Album up! Listen here.

(614) Magazine is a truly phenomenal local rag put together by some of the most genuine human beings I’ve come across. Despite that, they wasted two valuable pages blabbering on about me. It’s a lovely summer read and David S. Lewis is actually quite a decent writer. Watch out for that kid. Read all about it!

We have recently become aware of the unending potential in these modern times to allow us to say to our brothers and sisters, “Hello friend. How are you? Do you need any help along your way?”

$1000 – cd printing
$400 – new tires for the car
$200 – cover art/design
$200 – merch
$200 – instrument repairs and gear
$100 – flyers (july/august)
____ – health care

Circumstances arose that let Adam stay in town one more night for our show at Hal & Al’s last night. Here’s what the first two songs sounded like:

This is the Skin A Cat songwriter’s showcase put together by Joshua James, another fantastic voice yelling into the bars of this city. It’s 6-10 on the last Sunday of the month at Hal & Al’s. I know I had a fun time.

Busy times here at Trains…still reeling from that Comfest set. Some news:

1. Adrian Jusdanis, the finest fiddle player I’ve ever had the pleasure of performing with, will be focusing on some other fantastic local projects for a while. When Adrian joined back in the summer of 2009, he was unquestionably the greatest thing to happen to Trains yet. Seriously watch out for this kid – one of the brightest futures of any musician I’ve seen in town. It has been truly a treat to play alongside you, Adrian, and I wish you the absolute best. Of course, every time our albums need a fiddle I know exactly who to call.

2. The DewDroppers (see above). Playing their first show as a three-piece at Comfest this year, The DewDroppers are what happens when Andy gets too tired or drunk and wants to sit down and have something pleasant to listen to. The three non-front men of Trains (Joe Gilliland, Counterfeit Madison, Adam Nedrow) are making the most original music I’ve heard come out of Columbus yet this year. Please listen to and download their demo for free. I honestly can’t stop listening to it.

3. I did a solo set on Live From Cleveland on the fine WRUW radio station a little while ago. They stuck me in a hallway and I think it sounded pretty good. Feel free to listen if you’re bored at work.

4. My grandparents recently got remarried (met in ‘52, married in ‘53, raised 8 kids, divorced in ‘86, she moved back in in ‘88, he proposed again this year) and I was asked to write a song about it. Here’s what that looked like.

5. We’ve been recording the next album for a little over a month (I don’t leave the house for days at a time and my room is a disaster…this is the most stressful time for me in the whole game), and it should be out pretty soon. Let the buzz begin!

This is the handiwork of Megan Leigh. Good lord we here at Trains owe that woman our souls. Bless you, Megan, and wonderfully shot.

(The Greatest Show?)

The Peach District has teamed up with Gracehaven House to put together a compilation of the best current Columbus, OH music we could find. Then we all got drunk one night and recorded an old Trains song and stuck it at the end. Despite that, we honestly believe this is an objectively great album, and it’s really fucking amazing that such great songs are coming out of this city right now.

Ideally, this becomes the album of Our Columbus Summer 2010 and every car stereo blares with the road trip energy of WOLFPACK!!! and we all stomp like drunken idiots every time Grey Flag gets to that last part and putting on Andrew Graham at the end of another endless drinking night becomes the night you finally have the balls to KISS HER and life is again good.

Well, at least we like it, and we highly recommend you hop on over to gracehavenhouse.bandcamp.com to give it a spin. All the money goes directly to Gracehaven House, a phenomenal local organization looking to provide a safe house for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. This compilation is a great first step to align yourself with these modern abolitionists and simultaneously support all this fantastic music coming out of this wonderful city.

As for our track at the end, we had plenty of help that fantastic evening, recorded in that wonderful “one mic in the middle of the room” way that’s oh so easy for us and occassionally painful for the listener (sorry Mr. Dodson). For our basement re-recording of “The Cobbler’s Blues,” the following people were kind enough to show up in my basement and help out.

Zachariah Baird – who let him in?
Miles Curtiss – laughter
Joe Camerlengo – stylophone
Jason Dutton – harmonies, whisky
Andy Gallagher – guitar/harmonica, PBR
Joe Gilliland – bass
Adrian Jusdanis – fiddle
Phil Kim – guitar
Tristan Seufert – drums, street cred

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For the curious, the track listing for And Female And Brave, what I think should be our city’s Summer 2010 album:

1. Super Desserts – Yr Heart
2. Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch – Take It Easy On Kathy, At Least She Can Dance
3. Ghost Shirt – WOLFPACK!!!
4. Old Hundred – Winter Months
5. Saintseneca – Grey Flag
6. DJ Moxy – Chicken Scratch
7. Phantods – The Crying Call
8. Monolithic Cloud Parade – Do Ghosts Dream of Death?
9. Alwood Sisters – Perfect Day
10. Wing & Tusk – Home, Sick Home
11. Arlo & The Otter – Passing Lane
12. Moon High – Smoke Before My Eyes
13. Shin Tower Music – Patterns
14. Wonder Twin Powers – WreckUH’d ON
15. Heather Evans – Priceless
16. Fellows, Inc. – From The Shore
17. Trains Across the Sea – The Cobbler’s Blues

Trains Across the Sea – Greetings From The Peach District (4.5/5 stars)

Sometimes, a musician comes along that just connects with your soul. Every epic song and every timeless lyric speak to you in the most moving way. Its like they’ve read your diary and wrote songs based on your experiences. When that happens, its like the clouds part and the great power above has guided you to that particular artist at just the right time in your life to remind you you’re not alone. Then again, sometimes a musician comes along who connects to you in a less epic, but equally relevant way.

Andy came directly to our office on his fixed speed, braving the harsh weather and downtown traffic to drop off one of his CDs. The least I could do was give it a listen right? I pop it in, not really expecting too much (not because of Andy, just because of the general feeling of disappointment I get from most local music.) I was blown away. Every track was dripping with sarcasm and undeniable truths about life for all the starving artists and broke college kids in C-Bus. If Jimmy Buffet had an illegitimate love child with Bob Dylan, he’d probably strive to sound like Andy.

Most of the tracks sound like live recordings, or perhaps they were recorded in a bathroom on a cassette tape, but it actually adds to the listening experience rather than detract. It somehow makes it more sincere. My favorite track, Wheat Bread is basically an outline of my daily life. Like going to parties where I don’t know the host, but commandeer the kitchen anyway and take all the beer I can, or sitting next to the window for free Wi-Fi. And how about those kids who tie their bikes on the no parking signs- you know they do that for the irony. Its nice to know I’m not the only one who chuckles about that. He really takes the experience of life of a broke ass artist and/or college kid, puts it to a tune and lets the honesty flow.

Holiday[s] reminds me of Christmas when my distant cousins decide to drop in- running through the motions, pretending to care, but as Andy says “faking it is better than a holiday alone.” So if you are into folky, acoustic, poorly organized honesty check get on your bike and check out Trains Across The Sea. You can catch them on March 7th at Dicks Den. If your bike got stolen, move next to the window and check out their myspace- myspace.com/trainsacrossthesea. You’ll be pleasantly surprised. – Abbey Miller

A brief explanation of this whole “Trains Across the Sea” endeavor:

In case you didn’t know, the title of this musical project is taken from the song of the same name by a band called Silver Jews. If you haven’t listened to them, stop reading right now and find their albums. No question, David Berman (the main force behind Silver Jews) is the reason I started writing and singing my own songs. All my favorite singers couldn’t sing either.

Three weeks before I took this full-time plunge into music, David Berman poetically announced the “Joos” were finished. As an additional twist, Berman revealed to the public that his father is Richard Berman, a D.C. based consultant and lobbyist whose company develops numerous media campaigns for multinational corporations to downplay the dangers of obesity, smoking, mad cow disease, and drunk driving, among others. David Berman states in his open letter:

“This winter I decided that the SJs were too small of a force to ever come close to undoing a millionth of all the harm he has caused.”

And that’s exactly why I started this band: it’s not that music is powerless to undo the crimes of the Richard Bermans of this country, but that music is essential to developing the good and right foundation in those who will inevitably replace them. That even if music can’t change laws, it can sure as hell change minds (which are infinitely more powerful anyway). That all Music ever was at its best was a morsel of COMMON TRUTH which rang true over the din of chords and melodies and the dancing and stomping and sweating of MOVEMENT and the simple joy of true communion between strangers. That we can argue about what SHOULD be until we’re blue in the face, but the only real answer to this mess is an educated populous who knows the right thing to do and DOES IT. And if the music of Silver Jews or Trains Across the Sea or anybody else can help eliminate the gap between what you’re currently doing and what you know you should be doing, then music won’t be pining to undo one millionth of anything; it will simply provide the soundtrack to all of us building our better future.

“But what happens, and why I think the world doesn’t fall apart, is that when there are irrational old people in charge, there is a countervailing group of young, cooperative straight arrows who are great at teamwork and are not seeking to nihilistically shut down the system. They have an investment in repair…” (David Berman)