Live music review: Still Time from San Luis Obispo brings the party to SXSW

Still Time Bassist jams in the front row

Greg Ackerman

During the raucous SxSW mess that 6th Street became last week, Austin Concerts Examiner stumbled upon a band (isn't that what Sx is supposed to be about?) that put on an entertaining live show and were pretty darn good musicians to boot. Still Time from San Luis Obispo (Central CA) played a set of jammy rock/blues tunes at Flamingo Cantina that brought to mind Blues Traveler and Phish, but with a laid-back California vibe mixed in. They were good.

Hard Proof Afrobeat had played a rousing a set earlier and several people encouraged fans to stay for Still Time who turned out to be quite an act. The show was sponsored by OrigAudio, a company that makes foldable speakers.

Still Time finished their set, which included their bassist jumping off the stage and landing in the front row (guitar and all) and continuing his solo. He also surprised his bandmates by turning up on the patio up behind the Flamingo stage in the middle of a song.

Afterwards, Examiner caught up with vocalist, Dan and guitarist, Haircut, who looked like Jeff Spiccoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, reincarnated. They talked about touring with 8 others in an RV, playing 60 dates nationwide in a little over 3 months. A grueling schedule for any band let alone one embarking on their first big tour.

Even at the epicenter of hipsterville, SxSW in Austin, Still Time generated a buzz with the crowd and several fans gathered at their merchandise table after the show, buying CDs and OrigAudio Speakers. Still Time continued their tour, playing San Antonio the next night. As their publiscist, Stephanie Ramirez remarked, "It's been crazy touring around with 8 others in an RV but really fun too." Dan said the band had been getting good audience responses almost everywhere they have played. We can believe that.

San Angelo, Texas

"Old Soul" on CBS

Check it out! OrigAudio rules:

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=62888@kpix.dayport.com

The Sail Inn in Tempe Recap

We’re driving through the desert right now on our way to Tucson, AZ for a little barbecue with some friends and had an incredible time the last couple days in Tempe. Our show at the Sail Inn was really incredible and a great night of music with Tempe bands Dry River Yacht Club and Black Carl (check them out). It was awesome to see a group of 200+ people who had never heard of us before dancing, singing, and really enjoying our set. It was definitely encouraging for the first show in a brand new city for us on this tour to see all the new faces appreciating the music. Everyone we met were extremely kind and we got a bunch of offers for places to stay, shower, etc. which is also encouraging. The next day we split up and had an awesome time in Scottsdale, AZ. Half of us tried to go to the Giants – A’s spring training game at Scottsdale Stadium, but it was sold out when we got there.

Fortunately, we came across a stretch golf cart that drove us to a local bar called Giligan’s where we met and partied with a cool group of dudes from St. Louis, MO. The bar had a FL bayou feel to it and we got way too much alcohol for the amount we paid which is always sweet. T-Bone, Pablo, and our buddy Mike from Origaudio all went to play frisbee golf at a course in Scottsdale and Bone barely missed a casual hole in one (he used to be a semi-pro frisbee golfer and member of the PDGA Card #22047). After debauchery throughout Scottsdale and an epic high five contest (we dished out thousands of high fives throughout Old Town) we all met up and barbecued at our new friend Nichole’s house in Tempe and continued to dabble in B minus and Catch Phrase. It was an awesome day off and now we got a couple more here before St. Patty’s in San Angelo, TX. On to Tucson for some more AZ marination and we’ll check back in before the St. Patty’s bonanza!

Stay tuned for our Monthly Tour Video Blog with footage of all of these random shinanigans and shows!

Until then....
Video clips of the shows etc. available at:
www.springforwardtour.com

LA Recap

Spring Forward Tour stop in Los Angeles, California at The Mint.



Jamming at The Mint, and Saying Goodbye to Cali

Our show last night at The Mint in Hollywood was a pretty big milestone for us, in large part because of the rich history of the venue. The Mint has been open since 1937, and although it’s a relatively small room, it’s had it’s fair share of big artists. The walls are lined with signed pictures of Ben Harper, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder—loads of famous musicians that jammed there when they were up and coming. Apparently Ben Harper was discovered at The Mint, so it was pretty cool playing at the place where one of our major influences made it big. The vibe of our set reminded me of some of the festival crowds we’ve played to in the past—everyone was really digging the tunes, dancing, and singing along. We met a bunch of new people who hadn’t seen us before—one guy in particular came up right after the set and was commenting on some of the future venues we’ll be playing. I asked him if he’d seen us before (I thought he’d definitely been a fan for awhile because he knew so much), but he said, “Nope, first time I’ve heard you guys and I love the music!!” It’s definitely those moments that make you happy—when you see someone really positively effected by the music. The band we played with was Great American Taxi, fronted by Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon. They rocked it with some amazing jams, and Vince plays mandolin like it’s his third arm or something. Headed out in the RV, which has bullhorns on it now (thanks Haircut!), to jam at Gallagher’s in San Diego. It’s our last show in California until June, so we’re going to make this is one heck of a night. Talk to you soon!

-ST

Live action at the Mint










The RV is now complete

Day Off

Hello from San Luis Obispo!! The band is back home for a few days, getting some much needed rest, and working to make our RV roadworthy. Apparently the floor was caving in and rubbing against one of the tires. Not a good situation for our safety.

