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April 8th, 2008 (132 Comments) Sorry I haven’t posted in forever. A 16 month old will do that to you a little bit, but still, sorry. Nothing to much going on except getting ready for tour which you can see in the previous videoblog, or, maybe you internet people call them vlogs? Is that proper? I don’t know. The only thing I do on the internet is read this. www.qwantz.com It seriously makes my day. Read the archives so that you understand the characters. Probably not for everyone. Other than that, I have a new guitar coming from Nash. It’s lost in the mail somewhere right now, but I’m trying to track it down. The tele that Teppei plays on stage is made by Nash. They look awesome and play amazing. Check it out. www.nashguitars.com Books: Watching: A LITTLE PRE-TOUR VIDEO UPDATE April 8th, 2008 (38 Comments) In lieu of another blog post, we figured it was time to switch things up and try a video update. We’ll try to do a few of these–in addition to your regularly scheduled blog and photo posts–during the upcoming tour just to change things up a bit. We’re just a week away from releasing Vols. 3 & 4 (Air & Earth) of The Alchemy Index, and 8 days away from the start of our headlining tour with Circa Survive and Pelican, and we’re excited to hit the road again. We’ve been spending our time at home getting ready, rehearsing, and cultivating facial hair. Hope you’re all well, and we’ll see you very soon. THINGS ‘N STUFF, ‘N STUFF ABOUT THOSE THINGS! March 31st, 2008 (245 Comments) Hello, people. It’s Riley. It’s been a while since Teps posted last and a lot has happened since then, so I thought I’d stop by and let you guys know what’s been going on. As most of you already know, we put the song “Broken Lungs” from the Air EP up on our Myspace last week, BBC Radio played the song “Daedalus” from the Air EP–a rip of it is floating around on the comments of this blog, BBC streams, message boards, etc. Check them out if you get a chance. Hopefully those’ll tide you over until the 15th when Vols. 3 & 4 come out. Last Thursday, we went out to Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita to shoot a video for “Come All You Weary” with Zach Merck. The ranch is way out in the middle of nowhere, and I guess they’ve filmed some scenes for Deadwood, The Devil’s Rejects, and The A-Team (!!!) there. Zach and his crew got some amazing footage, and now we’re working together in post-production to put together a video unlike anything we’ve ever done before. I can’t give away any details, but can tell you that I know we’re all really excited about how things were looking on the monitors, and what this video could turn out to be. I’ll post a few photos that Teppei took at the bottom of this post. Last Friday, we headed down the street to the Orange County Register to be a part of their new Soundcheck performances. Teppei and Dustin played 4 songs acoustic, Ed and I joined in for a Q&A with Ben Wener, and then we hung out with the 30 or so people who were selected by the Register to watch. The whole thing was videotaped and should be up on the Register’s site by later today or tomorrow at the latest. It was a really cool experience because it combined three things we do pretty regularly, but rarely all three at once (acoustic performance, meet-and-greet, video Q&A/interview). That’s about it for now. We’ll check in a couple more times before we leave for tour. Hope you’re all well. -Riley p.s.- baseball season starts today. i woke up feeling like a kid on christmas. so excited. -PLAYLIST-
Practice Makes Perfect March 20th, 2008 (352 Comments) We started practicing for the upcoming tour and are aiming to have around 30 songs total to be able to have in rotation. We usually create a setlist or two having only a couple extra songs to pull in if we want to, but we’re trying to do things a bit different this time by having a giant pool of songs we pull songs out of. The point is to keep things fresh, interesting, and a bit more spontaneous. We’ll see how that goes…Anyhow, we’re breaking out some older songs we haven’t played in a long time, and of course, are learning songs off of Air & Earth as well. Cheers, HOME, HEALTHY, AND HAPPY March 3rd, 2008 (332 Comments) I have finally kicked this brutal flu, and 10 lbs. and one pathetic beard later, I am somewhat back to “normal”. Ed’s on the mend as well, and is markedly less gray-faced and phlegm-riddled than he was last week. Now we’ve got a month or so to recharge, rehearse, and relax. For me, it’s all about dusting off the BBQ, following Angels spring training games, watching the Lakers dominate, and gearing up for March Madness. There isn’t a better time of year, as far as I’m concerned. Sports geekery aside, I spent so much time whining about the cold and apologizing for being ill in my last couple posts, I totally spaced and forgot to thank the dudes in Say Anything and their crew for being