Now we’re in Portland, and we just added several shows so be sure to check our shows page for specifics. Coming up, we have a show at Reed College tonight, a few house shows, and more so be sure to stay tuned!

In other news, we are so, so excited to announce that we’ve been added to the Magnified Artists program by Google Music, and will be playing at the Red Light Management Grammy after-party in Los Angeles as a part of the Magnified Artists initiative. To learn more about the platform, check out this article in Rolling Stone.

We’ll leave you for now with this picture of Seattle that we took while riding the Bainbridge Ferry on our last day in Seattle.

January 31, Tractor Tavern

We’re about to head to the Tractor for our final show in Seattle (will Valley Fair and BRITE LINES). Doors are at 7:30pm and we should be on around 10. We have a few surprises in store that we’ve never done before so we’re excited to share the evening with you. Also, we’d like to see all of you Seattlites before we hit the road. For more information, click here.

I’m devastated to have to inform you, the wonderful people of Seattle, that with 5 days left until our big 31^st show marker, we have been forced to cancel four of our final five shows.  During a performance at the Conor Byrne Pub on Sunday (show #23) I reached for a high note and was surprised when I was unable to pluck it from my register without cracking.  After the show my voice felt odd… like it had a veil over it, and my center of pitch seemed a bit off.  Still, I thought it was just a fluke and went to sleep early to prepare for Monday.  The next morning we made our way to do show #24, a spot on an amazing local TV program, Art Zone with Nancy Guppy.  To make a long story short, my voice again was not in the best form and felt strange.   I was extremely worried, as I appeared to be showing signs of vocal nodules; small bumps that form on vocal chords when they are overworked or misused.  If I had developed them, it would mean a 6-12 month break from singing and speaking, in addition to removal surgery.

On Wednesday morning, I headed into an ear, nose and throat specialist to get the problem checked out. Luckily after 45 minutes of in-throat camera work from an amazing doctor (and much silent debate on his part) he informed me that I did not have nodules.  I did, however, have extremely swollen vocal chords that if left untreated could easily begin to form nodules.  The doctor stated that if I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get them, I would need to take an immediate break from both singing and talking for at least a week to make sure that my voice could heal up.  After much discussion, he assured me that though risky, it would most likely be possible for me to at least play our final show in Seattle on the 31st at the Tractor Tavern. So yes, my new friends, we will be doing one last show here!  Also, this is my written IOU to the city and people of Seattle.  After SXSW we’re planning on coming back to up for another show, and we will repay the 4 shows we owe you during that time. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you and apology to the wonderful house show hosts who have taken our forced cancellations in stride. When we return to Seattle, we promise to make up the shows of yours that we missed. To everyone else, thank you so much for all of your love and support, and thank you for being so understanding during this time.

Be well, and see you all at the Tractor!

Liam

I’m devastated to have to inform you, the wonderful people of Seattle, that with 5 days left until our big 31^st show marker, we have been forced to cancel four of our final five shows.  During a performance at the Conor Byrne Pub on Sunday (show #23) I reached for a high note and was surprised when I was unable to pluck it from my register without cracking.  After the show my voice felt odd… like it had a veil over it, and my center of pitch seemed a bit off.  Still, I thought it was just a fluke and went to sleep early to prepare for Monday.  The next morning we made our way to do show #24, a spot on an amazing local TV program, Art Zone with Nancy Guppy.  To make a long story short, my voice again was not in the best form and felt strange.   I was extremely worried, as I appeared to be showing signs of vocal nodules; small bumps that form on vocal chords when they are overworked or misused.  If I had developed them, it would mean a 6-12 month break from singing and speaking, in addition to removal surgery.

On Wednesday morning, I headed into an ear, nose and throat specialist to get the problem checked out. Luckily after 45 minutes of in-throat camera work from an amazing doctor (and much silent debate on his part) he informed me that I did not have nodules.  I did, however, have extremely swollen vocal chords that if left untreated could easily begin to form nodules.  The doctor stated that if I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get them, I would need to take an immediate break from both singing and talking for at least a week to make sure that my voice could heal up.  After much discussion, he assured me that though risky, it would most likely be possible for me to at least play our final show in Seattle on the 31st at the Tractor Tavern. So yes, my new friends, we will be doing one last show here!  Also, this is my written IOU to the city and people of Seattle.  After SXSW we’re planning on coming back to up for another show, and we will repay the 4 shows we owe you during that time. I’d like to extend a heartfelt thank you and apology to the wonderful house show hosts who have taken our forced cancellations in stride. When we return to Seattle, we promise to make up the shows of yours that we missed. To everyone else, thank you so much for all of your love and support, and thank you for being so understanding during this time.

