Pacific Northwest Tour

The tour is winding down--three more gigs to go! So far we've played in the Oregon towns of Coos Bay, Bandon, Brookings, Canby, Woodburn, Lake Oswego, McMinnville, and more, and Washington towns of Camas, Marysville, Longview, and Enumclaw. Our gigs have included festivals, colleges, and city parks. We also had the distict honor to sit in with Johnny B. Connolly at his session in Portland! And I went to Pickathon!! Here are some pics from Lynda's camera... More later--Stu

Summer Update

Due to the demand of Raise the Rafters performances, a computer virus, and preparations for the coming Pacific NorthWest Tour, the band is a wee bit behind on the blog updates...
...But rest assured, by the end of the weekend all of the details of the last month will be told-- check back soon!

Raise the Rafters release part II

SLO County A--OK

the story off a successful release tour in San Luis Obisbo County...

Entry coming soon...Check out the latest new entry: "Raise the Rafters release part I". Thanks for stopping by!

"Raise the Rafters" release part I

A concert in Morgan Hill...



Upon arriving home from Hawaii, the island hoppers were reunited with Pete whom had just returned from England with a quick side trip through San Mateo to pick up a truck sized load of the new album... "Raise the Rafters".
Over the past two weeks the good people of Sienna Digital worked with no sleep to complete the massive order of units placed by Mollys Revenge. With hours to spare, Lynda broke open the first box of cds as the lads went to work practicing for that nights show: a cd release concert at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. It was a tense practice-- Pete hadn't been able to play his ax for weeks, the others had gotten used to altered arrangements for the Hawaii trip, and there were several as-of-yet undebuted sets, like the extremely technical La Cabana MSR.
With the miraculous grace that only rarely hovers around the band, things came together, show time arrived, and an amazing performance followed prompting even some of the bands toughest critics to utter compliments as they left the hall.
Despite the desperate isolation, chaos, and frustration of the preceding months, it was heralded by all present that night that a new era for the band had just been birthed. Out from the cocoon of Gadget Box Studio had emerged not the moss covered subtlety of the previous "IV", but a new and explosive "Raise the Rafters".

(thanks to Sarojani for the pic)



David continued to warm up his pipes backstage at the Morgan Hill Playhouse despite the fire marshals posted placards...


Later that week: an appearance at Sierra Rocklin College...
It was Earth Day on campus, and the students and faculty were treated to a sunny festive day full of speeches and music from Mollys Revenge. The earth, in recognition, then demonstrated it's effect of gravity over Stu's guitar...


And then onto the Woodland Scottish Games
(Photo's to come...check back soon!)
After a full weekend in which the band performed at the Friday night concert, through out the day on Saturday, at the Saturday night Ceillidh, and through out Sunday, the festivals attendees had depleted the bands stock of Raise the Rafters completely. Every copy they had on hand was sold, leaving all with the realization that the new material was causing a stir.
It was an eventful weekend in all-- the group was reunited with their friend Vic, a fiddler the band had met previously in Colorado, whom was accused later in the weekend of inciting a late night jam session and a series of antic's which landed him and a hotel security guard in the pool, David discussed the ins and outs of amplifying bagpipes with stage mate Eric Riggler of Bad Haggis , and Bethany closed down the house on the finale Big Set with an amazing hard shoe dance done atop an aluminum picnic table amidst the audience.

The public at large was now fully aware: the new cd was out, and the band was back!

Hell in Hawaii

Ok... maybe hell was a bit strong of a word; after all it was Hawaii, right?
But the events which occurred during the Mollys Revenge 2006 Hawaii Tour were a far cry from the usual cake-walk happenings of other tours that the unsuspecting band members had grown accustomed to. A well meaning trip to paradise soured into an arduous excursion with Murphy at the reigns at every turn-- yet out of the shards of adversity emerged a determined (and very tired) team of three musical lads, a dancing lass, and Joyce.
Here are their tales...

