Dylan Gilbert

@ New Brookland Tavern

Thursday, October 21

Dylan Gilbert & The Over Easy Breakfast Machine 2010 Summer Tour Diary – Part 2

Day 6 – July 12th – DAY OFF in Virginia Beach

After a party with our friends in Virginia Beach we awoke to a house full of people, but Dirty Carl was missing! After searching through the whole house we checked outside. It was scorching outside but I noticed that The Strom Trooper’s windows were all open. We found Carl curled up in the back seat.
Dylan: “What are you doing it’s like a hundred degrees out here?!”
Carl: “Nah, it’s cool I’ve got a nice cross breeze going”
The remainder of the day was spent eating breakfast, swimming at the beach and playing putt-putt. That evening we planned to take the China Town Bus from Norfolk to New York City. A couple of friends in Virginia Beach had told us that it was super cheep but it leaves for New York at midnight. We took a taxi to what we thought would be some sort of bus terminal but turned out to be a relatively sketchy Chinese Restaurant. Eventually a huge bus pulled up and we pilled in. The bus was packed. Not an empty seat on it and right around midnight we embarked on the most uncomfortable ride of my life. The bus shook and the seats were upright. It was almost impossible to sleep and if you did fall asleep you’d be woken up in just a few minuets.

Day  7 – July 13th – Spike Hill in Brooklyn, New York
I woke up the final time with the sun. You could the New York City skyline of in the distance. We were dropped off in China Town at 6 am and after being momentarily lost we found our way to subway station and took the train out to Brooklyn where our buddy Gordon was letting us stay.

We stayed  in his basement and there were no windows and it was glorious. We all went back to sleep until around 1 pm and headed to Williamsburg to eat vegan pizza and find Spike Hill. We played early and the bill had about 5 bands on it. Our bartender was from Ireland and he was awesome. He kept us laughing all night long.

Day 8th – July 14th – Crash Mansion in Manhattan, New York
The next morning we all felt more caught up on our sleep and explored Manhattan all day riding taxi’s, seeing time square and eating (more) pizza. Later in the day we found Crash Mansion, which was a lot different than Spike Hill. It was bigger and seemed newer as well. There was a bigger crowed and we played with a dance band from New Jersey who’s drummer looked just like B.J. Novak (seriously).
After the show we made friends with a couple of girls who invited us to The Living Room for drinks (which are incredibly expensive in New York for those of you who’ve never been there) and then back to their apartment building. We climbed the stairs all the way up to their rooftop and hung out up there. You could see the skyline of downtown and the Brooklyn bridge from their rooftop. It was one of the best nights of the entire tour. We sang and played guitar until well past 4 am and then took the train back to Gordon’s.

Day 9 – July 15th – DAY OFF (From New York to Maryland to Virginia)

BAD NEWS COMES IN THREES
Part 1

The next morning we said our goodbyes to Gordon and headed to the bus stop around 5 pm where to China Town Bus would take us back to Virginia Beach where we’d left The Storm Trooper and a good bit of our stuff as well. Around this time the swelling in my right foot had started to go down and soon I wouldn’t need to use my cane anymore. (I used it to hobble around New York for three days). But while we were on the bus I noticed that there was a sharp pain in my LEFT foot. As it turns out at Crash Mansion when I jumped off the stage I twisted my LEFT foot. So now I have two sprained ankles that are swollen well above their normal size and I could barely walk at all without the aid of one of the other guys. I should probably go out and buy a lottery ticket, right?
Part 2
We’d been on the bus for a few hours and the ride was much more enjoyable because the ride back was mostly during the day and early evening. We estimated that we’d be back in Virginia Beach around 12:30 am and could stay at one of our friends’ houses, but around ten o’clock the bus pulled over. Without a word the bus driver pulled the bus over to the side of the highway, grabbed a flashlight and a box of tools and got off the bus. He stayed outside for around 15 min. and the people on the bus started to get restless to say the least.  One woman finally shouted “Can you tell us what the hell is goin’ on cuz this s*** is ree-dic-o-lus!”. The driver turned to all of us and said “It’s the transmission, ok!”
Carl pulls out his ticket and pointed to the print at the bottom.

