February 21, 2009Plain White T's Three Part Harmony Tour
Back on the road with Plain White T's...
PLAIN WHITE T'S THREE PART HARMONY TOUR with Vedera and Single File March 12 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues March 13 - Toronto, ONT - Masonic Temple [PWT only] March 14 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall March 15 - Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection March 16 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's March 17 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave March 18 - Minneapolis, MN - Varisty Theater with Vedera and The Februarys March 19 - Winnipeg, MB - Garrick Center March 21 - Calgary, AB - SAIT The Gateway March 22 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite March 24 - Vancouver, BC - Richard's with Vedera and Danger Radio March 25 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory March 26 - Seattle, WA - Neumos March 28 - Portland, OR - Roseland March 30 - Modesto, CA - Fat Cat [21+] March 31 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse April 1 - Las Vegas, NV - Wasted Space at Hard Rock Hotel [21+] April 2 - West Hollywood, CA - House of Blues [18+] April 3 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues with Danger Radio and Single File April 5 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater April 7 - Austin, TX - Antone's April 8 - McAllen, TX - Las Palmas April 9 - Houston, TX - Numbers April 10 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit April 11 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues April 13 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant April 15 - Norfolk, VA - Norva April 16 - Lawrenceville, NJ - Rider College [STUDENTS ONLY, FREE SHOW] April 17 - New York, NY - Blender Theater at Gramercy [16+] PLAIN WHITE T'S April 18 - Newport, RI - Salve Regina University April 19 - Allentown, PA - Muhlenberg College April 21 - Evansville, IN - University of Southern Indiana [STUDENTS ONLY] April 24 - Flagstaff, AZ - Northern Arizona University PLAIN WHITE T'S supporting JASON MRAZ April 28 - Little Rock, AR - ALLTEL Arena April 29 - Tulsa, OK - Spirit Bank Events Center PLAIN WHITE T'S April 30 - West Long Branch, NJ - Monmouth University May 2 - Kansas City, MO - Rockhurst College [STUDENTS ONLY, FREE SHOW] PLAIN WHITE T'S supporting JASON MRAZ May 3 - Madison, WI - Kohl Center May 5 - Council Bluffs, IA - Westfair Amphitheater May 6 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theater PLAIN WHITE T'S May 7 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall May 8 - Chicago, IL - Metro May 9 - St. Paul, MN - University of St. Thomas, Coughlin Fieldhouse [STUDENTS ONLY] Shows are ALL AGES, unless noted.
Posted on 02/21/2009 11:53 AM Comments (13)
February 16, 2009Interview with PULP Magazine
This is an interview I did with Kayley Guyette from PULP Magazine from their "Yes, I Am" interview series.
http://pulpcb.com/blog/2009/02/yes-i-am-interview-series.html Yes, I Am A Merch Manager: Aileen Burns
When and how did you become merch manager for the Plain White T's? I was in college at NYU studying the music industry and working in the Columbia Records A&R department in 2004 when I met the Plain White T's. One of my bosses was scouting them for the label and sent me to a few shows, so we ended up becoming friends. In June 2005, after a year of working at Columbia, I decided I really needed a change of scenery and asked the T's if they would take me on tour that summer. Had you worked for any other bands before this/have any experience? If so, what did you do? My first experience came from selling t-shirts for a local band from Long Island called Last Week (currently a touring band known as Lights Resolve). They drew a pretty good crowd locally, so I offered to sell their merch in exchange for getting into their shows for free. The local music scene on Long Island was really strong at the time and we actually did a decent amount of business at shows. Eventually the band started traveling to nearby cities for shows on weekends, so that was my first taste of "tour" life, even though we were never really gone for more than 48 hours. What are the duties of a merch manager exactly? Duties vary depending on the band, the tour, the merch person, and the company that employs the merch person if that happens to be the case. Personally, my responsibilities start weeks, sometimes months, before the tour. I compile a list of design and item ideas with the band, then discuss the list with our merchandise company. From there I pick the best of the designs that our merch company brings me, which I present to the band for approval. I work with the company on sales projections and that's when the printer can start rolling. Once we're on tour, I handle receiving of shipments and inventory of all merchandise. On show days, if I am selling merch, I have to set up the merch area with a visual display and enough product for the show. If the venue provides a vendor, I count in merchandise with them, check on their stock during the show, and count out at the end of the night. After every show no matter who is selling, I handle Soundscan and the merchandise settlement using an Excel spreadsheet that I created. Once all of that is taken care of, I spend some time checking over my spreadsheet for the show, re-counting the money, and sending the show's settlement sheet to the merch company and band management each night. Another responsibility that I've taken on is coordinating the product going into our online web store. Not a lot of merch managers get involved with the online store, but personally I like to know what's going on with all facets of our merchandise business. Additional responsibilities can also vary if the merch manager has been hired out specifically by the merchandise company, which is typical for companies who handle product for larger bands such as Metallica or Coldplay. Sometimes duties include driving a Penske truck, or brokering merchandise when crossing the Canadian border. On tours that require less hands-on work by the merch manager, such as in arenas or stadiums where the building provides vendors, it is common for the merch person to help with other tasks such as guest list or wardrobe. How does merch manager defer from merch guy/girl? I'm glad you asked that! I mean, it's really just a difference in name. But a person who is on tour simply to set up a display and sell t-shirts each night is someone I would call a "merch guy" or "merch girl" and not a merchandise manager. A lot more responsibility and work is involved in the manager position. Some say that merch managers are easily