I can’t remember if it was a phone call or an email we received out of the blue one day.  It was from the filmmaker, Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza.  He mentioned that he had seen the Noise Revival Orchestra perform a year or 2 before at SXSW when we were the “Experience”!  He had purchased our music when we were selling it on a USB drive and he asked me if he could use an older song, Le Cri, for a film he was doing about hacky sack wars, called Full Hack.  At that time I didn’t really see why not, and after I said yes, he said “Good!  Because I actually already included it.  But of course I need your permission”.

He went on to say that he was working on a PSA for an organization that focuses on self-initiative democrative approach to education, and that the founder of the organization, Dana Bennis, would like to hire TNRO to provide music for the PSA.  Our song, Days n Daze was used and the video for the Democratic Education “Make Your Voice Heard” PSA,  which was selected for a non-prof film festival in Austin, called Lights Camera Help, and I was honored to represent the film for a quasi-panel discussion.  I’ve since had the privilege to get to know both Dana & Juan over phone conversations, and they are both amazing people that I support and hope to cross paths with again.

What an amazing trip!  The abrupt landing from the clouds was to be a precursor for The Noise Revival Orchestra’s trip to the land of Faroes!   Immediately we jumped on a bus to the capital of Torshavn.  On the plane I had seen a guy with a guitar bag so it was my goal to meet him and tell him about our visit.  I met him (Jon Klaement) on the bus and turns out he knew the friend that was hosting us!  I soon learned that everyone knows everyone..& I learned that everyone knows my friend, Gudrid Hansdottir!  When you are on the front of the paper when you are getting married, that says something, no matter what island you are from!  At the bus station Gudrid whisked us away to the house we were staying and said we had 1 hour to shower and be ready to meet our Faroese band for rehearsal.  The rehearsal was magical from the get go.  It reminded me of the first time a year or so ago in Denmark, when I first tried out playing behind different backing bands in different cities.   The chemistry was instantaneous.  In particular the drummer Andreas Dalsgaard, had a the “IT” factor.  He’s someone I would love to figure out how to have him perform with us all over Europe.  Rehearsal is cut short because we have to rush over to sound check.  We run through each song once and then cram our gear in the corner at Sirkus.  By the time we set up, we maybe have time to run a song or 2.

The band before us was performing their first show and their last because half the band was moving to Copenhagen.  It’s a shame.  They were pretty brilliant.  It’s our turn to go on and we are excited because you can barely move in this bar as it’s packed and people are crowding the stairs trying to get in.  I want to refrain from using the term “magical” so often, but in the Faroe’s much of everything is so.  And Sirkus is that magical venue, that I’m sure has not always been there.  I heard only amazing things about the owner, Sunneva, who has really pushed to give a place to hear new music and a place for the punks, hipsters, etc feel at home.  The show was not perfect, but that truly is the beauty of playing with a different band in each country.  It adds that excitement and room for interpretation.  We churned through the set and ended on the rocking number, Days n Daze.  From that moment they cheered for more and more!  We stood there knowing that we could leave on that high point or risk playing an unrehearsed song.  They continued to cheer and it was thrilling.  We were to play 2 days later, and that was to be our encore.

After the show we were all congratulated and continually asked what a Texas band was doing in the Faroe Islands!  It won’t be the last time we are there, that’s for sure!  Outside I met 3 young fellas, that had come to film us that night.  The 3 of them, Peter, Runi, & Bjarne, would become some of our closest confidants, and that night they expressed their desire to film and document our entire stay.

It began at 7 in the morning the next day.  We arrived at the national radio station, Kringvarp, where we first greeted Petur on his scooter waiting in the cold.  I asked Petur how he managed to wake up and he replied “I didn’t”.  He had stayed up all night to make sure that he was here to film us.  We performed our soon to be new US single, Dance the Night Away, in a stripped down version of 2 acoustic guitars, violin, cello, and flute.  I did a short interview on the air with Gudrid Hansdottir to promote our final show at Perlan the next night and off we went.  We had a few hours to kill before we performed at the local record store, Tutl, so we walked around the city with our new friend Petur.

