SleepStandingUp

Tony and Leilah are getting married. They’re going to be very happy, of that much I’m sure. It’s rare to meet two people who are so incredibly nice and as well-matched as those two are. Tony actually went to the same high-school as I did, Whitehall. Although it was after I graduated so I didn‘t meet him then. But he’s been an Earwig fan since back in the golden years of LFM (the 1990’s!). While we were on tour, Earwig even stayed over at their place in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They brought their whole gang of friends out and that show is one of the best tour memories we have. It was an incredible night. After high-school, Earwood joined the military and moved away from Columbus, but it seems like there is no end to his circle of friends. Some of his C-Bus pals who are going to the wedding offered to pay to fly me and the band out to play at Tony & Leilah’s reception. It’s quite an honor to even be asked, but we can’t go. Tony says that SleepStandingUp from Mayfeeder is one of his favorite Earwig songs. So here’s a special rendition of that tune just for the bride & groom. Congratulations.

SleepStandingUp
Autumn falls and here am I, beneath this windshield that’s built to protect me
Swallow it whole, ginger blue sunshine
is all mine
Try to find you and I will, my sympathies run high tonight
the boy with the cool fag haircut, was he the one
made you so sad
It’s all made up, yr an angel in my eyes
you know the truth and I’m a liar
he uses me

It takes a thin young man to say the things a giant can’t
call me yr thin young man
Sometimes I rely on you to tell me how I feel
Severely restricted and gingerly kissed, mouth wide open
like this

The choice I haven’t made could be my big mistake
I’m hearing opera through the door

I know myself, and it wouldn’t be right, to say the least
Sometimes I rely on you to tell me how I feel
Severely restricted and gingerly kissed, mouth wide open

Yr my warm spider web
Yr my suck benefit
Yr my remember dog
Yr mine

* The first time we played the song, Matt’s amp fell over. The second time we played it, I forgot the words. On the third try, we made it all the way through and that’s what you see here. Third attempt, two cameras, one take. Allan Foster filmed us in Matt’s room on Wednesday night and then our pal Matt Parker edited it together the very next day. Thank you very much to those two guys for helping make this happen.

Year of the Used Kids

I remember being very excited to play CD101 Day at the LC in 2007. Pretty unbelievably, our song “Used Kids” was being played on the radio like crazy. 400 spins in 6 months. You do the math. We got our own dressing room and were generally treated like conquering kings. Earwig got the second to last slot, which was great. The place was packed and the audience was incredible. Despite our nerves, we actually didn’t screw up and played pretty well. It was one of the biggest and best shows we had played up until that point. Then FOX TV called and asked us to come in for an interview and to play the song on their morning show ‘Good Morning Columbus’. We had planned on doing the tune as a full band but, as usual, things went awry and we ended up on-air as an acoustic duo, just me and Matt. It was a happy accident though, since I don’t know if we would have been able to deliver fully functional rock at 7am. I bet the soccer-moms probably liked the stripped down version better anyway . Next, we somehow landed the headlining spot Friday night on the main-stage at Comfest. Despite technical difficulties (with my brain) we did an admirable job and went over well with the massive audience that’s a cross-section of free-music fans and beer lovers from the Midwest. We capped the summer off with another show at the LC, this time outside, and then a short tour (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York) to promote ‘Center Of The Earth’. At the end of October, a week after we got back from the tour, we went into the studio and put down basics for 14 songs that should comprise our next full length album. All in all, it was a fantastic year. You can see clips of Earwig at Comfest, The LC, CD101 Day, FOX TV and several stops on the tour in this new video for ‘Used Kids’, superbly edited by Matt Parker. Enjoy.

*BONUS* Look for the scene where I have Matt in a headlock and then throw him to the ground. We were playing in Cincinnati. I broke a string mid-song and, disposing of my guitar, finished the tune by flailing around the stage like an aerobics instructor on PCP. I guess that I got a little caught up in the moment. Matt, if your out there...I’m sorry.