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Adios 2011
Happy holidays to the millions of readers that come to this page for comic relief!! Sunset Junkies have put a wrap on another year. This starts the sixth year for the band which is sometimes still hard to believe. When we originally launched this project we never knew if we could succeed or not. Our biggest gift comes from the support of the people who enjoy listening to our music. As you can tell, we really enjoy what we do. I think all four of us can agree that we had all dreamed someday we could play in a band and make our own music and that people would like it. Then on top of that you add the two albums that we have made, all the places we have played, and the people that we have seen; when you step back it sometimes feels surreal that four guys from Lima can claim this. Looking back on 2011 the main highlight was the release of Therapy. This was much anticipated but there is no doubt that this album was not rushed in anyway. No sacrifices were made, no corners were cut, and we learned a lot during the process. If you have not gotten a copy, check it out on iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sunset-junkies/id438340407), or our Facebook music store.
Other noteworthy events from 2011 would include; Playing in Ft. Wayne and Cincinnati, and adding new venues Luke’s, Beer Barrel, and Pappy’s. We will be releasing a full calendar sometime soon with plenty of opportunities to see Sunset Junkies in 2012. But in the meantime we will be laying low in January when the weather is bad and everyone has the holiday hangovers. But behind the scenes there is always something going on, this rock and roll beast never sleeps!
More than music… it’s a way of life!
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Fanta Claus
We had a great time this past Saturday playing for the Dana UAW party. Jeremy’s dad Greg has hooked us up with Ohio State /Michigan gigs but this was a much bigger affair. We had decided before the gig that Joe should dress up as Santa Claus. But after debate since Thrash loves Fanta Cola so much we had decided he should dress up in an orange and white suit and go as Fanta Claus. However, this dream never left Sunset Studio (fortunately there are a lot of dreams that never leave the studio). The UAW hall is one of the bigger indoor venues we have played and there was a lot of people there to celebrate their Christmas party. Some party goers like our buddy Chad were really out to have a good time, it was fun to watch all the people. We mixed in two Christmas songs with our regular set, one was great, one was not so great. Hopefully they cancelled each other out. The night ended with Craig /Shooter jumping off the stage and running around the room during an encore performance of House of the Rising Sun. When back on stage he mocked Joe’s “over the head” guitar solo to find that someone had followed him back on stage. The king of the Hill had ran up on stage behind Craig. With this madness, nobody was sure how to end the song! It was a fitting end to one wacked out Christmas party. Cheers again to Greg who not only keeps us rolling in his Sunset Suburban but booked us for such a big event!
More than music… it’s a way of life.
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Slap happy for Pappy’s
Happy Turkey Day everyone!!! The band had gotten together for one last practice Tuesday before we play at Pappy’s this Saturday. We open up for our old buddies the Ohio Noise Machine. It is exciting to finally get out and play after the short layoff to recover from our various ailments. A real rock and roll band would have sucked it up like bean town bad boys and kept playing, but hey at least we’re “melodious”! We have never played at Pappy’s and always look forward to trying out a new place. Our set will start at 9:00 and we plan to rock it and then listen to the Noise Machine, who knows what they’ll do next. Many of our friends and family will be around to see the show too. So after you stuff your turkey, come visit your Pappy this Saturday.
More than music… it’s a way of life.
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Broken Pinkies and Sinus Problems
It has been quiet with Sunset Junkies lately. While we didn’t intend to take a break, it happened anyway. Before our last show at Captain’s Point, Jeremy had injured his hand and thought that it might be sprained or bruised. He sucked it up like a barbarian and didn’t complain but played the show with what we found out later was a broken hand. He had a cast on for a few weeks and just got it taken off last Friday. While Jeremy was down, Craig found out he needed roto-rooter surgery for his sinuses and he has been on the mend too. Keith and Joe have no physical ailments to speak of but still suffer from the usual mental impairments. We had our first practice in over a month last night. It was great to get back together to play all of our favorites. CD’s have been selling like hotcakes online. We had to send another shipment to our supplier to stock up. Feel free to get your own copy of Therapy on sites such as iTunes, CD Baby, and Amazon.
