Bright flowers and cleansing rains represents change, growth, and acceptance. Just like pale-miniature buds and velvet baby leaves have yet another opportunity, another chance to reach out and feel sunlight, we too have another lovely season to swoop underneath us and help us move forward. The changing seasons are really similar to the lifestyle transitions of a nomad musician. A few months of travel transition into a few months of rest and then back to touring again.
Whenever I'm touring, I feed my "inner traveler" by soaking up the cities we visit. The tornado warnings in the middle of the night in Nashville terrified me, the new-age hippie hair dresser who cut our hair in Denver opened my eyes to new beliefs as well as making us look quite snazzy come show time. Sweet shoe salesmen in Chicago, earth-friendly farmers in Columbus, passionate street performers in Seattle. I don't think I really realized what a profound affect these "little awakenings" I encountered along my way have had on me.
I'm proud of all of the band for growing as musicians and as performers, but there were some things that we forgot to do while in the midst of our crazy tour. We forgot to listen to music. Silly us. So Jonathan decided to start an email chain that we as a band can participate in where we can share the music we are currently listen to with each other. I need some "emotional musical ice cream", you know, some delicious melodies to feed my soul. Don't we all?
Dia offered The Shins new album, "Port of Morrow", for all of us to devour. Don't know that I have many musical recommendations to share with my band at the moment aside from some blue grass that Jenee, Blake's violinist turned me onto. Nick introduced us to Gary Clark Jr. He is my absolute favorite artist at the moment!
I hibernate in "performance" mode and "technical improvement" mode while touring.
I reflect and relax in the perfect atmosphere and environment home provides.
Musically my intention, now that I'm off the road, is to find a female guitar teacher to help me grow. Dia mentioned that on the next tour she'd like to have a girl merch person to come out on the tour with us. There has been an overload of testosterone on this last tour. Sometimes it just sounds so nice to have some female interaction, especially in a teacher-student relationship.
I'm also planning on finishing up a new song. I think I'm going to call it "I have a genius". It sounds similar to "Weeding Through the Rubble". It's about that video I just posted on my Facebook page about Elizabeth Gilbert and how she "deals" with creativity. I'll be posting that soon.
Oh, and I also want to find some spring flowers to keep me motivated and light. Hears to the new season!
Honestly,
Meg
A new song? Yes!!!!
ReplyDeleteSpring seemed like it came fast this year. It's almost your birthday too!
I really like the new 'Chandler the Robot' title at the top of the page. Very cute with the little robot drawing at the end.
Thank you! Nick helped me work on it:)
DeleteAhh, the new Shins album. Just great. Enjoy your time off from tour! Get any good vinyls from Waterloo?
ReplyDeleteP.S. If you are in need of a merch girl next tour...call me. Hahah.
No, but Nick bought a Gary Clark Jr. We've been listening to it like crazy!
Deleteyay
ReplyDeletetour is over and we still get a new meg blog post!
i am always ready for more meg, dia or meg & dia music
and if you want new music i can't help but for good older music Dulcinea by Toad The Wet Sprocket is
my favorite
Will definitely check that out. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteAt your level isn't it hard to find people that much better than you are at guitar? I mean, you are pretty good. I'm not nearly as good as you and it's hard for me to find people sometimes. Since you are looking for female teachers AND you could be a teacher yourself, I wish you much luck and serendipity in finding the perfect teacher. May you find a female virtuoso with the stink of testosterone nowhere to be found.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not hard to find people that are better than me! haha. I throw a rock out my window and probably hit an amazing guitarist. Maybe finding a female teacher will be a little more challenging. We'll see... There are so many amazing musicians and singers our there. I learned this after this last tour. Incredible...
DeleteI'm really excited to hear this song. just the name makes it sound great!
ReplyDeleteWorking on it now. It's going to be legend... wait for it....ary! ha ha. I kid.
DeleteHA! love HIMYM :) and I'm sure it will be legendary, can't wait!
DeleteHaha, that's weird I just went on a HIMYM marathon last weekend!
DeleteI found this post exciting for a lot of reasons. It really re-emphasized why I think you guys are good musicians and write such good quality music. You guys are really students of music and are always looking for different kinds of good music for inspiration. I really admire that and love how you creatively interpret music to make it your own.
ReplyDeleteI was really glad to hear you and Nick are Gary Clark Jr. fans. I love the Blues and am left wondering what Blues song you guys would write. It would be epic, I’m sure.
I am very excited about the new song as well. The creative process and the source of creativity are fascinating, and I am really interested to hear a song inspired by those notions.
Aw, well thanks Tim. My new song is going to be a bit more folksy, but I am missing a guitar at the moment, so it might sound "techno"...Whatever the sound, it's going to be interesting. ha ha.
DeleteSince you and the band are currently checking out new bands, you guys should check out HoneyHoney if you haven't done so already. They are pretty awesome!
