Crosspromotionalpalooza for yooza!

Special thanks to Eric Schwab Photography and Ivory for our new band photos! If you're in a band... if you're getting married... if you're a model or an actor... do yourself a favor and contact this man.

  

photo by Eric Schwab

We've got bunches of shows coming up... maybe you could come to one or seven of them? Please feel free to mix and match:

  

March 14th at the Cubby Bear in Chicago

  

March 23rd at the House Cafe in Dekalb, IL

  

March 30th at Ultra Lounge in Chicago

  

April 6th in Champaign (or nearby), IL with Fight With Monsters    
April 7th in Decator, IL with Fight With Monsters    
  

April 20th at the Eskimo Manor in West Chicago with the Palace Flophouse

  

April 21st house show in Chicago with the Palace Flophouse
  
April 26th for a CAU showcase at Goose Island in Chicago

  

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I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone by this winter... So much has happened since the last post! But before I get into all that, I want you all to know about some of the extra classy indie bands we've seen and/or played with recently:
  
Nathan Kalish and the Wildfire (Grand Rapids, MI) 
One of the best live bands in the Midwest. They recently released a brand new album and will be playing with Smoking Popes in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 17th at the Pyramid Scheme. The Wildfire are an old-school rock band blending dirty rock riffs with bouncing keys, melodic bass, and driving rhythms... sort of like if Tom Petty had a genetically modified baby with ACDC and Wilco. Get their new album HERE. And make sure you don't miss them next time they're in Chicago!

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The Plurals (Lansing, MI)
No matter what happens I will always need some form of punk in my life. Thankfully the Plurals are once again on their way from Lansing to provide my fix! The trio includes Tommy, Timmy, Hattie, and a fiery scoop of molten rock syrup. Lucky for you (and me) they are coming to town on Thursday March 15th to play at the House Cafe in Dekalb. I will definitely be there... hope you can come too! Here's the event for the show on March 15th. Click it!

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BeCo (St. Charles, IL)
BeCo is a band who's been filling DuPage with amazing music for several years without me even knowing it. At the core of the band are brothers Adrian (guitarist/vocalist) and Jason (drums/percussion). A few weeks back we got to play with them at Cairo in West Chicago and I was blown away. From what I understand they usually play as a two piece... just an acoustic guitar and drums. And goddamn they really know how to get the job done! Adrian's unique and powerful vocals are backed by Jason's tastefully insane drumming. Refreshingly original, their sound is remeniscent of bands like Mars Volta, Two Gallants, and Rusted Root. I'd highly recommend you check out their live show asap! And by "asap" I mean "how about you click on this link and go to the charity show they're doing for the Salvation Army March 5th?" I'll be there, hope you can come too!

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Chris Darby (Chicago, IL)
If you know anything about Facing Winter, it should come as no surprise that Chris Darby's name is once again being mentioned. Chris is one of the hardest working, most passionate and genuine folk artists in all of Illinois (and the known universe). His songs are raw, sometimes dark, and always thought provoking. In a few months Chris will release a very unique album... it'll be musicians from all over the country covering his songs. It goes to show how truly influential his music has been over the years. If a dozen artists want to cover your material for an album... you've certainly done something right. Jeff and I are each covering a song for the project (in fact, Jeff is recording his vocal tracks as I type this!). Check out ChrisDarbyMusic.com and stay tuned for info on upcoming shows and his new album!

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The Palace Flophouse (Champaign, IL)

These guys are one of the coolest bands in Illinois. By combining keys, guitar, group vocals, and intricate rhythms they've created a sound that is fun, thought provoking, and trance inducing. Their style is remeniscant of bands like the Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, Pedro the Lion, and (old school) Jimmy Eat World (like the album "Clarity" when J.E.W. was still good). The Palace Flophouse is fronted by the incredibly talented combination of Bradley and Gretchen Bergstrand. Much to our excitement, they'll be coming to Chicago to play with us on April 20th and 21st. Go buy their latest album "Bad Friends Forever"... I have it and it's awesome!

