We first fell in love with Mount Righteous after the band wowed us with their performance at Good Records' eight birthday bash. Since then, we've taken in their debut disc, When The Music Starts, and we've interviewed 10 of the band's 11 members for an upcoming story on the disc's release--which won't officially take place until after the band returns from it's 13-day tour. In the meantime, band member Justin Spike (guitar, accordion, vocals) has agreed to document the band's tour with a daily tour diary exclusive to DC9. Enjoy.
Bonus mp3:
Mount Righteous -- "When The Child Awakes"
Mount Righteous -- "When The Child Awakes"
Greetings from your friends in Mount Righteous!
Today is a momentous day for us, as it marks the beginning of our first tour! If we had ever before wondered what it would be like to pack up all our gear, stuff ourselves into a van with 11 band members and strike west for two full weeks of shows, today is the day all our questions will be answered.
True, we will probably learn some things about cabin fever, airborne pestilence, record-high diesel prices, the backward driving and living ethos of Southern Californians, and so on, but we are as excited about these inevitabilities as anything else. We are here to learn. And to rock.
At the time of this first writing, we have a show scheduled for every day of our tour--and a number of days where we'll perform twice. At first consideration, this might seem an exhausting affair.
But we are lucky to be endowed with the ability to set up in less than five minutes, to break down in the same amount of time, and to not have to rely on the encumbrances of microphones, cables or amplifiers. (Or sound guys.)
Thus, multiple shows in a day will be no sweat. (Except literally. We will be playing shows in the desert. More on this later.)
In preparation for the tour, we've done what any 11-piece folk-punk-orchestral-marching band ensemble would do: We've breathed deeply, practiced our set, smoked cigarettes, taken time off or otherwise quit our jobs, had parties, and alerted all our friends within 200 miles of any city we're playing that we are on our way and that they'd better show up or else.
We feel prepared.
Riding along with us in the van will be our brand new album, When The Music Starts, that we recorded with John Congleton back in March. It hasn’t been released locally yet, but selections from it are available on this blog and on our Myspace. Once we drag ourselves back into town, we’re having a CD release show June 6th at Rubber Gloves with Fishboy and Death! To the Doomriders. (Until then, you’ll have to ask someone in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Missouri or Kansas how it sounds.)
So, after meeting up in our native and beloved Grapevine, Texas, we're heading west for Abilene, where we are playing our first show of the tour at Monk’s. Then on to various and sundry destinations where we will incite smiles and inspire dances. And we'll keep you updated here daily, so keep a close eye out for dispatches from the Mount Righteous tour!
We love you! --Justin Spike and Mount Righteous
