The Sidelines

We just flew into Rochester. The sight, although somewhat familiar, seems so very hostile!

I know I spent the first 20 years of my life in this kind of climate, but it seems so brutal now. Tennessee has it’s moments of harsh weather (usually awful humidity in the summer) but it’s not quite as oppressive as this.

Gosh. Cold is cold.

Today at the show in Oklahoma City, one of the local crew guys had a shirt that said this….

I got a kick out of this to begin with, but then he turned around and showed me the front!

Haha!

.timestamp>For some reason, I can vividly remember the first time I tasted coffee.

I was with my mother, driving from Stratford, a small town in Ontario where we lived at the time, to Toronto. We were on highway 401. Somehow I even remember that we were just passing the McDonald’s Rest Stop near Kitchener. My mom was drinking coffee from Tim Horton’s (of course)…. and I decided to give it a try. “So many people drink it,” I thought, “It must be delicious!”I picked up the cup, and took a sip.

A vile, bitter, hateful taste hit my tongue. YUCK! It was disgusting! Like cigarettes in liquid form (I hadn’t yet tried that either). I could not understand how anyone could possibly enjoy drinking this stuff!

For years, I never gave it another chance. On the road, I’d get smoothies or soda (ok, POP.) to fill the coffee-mug-shaped-hole I didn’t even know I had. It wasn’t until I started dating Jess that I gave coffee another shot. She had worked at Starbucks for a while, and knew everything about coffee that I did not. One day she convinced me to try a Caramel Frappuccino. She did say that’s what high-school girls usually order, so I had to deal with a bit of teasing when I ordered one…. but it was delicious! It was like a tasty caramelly slurpee!

It’s for this reason I consider Caramel Frappuccinos my gateway drug to real coffee.

From there, I tried the iced Caramel Macchiatto. It was delicious as well, although I could definitely taste some espresso, and I had to get used to that. Soon I was ordering Iced Coffee straight-up, and sweetening with syrups or splenda. Somehow having iced or blended coffee drinks made them seem more appealing. It helped, too, that they had a TON of sugar in them.

It wasn’t long before I was drinking coffee hot, which seems much more like COFFEE. I started making drip coffee, and developing preferences for certain brands… and I discovered Coffeemate flavored creamers…. oooooh yes. I also discovered that Starbucks drip coffee is actually kind of burnt tasting. I still don’t particularly care for their drip coffee. Dunkin Donuts is my jam for drip, although Starbucks is still king of the espresso drinks to me.

At one point, I took a trip back to Canada, and tried Tim Horton’s coffee again… I wanted to see if my experience with my mother’s coffee had been solely due to my inexperienced coffee senses…. Turns out, that wasn’t entirely the case. I’ve got to say, as much as it hurts my Canadian soul to do so, I don’t care for Tim Horton’s Coffee. I know, maybe I’ve been americanized, or maybe I’ve just become a coffee snob…. but it just isn’t good (although I’ll do their iced caps, donuts, timbits, muffins, bagels, and hot chocolate all day long!).

This past Christmas, my family bought me an espresso machine… and I somewhat feel like I’ve ARRIVED at the culmination of my coffee journey. Every morning (when I’m not on the road), I wake up and make a latte for me, and another for Jess. We almost never go to Starbucks anymore. I love having this thing at home!

I will say, though, that having an espresso machine has definitely pushed me even further into the “coffee snob” department. If I go to Starbucks while I’m on the road, I’m always kind of peeking over the counter to see how hot they steam the milk…. how long the espresso sits before being mixed in… how much syrup they use… etc. Haha.

Well, this was an unnecessary post, to be sure…. but as I was pouring my morning cup of coffee, I realized that coffee and I have had a long, complicated history, and that it might be interesting to recount it.

Jonathan

Ok, I finally did it.

http://twitter.com/jonsteingard

Jonathan

The crowd in Columbia was great… Our buddy Adam took this picture…. If you were one of these folks, thanks for coming!!! You made our night!

Oh, by the way, I was up til like 2am redesigning this thing last night…. I had been meaning to for a while now… I hope you like it!

This is Steve Wilson… We are big Steve fans. He’s producing our upcoming record, and it is going very well! We heard the first song mixed last night (compliments of mix legend J.R. McNeely), and it is fantastic.

As time goes on, I think we’re starting to figure out who we are as a band. It’s like growing up… You spend the first few decades if your life trying to figure out who you are, and who you want to be. Being in a band is like that. Some bands figure things out earlier than others. For us, I feel like we’ve kinda been searching for the first three records.With every new album, we learn a lot about what we want to be, and what we don’t. We try new things on each album… Some work (bring em out), some don’t (fourteen). We’ve embraced good humour (hello), and gotten serious (one little miracle). We’ve been a punk band (letters to the president), and we’ve been a rock band (you have what I need).

I’m not downplaying the work we’ve done in the past… I think we’ve worked hard on each record, had some great times, and been priviledged with really great fans!

I just mean that there’s something special about these songs. One of them is a true ballad, unlike anything we’ve had before. Take me, everything you ever wanted, zero, one little miracle, and arms around me all feel like power ballads in comparison. Another is a great rock anthem…. Having said all that, the most surprising song so far is the one I heard completed last night. It’s called Live Life Loud, and I think it’s the most fun we’ve ever had in a song. It is SO fun. I can’t wait for you to hear it.