Be well, and see you all at the Tractor!

Liam

On to the beautiful people mentioned in my headline. Obviously, I’m talking about our Extended Family. Our friend and creative director, Matt Washburn, spent countless hours working on this photograph, which captures a small percentage of our beloved Extended Family:

The Family Crest

All I have to say is that nobody cleans up like our Extended Family members. The only funny looking person in this photo is that brunette girl standing in the front on the right-hand side. What’s she even doing there?

I should mention that we’re up for The Deli SF’s Best Emerging Artist Fan Poll. Will you please vote for us?

I’ll leave you with this question: what is it with dudes not putting the toilet paper on the toilet paper holder? Please discuss.

In other news, we’re in the running for The Deli SF’s Best Emerging Artist 2011 Fan Poll. If you like our music and what we do, we would be so grateful if you’d vote for us – and tell your friends! It takes about ten seconds, and there’s no email registration required, so click here to vote for The Family Crest.

January 31, Tractor Tavern

As Owen wrote about, after a pretty horrendous stay at our original residence for the tour, last week we decided to leave. The amazing Adam and Eve took us in. Originally, we were set to be at their place for one night… but the next morning Seattle was under an insane snow storm watch. Supposedly, the biggest storm to hit the Seattle region in 70 years was about to strike. Without hesitation, our wonderful hosts told us that we were more than welcome to stay however long we wanted. What’s even more crazy wonderful is that Eve is an amazing cook… and has been cooking for us every morning and night. What I’m getting at regarding our original mottos is that we were in a terrible situation that just kept getting worse… and because of that we are now in an amazing, warm home with equally amazing and warm people… if it wasn’t for the horror that we originally experienced, we wouldn’t have made these wonderful new friends. So I guess… the horror was totally worth it. Yes. Thank you so much Adam and Eve. We love you so much.

So, as for the last few days. Due to the storm we’ve been forced to find alternate ways to bring our music to Seattle, as we’ve been snowed out of all of the venues that we originally set up in our calendar. After about 20 minutes of discussion we realized that we didn’t live in 1952 and that technology was our best friend so… we decided to stream our shows. First, we made flyers…

Then we walked across the city passing out the flyers for a show that you could watch from the comfort of your own home. Talk about frozen grass roots marketing right? It was a blast though… we don’t get any snow in San Francisco and as John has never seen snow, it was really fun to walk around with him passing out flyers. It was kinda like being a little kid again. People were sledding down main streets, skiing down the sidewalk, building snowmen and chucking snowballs at each other. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes for an awesome story. So yes, after about 3 hours of traipsing around the city, I think between the entire band we covered about 6 miles. Yes. It was awesome. Anyway, we came home, set up in the living room, hooked up a mixer and played to the snowed in masses. To those who tuned in, we hope you had good time. I know we had a blast.

After a 45 minute show, Laura and I made Laura’s grandmothers chili recipe, a vegetarian pasta carbonara for Lucas, and Eve made some home made corn bread… the absolute perfect meal for a snowy day. Oh yes, and I can’t forget to mention that Owen’s lovely sister Lucy stopped in for a visit… from San Francisco. Yes, that’s right… Lucy wanted to get away, so she decided to fly up to Seattle…in a snow storm. I guess being a bad ass runs in the Sutter family. So yes, it’s great to see a familiar face from home. Anyway, it’s still snowing and I’m sitting in my new favorite coffee shop, Milstead. So. Awesome. I mean… where else do you get to choose from two to three different kinds of espresso? Yup… fantastic. Anyway, to bring this entry to a close I’ll leave you with this sentiment. Don’t worry about us… though it’s cold the wonderful people of Seattle are keeping us warm.

