winter happenings

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

"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!!

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

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

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

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

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!!!!

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!!!

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

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!!!!

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.