Vocal Warmups
This past tour was intense – something like 26 shows in 30 days!!! Those of you at the shows know that I am at the merch booth before and after each show (and that I LOVE to talk. hah!) I have to admit, before we left for the tour I was a bit nervous about my maintaining my voice night after night . On a whim, I purchased a vocal warm-up DVD I had heard about. What could it hurt, right?
After the first few nights, the guys in both Hydrovibe and Bobaflex (the band we were touring with) started commenting on how strong my voice sounded. We started this tour off with 6 shows in a row before our first day off… and by that time I was convinced these warm-ups really were making a difference. My voice was never even really hoarse! And I have The Zen of Screaming
Since he sings about as much as I do, Mat started joining me on the warm-ups. Well, it wasn’t long after this that Bobaflex’s singers Shawn and Marty McCoy were in our van warming up too! All four of our voices stayed strong despite all the different climates we were in during the month. We were sold.
Often after the shows, other singers approached me for tips or tricks I use to keep my voice strong night after night… Without fail, I say, “Get this DVD and use the vocal exercises whether you scream or not. Because IT WORKS!”
You can buy this DVD for $22.49 at Amazon.com
- NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit – I do this daily… twice a day if I’m suffering from allergies
- Saline Packet Refills – This is a must if you’re on a tour to stay on top of your sinus rinses. Plus, you can use them in very warm water as a gargle for sore throats!
- Mucinex – 2 ENT doctors have recommended these to me; they moisturize the vocal chords and keep phlegm thin.
FileMaker’s Bento software spotlights Hydrovibe
Great spotlight article on Hydrovibe and Bento (our personal assistant software) Here’s a great spotlight article on Hydrovibe and how Heather keeps us well-organized using Filemaker’s new database software Bento (click to read). Pretty cool! Thank you to the fine folks at FileMaker, and of course, to Heather for helping keep Hydrovibe such a well-oiled machine!
End of Tour Wrap-Up
Wow… The past 5 weeks has been one of the best chapters in the Hydrovibe history thus far! We had always said that Bobaflex is one of our favorite live bands out there, but now we can say they are some of our favorite people to share the road with. And I must say, the Hydrovibe / Bobaflex stage show combination is one hell of a powerful combination! Both bands keep each other on top of their game and together present quite a powerful night of music.
With the great camaraderie of the two bands, the excellent routing and booking of the tour (thank you Jenny McPhee and Dan Devita at TKO, and our manager Demetri Benoist), having an awesome front-of-house sound guy (thank you DAVE!!!), having a fantastic tour manager (thank you Chucky Love), and the fact that the gas prices went back down (thank you to whoever made that happen – Chucky, did you make that happen too???); we can easily say that this was the best and most fun tour we’ve done to date. Thank you to all the promoters, venues, our wonderful road friends/family, our brothers in Bobaflex, brother Dave, brother Chucky, all the cool local support bands we shared the stage with, and all who attended the shows… We can’t wait to do it again soon! Now, back to the mixing studio where the Hydrovibe album is about 70% completed… time to stick a fork in this one!
New Hydrovibe Interview
GetInMagazine.com caught up with most of Hydrovibe backstage at the State Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida recently for a quick Q and A…
Update on the Hydrovibe / Bobaflex tour
I have to admit, we’ve been having so much fun it’s been hard to post a blog for all of you.
The shows have been wonderful – lots of new places and some familiar faces too. And touring with Bobaflex is always lots of fun. The Majestic Theater in Madison, Wisconsin was amazing… such a beautiful place and full of really cool people. Michigan and Ohio was like a homecoming for Hydrovibe; thank you all who came out to see us one more time in ‘08! We stopped off in High Point, North Carolina for a Halloween party… It was a great break for us, and we made some great friends.
Now, we’re headed to Florida for a run of shows. This Wednesday’s show has no cover charge, so if you’re in the area be sure to come out! We’ve added a few surprises to the setlist. If you want to see some live footage, visit YouTube; our fans have uploaded some great videos! I’m hoping to see more in the coming weeks, so be sure to bring your cameras to the shows!
