GTG RECORDS

This tour has been a rollercoaster. Toledo was okay, although the night as very memorable, spent hanging out with the band Gregarious. Fine updstanding gentleman those guys are, even if white trash guys slashed their tires in the morning because they talked to one of their girlfriends (sidenote: I’m glad we didn’t park next to them in that hotel parking lot). Sunday was spent, first, helping Gregarious get their tires fixed, then swimming in Lake Erie (the last time any of us “bathed” until Thursday night), then driving to North Canton, OH to find out our show had been cancelled because the local band forgot about the show and did zero promotion in addition to cancelling the day of. We briefly hung out with the Detroit band Death or Glory (the other casualities of the cancelled show), then slept in the van in a hotel parking lot in Erie, PA (a hotel that we made liberal use of the lobby bathroom and continental breakfast in the morning). The Monday show in Syracuse was pretty awesome. The Castle Rockmoore crew knows how to put on a good show, and our tour intersected with the tour by the great acoustic punk artists Ghost Mice from Indiana/ Gainseville, FL, and Heathers from Ireland. And Hattie got her bass drum pedal back, at long last.

Tuesday was a last minute show in Cortland, NY that was pretty fucking awesome. It was their jam night, so the house jam band of 50-something dudes was splitting the night with us, and everybody was into it. Hippie ladies were dancing to the harsh riffing of “New Age,” the local 20-30 something punk rockers were out in force, we decided to debut the live electric version of new song “Squagel,” and we got what may be our first official, completely sincere encore call. We’ll be coming back there. Wednesday was supposed to be Boston, but the promoter stopped calling me before we even had a venue confirmed, so we just drove down to Philadelphia where Cheap Girls and Lemuria were playing. They got us into the show and we hung out with all of our friends, did some networking in Philly, and spent the night with the band The Menzingers. Philly was pretty cool, it still felt like we were on tour, just doing a promotional trip or something, and it was great to rock out with Cheap Girls and Lemuria. Looking forward to actually playing next time!

Thursday was supposed to be Brooklyn, but there were venue issues, and then the local band cancelled, so we just drove to Baltimore to hang with my brothers, which was really nice since their both going to move away from Baltimore in the next few weeks. Baltimore is a really cool town and I’m glad we’ve gotten to spend a couple days here. We also were in desperate need of showers and a decent night’s rest, which we got. Sadly, right when we were parking outside of my brothers’ apartment, the radio came on reporting that Michael Jackson had just died. 50 years old. What a drag. We got inside and watched CNN coverage for awhile with my brother Robbie, as the confirmations came in and random yahoos that saw MJ once in their lives got a chance to milk some 15 minutes of fame. Despite the man’s eccentricities and deplorable behavior, I loved his music very much and truly hoped that he would redeem himself – after all, he was still quite young. That night at the bar, The Plurals and Robbie and Paul McCord toasted Michael Jackson, and all night long you could hear his music popping up out of car speakers and other bars. He was the king.

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon we went to a library south of Baltimore where our friends The High Strung were playing a set for their Rock and Roll Library Tour – a really cool way to tour and try to get kids involved in music. We ended up writing a song with The High Strung and the 6 or 7 pre-teen kids hanging out call “The Rules of Life” which was strangely reminiscent of the Velvet Underground. The High Strung are a great band, so it was really nice to meet up with them nowhere near where any of us live. We printed up some handbills for our show that night while we were at the library, and then met up with my parents, who were coincidentally in town as well, and they took all of us out to a Thai place. We drove up to our venue for the night, a cool art gallery/ bar called Metro Gallery that we played at last time, where our buddies The Rivals were already waiting, set up, ready to rock. Super nice guys, we’ve played with them every time we’ve played in Baltimore and it’s always a pleasure. We went out to hand out some handbills, but I’m really fucking bad at promoting, so eventually Nich just took it over, and he was able to get a a good handful of random people to come check out the show. Our set went very well. We spent a decent amount of time the night before and the day of getting down an arrangement of “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 to play in tribute to the deceased king, and it went down great. A few people walking by the club ran in off the street to dance around while we played it – they left right after, but, hey, good times. After the show we went back to my brothers’ district of Baltimore, college-town-esque Federal Hill, and Nich and I walked around as the bars let out, marveling in the drunken stupor of our clean-cut peers. We stuck out like sore thumbs – some girls were excited to see guys with long hair, which is always kind of funny, but by and large people gave us wary looks in the rare case that they acknowledged us. I’m going to miss walking around the Federal Hill bars at 2 AM…. we’ll have to come back and do it for old times’ sake.

