Blue Island Tribe

The Warehouse Sessions

2011-07-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Hello?

Check..... Is this thing on?

Ok.

Since we are getting closer to this summer's BIT shows we thought it would be good to fire up the 'ole blog again.

BIT members live all over the country so getting together to practice is not always easy. Its been basically a year and a half since any of us have played these songs so we have recently started trying to remember our parts and get ready for the shows. This first blog of 2011 is just a little peak inside the minds of BIT. Below is a recent email from Brando to the rest of the band. In 2008, right before our tour of Japan and Korea we rented a warehouse in Downtown Waterloo to practice, write, and get ready for the upcoming tour. This was probably BIT's most productive period. We could do a whole blog on the warehouse alone (it didn't have a working bathroom, or A/C, but it did have homeless people, frequent visits from the police, and a very close proximity to the river during the floods of 2008). The time we spent there was awesome and we all have very fond memories of it.

Here is the email:
******************
BIT-
KP, Garrett and I got together tonight for a little run through. Overall I think it went better than expected. Personally, I remembered all the old songs without any problem. From "5 Hits" forward it got a little more difficult but I think we figured out most of the parts. Afterwards I wondered if I had any old chord sheets laying around. Turns out I found a pad of paper from the Warehouse that was full of chords and stuff. From this pad of paper I found such classic hits as Warehouse Bacon, Warehouse Sickel, Warehouse Clone, Warehouse Cops, Down (Treading Water), Sublime, and Ecstasy.

Bacon turned into "Down"
Sickel turned into "March On" (this was also titled "The March" at one point")
Clone turned into ?????? (I wrote down "sounds similar to endless summer" so who knows)
Cops turned into "Drop Out"
Down (Treading Water) turned into a long lost BIT hit. (I remember the chorus going "down, down, down.....")
Sublime turned into "Jump and Shout"
and Ecstasy turned into "Ecstasy". (I didn't find it but I also remember calling this 5 Hits... because of the intro and thus the reason for the title of the album)

I scanned them all and have included them on this email. You might have to zoom in a little but I think they are pretty brilliant. I also wrote down "licorice & beer, titties & vag" on one of the pieces of paper for some reason. I don't remember why but I'm sure it was awesome. Oh, to be young and awesome again!

Enjoy!
BC
*******************

These pieces of paper are from when we were writing "5 Hits of Ecstasy" and hopefully it gives you a little picture of our minds and the writing process. These songs were in their early stages and we didn't have lyrics for them yet. We had to call them something so we ended up with the above titles. We called "Warehouse Bacon" that, because 1)we were in a warehouse and 2) we thought the song was "tasty"... like bacon. We called "Warehouse Cops" that, because the warehouse thing and we were writing this song and the cops came in. They were very nice, told us to turn down the noise, asked us to play a song so they could listen, and then left. We played them what turned into "Drop Out" and therefor called it "Warehouse Cops". Jump and Shout started out as "Sublime" because the intro to the song is very Sublime-ish. And on and on. Pictures are below...

BIT on WHOTV

2010-01-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

Thank You to everyone who came out to the meet and greet yesterday. We had a blast and hope you all did too. We will try to get the tour video that we showed up on the blog asap. For now, here is a news segment that aired last night on WHO 13.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 17/18: Kuwait Day Off – Travel Home

2010-01-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is technically our first and only “day off” on this tour. It’s the only day we aren’t playing a show or traveling. Our flight home leaves at 1am so it’s only “technically” a day off. We spent most of the day relaxing, buying “trinkets”, and catching up on sleep.

We left for the airport around 8:30 pm because we were warned and warned about the increased security. Fortunately and unfortunately the security was no problem at all. We were thankful that we didn’t spend hours standing in line and getting searched but at the same time its not surprising somebody could sneak a bomb on the plane when security was so relaxed. At our first checkpoint, the two “screeners” weren’t even paying attention; instead they were on the phone the whole time. As we all “beeped” without having to go back through the metal detector we were thrilled; only later did it dawn on us that if it was that easy for us to get on the plane it would probably be that easy for a terrorist to get on too. Not real comforting.

Our first flight was the brutal one. It was a 14-hour flight from Kuwait to Washington D.C. Unfortunately; our seats were in economy, definitely not as comfortable as our previous two first class flights. We arrived to D.C. around 6am on Saturday morning, had to go through customs and another couple of rounds of security and then boarded a 7:30am flight for Chicago. Our flight was late leaving the gate in D.C. so we got to Chicago late and had approx. 20 minutes to meet our connecting flight… Everybody got off the plane and sprinted to our next gate two terminals over… as we approached we saw the “delayed” sign and we all breathed a big sigh of relief. We ended up getting on the final flight about 11am.

So… after 9 countries (including airports), 12 shows, 14 flights, tons of new friends, and a million memories we are home safe. This was definitely a trip of a lifetime that none of us will ever forget. We want to thank AFE, all the “contacts” that escorted us around these foreign places, “you” for coming along with us on the trip, and especially all the Armed Forces stationed all over the world.

We are happy to be home for a bit but at the same time none of us were ready for the tour to end… we just had way too much fun.

Our first little dose of “reality” came as we were getting off the plane in Des Moines. Our stewardess got on the microphone and said; “If you have a jacket you might consider putting it on… it is currently -15 degrees outside”…. We'd like to think that this is just Iowa’s way of saying “Welcome Home”.

One last picture with our Security, Brad and Dave.

Rip-It!!!!!

Chris getting arrested.

We have lots more pictures and videos that we will be posting in the next few days so check back soon!!!

*Announcement

2010-01-04T15:40:00.001-08:00

We will be hosting a very informal "meet & greet" this coming Saturday, Jan. 9th at 5pm at AllPlay in Des Moines. It doesn't matter if you know us, don't know us, or even want to know us... we will be there to talk about our experiences on the tour, show off all the "cool stuff" we got, answer any questions you may have, and show more videos and photos than you could ever ask for. We welcome you to come out, say hello, and grab some food and drinks with us this Saturday night.

AllPlay is a family friendly restaurant/bar complete with huge arcade, climbing wall, great food, and a fun atmosphere. It is located one block south of Wells Fargo Arena at 615 3rd Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. For more info visit www.allplaydm.com

HERE is a link to the address on googlemaps.com

and HERE

Hope to see you there.

One more time....

Who: You and anyone you want to bring.

What: Blue Island Tribe Meet & Greet

Why: To answer your questions and show off our "cool stuff".

Where:

Allplay

615 3rd St.

Des Moines, IA 50309

When: Saturday, Jan. 9th 5pm

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 16: Kuwait – Camp Buehring

2010-01-04T05:35:00.001-08:00

Today is New Years Eve and we are playing a show at Camp Buehring, a base about 15 miles from the Iraqi boarder. This base is a base where everyone going into Iraq comes first. Most of the people here have been or will only be here for a few days at the most before they head north into Iraq.

Once we arrived to the base we had another Commander’s Call. Then we got a quick tour of the base before heading to sound check. We played on a huge outdoor stage in the middle of the base. During the afternoon it was beautiful out but at night in the desert it gets cold. We could definitely see our breath on stage but we are not complaining one bit because we know what the weather is like back home.

The show was one of the best of the whole tour. We worked up a cool “punk” version of Auld Lang Syne about 10 minutes before the show… That is one of the coolest things about being in the Blue Island Tribe; we can decide to play a song, spend 10-15 minutes figuring out everyone’s parts, and then play it during a show later that same night. It’s just those little things that make you feel real good and really enjoy doing what we are doing.

We did a countdown during the show and toasted our “near beer” (non-alcoholic beer). Since Kuwait is DRY we were given cases and cases of near beer. It is not good. This is unfortunately our last show of the tour... just when we were getting warmed up the tour ends... anyways all the shows were fun, some were just plain amazing, and we will never forget them.

After the show we took lots of pictures and signed lots of CDs. Each branch of the military has their own “call”, for example the Marines is “hoo-rah”. Blue Island Tribe’s has become “Rip-It”. Rip-it is an energy drink similar to RedBull or Monster but it has been given free to us most of the tour. We have all developed a "healthy" addiction to it and are definitely going to go through withdrawl when we return home.

For every picture we take, we take a nice one, and then a “Rip-It” one… early on in the tour the "Rip-It" photos were pretty tame but by this point in the tour we are full out jumping on and tackling each other...

When we got back to Camp Arifjan (where we stayed the whole time we were in Kuwait) it was about 11pm so our security, Dave and Brad, took us out on the base to celebrate the new year. We went to a "dance" that felt like a Jr. High dance but instead of the girls and guys being on different sides of the room, each girl had about 20 guys surrounding her. This was a very neat experience and we can't thank Brad and Dave enough for showing us a great time, the whole time we were in Kuwait!

Another Car Ride

More Camels

Another Commander's Call

Getting a tour of Camp Buehring

Near Beer!!! (non-alcoholic) Backstage

Sound Check

Getting "briefed" by Security Dave (he was probably telling a joke or giving us false information about something...) Also... notice Mike and Frey's hands.... "Rip-It"!!!

Check out the new Blue Island Tribe fatigues... we got patches that say "Blue Island Tribe", our last name, and we got a patch with our "flying leap" logo. They are pretty amazing.

The Show!

After show meet and greet

Rip-iiiiiiit!!!

Group Hug!

These guys really were awesome. We can't thank them enough for all the fun we had in Kuwait!

This is Coaxial. They were our sound crew for the week.

This is what happens when you go to a non-alcohol party on New Years Eve.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 15: Kuwait – Camp Virginia

2010-01-01T07:59:00.001-08:00

We got to sleep in again today before we were picked up at 1pm for a 1 and a half drive to Camp Virginia. These drives are still awesome. We aren’t quite as on “edge” as we were for the first few so now they are just fun.

We got to the venue at Camp Virginia around 3:30pm and did a quick sound check. Following that we met with the Commanders, took a nice tour of the base, ate with the Troops, and then hung out before the show.

One amazing thing about this trip is that we’ve been given little “mementos” at pretty much every place we’ve been to. We’re not talking about the plaques and coins but rather people’s personal property like boots, patches, shirts, etc…. but here we might have gotten the coolest gift any of us could have ever received on this tour; we were all given “Army Blouses”. They are super cool and we’ll get pictures of them up in the next blog.

The show went great. That has been kind of a theme for the whole tour; all of the shows have just been amazing. Each show gets more fun.

Little know fact: Kelly played basketball in College.

Commander Call.

This is William our MWR/AFE Contact at Camp Virginia.

These are our two security guards, Dave and Brad... more about them soon.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 14: Kuwait – “The Rock”

2010-01-01T07:52:00.001-08:00

We tried to sleep in today but our sleep schedule is so messed up most of us were up real early. We had a “commander call” at 1pm where we learned a bunch of very interesting stuff.

Did you know that US taxpayer money is not used for the bases in Kuwait? The Kuwaiti government invited and asked the US Govt. to establish a presence there following the 1991 invasion so they pay all expenses for the Troops. Other interesting facts about Kuwait; gas costs around .38 cents per gallon. Oil is pretty much their only “product”. The entire country is "DRY".... that means no alcohol... none... no where...

Following that meeting we loaded up in the SUVs and drove approx. 1 hour to “The Rock”. When we arrived the sound company “Coaxial” was already there with pretty much everything already set up for us. We just had to plug our instruments in and do a sound check. This venue is a very nice little “theatre”.

Following sound check we went and ate dinner with the Troops before heading back to the venue for the show.

After the show, we hung out for a while before loading back up in the SUV’s and heading back to Camp Arifjan to sleep.

US with our plaques following the Commander Call.

