OWEN'S BLOG: The Official Blog Of THE ELMS.

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So, this is what my windswept, ghost-town blog looks like these days, huh?  It's been months now since I posted.  Why?  Work on the new music.  There just aren't enough hours.  So, here are my thoughts as snow pours down on Indiana...

There's a blessing and a curse that goes into stockpiling 160 songs over the course of two years.  I could expound on that, but I'm sure you're insightful enough to see the pro's and con's.  I'll say that from a song's very inception, we're discriminating.  Thus, if a songs seems lost or misguided from the outset, it'll just be tossed in the bin and forgotten about.  So, in theory, you don't end up writing songs, you end up writing good songs.  And of 160 good songs, we're looking for 20 blindingly stellar ones to give you.  All of the songs have been written with a very strong sense of purpose.  Whether love song, work song, endurance song, bar song... all will exist against the backdrop of the current year and climate in middle America.  It's tough out there, and there's distrust.  But the point of the record will not be to remind everyone of the realities, but to remind all who listen that you gotta keep swingin' when times are trying.  We dig deep, pull through, believe in the best parts of us.  The music is very hopeful.  It's wild... all the rehearsals have seen us simultaneously writing the most intimate pop songs we ever have - and at the same time creating really heavy songs, with bold guitar and even extended musical moments that allow Thom to really break out.   

In addition to the music, there's an extremely ambitious plan being cultivated to put the record out.  Some of you have read my blog over the course of the last couple years, and are clued-in to the enormous changes happening in the record business.  It's a very liberated time.  The Elms has never been interested in thinking of ourselves as an "indie" band.  Certain assumptions are made of bands that wear that tag, and we rarely relate to those characteristics.  So, to say that we'll release the record completely free from corporate involvement is probably not true.  But it is true that we'll embrace the spirit of getting to the music to you on terms that we think are cool, with as much of the independent spirit as possible.  There will (of course) be CD's and downloads, a limited-edition vinyl pressing, and (most excitingly for me) an "unabridged" version of the record that will allow you to acquire an additional 4-5 new songs as part of an expanded album that we believe is the full realization of the statement we hope to make right now.  The name of the record is pretty much decided upon.  It's out there should you care to find it.  Needless to say, we're a band on a mission.   

If you've visited TheElms.net lately, you've seen that we've decided to stream live video from the studio as we make the record.  This is not simply because we think it'll be enjoyable.  In all transparency, we all feel pressure to create an album that is strong enough, purposed enough, uplifting enough to find it's way into people's hearts despite all the madness in not only the music business, but in the world... I almost think that in order to understand the importance of the album to us, you have to have a chance to see it being made.  I'm sure it will be dramatic at times, but never gratuitous.  Humbly, I admit that OCD will probably be rampant.  More work has been done on this record prior to its recording than any other we've ever done.  This will be a time of huge expectation for our band.      

My blog will likely remain quiet as work intensifies on the record.  So, for the foreseeable future, Thom's blog will be the main point of contact you all have with the daily goings-on of the next few months of our lives.  I'll be Twittering (as we all will), so be sure to sign up for that... and get on the mailing list for the latest unfoldings.  All signs point to an August release for the record.   

Talk to you soon.  As I write this, Ben Kweller is performing on Letterman, some song about "Fight fight fight"... It's excellent.

K.O.K.O. 
Owen

Chilly.

I know.  I know.  It's been nearly a month since the last post.

I won't waste time on apologies.  We've been incredibly busy over the course of the last few weeks.  We haven't been on a formal tour, but had to do an enormous amount of traveling to play some fantastic shows.  Probably 3000+ miles total.  We drove to Denver to play Red Rocks (with a stop in KC on the way), then literally turned around and drove to Boston for Farm Aid.  Why not fly?  'Cause we just can't roll up to a show of any importance without feeling the security of our own gear.  Now, I could offer photos from these travels, but I'll keep it all in the narrative form for this post.  Our Farm Aid set was great, albeit short.  The fluidity of the crew and changeover from band to band was really something to behold.  All our gear was set up on a riser backstage, completely hooked in to power and P.A. and just rolled out prior to our set.  There were about four risers queued up at any given moment.  Neil Young's set was legendary.  And I've had a 10-year crush on Chrissie Hynde, and finally met her.     