Tonight we play in Trenton, NJ for the last night of the tour. We’ve never had a bad time in Trenton, and it’ll be great to see some friends. There’s a rumor that the new Too Much Too Fast Too Soon record may be finished and ready to be heard by us… Excellent….

tommyplural

Last night I performed my third ever solo acoustic act. It was one that I prepared for about two weeks for. I put together my own set list. And practiced the songs a lot. I was very pleased with myself last night. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do that. 

Last night was also a very intimate night. The Good Time Gang was alive and well last night. Crooked Sound, Stargrazer, Jessi Spreitzer and myself all performed on the bill last night. I forgot the name of the person, but the girl who opened the show was awesome and did a sweet rendition of “What’s Up?” by the 4 Non Blondes. I hadn’t listened to that song in forever so it was great to hear it. Strong voice too. I wish I could remember her name. I’d like to see if she has a music page.

Anyways, Stargrazer performed after her. I’ve listened to a lot of Peter’s tracks online. They are quarky and weird and different and I think that’s why I am so attracted to them. Peter is somewhat I have slowly started to get to know through the scene and I really look forward to this next album. I am really looking forward to the show next thursday at the GTG house with Narc Out The Reds. Anyways, I find Peter a great addition to the Good Time Gang and to the scene. More shows Peter!

Jessi played next. Now, I love Jessi Spreitzers music. I think she has a wonderful voice and a good feel for melody. Since the first time I heard her music sitting in my apartment I was instantly a fan. “He Says Dont Worry” will always be my favorite song. She played a great set last night with the help of Loren Pudvay on guitar for two songs. They finally pulled off the Beatles cover. Not bad ay? I love that Loren Pudvay. Jessi is also a great addition to the Good Time Gang, she was actually the only person that passed the “GTG Initiation”. She was actually the only person ever to receive it. Poor girl. Jessi has brought a lot of life into my life with her music.

Next was Crooked Sound. Now first, I want to say that his child Amico, was probably one of my favorite things about the show last night. While Eric was playing, he was dangling upside down in his moms arms watching his dad play. I was laughing a lot during his set. Anyways, its always good to see Eric play. He played a nice intimate set. I firmly believe Eric needs to play a lot more shows. I will start the rally. I really wish he was playing GTG Fest. But as long as I start seeing him play more around, I’ll be pleased. 

I played last and it was a good set that I felt went alright. I played “To Wendy”, which was an old song I wrote for my girlfriend that the Break-ups performed a few times, once going straight into our KISS cover of “Black Diamond”. Then I played two new Break-ups songs “The Sea Song” and “One Night”. I also played a song called “Loving Sappy” that was written by Zach Burger and me in our project called Abbey Divine. After that I played a KISS cover “See You Tonite”, which was one of Gene Simmons best songs ever. After that I played a toned down version of “The Bodyguard”, which I stole from a performance that Loren and I did at Jeremys goodbye party. During my set though, Amico was making noises and it added a lot of cool ambience to my set. He was making me smile. Eric said he was a fan of me. Well, I’m a fan of Amico. My mom took a liking to him because he said it reminded her of me as a baby. I overheard a conversation my parents had with Eric where my mom told him that and then Eric, in his usual deadpan humor goes “Yeah, and look at him now.” 

