Lewis and I have been in Stratford, Connecticut this past week practicing with The Mates of State. We’re joining them for about a month of touring. It’s been totally fun so far. We’re not just playing violin and cello. Lewis is also playing trombone and tambourine and I’m playing guitar, glockenspiel and egg shaker. We’re also both singing… or yelling. Whatever you want to call it.

Mates of State – “Get Better” video

The Practice Space

Check out the Mates of State blog here.

Kori and Jason Hammel (The Mates of State) must be the sweetest couple in rock’n roll. We’ve been staying in the attic at their house and they’ve been taking great care of us, throwing barbecues and letting us clean out their refrigerator. They have two beautiful daughters, Magnolia who is four years old and June who is four months old. On our first day here Magnolia put on a concert for us with tambourine, ukulele, penny whistle and improvised lyrics, mostly about really long walks.

Magnolia Hammel

There’s also this crazy cat here named Rhue. She’s really friendly for the most part but every once in a while she gets possessed and starts running around the room and hissing. It was pretty scary at first but now we’re used to it.

Rhue

The first show is on Friday here in Connecticut and the second show is Conan O’Brien. Yes, that’s right. We’re going to be on Conan next Tuesday night, so you should tune in. Lewis is going to be playing a trombone duet with La Bamba.

After that we’ll be heading to the west coast and then to the rest of the US:

See you there!

-anton

Anton and Lewis in the Kitchen