Ok so we had a blast at SXSW. We played lots of shows, got a bunch of new fans that said we were the coolest show at SXSW which makes all of the trouble seem totally worth it. Speaking of trouble… We are now snowbound in Wyoming and SteveVan is sick. Hopefully just a little altitude sickness. Waiting for the mechanic so we should know soon. We are not going to be able to make our show at Salt Lake at the Urban Lounge and we are sad about that but we just got news that we were mentioned on wired.com so that is warming our hearts some.
The last show Matt was finally able to unleash the pyrotechnics he has had up his sleeve and the crowd loved it. He can’t wait to play another outdoor show now. Umm that is all for now… The mechanic is ready up see Steve. Bye.
This is our favorite place to play/stay.. This historic hotel is such a treat because the sound is good the people are friendly and you can just go upstairs to your room when the show is over which probably won’t happen but it is nice to know there is a cozy bed just up the steps.
Hey the Wordpress for iPhone just worked great so hopefully we can write and post pictures from the road now.
Below are some pictures I took durring our soundcheck.
Not sure of all the bands playing tonight but the first one has like 14 some odd people in it. I bet they are good but not as odd as us.
We are now near El Centro and are moving freely along the Great Wall of Mexico. Next stop Tucson, Arizona. We commenced the rock and roll circus western tour with Spindrift on Wednesday. It began with a very fun show in LA at The Redwood “bar,” more accurately the Redwood “Shanty.” A pirate themed place which went well with Spindrift’s new nautical themed video backdrop (which by the way is enthralling) AND there were real pirates walking around AND 10,000 Leagues Under The Sea meets Six Degrees of Separation from Portland, so many of our friends were in town. It’s a wonder someone didn’t drown.
There was a nice review posted on loudvine.com about this show. It’s recent. Just look for The Upsidedown!
Speaking of technology and trying to figure stuff out, we just got on Twitter so you can now join us on tour! For a play-by-play on twitter.com/theupsidedown you can join in on the fun, tell your friends and give us pointers. We also just got Wordpress for the iPhone which we are testing at the moment.
Props to Lee Cohen/The Dandy Warhols for freaking out on us for not blogging and tweeting enough! We have big plans and all of our woofers and tweeters aligned for magic Lee. Set the sails
OK so Wordpress for the iPhone (for fan/nerds). Truth be told Sara Jane just transcribed this from my iPhone because it didn’t post. I DID get that photo above to post but when I tried to repost it hated it. Kept getting the error message “wrong id yadda” but I bet it is just another little wordpress quirk to figure out. I am going to back this up just in case the phone app screws it up again. More later on that rock nerds so stay tuned.
Got to nap before rocking the Hotel Congress tonight in Tucson. Legendary.
This is Matt by the way signing out. – Jason wrote the first part on my phone until he started getting car sick then I wrote the rest and Sarah Jane transcribed it and tried to change my name to “Patty” but luckily I caught it. They think it is funny to call me Patty today.
All the cats in the band are getting ready for SXSW in Austin. Our friends The Black Angles are putting us up again and we are really excited to hang out with them and hopefully smash a few pennies and have a few sing alongs at the railroad tracks.
We will start our trip playing some shows in Canada and the West Coast with our saddle pals Spindrift and make our way down to the Lone Star State for some super fun events including shows with The Thermals, Laura Gibson, the Shaky Hands, Dead Meadow, Wooden Ships, A Place to Bury Strangers and of course we will be playing Psychfest II with some of our favorite bands. We will also be playing shows at Jaime’s and The Spiderhouse again this year. Be sure to check out our show schedule for more information.
In other news…
Psychedelica Magazine of North Yorkshire, England, UK is putting out a neo-psychedelia, space rock, drone, acid rock/folk comp featuring the song “Ernestine” from our newest release Human Destination.
We started recording our new record last week and we hope to have it released this summer. We are really excited about the work we are doing with our new friends at Mind Wave and grateful for their chill Persian rug enabled recording space next to the wetlands reserve. It is perfect and we are having such a magical time… we just know we are going to have another great record.
For best viewing click the “high quality” link here on YouTube.
This video could also be called “What We Did On Our Summer Vacation With The Dandy Warhols.” The footage was shot using our little Flip video camera. We shot almost everything ourselves except for when we were on stage and then it was shot by Scotty- lighting director extraordinaire and Dylan sound engineer supremo. We all had our way with the little guy. I have to give props to Fathead (we were touring with The Dandy Warhols when we shot this) because he showed me his own “spinny head” footage which inspired me. Here are some more interesting factoids:
We happily announce the release of Human Destination. The first release from THE UPSIDEDOWN since the critically acclaimed 2004 debut “Trust Electricity.” We think it was worth the wait.
GET IT NOW on eMusic or iTunes (available August 12th)
NEWS FLASH… It has been confirmed. The Upsidedown will open for one of their favorite bands of all time… THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN! Somebody pinch us hard.
Here are the details…
The Jesus and Mary Chain with guest The Upsidedown
Thursday July 17, 2008 doors @ 8pm Wonder Ballroom
128 NE Russell St
Portland, OR 97212
$32 advance (plus service charge)
21+ show with full bar
The new record “Human Destination” will be coming out this summer on the new Dandy Warhols inspired label Beat The World Records. We are thrilled to say the least. Excited both by the record that we have been working so hard on and also the relationship with our new partners.
We are a band from Portland Oregon. We travel around in our van Steve and play music for people. We think it is fun and it feels like we are doing something important. Especially when you say it is. We are honored to make music for you. Here is the newest! >
