West Coast Memories: Chico

My main memory of Chico is the HEAT. Man it seemed like every time SCI played here it was insanely hot. I guess it must have always been summer when we passed through. I do remember playing a show with our friend Dar Williams here at some strange, long barn thing. Dar was totally cool and her keyboard player rocked. I dug what they were doing. Before the show I think we all snuck away to some watering holes along a river and soaked for a long while.

And there was one super hot night at the Senator Theater where we played "Oye Como Va," the Santana tune, a rare play for us. It's funny because on some of these tours each band member would make the setlist for the night and, as I look back at these shows, I wonder who made the each list. You can kinda can tell by openers and closers and overall flow in the set. It can be a tough to make the list. Especially with five other opinions flying round.

So this is the show closer for my West Coast run with JBB. It has been so much fun. They are great guys and they sound killer. I can’t believe it's over. But we will hook up with them again at the Boulder Theater in couple weeks.

Come on out tonight and try some Hop Bam Ale at Sierra Nevada. It's going to be a great tour closer with beer and music and I imagine the temperature will be less of an issue this time around with Sierra Nevada on board.

West Coast Memories: Lake Tahoe

Tahoe was always the stop into or our of California tours. We played a few small clubs in those early years. The first one I played was Humpty’s. When we first played there, I was so new to the group that I did not know all the songs. So I would sit out for a few each night. I forgot which tunes, probably "Black Clouds" or bluegrass ones like that. But that was cool with me because I was able to hang out, get a beer, and meet fans. In fact, it was at these shows that I meet a lot of early California cheese fans.

We played a daytime show outside with Leftover Salmon one summer. I remember picking Mark Vann's brain about how to emulate a banjo roll on the keyboard. It was a trip to figure out how to finger all those notes on the piano. And honestly, I never quite got it. But it was always a good time hanging with the Salmon guys.

So many winter stops for skiing and summer stops for mountain biking. I love this area. Looking forward to getting outside again when we are there.

West Coast Memories: San Francisco

Ahh San Francisco…wow. This was one of the first stops I had on my virgin tours with the SCI gang. After a huge drive from Telluride in “Jean Claude Band Van” (the first of Cheese vehicles), we stayed right on the Bay at a friend’s condo. I woke up to a gorgeous view of boats and water. In Fact, it was that morning, when Kang and I were out on a Boston wailer trolling around , that he popped the question, “would you consider joining us full time?” I loved the idea, but was a bit booked up with other projects. What was I thinking! But eventually I cleared my schedule (like for the next 25 years).

I think it was on that run that we hit Great American Music Hall. It was an amazing venue with its gold leaf balconies and classic ambiance. Then later we played the Fillmore. I remember kind of flipping out to see the “Jerry” room in the backstage area at The Warfield. So much great music had come through these places. It was an honor to be on those stages. The Bay Area was always receptive to SCI. And it will be awesome to be back in this room again, like coming home.

West Coast Memories: Santa Cruz

Heading to Santa Cruz tonight. SCI played Palookaville and The Catalyst in those early days. I remember wandering the streets checking out the music stores and markets. One time while we were there a small earthquake hit. We were all sleeping in Bussy, in a random parking lot as usual, and the bus started to sway. I awoke to a jostled band and spilled water bottles, but no worse for the wear.

I have a vague recollection of us playing a gig in a garage with Keller somewhere in town. I think it belonged to a friend of ours, Frank. In fact I think he did all the great woodwork on the inside of Bussy. That must have been an early rendition of the Keller and SCI collaborations. I’ll have to go check out those tapes. Looking forward to getting back there I love this city.

West Coast Memories: LA

LA was a hard market to break into. The first few times, we played a club called The Troubadour. Cool vibey spot with lots of great history, but the crowd, many years ago, was not impressed with our improvisational style. We got more than a few blank stares. It was hard to get it going when the crowd was not into it. But all that has changed and now we have a great connection with the fans there. The Hulaween 2002 show was off the hook. It was our “Academummy Awards” that year. We did a “Dead Rock Stars”-themed show. Each band member sang a song from one of the many deceased rock stars in history. I sang “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. I remember searching for the perfect mustard-colored cardigan sweater and trying to get the wig to fit just right. It was fun to try to emulate Kurt's mumbled lyrics, and standing at the front of stage like all the cool guitar guys was awesome. Overall, as far as theme shows go this was one of our better forays.

