Paper Mag
Since our last blog post, taking us to the Netherlands for the 40-year-old music festival Pink Pop, we’ve been filling our time with a mix of random promo appearances, one-off shows throughout the month of August and some stints making music for outside projects in Dallas and Nashville, while running into buds like music icon Rick Nielsen along the way. As is the pattern with my wandering photo blogs, you will notice I have become mildly obsessed with cactus arrangements and their prickly beauty in addition to other colorful and various still life pics — from robot’s to remote control walls. As August begins to wrap up, our attention is starting to turn to an upcoming epic run of touring in the US, Latin America and Europe that kicks off in September with the US Musical Ride Tour and Shout It Out World Tour. But for this installment, it’s more about the little things in between the main attractions.
During the last few weeks one thing we have done is spend a fair amount of time in our Tulsa 3CG headquarters setting up a new studio, writing tunes, testing out new ideas for crazy merch (like custom screen printed posters) and… well, eating delicious tacos. During our studio stint I had fun taking some slightly creepy-looking long exposures of Zac and myself in some of the low-lit studio spaces. I became a bit fixated on the manual features available with the amazing Leica Dlux 4 camera, which is the best point and shoot around (aside from the DLux 5 which I am currently coveting). Also not to be missed is Zac’s short window sporting a fledgling Handlebar mustache.
After getting things in order with our new studio space, we spent a few days in Dallas to help out radio talk show host Kidd Kraddick and I hung around to write a tune with bud Jaret Reddick of Bowling For Soup and People On Vacation, which was face melting (especially for an afternoon of slamming out a tune together for the first time).
Our creative adventures continued with a trip to Nashville to write tunes in collaboration with old friends like Zac Maloy of the Nixons and Jars of Clay as well as a slew of insane talent from the Nashville songwriting community, like Matthew West and the lovely and talented Brandon Jane of Coldwater Jane. It was great to spend a bunch of time simply writing with others in mind, playing a collaborative role to create tunes for other artists to bring to the people. Finally, to bring it the home kitchen, I’ve included a pic of one of my fav pastimes, cooking. On the plate, a large husk of roasted Mexican street corn, marinated strip steak, and a tossed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette and a hint of raspberry. Yummy.
The next few weeks will take us far and wide again, with another stop in the UK (where I am currently writing this blog) for an appearance at V Festival, followed by the upcoming Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It’s all a great warm-up for a full fall season of rock ‘n’ roll touring.
Enjoy.
-Taylor H