Great things are happening.  We're getting closer and closer to a very interesting concept for releasing the next record.  When all the pieces fit, it will (finally) be the way it was always meant to be, with us releasing a healthy amount of music and additionals.  It'll be a big, broad piece of work with lots of songs and accompanying material.  I'm not sure that a band like us is meant to make concept records, since we love pop songs.  But the next record will be different in structural nature than anything we've done.  I'm into recording 20 songs.  And we've got lots of other ideas percolating that are just wicked, but I'll keep hushed for fear of somebody thievin' us.   

Thanks are due all of you who have so graciously picked up the new "This Is How The World Will End" single.  We're thrilled with the response so far.  If you haven't yet, we'd be so obliged, of course, if you would check it out.  I'll make it as easy as possible for you: CLICK.  We'll be performing the song on the Bob & Tom Radio Show Monday October 6th.  If you're in the midwest, you'll be one of the many radio listeners who can get the show on your dial.  Otherwise, you can stream the show at Q95 Radio's website.  We'll certainly try to get the audio and get it up online for you to somehow procure.  I think that the single releases to iTunes and all the digi-retailers on October 14, but I'll make sure you get the skinny on that... whatever happens, the video will only be available with the official website download.    

I'm absolutely riveted to the political goings-on.  At the moment, I've resolved to not air my personal leanings on candidates yet, but I'll say that I'll be interested until the bitter end.  I've been anticipating this VP debate far too much... I'll literally be shutting off all communication with the outside world once it begins, and will fully commit myself to the two hours.  And where did these Buffalo Bills come from?!  I was born in Buffalo, and remained a loyal Bills fan through their 90-94 seasons (even though I moved away from Buffalo as a kid in 1986) where they went to four straight Super Bowls, losing every one.  Recently, I've pulled for the Colts, and still do.  The Colts are having a bit of a rough time pulling things together this year, but there's time.  The real dilemma for me would be if the two teams played for the AFC Championship.  I guess we'll cross that bridge... Plus, the Bills' new uniforms rule.  They look like they're from the '50's.     

It's getting colder outside, days are getting shorter.  Out come the sad songs.  With this weekend comes our hometown Oktoberfest.  Seymour swells from a population of 15k people to about 40k for the weekend.  Why?  Because people love arts and crafts.  And funnel cakes.  And German brass bands.

I have AC/DC tickets for the upcoming tour.  And in my last post I wrote about how great the new Oasis track was.  It is.  But I listened to the rest of their record, and... God, how diplomatic can one lead singer be!?

K.O.K.O.
Owen 

 

DEADLINESDEADLINESDEADLINES.

And now, for an update from the edge.  Sorry for the long gap in communication, we've been... busy.  Thom and I returned to Indiana on Sunday night from working in Nashville, just in time to watch the Colts look kind of silly in front of the Bears. 

It's was a long week -- we finished tracking and mixing the final single version of "This Is How The World Will End."  We're literally finishing the mastering as we speak, which is being bounced back and forth from Los Angeles, and we're very happy with the outcome.  The song is a bit of a departure for us, a big grand tune with a certain pomp and bulk.  If I'm being honest, the song was a real chore to track and get right.  We tracked, mixed, tracked, and mixed again.  Had to wrestle it to the ground.  It's strange, there's really not too much going on in the song past just the guitar, bass, and drums like always - I think it's equal parts key, content, and unspoken magical elements that give it a certain different feeling for us.  It's all hands on deck around here to get everything bundled and ready for the release next week. 

Just as an FYI, when we put something out, it's not the intention to get it finished one week before release.  But we were all sitting around a few weeks ago after playing "World Will End" live and watching it catch on, and we all looked at each other and said, "Well, let's just put it out online then, soon."  So there you go.  You'll love it.  Oh, and the acoustic version is super-raw.  Thom and I did it in one take.  How's that for efficiency?

We're all looking forward to heading to Red Rocks in a couple days, and then literally turning around and heading back to the east coast for Farm Aid on Sept. 20... I found out that The Pretenders are going to be on hand to perform that day, and you'd have to understand my (mildly obsessive) feelings about Chrissie Hynde to know what sorta deal this is.  Playing at Farm Aid is something we never would've believed would happen this year, let alone being invited by Mellencamp himself.  One minute, you're writing little songs at 8 years old in your buddies' bedroom.  The next, you're sharing a stage with Neil Young.  Sometimes you have to have a good laugh about things. 

