We’re hitting the road and taking our new record and show to some favorite spots in the Midwest and East Coast over the next few weeks:

5.11-Libertyville, IL
5.16-Indianapolis, IN
5.17-Shippensburg, PA
5.18-Philadelphia, PA
5.19-Washington, DC
5.25-Palatine, IL

Click on the poster and share on the internets and help us have another great tour!

Ahhh Spring -  season of love, new beginnings, and Mayan-predicted 2012 cataclysms.  Monsoons, tornadoes, and golf-ball-sized hail.  Perfect time for Molehill to hit the road!

Let’s start from the beginning

It all started on Friday.  Like any other tour, we gathered at the rehearsal space, and I did my patented Manhart gear-packing job in the Silver Bullet.  Note the near-perfect alignment of the cases, and the deft precision with which I maximized van space.

We played the Cowboy Monkey in Champaign to a wonderful, enthusiastic crowd.  It was one of the best Champaign shows we’ve had in years.  We saw a lot of old friends and made some new fans as well.  Also we got to play with our new friends Missing the Point who put on a great show.  Not only was it a great show, but we capped it off with a 2am trip to Merry Ann’s Diner for late-night breakfast.  GVZ pounded his gravy-smothered stack of biscuits and eggs, and Trevor made fun of my tiny glass of orange juice.  Since when was my manhood determined by the size of my OJ?  I thought it had to do with how big a car I drive…

Saturday – missed us again, Mayans!

Two weeks earlier, we lucked out and weren’t hit by the tornado everyone was predicting in Omaha.  However, we did get drenched by monsoon-type rains and the Silver Bullet got a flat tire.  This Saturday, we narrowly missed a storm of the biggest hail we had ever seen – literally golf-ball-sized hail – in St. Louis.  The aftermath was insane.  Everywhere we looked, rear-windshields of cars had been smashed by the hail.  One of the bands we were supposed to play with even canceled because their van’s windshield got smashed.

Consider this unfortunate case:

We count ourselves very lucky to have missed the storm.  It looked like it happened just before we got to town.  According to Greg, the hail must have been the basketball gods crying at the news of Derrick Rose’s torn ACL.  Best wishes to anyone who was hurt in any way by the storm, and to Derrick Rose.  Our hearts go out to all of you.

Eventually we were able to pull it together, get to Lemmons, and play our set.  Despite the storm, a good crowd still made its way to the venue, and we were able to play for and meet some great people that night.  Big thanks to Cher Ami for playing, and to everyone who came to see the bands.  We can’t wait to see you all again next time we’re in town!

The rest of the night went as planned.  Devin took the 1am Megabus home so he could play at church the next morning, and the 3 of us remaining got some sleep and made the quick 5 hour drive home the next day.   All in all, it was another great tour, and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to play the music we love for so many wonderful people!  Thanks to everybody who supported us along the way, and we’ll see you again soon!

It’s nice to be home, but I think we’re all ready to get back out there and play again.  Luckily, we only have to wait 5 days until our show in Milwaukee.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a picture of the band and my new favorite dog, Miles.  This was where we stayed in Champaign – with our lovely friends Brian and Cheryl Precious – and I seriously fell in love with this dog.  Miles, if you’re reading this, stay strong, and I’ll definitely come visit you next time we’re in Champaign.

Until next time,

Love,
Molehill

Hi all,

It’s been a ridiculous ride so far.  But, we’ve have made it to the final 10 bands out of 12,000+ entries worldwide.  Now, instead of voting (we loathe voting) it is up to an industry panel that includes Steve Van Zandt from Bruce Springsteen’s the E Street Band and the Sopranos, Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit  and more to decide what band will have the opportunity to perform at Hard Rock Calling in London this July.  Results will be announced on May 4th.

Now that we’ve made it to this point we can let the process work.  We are so grateful for getting this opportunity and we can’t thank everyone enough that voted, shared, and most of all LISTENED to our music.  In the last two weeks our music was featured on a radio station in London, a college station outside of Seattle and we just got a lovely email from a production company in Philly who wants to shoot our upcoming performance in May.  All of this is possible because you helped us get into this position.  It is a cut throat business we are in and with so many people vying for exposure and attention it is challenging to cut through the fog.  If you are new to Molehill and this is the first time you have listened to our music then we welcome you.  If it’s your 100th time on this website we thank you for supporting us for this long.  The best is yet to come.

Share the music far and wide and we’ll see you at the next show!

Love to you all!

After a nice a break from touring over the Winter (minus a few shows in February) it was great to be back on the road to play in a few town we have never been to before.
Iowa, this is all.

