Welcome back to the second installment of our two part Tour Diary put together by the members of The Brew. Yesterday, bassist Joe Plante told us all about the band’s adventures at moe.down. Now, Joe’s brother - keyboardist Chris Plante - shares his experience from the road…

[All photos by Ashley Plante]

September 5, 2008

Stone Church, New Market NH

Legendary venue facing foreclosure. This should be illegal. So many great bands have played here, so much great music, it seems like a cardinal sin to let this happen, hopefully in the coming weeks we will learn that some saint out there didn’t let that go down. [Editor's Note - Success!]

We have been playing this place for a few years now, maybe about 15 times total and after selling out our last play there in a blizzard, we decided it was time for a two night run (our first proper two night run I might add).

We have a couple great opening acts slated for the two night run, and up first is a band that we are very fond of, The Han Solos. Now close your eyes…wait leave them open you will need to read these instructions…

READ ON for more of The Brew’s Tour Diary…

It’s been quite some time since we last brought you a new edition of Tour Diary, but our next installment was worth the wait. Former Blips artist The Brew recently made their first appearance at moe.down and then headed over to the Stone Church for what they thought at the time would be their last appearances at the landmark venue. Bassist Joe Plante gets us started…

[All photos by Ashley Plante]

August 30, 2008

Driving. It feels much better when you are driving to moe.down, even if a few early hitches come up. Hitch # 1: The night before we arrive at our hotel in East Burke, VT after a long couple of sets, find we are down a couple of beds and a room. It is 3:00AM. Chris Plante (keyboards) and Andrew May (sound engineer) are the self appointed “chosen ones” to deal with going back to the venue for a second option. Long story short, they drive around boondocks Vermont, get offered a potential sleeping spot, but it is the home of about 400, mythically gargantuan, hermit-crab-size spiders, which the owner ( a really cool, down to earth girl) loves. Andrew is just a little intimidated by this. Actually, he is petrified. After trying to sleep in a less than comforting environment for paranoid arachnophobes, they drive back to the hotel parking lot to sleep in the van with a hungry flock of mosquitos waiting. That was 4:30 AM. Two hours later is wake up call. The poor guys got about an hour of sleep and an hour of swatting. No time for bitching, just laughing this time. And time for moe.down!

We all pile into the van, turn on our GPS, affectionately named Gertrude (yes, she is a sexy bitch whom we spoon when nobody is looking), and we think we are looking at a 7 hour drive to moe.down. Little did we know Gertrude had planned on taking us through Canada to get there. I almost drive into the nightmare that would have been the Canadian Transit Authority without passports. That is Hitch #2. We turn around, having wasted two hours of our trek to nothing but technology and now we are looking at 8+ hours across the backroads of Vermont, NH, and New York, until the infamous I-90. A little shitty, but still amped for our prime time slots at moe.down!

READ ON for more of The Brew’s adventures at moe.down…

The Brew

[Photo by Ashley Plante]

Website / MySpace

When the nominees for the New Groove Award were read at the recent Jammy Awards, Massachusetts’ The Brew got the biggest ovation from the crowd. After listening to their new album, Back To The Woods, I can understand why people are so into their music. The Brew has spent the last five years developing a unique songwriting style that combines flashy changes, beautiful lyrics and hooks you just can’t get out of your head. They also know how to kick out the jams behind Dave Drouin’s soaring guitar leads. 2008 looks to be the year that The Brew breaks into the bigtime. You can check ‘em out at moe.down or pretty much any decent sized city in the Northeast over the next few months. Keep your eyes on these guys, they are the real deal. - Scott Bernstein

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