News From The Road

Sunday, March 19, 2006 @ 10:58pm by Ben

Hey Everyone, Sorry I haven't been on here in quite a while. I've had alot on my mind lately and have been kind of staying to myself. You don't need to hear about anyone's problems, so I'll just get you up to speed on what has been going on with us lately. We've added more shows. Last night we played for the first time at a club called Awful Arthur's in Roanoke, Virginia. It went really well. We had a great response from everyone who showed up. Unfortunately, there was a huge festival downtown, so alot of people went down there. However, after the show we put on last night...I'm sure the word will get around quickly. I'd like to personally thank everyone who came out, the staff, Barry for having us, and Jake for running the lights...they looked AWESOME!!! Besides the gigs, I've also been really busy writing. We should have a new song, "New Tattoo" that we'll be introducing soon. Well be at the rehearsal space tomorrow night going over original material. We are trying to get all of the material recorded before we hit the road in April. It will be tough, but I'll try my hardest to do everything I have to do to make that happen. I've also designed and ordered some t-shirts and stickers, which we'll be selling at our shows. I'll try to get some pics up on here and our myspace account (www.myspace.com/pistoltown) for you to view. If any of you are interested in buying them, just talk to us at a show or e-mail me at ben@pistoltown.net That is about it for all of our behind the scenes stuff. I'll try to keep you posted on how the new songs turn out. I need to get some sleep now, I feel a cold coming on (probably due to my lack of sleep). Take care and try to stay warm...this weather is acting kind of crazy! Ben

entry # 132

Friday, March 03, 2006 @ 09:38am by Ben

Hey Everyone, I just thought I'd check in and let you know what we've been up to lately. Chester and I played an acoustic show at Marlow's in Atlanta on Wednesday, and we have the rest of the week off. That is quite nice, it's been awhile. I guess it is kind of the calm before the storm. We have 21 shows in April alone. In the past week or so, I've added a good number of new dates in Austin-TX, Roanoke-VA, and Wytheville-VA. For our fans up in the St. Louis area, we will be playing the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles sometime during the late summer (July-September). For those of you who wonder what we do when we have time off... Right now, Chester is on his way to visit some of his family in Florida. I think he'll get back on Monday. Zach is probably spending time with his family in Nashville. I'm here in Atlanta with Kim and McCain. While she works during the day, I try to call a bunch of new clubs to play at. I also workout and try to sit down with my guitar to do some songwriting. Lately, I've been in a little slump. I have lots of strong starts to songs (big chorus, strong music, some good lyrics, etc.). However, I can't seem to put them all together. Hopefully, I'll get it this weekend. I'm heading back to Nashville on Saturday, and I play on having some one-on-one time with my guitar;-) Hopefully, I can coax a song or two out of her;-) I'll be in the studio on Monday and Tuesday doing some vocal work along with production on a couple of songs. I also think I'm going to lay down an acoustic version of "Today". I doesn't sound much like the full-band version we have on myspace.com, but I think it sounds pretty good. I'll probably add that to the EP. I guess that is about it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather and having a great week...and an even better weekend!!! I'm actually getting ready to meet up with Abdiel over at Electric Body Art Studios to get some new ink. I woke up yesterday and had the urge to add to my art collection:-) Who would have thought that I HATE needles??? I need to get back to Kim's Fall Out Boy cd. It's really catchy, but I can't figure out what in the hell the songs are about. If you have the chance, read the names of the songs. The lyrics pretty much have nothing to do with the titles...or atleast I haven't found much of a correlation yet. Sunny days and granola bars, Ben:-)

entry # 131

Sunday, February 19, 2006 @ 11:55pm by Ben

Hey Guys and Girls... I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day week/weekend. I had quite an interesting one. Anyways, we played at Marlow's on Wednesday night and it went pretty well. Lots of people came out to see us, so that definitely made the gig lively. To those of you who came out, we really appreciate it!!! We'll see you again this Wednesday. On Saturday, we played at Hemmingway's in Marietta, GA. Like I said before, Hemmingway's is one CRAZY venue to play at. Although Mother Nature decided to deal us some unpleasant weather, it didn't seem to affect the number of people who came out. It was another insane crowd, from beginning to end! While we were playing at Hemmingway's a fellow Nashville musician, Will Hoge was playing at The Roxy in Atlanta. I got to see him when I lived up in St. Louis and he always puts on a great show. He has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard. Although I didn't get to make it out to see him, my girl Kim did. She said the show was pretty good. She even got a pick from the guitar player. What can I say, she's a sucker for guitar players;-) Anyways, if you ever get the chance to see Will and his band, DON'T MISS IT!!! Sorry I got off topic:-) Where was I...Oh yeah, last night was "Off the chain!!!", as Zach would say. We played a bunch of our own songs, including "Wake Up", which we are recording in the studio tomorrow. It was really well received. I can't wait to get this cd out!!! I think you are going to love it. I'll keep posting the songs at www.myspace.com/pistoltown so you can preview them before the cd is out. Last night we had some stage dancers, including Shirley, who was celebrating her 40th birthday with her friends and her daughter. I thought her and her daughter looked like sisters. We won't tell anyone you are 40;-) We also had our usual group of hotties dancing on the bar. Talk about getting the band pumped up...there is nothing like seeing people dancing on the bar, while the rest of the crowd is in a frenzy on the floor. I can't even begin to describe the feeling I get when I see that! Towards the end of the night things started getting a little too crazy. There was a brawl in front of the stage where one guy got shoved over a table. I'd like to take credit for calming them down with a Backstreet Boys song;-) Ha, ha... After that got settled down, a couple of girls were getting ready to throw down right in front of us. I never realized we brought out that much emotion in people. I hope everyone had fun. We loved it!!! I'd like to thank Jackie, Ryan, Amy, Tina, Carianne and and the rest of their crew, Shirley and the rest of the birthday party, Holly and her friends, Kendra and our favorite band mascot;-), all of the staff (you guys are AWESOME!!!), Mike, and everyone else who came out. We expect to see everyone the next time we are back!!! Unfortunately, 2 of our biggest fans, Kim and Chris couldn't make it out. This is the first show they've missed of ours at Hemmingway's. Kim, I hope you are feeling better. We rocked out extra just for you:-) We'll see you guys next time. Make sure you rest up for it because we have to party extra hard just to make up for missing the show Saturday;-) Get better!!! Well, I better get my butt to bed. It is off to the studio at 9:30am tomorrow. I hope to be out of there by 10-11 tomorrow night. I'll also go back in on Tuesday to finish up and also start the production phase on the first couple of songs. I'll let you know how everything goes. This week will be kind of busy: Monday-Tuesday at the studio, Wednesday at Marlow's in Atlanta, Thursday at Atkin's Park in Smyrna, GA (this will be an unplugged show, that means NO ELECTRIC GUITARS!!!), Friday at Turn One in Virginia, and Saturday at Outlaw's in Missouri. Make sure you don't miss the action! Good Night! Ben