ReplyDeleteP.S I LOVED! your guys show in L.A a couple of weeks ago. I also bought the Nerd Bot! which I have worn everyday since. Cant wait for your friendship necklace, which I will be buying for my friend and I.
Thank you, I haven't checked out HoneyHoney yet. I'll probably put the Friendship Necklace up sometime next month! I'm really excited about that piece. I've never done a necklace with a companion before. It's gonna be sweet.
DeleteKind of ironic that we are both going through changes along with the spring season. I just graduated (several months early too) so now I am going to get a job. Hopefully things will work. I am looking to find something in to the food and beverage industry or a hotel management position. One of my goals is to get into a nice position that pays well and offers good family and friend discounts. With those discounts I'll give the band an option to stay at Hilton hotels when traveling ;) "Weeding Through the Rubble" has been on my mind lately. I played it over and over again a few days ago. Listening to the song made me think of how lovely the lyrics and melodies were when I heard it a few days ago as well as how the song was equally wonderful about a year ago. Furthermore, I thought about how people in general impact others and if anything significant has resulted from their actions. If you have not thought about it before Meg, you're doing great things for the world! You have done good in this world and you're continuing to spread goodness. Not many people create music, robots, and blog posts yet remain a humble and nice individual towards family, friends, and the outside world. I think the only thing that could make you even more super is if you were an athlete too, but there is no need for that. Meg Frampton is an artist. She imagines/thinks, creates and shares. As a result you will be FOREVER YOUNG since music and writing lives on and on. UNLESS your robots take over the world, then denies access to music and literature! I know your plans for secret world domination is still in effect Megster! I got my eye on you o_o
ReplyDeleteKenny, I'm so excited for you! Let us know where you end up. Thanks for you kind words as well, and my robots ARE going to take over the world. Duh:)
DeleteBeautiful reflection. Elizabeth Gilbert's talk on creativity really struck a chord in me. Thank you for sharing, and I can't wait to hear your new song.
ReplyDeleteKeep 'em coming Meg. I can't wait to see what this new season brings all y'all!
I know, wasn't her video incredible!? She's such a great speaker to. What an inspirational woman.
DeleteI love watching the seasons change. And I wish so much that Vegas had beautiful arrays of flower fields like the one in the photo you posted, so I could appreciate spring that much more!
ReplyDeleteSo anyway... where do I submit my application to volunteer as merch girl? ha ha just kidding... I think
Don't know if you'd want this job Kalli. Ha ha. We are slave drivers on the road. J/K. I remember spring in Vegas. Those were the days.
DeleteI was so stoked on it being Spring that I wore shorts outside today. But I forgot that I live in Canada and it's cold and the whole thing kind of backfired. I went to the park with my dad and saw some flowers come up though, it was nice.
ReplyDeleteYay! Sounds like your next tour may just be when I'm off school... I can drag my 22 year old Toyota down to the states for some shows, hopefully. You know me. Or you could let me do merch, so that I don't die in a car wreck ;) You could build a team of boardie merch girls.
It's weird... I find that I work better with male teachers, just in general. Kind of always been like that, probably because I was mostly raised by my dad. I've been taking lessons from a good friend lately. It's been nice.
New song! Yay.
Love the insightful and personal blogs. Thanks for sharing with your fans. If you're into Blues music, I can definitely recommend some rad musicians. Also, I can't wait to hear your new song! Is the next tour going to be the "Cocoon" tour?? Fingers crossed. Looking forward to your next blog...
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think you definitely need a new merch girl for the tour. You know what would be even more awesome? An Asian merch girl ;)
yes yes!its been raining lately in the bay area, after a super dry winter. but now i cant wait for spring! exercise outside! weeee. and prying ears must know...is this a cocoon tour? IASIT? Be careful? im excited. again. hollywood was just too much fun! thanks again for the awesome show.
ReplyDeleteoooh yay i love your covers and of course, original songs so it would be cool to hear a new one. and speaking of merch people, i'm making a meg & dia shirt in my screen printing class for a personal shirt project. well i'm using a previous design (the my ugly mouth one) but i think i'll change it up a bit. or maybe now that i think about it, i'll do a completely new one if i can come up with something. idk. anyways maybe i'll post it when i'm finished :)
ReplyDeletei can't wait to see you guys tour again! it will be so much easier if you come to nyc when i'm going to school there.
All of us want to do merch for you! Where can the boardies turn in their applications? :)
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I'm quite jealous that you're able to enjoy some lovely spring weather. I've experienced all four seasons in less than a week. One day I'm wearing my boots, the next I'm digging for sandals/flats, and then back to the boots. It's been a mission and a half just trying to dress for the weather!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, can't wait for the new song! The title itself has me quite excited for it. I'm sure it'll be genius. Pun intended... haha