November 22- 23, 2003, Chicago - The Metro
Sun Nov 23, 2003 1:36 pm
LOOKOUT (pics) BELOWWWWW!!! (for real...the building next to us
released it's classical antiquity yesterday on the heads of 2 below and
ended their lives... which is why there was yellow tape and weirdness all
over the road below. horrors.)
Well (Illinoisians); It's been mighty fine staying in your mighty fine city.
We ended up staying here in Chicago longer than anybody really
thought we would. It's been great, to be honest. Just working in peace
and quiet - not being bounced around by the road with my gear spilled all
over the van; we ordered in food again tonight because it's freakin' cold
outside - like in the 20's. This morning I walked down to Starbucks in the
snow...and learned why ear muffs and beanies are essential to surviving
the cold. Unfortunately my ears turned bright blue and rotted off today.
That's sad. We all slept late and at various times. Jesse (that other guy
from the other band) spent the night with Wes and Jon again - which is
great because it allows everyone to hang out late, watch movies, play
guitar, etc. This afternoon, they all went to the mall while I worked. They
all just came back from Brand New's bus so they could rip off the play
station...at least that's what I heard. Now it's time for me to go eat my
Turkey burger. We leave in the morning around 11:00 for Detroit. Only 3
more shows!! chow.
videostills for U:
Eisley getting gear on stage...5 minutes before showtime.
Nothing like a camera in your face while you're laying down your
one live take for a video that will record every mistake you make...
and you're trying to win over a crowd that isn't there to see you.
Playing with vigor and vim...Chauntelle leads the band into
expression and presence. (I had to say something; try this:)
Chauntelle depicted here in grey sweat jacket plays wields
her axe like a weapon of mass destruction - slaying Brand
New's fans with her sweet spell.
Casey - the Steel coated Hot Rod boisterously strums his frets; or -
Casey - the Steel coated Hot Rod, (himself) stares a hole into the
crowd...and hotter than a wood burning set, he fixes his gaze...
melting the retina's of thousands without even a tear.
Interviews. Interviews. Every day...in every way. There were two
that day - back to back I think...
She always has this stealth about her...a kind of presence without
letting you know that she's really stealing the show.
This is cheezy...but I was lazy. A shot of Jon and Chauntelle followed
by a shot of Jon and Chauntelle
Sherri's glance down is her off-camera look; that's the, "I've
retreated" look and "nobody can see my expressions".
Stacy tries to balance her vocal position while peering onto her
keyboard to make sure she's striking the right notes. Often, her
voice drops a half a decibal.
Not sure if he was "prepared for this"...but he sang the second
verse at the badgering of the band for fun; tours are all about
trading and mixing it up and making memories out of the
monotonous. Like when Weston cowpunched Jesse in the leg
on stage at a critical point in Brand New's performance - causing
him to limp for 2 days. 
Glancing over, harmonizing to the croning manly-man as he
attempts to interpret Stacy's magical karma.
These two guys lit up during the moving finale of "I Wasn't Prepared"
Profiles are always revealing. This one, in fact, reveals nothing.
One of the two in this series entitled, "chauntyface".
Chauntyface the sequel.
I'm not sure what these eyes tell... the sure don't tell the level
of stress she might be feeling.
The Metro is a pretty amazing place. You can tell by the picture.
Stacy on Sunday. I believe she screwed up the shoot by wearing
a coat on the second day of the video shoot. The first day she
only wore a t-shirt if I'm correct. oh well....
Here's Jon playing his bass guitar.
They do what they have to do....they bring home the bacon
and leave the cheese on the table.
Jesse also wore a different getup each day...so, there you go.
A similar panarama of the venue with Eisley on stage on Sunday.
Sunday the band went on at 1:00pm... quite an early sold out show.
Hi-Fi records was one door down and the band bought some cd's and
gave the nice owner some of their music since he allowed them to sign
and hang out in the store. Later, I gave him stickers, etc.
That's Curtis Swank - a WB field rep/street teamer. He's the guy that
passed out the stickers to everyone.
That's Casey and his beloved wife Kate. They are in a band. They are
sweet people. But so are all the Hot Rod Circuit guys...dang. Like
Andy and his wife Berona (sp?) They are awesome...and Jay Russel...
and Mike, the drummer. Ok. enuf.
Some of these venues look like the catacombs down below... like, the
ceilings are low and weird and it's murky and spooky. This one isn't so
weird.
OhMyGosh. What a great 2 days...Maybe it's because there were two sold out
shows or some other strange phenomenon, but unless I'm on drugs or
have lost all cognizant perception and have become a sic-drooling,
mutant as a result of sleep loss - these Chicago shows at the Metro
(classic home of The Smashing Pumkins) were the most productive,
amazing, shows from this tour.
BTW. I rank shows based on several levels of criteria: 1.) Crowd
response, 2.) CD sales, 3.) Band performance, 4.) Interaction and
connections after the show - both rated according to quantity and quality.
5.) The venue (both in sound, process, niceness of people at venues, the
history that defines the venue, quality, overall experience)
Oh, anyone who enjoyed Eisley's show at the Metro, you'll be able to
relive it soon; Last night, a high-end media company multi-tracked the
band and shot the show from 5 angles with digital video-cams. Then
again today - they shot the band with 5 cameras - even close-ups on
stage. The data will be edited and mixed for the first live video/dvd
recording of the band. I don't know if it's something we'll just put on the
sight or use for promo for media/promotions/promoters/publicity, etc.
