The Killdares - Celtic. Rock. » Diary

On the bonny banks of Lochrann’s

Brek — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:33:00 +0000

Wow! Last night at Lochrann’s in Frisco, Tx – Fri, Jan 29th was a magical night. The amazing response and overwhelming turnout of our wonderful fans was incredible! I think this night topped the last Lochrann’s visit for the KDs back in Nov 2009. Lochrann’s is a great pub to see us perform. Their stage is just the right size for all of us to fit onto (barely). Nice and snug like a puzzle, with our electronics, gear and gizmos sitting right on the floor in front of the stage, plus the drum riser for Tim’s drums literally less than 2 feet from me standing behind my mic. It’s the perfect stage/pub for the crowd to either take a back seat at a table and enjoy dinner and drinks from a short distance, or take in the sounds of the band from “standing room only” directly up front at the stage. Lots of energy…

Setup and sound check went perfectly (although it was probably the coldest night ever for load-in and load-out for the band). We pulled a last minute decision to park in front of the pub on Frisco’s main drag of traffic so we could have a straight shot to the stage with the gear. Yes…it was snowing! Ok – so that was really cold, windy and quick. I think everyone and their brother helped us get the gear in this time.

The show went off w/o a hitch, the entire house was in the zone with us from start to finish…and let’s just say it reached new levels. Then at the wee hours after the show we loaded out the back door of the pub and Man! it was even colder. I think my little guitar fingers were starting to get frozen into a curved position like I was lifting handles on musical gear cases permanently! With the van heater currently not working our good friend and fan Rick (Fireman/EMT from DFD/University Park), tried his best to give a fix to ‘ole Bessie…but to no avail! And he did try really hard. Unlucky. So…we had a nice cold ride back to KD HQ. Needless to say with the help again of everyone’s brother we were able to load the gear in the trailer and get to KD homeland before dawn.

Lots of sleep after that one! Going to bed at breakfast time – just another “day in the life” of Rock-n-Roll!!

Thanks again KD friends and fans for making our night at Lochrann’s a great night to remember. I look forward to the next one in March – on Friday the 12th, although since it is outdoors under a big St. Paddy’s tent, it should be a bit warmer!

Brek

New Year’s Resolutions…

Tim — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:45:58 +0000

1.) Rock (done)
2.) Rock harder than last year (done even more)
3.) Buy 3 new CDs…and I mean like actual physical CDs
[I already met this one too: bought Muse (The Resistance), Mutemath (Armistice), and Swell Season. All 3 are very badass!]
4.) Work out 3 times a week
(not doing too badly on this one. Averaging 2.5 times a week)
5.) Knowing when to put my iPhone down for a nap each day
(uhhh…we’ll come back to that)
6.) Rock like we’ve never rocked before
(I think we’re pretty darn close already on this one)
7.) Make Matt eat something over 800 calories (still no success on this one)
8.) Get van heater fixed
(still surviving on faith…dang that Ft. Worth trip to the Stockyards was cold!)
9.) Buy new drums!
(well…I bought new Pro Mark sticks and EC2 drumheads…that’s a start)
10.) Start recording ideas for next album
(Pro Tools system is burning bright…ready to accept some new songs)

The Final Four

Matt — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:49:23 +0000

Are we really down to the final four days? That’s incredible. As always, the Fair has proven to be a unique experience. The days start melding together in my mind, unable to distinguish what happened yesterday from 11 days ago. And to think on Monday, it’s back to “regular” life; as if life can ever be truly regular to a full-time bagpiper. Better have another corny dog before it’s all over. Now here’s hoping the sun comes back today!

Oprah vs. Bono

Tim — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:38:19 +0000

We’re back everybody. Sorry for the delay since our last State Fair update…but we had to swim back to the stage after all the rain. Man…this year sure holds the record for least number of sunny days over the course of the fair. But, oddly enough, we’re still getting in most (if not all) of our sets every day. Not to mention our daily rubbing of elbows with all the celebrities.

Yesterday (Sunday) we saw Oprah. She was in the building right behind our stage for a locked-down, limited guest cooking/food contest tasting. Of course, it’s not like it was any secret given the fact that there were two helicopters hovering above for about an hour. Hmmm…I wonder who’s inside? She had more protection than the president himself it seemed.