Carl: “Oh look it says it right here in the fine print. “We’re F***ed!”
Word eventually got back to us that we were in Maryland and that a bus that would be coming back from New York at midnight would come by and pick us up and take us on to Virginia Beach which would take about 6 hours. To bide the time my, john, carl and zach got off the bus and met a few of the other younger bus riders outside. We were in the middle of nowhere. Nothing in sight but open fields and one lone gas station that seemed to be in walking distance. We decided it would be a good idea to walk there buy a few drinks and try to make the best out of our situation. We met some very interesting people on that bus and one (who was an Army guy) invited us to stay at his house when we got back to Virginia Beach. The rest of the night is a blur.

Day 10 – July 16th – The Nightlight in Chapel Hill, NC
Part 3

I woke up in the flooded apartment of our new Army friend (I wish I could remember his name) and hung out with Smooth (by far the sweetest dog we met on tour) and rode in a taxi to an army base where his car was and then finally back to The Storm Trooper. We stopped at a gas station and stocked up on Vitamin Water (our tour drink of choice) and started heading towards the highway. We were all thankful that the broke down bus situation was past and we were heading back to North Carolina. We were riding down a four lane road and I was driving. Up ahead the road forked off in two directions with two lanes going in either direction. We were riding down the third lane from the left and I noticed we needed to merge left one lane so that we would be on the ramp that lead to NC. I turn on my left turn signal and started to look in my mirror when – BAM! – before Id even started to merge a jeep type vehicle with large wheels came around the front of us from the left side heading to the right side ramp. They clipped the front drivers side wheel and started flipping! This vehicle flipped at least seven times. This was one of the scariest moments in my life. Everything felt like it was in slow motion and silent until the other car finally slid to a stop on it’s side. We all jumped out of the car and ran across the car parts, blood and shattered glass that was littered across the highway. Finally we saw two young girls, about 16 years old I’d say, crawl out of the sun roof crying and screaming. Besides a couple of seriously bad cuts, bleeding and being badly beat up the girls miraculously seemed to be alright. The next hour was like a dream. A big blur of police interviews, testimonies, phone calls, emergency vehicle lights all around, dozens of people running to help the girls into ambulances and another group cleaning up the highway. Before we knew it everyone was gone. We were the last ones standing on the side of the perfectly swept up road. You’d be hard pressed to even notice there had even been an accident. The Storm Trooper only had one small scratch on her where the impact had been so we decided that it would be best to continue with our day and go ahead and drive to our next show. (We found out later that both girls were fine and after a brief hospital visit and some physical therapy would be back to normal.)

We slowly drove through  Virginia to Chapel Hill. We were all jarred from the experience, but eventually made it to The Nightlight. Some friends from back home came, we met some cool bands and made some new friends, but were all still pretty focused on what had happened earlier that day. Also this was Dirty Carl’s last day on tour with us and we were all sad to see him and his magic beard go.

Day 11 – July 17th – The Green Bean in Greensboro, NC

The last day of the first half of the tour was a very much need quite one.  It was a rainy day and most of it was spent cruising around Greensboro or hanging out in the venue/coffee shop The Green Bean where we would be playing that night. We played with our good friends The Old One Two and Matty Sheets. The show was a lot of fun, but we hurried out of the venue to get home that night to sleep in our own beds for two nights!

“we are super magic men
we stay up till 5 am
though we’re bound by shaman law
what goes on tour stays on tour”
- Board of the Shaman (The Mighty Boosh)

To Be Continued….



Dylan Gilbert & The Over Easy Breakfast Machine 2010 Summer Tour Diary – Part 1

Hello, my name is Dylan Gilbert. I’ve been playing as a solo artist since late 2005 when I was 18 years old.  At 22 I put together a band (The Over Easy Breakfast Machine) for my 2010 summer tour to promote my newest album Pangaea. The band now consists of two of my best buddies, Zach Jordan on bass and John Harrell on Drums (both of Linus Van Pelt & The Dinner Rabbits). Our first few shows as a full band were pretty interesting to say the least. We played a Beatles tribute night in a sold out theatre, in the top of a Tree House at a backyard party for one of our school professors, a Motown tribute show in the back of a thrift store and a packed living room at a friends’ house in Virginia Beach. But nothing could really prepare us for our ridiculous upcoming tour…

Day 1 – July 7th – Caledonia Lounge in Athens Georgia
We had some serious trouble finding a tour vehicle, but at the very last minuet got a hold of a White 93’ Isuzu Trooper that we affectionately dubbed The Storm trooper! This would be our home for the next month. The first show at Caledonia Lounge in Athens went relatively well. We spent the day hanging out in Athens with our good friend A.J. Weiss (who also played the show with us later) and a few of our friends from around the area. One of A.J.’s friends was nice enough to let us borrow her (awesome) house for the night.