More than music… it’s a way of life!
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Point Well Taken
It had been months since we had been at Captain’s Point and it was exciting to be back to the place where we had played so many times before. We have always had a good following from the crowd at the point. It was a slow start to the football Friday night. But during our second set the crowd started to mosey in. By the time we started our third set the place was packed and we knew that they were ready to party. In between sets a young fan made her way to the stage to dance to the house music playing between out sets. Along with her friends this girl invaded the dancefloor and it led to one of the best sets we have had in a longtime. We had this girl posing for pics in front of the banner while we were playing, dudes going up to Joe during solos,and twenty plus bouncing on the dance floor. It was a great way to end the night. We hit a homerun and that’s what keeps us coming back for more.
More than music… It’s a way of life!
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Back to the Point
It’s been a few months, but we are headed back to Captain’s Point this Friday in Indian Lake. It should be a great start to the weekend, we haven’t played any gigs for almost a month, so we are ready to break out some great music for everyone at the lake.
Wanted to share a quick story that we heard from some fans. A little boy 5 years old wanting to escape all of his problems locked himself in the car to get away from his mom. He put Sunset Junkies Therapy CD in the stereo and turns it up as loud as he can and acts like he can’t hear his mom. I guess it goes to show that we all need a little Therapy from time to time. Get your own Therapy on iTunes today, it is proven to make you feel euphoric!!
More than music… it’s a way of life!!
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Suset Junkie$: End of Summer Weekend!!
We knew that this would be a killer weekend and we were not disappointed. Sorry for no recent blog posts, no excuses other than laziness, or maybe business. Anyway, this past Friday was the last Rally in the Square for the season and we had heard that the Hipnotix were having their CD release at the Rally. The Entertainer gave us another shout out promoting the gig and complemented us by saying that we have melodious sounds (melodious is a great word to say with a British accent, go ahead and try it!!). It’s encouraging that a local media outlet does so much to promote local music, rock on. Then to top it all off, it was Jody’s birthday!! (Jody and his lovely wife Chris are the owners of Mulligan’s) It was a gorgeous day and we had a great crowd throughout the night. Many of the Rally goers came over and then we were also graced with a special appearance by the Hipnotix themselves who stayed the rest of the night. They had some great things to say about us, which is very much appreciated. It’s always fun to see James Goare from the Hipnotix who taught both Craig and Jeremy back in the day in the basement at Goodwin Music. We picked up a copy of the CD and suggest you check them out at www.hipnotixrocks.com. We had some technical difficulties during the first set but as they say, the show must go on. Then we ended the night with a birthday version of Hang on Sloopy for our old Pal Jody. We all talked at great length with him throughout the night (see Facebook pic) and we could tell he was enjoying his birthday. As we were leaving, Jody was reclining in a bar stool and said he had fun “chatting” with us!!
Saturday we packed up the Sunset Suburban and headed up to Bluffton. This was the second scheduled gig this summer for us to play at Luke’s on their patio. The first time we played there it ended up being very cold by the end of the night, but this night was about as good as it gets. We had a great crowd all night long and our music seemed to go over really well. If you’ve never been to Luke’s, the food is worth the drive but the atmosphere is electric. The patio was packed with the dinner crowd early in the night and at the end of the night the patio was packed with college students ready to party!!! All in all it was a great weekend and a great way to end our summer. We will head next to Captain’s Point at Indian Lake in September.
More than music… it’s a way of life!!!
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Queen City!!