...Due to a death in the family, Pete and Lynda were forced to bow out of the trip at the last minute to attend to matters in England. The Hawaiian Islands had been battered by forty consecutive days of heavy rain and flooding before the band arrived...
...After meeting with the Waikiki Scottish Festival Officials, it is learned that the Games are effectively cancelled due to flooding and the remnants of the festival will be condensed into Kelly O'Niells Pub...


Despite Davids jet-lag from his six days in Connecticut, two days in California, and then onto Hawaiian time, and the mysteriously lost hotel reservation, and the unexpected rental car complication, the band powered out lively performances for the daytime festival, as well as some fiercely powerful four-hour sets for the Honolulu night life...
...Only taking occasional refuge at Awesome Lawsons hillside house to tune up the pipes and arrangements in lieu of Petes absence...

...And over those first few days the band contributed tremendously to the partying atmosphere of hundreds of spring-breakers, with expected results...

Though the weather tried it's best to foil the event, the bands played on inside the pub, including the UC Riverside Pipe Band. David was surprised to see a couple of pipers there that he had met previously at a summer music camp of which he was a teacher.

Though Bethany was coming down with bronchitis, the band celebrated the completion of the trips first leg by partaking in a massive jam session at Lawsons with Oahu's jam squad. The Uilleann pipes were loving the 80 percent humidity!
The next day came, and with a flight so quick you could hardly down a shot of cola before the flight attendants where picking up the cups, the band was in Maui.
First order of business, ..."Maui Tacos", said Saalssa John.

Alas, no relaxation just yet... the band found their reserved beach rental house occupied by dirty clothes, sprawling empty beer cans, and a refrigerator full of rotting meat.

With all of their luggage, they descended on an unsuspecting beach to take in a Maui Celtic sunset while the rental agency sorted things out. It was not long though that the bands loitering had captured the attention of a group of surprised fans who happened to be at that beach. They were of course sympathetic about the discovery of the rotting meat.
A bit later, the band helped celebrate Stu and Joyce's 18th wedding anniversary at Mulligans as friend and owner of Mulligans Kevin O"Kennedy presented some fine dining.
Over the next couple days, the gang performed some nice concerts. What began as an upscale show at Mulligans ended in a full contact bloodbath finale on stage with the dangerous combination of a very small stage, sharp instrument appendages, and fast intense tune playing. To save the day, Kevin O'Kennedy grabbed a cold pint, adjusted the lighting controls, and leapt on stage to join in with his tin whistle on some tunes all with one lightning fast movement.
The next evening found the band returning to the mountain side hall of St.John's church for another concert. Among the nights surprises was seeing in attendance an old friend and past didgeridoo player for the Tinkers, as well as a giant spider intent on eating David's post show stash of cake on stage.

The drones of David's vintage Henderson pipes seemed to echo all the way down the volcano as the sun set.

After the show, it was back to Mulligans for a little after hours jam session with Kevin. "Boys of Balisidare"slip jig had come full circle -- Mollys Revenge playing the tune from MRIV with the lad whom Stu had originaly learned it from.

After such a late night...

...rest was needed. The next day, they were once again off to Oahu.
Once there, at the University of Hawaii, the group was ready to set up for the finale show: Tartan Day. And a sign that they were in the right place...

They pushed the Mollys Revenge button in the loading dock elevator and "ding"



Those assembled were treated to a spastic show with Stu, John, and David going at the tunes, Bethany tapping laps around the stage, and our friends the Muses harmonizing a list of traditional songs. Lawson took a few action photos and then himself jumped up with a gaggle of our Oahu celtic jamming friends for the grande finale.


When it was over, Joyce went to work crunching the numbers...

...then it was back to Maui for a few more days of relaxation, mental therapy and counseling. Well, I guess there's nothing that a drive to Hana in a Mustang wont fix...




--David P.S. We missed you Pete, and our condolences go out to Lynda and her family.

Saint Patrick's WEEK

For anyone who can bow a fiddle, blow a bagpipe, or dance a reel, Saint Patrick's day is probably the busiest day of the year-- in fact, the whole week can easily become saturated with green beer induced performances of traditional music and dance. Such was the case for Molly's Revenge.