The in-store performance was also a stripped down affair.  We were blessed with beautiful weather and as a result had a lot of walking traffic come in the store to hear us.  We sold more than a handful of CD’s and were asked to sign 4 of them!  It was great promotion for our show the next night.

The show at Perlan was an 8 band bill that went all night!  We were scheduled after midnight which was great, because in the summer, apparently people don’t come out until after midnight!  This was it for us so we wanted to leave the crowd with something they would remember.  1 minute before I walked on stage I randomly overheard someone saying they were a singer and wished they could grab the mic and start singing.  I pulled him aside and asked if he wanted to jump up on stage and do a group vocal.  The girl next to him asked if she could as well, and I said “Sure, anyone can!  Tell any of your friends.”  Four songs into the set and I yell over the mic for the guy to come up on stage and he gives the signal to all his friends as well, and a flock of singers jump on stage.  Everyone on stage was having such a good time and they all sang along to the catchy chorus of our new song, Songs of Forgiveness.  This got the crowd going and after a couple more songs, I just let it go.  I told the crowd to just get back on stage and dance around and be a part of the band.  We took it from there!  I know it’s on video somewhere!   What a way to go out!

Getting lost and missing your flight…that’s right it wasn’t all over just yet.  The last 24 hours was a crazy 24 hours.  In the afternoon Gudrid took us on a hike around a mountain.  It was such an amazing view and experience.  I felt like I was back in the 1500’s or something!  The town that we walked to had only a handful of old houses and an old cathedral that was never finished.  But it was here where we realized that Alexa was missing!  Josh said he saw her walking pretty far behind but figured that she would see us descend down from the mountain.  It was getting rainy and cold, so who better to call then our camera crew!  Josh was to walk from the ending point to the starting point and I gathered the camera crew to go on a journey of looking for our lost violinist.  6 hours later we got a phone call that she had crawled down a mountain and asked a Russian tourist to just drive her to the nearest town.  How she communicated, I’m unsure, but we had started to worry.  Now it was Josh’s turn to pull and Alexa.  As we were going down for bed at 2 am, Josh pulls me aside and tells me that he never bought his ticket from the Faroe Islands to Iceland.  But he said not to worry and that he would just buy it at the ticket counter.  Can you guess what happened?  Yep, he got left behind!  It was an issue with his card apparently.  It’s one of those moments that you think only happens in the movies.  I mean, you never want to leave your friend hanging in a foreign country with no money!  It just adds to lore of The Noise Revival Orchestra coming to the Faroe Islands.  It makes me wonder if coming back would ever top our infamy, for whatever reason we are infamous!  But seriously, a special energy and gravity is tugging at my body and soul to return!  The story continues…

Alone, cold & a bit scared.  I am unsure if I should turn around, or move forward.  Mountains are to my left, the ocean to my right and I see no signs of civilization in front of  or behind me.  I’m on a bike, with 2 bottles of water, some bread, and a banana and somewhere between 18 & 25 more miles to go.  Up to this point my trip to Iceland has been one of the worst trips of my life, but I won’t get in to the reasons why.  The plans and aspirations I had coming here, quickly withered and now I’m isolated in the suburbs.  But everything happens for a reason, right?  Was I to find myself or learn something from this?  Out of something bad can rise something beautiful, right?  On the outside I could tell you that I was learning about the human race and how I needed to be more careful on whom I trust.  Or that this was a sign that I was plateauing in my life and career and it was time to further disassociate myself with the “non-contributors” in my life.  Anything to make myself feel better right?  But I already know these lessons and they weren’t going to help me for the next 20 miles!