replaceable, do you agree with this? Why or why not? It may seem that way, especially compared to other crew jobs on tour like a tech or tour manager, but I disagree. The merch manager handles the band's immediate income, so there's a lot of trust involved in the relationship between band and merch person. I would say that not a single member of the touring crew is easily replaceable. A band and their crew is like a big family that lives and works together. We depend on each other to make it through each day. You're a girl in a highly male dominated industry; do you think it makes it harder for people to respect/take you seriously? Definitely. There's a preconceived notion that girls can't work as hard or be as skilled as a male in this business. Girls are also considered a distraction on tour. It doesn't help that there are some girls out there proving these notions right. Even with a strong resume and years of experience, it's still common for a woman to be turned down for a job in favor of a guy whose resume may not be as impressive. I would say women are becoming more accepted into the touring industry as of late, but a woman on tour is still not common and finding a job is still difficult. Any advice for girls aiming to get into the music industry? Respect yourself first and foremost. What about your job do you find most pleasurable? Least pleasurable? I've always loved the sense of family that I get from being on tour, both among your own band and crew, but also with the other bands and crews on tour. And the amount of traveling I've done all over the world is far beyond most people my age or older. I'd say the least pleasurable part of the job is being away from home, friends, and family for extended periods of time. Do you aim to go higher in the music industry? Or are you content where you are? My first goal was to be successful in A&R, but after a year of scouting bands for a major label, I got pretty burnt out on the idea. I've always dreamt of someday owning my own independent record company, but I think that's a long ways down the road. Between now and then, I'd like to experience a few different aspects of the business, maybe working for a merchandise company itself, a booking agency, or in management. When I was preparing for college, my goals were very specific. Touring opened up a whole new side of the music business for me, so my path is now ever changing. Do you have a most memorable show you were working at? In 2006, Plain White T's were invited to fill a spot on Panic At The Disco's headlining tour after Bloc Party were forced to drop off. I had literally been home for three hours after finishing almost two months of tour when I got the phone call that we would start tour with Panic At The Disco the next day. For two weeks we played arenas in front of 6,000-14,000 people, and I was moving more product than I ever had before. The two weeks we spent on that tour was a big turning point in my life I think, when I realized this could become a career. More recently, Chris Carrabba from the band Dashboard Confessional gave me a shout out from stage on the last night of the Rock Band Live Tour. I definitely became a fan of Dashboard on that tour, and getting the shout out was both incredibly embarrassing and totally awesome. Chris and everyone in the band and crew are amazing people. Any "horror stories", that you'd like to share? I am a survivor of the Warped Tour 2007 Cleveland, Ohio storm of the summer. I was working for a non-profit called Shirts For A Cure and was responsible for selling 40+ t-shirt designs in a 10'x20' fold up tent. The lightning, thunder, and hail storm lasted 90 minutes, with constant heavy downpour and gusts of wind so strong that half my tent collapsed with me under it. A good amount of my product was ruined that day, and there were moments when I thought I was clinging to the tent for my life. One of the scariest things I've ever experienced. Any advice for someone looking to become a merch manager? Don't get into it because it seems like it's the easiest job on tour. Just because there's isn't any technical work involved, like working with instruments or sound boards, doesn't mean a high level of skill isn't required. It's also important to keep in mind that touring is a fun job, but not a 24 hour party. If there was any band (dead or living) that you could sell merch for, who would it be? And why? Being able to tour with any of my favorite bands would be amazing, but sometimes being on tour with a band changes how you appreciate them. If it came down to working for a band simply for the opportunity to hear them play every night, I would have to say either Wilco, Kings of Leon, or Jimmy Eat World. Any fan creeper stories, you'd like to share? Plain White T's fans are pretty tame, actually. I've heard stories about friends bands with much crazier fans, but so far no real "creeper" stories to tell from the Plain White T's camp. It's not creepy at all, but Pierre from the band Simple Plan named his dog Delilah after the song, does that count? Maybe he's secretly a creepy fan... just kidding, he's actually a really good friend of the T's. If someone was to bring you a present on tour, what would you like it to be? I love baked goods, especially brownies, but the trouble with those kinds of gifts is that they always get eaten by everyone else on the bus besides me. I rarely get gifts which doesn't bother me, but homemade stuff is fun. I wear a lot of jewelry and I'm never opposed to adding to my collection! Anything else you'd like to add? Your questions were great, I think you really covered everything :) Fun Questions An upcoming CD release you're looking forward to? No Doubt! Also awaiting new music from Wilco, Mew, Fleetwood Mac, and Moneen. If there was to be a sandwich named after you, what would it have on it? One of my tour nicknames is "Pineapple" because I grew up in Hawaii, so I guess that's what it would have on it... I'd eat it. Favorite food? I love anything Asian, especially sushi. I eat sushi on tour as often possible. Luckily Dave and De'mar from the band are both big sushi connoisseurs too so I always have someone to go with. Favorite pizza topping? Garlic mashed potato pizza from Pizza Luce in Minneapolis, the best pizza on the face of the planet. Favorite Holiday? Halloween on tour is always a lot of fun but usually I have a really difficult time getting the band to be pro-active about wearing costumes. This past year, however, the guys totally got into it and every single one wore a costume on stage and for most of the night. I wore a red wig and dressed up as Hayley from Paramore... easiest tour costume ever.