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Jennifer Hall (Elmhurst, IL) 

Jennifer's songs are of the indie rock/jazz/soul variety. They have a classic kind of sound to them... like Nina Simone or Ella Fitzgerald but with some Jeff Buckley, Massive Attack, and Portishead mixed in. I caught her show at Subterranean in Chicago a few weeks ago and holy %$&# was it good! She's got one of those voices that is so strong and emotive it draws you in on a subconscious level. Her band is very tight live and quite creative. If you ever get the chance to see them you definitely should! In fact, why don't you go to their show at Martyr's on Saturday March 24th.

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Jack Avery's Kin (Naperville, IL)

We met John of Jack Avery's Kin at Widow's Peak festival last year. His old-timey songs are incredibly catchy and make you feel like you're being taken back to a simpler, folksier time . He plays a very percusive style... he's got a kick pedal attached to a Cajon that he sits on giving him the ability to create driving beats while he sings, strums, and plays harmonica. John plays regularly in Naperville and all around the Midwest... go check him out!

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And now I shall relay the tale of Facing Winter's latest exploits...
                Star date: 10/2011-02/2012

photo by Eric Schwab

At the end of October 2011 we did a weekend tour in Wisconsin. The first night we had the pleasure of playing with our long lost compadres El Tin Fun at Mickey's Tavern in Madison. I believe the last time we played with them was about 5 years ago in Chicago. Mickey's was a fun place to play, and it ended up being a great night filled with good people, good music, and FREE New Glarus... yum!! Afterwards Jason Lambeth of El Tin Fun was kind enough to let us crash on his floor.

  

After the Mickey's show we headed to the Green Power Co-Op in Two Rivers Wisconsin where the fine folks of Music Without Boundries hosted a show for us. The building was a unique, artsy type of place managed by Mary Dryja. Inside there were all kinds of instruments and artwork lining the walls. Less than a block away was the shore of Lake Michigan... it was a really nice day so we spent quite a bit of time lingering around on the beach playing music and reading. Later that night we did an extended set of acoustic songs... a lot of which were recorded and uploaded to YouTube, click here to check it out. Thanks so much to Brian Powell, David Smith, Mary Dryja, and everyone from Green Power Co-Op and Music Without Boundaries!

  

Here's a video from that night of Jeff and I playing one of our newest songs called "Unknown"

The final show of the mini-tour was at the House Cafe in Dekalb. It's always a great time when we play there, and this night was extra good because we got to play with our friend John of Jack Avery's Kin. A lot of our friends showed up... even Chris and Julious all the way from Chicago! Just when I thought the night couldn't get any better... Jolly Baba (manager of the House) brought forth a gigantic chocolate cake! We all shared in the glory and got this fantastical shot to document the event:

  
Good hearted and talented people of all ages sharing cake at a bar on a Sunday night... what could be better?
    
A few weeks later we had our first big rock show with Dan Perdue and Brad Jewison at Cairo in West Chicago. We played two sets and debuted six brand new songs. Dario Giraldo and DJ Von B were kind enough to share the stage.

After 3 months of not playing rock shows, it felt SOOO good to be back to full strength.

To the right: Multi instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Dario Giraldo performing at Cairo

Thanks to Andrew Massih, DJ Von B, Dario Giraldo, and all of you for making it such a fun night!









  
In November we headed South East and did a few shows. The first was at Mike 'n Molly's which is near the campus of U of I in Champaign. We played with one of my favorite Illinois bands the Palace Flophouse. We also met and shared the bill with some new friends in a band called the Hathaways. One of our favorite things about Champaign is getting to see our friend Todd Durnil. Todd is an indie rock saint with whom we go waaaaaaay back. We can't thank him enough for his support all these years! Later that night Bradley and Gretchen of the Palace Flophouse kindly lent us their floor.

Left to right: Justin, Jeff, Bradley, and Gretchen.














The next day we headed a bit further South to one of our favorite spots called Jackson Avenue Coffeehouse (aka JAC). The place is run by a painter/musician/all-around renaissance man Dan Reible. 

To the left: An original painting by Dan Reible which will also be used for Facing Winter's new album artwork.






JAC is a friendly, cozy type of place... the music room is made of all wood and is filled with custom artwork. The stage is really nice... the room sounds great. Thanks so much to Dan and Vicky Reible for taking such good care of us!

