Shaking off the dust.

Well, where to begin…. It’s been a while; call me a slacker if you will, since I’ve written anything. Despite, and perhaps due to touring heavily over the past couple of months my spare time has been scarce therefore replacing time generally for updating my thoughts and meanderings on the world to lay to the side and accumulate a generous amount of dust. So today, while riding through the lovely Georgia countryside I will take out the feather duster and see what kind of goodies I can come up with to cover all the goings on of what has been a very busy fall for me.

After we had last had contact we were about half way through the last HURT tour, which was just but a week long. That tour concluded of course and sent us all back home for a brief spell. It turned out to be very brief for me as shortly after returning home I found myself out there in the wild again tour managing another band. And to be sparing of all the gruesome details we’ll go ahead and fast forward through that tour. Then, again I had another two weeks to spend at home with my girlfriend and my bros at home. It was certainly a lovely couple of weeks.

Now, we start again with the fine gents of the HURT camp. This tour was, and still is to be something different than we’ve all done before. It’s an all-acoustic tour, but not just like a couple of dudes hanging out with acoustic guitars singing some tunes. Well, its kind of like that, but way more awesome. It’s a full band production, drums guitar, violin, bass, and even a cello! This type of thing is something you don’t really see anymore. The acoustic performances of today are something you might see a video of here or there or maybe catch on the radio. This is not that. Sometimes a band plays an acoustic song that sounds like a garbage version of their radio hit just to sound diverse. This is not that. This is a bunch of phenomenal musicians taking songs that are wonderful and changing them into an entire different product and delivering it at the same awe-inspiring quality as a fully plugged in show. Refreshing really, in an age where millions are spent on single songs to make them presentable even on the radio, or auto-tune and a team of producers can make even the most horrendous of junk out of someone’s mouth a worldwide hit, to see true musicianship. Enough rambling about that, if you aren’t familiar check it out. Chances are, you are familiar (probably why most of you are reading this) so in that case, just come out to a show and see it for yourself. All of that is probably nothing new to you fine folks so I won’t bore you with endless droning on the quality of this live show.

Now, cut to behind the scenes…a world that few know or see. The day in, day out “grind” if you will of being on the road. “Grind” is a poor selection here because it generally refers to an unpleasant friction that you typically don’t want to partake in and referring to your profession, as a “grind” should lead you to explore a new career choice. This tour has been nothing like that, not even close. As someone who has been around this band for quite some time, I can without question say that the guys and the people surrounding this band have the best chemistry I’ve ever seen from them. The communication, determination and brotherhood is stronger than its ever been. It’s been remarkable.

We have had a wonderful first 11 days of this tour, it really has been a great time. Everyone has had fun, things have been smooth, and having completed all my  “foot” work very early on the tour has been generally stress free. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to be working around, it really makes things great.

I suppose I should wrap it up, keep an eye out for us, we’ll be in a town near you soon!

Bro bro bro your boat.

Libertyville, Illinois yesterday. Austin's Fuel Room is always a good time. It was one of the first venues I ever had a show at when I started touring way back as a lad, and it's always been a warm welcome. We've got many great fans in the area and in general is a pretty cool place to spend a day. A quick drop of our gear left a considerable amount of time to get down to some business.

After sending out my daily plethora of emails, phone calls, and texts, I had a chance to hang out with the guys. Despite all of us living together while on the road, sometimes "bro time" as I like to call it, doesn't come as often as one might think. Hanging with the dudes is always a good time and without question a great laugh. Not much more satisfies the soul I'm sure as humor. Aaaaaaaand, even with all the middle school girl giggling we may or may not have participated in, I even managed to sneak in a nap.

The show, as usual went very well. Although it wasn't the largest turnout we've ever pulled at the Fuel Room, given the current state of the economy and the super low concert attendance in all of music at the time, I was by no means dissatisfied with the turn out. It was a good show, and a good time seeing a lot of familiar faces.

