SXSW BYE

Hi, another sxsw is over for us. It was a great time and we have a lot of people to thank. First and foremost Mark Beemer for being the entire reason we were able to come down, and for putting on his great Shirts for a Cure showcase. Thanks to Maggie for acting more like a roadie than any roadie we've ever had and helping us every day we were in Austin. Thanks also to Iron Age and Trash Talk, Chase, Gerard for picking me at the train station and letting us stay at his house and a million other things, also Sikander for similar reasons. Sean Carlson and Altimont for helping us put on our show case on Saturday, and also to all the bands that played (Private Life, Crystal Antlers, Titus Andronicus, Rival Schools and J Mascis) and also for the entire staff at Red 7 for being cool and helping us deal with maniacal sxsw door staff. Thanks to Claire Taylor for sorting everything out for us and also to Timmy for coming up with a cool idea that we kind of botched by being tired and distracted. Thanks also to that beerland security guy for getting me 20 waters.

Sorry to Todd P and everyone who attended his festival in Monterrey Mexico who wanted to see us. In 9 years of being a band, this was only the third show that we've ever cancelled (the first being on our first European tour when we were booked one night in Umea Sweden, and the next night in Rotterdam Holland [google map it] and opted out of the literally impossible drive to instead spend an afternoon at a Swedish water park, followed by a glamorous nights rest on the side of the highway [where we literally slept on the highway beside our van]; the second being last winter when we had to cancel a show in Omaha after driving 20 miles an hour through the most wreck-filled highway scene this side of Kuwait). Anyways, what I'm trying to say is we don't take cancelling shows lightly. We were excited to be part of a project that seemed adventerous and meaningful and would like to give Todd credit for even attempting such a project. However, as Saturday went on we started hearing rumours to varying degrees of veracity of buses turning back, lengthy waits for buses and we decided to hedge our bets and avoid what we felt would be an arduous journey. The specifics of the journey, we feel are not for the pundits or comment-leavers to speculate on. We fully understand that the uncertainty over the means of travel, and the thrill of the unknown were part of the appeal of this exercise. We've spent enough time on dark trains through China, seatbelt-less rickety vans in the Czech Republic and on vegetable-oil powered buses driving through the mountains of California, that facing relative danger can make the process sweeter and the memories longer lasting. However, after 4 grueling days in the hot and then the cold of doing 2 shows per day in Austin, uncertainty wasn't something we felt we were going to be able to deal with. Plus, with fixed return dates from various airports and train stations in Austin, we weren't confident in the persuasive power that "thrill seeking"would have in helping us refund our missed departures. We salute everyone involved, and see you next time, with seven league boots on.