entry # 130

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 @ 03:04am by Ben

I'd just like to wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! 000 000 0 000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

entry # 129

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 @ 03:04am by Ben

I'd just like to wish everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 000 000 0 000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

entry # 128

Monday, February 13, 2006 @ 12:53pm by Ben

Damn...it has been awhile. Much has happened since I last spoke to all of you. We've added a bunch of new songs to the playlist, including more originals. I also broke the flash on my camera, which has resulted in the lapse of pics going up on the site. Sorry, I'll try to get that fixed soon. We are gearing up to hit the studio next week (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) to record 2 more songs. I've decided to record an EP instead of a full length album right now. The pressure is really on for us to get the cd out. I don't want to put anything that I'm not happy with on there, so I'll make sure you have 6 solid songs, including my personal remake of Men at Work's classic, "Land Down Under". Next week, we'll be recording that song along with "Wake Up". For those of you who remember my old band "Big Red Switch", you might recognize "Wake Up". I wrote that song back in the day. We played it the other day to see if it still fits us or not...and it sounded great!!! After next week's sessions, we'll only have 2 more songs to record before I go in to add some production to them. We'll get the cd mastered and printed after all of that. Enough about the cd... I'm not sure what has happened the past few weeks, but our shows have gone crazy!!! Wait let me re-phrase that...they've gone F*CKING CRAZY!!! We aren't even sure what is going to happen anymore. Everything from girls coming up on stage and stripping to the usual dancers on the bar to mosh pits. Things have definitely gotten a little insane...just how we like it:-) I think it all started with our gig at Hemmingway's 3 weeks ago. The place was PACKED!!! It actually got to the point where the waitresses couldn't walk through the crowd to get to the other side of the bar, they actually walked out the front door and around the building so they could come in the backdoor with the drinks. We also play their this Saturday, so it should be crazy again!!! Then, 2 weeks ago we played at Bonehead's in Columbus, GA. Once again, things got a little...well, more than a little out of hand. We played there Thursday-Saturday. Things were so crazy on Thursday and Friday that the radio station ROCK103 decided to do a remote from there. That brought even more craziness out. By the end of the night, there wasn't much room for us with all of the dancers on the stage. And all of the dancers on the stage brought all of the guys to a crazed frenzy. After Bonehead's we headed up to Jasper, Indiana. That gig went really well also. I hope the streak continues!!! Another note of good news, our search for another guitarist/vocalist is going well. I'll be auditioning a guy from Atlanta this week. I think we will also be taking new promo pics, which will finally feature Zach. It has only taken us 6 months to do this;-) Oh yeah, there will also be some new demo songs up on the site this week or next, so check them out! ...Ok, one last thing...we'll be adding new shows from different parts of the country real soon, so check out the shows page periodically. I'd hate it if you missed a show near you:-) Well, that is about it for the good news. Actually, most of our stuff has been good news lately, except for my camera breaking and one other thing. I got back last Thursday from our gig in Atlanta, and found that my motorcycle was stolen while I was gone. There was no trace of it. It looks like they just picked it up and put in a truck or something. That really SUCKS!!! I haven't even had the thing very long. Oh well, I guess they didn't steal any of guitars or amps, so it could be worse;-) Well, now that I've written another chapter to my novel here, I guess I better bring it to an end. I hope you are all having a great winter or what's left of it. I don't like this cold front that has swept through the country the past couple of days, but it will be nice and warm before we know it. Keep Rockin' Ben