We’ve also uploaded some new photos to the site. Check out the Planet Rock album for some amazing shots!
Press and Reviews
There’s a new section on hydrovibe.com for press and reviews, and the first addition is an amazing review written by KJ on his MySpace blog. If you have an article you want to submit, please email it to us.
There’s new merch for sale at the shows, so our New Level Graphics design team is hard at work getting the online store up and running. Be on the lookout for that soon!
We’d like also to know what y’all think of our new site design, so be sure to add comments! Before the end of the year, we’re going to choose a random commentor to win Hydrovibe goodies… so be sure to register and comment!
Almost there!
The epic drive from LA to Peoria, Illinois is almost over. We’re staying with our friend Andrew – the guitarist in Triprod a band we toured with earlier this year. Showers, beds, and chilli are waiting for us when we arrive in about 30 minutes. Thanks, Andrew!!
Hopefully, we’ll sleep well before show #1 later tonight.
Back in the Van… and I love it!
Well, after quite a few crazy days of rehearsing and packing, we departed for tour Tuesday. It’s a little over 13 hours later, and my excitement is building. I really love being on tour… I guess it brings out the gypsy in me! (more…)
Hydrovibe / Bobaflex Tour Details
In only a few short days, Hydrovibe and Bobaflex will converge in the Chicago area for the start of their Fall tour – bringing with them the Rock ‘n Roll mayhem that only these two bands can bring! (more…)
Hydrovibe signs with TKO and announces tour with Bobaflex
I’m sitting here in the mixing room listening to a Hydrovibe song y’all have probably never heard before called “Nothing Left To Lose” (which is sounding AMAZING, by the way), and I thought I’d give you an update on some recent news in the Hydrovibe camp.
We are very proud to announce that after a very long and extensive search, Hydrovibe has signed on with TKO (The Kirby Organization) for booking. Being on an impressive roster with acts like Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Ministry, Mudvayne, Papa Roach, Sixx A.M., The Cult, and many many more, is quite an honor and we are very excited about packaging up with some TKO bands to do some tours next year.
Which brings me to our next announcement… Our first TKO tour has just been announced: we are pairing up with our good friends (and now TKO roster mates) – Bobaflex starting October 15th! We toured with Bobaflex for a few months last year and had a blast. Those guys are dear friends and one of our absolute favorite live bands around, and touring with them always keeps us on top of our game. We have been in the studio for almost two months now and it’ll be great to get back on the road again for a bit….the change of scenery will be very welcomed! The first half of the tour dates have just been posted on our MySpace, and morre dates should be posted soon. Y’all keep an eye on the calendar….hopefully we’ll be headed your way soon!
This Bobaflex tour will be your last opportunity to see Hydrovibe this year, by the way. When we get back home to Los Angeles, we’ll lock ourselves in the studio again to do the final mixing and mastering of our first full-length album. We will come out swingin’ in early 2009 with big tour announcements and a new album. We had initially wanted to release the album late this year, but we have recently developed some partnerships that will enable us to give the album a MUCH BIGGER release in early 2009. Sorry, y’all……you’ll just have to wait a few short months more for the album release. All lame sayings apply – “good things come to those who wait,” “patience is a virtue,” “beer before liquor – never sicker,” etc….
Thanks as always for the support! Hope to see you at a show very soon.
Mat
Hurricane Gustav
Well, it looks like our people down in Louisiana weathered another storm well and are beginning to return to their homes. So far the reports of damages are not too bad…..mostly damages from trees, limbs, and some flooding. Our friends and families are all safe, which is the most important thing, of course. (more…)
AFB Radio broadcasts Hydrovibe to Troops Overseas
We have always been very outspoken in support of our men and women in the United States Military and we involve ourselves how we can here at home to let them know that their efforts and sacrifices are very much appreciated. (more…)
Last night in San Diego / Pacific Beach
Last night we played at the 710 Club in Pacific Beach, which is a little beach community….basically in San Diego. San Diego is beautiful, and Pacific Beach is exceptionally beautiful! I wish we had more time to explore there yesterday.