160 Km/h is 100 mph.... this is about how fast we were going on average.

Meet and greet after the show

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 13: Qatar to Kuwait

2009-12-31T00:10:00.000-08:00

Here we go… another day living in luxury. We got dropped off at the airport around 10am for our 1:30pm flight to Kuwait. We have finally discovered the best way to avoid all the hassle of traveling; just fly first class. We checked all our equipment and baggage without a problem (this was definitely the first place that didn’t even seem concerned/overwhelmed that we were there); from there they escorted us to the “first class terminal”. We had our own terminal to hang out in until the plane boarded.

This terminal was unbelievable. Whatever you wanted they had it and it was free. You want to take a nap? No problem, there’s plenty of beds in the “relaxation room”. Hungry? Ok, there’s a full gourmet buffet with beef medallions, sushi, shrimp, etc… Need a massage? That’s no problem either; the spa is over there complete with a hot tub. This whole place was crazy and it was also pretty evident that all of our incomes combined don’t equal the next lowest person’s in there.

We had a blast just soaking it all in and talking with all the people helping us out and waiting on us. They probably don’t see too many bands from America so we signed some CDs and took some pictures with them too.

We didn’t want to leave but since we were flying first class the plane wasn’t even that much worse. They drove us in a private bus from the terminal to the plane where we again got the royal treatment. Unfortunately, again it was a quick 1-hour flight before we landed in Kuwait.

We were met at the airport by Sam and Travis, our MWR Contacts, and a slew of other people including armed security. We got through customs easily and were off to the base. This was our first experience of driving in Kuwait and it sure was an exciting one. We had a convoy of 4 or 5 GMC SUVs all driving real fast and all being just a few feet away from each other. Anytime we turned or merged into traffic a security vehicle would block traffic and then speed up to catch us again. It was quite surreal.

We have seen lots of bad drivers on this trip. Starting in Bahrain where everyone drove hanging outside of their vehicle, to Djibouti where they just drive wherever the hell they want to, Qatar, where they just drive stupid, and finally in Kuwait, put all those other bad habits together and then increase the speed by about 75 mph. This place the drivers are insane. There are cars all over the side of the road and you can’t go 20 feet without seeing a guardrail that’s been destroyed.

At one point on the trip a Cadillac Escalade going 100+ mph tried to merge into our motorcade as we were getting onto an off ramp. The drivers didn’t budge and came within inches of a collision at atleast 100 mph. They made it through the turn before security took off after the other car going at least 120/130mph. We don’t think anything happened to them but we’re pretty sure our security scared the hell out of them.

This is our first experience with armed security, motorcades, and Kuwaiti traffic but so far it is awesome!

We got to the base around 5pm, took a quick tour, checked into our new “hotel” and had the rest of the day off to relax. Some of us went to a movie, some passed out, some called home, etc… it was nice to have a few hours to do whatever we wanted to. That has been extremely rare on this trip.

Loading up the gear again.....

First Class!!!!

This is the first class lounge with free everything...

The restaurant....

Amazing food

A fruit tray.... we know there was melon, dragon fruit, and strawberries. Other than that your guess is as good as ours.

What kind of airport has a spa/hot tub in it?

This is one of the many guys that got us anything we asked for. They were very nice and fun to talk to. It seemed like they didn't get too many people in there that looked or acted like us. They thought we were hilarious.

Onboard the private bus taking us from the terminal to the plane.

We'll get more (better) pictures and videos of the "motorcade" up soon but this is a taste. There is no zoom on this picture and we are going very fast. It really is cool.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 12: Qatar - Camp As Sayliaha

2009-12-30T23:36:00.000-08:00

7:30am came awful early this morning. We woke up, ate breakfast, packed up all our luggage and equipment before proceeding back through customs/security to leave the base. Just outside of the base Julie and William from Camp As Sayliaha met us. We transferred all of our gear into a van and truck and proceeded to Camp As Sayliaha, about a 30-minute drive away.

We arrived around 9:30 or so, checked into our new “hotel” and unloaded all of our gear and equipment. They had a full day planned for us that would be great on a normal day but the jetlag and lack of sleep from the day before was catching up with us. This was probably the peak of the deliria setting in and it was pretty evident. We pushed on through though with a tour of the base and several meet and greets.

We had another “commander call” at 1pm where we met Colonel Girard. She seemed like an amazing woman that most of us would have loved to just sit down and talk to for a much longer time. At the end of the commander call she ordered us to go get some sleep. Unfortunately, we only had about two hours before we needed to be at sound check so we all went and laid down just long enough to fall asleep before being woken up and hurried off to sound check.

Walking into the venue was quite the experience. From the outside the building looks like any other airplane hangar or big bulky building you would expect to see on a military base but when you open the door it is a completely different story. Immediately inside the door is an Irish pub, keep walking about 20 yards is a sports bar, and after that you’re at a very nice wine bar. All the way down at the end of this huge building is a giant US Flag with a stage right in front of it. It was a very cool setup.

Again the show went great, we signed CDs, took lots of pictures, watched some football (it was Sunday afternoon in the US), and then headed back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep.

With Whitney and Jeff before we left the first base in Qatar.

We've never seen a camel in the back of a truck... have you?

With our new "contacts" Julie and Erica

Another "Commanders Call". We make lots of important decisions at these tables...

With Colonel Girard

Is that James Brown or Rev. Al Sharpton in the background???

We were awarded plaques recognizing us for coming to the base. Col. Girard read the first plaque and then called out "Garrett Thielking".

Garrett looked around the room for atleast a couple seconds before he realized that his name had been called.

This got the whole room laughing and showed everyone how delirious we were. She told our contacts to take us back and put us in bed immediately.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 11: Qatar – Al Udeid Airbase

2009-12-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

Our contact, Whitney Oliver, picked us up from the airport about 7:30am or so. We cleared customs easily and went to the base. This base was by far the hardest to get onto. We had to go through checkpoint after checkpoint before finally having to take all of our gear out one by one in order for security to inspect it. This is a pain in the ass anytime but imagine doing this at 8am after a night of no sleep. At this point we were delirious enough to think that the whole thing was just hilarious.

We checked into our housing (basically a hotel) and all of us passed out immediately.

Most of us woke up around 3pm in order to get to our 4pm sound check. Overall, the setup was great but they were lacking some of the sound equipment. We had pretty much everything we needed minus a few microphones and microphone clips. We got creative and made it work (see pictures below).

After sound check we met with quickly with the Commander of the Base. He thanked us for coming, offered to buy us a round of drinks, and explained to us that there was a 3 drink “minimum” on the base. We all wondered if we heard what we thought we heard before Whitney stepped in and corrected him. He obviously meant “maximum” but for a minute we thought we had all hit the jackpot.

The show went great. Once again we got to hang out with lots of great people from all over the country before heading back to the “hotel” around 2 or 3am and went to bed for our 7:30 am wake up call.

Meeting with the Commander

the look of deliria

We used alot of tape that night...

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 10: Christmas Travel

2009-12-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! We woke up early again today and hit the pool/beach at the Resort for a few hours. It’s our last day in Djibouti and we are definitely sad to go.

+++++++++

A few things about Djibouti:
1) We have all gained about 10 pounds. The food here is amazing and FREE! We are definitely not skipping any meals.

2) It has been great to play 3 shows at one base because we have gotten to know these guys more so than at other bases where we only play one night. We recognize people night after night and have had the chance to really hang out and talk to a lot of people while we’ve been here.

3) Mr. James Hawkins is by far one of the best MWR/AFE Contacts we have ever had. We have had the time of our lives in Djibouti and most of it can be directly attributed to him. He has done everything we’ve asked of him plus about a million other things. We’ve also got about a million quotes from him that we’ll try to post soon (unfortunately, many of them cannot be posted). Anyways, we need to give a HUGE thank you to James and we definitely hope our paths cross again soon.

++++++++

James dropped us off at the airport around 4pm on Christmas Day to catch a 6pm flight out of Djibouti. Just like our troubles getting into the country leaving was way too hard. After about an hour and 45 minutes of customs/baggage checks/etc…. we all reached the gate. We weren’t happy to leave the base and James but we were thrilled to be out of the Djibouti airport.

Our first flight landed at Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia where we had a short layover. Approximately 11pm we got on a 4-hour flight to Dubai. We arrived in Dubai around 3am, had to deal with some baggage issues that the Djibouti airport screwed up, and then tried to get a little sleep before our 5:45am flight to Qatar.

It is definitely safe to say that at this point in the tour we all hate airports, airplanes, and just about anything that has to do with flying. These feelings are only intensified by all of our flights being over night.

We did get some good news though; our seats to and from Qatar were going to be in First Class. This was exactly what we needed to prevent us from killing ourselves at this point (maybe being a little dramatic here but not much).

The flight from Dubai to Qatar was the easiest flight any of us have ever been on. Full reclining seats, personal TVs, gourmet breakfast, etc… this was the first flight none of us wanted to get off of. Unfortunately, we were only on the plane for about an hour and a half before we landed in Qatar. This was a great end to a hectic day where we visited 4 airports in 4 different countries.

This is a picture of a gallows right outside the base that is said to still be in use.

This is the sign you see when leaving the base.

Pictures of us eating.... we did this alot.

One last photo with James before we left.

This must be taking off or landing because otherwise we were laying down flat

Breakfast

This is definitely the way to fly!

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 9: Camp Lemonaire Day 3

2009-12-28T07:36:00.000-08:00

Our 3^rd day at Camp Lemonaire was Christmas Eve. It sure didn’t feel like it because it was about 85 degrees and sunny all day but we aren’t complaining.

We woke up early and went to the venue to deal with some “sound” issues we were having. When we are playing we don’t hear what the crowd hears, it sounds completely different to us. Each of us wants to hear different things while we play… for example Mike wants to hear the kick drum, bass guitar, lead guitar and vocals. Someone else might only want to hear their instrument or the vocals, etc… This is called the “monitor mix” and is very important to a band. If we can’t hear what we are playing it’s not much fun. Anyways at this base we had struggled with it the first two shows. One minute the monitor mix was great and the next it sounded like we were playing in a tin can several miles away.

Long story short, their was a problem with the generator and once we got a new generator we all rejoiced. Around noon or so we left the base and went to the Kempinski Resort in Djibouti. We ended up spending most of Christmas Eve poolside and beachside just soaking up the sun.

In the evening we went back to the base for our 3^rd and final show. It was by far the best show while we were in Djibouti and probably one of the most fun shows we’ve ever played.

Driving through Djibouti on the way to the hotel. It's kind of hard to tell but people are just hanging out of the vans.

Djibouti Palace Kempinski

Inside

The Brothers Schminke

KP relaxing

Not a bad view

This was the softest bed any of us have ever been on.

On the beach

Mike and John looking for treasure...

A peaceful sunset Christmas Eve in Djibouti.

This is more accurate....

Christmas Eve show

This is Brooks from the Ammo Unit. We got him up on stage to sing "The General" by Dispatch.

These two guys were the real rock stars of the night. They might be the best two dancers we've ever seen. Ever. Frey called them up on stage and is "presenting" them with CDs because we had to stop playing because we were laughing so hard.

This just shows a tiny, tiny glimpse of their energy. The one on the left did "the worm" across the stage frontwards......... and backwards. We all definitely learned some new dance moves.

Group Photo..... Thank You to Everyone that made that night sooooo much fun!!!

Go Hawks!!!

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 8: Camp Lemonaire Day 2

2009-12-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

Alright, get ready because today was a wild one. Djibouti has been one of the craziest experiences of our lives. We’re going to let the pictures do most of the talking but we’ll try to walk you through as much as we can.

We got to sleep in, woke up around 10am, ate lunch, and then went to the “Ammo Unit” where we got to “play” with all kinds of guns including 9mms, M-16s, other crazy machine guns, 50 caliber guns, and finally a fully automatic grenade launcher. We looked like kids in a candy store.

We received some “training” on Call of Duty 2 (this is a video game for all of those not familiar with it) and then played with more guns. This was a pretty unbelievable experience for all of us.

From the Ammo Unit we went over to the Airfield where we got the tour of our lifetime. “VQ-2” gave us a couple hour tour of their EP3 plane and explained as much as they could about what they do. They operate a “spy plane” so we could not take many pictures and most of the information cannot be talked about but they basically explained what they do and how they do it. We got to try on their gear and parachutes, sit in the cockpit and much, much more. We need to thank all the guys from VQ-2 for showing around and just being amazing.

If that isn’t enough for one day, after the airfield visit, we left base for a trip to a “Cheetah Refuge”. We drove through the outskirts of Djibouti that contain the poorest and dirtiest terrain most of us have ever seen. We spent about an hour at the Refuge looking at cheetahs, hyenas, turtles, gazelles, ostriches, and lots of other animals. After that we headed back to the base to play our second show.

We took some amazing photos in the ammo unit but we are unable to post most of them. We were given very strict orders not to post certain things so these are the photos that we were given the OK.

This is an automatic grenade launcher. It weighed about 4 million pounds.

Brothers in Arms.

Waiting to be taken to the airfield.... we do this alot on these tours

Apparently Malaria is a "thing" here.......

We were not allowed to take pictures in the airplane except for in the cockpit.

Frey decked out with the flight gear and a parachute

Cant we just stop and ask for directions?

Thanks to all the guys from VQ-2 and CRC-26. This was an experience none of us will ever forget!

After the tour of the airplane we left the base for the Cheetah Refuge. These are pictures of Djibouti. It is definitely a third-world country. We saw lots of camel and trash.

Welcome to the Cheetah Refuge.

This is what the branches of the tree above looks like up close.

BIT with James.

It only took us traveling half-way across the world to find people more stupid than we are.

Hyenas

Gizzlettes (Baby Gazelles)

Chrissssssss and James

The one, the only, Mr. James Hawkins.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 7: Camp Lemonaire Day 1

2009-12-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Our morning wake up call came around 7:30am and we walked to the Galley to eat breakfast. After breakfast we just walked around the base for a while getting more familiarized with the place. We had a few hours to kill so we did a little shopping, drank some coffee, and took in all the sights and sounds.

After lunch we had a meet and greet with the Commanders of the base. They gave us a quick “briefing” of the whole operation, the history, their purpose, etc….. The meeting took place in a“war room”, literally. It was very surreal to imagine the heated conversations that have gone on in that room. We had a very informative meeting, took some pictures, and were presented with gold coins recognizing our trip to Camp Lemonaire. These guys are very good to have on your side so it’s nice for us to be able to go in and talk with them when we have a chance.

After our meeting, we went back to our CLU to relax for a little bit before heading to the venue for the show.

Overall, the show went great. We had a great crowd, met lots of amazing people, and got to hang out afterwards for a few hours. We are keeping today’s blog short and sweet because we have some HUGE ones coming

James showing us around the base

Us and the "head honchos" of the base

Commander Finn and Frey... This is kind of scary isn't it?

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

Yea… we know. Thank you for all the emails reminding us to write more blogs. During the last few days we have just been having too much fun to sit in front of a computer for more than a few minutes at a time. We have to do stuff in order to have something to write about otherwise we would just be blogging about writing a blog, and who wants to read that?

So... we are writing and organizing pictures as fast as we can…. It’s currently 3:30am and we have to be up at 7am but we are still up working so that hopefully we will have 3 or 4 new blogs up in the next 24 hours…… check back soon!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 6: Travel to Djibouti

2009-12-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

Some of us went to bed at 3pm, others at 6pm, and some of us didn’t sleep at all last night. Hussain picked us up at the hotel at 1am in order to catch our 4am flight. We got to the airport got all of our equipment through security and then proceeded to the ticket counter.

We think the airlines are reading the blog too because the guy at this ticket counter could smell fresh blood coming. He had a blast telling us all the wrong things and messing with us any way he could. He told us they only took cash…. he told us to go here, here, and here, and then started laughing really hard before he said he was just joking. We have often talked about how easy it would be for someone to just screw with us because we have no idea what we are doing and this guy got us good.

After we got all the bags checked and got our boarding passes we said good-bye to Hussain. We are going to miss him; he really helped us out a lot, and basically became part of the band for a few days. We’ve run into a bunch of good people that take care of us on these trips but he is definitely at the top of the list.

From there we got through security, grabbed some food, and went to our gate. The flight was fine and we got to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) around 8am. We had a few hours to kill so we found our gate and then wandered around for a bit. About 10:45 we decided to head back to our gate for our 11:30 flight. When we got there, the gate was empty and everyone was wondering where we had been. Apparently in Ethiopia when a flight says it leaves at 11:30, they mean it leaves the ground at 11:30, not the gate. We were definitely the last people on that plane but we made it.

After a quick 45-minute flight we landed in Djibouti. We got off the plane to sunshine and 90 degree weather. (We are not missing the terrible weather in Iowa if you were wondering.) We proceeded to customs where we encountered our first “problem” of the trip.

There was only one guy issuing visas to get into Djibouti and once again he was screwing with us only not in such a playful way. On our other stops our paperwork usually tells us what the fees and visas will be. Usually they aren’t very much and it’s not a problem but here our paperwork said nothing about the cost and when we arrived we found out the visa cost everybody $60 each. This was a problem because a lot of our money was still in Dinar and they wouldn’t take it. Collectively we had $435 US on us that in theory would cover the $420 visa cost for 7 people. However, he refused to take our $100 bills because they were not “new enough”. This really is a third world country so they didn’t have an ATM or credit card machine and we thought we were just screwed. After about an hour of going back and forth with this guy, while he laughed at us, he reluctantly took the $100 bills and we got out of there as fast as we could.

We were met by James and Tammy, grabbed our equipment, and took off for the base. We arrived at the base and this base is definitely another one of those “real” bases. It’s a little bit more developed than Sheik Isa but it’s along the same lines. We were issued security badges, grabbed some lunch at the “Bob Hope Galley”, dropped our equipment off at the venue, and then headed to our “rooms” to get situated. We are staying in CLU-ville (Container Living Units). They are old shipping containers that have been converted into living quarters. They are air-conditioned and fairly comfortable.

After unloading our bags we went on a quick tour of the base before heading back to get some rest. Some of us crashed at 5pm for the whole night while others met back up with James and headed to 11 Degrees North (The Venue - The base is located 11 degrees north of the equator, thus the name of the bar). They met some troops, had a few beers (3 drink max here), and then called it a night.

Another trip to the airport......

This is the guy that had some fun at our expense.... at 2am.

One last picture with Hussain.

Killing time in the airport.

The sunrise over Saudi Arabia. It was amazing!!!

This was our "living quarters" in Bahrain.

This is our "living quarters" in Djibouti.

Getting a tour of the base

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 5: Day off in Bahrain

2009-12-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Today was a day off so this morning Hussain picked us up from the hotel and took us all over Bahrain. We visited a Mosque. Unfortunately, it was closed due to a holiday but we still had a chance to walk around and get some pictures.

After that we went to a market where we were hounded to buy anything and everything. Fun Fact: There are more watches per capita in Bahrain than anywhere else in the world…… we made that up but every store in Bahrain is a watch store and everyone wants you to buy one. None of us bought a watch but we did buy lots of other things including t-shirts, rugs, jewelry, spices, etc…. and we only got screwed once. Chris spent about 5 minutes negotiating with a shopkeeper and eventually got the shopkeeper to come down from 4 dinar to 2.5. (actually Chris decided he was going to look around a bit but they refused…. They are very aggressive) The shopkeeper really wanted 3 dinar, he hesitantly came down to 2.8 and then finally very reluctantly came down to 2.5. Here is how the transaction went:

Chris handed the shopkeeper 10 dinar.
The shopkeeper handed Chris 7 dinar back.
Chris: “We agreed on 2.5 dinar.”
Shopkeeper: “We agreed on 3”.
Chris: “no, 2.5”
The shopkeeper then gave Chris .2 more dinar and said “we agreed on 2.8 dinar”.
Chris: “no, 2.5”
Shopkeeper: “no, 2.8”
Chris: “Well, that’s just mean.”

We continued to walk through the market, tried some very delicious deserts, and ended up at the Golden Souq. (Souq means “market”.) We spent an hour or so there before heading back to the hotel. When we arrived at the hotel we got some food, did some last minute “shopping”, and then most of us went to bed around 5 or 6 pm. We have a 4am flight and Hussain is coming to pick us up at 1am. It is sure to be another interesting day navigating airports as we head to Djibouti, Africa.

More Fun Facts: The stop lights have a yellow light before both the red and green lights.

The Mosque.

Other downtown buildings

World Trade Center

The market

A delicious dessert.... its a sweet warm jelly with nuts.

Kelly experimenting with new food..... this is rare!

nuts

spices

The Gold Souq

In 1923 dollar bills were made much larger.

This is the back of a 1914 $10 dollar bill. Andrew Jackson is on the front.

Front

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 4: Sheik Isa Airbase, Bahrain

2009-12-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then walked over to the base. We loaded into two vans and a truck and drove about 45 minutes to Sheik Isa Airbase. This base was an Air Force Base that was opened in 1991 during the initial Gulf War. It had been deserted for some time before the Army started to rebuild it recently.

When we arrived it immediately felt like a “real” military base, not that the other bases we have visited aren’t, but this one is what we all pictured in our heads before heading to the Middle East. At the gate, there was a huge Hummer with a “manned” machine gun on the roof. The whole base was very primitive and did not have any of the luxuries of most of the bases we have been on have had. Most of the original buildings are completely destroyed from the sun and sandstorms. We were met by SSG James Dooty who took care of us all day and escorted us around the base.

We unloaded all of the gear into what was basically an airplane hangar and then we took off for a tour of the base. We were initially supposed to play outside but the show was moved inside because it looked like rain was coming. We got to see their living quarters, a bunker, and then ended up in the Dining Facility. We had a quick lunch and then went back to the hangar to sound-check. After a pretty lengthy sound-check (trying to make a band sound good in an airplane hanger is not easy…. everything just sounds HUGE) we met lots of troops, played ping-pong, video games, and hung out most of the afternoon.

This whole base was cool. We met lots of great people from all different backgrounds. They are kind of out there in the middle of nowhere so we could really feel how much they appreciated us coming out there and we had a blast all day.

After the show we got to hang out for a while with the Troops before hopping in the vans and heading back to the hotel. Overall, today was an extremely fun and interesting day for us and we hope it was for everyone at Sheik Isa as well.

General Fun Facts about Bahrain:
Speed Limit on the freeway is 100 km/h
Gas costs around $0.65 per gallon
Bahrain is one of the most liberal Arabic Kingdoms.
Alcohol is only sold in bars connected to Hotels.
A beer costs around $9 U.S.
A pack of cigarettes costs $2 U.S.
Most bars serve Sheesha with molasses tobacco.
The have every American restaurant ever imagined.
KFC is WAY better here than in the U.S.
The first oil well in the Persian Gulf is located here.
People park wherever they want to.
Driving on the roads is merely a suggestion.

Checking the interwebs in the hotel lobby.

John is not a morning person.

