the belleville outfit blog

The February Whirlwind

2009-03-06T12:04:00.008-06:00

The February Whirlwind

Hey Yall,

We just rolled home from about 2 1/2 weeks out on the road, and wanna say hey to all the folks we met while we were gone. It was great to see family and friends everywhere we went. We can't tell you how it feels to roll in from an 8 hour drive and be greeted by the warmth of the people we know. Thanks to Missy and Jim and all the families in Lexington,KY who open up their homes to us. Of course, it was wonderful to go "home" to Spartanburg, SC for a few days. Just in case you don't know, Jeff, Rob and Marshall grew up there, and the community supports them so fully that they have taken the rest of us in and Spartanburg has become a second home for us, too! Thanks to Shane Pruit for all the jams. Here's a link to a blog written about the show in Spartanburg,SC by Dan Armonaitis:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=377773638&blogID=470729420

Another great part of the last tour was the Folk Alliance. If you don't know, the Folk Alliance is a conference where a bunch of musicians get together with a bunch of people in the folk business commuinty and cross pollinate for a weekend. It is always a blast for the musicians because we get to see our friends from around the country/world who are doing exactly the same thing as us and exchange stories/songs etc. into the wee hours of the morning. Since we were only there for the friday night of the conference, we took full advantage of the evening. The one night we were there, got to hang with the guys in The Boulder Acoustic Society, check out The Duhks, and even see tons of our friends from Austin including Dustin Welch and The Marshal Ford Swing Band. It was really an honor to have Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn sitting and watching our showcase in our friend Greg Liszt's showcase room. I am still amazed to look back and think of all that happening in one night.

The last night of the tour was the show in Charleston, WV on the Mountain Stage. What a highlight! If you are unfamiliar with Mountain Stage, you should know about it. Mountain Stage is a nationally syndicated radio show that gets recorded twice a month or so in front of a live audience in Charleston, WV. They always have a great line up of bands, and the week we were there was no acception. We got to play with a fun cast of characters, including Sometymes Why, The Spring Standards, Steve Poltz and The Drive By Truckers. Truly inspirational to see such amazing music in one night!

Meanwhile, Rob and Jeff have been working hard on finalizing all the details for the festival that they are throwing just outside of Spartanburg, SC on June 19th and 20th, The Music Camp. Stay tuned for the launch of the website, including the exciting line up of amazing bands! All that work combined with us getting the details on our new record out has made the van into an office on wheels. Except maybe a bit more fun!

Well, off to get ready for the show tonight at Momo's in Austin. Hope to see you there!

-Phoebes

2008-07-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

OK guys – Let me first start with an enormous apology for not being more on top of this blogging stuff. Until about mid-way through this past tour, I truly never thought being a musician was much of a “real job,” as they say. We get to perform in front of amazingly receptive people all over the country, we get to see all kinds of places across the country, we get to meet famous people, we get to record records in incredible studios, all in the name of doing something that we love.

But for all of those great things, there is indeed a “behind the scenes” scene, if you will. We’ve been what seems like everywhere this summer. We’ve been up at 6AM, in the van for 12 hours, and then cranked out 2-3 hours shows. We’ve slept in crappy hotels, and some nice ones too. We lost our beloved chariot a couple weeks ago to a failing transmission. (fret not, we have a new one.) We’ve blown tires, and missed shows. We’ve had bad shows, and we’ve had great shows. We’ve seen each other’s smiling faces literally everyday since the middle of May when we set out for California. And, now, we’re home.

You get so used to the road schedule after a while. It even seems weird to me that I actually have time to sit here in my living room and write about it. I even slept in my own bed last night, imagine that.

But for all of the daily in and out drudge that sometimes accompanies this particular profession, we are lucky people, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It is simply just to rewarding, when after a seemingly endless day of travel, accompanied by all of our patience running out, and a show we just didn’t quite know how to feel about, someone comes up after a show and tells you it was the best show they’ve seen all year. So, I’d like to thank each and every person that made it to a show, bought a CD, or just took the time to come say hello, from the bottom of my heart. We simply can’t do it by ourselves, so thanks. A lot. Really.

So really, with the exception of 2 very, very short lived and busy trips home, we’ve been on the road since the middle of May. 8 weeks. Pictures will be going up very soon on our MySpace page, and our Fickr page, which you can link to from our website.