So the last few shows were ridiculous. Ps—just to let you guys know, the trend so far has been that every show turns out to be pretty epic. Who knows what the rest of the tour is going to be like, but it’s been really cool to see such positive reactions from a lot of new fans. We can’t wait to head east, and spread the tunes in some uncharted territories!

Two more shows in California this week, The Mint in LA, and Gallaghers in San Diego, and then we’re off to Arizona and beyond!! See you guys soon!

Hugs and High Fives,

Still Time

Weekend in the Bay Area

A little quick recap action of the past weekend in the bay area

Santa Clara – March 4th @ The Grove

Every once in a while the college lifestyle comes back in full force and someone (uh hem Haircut) goes a little extreme. Now we are all former college students (used to live in a doublewide on the 101 freeway) and a band on the road so cheap kegs, trashed couches, and cold pizza are nothing new to us, but Santa Clara has their own brand of college partying that takes us Still Time boys right back to our roots. While our credo is good time music and a party friendly message, the band as individuals and the music have evolved a bit past the partying to a little deeper place. The cool thing about our Santa Clara shows is these guys and girls know how to party and yet are deeply connected to the meanings behind our songs–this awareness leads to a sort of celebration of life that we’ve hoped to create from the days we started writing music. It’s an incredibly fun atmosphere to be a part of and the response we got form the crowd on this night in Santa Clara was unreal.



Haircut trying to recover from Santa Clara in the RV








SF – March 6th @ Maggie McGarry’s

Speaking of college days, the majority of our graduated fans out of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, who’ve been with us since our beginnings, now live in the Bay Area. This works out beautifully for us as we’re 3/4 NorCal boys and SF feels like home (as much as any city can feel like home.) When you’re in the city there’s something about SF that makes you feel like absolutely anything is possible that night. On this evening, (March 6th in North Beach) we had a great mix of old and new fans — great family and friends we’ve known for years and new fans seeing us for the first time. The vibe and energy of the crowd was amazing and it was clear how much our fans care about us and wish the best for us on this tour and beyond. We somehow fit over 300 people in the small North Beach bar and had 100+ in line waiting for over an hour for the chance to get in the door. Definitely another incredible night in the city — we love ya SF and can’t wait to see you in June!



Ironic sign in North Beach…

Santa Clara

Greeting again from the road! So Still Time is in Santa Clara, California right now, preparing for what we’re all anticipating will be one of the most ridiculous college parties we’ve ever played. After being parked for five minutes, we already had ten or fifteen people walk by and say, “Oh my God, it’s the band! We’re definitely skipping class to come see the show!”

We just drove twelve hours straight from our gig last night in Eugene, OR, which ended around 12am. The show in Eugene was awesome—the entire set had really great energy, and John definitely did one of the sweetest “9 to 5” drum solos of the tour. We got into Santa Clara around 1pm, after experiencing almost 12 hours of epic I-5 scenery (it was foggy the whole drive), some Amos Lee and Van Morrison, and last but not least…some McDonalds sausage McMuffins (really yummy, but note to self…these are not good for our tour manager Jill’s tummy. This we found out too late, but that’s a whole other story all together).

The show starts at 6pm tonight, and the band is just sitting here watching the place fill up. This is going to be crazy!! Check back with us in a few days for the whole story, and pictures (one of these will probably be Haircut in some ridiculous situation). Anyways, got to go sound-check…wish us luck!!

Keep it Golden,

Still Time



Hidden gem from Portland

Seattle

-Seattle
a. Galactic
b. Venue cancelled moved to bbq
-Portland
a. Dublin pub
b. Club 915

What’s happing! So currently we’re chillin’ in Ridgefield at our drummer John’s relative’s house, and so far, the first two weeks of the See America National Tour have been pretty sweet. Last weekend we visited Seattle for a few days, handing out our music, taking in the city and the Seattle music scene, and rocking out at a BBQ restaurant due to an unexpected turn of events.

On Friday we caught Galactic (a New Orlean’s jazz/funk group) at The Showbox, and got to meet the whole band afterwards. They put on a ridiculous show! Definitely catch those guys at some point if you can. It was John’s birthday, and Galactic’s drummer, Stanton Moore is one of his main influences—John was like a kid in a candy store for the entire night.

The next day was suppose to be our show at the Columbia City Theater, but twenty minutes before load-in, we got a call saying that they venue had been sold and our show was cancelled. But T-bone definitely saved the day by talking the owners of a local rib place, John’s BBQ, into letting us play. So instead of rocking out in a beautiful red brick theater, we packed the whole crew into this little restaurant, and everyone feasted on ribs and danced their butts off—Haircut even ate a rib during T-bone’s solo in “Old Soul”.

As for our traveling unit, the new RV has been a champ, despite a few issues. Our exhaust pipe cracked almost right off the bat, and every time we hit a hill the RV sounded like a muscle car rocketing down the road. But now that it’s fixed, you can actually have a conversation in the drivers seat.

The tour so far has been filled with awesome landscapes, amazing people, and some great shows–we’re all having the time of our lives and can’t wait to see what the next four months will bring. We’ll keep you updated as we go with all the inside info and tour shenanigans. Until our next crazy adventure, keep spreading the love!

Still Time



Some love at Pikes Place Market!

"High Tide" on Good Day Sacramento

"High Tide" makes it on to the news again thanks to OrigAudio! Here's the clip from Good Day Sacramento: