Anyway.  We’ve been hard at work in our own little studio tracking and mixing two of our songs to present to you all soon!  Dave and I made the scenic journey out to beautiful Rhinebeck, NY last week to visit good friend, former bandmate, and exceptional engineer Eli Walker at Clubhouse, Inc, which has to be one of the coolest places on the face of the earth.  We spent an evening/night/early morning/mid-morning tracking drums for some of our newest tunes, and we were thrilled with the results.  It was truly a treat to work with Eli’s ears and expertise, not to mention the Clubhouse’s enviable collection of gear worth more than our house (twice, at least), and we’re looking forward to getting to work on the rest of the instrumentals and vocals here at our studio soon!

In the meantime, we’re looking forward to finishing tracking for Caitlin Canty’s upcoming album in the next week or so, and hopefully finishing the mixing process shortly thereafter.  Things are sounding really great, and everyone’s excited about presenting the finished product sometime this spring!  Somehow, the band is still finding enough time to write and rehearse two new songs, hopefully to be debuted in the next two weeks.  More new music is on the way for our big gigs Pearl Street and The Iron Horse in this area, and hopefully at an area near you…

We’ve also been gigging extensively for the last three months, and the past two weeks have been no exception.  We had a blast playing with Jon Rodgers at PACE in Easthampton on February 27th, and we were thrilled to see many new fans from our recent gig at Mt. Holyoke College in the audience.  Jon’s set was a mesmerizing blend of complex chord structures, beautiful textural palettes from his array of tuned crystal wine glasses (which he played through a loop pedal so that he could then play guitar and sing on top of them… very cool), carefully crafted violin lines, and soaring melodies.  We hope to cross paths with him again soon!

The next night, we made the short 2 hour trek down to Providence, RI, to an up-and-coming new bar called The 201  in a very chic section of town.  Outside of the week I spent in Switzerland 10 years ago, I have never seen city streets so clean as they were outside the venue; I actually briefly considered eating my pre-gig PB&J bagel right off the sidewalk.  Inside, we found a great space for music, with a little dance floor to set up on, and a helpful sound man to plug everything in for us.  We played in between sets from two different local bands, both of whom were excellent, and very friendly dudes to boot.

Finally, after a few days for R&R and one for intense rehearsal, we drove up to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) in North Adams, right near our old stomping grounds of Williamstown.  Energized by the familiar surroundings, we played one of our stronger sets to an enthusiastic crowd, and in a room that sounded like what I imagine playing in Giant Stadium might sound like (at least from the drum throne), despite its relatively modest size.  I’m attributing the big sound to the big ceiling, which looked like an over-sized cement version of one of these, and was at least 25′ over our heads.  I think we need to play more venues with Space-Coupling ceilings.

Stay tuned for more soon!  We’ll be posting a couple of tracks for streaming enjoyment in the next week or so… we can’t wait!

1. All players must throw at the same time on “shoot”.
2. Representative hand signals must be clear…none of that crumple-fisted “scissors made out of rock” twaddle.
3. Rock defeats Scissors; Scissors defeats Paper; Paper defeats Rock.
4. Fire cannot be thrown.  This is old school: only Rock, Paper, and Scissors.
5. After all players have thrown on “shoot” it is time to collect points.  Each player looks around the circle and collects 1 point for each person that he/she has defeated.  For instance, if I throw paper, I will collect a point for each rock thrown by other players in the circle.  All players count points in this way.
6. The first player to tally up 5 points wins a round.
7. The winner must win by 2 points.
8. The winner of each round earns the first pick among the remaining beds, and removes himself/herself from the following rounds.
9. Rounds are played until all players have chosen respective beds.
10. Dave is interested in the couch more than the twin beds.
11. Don is wondering if he can strike a deal by choosing a double-bed before the game starts—that way he takes himself out of the running for the queen beds and the couch (what we might call the “extremes”).
12. The answer is no, Don.

