The Sky Mountain Revue Tour has begun
The Young Republic, joined by
label-mates Adrien and the Fine Print, will be gallivanting around the
country in our big maroon van for the next month and a half, playing
rock n’ roll and country music in clubs, dives, and farmer’s markets
near you. Well, if you live in any of the places listed on our
myspace: www.myspace.com/theyoungrepublic.
Our lineup for the tour is as follows: Captain Julain Saporiti, songs
and guitars; Wing Commander Kristen Weber, songs and fiddle; First
Mate Joey “Dirty T’s” Bennett, screamin’ magical guitar; Engineer
Chris Miller, tasty basses; Bombardier Felix Dowsley, boom-bahs and
jangles. Our crew is joined by two rogue troubadours, chronicler of
the times Adrien “Cannonball” Saporiti and ninja-star specialist Renee
“Featherflight” Izzi of Adrien and the Fine Print. Together we are the
Sky Mountain Revue, and we will be performing jointly and in unison at
our shows. So, hopefully you are one less person to whom we will have
to explain our complicated entourage.
Our first day on tour was nice and quiet, which is improper for rock
and roll but proper for singer songwritery things, which is what we
were doing. We headed up to Cincinnati from Nashville to play in the
Midpoint Music Festival, our second year on the bill. On Thursday
Julian and Adrien played as part of a songwriters in the round. Their
company was a patchwork of indie frontmen and self-styled folksters,
one of whom was so intoxicated that he only hit the mic with about a
third of his words, he swayed so violently as he sang. Chris said he
needed a headset, which gave me the image of the guy quaking out in a
Riki Martin video.
Julian and Chris were able to walk over and check out our friend
Ringo’s band Mad Anthony. By all reports they kicked a lot of ass.
Their new record is called “We Spent All Our Money on Speed Metal”,
check it out.
Before that whole episode we’d walked around the “Over the Rhine”
neighborhood in Cincinnati. It was real hip, black and young, murals
everywhere, strong splashes of green, red, blue, yellow lacquer paint
on old bricks. There was lots of radical propaganda on the walls: a
portrait of a woman with a fro and “power to the people” spaced around
her headsphere. The buildings were well built, often ornate, and had
aged well despite receiving no repairs. Young fellas walked around
shirtless, cutting wide diagonals across streets. Bootlegs for sale on
the corner, barbershops, retro antiques, catholic churches, head
shops. On one street an apartment on one side was blaring hip-hop, and
on the opposite side someone had cranked up some classical. In the
park some friends played poker while their kids played on the
playground. Since we spend much of our time on the road in bars,
seeing a happening neighborhood is always refreshing. Still, it wasn’t
a utopia—it was, as one mural declared it, a “ghettopia”. The kids on
the playground played with police caution tape, but they were happy.
The next day we played our acoustic country set (of which many songs
are featured on the Music From Sky Mountain album) at the library, and
then in Fountain Square. However, the wind was so strong in the Square
that we eventually had to desist, lest our hats and tips fly off. The
wind carried spray from the fountains twenty yards to drizzle on us.
That night we played at an art gallery called Artworks for the
Midpoint festival. A garage-punky band of oldsters called Poke opened
for us. They were really fun because they were having tons of fun. We
played a solid set, first Adrien and the Fine Print, then the Young
Republic, then the whole Sky Mountain Revue—our regular full show for
this tour. The audience was great, and amongst some new fans we saw
some old friends and dedicated fans in the crowd.
After us a gent named Henry Wagons played his ole guitar and told some
stories. He’d come all the way from Melbourne, Australia. He’s not as
purely farcical as the Flight of the Concords boys, but he has a
similar self-aware approach, applied to loads of different roots
musics. Even though the crowd had thinned out as the evening wore on,
the steadfast remainder was laughing, hollering, and singing along for
most of his set. He brings more rock than one man should be carrying
around. He was very funny, with a great sense of his audience—a sort
of entertainer that is too rare in our American folk scenes. All you
Nashvillains, catch him at The Basement on the 30th.
Alright, that’s our first road post, expect many more as we spend
hours each day in our trusty (so far) van. If anybody in Dayton, Ohio
is looking for something to do tonight, check us out tonight at Blind
Bob’s.
Our recent van jams: The Allman Brothers Band (Filmore East), The
Libertines, The Walkmen, Blur, George Jones, Vampire Weekend.