The show was AWESOME!!! We played with our friends FM Revolver and another cool San Diego band – Aepnia. The 710 Club is a great venue…it had a very cool vibe to it. The people were all very nice, the sound guy was absolutely amazing (thanks John!), the bands were great, the crowd was great…an overall good time! Thank you to all who attended…y’all be looking for us to come back down there again very soon.
Now, BACK TO THE MIXING STUDIO!!!!
Mat
Hello from the studio!
We have been back home in Los Angeles for a little over a week now and have been back to work in the studio. You know, you’re out there on tour in the heat and thinking of how great it’ll be to get back to that great Southern California weather….then BAM!!!…Back in the studio where we hardly see the light of day! hahaha Work, work, work! No complaints,though – you know we love it! Besides…look at my skin – DOES IT LOOK LIKE I SEE MUCH SUN???? haha
We are bouncing between two studios right now, actually…Heather is recording a few additional vocals on some tracks at one studio and we are mixing the album at another. It’s all progressing nicely and sounding AMAZING! I can’t wait for y’all to hear the stuff! They are watching me closely to make sure I don’t leak it out on the internet, though….sorry, you’ll just have to wait!
All you SoCal friends, we are playing a show this Friday night in Pacific Beach (basically San Diego) at the 710 Club…y’all come out! Hope to see you there! Everyone else – we can’t wait to see you on the road again soon. Fall tour plans to be unraveled soon.
Follow us on Twitter….
We’ve recently joined up with Twitter – a fun way to connect with friends all over the world. We’ve been posting updates throughout this last tour (see the Hydrovibe Twitter Feed in our sidebar to the right), and have gotten some great replies to our posts! If you want in on the action (who knows… maybe even a Twitter Contest??), then click here to follow the band. And if you’re REALLY into Twittering, follow Mat and Heather too!
Amazing start of our Louisiana run!
hey everybody. I’m finally checking in with all of you. We’re in Louisiana and just finished our 1st show of 3 in Hydrovibe’s stomping grounds. We played the Blue Monkey in Monroe and had an absolute BLAST. The crowd was just amazing and helped us out immensely during the set by singing a lot of the songs with us! AMAZING! Thank you Blue Monkey! We’re headed to Houma tomorrow to continue our run of Louisiana shows at the Brickhouse – we can’t wait! We love it down there as well! We returned to Mat’s parents house after our show tonight for some amazing home cooked late night dinner at 4 am. After that Eliot and I decided to wonder down the street to the Daylight Donut’s trailer to see if we can get something even though they’re not really open yet – we got there 30 minutes early. However, our new friend Daniel at Daylight Donuts didn’t seem to care about the opening hours and served us probably the best donuts you will ever have . I’m going to sleep now with a full stomach and a happy face. Cant wait to see you all again!!! – we have 3 shows left on this tour. After that we’ll headed back to L.A. with a lot of good memories from our 2008 summer tour. See you next time and stay up late, they will have donuts!!!!
philippe
Hydrovibe goes punk in Joplin, Missouri!
Last night we played in the a rad little downtown area of Joplin, Missouri at a bar called The Keystone Lounge. Immediately walking in I noticed how small the bar was and how amazing this embedded punk vibe was there. I loved it! Immediately pulling up we meet two guys named Dozer and Bruce. Extremely cool people! Already the vibe is there. THEN we head across the way to an Irish pub, hang out, and meet even more cool people. A new friend appears named James, wearing a G.G. Allen shirt. Even better! Soon after we eat Pizza Hut (and don’t get me started on my love for Pizza Hut) and our friend from the night before, Jake, who plays in the band Acropolis shows up to help us load in and hang out. One of the best things you find on the road are amazing people in other bands with no attitudes. This guy Jake is great! He even printed us stickers!!! Thats what I call taking care of each other! As the night goes on we play with a fun metal band and then we play. Tiny bars with people rocking out, dancing, drinking up and having a good time is pretty much the best thing you can ask for! This place even had Youth Brigade on the jukebox (punk band in case you’re wondering). So thanks Bruce, Dozer, and everyone for making it such a good time!!!