And that concludes the rules!  Post and let us know how your own group games go.  As the old adage goes, where two once often tangoed in order to solve small disputes, five certainly had more fun thinking of a new way to allow five to tango, and still bickered about the sleeping situation after the game ended.

Don: I don’t know, you can only do so much before the quality just goes way down…by the end of a gig I feel like I’ve put everything into it, and I’m just done.

Dave: By the end of a gig I feel ready to start a gig.

Auyon suggested a compromise wherein the band plays half a gig, goes home to record, and then comes back to finish the gig later.

At this point I shut the door, so I don’t know what they decided.

The End.

Pro: The venue was a candy shop. Jars of individually wrapped, brightly-colored bits of high-fructose corn syrup lined the walls. It was a free-for-all.

Con: The candy shop had closed down a few weeks prior, and we were the last event before the owner leased the place out. Due to various additional publicity obstacles, including us not knowing anyone in Westfield and computer viruses that send pornography out to all of your facebook friends, the band outnumbered the crowd.

Outcome: We drowned our sorrows in chocolate-flavored licorice and Heineken. Two thumbs up, but now Sam’s diabetic.

1/30: Wilbraham & Monson Academy, Wilbraham MA

Pro: Our first gig at a private school was advertised as an “Enrichment Credit Opportunity.” The kids came out in droves.

Con: In order to fit us into a distraction-free space, the school snack bar shut down until the following morning. Disappointment ensued.

Outcome: The school provided us with large plates of brownies and cookies, which we graciously shared with the kids. Dave accidentally said  the word “bitch” during Devil Went Down to Georgia, making good on the enrichment promise of the poster. We left the school knowing we had made a difference.

2/5: The Paramount Theater, Rutland VT

Pro: We were treated like rockstars. Free hotel rooms for two nights, a radio spot, and a gig with our favorite singer/songstress Caitlin Canty in a gorgeous, 800-person historic theater. The crowd was spectacular and the show solidified Vermont as a favorite gig destination.

Con: We had to leave.

Outcome: Wannagoback.

2/6: The Basement, Northampton MA

Pro: Our first show with the Iron Horse Group with our good friend Jay Bethea was a huge success. The crowd was filled with familiar faces and people were excited about the new sound. Pretty girls and cheap beer abounded.

Con: Jay bullied us into going out afterwards, saying that we needed to celebrate and that we could “go home and drink chamomile and talk about our feelings” some other time.

Outcome: We don’t remember what happened last night, but it was good.

It is late afternoon, and the front door of the Darlingside abode shuts with an ominous thud. A desolate silence descends. Shadows gather and arachnids crawl out from their hiding places.

Yes, tonight is gig night once again, and the house and I are left to enjoy each other’s meager company. Every few minutes a trivial sound shatters the stillness*. The whir of the heating system, the creak of a beam — unfamiliar, threatening sounds. Under standard conditions, they have no hope of competing with the baseline level of aural stimulation.

Already demoralized, I eat a solitary dinner and resolve to pass the time calmly until the dish fairy’s nightly arrival. These supernatural visits are fortunate as well as miraculous, because during a rigorous gig week, the five talented musician-dishwashers have too much on their plate to wash it too. No matter! With the help of our magical friend, a day’s worth of kitchen debris vanishes, practically in the twinkling of an eye.

But now the atmosphere is lifeless as a tomb. I brush my teeth and take a shower. Purposelessly, I venture from my room, bristling as Auyon doesn’t make fun of the shirt I’m wearing. I head toward the living room and trip over the absence of Harris’s guitar. Our eggplant-colored couch is a miserable sight to behold, seemingly bereft of its very soul. Sympathy compels me to assure it that Dave and his computer will be back soon.

Sigh. Neither Don’s incomprehensible jokes nor Sam’s sardonic comments relieve the oppressive silence. I sit down gingerly on the other sofa, feeling strangely exposed amidst the vastness of unbroken surface area. With growing unease, I notice a disturbing room-wide deficit in the number of Pyrex measuring cups occupied by soggy tea bags. I suppress my inquietude and begin to read.

