouldn't be making it. We all volunteered to play longer sets to fill up the now-empty slot with music.
Scott nailed it. Chemic is presently going though a lineup change, and he played material from that project and from his side-project Bro. Stephen to kick the night off. Loyal Divide, easily one of my favorite live bands, took the night to a whole new level. "You're welcome, Cincinnati," is what their set seemed to say in the absence of an official statement. Next up, The Seedy Seeds. When we took the stage, the room was packed! Cincinnati had clearly taken the 200-head capacity of the room as a personal challenge and delivered what was easily 250 if not 300 in attendance. Some might say more… is this how legends are born?
My favorite shows are the sweatiest shows. If my fingers are slipping off my instruments, rendering our songs particularly difficult to play, we Seeds have done our job. To say this show was sweaty is an understatement. This show was like someone decided to shoot a fitness video in a bath house. By the end of it all my glasses were fogging up on stage, Mike looked like someone had cruelly sprayed him with a hose to get a good look at his boobies, and Brian had pounded welts into his legs. "We Are Missing" went over super well, and while we are grief-stricken that The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir were in a wreck, we had an absolute blast.
Dear MidPoint. We love you. We had the best time ever. We look forward to seeing you next year. Love, The Seedy Seeds
SYGC were seriously injured in their accident and their van and gear were destroyed. If you are so inclined, they could definitely use some help. Click this link to donate online.
Scott from Chemic in action.
Loyal Divide can't be captured by still images.
—Margaret
NOM NOM VEGAN BAKED GOODS NOM NOM
There are certain points in the year our band finds easily marked by festivals… March is South by Southwest, April is CincyPunk Fest, September is MidPoint Music Festival, October is CMJ, and August—well August is Dayton's Ladyfest… Ladyfest is a multi-day celebration of women in performing arts, and it's one of those neat ideas that many cities chose to host in festival form throughout the year. We played Dayton's Ladyfest last year and it was a major blast—we've been looking forward to this year's incarnation since…
I met the boys +1 (Mike's dad, Mark, joined us as Merch Guy Extraordinaire) in Dayton for load-in (I'd been visiting family in Cleveland). Dayton's Ladyfest is held in a DIY art venue called C{Space—it's a large, colorful, L-shaped spot. The festival organizers had moved some things around this year and we loaded our gear directly into the vault. From there we high-fived some friends of ours from Chicago-by-way-of-Dayton Hospital Garden, explored the prospect of a bright future made possible by vegan twinkies (there was a booth!) with some good folks who drove from Cincinnati for the event, and watched a giant spider spin a web in the open doorway leading the the back lot where all the smokers were hanging…
We had some sound problems that complicated our line check and put Mike in a prematurely sweaty and slightly anxious state. Thankfully the problems were resolved, and with Mike just a little wetter than usual, we got going. During our set I found myself adjusting to the view from our stage, which had been moved from its location last year. Rather than looking out from the vertex of the L upon the front doors, we were facing the second stage perpendicular to the entryway. While the stage this year seemed higher and larger than last, and jumping on and off it with gear was kind of fun, I do think I preferred the location of the stage from Ladyfest Dayton 2008. From there I probably started contemplating something entirely inappropriate to think about on stage, like what it would take to turn my home office into a sweet room for a (future?) pet baby bunny, or how large an AU really is in comparison to my height (as a graphic), or how great it was going to be to get a vegan twinkie after our set… Every so often my mind wanders off while we are onstage—something I generally try not to let happen, but I accept that sometimes it does. Whatever it was, I was brought back from Reverie Land with the help of some particularly loud and enthusiastic "wooooooo!s" from the Cincinnatians. We had a great time playing just as we did in 2008. Sadly (for me), the vegan twinkies had all been sold by the end of our set, so I'll just have to wait for next August to get my "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling" on.
Bribot prepares for battle.
Mike curses the phantoms.
—Margaret
Listen up folks, this is a good one.