After the show, after most everyone left. Eric, Peter, Loren, Jessi and I stood around in a circle just chatting about music and a thought came into my head. Good Time Gang is more than just an independent record label, we are friends, we are a family.

Hey everyone. I’m playing a solo set tonight representing The Break-Ups with fellow GTG comrades Stargrazer, Jessi Spreitzer, and Crooked Sound at the Record Lounge. Its free. Starts at 7. You should all come out. 

This is like my third ever solo acoustic set. Im pretty excited. 

The Plurals are on tour right now. So I expect Tommy to post a tour journal sometime soon, as he always does. 

Trying to think of other GTG related news?

Stargrazer is recording an album with Crooked Sound currently. 

The Break-Ups are almost done with their half of the GTG Sessions split with Head and Toe. They soon have plans to record an EP this summer with all new material. 

The Plurals are recording/going to record/recorded. They always are at work.

GTG Fest plans are coming along. We are looking to make it a little more organized this year, much more official. Its gonna be a great time with a lot of great music. July 11! Be there.

I bit my lip. It hurts.

Eric and I have begun working on the long awaited Stargrazer full-length, “My Dreams Are Running Late,” at the CrookedSound home studio.

It’s an educational experience for me, recording mostly acoustic tracks for now. We also spent about an hour and a half capturing windchime sounds and various string noises on my bass to use as atmospheres and background elements in the songs. The idea is to make as many sounds on the bass as possible — acoustic or electric — and then embellish with some unexpected sounds to fill it out and make it flow. Like a radio broadcast from the future being played on an antique radio. I’ve got a little electric violin plucking and droning (by Dave Hammond) planned for “Dream Domain” (which we recorded the basic track for last week), Nich providing a second electric bass on “You & Me Are Cities,” and some fuzz tones and field recordings here and there. There will be everything from robotic pure digital tones to dirty, distorted passages. It’s pretty exciting to work with Eric, who has a similar mindset.

We’re taking it slow so it comes out organically, discussing a lot of the arranging ideas as we go. I’ve been listening to a lot of Sparklehorse, Jose Gonzalez, Benoit Pioulard (who is from East Lansing – check him out!) and Jason Lytle — that’s the kind of vibe I want: homespun and honestly recorded yet spacey and unexpected. I might need some acoustic guitar players if any of y’all are so inclined. There’s one track in particular, “Shutter Speed,” that we’d like to re-cut (I faked the guitar parts with samples and keyboards for the demo) as a more “real” rendition. You can find the demo on both my myspace and facebook pages if you might be that person (Tommy?).

In my “spare” time, I’ve been getting settled into our new house with Randi, planning our delayed wedding reception for June 14 (next weekend!), and designing a series of posters for Narc Out The Reds. These two feature GTG bands at some upcoming gigs:

OK, I miss everybody. Working full time and moving and freelance designing and recording an album does not leave a person enough social time. Pretty excited to play with Timmy and Jessi at The Record Lounge in East Lansing on June 22nd.

FIRST! I was trying to be funny by playing that Fallout Boy cover. I also though it was hilarious when Jacki Ward sat in the front mouthing along with the words. That’s how I found out that people might not be finding this humorous. Since then, i have left to the jokes to the professionals, like Nick’s face.

Magdalena’s is closed?
Darn. In a recession, the first thing to give up is leisurly activity, and although we call music our life, Magdalena’s was a leisure, one that should have left us long ago. That was a birthing spot, and a money drain.  I noticed the Tea House outside of the bus window. At the time, I was really into drinking tea, instead of coffee. I went inside and to grab a cup. Without saying much of anything, Nancy, the co-owner, handed me a vacuum, and asked if I could help her clean up the place. When I got done, she asked me to take on a new project. I never got my tea that day, but I did find a job to work at for the following year or so, for the tremendous salary of a sandwich with every shift, and a 24 oz. of beer.
We learned about booking shows, hosting events, jamming, performance, and attitude. And although it had it’s flaws, the Tea House served it’s purpose to us, as being a center for the absolute most developmental time in my life.  To Tommy, Hattie, Nick, Timmy, and anyone else I have been overjoyed to have met at the Tea House, I’m glad we had it when we did, but honestly, I never want to go in there again.

