grass valley

we stayed in grass valley, ca at our friend douglas truth's home. thank you so much doug! last night doug took me to his friends' place and we ate dinner and hung out for a couple hours. amazing people. i just woke up and i'm soo anxious to get to santa rosa..it's ridiculous
it's only two hours away! my bros and a lot of positive energy await me..

once again much love to all my peeps in the 413...this is my last post on the xbians blog.

<3 johnny

we <3 starbucks

nevada

chillin in bed in a motel room in nevada. it's 7:30. we'll reach california today. i put up a new beat on myspace..summer winter..its a super rough sketch..due to our schedule lately i haven't been able to take the time to properly edit this one..i still want to cut off some space from the beginning and stuff due to the noise (which has been hard to avoid considering it's all being recorded in a moving vehicle). but i love it, as raw as it is. this one goes out to g mafuckin bakes! when i get to cali i'm going to rework it.

-johnny

http://www.myspace.com/johnnykearnsmusic

Let;'s Try this

The moment you've all been waiting for... xBsodes 3 and 4!

Comin to ya

Hey everybody,

First I want to thank all of you who continue to follow our trek across the country. We get your comments by Blackberry. It's comforting to know you still care about us :).
The trip has been more taxing than I imagined and as a result we all got sick at the same time. Although we continued gathering footage everywhere we went, we fell behind doing the editing choosing rather to sleep, eat, or get blazed. To make up for it, today we are taking a huge lunch break in Salt Lake City to edit like crazy. The bad news is that with Mercury in retrograde, my computer is having issues with uploading our masterpieces. So to tide you over, here are some previews of upcoming xBsodes.

I still love you.

Jeb

holla from salt lake city!

yoo!

last night we stayed at a hot spring in utah called mystic springs..it might have been the most magical night/morning of my life. we soaked in the hot springs for a long time..and i don't think i have ever felt such bliss.
it's maintained by an amazing couple who live there, michael and cristina. they were very kind to us and hooked us up with a cottage with two double beds and unlimited access to the hot spring for 65 bucks! unreal. the cottage had only different colored christmas lights for lighting. the pool/bathtubs (yes, there are bathtubs connected to the hot spring that you can chill in...and they are in the middle of one of the most spectacular places i've ever seen. i woke up early this morning to go soak in the springs alone. when i got up to the soaking area i could not help but burst into the kind of tears you cry when you see a really beautiful movie or hear a beautiful song. never has a place done this to me. everyone should experience this wonder of a spot.
i was excited to find out that sts9 has played two shows at this place...michael, the owner (and a music/film producer), has a beautiful stage in his home with lighting and good sound.
right now we are chilling in a coffee shop in salt lake city, trying to post a few of our new videos. we are having problems getting them on the blog due to the connection here but we are trying hard to get them up..they will be posted a.s.a.p. the videos that we have yet to post feature some of my favorite moments from the trip.
we have a 7 hour drive to reno ahead of us. we might stop halfway from here to there and crash in a motel because we are sick and exhausted. then the next stop after reno is lake tahoe in califuckinfornia. then we go to grass valley, then san francisco for our last performance. after san fransisco is my final stop...santa rosa. i'm beside myself with excitement!
driving across the united states of america is an experience i wouldn't trade for the world. i will remember this forever.
i recorded a rough draft of a new beat today in the car..i still need to work on it but i will post it on myspace in the near future..check back soon for at least 3 new vids!

much love

-johnny

For a brief moment in Salt Lake city

And for a brief moment, in English… Hello dear friends!
We are taking a blog break in Salt Lake City, and tonight we will find a motel in Elko, Nevada.
Landscape in Utha are mystical and inspiring. (I understand why a lot of Mormon are here… hahaha) The road was long and offen without civilisation for hours. We stayed in Monroe in a hostel-campground that has hots springs to soak in. The cabin was rustic and confortable. Once again we met amazing people. Life is so good to us. Its a very special trip…
We are all sick, now. We need to sleep and eat fruits. I need to do some asanas.
Lots of love
Mh xx