She was making her secretive way around the grounds that day filming little snippets capturing the essence of this great State Fair in preparation for the filming of her show on the main stage this morning, which began at 10:00am. Rumor has it that some people actually starting showing up at 2:00am to ensure they got a good seat. We were told that “Oprah” day combined with the Columbus Day holiday was gonna be a madhouse. Not so. We did have great crowds at all 5 shows today, but by the time we took the stage at 2:00pm, all excess levels of estrogen had cleared the grounds.

Tonight I saw Bono. And that was from a far distance too. Only this time, it was from the nosebleeds in the new Cowboys stadium. U2 were in town, so of course I had to go. This new stadium of ours is so obscenely huge, that I felt unworthy to be there. I mean seriously. 90,000+ people in a closed ceiling room this size is only asking for sonic disaster. And it was. The band was of course performing great. But, the sound quality was terrible. A giant cave. Yet…the spectacle and production were other-worldly, almost magical. A very strange and removed concert going experience for me.

Best song of the night: “Stuck in a Moment” duo w/ just Bono and The Edge (on acoustic). Beautiful. Best surprise of the night: “The Unforgettable Fire.” A rare song that goes back all the way to 1984. Very cool. Worst moment of the night: me being mad at Brek because he was 7 rows up from the floor about 50 feet from the massive stage. Realization of the night: Larry Mullen Jr. is still one of the most under-rated drummers. He still brings it!

So…in the outcome of today’s celebrity match. Bono wins…but only by a hair.

Just another day at the office for me.

The half-way point, hangin’ with Bo & Jim

Troy — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:32:20 +0000

Well, I have to admit to everyone that I’ve always loved the rain. Although now, I’ve developed a slight dislike for the wet dreary stuff!! I never have pictured rain to cause such a crimp on my plans!!! As the newest member of the band, I’ve heard all kinds of stories relating to past fairs and have really been looking forward to playing the fair since I heard we were coming back this year. None of the stories though involved Moses building an ark! I don’t really expect we’ll have to float away, but at times it has felt like that! Luckily we haven’t lost an entire day due to the weather, but the past 3 days have been interesting to say the least.

Yesterday (Tuesday) the 2:00 set was the only one that didn’t happen. But one cool positive that happened as a result of mother nature, was we did get to hang with our good friends Bo, Jim and Randy from Lone Star 92.5FM. They have been huge supporters of the band for years, and yesterday came out to record the show. While we weren’t able to give ‘em a show…we did end up hanging backstage for a good half-hour and did an impromptu interview with them. It was way cool, and very fun. These guys are super cool, and you should check out their show “Bo & Jim Mornings” every weekday from 5:30 – 10:00am.

Today (Wednesday) started off with the 1st set getting rained out, but boy the crowd was ready to go on the 2nd set when the rain stopped!! Everyone was excited from the first downbeat of Tim’s drums! They even sat there patiently watching us set up gear and were still anticipating what we would do when we started! Talk about dedication. It truly left me speechless. I think everyone was ready to snub they’re noses at the rain and say they were going to have a great time anyway. They truly did! That’s the kind of response that makes what we do truly worth it!!

With all the weather issues we’ve had this week, we still have had a great time with everyone around. We’ve even had some EMS people help us pull gear when the rain started to come down. We truly thank them all.

To the fans: As the newbe to the band, I still am impressed how much you all really care and love what we do!!! Thank you all from the bottom of all of our hearts for your love and support. It’s one of the biggest reasons why The Killdares do what we do…… For you!!!

What’s that? Is that the sun I see?

Day 11: Back on course

Brek — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:35:22 +0000

Today was an amazing day at the great State Fair of Texas. Day 11 brought us the threat of rain all day with only once a bit of a mist happening. So…we came off Day 10 full of rain and some cancelled shows, into a great day of cool weather and no rain…and were able to rip through all 5 shows today. The audiences were exceptionally energetic today, participating, singing, dancing and just all around having a great time. Many of them waving their corny dogs and hands in the air at us, and clappin’ along from the first downbeat.

We even had a few young aspiring future “Riverdancers” dancing their “jigs” and rockin’ right along to the music.

There were also 2 “firsts” that happened to me. One teenager came up and said “this is my very first concert ever” followed by another who said “this is the first CD I have ever purchased.” Those two comments alone were worth the day as a whole.

Saw alot of KD t-shirts being sported around the fairgrounds as well. Very cool!

All in all, I’d like to share that this is the best State Fair yet for The Killdares. We are having an absolute blast! The great city of Dallas and state of Texas definitely know how to throw an awesome festival together.

If you havn’t made it out yet, take the day off from the grind, treat
yourself and come on down to a very relaxing time of food, fun, family and tunes in downtown Dallas.