I forgot to mention, but I got hired to mix three Modular Australia bands at Summersonic! I got flown to Tokyo yesterday. Last night I did a club gig with Muscles, and then today was a day off before tomorrow’s big festival day. So, I figured out the trains and went to a Japanese baseball game in Yokohama. SO MUCH FUN!!

The fans were on their feet, screaming, ALL THE TIME. I walked in midway through the first inning and the energy level was similar to a tied game at Fenway in the 9th inning.

They have songs – not simplistic chants, but lengthy songs with multiple parts and rhythmically complex clapping interludes – for every situation you might encounter when your team is at bat. As far as I could tell, there is a song for:

- When your team is behind in runs
- When your team is ahead in runs
- When your batter is behind on the count
- When a rally is needed
- When a batter has just gotten a base hit
- When a batter has just gotten a home run

At least. There may be more. You only sing and clap when your team is at bat – when the other team is at bat, it’s the other fans’ turn to sing and clap.

Relatively few people wear team hats. But easily 70% of the people there were wearing team jerseys – including the small children and toddlers, of which there were TONS, just toddling around. And probably 90% of the people there had official team-branded plastic noisemakers.

It was a continuously deafening, celebratory experience, easily more manic than any of the 100+ baseball games I’ve been to.

In other news, I had a meeting today with a Japanese indie label that’s expressed interest in licensing Shannon’s material for a Japanese release in early 2008. Neither the A&R guy nor I spoke each other’s language, so we had a translator!

The gist of the conversation was that they think Shannon’s songs and voice and physical appearance would be marketable in Japan, but they want to overdub the songs with Japanese musicians to make it fit in better with the local sound. Haha! I’m really tempted to do it, just to see how it would turn out.

Tomorrow I mix three bands in a row at the Summersonic festival, with only line checks, from 1:30 to 4:30 in the morning. Oh. My. God!

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to. I can’t believe I get paid to do this stuff :-)

Are You The One (excerpt)

The lighting engineer at this show was great!

… I’ve been Rocking it!

:-)

I leave Monday for two months in Europe with The Presets! Here is where I’ll be:

Thursday 14 June – Barcelona – Sonar-Nitsa
Sunday 17 June – Ibiza – Space
Wednesday 20 June – Rome – Circolo Degli Artisti
Thursday 21 June – Florence – Tape Club
Friday 22 June – Milan – Plastic
Saturday 23 June – Berlin – Christopher Street Parade and then Sage Club
Thursday 28 June – Norway – Hove Festival
Friday 29 June – Stockholm – Accelerator Festival
Saturday 30 – Birmingham – Rootsville

Thursday 5 July – Hamburg – Neidklub
Friday 6 July – Belgium – Brussels – Les Ardentes Festival
Saturday 7 July – Spain – Monegros Festival
Saturday 14 July – Gräfenhainichen, Germany – Melt Fesitval
Sunday 15 July – Glasgow – Indian Summer
Tuesday 17 July – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Valkhof Affaire
Wednesday 18 July – Amsterdam – Paradiso
Friday 20 July – Spain – Valencia – Benecassim
Saturday 21 July – London – Lovebox
Sunday 22 July – London – Lovebox
Monday 23 July – Ghent – 10 Days Off
Wednesday 25 July – Vienna – Pling-Plong Klub
Friday 27 July – Stratford-Upon-Avon – Global Gathering
Saturday 28 July – Berlin – Poststadium Berlin-Mitte
Monday 30 July – Paris – Festival Quartier d’Ete

Our larger chunks of days off will be spent in Prenzlauer Berg, East Berlin, where apartments have been rented for us.

As always, if you’re around, come say hi! :-)

I got asked a couple days ago, and I waited to post until I confirmed, but here’s the news: I’ll be spending a good chunk of the summer in Europe with The Presets!

The dates are tentatively June 14 through July 23. The shows will be a mixture of festivals and venue dates. I’ll post the rough itinerary in a couple of days.

I’m SO EXCITED! :-D

My tour is already over! It was the best one so far. Yay Presets. These guys are going to be HUGE. You can feel it. It’s getting exciting!

I’m writing this from the Hudson Hotel, on West 58th between Broadway and Columbus. I don’t have anything left to do except have a really nice dinner with friends and then go to bed … when I wake up, I fly to meet Shannon on her tour! How much better could life be? I feel very grateful today …

After the last Presets tour, I was planning on taking a couple of months off. But I hadn’t planned on the Christmastime retail bloodbath and the resultantly slow beginning to the touring year!

So, I’ve tightened my belt and I’ve been living off savings for the last 4 months. It’s been kind of slow and great, actually, although I’m itching to get behind a proper desk.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Shannon, including a little 8-day tour to the Pacific Northwest and back. I’m gearing up for the next Presets tour, for which I depart on March 12. Shannon and I have been making recordings of her songs, although at slower a pace than either of us would optimally like.

Between now and tour I’m visiting my family in Vermont for ten days, during which time I’ll help my sister and her family move into their new house! I can’t believe my kid sister owns a house.

That’s it – I just wanted to say hi. I’ll post tour dates in a bit!

Hi! I just wanted to post something to combat the persistent chirping of crickets around here lately. I’m alive! And I’m doing well.

The rest of the Presets / Rapture tour was great. The two bands made for a cohesive and complimentary night of music. The shows were generally good, although the schedule was a bit much at times – following a bus tour in a van can be trying. At least it wasn’t winter :-)

I’m safe and sound in LA for the indefinite future. Wanna hang out? I have a lot of free time. xo — .j.

The Presets and I did Webster Hall last night, in New York City. If you don’t know the venue, it’s big. It has a capacity of around 1,500 people, but the live room is on the 3rd floor, so the building it’s in is even much bigger than you might imagine. It’s really pretty big.

So, check this out. Last night, the police received a noise complaint during our set. I was mixing at the time.

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE VENUE THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED.

It was for the amount of bass.

:-D

I’m writing from my parents’ kitchen in Burlington, Vermont, looking out over a beautifully crisp fall morning on Lake Champlain. This first leg of touring with The Presets is over! Some observations on The Presets:

- Kim and Jules are two of the nicest, hardest-working, most well-grounded, politest, and most personable guys I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
- Their live show kicks ASS!

We go back out as main US and Canada support for The Rapture, starting 25 OCT. I’m taking the time until then off, to relax with my family and my favorite singer/songwriter.