Just the Manager

Tales from the road, told by manager, merch girl, artist services extraordinaire, Alexandra :: The Oarsman National Tour Summer 2013

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Shortly before our demise in the Ozark Mountains, we recorded this video of Marcus playing "Wild Blue Yonder" at an abandoned gas station.

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Bad news day. Our van died in the middle of Arkansas yesterday, and after a day-long battle of mechanics and fund scrounging, it's taken every last penny we have to fix it, and we've had to cancel the rest of the tour and go home :(. Here's a message from the man, Marcus, himself:

"Our lovely tour van died yesterday morning in the foothills of the Appalachia after watching the sun rise up over the mountains at 6:37am. Our immortality, however prevalent and unpredictable it might be, is rooted in the strength of our creativity and our willingness to persevere. Without an end, there would be no fresh starts, no beginnings. Thank you to all who made our first tour a success! We still have some MIDWESTERN dates coming up and can't wait to share with you our plans for AUTUMN TOUR 2k13. The road awaits."

Somber moods all around, we're definitely not ready to go home yet. But we'll be back many-a-time over the course of the next year and beyond. Thanks to all for following the blog! There will be more material posted over the coming weeks of previously unreleased footage, etc. We love you so very much and won't forget all the great times and people we've met along the way!!

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Above is beautiful, beautiful Chattanooga where we stayed for a night with some old friends, before heading out to Nashville in the morning. We arrived in the Athens of the South with lots of time to check out the grand opening of the Rhed Rholl retail store, where we met Thomas and chatted about lots of awesome music and non-music things. We then ventured off to explore the city some more, until we were kindly invited by our new friend Thomas back to his place to crash. After a rejuvenating dip in his pool, the boys went out to play music for the nightlife, while I caught up on some business and some sleep. In the morning we were ready for another few hours in the car as we headed to St. Louis for the night. We met even more great people there whilst we wandered the streets, playing music for the passersby. Our awesome new pal Nikolai brought us back to his place at the end of the night for some delicious tea and much needed rest in preparation for our drive to Kansas City yesterday. We played The Riot Room with two awesome acts, The Adopted, and Micah Smith. Big thanks to them for being awesome, and to Brandon the sound guy for being so supportive of us. It's been another whirlwind of the last few days, but we're currently landed in Arkansas gettin' fed and rested.

More material and updates to come.

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There are a lot of strange things to us down here in Georgia. So far we've passed both, The Allman Brothers Museum and a Gone With The Wind Museum on our way through the state. There are a lot of great things too, however. And that goes for all the cities we've hit since my last post from North Carolina. We finished off our stay in Carrboro by playing a fantastic show at the Station at Southern Rail, where many of the fine folks we'd met over our small respite in the triangle showed up to support! Afterward, we got right on the road south to Charleston, which was absolutely gorgeous and introduced us to some wonderful people -- even some from the Midwest! This is a picture of Broad St, home to the bar we played, The Blind Tiger: At the venue we were provided with some top-notch cuisine, including elk and bison burgers, sweet potato fries, and the tuna tacos and fried okra pictured below: We also met our new friend, Rob, a merchant marine kind enough to take us back to his beautiful home to sleep for the night, but not before feeding us gourmet sandwiches with apples on them! In the morning we said goodbye and headed west to Atlanta, where we played Smith's Olde Bar with The Pucketts -- an amazing husband-wife duo who happened to have just moved back from our hometown of Chicago where they had been for the last several years -- and a great funk, soul, hip hip, and r&b cover band called SouledOut. Right after the show we did a little night driving in order to get to Jacksonville with plenty of time to walk around, see the river and the shops, and relax at Joel's friend (you may remember from New York) Gus's family's amazing guest house. It was our most relaxing day of tour spent together complete with several loads of laundry done by "Mom", three hours of napping by Marcus, a lively game of chess between Joel and me, a little horror movie time, watching the storm from the screened-in back porch, and seeing an alligator! Needless to say we were amped to rock the Burro Bar last night with On Guard, Cutthroat Shamrock from Tennessee, and Snake Blood Remedy. After a great night's sleep at the guest house and morning clean up, we're on our way up to Chattanooga, TN to stay with some of my old high school friends for the night before trying our luck in Nashville tomorrow. It's been a whirlwind of five days, but this time off is sure to get us back on our feet for our gig at The Blank Space in St. Louis on Saturday. We're overloaded with pictures and video to post, so be on the lookout for that too!

