New Album + Winter Tour

Yes it's official, Graboids are finally releasing a long player and it's guaranteed to delight the rank and file of the most base among us. Atlanta's Stickfigure Recordings/Distribution will be putting out the album and we can't thank them enough.

www.stickfiguredistro.com

Not only are they doing that but they're also hooking us up with a show down in Atlanta the week before Christmas, which will be part of a larger winter tour. The dirty South in December and either the Midwest or Northeast in early January. Check out the myspace site for continued updates:

www.myspace.com/graboids

Can't wait to hit the road again in the Chevy van with the four pimpin captain's chairs. We'll have the album ready to sell on tour as well as bitchin stickers and pins. Get ready, it begins...

3 Weeks To Go

Yes, you read the title of this post right, there are indeed only 3 weeks left until the start of our big ass greasy bastard tour. The tour van's on the way and we've recruited Avon, NC's finest export Jim Hale to fulfill bass frequency duties.
We played last night at the Atomic Burrito on the downtown mall. The show went over fairly well. Most of us felt sick about 20 minutes after entering the venue (due to smokey atmosphere coupled with broken ventilation system) and just kinda tired in general. So not one of more energetic shows, but loud and to the point nonetheless...and the girl behind the bar was extremely attractive too. So 1-0 for Graboids last night. Next show is in town on friday June 16th at the Starr Hill cocktail lounge. Much thanks to Jeyon over there for hooking us up. That's actually gonna be the last show til we hit the road. Knobbs built his pedal board this week and it is about 5 times less heavy than mine, which is a success story all around. The anticipation is reaching fever pitch, of World Cup proportions. Sadly, we will be missing the last week of the World Cup games while we're on tour, all except the final match. We will be pulling into Chapel Hill early on the 9th to park ourselves in a bar and watch the match, drunk and disorderly of course. Sports - an excuse not to care.

Trudging along...

Well here we are, a little less than two months before the tour and I just want it to arrive already. There's still some gaps in the calendar but we've got plenty of time to fill em all - so stop fretting my precious ones!
I have just spent the last three weeks down in the Outer Banks with Knobbs, plotting and planning for the summer. We've now got a good idea of what kinda tour van to get, and rest assured the windows will be tinted to the fullest extent of the law. I'm back in Harlottesville now and awaiting Matthew's return from Blacksballs. It's time to get down and work my ass off for some serious cash. There's a few invaluable effects pedals I wanna get for these shows and also hopefully trade my 2nd amp for a better one - stereo is mandatory on this tour. There's not much else to report from Fort Graboid. Keep it as real as you want people...

Boards of Toad Hall

Ok, so half the tour is now confirmed with the other two weeks being worked out soon. Get yourself over to the Myspace site fool.

Found out today that Knobbs is in the market for a tour van, which will also double as his main mode of transpo in the Graboids off-season (aka when the amp switches are turned to the 'off' position). The Dronemobile is entering into its geriatric season and will soon be sent to that great big wrecking yard in the sky. This new van will be long and shiny and will fit lots of cronies. We also have our sites set on buying that old skool U-Haul trailer that was mentioned in the last blog entry. I see it sitting alone in the U-Haul parking lot every day without someone to give it a good home. Well we've got a lot of love to give...and wish for nothing more but to stuff it full of our equipment. Speaking of which, the pedal board is almost finished. I decided to deck it out in the cheapest tackiest neon-blue plastic carpeting that the good people at Lowe's had to offer. It's a heavy fucker and what with it being 2'X3' I have dubbed it Big Blue. Long live Big Blue - may the effects pedals always be velcroed close to your heart.

Tour Plans and Merch Scams

Summer tour plans are coming along nicely, check the MySpace site for continuing updates:

www.myspace.com/graboids

Knobbs and I are planning on making our own made-from-scratch pedal boards for this tour, to help lessen the setup time. We have a shitload of pedals/power supplies, and so we end up taking way too long to setup and get playing - 10 minutes is our goal. As reported earlier, this tour will see us stack up over 2500 miles on the road. Well, I got the trusty old atlas out the other night and did the math: looks like it will actually be well over the 5000 mark. Das Tank will be the preferred car of choice on this tour, since the few other cars we have at our disposal have not distinguished themselves in the reliability category that Das Tank has so commendably performed in. Plus, the Dronemobile we suspect of being a dirty commie rat. We're gonna have to spunk out some moolah for a rental trailer, but we're not planning on staying in any hotel rooms so apart from gas it will be our biggest expense. We've even seen the one we want. It's one of those mini old-skool bad boy U-Hauls - the one with wings painted on it and dirty aluminum siding that just missed the mid-80's coporate takeover image overhaul. $15 a day! I guess we're gonna have to get our business mindsets on and sell our merch to drunk people at the end of every night - that's the most profitable time (and person) to strike we find. Buyer beware!

Notes of a Dirty Old Graboid

Well the spring tour is over, and what a strange week it was. Two great nights were had in Charlottesville. The Atomic Burrito show went well, and we even got a chance to spin some vinyl after the show. Saw some people we hadn't seen in years too. Outback Lodge the next night was even better, playing with the Nice Jenkins. We got the whole thing on video, and the destruction at the end was the most fun of all the destructions we've had. Pretty much the entire audience came on stage to help out with the hijinx. Expect to see that portion of the video up on the official site soon. It was also cool to have Mark from Sandalwood Studios doing the sound that night - now there is a man who knows what he's doing.
The last night in Fredericksburg devolved into a complete shambles. After the venue owner tried to belittle us with his best Jack Palance impression, it was decided that we make the loudest noise we could at the end of the set. Amps to 11, strings yanked off guitars, and line dancing were all in full effect. When we finally pulled the plug, he screamed at the top of his lungs, 'Pack your shit up and get the fuck out of here!" Hopefully we will never be in the vicinity of that particular venue again, namely, the Bourbon Room. The only cool part of the evening was getting to play with Descolada.

The summer tour is still being planned, expect to see tour dates posted on the MySpace site very soon. There will be another Outback Lodge show sometime in May, as well as the re-scheduled Better Than Television show on May 20th. I went to BTTV the other night to see Bicycles and Gravel perform. A great band who were playing in a great venue. This will surely become a Charlottesville hotspot for music. Can't wait to play there in May. All hail noise!

It's Show Time

Things are really heating up here in the Graboids camp. We've got four shows we're playing next week - three in Charlottesville and one in Fredericksburg. Also waiting to hear about a possible fifth date in DC. Happy to say we'll be sharing the Fredericksburg stage with Descolada from Asheville NC, a great band who you best not fuck with or they will shit on your soul. These four shows have consumed my every thought for a while now and I've done all that is humanly possible to promote them: it gets mighty cold out there on the streets but those flyers won't post themselves. Also have a big article in local rag The Hook. Much thanks to them for that.
The summer tour is getting sorted out as we speak. So far we've got places to play in about ten cities - with more to come. This tour will see us stack up over 2500 miles on the road, covering fifteen sates. The energy that will go into this will be nothing short of massive...you'll shit your pants!