Outside NSA Bahrain with the MWR Staff.

Heading to Sheik Isa

With SSG James Dooty at Sheik Isa.

Walking through a bunker

This is the stage we were supposed to play.

This is a bath house located next to the stage. Most of the original buildings on the base look similar to these.

These are the living quarters.

Inside

They still celebrate Christmas in the middle of the desert.

The show

after the show

The late night ride home.

Blog Comments

2009-12-19T11:59:00.001-08:00

We have gotten several emails asking how to leave a comment on the blog.

So..... at the bottom of each individual blog posting there is a "comment" button. Please click on that and leave all the comments you want.

We enjoy hearing back from you too!

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 3: Day Off in Bahrain

2009-12-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

Friday in Bahrain is like Sunday in America. Everything is closed and it is their day of "rest".

So... we rested.

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 2: NSA Bahrain

2009-12-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Thursday we woke up, ate some breakfast and then headed over to the base. We were met by Hussain who showed us around a little bit, took us to the MWR (morale, welfare, and recreation) office where we met Mr. Joe Hernandez, the “head honcho”, and then grabbed a bite to eat for lunch. Mr. Hernandez presented us each with some very cool “medallions” for coming and performing at the base. The setup at this base was great. They have a huge courtyard with very large stage in one corner.

When we arrived to the stage, they had pretty much everything set up for us so we just had to plug in and tweak everything a little bit. We sound-checked and then walked around and handed out free CDs to as many people as we could. Some of us headed back to the hotel before the show to put on a long sleeve shirt. The weather is beautiful here. It’s probably around 70-75 degrees during the day and 65 or so at night.

The show started at 7pm and went great! It was incredibly windy out but other than that there were no real obstacles. After the show we signed some autographs, talked with lots of great people and then ended up hanging out on the base with a group of Marines for a few hours. These guys were great and we had a blast hanging out with them. We learned a lot and saw our first ever Marine “slap fight”.

We left the base around 11pm and went back to the hotel. We then decided to walk around “American Alley” which is a street full of restaurants and coffee shops right by the hotel. While walking around we ran into a few members of the Navy, They invited us over to their house where we tried on some armor and had a great time in general just hanging out.

Meeting and talking to all these guys is one of the most rewarding parts of the trip. It really is a different world that they live in and it is very interesting for us to be able to ask questions and learn about it.

A pan photo of the stage and courtyard.

Sound Check

The Show

The front of the Medallions.

Back

Relaxing after the first show.

Marines

Maybe the greatest picture of all time.

Kevlar vests in Bahrain!

2009 AFE Tour Blog Day 1: Travel Day

2009-12-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

Today has been a full 36-hour day consisting of airport security, overpriced airport food, trying to figure out exchange rates, airplane rides, layovers and sleep deprivation. The trip actually started Monday afternoon when we met up for sushi followed by a quick rehearsal, organized all of our equipment, and around midnight cleared all of our gear out of the warehouse.

We’ve had plenty of experience/practice loading in and out of venues and practice spaces in cold weather but last night’s load out was definitely in the top three coldest ever. The actual temperature was somewhere around “bitterly cold”; add a “blistering wind” and a sidewalk covered with ice to that and you’ve got a band that can’t wait to get out of Iowa (luckily for us we are heading to the desert). All in all, we were pretty happy to get everything loaded into the trailer with minimal frostbite and minor bumps and bruises from falling on the ice.

After a few hours of sleep we got to the Des Moines International Airport early Tuesday morning. It is always funny to see the people at the ticket counters freak out as they see seven of us all carrying our bags, guitars, drums, etc… You can actually see them think, “I hope they aren’t flying United”. Initially, most of them seem completely overwhelmed by the ensuing chaos but, as they did in Des Moines, they generally handle it very well.

If you are new to “The Blog”, on our last overseas tour we were bumped up from our normal seats to seats in Business Class for a fourteen-hour flight to Tokyo due to the airline screwing up our tickets. At the time this was probably the greatest thing that had ever happened to us. We were given all the free gourmet food and drinks we could ever consume. We could lay pretty much completely flat while we were wearing our “swanky” free slippers, cleansing our faces with hot towels, stretching out our un-cramped legs, or doing just about anything else we could have dreamed of. In retrospect, this was just an extremely mean practical joke; being spoiled like that for a fourteen-hour plane ride has left us extremely jealous and miserable for all of our other flights. We’ve got a total of fourteen flights this tour so I’m sure we’ll get used to sitting with “the commoners” again but it won’t be easy.

We arrived to Frankfurt, Germany around 5 a.m. and wandered around a completely empty airport before setting up camp where we tried to get a little sleep, played some poker, and waited for our 11 a.m. flight. We found our gate, noticed another “reggae looking” band and started talking to them. Turns out, The “Easy Star All Stars” were on our plane to Bahrain. They are a great reggae band and some very nice guys that we saw play this past March in Austin at SXSW. They are playing a private party in Bahrain so we got to hang out, chat, and eventually share a van to the hotel with these guys. (Check them out when you get a chance)

We were met at the airport by Hussein (our Bahrain guide), cleared customs, and then loaded up the vans for a very “exciting” trip to the hotel. BAHRAIN IS CRAZY!!! Today is their “National Day” which is the equivalent to 4^th of July so the entire place is one big party. Just imagine a giant tailgate party; subtract the booze, add more flags, more car horns, more people driving while hanging out of their cars and basically you’ve got what we’ve encountered so far in Bahrain (Check out the videos below to get a very small taste). We got to the hotel, checked in, got cleaned up and then walked over to the base to check things out. Our first impression was great. The base is beautiful, the weather is amazing, and everyone was extremely nice. We walked around on base for a while before heading off base to grab some food, relax, and get thoroughly confused with the currency exchange rate (we think we have it figured out now… maybe?).

So all in all, our first travel day has gone fairly smooth. After one misplaced boarding pass, a few “freak out” moments of “Did we remember to pack _________________ (insert just about anything here)”, some leg cramps/sore backs from sitting in a cramped plane for hours and hours at a time, a little “off-roading” in Bahrain, and we have finally made it back to the hotel where we are going to crash HARD. Our first show is tomorrow night and we’ve got another full day of excitement ahead.

In the warehouse putting stickers on the promotional cds for the troops and rehearsal. (and yes we have a salad bar in the warehouse)

One of the worst load-outs ever.

Getting the equipment tagged and ready in Des Moines.

Mike "acting" like a reader.

In-between flights we were on lots of shuttles and buses to get to different terminals.

Trying to sleep.

We are real mature.

aww.... perfect little angels.

Finally, in Bahrain eating pizza and relaxing.

VIDEOS:

Frey laying out the itinerary in Des Moines.

We wish you could all experience this first hand but here is a small clip of the drive from the airport to the hotel. This doesn't even reflect the magnitude of the insane driving in Bahrain. As crazy as the ride was we never felt scared..... this was just how they do it here.

Side note: this video was taken after BIT and The Easy Star All Stars helped get this van "un-stuck". Seriously, there is no way to explain the drive, sorry.

Here is a small taste of the "National Day" celebrations... again this does not accurately portray the magnitude of their celebrations but hopefully it gives you a good taste. Multiply the video times about 30 and you'll be closer to the real thing. None of us have ever seen anything like it so we apologize for being unable to describe it.

AFE TOUR #2: MIDDLE EAST 2009

2009-12-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

Ok. Where to begin? First, it has been too long since we updated the blog. We are sorry. (all of us sincerely apologize.) We still have blogs and pictures to post from the end of our summer tour but we are going to skip ahead and try to catch back up with those at a later date. So for now lets fast forward to "present" day.

It is Sat. Dec. 12th.

We are preparing for our second AFE (Armed Forces Entertainment) tour and we depart Tuesday, Dec. 15th around 11am. (holy sh*t, thats like 3 days away!) We are trading in the foot of snow currently on the ground in Iowa for three weeks in the Middle Eastern desert. We will be entertaining US Troops stationed in Bahrain, Djibouti, Qatar, and Kuwait.

We toured all summer and were incredibly busy so we decided to take some time off this fall to re-group and get organized. Last week we moved into a new practice space (warehouse #2) in Des Moines' East Village. We started rehearsing and getting back in the swing of things. We have decided to learn a few new songs and are in the midst of perfecting every Christmas Carol ever written (not true). But we are getting everything ready to go before we ship out Tuesday morning around 1100 hours. (I think? It's time to get a refresher on military time)

Anyways, we will be taking pictures, writing down stories, and posting as often as we can. We are also going to try to update our other accounts as often as possible. If you aren't our "friend" on Facebook or a "follower" on Twitter the links to those sites are below.

Hopefully this blog will allow you to come along on the trip of a lifetime for us and experience it as we do. We will of course edit out all the boring/un-interesting parts like the 14 hour flights, 7 hour layovers, etc... We are honored, excited, and just a little bit nervous for the tour to begin but are very much looking forward to spending the Holiday Season with the Troops defending our Country.

We've got about three days to get everything organized, packed, and ready to go so its time to get off the computer and start getting ready. We'll try to update at least one more time before we head out.

see ya out there.

BIT

www.blueislandtribe.com

www.twitter.com/blueislandtribe

www.myspace.com/blueislandtribe

www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Island-Tribe/7941169122

BIT 2009 Summer Tour Blog #3

2009-07-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

After having a blast in Boulder we headed to Denver. Kate scored us a bunch of free tickets to a Colorado Rockies game so we spent a beautiful summer day at the ballpark enjoying $8 hot dogs, and $9 beers....

After the game we gave hugs and said goodbye to Kate. She took great care of us and we all had a blast. We can't thank you enough......We then met up with another old UNI friend, Heather Peterson. Heather showed us around downtown Denver, and let us crash at her apartment for the night.

We spent the next day in Denver hanging out and getting band stuff done. Then we played at a very cool old venue called Quixote's. If you ever go there make sure you check out the live music archive in the basement. Its epic. Most of the band left the venue broke after spending all the nights money on live cds.

We were pretty excited to get to Arizona so we left immediately after the show in Denver and drove through the night. We went to sleep in the mountains and woke up in the desert. After around 17-18 hours in the RV we made it to Phoenix late Saturday night. We met up with Miss Jenna who had prepared a huge poolside bbq for us. We spent the night hanging out and having a blast with old friends and new ones.

Sunday we loaded into Crush Studios in Scottsdale and started working on all the new material. We need to thank Steve, Alex, and Kevin for putting us up and putting up with us for 10 days. We had a blast and can't wait to do it all again.

Trying to finish up some parts to the new songs.

listening to the finished product....

We recorded three songs; "Take It Easy", "Amazing", and "Take Me"..... we are extremely happy with them, can't wait for everyone to hear them, and will let everyone know when you can hear them. We have begun playing them live so the one way to hear them for sure is coming out and seeing us in person.

While we were in the studio we also took a little time off to play a show and have fun with all the AZ fans.

Garrett busted out a new look for Freebird!

After 10 days of recording, 3 kick ass new songs, a great show, and lots of good times with old friends we left Arizona for the long drive back to Iowa.

on the long road home.......

and we finally made it back to Iowa after 36 hours in the RV.

BIT 2009 Summer Tour Blog #2

2009-07-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

We spent about a week at home before the road came calling. We packed up, got everything organized and prepared to be out on the road for almost a month. Luckily, for us, the first night was in Des Moines and so we piled in the RV for approximately 6 minutes before we arrived at the show. If only all road trips were this long.