entry # 127

Monday, January 30, 2006 @ 06:19pm by Ben

One of the CRAZIEST weeks... After 4 shows, 1500 miles of driving through 4 states, and less than 15 hours of sleep...we finally made it home:-) This week was one eventful week! We played our usual gig at Marlow's on Wednesday. It went alright, besides the fact that there weren't many people there. Then, we headed up to Indiana State University to play a gig at The Verve. It was our first time there. The gig went really well. They loved our music!!! While we were setting up, someone noticed that we looked a little different than the bands that play there. I was informed that the bands that play there are either blues bands or jam bands. We decided to try to be somewhat calm the first set, but the crowd wanted us to be wild. So, of course we had to oblige:-) It was nice to meet everyone up there. I'd like to thank Danika for making it out, along with everyone else who came out. We'll see you again on March 4th. On Friday and Saturday we played at Hemmingway's in Marietta. Friday went pretty well...nothing out of the ordinary. I hope those of you who came out had fun. Saturday was a different story!!! It was a MAD HOUSE!!! Of course I had to do alot of instigating;-) For those of you who didn't come out, you missed a strip show on stage while we were playing (and I'm not talking about Chester taking his clothes off), girls dancing on the bar, and a whole lot of drunken madness!!! I'd like to thank Mike for having us, all of the staff for being so nice, Noel (our favorite waitress), Kim, Chris, Tam and Brian, the other Kim and Chris (you guys are AWESOME!!!), Amy and friends, Nicole and Mindy, Kim, Rachel and Shaun, our strippers (Holly and Co.) :-), and everyone else who made it out! We'll be back in 3 weeks, Feb. 18th!!! We also finished some new demo songs (cover songs) that we will be using for booking purposes. We'll put them up on the multimedia page of the site ASAP! We also finished a couple more original songs. I have to some more work on them before I post them up on our myspace page. And feel free to comment on the songs we post on our myspace account. If you look below the song, there will be a "comment" link that you can click to post a comment. We really encourage you to comment so that we know what you like and what we need to change:-) Thank you!!! We'll see everyone at Bonehead's in Columbus this weekend. Be ready to P-A-R-T-Y!!! Peace, Love, and Broken Guitar Picks, Ben

entry # 126

Sunday, January 08, 2006 @ 01:51pm by Ben

Hello again... Well, after 4 hours of playing, 8 hours of driving through the night, one day of NO SLEEP, 2 Red Bulls, and one nice present from the Indiana State Police (speeding ticket), we've finally made it home. I plan on sleeping the rest of the day and night. Tomorrow I head into the studio to finish vocal tracks on 4 songs. Then, on Tuesday Zach and Chester will join me in the studio to start recording 2 new songs:-) Yeah!!! We played in Michigan City, Indiana (just east of Chicago) on Friday and Saturday. The gigs went really well. I didn't care for the ice on the ground, but other than that it was great. We made lots of new fans and they LOVED our new songs!!! What more can you ask for? On Saturday, we decided to eat at the Texas Corral...which happened to have an air hockey machine. I had to school Zach and Chester on how to play the game;-) Of course I kicked their butts!!! After that, we killed some time in the mall buying cds (Motley Crue, Hinder, Augustana, Mest, Mudvayne, No Address, My American Heart, and Ryan Cabrera). I'd like to thank everyone who came to the shows this weekend. You guys were awesome. I'd also like to thank the staff, who was second to none when it came to hospitality. To any band who is reading this right now (not that I expect there is anyone reading this), you won't a staff that treats you better than this!!! Corey, thanks for letting us borrow the mic stands! We will see all of you again real soon. Keep checking the website for new dates in the area. We'll be in Terre Haute in a few weeks, so take a road trip to come hangout with us!!! :-) It is off to bed I go...I'll see you all again in a few days. Ben P.S. I forgot to mention that Chester drove halfway there on Friday and we didn't even come close to having a wreck!!! Make sure you pat him on the back the next time you see him. He'd rather have you spank his butt..however, I'd stay away from that region if I were you;-)

entry # 125

Tuesday, January 03, 2006 @ 02:25am by Ben

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope everyone had a great holiday season. The new year is definitely going to be a busy one for us. We are in the studio every second that we aren't on the road. Actually, I'll be in the studio doing a bunch of vocal tracks all day Monday. Then, on Tuesday...Zach and Chester will come in and lay down the drum and bass tracks for 2 new songs. Hopefully, we'll have the cd finished by March:-) Here's to hoping... *******NEWS,NEWS,NEWS,NEWS,NEWS******** We are currently looking to hire another guitarist/vocalist for a permanent position in the band. The new songs require another guitar along with lead/harmony vocals. We are trying to fill this position as soon as possible. The position will REQUIRE: experience playing guitar(lead,rhythm), excellent vocal abilities (lead/harmony), professional attitude, professional gear, and you MUST be available for travel for extensive periods of time. If you or someone you know is interested, contact me at ben@pistoltown.net Keep Rockin' Ben

entry # 124

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 @ 02:20am by Ben

***NEW SONG*** I just thought I'd let all of you know that I just put a "rough mix" of our song "Today" up on our myspace account. You can check it out here: www.myspace.com/pistoltown Sign up for an account, or if you already have an account...add us to your friends list. Let me know what you think about the song. It still has to get a final mix and then be mastered. See ya, Ben

entry # 123

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 @ 01:45am by Ben

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! (better late than never) I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We sure did, except for the fact that Chester and I logged some serious miles. Chester went up to Philly to visit his family for the holidays. Kim and I (and McCain) drove up to Wisconsin to visit my family. I haven't seen them in a year, so I really enjoyed seeing all of them...especially my little nephew and nieces. The only problem is that I'm starting to feel ill. I think one of the kids got me sick. Yyyyuuuucccckkkk! Hopefully it will go away before New Year's Eve. Anyways, before the holidays we travelled to Wytheville, Virginia. I really love playing there. The crowd is always AWESOME and they have one of the best Applebee's in the country. Well, I think it is:-) SPECIAL THANKS to Jessica and Justin for all of the hospitality. We can never repay you!!! I'd also like to thank my new "homies", Mikey and Joey, the guys from Drivn (You guys know how to party!!!), all of the cats from the theater, Davina, Katy, Brigette, Cathy, the bartenders and doormen, all of the people at Applebee's, our new English friends, and everyone else who made it out. We really appreciate all of your support. I can't wait to come back. We'll be back on February 24th, so make plans to come out and see us!!! We are getting psyched for the HUGE New Year's Eve Party at Outlaw's in Farmington, Missouri. It is a night you don't want to miss! Keep Rockin' Ben P.S. I actually got the pics up on the site already:-)

