Too much coffee

I played a show at Toquet Hall in Westport CT on Friday. It is a teen center that I have performed at many times over the years. They always treat me really well, and it is always an awesome time. The fact that it is a teen center triples my excitement. I remember how exciting it was to see music when I was a youngin, and I get pumped when I see that in others. Since I left my camera at home, I have no images from the show. Instead, here are the first 5 images that come p n a Google search for Westport, CT when you use the "faces" option.

I haven't been awake this early since...

New record set for earliest show I have ever played..7:30am!! Previously held by the WMUA record fest that I played a few months back (I think that was at 10:30 am). The new record holder was a fundraiser for this awesome space called The Starving Artist in Keene New Hampshire. Totally worth the early rise.

NOTE: That picture is not a root beer float, but an ACTUAL beer float! This was not from the show, but instead created in celebration of St. Patrick's day. It was made with Snow's ice cream from Greenfield, MA along with an oatmeal stout homebrew that one of my housemates brewed up. Totally mind blowing!

Nite Jewel--What a Gem! / Spooning Dan Deacon

One of my favorite things about last evening had to be the vegan corned beef and cabbage from one of the many the Smith College dining commons. It was not even that it was necessarily that good (cause it wasn't), but the mere fact that vegan corned beef and cabbage even exist on this planet is enough reason to rejoice none the less. I am not vegan, nor even vegetarian. I consider myself more of a "fooditarian", showing no discrimination to the many flavors our great existence has to offer. Pair this meal together with WOZQ's incredibility to put together shows, and you have a winning combo for sure.

Nite Jewel and her pal Rachelle were real sweet people to boot. I had never heard of here before this show, but am glad that we ended up playing together. Also, thanks to Triangle Forest for letting me use their PA system!

So here is the thing. I got a burned copy of Dan Deacon's new album Bromst last evening from a person kind enough to rip it for me. I am actually listening to it right now. Dood is so epic! I first heard his name like 5 or 6 years ago when I was on a bike tour with my pal Jason Anderson (like we literally rode our bikes around multiple states with Jason doing shows, which was equally as epic). These doods named Lunch With Beardo asked if HNATIW (a duo me and my bro Tim did a while back..Check that shit out...It's out there somewhere) wanted to play with this dood Dan Deacon that they were going to SUNY Purchase with. For some reason or another, we could not make it out.

Fast forward a bit.....I start doing music again after taking some years off....I play some shows.....I record some jams....Somebody ask me to play with Dan Deacon again in Northampton...I say yes (having not heard of him much since)...I do.....it is the best!!!....We talk.....I dig him.....He digs me.....He records another album......My mind is blown!!!

So here we are in the present. Thanks Dan for being such a ripper. You have changed the way I look at music forever. Hopefully I will see ya again sometime in the near future. And thanks for recording such a dope album. I will buy this shit on vinyl for sure!!! (And probably on CD too since the quality of this copy sounds kinda poopyish)

INTER-----VIEW

Ian Nelson from the Daily Collegian at Umass and Friendship Bracelet wrote asked me some questions about some stuff. Thanks Ian!




On the local end, in a recent e-mail interview with The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, Hnatow talked about his recent tour, his philosophies regarding music-making, and the lack of true music venues in the area.



Massachusetts Daily Collegian: With regards to the recent tour, how necessary is it for an artist to walk out of their comfort zone – zone meaning either a geographical area or style?



Eric Hnatow: I have never done an official tour before. A few of the shows were a bit strange, but for the most part I had an awesome time playing most of the places I went to. At one show I played to about six people all sitting on bar stools in a huge room and all of them bought every piece of [merchandise] I had. At other shows I would play for 60 people and sell nothing at all. It really helps drive home the notion that you should do what you are doing as best as you can all the time, no matter who is watching.



MDC: You must be absorbing a whole lot of stimuli traveling around and getting lots of feedback. How are your shows abroad going to inform your upcoming shows in the area?



EH: How well I am received is always different. The show in Atlanta was particularly awesome due to the fact that my pal, Witt, who used to go to Hampshire [College], set it up. He started a killer community arts space down there called WonderRoot, so he put together a really great show for me. I guess that is a huge part of the success of any show – attention to detail from both the performers as well as the person curating the event. That said, I did roll up into an impromptu show in Asheville, N.C., and drop two songs, like a six-minute assault. That was great. I brought this light jacket on tour with me that I have been using in my set for a bit around here. That night I ended up jumping up on the bar with the light jacket going and people totally lost it. I didn’t pay for any drinks after that stunt.



MDC: There’s always people getting into your sets around here, though I’m always suspicious that it’s because you play so much it’s like people know you and humans love what they’re familiar and comfortable with. While this may be true, my fascination with your shows is how unfamiliar each set truly is, since it is forever changing and moving beyond what I saw and heard the last time. What’s the philosophy behind it all?