Post show, we spent a brief amount of time hanging out with the gents from Eve To Adam. Really nice guys, super cool, and it was fun to spend some time with some guys that were just trying to chill out, relaz and have a good time. That wound out the evening up to going back to the hotel and getting some rest. A not so naturally occurring resource on the road, we had a bounty of time to sleep as the drive to Joliet was as short as you could hope for in this lifestyle. I guess it will have to make up for the next two days when we'll be up and at it before the sun comes up. :( It's all good though, no worries, we all love to do what we're doing. Which reminds me of something a wise man once told me, which I will end today's rambling with,

"Once you find a job you love doing, you won't work another day for the rest of your life."

Madcity insanity!

I've broken the silence with my previous post, and per request have began to let the creative juices flow once again! It's touring time, which means that it's time to try and write and provide insight, humor, and maybe even a bit of a good read through the words you're reading right now.

The HURT tour has started, and even though it's only six dates, attitudes in our camp are better than I've seen in a long time. There are some great steps being taken and everyone is excited about the future.

All that lovely stuff being said, the band played their first show of the tour Sunday. It was a beautiful day at Taste of Madison, here in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a "throw and go" which is always a recipe for a crazy day. We had great help from the WJJO folks and things went well. People seemed to really enjoy the show, it was a great crowd and I'm hoping everything was pleased.

It's amazing as always to see these guys again. Some of my best friends I've made on the road and it's a pleasure spending time with them. We've picked up two new guys in the crew as well, Jeffro (The Wandering Madman) and Sam. I've met Fro several times before he's a great guy with a positive outlook and an awesome guy to work beside. Sam is my age and he too is a good, hardworking kid.

Today we had a day off, and it was one of the best days off I've had in quite some time. A great lunch was what started it off. In the evening we went to a cookout that some friends from the radio station were having. Cookouts in this business are a wonderful thing. Food was bountiful and good times were had by all. Most of our camp was there as well as my good friends Zach and Ken from Nonpoint. It was good to spend some time with old friends, new friends, and some genuinely nice folks.

Well, it's late and I've got to be up reasonably early for the drive to Libertyville, IL for our show tomorrow at Austin's Fuel Room. On a final note, think about trying this. Everyone's life is so filled with stress, with worries, and with bad news. I know we can't always blow these things off or make them drop off of our plate. However, I've re-learned that a great key to life and to enjoying your time is to really experience it. Take time to truly feel, and smell, take a moment to taste the food you eat and to hear the world around you. Having an essence just for being alive can really put the world in perspective and help to prioritize what's going on around you. Sometimes we can only control ourselves, and it's much easier to do that if you have a positive attitude and enjoy the environment you are in at any given chance.

Ah ha! I'm alive!

Well, well, look who's back. Here I am, after a long absence. Tons of goods to catch up on a lot of excitement has happened in the last month. I'll start this post just trying to cover the last three weeks of the sometimes interesting life of Tanner Steel. Sorry to have just wrote in the third person, it just felt right.

Where to begin? Well, I went out with a band that wasn't HURT for the first time. A call from my great friend Kevin the bonesman landed me a pretty sweet deal slinging merch for the band Nonpoint. It was a wonderful three weeks, well spent with a group of really good guys. It was an awesome experience getting the insight from a different group than the one I'm accustomed to working with. I feel that I took a good advantage of my position there and made some great friends along the way. Let's just say there were many a Eddie Money filled nights and more laughs than a barrel of clowns. (Feel free to give me props on that excellent reference.)

That was a pretty good time and I enjoyed traveling with those cats. I'm certain that this small tidbit is not nearly enough to cover the entire past three weeks, let alone the last nine months or so I've been quiet on this thing.

To my seven readers! Hit me with some feedback and let me know if you'd like me to write a bit here and there more often, I've been thinking about just writing one of these once a week or so even when I'm home. I'd love to write more on the music business from my viewpoint, life, and any other bizarre things that may come to mind. Let me know on that, also spread the word of this blog to your friends so I can broadcast my thoughts to others!!!! Thanks a million!

Back Home Again In Indiana.

We always have high expectations when playing any shows in Indiana, particularly Piere's in Fort Wayne. Today was no different. Everyone is always super excited for the shows there, the venue is great and the staff is one of the best around. It's always a good time there.

