Thanks to all our fans who helped us successfully raise money for our Kickstarter Campaign!! We cannot express how much this has surprised and humbled us. The new stuff is sounding great and we can’t wait for you to hear it!
Much, Much Love,
The Dirty Guv’nahs
Pink Chair Sessions – Episode 1.5
with special guests The Delta Saints
Song: “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine
Shot backstage at Track 29 in Chattanooga, New Year’s Eve – 12/31/11
THANK YOU SO MUCH! We are completely amazed at how supportive you guys have been!
This update is to let you know that The Campaign is Not Over! You have successfully helped us pay for the recording budget of this album ($20K)… but the overall cost of this album (including promotion, music video(s), mixing, mastering, and distribution) will easily approach $50,000!
Because we have decided to stay independent, we will continue to stress the fact that You are our Record Label!
THEREFORE… we have set some new goals, and we have created some new reward packages!
GOAL #1. If we reach $30K then we will be able to pay for 3 Months of Publicity and Radio Promo – These are things that help us grow, and are things that we will be paying for anyway.
When we reach $30K, then we will email each donor an early mix of our first single, “Don’t Give Up On Me”!
GOAL #2. If we raise $40K, then that means that we will be able to pay for a Music Video for this first single “Don’t Give Up On Me”! After you hear the music, we hope that you’ll want to continue supporting us!
In order to reach these new goals, we’ve created a Christmas package, decided to offer more Backstage pass experiences at the Bijou and again on New Year’s Eve in Chattanooga! Please take a look around.
NEW PACKAGES!!!
$30 – Christmas Package #1 – Introduce our band to a friend by Pre-Ordering them a copy of our new album, and putting THEIR NAME into the liner notes! As a BONUS, we will send you a sticker and a physical copy of “Youth Is In Our Blood” to give your friend, and a Christmas Card for you! (Must purchase by December 18th to Receive by Christmas!)
$500 – 2 Backstage Passes and Tickets for New Year’s Eve in Chattanooga! This also includes Reward Packages #1 (advance CD), #2 (Mule Team), #3 (Signed Poster), and #4 (Acoustic EP) (ONLY 2 AVAILABLE)
$500 – 2 Backstage Passes and Tickets for FRIDAY, Feb. 24th at Bijou Theatre!
This also includes Reward Packages #1 (advance CD), #2 (Mule Team), #3 (Signed Poster), #4 (Acoustic EP), and #5 (2 Passes for the Guv’nahs Family Dinner on SATURDAY, Feb. 25th from 4:00 – 6:00pm) (ONLY 5 AVAILABLE)
READ MORE HERE: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dirtyguvnahs/the-dirty-guvnahs-help-us-make-a-new-record/posts
In January 2012, we will be heading into the studio to record our third FULL LENGTH record with producer and friend Ross Copperman. We are extremely fired up about making this new album for you. Because of your support, we get to make music for a living. We write songs, and we travel around to play those songs for you. We hope that it brings you joy. That’s why we do it.
Putting out an album to impact the music world on a National scale costs a TON of money. Many major record labels will spend at least $50,000 – $100,000 just on recording the album, and then an additional $50,000 to $1 Million on the promotion of the record. THE PROBLEM? If you go with a major record label then they own your record… that means that they make the business decisions for you and even determine much of your creative control musically. We’ve had serious interest from major record labels, but we want to do this our own way and live outside the walls of major record labels.
WHY?
Because we want to make music for our fans… and only for our fans.
That being said, we have worked our tail off pulling favors and begging people all over the music industry from Nashville to NYC to find a way to record a national release level album for $20,000. YES, that is still a ton of money… but it’s actually less money than we spent on our last record, Youth Is In Our Blood which we recorded up in Woodstock at Levon Helm Studios. You have to keep in mind that we will be in the studio for about 2 to 3 weeks in January, and that after you record the songs you have to work with a highly trained professional for the mixing and the mastering of the songs… which is a process that is very expensive and can take months to finish itself.
IF we raise more than $20,000 then every single penny will go towards the promotional campaign of this album that includes paying a radio promoter for 9 – 12 months, a publicist for 9 – 12 months, and paying a video team to help make a music video for one or two of our songs. The promotional budget of this album will easily reach a cost of another $20,000 to do it right over the coming year.
Thank you so much for considering to help fund our next record. This journey has been absolutely unbelievable and we owe everything to you, our fans. See you out on the road soon.
