
Audio By Carbonatix
Jake Paleschic doesn’t go anywhere without his bike. He rides it to and from work, to band practice, and even, on occasion, to shows. So when it came time to release his new EP, Cowboys Songs, last month, he had a crazy idea that didn’t seem so crazy at the time: hand-delivering every single copy to his fans in Fort Worth.
“It was a very spur of the moment decision,” Paleschic, who’s a barista as Avoca Coffee in Fort Worth, explains. “It was an idea that jumped into my head after getting home from an early morning shift at Avoca.” And so he did just that: On August 19, in a trek that lasted roughly nine hours and 50 miles in the stifling Texas August heat, Paleschic delivered the CDs to 26 different locations around Cowtown.
This wasn’t an overly hyped promo gig, or some crowd-funding reward. The day before his Homeric two-wheeled odyssey, Paleschic — who has previously recorded music under the moniker Patriot — posted a simple note on his Instragam page. He instructed interested parties to message him their orders and then, “Leave $5 and a cup of water in the mailbox for me.”
Spending an entire day peddling under the unforgiving Texas sun seems like an undertaking that would require a great deal of planning. He wasn’t racing the Tour de France, exactly, but he was damn sure expelling more electrolytes in one day than most of us will in a year. But painstaking prep wasn’t anywhere in this adventurous equation for Paleschic: He made the whole trip in his street clothes.
“I do about 50 miles a week on average, so that was an exceptional day for me,” he says. “But I was back at riding the next day.”
“It was a very spur of the moment decision,” Paleschic, who’s a barista as Avoca Coffee in Fort Worth, explains. “It was an idea that jumped into my head after getting home from an early morning shift at Avoca.” And so he did just that: On August 19, in a trek that lasted roughly nine hours and 50 miles in the stifling Texas August heat, Paleschic delivered the CDs to 26 different locations around Cowtown.
advertisementadvertisementThis wasn’t an overly hyped promo gig, or some crowd-funding reward. The day before his Homeric two-wheeled odyssey, Paleschic — who has previously recorded music under the Patriot moniker — posted a simple note on his Instragam page. After messaging him to order the brown cardboard-covered disc, he instructed interested parties, “Leave $5 and a cup of water in the mailbox for me.”
Spending an entire day peddling under the unforgiving Texas sun seems like an undertaking grand enough to require a great deal of planning. He wasn’t racing the Tour de France, exactly, but, he was damn sure expelling more electrolytes in one day than most of us will in a year. But painstaking prep wasn’t anywhere in this adventurous equation for Paleschic: He made the whole trip in his street clothes.
“I do about 50 miles a week on average, so that was an exceptional day for me,” he says. “But I was back at riding the next day.”
advertisementIt’s safe to suggest the unusual distribution system was an easier decision for him than most. Paleschic and his bike are a tight couple, and he literally doesn’t go many places without it. He built the bike, a Centurion Le Mans, about a year and a half ago, stripping off all its paint and converting it into a fixed gear.
“My bike is my car,” he says. “I haven’t driven in a few years, and have saved a lot of money in doing so. I know guys that race bikes like crazy – hundreds of miles a week sometimes. I’m not on a level with that, but what I do by simply commuting through Fort Worth has definitely formed a strong bond and love for the bike.”
The way in which the trip occurred and the smooth nature of it sounds like it’s something Paleschic has done before, but he hasn’t. He was rewarded by kindly EP purchasers offering cold bottles of water, and even a couple of icy beers. As far as he can recall, he hadn’t heard of any other artists doing something like this, but he’s not so sure he’s the first to actually put the passions of biking and music together, though.
“I’ve never done over 50 miles on a fixed-gear, so that’s a personal victory,” he says. “Lots of cool kids ride bikes and make records, so I can’t be the first to put the two together.”
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As for Cowboy Songs itself — the follow to Again, at Last, the superb record that we picked as one of our favorite local albums of this year, so far — it’s nothing short of a four-song country-folk stunner. Raw and acoustically based, Paleschic deals in what has made him a popular guy in the burgeoning Fort Worth music scene. Perhaps the caffeine buzz he works up when he’s brewing away at his day gig can be partially credited here, but Fort Worth residents will likely have more chances sooner than later to have a bike-delivered CD. Though the days of recording under the Patriot name are in the past, Paleschic is poised to hit local airwaves, stereos, and surely, the city streets soon.
“There are nearly an album’s worth of new songs already in my band’s live set,” he explains. “I’m certain there will be more songs recorded than I will want on one album, which is a great problem to have as it gives us more room to ‘learn as much as possible, show as little as necessary.’”
There’s likely to be another bicycle album delivery in Fort Worth, but nothing’s cemented. And if you live in the big city to Fort Worth’s east, you may want to get your greenbacks and chilled beer cans ready. Paleschic thinks he will explore the option of taking his bike to Dallas, but don’t hold your Galleria-loving breath.
advertisement“I’d like to see if anyone in Dallas would be interested in the same thing I did here in Fort Worth,” he says. “But whenever that happens, I’m sure it’ll be just as off-the-cuff and impulsive.”
Updated: 09-01-2015 09:46 pm
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