Another month has raced by and with the comps exams over, I finally have some time to sit down and share what’s been going on in Root Glen world. We reached some new highs at our recent shows and really are starting to feel the return on the time invested in playing in our shows. You know that moment when things seem to click? That’s probably what’s going on now. We unfortunately had to push back the release of our fourth EP, but expect to hear some sort of preview next week. Now onward to the update!
May the Fourth Be with You
The month started with heading back to one of our favorite places to play, Rolfs, up in Warren. It was star wars day, and while we totally wish we could have made a theme of the night, we opted instead to make use of the mariachi cardboard cutout. We’re still hunting down a photo of that magically moment when Dave sang and played guitar with his head in it. Probably one of our best shows at Rolfs. Hope to be back once everyone returns from the shore!
May 11th – North Star Bar
Getting to play in Philly is always a great time, especially when it’s with a bunch of sweet bands. We’ve played with A Cool Stick before at The Grape Room and we hope to bring them out to NJ sometime over the summer. The other sweetass band The Mkaes we played with introduced us to the EWI, which if you’ve never heard before, youtube it now! Who am I kidding? For you lazy guys.
May 18th – Hamilton College Senior Weekend
We’ve played at The Village Tavern a couple times, and it’s always been a blast, but we’ve wanted to play an on-campus gig at Hamilton for some time now. Finally, we had an offer to play but Eric had a conflict so we’d either have to turn it down, play just the 3 of us or get a stand-in. We opted for the latter and Mike of The Downrights was kind enough to join us on the journey up to Hamilton. I gotta mention that this guy basically gave our songs a listen, practiced with us early Friday morning and was on the road and playing the songs in front of a crowd later that night. Major props to him. We played 2 sets at the co-op and finished the night with some streaking. Well most of them did.
May 19th – Pattenburg House
This is probably one the best places we have played. I can’t describe to you how great, friendly and genuine their staff is. Super excited and super helpful, no problems joining in on dancing and talking us up. We did unfortunately fighting for attention that night since there was a blues fest going on, but nevertheless we met some people who were down to dance. We were amazed at one couple who insisted on dancing through the entirety of Throw it in the Bay, and another woman who danced more than I could imagine one could in those kind of heels. The bartenders rang a bell after certain songs they really liked which was rounded out a fun night.
May 26th & 27th – Old Bay/Pattenburg House
If you’ve seen us at Old Bay before or looked through our past photos, the biggest difference you’ll note is our efforts made in the lighting department. A stop at Target and 5 Below and we suddenly achieved an overwhelmingly different vibe. Again, since everything has been clicking lately, this was probably our best show at Old Bay. We’re glad it was, since our dear friend and principal contributor of artwork, Megan Maher was moving away and we gave her a proper sendoff with a solid show. Look for her latest contribution in the spring EP!
We also returned to Pattenburg House the day after to play a cancer benefit. Being greeted with much anticipation and excitement, we were almost taken aback. We did some pushups and squat thrusts and made sure we backed up what people had been saying! 45 minutes later we were puddles of sweat, except Ross, who was basically wearing a transparent shirt by the end. Regardless of the state of our clothes, sweaty hugs went around and we ended another great weekend.
May was certainly a great month but all good things come to an end. Starting June off right, we’ll be headed back to Hamilton College to play their reunion weekend and sooner after there will be some spring EP postings! Until then, flameo hotman.
- Andres