Sincerely,
The Dirty Guv’nahs
This weekend I drank two 12 ounce bottles of grape flavored Johnny Bootlegger. Johnny Bootlegger is an adult beverage sold in gas stations across the Southeast. It has the consistency of cough syrup, contains 12% alcohol, and tastes like someone soaked a urinal cake in purple Kool-Aid. You might be asking yourself, “Why would you drink that twice?” Fair question. Allow me to explain.
At 3pm on Thursday, somewhere in Mississippi, we had stopped at a gas station to re-fuel and use the facilities. Justin was the last person to get back to the bus. He was holding a brown paper bag in his right hand, the contents of which were unknown to the rest of us. I asked him what he had bought. His response:
“I have invented a new game. It’s called King of The Mule Challenge. From time to time, I will be purchasing an item from a gas station. Sometimes this item will be great, sometimes it will be terrible. None of you will know what this item is. Before I reveal the item, all of you will have to declare whether you’re in or out for that round. If only one of you is in, that person will immediately receive the contents of the bag. If more than one person wants to play, each contestant will have 30 seconds to tell me why they should get what’s inside the bag. Once the item is revealed to the winner, that person has 24 hours to use or consume whatever is in the bag. If you don’t use or consume the contents within 24 hours, you are automatically disqualified from the game. Over the next month or so, I will decide who the grand prize winner is. The grand prize winner will receive a free dinner at Foothills Milling Company. Keep in mind, you don’t have to play. But if you don’t play, you can’t win.”
I have absolutely no self control when it comes to stuff like this. I had to play. I pleaded my case to Justin like a seasoned politician. I needed what was in that bag, I deserved what was in that bag, I had to have it. The possibilities were endless. Anything could be in there. A lottery ticket? A $20 bill? A bag of delicious sour cream and onion chips?
A 12 ounce Johnny Bootlegger goes down like a hot stream of radioactive plasma. It instantly numbs the throat and senses, travels to your stomach and settles there like a pool of sludge. Just when you think it’s over, the aftertaste hits. Your hands start shaking, the hairs on your neck stand up, and the next hour of your life is filled with uncomfortable anxiety. Why a person would ever knowingly consume this is beyond me. But you have to play to win, right?
Four hours later, we found ourselves outside a gas station in Alabama. The scenario was the same. Justin entered the bus with another bag and interviewed potential contestants. Again, I pleaded my case. There was no way Justin was going to purchase two terrible items in a row. I can read Justin like a book. I knew he needed to purchase a good item this round so everyone would stay excited and engaged in the game. Two terrible items in a row makes no sense. It was like taking candy from a baby. I was guaranteed to get something awesome.
A second 12 ounce Johnny Bootlegger gets immediately rejected by the body. The moment your brain recognizes the horrible liquid, it sends your body into emergency mode. This time, the hairs on my neck were already up by the time the sludge hit my lips. My ears started sweating and my chest broke out in red blotches. My gag reflex was barely suppressed. I finally got it down and was rewarded with another hour of shaking and numbness. This stuff is truly horrible.
The game changed a little bit the next round. I don’t remember where we were at this point. Probably somewhere in Alabama. This time Justin came to the bus with two bags and a new set of rules. People could choose option #1, option #2, or both options. I chose to remove myself from the competition this time. The thought of what might await me in either bag was more than I could bear. Aaron chose option #1. James chose option #2. Aaron was rewarded with a lottery ticket. James was rewarded with a tin of gas station sardines. Hilarity ensued.
We played a few other rounds, but the final round for the weekend was played on the way home Sunday afternoon. We were somewhere outside of Asheville, NC when Justin offered the last two bags. Aaron, emboldened by his previous streak of luck, decided to play again and chose option #1. He got an Airhead candy. Lucky little turd. Cozmo, who chose option #2, was not so lucky.
Gas station cat food has a strange glisten to it. A shiny thin film covers a perfectly molded lump of brown substance. I believe this particular can of cat food was “liver and beef flavored.” Only Cozmo can tell you if it actually tasted like liver and beef. I can tell you that it didn’t look like either. It looked like shiny, slightly off-colored bean dip.
Here’s a comprehensive list of contestants and their winnings this weekend. Stay tuned for more announcements and videos concerning the King of the Mule Challenge. This will, undoubtedly, provide entertainment for everyone involved for the foreseeable future. I wonder if other bands do stuff like this.