entry # 122

Monday, December 19, 2005 @ 12:57am by Ben

One crazy weekend... Chester and I played another acoustic show at Marlow's on Friday. It was INSANE!!! Tons of people + Tons of alcohol = Tons of FUN!!! WE really appreciate those of you who came out and made it a night to remember. That was a lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again. Now to a down note on the weekend. I'd like to apologize to those of you who came to see us at Zucca. I got the call a couple of hours before we were supposed to be there. They called and told us that they had double-booked us and that we would not be playing that night. I really feel bad that I couldn't let everyone know so that they didn't show up there. Those of you who did show up, hopefully you said something to them about us playing...so maybe they won't be screwing the schedule up again;-) I'm really not that mad, I just don't want you to look down on us. We really had nothing to do with it...We were ready to party it up! Oh well...sh*t happens. With our gig being cancelled Saturday night, I decided to go out with Kim and her cousin. Just a harmless night of fun...or so I thought!!! First, we headed over to Hemmingway's in Marietta. Of course I had to have a few of my drink of choice, Captain and Coke...well, maybe more than a few:-) And I'd like to thank Mike (the owner) for the shots! We had alot of fun listening to Tall Paul. You can check out his site on our links page. He is a really cool guy, not to mention that he gave me a free cd:-) I love free stuff!!! After a couple hours at Hemmingway's, we headed over to a piano bar called Runaround Sue's. That was quite a place!!! If you are a germ-a-phobe like me, that place is a nightmare;-) Alright, it wasn't that bad. When we first got there, one of the piano players had to mention that I looked like John Reznik from the Goo Goo Dolls. I've never heard that before;-) Then, he decided to play a Goo Goo Dolls song for me. I continued to set sail with Captain Morgan. By the time we left, I think I sailed a little too much. I had a really rough night...and an even worse morning. I was praying to the "Toilet God" quite often. After sleeping for a few more hours, I decided to hit the road back to Nashville. I didn't think that things could get any worse. I know you should never think that, but I did anyways. Then, I was passing Chattanooga and saw a Tennessee State Trooper pull out behind me. He followed me for a few miles and then decided to pull me over. I wasn't sure why, but he made up some crazy thing that I was following too closely behind the vehicle that was infront of me. He just briefly mentioned that before asking me if I had any weapons, drugs, or illegal contraband. After telling him "no" twice, he decided that he didn't believe me. Next thing I know, all of my stuff (guitars, clothes, etc.) is being thrown on the side of the interstate. If that wasn't bad enough, my car was being dismantled from the the inside. After checking the inside of my doors, seats, and trunk, he decided that I was telling the truth and proceeded to put my car back together. I guess having crazy hair, tattoos, wearing make-up, and driving a car with tinted windows means you are some kind of gun-wielding, drug-dealing trouble-maker. I know he was just trying to keep the roads safe, but it sure scared the hell out of me!!! Now that is all over and I am home safely...I'm going to jump in the shower and go to bed:-) Sweet Dreams, Ben P.S. We'll be back in Virginia this week. We hope to see all of you out there partying your butts off!!!

entry # 121

Friday, December 16, 2005 @ 04:32pm by Ben

Just dropping by to say hi. I hgope everyone had a great week. We've had a pretty light week. Chester and I did an acoustic show on Wednesday and we'll do another one tonight. Then, Zach will be coming to ATL tomorrow for a full band show. Then, we head back to Nashvegas to hit the studio. We'll be in the studio on Monday and Tuesday before hitting the road again. We'll be in Atlanta on Wednesday and Virginia on Thursday and Friday. Come out and party with us one last time before X-mas!!! Oh yeah, I got bored today so I decided that I need some more art work. I headed out to Electric Body Art in Marietta, GA. Abdiel hooked me up with an awesome tat!!! I'll try to put a pic or two up on the site. Those guys are AWESOME!!! I added their site to our "links" page, so you can check it out. Other than that, I've just been working on some new music and eating Thai food. I love Mama Fu's in Atlanta!!! However, I think the best Thai restaurant I've eaten at is in Nashville. I'd tell you the name, but it is my little secret;-) I hope to see all of you soon, and thanks so much for all of the feedback from our new songs. I really appreaciate it! Hopefully we'll be finished with the cd sometime in Feb. Until next time...KEEP ROCKIN' Ben

