Last weekend was filled with wonder, amazement, sleeplessness, stress, fun, jokes, music, ghostbusters, new friends, and much more. We set sail one night for Tucson, AZ, a trailer full of equipment, not knowing what to expect. As the sun rose in New Mexico over half a day later, we stopped at a shady little bar that doubled as the gas station in the middle of nowhere and reminded us of the bar in Rodriguez and Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn. We passed the town of Elephant Butt (actually “Butte”, but who ever reads that correctly?) and the ominous town of Truth or Consequences. And as we drew closer to Mexico and Arizona, the towns became more barren, and hundreds of dust devils spiraled across the fields around us, giving the mountains an air of danger. One devil rivaled a tornado, ripping through a large barn over a mile from us, the barn being no match for the twister over 9 times its size at the base. We wish this picture truly captured it:
18 hours after our departure. We drove up to THAT motel. We all hear its stories, we all know the tale. We’ll spare you the gruesome details. We we just happy to negotiate our way into one of their few rooms with clean beds. And yes, all the horror stories about shady motels are true, we were just too tired to care. By the time we reached our room each night, we were passing it from exhaustion. It didn’t matter what was taking place outside our paper walls.
The Steampunk Old West
Old Tucson Studios was a wonder to behold. Walking the streets of John Wayne, Tombstone, The Three Amigos, and hundreds of classic westerns, was like traveling through time. Add to that hundreds of people in Victorian and Old West attire, and it truly was another time. Then add pipes, goggles, giant clockwork and steam powered contraptions, old world robots, and even our Victorian Ghostbuster friends, The League of S.T.E.A.M., and the world quickly became something beyond even the lofty imaginations of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
Friday night, we shared the sold out stage with Belly Dancers, The League, and our incredible hip-hop wonderful friend, Professor Elemental. The show was amazing. Our “audience check” was met with skepticism, but finished with laughter. Our music, show, and story was met with shock, wonder, tears, laughter, applause, and words of amazement. We told the story of our songs, the story of Draven’s son waking up from Autism, the story of The Silent Still Society, and the story of friendship. We felt truly honored. So many wonderful people approached us afterwards, to share in our enjoyment, tears, and fun. It was a night we will never forget, and a night of many new friends.
For the next two days, we changed stages. We moved to a more intimate stage, surrounded by steampunk wares of all shapes and sizes. After much deliberation, and a full-scale town search for the right equipment, we decided to forego our rock show for a much more subtle and touching acoustic show. We all sat across the stage and shared our hearts with smaller audiences who again were just as amazing. Tears, laughter, new friends…we were highly honored to be in such a place.
Saturday night, we enjoyed the company of old friends, and quickly headed back to the stage. But this time we joined the audience instead, sharing in the indescribable coolness of Steam Powered Giraffe, the musical adventures of Abney Park, and the gat humor of Professor Elemental hosting the night. We look forward to the honor of joining such an amazing line-up of performers again.
Sunday we took up acoustic arms again. We were joined by an audience who specifically sought us out. We made friends, we took pictures, and had a great time.
Afterwards, we explored the grounds, saying our good byes, and enjoying the company of new friends. Alex and Lane even enjoyed a good dance with the Can-Can Girls of Old Tucson.
Home Sweet Home
Then it was time for another 15 to 18 hour drive, watching the sun rise as we approached Colorado. While departing, we got caught up in the sheer coolness of being on such a movie set, and had fun filming some silly, yet fun videos to share with you later. Apparently, we’ve taken on character from The Society’s Archives as our own, and somehow developed super powers as well. Lol! We look forward to sharing those with you soon.
But first, after a day of rest, we took up the cameras once again. This time on the set of our coming music video, to film a fight between a rather malicious Shadow creature and our own Hunter (a word even his parents bestowed upon him):
We want to thank every single one of you who made it out to Wild Wild West Steampunk Con this year. We’re still catching up with contacting everyone we can! Our website was down last weekend due to the she volume of people wanting to download our free EP, Stories, and Poster. If you missed it, please sign up at the top right of this page. We have so many cool things planned for our fans, members, and mailing list. Be sure to be a part of it!
This week…we finish the music video shoot! And next up, we hope to see you at our Denver show at AnomalyCon’s Grand Ball March 30th. We’ll be around that Saturday and Sunday. come say “Hi!”