But the highlight for me was talking about psychedelics with Rod Roddy, from The Price Is Right, back stage. Sounds like he lived a long and adventurous life. Long live Roddy!

I’m ready to rock LA again. Hope to see ya there.

Kyle

West Coast Memories: San Diego

Heading to San Diego tonight. KHB is playing the Belly Up. SCI performed there the year that I joined (1997). Man, that was a whirlwind year. I just looked back at all the dates and there seemed to be no downtime at all. We were serious road dogs back then. We had just come from a long run starting in Gainseville, FL, through New Orleans, Houston, Santa Fe and Flagstaff. So I have scattered memories of that gig, but I do remember walking randomly on the railroad tracks looking for a laundromat (I probably never found one). Also, that night, I met a keyboard player that I had admired from my Baltimore days. He played with a band called New Potato Caboose. They were a great group that fell into the early “jam band” genre. The keyboard player would do this killer percussion jam on his Hammond B3 with the drummers - very inspiring.

SCI has come back many times since then though. I recall a great show at the RIMAC Arena in 2002. I’ve heard that the “San Jose” from that show was pretty slamming. We also played with RatDog in 2006 at the park. That whole run with them was so much fun. I had a blast talking and jamming with all the guys. Plus I got to dance my ass off watching their set every night. I am psyched to in SoCal. again and looking forward to another great night of music.

Out West Again

Well, I’m heading to the West Coast again. It’s been a while since I’ve been back there with my solo project. I'm looking forward to a week of Pacific Coast hospitality. When traveling with SCI, this was one of the first places I played on tour. I remember coming down into the Bay Area after a grueling, 26-hour drive from Boulder. It was like wandering into Wonderland. Everything was green, lush and so foreign to my cold Colorado winter.

I had never been to the Pacific Coast before and I was amazed at this land of the counter culture, Haight-Ashbury and the roots of the “Jam” culture. I had never seen a Whole Foods, met a vegan or walked through giant redwoods. And driving on Route 1 was spectacular, but always a bit unnerving, while at the wheel of a 32-foot ski bus named Bussy. That time was an awakening for me, not just musically, but also personally.

We played many cities and venues in those early tours, from San Diego to Seattle. It was a blast to leave my day job and join forces with this super vibrant, energetic crew of freaks. With Kristen the “merch goddess” and JonO our sound man, we traveled the West trying to convert young open-minded people to our musical style.

In the next few days, I’ll be posting on Facebook about my memories from early SCI gigs in each of my West Coast stops on this KHB tour.

I Hope you can tune in.

Kyle

Split Universes

Here I am sitting at home again after a few whirlwind weeks. It’s so wild to go from being a musician on stage in front of lots of people one day, to doing dishes and laundry the next. Quite the dichotomy going on in my life. Honestly though, I really enjoy the split Kyle universes. At times I am able to be home and spend time with the family, but I also get the release of playing music. And for me it's not necessarily just the playing of my instrument, but it's the addiction of performing on stage. I find sometimes I miss the energy I get from being in front of people. Yeah I know, kind of weird, but it's like I was wired to be an entertainer. Even from a young age I was a clown. From performing as a magician at the family dinners, to doing local musicals and TV shows. I always wanted to get up into the lights. And at age nine I decided that I wanted to be a “rock star." I would practice singing in front of the mirror with the brush and even pretend to answer questions from Rolling Stone. But at some point I realized I needed to actually play an instrument to be a rock star and since I was already taking piano lessons at that time, that made the most sense. Certainly not as cool as guitar, and definitely not as rocking, but I enjoyed it. And I got attention…ahh, I guess that’s what it was all about.

So I dig this strange life. And I am able to balance “dad” with “stage guy” pretty well now. Although sometimes I still find myself singing in the mirror with a brush, but at least this time I am doing it with my daughter.

I am heading out to my favorite coast again with my band, KHB. We are hitting Bellingham, Seattle, Portland and Lake Tahoe, this Thursday through Sunday. It’ll be nice to get on the road again and play some club dates (and drink great beer!). See ya in the Northwest this week! Also, I have included a link to a tune, "Rosie," that was played for the first time at the SCI Winter Carnival shows. I did a bit of a remix to it and added some new elements as well. Check it out, I hope you enjoy.

