EP Update
October 21, 2011 09:20 AM
We have made a decision to release the new EP at the 1st of the year. I posted a bit of info-wordage on the forum in case you want to know why. Thanks.
bd
http://www.eisley.com/laughingcity/viewtopic.php?p=782677#782677
The Recentries of Eisley
August 27, 2011 07:45 PM
Captain's Stardate 082711. (for readers who really want to read)
Hello. It's been 70 days since my last entry. I feel like I'm reaching into a time portal, inscribing data onto a notepad (not an iPad) from an earlier life. My TrolleyWood journal has slowed from a hearty jaunt to a belly grovel over the past few years. For this, I am sad. For this, I apologize. This is not due to lack of interest and certainly from old age (for I now run faster/leap farther than when I was touring... but enough about tapping my inner youth).
Not My Xanga The oldest Laughing City members will remember this quote - "this is not my Xanga". I used to jokingly protest that I wasn't using the forum to advance boydness. And I wasn't. I've just never been good at speaking outside of character. To be effective with on-line marketing, I had to be me. I had to take the risk of speaking as the actual dad of a band who's median age was only 16.8. Try to imagine what a tough pill that might have been to swallow; surely they had concerns of how well I would relate to their peers. Perhaps we both had fears. I often wondered how they ever allowed such. But instead of being embarrassed over my involvement, they embraced and welcomed my help... extending cred' to my efforts (rantings, hack media, eis-exploits).
It still amazes me today that very little has changed since their 1st show in May of 1998. We're all still closer than ever. Today we hung out while they were being taped... it could have been 2003, 2005... but it's 2011. I still consider it a privilege to be involved in something I believe in so strongly. And I am more proud of them than ever... especially lately as their mom's health has been a deep concern.
Exploits/Expenses The last 10 years has been an amazing; what an adventure, an honor. As parents, our only motivation has been to advance the band at almost any expense. An uncalculated expense was the decline in health of my wife, 4/5ths of the band's mom - Kim. Financial stresses combined with genetic baggage compiled over the years are at least partially to blame for her decreasing health. The last month has been very difficult. I blame myself... but since there has been perhaps too much discussion on-line about this, I'll skirt details except to say that Kim is recovering slowly and I am thankful. We hope she will one day become completely restored, 100% mobile with no numbness or symptoms of stroke. She has good days... and depressing days but we're struggling through with hope/faith and are thankful for your thoughts and prayers.
As I've returned to my design post (of 31 years), my amazing son-in-law,Todd (Chauntelle's hubby) has stepped in to handle more than his share of the load. He's been an amazing tour manager and handles more and more as time goes on. I don't know where we'd be without him. We make a good team. Touring by itself is a huge responsibility; he does way more. I'm still on the front end but you know how that goes... it's often the guy behind the scene who does the heavy lifting. I work w/ our agent, publicist, the label and do marketing/promotion, graphic design, branding, social media, but he's been handling more and more of the business stuff which makes me very happy.
Do I miss touring? Sure. But I missed much time with Kim. Getting to stay home and help take care of her has been rewarding, fulfilling... I've even been blessed to be able to do my day job from home over the past month. Yes, we're going through tons of crap but hey - we're much in love after 32 years and enjoy spending every moment together. I work until sometimes 5am on Eisley projects, side projects (Mute Math, etc.), my day job work... I sleep for 5-6 hrs and hit it again.
Did I mention his is not my xanga.
Threading the Needle Truthfully, I didn't return to the depths of the unfound wood to talk about myself; I just felt like I owed some of you guys who might actually care about some of the behind the scene thoughts that cannot be expressed in 140 characters. I wanted to talk about how excited I am about current Eisley events. I don't have a pics because I'm rarely on the scene capturing media as in the past. I breeze in and out. They're quite capable of being Eisley without dear ole dad. Plus they have the help of Todd and Mark (Schwartzkopf, our beloved friend and sound engineer) to help wrangle gear and handle all the logistical, geeky, nerdy, stuff. I stick to what I do best.
We're cutting things soooo close. Stress is mounting as they are all scurrying to finish this EP, build and rehearse a new show for this tour... AND shoot a new video for "The Valley". It's honestly insane.