EN FRANÇAIS

Souvent je ne réalise pas que je suis en train de faire la légendaire traversée des États. On empile les kilomètres. Johnny nous quitte lundi et moi et Jeb on continue pour être à Seatle vendredi. Je crois qu’on a un last show ce dimanche, à Grass Valley, Californie.
Le temps passe vite mais j’ai l’impression que ça fait mille ans que je regarde passer les paysages, assise à l’avant de l’auto. Toutes les routes se mélangent, les souvenirs de d’autres traversées se mèlent à celle-ci. Derrière les paysages westerns, j’ajoute des histoires, je projecte le film de mon retour à Montréal. L’utha était absollument merveilleux. Les montagnes du Colorado aussi. Les champs du Nebraska. À ce temps-ci de l’année, tout est jaune et orange. Mais en format large. Je sais pas trop comment l’expliquer. Les grands espaces.
Merci pour vos comments. Faudrait bien que j’appelle quelqu’un de vous autres. Peut-être bien que j’aurais envie de parler.
Je vous embrasse.
Mh xx

Colorado

"notre sentier"

i posted a new beat on myspace, "notre sentier", inspired by a recording by mh and jebediah zonfiah.

http://www.myspace.com/johnnykearnsmusic

hope u enjoy!

-johnny

more about denver

last night we performed at the "up with people" warehouse. it was amazing. we had a great sound system, a great stage, and most importantly a great audience. they were so good to us. they hooked us up with all the wine we could drink, all the food we could eat, and a lot of kindness. i got to meet some of the old school "up with people" people (hehe people people). we also ended up staying at the vice president's house (of "up with people")
i did a magic/juggling/comedy show for them and we performed a few songs and i had a blast. we played "tonight you belong to me" for them..me on the casio and mh and jeb singing. i thought it was beautiful although mh will tell you it wasn't good. i also got to drop a new beat i made in the car that will be on myspace soon.
there were all kinds of costumes everywhere so i had fun changing my shirt every time i came on stage.
my back is killing me this morning..i think it might be from sitting in a car and also juggling cantaloupes constantly. i'm excited to put up our newest video..in my opinion it has some of the funniest/coolest clips so far. im only a few days away from my new home in california and the end of this adventure, which i will remember forever. the next couple of days we are going to concentrate on busking to pay for our gas rather then accepting donations at gigs that we have planned. we've been able to pay for a lot of our gas with the generous donations from our audiences in each city. now for me it's all about public spectacles and passing the hat..
colorado is by far my favorite stop so far...it's fucking beautiful. new video coming soon!

much <3 to all my peoples in the 413

-johnny

Denver - en français

Journée complètement folle dans le monde des Xbians.
On a enregistré et pratiqué des tunes dans notre mini studio appelé le char, et maintenant, à 1 heure du matin, on blog, on fait du montage, on se fatigue.
Hier c'était Chicago - Ohama, aujourd'hui Ohama - Denver
J'ai l'impression que je suis sur la route depuis dix ans mais en vérité cela fait juste 4 jours que nous sommes en cavale... Cette expérience pousse mes limites à pleins de niveaux (non mais as-tu vu l'heure?) musique publique photo video blog enregistrement pratique chanter. On est ouvert 24 heures sur 24.
La route Iowa-Nebraska-Colorado était empreinte de champs orangés d'un ciel lourd et du plus long couché de soleil de ma vie... depuis quand les plaines sont supposées être ennuyantes?
Depuis la mi-septembre, il me semble qu'à chaque fois que je lève les yeux il y a un rassemblement d'oiseaux qui virevolte et fait des formes dans le ciel.
Qui est-ce qui me parle dans le vent?
C'est tellement beau ça me remplie de joie et me satisfait plus que musique publique photo video blog enregistrement pratique chanter.
mais faut pas le dire à mes bandmates parce qu'ils sont plus motivés que la réalité et they keep me going go go go untill la californie et même plus ils me plantent comme un piquet là où j'ai peur.
Ce soir show à Denver, organisé par des gens merveilleux d'un organisme fondé par le papa de Jeb, up with people. Beautifull people, good time, good expérience, mais moyenne satisfaction de ma part. Envie de chanter encore plus fort. Pensez-vous que ça vaut la peine à capella? Envoyez des comments avec des propositions de tune que je devrais ajouter à notre show. Je veux quelque chose bien de moi... pas Celine, elle, je la garde pour vous. Jeb recoit les comments du blog sur son Blackberry (il passe d'ailleurs la moitié du temps à nous faire des contact et envoyer des machins sur cette machine), alors n'hésitez pas, et ça nous remplie de joie (surtout moi...)
Va falloir à un moment donné que je vous parle de tous le monde qui nous hébergent et nous nourrient... c'est complètement fou.
je vous aime
Marie-Hélène

nebraska

in nebraska..it was about 9 hours from chicago to this house we're staying at. it's 12:31 am and we are chilling with some ill people. adam, the guy who lives here hooked us up with some amazing brisket. he also has the most incredible collection of percussion instruments and is fucking nasty on the drums. we jammed for a while and it was amazing..i was zoning.
i recorded a beat today in the car using the pocket studio and transferred it on to my digital 8-track when we arrived in omaha. i used a sample from the song "notre sentier" (the final track on our demo) recorded by mh and jeb. i love it and i'll be putting it up on myspace soon. i'm cutting this short because i'm exhausted. tomorrow we're going to denver. peace!

-johnny

xBsode tWo

Hola Amigos! Bienvenidos a nuestro blog y a Clivland, Ojaio!

The apple never falls far from the tree

For people who dont know it yet, Jeb is working on a rap song : « Jebediah (He’s On Fiah) » He performed at Copperworks, and he will present the final version tommorow in Denver.
While looking in the archive of the Colwell family in Chicago, we find out that Jeb’s father is also a rapper… and like Jeb, he uses a cheat sheet! See for yourself on the video.
(standing in the middle is Clayton’s father)

good morning...good morrrnning

we just woke up in chicago. its around 9. last night we stayed with a friend of jeb's in his beautiful apartment. he treated us like royalty...cooked as a phenominal dinner, gave us all the wine we could drink, and most importantly hung out with us all night and said things about his views on life and music that blew my mind because of how much i can relate.

thanks for everything kimo! you are far too legit to ever quit. we're about to take off in a bit and head for omaha, nebraska. it's an 8 hour drive. during the trip i plan on recording a couple of new beats i've been working on since we left mass. they both incorporate samples from either mh or jeb. they're coming out really nice. one of them is featured in the latest video we posted. i will be posting the tracks as instrumentals in the near future so people should check on our myspace from time to time if you want to check out what we're doing musically as we travel.

much love!

-johnny

MARIE-HÉLÈNE

Last night it was so amazing to stay at Kimo's place... He's such a beautifull person and fabulous storyteller. He showed us some video of "Up the People" and we saw Jeb's father performing a rap song !!! (Soon we will post that on the blog.)
Today in the car Jeb's and me are going to reherse the famous rap song "Jebedhia is on fire" and make it even more hilarious. We are working hard (in the car) so we will be ready for a show in Denver... and keep Jeb awake. Johnny is making crazy beats, its so inspiring to see him that inspired all the time.
I cant beleive how generous people have been with us. Thank you.
Last night, driving to Chicago, I was sooooooo excited! The skyline and building here where amazing.
sorry my bad english
Faque vous voyez que mon anglais est pas mal racké. On dort pas assez et je crois que je vais avoir besoin de repos de retour à Montreal! C'est incroyable comme nos hôtes prennent soin de nous. Kimo est tellement sympatique et généreux. La beauté du voyage est dans les rencontres!
Chicago est malade, to bad faut qu'on parte déjà.
Je suis désolée, je sort du lit et je suis pas trop inspirée... ah la vie d'artiste.
mh

En route to Cleveland

xBsode oNe: Pittsfield, MA

Enjoy our first in a series of tour videos! Stay tuned all week long!