[soundcloud width="100%" height="81" params="" url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/12788650"]

The Thin Line

Well I am back home decompressing (and detoxing) from the last West Coast run. All I can say is “WOW”. What a great experience. From the beaches of San Diego to the trees of northwest, the West Coast is an amazing place to tour. There were some long days in the van, but we would each take turns driving and picking the tunes. I got turned on to a lot of great music from other people's iPods; bands like Stereo Lab and Tortoise...there are a lot of great sounds out there The weather was mostly cooperative and the crowds were very accepting. It is always tough to tour on a new CD. The fans do not know the tunes yet and it can be a challenge to woo them over, but I was pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of my new songs. There is a fine line I have to ride between playing older stuff and trying out the new material, but I guess that is part of the deal.

We all had a blast playing with Zach Gill. I really dug his sound and his incredible stage presence. He is a great songwriter and performer. And the dual keyboard encores were a lot of fun. I hope to do it again with him soon.

The beer was awesome as well. I visited Stone Brewery in San Diego. This place has to be one of my favorite breweries in the country. I love the beer, but the restaurant is an event unto itself. With botanical gardens and waterfalls, Stone ranks (in my book) a must see in Southern California.

On the way up north, I stopped by a friend's brewery in Fairfax CA, called Iron Springs.  We came in for some lunch and beers. Mike Altman has done a great job up there and I was impressed by the wide selection. The Casey Jones Imperial IPA was tasty.

Lastly, I spent some time over at the Deschutes pub in Portland. I met about a dozen fans and we had beers and food and then went on a brewery tour together. There are some good folks up there. And Deschutes took very good care of all of us. They rock!

So the show is still on the road. We hit the East Coast in November going from Burlington, VT, down to Athens, GA. There will be plenty of more great shows to be had and beers to be drunk.  So we will see you out there.

Check out some new videos from tour on my YouTube Channel.

Kyle

Heading West

I am still reeling from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It was awesome. I visited a lot of my favorite breweries and I discovered a bunch of new ones as well. I've been to the festival in the past, and it always seemed as if everyone there had a big head start on me. People were stumbling around with pretzel necklaces and screaming for their hometown beers. This time it seemed more reserved, more about the beer. I dug it. Speaking of great beer I am heading to the land of microbreweries. I'm taking my band out to the West Coast. I'm super psyched. There's always a rockin' crowd out there, plus they have an ocean which is hard to find here in Colorado. This time I am touring with Zach Gill from ALO/Jack Johnson; great keyboard player & genuinely a cool dude. Both of our bands will play full sets and we hope to get some dual keyboard jam time in as well. Come join us for one (or more) of the shows on the West Coast next week!

And of course I am going to visit some more breweries along the way. Next stop is Stone Brewing near San Diego, in Escondido. I met the founder at GABF and I will be stopping by his Brewery & Bistro next Tuesday, October 6th. Then I head up to Iron Springs outside of San Fran on the 11th and finally Deschutes in Portland on the 17th. Everyone is welcome to join me for a meet & greet at these select breweries. I am looking forward to getting a chance to see how the good stuff is made. Lets drink tasty beer and play delicious music!

Check out this video of KHB and guests at the Fox (many more will be added to my YouTube Channel, stay tuned):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjDvKozCmgE&hl=en&fs=1&]

Here are all the upcoming dates:

October dates are co-billed with Zach Gill

October 7 Winston’s Beach Club San Diego, CA

October 8 The Mint Los Angeles, CA

October 9 SOHO Restaurant & Music Club Santa Barbara, CA

October 10 The Independent San Francisco, CA

October 11 HopMonk Tavern Sebastopol, CA

October 13 The Red Fox Tavern Eureka, CA

October 14 WOW Hall Eugene, OR

October 15 The Triple Door Seattle, WA

October 16 Wild Buffalo Bellingham, WA

October 17 Mississippi Studios Portland, OR

November 11 Club Metronome Burlington, VT

November 12 Sullivan Hall New York, NY

November 13 The 8x10 Baltimore, MD

November 14 The Khyber Philadelphia, PA

November 15 Capital Ale House Richmond, VA

Following November dates are co-billed with Ryan Montbleau Band

November 17 Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC

November 18 The Pour House Music Hall Raleigh, NC

November 19 The Pour House Charleston, SC

November 20 The Garage at Biltmore Asheville, NC

November 21 New Earth Music Hall Athens, GA

December 12 Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO