America

06/06/2012

17 Comments

 
I'm sitting down, taking a breath, trying to work out the cricks in my neck and ouchin' something fierce. A.J. just popped in asking me to help him jump his car. I was wondering what happened to him, saw him last at Wakarusa two days ago when he decided he was gonna stay behind and see it out til the end, in spite of rumors of an impending hail storm. We've been on the road since SXSW, starting in Canada (so good to us) then counterclockwise to just about every corner of this handsome country. Last week we had a quick break in Austin where we picked up our freshly degreed PR and mgmt intern Kelsey for the final leg. Before leaving we were rehearsing a new one when suddenly the sounds of instruments transformed to screams. I turned around to find two giant snakes dangling from a rafter, twisting wildly (Kelsey just happened to be recording on her phone, check out the video). We tried to beat them out with a broom but they slithered back up into the attic. It turned out later they were just harmless rat snakes, but the pest guy confirmed they were definitely mating. Word. Anyway, the Texas dates were amazing, namely Homegrown Fest in Dallas where we got to hang with Austin greats Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears and The Octopus Project, and someone gifted me the biggest cowboy hat I've ever seen. Later our uninhibited Dallas hosts busted out the Franzia and the costume box, culminating in a surreal yet fetching game of late night backyard volleyball. 

From there we darted up the midwest to Ohio, where we kicked off the MidPoint Music Fest Summer Series in Cincinnati's Fountain Square. Opening were the hard, lovely southern rockers Buffalo Killers. If you haven't heard them you gotta check em out, they deliver the meat. A few days before, our original bassist Ryan (when we started the band I was just singing, doing some keys while Badcock, as he was known, held down the 4-string) called asking to be saved from his new home in Cincy and whisked back to Austin. We were more than willing, swooping into town for just long enough to do the show then through the night we rode to the magical hippie wonderland that is Wakarusa Fest in Arkansas' Ozark Mountains. We set up camp and felt right at home among all the great music and friendly madness. 

After our Saturday evening set we rolled down to the tucked away Satellite Stage to enjoy the late night DJ sets. As soon we got settled into the vibe the blaring music stopped abruptly and a voice came over the sound system urging everyone to get back to their camp sites immediately, as there were severe storms, massive hail and tornadoes in the area about to come through. Everyone snapped back to reality, and the frantic mass exodus left poor Kelsey saying her prayers (btw - she really took the whole touring and being stuck in a van with a bunch of stinky dudes thing like a total boss). The mood was lightened by a kid in the crowd repeatedly yelling, "I don't want to die a virgin!" Of course, after we woke up everyone in our camp and forced them from the tents into the van, it rained for 15 minutes then all was perfectly fine. In the morning we were all awakened, still sitting upright in Vaniel, by the frantic stage manager asking where the hell we were. We rushed over to the Outpost stage, where somehow we put on a decently lively and together show for a surprisingly lively bunch. We wished our Saskatchewanian pals The Sheepdogs good luck, caught a few of their juicy tunes and darted out just in time to miss the next incoming storm.

It's great to be back home for a minute. Later today the rest of the guys are coming by, and we'll get to work on some new tunes uninterrupted for the first time in a long time. Wait, scratch that, Alex just reminded me in 8 days we're flying to Toronto for NXNE. But after that we'll be uninterrupted for a good while (2.5 weeks?) before heading back to Canada for even more killer festivals. Anyway, here's some photos. Stay in touch!

Love,
Jack
 
 
Greetings y'all!
This week we embark on our 2nd comprehensive national tour of The United States of America! We couldn't get enough last time (check out the video below), so we're back for more. All of our confirmed tour dates are listed below, and you can get all the details at our dates page. 

Without further ado...

