P.O.U.C.H.

I’m going to start writing my posts like an episode of The Simpsons.

Has anyone seen the video for The Battle of Kruger? It's at least ten times more epic than the battle at the end of Lord of the Rings. You can't write brutality like that...This is going on the next album. It's still a little early, but I'm feeling generous. Here's a little nugget for you bloggers to leak to the press: the next album is a concept album based on the cruelty of nature and the horrors inflicted on the earth's creatures by each other in the name of survival. 90% of it will be ripped from the pages of National Geographic. The other 10% might be embellished a little.

So the tour is progressing, albeit very painfully and slowly. Self booking a tour is murder on your motivation and sense of self importance. You start to realize that your band is but a dim star set against the backdrop of the Milky Way. There are hundreds of thousands of metal bands in the US and every single one is convinced that they are Satan’s gift to music. Half of them are (supposedly) going on tour this summer. How do you compete with that you ask? Persistence to the point of annoyance. For every 50 emails and messages sent out to venues requesting a date we might get two responses, one of which will be negative or completely unhelpful. Is this the result of the sheer volume of requests dive bars across the country are getting? Some openly claim to get hundreds of booking requests a week. I doubt that in most cases, but whatever the cause correspondence of any kind is rare. It’s only by becoming numb to rejection and indifference that you can become a successful tour booker. Pretty Zen, huh? It also helps to be working with motivated bands like Stabbing Eden, The Pant Factory, and The Osedax in their respective areas. Do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with their music. You will be hearing from them in the future. The hard work is beginning to pay off. Our list of confirmed cities has expanded to include:

Houston, TX

San Antonio, TX

Dallas, TX

Shreveport, LA

St. Louis, MO

Chicago, IL

Detroit, MI

Staten Island, NY

Jacksonville, FL

Tampa, FL

Orlando, FL

We have a few more that are on the brink of full confirmation and still more that are under full QTV attack. Our spoken goal at the beginning of the tour booking process was to play fifteen shows over the course of three weeks (July 8-31). It looks like we’re on pace to hit that goal and there’s an outside chance that we might surpass it. We can’t wait to get out there and shred faces and make new friends!

I’ll close with a list of my top five albums of the moment. It wouldn’t be a blog if there wasn’t a top five list! Maybe other members will post their lists too, just in case you were thinking “I wonder what QTV listens to when they are seeking inspiration?”

Fragile - Yes

So – Peter Gabriel

Dreaming Saturn – The Crinn

Portishead – Portishead

Animals As Leaders – Animals As Leaders

So…leaning in a decidedly prog direction with some trip hop thrown in for good measure. Go create your playlist based off of these suggestions and I promise your brain will thank you. That’s it for now villainous treacheries! See you on the road!

-Jason