Iron Monkey, Jersey City, July 26, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007

Thank you Agatha. Thank you Robin. Thank you Minerva, the only New Heathens fan to see us in four different states. And thank you Minerva's friend Andy from Virginia Beach.

Y'all were the only people who saw our two-hour show at the Iron Monkey in Jersey City last night.

Look, no band loves to outnumber its audience but sometimes it happens. The good news is that we played pretty damn good. Butch ripped off some badass solos, the rhythm section pulsated and Domenick continued his hitting streak. So whether we look at it as a private gig for a girlfriend and a few superfans, or a public practice, we still got paid, got ready for the studio, and sold a couple of CDs to boot.

I'm EXTRAORDINARILY psyched to go back into the studio tomorrow. We hit Cowboy Technical Studios at noon. That's 26 hours from now. I'm counting down. -- Nate

Labels: private gig, public practice

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Eric here: Yeah the Rodeo Bar gig had to be one of our best in a while - there was a good vibe from the back of the stage to the end of the bar. Was also great having my crew in the house (or is it my posse in the club? gang in the manger? mob in the wagon?...) And thanks to Tobi for snapping a lot of cool photos for us...take a look and see what you missed/experienced.

So we have the big recording session scheduled for this weekend, and I'm really excited. I joined the band right after the 1st album came out, so now I get a chance to lay down some new studio tracks with the guys (we have some live tracks floating around, but, ya know, it aint the same).

I'm also really excited to be playing with our friends the lovely and talented Charlene and equally talented (but somewhat less lovely) Mo of Spanking Charlene next Friday (Aug 3) at NYC's Pianos (on increasingly crowded and obnoxious Ludlow St). And a warning to anyone driving & parking on Ludlow: the night regs start at midnight, and I had a $135 parking ticket stuck on my windscreen last year for failing to move my car by 12:00:01AM.

Oh and for those that have read down this far, let me just say that the new Magic Numbers album 'Those the Brokes' is really great.

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Rodeo Bar, July 24, 2007

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Rodeo Bar, Summer '07

Played New York's infamous Rodeo Bar last night, one of our favorite venues. I dig the stage decor (where else is there a Bison crashing through a wall underneath a Janis Joplin portrait?), the sound, the vibe and, of course, the food and drink. A lot of great friends came out to see us (thanks to the TMC crew especially Mr. Gabe Kinder who rode his bike to Central Park, ran 10 miles and THEN came to see the New Heathens -- a true triathalete). We had some family in the house too. I had the pleasure of meeting Eric Seftel's mother, sister and son. Three generations of Seftel uner one roof!

The band was focused, and Domenick had a great night. We've been working on cutting down the time we spend between songs and the effect last night was that when audience applauded after a song ended, we'd be into the next song before they finished. Pretty cool, especially for New York. Charlene McPherson, one of my favorite singers in the world (check out her band Spanking Charlene at Pianos on Friday, Aug. 3) joined us onstage to duet on a few Gram Parsons songs. On our last song, the Stones' "Dead Flowers," Joe Cassady from Joe Cassady and the West End Sound, Alan Lee from the Wicked Messengers, and Ryan Downey the drummer from my old band The Goods, joined us for the rave up.

I closed the bar down with Alan Lee and told him that when I first moved to New York in 2001, and before I knew who he was, I saw him at the Rodeo Bar, Hank's Saloon and Arlene's Grocery (for a solo gig by Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes.) I noticed him because he wore a Keith Richards t-shirts, a Keith-esque skull ring on his right ring finger, and a shark's tooth dangling from his ear. I remember walking over to him and saying, "Hey man, cool shirt and jewlery." Not knowing me from Adam, Alan would say, "Yeah thanks" and move on. Now we're good pals. New York is cool and cyclical like that.

Labels: Cyclical New York, family, Rodeo

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Track #1
Monday, July 23, 2007

Nate here. I figure a first blog, like a first song at a show or on a record, should get things moving. Set the tone. Whet the appetite. Heathens Like Me will be a forum for natterings from and about the New Heathens. Herewith, Monday.

Dan, Eric and I powwowed at Hill Country on 26th between 6th and Broadway and planned out a setlist for our show on Tuesday at the Rodeo Bar. "Get 'em rockin," Dan commanded. And so the rockers went up top. We went across the street to Funkadelic Studios, and played in a roasting rehearsal room about the size of a coffee table complete with broken amplifiers. "This place is so small," I said, "we've played STAGES bigger than this!" After prax we went back to Hill Country, the new NYC BBQ pit that's so spacious you forget you're in Manhattan, to see a Lindy Loo hootenanny/variety show. Saw Gowanas Corral, a wonderful Bakersfield flavored band that won me over by covering Robbie Fulks' "She Took A Lot of Pills and Died." I spun Lindy around the dancefloor, Jamie Lyn Smith too. I even talked Kate Hohman, who is writing her Columbia U. thesis on country music in New York, into a twirl. The find of the night however, maybe the find of the summer, was Larune. After her opening number, performed on acoustic guitar with slide guitarist Gordon Hartin accompanying, about washing mirrors, cooking stew and crying over her husband and not onions I said to Eric, "Man, if she wrote that song, I quit." I talked to her later. She did. I quit.

(Larune on YouTube:

Labels: Dancing, Practice, the Find

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