Day 2 – July 8th – Wonder Root in Atlanta Georgia

The next morning we slept in and hung around Athens for a little while before heading to Atlanta to play at Wonder Root. Wonder Root is one of my favorite venues. It’s kind of like a community arts building with art showings, a recording studio and shows in the basement. We played with a lot of bands that night (maybe 6 or 7?), but one band really stood out to us. I think we all agreed looking back that Northern Howl was one of the best bands we played with the entire tour.
This was one of the most fun shows we played, but also the first night that things started to go wrong. As we were loading in our gear I noticed that I had a sharp pain in my right foot especially when I put pressure on it. I decided I’d worry about it later and we went ahead and played. Afterwards, my foot felt like it was on fire and we decided it would be a good idea to stay the night in a hotel and get some ice and put it on my foot. Once we’d stopped in a hotel about an hour north of Atlanta I took my sock off and saw that my foot had swollen to a gigantic size! We determined that at some point in Athens I’d dropped something on my foot or twisted my ankle.
We all feel asleep in big beds watching Behind The Music: Courtney Love (which is some of the best quality television I’ve ever seen.) haha

Day 3 – July 9th – House Show in Charleston South Carolina
I awoke the next day to Zach jumping up and down on John’s bed laughing and yelling “You made me miss the continental breakfast, John!”.
We started the long drive from Atlanta to Charleston which is about 5 or 6 hours. We got caught in a huge thunder storm for most of the drive and narrowly missed running into a truck that spun off the road in front of us. The only reason we missed the collision was because The Storm trooper stalled out on us just seconds before it happened. We finally made it to the House we were suppose to play at and played an awesome show with Mel Washington and Wylie! Unfortunately, I was forced to play sitting down because I couldn’t put any weight on my right foot (which was still swollen almost twice it’s normal size!)

Day 4 – July 10th – The Brown Coat Pub & Theatre in Wilmington North Carolina
As we drove up the coast line from Charleston to Wilmington we stopped a few times. First we stopped at a Walgreen’s to purchase a (pimp) cane for my worsening ankle. Thankfully Zach talked me into the wood grain style, which he insisted was more legit. Later, as we drove through Myrtle Beaches main strip I noticed Alligator Adventure which is basically a big zoo that specializes in alligators, turtles, lizards and birds, but also had tigers, lemurs and otters. I would recommend this for anyone.

Enter: Dirty Carl. My older cousin “Dirty” Carl Stephens is a mega vegan hipster who lives in Wilmington. He joins the tour for the next week and makes everybody feel at ease with the magic of his monstrous beard. He helped us snag a last minuet show at a place called The Brown Coat Pub & Theatre that (to my knowledge) usually specializes in Theatre plays and Karaoke more than hosting bands. They didn’t seem to know what to think of us at first, but by the end of the night we were all best buddies.

After we performed, Brad Land (author of Goat: A Memoir) did a special reading (and there was in fact a little Karaoke as well. Someone even did “Jesus Walks“!)

Day 5 – July 11th – Winston’s Cafe in Chesapeake Virginia
The next day John, Zach, Dirty Carl and I headed further up the coast to Chesapeake Virginia we’re we’d made a lot of friends a few weeks earlier playing a show in nearby Virginia Beach. This is one of our favorite towns (and also one of the crazier towns we’ve ever been to hahaha). After the show we went back to the house of Musicplayer and Tokyo lead singer Robert Smith (no not from The Cure) and had a nice relaxing evening with all the funniest kids on the coast!

To be Continued….

I am sad to say this is our last “On The Road” with The Rocketboys. : (  I can’t wait until they come back to South Carolina so we can work with them again.  They are finishing up this tour tomorrow night in Austin.

Our last entry comes from Mitch of The Rocketboys.