Mike clearly won the cool photo contest for the night. From Des Moines we headed west to Lincoln Nebraska. As we approached the border of Iowa and Nebraska we were flagged down by a trucker. Immediately we thought we left the trailer door open or had a flat tire. Luckily it was just an open compartment door with nothing in it. We got to talking with the good samaritan and got a picture with him and his dog "Buddy"

After that little adventure we finished up the rest of the drive to Lincoln. We loaded into Knickerbockers, ate lots of $0.25 tacos, killed some time, and played a show. A very good band Conerstone Dub opened the night and Tim their trombonist joined us on stage for a good ole' fashioned jam. Overall a great first time in Lincoln!

Immediately after the show in Lincoln we loaded up and headed to Kearney, Nebraska. We didn't really know what to think of spending two nights in Kearney but they turned out to be two amazing nights. Apparently there isn't a whole lot to do in Kearney so everyone goes to the bar at night and parties. We were glad they did because we had a blast.

After our three days of fun in Nebraska we headed on to Colorado. Because we had 3 days off we headed to our friend Kate Veeder's farm in Longmont. We spent Sunday through Wednesday with Kate as our tour guide sight seeing, hiking, and of course we had to check out a few of the breweries in the area.

This is Kate..... She's awesome.

This is Toni Frey with two of Kate's goats.

This is Toni and some ambitious BIT members trying to milk goats. Definitely a first for any member of this band.

This is John being a mountain man.

This is Mike when the Paparazzi showed up.

Brandon thought it would be a good idea to grow a mustache.

The breweries included New Belgium, Fort Collins, and Odell.

This is John dreaming about hops and ......... things.

This is the whole group at Odell.

Mike thought he got so drunk he couldn't see. We told him he wasn't that drunk, he just had poker chips in front of his eyes. He laughed and finally stopped groping people.

This shot looks familiar????

Keep looking Mikey.... there has to be some in there somewhere.

And then we went to one of the coolest outdoor venues we've ever seen. We spent an afternoon at Mishawaka and had an impromptu photo session. You'll be seeing more of these pics in the future.

This is Chris.

Oh yea.... we also played a kick ass show in Boulder for a couple hundred crazy kids too! More to follow!

BIT 2009 Summer Tour Blog #1

2009-06-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here we go again..... we've neglected our blogging obligations and so we are going to try and catch you up on all BIT happenings.

First, we took a trip down to Lawrence and Kansas City in May. The first night we played at The Bottleneck in Lawrence Kansas home of The Kansas Jayhawks. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!! We played with The Supervillians a great band from Florida that we hope to cross paths with again. We woke up hit up some continental breakfast and headed to Kansas City. We spent the day in Kansas City enjoying the new downtown area and checking out some of the city's fine entertainment options.

While in Kansas City we had the opportunity to meet filmmaker Eric Saperston. He gave us a copy of his documentary "The Journey" and we all loved it. We highly recommend the film to anyone out there chasing their dreams as we are. After Kansas City we had a few days off before heading to Iowa City.

Iowa City is always a fun town for us and this time did not disappoint. We played a very fun show before heading to Des Moines to meet up with Ballyhoo and B-Foundation for a few dates. Since we have all recently relocated to Des Moines it is quickly turning into our favorite place to play. We grilled out, played some disc golf, and did the usual Friday afternoon stuff before heading to The House of Bricks. Both Ballyhoo and B-Foundation killed it before we got up and played.

From Des Moines we headed up north to Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls has always been one of our favorite places to play and this night was no different. All 3 bands were on the bill again and again we were honored to close down the night. After Cedar Falls we were all worn out and welcomed 10 days off.

The next weekend was one of the few weekends we had off this summer so we decided to hit up the sprint car races in Knoxville, Iowa. For most of the band it was the first time at the race track but everyone had a blast. If you have never been to sprint car races..... you should.

SXSW, 311, New House, New Logo, and Much More

2009-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Ok. Its been way to long since we last blogged so we are going to try and catch everybody up in one shot. Imagine this being last season's recap at the beginning of this season's premier.
Here we go:

1) In January our pictures were featured in Billboard, Pollstar, and Radio and Records Magazines. Very cool. (even one full pager)

2) In March we traveled down to Austin, Texas for SXSW and played 3 shows in about 42 hours. This was our first trip to SXSW and we already have it scheduled in for next year. Austin is amazing and if you haven't ever been we highly suggest you attend. Lots of fun, little sleep, great music, and lots of new friends.

3) Also this spring, BIT has officially relocated to Des Moines. Mike and Chris (our utility player) moved back from LA, John moved back from Arizona, Garrett moved back from Cedar Falls, and the rest will soon be following. Everybody moved into a Victorian Mansion built in the 1800's. Although it took a while to get it all cleaned up and liveable its an amazing old house that so far has been great for creativity and production (Yes we know its haunted but so far all the ghosts/spirits seem to like our music.)

4) In April we had the honor of supporting 311. 311 has been one of our favorite bands for a very long time so when the opportunity to open for them was presented we jumped on it. We'd like to welcome all the new fans and say thank you to all the old fans that attended.

5) We have a new logo. You'll be seeing a lot of it.

6) We have some new merchandise. Our online merch store will be updated soon.

7) The summer is approaching quickly and we will be heading out in late May for a full summer of shows. We will be adding more dates soon so continue to check back for updates.

Hope to see you all at a show this summer.
BIT
James "jelly bean" Frey
John "jalapeno" Schminke
Brandon "bearclaw" Clark
Mike "meat pie" Schminke
Kelly "krispy kreme" Powers
Garrett "grapefruit" Theilking

winter happenings

2008-12-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Just to keep everyone updated here are some recent happenings in the world of BIT:

1: KCCI.com the Des Moines CBS station has posted our video from Okinawa, check it out here: http://www.kcci.com/localmusicvideo/17981198/index.html

2. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier just did a very nice story, check it out here: http://www.waterloocourier.com/articles/2008/11/25/features/lifestyles/10776435.txt

3. We received a great review from Boston Based Neufutur Magazine, check it out here:
http://neufutur.com/?p=5737

4. Mike was seen in an episode of ABC's "Samantha Who", check it out here:
www.abc.com

5. Mike was also quoted in an article by The Pier, a leading reggae website/news service, check it out here:
http://www.thepier.org/Bestof2008-01.html

6. Our Myspace page was listed as one of the "50 Majestic Myspace Layouts", check the article out here:
http://mashable.com/2008/12/01/myspace-layouts/ and check our myspace out here:
www.myspace.com/blueislandtribe

7. There is still time to sign up for your chance to win one of five BIT Holiday Packages... All you have to do is sign up on our email list.

March On - A Tribute to our Troops

2008-10-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

"March On"
A tribute to our troops

As many of you know, Blue Island Tribe had the opportunity to go overseas and entertain the troops in the summer of 2008. At first it was seen by the band as a great way to see the world but as the tour continued, the trip became much, much more. When we started the tour I had no idea how the troops would react to our particular blend of music. Please excuse my ignorance but I really thought they wouldn't respond well to a bunch of peace loving liberals like we are. Much to my surprise, we were greeted with open arms and instant acceptance. It really touched me deeply that we were given accolades and even awards from the people we were entertaining. Speaking of the people, we met so many awesome people and heard so many stories about life in the military that it affected each one us in many ways.

So as the tour continued in Japan, Korea, and Okinawa we began to realize that this wasn't just an opportunity to take a really cool trip but it meant a lot to the troops. You see, some of the troops had not had any kind of entertainment for months, some of the troops would be shipped off to war torn areas in a few days, and others had been away from their families for months and even years. The troops we met were just hard working folks like you and me just trying to make a living and support families. Our show was just a chance for them to feel like they were back at home for at least a couple of hours.

Before I go on I would like to explain to you that "March On" is not advocating war by any means. This song was written as homage to all the excellent people we met and their will to simply "march on". I can see with new eyes that our military is an absolute necessity, not as a warring campaign but as a peace-keeping entity. With that in mind, we wanted to create a song that would reflect the inspiration of what the tour and the people we met meant to us. So, to all the troops past and present that put their life on the line to protect our freedoms, this one is for you. Thank you.
Frey

"MARCH ON"
AS WE MARCH ON DOWN THE ROAD
YOU CAN FEEL IT IN OUR SOULS
AS WE FORGE ON ALL THE WAY
THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY

MARCH ON MARCH ON - THIS IS OUR MOVEMENT
MARCH ON MARCH ON - ITS TIME TO REPRESENT
MARCH ON MARCH ON - CAN YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR SOUL
MARCH ON MARCH ON - AS THE MUSIC TAKES CONTROL

THERE IS NO OTHER WAY
BUT TO MARCH ON THROUGH THE DAY
TRIBAL WARRIORS ALL THROUGHOUT THE LAND
WE MUST TAKE OUR STAND

MARCH ON MARCH ON - THIS IS OUR MOVEMENT
MARCH ON MARCH ON - ITS TIME TO REPRESENT
MARCH ON MARCH ON - CAN YOU FEEL IT IN YOUR SOUL
MARCH ON MARCH ON - AS THE MUSIC TAKES CONTROL

EVERYBODY IN THE STREETS NOW
AS WE HEAR THE CALL
FEEL THE RYTHMN OF THE DRUMS NOW
AS IT TAKES CONTROL

Weekend Shows!!

2008-10-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

After picking "the brothers" up at the DM airport we headed up north to Cedar Falls for the night. We arrived around 5 p.m., loaded in, got the kinks out (practiced), and sound-checked around 8. We checked into the hotel and grabbed some dinner at the Pump Haus. Cedar Falls is always a fun town for us and with this being Homecoming weekend, it did not disappoint.

After a great night, we somehow managed to squeeze 8 people into one of the hotel rooms where no one got much sleep. We were up and back at The Hub around 11 to load out all of our gear, (the HuB is the only place that lets us do that thankfully), and we were on our way to Des Moines at Noon.

After a quick drive we arrived in time to catch a nap before we headed down for load in at 4. We couldn't have asked for better weather and a better night for an outdoor show. Upon arrival at the World Food Festival we were greeted with many friendly people all carrying walkie-talkies and looking important. We loaded in, did a quick mic check, said hello to lots of friends and family, and then kicked off the show. Festivals are fun but they always seem to breed chaos. During our set we, broke strings, broke a guitar pedal, lost a microphone, knocked over lights, and had to move the drums twice to prevent them from falling off the drum riser. All in all, it was an awesome show. We had a ton of fun, saw lots of old and new faces, and afterwards ate lots of really good "world" food.

NEW ALBUM INFO

2008-10-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

10/1/08
NEW ALBUM/NEW MYSPACE!!!

We are very proud to announce that our new album, "The 5 Hits of Ecstasy" will be released 10/14/08 exclusively on Itunes. It will be released everywhere else 11/25/08.

Here is the track listing:
"The 5 Hits of Ecstasy"
1. Down
2. Drop Out
3. Jump and Shout
4. March On
5. Ecstasy

The Ep was recorded this past summer immediately after the band returned from Japan and Korea. It was recorded in Des Moines, IA at Sonic Factory Studios with Nadas' members Jon Locker, Tony Bohnenkamp, Ross VanderWerf, and Sklyer VanWalbeek all helping out. The Ep was mastered by John Mailoux (Sugar Ray, Dispatch, State Radio) of Bongo Beach Productions. We would like to thank Crystal Ryan for the front cover artwork, Nick Nemmers for the back cover artwork, and Chris "Gnar" Holz for the cd label artwork.

We will be "leaking" a few songs on Myspace before the 14th.... www.myspace.com/blueislandtribe .....Down is currently up and remember to check back often as we will be putting up new songs every couple of days leading up to the 14th. While you are there please sign up for the mailing list and check out the new video for "Endless Summer" shot this past summer in Okinawa, Japan and we hope to see you all at a show soon!!!