entry # 120

Monday, December 12, 2005 @ 09:53pm by Ben

Hello again... Well, I didn't get to writing on here this past week. Oh well...maybe that is a good thing. That way you don't get bored with all of my writings from the road. This past week was a really fun week. One of the best we've had in awhile. Chester and I started the week off at Marlow's on Wednesday night. It went really well, and there were a bunch of people there. That is always a good thing:-) On Thursday, we made our way back to Atkin's Park. We always enjoy playing there...partly because we get some really good food before we play. We've made friends with Rusty, the chef, so he always hooks us up!!! Thanks Rusty! I'd also like to thank everyone who came out to see us:-) And special thanks to Nicole and Autumn who let us crash at there place. We really appreciate it!!! On Friday we played at a new club for us, Hemmingway's. It is a little club in the historic square of Marietta, GA. When we first walked in, I was kind of in shock. This place had the world's smallest stage. We adjusted by using smaller amps and by not using the entire drum kit. After we started playing the first set, it didn't take long to get that place rockin'. The fans were great!!! I met lots of new people. Friday night was awesome. We were back there on Saturday night, which also went really well. I'd like to thank the group of ladies who came up on stage with us and helped us sing. You guys are awesome!!! I can't wait to come back the last week in January!!! On another note...we got a mix back of "Today", which we recorded a few weeks ago. The music is all mixed. All we have to do is a final mix of the vocals and then the song will be ready to be mastered. It will be up on the site as soon as it is finished. I can tell you that I'm quite impressed with how it turned out. I hope you like it. We'll be back in the studio on Monday and Tuesday to record "Torn". It should definitely be finished by Tuesday. We'll probably lay down the drum and bass tracks on Monday. Then, I'll be in the studio all day Tuesday laying down the guitars and vocals. I promise to get the material up ASAP. Thanks for all of your interest and patience. You keep me motivated. Thank you!!! Peace and Love, Ben

entry # 119

Monday, November 28, 2005 @ 12:46am by Ben

Hey Ladies and Gents, Well, we just got back to good old Nashvegas. This past week has been alot of fun. I can't express enough gratitude towards Jim and Betty Riddle for putting us up for Thanksgiving Day along with the rest of the week. I owe you!!! Anyways, I hope that all of you had a great Turkey Day...and a safe one. We played at Outlaw's in Farmington, Missouri on Saturday. It was a fun night. The crowd really got into it, the sound was great, and the stage was full of dancing girls...what more could you ask for??? I'll try to get the pics posted tomorrow. I'd really like to thank everyone for coming out. It was nice to see all of our fans out. It was also nice to meet some of our new fans. I talked to a few people who haven't seen me since I played with Big Red Switch (my last band). I hope you like the new stuff. The only other member of Big Red Switch who is still playing is Kurt (the drummer). You can check out his new band at (www.twistedimageband.net). They are a great bunch of guys. I talked to Kurt on Friday and he said they have a new guitarist who awesome. You'll have to go out and catch a show. Shoot, if I'm in town I'll go with you:-) I'll quit my babbling now;-) I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out. We'll see all of you on New Year's Eve. It should be a blast!!! Oh yeah, one last thing... Everyone keeps asking my what is the surprise I was talking about in some of my posts. Rather than having to tell each of you individually, I'll just do it right now. I'm going to give you the short version, the long detailed one is kind of boring:-) A little over a month ago, we played a gig in a boxing ring. A movie director happened to be there. He came up to me after the gig and told me he was directing a movie called "Split Decision". The movie is somewhat of a "Rocky" type movie about a boxer who is down on his luck. After telling me a little about the movie, he asked me if I would be interested in writing a song for the movie. Of course, I said I would!!! He then told me that the song would be the theme for the trailer (movie advertisement you see on t.v.). He also wants to shoot a video of us performing the song in a boxing ring. I guess there will be clips of the video and movie together in the final cut. We were in the studio the past couple of weeks. We finished the song. It is currently being mixed and then we'll send it off to be mastered. I'll be sure to put the song up on the site as soon as we get it back. As for the video...it is currently scheduled for sometime in January if everything goes as planned. Well, there you have it. That is the surprise:-) I know...it's not much of a surprise for you, but we are definitely excited about it! We'll see you soon. Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll, Ben

entry # 118

Saturday, November 26, 2005 @ 12:03am by Ben

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I'm a day late, but better late than ever. Unfortunately, we were on the road for Turkey Day, so we didn't get to spend it with our families...well, sort of... Fortunately, we got to spend Thanksgiving with my guitar tech and his family. Thank you Jim and Betty, and the rest of your family. We really enjoyed it!!! I'd also like to thank everyone who came out to Backwater's. We enjoy seeing all of you! We'll be back at Farmington tomorrow, so I better get some rest. Until next time...KEEP ROCKIN' Ben

entry # 117

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 @ 10:43pm by Ben

I just wanted to let everyone know that I finally got around to posting the pics from Virginia and from our recording sessions in the studio. Enjoy, Ben

entry # 116

Monday, November 21, 2005 @ 03:38am by Ben

I just got back from the studio and figured I'd give you an update. We tracked the drums on Tuesday and went in today to track the bass, guitars, and vocals. We started at 2pm and a little over 12 hours later...voila...I'm finally getting to go to bed:-) Actually, I have to take a shower first, but then I get to go to bed. Todays studio session went really well. Chester was "Bad to the Bone" today. Really!!! He used a bass amp (Ampeg SVT-200 for all of you gear heads) that was previously owned by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. For those of you who have no clue of who George Thorogood is...his songs include: Bad to the Bone...One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer...along with a handful of other hits. I thought that was kind of interesting. Anyways, the bass track turned out really well. After that, Chester was bored the rest of the day:-) Then it was my turn. I layed down a few rhythm guitar tracks. And then I played a few lead parts. The guitar tone sounded great! I was really impressed. I can't wait to get the song up on the site. After the guitar tracks were finished we took a little break and did a little mixing. We also ate some Subway sandwiches...just incase you really wanted to know that;-) Then, it was back to business. I sang my butt off the rest of the night. I was still singing tracks at 1 in the morning. It seemed like it was never going to end, but I think you like the end result. I also got to play with a keyboard a little. I'm going back in to the studio tomorrow to add a couple more guitar tracks and then it will be one to the mixing phase of the song. That is the stage where we make sure that all of the instruments and vocals are at their proper volumes. Then, we send the song off to have it mastered. This is where they polish it off and make it sound like the songs you hear on the radio. After this is finished, I can let you hear it. I know you can't wait...but, unfortunately you must:-) Sorry!!! However, come out to a show and you can hear us play it live:-) I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don't eat too much turkey!!! We'll be at Backwater's on Wednesday and at Outlaw's on Saturday, so come out and let loose with us. It will be a good "Pre" and "Post" holiday stress release for you. We'll see you then. Rock On, Ben

