Hello friends and happy Friday to you.
I recently performed and recorded a solo acoustic live set for BlowUpRadio’s Rock Against Hate webathon. It aired a few weeks back—in case you missed it but still want to have a listen you are in luck.
You can stream the 31 minute live acoustic set from here. Listen while you take a walk; have it playing in the background while you do some dishes. Maybe you’re going on a long car trip—might be a nice change from your regular listens.
I also believe you can download the file and add it your audio catalog (if you have such a thing).
When preparing for the performance I thought it would be fun to pick one song from each album by The Successful Failures and play them in order from the first album (2006) up to our most recent release. It was fun to look back and make my picks, figuring out which ones I still remembered and which ones I needed to relearn. I also had to consider which ones would work with just me and an acoustic guitar. I picked a few obvious ones but tried to grab a few deeper cuts.
I didn’t realize until I listened back for this post that I failed to include a song from our 2020 album Pack Up Your Shadows. It reminds me of an often retold Chorba family story.
It is long ago and far away (the 1980s). The Chorbas are off on some vacation or another in our 1978 Ford Econoline van tricked up by my dad for long distance travel. We are blasting something like ‘The Doors Greatest Hits’ on the van’s 8-track player. We stop at a rest area as travelers are apt to do—we don’t realize until many miles down the road that my sister Tina has been left behind. I imagine my mom maybe turning around and doing a belated head count, coming up one short! I have 5 sisters, so to be fair to my parents that is a lot to keep track of. There is a hasty U-turn. The crossing of some interstate road. Upon arriving back at the rest stop there is Tina, calmly waiting. That’s how the story goes. My parents must have been feeling some panic!
In a way, my songs sometimes feel like children. And I left one behind at the rest stop!
Here’s the set list:
2006 - Up To Her Ears from self titled debut album (the opening track)
2008 - All I Can Take from the album Ripe for the Burning
2010 - Houston We Have Drinking Problem from the album Three Nights
2012 - Mickey Mantle’s Knees from the album Here I Am
2014 - 1954 from the album Captains of Industry Captains of War
2017 - All Wrapped Up from the album Ichor of Nettle
2019 - Oh Diane from the album Saratoga
2020 - I forgot to play a song from the album Pack Up Your Shadows (oops)
2021 - The Sea Rolls Mountain High from the album James Cotton Mather
2023 - It Is The Rain from the album Wrong Together
2024 - Costume Party from the album Enemy Sublime
For more info on Rock Against Hate please go here - https://wherenjrocklives.com/rah.html.
Thanks for reading and listening this week. - Mick
Travis Harrison (Guided By Voices/Built to Spill) is currently mixing the songs we recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, TN in May. Looking for the 4 song EP to release this fall (digital streaming…and vinyl!). Can’t wait for you to hear it. More info coming soon!
I just added a couple of local solo acoustic shows in July. To view our full upcoming show schedule go here.
Speaking of being on the road—can’t wait to get back to Garret’s Brewery in Trumansburg, NY on Friday 8/1. Show poster courtesy of Jerry Lardieri.
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