Posted on 02/16/2009 2:07 AM Comments (5)
January 31, 2009Kings Of Leon A month ago, I booked a week-long trip to New York City for my 25th birthday. I just got home from that trip last night. I lived in Manhattan for five years and no matter how long I'm away, it still feels like I belong there the moment I step foot on the sidewalk. Originally I had planned to arrive the day before my birthday, January 22, and fly home back to California the day after my old roommate's birthday, January 29... but Kings Of Leon were scheduled to play a sold out show at Madison Square Garden on the 29th. I extended my trip for one day, <i>just in case</i> a miracle happened and I managed to get tickets somehow to see what have become one of my absolute favorite bands in the past year. My other old roommate, Perry, came through with that miracle. She had to contact the president of Madison Square Garden. Our seats were unreal, our excitement was like we had never been to a show before! [Note: I've been to hundreds, if not a thousand, live shows in my life time.] Photos from the show:  Nacho Followill setting up gear before the show     My Twitter reactions throughout the night:      Pretty much sums up my night and my life right now... Video clips from the show: Kings Of Leon - Molly's Chambers (1/29/09) from Aileen Burns on Vimeo. Kings Of Leon - Closer (1/29/09) from Aileen Burns on Vimeo. Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire (1/29/09) from Aileen Burns on Vimeo. Kings Of Leon - The Bucket (1/29/09) from Aileen Burns on Vimeo. Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody (1/29/09) from Aileen Burns on Vimeo. There's really no way to put into words how this band makes me feel when I listen to their music or when I saw them perform on Thursday night. When they played "Cold Desert" I had goosebumps over every inch of my skin and my knees shook. That song literally breaks my heart, and it was written by a broken man. Their show as a whole probably evoked every emotion out of me - from sheer joy to sadness. Kings Of Leon should be the biggest band in the world. They certainly have the talent to do it. Watch this video to hear more about "Cold Desert" and how it was created:
Posted on 01/31/2009 11:31 AM Comments (3)
December 20, 2008Since it's the season for Top Ten lists...
Top Ten Things Ruined By An Ex-Boy*
*Boy, referring to ex-boyfriend, ex-guy I used to date, ex-guy I made out with, ex-crush, etc. 10. Dating Canadian boys (in general, I love Canadians) 9. "Hypnotize" by Notorious B.I.G. 8. The Philadelphia Eagles 7. Making mixtapes 6. Warped Tour 5. "Table For Glasses" by Jimmy Eat World 4. Love, Actually 3. Pine scented Yankee Candles 2. Disneyworld 1. Mickey Mouse Obviously the last guy I was involved with lasted over a year so most of the list consists of things he single-handedly ruined for me. "Table For Glasses" is a brutal one though, they played it at my friend Casey's funeral and I was having flashbacks to making out with an ex-boyfriend in his band's van. Not awesome. People used to comment on how good my mixtapes were, until my first boyfriend in college cheated on me... He lived an hour+ away from my school so I used to make him mixes to listen to while driving. Ever since then my mixes have been lacking. In seventh grade I dated a boy whose last name was Bigelow. "Hypnotize" was a massive single at the time. "Biggie Biggie Biggie can't you see..." still haunts me. That was kind of fun. And truth be told I miss you And truth be told I'm lying... When you see my face Hope it gives you hell Hope it gives you hell When you walk my way Hope it gives you hell Hope it gives you hell Note: I just received my 1000th buzz! Thanks guys!!
Posted on 12/20/2008 3:47 PM Comments (10)
December 9, 20082008 End Of The Year List
Here it is, my end of the year list. I already broke some of the rules posted in The Thinking Man's Year End List Rules but it happens.
TOP ALBUMS OF 2008: 1. Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night 2. Coldplay - Viva La Vida, Or Death And All His Friends 3. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular 4. TV On The Radio - Dear Science 5. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology 6. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony 7. The Kooks - Konk 8. Good Old War - Only Way To Be Alone 9. Longwave - Secrets Are Sinister 10. Empires - Howl Honorable Mention: * Forgive Durden - Razia's Shadow * Augustana - Can't Love, Can't Hurt * The Matches - A Band In Hope * Lovedrug - The Sucker Punch Show TOP SONGS OF 2008: 1. MGMT - "Electric Feel" 2. Coldplay - "Lost!" 3. Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire" 4. Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes" 5. Britney Spears - "Womanizer" 6. M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" 7. Does It Offend You Yeah? - "Dawn Of The Dead" 8. Jonas Brothers - "Lovebug" 9. Alkaline Trio - "Calling All Skeletons" 10. Chairlift - "Bruises" 11. TV On The Radio - "Red Dress" 12. Cold War Kids - "Something Is Not Right With Me" 13. Plain White T's - "1,2,3,4" 14. Bloc Party - "Mercury" 15. Uh Huh Her - "Not A Love Song"
Posted on 12/09/2008 11:24 AM Comments (7)
December 4, 2008Time to slow down
I got home from tour on Tuesday night.... but I fly to Florida tomorrow for one more radio show with the Plain White T's, before officially being off for the rest of the year. Not gonna lie, I'm exhausted. Two months of tour without ever going home can really wear you out.
So I've spent the last couple of days relaxing, attempting to unpack my 57 lbs suitcase and do laundry, and unwind. I'm caught up with the only two TV shows I watch regularly - Greek and Fringe (two polar opposites as far as TV shows go). I've gone out to lunch and dinner with a few different friends. It's only a matter of time before I'm out of here again (I go back to Hawaii to spend the holidays with my family on Dec 17!) so every moment is precious. I also started working out again yesterday and I'm definitely paying the price; my thighs and abs are mad at me. It's going to feel great though, if I can just keep this up. I've been working on my end-of-the-year album list and it's proving to be a difficult one. There are some obvious choices which made my list upon very first listen - Kings Of Leon's Only By The Night and Coldplay's Viva La Vida - for example. There was actually a lot of really great music released this year (and a lot of really mediocre music) and I'm trying to listen to as much as I can in the next couple of weeks before I reveal my list. Right now I'm listening to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals' new record, Cardinology, and every time I listen to it I like it more. Another album quickly growing on me is Good Old War's Only Way To Be Alone. Are you making a Best Of list for 2008? Do you know what your #1 album of the year is going to be yet?