Week 3 of our summer tour has been an eventful one, to say the least. Probably what tops the list is that we received our final mastered album from the mastering house. Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, etc..) mastered the album, and we are SUPER pumped about it. It’s going to be released September 29^th, and we’re beginning the largest promotional campaign of our career to try and build up as much hype about the album as possible. We started by uploading a preview track from the record, “Like Ice in Water” to our MySpace.  So be on the lookout for new music over the next couple of months, and start telling your friends about the new Rocketboys record, “20,000 Ghosts” coming in September!

But let me back track and fill you in on some of the daily events that took place over the last week…

After Maryland, we headed south, crossing the Mason-Dixon line, and played our first show ever in Charlotte on Tuesday at Tremont Music Hall. We made some new friends in My Epic and Jonas Sees in Color. After the show, we headed to Columbia, SC to stay with Daniel’s sister and brother in-law (Megan and Josh).  We love staying with them because they always treat us so well. On Wednesday before the show we took their boat out on Lake Murray and did some wake surfing. (see pictures below).  Justin saw some huge striper coming to the surface of the lake and he was so excited I thought he was going to jump in after them!

Columbia is becoming a favorite city for us, and this was our second time to play New Brookland Tavern. Our good friend Ben Walker played a great set, and we made some new friends in Kill Anties.

The Rocketboys Climb Stone Mountain from Scene SC on Vimeo.

Thursday we played one of our favorite shows of the tour at the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta with our long-time friend , Trevor Dowdy, and his band  I Married My High School Sweetheart. There were a ton of friends and family there and Dear Future and IMMHS played stellar sets.

We had the day off in Atlanta on Friday, and some of the Rocketboys went to Lake Lanier and had a nice time on our friend’s father’s yacht. That evening we hung out with All Get Out at their show at Vinyl with Gasoline Heart while Daniel and Justin hiked up Stone Mountain and watched the laser show after sunset…pretty sweet!

Saturday we played in Macon with All Get Out and Rova Zetella while Dear Future drove up to Cleveland to open for Live at The House of Blues. Back in Macon, other than Matt breaking his kick drum pedal during the 2^nd verse drum solo of “Like Ice In Water” and Brandon’s vocal mic continually cutting out, and the sound guys not paying attention, it was a great night for us…. Good crowd and even better friends!

Oh, and Sunday morning, before heading to Nashville, we went to a church potluck with the Wiseman’s. It was great, and this really awesome lady gave one of the most interesting talks I’ve ever heard/seen. She had two baseballs with smiley faces drawn on them and pink ribbons tied to them. One was named Theodocius and the other Friend, and she told this crazy story about Theodocius stealing ice cream from a convenient store….then she said  “Sin separates you from God!” and then cut Theodocius’s ribbon. Yeah, I’m still not sure what the point was, but it was pretty entertaining!

Dear Future At Exit/In from Scene SC on Vimeo.

Sunday we played in Nashville at the Exit/In, one of our favorite clubs in the country. There was a huge crowd and the energy was so great that night. Definitely one of the best shows yet!

Monday we played our first show ever in Cincinnati and were pleasantly surprised by the turnout…afterwards, however, we had no place to stay, so we drove down this crazy back road looking for a campsite, and there was fog and dense forests and everyone was getting scared…so we went back to the interstate and ended up sleeping in the woods at a rest area. Other than the ants crawling all over my face and the sound of big rigs pulling in and out, it wasn’t that bad of nights sleep! I think we have to spend at least one night at a rest area for any tour to really be a “tour!”

3 weeks down, 2 more to go!

Day 2 – Westgate Mall, Spartanburg, SC
I’m beginning to feel like a shopaholic. In the past 3 days, we’ve been in 3 very different malls. While Rock Hill’s
Mall seemed pretty slow for a Tuesday, Westgate Mall in Spartanburg proved pretty surprising for only being a Wednesday. When we’ve done Hot Topic events in Columbia, people would usually wait until we had played the full set and then approached us afterward, but here in Spartanburg, a group of people actually started looking over our merch table and then, right in the middle of our set, asked if we could sign some posters and CDs they had bought.
It was a really cool feeling, and while we made sure to let them know that the CD versions of the songs would be
vastly different from the stripped down acoustic versions we were playing, they still wanted to buy them after Hot
Topic played the CD over their store speakers.
This week we are lucky to have Jayna’s relatives in Greenville to crash with, otherwise we would be looking at some costly hotel expenses. After the Spartanburg show, we drove 30 minutes to Greenville and relaxed. As you’ll see in the videos at the end of this, we are all card playing fiends, especially Jayna. I repeat, DO NOT let her fool you into thinking she is just learning, SHE IS A PRO and will take your money.