- Chris
Contestant #1: Aaron Hoskins
Rounds Played: 2
Winnings: 1 lottery ticket, 1 Airhead candy
Contestant #2: James Trimble
Rounds Played: 1
Winnings: 1 tin of gas station sardines
Contestant #3: Chris Doody
Rounds Played: 3
Winnings: 2 Johnny Bootlegger 12oz. ass drinks, 1 bag of Doritos
Contestant #4: Cozmo Holloway
Rounds Played: 1
Winnings: 1 can of gas station cat food (liver and beef flavored)
Contestant #5: Scott Murphy from Badland Pictures
Rounds Played: 1
Winnings: Stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter feeds this week to find out. I promise you will not be disappointed with this one.
Contestant #6: Michael Jenkins
Rounds Played: 0
Winnings: Nothing, because he is allergic to fun.
Pink Chair Sessions – Episode 1.4
with special guests Will Horton of the Black Cadillacs and Robyn James
Song: “Simple Man” by Graham Nash
Shot on the corner of Kenyon and Fremont.
- TDG
Dear Fans-
5 years, and 5 months ago we started a band. We loved music, we had an opportunity, and we wanted to inspire others to be fully alive. We wanted to find out for ourselves what it might feel like to chase a dream.
Since then we have played 170 concerts… ranging from Texas to New York to the Cayman Islands. We’ve played sold out shows from Nashville to New York City, we’ve released 2 full length records, and we’ve had the opportunity to open for numerous legends. Personally, in those 5 years I’ve gone through grad school, learned how to not lose my voice everytime I step on stage, learned to not stage dive when folks aren’t ready for it, and worked 3 different desk jobs to make ends meet so that I could be ready to play more shows on the following weekend. Every single member of our band has a story similar to mine… fighting through all kinds of tough decisions, just to get the privilege to jump in a sweaty van and drive to your hometown and play a 90 minute concert in front of yall.
Well, folks…. today is my last day at my day job at the University of Tennessee.
Today, my friends, is the day I take the leap of faith.
Today is a day of rejoicing.
On January 1st of this year, I made a personal public pledge on Facebook and Twitter to do everything within my power to be without a day job by the end of 2011 so that I could focus on writing music. I felt ridiculous saying so and was prepared to be embarrassed on January 1, 2012 when I had to renege on my promise… but it actually happened sooner than I thought possible.
Thanks to you, I am now a full time musician. Money, I may not have much of… but I am rich in happiness and full of purpose. So happy that I even joined the YMCA. This afternoon I plan on buying myself a large chocolate shake from The Original Freezo.
As a band, we are fired up more than ever before… we’ve written lots of new songs that need finished lyrics and our plan right now is to go into the studio in January 2012 and record a bunch of songs for a record to be released in Summer 2012. Please be patient with us as we figure this whole crazy thing out.
I thank you all, and I ask that you continue to tell your friends about them Guv’nahs. Let em know when we’re coming to their town and tell em they’ve just gotta go at least once to check and see for themselves if they enjoy our music or not. That would be real nice of yall if you don’t mind.
I’m sincerely interested in doing this until my voice gives out and my legs break down. Peace yall.
james
p.s. – To my bosses at UT: Thank you SO much for putting up with my ridiculous and crazy schedule these last 2.5 years. In the last 12 months, I think I took off as many days as I worked. I am grateful to you all forever. Thank you.
for the month of august we decided that it would be a good idea to put some miles on our old mule. in order to achieve this task we booked a coupla northeast runs, a southeast run, and a one off hit in oxford. it wasn’t goin to be easy but we had to have it. sometimes in life when things get tough, you can always dump a mountain dew slushee on your head to put things in perspective. the cities that we hit included baltimore, nags head, ocean city, dc, bethlehem, gulf shores, birmingham, and oxford. for the baltimore/nags head trip we got up early to leave the motherland (knoxville) at 5 am. baltimore is far away and we had to be there at 3pm so we had no other options. we allowed ourselves two hours of stop time for gooey snacks and chocolate milks. we boarded the mule to begin the journey.
 |
 |
it was a long drive, but we finally made it. we were playing a big outdoor show put on by 89.7 WTMD. they’ve been spinning our record up there so we really appreciate them bringing us out. we opened for a band called the bridge, who are out of baltimore, and they rock hard so the crowd was out for the show. i think we ended up playing to 5000 people during our set so for our first showing in baltimore it was a success thanx to WTMD. once we were done delivering hot fire, we had to hop back on the mule to head to the head. nag’s head. nag’s head was cool but we were all tired because of our 20 hour day the day before. they gave us a beach house to stay in, which was cool, and they also let us order whatever we wanted on the menu. i said, “justin. order for me the dirtiest of all menu items.” He said, “ok ol’ cozmo.” i came back to filet mcgoodness with crab lumpy lumps on top. we ate, went and chilled at the beach house, then came back to the venue to play the show. the dance floor packed and the patrons were grindin hard. just a grindin to the guv’nahs.