Kansas City

After a solid 8 and 1/2 hours in the Silver Bullet from Chicago we had a nice welcoming to Kansas City by entering a club that neither smelled like cleaning agents or what the aforementioned cleaning agents might have missed—this is almost always a good sign.  Seriously, CZAR Bar, solid work.  To make matters even better the pork tacos were delectable.

KC bands Apples for Archers and Think Like Computers put on some stellar shows.  This was one of the best vibes in a room that there has been in recent memory.  Supportive and enthusiastic folks in KC.  Thank you.

We made some great connections with the guys in Burning Symmetry.  Young band with a great future!  The drunk dude that cornered us and directed us never to give away download cards was a tad annoying and the fire in Greg’s belly grew warm.

The next morning……….

After a quick viewing of ‘Fargo’.  Pete’s BBQ dreams came true. BBQ for breakfast.   Sorry no shots from the Peter/Trevor 4am waffle house run.  It wasn’t pretty.

To Omaha……..

Tornado warning watch on the drive there kept things interesting.  I do think I was the only one remotely worried about this.  Too many viewings of Twister.

Omaha

For everything that kicked ass in KC there was something to even that out in Omaha.  Because of the Tornado watch there was not too much activity going on.  I guess even the natives were scared.  The local news did make it seem like the world could end that night.

Nevertheless, we met some cool bands at the venue, rocked it, and all went our own ways.  Greg drove Devin back to the hotel, I checked out some music and Peter corralled our executive producer of ‘Equinox’ John Rothstein (who flew in from Amsterdam).  John didn’t seem too welcome at the ‘ole Barley Street Tavern for an unfortunate misunderstanding.  We never did work that one out.  While Pete and John were shading around Omaha I made a friend and life long (albeit a shorter one than most) Molehill fan.  Cats in bars = Rock and Roll.

Then the night took a turn.  GVZ got a flat tire on the way back to the club which resulted in an awkward and incredibly non-butch change of the Silver Bullet’s tire and 2am.  I wish I wouldn’t have slept through Driver’s ED.  Peter was supportive and kept making mentions of a victory shot afterwards.  That was not in the cards.

After one unsuccessful attempt at filling up the spare, 3 bad hotel key cards, and one broken lock in the van 3 of us went to sleep peacefully.  I do have audio of the snoring but will save that for a more useful moment.

3 hours of sleep and quick drive back on Sunday and we’re done.  Until next time.

Hugs and Kisses

The Global portion of Hard Rock Rising is under way!  Here is what you can do to help us secure a chance to play at Hard Rock Calling Festival in London this summer.

1. ‘Like’ the Hard Rock Rising Facebook Page
***CLICK HERE ***
2. Click ‘VOTE’ for Molehill
3. Share!

Voting begins Monday, April 9th and goes through midnight on Sunday, April 22nd. You may only vote once so it is a big help if you share this opportunity with others through any outlet you can think of. Facebook and Twitter come to mind. Use #hrrising to help trend.

If we get into the top 10 for voting we will be reviewed by a panel of who’s who in the music industry to be considered for the grand prize.

Molehill has won the Chicago Hard Rock Rising Battle of the Bands.  This means we are on to the Global Round where we will compete with 85 other bands from across the world to have the opportunity to play at Hard Rock Calling 2012 in London.  Bruce Springsteen is headlining the event.  Soundgarden and Paul Simon are also performing.

To help us advance in the contest we need everyone to ‘like’ the Hard Rock page and download our song.  Voting will not start for a few more days.  We will have more details with links coming soon.  We are honored to represent the City of Chicago in this contest and would not be here without anyone who has already helped us get to this point.  Let’s keep it going!

Molehill has advanced to the FINAL round in Chicago of the Hard Rock Calling Battle of the Bands.  We’ll face off against Lauren Wolf or the Scissors on Tuesday, March 27th at Hard Rock Cafe Chicago.  This is a free event and ALL AGES.  The winner will represent the city of Chicago in a global Battle of the Bands which could result in a performance at Hard Rock Calling in London this summer!

Molehill is currently featured in the month of March on BandxCity, a music blog that covers many music scenes from across the country.  Check it out HERE

Molehill performed at Hard Rock Cafe Chicago this past Tuesday (3/6) and moved on to the next round of live performance/competition.  We are one step closer to representing Chicago in a global battle of the bands.  Thanks for all your support so far!  The next performance is on 3/13 at Hard Rock Cafe Chicago at 8pm.

Molehill recorded a live performance and was interviewed by Vocalo/WBEZ host Jesse Menendez on 89.5FM Chicago on 2/29.  Download the performance and interview for FREE on iTunes

Jesse was a great, great host and asked pointed questions.  This is a good one to check out.