We took time whenever possible to watch the political conventions.  Both were compelling for different reasons.  I like this Sarah Palin.  She's more interesting than McCain is to me.  I'm still undecided in all this.  Or maybe I'm totally decided, and just saying that I'm undecided to be mysterious.  In any event, I'm getting increasingly annoyed by two ongoing sentiments being absurdly perpetuated by both right and left, respectively:

1.) "Barack Obama is a secret, covert Islamic terrorist who's going to infiltrate our government and initiate a Jihad from the inside out!  I mean, just look at his name!"   
2.) "Sarah Palin has a pregnant 17-year old daughter?  Well, if she can't even run her household, how can she be expected to help run a country?"

If I have to explain the absurdities in these statements, you're no pragmatist at all.  

I'm off to get a haircut now.  The new Oasis and AC/DC rock.

K.O.K.O.
Owen 

BACK AT IT.

... AND THE BACK HALF.

Ok, so the recovery process has taken a little longer than expected.  To be honest, the time re-adjustment has been easy.  It's just digging out from under the pile of responsibilities that must be tended to after a couple weeks of little attention.  There are some great things on the horizon, and without going into too much detail yet, there will be a new digital release very very soon, a maxi-single of sorts.  I won't tell you the song(s) yet, but we'll be in the studio again as early as Monday getting things fixed up and ready.  The package will certainly be compelling, and it'll be one of the most important pieces of work we've done yet.   

Our last week in Europe was very good.  There was time with family as well as the time on stage.  The shows in Holland were some of the highlights of our performance lives.  Photos of some of the beautiful Dutch people are below.  It was a shocking occurrence to walk up to people, halfway around the world, who were holding all of our records, telling us that they'd been waiting for years for us to come see them... some bore gifts, some with signs requesting songs, some with words of such kindness that it made it difficult to stay even-keeled emotionally sometimes.  Now, the quest is to shed the five pounds I put on eating fish & chips and drinking pints, eating Flake bars and pork pies and drinking Pimm's.

Amsterdam was a very interesting city, albeit much darker in nature than other cities we visited.  It was as wild as you'd imagine, like Bourbon Street or Las Vegas on max.  You hear about people being so docile there because of all the hash, and it's true... they really are laid back (whether it's because of the hash is up to you).  Nearly every cafe or coffee shop is just a front for a booming pot industry.  There are a million bicycle riders in the city, zinging past you while blasting these little bells - and the weather is bizarre, with unfettered sunshine for 10 minutes, then rain for ten, then sun, on and on like clockwork.  Ultimately, I preferred Stockholm, even with its lazy military presentations.  On the last day in the Netherlands, we visited a little bedroom city called Deventer where there were beautiful little street markets... I was really honored to take all cities in. 

In other news, we're preparing to announce a super-cool live appearance, that will likely surprise some of you.  It will certainly help put us in good company.  Oh, and if you live in Indiana (and get up way too effin' early in the morning), we'll be performing "This Is How The World Will End" next Friday (29th) on NBC TV, Channel 13, at 6:15am following an interview.  You may have heard the song being use for a new NBC campaign running throughout the Olympics.  For those of you who don't live here, or who don't want to get up at the ass-crack of dawn, we'll YouTube it later.

Many more photos to show, and they'll surface at some point.  Enjoy the ones below for now.

K.O.K.O.
Owen

The fine people supporting The Elms at the Flevo Festival mainstage in Holland:

And at the encore tent the next day:

The first interviews of the day in Holland (photo by Phil):

And just before the last interview before heading from the fest back to the city:

A view from a bridge across one of the canals in Amsterdam:

A photo of the Albert Bridge, London (are those UFO's?):

HOME.

So, we arrived back in Indiana a couple hours ago.  Must sleep.  Will write tomorrow.

Owen

STOCKHOLM.

A photo of the Old Town in Stockholm:

It was a really beautiful place, with enormous amounts of history.  It was also an extremely expensive place, with a traditional dinner of meatballs, or beef sandwich, or hotch-potch (mash-type meal) costing the equivalent of about $50 with a pint.