on our next run, we went to ocean city, dc, and bethlehem for musikfest. we love the northeast because we like sittin in traffic and paying tolls for sittin in traffic. first stop was ocean city for another radio promotion show. this time we decided to leave a day early and split our drive into two shifts. we planned to get a hotel somewhere in virginia. on our route we stopped at a sheetz gas station. these are the best gas stations on the planet. you can order custom chili d’s from a touch screen menu. touch the screen, the d’s are delivered. that night, justin and the murph slept in the mule on the futonius. we arrived the next day early afternoon for load in and sound check. once all that was done, we hung out in the green room and tried to get michael jenkins to swim out to this island for 200 bucks. we also tried to get him to sing lead vocals on blue rose but he would do it for no less than 500 bucks and we weren’t prepared to offer that much of a reward. we ruled the island swim out because there was a small chance he could die. we played the show and it went over well with the people of ocean city. we really appreciate Ocean 98.1 for playing our music.
 |
 |
once we finished we immediately had to drive to dc. we were staying in this awesome house provided by james’s cousin’s husband’s parents. justin said that he would take us to this place. we were all exhausted from lack of sleep and alot of mule hours so justin had an interesting tactic to keep his brain alert. justin has a photographic memory. he can remember anything that has to do with taking photographs. anyway, his new tactic was to build his memory to the point where he can name all the presidents in order, forwards and backwards. by the time the late drive was over he became the the master of presidents. he brought us to our destination safely and we were able to enjoy a full day of poolin and chillin before our dc show. james’s cousin and aunt brought over some eggy mccheese squares and bagles with the homemade salsa for breakfast. it was delicious. thank you james’s family for taking care of us.
we played at a place called the red palace which is located in this artsy district. it was a really cool venue with good sound. we ended up selling out the show which was exciting for us, and we gained a whole new fanbase that night. it was my turn to take us out of the city. we took one of the main arteries out and after a mile or so the mule was the only vehicle on the street. suddenly, two intersections up, two cop cars clog up the four way as if they were blocking us. we were being monitored. it turns out that they don’t let mules drive in front of the capital building so they stopped us to see where we were goin. the cop walked up and noticed that we all look like a bunch of opie taylors so he very politely rerouted us to our destination. we woke up the next day and gave ourselves 5 hours to make a 3.5 hour trip to bethlehem pennsylvania. doody decided to take the wheel for this leg. he hasn’t driven in a while, and definitely picked a pretty horrible day to come back out of the bullpen. it was raining pretty steady when we started the trek and the garmin was having an information meltdown . it kept leading us to the this parking lot that was clearly not an entrance ramp. we finally found our entrance by just driving around and randomly stumbling upon it. the rain really started to come down so we all decided to stop for some long sandwiches at quiznos. they were the toastiest of all. i got a chicken guacimus, extra chee baconius, mug root beer, and a 9 count bag of sun chips. we finished up and hit the road. immediately we run into the traffic jam of ages. we slowed down to about 25 mph and maintained that average speed for about 3.5/4 hours. at this point the garmin said we will not arrive until 7pm and that is when our set was suppose to start. we were all on edge and the rain kept coming down. torrential downpours of unmeasurable fury. eventually the traffic cleared up and doody started breakin “mule” land speed records. when doody drives, i feel like i should wear a full body harness and a football helmet. we got closer and closer to the festival and the edge factor was at an all time high. we were on the phone with the stage manager trying to choreograph how we were going to get all of our stuff on stage and set up in record time. in the midst of all this chaos i forgot that i had to tee tee. the stagehands greeted us as we pulled up and started hauling our gear to the stage. we ran up on the stage and got everything set up and checked, then hit our first note by 7:15. pretty solid. two songs in, i had to pee so bad that it was coming out of my eyeballs. i had to position myself in this weird stance where i would occasionally sway to relieve the discomfort. the crowd was dense and ready to rock so that definitely helped my situation. they were hungry for the guv’s and we delivered a full size platter of american rock and roll, then i went to the bathroom. to reward myself, i got two roast beef raps, ½ of a corndog, and ¼ of jenkins’ fries. it started pouring rain on us as we were ordering our food and we all got soaked. we sprinted back to the bus to chill and eat our deep fried snackers. all of our clothes were completely wet and we had about two hours to drive to our hotel. the only way we could make it to our hotel, especially after such a chaotic day, was dewskis and the journey to the center of the earth. we stopped at a gas station to get some dewskis to fuel us for the trip. this was james “mcdewski” trimble’s idea. he got the name “mcdewski” from an incident that happened while he was trying out for medical school. one day, when he was studying, he drank a code red dewski every hour on the hour for 24 hours straight. mcdewski. we started chuggin dewskis and listening to the journey to the center of the earth. it’s a story about these three people going on a journey to a land that resembles fraggle rock. this dude narrates it with the accompaniment of an orchestra full of laser sounds and funky bass. they run into mythical creatures like woozles and hefalump’s on the way. go ahead and do yourself a favor, take the journey. you won’t regret it. then i put on soulive for the last hour and a half. we finally made it to our hotel to get some good rest.