entry # 115

Monday, November 14, 2005 @ 12:28am by Ben

How is everyone? We got home today around 6-ish. I can't speak for Zack or Chester, but I am wore-out! After we got back I decided to relax a little and watch a movie. I watched The Devil's Rejects. I'm not sure if I liked it or not...it was kind of like mixing the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (one of my personal faves) and Thelma & Louise. Rob Zombie is quite a interesting film director/writer/etc. Enough about this...I know you really want to hear about our gigs last week:-) We played an acoustic show at Marlow's on Wednesday and it was alot of fun. I'd like to thank Becky, Jeff, Chris, Amanda, and everyone else who I've forgotten your name or didn't catch your name. I hope to see all of you again this week. You know you can't get enough of us...alright, maybe you can, but come out anyways;-) We headed down to Columbus, GA on Thursday to rock out at one of our favorite clubs...Bonehead's. As soon as we arrived, we saw a concert going on out in the middle of the street. When we got out of the van we saw it was a Beatles tribute band called The Return. Zach and I went up closer to check it out. Those guys were freakin' amazing!!! If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was actually the Beatles. The guys LOOKED exactly like the Beatles, SOUNDED exactly like the Beatles, and PLAYED exactly like the Beatles. It was weirding me out a little. Is "weirding" a word? I hope so! A former teacher cannot use improper english. The only problem I had with that band was that the guy play guitar wasn't playing an Epiphone Casino like John used to play. That was the only flaw. They were really awesome. If you ever have a chance, you have to see these guys. Well, now for out gig. It was alot of fun and we made alot of new fans. I hope to see you all again in December. We'll be back on the 2nd and 3rd, so bring all of your friends. Oh yeah, I have to thank Jamie for letting us crash at her place on Thursday night! You are awesome! When we woke up on Friday morning, we had to hurry up and hit the road. Chester made sure that Zach and I didn't take too long putting on our make-up;-) We had to make the trek up to Virginia. It wasn't too bad of a drive, except for when Chester decided to test out the brakes a few times. I was lying in the backseat and all I remember was hearing Zach say "STOP..STOP...STOP..." and then I saw a shower of articles flying over the top of me from the back of the van. Needless to say, I didn't get back to sleep after that episode. We finally arrived in Wytheville at around 8:30p.m. and the show started at 9:30p.m., so we really had to rush to get set up. We played there Friday and Saturday. The people in Wytheville really know how to rock out. We had fun on Friday, but Saturday's show was even crazier. I'd like to thank Katy, Bridget, and Crystal for coming out to see us. You ladies are awesome! I'd also like to thank Drivn for coming out and partying with us. For those of you who don't know who Drivn is...they are a band based in Virginia. Really great guys. I enjoyed talking to you guys. Hopefully we can play an original show together soon. Good luck with your cd. I'd also like to thank Davina, Valerie, Melissa, Sean, Joel, Jessica, the "funky" guy, all of the cats from the theater, and everyone else who came out and had fun. We will see you all again. I can't wait! Oh yeah, I'd also like to thank Danielle for hanging out with us on Saturday. Thanks for tagteaming with me to embarrass Chester at Applebee's:-) You definitely need to come visit us in Nashville sometime soon! Well, I guess that is it. Whew!!! My voice is really tired and sore right now, so I am going to rest it a little tonight and tomorrow. We'll be practicing tomorrow night and then we go into the studio to start tracking our first single. It is called "Today" I'll tell you more about the song and why it will be the first single, but you are going to have to wait a month to make sure everything goes as well as planned. I hope you all have a GREAT week! XOXO Ben P.S. Only 26 more days until I can tell you the good news!!!

entry # 114

Tuesday, November 08, 2005 @ 10:08pm by Ben

I'm back... Wow, 2 posts in one week:-) I told you I would get better about posting on here. We are gearing up for this weekend. We head out tomorrow. Tomorrow night will be an intimate acoustic show. I hope to see all of you out. It will be very laid back (or crazy if you want it to be). I'll be playing a bunch of originals along with requests. Then, we'll be back in Columbus on Thursday. I always look forward to coming down there and rocking out with you crazy people. Let's pack the place! Then, we make the trek up to Chester's old hood, Virginia. We've gotten lots of responses from you, so it should be a great time!!! For those of you who are looking for something to do during Spring Break...check out the schedule. We just got the call a few hours ago. We are going to rock the Florida Keys in April. We'll be down there the last 2 weeks in April. Yes, that's right...2 WEEKS!!! The Atlantic will be on one side of us and the Gulf on the other. It should be awesome. For those of you who are interested in coming down there, let us know so that we can plan some fun stuff...swimming with dolphins, jetskis, surfing, etc. I hope to see all of you this weekend. Ben P.S. Only 32 more days until we let out the news:-)

