Tour Blog From Jarrod

This fall I began touring in support of my new record ‘devils made a new friend’. The first segment of which
began in late September with my old friends in Steel Train and Fun. I met Nate of ‘fun’ back in 2004 when ‘The Honorary Title’ and ‘the format’(nates old band) both opened for Switchfoot on a two month run. At the same time I was introduced to the guys in Steel Train. The Format/the Honorary title/Steel Train all toured together again in 2007. Having known these guys for so long of course made for a cozy/comfy tour and a stress free environment. I brought a new friend/ musician along for the trip this time. Dre(Andrea Babinski), I was introduced to Dre through Blake Sennett while recording ‘devils made a new friend’. She played all the strings on ‘i’ll do better’ and ‘weight’ as well as singing some harmonies. Dre has been amazing for the tour covering all the female vocal lines on the record as well as playing violin on old and new songs (both solo and THT faves)
Highlights of the fungorbtrain tour:
Started in Vermont then back through Brooklyn -the first two shows are always the most nerve racking but I think after we got through those everything started to sail smoothly. Not my best performance in Vermont but the venue had these delicious macaroon style cocconut balls, those along with these other desert chocolate date/nut balls that jack’s parents brought. I overdosed on desert balls. theres only so many balls you can handle before a show, i exceeded the limit! ha!
Super exceptional crowd in Pittsburgh. Philly at the world cafe was good times. Cleveland- the grog shop, with a chipotle right next door you cant go wrong. Columbus Oh was nice, we got to watch ‘band of horses’ in the bigger venue next door, and Oxford OH was an insane college party from hell but in a good way. Heading further into the midwest , the intersection in Grand Rapids love that venue, though i was asked officialy the worst question i have ever been asked in an interview: “fuck?kill? or marry? the subject being Pete Wentz….i didnt answer the question. St.louis MO always good crowds there. Chicago house of blues was awesome except for the drunken wandering beast who was urinating outside our dressing room in the corner of the balcony area. Luckily he was kicked out. Made for some mild entertainment though. Kansas at the bottleneck was a real fun show. I got a super professional massage before the show. But the one thing i despise the most is the lotion they put on your back. Later that night i woke in the hotel scratching my back like a madman and inspecting the bedding like a paranoid crack fiend in search of bedbugs. I then realized it was the massage lotion from earlier. so i stood in the shower under scolding hot water for a half hour until that itchy slime melted off me. Boulder CO was great, beautiful state, Utah good times.
Other high point of tour was that Justin from Steel Train would join me and Dre every night on keys for ‘ten years older’ and ‘each breath’, also we had Nate H. from FUN playing bass on ‘each breath’ as well as Jon from Steel Train and Justin as well. I also had the pleasure of singing back ups on Steel Train’s ‘Killl monsters in the rain’.
I wanted to thank everyone for coming out to the shows thus far! All my friends who have been with me through all the variations of ‘the honorary title’ and all the new people who had no idea i was going solo. I want to thank fun/steel train for introducing me to a slew of new people and for helping inform some old friends of what im up to now. All the shows have been awesome and i will be blogging more soon with more details. I have also recently began another tour. I will give more details about how this happened and how those shows are going soon. Check out my new video for ‘10 years older’ im very proud of it.
See you on the road
Jarrod