It seems somewhat rare these days to find a bill with just two bands. Not just two bands, but two awesome bands who really love what they do, and especially love one another's band (both personally and musically). This is exactly what fell upon the great city of Louisville on Friday July 31st. Home to the standard instrument used in our greatest pasttime (the Louisville Slugger), and some of the most ridiculous nights of drinking in bars until 4:00 A.M., this city expects a good time. Well Louisville, you got what you deserved.
We had just arrived a few days earlier from our east coast tour. One of our most successful spans of shows ever, it was easy to say we were riding relatively high after melting faces in Cleveland, Philly, Boston and Brooklyn. Four shows in four cities through seven states and over 1600 miles is enough to take a toll on anyone—especially in Hollandaise Firebot (aka our mini-van). Bavanarama (our 15-passenger) sat this one out, and we crammed all of our instruments plus our Seedy selves into some pretty close-quarters. Good thing we love each other!
Needless to say, we had been rushed around and required a new kind of show to bring us back down to Earth. Again this is where the love for a two-band bill sets in. Not a lot of equipment to fight through, or long sets with still two more bands to play before your 1:00 A.M. slot. Everyone is equal, and is there to equally have a good time.
The fine folks at Buzzgrinder.com, one of our favorite music blog sites, invited us and our buddies J Roddy Walston and the Business to help celebrate their 8th anniversary. After a scheduling conflict and a last-minute venue change, we were still stoked to play what we knew would be a great evening.
We arrived at the Rudyard Kipling early enough for some fine summer brews and vegan pizza, and shared some great laughs with the men of J Roddy. Sean Cannon of Buzzgrinder, along with his lovely with Brittanie, treated us to as many red, white and blue PBR headbands and wristbands as we could handle. Nothing spells freedom superfun like good, cheap 'Merican beer.
We opened the night with a fury. A solid hour with non-stop Seedy hits—the "Rud" (Louisville slang) certainly sustained some structural damage. The energy was up all around, and we played to a large crowd packed tightly around all edges of the stage. You know its a great show when you come back with a couple bruises.
Next up were one of my favorite live bands I have ever played with. J Roddy is simply fantastic live, and the more intimate venue to witness their madness will guarantee the best of times to be talked about around campfires for months to come. The boys bring it like it should always be brought, a mentality common in the Seedy family. Hair-whips, piano-fits and broken sticks are just some of the images I can offer. Do yourself a favor, and please check out this band… worth every penny of every dollar from now until eternity.
Zach from J.Roddy rips it up while simultaneously tearing it down.
Did we mention the evening also featured a visit from Green Man? Because it did.
Post-show became a slight blur, mostly due to exhaustion. I can tell you that it involved drinking some more PBR in a stationary '57 Chevy Convertible while eating pizza that was cut the size of Rhode Island. Joined by our friend Scott of Bro. Stephen, and with crocheted sea-monsters and stories of Seedy and Buzzy world domination, we finally settled on the Cannon's floor—Mike and I sharing a blow-up mattress big enough to float across the Ohio River on… Speaking of that, see you soon on a boat!
—Brian
The images, they speak volumes
This bagel was so good I almost cried.
We let this bum have a bagel too.
—Mike
words here
After our hand-chair portraits we brooked it down to Brooklyn, the third city on this tour I had never personally set foot in. I had a certain expectation about what my experience would be, and while the general ideas were still there (giant city with outrageous amount of people and endless canyons of concrete) I could not believe how good it felt to be in that city.
We arrived around 1am (party time!), found a parking spot immediately, and got situated at a friend's house. We shot the breeze for a little bit and then the Sleepy Seeds, having awoke in Philadelphia 21 hours before, and having played a show in Boston 10 hours before, passed the heck out.
In the morning, the Seeds split up to paint the town three different colors. Brian and I went to brunch with even yet still more friends, after which I went on a Ghostbusters / sightseeing tour of Manhattan. In a little over 2 hours I saw most of Manhattan; the fire station, apartment building, and terrace restaurant from Ghostbusters; the street on the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan; and a personal favorite, the outside facade of the Cosby household. After that I walked through Central Park, got diverted on some under-construction subway lines, and made it back to the venue just in time.
We immediately scored the MOST AMAZING PARKING SPOT EVER, loaded in, ordered some beverages, and commenced the rock.