Oh yeah, and that guy, Shannon, was one of the biggest assholes I have ever encountered.

Right now, I’m on a bus (with wifi) towards NYC. A quick meeting with the producer of my upcoming E.P. at 5 0′ clock, and then an early morning bus towards Philly for 2 shows in town, one festival just outside of town, and a gig back in Cambridge on Monday. After that, I’ve got up to 7 bands crashing at my house this week at random points. These bands include; Annie Palmer, Patrick Elkin, Goodnight and Good Morning, Brittan Ashford, Frontier Ruckus, and a few more. Two days after that, I’ll be jumping on a plane back to Michigan to officially start packaging and promoting the big tour. A press release of over 200 discs, but the problem is, I DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY! Although, something will work out, even if I need to sell my soul.

Last night Hattie and I went to Magdalena’s Tea House for their weekly open stage night. Magdalena’s once was the closest thing I had to a home in Lansing. In August 2005 I started going to Michigan State and was sharing a shitty little dorm room with a guy whom I had nothing in common with. I tried going out to a couple of the college parties that I’d heard so much hype about, but these parties were just overflowing with macho party animal dickheads and scantily clad bitchy bimbos and I either ducked out right away or stayed around until some dudebro tried to pick a fight with me (which didn’t take very long). I had some friends in town, but I really wanted to meet people that had real ideas about the world and a desire to take part in the creative. Hattie and I knew about Magdalena’s Tea House, The Plurals had played there before even, so one Wednesday in September 2005 we decided to check out their open stage night. We didn’t play the first time, but we met Chris Dorman, who hosted the open stage night, and someone who, although I rarely see him anymore, I consider to be one of the best people I know. We went back the next week, played a couple songs (totally acoustic because they had to turn the PA off at 11 PM or else the guy who lived upstairs would start stomping) and a nice girl named Maia introduced herself to us. With those two introductions I went on to meet nearly everyone in Lansing that I count as a good friend. Scott Bell, of Bermuda Mohawk Productions and Cartridge Family fame, and Adam Aymor, that guy who plays guitar in Cheap Girls, were friends of Maia’s and they were usually hanging around, and a few months later when I experienced the Cartridge Family for the first time I started piecing together who was actively involved in the Lansing music scene. In the meantime, Chris Dorman formed a band called A Story Told that The Plurals played a lot of shows with, and he was actively going around town meeting people and inviting them to the open stage night. One of these kids was a little longhaired 17 year old named Jeremy Rizik, who covered “sugar we’re going down” by Fall Out Boy the first time he played at Magdalena’s. He says now that it was satire; I still think he was sincere. The list goes on: Autumn, Jo Taylor, Jacki, Steve Leaf, Hot Rod, Jim, Brett McDowell, Indigo, Lennon, and Magdalen Fossum, Chris Linsell, the late Phil Wintermute (a truly wonderful man whom I feel privaleged to have known) and so many more. I met so many amazing people and was so inspired to be a part of something so creative and transcendent; my week began to revolved around these open stage nights. It was my weekly escape from the college life that I was beginning to despise (and indeed, it was just the beginning of that whole bit) and I know a lot of people were first familiar with the name “The Plurals” due to my and Hattie’s hit-and-miss attempts to play acoustic songs. It didn’t matter though, it was fun and it was an amazing thing to be a part of.

