Archive | Featured Blogs RSS feed for this section

Ladies and Gentlemen, THE BEAMUR!

All rise and pay homage……..

This is the rig we’ve been licking our chops for! 10 years in the making, man.

A HUGE thank you to Jim Beam and Beam Global Inc. for the endorsement and the support, as well as our fellas out at SCS Vinyl Works for the BITCHIN’ wrap job! Here’s to paying our dues….ENJOY!

The Beamur.

Read full story ·

5/14: Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City (yee-haw!)

tourblog

 

May 14th marked another epic entry into the Clintons’ history book for several reasons: first, it was the maiden voyage of the Beamur, our newly decked-out Clintons/Jim Beamobile (which looks very badass, might I add); and second, it was our first (and hopefully not last) time performing at the Bucking Horse Sale in beautiful Miles City, Montuckett.  We had no idea what to expect.  Like our 2007 performance at Knievel Days in Butte, we had heard so many stories about the madness that usually ensued that we were kind of ambivalent about whether or not that performance would mark not only our final show, but our final evening altogether.  That’s right–we thought we were going to die.  

Good news–we didn’t!

We rolled into the Miles City fairgrounds at about 4 p.m. and promptly set up our equipment.  After a tear-jerking vocal check courtesy of yours truly, we got some grub, mingled with the locals, and popped open a couple of beers.  Josh and I did, anyway.  I don’t know about Levi and John.  Our short performance began at 7 p.m. with a thunderous “Three Day Bender” and didn’t let up until the last guitar squeal of “Jesus.”  Personally, I enjoy short sets because I feel as if we have a bigger impact on the crowd and leave them wanting more.  You know, just like a comedian who leaves after the final and oftentimes best joke of his or her routine.  (Note: not like Dane Cook, whose routine doesn’t contain any jokes.)  We played 13 songs, rocked them all, and left something to be desired–just like gentlemen always do.

Soon thereafter, the great Darryl Worley took the stage.  In case you haven’t heard of him, Darryl Worley is a country star whose patriotic ode to the victims of 9/11, “Have You Forgotten?”, was #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country chart for an unprecedented seven weeks.  I guarantee you’ve heard that song before.  His first song was very energetic and catchy and quickly roused the crowd into party mode.  

And then disaster struck.

disaster-movie-poster

(Note: Don’t see this.)

During his second song, Mr. Worley was rocking out on his Fender Stratocaster guitar, minding his own country business.  And then, all of the sudden, a lid from an offstage Tupperware bin got picked up by the wind and was guided directly into Mr. Worley’s forehead, knocking him to the ground.  As he rolled around on the ground, no doubt dazed and a little dizzy from getting clocked in the noggin, his band quickly put down their instruments and escorted the injured Mr. Worley to the local hospital to stitch up the fairly decent-sized gash on his forehead.  

Understandingly, the crowd was fairly worried that Worley’s departure marked the end of the show.  It’s safe to say that a lot of people would totally say, “F**k this,” after getting pelted in the forehead with a whatever-the-hell-it-was.  That’s probably what I would’ve done.  But about an hour and a half later, Worley showed just how much of a high-class gentlemen and performer he is by returning to the stage–with a smile on his face and a large bandage on his forehead–and giving the Miles City crowd one hell of a show.  ”‘Rub some dirt on it.’ Isn’t that what they say around here?”  he asked the crowed.

They responded, “Yes, that’s what they say around here, Darryl Worley,” in the form of raising their glasses and shouting incessantly.  

After his show, the four of us went downtown with some friends of ours and tied one on like it was nobody’s business.  What happened after that is confidential, but I can tell you that we all had a great time.

Highlights:

–Our barmaid, Andrea, bared a striking resemblance to American Idol and country star Carrie Underwood.  I think I pissed her off by continuously asking her to sing Kelly Clarkson songs.

–You remember Josh’s description on the old site, where it said, “Many have tried to go drink for drink with THE DAWG only to wind up in the hospital or dead”?  Well, I didn’t go to the hospital and I ain’t dead, bitches! HEH!

–For some reason, John thought it was hilarious that I went to the vending machine at our hotel wearing nothing but my boxers and my boots.  My feet were cold!  What the hell was I supposed to do?

Setlist:

I’ll post it once I find it!

Read full story ·

5/2: Santa Fe Reds in Billings

 

tour-blog

Our Cinco de Mayo show at Santa Fe Red’s in Billings last Saturday was the last leg of what had been a marathon.  Thursday night was Dillon, Friday night was Bozeman times two, and Saturday was the home stretch.  Kind of.  We started playing at about a quarter after six, took a 2o-minute break, and then played till 10 o’clock on the nose.  If I were to guess, I’d say we played upwards of 35-40 songs throughout the course of the evening.  And we had a lot of fun doing it, too.  

Saturday night was the third time we’d performed for the Billings Santa Fe Red’s Cinco de Mayo, and it was probably the best of the three.  As I pointed out in the Friday tour blog, Montana weather can be really tricky.  The previous two Cinco de Mayo celebrations were cold as hell, even though they both took place the first weekend of May, when everything is supposed to start warming up.  This time, it was actually kind of warm, even after the sun went down.  Isn’t that something?  We all got into the Mexican spirit by drinking Bud Light Lime, and our girls did so by turning their sombreros into weird looking cowboy hats.  It was pretty hot.  In all, it was a great night for rocking out and a good way to end what had been a very long weekend.

Highlights:

–Someone got a new car.  Who could he be?

–Our friend Jessica Lechner performed inside the bar after we were done, and she kicked a lot of ass.  Good work, Jessica.

–I think we played almost every song in the Clintons songbook that night.  Wowzers.

Setlist:

You imagine it, we played it.  Seriously.  We were actually running out of songs to play.

Read full story ·

5/01: Bobcatfest and Mixers in Bozeman

tourblog

Quick summary:  Dillon was NUTS!

Now, on to our Friday night doubleheader.  Montana winters/springs are tricky.  For one, it’s oftentimes difficult to tell when one ends and the other begins.  Case and point: I spent 15 minutes scraping the ice off of my car last Wednesday morning, which was April 29th.  ”Ice,” “car,” and “April” typically don’t belong in the same sentence, unless you’re saying something like “People don’t need to scrape off the ice on their car in April because there isn’t any.”  Our odd weather makes it very tricky to schedule outdoor events.  Looking at the calender in March, you’d think that everything would be just hunky-dory by May 1st, right?

Not always.  On Wednesday, not two days before our first outdoor show of the year, Bozeman was covered in snow.  It was ridiculous.  We had a handful of decent days and were then bombarded by several consecutive days of crap.  I thought the show would be postponed and/or cancelled for sure.  But guess what?  The weather was beautiful, albeit a little chilly, and the show went on.  On top of that, it turned out better than I think any of us could have anticipated.  It was essentially a miniature Music on Main, but everyone made their way to the front of the stage instead of leaving an open area for jitterbugging or bumping and grinding.

It was refreshing to see a younger generation of college students–meaning kids who are much younger than us–dancing and singing along to just about every song on the setlist, which basically covered the band’s entire career.  The band first became popular through the dedication of the college students across the state, and it looks like current college students will continue to give us life.  That’s a good feeling.

After our set, we loaded up all of our stuff in the trailer and busted ass over to Mixers, where we were playing yet another show.  It was madness.  Unloading all of our equipment and setting it up inside can take a bit of time, especially when we have to use our own sound system like we typically do at Mixers.  By the time we began our set, we were all somewhat drained from getting Casper the friendly ghost out of our new mixing board and the unloading/loading/unloading from earlier that evening, but we still gave it every drop of juice we had and delivered for the Mixers audience.  I had originally written a set list for the night, but we kind of threw it out the window toward the end of the first set and just kind of played whatever popped into our head.  I’m pretty sure the four of us were about as efficient as a couple of slugs during takedown.  I was, anyway.  

Highlights:

–Western Skies lead singer/guitarist Mark Longie joined us onstage for a few tunes during our second set on Friday night.  It was mass rad.  That dude can play guitar.

–After singing the “Jesus” lyric, “Piss drunk on a roof and I don’t know how I got here” at Bobcatfest, we looked at the rooftops and noticed some people who were–you guessed it–piss drunk.  I wonder if they knew how they got there.  Heh!

–Holy Jesus, was Dillon bonkers!

Setlist for Bobcatfest:

Three Day Bender
Real Man
Undercover
LMP
Save the World
Chimney
Alright Tonight
College Daze
Baltimore
Free Ride
Jesus

Setlist for Mixers:

Like I said earlier, we deviated from this setlist pretty heavily.  Here are some songs that we played in no particular order:

Little Miss Perfect
Free Ride
Walkin’ on Air
Chimney
Dub-T Bootay
Save the World
Fan of the Bean
Leave Me Alone
College Daze
Abercrombie Jeans
Gimme Three Steps
Tush
Alright Tonight
Spiderman
Jail
Grinnell
Hands to Self
Dust on the Bottle
Birthday Suit
Friends with Benefits
Leave Me Alone

Read full story ·

Anti-Crap Radio (Give me a topic!)

picture-22

Our friend Uncle Daddy has his own radio show in Missoula.  He calls it “Anti-Crap Radio – Talk that doesn’t suck”.  Well here’s the thing…it WILL suck when John and I take the air this Saturday at 4pm.  We’re going to suck the life right out of it when we do a live phone in from the road (on our way to  Billings for the Cinco de Mayo show).  Look out Uncle Daddy, you’re fixing to get your lunch eaten.

But seriously, Uncle Daddy’s show has some hard hitting guests on it.  This list includes:

JERRY MOLEN.  Jerry produced the films “Schindler’s List”, “Jurassic Park” and many others.

COREY BUSCH. Former Vice-President of the San Francisco Giants baseball team and longtime San Francisco political activist.

HUEY LEWIS. Of the news.

And about 15 other peeps.
The topic?  Not sure but we’ll come up with something that fits the “Anti-Crap” category.  I’d love to be as controversial as possible to be honest.  I always think it’s fun to debate whether or not Hillary Clinton is hot but I think YOU can come up with something better than that.  Help a brother out.  Any ideas?

Read full story ·

4/25: The Depot in Butte, America (F**k Yeah!)

tourblog

Just about everybody and their mother have their own “I got so hammered in Butte that I (insert heinous act here)…” story.  It’s a right of passage for all Montanans.  I know I do.  I’ve been there for St. Patrick’s Day, Knievel Days, Tuesday, and everything in between; therefore, I have a few stories that begin with that little phrase.  I will not divulge them here, however.

That said, I think that many of Buttians will have one or two drunken stories to tell their friends about our show at the Depot on Saturday night.  Everyone certainly had their drinking shoes on that night and had no reservations about emptying their cups and cans down the hatch from the first song until our encore…and beyond.  It was the third time we’ve played in Butte in a little over the year, and it gave us a clear reminder as to why love playing in that town in the first place.  The four of us enjoy partying, but our partying stamina is feeble and weak compared to even Butte High freshmen.  Simply put, those kids–young and old–know how to party as hard as Andrew W.K., whose debut album contains four songs with the word “party” in the title.  They don’t hold anything back and they make sure that everyone else in the room is doing the same.  Naturally, that forced us to step up our game a little bit so that we could keep up with them.  It was tough, but I’m pretty sure we pulled it off and gave the Montana Tech students a night to remember.

Highlights:

–There was a girl there who was wearing a shirt that said “I’m a shit show.”  It’d be like me wearing a shirt that said “I’m a boy.”

–The opening band, whose name eludes me right now, kicked some major ass.  Good work, gentlemen.

–I took second place in a nine-person Twisted Tea race.  Hooray for me!

