012309 Skull Alley

My love affair with Louisville.

I really look forward to playing in Louisville because it always feels a little like a home away from home. Every time we play Louisville we meet new people, see old pals, and each and every time we gain a new set of friends. The city's just plain awesome and so are the people. This show was no exception.

This time we played at Skull Alley, which is an all-ages art / music / screen printing venue run by some great folks who really care about being a quality venue and furthering the cause of independent music.

The show was opened by an awesome, angular set from Paper Airplane (no relation to our pals Paper Airplane from Columbus, yet awesome nonetheless).

After that, we were graced with the glorious sounds of some good friends of ours, Flotation Walls. I can remember about a week or so after the very first TSS show ever, Flotation Walls and The Seedy Seeds found each other on MySpace, fell in love, and vowed to play shows together forevermore. It took a while to pull it off, but not long ago we finally worked it out schedulewise. Their set was great and we're also playing a Newport, KY with them soon. Cheers to the Walls.

Following Flotation Walls was a totally awesome set from Stick Figures. They tore it up, sounded great, played my favorite song, and were hella tight. But what else is new? That's what they do, they're professionals.

We closed out the night by dropping the hits so hard that the power kept going out to the PA. But it usually happened near the end of a song, exactly on beat with the music, so some songs simply ended with everyone singing along acoustic-like. It was a super awesome show and you can find some video over at the Youtubes.

Paper Airplane brings some angular rock up in here.

Floation Walls family portrait! AAWWWW!!

Carlos from Flotation Walls brings some rock vocals up in here.

Max from Stick Figures brings some rock vocals up in here.

Sarah from Stick Figures puts some rock keys up in there.

Nice shirt, man!

I was just getting over some Bronchitis but I felt pretty good, that is until I remembered that bars in Louisville close around 4am! We all went out with some friends and had a great time, I chugged water and kept it real, fantastic night overall.



The Morning After

We stayed in a pretty awesome loft and this was the view out the window. Good morning, Louisville!

Good Morning, Kitty Cat!

Wake up, Mike! Being awake from 6:30am to 4:00am is no excuse MISTER SLEEPYHEAD.

Fine. Stay sleeping and waste the day, Brian.

AWWWW THE PUPPY ALARM CLOCKS HAVE BROUGHT THE DAY BACK TO NORMAL!!

AWWWW PUPPY ALARM CLOCK BAILEY IS THE CUTEST (but don't tell his sister Bella!)

I have one more thing to say about Louisville. It has generally some pretty great food, much of which is vegetarian and vegan (aka Seeds-Friendly.) But then we found the Meridian Cafe.

And I had this:

WTF OMG.

There's not much I can say about this french toast. You know how when you remember something it's always a lot better in your memory than when you actually experience it again? Like watching old episodes of Knight Rider, or Fruit Stripes Gum? Yeah. This stuff tastes like the best thing you can ever remember eating, times ten. Except when you go to take another bite, it actually still tastes BETTER THAN THAT.

Blueberry BASIL and CHEESE and HUH? DON'T ASK QUESTIONS. JUST GO ORDER SOME.

If Louisville keeps up the amazing food thing and isn't careful, they'll have to roll us Seedy Seeds out of town like Violet Beauregard.

—Mike

011809 Bernie's

Rock and Roll.

It snowed a lot in Cleveland:

After our show at The Matinee, Brian and I had run into a mutual friend who somehow finagled some free tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We didn't have to be in Columbus until evening, so we went that morning and scoped it out.

We had a pretty good blast but I didn't necessarily take any fantastic pictures. Brian and I were a little disappointed that the toilet that Elvis died on wasn't there but I guess it's probably still in Graceland. But what more important piece of Rock and Roll than the piece that Elvis left behind?

We did get to see some totally awesome things (part of the airplane that Otis Redding died on, the 4-track recorder that the Beatles recorded Sgt. Peppers on), as well as some mediocre / uninspiring things (whole wall of Aerosmith, a conspicuous lack of Led Zeppelin in the overall history).

We did hear that the best parts of the museum were the documentaries and films; however, we had to breeze through the entire museum pretty quickly. We'll definitely be back.