Sunset Junkies will again be traveling to play a show this weekend as we head to play a private party in Cincinnati. Keith’s friends Chad and Betty have us playing an outdoor gig this Saturday. The word is that this will be yet another acoustic show and we will have to wait and see if Joe will agree to color within the lines and use an acoustic guitar or if he will rebel again and bring an electric. Vegas has five to one odds that he uses an electric. We took a short hiatus over the last two weeks but got back together tonight. We have also heard that Chad and Betty have some rock videos of Keith from the late 90′s and hope to use these for future extortion. We had a nice laid back practice tonight as we played round robin with some of our favorite jams. We hope to add a few new covers before our next shows at Mulligan’s and Luke’s that are coming at the end of the month. Stay posted for all of the details as we head to Cincy this Saturday!!
More than music… it’s a way of life.
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We Love Mulligan’s
Scribbled on our Therapy poster still hanging on the men’s bathroom door were the words “We love Mulligan’s!”, and that pretty much sums things up. Even though it had been over two months since our cd release party, the poster still stayed. No matter where this band may travel in the future, we will always hang our hat at Mulligan’s. This past Friday was no exception. It was a long, hot week and I think that everyone in the Lima area was ready to let loose a little and get the weekend off to a good start. The Junkies were really ready to let loose, we had been trapped in an acoustic box for the last three gigs and we needed some electrical stimulation. So we dusted off the amplifier cabinets plugged in and let the magic flow to all the wonderful people at Mulligan’s. The place was packed when we started at around 9:30. It rained earlier in the day so it cooled down and the turn out for the rally was great. So where else would they go other than Mulligan’s? The gig had been hyped all week, we got our first mention in the local paper called the entertainer. They quoted an earlier blog we had posted and billed us as the “self proclaimed beantown badboys”. We were shocked that they printed this, not because of the sarcastic nickname Craig made up. We were shocked because we had no idea that anyone actually reads this blog. So now that we know we might get media attention for foolish comments, be prepared for the floodgates to open on this blog. (j/k Keith would never allow it! He rolled his eyes at the beantown badboys post) Ok, so we’ve set the mood, everyone was excited to be there. Craig had printed the set lists earlier in the week and had put Camel’s and Coronas at the beginning of the first set. He had thought the drum solo at the beginning would be a good way to open the night. But then our drum stool quarterback called an audible. Keith motioned to put One Night first. This ended up being a fantastic idea and the first set was awesome. It had to be he best set of the summer. We were throwing originals and covers like jabs and hooks at the crowd and hey were rolling with the punches and taking it all in. We had dancers on the dance floor, people singing along, and guys were buying Jeremy drinks.(?) Since there were still a lot of people there at the end of the first set, we took an extra short break and went right into the second set. Even at the end of the night there were still a lot of people around. A good night for everyone! Everyone except Joe’s neighbor who is recruiting Joe for his band. A Sunset goon will be issuing a warning to him soon. We will be in Cincinnati two weeks from today. Stay posted for details.
More than music… It’s a way of life!!!
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Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
We survived this past Tuesday’s acoustic show at the Beer Barrel. Despite temps in the 90′s we had a great show. It did cool down a little bit around 7:30 when the sun went behind the clouds but as many described it; it was still hot, hot, hot!!!! We were a little worried that the hot weather might chase some people away but we still had a great crowd! Thanks to family, friends, and co-workers who braved the heat to come and watch. We did disappoint many who came to see an all acoustic show because Joe had to use his electric guitar when he sabotaged his e-string on the acoustic guitar. But like any other girl scout he was prepared and had an extra guitar handy. The music went great and we changed around the set list so that we varied it from the show that we played a few weeks ago. We really enjoy playing the patio and they treat us great. We hope to play there again one more time before the summer is over. Stay posted.
While the acoustic shows have gotten a good response it will feel good to go with the full set up this Friday at Mulligan’s. Keith is tired of playing his kiddie drum kit with egg beater drum sticks!! We will start around 9:00 so make sure to go to the Rally and then cool off afterward with some A/C and Sunset Junkies.
More than music… it’s a way of life!!!
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