BIT

Gnar - New Video

2008-09-16T12:19:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, we'd like you to meet Chris Holz. Everyone, Chris...... Chris, Everyone.

Now that no one feels awkward, lets move on. Chris, or Gnar (pronounced nar) as we call him, has been a friend of the band's for a long time and before he moved to LA he could be seen at the band house or with a member of the band much of the time. We were fortunate enough to have him on tour all summer making sure everything went according to plan. He filled the role of sound man, lighting guy, photographer, videographer, babysitter, prankster, question asker, chef, badass, and many, many, more. He definitely worked harder than anyone this summer, so for that, we say THANK YOU!!!

He has also been hard at work since we returned home putting together the following video. Enjoy!

Click "Here" to watch the video. (make sure to watch it in High Quality)

New Album

2008-09-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ok.

First, sorry for the lack of updates. We have been busy working on the record and getting everything in order to release it. Not the glamourous side of being in a band, but possibly the most important. I guess you could call this the calm before the storm. In the coming weeks and months you will be hearing much more from us for sure!

Second, We have the Master to the new album in our hands!!!! The cd has been recorded, mixed, mastered and will be released this fall. We've got to keep it all under wraps for now but keep checking back for a big announcement soon.

Sign up for our new mailing list on the side of our myspace page for the latest details. (if you were already on our list, please sign up again) We have completely revamped the list and lost some names/addresses in the process.

Until then.....

BIT
"Too rad to b-randon" Clark
Mike "i'll lead the way" Schminke
"Jameson Frizzlesticks" Frey
Kelly "The Haunch" Powers
"Johnny Python" Schminke
Garrett "Theilkepidia" Thielking

Lake Life

2008-07-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry, for the lack of updates....we have been super busy.

Lets go back a few weeks now....

We spent all week in the Warehouse practicing before loading up the bus, driving 3 hours in the hardest rain most of us have ever seen, and finally arriving at the Thielking's house at Blackhawk Lake on Thursday night. We ate tons of food, had beverages, and sat on the porch enjoying the view while being stuck on land due to the rain. Friday morning we woke up, ate one of the most delicious break"feasts" we have ever had before heading out on the jet-ski and boat. We spent most of the day on the lake before hopping in the bus and heading to Lake Okoboji.

We arrived at Okoboji around 5pm, loaded in, grabbed some food, said hellos to old and new friends and started the show around 7. This was one of the funnest shows we have played in years. 1600 crazy lake people having the time of their life. We did as well. We ended up playing until 11 and we didn't want to stop. We loaded up and headed "downtown" where we wandered around and checked out what Okoboji had to offer.

Saturday morning we all woke up in a shady hotel, loaded into the bus, and started out on one of the longest 4 hour rides we have ever had. It was early, hot, and we had to get back to Cedar Falls in time to take care of some business before sound check that night.

We arrived in Cedar Falls, loaded in, sound-checked, and hung out until the show started. Cedar Falls is always a blast for us. The Hub takes good care of us and no matter what is going we always have fun there.

Sunday we all went our own ways before meeting up in Des Moines around 7pm. John, Mike, and Brandon loaded into the recording studio and got everything set up before hitting up the 10 pm showing of Batman. Go if you haven't.

Recording, Recording, Recording!!!!

2008-07-21T11:04:00.001-07:00

We promise to update you all on the happenings of the last week soon.... this summer just keeps rolling and we are having WAY too much fun.

For now though, we are recording for the next few weeks and you can watch it live at:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-sonic-factory

enjoy!!!

We're still here!!!

2008-07-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, we're all ok and still alive. Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent us messages or talked to us in the past few days and commented on the blog. We have been amazed at the response so we will continue to update it as long as people continue to read it.

After we arrived back in Des Moines we all scattered until Thursday night when we got together for dinner and a band meeting. The trip was an amazing experience for us so hopefully you can imagine the colorful discussion around the table when we all reunited. I'm sure people sitting in the restaurant found out more details about some of us than they ever wanted to.

Friday night we headed over to Friday after 5 in Independence to play our first show back in the states. Fun times were had by all once we got going but it took us a while to get going. Our bus didn't start, apparently we broke some things such as microphones and instruments while overseas (that was fun to discover 5 minutes before a show starts), and we forgot some things (we were rushed to cram everything in vehicles when the bus failed to fire up). All in all the night went great and we got through all the surprises. We loaded out and headed to a welcome home party thrown for us by our good friends Troy and Laurie Creery. We had a blast and were very flattered.

For the lack of updates and pictures we have put together some pictures of Kelly's eye throughout the trip. To eliminate any of the rumors we have already heard:

Kelly and Mike were running up a hill in the pouring rain to get back to our hotel while we were in Yokosuka, Japan. Kelly lost his footing and faceplanted into the street.

or:

Kelly and Mike got attacked by 9 Ninjas in Roppongi and fought off all of them. They were coming from all angles and lost in the excitement, Mike got confused and accidently punched Kelly in the face.

We'll let you decide.

The Chronicles of Kelly's Eye.
The night of....

The next morning....

a few days later the color showed up....

finally it rounded all the way around...

and by the time we arrived to Okinawa it was gone.

AFE Tour Blog Day 18: Heading Home

2008-07-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

This morning our bus came at 9 a.m. to pick us up and take us to the airport. We loaded up and spent 45 minutes discussing the stories from the night before. When we arrived at the airport we realized we got there without Mike's luggage. Shit!!! Our wonderful "guide", Ai Shears, in Okinawa called the hotel and had the baggage delivered to the airport with minutes to spare.

We were borderline late for the flight and we were the last ones to board the plane about 30 minutes late. When we arrived in Tokyo we had to re-check all our baggage and go back through security. Awesome! We got seperated due to customs lines and Brandon had to deal with airline hassles. Finally John and Brandon ended up running to catch the plane and were the last two people allowed on board. Phew!

After a few drinks, a few movies, several short naps, and 12 hours later we landed safely in Chicago. Again we had to re-check all the baggage and go through security. 3 times in one day! And with all our equipment/drums/guitars, it's extra fun.

We had a 5 hour layover in Chicago so we all passed out on the floors and caught up on a little sleep. Pretty soon we were back on a plane and landing in Des Moines. We arrived, got all the baggage/equipment, said our goodbyes, and at 9:30 pm all headed home.

awww.....sometimes brothers gotta hug.

Kelly: 0
Road in Japan: 1
Coral in Okinawa: 1
We'll see who wins next time.

AFE Tour Blog Day 17: 4th of July!!!!

2008-07-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

This morning our bus call was for 8:30 am. Ouch!
We all joined BIT so we didn't have to be up before noon, now we are having to get up and do stuff before 9..... we'll deal with it.

We headed to Kadena Air Base, which was about a 15 minute trip, where we hung out for a while, looked at some amazing planes and helicopters, and then soundchecked. Eve 6 showed up, said hellos, and soundchecked right after we got done. After sticking around for a few minutes we headed back to the hotel where we all took naps, checked emails, and finished up writing postcards.

Around 3 p.m. the bus came back and picked us up for the show. We arrived about 3 hours before showtime so we had ample time to walk around the festival and see all the cool booths. Each branch of the military was represented as well as tons of other booths selling anything and everything from workout equipment to fried oreos. We wandered around for about 10 minutes before we all evaporated. Did we mention it was hot in Okinawa!

At 6 p.m. we hit the stage, played 13 songs, and then signed autographs and took pictures for a half hour. Eve 6 came up around 7:30, it was their first show in a few years but they were very good. Their guitar player broke one of his guitars and ended up using John's for about 5 songs. They finished and about 8:45 the fireworks started.

Filling up a diesel tour bus this summer, $ 183.00
7 meals twice a day, $250.00
7 hotel rooms for one night, $665.00

Playing for US Troops on a military base in Okinawa, Japan on the 4th of July. Priceless!

soundcheck

Eve 6 guitarist using John's guitar.

AFE Tour Blog Day 16: Camp Foster

2008-07-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

After a few hours of sleep we had a bus call at 9 am to head over to the venue and soundcheck. Okinawa is HUMID!!! And to our surprise we were playing outside, we were drenched after playing three songs in soundcheck. Completely soaked. After soundcheck we headed back to the hotel where some members decided to go shopping for souveniers and the others headed to the beach.

The first beach we went to didn't have water. What???? We were all pretty confused by a beach that didn't have water so we walked about a mile to another beach.....it didn't have water either. The areas you were allowed to swim in were very restricted because of jellyfish and other hazards. We then took cabs to the Sunabi Seawall, a favorite scuba/snorkeling site of the locals. We spent about an hour getting beat up by reef and coral, getting sunburnt, and seeing some of the coolest fish ever up close and in person.

After the beach we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the show. We headed to the venue about 6 pm, ate some dinner, did an interview, and then played from 8-10ish. This was one of the hottest shows we have ever played. Frey's wireless mic quit working and upon taking off the cap we realized why. There was about 12 ounces of sweat inside the microphone. After the show we were exhausted. We went back to the hotel, did some laundry, and crashed.

AFE Tour Blog Day 15: Travel day to Okinawa

2008-07-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

After getting dropped off at the hotel at 2 a.m. last night, the 8 a.m. bus pickup came awful early. We headed over to load out all of our gear at a warehouse, said good bye to Mr. Hwang (bossman) and Mr. Yi (our comedian/bus driver) and then hopped back on another bus to catch our flight to Okinawa. We arrived at the airport, grabbed some interesting tasting burgers (when I say interesting I mean bad), said good bye to Mr. Tae (our other bus driver), checked in with out any problems, got through customs and said goodbye to Korea. We had a lot of fun there but Okinawa was waiting.

After a short layover in Taipei we arrived in Okinawa. We were greated by our guide Ai Shears and THE HEAT; one by one we all asked Ai, "is it always this hot here?" She replied, "this is warm, not hot". After a couple minutes we loaded onto the bus and headed to the hotel. On the bus ride there we received another large packet of very usefull info about the island, our itenarary, and lots of other cool stuff. We also heard a radio commercial for our 4th of July show with Eve 6. We stopped at a restaurant, ate way too much food, and checked into the hotel around 10 pm.

AFE Tour Blog Day 14: Camp Awesome

2008-07-02T07:33:00.001-07:00

Actually it is called Camp Eagle but.....wow!!! What a day!

We got picked up by the bus at noon, drove two hours, and pulled into Camp Eagle. At the gate 1st. Sergeants Verella and Brown hopped in the bus and right away we knew we were going to be having some fun. They gave us a quick tour of the place before walking us threw a hangar and out onto the airfield.

We got as close as you could to flying an Apache without actually doing it. We spent about an hour watching "birds" take off and land before we all actually hopped in one and got to see the controls first hand. We thought that was awesome but it only got better. From there we headed over to a flight simulator where we all got to spend 15-20 minutes piloting and gunning from an Apache cockpit. Unbelievable! We think Garrett and Chris might actually sign up after today. They spent a long time in there blowing stuff up and Garrett actually "hovered" the Apache which we are told is very hard to do.

After a few hours of standing in awe we got to play a show for these guys. And they were ready to rock. Probably the rowdiest crowd we've had yet. Clearly, Camp Eagle knows how to have a good time. Since this was our last show in Korea we got to hang out for a while after the show before we headed back to Seoul and those were a couple of hours we know we won't ever forget. We had a blast and we hope they did too!!!

Gunfighters!

AFE Tour Day 13: Day off in Korea

2008-07-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today was our first and only day off in Korea. We woke up, ate lunch, and then ventured out into Seoul.