Claremore, Oklahoma has a very cool music scene going on…
We did an all-ages show this Sunday at The King of Clubs in Claremore, OK, which was AWESOME! Sunday shows typically can be a bit of a gamble it seems, but this was quite the exception. First of all, the club was very cool…great stage, and good sound/lighting (thanks Allen!). Also, Brandon from Detached Productions really did a great job promoting the show and getting people excited about it. (Thank you Brandon!!!) We showed up at around 6:00 and there were already a bunch of kids hanging out and the crowd grew over the course of a couple of hours. We had a great show (although it was ridiculously hot!), and had a fantastic crowd response. Thank you to all the bands that played, all the people that worked the show, and all who attended…we are honored to have been invited into your scene! Please keep in touch and we hope to see y’all again soon!
Mat
Mississippi was incredible…thank y’all!!!
I never really worry too much about doing shows in the South….the South has always embraced Hydrovibe and we have always embraced the South. Us southern folk love live music, love to get LOUD, love to drink, and just love to have a good time….all the time! Our recent run of shows in Mississippi this week has been quite amazing…thank you to everyone who attended or worked at our shows in Jackson, Pascagoula, and Tupelo…we had a great time! Let’s do it again very soon!
Mat
The American Dream
This month, Hydrovibe played two shows at Bourbon Street in New Port Richey, Florida. The venue is one of our favorites – great stage, amazing sound (thanks, Dave!) and solid ownership (Greg’s a great guy) and top-notch promotions (Russ @ ScotchIrish Productions knows a thing or two…) We have made some great fans and friends in the area as well. So, shows are a guaranteed good time.
But our second July show there was an extra special one… We performed for a WWE scouting match at the club. I have to say, this was the first live wrestling event any of the Hydrovibe boys and girl had ever been to, and we all enjoyed ourselves a lot! After watching some great matches (and spotting some really cool leather cuffs and wrestling boots that I really want!), we got to meet the legendary Dusty Rhodes – a.k.a. “The American Dream.”
According to Steve Slagle of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame:
Dusty Rhodes is one of the most charismatic, entertaining, and famous wrestlers of all-time. No matter where he went, fans loved this blue-collar hero, and Dusty became one of the WWF’s biggest attractions.
What many Americans love is his triumphant story of how he overcame a rare childhood illness that left him with one leg shorter than the other and amazingly grew up to be a star athlete! For me, this is a great example of overcoming obstacles – choosing to see them as opponents to be defeated rather than something that will defeat you. This theme is exactly what I’m singing about in “Killer Inside.”
The lyrics to “Killer Inside” seem like they are describing the metamorphosis of Saw’s Amanda character from the ex-heroin junkie victim to Jigsaw’s killer apprentice. However, the song itself was written by me and Mat before Saw II was even in theaters, when we were at a bit of a low point in our lives where we had no band and life’s obstacles kept mounting up against us, seemingly threatening the existence of Hydrovibe. We got a call that there might be an opportunity to get a song in Saw III and that they needed us to write and record a song and have it to them in Canada (where the film was being shot) within 24 hours. So, Mat and I wrote a song about reaching deep within ourselves to wake up that inner strength to overcome and to keep fighting for what we believe.
And I think fighting for what you believe in and perservering IS the American Dream.
xx St. Heather
Days off are nice, but it’s time to go back to work!
