pj bond

Hey all,
I’m still dealing with jetlag, which interestingly enough means I am on the same schedule as normal people. But, I’m jumping back into shows. Tonight I got added to the Banquets show at Teri’s in Philly, then we zip down south to join up with Death To False Hope Fest in Durham, NC tomorrow. Big drives. DTFH Fest rules, we will be playing with tons of great bands, including Arliss Nancy, J Kutchma, Austin Lucas and more.

Next week my best bud, Brian Carley, and I will be heading up to Montreal to play Pouzza Fest (Full Band!) and will be stopping in Albany along the way to play a fun show. After that I’ll be playing bass for Diamond Youth for a couple of weeks. So, I hope to see you out there. Big love!

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, everyone who was part of this last tour.

I would hugely appreciate if you all checked out Marko Casso (http://marko.bandcamp.com/), who played guitar and sang with me, and generally made the tour wonderful. He’s an amazing talent and deserves a great listen. You will not be disappointed.

Europe has been a lot of fun, everyone in Germany and the Netherlands has been wonderful.  Marko and I cannot wait to get to Belgium to see all of our great friends and get to the amazing festival that is Groezrock.  Here are the dates we have left, and we hope to see you there!

28.04.2013 - Meerhout (BEL) @ Groezrock 2013
www.facebook.com/events/524459410901875
29.04.2013 - Venlo (NL) @ Queensday Warm Up
30.04.2013 - Leipzig (GER) @ Absturz (early show 7.30/8pm)
www.facebook.com/events/455738657839714
01.05.2013 - Hamburg (GER) @ Rock die Brücke Festival
www.facebook.com/events/144083879100439
02.05.2013 - Münster (GER) @ Uncle M Fest w/ Nothington, Apologies I Have None
www.facebook.com/events/209425549194336
03.05.2013 - Mainz (GER) @ Haus Mainusch w/ Masked Intruder
www.facebook.com/events/423058737773611
04.05.2013 - Kiel (GER) @ Klownhouse Fest w/ Nothington, FYP, Bangers, Apologies I Have None
www.facebook.com/events/482249858501797
05.05.2013 - Bielefeld (GER) @ Heimat+Hafen
www.facebook.com/events/468970446503567

Well, I’m back and very excited. Thanks so much to Rick from Sweet Empire for taking such good care of us the last couple of days.

My great friend, Marko Casso, is playing guitar and singing with me, and it sounds great. Today we start in Rotterdam, and we can’t wait to see all of our buddies. Come hang out! Here’s where we will be this week:

19.04.2013 - Rotterdam (NL) @ Rotterdam Riot Festival w/ Masked Intruder, Mikey Erg, The Real Danger and many more

20.04.2013 - Nijmegen (NL) @ Heel Nijmegen Plat

21.04.2013 - Utrecht (NL) @ ACU w/ Smoke or Fire, Astpai

22.04.2013 - Hannover (GER) @ Bei Chez Heinz w/ Nothington, Authority Zero

23.04.2013 - Berlin (GER) @ Ramones Museum

24.04.2013 - Regensburg (GER) @ Plan 9

25.04.2013 - Würzburg (GER) @ Loma Bar


I’m playing a FREE show with my good buddies, Austin Lucas, Chumped, and more.  Come hang out!

19.04.2013 - Rotterdam (NL) @ Rotterdam Riot Festival w/ Masked Intruder, Mikey Erg, The Real Danger and many more
20.04.2013 - Nijmegen (NL) @ Heel Nijmegen Plat
21.04.2013 - Utrecht (NL) @ ACU w/ Smoke or Fire, Astpai
22.04.2013 - Hannover (GER) @ Bei Chez Heinz w/ Nothington, Authority Zero
23.04.2013 - Berlin (GER) @ Ramones Museum
24.04.2013 - Regensburg (GER) @ Plan 9
25.04.2013 - Würzburg (GER) @ Loma Bar
26.04.2013 - Essen (GER) @ Cafe Nova
27.04.2013 - Kaiserslautern (GER) @ Penthaus MBK
28.04.2013 - Meerhout (BEL) @ Groezrock 2013
29.04.2013 - Venlo (NL) @ Queensday Warm Up
30.04.2013 - free for booking
01.05.2013 - free for booking
02.05.2013 - Münster (GER) @ Uncle M Fest w/ Nothington, Apologies I Have None
03.05.2013 - Mainz (GER) @ Haus Mainusch w/ Masked Intruder
04.05.2013 - Kiel (GER) @ Klownhouse Fest w/ Nothington, FYP, Bangers, Apologies I Have None
05.05.2013 - to be announced April 15th