The sepulchral night stretches on. When I seek the oblivion of sleep, the house endures alone, articulating its anxiety with violent creaks and groans.

In time, the triumphant band will make its late-night entrance: perhaps in a fanfare of celebratory trumpets, perhaps just approximating the volume thereof. Invertebrates will retreat into corners and artificial illumination will fill the rooms. The house will breathe a heartfelt, though inaudible, sigh of relief.

*“literally”

Don and Dave performing at Toad. Photo courtesy Anand Jagannath

Having just played in Cambridge back in December with Caitlin Canty, to much the same crowd, this gig afforded us a particularly good opportunity to mark our progress over the last month, both with regards to the direction our music has taken and our general ability to perform it. In both respects it felt like we were a different band than we’d been back at Lilypad, and the audience seemed to agree. To be fair, we also had the advantage of playing to a more energetic, less sober crowd than was at the Lilypad show, which definitely didn’t not help. I even found out later that one front-row table of our friends was playing their own Darlingside drinking game, with rules like: Drink when two bandmates share a loving look; Drink when Auyon leans too far back, or when Harris’ leg starts to go crazy; Drink when Don says something particularly awkward, or when Dave makes a joke that nobody understands; Drink when Sam says anything at all. Sam, you recluse you.

Thanks a lot to Auyon’s friend Anand for snapping some great photos from the show, which you can see here.

After our set, we had a fantastic time hanging out with our Cambridge/Boston friends while the David Wax Museum performed their final show as Toad’s resident band. Their set was both fun and emotional, and at times powerfully charged; sometimes they quite literally took over the room such that it was impossible not to listen. It was great sharing the stage with them, and we’re hoping to bring them up to Northampton for another joint show in the near future.

We can’t help but enjoy the fact that our two Cambridge gigs thus far have been at “Lilypad” and “Toad,” which of course practically requires us to make stupid puns about how the second gig really “jumped off” of the first one, or about how “toads are technically terrestrial, so this would never happen in real life.” (Some of us were biology majors.) In keeping with that level of sophistication, we’re pleased to announce that the fable has a new twist: The Lucky Dog in Worcester, MA, where we played on Wednesday. What I’m thinking, maybe counter-intuitively, is that the dog is actually lucky because it DIDN’T eat the toad (maybe because the toad, having jumped off the lilypad just in time, is now safely underwater?). Many species of toad are actually quite poisonous, and dogs have been known to die from eating them. Please feel free to post your alternative theories below.

Oh, you actually wanted to hear about how the gig went…

Well, we had been warned, a few nights prior to the gig, that the Lucky Dog was a “metal biker bar” and that we shouldn’t expect a “good reception.” When we mentioned Worcester to The David Wax Museum, the response was something like pity. It was also the venue’s “free night” — essentially a brief audition to see if we were good enough to come back and play a paid gig. Our expectations adjusted accordingly, we were relieved when a lone female singer-songwriter kicked off the night, and with a great set at that. It was Misty Boyce, from NYC, and her sound ranged from edgy pop to gritty indie rock, and she was cute and funny to boot. She was followed by the hard-rock band Theoryshift, five really nice guys based out of Boston who fully utilized the catwalk-esque thrust part of the stage, as well as the upper range of their volume knobs. We followed Theoryshift with as much energy as we could bring, and were very well received by the crowd and the owner, who’s looking to have us back to open for his own band, which apparently always packs the place. Will Gattis was next, a wonderfully entertaining singer-songwriter down from Portland, ME, who is too easy to compare to Ben Folds, but really has his own quirky thing going on that I thought was great. Following Will was The Mile Run, two very friendly dudes rocking as hard as possible on acoustic guitars with raw, intense vocals that reminded me of Manchester Orchestra’s harder stuff (in a good way). The vibe throughout the night was one of friendship and mutual triumph, with some metal-biker-bar vibes mixed in, and a fair amount of vintage pornography vibes in the men’s room.

