Stratford is a small, quiet suburb between New York and Boston. There are lots of trees and a river. It’s pretty. This town has been around for a long time. Back in the 1600’s they had witch trials here. Today though, there are no witches, just soccer mom’s in minivans. This is the place where Jason and Kori Hammel, The Mates of State, have decided to raise their raise their family.

Lewis and I flew in 2 nights ago to start rehearsals for an epic collaboration that we’re going to be doing with The Mates on our upcoming tour. Rehearsals have been going pretty well. This isn’t our first time playing with them – we toured with them a bunch last year as their string section and even played on Conan O’brien with them. This time out we’re doing a few new songs and playing a couple more instruments. I’ve been having fun playing country guitar on a Tom Waits cover and Lewis and I both get to play drums on one part of another song. It’s a good time. I think it’s going to be a cool show.

We have a couple more days of rehearsal and then we’re playing a secret show tomorrow night (March 31st) at Daniel St. Cafe – 21 Daniel St., Milford CT. We’re playing at 10 pm sharp. It’s Mates of State, not Judgement Day. Judgement Day won’t be on the shows until Minneapolis. Until then we are full-time Mates of State members. Bring it on!

-Anton

We haven’t been doing too many shows this month but the ones that we have been doing have been very special. We played at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz last week. They’ve been doing shows there for a while now but this was my first time there since they started up. Wow! What an amazing venue! The vibe is perfect, the sound is amazing and the food is to die for. Santa Cruz finally has that perfect mid-sized venue that it always needed.

Last night we played in Vacaville to one of the most enthusiastic crowds of music fans that we’ve ever encountered. There’s nothing more fun than players for a bunch of crazy headbangers who are ricking out as hard as we are. We definitely didn’t expect that and we’re definitely going to need to come back there soon.

The big show of the month is this Wednesday at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. It’s a really amazing lineup. Here’s a preview:

Kelli Rudick is a groundbreaking guitarist on tour from New York. She does things with the guitar that I have never seen before:

She also plays this crazy instrument called a Nail Violin. Here’s a beautiful video of her playing it with Kaki King. Watch this. It might make you cry:

and:

Matt Schoening. Literally my oldest friend. We used to chase each other on bikes and make action movies. Now he has a solo project that he does melody, harmony, bass and percussion all with just one cello and a loop station. The way he does the percussion is especially cool.

It’s also our last show before our big spring tour. Details in our next entry. Very exciting.

Oh yes… and we have new T-shirts. There is a secret puzzle on them. Come and get’em!

-anton