entry # 113

Thursday, November 03, 2005 @ 11:32pm by Ben

Hey Guys...and Girls (to be politically correct) Sorry I haven't written on here in a couple weeks. I'm a bad boy...you can spank me later;-) lol We played at Marlow's last night and it was quite cold outside. Luckily for us, they pull down these tarps and turn heaters on to keep us warm. So for those of you who e-mailed me to see if we will continue to play the patio at Marlow's throughout the winter...I believe the answer is yes. Jody, one of our lovely Atlanta fans yelled at me last night because I haven't been writing on the site. I guess she looks forward to going to work and reading what we've been up to. I really do apologize for being a slacker. I promise that I will be better about that! I really haven't been much of a slacker lately. I've been doing a bunch of songwriting lately. I recorded an acoustic version of "Torn" (one of our newest songs) the other day. Hopefully that can satisfy those of you who have been buggin me about get a cd out until we get a cd finished. The recording is quite simple...just some vocals, a guitar, a keyboard, and some shakers and voila...you have a song! Hopefully that is the recipe for success. Anyways, I'm apparently not smart enough to figure all of the computer stuff out. I recorded the song onto the computer, but I can't figure out how to burn a copy of it so that I can get it up on the site for you to listen to. I miss the days of Big Red Switch, when I left all of that brainy computer stuff up to Kurt;-) I sure do miss ya K!!! I will continue to try to figure this out, so that I can get "Torn" up as soon as possible. We also have some EXTREMELY BIG news in December. Actually, I think it is all taking place on Dec. 10th. I don't want to say too much about it until it all takes place and is finished. However, YOU will be the first to know about it on Dec. 11th! I hope you all have a great weekend! Don't party too much without me:-) Rock On!!! Ben

entry # 112

Monday, October 17, 2005 @ 04:43am by Ben

Well, I finally got the pics from last week up on the site. You have to check out my insane mohawk. You can find it on the "fun and crazy pics" page in the photos section. I also put up some pics of fans and some of my gear. We practiced many of the new songs yesterday and I recorded a few today. Expect to hear lots of new originals and maybe a few new covers at our upcoming shows. We'll be playing 3 shows this week and then we are taking the weekend off again to go over the originals again. Until we meet again...KEEP ROCKIN'!!! Ben:-)

entry # 111

Sunday, October 09, 2005 @ 11:50pm by Ben

Hi again. Last week was a very interesting week. I guess every week is pretty interesting, but last week was especially. We played Marlow's on Wednesday and made a few new fans. We love gaining new fans, so make sure you tell all of your friends about us:-) On Thursday we played at Atkin's Park. Rusty, the head chef at AP hooked us up with some incredible food. We ate like kings before the show. THANKS RUSTY...YOU ARE AWESOME!!! Right before the show I decided I wanted to change things up a little. My hair always seems to be a topic of conversation at every show, so I decided to put it up in a mohawk. Those of you who know how long my hair is are probably wondering how it was possible. Well, it took about 20 minutes of hanging my head upside-down while spraying an entire can of hairspray on my head. By the time I finally got it to stand up my face looked like an apple from all of the blood rushing to my head. Anyways, when it was finished it stood about 6 inches off my head. It was pretty insane looking. I'll put a picture up on the site. It took me 4 washes to get all of the hairspray out:-( On Friday we woke up around 2pm and realized it was a pretty crappy day. We killed time by working out at Crunch Gym. Then, we headed over to Planet Smoothie, where we made some more fans (Courtney and Keisha). You girls are great. Thanks for coming out to the show. Hopefully, you can make it out to a show under better circumstances. Well, we waited and waited and waited for the weather to clear up. It never did. Thus, when we got to Marlow's to play there was a huge puddle on the patio where we were supposed to play. It took us longer than usual to set-up due to the bad weather. We finally got started at 10:30pm. The show went surprisingly well. I'd like to extend a personal thank you to everyone who rode the storm out with us and rocked the night away. It is always nice to see the crowd getting into our music. We headed up to a new club in Virginia on Saturday. After listening to Zach's TN Volunteers get beat up by the Georgia Bulldog's we finally reached our destination. It was actually a really beautiful drive. We drove through the Smoky Mountains. I tried to take some pics while we were driving, but they didn't turn out very well. For those of you who didn't know, Chester is originally from Virginia. I'll get more into that later. Well, we got the gig and set up. The stage was nice and big, so we were quite happy!!! We set-up our new sound system and it sounded really good. VERY BIG!!! Chester had a bunch of his old friends show up and party with us. It was nice to meet all of you! We also had some friends from Illinois make the trek out to Virginia to see us. You ladies ROCK!!! We hope to see you the next time we play in Belleville, IL. And my childhood friend and his wife made it out to the show. That was a pleasant surprise. We've been best-friends since we were in the 2nd grade up in Wisconsin. Thanks for making it out Benny and Colleen. Hopefully we'll have a break in the schedule around Christmas so we can hang out. Focus...Ben..FOCUS!!! I always seem to start babbling. Sorry! The gig went really well, and we should be back real soon. Keep checking the schedule for new dates. After the gig MJ and Tony helped us load the van. I can't thank you guys enough!!! We are always exhausted after the show, so you guys really made my night:-) I also got to talk to the rest of the staff after the show. They are some really cool people. Thanks for having us! After the show, we headed to Waffle House for some late night grub. It was really good! Probably a little fattening, but I'll just workout a little extra this week:-) We stayed at Chester's Mom's place. It was way out in the country. Let me re-phrase that...WAY OUT in the country!!! I woke up this morning...well, I guess it was this afternoon to some great cooking. Chester's mom cooked us a big meal before we had to hit the road. Thank you MOM:-) It was delicious!!! I also got to meet Chester's sister's: Kara, Danielle, and Lauren...and his niece Brady who was cool enough to hang out with me on the couch for a little while. Lauren is only 15 or 16 and knows more about cars than I'll ever know. How embarrassing!!! She actually had a horn that played the Pink Panther theme. Get this, she wrestled a 600lb bull at a rodeo. This girl is my hero!!! :-) Danielle took me out for a ride on her 4-wheeler and showed me the donkeys:-) She is quite the driver;-) I really had a nice time with all of you. Hopefully, I'll get to see you all again soon. We got home tonight around 8:45pm. That was our exciting week. Sorry to write such a long book. I guess I start talking and can't stop. I think it is some kind of disease;-) You probably have noticed that we are taking a break the next couple of weekends. We are using this time to prepare for the studio. I'm finishing songs and we are preparing "full-band" versions for our debut cd. We'll be hitting the studio in November. Being on the road so much makes it very difficult to get to the important things, like writing, polishing, and perfecting our own songs. The next couple of weeks will be very benificial to those things, as well as letting my voice rest and heal for a little while. Have a great week! And don't work too hard...if that's possible. Peace and Love, Ben:-) P.S. Keep Rockin'