Justin, Dan, and Jason all did a fantastic job. Jas is singing like I’ve never heard him sing before. I’m so proud of that guy!

Anyways, I wanted to give you a little studio update. Can’t wait for you to hear the new songs!

Jonathan

So I’ve been told that I’m a nerd… that I’m never satisfied… and that I’m obsessive… but I love guitar gear. You can tell from the paragraphs and paragraphs I write in the “gear” section of this page.

While recording these new Hawk songs, I got to use an old Marshall Super Lead…. and now I want one. Haha. Surprise Surprise. So, in order to get one, I’m selling a few things…. and I thought I’d post them on here, since I’ve never done that before.


I’m selling an Epiphone Sheraton…. which I actually used quite a bit on this latest Hawk record, due out in July…. particularly on a song called “Shaken”, which is shaping up to be one of our favorites.

Click here, or on the picture above, to check out the Ebay Auction.


And I’m selling a Shure Sm7b microphone… which I used for almost all the vocals on my “Under The Canopy” record.

Click here, or on the picture above, to check out the Ebay Auction.

I’m starting both these auctions out at 99 cents…. so they go to the highest bidder!
Just thought it would be fun to post these on here, in case anyone was interested!

j.

Today we met up with our friend Laura Wilkinson! We met her on the Revolve Tour last year. She is a US Olympic Diver…. It was awesome to watch the Olympics this past summer, and see her compete!

She lives in Houston, where the Revolve Tour came through this week… It was fun to see her again!
- Taken at 4:56 PM on February 14, 2009 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

6 years ago, I released my first 6 song EP, under the name September Satellite.

It was the first time I had ever recorded and released some of my own songs. I’ve had some requests for it over the years, and I found some copies at my parents house a few months ago, so I decided to make it available again…

If you’d like a physical copy, go to CDBABY HERE.

If you’d like to check it out on iTunes, go to iTunes HERE.

As always, if you buy it… go ahead and review it so others can get your opinion of it!

Thanks!

Jonathan

This is Orianthi (terrible picture, but I’m sure better ones will pop up on the web very soon!).

She played guitar with Carrie Underwood last night at the Grammys, performing Underwood’s song, “Last Name”. I’ve never seen a girl play like this. She SHREDDED my brain into a million pieces.

It was a surprise appearance, and she was relatively unknown until last night. I noticed that her webpage had been so overwhelmed with hits, that it crashed. Haha…. Very Cool. I think she turned a lot of heads last night.

I’d also like to point out that she plays PRS! Check out the Grammy footage of Carrie Underwood’s performance below!

Speaking of PRS……. Paul Reed Smith recently unveiled a TON of new products! A line of acoustics, amps, and a bunch of new electric models. It’s like Christmas!

Go to prsguitars.com now! Do it!

Jonathan

Lose to metallica.

Jonathan

Sent from my iPhone

Tonight we’re up for a Grammy for the album art on our latest album, … Is My Friend. We’re up against Metallica, among others. I can honestly say I never thought I’d see the day…. Up against Metallica for a Grammy. Haha. We’ll see what happens!
- Taken at 3:13 PM on February 08, 2009 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

Yesterday we were in Little Rock, Arkansas, and found this great little pawn shop near the venue. I was looking at guitars and basses, Justin was scoping out vintage drums, Dan was checking for cool antiques, and Garrett was trying on old belts.

Jason, however, had an appetite for the unusual. He found a collection of swords, helmets, and chain mail!

After putting it on and cracking a few jokes, things went sour. He couldn’t get the chain mail off his head…. Poor guy. He was desperate to get that stuff off!

In the end, the score was Jason:1, Chain Mail:0, but it managed to leave a rusty smell on him….

Ewwww.

The crowd in Little Rock was unbelievable. So loud! If you were there, thank you for making the night a great one!
- Taken at 5:27 AM on February 07, 2009 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

Yesterday we tracked acoustic guitars for some of these new hawk songs. They’re really coming along. I’m excited for everyone to hear them.

A few months back I got a steal of a deal on this 74 Gibson acoustic, and it sounded great in studio. It was fun to finally get a chance to use it.

This weekend we’re hitting Memphis, Little Rock, Orlando, and Atlanta. Hope to see you there!
- Taken at 11:05 AM on February 05, 2009 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

This morning Tilly woke me up early. She jumped up on the bed and looked at me like she really needed something. I said….. Potty? She jumped off the bed and ran to the door…. This is clearly what she needed. I do remember giving her 3 bowls of water last night, and I guess all that water has to go somewhere…

After her shenanigans, I decided to stay up and work on a few mixes I’ve been tweaking. I recently produced a song for my cousin Matt, and another for a girl named Jessica Lynn Verner… and I’ve been putting the finishing touches on some mixes.

Mixing is a lot better with a latte in hand. My parents and my brother bought Jess and I an espresso machine for Christmas and I’ve been using it every day I’m home. I hardly ever go to starbucks anymore, and when I do, I’m way more picky about how they make the drinks.

For some reason I felt compelled to blog about all of this….

Anyways… Perhaps I’ll show you all these songs…. Soon.
- Taken at 8:51 AM on February 04, 2009 - iPhone upload by ShoZu

We don’t really do acoustics this way.

Posted via Pixelpipe.