The EP is nearly complete! Chauntelle has been tracking last minute guitar parts (today/tomorrow), studio mixes are sounding great. I really don't want to tip the cards about what you'll hear on this project (recorded at Sherri's and Chauntelle's home with Andy Freeman who mixed "The Valley") but I can say - I'm fairly confident that you guys will like it. Wow... Do I still have a flare for under-hyping or what?
I can try a little harder since I've already gotten wordy and out of control. Foundationally, it's a wonderful, mid-record cycle release. It will keep the band from going stir-crazy between now and when they begin writing/recording the next LP. I can say that this ep feels like something that could have been conceived of years ago idea-wise; it offers something old/something new... super catchy tunes, shorter/softer songs, moody/lovely-languid songs... and even a song that reminds me of something from the MossEisley era. That's as descriptive as I'll be.
The project has no intention of being a catalyst for change... it's not a project that weighs against the alleged suppression imposed upon by a former major label... (we love those guys but if the shoe fits), it's not a project that tries to be anything but an honest batch of new Eisley tunes that could have been fired from the magical blow-hole years ago. It was recorded quickly... it certainly not an over-embellishment, there was not a soul beyond the band telling them how they should think or not to think or what songs to track or not to track and or that reason, it might feel a bit more experimental. But experimental has a broad connotation; I'm not sure I should use that word. I'm really trying to choose my words carefully, haha Can you tell? It's going to make you happy... I'm sure.
Neither project will be ready for this tour obviously. We'll keep u posted about release dates soon.
The video is going great too. Unfortunately I can't or should not talk so much about the treatment. It's going to be an animation comprised of actual and digital reality. Cory Sheldon, who animated "Memories" is here in our house working out scenes at the kitchen table as I type. If you follow Sherri on Instagram (you should... and others), you'll see some of the costuming. I'm very excited about what we'll shoot tomorrow and about the final video will turn out. Cory has come a lonnnng way since that first animation and that was probably our best video at the time it was released (on extended Combinations LP). Post-editing will take a month or so... maybe more. We'll start pushing/teasing when the time comes. I'm biting my mind here.
The ValleyScapes Tour begins August 31's for the band... in the BandWagon here in Tyler, heads up to Colorado Springs for the 1st show September 1st and quickly pushes West up to Seattle for Bumbershoot Festival, down the West coast and back across somewhere heading toward Texas. Clear enough? [read the e-blast linked below] It actually ends up in our own home town (yea!). Imagine finishing up a tour and driving 2 blocks home sleep in your own bed. This will be our first official show in our town promoted by someone other than ourselves. The city of Tyler actually contacted me. Crazy. They're a client of ours (design) and had no clue they were my kids. The venue is this awesomely restored, art deco theater called "The Liberty". Only 220 seats. Can't wait. You Texans should grab tickets and make a little road trip.
Oh, the band will play tons of songs from The Valley as well as songs from the past and even songs from the new EP. I won't get to hear the show until they return to Texas. wahh-wahh. Homecomings are bigger to me than ever.
Support Please check out our support, Marksmen: http://www.facebook.com/MarksmenBand. Christie dates the drummer of that band - Reed Murry, who is (wait another drummer? we have 3 already) is an awesome guy. We like him... a lot. And his band is amazing.
And - speaking of our own Christie http://christiedupreemusic.com/ - she's opening again. She's also recording an ep with 'big Coll' right now in Chauntelle's house with Andy Freeman also. I've heard some of it; my head swooned shut. Her new songs are SO good. yeah, so get ready for that. I'm sure she'll be playing new songs from the ep.
Wanna know why Christie is opening again? Because: 1. her big sisters can't stand being away from her that long, 2. She often gets as much of an applause as her older sib's band... like, in Dallas, you'd have thought she was the headliner when she came out... ecstatic throughout entire show, 3. Fans keep requesting her, 4. we just want people to hear her beautiful music... even if it seems odd; we are an oddity in this biz' anyway and don't care about what rules we break. What we care about is providing a great night for fans. Christie brings love on the front end. If we replaced her with some other unknown band, nobody would care; nobody seems to get it... that's what fans tell us so... Boomshot.