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It's a rainy day in North Carolina

We have a few days off during our first stop in the South, and we've been taking full advantage of it. On Thursday we played Casbah in Durham, and met some fine friends including food truck Daniel who hooked us up with some phenomenal grub in exchange for our music, and bartender Matt who welcomed us into his home to sleep and put up with us for the better part of yesterday. Last night we were fortunate enough to be able to see his band, Airstrip, play at The Cave along with two other wonderful bands, Shockwave Riderz and Heads on Sticks. Afterwords, Hunter (also of Airstrip among other bands) took us in for night two in the triangle. We've come to discover the fascinating and incestuous music scene that thrives in this area, and meet talented and experienced musicians/people with heaps of advice. Grateful, grateful, grateful! And the kindest people too. Makin' us feel right at home. We'll be spending one more night of relaxation here before we play the Southern Rail tomorrow night, then heading off to Charleston, South Carolina Monday morning. Two weeks down as of today, six to go! More photos and videos to come!

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As promised!! A secret takeaway session from the streets of NYC. Marcus performs "Porch Light" as we stroll Central Park West.

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Reallllly nice job Princes! Love to follow your adventure. And it does sound like an adventure. Three suggestions. Build a contact list with as many new friends/business associates as you can. Never know when your paths will cross again. I like maps. Can you include a interactive map that tracks your route across the country? Finally, pass the camera to someone else once in a while. Would like to see YOUR picture. Enjoy, stay safe, follow your instinct. Love you. "Just the Dad"

We're definitely building a network! Exchanging contact info with as many people as possible. And an interactive map would be a great idea! I'll look into some sort of widget for that. Thanks for reading :)

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As we leave New England, headed south, I'll share some pictures with you of our experiences over the last few days. And not in chronological order. Marcus received a haircut from Joel on the porch of our new friend Dan's house (of The Novel Ideas). It turned out wonderfully - except for the bald patch on the side where Joel slipped. We've also seen several cars marked as school buses. Very confusing. We played two awesome shows in Boston at The Phoenix Landing and at the Armory Cafe. We saw a lot of crazy traffic (exhibited by the bus forcing his way through to turn left in front of us) and ate some delicious pizza. All in all, met a lot of great people, heard some new great music, and played some of our own. Now we are passing Gaylord Healthcare and the Quinnepac River north of Hamden, CT on our way to Virginia to spend the night with a kind friend of the wonderful Hayley Sabella, then onto Durham, North Carolina to play Casbah. If you know anyone in the area, send 'em on out!

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If you liked that song, you're going to love this one -- it uses the same keyboard!

Providence last Friday was a blast. We had the pleasure of playing with Spooky Dangerfield (source of the above quote), You, Me and the Radio, and Lists, who were all super talented and great folks. Afterwards, we were fortunate enough to be welcomed into our good friend Xu's parents' beautiful beautiful home in Southington, CT. They fed us until we were stuffed, provided us beds, showers, and our favorite thing: coffee.

When we were all recharged and feelin' fresh again, we continued south, returning to New York City for one more show at Rockwood Music Hall. The crowd was fantastically attentive and appreciative, showing us the most support we've seen so far. We then, again, returned to Joel's friend Gus's place to shoot a video in his stunning apartment (soon to come), and post up for the night.

