Jonathan here,

It was a tough few days in the Big Apple. Or, as Mike might say, “It’s no joke”.

I seriously dislocated and fractured my elbow before we even played. However, we still managed to pull off both of our scheduled shows and I had an appointment with a surgeon and a titanium bolt the day after we got back.

We gritted our teeth and got through it and we’re still getting through it, and we will continue getting through it. I do want to re-confirm that RED COLLAR WILL BE PLAYING the Troika Music Festival this Saturday night at the Trotter Building in downtown Durham with The Travesties, Maple Stave, and The Bronzed Chorus. It’ll be a one-armed show for me, but the one arm that I’ve got is ready to go double-time.

Unfortunately, we did have to postpone our tour dates in December. I apologize, but I still have quite a lot of physical therapy to undergo and we didn’t feel we would be able to give 100% for that length of time.

Finally, and most importantly, I wanted to thank everyone for their support and encouragement over the last week. It means a lot to me and to all of us and I hope to thank everyone in person this weekend at Troika!

Until then!

Our new t-shirts have arrived!

These shirts were done on a limited run, less than 20 in each color. You can order them via our online store or have first dibbs at the Cherry Bounce Festival show (Jay doing his solo thing) on Monday, October 19th at the Raleigh Times. We hope you like them as much as we do.

***We want to thank Steve Oliva for creating the dove design featured on the American Apparel Tanks. Jay’s created the Hanson design.

Most of the time after a show, we head out to the next city. Generally this gives us a nice jump-start on the next day. We’ll drive an hour till we get to a Flying J, a Rest Area or Wal-Mart parking lot then draw the blinds and get a nice restful sleep. That sleep varies from four hours to eight hours. I’ve found that the duration and restfulness of said sleep depends on the temperature and how stealthily we parked the van.
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We had a fantastic time in St. Louis last week during PLAY:stl Festival and were lucky enough to spend some of that time on Friday with the good folks at KDHX .  We were able to play a few songs for them, including one of the new ones.  Anyone who’s come out to one of the shows over the past few months might recognize “Choices”, we’ve been trying it out on the road and are really happy to be able to post it now.  You can stream it along with “Pilgrim” and “Used Guitars” on the KDHX website.

A couple bits of news for you: First, we have confirmed a last minute show tomorrow night at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis.  Check the venue website for door times and if you’re in the area be sure to come and see us at our PLAY:stl Fest shows throughout the week.

Secondly, Spinner.com has been classy enough to stream our entire album, Pilgrim, on the site.  Check it out right here

The Boiler Room: Owensboro, KY
Mike: “This is going to be awesome”
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We were in the outdoor cabana section of The Boiler Room.  It was 9 o’clock and most of the time we play at 11 or midnight.  From the inside of The Boiler Room, the opening band, Rockin’ the Bells, started playing ‘Iron Man’.  The place was starting to fill up and honestly, I have never been more uncomfortable in my life.  I called Nate…again.

“Nate?  Jason here.  I got to be honest with you, I’m not really feeling this place”

“Wait a second man, where are you?”

“I’m in the cabana area.  Outside.  There’s some tiki torches and a fire pit and the crowd is kinda, I don’t know…”

“You’re surrounded by douche bags?”

“Well, uh, yes that’s right…now that you mention it”

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We’re so happy to be playing the Durham, NC based Troika Music Festival.  We can’t believe this line-up:

Saturday, November 7th-Venue TBA:  The Travesties, Maple Stave and The Bronzed Chorus.  Lots of great shows throughout the festival.  Check it out here: http://www.troikamusicfestival.org/

The Boiler Room: Owensboro, KY

As soon as we arrived, there was an immediate sense of we-don’t-belong.  As we went inside the wooden fence, onto the deck and past the fire pit, Beth said that she liked walking behind me, Mike and Jon because all she hears from people sitting under pink Panama Umbrellas is this:

“What…the fuck…ya’ll?”

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As we arrived I called Nate, The Promoter:
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The fine folks at RCRD LBL have posted two of our songs for download.  You can grab both of them by following this link.

We just added Springfield, MO and Lexington, KY shows to the Deep South Tour pt. 2. Details are on the tour page, keep checking back for more updates.