Notes from the road from guitarist Mike Keenan:
12/20 Saturday, Portland, OR
It’s usually a short and painless ride from Seattle to Portland but once again Mother Nature was challenging our commitment. As we slowly slid into Portland I received a call that my flight home Sunday at 6:00am was already cancelled. We set up at the Aladdin Theatre and I cringed thinking -- huge venue + snow storm = demoralizing end of tour. Thankfully I was wrong. Our manager Seth moved here a few months ago and was convinced he could promote the * out of this show. While we could have used a lot more people in there it was by no means empty. In addition, those who braved the weather were good and rowdy. That might just be Portland at night from what I hear.
Over the next few days the entire band experienced varying degrees of travel *. I think Jocko fared the worst arriving home on the 24th. I was lucky enough to only get sodomized for cab fare to the airport, a 4-hour delay in Portland (after the initial day and a half of delays), a rescheduled transfer flight at the wrong airport in NYC, a cancelled rescheduled flight from NYC to Boston and arriving in Boston after the trains and buses were shut down. Thankfully my sister came to get me at 2:00am. 48 hours of travel, cancellations and layovers-- home at last.
12/19 Friday, Seattle, WA
By the next morning the weather had calmed down but more was coming. We decided to get to Seattle early to make sure there were no issues. Seattle also was glazed over. We drove past a bus accident that left two buses dangling over the interstate. I’m guessing they’ll budget in some snow removal equipment next year.
We played a club called the Tractor in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. Someone gave Scott a shirt that confirmed my theory of the Northwest being edgy, educated and over-caffeinated. It simply read: Stalactite, Trilobite, Troglodyte, Ballardite.
We’ve had a little trouble nailing down the “right club” for us in Seattle. The Tractor might be the one. Considering that the roads were glazed and mass transit was a mess after the accident our numbers were okay. Trolls Cottage and Kore Ionz opened the show. Both bands were cool. I hung out a bit with some of the guys from Kore Ionz. They are donating 50% of the money they make on their new record to a Seattle non-profit called the Service Board. We were hoping Daniel Pak would jump up and sing with us if the spirit moved him. Maybe next time.
++ please visit the below link to continue reading Mike's notes from the road ++
http://www.johnbrownsbody.com/wordpress/?p=18#more-18
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Easy Star Records has released Amplify, the new CD by the progressive reggae band John Brown's Body on September 30. The album features twelve original tracks, showcasing the group's broad palette of influences - from classic UK reggae of the 70's to West African instrumentation, from indie rock to spaghetti westerns. This album, the group's first since 2005'sPressure Points (Easy Star), features a new band lineup and many special guests.
Since the release of JBB's last album, the band, which hails from Boston and upstate New York, has gone through significant changes. Lead singer Elliot Martin underwent throat surgery, several band members departed and most significantly, the band suffered the loss of bassist Scott Palmer. Palmer lost his battle with cancer in 2006, only six months after his diagnosis. That subject is addressed in the song "Ghost Notes."
Emerging from these changes, the band's current line-up is a focused, more experimental outfit than ever before, challenging the usual notions of contemporary reggae. Use of instruments like the African kora and cello on the track "So Aware," and the hip hop influences all over songs like "Shake The Dice" and "Make Your Move" continue an evolution of sound that could be heard on JBB's two previous recordings, and is now front and center on this release.
Recent live showstoppers like "Give Yourself Over," "Zion Triad," and "Push Some Air" are included here too. And "Speak Of The Devil" features a vocal collaboration with Vaughn Benjamin of Midnite, whom JBB front man Elliot Martin considers "ridiculously prolific and the most progressive reggae artist out there."
Amplify is produced by Elliot Martin and Jason "Jocko" Randall, the band's longtime sound engineer. It was recorded in upstate New York at More Sound Studios.
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