We got to meet and play with some amazing bands and musicians along the way so far. There are so many people out there trying to do the same thing we are, and who are, in my humble opinion, far more deserving, so if you get the chance to see someone you’ve heard about, or read about, please go see them. Buy their CD if you like it, put some money in their tip jar, because it ain’t easy folks.

Sorry to preach, just now that I’m home, I actually got a little nostalgic about this summer. We’ve played 40+ shows since we set out, not including radio, and I can remember the good and the bad about all of them. So all I ask here is that those of you who read this and would like to share anything about a set you caught, or our van running you off the road in Nebraska, please do. (If you’re reading this on our website – pop over to the MySpace page or the Blog page). I could write a novel about this summer’s events if I started from the beginning of this tour, so instead of doing that, I want to open it up to you. I’ll do my best to respond to questions or good stories.

So that’s going to be it for now. We have 3 weeks off here in Austin before we set out to do it again. Back to Colorado for the Four Corners Festival. We did the sister festival back in June called Pagosa Folk and Bluegrass. Absolutely beautiful place, equipped with the nicest people on earth, and the best back stage food we’ve found to date.

We have a rehearsal today too! And surely many, many more to follow, so expect lots of new stuff coming at you on this next leg.

Thanks to everyone, wishing you all the best…

Rob

2008-07-18T12:23:00.000-05:00

two vids

2008-07-18T12:12:00.005-05:00

Two videos to check out - one from ME-TV here in Austin and another taken in Baltimore when we opened up for Lyle Lovett. Enjoy.

7/17/08

2008-07-17T12:13:00.027-05:00

Seven and a half weeks on the road.

Nevada, California, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and home again

Lots of time in the van. Lots of pictures. Even a video or two. Check it

#10 baby snakes

2008-04-07T21:33:00.007-05:00

We're #10 on the Americana Music Charts this week. Check it out here http://www.americanaradio.org/ama/displaychart_beforetracks.asp?mode=lw&dtkey=

It's getting hot in Austin.

Photo by Rockslide Photography

SXSW and the past

2008-03-21T12:08:00.029-05:00

The latest news from Belleville Outfit World Headquarters here in Austin, TX

SXSW

We were very honored to be asked to play an official showcase this past saturday for the SXSW music festival here in Austin, as well as a spot playing at the Austin Music Awards, in a tribute to Walter Hyatt. Lyle Lovett and David Ball were among some of the other musicians also playing. Here's a shot of Lyle in the dressing room with Connor in the backround. (photo by rockslide photography)

We've also been doing some great house concerts lately, completely acoustic and stripped down of any amps or microphones. We did one here in Austin for John Grubbs and his family. Then in the same week we played in Houston at the Frederick family Side-Door Sessions. Those folks sure now how to throw a party, and we had a great time making music for them. Here's some pictures from both. (Photo's by Rockslide Photography and The Fredericks)

And here's some pictures from earlier this year, starting in Colorado and ending up in South Carolina. Enjoy!

words from the southeast

2008-02-13T14:14:00.006-06:00

Today was supposed to be our day off, but it has turned more into a day to get stuff done, so we're not way behind with it all. Ever wonder what a band does besides ride around in a van, party, and play music?

We stuff hundreds of envelopes, which make their way out to radio stations and print media across the country (and even some in Europe). We fix our van and trailer, because if the trailer lights or our steering wheel doesn't work, we aren't going anywhere. We update our website, blogs, and online calendars. We reply to emails, neglected phone calls, and overflowing voicemail inboxes. We fix amplifiers, restring guitars, put new heads on drums, and if we're lucky, we even find a minute to call home to mom.

For those of you wondering where www.bellevilleoutfit.com is, we're launching a new website and the domain name is being transfered this week. So for now, you can view our brand spankin new site at www.thebellevilleoutfit.com

Here are some shots from shows these past weeks

Charleston, SC

Colorado

keep movin'

2008-01-28T14:01:00.000-06:00

We had a great run of shows in Texas this past weekend. We went through Houston, Galveston, La Grange, and New Braunfels. All of the places we played are setup more as music listening clubs, and less as noisy bars. At the Bugle Boy in La Grange, in fact, you might be asked to leave for talking during performances. Don't let that scare you - it's a club worth going to on any night of the week.