But, I know you'll be able to easily access it as soon as it's out.
btw. immediately following this post, I will begin pulling images from the
two shows. And then try to work my way backwards to the previous
shows. Hi to all our friends and family in Texas. Can't wait to get back
home...especially to see Kim and Collin, whom we miss really bad.
Here's my rating for tonight; btw. each show will be rated from 1 - 10
(1= the lowest point of this tour and 10 represents the best possible
score - or the best show on this tour) I will embed the score into a
paragraph that journals my reasoning:
The Metro shows:
Crowd Response: shows on this tour always start off at a 2. (I'd
guess that very few people even know of the band and are mentally
prepared for aggressive rock - totally, not dreampop/softrock) I'm going
to give this a score of 7 on average for both shows. To give you an
example of my scoring ratings (yes. I'm just making this all up as I go),
the Dallas show was a solid 10+; The Kansas show was a solid 9; the LA
show was an 8+; The Colorado show was a solid 4. The Houston show
was a 9 - dude, I should totally go back and rate each show by the new
Boyd Show Rating System (BSRS). yeah, I should do that. I'm surely
gonna do that. Now hand me my "round to it" list.
CD sales: unknown at this time. I know they sold out of "Laughing
City's" and some T shirts last night so I had to grab more...and today,
they ran out of "Marvelous Things" ep's half way through the afternoon. I
did get them more, but...unfortunately, many sales are lost that way.
Band Performance: 9 the first night and 8 today (Sunday) Keep in
mind, I'm grading on the curve. Or, better stated, I'm just judging these
shows against other shows on this tour. I'm not saying....like, Radiohead
is a 10 and Eisley is a 9. Obviously in that comparison, Eisley would be
like...well, a much lower number.
I&C: 10. There were so many encounters, so many cool people coming up to
talk, to encourage, to say, "great job, nice job", etc (must be a Chicago
thing; in Texas, it's always, "great show...") From the beginning to the
end, each day there was tons of signing, giving out stickers, hundreds of
connections - ranging from, I loved you guys...or I came only for Brand
New but am totally an Eisley fan now, or....I heard about you guys on
MTV, went on line, loved it and came to the show just to hear you and am
your biggest fan now, or...the guys that made Chauntelle sign their face
just kept saying, "amazing...amazing...freaking amazing...oh my
gosh....you guys were awesome..." or... "I only came to see you guys
and drove 7 hours and am so glad you played Mr. Pine"... or "I was
totally not expecting to like you guys or even listen, but when I heard the
angelic voices, I was totally pulled in and mesmerized - like I was caught
up in a trance and..." or...I love Deathcab and and tons of indie bands
and you guys are right in there and should tour with them"... or, I saw
you guys at the Pavillion with Coldplay and fell in love so here am... or,
"you guys should tour with Radiohead"...or "I'm into punk and hardcore,
but when I heard Eisley, I just loved it even though it's not what I'm used
to listening to... etc.
There were tons of random interviews, lots ofphotos taken, signings, etc..
and anyone who wanted a free sticker got one from either me or the WB
Field Marketing guy, Curt Swank (thanks Curt, you were swell) - which
was hundreds of people. I actually had to sell CD's out of the trailer,
because kids were lamenting they wouldn't let them back in the venue...
Lot's of connections and every one was so cool to us throughout. I'd have
to say, we love the Chicago crowd and will totally be back here; hopefully
for a longer set - as major support or possibly even a smaller headlining
tour...
Venue: 8+ (An amazing venue. details: there was little or no
connection with any staff or helpers at the venue...the security often
barked at the band and yelled severely at them several times but the
sound was great and the room was great and the process to load out
didn't suck as bad as many of the venues - tight spaces and loading
heavy gear downstairs is hard but they did help us; The quality overall
was good and the processes were fairly worked out; nobody said, "good
job, hope to have you guys back, can we be of any help", etc. but that's
not very common, so we don't expect it; Actually, in Liberty Hall in
Lawrence, they were all very friendly and "Chewy" was the best)...
Anyway, we always do that just to be nice and make a good impression -
and, of course, just to be show thanks; the history of this venue moves it
way up the ladder. Many great bands came out of this club. Nobody gets
a 10 on this tour - at least I don't think, but this was one of the best clubs
I think.
We got to hang out with some of our forum friends - (small thriving
community is starting to get to the busting out point and some are
threatened that Narnia will be lost; have hope...gulp, I just counted -
there are 41,130 views from these tour posts alone. That's way more
than we got from the Coldplay tour - which was about 33,000 in 4 weeks)
like, The Vagabond and Fake Plastic Trees and, I think others...nice to
meet you guys.
I haven't had time to read but a few posts listed under any of my bogus
threads. Somebody told me today that there are wonderful words being
said...and I just want to say thanks to everybody for being so cool...and
for liking Eisley's songs. It freaks us out and I know the band would want
to say thanks even though they're two rooms down at this hotel that
overlooks the beautiful river...and the rain...and...dang it feels good to be
inside. We miss Kim and Collin fierce. There must be a way to take them
with us in the future... You guys have to meet Kim; she's the better half -
the most amazing mom on the planet. If and whenever Eisley gets to tour
in a bus, she's gonna be doing merch. So, you will meet her one day.
She's great at merch - at everything, and will be valuable to us on tours
(for many reasons, of course).
I'd better go. Stay tuned for images... either super late tonight or
tomorrow morning or...asap. Much love. Boyd
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