On Friday we played a house concert for Adam and Eve (real names), and their charming five year old Donovan.  We had a mix of their friends and some people who heard us on KEXP and came to check it out.  The show went really well, and I think everyone had a great time, including the band. Adam and Eve continued the Seattle trend of being just about the nicest people you could possibly imagine. After things got crazy in the other house we called them and told them we needed a new place to stay, without a pause they invited us into their home and hosted us for two days, and helped us find a more permanent place to live. I continue to be dumbfounded at how generous people are here, and how willing they are to open up their home to a band they just met.  Eve put us in contact with a marvelous woman named Rachel who decided to let us stay there for the remaining two weeks, despite not knowing us at all, and seemed also amused at how taken aback we were with her generosity. I guess it’s just a giving type of community.

So, on the bright side, we now get to stay with wonderful people, IN SEATTLE, near the Fremont district which is pretty much exactly where you want to be. Sometimes things just work out well.

On the bus front, I will be going out to do battle with the Duke again tomorrow morning, that thing is going to start, damn it.

After spending hours attempting to fix the Duke, it promptly broke down. Again.

]]> http://www.thefamilycrestfamily.com/2012/01/from-owen-first-seattle-house-show-at-adam-and-eves/feed/ 0 http://www.thefamilycrestfamily.com/2012/01/from-lucas-a-little-bit-of-exploring-meeting-new-people-and-fixing-cars/ http://www.thefamilycrestfamily.com/2012/01/from-lucas-a-little-bit-of-exploring-meeting-new-people-and-fixing-cars/#comments Sat, 14 Jan 2012 00:32:01 +0000 Laura http://www.thefamilycrestfamily.com/?p=1676 Hey friends,

5) Finally, Bop Street Records, an amazing and slightly overwhelming vinyl record store where the owner, Dave, treated us to stories of some of his patrons/visitors including Radiohead, members of the Fleet Foxes, Questlove of the Roots, and, hopefully one day, The Family Crest! He also asked us to sign the wall among all the other artists who visited, so I’ll post that picture next time!

I have to say, while getting close to the halfway point of our Seattle excursion, we’ve definitely have had our fair share of adventures (see Laura’s post for the skinny).

After waking up from our emotionally exhausting night, we spent the morning and some of the afternoon coming up with a game plan to fix the Duke and all of its problems.  This included the possibility of renting a vehicle for the time being.  Enter Bruce from Garage Voice.  This awesome dude, as well as the other awesome guys in this band, graciously came to our rescue, letting us use their tour vehicle for the next week, until things get sorted out with the Duke. I think I’m going to sound like a broken record by the end of this month talking about how awesome the guys in Garage Voice are.

I can’t say enough about how people in Seattle have been so amazing and helpful when it comes to the situations we find ourselves in both good and bad.  It gives me a fresh perspective, and how we should strive to be more helpful and understanding of each other trying to pay it forward, when we can.  I know it sounds really preachy and cliche, but these last two weeks in Seattle have definitely made me reflect.  The kindness of friends and strangers have made me strive to be a better person.

But I digress.  Tonight’s show was at the Mosaic Cafe.  The Mosaic Cafe is an interesting place because they are a non profit cafe.  The don’t charge for drinks, but rather have suggested donations for all their food and beverages.  This is awesome, because if you are short a few bucks, you can still get a coffee and food item for a small amount or less.  I’m sure this really benefits people that are homeless or who are being hit hard in these trying economic times.

The show went well.  We played a few songs and watched the local talent; particularly an awesome piano player who finished the night off with some great tunes.

After that we all tried Seattle’s famous Dick’s for some cheap burgers.  Dick’s is awesome because it has some pretty tasty burgers for a reasonable price.  The burger tasted along the lines of a McDonald’s Big Mac to me.

All in all, it was a pretty non-hectic day.  Definitely needed after a hefty day of pulling double duty (playing two shows) and car troubles (both mechanical and legal).

I will end this entry with a word of advice.  One less preachy and more practical: Putting clothes on that just came out of the dryer is quite possibly one of the most awesome things ever, when you’re living in a climate that is colder then you’re used to.  But hey. At least it’s not snowing.

Ah lame…

Until Next Time,

John