The show was hot, loud, and awesome, just the way we like it. Dawes and Childe were also amazing, as were their musicianship, candor, and personalities. One memory that I, and my back, will always remember, is the awesome teamwork all the bands exhibited while taking a full-sized piano down a flight of steps.
(Every once in a while, I get a call from a friend. It's not the usual oh-no-not-this-call, which goes something like "Heeeeyyyy.... man.. do you want to help me move?" No. This is much more feared and dreaded. This is the call not based on calling in a favor, but based on calling in a favor plus torture. The call I refer to is "Heeeeyyy.. man. I found this ad on craigslist for a free piano, all I have to do is pick it up!" Please, people. Hire a professional piano mover. It is worth it and they will tune it for you. Moving a piano is like moving a sleeper sofa made of lead. Thank you. -ed)
After the show, the Bocce Ball did flow. Margaret and Brian were quite inexperienced; Brian had, in fact, never even heard of the stuff. We quickly set that straight:
Shh...he's concentrating.
Shh...she's winning.
I AM HOT AND SWEATY.
Nobody knows who the guy in the gray shirt is.
—Mike
There's beans in them thar hills
So the.. owner and driver are American built?
We awoke in Philadelphia to begin our whirlwind loop around Boston down to Brooklyn. On the way up, we picked a random lottery ticket and immediately shed a single tear for a friend who couldn't make it on this journey:
Today, the order of business was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the existance of our pals Freezepop. Way to go, guys! They actually played two anniversary shows in one night: one an early, all-ages show; and one a later, mega-drunkzord 21+ show. We played the early show along with Boston's own Mystery Roar.
(editor's note: for your convenience we have removed the part where Mike talks about food. All he does is talk about food and we figured you could use a break. The vegan pan-asian cuisine was plentiful however)
The show was really awesome, and we met a lot of really awesome people. We presented Freezepop with a giant aluminum-foil key to our hearts. Sound was great, venue was great, crowd was amazing, yowsa.
Mystery Roar roars mysteriously. Actually it's not that mysterious, it's tasty electo-pop.
In addition to the best shirt ever, Bananas Foster was wearing some serious pants (not pictured).
After the show, we all went back to Freezepop's headquarters for some R+R, before beginning our journey south to New York City. We discovered some outstanding things while we were at it. One item of note is that Freezepop is friendly with Chris Onstad, purveyor of Achewood, our favorite comic strip.
The other item is that they had a hand chair and we all posed for portraits. Hand chair!
"... wait what?"
Serious face.
That's right.
—Mike
She's a maniac, and she's parking like she's never parked before
Stepping foot (well, wheel) in Philadelphia for the first time, I was struck by its...parking fees. $1.00 in quarters per HALF HOUR in the area around the venue. This is of course only until 10pm, after which they simply tow you. On top of that, no business within several square blocks were happy about giving change, and some simply refused. Otherwise, you can find a garage or surface lot starting around $13.
HOWEVER the city was pretty awesome. We got out of the van and were immediately coerced into having a Yuengling on the curb with the guy that owned the bar a few doors down from The Khyber. This was an excellent decision.
The Khyber is a gem, a dusty diamond in a district of velvet ropes and shiny zarconias. The bars around it don't have their drink prices listed, while The Khyber is a genuine rock and roll bar where you drink cheap while listening to Black Flag and simply enjoying yourself.
As the twilighte glistenede over Olde Towne, more and even better little niblets of joy peeked out from behind the posh upper crust. Margaret and I took a short walk and stumbled upon an entire street of Afghani restaraurants, one of which served us a 14" pita completely jammed with falafel and fresh veggies for like 7 bucks. Well done!
We opened the show to an enthusiastic crowd of rockers, and somehow it felt like they were all our best friends. As it turns out, there was only one other band on the bill, Doctor Scientist. This picture accurately describes their awesomeness I think:
"Doctor Scientist," or "going on a warpath to battle the evil mastadons"
I think the entire Philadelphia experience was only enhanced by the blessing we received on the way into town, a cloud that looked just like Falcor:
Having a luck dragon with you is the only way to go on a quest.