Nothing like the feeling of playing music to folks who really appreciate it and aren't just there for the $1.50 beer special. Thanks to all of you who made it out to one of those shows. Hope everyone is enjoying the CD's.

photo by rockslide photography

We were cold. a photo essay by jeff brown

2008-01-21T13:28:00.000-06:00

We had a great time.

We were so, so, cold. And our van didn't break down!

Colorado here we come

2008-01-08T16:00:00.001-06:00

Thursday we're leaving the unseasonably warm Austin TX, busting out our cold weather gear and hitting the slopes up in Steam Boat Springs CO, by way of Amarillo. There's been some changes in where we're playing on this trip so check out this up-to-date list:

Golden Light Cafe, Amarillo TX
01.10.08 | Thursday
10:00PM

Dulcinea's 100th Monkey, Denver CO
01.11.08 | Friday
9:00PM

Ski Jam, Steamboat Springs CO
01.13.08 | Sunday
Time TBA

Ski Jam, Steamboat Springs CO
01.14.08 | Monday

The Goat, Keystone CO
01.15.08 | Tuesday
10:00PM

Dulcinea's 100th Monkey, Denver CO
01.16.08 | Wednesday
10:00PM
Round Two!

What the new year brings

2008-01-04T14:51:00.000-06:00

Happy new year, everybody!

We're gearing up to release this CD out into the world, which means a ton of playing, and a ton of driving.
Here are all of the shows we have booked for January and February of 2008, as well as a promo poster. Feel free to print this out and paste it all over your town!

Kirby's, San Antonio TX
01.04.08 | Friday
7:00PM

Central Market, Austin TX
01.06.08 | Sunday
12:00PM

Momo's, Austin TX
01.06.08 | Sunday
8:00PM
w/ Warren Hood and The Hoodlums

Golden Light Cafe, Amarillo TX
01.10.08 | Thursday
10:00PM

Stage Stop, Rollinsville CO
01.12.08 | Saturday
9:30PM

Ski Jam, Steamboat Springs CO
01.13.08 | Monday
Time TBA

Ski Jam, Steamboat Springs CO
01.14.08 | Tuesday

The Goat, Keystone CO
01.15.08 | Tuesday
10:00PM

Momo's, Austin TX
01.20.08 | Sunday
8:00PM
w/ Warren Hood and The Hoodlums

The Mucky Duck, Houston TX
01.24.08 | Thursday
8:00PM

Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, Galveston TX
01.25.08 | Friday
9:00PM

The Bugle Boy, La Grange TX
01.26.08 | Saturday
8:00PM

Gruene Hall, New Braunfels TX
01.27.08 | Sunday
4:00PM

Cactus Cafe, Austin TX
01.31.08 | Thursday
9:00PM

The Nick, Birmingham AL
02.07.08 | Thursday
11:00PM

Eddie's Attic, Atlanta GA
02.08.08 | Friday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

The Music Farm, Charleston SC
02.09.08 | Saturday
8:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

The Bohemian, Greenville SC
02.12.08 | Tuesday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW! Get Reservations.

Hideaway BBQ, Raleigh NC
02.14.08 | Thursday
8:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

The Showroom, Spartanburg SC
02.15.08 | Friday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW! Get your tickets now, this show will sell out.

The Evening Muse, Charlotte NC
02.16.08 | Saturday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

Preservation Pub, Knoxville TN
02.18.08 | Monday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

Natasha's, Lexington KY
02.19.08 | Tuesday
9:00PM
CD RELEASE SHOW!

Douglas Corner, Nashville TN
02.20.08 | Wednesday
Time TBA

Folk Alliance, Memphis TN
02.21.08 to 02.24.08
Thursday - Saturday

happy holidays

2007-12-21T11:39:00.000-06:00

a small christmas present from us to you

roll on over to www.bellevilleoutfit.com and check under the "listen" section...we uploaded a preview of 5 tunes from the album for your listening enjoyment. You can also find the samples on our myspace.com/thebellevilleoutfit page.

Happy holidays and we're looking forward to seeing everybody in 2008!

waiting

2007-12-12T14:34:00.000-06:00

we're in a big musical waiting room right now. The CD work is completed. We'll be digitally distributed and all that good stuff in a month or so.