To add to this excitement my girlfriend Ali, and my roommate Dave were planning on coming up. I was pretty stoked to get to spend some time with them and had all of my business sorted out and taken care of early in the day as to maximize my evening enjoyment. The day went really well and thanks to the great help at Piere's it was a very easy set up for the show.

I am amazed at how good real diner food is, considering its simplicity. I grabbed a bit of food with one of the guys at a diner connected to Piere's. It was a really good omlette. Again with the breakfast food.  Stuffed, I went back in to relax for a while until the time when Dave would get there. Then Ali arrived soon after that. It was fun to hang with them, as always. We "maxed and relaxed" for a bit before it was time to watch the show.

In "Small World News", it turned out that Ali was actually good friends with the front man for our main support act, iExist. A really nice gent he was. We talked a bit about the business and all that fun jazz and swapped info as we both live in the same city.

Back to the point. The show was going great, it was a favorite of mine because the venue provided a seller for me. That meant that I could more or less enjoy my evening with my friends.  Then came the BIG surprise.  There I am, standing by merch checking up on things. I turn around and see one of my  best friends Jerry(Sick Puppies Merch guy). Here's the catch, he didn't tell me he was coming, he had me put his friend on the list plus one so I just figured he knew someone in town. Much to my amazement there he was. The incredible part of this is that Jerry lives in California. He had flown all the way in just to hang out and see the show. He's an incredible guy and gave me an incredible surprise with his presence.

The show was stellar and although it was the smallest crowd we've played for at Piere's I felt it was successful.  It sounded great and people really enjoyed themselves. All in all I had a phenomenal day in Fort Wayne and thanks to all of my wonderful friends (including those from the band) and lady it was a day that I won't soon forget. The downside to all of it; Two a.m. van call to the hotel, 5:30 a.m. van call to St. Louis.

Lesson of the day:
The people you surround yourself with can make a lot from little and can make a huge difference on the type of person you are.
The people you

Wake Up Call.

Sleeping in was great. I woke up a bit early, cleaned up, and got ready for the day. The first order of business for the day was getting to a radio program where the guys were scheduled to do an acoustic performance and an interview. After dropping them off, the crew were off to the venue to prepare for the nights show.  It was a busy and fast paced morning to say the least. The day went smoothly, no incidents and no deaths (always a positive).

Having not eaten all day, starvation had set in for most of us. The venue was part restaurant so we treated ourselves to huge overbearing meals. Stuffed silly, it was nearly showtime.  Slinging merch went swell, as usual and there was a pleasant amount of people present for the show. Odd, for most days, there was only one opening band before us so the set and the night went quickly. It was freezing cold at night, as it has been for much of this tour.  We got back to the hotel and into bed around two a.m., the best part was that we had to be ready to leave at six a.m.. I'll leave the math to the mathematicians, but the long and short of it is, there weren't enough hours in the day.

Sorry the past couple of days have seemed quite boring. It's another day in the life. Generally speaking the days are either super exciting or the polar opposite. The past few days, while still exciting have seen few major events. A lot of driving and setting up and odds and ends type things. It will get more thrilling though!

An Easy Day.

Madison, Wisconsin is a pretty swell town. The Annex was today. Generally uneventful is usually a term used to describe dullness and boredom. I like to think of days that are generally uneventful as a good thing sometimes. Having most of my work done for the week (advancing shows, booking hotels, making sure that things are getting taken care of properly, etc.) I was able to have some time to relax for a bit. Although the relaxing came to an end when I had to walk a mile and a half to the bank. It was a long walk, both ways. And pretty cold. On my way back I picked up a sandwich from a place that advertised it had been voted "America's Best Sandwich". While I can't say that it was irrefutably our nation's best sandwich, it was indeed a very fine meal. The show went really well as to be expected. The guys all are really feeling the vibe and enjoying playing together. It's been a really great time thus far. The crowd was great, a lot of familiar fans and many new ones. Post-show things were fairly quiet, a quick trip to the hotel and then back to pick up the gents and it was time for sleep.  A good nights rest was inevitable. We got to sleep in late as the drive was only a couple of hours to Libertyville, Illinois. Until....