FW acoustic on stage at JAC

Our final show of 2011 was a crazy one. It was on a cold night in December... Jeff was going to meet Brad and I downtown after work. So we loaded up the "trusty" band van and headed out at about 5:30pm. At about 6:30pm the van stalled out on I-290 about two miles from the venue. Unfortunately this had happened several times before... and we knew from experience that it would take at least 45 minutes before it would start again. So we waited. And waited. Then waited some more. But no luck. Eventually one of those gigantor big-city police tow trucks came and informed us he would have to tow us off the interstate. So that's what he did... and I got to ride in the van while he towed us... which was pretty awesome. Here's quick little video from part of the ride:

The tow truck driver was really nice so we gave him a copy of "Gifts from Gravity". Sadly, the van never restarted for us that night. A commercial tow truck came and we had to have it towed all the way back to West Chicago. Thankfully, we were able to transfer all the equipment out of the van and into other cars... slowly but surely we made our way to the venue (called Stage Bar). After a couple beers the transportation ordeal was forgotten and it turned into a really good night... one of our best attended Chicago shows of the year... sure glad we made it!
  
For most of December and January we focused on recording and various other projects. I filled in the gaps by going on an open mic rampage. Those of you familiar with the open mic scene know there's probably no better way to make new friends and try out new songs.
  
Our first official show of 2012 was at a fun little house-venue in Chicago called Polite Elephant. It was a very relaxing night and the perfect way to kick off 2012.
  
This month (February) has been extra fun and productive. We did a three hour show at Muldoon's in Wheaton a few weeks ago. It's been a long time since we did an extended set like that... it felt great!
  
After that we played at Cairo in West Chicago with our new friends BeCo, the Peachtree, and Aaron Kenny. It was one of my favorite shows in awhile... all the bands were awesome and it was great hanging out with our hometown homies.
  
So that about brings us up to date... For the rest of the Winter and into the Spring we'll be working on finishing up our 6 song EP... we're hoping to have it done by late April and it'll be released with the music video for our song "October". Silmultaneously we're also working on a new full length album which will (hopefully) be released by late Summer or early Fall.
  
In conclusion, I'd like to leave you with a special performance by Whole Hill Will... which was one of the highlights of fall 2010 and the hardest I've laughed in a long time... enjoy:

(if you watch carefully you'll notice he gets so disoriented that he starts rolling back up the hill!)

  

Thanks Will! You rock.

  
And thank you all so much for the friendship and support! Hope to see you soon,
  
~justin

We are officially bearded!

Finally!! The moment we have all been waiting for...


Facing Winter has a beard.


I'm so relieved! I was worried it might never happen.


(In addition to our exciting new facial hair... we're also thrilled to officially announce that Brad Jewison and Dan Perdue have joined the band)


And by ("thrilled") I mean unbelievably %$#*&@' excited!


Now that we're back to full flavor you can expect a healthy mix of both...

ACOUSTIC:

 ...and ROCK! shows from here on out:

The first rock show since August will be Friday November 4th at Cairo Bar in West Chicago.

Hope to see you there!

~justin

Clockwise from the upper left: Jeff Goluszka, Dan Perdue, Justin Birchard, and Brad Jewison

"October" music video shoot

A few weeks ago we finished all the shooting for our upcoming music video. It's for the song "October" and it'll (fingers crossed) be released by the end of the month.

Many thanks to Chad Headley (director), Chris Shern (co-director), Andrew Birchard (creative work horse), and our horde of zombies for all their effort, creativity, and dedication to this project. All-in-all we shot on 5 different nights (mostly between the hours of 9pm and 4am). Without Chad and Chris' expertise we never would've even gotten this project off the ground... they did an excellent job planning and coordinating the whole operation.

During the 5 nights of shooting we had approximately 20 different zombies show up to participate. Everybody did a great job... the shots are the perfect mix of creepiness and goofiness. Exactly what we were hoping for.

Chad did an excellent job with the lighting. It was cool seeing the yard all lit-up like a baseball field at 2am.

To the right is Jeff Stogis applying his zombie make-up. The zombies wore black paint around their eyes, a white handkerchief around their mouth and nose, a black hoody, and dark pants.

While being taped, zombies would shine flashlights close to their faces and onto their white handkerchiefs... this effectively highlighted the creepiness and vividness of the nighttime lighting.