The adventure started with an early assembly put on for the students of Robert Luis Stevenson School in Pebble Beach. The enthusiastic students where treated to a surprisingly lively set by the band, considering the time of day, with Bethany sharing the dance arena with this young dancer, Alexandra, who was the daughter of a teacher there. Well done, gals!

Later that evening, the crew was off to perform a rare candle lit acoustic set for a full audience inside Monterey's historic Colton Hall.

Being the birthplace of California's first Constitution, David felt compelled to make a few amendments of his own; mostly pertaining to late night noise ordinaces.
To her dismay, Bethany was allowed only to dance in her soft-shoes to avoid any hard-shoe scuffs on the floor. The hall's floor itself is considered a historical artifact as each slat of wood was cut by hand in the 1800's.




None-the-less, a wonderful performance followed with the candle light inspiring an unusually intimate mood.

The next day, the city of Arroyo Grande was preparing the area's premier performing facility, the Clark Center, for the arrival of the band. The gang drove up and were greeted by a giant flashing billboard sign: "Tonight, celebrate St.Patrick's Day, with, Molly's Revenge"
With a nice sized turnout, a moshpit of young girls, and a conga line through the audience led by bagpipes and step-dancing, the evening was marked a success.


With such a rowdy night in good Irish fashion, the band presented a hair-of-the-dog performance the very next evening in the unsuspecting town of Cambria. Hidden inside another historic building once called the Bucket of Blood Saloon, Molly's Revenge packed in another dangerous amount of people partially consisting of notorious Live Oak attendees. A gem of a venue and now called Painted Sky Studio, the frenzy was recorded in high fidelity on at least sixteen tracks...
Did they catch John's pre-show rendition of Bonny George Campbell on the house piano?


After a quick stop in Morro Bay for a Hauff Brau sandwhich, it was straight back to Santa Cruz and into the studio for the final mixing of the new album.


Amidst mind numbing sessions, plans for the coming Mollys Revenge Pacific North West Tour are ironed out; reducing some band members to tears in the face of rising gas costs...

Snowed In -- Calavaras

The roads were closed....



The cars were buried under three feet of snow...And Pete wore a funny green hat...


But the show went on. A surprising number of attendees braved the weather and bore witness to the debut of several new tune sets amidst the bands first festival performance in several months. The transition from studio musician cave dwellers to stage incinerating tune jammers is once again underway.

Word of Bethany's infectious enthusiasm for fast reels quickly sread and soon several of the other bands present were requesting her to jump up for a few steps. But Mollys Revenge kept her in the air for most of the weekend despite the concrete floor.

Also, David was invited to join the Black Brothers for a few numbers (and of course did). There he is playing the Bodhran.

More snow fell over Saturday night while the band sat in the cozy rental house watching episodes of Father Ted. Sunday was a great challenge: the band had to dig out the cars and driveway with garbage can lids(since there was no snow shovel), take the chains on and off of the car wheels twice on the way down the mountain to the festival, and then perform three sets on different stages through out the day.

Though it made for a long day, it also made for a nice drive home....







...well, for some people anyway! (don't worry, no one was hurt!)

Attack of the Piperazzi

Word of the ongoing project found its way to the public-- it was inevitable. Just as Pete and I were laying down the pipe and bazouki tracks for the Celtic rock-opera Baholian Rhapsody, the gates of the studio were stormed by interviewers and photographers who immediately went to work capturing the story.

This coming Sunday, the Santa Cruz Sentinal will unleash the truth about what's really been going on out on the west side.

The band was in for even more surprises though: we returned from the dinner brake to find Andy standing in the doorway greeting us with a devilish grin....


This could only mean one of two things, either he had just polished off an entire cup of frozen yogurt, or he was up to something...

"Hey you guys, come on in, I want to play you something..."



When we had left for dinner, Andy was working on mixing the number one track for the album. Now that we'd returned, we stepped in and Andy pressed the play button...


...Andy's surprise was revealed, a surprise that could change the course of the future of Mollys Revenge...

---------------TO BE CONTINUED------------

Stay tuned for the next entry-- this weekend the band is off to play the Calavaras Celtic Fair!

--David