entry # 110

Monday, October 03, 2005 @ 02:46am by Ben

Hey Everyone, Another week another story:-) This week was very interesting. We played at Marlow's on Wednesday, which is always fun. Then, we played a new club for us called Atkin's Park, which has nothing to do with the Atkin's diet;-) Ha,ha...I'm such a lame comedian. Anyways, we got there early because they said they'd feed us before to show. When we sat down, their head chef (Rusty) came out to talk to us. We didn't realize that this place had "real" food. He told us not to order from the meny, and that he was going to make us something "real" from now on. Does it get much better than that??? The gig went really well. We were still rockin' the house at 3am. There were lots of people and many of them were female. As an added bonus, many of them must have been hot because they kept lifting their shirts up in front of us. Fellas, if you are looking for something to do this Thursday, we are going to be back at Atkin's Park for another round of craziness!!! After resting on Friday, Chester and I had another interesting excursion. We were booked to play an acoustic show at Zucca, which is a normal gig. However, as we starting talking to people, we found out that there was a carnival right outside of Zucca. We figured that it might bring a few more people out. Then, we heard on the radio that this was NO ORDINARY carnival...it was an ADULT CARNIVAL. That's right...no children at this carnival...21 and up. I've never seen a carnival that didn't have 500 kids pushing eachother to see who can get on the ferris wheel the quickest...that is until this past weekend. When we got there we saw some of the rides. It was crazy! They had a "Make-out Moonwalk" and a "Speed-date Ferris Wheel". I'm not sure how the carnival went, but I can say that everyone seemed very lively (AKA...slighty intoxicated) at our show. At one point in the night, Chester was playing bass with a girl behind him. Then he decided to back against her as he was playing. At that moment, I guess she thought she would lean back too. The end result was her falling on the floor with Chester on top of her. Don't worry, that didn't ruin the song...Chester didn't lose a beat;-) Not too long after that, the security guards were escorting her out. Party Poopers!!! That was one of the most fun acoustic gigs I've ever played. We played again on Sunday, but I think most of our fans were still in bed nursing hang-overs. I want to thank Fred for having us over at Atkin's Park, Wes for keeping us safe on stage;-), Frank and Tim for having us at Zucca, Laura, Nicole, and Autumn for letting us crash at your apartment (you guys are GREAT!!!), Ronald at Ken's Corner Grill for hooking us up with the mashed potatoes every Wednesday, and everyone else who came out to see us this past week. We are going to be at Marlow's on Wednesday and Friday, Atkin's Park on Thursday, and then we travel to Virginia to play at The Clinic on Saturday. We hope to see everyone out. Good Night, Ben:-)

entry # 109

Monday, September 26, 2005 @ 11:47pm by Ben

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Usually I post on here every Sunday, but I stayed up in St. Louis until today. Now that I'm back, I have time to let you know what's going on with us. We did lots of travelling last week-Atlanta, Columbus, Atlanta, and Farmington. All in 4 days. We rocked Marlow's on Wednesday and Friday. I'd like to thank everyone who came out on Friday. I had alot of fun playing for you! We played at Bonehead's on Thursday. That is a great gig. I saw lots of familiar faces...that must mean that people really dig our music:-) I'd like to thank Brooke, Libby, Quilly, and friends for coming out. Sorry you had to leave early. I hope to see you guys Oct. 27th. On Saturday, we travelled to Outlaw's. I LOVE that place. They definitely know how to party. We decided to play a song, "Torn" that I finished writing a couple weeks ago and it went really well. The people seemed to really like it. There is nothing better than the feeling you get when you see people smiling, dancing, or singing along to one of your songs. We'll be busting out many more originals in the next month. I'd like to thank Matt for having us, Joe for doing a great job with the sound, Jared and Bobbi for keeping the alcohol flowing, the rest of the staff for always making our gigs fun, Sharon for taking pics, and everone who came out to have fun-Becky, Melissa, Amy, Elsa, Dana and friend, the Delta 9 girls:-), the Outlaw's Girls, Denise and crew, Mike from Delta 9, and everyone I forgot to mention. We love seeing all of you guys. ***SPECIAL NOTE*** There was some confusion with dates. Thus, we are NOT at Outlaw's on October 22nd. I am extremely sorry for any inconvenience. We'll make it up to all of our Farmington fans on Thanksgiving weekend. Well, I'm going to retire for the night. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I have a day off before we set out on this week's adventure:-) We are playing a new club this week, Atkin's Park. If you are looking for some fun and you are in Atlanta on Thursday, stop by and party with us. Until Next Time...KEEP ROCKIN' Ben:-)

entry # 108

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