When or why things changed I’ve never been sure. At the end of the 05-06 school year people went away for the summer, and some people were in high school and moved away from the area. It carried on for a decent little while, maybe even another year, but the faces were changing at the shows and the people themselves were changing. Chris Dorman reached a point where he couldn’t volunteer his services to run the open stage night every week, and that certainly dealt a blow to the scene. Hattie and I – along with Nich, Frankie, and Stefan – had moved into the GTG House by this point, so we were now starting to kick up our own thing and we were less focused on being part of the Tea House scene. The Tea House itself underwent many changes, and it got to a point where I had no idea what days of the week they were open or when their hours were or how often they had shows. The Plurals, The Break-Ups, The Knights Without, and Head and Toe all made the Tea House a regular venue through the middle of 2007, but eventually it just drifted out of our radar. Part of it was that we were tired of having to turn down or play acoustic when we wanted to try bigger and more open things. Mostly we just weren’t in contact with anyone that was part of the scene anymore.

A few weeks ago, on May 16, Luke Schmidt put on a show at the Tea House that The Break-Ups and CrookedSound played. It was the first time I’d played there in nearly two years. It was a great show, and the following week practically all of us played there for the first Damn Yankees Part Deuce show. That show was the first time I’d seen the owner, Miko, in nearly a year and she told me that it was great we all got to come back and play since they were closing at the end of the month. Wow. Magdalena’s closing. A place that at one time was such an important part of my life would soon be gone. It will always be important to me for holding me together for that eighteenth year of my life. Some people dive into drugs or alcohol or become obsessed with money… I played a lot of music and made a lot of friends. Those fucking hippies, corrupting our youth!

So Hattie and I went last night because we knew it would be the last one. It was completely different from the venue of my coming-of-age story, but as we sat up there and I closed my eyes and sang “Exercise in Humility” on that stage and hoped that I didn’t suck playing acoustic, it felt like four years had barely gone by. The four years that had passed were evident in other ways – little Magdalen Fossum, who can’t be older than 8 years old, sang a set on the ukulele and sang beautiful harmonies with her mom. Amazing. I was hoping to get some of the old gang back together, but Jo Taylor was the only one that made it out. She sang her song “The Answer,” which Hattie and I heard for the first time in that room some four years ago. We hung out for awhile, Jo had to leave early because she was working early in the morning. That didn’t used to be a problem. This whole month has been very strange to me. I’ve been working in Ionia and living at my parents’ house half the time, Drinking Mercury and My Apology have performed live, I’ve played two shows at Magdalena’s, and I will probably be seeing some old friends I haven’t seen in years this weekend. Getting older. It doesn’t make me sad, but it’s certainly strange.

tommyplural

So I’m here at Scavenger Hunt checking in some new inventory, and a friend pops in with some dude-bro in shin-length plaid shorts and a fake-vintage Red Stripe shirt. I’m always happy to see the friend I prefer not to name right now since he’s a person that likes to go to shows and be part of the scene. As usual, we chatted about upcoming shows including Jason Alarm’s CD release this Friday and the TCF/Plurals/Johnny Unicorn show at B414 this Tuesday. Dude-bro was curious. “Who’s playing where?” he asked. I told him “Jason Alarm, Cheap Girls and The Plurals at the Sun Theater this Friday.” He seemed to present a sense of acknowledgment about these bands, though I don’t recognize him from any shows. “Oh cool, I don’t like The Plurals, though,” he said. I wasn’t really offended by the dude-bro, and for a moment, thought he might have been kidding around, but he was not. His friend gave him a nervous look, but said nothing. I was kind of grinning. He looked at us and eventually picked up on the fact that he said something wrong. “What? I don’t” he said again. “Oh, that’s cool, whatever” I said non-nonchalantly and they continued to pace around the store. After he paced around the store a bit more with his BlackBerry not buying anything for a awhile, and with him in such close proximity, couldn’t stop myself from asking “So what don’t you like about The Plurals?” Winking at the friend in the know, I knew I was putting him on the spot, but I was too curious to hear his reaction. “Oh, um… they’re just not my bag, you know…” he said. “Anything specifically?” I asked. “They’re just not my bag, ya know… I don’t know. Sorry… I saw them at the Scene place and they had to restart their songs a bunch of times… I don’t know. Sorry. They’re just not my thang.” CRINGE. He couldn’t remember any specifics about the show, or about The Plurals. I don’t even know if he figured out that I was the drummer of The Plurals, though I’m sure some one informed him once they left. My response was pretty much “Oh, okay man, that’s cool. I just wish you knew what you didn’t like about them.” The whole thing didn’t really bother me as much as it entertained me. Would some one please tell me what he means by “bag” though?