Setlist:

Free Ride
LMP
Friends
Potion
Alright Tonight
Birthday Suit
Kinky
Save the World
Pride and Joy
Real Man
Fan O’ Bean
Excuse for Jamming
Highway
Three Day Bender
Dub-T
College Daze
Baltimore
Dust on the Bottle
Leave Me Alone
Jesus
Hands to Self

Encore:
Abercrombie

Read full story ·

4/18: Tate-A-Palooza in Bozeman

tourblog

First and foremost, I’d like to wish our good buddy Tate Chamberlin of Chamberlin Productions a very happy, if not belated, birthday.  You’re one bad ass motherf**ker, Tater.

Josh and John started their night at about 3 p.m. in a stretch limo with Tater and 12 of his crazy friends.  Levi and I, being the pussies that we are, decided to play it safe and keep our alcoholism to a minimum by meeting up with the rest of the crew during at about 9 p.m., smack-dab in the middle of metal band Modifyde’s blisteringly awesome set of bad ass hard rockery.  Smack my buns, those guys were frakking GOOD.  Despite only having been together since January, their songs displayed a tight rhythm and steady beat that we couldn’t help but bob our heads to.  Their set showed us all exactly why they won the battle of the bands back in November.  Sheeyit.  On top of that, they were very nice guys.  They stuck around for our whole set and definitely wasted no time in getting their groove on with their gals.  They have skills to pay the bills.

Ever since the events of March 5, it seems to me Mixers has been the place to be on the weekends.  Sure, there are other bars that perhaps have some similarities to the R Bar, such as the Pour House and 317, but Mixers has been the only place that has been fully able to encapsulate the aura and attitude of the fallen bar, which could and should be attributed to the staff and management.  Mike Hope and both the R Bar and Mixers staffs have done a great job making Mixers Bozeman’s destination for good times and good tunes.  That said, it was great to be back at Mixers for the first time in about two months and play for the people who helped us become who we are today.  The crowd was a healthy mixture of first-timers and Clintons vets, and both found common ground on the dance floor, shaking what their mothers gave them.

We did things a little differently this time around.  With the absence of the R Bar, Mixers has been aiming to cater to the hip-hop crowd in addition to the country crowd, and I kept that in mind while constructing the setlist.  The evening consisted of many of our own country-tinged originals, a few of our rockers, and a dash of the hippidy hoppidy to keep it interesting for everyone in between.  The result was one kick-ass show.  We’ll be at Mixers after we play Bobcatfest with 10 Foot Tall & 80 Proof and the Black Mask on Friday, May 1st.  Be there or be square, everybody.

Highlights:

–Can’t say enough about Modifyde.  Don’t stop-a-rockin’, gentlemen.

–George did our sound again.  His soundboard ain’t got no knobs.

–We had pretty much the best medley ever in the second set.  No joke.

Setlist:

Free Ride
Alright Tonight
Friends
Birthday Suite
Potion
Lil’ Miss Perfect
Undercover World
Fishin’ in the Dark
Kegger
Save the World
Real Man
Brandy
Baltimore
Fan o’ the Bean
Excuse
Highway

Acoustical Jam

Strypez
Three Day Bender
That Girl
College
Dub-T Bootay
Dust on the Bottle
Best Medley Ever featuring Kyle “Chen” Chenoweth (a.k.a. Chen)
–Magic Carpet Ride
–Too Much
–Billie Jean
–One verse of Let’s Get Retarded
–Rapper’s Delight
–The Humpty Dance
–Jump Around
–Fresh Prince of Bel Air
–Hiphoppopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous
–Back into Magic Carpet Ride
Money
Outta Her Mind
Abercrombie (Rastified)
Leave Me Alone
Jesus

Read full story ·

4/11: Machinery Row in Great Falls

tour-blog

Wowie zowie zoo!

On Saturday,  we once again played at Machinery Row in Great (and the word “great” isn’t even good enough!) Falls, where literally tens upon tens of concertgoers were treated to an evening of alcohol, television, and alcohol.  We were also performing on stage, believe it or not.