Day 3 – Haywood Mall, Greenville, SC

This was easily the biggest mall yet, with two stories of shops and kiosks. We’ve been carrying around one of our HUGE PA speakers to play keys, vocals and guitars through, and the first two stops killed me and Scott lugging the gigantic speaker around the mall. Malls, for some reason, only seem to be made to walk into easily when you have nothing and walk out easily when you have something. After learning our lesson from the first two stops, me and Scott were able to get a hand truck from Brandon, store manager at Haywood and it made life so much easier.

Everyone working at this store was so friendly and engaging. As soon as we walked in, they had already begun playing our CD on the speakers for people to hear, as well as telling everyone to stick around for our set. While Scott and Jayna finished setting up the merch table, I went to look for a bathroom and ended up walking about a mile down the mall. I don’t know why I walked that far, but I just kept following the signs and they led me all the way around the mall to the food court. I got back and it was 15 minutes after we were supposed to begin. That’s when the Hot Topic employees informed me of a bathroom conveniently located downstairs. I felt dumb. Luckily, my trip across the mall let me know just how many snack and food eateries exist at Haywood Mall, probably more than any mall I’ve ever been in. Whether you like Godiva Chocolates, Candy Corn or Tea, there is a store that somehow suits it.

This set went great, we were able to teach some kids to sing along to the chorus to “11+2=12+1” and they ended up stopping us (again) midset for some signage and purchases. I don’t know whether or not it was the location of this store being on the second floor or what, but they actually asked us to turn everything up louder, so we happily obliged. Because of that, a bunch more people heard us from outside and walked in, with Robin from Hot Topic ushering them inside.

It was sad times leaving Jayna’s aunt’s place, but we told them we will be back. After all, we are playing at The Channel in Greenville on July 31 anyway.

Onto Augusta Mall, which, according to Robin at Haywood Mall, is her second favorite Hot Topic people. (1st being the Columbia store (duh.))

Hopefully our bros in Say Vandelay can make it out to see us there before they hit up warped tour this year.

So here we are, and the first day is done. Our first destination of the tour was the The Galleria in Rock Hill, which is conveniently located right off of I-77, only about an hour or so from Columbia. Touring Hot Topic’s verses regular venues is a whole new concept to us, and because of that, we have to take it in a very different way.
For one, none of these gigs are paying, so it is vital that everyone in the band reaches out to any and all people who come to see the show. Merchandise is key here, and it will be for the next two weeks. If we don’t sell enough of it, we may run out of money for gas to get to the next place. Luckily, I have a plan, for everyone who purchases a Dance Fever Shirt/CD/Poster Combo for $18, i’m going to give them an additional CD to give to a friend.

Rock Hill generated about as much volume as a town like Rock Hill could do on a Tuesday night. We shared some funny stories about how our friends in the band The Stellas all look like movie stars, and the people in the audience who knew of them totally agreed. Video of all of this will come at the very end in a big montage kind of deal like in all the 90′s teen movies.

Well, we’re about to head to Westgate Mall for round 2. Let’s see what happens.

TMIM

WEEK 2

This past week has been really great for The Rocketboys. We’ve gotten to play some great venues, meet some great people, and visit some great places (the 3 G’s). But before I tell you about any of it, I must tell you what may be the best story of them all.

Let me set the stage . . . We’re driving through Camden, New Jersey, approaching the border of Pennsylvania, when all of the sudden a white SUV pulls up next to our van. And what do you know, out of the SUV, some breasts pop out (I’m sure you’re wondering, “Did he just say the B-word?”). So that part of the story is good enough, but it continues. Sadly, I was asleep in the back and missed The Flash go by, but the commotion it caused was certainly enough to wake me up.  Next thing I know everyone is laughing and carrying on and talking about this unprovoked flashing.  We start approaching some traffic that quickly turns into quite the jam. As it turns out, this traffic jam had been caused by a small four-car fender-bender. But . . . once we reach the site of the accident, we see that very familiar white SUV second in the pile of four (ok, let that sink in for a minute).  GET IT?