i didn’t pack any non stage clothing for our gulf shores/birmingham run so justin told me that he would buy me a t-shirt. on the way to the gulf we stopped at a gas station and i had forgotten about justin’s offer earlier. when i got back to the mule, he presented me with the most beautiful t shirt in all the land that he bought off the t shirt rack in the gas store. it was clad with eagles and motorcycles taking up all the prime real estate in the torso area. it made me feel free and sassy. both shows rocked hard and we also got to stay in our manager’s beach condo. thank you greg. our friends, ponderosa, played at the gulf shores show as well and they always dominate. we love doin shows with them. oxford was really cool because we had the pleasure of playing with zac brown recording artist levi lowrey. him and his guitar player, danny mcadams, agreed to do some music videos with us. we will put those up soon. they killed their set then we came up and did our thing. thank you to levi, danny, and our fans that drove from all around to see us in oxford. the majority of our crowd there did not live in oxford. kinda weird, but still a cool experience. on the way to our motel, justin ran over a deer. he said that he is sorry.
this week we will be preparing for our first appearance at the tennessee theatre. it will be the most knoxville weekend ever invented. scott miller, guvs, ut football, firecrackers. don’t be weird. buy your tickets.
The past month was a great time for our band. We started in Nashville playing back to back days at Riverfront Park. Other than the intense heat, these were a blast. Nashville shows always seem to pack extra punch. Most of the guys in the band went a day early to see U2 play at Vanderbilt Stadium, making the weekend even better. After we played an extra patriotic set on Sunday, a massive firework display went off behind us. We’re inspired to add more pyrotechnics from this point forward. For the Fourth of July show, we were glad to watch Darius Rucker after our set.
Later in the month we took a trip to Johnson City, Charlotte, and Chapel Hill. Johnson City has been a staple of our schedule for years now. Some of our best fans live there. Charlotte has grown into something really special for us now too. This show had an electric atmosphere – the room was filled with fans, our energy was high, and we left it all on the stage. The best part of Charlotte though, comes from our permanent stop at the Hicks Family Bed and Breakfast. The Guvs love the Hicks Family. It was our first time playing in Chapel Hill. Despite school being out of session, we had a rowdy crowd that made the night fun. Definitely looking forward to returning to Chapel Hill.
We closed the month in grand fashion playing in Chattanooga and Macon. As my place of birth (and Justin’s too), Chattanooga is an important place to our band. Nearly 500 people packed out the venue. This was probably my favorite show of the summer. People were going crazy, the sound was dialed in, and we got to play with our good friends of The Delta Saints. The Saints joined us the next day in Macon at the Cox Capitol Theater for Bragg Jam. Playing in a crowded theater is pretty tough to beat. This was another stand out show for sure. July was awesome. Guvs for life.
Aaron
Episode three was shot on a really hot afternoon in downtown Knoxville at the Attack Monkey Offices on Gay Street. The Black Lillies are one of our favorite bands around town, and we were honored to collaborate with them. The Knoxville music scene is really thriving these days, and the Lillies are a major part of that. They are an extremely talented group, and touring hard all over the place. Cruz Contreras and Tom Pryor joined James on a version of CCR’s “Lodi”, which sounded great. The Black Lillies put out a new record this year, and are always on the road. You should support them. www.theblacklillies.com.
Any suggestions for our next guest/song?
Much Love,
-TDG