Be the first to watch 'U.S. Rubdown Episode 3: Fiesta Rampage,' our latest tour video, which chronicles our last national tour with surprising amounts of destruction, nudity and synchronized dancing. Please share!
The Bright Light Social Hour Fall Tour (details here):

9/9: San Antonio, TX - The Korova
9/10: San Marcos, TX - Texas Music Theater
9/11: Fort Worth, TX - The Wild Rooster Bar
9/12: Oklahoma City, OK - The Blue Note
9/13: Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
9/14: Kansas City, MO - Crosstown Station
9/15: Madison, WI - The Frequency
9/16: Beloit, WI - The Coughy Haus
9/17: Chicago, IL - Double Door
9/19: Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe
9/20: Green Bay, WI - House of Valdar
9/21: Indianapolis, IN - Vollrath Tavern
9/24: Cincinnati, OH - MidPoint Music Festival
9/25: Columbus, OH - Woodlands Tavern
9/27: Toledo, OH - The Village Idiot
9/28: Akron, OH - Musica
9/29: Youngstown, OH - The Lemon Grove
9/30: Washington, DC - Madam's Organ
10/1: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
10/2: Philadelphia, PA - The RatHaus
10/5: Charleston, SC - The Pour House
10/6: Tampa, FL - Crowbar
10/7: Orlando, FL - Will's Pub
10/8: Miami, FL - The Stage
10/9: Cocoa, FL - The Hippodrome
10/12: Asheville, NC - MoDaddy's
10/14: Cambridge, MA - Tommy Doyle's Harvard Square
10/15: Portland, ME - Bayside Bowl
10/17: Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
10/18: Toronto, ON - The Drake Hotel
10/19: Toronto, ON - Supermarket
10/20: Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
10/22: New York, NY - CMJ Showcase @ Mercury Lounge
10/26: Nashville, TN - 12th & Porter
10/27: Fort Worth, TX - 8.0 Bar
10/28: Dallas, TX - Club Dada
10/29: Austin, TX - ACL Live
11/10: Lubbock, TX - The Roof
11/11: Englewood, CO - Moe's Original BBQ
11/12: Miami, FL - The Stage Anniversary Party
11/14: Reno, NV - The Underground
11/15: San Francisco, CA - Boom Boom Room
11/16: Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
11/17: San Diego, CA - Bar Pink
11/19: Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater
11/20: Tucson, AZ - The Hut

Don't see a city near you on the list? Don't worry, we have many more dates close to confirmation, so check our Facebook soon for those announcements. We will be back in Austin October 29 for Zombie Ball at ACL Live, and will be taking a trip to the West Coast in November, so definitely check back with us!

See you soon! Please spread the word!
TBLSH
http://www.facebook.com/thebrightlightsocialhour
http://www.twitter.com/tblsh
 
 
Here are some shots from recent central Texas performances at the Mohawk, Blues on the Green and Whitewater Amphitheater with Girl Talk. Photos by Lauren Morgan and Ross Vincent. Enjoy!
 
 
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Enormous thanks to the Austin Girl Music Guide for a most-triumphant review of our show Friday at The Parish!! Check it out: 







And thanks to everyone who came out, as well as The Lemurs, The Frontier Brothers and 101X! Definitely a show for Boner Jams oh-10!

 
 
Ooo mama! Everytime I think we couldn't possibly have more fun at a more grueling pace, we always manage to 1up ourselves. And SXSW 2010 = not an exception. We kicked the week off with shows in Dallas and Fort Worth before jumping on board the week-long gang bang on our hometown that is SXSW. Here are a few highlights.
3/15 - Sneak Attack in-store
After Jo led us in a drum parade up and down 2nd street, we played an in-store at Sneak Attack spiced with Deep Eddy sweet tea vodkas. Plus I got a sweet deal on a rad-tacular pair of high-top Supras that I can't stop wearing. Here's a clip of Bare Hands Bare Feet/La Piedra de la Iguana:
3/16 Beauty Bar & The Parish
The Beauty Bar's Art Disaster #10 was lovely. No, not lovely. Unholy. Like I think I actually felt the presence of Satan in the room, you know, in the good way!  
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Beauty Bar - Photo by Daniel Perlaky
Here's a quick interview for Mixed-Cohesion we did behind Beauty Bar just after playing:
Afterward we ran down 6th to make our performance at Welcome to the Jungle at The Parish. I'da thought going for round 2 would be tough, but we were just warmed up from the fiery Beauty Bar set for a great show with some excellent bands, including one of our very favs, The Black and White Years. We had a great review from AndPOP who "managed to catch the amazingly hilarious and funky set by The Bright Light Social Hour... where every song is 'about f**king.'"