One more gig before everyone goes home for the holidays. Then we play again 12/29 and 12/31 doing some private events. And if anyone wants to see the most hungover band in the world, we'll be playing at 1pm on 1.01.08 at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, TX. Always a good time out there.

No new pictures to speak of, but here are some pictures of Rob, Jon and Connor from this past summer. They took a trip to see the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois, France. It's a gypsy music festival held every year in honor of Django, the french guitarist.

(Outside Django's house)

(Playing guitar on the river seine)

(Lost in France, but not without a bottle of wine)

(Waiting for the train)

Album Art, Keepin' busy

2007-12-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

We've been in Austin a few weeks now, aside from some trips home for thanksgiving and a few gigs out of town. We had a great time playing out at Gruene Hall this past saturday for all you folks who came out. For those of you who weren't there, we were selling a limited run 5 song CD - we only printed 150, and we sold out most of them at that show. We still have some left, so if you catch us at a show you might be able to get your hands on one.

Here at home we've been doing a lot of the production work to get the album released. We recently did a photo shoot with Austin photographer George Brainard. He got some great shots, and we sent them up to Stephen Long in South Carolina, who did the actual album design. Here are some samples.

We also did a little modification to the band van this week. We retrieved a cow skull from a friends farm out in Dale, TX, and attached it to the front of the van. It's a Texas thing.

Other than that, not a lot of news to report. Connor bought himself an upright Wurlitzer piano a few days ago. We had a rehearsal and learned some new tunes on monday night. Marshall, Phoebe and Connor have been playing weekly with Eric Hokkenen and the Gypsy Tribe over at Lambert's on wednesday nights. Jonathan and Marshall have also been doing gigs with Warren Hood and The Hoodlums around town a bit. Everyone is keeping busy. We're all very excited about the release of this CD and ready to hit the road again.

On a side note, here is a picture I came across by Austin photographer John Grubbs. It reminds me a lot of our drives through the Texas panhandle. John can be seen photographing musical happenings all over Austin. You can see his recent work at his blog http://rockslidephoto.blogspot.com.

back in austin

2007-11-15T09:43:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone

Back in Austin after that wonderful 14 hour drive from nashvegas. Next time, we're taking the Learjet.

The cold Fall air is finally rolling into Austin and it's making me think back on this past summer. We got around a good bit and played in a lot of new places. The Carolinas, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana, Connecticut, NYC, Colorado. And we've got pictures from all of that, so I thought I'd post some of our favorites. Enjoy!

The Music Camp - Spartanburg SC

The Music Camp...the morning after. We're a little crusty.

Corndog in CT

Rob, Phoebe, Marshall - central park NYC

moo moo and phoebe in NC

With our new rig back in june. We named her "Miss Chunky Butt". Before this, we toured in 2 cars with the bass strapped to the roof!!

Dinner with JB in North Carolina after the Evening Muse show

He's a maniac!!

In the studio, Austin TX - photo by Nicola Gell
Kerrville Folk Festival

Saturday-Sunday (mixing)

2007-11-11T11:34:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone

We finished recording, and yesterday afternoon we began the mixing process at Bil's home studio. Mixing doesn't really involve the band beyond listening back to a track once in a while and making adjustments - the bulk of the work is done by the engineer. So, we have a lot of time to hang around and we're making it into a relaxing day of reading and taking care of business to get this CD released. We've decided to do a presale sometime in the next weeks for those of you who'd like to reserve your copy.

We're going to be making the 14 hour drive back to Austin tonight - it seems like driving through the night helps make the trip go by quicker. We've had an interesting experience staying here in Nashville this past week. Being the young, poor band that we are, Connor, Marshall and myself have been staying in a hotel off of I-65, which we have managed to get lost on the way to every single night we've been here. It is also directly adjacent to a very dangerous looking nightclub. The kind of place where you get patted down and walk through a metal detector to enter! I'm even pretty sure I heard a gunshot or two last night. We don't really mind this kind of thing to be honest - we like to think of it as life experience! (Don't tell our parents that!)

So gunshots and the ever-confusing highway system aside, we've had a positive experience here in Nashville these 8 days. We're all very much pleased with the way the tracks sound, and we can't wait for everyone out there to hear it. The record includes a nice mix of styles - a little country, swing, gypsy, R&B, New Orleans groove, and there's even something for all you folky's out there. It's Americana music, by anyone’s standards.