Director Chad Headley demonstrates how the zombies should hold their flashlights:

Not only a great zombie... but also a great musician... to the left is William Wolfe.

To the right: Co-director/zombie Chris Shern givin' me the evil eye during a van scene.

It's surprising how much junk you need in order to shoot a video right.

To the right: long time friend, battle-rapper, and local music connoisseur Derek Sepeda

During a zombie fight-scene... probably the coolest picture of Jeff ever taken:

To the right: Alicia Anys helps Eddie Ortega get ready for zombie action.











To the left: long time Facing Winter friend and creative ally Jd Mathys preps a crew of fresh zombies.

 To the right is my brother Andrew... over the years he's put in countless hours helping us with various projects. He's also the one who screen prints our t-shirts, bandannas, etc.

To the left our good friend Sarah puts the final touches on her zombie makeup.












Alicia Anys, Edwardo Ortega, and William Wolfe... ready for shooting:

Thanks again to everybody who helped out with this project!! I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Here are some videos that the director Chad Headley shot for us in the past...

Moonshine

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Jeff and I are headed out for a mini-tour this weekend... two shows in Wisconsin and then back to Illinois for a show in Dekalb. Should be fun!

~justin

Summer Tour 2011 (recap)

On Friday July 29th Jeff and I hit the road for our first ever acoustic tour. We were both really excited. But also a bit nervous...due to the the age of Jeff's Neon (which has since been laid to rest) and also because we'd never tried a 2-piece tour and we weren't quite sure how it'd go over.

Before we left, we quickly recorded and duplicated a 7 song EP which we decided to call "Origins". Here's the tracklist:

1. "West Chicago" (brand new studio track 2011)

2. "Working Title"(brand new live studio track 2011)

3. "Lost" (brand new live studio track 2011)

4. "Backroads" (brand new live studio track 2011)

5. "Strange" (brand new live studio track 2011)

6. "For Real" (re-release from EP04)

7. "Lifted" (re-release from EP04)

(click here to download "Origins" for free)

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Here's a run-down of our trip:

**10 shows in 8 days**

1.)Mike'n Molly's Champaign, IL   Friday 7/29:

At Mike 'n' Molly's we played outside in the beer garden, the sound was excellent and there was a solid crowd. It never rained, but a storm front moved in and there was strobing lightning in the distance while we played. This was our fifth show in Champaign and this one was by far the best. Definitely a confidence booster and a great show to kick off the tour.

It was great to see our good friend Christopher Todd Durnil (who has been a big supporter of Jeff and I for years). Our friends Bradley and Gretchen Bergstrand from the Palace Flophouse also came out which was a cool surprise. Later that night we stayed with some new friends named David and Isak... they were very nice and even fed us breakfast in the morning.

2).JAC(Jackson Avenue Coffeehouse) in Charleston, IL Saturday 7/30:

(To the left is our new friend Santana who bought a pair of our Facing Winter socks at the show)

(To the right are the lovely baristas of Jackson Avenue Coffeehouse)

Before the show we stopped off at a park near downtown Charleston and grilled up a feast for ourselves. Once we were good and full, we headed a few minutes down the road to the venue.

We had a great time at this one... Dan and Vicki the owners took very good care of us.  Charleston was a unique town. We met several musicians and artists outside the coffeeshop... including a guy named "Doc" who used to tour the country with his "old-time string band" in the 50's and 60's. JAC was a very artsy venue with a well-built wooden stage. There were murals and paintings all over the place. Very good vibe.

Here is one Dan Reible's paintings (he's the owner of JAC):

Later that night we camped in a nice state park. It was really hot, but luckily there was a pump nearby good for a quick cool-down.

3.Bear's Place in Bloomington, IN  Sunday 7/31:

(back on the road)

This was a pretty slow show... not many people in attendance. But there were two VIP notables... Chris Darby and William Wolfe! We played with a very talented songwriter from the area named Brian Fortner.

(William Wolfe, Jeff, Justin, and Chris Darby)

Chris was the one who helped us book the tour and Will is one of our musician friends from Chicagoland. Check out Chris Darby's music here. It was a very cool surprise to have them at the show... and very fun to hang out with them for the night.

Later that night fellow musician Nathanial Seer was kind enough to let us stay at his house.