Artist's rendering, apparently, of how awesome it would be if Brian played air drums in The Spin Doctors with Elvis' Toilet.

After the Hall of Fame we ate a lot of good food and headed South for the evening. We pulled into Columbus, met up with some more friends, and shortly thereafter the fantastic Paper Airplane took the stage. After that came a stream of hits from Blastronauts! and yours truly.

I've been coming to Bernie's for quite some time now, and I marveled at how far the place has come over the years. When I first started playing there it was loud and smokey and rock and roll, and now it's better sounding, clean and non-smoking, and rock and roll. Way to go, Bernies!

The members and music of Paper Airplane are completely sweet.

Beware the Benevolent Blastronaut!

The Seedy Seeds closed out the evening with a super-fun set that included Brian performing on THREE songs (I'm Asleep in All My Dreams, The Little Patton, and Earned Average Dance America) he had never played before, much less practiced by himself! Brian is a robot. A robot that pulled off three new songs just by using his ROBOT BRIAN BRAIN.

We were also joined onstage by Paper Airplane for "I'm Asleep in All My Dreams," who happen to do a rather splendid version of that song on our Count the Days companion album (click here to buy). Thanks guys!

We ended the night with an interview for Ohio Rocks! and a long, cold drive home. Thanks to everyone in Columbus for making the night great; no thanks to Bernie's toilets for still being pretty heinous.

—Mike

011709 The Matinee

When it rains, it snows.

We all woke up in my parents' house in Cleveland to a steady falling of light snow. The goal for the day was to just relax and take care of some Seeds business. Sitting by a fire with snow falling out the window put all of us in a very comfortable place—though constantly on the brink of dozing off.

Brian working on Seeds business.

We made some phone calls, wrote some emails and discussed the details of a video shoot we have coming up. We ate well (especially Mike and I, who have been treated to homemade Indian food compliments of my parents' neighbors since we arrived) and at eight o'clock we set out for the West Side. Mike working on Seeds business.

The drive to The Matinee wasn't as treacherous as we anticipated given the steady snowfall. We arrived, loaded our gear inside, set up our merch table, and got into a very interesting conversation with Josh of Run Run Addington, who, as it turns out, builds his own drum kits. Yes. He builds them. With his bare hands. And they sound great. Genius.

The Matinee! Our new CD on our merch table.

Run Run Addington were really engaging. Their live performance was polished and energetic. We followed them with our set, and we were in turn followed by Promise Hero, whose set was played with some emotional urgency as their lead singer apparently had to pee real bad their whole set.

Run Run Addington in motion but as a still photograph. Hmm… kinda weird.

Hey, that's us!

Must have been a loud part… Belt it, Mike! I love this picture. Promise Hero : This guy was super vocal about his bladder. Hope he's okay. Mike relaxing at the bar following Promise Hero's set.

After the show we set out to meet some friends of Brian and Mike at a bar not too far off. It was a cozy spot and a great place to continue our trend of unwinding.

Mike and Brian pose with some friends outside The Matinee. Why do we always hoist our adult beverages up in photographs like people really want to see us like "this beer is SO my jam!"? The best thing about this other bar for sure was the planetlike revolving Schlitz light. Also the gentleman dancing like crazy to the Americana band that was playing when we entered. Not pictured : the dancing gentleman.

Tonight we drive to Columbus for a show with our good friends Paper Airplane and Blastronaut at Bernie's and following that, we'll head home to Cincinnati for a few days.

—Margaret

011609 Berea House

Coldest Day Since 1994, Apparently


Well, what can I say? House shows- probably one of my favorite things in the world. Starting out in terrible punk rock bands, I was naturally raised in the sleaziest basements the great city of Cincinnati had to offer—indulging whenever possible in whatever possible. This being said, not even the -4 degree temperature could contain my excitement to play my first house show as a Seed.

Arriving well past when we were expected, of course there was no easy way to load in, intoxicated crowds to fight through, and clouds of smoke as thick as Vietnam's—it was on. Keeping warm next to a flood light in the corner with our adult beverages, we were greeted with the hottest of hot licks provided by THIS LEVEL IS CLOUDS!. Brought back some memories of more young and careless times, a theme that was continued throughout the night.