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Home Slice Pizza - photo by Owl Snap photography
3/18 - Music by the Slice at Home Slice Pizza
We were mucho psyched to be asked to play our favorite pizzeria 
Home Slice's famous Music by the Slice. We headlined the 1st day of the 3-day event with perfect weather, amazing bands and some of the best event staff we've ever worked with, who made sure the beer flowed like wine and we were stuffed with luscious pizza. The crowd was great and had us do an encore, even after we about doubled our allotted set time. Awesome.

3/20 - Showcase at Lamberts
After accepting our award at The Chronicle's Austin Music Awards (more on that in our next post), we ran over to Lamberts just in time for our official showcase. Put on by our booking agent Represent Austin/The Underground Agency, the lineup was great, the room was beautiful and the sound was superb. We got freaky on the dance floor to LAX and later headed back to Bright Light HQ to enjoy a delicious pre-release bottle of Garrison Brothers Bourbon Whiskey that A.J.'s parents got us to celebrate his birthday and our Music Awards win (1st bourbon ever legally made in Texas, will hit stores soon!).

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Domy Books - photo by Thomas Choate
3/21 - What by Whatever at Domy Books
Perfect way to wrap up an amazing week! We headlined an amazing lineup on a beautiful Sunday outside 
Domy Books. Our BFFs The Frontier Brothers slaughtered it with some great new material, followed by our new favorite band Black Taxi from Brooklyn. We met these guys last week playing in Fort Worth and were totally blown away. They remind me of a sort of INXS+The Clash+At the Drive-In with great energy, sick grooves and so much more! Check out their new video. We played with some amazing and buzzworthy bands throughout SXSW, but this was my favorite overall bill. We did our thing as the sun slowly slipped out of sight and said goodbye to our friends and free beer. 

Getting back to work yesterday morning was tough to say the least, and I think we could all use a good butt massage.

We hope to see you soon!
Love,
Jack
The Bright Light Social Hour
 
 
Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the new Parish to see us see Saturday night for Free Week and the inauguration of the new club! The Parish has always been one of our favorite Austin venues, but with the newly revamped interior, sound system, lights, management and more, it is really the premier spot to play and catch live music in town. Thanks so much everyone for packing the place over capacity and giving us the best 1st show of the decade any band could ask for!
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We've got lots planned for this month: Beauty Bar Austin this Saturday (1/16), Emo's Austin (outdoor) with Forever the Sickest Kids (Universal Motown) Saturday 1/23, The Green Elephant in Dallas Friday 1/29, and - just announced (!!) - Monks in Abilene on Saturday 1/30. We've also got a big headlining show at the Parish on February 19th and much more coming so mark your calendars! There have also been rumors of a southeast tour in the coming months so check back to our dates section regularly! We're also working on some new t-shirts to be sold here and are shopping around to record a new record! Have a great 2010! Wish us luck cause we'll be busy!

love,
jack
 
 
Today we are tattered and sore-arsed from a long-hard weekend of rock and roll incontinence. Denton and Houston were totes excellent for first time visits, but the highlight was definitely playing last night's no holds barred UT party with our great friends and lovers The Frontier Brothers. After playing for 15 people in Houston the night before, it was good to be welcomed home by 100's of bloodthirsty, beer-spraying, love-loving maniacs, complete with butt-naked fire dancers, stage-diving crowd surfers, stage-dancing babes and someone threw a book at A.J.'s head (!!!???). 
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!!!
Shittin fire and savin matches, boy we do love a romp round Texas! (oops new song lyric)
love,
jack