On a side note, this past Friday we left the studio early to go and see an incredible band by the name of The Infamous Stringdusters perform here at the Station Inn. They're a bluegrass group based out of Nashville who have been making big waves recently all over the country. We highly recommend them - you can check them out at http://www.infamousstringdusters.com/if you're interested. Their banjo player, Chris Pandolfi, and dobro man Andy Hall came and played on our record. Their new CD, "Fork in the Road", is in heavy rotation in the Belleville van on long road trips.

Here are some pictures of the last day or so at Bil's. Enjoy

-Jonathan

Thurs - Friday

2007-11-09T11:07:00.000-06:00

Howdy all

Thursday we moved to our engineer Bil's studio located west of Nashville. He built it into the bottom of his house, which was originally a Moose Lodge set up in the hills. It's set on a large piece property, with trails to hike and even a 150 foot firetower to climb, if you dare. It's a very peaceful place, and a lot of great records have been done here. I'll include some photos of it in this post.

We started off this morning laying down some percussion parts - I put down some tambourine, guiro, and shaker parts on a few tunes. Just adding a little spice to the pot, if you will. We're quickly nearing the completion of this record, and seeing it all come to life has been a great experience. We play these songs so much live, and to hear them recorded in such a professional way is really something special.

For those of you who have been wondering, here is a track list for the CD. This may change in order but these are the songs we have recorded:

1.Somebody Like You
2.Wanderin'
3.Caroline
4.Wonder Why
5.Ease My Mind
6.Take It For Granted
7.Houston Town
8.Good Day
9.Been Here Before
10.Warm Summer's Evening
11.Tell Her For Me When I'm Gone
12.Too Far To Fall

"Somebody Like You" is a song we added at the last minute, and it rounds the CD out to 12 tracks. It's a song of Rob's that we hadn't ever played live, and have rehearsed only once or twice. Kind of an uplifting gospel style of tune. The story is this - at the end of the session on Wednesday, the very last hour we had at that studio, we decided we wanted one more song on the record. So we scrambled, rehearsed it once or twice, and then recorded it. It took us a few takes, but eventually we got a version that felt good. It's a groove and feel we haven't done too much of, and it's a nice change of pace for us. So look forward to that one!

The rest of today will go to singing harmony vocals and some more guitar parts. I'm all finished with drums and percussion, so I'll be writing here and taking photos, and maybe I'll even go for a hike. The life of a drummer!

Here are some photos from where we are now.

-Jonathan

Wednesday

2007-11-07T16:58:00.000-06:00

Well, we're almost finished recording all of the instruments now. Marshall is laying down some guitar parts at the moment. We've been lucky to have great instruments to record on - Connor had a 9 foot Yamaha grand piano and a B3, Jonathan used a 1955 Leedy Ludwig drumkit, and Marshall had some great rented guitars.

Tommorow we move to another studio to start on vocals.

Here are some pictures - and a video of connor playing a b3 hammond organ today, on which he recorded parts for rob's waltz "Ease My Mind".

There is also a video of Connor playing B3. (Sorry its sideways haha)

More tommorow!

Tuesday

2007-11-07T00:13:00.000-06:00

Today we got a lot done. We finished drums, bass, rhythm guitars and piano on all of the songs for the CD. We also started in on some over-dubs and added parts.

Tommorow finds us doing more over-dubs and guest spots.

WOOHOO!!!

Here are some pictures and one video from the day - enjoy!

The Latest from Nashville

2007-11-05T11:56:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone. It's noon time Monday and we're almost done tracking the rhythm (drums, guitars, piano, bass) parts to the first song on our record, a tune called "Houston Town." We're really excited to be back here finishing our record and everything is sounding great so far.

We made the 14 hour drive from Austin up here yesterday and immediately went to bed for our 8am wake up call. They like to start recording sessions bright and early here in Nashville (or as Marshall calles it - "Nah-Ville").

We'll be updating this page with lots of fresh pictures and videos later today, and then every day this week. Kind of a by the minute deal. So keep checking back!!

Wooohooo

2007-08-05T11:49:00.000-05:00

This is the official belleville vent-o-matic blog.

We'll all be writing here eventually.