So, as much as we loved the place, we were also happy to finally retreat back to England where things are considerably cheaper (...which seems like such an absurd statement, as you'll easily pay double for anything you buy in the U.K. versus buying it in the U.S.).  Nevertheless, our time in Stockholm was really wonderful, and we took in some of the sights and sounds in about three hours before our departing flight for London.  There was the changing of the guard at the royal castle, which reminded me of a cross between a high school band and a junior R.O.T.C. program:

Seriously, I'd feel more confident entrusting a nation's security to a co-ed softball team.  They just seemed so unorganized!  And then there was this scary dude on some kind of interesting, water-dispersing mechanism in the middle of the city:

After a cab ride from a madman, we got into the airport for our flight about two hours early.  Customs and immigration have been much easier than we had anticipated, save for one moment where Nathan was interrogated by some overzealous agents on the way back into London.  "Well find out about you," they warned.  Hmmm.

The flight back was uneventful.  As mentioned before, the trudgery of any trip like this is in the time spent with a chair strapped to your ass, whether plane, train, cab, or bus.  But luckily for us, this little man had us laughing most of the flight from Stockholm:

Trouble indeed. 

Ok, we're off to London now.  Sorry that today's post didn't have much music-related stuff in it.  The next one will, as we're off to Holland tomorrow for more festival shows.  Fingers crossed that The Netherlands will embrace the Yankees.

K.O.K.O.
Owen

(AIRPORT) TERMINAL ILLNESS.

From a little cottage in Orebro, Sweden -- many photos tonight.  They come from my iPhone, so excuse me if they're a tiny bit grainy.  I'm tired, I feel like I've slept a total of about six hours in the last four days.  Tomorrow we'll head into Stockholm for a day that can hopefully include some rest.  All is well nonetheless, and we're delighted to be sharing this experience together.

Our first show of the trip just wrapped, and it was great.  The people here in SE have been kind, and are putting up with us Americans acclimating to their dialect, customs, and currency (Krona).  We did a 75-minute show in a huge old barn for these enthusiastic people:

The crowd was young, and we played them tunes from each of our records.  We did "You Saved Me" for the first time in a year, and did "Hey, Hey" for only the second time in (wow) three years.  Maybe there's this idea that we don't like to play that tune because it represents a different musical landscape than the current one we operate on, but we do think it's good fun.  We never sat down and looked at each other and decided to swear off playing it.  We've just had new records to support, and now seems like a great time to revisit "Hey, Hey", with new teeth and a fresh angle.  The staff here was super-cool and accommodating.

I took the photo below from the van en route to the show.  I guess I thought maybe Sweden would look a bit less like, uh, Seymour, Indiana:



Here's what Nathan thought of the scenery:



We've had a little time to roam, but much of our time thusfar has been spent in cabs, planes, vans, and airports looking like this:






 
I've got (wonderful, brilliant) family in London.  Their home is called The Elms, and hopefully your pragmatic competence is high enough to see any correlations... The home is a gorgeous old coaching inn, and the back garden is particularly beautiful.  We haven't had a chance to hang there as much as I'd like yet, but upon our return to The Elms on Monday, we've decided to go out to play croquet, or badminton, or some other English gardeny game.  You can see why we're so anxious to play outdoors:



It's been years since I've been in this part of the world.  Since my family history lies in Wales and England, my parents would take Chris and I to the UK nearly every summer as kids.  It all comes back to you, the memories seep in...

So far, the pints have been bitter, the laughs have been plentiful, and the fish & chips have been short-lived once placed in front of us.



Oh - this is Basil, my aunt's trusted guard dog.  Hopefully potential intruders are scared senseless by things like belly scratching, face licking, and general cuteness:



We did venture into London for an afternoon on Friday, just long enough to visit Westminster Abbey and head to dinner with my cousins.  The last time I was at Westminster, I was about 15 (half a lifetime ago, apparently), and wanted to return to absorb the place with the acumen to appreciate it.  No photography is allowed in the Abbey.  But since they installed an effin' ticket booth in the front foyer and snack bars and souvenir stands throughout, I hardly felt like my sneaking a few pics compromised the reverence of the place.  My stealth pics may interest you.  This is a lion on the grave of Mary, Queen Of Scots:

And this, a photo of the candles lit by people praying in the Nave:

I hear Stockholm is beautiful.  I'll show you firsthand from the hotel tomorrow.  Read Thom's blog for a little extra hilarity.  More coming soon, after we sleep a little.

K.O.K.O.
Owen
 

UK.

We arrived in London a couple hours ago.  All is fine.  I desperately need a nap now, but will blog further upon getting sleep and a fish & chip dinner.  I'll be trying to blog daily, as will some of the others...

Zzzzz.
Owen

CHROMEO!

Awww, hell yes!