In french please

This post will be in french. It’s too bad if you don’t understand French because I am revealing very interesting details on Jeb’s and Johnny’ weird habits. It almost as good as a US Weekly.
Too bad you don’t read French.
I would accept $100 to write the next one in English.

Bonjour mes ti-amis du langage français.
La tournée américaine du meilleur groupe au monde, The Xbians, se déroule à merveille. Nous nous sommes rendus en sécurité maximale à Celveland, Ohio. Une chance que des ambulances et des polices nous suivaient avec des sirènes, on est arrivé à temps pour notre show.
Ça s'est déroulé dans un joli studio de yoga sur une rue sombre de Cleveland. Nous voulions garder le spectacle intime, alors nous avons permis à seulement 7 personnes de venir. Évidemment, nous avons offert une performance très précise, avec un son exceptionnel. La perfection, c'est ce qui fait notre charme.
En chemin vers Cleveland, nous avons mangé beaucoup de doritos, inventé des mooves hiphop et pratiqué des tunes. Jeb, notre supra-chauffeur qui a conduit tout le long, a aussi joué beaucoup de Piano, ainsi que du Blackberry.
Je dois dire que jusqu'à maintenant, les paysages américains n'ont pas trop réussi à me changer les idées, mais j'ai des grandes attentes pour l'Indiana. (En passant, les policeman de Indianapolis, ils disent-tu: "I am an indianapolis police"??? incroyable)
On se rend à Chicago aujourd'hui, une route d'environ 6 heures. CHICAGO !!!!!! Chi city!!!!!! J'ai bien hâte. Quand il va avoir une pancarte disant « Welcome to chicago », comptez sur moi pour pumper du Kanye West dans le Juxbox… Nous dormirons chez un ami de la famille de Jeb.
La nuit dernière nous avons dormi chez Shanna, une amie de moi et Jeb qui a fait le yoga teacher trainning avec nous... elle nous a réveillé avec l'odeur de brioches amish et du café équitable.
J'ai des grandes attentes pour ce voyage. Mais à date, la vie de star, ça l'a ses hauts et ses bas. Par exemple, hier soir, après le show, j'ai trouvé ça dur de signer des autographes ... j'étais pas mal fatiguée.
Que dire d’autre? J’ai pas encore gagné le contrôle du rangement dans l’automobile. J’ai affaire à des garçons coriaces. Ils ont pas encore réalisé que je suis wiseness en personne, mais j’ai confiance que je vais bientôt être appréciée à ma juste valeur.
La vie de rock star, c’est un peu tout croche et poussiéreux avec peu d’heures de sommeil.
Je vous bless.
Je vous embrasse.
Je vous fais une petite tapoche sur la tête.
Mh xx

cleveland

it is 8:15 in the morning and we just woke up in cleveland. we are staying at jeb's very kind/hospitable friend shanna's sweet apt. last night we performed at a beautiful yoga studio in cleveland, studio 11. i found out after the show that the movie ¨deerhunter" was filmed there. jeb and mh performed a song together and jeb busted out his jebediah zonfiah rap. i did a magic show and we attempted to put down one of our beats live for the first time but only had computer speakers that we couldn't turn up loud enough to get people going. today we have to figure out a better way to power my mpc..people were still very supportive of us and donated $ to us. my goal is to pay for all of our gas with money we make from performing at random places. we might do a spontaneous performance at a rest stop today. im having a very hard time typing on this keyboard because its mh's and everything is placed all different and it has stuff like this ù and this ç

we got some sweet footage from the copperworks show and the show last night that we will be posting at some point today.