After some back and forth between the rest of the order, and quick set filled with smooth jams by Yorick, we packed ourselves into the tightest of corners in the common living area of the house. Nothing better than a room full of energy, folks fighting to get up front to see your band, ready to dance their pants off. Grabbing the last necessary item for the drum set, I heard someone say in passing, "I can't believe they came...this is gonna be sick." It was at this point that I knew it was going to be an amazing show, and these peeps were ready to break it down.

And break it down we did. Mostly our equipment, as a band using as much electronics as we do will be prone to failure from time to time, but nonetheless we set that building ablaze. You would have needed a bulldozer to take the energy out of that room. Good times, great set, even better memories. The Seeds will sleep well tonight.


—Brian

011609 Scribbles Café

It's -4º Up In Here


After a splend-tastic breakfast at Casa Nueva, we departed Athens in the best of spirits. With the help of one of them fancy GPS boxes (on loan courtesy of our lovely and talented and best put-up-with-us friend Sarah S.) we headed out on the road.

There is no sour mood that a healthy breakfast cannot reverse.

Brian and I have been in touring bands in the past and we share ideas for doing it that seem… well, antiquated. Before this tour Brian came to me and said "This is going to be awesome, we're going to get a power inverter and plug in a 13-inch TV and a DVD player and watch movies!" And after talking about how cool that is going to be, we realized that you can watch movies on battery-powered laptops and this isn't 2002.

Speaking of this wave of new technology, I'm still a little amazed at the fact that we had one person driving and TWO people online, using the actual interweb, while driving the entire way up to Athens. Mobile internet is a fascinating achievement that I only discovered this past year. Thank you, Neal Armstrong, we couldn't have done it without you landing on the surface of that movie studio set in Arizona.



Scribbles! We love this place, good coffee and good people, great energy. We've had a run of shows lately (starting with our Artist-in-Residence stint at The Southgate House) that were in smaller, intimate venues, packed full of people. It's nice to get to play smaller places after a while of playing much bigger stages, it concentrates all the show's energy into one small energy-bomb. If we could harness it we could power a city; as it is it gets wasted all over the walls and ceiling of the place. Sometimes people in the room do that too.

One remarkable part of the evening was when I finally met my long-lost brother, Andy Ingram, who sang for the opening band, XL427. It's a little wierd because we had separate parents but he promised to say hi to Mom and Dad for me and I said the same.

Dylan from Set Fire Films

"Setlist from the evening" — 2009 The Seedy Seeds, Crayon and Newsprint.

Mike configures the beeps and boops.

Brian configures the bangs and the booms.

Mike's glasses took one for the team. They are currently healing well and we expect them to return to duty tonight. Donations can be made in their name at your local record store.

Fellow bearded traveler Cory joined us for the next leg of the evening's tour.

The show / shoot went pretty swimmingly and we can't wait to see the results. Thank you to Scribbles, Dylan and Set Fire Films, as well as everyone who helped out that evening. We piled everything back into the Bavanarama and headed to the next show of the night.

In Closing:
"Hey this might be a weird question, but what did Margaret's mom do with my pants?" —Brian


—Mike

011509 The Union

Look out below!

The Beardy Seeds loading the van.

The cold couldn't stop us. Well, it's entirely possible I suppose that it could've—if we were left out in it long enough without heat… I vaguely remember some Jack London short story I was made to read in the 8th grade that discussed the bitter cold and its effects on a traveler… but that was set in Alaska! Anyhow, we packed our van and set out on the road yesterday afternoon for Athens with nothing more for the ears than a greatest hits tape of CCR music. 3-hours down and 7 and a half to go…

Mike looks frozen solid! It's the eyes that say so much without saying anything at all.

We arrived at the Union, let our hands thaw for a minute, and loaded our gear into the club—though not without injury! Brian, in an apparent attempt to remind us that he believes himself to be indestructible / a robot, decided to pull our heaviest bit of gear out of the van all by his lonesome and then dropped it on his toes. As it turns out, Brian is not indestructible or a robot ("Whatever! I'm fine!" —Brian). We hurried to get all our stuff inside—by this time temperature outside was reported to be below 0°. Despite the cold air, we all had quite a good time playing in front of the blacklight-lit mural that runs along one side of the club.