Posted on 12/04/2008 11:42 PM Comments (4)
November 6, 2008NO ON PROP 8
Hey guys - I'm sure many of you have seen the news on Buzznet and elsewhere about the rallies and protests going on in Los Angeles right now against the passage of Proposition 8 in California banning gay marriage. I haven't been able to get online all night and I'm posting this from my Blackberry right now, but I just want to ask that you all keep our friend Mark (Panasonicyouth) and the other Buzznetters who attended the protest and have been arrested for their participation. I don't have details, I'm sure there is more out there that I need to catch up on, but I hope Mark and everyone else is safe tonight.
EDIT: EVERYONE SHOULD CHECK OUT SAVANNAH'S BLOG - RAISING MONEY TO HELP MARK AND RICH - http://tryingtofindthewords.buzznet.com/user/journal/3336681/raising-money-awareness-aka-you/
Posted on 11/06/2008 10:35 PM Comments (5)
October 30, 2008Halloween on Tour!
I'm alive, I promise!
Halloween is TOMORROW, I'm really excited! I have a costume planned out and I'm going to make sure to have my camera on hand all day to capture the madness. Usually the Plain White T's are really lazy about properly celebrating Halloween, but this year we've gotten a lot more into it so hopefully it'll be a good one. What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year? You're NEVER too old to dress up!
Posted on 10/30/2008 10:33 AM Comments (3)
October 14, 2008I am a slacker
I feel like I've been slacking off on my Buzznet updates.... which, okay yeah, I have. I'm sorry, I've been busy and I don't carry a camera around that often, it sucks! I finally got my hands on PATD's wireless network password, which is much more reliable than the PWTs internet set up. Dashboard Confessional keeps soundchecking that new Pink song and it gets stuck in my head against my will. I watch a lot of football (GO CHARGERS!). I hate wearing my radio/walkie talkie but my tour manager yells at me if I don't.
Last night my friend Mexi Joe, Cartel's guitar tech extraordinaire, picked De'mar and I up in Everett which is a suburb of Seattle. He drove us into the city where we met up with one of my best friends Greg at his favorite sushi restaurant. It was amazing, I wish I could eat sushi every day. I haven't seen Greg in probably a year so it was really good seeing him. He plays bass in a band called Amber Pacific, they've been home almost a year now writing new songs and auditioning new singers. It looks like they finally found the guy - he's from Calgary. Canadians are the best people, although I'm not too fond of French Canadians. Greg, AP's guitarist Will, and their old TM Brad are coming to our show tonight to hang out, as is Mexi Joe. I have some great friends in this city, it's nice to be back in Seattle. Tonight we haul ass down to Salt Lake City, where it's apparently snowing already, good lord. I AM NOT READY FOR WINTER. Are you kidding me?? My good friend Lindsay lives in SLC though and our friends Sherwood have a show in town tomorrow night so I think some of us are going to hit that up. Alright, I've just been told by Tim that tonight's dinner is amazing (the catering on this tour has been pretty spot-on) so I'm going to go check it out. Apparently the options are Mahi Mahi, NY strip steak, or chicken. YUM.
Posted on 10/14/2008 5:45 PM Comments (8)
October 6, 2008First day of tour consensus (spoilers?)
I'm back on the bus after finishing the first day of the Rock Band Live tour. Some thoughts:
- Dashboard Confessional is probably going to be my new guilty pleasure. Looks like they'll be covering Weezer's "El Scorcho" in their set every night which I always joke is "my song" because of the first verse lyrics... "Goddamn you half-Japanese girls, do it to me every time, oh the redhead said you shred the cello, and I'm jello baby." I played cello for ten years when I was younger and I'm half-Japanese, OBV the song is about me. - There are two lovely ladies touring with Rock Band on this tour, Catherine (Novis, of Buzznet fame!) and my good friend Jesica's roommate, Lycia, who snuck me and my 3 friends into a group Rock Band 2 performance of Lit's "My Own Worst Enemy" during tonight's show. What up 90s jams. I plan on playing Rock Band 2 every day on this tour. - I watched Plain White T's entire set tonight and I'm really excited about it / impressed. The intro video and new backdrop look amazing and the new songs sound killer live. Seriously, I wouldn't say it if it weren't true. - Our hoodies haven't arrived from wherever in Asia they're made yet which is disappointing, but they should arrive sometime in the next few shows hopefully and they're gonna be sexy. Get yourself one for $40, cheap! - Starting tour in the city where you live is pretty convenient, but I'm also sad that it's not in the middle or at the end of tour.... we're scheduled through December so I won't be home until before Christmas. Dang. I'm gonna miss my roommates and my bed. Time to hit my bunk. We have 2 days off in LA during which PWTs will be performing on KTLA's morning show on Monday, and then... they film a video for the new single, "1234" :) Wonder if they'll give me a cameo? Meh, probably not. xo
Posted on 10/06/2008 12:56 AM Comments (7)
October 1, 2008Lights Resolve I want to introduce to everyone a band from Long Island, NY called Lights Resolve. I've known these guys for quite a while and spent some of my craziest weekends with them when I was in college. When I met them in 2003 they were called Last Week and my best friend KT and I were their first merch girls. I learned a lot of the basics of merchandising while working for them and they'll always have a special place in my heart. With that said, Lights Resolve just won an MTV2 battle of the bands contest, the prize is to open the Newark, NJ show of the Rock Band Live Tour supporting Panic At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's, and The Cab. This is so exciting for me because I haven't seen my friends play in a couple years now, so I'm expecting it to be a fun reunion and I'm really looking forward to it. Not to mention I'm extremely proud of them for winning the contest of course! So anyway, if you live in the New York/New Jersey area I hope you've already purchased your ticket for the Rock Band Live Tour in Newark, and plan to come early to see Lights Resolve play! Check out their myspace at: http://myspace.com/lightsresolve EDIT: Found these photos and wanted to throw them in:   I just want to point out that next to us is a DJ Rossstar banner... hahaha.
Posted on 10/01/2008 12:07 AM Comments (4)
September 21, 2008Current Tunes
I've been listening to a lot music lately, my tastes have been evolving even more toward I guess what you would call "indie" music, and 2008 has shown a lot of promise with good music - amazing, I would even say. So I wanted to share some of what I've been listening to with you on Buzznet.
Kings Of Leon http://www.buzznet.com/tags/kingsofleon Recommended songs: Sex On Fire, Use Somebody, I Want You, Fans Their new album, Only By The Night, comes out on Tuesday. I plan to purchase it immediately, but I admit I downloaded it about three weeks ago and have been listening to it non-stop ever since. I've always put KOL on my musical back burner for some reason and I kick myself for waiting this long to give them a chance. However, their older albums are a little rougher on the edge I would say. Their last record, Because Of The Times, really saw the band coming into their own. But I think with this new album they really do own it. Caleb Followill's voice is one of the most soulful I think I have maybe ever heard. Below is a live performance of one of my favorite tracks from the new album. Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody MGMT http://www.buzznet.com/tags/mgmt Recommended songs: Electric Feel, Time To Pretend, Kids, Of Moons Birds and Monsters I really got into MGMT earlier this year, and then got to see them perform twice in August on tour, when Plain White T's did two of the same festivals with MGMT in Belgium and Netherlands. For some reason whenever I see them live I feel like I'm being transported back to my grungy Lower East Side neighborhood in New York City that I miss so much. I think that's why I feel like I need to see them live whenever I get the opportunity... I saw them twice this past week, in LA and again at Street Scene in San Diego on Friday. MGMT - Electric Feel More to check out: TV On The Radio http://www.buzznet.com/tags/tvontheradio Spoon http://www.buzznet.com/tags/spoon Cold War Kids http://www.buzznet.com/tags/coldwarkids Chairlift http://myspace.com/chairlift Their song "Bruises" can be heard in the current iPod Nano ad campaign. Does It Offend You, Yeah? http://www.buzznet.com/tags/doesitoffendyouyeah Sigur Ros http://www.buzznet.com/tags/sigurros Justice http://www.buzznet.com/tags/justice The Stills http://www.buzznet.com/tags/thestills Check them out and tell me what you think, and if you have any recommendations of your own send them my way!
Posted on 09/21/2008 12:43 PM Comments (2)
September 19, 2008Fall Tour Goals
I'm setting some goals for myself for this upcoming fall tour. It's going to be tough, but I need to get focused.
9:30am - Wake up* 10am - Pilates work out or jogging (alternating days) 11am - Shower 12pm - Load in 6pm - Doors 10:30pm - Show ends 11pm - No eating later than this hour 1am - Work is done for the day** 2am - In bed no later than this hour * This may not sound early for many of you, but for someone who tours it IS early ** Yes, sometimes it takes two hours or longer to count out and settle merch after an arena show My normal tour routine is wake up 30 minutes before load in, load in, lunch, dinner, wait for show to end, count out and settle merch, load out, eat something, get ready for bed, sleep. So this new routine is going to be difficult, but I want to see changes. I've finally gotten back into the no soda diet, after falling back into my old Dr. Pepper-loving habits this past year. I also very rarely eat red meat or pork, and generally stick to chicken or fish. Our bass player Mike has told me he plans to do the pilates and jogging workouts with me, and I really hope he gets himself in gear and sticks with it. He's also said he wants to stop drinking beer this tour..... which seems far fetched, but I'm gonna back him up on it 100%. I hope this works! If you have any work out tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Posted on 09/19/2008 3:37 AM Comments (3)
September 3, 2008Hello September!
Wow I can't believe how quickly the summer flew by! It's already September, and although I'm sitting here on my bed in my apartment in California in a false sense of peacefulness, things are actually REALLY crazy busy in Camp Plain White T's. We have the month "off" from tour, but the brand new album Big Bad World comes out on SEPTEMBER 23, which means for the band a lot of press and promo business. You can expect to see them on a handful of TV appearances this month (ABC Family's Greek, Leno, Good Morning America, Pepsi Smash, and MTV's Video Music Awards to name a few...) as well as a quick trip back to London at the end of the month for more promo there (the new album comes out in Europe in October).