The tour will be presented by our buddies from:

In-Your-Face
Allschools
Fuze Magazine
Coffeebreath & Heartache Records
Fairtrade Merch
Black Numbers

There’s been some changes, specifically to the Philly show, which has been moved to West Chester.  Here are the dates:

Fri / Mar 01 - Richmond, Va - Kingdom

Sat / Mar 02 - West Chester, PA - The Note

Sun / Mar 03 - York, PA - New Grounds

Mon / Mar 04 - Brooklyn, NY - Saint Vitus

Tue / Mar 05 - Bethlehem, PA - Gallery U

Wed / Mar 06 - Buffalo, NY - Sound Lab

Thu / Mar 07 - Syracuse, NY - The Lost Horizon

Fri / Mar 08 - Cambridge, MA - The Democracy Center

Tue / Mar 12 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Loft

Wed / Mar 13 - Glen Cove, NY - Glen Cove Moose Lodge

Thu / Mar 14 - Danbury, CT - Heirloom Arts Theater

Fri / Mar 15 - Middlesex, NJ - Warehouse Motor Club

On this tour I’ll have a few copies of my European only release, 22 April: Vienna, Austria, as well as the American and German versions of my split, Brother Bones/Baby Bones.  

I’ll also be clearing out some shirts from Australia, and am making deals to get rid of some old ones in various styles.  All new stuff for this year after.  I hope to see all my friends, I haven’t toured the US in a while, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone.

Big love,

PJ

As some of you may know, I had the amazing pleasure of touring Australia recently.  This is a picture that represents something that is so amazing about life, and how I feel so lucky to be part of the version that I am.  What you’re looking at is my hanging out with a guy who is the same age as my parents, trading songs with him and his partner, who took this picture.  She plays flute, and sings while playing guitar, he plays guitar and mandolin.  He also makes instruments, and built the guitar I’m holding in the picture.

Some of my friends are in bands that play bigger shows, bigger tours, sell more merch, are more financially comfortable than I am, and may ever be, but I can tell you with full certainty that things like this don’t happen to everyone.  Small, interesting, loving towns like Newstead welcome people like me in, and allow us to revel in their beauty.  Kind folks like Kelly and Russ welcome me into their homes, share wonderful stories with me, ask me to sing, while we drink wine and beers and eat cheese and I laugh to myself thinking that so much time can be wasted in so many worse ways.  Spending real time with good folks is a pretty amazing feeling, and while I’d love to be singing to as many people as possible, if my life is such that I end up singing to two of them at 4 in the morning, well, I think things are pretty great.  

I hope you’re feeling uplifted and loved.  I am, and it’s due to you.  Thank you.

Sometimes when I sit down to write a song, it’s so obvious to me what I’m going to write about, but lately that’s happening less.  In the earlier days, like most young writers with whom I share basic life traits, it was easy to lean on visions of whiskey, women, things that made life simultaneously easier and harder.  As a white male in a first world country, I clearly don’t have many “real” problems to talk about, and so it becomes necessary to talk about things that make my mostly easy existence a bit trying at times.  As I’ve grown as a songwriter I’ve struggled with these ideas a lot.  I often find myself revisiting these topics, maybe from a slightly different perspective, or chastising myself for falling into the trap of cliches, and feeling like it’d be too easy to write on these ideas.  I don’t know where I got this enlarged head, thinking I should somehow be writing about more lofty subjects, or be able to twist words into more interesting stories.  A couple of times I’ve been successful with it, but in retrospect, most of my best songs are about women, at least in some form.  That being said, the parts that make them the best are the parts that take you deeper, or further away from the standard surface view.  That’s where the important stuff happens.  You can write about drinking and drugs and women all you’d like, if there is something interesting happening there.  

I’m talking about this for two reasons:  

1.  I’m currently working on a batch of new songs, which I hope to turn into an album.  Upon looking through some  notebooks last night I realized that I’ve written a lot of songs over the last few years, probably upwards of 75 completed ones, but for one reason or another scrapped most of them.  Now I’m trying to make good ones happen, and I hope to share them with you before the year is out.  

2.  We should look at our lives more like we should be looking at our writing.  There are universal things in life that we all know how to look at in simple ways, but the challenge is to look deeper, from other angles, and with greater effort.  It is only then that we’ll be able to contribute something interesting to this world, and share the beauty of our individuality.  

Hey all, 

I’ve been nominated for a JAM award, for Top New Male Act.  If you’re into voting on these types of things, head over here and vote for me as Top New Male Act for Jersey Acoustic Music Awards.  

Thank you to everyone who nominated me and to everyone who has supported me through this great adventure.  

xo,

PJ