At this point in the night, impressed by how totally awesome my shoes look under the blacklights, and clearly already suffering some sort of loss of brain function due to the cold, I've decided that without a doubt when I return to Cincinnati, I'm going to replace all the bulbs in my bedroom with blacklight bulbs and write myself totally sweet secret messages in highlighter all over the walls.

She Bears opened the show up with a relatively short set of their angular goodness. We followed. I had a really great time! Of course, I didn't have a broken instrument to worry about… Mike, on the other hand, rocked his banjo so hard, he broke it! This, in addition to his glasses (which he broke the day before tour and currently has taped together!!!) forced us to forgo a couple of songs we had planned to play which are particularly banjo-dominated. When we arrive in Kent today, Brian and I will high-five each other and tell jokes while Mike solemnly tackles his banjo ahead of our video shoot.

She Bears playing their set.

Brian warming up ahead of our set.

Kaslo, with whom we have played in Athens before, closed out the night. They were terrific! They are also all terrific guys (+ 1 gal—well, girl really… woman. Not a gallon). Big thanks especially to Teddy for putting us up twice in a row. We just learned we might be playing an upcoming Louisville date with Luke's other band, Flotation Walls, which is really exciting.

Teddy and Kaslo busting out the jams.

We all said our goodbyes and ran next door to Goodfella's Pizza which, Brian informed us, is open until four in the morning (and which Brian had been thinking about / desperately yearning for since probably two or three days ago). Brian and Mike were both swayed from their original intentions of picking up 2-slices apiece into the 3-slices for $5.50 mega-deal (these slices, as the gentleman behind the counter informed us, are "fat"). Had it not been three in the morning by the time we reached our sleeping destination, I think the food coma alone would have knocked them out. Honorable mention to the serving staff at Goodfella's, who, upon discovering we are a touring band and, as if they have a lever that they pull for just such an occasion, immediately cued up "Travellin' Band" by CCR. AWESOME. I cannot get enough CCR in my day!

Besides playing the show, for me the highlight of the evening came just before bed, when Mike found a hairpiece lying around that made my biggest dream come true (see picture).

HECK YES! Now all The Seedy Seeds have beautiful, beautiful, bushy beards.

In a few minutes, I'll wake Mike and Brian up and we'll head to Casa Nueva for breakfast, and then we'll start our journey towards even colder temperatures and possible lake effect snow… and two shows in one day!


—Margaret

Toilet humor at The Union. We played here! Well not exactly here, but still I couldn't resist snapping this photo.

011409 Athens to Columbus

Tonight we sleep. Tomorrow we drive.

Brian, Mike and I will buckle our safety belts and hit the road tomorrow afternoon to chase the snow to Athens, Ohio, where we begin our first mini-tour of 2009. In four days we will play 5 cities, do two interviews, shoot one music video, visit a set of parents, and write about all of it here.

Brian and Mike worked last night to get the van in tip-top shape, and today Brian ran out to get his favorite tour snacks. Tonight I'll put together some brand new buttons for our merch table. We are ready.

Check back in on our travels often! Here's a list of where we're headed :

1/15 TSS @ The Union
18 W Union Street, Athens, Ohio
w. Kaslo / She Bears
$TBA / all ages / 9 p.m.

1/16 TSS @ Scribbles Cafe
237 N. Water Street, Kent, Ohio
LIVE VIDEO SHOOT (Drive Me To The Center)
$FREE / all ages / 5 p.m.

1/16 TSS @ The Berea House
75 East Bridge Street, Berea, Ohio
w. THIS LEVEL IS CLOUDS! / Discussions Inside the Color Wheel
$5 / all ages / 9 p.m.

1/17 TSS @ The Matinee
2527 W 25th Street, Cleveland, Ohio
w. The Promise Hero / Run Run Addington
$FREE / 18+ / 9 p.m.

1/18 TSS @ Bernie's Distillery
1896 N. High Street, Columbus, Ohio
w. Paper Airplane / Blastronauts
$5 / 21+ / 9 p.m.

—Margaret