Pre-order the CD at Smartpunk.com and get an exclusive free t-shirt! Speaking of Europe, we just got back from our European "So Last Summer" Tour a few days ago. Europe tours for me always sort of drag on, but I think we had a really good run this time around. It's always nice to be over there this time of year when the weather is a bit better than normal, not so gloomy and cold. Our headlining club shows were a bit smaller than usual because we were going to cities we had never been to before - Stockholm, Copenhagen, Prague, Luxembourg City to name a few. I met a lot of a really nice people at the merch table, and I'm amazed again and again at how well everyone can speak English. Makes me feel like such a dumb American only being able to speak English (okay, I actually do speak a bit of Japanese as well, but that doesn't usually help me in Europe haha). We played a lot of HUGE festivals while we were there. Pukkelpop in Belgium was by far my favorite, it was a beautiful day, the backstage area and catering were amazing, I got to see some amazing bands (Sigur Ros and MGMT!), and I had a few drinks and got to let loose, which I don't usually do very often on tour.  Plain White T's @ Pukkelpop Fest  MGMT @ Pukkelpop Fest We also played Leeds and Reading.... not as good of a reception by the crowd (they were all there to see Metallica, Tenacious D, Slipknot -who cancelled-, and Avenged Sevenfold -who also cancelled-), but regardless of all the bottles and mud that got thrown on stage at the band I think we all had a really good time. The guys were prepared to dodge bottles and walked off stage laughing. There was even a circle pit and "wall of death" during Hey There Delilah, courtesy of the Metallica fans in the crowd. I saw some of them singing along though, they can't deny it. So now I'm back in California for the week. On Monday I'm flying to Hawaii to visit my family for a week. I haven't been back since March so it will be really nice to see my parents and my grandmother and sleep in the bed I grew up in. I'm also particularly excited for this trip home because my mom and I are going to the Humane Society to look at dogs! My beloved Golden Retriever Kona died last April at the age of 13, and our other dog Skippy just died this year, he was 14. Our house has been too quiet for too long, the dogs made it easy for my parents to cope with my being away at college. I'm an only child so the dogs were like more kids for them. My dad says he doesn't mind the quiet, but I know they both miss having the dogs around and I definitely don't like how quiet the house has been this past year. We're going to look at shelters first to see if we can rescue two dogs who otherwise might be humanely euthanized due to not finding a home. I really recommend everyone do this first when finding a pet. If you end up going to a pet store or breeder to find a new pet, be sure you do research on the store first. Puppy farms are one of the most horrifying forms of animal cruelty that exists today.  Kona in 2005 Later this month Plain White T's are playing a charity show in Novato, CA (NorCal) with Third Eye Blind! I grew up listening to Third Eye Blind but I've never seen them play, so I'm super excited. You can buy tickets for this show here: http://www.rocknbluesbythelake.com/tickets.asp. Proceeds from the show go to help fund public schools in Northern California. Rock Band Live Tour starts October 5th! I've been planning some killer merch for the tour, so I hope everyone's saving up their money haha. Plain White T's will have a few headlining one-off shows during the tour: 10-25 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights 10-27 Portland, ME @ The Station 11-05 Tallahassee, FL @ Floyd's Music Store Last but not least, my friends in the band LOVEDRUG are releasing a new record on October 28. I'm actually listening to it right now and it's amazing. You may have seen them on tour with us in 2006, for me it was a huge honor to have one of my favorite bands play with the T's every night. You can listen to three new songs on their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lovedrug. Good luck to all of you who started high school or college classes recently! I know school is a drag, but you'll kind of miss it once it's all over... I promise! I'll leave you with this last photo...  Plain White T's band and crew Konstanz, Germany So Last Summer Tour - Europe 2008
Posted on 09/03/2008 12:06 PM Comments (16)
August 3, 2008Warped Tour
We had a day off in Chicago between shows, so while the band went to Lollapalooza, I went to Warped Tour out in Tinley Park with our guitar tech Evan (Bovee) and our drum tech Spyder. We didn't get out there til 2pm which was fine, Matt had given me the heads up earlier in the morning that the only three bands I was going to make plans to see were basically playing on top of each other at the end of the night. So that inconvenience made it actually easier to make up my mind about spending more time seeing friends than watching bands I don't really care about haha.
After making a round of the tents and saying hello to everyone I could find, the guys and I went over to production to see Angels & Airwaves do a private AT&T acoustic set. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of their music but I am a huge huge fan of those guys as people. I got a chance to catch up with David Kennedy a bit, whom I have the pleasure of knowing through my roommate and best friend, KT. He might actually be one of the most interesting conversationalists I've ever talked with. They're all such awesome genuine guys. Spyder was particularly excited to see Matt Wachter as he used to be Matt's bass tech with 30 Seconds To Mars. Bovee and I left the AVA set early to go see Mayday Parade, but got there late and opted for watching Relient K instead. I hadn't seen them play since we toured with them in late 2006 so that was really fun. Got to catch up with Matt Theissen and thank him again for treating me to lunch the last time we hung out together... which was almost a year ago. Crazy how quickly time goes by. My friend Derek is guitar teching for them now, but when we toured together he was the merch guy. Bummed I didn't get to spend more time with him. Also got to see Relient K's old guitar tech Danny, who lives in Valparaiso and actually came to the PWTs show the night before Warped Tour in Crown Point, IN (worst show ever). Fast forward a few hours of me hanging out with merch friends and escaping to the air conditioning / non-porta potty on All Time Low's bus. Sidenote, I still can't believe how huge ATL has gotten since last summer. I skipped their set in favor of watching the beginning of Say Anything.... Max Bemis was sick and couldn't sing so they recruited singers from other bands to fill in for him, which actually turned out to be really rad. Justin from Motion City Soundtrack kicked off the set with "Alive In The Glory Of Love" and it was amazing / hilarious to see him jumping around with the lyrics on a tiny piece of paper in his left hand. The singer from Norma Jean followed and was a lot less entertaining, but sounded equally great. I wish I could've stayed to see the rest of the set, which had guest appearances by Stephen from Anberlin, Theissen from Relient K, and Sweet James from The Bled (who isn't even on Warped Tour this summer, he just lives in Chicago now and happened to be there that day). I left during dude from Norma Jean's song to run across the venue to the other main stage where Motion City was closing out the night. I watched the set with Jessica - Neglectnormalcy and Luis - Mendoza and we did a lot of singing and dancing and air drumming as usual. This would make my fourth year seeing MCS on Warped Tour... I will always have great memories of that band and Warped Tour, starting in 2004 when Tony was my only friend in the band, and the look on their faces when they saw my "Back To The Beat" tattoo for the first time. They've really settled into their niche in the "scene" and they're not going anywhere. My night ended with some more craziness of saying hellos/goodbyes to friends on the tour. It turned out to be a nice day, beautiful weather, wonderful friends... but when it comes down to it, I think my time on Warped Tour is done. I don't think I'll ever do the tour again, unless I'm getting paid an unrefusable amount of money! I have some amazing memories from my three summers working the tour (five total years of attendance) and I think I'm happy and satisfied to leave it at that. Now you guys can watch Jessica, Luis and I geek out during the MCS set:
Posted on 08/03/2008 10:24 PM Comments (3)
July 25, 2008Nut Lube?
