Category: news

ramping up in March

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

A few exciting things for us on the calendar. Here’s a fun ramping up into our summer:

  • We get to play the fancy Egyptian Theater to close out the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce’s annual gala. (Adam gets to play a grand piano instead of hauling his keyboard.)
  • We’re back at the Gandy Dancer on Saturday, March 23, 6-8 PM. All ages, free! (But buy food and ice cream and more ice cream and support the Gandy’s goodness!)
  • And we are so excited to be part of the Femme as Folk lineup, closing out the month’s celebration at Lighthouse Lounge on Saturday, March 30, 8-midnight (21+, $10). It’s a big celebration of woman, transgender, and non-binary musicians (the boys get to ride on the coattails of Caryn for this gig) and fundraiser for Rock Camp SLC, so your $10 goes to a good cause as well as good music — both us and Korene Greenwood on the PBR Stage that night. Special thanks to The Ogdenite for envisioning, creating, and turning the wheels on this project and fantastic lineup!

We’re so happy for all this … but also excited about the upcoming months into the summer. There are outdoor event spaces and events in the work, including yet-to-be-announced (like, seriously, we have to keep it secret!) gigs. But we promise that you’ll be first to know.

happy EPiversary!

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

It was a year ago today that we released our live EP, so to celebrate we’ve posted it on Bandcamp:

You can also find this and our original studio recording on our music page.

Bandcamp allows for downloads and proceeds that go back to the performers. In case you’re curious, we really do love it when you stream music on all the platforms because that’s what we want to share with you, but the musicians make only fractions of a cent on each one of your plays. As a band, we earn only a few dollars a year from streaming; but, hiring us for a party or coming to a live performance or buying a download or CD supports musicians of all stripes. The $5 cover you pay at Lighthouse or the tip you toss into the jar or even the download on Bandcamp goes back into our account to buy a cable or a cymbal or a microphone.

thanksgiving break

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We just had 3 gigs over 3 weekends, a concentrated calendar for us, and now we have a break to work on a glimmer of a project we’ve had in mind, a few rehearsals, maybe coil some cables properly. We get to go out on a band-date tonight and enjoy Postmodern Jukebox. They didn’t ask us to open for them, which is just as well because we can just enjoy the show from the balcony this way.

We don’t have anything public on our calendar until December 29th, a return to Lighthouse Lounge, followed by another return to the Grand America in January and a series of monthly gigs at Gandy Dancer again in January, February, and March. We’ll put out reminders of these and anything else that gets scheduled.

For now, here’s a quick sample of what it sounded like at Grand America last week. We just worked this one up:

Grateful and celebratory holidays to everyone! We’ll see you out on the scene soon.

giving & receiving

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We got to play a favorite gig this weekend providing music at the Ogden Nature Center for their Wildwoods Bash. We donate that performance and a private house concert as an auction item. This is an easy call for us because we love the cause and the chance to play music in this great space for so many enthusiastic people, including the winning bidders.

When we went up for auction we were asked to say a few words to promote the bidding, and when I took the microphone I just offered a challenge: I said all we wanted was to get a higher bid than what local Ogden favorites, The Proper Way received. I went on to explain that they didn’t even have a bass player, not to mention a drummer. I think — hope — everyone knew that I was kidding … but also it seemed to work as we got a really generous donation out of a bidding war that was really fun to watch.*

The thing is, ever since that moment I was thinking about what I should have said in addition to the trash talk. I should have mentioned that The Proper Way is not only one of our favorite bands to go see, but they’ve also been one of our greatest helps in the music scene. We’ve recorded in their studios and they’ve plugged us for gigs. We even played a show with them that we wouldn’t have gotten without their sponsorship back when we were first getting gigs. They are generous with their time and energies and supporters of the whole music scene in and around Ogden.

That reflection made me think of others who have also given us support in the community. Among so many, some standouts have included Van Sessions and the Banyan Collective who hosted us on their podcast early on and have kept bringing us back and putting our live recordings out into the world. And our first high profile gigs and some of our funnest 3-hour sets have been on 25th Street at the Lighthouse Lounge. Paddy at the soundboard dials everything in and then invites us back for a good time, even though it’s way past our bedtimes.

And there are many other supporters all around town and within our own circles, including families who put up with us hauling gear up and down stairs after we’ve been out all night. And there are so many people who come out to make music a two-way experience, playing and listening. Sometimes even cheering and dancing.

For now, let’s add to this list The Ogdenite, a beacon of good news about the Ogden arts and music scenes, available in multiple formats including their pocket guide found around town and their Facebook updates or newsletter with great stuff to do each week. This publication is an act of love, and as Deann starts to expand we’ve pitched in to support her next steps — and we hope others will too.

We’re off for a few weeks before a wedding gig, and then more to come in October and beyond.

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*Oh, and it was more than what TPW garnered, just for the record.

back-to-stage & back-to-school

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We’ve had some fantastically fun gigs of late, celebrations in backyards in lush gardens and with epic mountain views. It’s been a good time closing out the summer season.

For all four of us, this time of year means back-to-school, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the end of summer music. We get to go back inside next weekend at Ogden’s Lighthouse Lounge, Saturday night, August 26th, 9p-midnight ($5, 21+). It so happens that Ogden Twilight is that same night, so you can think of Flaming Lips as our openers. Join us to stay out late and celebrate the new school year.

A week later, we get to play a set with our favorite podcasters at The Banyan Collective for Van Sessions. Join us at the Ogden Monarch where we’ll play some new stuff in front of their iconic van. Friday, Sept. 1, 8:00p (free, all ages). It’s a good time.

And then, a week later, we play at Ogden Nature Center‘s Wildwoods Bash. We’re donating the entertainment so you can have music with dinner and drinks outside. Get tickets and bid on auction items — including us! Give to the ONC and we could end up playing in your backyard! Bring friends and get reservations here. We played here last year and we can attest that it’s a really good time.

More to come, public and private events near and far. Check in here and on our gigs calendar to follow us around. (It’s not creepy. We love seeing you there.)