So let me back up a bit.  Two days in and it all becomes apparent that this trip was a mistake.  I couldn’t fly out early, so I decided that it was up to my trusty steed, to show me the way!  The day started out way later than I would have liked it to, but I had this urge to get there.  I knew I had until 9 pm and with it being 3 already, it was now or never.  I jumped on my bike and headed out.  It was a bit rough from the get go.  I was stopping every 5 minutes to ask for help because the street names often changed and I was a bit nervous from riding a bike on the highway!  I did encounter some unusual characters along the way.  For instance one guy I stopped said he would not help me unless I smoked one of his cigarettes.  He then told me that he wanted me to try mailing him small amounts of drugs and he would mail me back something special from Iceland!  Hah!  The girl he was with then pulled out this tube of special lotion that she bought one time that was to be used at the Fountain of Youth.  She said “I will never make it there, so please take this and make good use of it”.  From that moment I knew my trip was of destiny.  I had to make it there for this reason alone.  Everyone of course looked at me like I was a complete fool and often reminded me that it was 34 miles away!

Eventually I made it out of the city and it was a 25 mile ride in the mountainous terrain.  I kept those legs churning and it’s here where it was just me all alone, with my thoughts, with nature, with God.  I thought many thoughts; I screamed, I laughed, I cried, I hoped, I cursed, I remembered, I pleaded.  I really don’t know the point of why my body and soul was being broken down so badly.  Oh wait, it was to make it there to use the lotion, right!  Running out of water, I knew I had to get there soon.  I couldn’t be another senseless American tragedy in Iceland!  In the distance I saw a sign that looked like it said Fountain of Youth in Icelandic, so I went with it and exited!  Now it was only 3.5 miles to go, but I could see it in the mountain ahead, so I used that as motivation!

When I arrived, I could barely walk.  It was cold, desolate, and quiet.  I don’t know if I was expecting something brighter and more enlightening, but I felt alone again at this moment.   But if there was ever a contrast between light and dark, this was it.  I continued down an isolated trail and when inside the fountain, it was like discovering the Garden of Eden of some sort!   For 3 hours the physical pain relinquished itself to the natural beauties of Iceland.  I can’t really explain any more from the moments I was in there.  Let’s just say I got lost.  I wanted to stay lost because I was fearing the ride home.  I won’t bore you with the details on the ride back but know that I mainly cursed!  Whoever invented the bike seat should be punished!  Oh and I got my first real scare.  I was chased by a sketchy guy wearing a hoodie and riding a scooter!  He tried to trap me!  Be careful in Rekyjavik at 2 in the morning even when the sun is out!

So Iceland ended on a positive note.  Our show at Faktory was well promoted, the crowd was very warming, and we sold out of our CD’s.  But the best part of it was we had the pleasure of gracing the stage with my new favorite Icelandic band, Nolo.  They were fantastic and I’m excited to see where they go and possibly help them out in Austin sometime!   Until next time Reykjavik!

Our London trip was highlighted by a fantastic show and crowd at the Dublin Castle.  I wish we would have had an extra song to please the crowd.  Next time!   But it wouldn’t have been as memorable without Mr. Jesse Boyce and Mr. Andreas Jensen.  If you don’t know Jesse, you should.  Stand up guy with an amazing eye for design.  He co-runs This is Lethal & he also manages one of my favorite instrumental bands that doesn’t sound like Mogwai, The Good the Bad (DK).  Jesse gave me the low down in London, which I needed.  While Josh and Alexa saw the sites, Jesse took me Underground!

With Andreas I got the laughs.  Just being around him cracks me up.  Part of my project was to write an EP with different songwriters from different countries.  Andreas is going to make this EP make absolutely no sense, and I dig him just for that reason.  The guy can write a melody with the best of them.  I came up with this synth dance riff and it ended up a catch dub-step song about traveling the world.  We were undecided about 2 lines that the other came up with.  We had to compromise, and I think I got the short end of the stick!  He insisted on having a particular line that kept cracking me up.  It’s somewhat a reference to Denver, CO (that’s just a hint).  Soon you will be hearing the Noise Revival Orchestra dub-step style!  Stay tuned!