Whatever. Come to the Sun Theater Friday!!

-Hattie Plural

GTG023, Jason Alarm “Engage” is coming this Friday, May 29th! We’re having a show at the Sun Theater in Grand Ledge, and The Plurals and Cheap Girls will also be playing. We’re really excited about this CD and we hope everyone digs it. Admission to the show is $8 and that includes a copy of the CD.

In other news, a supergroup has been formed. The GTG supergroup is known as Damn Yankees Part Deuce, and we played our first show at Magdalena’s Tea House last Thursday. It included 9 person renditions of Plurals and Knights Without songs, a My Apology reunion, new songs, and only one absolute trainwreck. Very nice! Anyone who’s ever been in a GTG band at any point is automatically a member, so who knows will be there next time? We certainly don’t!

The Plurals played a show in Bay City Friday night with Feel Good Violence and the Sinners. The venue wasn’t that great (why do sound guys like to put microphones on every instrument and then bump the kick drum to the top of the mix and put effects randomly on everything… do they think it sounds good, or are they just bored?) but we had a lot of fun. It was just what I needed, to let loose playing these songs that I love so much and transcend the world around me. Not that things are shitty or anything, but the feeling of being inside those songs is always better than being anywhere else. I’m really excited to do the same again this Friday for the Jason Alarm show. Sometimes, it seems like every show is my first show. Well, first shows usually kind of suck, but… fourth show or something.

Our good friends in the bands Guest Stars and Frank and Earnest are playing a free show together at Basement 414 this Thursday. Check it out!

Is there anywhere else I should tell you to be? Why don’t you tell me!

For too long have we hung our heads in shame. For too long have admitted defeat. For too long have the size our manhood considered, “inadequate.”

I DECLARE A REMATCH!!!

In the next week I will call the members of BMP (Bermuda Mohawk Productions), and issue an official rematch to last year’s softball game. Unless disputed, we will hold this rematch on the date of August 30th @ 3 P.M. followed by Crunchy’s for Pizza and Beer (GTG vs. BMP 2.0).

Don’t take this lightly my friends. I expect to see you all out on that field.

Paschal Circus- We need you there this year.

Tommy- Hit those cages, let’s try and hit one this time.

Hattie- Aim for horky’s face.

Nick- Stay on the bench, please.

Timmy- We need you at the game! You’re our secret weapon. Invite Zach too.

Peter- Your dog is our official mascot this year. Beef her up. Teach her to attack on command.

Randi- I need you inside their heads!

Eric- Close down the shop. Bring the little ones. I want the infant on short stop. no exceptions.

Jason Alarm- Don’t think for a second you’re going to be on BMP’s team. We can bribe you.

Loren- Show us the the benefits of that rich latin heritage, for once.

James- You’re our man in the streets, use that charm and get the girls down to the field.

Can someone invite those Kevin and Mike too?

LET’s DO THIS!

(GTG vs. BMP 2.0) Race for the cup. Sponsored by Powerade.

-J. Quentin

Hey Guys,
How is Everyone? I thought I’d check in and let you all know what’s going on.

I just got back from the 2nd from last NYC recording trip, and it went really well. Tracks are sounding solid. I’m now booking into August/September/October with tons of response from great midwestern people.  I’ve got 38 shows confirmed, with about 10 or so pending. I’ve collected a solid list serve of 100 or so folk music magazines and blogs with their websites, getting ready for a big mailing. All in all, I’m feeling pretty good.

What’s up with everyone? Any upcoming shows, recordings, etc.? I’m curious to know. Has this song swap died? Where my homies at?

-J. Quentin