This email correspondence transpired today:
------ from: Mike Babcock to: Craig Tiede, Aileen Burns, Charles Wallace, Jon Martin, Evan Bovee date: Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 11:08 AM subject: Tour Supply order is in Anything other than the following will have to be called in seperate: 1 roll of green gaff 1 big bends Nut lube 4 yards of dual lock Mechanix fast fit size large 2 rolls of black gaff 2 right angled sennheiser wireless cables for EW172 2 sennheiser power adapters for EW172 1 Pelican 1640 case 1 2 space shock mount case 2 Shurefire Bulbs 2 Shurefire Batteries 1 Sennheiser Power Supply for AC2/NT3 Again I had to order Sennheiser stuff from Tour Supply because our guy isn't replying to me or answering my calls. Trip, can you help me out and get ... mind is blank, the woman's contact info from Sennheiser that the Foos deal with? ------ from: Aileen Burns date: Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 11:09 AM subject: Re: Tour Supply order is in Is the big bends nut lube for bovee on his days off? Xoxo :) Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry ------ from: Evan Bovee date: Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 11:19 AM subject: Re: Tour Supply order is in Oh ha ha ha. Very funny! Sent from my iPhone ------ Sometimes I take advantage of the fact that I'm the only girl on tour with a bunch of dudes!
Posted on 07/25/2008 1:47 PM Comments (5)
July 21, 2008Home! Home! Home!
Showers taken to days on tour ratio = 19:18 BOOYAH
I'm home from tour! I was only gone 18 days but they felt so long. The last week was brutal with all the fly outs and 5am lobby calls. It's so nice to be home even if it will only last for a week.... also, I walked into my apartment yesterday afternoon and found a Jonas Brothers poster taped to my bedroom door. My roommates are funny. Last night I dragged my best friend KT down to Soma for the Cute Is What We Aim For show. As usual, I spent most of the night at merch catching up with my friend Jose who is doing merch for Cute right now. After the show, I said a quick hello to Shaant and Jeff before taking Jose and Dave out for some late night Mexican. Funniest moment of the night happened when drunk Dave jumped over the wall of the Mexican place and ran next door to the Wendy's drive thru in an attempt to order a frosty on foot. We went back to our conversation until we heard his flip flops slapping the asphalt and saw Dave running across the empty intersection to McDonald's, who also denied his drive thru on foot request for a milkshake. Poor kid haha. It was good seeing the dudes again, last time we were all in San Diego we were across the parking lot at the Sports Arena on the second to last night of the Young Wild Things Tour with Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes. There's still a month left of this tour so if you're going to one of the shows, be sure you say hello to Jose at merch. And if you buy a copy of the new Cute record from him, you get a wristband into the meet and greet. So I should be relaxing, but I'll actually be spending most of this week working on figuring out merchandise for our upcoming festivals in Europe in August, and our fall merch line for a BIG tour that will be announced soon. Always working! How's everyone's summer going? PS. For those of you who asked about the Jimmy Eat World show I went to last week in Calgary, this was their amazing set list for the night: Big Casino Sweetness Crush Work Always Be Dizzy Blister Here It Goes A Praise Chorus Disintegration Get It Faster Let It Happen Authority Song 23 Your New Aesthetic Bleed American Pain ---------- Here You Me Goodbye Sky Harbor Futures The Middle
Posted on 07/21/2008 2:51 PM Comments (0)
July 12, 2008Update from Quebec City, QC
Well I have internet which is rare for being on tour in Canada, and I was about to go to sleep but I figured I'd do a quick update first. It's currently 3:30am, I'm laying in my bunk and I should be sleeping because tomorrow morning our bus leaves at 7:30am to drop us off at the airport. We fly to Calgary to play the Calgary Stampede on Monday night, but we will have the rest of Sunday off. Jimmy Eat World is conveniently playing in Calgary on Sunday night and our booking agent got us all tickets through the promoter, so hopefully all ten of us are going to the show. I'm so excited! If any of you know me, you know how much I love Jimmy Eat World. This will be my fourth time seeing them live this year, and also the third country I've seen them in...