—Mike
Lean, Green, Seedy Machines
Following the success and gas mileage of driving Hollandaise Firebot (our minivan) instead of Bavanarama, we decided to see if it was physically possible to pack all the things we need for a short tour as a full band into a smaller space. As it turns out, the manufacturers over at Nissan planned exactly, down to the cubic inch, how much room it takes for a standard Seedy Seeds show to travel to your town. The nice part is that if there's even a gnat's width of room left, we know we've forgotten something.
This is my "I have enjoyed the success of a job well done while packing the van" face.
We, as the Seedy Seeds, have this problem. The problem is Margaret's mom. Margaret's folks live in the Cleveland area, and her mom is a fantastic cook. What's the problem, you might ask? Well the problem is that every time we roll into town, we gorge ourselves to such a ridiculous extent that they literally have to ROLL us out of town. Pound after pound of mouth-watering foods and fresh baked goods fly past our teefs like the Road Runner outrunning a giant slingshot.
HEAR THIS. ON OUR WAY OUT OF TOWN BRI-BOT AND I EACH ATE A VERY LARGE LOAF OF ZUCHINNI BREAD. LIKE, ONE LOAF PER PERSON.
On top of all that, The Beachland Tavern attempted to pummel us into submission with tasty vegan food, just to see if our meals would brawl once they reached our stomachs.
The evening began with 19 Action News playing an energetic set, while being filmed by a cameraman from the real 19 Action News, though I don't think they're necessarily affiliated. Next came we, we who do the Seedying. I think we played pretty darn well, and the sound on stage was fantastic. Thanks, Clint.
A quick line up change shifted Doublethink into the next slot, and they played a raucous set of Foo-Fighters-esque straight-ahead rock and roll. The Guile finished off the night with some really really awesome Beatle-based punk rock, tied down by one of the best drummers I've seen.
As an added bonus to our Tavern show, The Walkmen were playing the main stage and so we stopped by for a few songs of their set. That band's pretty awesome.
So once again, Cleveland tries to spoil us. We start off on a tour leg with tons of fantastic food in our bellies, sleeping in nice warm beds, having a great show in a great venue. It really sets you up, because you worry that this is as good as it gets and it can only be downhill from here.
BUT SEEDS DON'T ROLL DOWNHILL. WE ROLL STRAIGHT TO THE TOP.
19 Action News (foreground) documenting the performance of 19 Action News (background).
Doublethink.
The Guile.
The Walkmen.
—Mike
Freedom isn't Free
"Sometimes it takes waking up at a seemingly ridiculous hour (by way of your banjo player) with an OTR-induced headache only to drive 5 hours in the rain to Chicago to put freedom into perspective." —Margaret
On our way out of Cincinnati, this particular Birthday of Freedom was christened by the visceral image a guy sleeping on the front lawn of a house nearby Seedy Central. We were driving through a relatively nice, old-timey part of Cincinnati, and it struck us that it is more likely that this guy was somebody's dad visiting on holiday that got drunk and locked himself out accidentally, and just happened to be sleeping on the front lawn, not necessarily a full-on bum. We picked up a SleepyTroy and set out on the way to Freedomland on this day of freedom.
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaad, you're emberassing me!
SleepyTroy! I Choose You!!
Further up the road in the great state of Indiana ("The Crossroads of America"), we did what any law-abiding, freedom-loving free citizen of the free country of These United States would do; we earnestly endeavored to destroy a piece of it with explosives.
FreedomMobile!! I Choose You!
SRSLY.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO FOR ONE?
Back into Bavannarama we piled, all holding our enormous caches of perfectly legal munitions. Shortly before the show Bribot ate so many peanut butter pretzels that he began to turn into one.
POSSIBLY THE CREEPIEST PICTURE EVER TAKEN
we rolled into the great City of Chicago, loaded our gear into the club, and headed down to the Chicago Diner for extremely awesome vegan reubens, raw nachos, and vegan milkshakes.
Best Friends Forever!
The show was opened by the exuberant, guitar-wailing hotness of The Victory Gins. We followed them with a freedom-laden set of Seedy hits, including a spontaneous rendition of "Proud to Be An American." Loyal Divide closed things out with a majestic set of awesomeness.
