There’s been a lot of buzz going on about what happened down in SC – The short of it goes something like this: We’ve got John Law breathing down our neck, the van is literally falling apart, we haven’t a penny to our name, but goddamn, yall can’t keep a Growler down. We’ve got some ace shows coming up. We also could use a goddamn hand. If you could repost this, we’d greatly appreciate it.
So, what happened? As opposed to my normal flowery prose, I’ll keep it bullet pointed, short and sweet:
* Blown Tire, towed to a Walmart parking lot, late night – morning tire fix
* Next Day, Illegal stop by the South Carolina Sherrif’s Department (Driving too close – the highway was damn well near empty). Illegal, non-consented search of the van yielded a controlled substance (Psychobilin Mushrooms)
* Chestnut was arrested, and railroaded through a bond hearing at a time different told to us – Bail was set at $1,000, and a trial date was set over 7 months away, in June 2012.
* As opposed to letting a Brother in Arms rot for seven fucking months in a southern detention center for what is at best absolute bullshit, we came up with the $1,000 – literally everything the band had, and then some.
* The first judge tried to pull some further shady shit (than $1,000 for bail for a goddamn fungus), and tried to make sure he stayed overnight by leaving early, thereby fucking us over further and out of our last date of tour – we caught some luck with both a sympathetic corrections officier, as well as a sympathetic judge. I won’t mention their names because it’s clear that decent honest people are frowned upon in the South Carolina Legal system, but needless to say, we’re grateful. We were able to pay someone and get him out in time to hit the road up to Philly for our show with the nefarious Erik Petersen.
We’re shit broke. The van is breaking. We don’t even have any shirts left to sell (post tour reordering). We’re playing a few shows this month that we will be collecting donations at, and our next tour kickoff is a benefit show essentially for us to be able to continue to do what we do.
So, without much more of my fucking rambling, here is what’s up:
12/08/11 – Woodstock, NY – Colony Cafe – ALL AGES
http://www.facebook.com/events/209723939105366/
12/10/11 – NY, NY – ABC No Rio w/Mischief Brew – ALL AGES
http://www.facebook.com/events/245879932142396/
12/15/11 – Boston, MA – Church w/Bryan McPherson, Mark Lind, Jeff Rowe – 21+
http://www.facebook.com/events/170547526357829/
12/17/11 – Dover, NH – The Barley Pub – 21+ – 3 sets!
http://www.facebook.com/events/149295081841881/
1/12/12 – Jamaica Plain, MA – CHESTNUT’S BAILFEST – Midway Cafe
http://www.facebook.com/events/256129234447256/
Hopefully the wheel bearings won’t blow before we get the money up to fix them. Looking forward to fucking going nuts at these next few shows – hope to see you all there.
Cheers,
Swagger