So we’re driving on the wrong side of the road again. Above and behind me is Justin, sleeping in a queen-sized loft. Directly in the seat in front of me is Jared, wearing oversized headphones. He lifts them off his ears temporarily to readjust, giving me just enough time to register the beat of “Smooth […]

Editor’s Note: This is part one of the final two Menomena tour diaries from their European/U.S. extravaganza. Danny has been nice enough to send along some video clips, too (see the bottom of this page).
We are aboard a Jet Blue flight to Chicago, and the Spiritualized reference is especially appropriate for me, because I am […]

It’s around 11:30 pm on a Wednesday night in Berlin, Germany. I’m sitting in our van outside a club called Festaal Kruzberg. Inside, a sweaty, hairy, shirtless mass of Americana is ruthlessly pounding their way towards oblivion onstage. Fittingly enough, it’s the Fourth of July. No, I’m not in the parking lot of a Bear-themed […]

It’s been a while since I’ve met someone who deserves sainthood more than Kirby James Fairchild. It wasn’t enough that he and his All Smiles band played a major role in making our summer US tour so perfectly enjoyable. No, Jim took it upon himself to offer up his Chicagoan home to us on […]