... Du plus ancien au plus récent! ( j'ai pris du retard!!) 18 aoû 2007 Elvis and My Platinum
Recently many of us paid respect to that day 30 years ago when we all heard the terrible news, the death of our dear Elvis Presley. Lucky for us he still lives on in the form of lunch boxes, t-shirts, statues, and Reeses candy wrappers. Of all days in the year imagine my excitement when I on that particular day I received a phone call that you guys have bought enough "Walk the Line" soundtracks to justify my ownership of a platinum record. I've never had one of those before. I don't quite know where I'll put it. If I can I'll bring it on tour with me to show you all. I think I had that idea when it went gold and couldn't figure how to tote it along on tour. I'll try really hard this time. Thank you so much everyone! And let's not forget the man behind the reason for me being in "Walk the Line". Thanks for letting me help carry you on, buddy, you're still rocking us!
Tyler 08 sep 2007
Music from the North, Camping
And so it continues, this journey towards the completion of album 3, with influences arriving daily! Often when I'm so focused on something, all around I notice things that relate to it, like being in the market for a new car and noticing the ones around me. There is such a wonderful roots music scene out there today and every so often, when I'm reminded of it, I become so obsessed! Right now, Canada seems to be providing me with a lot of great new sounds. I'll try to "Top Friend" some of the bands as I think of them on MySpace so you'll have links if you want to check them out. One in particular has really grabbed me. They're called "Chic Gamine" and are a band of 5 women from Winnipeg's French community. (http://www.myspace.com/chicgamine) Go tell them Tyler sent you. They are five beautiful voices singing songs from all over the world and accompanied by only a drummer. No instruments, just the voices. I know, I know, maybe you're thinking it's going to sound like something you hear while getting a massage or in an incense store at the beach, but it really didn't strike me that way. It just struck me. And so I'll take a little with me. A little this, a little that, a little Chic, and this album will end up sounding like an amalgam of all the years it took to make it; oh yeah.
Switching gears here, I hear that camping has been sliding in popularity in the last decade or so. Very sad. I went camping over the holiday weekend and forgot how much fun it was! There isn't much to do that you normally do when you're not camping, so you start thinking different. I'm bored so I'll walk in the woods, fish, play guitar to or for no one, listen to nothing, and wear shorts....which I never do. I'm sorry I forgot about you, 'ol pastime. Camping: love it, forgot about it, want more of it, and am recommending it to you. For now though - I'm doing this, doing that, going here and there, and hanging with the band in LA. Starting in a couple of weeks, I'll be back home in Nashville to keep it all going hopefully towards an end to the album by Thanksgiving. I'll talk to you all soon, and remember ...always....uh .....never, uh.....um ......actually, I don't have anything profound to leave you with. Damn. What an ending that would have made. Oh well...more next time!
Tyler 13 sep 2007
Tyler Takes The Wheel
So many things happening all at once. Adventure is smacking me from all sides and showing no signs of letting up and still my first reflex is to fill you all in. Now that's....well, that's just plain affection for you, right? Right? Yes... But where to start.... How about, Slim and I, being the Nashvillians that we are now are seeing to it that Lem and Darwin join us down here to live and prosper and partake in all things pertaining to my record and general southern hoopla (which reminds me, why haven't I seen one person with moonshine the whole time I've lived here? Shouldn't I have by now? Aren't I at least due that small joy? I've always believed so. I have a sneaking suspicion it's the same reason I didn't' find myself in the middle of a Jack London novel when I moved to Canada last summer. Where are the sled dogs and igloos! Damn stereotypes! They leave me nowhere!!). Sure, I could have just flown the boys here and that would have been that. But that's when I asked myself, isn't there a more complicated and involved but much more amusing way to do this seemingly simple move? And that's when it hit me that Slim and I would fly to LA (which we are doing right now), meet the boys and road trip it back with them! But even that just seemed too simple.
So, myself and my great team of people I work with who, for a living, complicate boring situations and make them fun, decided to film the whole trip and keep you all updated with our whereabouts with a nifty map here on the site. We'll be staying more or less on route 40 so if you find we'll be driving by your town, do come out and say hi as we pass. We may even get to stop, if my dad doesn't have that look in his eyes that says, "You all better have bladders the sizes of vats." We're renting a car (of course it's a Hybrid, how dare you...) for some of us and have roped my dad into driving our gear and the camera crew in a van and trailer. I think, total, there will be 9 of us. Let's see, Dad, 3 film crew, 3 band members, myself, and our friend Curtis Peoples, who is coming along for absolutely no reason. We just wanted him there and that seemed good enough. So that's the deal, I'll see you guys out there as we pass through Vegas, Flagstaff, Santa Fe,Tulsa and Memphis which, the experts and I decided, was a good non-direct route to take. What a time! Check back here for more updates. We leave today! Yahoo!
Tyler
27 sep 2007 Nashville Home
An early morning flight, I've just napped a bit, and the deep rumblings of a BLOG have found home inside of me some 30,000 feet in the air! It's only been a week and a half since the band and I have moved into our nest for rehearsals. It seems like so much more time! We've managed to really look at more then 30 songs and turn them over and see if there's anything to them for this record. We'll spend 3 more weeks or so doing the same thing but it's a really good start. We're finding our rhythm and schedule really nicely.
Living together with my bandmates in a house is proving so different from living on the road while touring. I never would have guessed that. There's something much more personal about the quarters of a house with everyone setting up their personal living spaces for a short period of time. I guess it's different when you know you're moving cities night to night. You don't see the nick nacks and comforts of home come out on the road so much. We just live on what is easiest and necessary when traveling but here it's different.
I'm finding everyone is an exceptional cook (whereas I'm just the exception cook) lucky me. Darwin made this whole Jamaican dinner one night with curry chicken and whatnot (um, yes....), Lemony rocked some grilled chicken that I over ate, and Slim has the most flavorful (and healthy, I might add) rice dish known to man in his power. I make wicked scrambled eggs and am not bad mixing drinks... I haven't sung this much in my entire life as we are rehearsing some 6 or 7 hours a day but am feeling my voice get stronger. We've received our first Netflix shipping as well yesterday. We all decided it was time to revisit the Farley Bros. classic "Dumb and Dumber". Anyway, the beverage cart has finally passed me and I see an in for the restroom. More to come...!
Tyler