Let's see, so my last updated was from Atlantic City. That night was fun, after the show a lot of us went down to the bar in the casino. We've all known Mae for a while (my first time seeing both Mae and Plain White T's live was when they did a one-off show together in NYC opening for Allister in April 2003, it was Zach's first performance with Mae before he became an official member of the band), Plain White T's toured with Mae a few years ago when they were opening for Simple Plan. In fact come to think of it, I ditched out in the middle of Mae's set the night they played in NYC because I went to see Jimmy Eat World play at another venue in the city. Weird. Anyway, that was a fun night in Atlantic City, hanging out and having drinks together. The bartender had a heavy hand too. The next day was in Newport, RI which is a pretty little coast town with huge Victorian houses. It was really muggy that day but the sun was out and kids bought the PWT sunglasses like crazy. My friends Justin and Andrew from the band Monty Are I came to hang out which was really nice cause it had been a while since I had seen them. Our last show with Mae and Kung Fu Girls was in Hyannis, MA which is where the Kennedy Family compound is located. The Kennedy Family invited the band out on their sailboat that morning, I guess some of the kids are big fans. So the band got to go out on the boat for a few hours and took a lot of amazing photographs and came back with a lot of neat stories. The Kennedy kids came back to the venue to watch the band soundcheck. It's kind of crazy to think that the Kennedy family are your fans, they're basically American royalty. We've been in Canada the past few days, starting with the last two nights in Ottawa. We played Ottawa on the Fall Out Boy tour last year but it was an arena and I didn't get to see any of the city. This time, my friends Mike and George invited us to an amazing sushi place and almost everyone in the band/crew ended up going over there to join them for dinner. We had 2 tables of six so we got a separate check for each table... my table ordered over 100 maki roll pieces and probably another 50 sushi pieces, plus 4 bottles of unfiltered sake and who knows how many beers.... including a nice tip, our bill came out to $500 and it was worth every penny. My mouth is watering just thinking about it right now. The next day was the festival, my friend Peter was assistant stage manager for our stage so it was nice hanging out with him all day. My good friend Ian also came out from Toronto with a band that is signed to his label, Crash Parallel. Very nice guys, and they do a great cover of The Bends by Radiohead. The Black Crowes headlined the festival and unfortunately played the same time as the T's, but my friends and I watched half of the T's set then ran over and caught the last five or so songs by the Crowes. Hearing them live made me feel like I was back in the 70s, I felt like I should've been tripping on drugs and dancing. So I danced, but I don't do drugs haha. Settling merch was a nightmare but it got done eventually. That brings us to today in Quebec City. I'm sorry to say it but I am just not a fan of the French language and culture, whether it be in France or in Quebec City. There's something abrasive that just rubs me the wrong way and I was in a bad mood all day. Crash Parallel played with us again so I got to hang out with my friend Ian for another night. Checking in and settling merch was again a nightmare and I'm looking forward to getting through the last Canadian show and getting back to America. So now it's 3:41 and I should definitely get some sleep. So excited for Jimmy Eat World tomorrow!
Posted on 07/12/2008 12:25 AM Comments (7)
July 6, 2008Update from Atlantic City, NJ
So we're in Atlantic City, NJ tonight, it's our second night of this mini-tour with our friends in Mae and Kung Fu Girls. So far things have been going great and merch is selling like crazy. The silly hacker got my Buzznet the other day but looks like Mark got everything back to normal. I've already posted a bunch of photos from Summerfest, and I took a handful last night of Mae on stage which I'll try to edit and upload soon.
I always think it's kind of strange/funny when people come up to the merch table and are surprised that I'm the same person who sold them a tshirt the last time we were in town. I've been eating Nerds all night and it's starting to make my tongue feel funny but they're so tasty I can't stop. Jessica C., Erica, Jessica, and Fannie are here, it's nice seeing familiar faces. I'm so close to NYC but so far away! I just booked a flight to Buffalo and will be in Toronto from July 29-31. I'll be at The Fullblast final show at The Reverb on the 30th and I'm so excited to see all my favourite Canadians! Days on tour to showers taken ratio = 4:5... yes, I did take two showers yesterday in NH :) /end random blog entry 
Posted on 07/06/2008 7:20 PM Comments (9)
July 1, 2008Packing for tour and listening to some new tunes
I'm listening to some new music as I get my stuff packed for tour. I'm honestly trying to give as many of these new bands a chance, so I can at least get them sorted out in my head... right now my brain thinks they're all one big pop band with all the same songs haha.
Hit The Lights - Skip School, Start Fights Catchy, poppy, sounds just like every other band now that Colin is no longer the vocalist. Probably will do really well with the All Time Low crowd considering it could be mistaken for an ATL record. Moving on... The Maine - Can't Stop, Won't Stop I just realized that listening to this album is making me miss The Starting Line. I never appreciated The Starting Line as much as I should've while they were still a band. I guess we have The Maine now. Or I'll just go back to listening to TSL's earlier releases. "Island" should've been a #1 single. There For Tomorrow - s/t EP My friend Leigh who works for Invisible Children is friends with this band and was really excited about this EP last night when we were talking about up and coming bands. I'm going to go with this band sounding like the love child of Anberlin and Saosin. I think it could potentially grow on me even though the hooks aren't as strong as either band in comparison. 3OH!3 - Want It's like Punk Goes Crunk on crack.... do not want. I get it that they're being cheeky and there are a few songs with lyrics that I found amusing, but it's just hard to listen to. Also, my friends in Emanuel were already doing this a couple years ago with 812 Dirty Squad. Cute Is What We Aim For - Rotation I'm still enjoying this record after listening to it a whole bunch this past week. As long as I don't start paying attention to the lyrics, I can listen to most of the record all the way through. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony Yes please. Thank you. It's nice to know that there are still current bands making timeless music. My packing turned into a closet-cleaning project... I've been working on it for the past two hours and finally got down to only having tour clothes on my bed, rather than my entire dresser. My second load of laundry just finished, I'm about to pop load #3 into the dryer and load #4 will go into the washer later tonight probably. I hate packing! My roommates are making me dinner tonight which is sweet of them. I'll only be gone three weeks for this leg of tour (usually we're on the road for at least two months at a time) and even though it's such a short run, I'm actually a little bit nervous. I've never packed for a summer tour that wasn't Warped Tour (apparently it's thunderstorming and cold in the midwest right now... do I bring a jacket for that?!). It's been a long four months of off time, this is actually the longest I've been home since I was finishing my college credits at the end of 2006. I'm sure I'll fall back into the swing of things right away, but it's definitely a weird feeling having pre-tour jitters. With that said, I'm going to go dig my suitcase out of storage! If you're coming out to any of the shows this summer please let me know! I'll be personally selling merch in Hampton Beach NH, Atlantic City NJ, Newport RI, Hyannis MA, Calgary AB, and Central Point OR (the rest will be sold by the venue) so don't be a stranger if you're at any of those shows.
Posted on 07/01/2008 4:46 PM Comments (17)
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