The Noise Revival

Nathan Noise

The Noise Revival Orchestra

The Noise Revival

The Noise Revival

“Here are some custom Nike Dunks we painted for our friend Nathan who heads up the band The Noise Revival Orchestra. These were done just in time for his tour to Denmark, the U.K., and Iceland…needless to say we needed to get these kicks thoroughly ready for the rocker’s trip.

Nathan requested some graffiti like letters and bright colors, so we did it up as well as added a silver flake clear cloat gloss so that the stage lights would have these kicks really shining. The birds in the toebox is from the band’s booking company’s logo, which we thought added a nice song bird touch.” Via MOFOZ: Streetwear.

 

After a 5-week tour in Europe through 4 counties (that is well documented in my previous blog posts), the last thing on my body’s mind was leaving Austin again, 5 days later to head out to Sweden and London.  Little did I know that this would result in one of the greatest experiences in recent memory for me.For the few that truly know me, which are very few if any, they know that I constantly work hard on some sort of project, and rarely take a moment to eat or sleep.  When I do sleep, I sleep sitting up because it wakes my body up after only a few hours out of discomfort.

 

Is that Even a Good School?
Troy & I landed in Stockholm early Tuesday and were greeted by a P&L driver, whom was to drive us 2 hours north to Borlange.  Drowsy and half awake, I really didn’t feel like talking about the usual topics of the US and Texas and how we aren’t really cowboys, blah blah blah, so I gave the brief version and soon looked to pass out for the majority of the trip.  It was almost over, when the driver, (whom I forgot the name of so we’ll call him Anders), Anders, dropped a carrot I couldn’t resist.  “I lived in Alabama for a year when I was 17.” He said.  Whaaaaaaaat!  A Swede in sweet home Alabama?  In the heart of the Bible belt.  Where racism doesn’t just still live, but still breeds.  Fascinating!  Anders starts to smile as if the memories are coming to life for him as he explains how surreal it was to live the “Lifetime/90210” American high school life.  He joined the football team and wore his jersey to class on game day and carried the cheerleader’s books!  Ha!  He of course was the kicker for the football team.  He was also on the soccer team and said that he was the best player on the team and won MVP and all sorts of awards.  He was even offered a scholarship to play soccer at some school I didn’t recognize.  And this is where is got interesting.  He then mentions that he was also offered a scholarship to play football but he thought it was foolish to play football because “It’s so easy that anyone can kick that little football between the yellow poles”.  So I asked him where the offer came from.  He could barely pronounce it and it sounded like Orber or Arbu\or.  So I think Alabama…hmmm…..”Auburn?”  “Ya that’s it.  Auburn,” Anders says.  “Is that even a good school?” … Wait a second?  This guy had never played football before, comes to America, kicks a ball around for 4 months so he can pretend he’s in a teen American movie and then gets offered a full scholarship to play at a Division 1 college?  And turns it down!!! Glad I stayed awake =)   Oh, and Anders goes on to say that it was one of the best years of his life and still has tons of friends from Alabama, which doesn’t include a German foreign exchange student that found his “exchange parents’” shotgun the first week he was in Alabama and blasted a huge hole in their bed.  No, they weren’t in the bed at that time!

Lars
We arrive in Borlange a few hours later and I’m still wishing Anders would have said yes to Auburn.  Those thoughts quickly subside as we see our great friend Henrik with Peace & Love!  I hit it off with Henrik, Jesper, and a few others during SXSW this year, and building these friendships and learning more about the vision of Peace & Love in their eyes is why I was in Borlange.

 We are escorted through the barren festival grounds, which felt like walking through the calm before a storm.  Henrik begins to explain that his friend Lars will be in charge of us and will make sure we are accommodated with an apartment, food, wristbands, you name it.