4.Lazy Daze in Indianapolis       Monday (noon) 8/1:

(this was artwork created on a fence in downtown Indianapolis. It appeared the artist used long cloth ribbons and wound them between the links of the fence... pretty cool!)

Lazy Daze was a little coffee shop in Indianapolis where we did a noon show. The people in the neighborhood were very friendly and there were several people who stopped in to listen. We randomly ran into a guy who met us during our 2008 tour... he remembered us and our music which was really amazing. The lady who was working was very kind and personally left us a tip (how cool?!). And free coffee... yes!!

5.Birdy's in Indianapolis          Monday (night) 8/1:

(before the show we worked on some new songs by the river which flows through the downtown area)






This was an odd show... the stage was huge and in general the venue was more geared towards straight-up rock and roll as opposed to a duo playing acoustic songs. There are a lot of national indie acts that come through, so it was neat to be able to play on a well-known stage. Even though it was a slow show, I'm glad we got the opportunity to play because we met a really cool band called "Everyday Losers". They were from Southern Indiana and very talented.

6.The House Cafe in Dekalb, IL Tuesday 8/2:

Matthew (owner of the House Cafe) put together a really solid bill for this show. There was a singer/songwriter named Tyler, a band called "the Farmers", and an exceptionally talented singer/songwriter named Charles Cain.


We always love playing the House Cafe, and we can't thank Matthew enough for his continued support all these years!

7.Tip Top in Grand Rapids, MI                     Wednesday 8/3:

(To the left is Michael Riley with Jeff rockin' it after our Facing Winter set)

(To the right is Justin VanHaven with Jeff playin' some tunes later in the night)

Originally we were going to play in Lansing this night, but things didn't pan out so we decided to head to Grand Rapids and play a new venue there called "Tip Top". It was a really fun night and several of our good friends from the area came out.

Whenever we go out to Grand Rapids Nathan Kalish (of The Wildfire), Steve Thrasher, and Julio Gomez always take such good care of us. Thanks so much to all of them for being such great friends and for always making us comfortable.

(Later that night we stayed with Steve Thrasher and Nick Aghababian. Btw... We also started a new glam-rock band with Steve called "Mystic Pony")

8.Mulligan's in GR, MI Thursday 8/4:

(FW + the Plurals always = fun)

On Thursday night we played with our favorite Lansing band "the Plurals". This was by far our best Mulligan's show ever (I think this was our 4th time playing there). We also had our most solid Grand Rapids draw yet. Afterwards we all hung out until the sun came up and had a great time.

(our good friends Steve, Annie, Cassie, and Julio came out to support us. It's always GREAT to see them.)

(3 awesome drummers: Jeff with Hattie ( from the Plurals) and Lena (from the Lightning Bugs)

















(Plurals rocking faces off)













(awesome artwork created and donated to us by Cassie)

9.Racine Arts Council in Racine, WI      Friday (afternoon) 8/5:







(Jeff and I took a romp around the rocks of lake Michigan before the show... the weather was awesome)















(settin' up the PA and merch on the street in front of Racine Arts Council)





The arts festival in Racine was a unique and interesting experience for us. There were people, art, and music everywhere... literally spilling into the streets. We set up on the sidewalk by the storefront of the Racine Arts Council's building. It was the first time we've ever really tried our hand at busking... and it seemed to go over pretty well. We sold a good amount of cds, got some generous tips, and had a lot of fun.

10.Breman Cafe in Milwaukee, WI Friday (night) 8/5:

(this guy was outside the bar on his awesome couch/bicycle... I want one!)

Breman Cafe was a really fun show...In spite of the fact that the bar was tiny and hot with little to no airflow... haha. The crowd at Breman was very receptive and we got a good response. We played with a cool local bass and drum duo called "Behemoth and Leviathian".

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It was a great trip and a very productive one for the band. We couldn't be more thankful to Chris Darby and everyone who helped make the tour a success.

Like I said, this was unfortunately the Neon's final multi-state expedition (8 days, 4 states, and nearly 1,200 miles)... Although it was strong the entire way through our trip (thanks to Mike Storms), a few weeks after we returned the engine cracked and it was sent to the crusher.

Here's one last picture of the Neon at our campsite in Indiana... R.I.P. good buddy:

Thanks for reading and all the support!

~justin




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