Yesterday, we said goodbye to New York for the last time and headed back north to Boston, where the guys were kind enough to drop me at Paradise Rock Club to see one of my favorite groups, CHVRCHES perform:

Afterwards we explored the city a bit before parking the van and camping out for the night. Today, we snag some wi-fi, perform in some parks, and prepare for our show tonight at the Armory Cafe in Somerville. Come out at 6:30PM sharp to catch Hayley Sabella, us, and The Novel Ideas! See you there!

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New York City was too good to us, and we can't wait to return on Saturday. Wednesday night, we played Pianos with some rather esteemed bands, Conveyor, Norwegian Arms, New Myths, and Leapling. We were able to see some old friends and meet some new ones -- some foreign ones and some bilingual ones! All in all a very interesting and friendly crowd. Marcus and Joel's friend Troy was kind enough to host us Wednesday night so we could shower and recharge. Thursday was spent resting up and exploring the beauty of New York City. The gang split off for the evening but above are some pictures of the things I saw while being shown around by some old friends Chase and Candice: Grand Central Station and the Flat Iron building. Next we're off to Providence, RI to play a DIY show at 186 Carpenter. Come on out if you're in the area!

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We were so fortunate to meet some truly amazing people in Philadelphia. Monday night we came across James from the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, who was so awesome and was able to come see us play last night along with his girlfriend Brynn. Two marvelous people they are. And yesterday, bassist Joel reconnected with an old friend, Natalie (pictured above middle), who brought a whole gang of wonderful individuals to hang out with us at our show at The Fire, and welcomed us all back to her home in Mount Laurel, NJ, to sleep, cook a hearty meal, and of course refill all of our coffee-carrying devices. Super special thanks to Natalie and her family for hosting us and treating us with such comforting and overwhelming hospitality! Approaching New York City as I type, and for all that I expected, I'm still just in awe of the size of the skyline and all the landmarks I'm finally seeing in person. The Statue of Liberty!!! Tonight we play Pianos with Conveyor, Norwegian Arms, Leapling, and New Myths. We start at 7pm sharp, and it's $8 to get in!! Come on down!

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Today we are exploring the great city of Philadelphia -- full of charm, hidden gems, and adventurous outdoor cats!! While we were hanging out, August and Marcus shot a nice little video featuring the opening track from our forthcoming album, Writing House, called "Dreamcatcher". Enjoy!!

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Through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

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The Beginning

After about a week of tuning up the van, moving out of our houses, and packing up all we own, we finally said goodbye to Chicago on Saturday evening, driving eastward to Baltimore. After an 11 hour drive in two parts, we were more than ready to arrive at Club K last night and share our music with new fans. We met a lot of great people and made some new friends. The picture below is an emphasis of our show lit by black lighting -- doesn't our new kick drum head look cool?! Special thanks to Andy from ELK RHYTHMS for the magnificent hospitality and to Brendan the bartender for saving everything by getting me in touch with the owner of Club K when I left my computer there. Currently, we are driving northeast to Philadelphia to pick our drummer, August up from the airport. It's raining cats, dogs, and men, but our fearless driver and front man, Marcus is unwavering. Tonight, we relax for a big show tomorrow at The Fire. More pictures and posts to come!!

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Outgoing concerns

I think it's important to address my worries at the outset of this tour for future reflection.

-Money. And our lack thereof. I fear being stuck and especially across the country far from my support network. Fortunately thanks to technology these days, it won't be hard to be saved from any part of the country.

-Hygiene. I like to shower daily. I don't do well when I feel grimy or have greasy hair. I've tried to prepare for this as best as possible with dry shampoo and cleansing facial wipes. I hope for many a kind stranger's hospitality.

-Safety. Standard. When traveling with lots of expensive and important things in just a van, you naturally fear their loss. I for some reason don't anticipate this happening, but it counts as a concern.

-Mishaps. Leading to disappointment. I'm afraid of our van breaking down, missing dates, shows getting cancelled last minute, not finding a place to sleep. I guess this sort of covers the rest of the concerns. But lastly...

-Discontent. Living in a very small space with three people for two months is bound to lead to confrontation. I hope we can all remain tolerant of each other and refrain from upsetting one another.