After the show, we retired to the alley out back an undisclosed location and began to celebrate American Freedom, Chinese style, with fireworks. Margaret fired her first-ever Roman Candle. A mortar misfired and exploded 6ft off of the ground directly in the center of a busy intersection. Blessedly, no fingers were harmed in the making of this revelry.
I had to remark, during it all, that being in downtown Chicago on the evening of the 4th, it was incredible, it was like a (very festive) warzone. Everywhere, all night long, and constantly, you heard explosions, machine-gun blasts, bigger explosions, and the night sky was constantly aglow with reds, whites and blues, each one brighter than the previous. It was pretty spectactular.
Margaret loves pinball, especially inappropriate pinball.
Hey you!
The Victory Gins.
The Loyal Divide.
MARGARET CASTS MAGIC MISSLE! SUCCESS!
—Mike
We will play for anybody. Anybody.
Chris Schadler charges his genius beam all year, then lets it go and pulls together one of the best music festivals in the city; annually held over the 3rd and 4th of July. He calls it the Northside Rock 'N' Roll Carnival. The giant party, which takes place in Hoffner Park in Northside, had us sharing the stage with great bands like Wussy, Culture Queer, The Chauncers and (dare I say the now-legendary?) Man Halen, among others.
Mike and I met Brian for load-in around 7 P.M.ish behind the main stage. The weather was really mild and folks were already spread all over the park in lawn chairs, on blankets, and by the beer stands. Approaching the stage from behind, the guitars and vocals of local alt-country indie-rockers The Turkeys bounced off of all the buildings around the park, and the echoes coming back made the band's material sound like the theme song to Pete and Pete (not a bad thing if you ask me!).
We started our set at 8 P.M. and a pretty wild dance party orchestrated by a group of five-year-olds ignited almost immediately. An occasional adult would find their way to the front to join in, but the pressure of having to constantly bust sweet moves proved too much for many. As our set went on I'd spot a familiar face here and there among the Carnival-goers—one particular friend, who has an impressive (and very easy to spot) mane of hair reminiscent of a medieval knight, stuck out in a way that makes him a good player for a "Where's Waldo in Hoffner Park?" book.
We love to talk to fans after our sets. For me, a particularly special moment in the evening occurred when, on my way back from the beer stand, a mom approached me and thanked me and The Seedy Seeds for playing an entire set of kid-friendly music. I'm really glad that her kids could enjoy our music right alongside my friend sir knight and all the other Rock 'N' Roll Carnival-goers.
The whole event kept going with amazing vigor throughout the evening, culminating in an indescribably fantastic set from Man Halen, my new favorite band. And while at the end I definitely found myself having had more OTR than I'd anticipated, I'd say this was, hands-down, one of my favorite nights out with the band.
—Margaret
I want to ride my bicycle
Ah, Louisville. Land of the Sluggers, home of the nitrogen-pushed microbrews and best french toast I've ever had. Oh, and Skull Alley, a completely awesome venue that happens to be 1 Year Old! Congratulations, guys.
Skull Alley is a venue / artspace / screen printing facility that has all-ages shows, sells local crafts and art, and is run by two seriously sweet people.
Congratulations, guys, you are 1! And you are also very photogenic!
Margaret and I rolled into town and were immediately struck by our familiar pangs of trying to find delicious food. Jamie told us about a new place right near the venue called Swan Dive, so off we biked. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with their beer selection and tasty vegan food.
Tonight we shared the stage with Poetic Jay, C+, Two Hand Fools, and Ooh Da Lally. Poetic Jay started the show off with a short set of rhymes. C+ and Two Hand Fools made the rock that makes the folks sweat, and Ooh Da Lally played their set using folk instruments and no microphones at all, which was pretty interesting I must stay.
Poetic Jay
C+
Two Hand Fools
Ooh Lah Lally, unplugged.
Enjoying a refreshing beverage with friends!
Brittanie Canon made us a friend. This is Frankie! Do you need a friend? Because you probably do. Clicky clicky!
—Mike