So, the Dog turned out to be very Lucky indeed, and we all had a great night and got to hear some really cool acts; hopefully we’ll find a way to hook back up with some of them for future shows. Meanwhile, Caitlin will be back in Hadley tomorrow to continue working on her upcoming EP, and we’ll be getting ready for the Haiti relief show in Rutland, VT this Friday. No animal-related venue names in the foreseeable future, so whatever happened between the Toad and the Dog — and really, it’s none of our business — the next chapter is a ways off.

Until next time,
Dave

Silk City Tap Room was a good old-fashioned bar gig. It was great to stretch out a little and play a full hour set, bringing some older material back into the fold and debuting a very new song, tentatively called “Malea.” Our music seemed well received, and we definitely had lots of fun. We were psyched to see familiar faces from some previous local gigs (recurring patronage seems like it has to be a good sign). Even our kind landlady stopped in to hang out! We got help on the mixing board from members of the band “Wyld Stallyns,” who came on after us to regale the party people with our old favorites from the mid-90’s pop-rock catalogue. We made friends with some high-proof tequila representatives. Obviously mistaking us for athletes, they bestowed a variety of sweatband products and even basketballs upon us (see pic). They even made a half-hearted attempt to flirt with us until they realized we were more interested in Rubik’s cubes than girls.

Darlingside does not endorse the use of skinny black ties

Radio Bean was another big milestone for us as our first 400+ mile trip, and we did it in style. And by “style” I mean a big unmarked van rental. After driving around the small streets of Burlington looking more than a little sketchy (“we don’t have any lollipops, leave us alone!”), we arrived at the venue. Radio Bean surprised us first by having our tiniest stage yet, and second by having the coolest crowd we’ve yet experienced. We got set up with 2/3 of Sam’s kit on the riser, Auyon and Harris spilling off the edge, and Dave and I swordfighting throughout the night with our long-necked instruments (why does everyone smirk when I say that?). The coffee shop atmosphere segued seamlessly into a sophisticated bar scene, and the patrons were extremely receptive listeners. We found a metal bowl on a pedestal with undergarments in it that we somehow realized was the tip bowl. It got admirably refilled, albeit with more traditional tipping fare, and we proceeded to make friends with med students from UVM (even in the great white North, you can still be delighted to find clusters of Williams alum-dom). We then managed to get our silly on from the two comp drinks we received at the bar and ended the night RPS’ing for couches at Casa Andrew Eyre (a very schwank place to crash that we probably didn’t deserve– thanks again Andrew!).

More to follow shortly (hopefully not by me, for all y’allse’s sake) on the rest of this week’s tour (Toad in Cambridge, the Lucky Dog in Worcester).

Recap Notes:
RPS: Rock-Paper-Scissor
“more interested in Rubick’s cubes than girls [sic]”= not strictly true, although it’s a close call, Dave having spent the van ride up split evenly between “sexting” and finishing his cube in the light from the phone
“sexting”= what I am willing to assume people are doing whenever they ignore me and type on their little gadgets

“The unique combinations of instruments were mesmerizing. Every song was unexpected … as soon as the six-song show was over everyone wanted more … Their music was so powerful and beautiful … I can see them going far.” — Dominique Exume, Williams Record

We’re really thrilled to be featured in the Record, and a million thanks to Dominique for her kind words (and for coming out to the gig!). We really enjoyed our first-ever interview, and we noticed that we’re actually really good at being interviewed, because we do things like think outside the box, like when we answer totally different questions than the ones we’re being asked, or when we ramble for as long as possible on obscure tangents while our interviewer is shivering in the cold. We’re the biggest thing to hit interviews since case studies. Since verbal reasoning skills. Since Katie Couric.