Macy's Gigs FILTER magazine are the folks on the front end/promotion side of this. I speculate that Macy's wanted to sponsor shows utilizing cool, indie-ish bands to promote their new fashion line (mstylelab) and contacted FILTER because they knew they'd know what bands are cool and would fit. I might be wrong; perhaps Macy's knew about bands like Eisley and hand picked them. Maybe they saw what all the NYLON stuff and loved it. Who knows. Either way, it should be a good experience for all. I simply adore their acoustic shows. Yah so... they'll do a full length acoustic set inside each Macy's store on a stage in both the Houston (Woodlands) and Sacramento markets. There are no openers. Just Eisley. National exposure is always good... and brand Eisley has a built-in fashion-savvy attribute so this made perfect sense to me. Both shows begin at 2:00pm in their respective time zone. Pls make plans to attend. We need your support and it's free.
Sorry the tour isn't covering much of the US. Our agent did his best at routing a 3rd tour since Fall 2010. We've all been busy. Things are better than ever and we'll make sure the Spring tour covers the North East.
That's pretty much it guys. I have no illusions about readership here. If I get a few comments, cool. If not... I honestly deserve to be ignored 
. If you want any other friend/fans outside this shrinking world to have privy to these words, you'll have to push it. I'm just not going to.
OH... and If you want to read the newsblast i sent out on Friday, here ya go:
Thanks. Cya,
boyd
New Headlining Tour Announcement
March 10, 2011 07:39 AM
Turning The Tide -
I'm sitting here hunched over my Wacom 21UX monitor drinking a freshly brewed urn of delicious Komodo Dragon coffee pondering which keys to finger-punch. A writer would know what to say. I'll just start punching.
First order: key in a new tag in my Trolleywood journal entry (admin): TheValley. Would you believe me if I told you I thought this day would never come? Good. Don't. It was a long wait and I for 6 am thankful.
The Valley - Let's hype a bit.We're not on the super highway here in the T-wood. Billboard: #8 Top Internet Albums, #12 Indie Album, #23 Alt Albums, #75 Top 200. Also: iTunes spotlight for week 2! http://bit.ly/dOxUcW For those who care about sales (not many do anymore), I'll just say - the numbers were the same # as first week sales on "Combinations". You have to put it into context... that was 4 years ago before the industry tanked (most estimate it's down by 1/2 since then). Also, that was before we went invisible for 2+ years... (ahh!) and that was on a major. This is on a small indie. So... yep. Really thankful. EVR says it's the equivalent of selling twice the # as we did on Combinations. It's not really about numbers for us but - just thought some of you would be curious. Small victories. Tiger blood.
Tour Name - We submitted for creative help (as has oft' been the trend of late. 680 great ideas came in. Thank you!), I picked something, created a poster and sent it to the band. My random choice was "Starlight and Fireflies"... seemed cool enough, partial excerpt from Mr Moon... I wasn't really solid - but Eisley saw it and said, "ahh, we LOVE the poster!!! but...meh, the name might be too girlie. How 'bout _______" (insert name) instead. Yup. Sherri re-named the tour after seeing the design with Mr Moon and the water. [manager/designer note:] I could have said, "hey, we need a name for this tour " first and there would have been shrieking and gnashing of teeth. haha. 13 years of working with them in this capacity provides a map for work-flow and process. Get a graphic and everyone see's the vision.
The name has obvious ties w/ the record, where the band is... it's an emergent theme, blah, blah... Fair enough?
DATES - Another tour. Can you believe it? I can't. I can (sips more coffee). I know some of you will be disappointed. NO! Stop it. I'm sorry. This body can only cry for so long... and if you want to blame me, then go on I'm smiling now 'cause there'll be another tour that covers the voids we leave on this tour... I'm dumber than you think [you found out...].
Bamboozle!! yeah. A real festival. We'll use this one as a hook to get back into festival grace. Those suckers are difficult without 'a story' and industry hype. Being invisible sucked but the tides are turning.