great tourmates and helping make our first legitimate Canadian tour, a great one. Many thanks to them for helping make the tour happen. Don’t forget, the “Come All You Weary” digital single will be available tomorrow (w/the remix of “Digital Sea” and acoustic version of “The Whaler”). That’s al for now. Be well. -riley News ニューズ Nouvelles February 29th, 2008 (58 Comments) * UPDATED UPDATE: Conan is happening on MAY 5th, not March 5th as was originally posted. Oops. Here’s some news updates: 哲平より oh and a little side note…Attack in Black, whom we just toured with in Canada, released a vinyl only record called the Curve of the Earth and it’s really good. I just listened to it for the first time yesterday and it’s great. Very stripped down and great vibe. Check it. Thank You, Great White North (and some of the US) February 25th, 2008 (71 Comments) We’re all home safe and sound and just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who came out to all the shows. They were a ton of fun and you guys definitely proved it to us that we need to be back more often, and albeit our whining about the weather and illnesses, we had a great time. But needless to say, it’s wonderful to be home and to feel the sunshine for the first time in 3 weeks (seriously). Anyhow, hope to see some of you again in the spring when we head out with Circa Survive and Pelican. Stay warm Canada. Teppei ON THE WAY HOME… February 24th, 2008 (38 Comments) I just wanted to hop on here really quickly and apologize on behalf of myself and Ed, for having to cut last night’s Colorado Springs show a bit short (2 or 3 songs). We both got hit with a really bad flu (fevers, cold sweats, nausea, coughing, aches) in Kansas City on Friday night, and spent the entire day in bed on Saturday (not together). I guess our bodies had gotten fed up with keeping us healthy in sub-zero temperatures, and a decided to crap out a day early. I can honestly say that I’ve never felt that shitty before playing, in the entire history of this band (aside from the shows on Warped ‘03 that I missed because of my back), and I haven’t seen Ed in worse shape since he played seated in a chair in Cleveland on Warped ‘03. So please accept our apology, and know that we’ll make it up to you when we come to Denver in the spring. And thank you to those of you who made it out to the show, for making a nightmarish scenario, as fun as it was. with phlegm, -riley BACK IN THE STATES February 20th, 2008 (54 Comments) We’re back in the US of A, after an amazing and oppressively frigid two weeks in Canada. Thanks to everyone who made it out to our first-ever Canadian headlining tour. You guys made it totally worthwhile, despite the weather. We’ll have to make it happen again soon. We spent Monday doing a photo shoot with an amazing photographer, Dustin Rabin (you should check out some of his stuff), that ended on the shore of Lake Ontario. It was absolutely freezing. I’m still waiting for my toes to thaw. Unfortunately, the weather in Grand Rapids last night, and Cincinnati today, aren’t gonna make that possible. Oh well. You might be thinking, “You So Cal boys are wusses.” And to that I say, “Yes. Yes, I am.” Whining about the weather aside, this has been a fun little run. It’s a shame it’s almost over. The spring is coming soon, and we’re looking forward to heading out with Circa Survive and Pelican. Tickets are going fast so get them while you still can. We’ll have more info on how to get tickets on our myspace and right here at the alchemy index site, tomorrow. Since it’s been so cold, we’ve been spending our downtime inside, rather than wandering around. We’re pretty hooked on the show Ninja Warrior, creating Mii’s, late-night movies on the bus (Rambo was the last one), and reciting Longmont Potion Castle phone calls ad nauseam. Good times. I’m hooked on the Emily Haines record, just finished reading “God Save the Fan” by Will Leitch, and just started “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson, all highly recommended. Hope you’re all well (and warm). -riley Teps explored some “catacombs” under a club with the Attack in Black boys the other night. here are some photos: Under the Weather February 12th, 2008 (98 Comments) So the other night the nice lads in Attack in Black cooked everyone a delicious vegetarian chilli. Yum. I helped them prepare some of the veggies and for some reason it made me feel a bit at home. I cook a lot at home and I actually start to miss it on the road. On the other hand, it seems like Canada has got the best of me and I’m feeling pretty sucky at the moment. I opted out of a radio show appearance and left Dustin to it by himself, and am currently sitting in a hotel room trying to rest and recoup a bit before the show tonight (Winnipeg). Canada in the winter is probably not the best idea for a bunch of guys used to sunny weather virtually all year. Yeah. Teppei |
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