we have successfully turned the scion xB into a recording studio. the car powers my akai mpc and jeb's digital 4 track pocket studio. i made a new beat yesterday during our trip to cleveland. i plan on recording and mastering it today while we are driving to chicago.

that's all for now..much love to all my homies

-johnny

xBians: KICK-OFF PARTY, TOUR UPDATE + PROMO VIDEO

Hey y'all,

If you haven't heard, our kick-off party has changed locations. We are no longer at Dream Away :(. Yeah. It kinda blows. But an equally phat offer came our way in the form of Copperworks, Pittsfield's best new venue. Opening at 8 will be Johnny doing his magic thang followed by the xBians celebration at 9. Closing out the night will be a special performance and dance party by Electro Bandit starting at 9:30.

Copperworks
34 North Pearl Street (at Melville)
Pittsfield, MA 01201

Our tour is shaping up nicely. A few theaters here, a few parking lots there. Here's the current run-down:

9/28 Pittsfield, MA Copperworks
9/29 Cleveland, OH Studio 11
9/30 Chicago, IL tba
10/1 Omaha, NE tba
10/2 Denver, CO UWP Warehouse
10/3 SLC, UT Mormon Tabernacle
10/4 Reno, NV tba
10/5 Grass Valley tba
10/6 San Fran, CA tba

We still need beds in SLC and Reno!

And finally, our first video, shot and edited exclusively with the Tony Hawk Helmet Camera:




Thank you for all your support so far. We'll stay in touch!

peace,
johnny, m.h. and jeb

xBians, the band, the record, the tour

Hey y'all,

Thank you for visiting our blog. I hope you are well and enjoying life.

After six wonderful years of living in the Berkshires (and one in Albany, NY) I am moving to New York City. It has always been my dream to live there. I will continue to play music with my band mates, all of whom have become NYC residents in the past several months. In preparation for city living, I am downsizing, selling or giving away much of what I own. For the first time since probably age 16 I will go car-less… I am selling my car to my parents in Seattle, WA and driving it to them at the end of the month with my new band: xBians.

When I heard that Johnny Kearns of local electronica outfit Electro Bandit was moving to California to pursue his hip-hop dreams I offered him a ride. We thought to keep ourselves entertained on the road we ought to collaborate musically, put some songs together and book some gigs, he with his Akai MPC (sequencer/sampler/drum machine) and I with a Casiotone (tiny synth with cool beats). I recruited my fellow Kripalu yogini and close friend Marie-Helene Larose-Truchon to accompany us on the trip and to lend her sweet voice and ukelele to the mix. We all decided that it would be cool to document our trip with daily updates on a blog featuring pictures and videos of our performances/shenanigans. When my friend, producer Robby Baier (Melodrome), caught wind of the idea he enthusiastically offered to produce a record for us to sell while on the road.

The name of our thrown-together band is inspired by the car that made this all possible: my 2006 Scion xB. With the name tie-in and Johnny's hip-hop influence, we are also intending to attract the attention of the car company itself. Recently, Fast Company magazine featured an article about how Scion is signing non-exclusive deals with up-and-coming hip-hop artists offering vinyl manufacturing, promotion and distribution. Why not? We figure at best we become huge mega commercial pop sensations overnight. At worst, it's a damn fun way to deliver a car across the country.

We have everything in place for a successful tour minus two small details:

BEDS & GIGS

Can you help?

We plan to be in these cities on the following dates:

9/29 Cleveland, OH
9/30 Chicago, IL
10/1 Omaha, NE
10/2 Denver, CO
10/3 Salt Lake City, UT
10/4 Reno, NV
10/5 Grass Valley/Santa Rosa, CA
10/6 San Francisco, CA

We appreciate any help you can give that will support us on this trip!

Thank you,

Jeb

www.xbians.blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/xbians


p.s. - our transcontinental adventure begins on Sunday September 28 with a tour send-off celebration at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA at 8pm. CDs will be available for sale.