Who's freaking out about Bledfest? haha. NOOooo! Don't. Well, here's what the head guy said: You're looking at it and saying "Holy sh_t, that's a lot of metal, hardcore, and pop-punk bands. And man, that's a really stupid name but it's actually short for "Big Love's Educational Festival", which started 7 years ago as a house show. The name's just kind of stuck. It's traditionally been a festival aimed at the Warped Tour demographic, but we've slowly been pulling it back a bit and having more diverse bands play. This year, we've dedicated a new sixth stage (in about a 800 seat auditorium) to indie, post-rock, folk, and acoustic acts. It's been a tough sell for me to get anyone national, but we've got a lot of great regional and local acts. I'm looking for someone to headline that stage." I loved that so I quoted him. Hey, it's a show and bands play shows. I don't care if you're hardcore or goon-core or pop-core... so-core, more-core > a special kind of music is for you. youcore.
The Narrative - They're indie-pop kids from New York. Kind of reminds me of post-Copeland: "States" which is now female fronted... only these guys trade off - guy/girl. They have a full band but are doing this acoustic. They're catchy. Think you'll like it. http://on.fb.me/i7rBr6
Christie DuPree I don't know who she is. Someone suggested her. Oh, it was her sisters I think. She has a new band fb page w/ a newly added 'band page" (SoundCloud songs): http://on.fb.me/eZni71 Leave her a comment.
Press Release
Eisley Hits The Road -- And The Charts
Eisley will launch a six-week U.S. headlining tour in late April, supporting their third album, The Valley (Equal Vision Records). The Turning Tides Tour kicks off April 26 in Atlanta, and the run of club dates will also include a set at The Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 1 and a headlining slot at Bled Fest in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 28. See reverse for a complete list of dates.
The Valley debuts this week at #75 on the Billboard 200 Current Albums chart and also hit #5 on Amazon MP3's Top 10 Album Chart for the week and #3 on Amazon's New Albums chart.
Reviews of the album have been universally positive. The Big Takeover has already declared it "one of the best albums of 2011," while Creative Loafing Tampa said, "Eisley comes off as more orchestrated, more mature, and more inspiring than ever." Under The Radar said that "the tunes are imminently enjoyable and the interplay among the DuPrees' voices is always thrilling." The Boston Globe wrote, "In almost every Eisley song, there's something -- a turn of phrase or a curl of the melody or a shift of the chords -- that doesn't go quite where you'd expect it to. [There's a] sense of shining a light into corners to which most acts don't bother paying attention." And AbsolutePunk.net said, "Even when I write that The Valley is the band's best album yet, it still feels like a huge understatement - like I'm not giving the album enough credit. Just believe this: The Valley is an album that will stick with you."
Wed, March 16: Paste magazine party @ 508 E 6th St, 6:30 PM
Wed, March 16: SXSW showcase @ Barbarella Patio, 611 Red River St, 11 PM
Thur, March 17: Equal Vision Records party @ Dirty Dog Bar, 505 E 6th St, 4 PM
Fri, March 18: Pure Volume House, 504 Trinity St, 4 PM
Eisley - "Turning Tide Tour" Dates:
April 26 Atlanta, GA Vinyl
April 27 Carrboro, NC Cats Cradle
April 28 Vienna, VA Jammin' Java
April 29 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
May 1 East Rutherford, NJ The Bamboozle Festival
May 2 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
May 3 Wilmington, DE World Cafe Live
May 6 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
May 10 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
May 11 Phoenix, AZ Martini Ranch
May 12 San Diego, CA Delta Room @ House of Blues
May 15 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour
May 16 San Francisco, CA Slim's
May 17 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
May 19 Seattle, WA Neumos
May 20 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
May 21 Boise, ID The Venue
May 24 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
May 25 Milwaukee, WI The Rave Bar
May 26 Chicago, IL The Bottom Lounge
May 27 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
May 28 Grand Rapids, MI Bled Fest @ Hartland PAC
May 30 Nashville, TN 12th & Porter
May 31 Birmingham, AL WorkPlay Theatre
June 1 New Orleans, LA The Parish @ HOB
June 3 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Studio
June 4 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
We have a few college shows tossed in there that don't appear because they're exclusive to the students.
Anyway... more updates as I get them. Thanks for everything guys. You are the core base to Eisley's core music. That's socore of you.
bye for now.
boyd