EH: Yeah, I am always suspicious of any success I have with my music. I don’t really have a specific musical idea of what I am doing. I don’t make music to fulfill any sort of musical goals I have. It is more to move people to think differently about stuff. When I make music to be performed in a live setting, the first thought I have is usually: ‘How will people react to this?’ I enjoy embracing the effect that other people have on the process of creation. This is why I say the music I make is for you, not me. Of course, I am getting some stupid ego trip from the whole thing, but I am not one of those folks who say things like ‘I do this for me, and don’t care what you think about it.’ I totally care what you think. Maybe that is why people are so reactive to what I have been doing lately. It is familiar to them because, in a way, they helped make it.



MDC: I’d like to know how you feel your evolution as an artist has gone, whether it’s encapsulated within your music strictly, or whether it stretched further back into, say, visual mediums.



EH: I don’t really separate it all that much. To me all the stuff that I do links back to sound. That is just the language I began speaking through. Whether it is fliers, album artwork, movement, food or whatever, I always start with sound ... even if the sound is silence. I took lots of art classes in high school and stuff, but still don’t really consider myself an ‘artist.’ I just work on stuff, that’s all. I think of it all as work, not art.



MDC: Surely you started playing house shows, or something similar to that, and now you’re playing named venues with more well-known artists. What’s that shift like?



EH: Playing with bigger names is always cool, mostly because I get to be in a show that I would otherwise probably be at anyway. As far as the venues go, I don’t really think there are any true music venues around this area, especially in Northampton. Aside from The Elevens and Sierra Grille, there are no other venues that care about the most important thing – music! Unfortunately, they all care about the other word that starts with ‘M.’ I actually much prefer to perform in alternative venues like houses, cafés, art spaces, warehouses and, of course, colleges. The college shows around here are my absolute favorite shows at the moment. Talk to me after Flywheel opens again and I might change my tune on that.



MDC: Who’s your favorite band or artist you’ve played with this tour?



EH: My favorite band that I have played with on tour would probably be this band called Maple Kitten, from Philly. They are an all-Casio-keyboard band who make video projections and play on the floor.



MDC: Who’s your favorite artist you’ve ever performed with? Anyone you’d be eying to play with in the future?



EH: Best yet ... Crush Cloud. Future ... Pink Floyd.

Double-Time

I am back at home now. All this stuff is from the last two shows in Baltimore and Philly. Both shows were great. The Philly show in particular was about as triumphant of an ending as I could have imagined. Thanks so much to all the people who helped me and Haley out along the way with places to stay, food to eat, and conversation to speak. I have a few shows coming up around the Northeast, then plan on taking a little break from performing so much to work on new recordings and new projects. If you have any pics from the tour, please send em my way. I am gonna make a Flickr account to post even more images, and as promised..will post more links to all my heroes and plas sometime real soon.

NOTE: A special thanks goes out to Schoolly D for being a ripper.

Double-Time

I got an impromptu show in Asheville North Carolina, and there was this dood just straight passed out on the bar for like 45 minutes. Asheville...WOW! You rock heavy style for sure.

Last night I played in Lancaster PA. Now, I had never heard of this gem of a city, but it has been more of a blast than I could have ever asked for. My pal Eli Weaver lives, works, and tears up the scene here. If you are in the area, especially on a Friday between 6-4...You GOTTA check out the market they have. It is CRAZY!!! So many good meats, cheeses, and fruit and just cool shit.

Heady Asheville, NC food haiku:

My friend Zac makes food
Sauerkraut, bread, soups and such
Oh man, what a treat!


NOTE: Bob Moog lived in Asheville for a long long time. Turns out, he was a regular at the beer and wine store we visited yesterday. Turns out he enjoyed cheap wine. turns out the man at the store has all the transactions from the past 10 + years in his computer system. Turns out Bob's last purchase was 7 cases of $5.99/bottle wine. Zac said "we should go to the Bob Moog museum tomorrow" I said, "Dood, we just did."

RAWR!

Greenville South Carolina, oh what can I say about you to do the justice besides the fact that you have crushed the best meal deal of this tour (previously held by the $3.75 turkey sandwich and soda). Two eggs, toast and jam, grits, bacon, and unlimited coffee for $2.99! Sorry I have no pics of this glorious meal, but if you are ever around those parts, check out Gene's Diner.

The pics of the robots are from the house of this woman Wendy whom I stayed with for the evening.

Atlanta Georgia...I played at WonderRoot, a mind blowing artspace that my friend Witt Wisebram started from the ground up. So incredible and inspiring. Atlanta in general was a ripper of a city. So far, it was also my favorite set of the tour. Haley took some video which I will be posting when I get home next week.

NOTE: We went out to a party last night at a roller skating rink...If you can, try to picture this...400 people roller skating, BYOB, and a funk band!!