Lars was Lars.  A gentle giant.  A poor mans Conan the Barbarian/Thor.  Stalky…pony tail…never wore a shirt…shoes came and went…walked like he was on a mission to kick someone’s ass, but always had the huge smile…and he made us feel like we were his top priority.  Anytime we needed something he was there in a heartbeat with a smile.  Even when it seemed grim, he always promised, “I’ll figure out a way to make it happen.”  Lars is the guy.  My home is his home now.

Peace & Love
The 2 words being so ambiguous, can easily be overheard and overlooked, but after my week at the P&L fest, I feel they have come into more focus for me.  I was privileged to see the festival from multiple angles as an artist, a guest, a supporter, and even in some ways as an affiliate.  Of course this got me in to more than v.i.p areas where I could see the work in action, and I tried to soak up every moment.

The first day was highlighted by my friends Giana Factory being at the festival!  They have become such sweet and amazing friends of mine and of course they are an amazing band that Jesper discovered at SXSW at the Roky Erickson Ice Cream Social.  Seeing them perform is always a treat for me, and the night (that never got dark) was capped off in Eden, which was the after hours “VIP” garden lounge.  It was probably a combination of the alcohol and the euphoria of beautiful weather and music, but boy was this portion of the festival a blast each night.  It’s here where I met the most people and honestly felt like the beginning of friendships were started.  Danny with Carlings, kept me intrigued with our similar ties to Native Americans and how he has a cool gig to drum with a German star to crowds of 65,000+, but had to overcome rowlfing on himself during each performance.  Lin fascinated me with an overview of Sweden underground music, their flagship artists, and other insights.  Patrick talked of taking me to visit Cliff Burton’s memorial.  But it was Jesper, the visionary at P&L, which captivated my attention the most. Jesper thinks bigger than big and I admire and relate to him.  You can’t walk 5 seconds with Jesper in Eden without someone pulling his attention away, but at 5 am when all were kicked out of Eden and I was sitting on the curb with a few new friends a few blocks away, it was Jesper who stumbled into our holy trinity.

You’ll hear festivalgoers say that it’s just a music festival with no real connection to peace or love.  Or at least that’s what some said when this Texan prodded.   But I thought that response was a copout.  Similar to people saying they don’t pay attention to advertising so it doesn’t affect their decision-making.  You see, I can’t count the number of times my mind was wandering off when I’d see some unique expression of the concept of P&L written or tattered on someone’s shirt or bag or sleeve, and almost every time it brought my mind back and thinking and aware.  People of all different backgrounds, expressing their beliefs and showing that there is this unity for a common belief and hope.  It makes impressions, no doubt in my mind.  To Jesper, Peace & Love Festival is not a Swedish festival.  I can see that.  Sweden is his foundation but his outreach to Cuba, the USA, Spain and other countries shows that the festival, like true peace and love, is international and has no walls.  Without belief you have no peace nor love.  Jesper believes…and I’m in his corner.

I’m sure a lot of people come for the music and the bands, and that’s probably why a band like Kings of Leon has to be on the bill, but that can’t be the only reason P&L is rapidly growing and their base of fans are returnees every year?  I know for me, parts of my soul and spirit were fed and I feel the gravity pulling at me to come back simply to be around Jesper & Henrik and be inspired.  To be an inspiration next time?  I can only hope!  Do I want find Peace & Love?  What’s the saying…Be careful what you look for. You just might get it?  Well, I’ll take my chances!

 Character of the Cast

Mattias was just another dude riding up elevators with a bearskin vest, baring his chest, playing the bongos, sporting a tiki (for lack of a better word) mask, and building human peace signs every day.  You know…THAT guy!   Props!

Quote of the trip
“I only know America through ‘My Sweet Sixteen’, ‘Made’, and ‘I’m 15 and pregnant’.  (pause)…So is it true that all guys in America play baseball, love their Mom, pray, and have nice bodies?”