Since Great Falls has always been batty over original music, the setlist once again consisted of absolutely no covers or exerpts of songs that were written by someone other than us.  And were they grateful?  Hell yes, they were!  Words cannot express the joy that shined on the faces of those in attendance as we played crowd favorites such as “Little Miss Perfect,” “College Daze (featuring shitty bass/drum fills),” “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2: Dr. Octopus’ Revenge,” and, last but not least, “That’s One.”  At times, things got so out of hand that people were literally on the dance floor–dancing.  I ain’t shitting you.  It was that f**king crazy.

Highlights:

–The pizza was especially delicious.

–I’m pretty sure we set a new record for fastest take down, despite being bogged down by scores upon scores of voracious fans.

–I don’t think Levi and I had ever been so deep in the rhythm pocket before.  Suck our balls, Chad Smith and Flea!

–The drive back to Bozeman was very relaxing and comfortable.  Thank goodness for having an actual van and not a retarded van/truck lovechild.

Setlist:

Friends
Walkin’ on Air
Free Ride
Little Miss Perfect
Party (I Know, Right?)
Alright Tonight
Undercover World
5 Leaf Clover (sequel to 4 Leaf Clover)
Purple Poppies
Save the World
Real Man
That Girl
That’s One
Bean
Highway

Break

Bender
Kegger
Chimney
Grinnell
Booty
Potion
Perfect Is What This Is
Outta Her Mind
Come with Me
Spiderman
College
Leave Me Alone
Jesus

No encore.  Go home, everybody.

Read full story ·

4/10: The Railyard in Billings

tourblog

After months of straining our patience and our checkbook, we finally got rid of Mang and bought ourselves a new 12 passenger van and accompanying trailer.  Now we can drive to shows with confidence that our rig won’t randomly lose power, leak antifreeze, or simply not start at all.  That’s a good feeling, my friends.

Last Friday’s show at the Railyard was our first Billings show since St. Patty’s Day and first as a full band in nearly two weeks.  Our last full band show was in Missoula on March 27th.  Suffice to say, it felt good to get back on stage with the crew again, and I can only imagine how exhausted Josh and John must have been from playing 10 shows in 13 days.  I commend you, sirs.

But in all, it was good to be back in action and rocking out like it’s nobody’s business.  As great as the Railyard was on Friday night, it didn’t prepare us for what was in store the following night in Great Falls.

To be continued.

Highlights:

–Josh almost fell off the stage during “Jesus.” Good thing I caught him.  Man, that would have been embarrassing.

–Levi shaved his beard when he was in Phoenix, and I was very, very disappointed.  Ever read the story of Sampson in the Bible, Kweej?  Think about it.

Setlist:

Free Ride
Undercover
Friends and Benefits
Little Miss Perfect
Save the World
That Girl
SDIM
He Says/She Says
Grant
Birthday Suit
Senior Kegger
Alright Tonight
Brandy
Outta Way
Spiderman
Fan of Bean
Baltimore
Leave Me Alone

Acoustic Jams

Stryper
Bend-Hur
Real Man
Chimney
Outta Her Mind
Come with Me
Dust/Bottle
Dub-T
Excuse
Highway 
Jesus, If You Take The Wheel
Hands to Self

Read full story ·

3/27: The Otherside in Missoula

tourblog

We had one hell of a caravan going up to Missoula, America on Friday, March 27.  With us now being rig-less, Josh drove his truck to Florence early in the afternoon, John took Tang, Levi drove a minivan he rented to haul his drums to the venue and kids to soccer practice, and I skeeted along the interstate in the Green Dragon.  The fact that I got to listen to my own music and not the frakking Boneyard or Chill XM made spending the extra money on gas totally worth it.