First, we went to the "Electronics Market", which everyone told us had super cheap electronics. The electronics market we found had pretty average prices but 8 floors jam packed of cool gadgets, tvs, computers, etc.... After 4 floors we were lucky to get out of there with out anyone spending a dollar.

From there we wanted to see the Yongsan Market. After wandering around for awhile we stumbled upon a bunch of streets with vendors in the middle of them selling everything from clothes to pig's heads.

Then came the big excursion.......

Garrett came as close as anyone ever has to getting fired from the Blue Island Tribe. He had this wonderful idea for the band to find a buddhist temple somewhere in Seoul. He found it on a map, looked it up on the internet, and sold us all on the idea.....We thought sure that doesn't look that far away, it'll be cool............All we have to do is find Yonsei University because it is on the school's grounds, everybody there will know where it is.

We took 4 trains, walked atleast 6 miles uphill, asked 10 people for help, and bitched and moaned for about 6 hours before we miraculously found this temple. Finally, we arrived, and we were all glad we did. It was very, very cool.

The long trek back was not near as hard. First, we found a place called "chicken and beer" which we thought suited our needs at the time just fine. Then we found a bowling alley, which again sounded like a great idea, before heading back to say goodbye to our friends at Club Kaboo. We hung out for a bit before heading home for our last day in Korea. Our day of rest and relaxation was anything but that, but all in all we had a blast.

sorry!!!!!!

AFE Tour Blog Day 12: Camp Casey

2008-06-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today the bus came at 3 pm. We arrived at Camp Casey around 4:30......loaded in, soundchecked, and headed to the PX. We bought more airborne, cough drops, vitamins, energy bars, etc..... they are definitely working. Everybody is feeling better but we are trying to take all the precautions we can.

We went back to the venue, played to another great crowd, hung out, signed some stuff, took pictures, and loaded out. We drove back to Seoul and CRASHED.

After 6 days and 6 shows in Korea we have all had a BLAST!!! The shows and days have all kind of run together but we're fine with that because they have all been amazing. Tomorrow is our first day off here and while our bodies probably need it, we are all going to miss playing a show. They have just been too much fun.

BIG blog tomorrow........lots of plans for our day off.

AFE Tour Blog Day 11: Camp Red Cloud

2008-06-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today we got up, ate lunch, and wandered around Seoul for a few hours before the bus picked us up at 3:30. The trip was pretty short and we arrived at Camp Red Cloud around 4:30. We quickly loaded in, soundchecked, and ate some dinner.

Show time was at 7 pm and at 6:55 we were the only people in the venue. People gradually started coming in and by about 7:30 we had a GREAT crowd. Seriously, this crowd was one of the funnest crowds we have ever played for. They were rowdy and ready to rock. We can't describe the feeling we get when an entire room of people sing acapella in unison, and do it well. This show was awesome!

After the show we hung out for an hour or so, met lots of great guys, took some pictures, and reluctlantly had to load out and head home.

Here is what happens when you send a sleep deprived band to a nightclub in Seoul.

AFE Tour Blog Day 10: Camp Humphreys

2008-06-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

The bus came and picked us up from the hotel around 10 am. Another 4 hours later we arrived at Camp Humphreys. The venue was a pretty large nightclub that was perfect for us. We loaded in, soundchecked, and then went to dinner. One thing is for sure about this trip.... the food has been amazing. We have been eating lots of great food and tonights meal was no exception. After dinner we all headed over to the PX (the base mall).

The bands receipt looked something like this:
airborne
vitamins
knee brace
cough drops
energy bars
more airborne
more vitamins
vicks vaporrub
more airborne and
more vitamins.

Several members are slightly under the weather. No one is really sick...everyone is just on the verge and we are taking all the precautions we can.

The show went great!!! The crowd was LOUD!!! They were having an awesome time which helps us to have an awesome time too. Camp Humphreys knows how to get it done! We were impressed. After the show we hung out, signed some cds/pictures, and loaded out. Midway through our load-out we were approached about playing another show at the same place a few hours later for more troops. We were all for it and would have been more than happy to do it but after some confusion and analysis we realized it would not be possible. Camp Humphrey's we hope to see you again!

We headed back to Seoul where we checked back into our hotel from a few nights ago and met up with some friends. We also received the poster for our July 4th show in Okinawa today. We will be playing directly before Eve 6.

real mature guys......real mature.

Freebird!!!!

We are still a little worried about mike!

g-money in flight school

AFE Tour Blog Day 9: Chinhae Navy Base

2008-06-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today the bus came and picked us up at 9 am. We ate breakfast and messed around until we left for Chinhae Navy Base. We spent another 4 hours in a bus wasting time before we arrived. When we arrived, we immediately went in and checked out the venue. It was just like a live music club you would find in the states. We loaded in, soundchecked, and hung out with some troops that we are pretty sure were supposed to be doing something at that time. We had a blast and hoped we helped them get out of some work.

After soundcheck we went to the hotel. And Wow!!!! The hotel was amazing; flat screen tv's, oddly shaped beds, computers, mood lighting in the ceiling, 8 head showers that could also turn the shower into a steam room, blacklight lit hallways, and much more. It was a trip for sure.

When we finished playing with all the buttons and gadgets in the rooms we headed back to the base for dinner. We devoured mongolian bbq and decided to walk to the club in order to lose some of the 12 pounds we had just gained.

The show was lots of fun with a great crowd that knew how to have a good time for sure. We made lots of new friends, loaded out, and headed back to the hotel.

sometimes we worry about mike

Frey Being Frey

AFE Tour Blog Day 8: Kunsan Air Base

2008-06-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up and hopped on the bus around 10:30 am, spent 4 hours watching movies, reading, and sleeping before arriving at Kunsan Air Base around 3 p.m. We checked into our rooms, took showers, checked email, ate, walked around and then headed to the venue. The show was in a huge room with a big stage. We got everything loaded in and set up before meeting several people who were nice enough to show us around and tell us where everything was.

The show went very well. We have started throwing in several of the new songs regularly which is exciting for us. It is always interesting to get raw, real, reviews of the new songs and the ones so far have been received very, very, well.

After the show we headed over to the bowling alley and hung out until it closed at 11. Then we watched softball for a while where we met our first Iowa serviceman, Levi, from Algona came strolling along with a Hawkeyes shirt on. We stopped him, realized how small the world was, and then proceeded back to the rooms to call it a night.

AFE Tour Blog Day 7: Camp Bonifas

2008-06-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

The bus came and picked us up at 8:45 this morning. We drove a few blocks to a USO facility where we got our Military ID’s and then headed over to pick up our equipment for this leg of the tour. After that we went back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch, and spent the afternoon taking naps, doing paperwork, trying to learn Korean, etc....Around 2 p.m. the bus came back and picked us up. We drove north to Camp Bonifas which is located about a mile and a half from the North Korea/South Korea border and the DMZ. We had to go through all kinds of security checkpoints and roadblocks to get there but we arrived safely. One of the first “eerie” moments of the trip happened as we all exited the bus to the sound of gunfire in the distance. We never did find out anything about it but we are assuming it was just practice.

We loaded in to the venue, set up, sound-checked, ate dinner, and then were informed that there was a scheduling conflict on base and the show was going to be moved back awhile so more people could come. That allowed us about an hour and a half to hang out. This hour and a half proved to be the most informative hour and a half this band has ever experienced. Sgt. Shattuck and Staff Sgt. Mitchley gave us a presentation on the history of the area, the conflicts between North and South Korea, Camp Bonifas, KPA Bob, and much, much, more. This was the first time I have ever seen this group of guys dead silent and focused on one thing. It really was amazing.

We played the show to one of the most attentive and enthusiastic groups of people we could ever ask for. After the show we took pictures, signed some autographs, and just hung out with really great people. They all had to be up at 3:30 a.m. and still hung out til we were forced to leave. We loaded out, drove back to Seoul, and got ready for day two in Korea.

Quote of the Day:
"You smell like Rock!!!" (after John apologized for being sweaty and smelly after the show)

AFE Tour Blog Day 6: Travel day to Korea (part 1)

2008-06-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today we headed to Korea. The bus came and picked us up from the hotel at 7:15 am. We loaded up the bus and departed for the Tokyo Airport. We arrived, waived at bus loads of Japanese girls (apparently they see Americans holding musical instruments and assume we are famous......we of course are more than happy to play that role), looked around, found our airline counter, and checked in. Everybody is so nice in Japan. We had no idea what we were doing but people kept coming up to us asking if we needed help. We got through all the security and customs without a problem and then had a few hours to kill in the airport. We hit up the duty free shops and then got some food. Half the band ate sushi, the other half ate McDonalds. At McDonalds a few members feasted on a "double big mac with eggs and bacon".....this is the biggest burger we've ever seen. We hear its really good for you too!

The flight to Korea was quick and easy. The entertainment on the plane was amazing. It had movies, tv shows, video games, music, etc.... just about anything we could ask for to kill a few hours. When we arrived in Korea we were met by Mr. Hwang. He helped us get loaded onto the bus, and gave us all hats, bags, and a packet of information. This packet contained all kinds of information on Korea such as history, little known facts, helpful hints, the itenerary, basic words, etc.... The entire bus ride to the hotel was silent. We checked into the hotel and then set out to experience downtown Seoul.

AFE Tour Blog Day 5: Day off in Atsugi

2008-06-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

Today is a day off in Atsugi. We did some laundry, went to the mall, and mainly just relaxed. It has rained hard everyday since we have been here and today is no exception. It is just a constant hard rain, apparently this is why they call it "the rainy season." We've had a blast in Japan and are sorry we have to leave but tomorrow morning we head to Korea, which should be an equally new experience.

Because there isn't a whole lot of excitement today here are a few random videos from the trip thus far.

1. Mike explains the layover in Chicago

2. John and AJ deliver pizza in a shopping cart

3. Cards and good times in Chicago

AFE Tour Blog Day 4: Atsugi

2008-06-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

This morning’s 8 a.m. bus trip to Atsugi came earlier than any of us wanted but we woke up and quickly loaded onto the bus for the hour drive. The ride mostly consisted of each member telling their crazy story from the night before and everybody laughing at them. Kelly clearly wins "The Chaddy" for the night. (we will explain this award later)

When we arrived, once again our hotel wasn’t ready for us so we got to hang out in the lobby for an hour and a half. The show was supposed to be outside at the Atsugi Friendship Festival. It was raining again so they moved the show indoors. At 11 am we went and loaded in to the venue and soundchecked. We ate some amazing Jamaican food, and then went back to the hotel to rest, which we all needed. We played from 3-4:30, had a wonderful time, the crowd seemed to enjoy the show, we loaded out, and went back to the hotel to shower. Once we all showered our friend "Mike" showed us around the base and helped us find some food. After dinner we stopped over to the on-base bar for a drink before most of us went home and went to bed. A few members stayed out and ventured off base for some authentic Japanese fun.

AFE Tour Blog Day 3: Roppongi

2008-06-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

We finally got some sleep last night!

When we woke up we went and loaded out our equipment from the first show, ate some tacos, and loaded up the bus for Yokosuka. After about an hour and a half bus ride we arrived at our hotel. Our rooms weren’t ready yet but while we were waiting we discovered the most amazing massage chairs in the world. Seriously, these chairs were incredible. We checked in about an hour later and met up with Brent Williams. Brent informed us that since it was raining and we were scheduled to play outside, we get a night off. He then showed us around the base, helped us get some yen, and gave us a map to get to Roppongi.

