Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Flags, Studio and Mighty Ghosts

We and the band are busily preparing for departing for Bellingham, WA on Saturday. Although we already packed up the car once to make the cross country trip, we are modifying the set up to make it easier for Max to transfer footage to the computer and are planning on tinting out the back windows to make it less hot for Buzz.

Monday night Ryan, Israel, Luke and Kati gathered for "arts and crafts night" where each band member painted their flag for their trailers and discussed the nitty gritty of the trip. A four sided toothbrush and towel were longed for, and Kati put her foot down about communal deodorant. It is still undecided if single drip or if a french press will be the preferred coffee maker. Cliffhangers abound with only a couple days left before go time.

What would you do if you had two days to pack it up and hit the road? Record a new song? No? Well, that's what Blind Pilot did today. All nine Portland based members of the band gathered throughout the day to lay down "We Are The Tide", which happens to be the primary song featured in our recently posted video. Jake Portrait expertly mastered the track at Audible Alchemy in North Portland, which is superbly nearby to Por Que No? Taqueria (have wementioned the importance of blood sugar enough?).

Ryan's friend Sarah treated us to a lovely evening tour of Portland after our time at the studio, taking us to Mt. Tabor to film the sunset and eat an exorbitant amount of Thai food from Pad Thai Kitchen on Belmont. We then caught the last half of Kati's band, The Mighty Ghosts of Heaven, at the Laurelthirst. Kati gave us a CD when we came out in May, and it is an impressive recording, but their live show blew us away. They have been playing together for eight years, and it was obvious in their mastery of the material and the rapport they had as a band on stage. They will also be playing on Saturday with Blind Pilot as they begin their bike tour and we can't wait to see them again.