We’ve enjoyed a few days off in my old stompin’ grounds of North Louisiana…eating homecooked meals, resting, and recharging. It’s been nice, but we’re anxious to get back to work! We’re playing Jackson, MS tomorrow, Pascagoula, MS Friday, Tupelo, MS on Saturday, Claremore, OK on Sunday, and Joplin, MO on Monday. Check out our tour dates section on our site or on our MySpace site to get more info. Hope to see you at a show very soon!
Mat
Radio Interview
We had the pleasure of meeting J-Rock and Patty the Radio Girl at our show at Bourbon Street in New Port Richey, Florida a few weeks ago. They are really cool people and big supporters of the rock scene and independent bands. Turns out they are also fans of horror movies, so we had lots to talk about (SAW, Shawnee Smith, Sid Haig, etc).
This evening, they interviewed me for their “Rock Solid Pressure” radio show which is going to air Monday, July 28th at 9pm EST on the radio stations listed below. The links are to stations that broadcast over the internet as well:
- KWTF THE EDGE (TX)
- K94 Rock FM (VA)
- JAX All Access (FL)
- JFL Radio (UT)
- WFLM (FL)
- Rock Nation (Australia)
- WRBC 91.5 FM (ME)
- Mega Rock Radio (MO)
- WDYN 100.1 FM (NY)
- Radio Metal Storm 87.9 FM (CT)
- The Rocket 104.7 FM (OK)
If you catch one of these stations, tune in to the interview and be sure to comment here… I’m sure Hydrovibe will be driving to the next gig, so if you can record audio for us – we’d love to hear it!!!
And to all MySpacers out there – be sure to add them up here
xx St. Heather
Days Off: Good & Bad
Well, we’ve had a few days off in North Carolina. The good news is that we get to hang out with our dear friends in the Mundorf family… Plus, we’re all well-rested and caught up on work, van maintenance, and online merch orders. There’s also been enough time to participate in a movie marathon! Now, I can say that I’ve seen all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean, 10000 B.C., Star Wars, and lots of Degrassi: The Next Generation (ok, i’ll admit it’s my guilty pleasure! hahaha )
The bad news is that I haven’t been able to get into a show routine – physically or mentally. The starting and stopping kind of messes with me. C’est la vie!
Tomorrow night, we’re in Jacksonville, North Carolina at Hooligan’s. If you’re in the area, be sure to come out! In fact, ladies get in FREE!!
xx St. Heather
Life on the Road
Last night we had a show in Brooklyn, New York…
NY trips are always interesting because we have to drive through the city in our van & trailer. Traffic is crazy, and the allowed routes for this type of vehicle-rig is VERY limited. There is only one tunnel that allows trailers. So, after driving in what seemed like circles, we finally arrived at the correct tunnel to get into the city. And that was just the beginning… We still had to get into Brooklyn.
Next headache – PARKING. Even after reading every sign, I’m always half expecting to end the night with a trip to the tow depot to search for our dear van Sylvia among all the other vehicles that have been towed. Luckily, this hasn’t happened yet!
After loading in, we met up with our friend for dinner. I have to say, it’s been a long time since I’ve had really good Thai food! I think this was the first time Eliot had Thai food, so it was fun introducing him to the spicy soup and VERY spicy green curry… mmmmmm. I also hadn’t seen our friend Anne in some years, so I enjoyed catching up with her while waiting on our food. 
An hour or so later, we were on stage. Lots of our friends made it out, and it’s great to see familiar faces in the crowd. Afterwards, barely catching my breath, I sold shirts and CDs… then it was time to load up and leave the city. QUICK TRIP!! haha Special thanks to our friend Mathias for the best directions on how to get out of dodge with a touring rig!
Today was spent almost entirely in the van. I caught up on work and listened to my iPod. Sometimes, it’s nice to tune out and listen to chill-out music. My playlist for June 20th was: Coldplay, The Album Leaf, Múm, Destroy the Runner, Apparat, Console, Explosions in the Sky, Guardner, Midwest Product, and others. I am recharged and ready for more rock ‘n roll tomorrow!
xx St. Heather