Roppongi is Tokyo’s equivalent of Times Square. We took cabs to a train station, got on the train, argued about whether or not we were going the right way, transferred to another train, argued some more, realized how stupid we all were for not even thinking about buying a Japanese travel book, transferred to another train, and finally arrived at the Roppongi station about an hour later. We walked up and down the streets for a while before settling down for dinner at a “real” sushi place. The food was wonderful and the sake topped it all off. We finished our dinner and walked around some more just trying to take all the sights and sounds in before getting back on the train.

Somehow, we made it back to the base and headed to the on-base club. There were about 8 people in the first club so we quickly went to an area called “The Haunch” which is a small strip of clubs just off the base. There we met lots of great troops, sang some karaoke, and once again just tried to take it all in.

Kelly tried to fight a wet road.......He lost.

AFE Tour Blog Day 2: It's Business Tiiiime

2008-06-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

We woke up bright and early, checked out of our hotel and took the shuttle to O'Hare. We said goodbye to AJ and Ben-E-Ben and proceeded through security without a hitch. We ate a free lunch at Chili's and hung out in the airport for a few minutes before we boarded the plane for Tokyo.

Because we had been bumped from our flight the day before they had upgraded us to "Business Class". We boarded the plane and discovered our good fortune. Along with "business class" came EVERYTHING one could ever want on a 14 hour flight including:
clean socks (which we all needed since our luggage was in tokyo)
slippers
toothbrush and toothpaste
pillow
blankets
lotion
earplugs
3 feet of leg room
completely reclining seats with leg extensions
hot nuts
hot towels
endless drinks
courvasier
wine
liquour
chivas
filet mignon
the zen feast (had every kind of seafood you could ever imagine)
movies
radar of where we were
hot pastrami and turkey sandwhiches
vegetables and fruit
and anything else we asked for.....which was a lot.

Thank you to the flight attendants for keeping us comfortable during the 14 hour flight. We also received a shout out from the pilot when we landed.

We departed the plane, walked through the airport to the baggage claim where ALL of our luggage was waiting for us. We breezed through customs, met our guide Tawn and loaded the bus for Camp Zama. Two hours later we arrived, set-up, soundchecked, grabbed some wonderful food, and played a show from 8:30 to 10. The show was great and the crowd was very grateful. We received a plaque and graciously headed to the hotel where we all showered for the first time in days, put on our ceremonial yukatas and obi's (komonos), had a quick band meeting, and CRASHED!

Quote of the day:
Jet lag? I just dont get it......I get on the plane, I fly for 14 hours, I get off the plane, I look at the clock, I look at the day.........what's the f****ing problem?! -chris holz

AFE Tour Blog Day 1: Controlled Chaos

2008-06-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the Des Moines airport at approximately 7:45 a.m., checked in, got all our instruments and equipment on the plane, sang happy birthday to brando’s mom, said our goodbye’s, went through security… (only 3 of us got searched), gave several phone interviews to newspapers and news stations, met some very nice people, dealt with flight changes, and finally departed for Chicago at around 11:15 a.m.

We landed in Chicago and ran down to our connecting flight to Tokyo. When we arrived we were told they had already given our seats away because they overbooked the flight by more than 30 people; we must spend the night in Chicago and catch the same flight tomorrow. However, they did confirm that all of our luggage and equipment was on the plane and would be arriving in Japan on the originally scheduled flight. So…. now we are in Chicago with no clothes, toiletries, or any of our luggage. The airline did give us all hotel rooms, food vouchers, and bumped us up in class.

We grabbed some food and headed to the Wyndham O’Hare Hotel. What does a band do during an overnight layover in Chicago? We call friends!!! And luckily, we have some great ones. Our good friend, A.J., took the train and met us out at the hotel where we had befriended a few more people that had been bumped from the same flight (more about Brittany, Gary, and Chad later). After a cocktail or two at the hotel bar we all headed to A.J. and the infamous Ben-E-Ben’s place in Wrigleyville via the subway. We stayed at their apartment most of the evening; played card games, drank PBR, learned some japanese from Brittany, ate gyros, and discussed philosophy and fine-wine before their landlord decided we were having too much fun around 10pm. We then decided we should retreat back to the hotel and two hours later we arrived safe and sound were we spent the remainder of the night.

Originally, we were scheduled to arrive in Tokyo and then have a day to rest and recuperate from the flight. Now, we will arrive in Tokyo and play our first show 3 hours later.

It is sure to be an interesting day 2.

TONIGHTS SHOW IS AT THE HUB!!!!

2008-06-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

In the past twenty four hours we have heard tonights show will be at 4 different places.....

OFFICIALLY

WE ARE PLAYING AT THE HUB TONIGHT!!!!!!
9PM

Sorry for the confusion.

FLOODS OF '08

2008-06-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

Instead of spending the days writing and practicing this week we have been trying to stay dry. Tuesday morning we woke up to several phone calls telling us to get over to the warehouse and get all our equipment out of it. We got all the expensive stuff out approximately 3 hours before half of a railroad bridge directly infront of the warehouse washed away. So far everything inside is dry but time will tell. We then went and helped fill and transport sandbags for about 6/7 hours yesterday. It was pretty amazing to see the thousands of people out helping.

We are all safe and are lucky that we know lots of people in the area. Thank you to everyone who has already offered us places to stay and food to eat. Right now we are fine but we'll let you know if anything changes. There are lots of people who have "really" been affected by these floods and could use your help more than we could.

We are scheduled to play The Hub on Saturday night but right now the Hub is surrounded by sandbags and they cleared everything they could out of it. We'll let you know what the status of the show is when we learn.

stay dry.

3 shows in 24 hours

2008-06-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

We ventured out again into the world of $4 gas for 3 shows in 24 hours this past weekend. We took our good friend Eli Kilburg out with us to open up all the shows. You probably know him, but if not keep an eye open for his band, Barefoot Compadres.

Friday Night 6/6/08
Charlie's - Coralville, IA
This is a brand new live music venue in Coralville, Iowa. Eli opened up and played a great set. We caught his performance and had a great time.....probably too much fun according to our tab. I'm not sure what Charlie's secret is but 3 of the most beautiful women in the world worked as waitress there. Charlie, we salute you! After Eli, BIT took the stage and played two LONG sets... It was fun for us to get some jamming in. Most of our shows are very planned out and kept to one two hour set but this one was just an open jam with long solos and trading fours, we even pulled out a couple of brand new songs. It was a blast and we even had one of Charlie's waitresses, Regina, join us on stage for some great blues. After the show we loaded out, took a cab to Hardees, ordered lots of food, pissed off everybody there (apparently Hardee's employees don't appreciate the humor of Tenacious D quotes at 3 am), ate the most delicious spit burgers we've ever had and headed to bed. Thanks to Kaylyn for putting us up at her place. We greatly appreciate it!!!

Saturday Afternoon 6/7/08
Bandshell - Independence, Ia
After filling up on Breugger's Bagels we traveled an hour north to Independence to play an antique car/motorcycle cruise. We arrived, loaded out, played about an hour set in scorching hot weather, met some new faces, loaded up, took showers with bottled water and headed to Dubuque. It looked like alot of fun, we just didn't have time to enjoy it.

Saturday Night 6/7/08
The Busted Lift - Dubuque, IA
We pulled up to the Busted Lift about 8: 15 pm and did a quick load-in/sound-check before most of the band headed over to Kelly's parents house for showers. In the meantime The Busted Lift filled up and Eli started soft-rocking. Once again he played a great set and even got the "Encore" chant. We all cheered on as he pulled out Folsom Prison Blues to end his show. We got up and played two hours of the hottest show in history. Apparently "the lift", (as the regulars call it) doesn't need air conditioning because we all lost about 10 pounds of water that night. We had a great crowd, again we played a few new songs, we got a bunch of requests for "ready and waiting" which we hadn't played in over two years.....but we busted it out and surprisingly to all of us went much better than expected.

After the show we loaded out and headed to our friend Norman's place, where we were crashing for the night. While talking to him on the phone getting directions to his house we were passed by two police cars going somewhere fast.....about 20 seconds later Norman says "cops are here, i've got to go!".... so we followed the police lights directly to his house and waited for the "all clear!" After some quick thinking and smooth talking from Norman we all walked into the house while the police were still in the front yard trying to figure out where all these people were coming from. We ate chili dogs, drank scotch, and laughed at Norman's gay dogs all night long. Thank you to Norman and Kerrie for the hospitality.

When we woke up the next day we headed over to an early afternoon brunch at the lovely Jess' house. Thank you to her, her mom, and ana, for cooking us some of the most delicious breakfeast food we have ever had.
After all that we headed for home....belly's full and tired.

Writing...Writing...And.....Writing.

2008-05-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

We have been hard at work practicing for the upcoming tour and writing a new album. Yes, writing a new album. We decided it has been too long since we have written a "whole" new album so that is what we are focused on right now. So far, it has been going great, and the new stuff is in the same vein as our older stuff but more refined. We'll be breaking out some new songs at the upcoming shows so keep your ears open.

We have rented a warehouse and locked ourselves in it until we have a new album. Don't try to find it because you won't. But just incase you are one of those people that needs physical proof, below are some pictures:

The Endless Summer Has Arrived!!!

2008-05-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came out to the shows this weekend. Here is a quick rundown:

Cedar Falls, The HuB
Friday night we were at the Hub in Cedar Falls. This club is kind of the band's "home away from home". It is always a great time. Our friends TUGG opened up and played a great set. The crowd was big, loud, and overwhelmingly female..... Thank you! It was the first time we have all played together in a few months so it was great to get back on stage and have some fun. We will see you all again on June 14th.

Ames, Papas Corner
This was our first trip back to Ames in quite awhile. This club used to be called "Peoples". They changed some things around but for the most part it is the same great place. The food was AMAZING. We spent most of the day just hanging out and enjoying the sights of ames. Roadblok opened the night up and sounded great.

Des Moines, Mars Cafe
This was the first BIT acoustic show EVER!!! If you missed it, don't worry, we will be doing alot more of this in the future. We started out a little rough but by the end of the show we were having a blast and the crowd seemed to be as well. We are going to spend some more time working up our songs acoustic style so we can do this more often. It was very strange but cool to hear these songs stripped down and raw.

We have a few weeks off now before we get back on the road. In the meantime, we are holed up in a warehouse in Waterloo writing a new album. We'll fill you in on this soon.

Quotes overheard this weekend:
Who's got a cracker?
Were going to party until we can't wake up.
The good thing about life is that its going to kill you.
Riperoni and Cheese Time.

Short skirts, schedule changes, new tunes, and a homeless band

2008-04-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

Short Skirts are Awesome!!!
welcome to spring, how we missed thee.

IMPORTANT
Due to some unforeseen circumstances our summer trip overseas has been pushed back until June 17th. This has unfortunately caused us to cancel or reschedule many of the summer shows. PLEASE pay close attention to our schedule before heading out on a long trip or even driving across town. We promise to keep the schedule as up to date as we can.

The good news: Because of the schedule change we are going to be adding more shows in May and June in and around the midwest. We will also be working on new tunes and are trying to even get back into the studio later this summer.

The bad news: We need to find a place to practice! If anybody has or knows of a good place for us to practice during the week this summer, please send us a note.

Band seeks Practice Space
We are straight white males, ages 25-31, unbelievably funny, charismatic, good looking, and talented, with interests that range from singing and dancing to intellectual conversations next to the fireplace (lets try to keep these to a minimum though) . Sometimes we stay out too late, make too much noise, and/or break things but we always have a good time.

We are looking for a large or medium sized room/building/garage/etc... for us to practice in and make sweet sweet music. If you like loud music, funky smells, and bad jokes please contact us!