I feel like that story may trump anything else I could tell you from this past week (perhaps it’s just the pre-adolescent in me, though). But here are a few pictures and highlights you may enjoy:

We played Frankie’s in Toledo two nights in a row and then went there the third night to watch our good friends All Get Out and All The Day Holiday play a killer show.

We hung out on a farm and went swimming in a pond.

We purchased a new GPS, no longer will we have to use the GPOS we’ve been using (get it?)

We played Public Assembly in Brooklyn with Katie Mullins, Tiny Animals, and Dear Future.

We hung out in NYC with good friends.

We wanted to see the Liberty Bell, but it was all locked up (iron-ic?).

We ate Southern Maryland crabs at Matt’s parents’ house in Waldorf, MD (well, everyone but me, I ate potato salad).

Right after we got crabs, we attended a sweet pool party that we were supposed to play (unfortunately Dear Future rocked the PA system too hard, and it blew up).

Here’s a video from one of our shows at Frankie’s that our friend Stephanie made:

You can watch more of her videos if you click here

WEEK 4

(Photo Courtesy of Creigh Lyndon)

This week has been challenging for us.

-AGO

WEEK 1

“I just threw up ten times in a porta-potty.” I never would have guessed that I would actually have to say that sentence ever in my life. But just a few days ago I was saying it over and over again at Cornerstone Music Festival in Bushnell, IL.

Other than throwing up in a porta-potty, this tour has been going extremely well. We kicked it off in Dallas, TX with some of our really good friends All Get Out, The Soldier Thread, and Benjamin Del Shreve.  It was a great show, everybody there was feeling the music and really digging the new songs we were playing. A couple shows got canceled so we quickly made our way up to Illinois and met up with Dear Future (most of this tour will be with them) for a show in Mt. Vernon.  Early the next morning, we packed up and headed to Cornerstone.

Promotion, promotion, promotion. Those are the three most important things to remember if you are playing at Cornerstone. This year we had a guy donate 100 promotional t-shirts to our cause and they went pretty quickly (it’s pretty flattering seeing a bunch of people you don’t know wearing your band’s shirt).With all the shirts, flyers, posters, and banners that we had brought I think we did a pretty good job of promoting for our shows.

We played 3 shows in all and each one was really great! A ton of people were at all of them. And I saw some of the same people at all three of them, singing along to our new songs like they had already heard them a hundred times! Like I mentioned earlier, I threw up ten times, so by the end of our time there I was just hoping I could make it through a show.  After our last show a guy from Relevant Magazine interviewed me and Mitch. Here’s a nice little write up he did.

After Cornerstone we headed to Champaign, IL, to play at the Canopy Club, where we played with either the second best band I’ve ever seen or the second worst band I’ve ever seen (I’m not telling). Daniel has a lot of family up in Illinois and a bunch of them came out to the show. My parents also came out and surprised us.

The next day we had the opportunity to do a session with Daytrotter. If you haven’t heard of it you should really check it out soon. It’s a great way to find new bands and hear bands in a different way then you might otherwise get to. We recorded four songs with them in their third-story studio in Rock Island, IL. It was a really great experience. The people that we worked with were extremely nice and professional. They have several vintage amps and keyboards and guitars to choose from, so we had our pick, set everything up, and then went to town (so to speak). I think they’ll be posting our tracks sometime right after our new record, 20,000 Ghosts, comes out at the end of September. So be on the lookout.

We finally met back up with Dear Future last night in Holland, MI, where we played a sold out show at Lemonjellos. Most of our shows from here on out are going to be with Dear Future, so look them up. We’ll see you soon.

WEEK 3 – “It ain’t lobster and caviar every night, boys”

(Photo Credit Creigh Lyndon)

There is sometimes a misconception that we live the lives of badass rock stars on the road.  There is nothing farther from the truth. While we do get to play every night and see lots of different parts of the country, there are much more difficult parts that lots of people don’t ever get to see.  There are some hellacious overnight drives that we have to do.  There are nights when you don’t want to play a set, because you haven’t had a day off in weeks and your body and mind are just simply worn out.  There are nights when you crave your own bed. There are nights when you miss your family, your bed, your significant others.  And then there are those days…when your van breaks down in St. Louis, MO.