More Updates From New Record Town!!!

So just another quick update from the Studio. We are almost finished tracking all the guitars for the hand full of new songs that we're demoing with our friends Jay and Ben. The songs are coming out CRUCIALLY AWESOME! I won't say the new stuff is a departure from Emergencies, but I will say the songs are definitely heavy as shit AND definitely totally awesome! If you live in our area we'll be playing a few new jams at some upcoming shows we have in April / May. Check the Olympia Myspace for up to the minute updates, but right now we've got these two shows lined up SO LETS FUCKING PARTY!

Apr 12 2008 8:00P
ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL w/ THE DANCE PARTY
NE Washington DC


Apr 25 2008 6:00P
STERLING COMMUNITY CENTER w/ Conditions, The Outlanders, & More TBA
Sterling VA

If you don't live in the area or you can't make it out to the shows, don't worry, we didn't forget about you... Olympia is your bro, we wouldn't do you like that! Hopefully we'll have something coming your way soon. Where ever you may live!

Be sure to check back for more updates soon!

Nick

DUDES..... LONG TIME NO SEE!!!

so heres the skinny since the whole transmission debacle:

1. transmission is now fixed.  (thats right get stoked)

2. we've started writing and demoing songs for a new record.  (feeling even more stoked is perfectly normal)

fig. 1   peter getting awesome.

3. we've been crushing shit.      (duh)

anyways, we promise we'll try and be in touch more often.... maybe we can meet for a drink sometime or you guys can come over for a bbq (bring some chips or buns or something).

the worst part about not going on tour...

... is being unemployed now!

BUMMED!

haha. well, odds are by now you've probably heard the news. our winter tour is officially cancelled. our beloved van has decided to attempt suicide and is lying in a coma at the van hospital. we need $2700 to fix her and bring her back to road readiness.

i don't have $2700, do you?

today is my last day on the job, so now i've got to go find a new one since it's looking like we won't be on tour for a little while.

i'm trying to stay upbeat about the situation, because no one wants to read a bum-out blog. we're all really sad about having to cancel and being stuck at home longer, but we're gonna work through that and figure out a way to get back out on the road, because it's what we love more than anything.

we'll keep you updated.

- phil

the best part about going on tour...

... is quitting your stupid temp job!

STOKED!

olympia is back on the road in just a few weeks!

why is circa survive so f-ing awesome?

oh wait, that question pretty much answers itself. last night, nick and i had the pleasure of going to the circa survive tour to see three of our labelmates on EVR. it was an awesome show. circa put on an amazing show - complete with balloons, confetti, and bubbles, and of course - incredible music. i can't help but wish them all the success in the world, because they deserve it.

fear before the march of flames also played and put on one of the best sets i've seen them do. they played all new stuff, which stoked me out, because it's my favorite. it was great seeing those guys again and hanging out.. it had definitely been a while since the last time we got to see them. dylan, their tour manager, continues to be one of my favorite all-time dudes.

dear and the headlights opened the show. i only caught half their set, but it was definitely solid. we met and played with them at SXSW, but i'm not sure they really remembered us. i met one or two of the guys and they seemed like pretty nice dudes.

Moose lodge!

The best part about playing the moose lodge is the sweet bar filled with old dudes. This is the only place at the show where people will be older than we are.

Connecticut.

Its all about finding a good chill spot.

Yes!!!

Nick got a little too awesome last night so we had to pull over so he could let a little awesomeness out.

the making of emergencies

i was bored and decided to go back and re-read the studio diary that we kept while we were in the beautiful city of boston, recording our album emergencies.

not only is it totally hilarious, but you can literally see the progression of us starting to go crazy. scroll down to the bottom for the first entry and read upwards!

olympia studio diary

it's rant time!

okay, so if you've ever hung around me long enough or gotten me drunk on tour, you have probably heard me go off once or twice about how music has fallen into this dark evil period where bands now-a-days are all about the music industry, getting huge, getting the best merch spot, and putting business before friendship. things USED to be about basement shows, good times, community, and actual MUSIC.

seven or eight years ago, before (oh my god) myspace existed, i used to find out about new bands by going to shows and talking to friends about music, staying up late into the night listening to records and bro-ing down. bands used to get signed because they toured non-stop and grew a fanbase and labels would hear about them through word of mouth and hard work. indie labels had integrity, and you used to be able to check out any new artist on your favorite indie label's roster, because you knew they would only sign legit awesome shit.

now most of the indies are just mini-majors. and bands get signed based on how many people click on their myspace profiles. and bands don't get signed unless they have a manager or a lawyer or a booking agent. and a lot of the time, the music is AWFUL. i am so thankful everyday that we're on Equal Vision, which is really, to me, one of the last labels with integrity, respect, and a sense of community.

olympia had the good fortune of starting out with an amazing label and booking agent.. more than most bands dream of having, and we are so grateful for that, but even with those huge advantages, we still struggle to get tours and stay on the road full-time. i could speculate about it for hours.. maybe it's because we don't have a manager, maybe it's because we don't have enough myspace friends, or maybe we just aren't playing the right kind of music at the right time. it could be anything, but the bottom line is... it's shitty that the scene is so overrun with bands and people inherently trying to make money off those bands, that you can't just work hard and be a good band anymore. you gotta have a gimmick or connections or pull stunts. it's a shitty time to be in a band if you want to have integrity.

fortunately, there's hope. there's a thriving DIY scene growing and growing. my good friends in the riot before are playing amazing music, doing their own tours booked by themselves, and playing mostly house shows, and they're starting to make it work. and there's a bunch of other bands doing it too. hopefully if people keep supporting local music and touring bands, stop buying into the hype machine, and worry more about what people are saying into the microphone than what kind of haircut and jeans they're wearing, we might have a chance.

listen to music that comes from the heart.

listen to music with integrity.

refuse to pay attention to the rockstars and the gimmicks.

i think we can turn this ship around.

love,

phil

crickets chirping

oh man. it's been QUIET in olympia town lately.

sorry about that. wish we had some news for you, but there just ain't no news!

without going into a detailed rant about business and music industry bullshit, we didn't land any of the tours we were hoping that we'd land for the fall, and we didn't just want to throw together a crappy tour just for the sake of touring and then end up broke at the end. we want to come back and see you on tour, but we'd rather do it in style and with awesome bands and then everyone's happy and everyone's face gets rocked off.

last night we got together for the first time in weeks and started writing some new songs. this is our first time writing since last time this year, when we were finalizing songs before we headed up to boston to record emergencies. we were mostly playing around with different skeleton ideas of songs that had been floating around, but we definitely got a lot of progress on one song and it's a fucking ripper. nick got a new computer, and once that's up and running, we're gonna rig up a way to record some rough demos so we can take the songs home and do our homework. it feels good to write again, and we're excited to see what we can come up with.

fear not, even though we aren't touring till later this year, we are doing some one-off shows and a few long weekends. people living in the northeast can expect to see us in mid-october and we'll post some dates really soon. sitting at home is driving us crazy, so we're excited to get back out on the road even if it's just for a little while.

see you soon! keep it awesome.

love,

phil

back home. bored.

so how do you celebrate a successful tour? if you're olympia, you come home and start working jobs as quickly as possible. yaaaaaay.

as little fun as it is, it makes good sense. we have a window where we'll be home for a few weeks, and a big question mark for the rest of the fall. ideally we'll be out for most of october/november, so since that is the case, putting away a little money is definitely an ideal situation.

if only that made work more fun. but alas, it does not.

so what does olympia do when they're not on tour?

peter probably has the best set up. when he's home, he spends time working on new artwork to sell and he's putting together pieces for a show down in richmond, va. he also works for a company that does art installations in the dc area.

nick works on a part-time basis for DC's newest skate shop palace 5ive. it's a pretty rad shop, so if you live in the DC area, go check it out. nick also works on our van when we're home - free of charge - and pretty much hates us for it.

shane delivers pizza down in richmond. he does the lunch time shift, so he's the guy who shows up to your office pizza party looking like he just woke up and hasn't showered in days.

as for me, i'm a temp. which roughly equates to office bitch. i started working at this company and have basically been typing numbers into computers, making copies, and filing things for 8 hours a day. when people talk about joining bands to avoid life strapped to a desk pushing paper around all day - they are talking about my job. the only thing that keeps me sane is caffeine and the knowledge that i will soon be touring again and leave all these people behind.

so that's really all the excitement of home life. now you see why we tour so much.

if you do live in the DC area - be sure to come out to tomorrow's show at the Black Cat!

also, if you haven't seen our new music video, you must be living under a rock: http://www.myspace.com/olympia

homeward bound

it's the last night of our mayday parade/sound the alarm tour.

this has definitely been a pretty fun tour for us. we've met a bunch of new friends and had a good time.

we have one more show in PA on our way home, and then it's back home to our beds, and our part-time jobs, and our friends and family.

want to see us come to your town on the next run? chime in and tell us where to go.. hopefully we can make it happen.

love,

phil

Joe proves you are never to old to rock.

So this is joe. He is 70, has a mohawk, and stage dove during our last song. My only wish is that someday i will become him. God bless you, joe.

Ain't too proud to beg..

PBR hat!

I dont know what else to say.

Chiodos plaza?

Our labelmates seem to have purchased some commercial real estate.

in the dark

so it's 10:00am, and i'm typing this in a dark hotel room in pittsburgh, pa. everyone is still asleep, but sleeping in awful motel six beds destroys my back, so i am wide awake and figured i would take the time to check in with the blog.

tour with mayday parade and sound the alarm is almost over. it feels like it just started, and i guess it did. this is a short quick tour, but we're definitely having fun. we're hitting a lot of cities we've never played in before and that's pretty awesome.

last night we played altoona, pa. home of the largest sheetz gas station in the world. and it just so happened that it was RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the venue. i went over there and got lost in all the amazingness during the show.



so, altoona was pretty awesome. the band before us got in a fight ON STAGE! i have no idea what happened, but the whole thing blew up right before we were supposed to go on stage. it was pretty ridiculous. during our set, i challenged everyone in the crowd to a fight in the sheetz parking lot, but no one took me up on it. i was bummed. but i did get a delicious fountain beverage while i waited.

we played buffalo on sunday night. we had about a million technical difficulties which made for the most frustrating set ever. nick's bass was cutting in and out, shane kept breaking sticks and his monitor was all fucked up, and due to some weird electrical issue, peter's guitar amp sounded like someone was running a belt sander inside of it. it was so awful. so anyway, we cut the set short and did our best to salvage the show. afterwards, we hung with our awesome friends sarah and sean who drank beers and gave us free hot wings. we stayed up all hours of the night playing dr. mario and mike tyson's punch out. it was perfect.

boston was saturday night. peter got on stage with the local band, lannen fall, and played "whatever it takes" on guitar with them. i couldn't believe what i was seeing.

friday night in portland maine was my favorite show of tour so far. we played a great set, met some rad kids, and just had an all-around good time. also we found the world's most insane beer bong. underneath a tractor trailer in the parking lot. this thing is seriously epic.



only olympia would FIND a beer bong on the street. we took it as a sign that our fortune is starting to turn around.

we haven't used it yet because obviously it needs to be cleaned first, but when we do, new heights of getting awesome and partying will be reached.

before portland, we were in wind gap, pennsylvania. the only thing i remember about wind gap was that a 40-year-old transvestite man tried to get into the show and got kicked out because he had an erection. nice moves, wind gap!

day off today. i have a feeling we're going to america's favorite CHILL SPOT.... THE MALL! i can't wait to peruse spencer's gifts and look for new lava lamps.

love,

phil

Beers!

This is olympia. Doing what we do best.

on the road again..

we're back out on tour with mayday parade and sound the alarm!

we had the first show last night in connecticut. it was a great turnout.. the show sold out! it was only a 200 capacity room, but still pretty awesome. i'm not sure kids know what to think of olympia quite yet. we got some mixed reactions, but some people seemed to like what we were doing.

last night the bartender was totally awesome and kept hooking us up with free drinks. there needs to be more bartenders like this guy in every town. it didn't hurt that we were more or less the only four dudes drinking all night.

we're off to pennsylvania today. but first, guitar center! my least favorite place to go ever. i'll get into that more later, i think.

back to packing up.

phil