Now, I gotta admit, our timing for this Missoula show was somewhat poor.  It was our first show in town since October of 2008 and our first performance at the Otherside since last April, right when “Hey Hill” was airing on CNN, Fox News, BET, etc.  I say that our timing was poor because the 27th was the first day of spring break for the University of Montana, so by the time we took the stage, a sizable chunk of our usual fan base was on a plane to somewhere outside of the country where the legal drinking age is around 15 years old.  In spite of this, we still had a decent-sized crowd in attendance, and the dance floor was fairly packed from start to finish, enough so that I can’t wait until we play in Missoula again.  I just hope it happens soon.

Highlights:

–Did any of you BSG fans recognize the riff Steve and I were playing before “Livin’ Large”?

–We finally got new earpieces for our in-ear monitors.  It was nice to actually be able to hear myself clearly for once.

–John broke a string on his main guitar only to find out that he had broken a string on his auxiliary guitar  at our last show.  For Pete’s sake, John.

Setlist:

Little Miss Perfect
Friends W/ Benefits
Mexico
That Girl
Alright Tonight
Grant
321
Save the World
Undercover
Pride and Joy
Free Ride
Kinky
Cat in the Hat
Baltimore
Highway

–Break–

Acoustic
Seven Nation Army
Three Day Bender
Dub-T
Outta Mind
Cookie Jar
Come w/ Me (I hope you enjoyed that dance, Steve.)
Potion
Dust on the Bottle
Livin’ Large…As a Cylon
College Daze
Excuse to Jam
Chimney
Abercrombie Jeans
Jesus

Read full story ·

3/17: St. Patty’s Day at Bones Brewery!

tour-blog

Now that’s how you f**king party like you’re Irish, Billings.

It’s no secret that we are in love with the building, staff, and atmosphere of Bones Brewery in Billings, Montana.  The building is humongous, the staff is incredibly organized and professional, and the atmosphere does nothing but promote fun times and responsible debauchery (bit of an oxymoron, really).  We knew that our St. Patrick’s Day show at Billings was going to be big, especially after our previous Bones outing back on December 27, 2008, as the concluding installment of our Cheesy Ass Christmas Tour.  Never once did the possibility of a smaller show due to it being a Tuesday night cross our minds.  It’s safe to say that our crowd on St. Patrick’s Day was easily comparable to that of our Christmas show, which is really saying something.

One of my favorite moments of the evening was when we were joined onstage by Jeff Kitto, former keyboardist/vocalist and one of the original founding members of The Clintons.  First Josh, John, and Jeff sang an acoustic song.  Then, Jeff showed off his pipes and sang a piece from his upcoming opera that he was promoting, and then we totally rocked the f**k out on “Grinnell,” off of 2002′s Who Invited Roger? I especially enjoyed it because I had never played with Jeff before and I finally got to see first-hand just how talented that guy really is.  It was awesome.

As always, we all had a great time and Bones and can’t wait to play there again.  The end of the show may be a little blurry due to some drinks that I may or may not have consumed, but it was friggin’ St. Patrick’s Day, for crying out loud. I have to honor my Irish heritage somehow, don’t I?
(And yes, I do have some Irish heritage.  My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Helen O’Keefe.  My grandma has reddish hair and says “badadas” instead of “potatoes.”)

Highlights:

–”Grinnell” was freakin’ bad ass.  Good work, Jeff.

–I gave Josh his birthday present before the show.  What was it, you might ask?  A Richmond Spiders championship t-shirt.  It was painful to buy.

–I had a dentist appointment the next morning and it SUCKED.  Never go to the dentist after a late night of drinking.

Setlist:

Lil’ Miss Perfect

Friends

Walkin’

Alright

That Girl

Potion

Undercover World

Real Man

Come w/ Me

Save the World

Birthday Suit

Kinky

Sex on the Radio

Fan of the Bean

Excuse to Jam

Highway

–Jeff Interlude–

I Can’t See You (was that it?)

Jeff’s Aria

Grinnell

–End Jeff Interlude–

Alabama

I’m Irish

Bender

Free Ride

Outta Mind

Spiderman

Follow Me Home

Baltimore

Chimney

College

Jeans

Leave Me Alone

–Encore–

Jesus, If You…

Hands

Read full story ·