2010 Recap Blog... Like, Literally

2010 was the best year steel train has ever had. it was also one of the best years of my life, and i'm pretty sure the other guys would say the same. let's see - we released a record that took everything in us to make, did the best tours we've ever done, actually executed all of the projects that we had dreamed of doing in the past but never pulled the trigger on, and lastly, it was a year that we met some of the most inspiring and wonderful people imaginable.

it's hard to move forward without looking back at this year. so, here goes. ...

2010:

january:

- we got out of our deal with drive thru records. an incredible and terrifying moment, one that would end up defining us for the next 12 months (and possibly forever). conference call after conference call with our manager marc took place throughout this month. we took some meetings and eventually came to the decision to create a label and self-release our album. it was the greatest decision we've ever made and has since allowed us to do so many things that had never been possible for us in the past. but in january, it was all still a massive gamble. i'm proud that we bet on ourselves.

february:

- at the beginning of the month, we all met in NJ with photographer lindsey byrnes and shot all of the press material for the album. while we were doing this, we had an idea to do a full band shot in my childhood room. the idea was to stage some kind of sleepover. this  shot would eventually become the back cover of our record and the theme for the all of the artwork. after shooting this, a few days passed and i had another idea for lindsey to shoot my sister rachel lying on the floor in my room with a steel train back patch. it was really loose at the time but after lindsey took a few test shots we knew it would be the album cover. full circle. return to our childhood. like literally - my childhood room... and artistically - the fucking record.

- in the middle of this month we left for a seriously long tour with tegan and sara and holly miranda. i'll talk more about this soon.... i'm sure everyone has heard me talk about what a wonderful experience that was.... but i'll get there. so basically, the rest of february was spent touring the north east and south with them.

march:

- march started with more dates on the t and s tour. we then took a break from that, headlined a few shows in some strange and exciting locales like san luis obispo and albuquerque, and then headed to sxsw. our most intense one yet. we performed 6 shows in 2 days. it was bizarre. it also marked the most drunk i had been in my life (up ot this point). daniel saved me and took me to dinner where i started to feel better. irrelevant.  anyway, sxsw ends and we head to the midwest to meet back up with the t and s tour.

- the rest of march is spent on that tour.

- this was also the month that we started putting 'terrible thrills vol. 1' together. the first few people i reached out to were angel, holly, t and s and scarlett. it was the beginning of a project that was going to take months and honestly change the way we all saw our music.

april:

- more shows with tegan and sara + holly miranda. that tour ends on april 8th and we immediately realize that it was the greatest tour we had EVER done and feel crushing anxiety about the future never living up to the past few months. very typical steel train moment. but seriously, we made friends that are still huge parts of our lives. on every level it was a perfect tour. changed us artistically... and physically. i mean, i got my lip pierced in vegas and there may have been some tatoos on this stretch as well. thus physical changes.

- from there we head to southern california to play coachella.

- record store day happens and we put out our first vinyl ever. the turnpike ghost 7-inch with a la roux cover as the b side! seems so crazy that it was our first vinyl ever, but i guess thats just an example of the freedom i mentioned earlier. this 7inch would be the first vinyl in what would soon become a year of complete overboard
vinly wonderfulness (ie- 7-inch of the month club was still a pipe dream at this point).

- after coachella (which was an honor and a blast) we all fly back to new jersey and start a short tour with the fray. this tour was almost too easy. gigantic venues where all there is to do is eat the catering and hang out endlessly. i gained weight. it was unflattering and as result i worked hard to get back to zero in order to enter the record
release in descent physical form.

- this was the month that we had the idea to make the steel train photo book. with that in mind, daniel started shooting everything like crazy. another fantastic reason to get into the shape that makes me comfortable in my own body. this will conclude any talk of weight or physical appearance. thats a serious resolution for me - 'combat that anxieties that have plagued my family for generations'.

may:

- may started crazy. the first day of may we covered an entire set of only saves the day songs at the hoodwink festival. it was such an honor. icing on the cake was chris conley from saves the day watching the whole thing from sidestage. it was one of those experiences that you wouldn't believe possible as a child. i mean seriously, saves the day are new jersey heroes. anyway, i kept looking over at him for approval. i think i got it? him watching us from that vantage point somewhat felt like watching yourself have sex with the person you are having sex with and the two of you are critiquing what you are seeing. make sense? you know, just general bizarre out of body-ness. like a dog on 2 legs, or seeing your teacher outside of school in a grocery store, pancake with a nipple etc.

- the second day of may we flew to atlanta to be a part of the 'band of ballers' basketball tournament for converse. it was nuts. there were 6 teams.... steel train, of montreal, jim jones and family, the black lips, jermaine dupre and family and southern hospitality. without sounding like a conceited prick... we were fucking incredible. a real cinderella story. im talking east dillion lions beating west dillion panthers in friday night lights end of season 4 type shit! although...we didn't actually win. but we were seriously the 'rudys' of the day.  pure excitement. i'll never forget these two huge guys from jermaine dupre's team calling daniel 'larry bird' all night. after all, he was hitting 3's all over the place. as david cross might say, 'he was literally larry bird'.

- the third day of may we flew back to NJ to play the bamboozle festival. this was an amazing end to the craziest few months we had ever had. we got to cover 'dancing in the dark' to a shitload of jersey kids. that'll be with me for a while. one of those moments. felt weighty.

- that was the last thing we did in may and then all of a sudden it was so weird having time off because it was all filled with crazy amounts of record prep. at this point the self release was in full swing. we had put so much on our plate. interviews everyday. talking about the past. where we come from, why this record sounds the way it does, the new jersey torch we are holding, why it matters, etc etc etc.

june:

- we start our first headlining tour in two years in the middle of june. it was a quick one. no filler. basically a chance to preview the record for the fans that have been with us for a while.

- on  june 29th our record comes out via our own newly created label, terrible thrills. as soon as we hold the records in our hands and sell them to fans at shows we immediately realize just how deeply attached we had become to the creation and release of this record. you see, usually, its the music that we've felt grotesquely bound to. but this time it was everything. literally the feel of the records themselves. we made every last drop of it with our own dollars and ideas and as result every record felt like a piece of us.

july:

- july starts with the craziness of release week. which i've gone on record saying is more exciting that shark week and 'the men who killed kennedy' week on the history channel put together.

- at the beginning of july we find out the record had a great first week and charted in a few different places on the billboard charts. this has happened before, but being that we put it out ourselves made it emotional on a level that is hard to explain.

- in the middle of july we are in TX, about to head to florida when our manager marc and our publicist steven call us and basically tell us to get on the next flight home because we are going to be on letterman.  wild! we race home, sleep in our beds for one night, tape 'bullet' on letterman and then from there drive immediately down to atlanta to meet back up with the tour. it was a fucking tornado... and somehow evan still found a moment to critique nicholas cage's hair piece to his face. honest.

- headlining tour ends with a few epic shows in the northeast. specifically the last show in philly. there was a problem with the venue, so we moved the show an hour before doors to some tiny club across town. one of my favorite shows in steel train history as a result of all that everyone had to go through to be there.

august:

- some time off here. we filled august with radio stuff and in stores. and also the attempt at having some sort of personal lives etc. how boring that was.

- we find out that yo gabba gabba wants us to come on tour with them. as a result we write 'its fun to dance'. at this point we had no idea what a special song this would become to us, all of you and select group of 2-year olds and their tired parents.

- at the end of august we head out on tour with yo gabba gabba. THE BEST TIME EVER. im pretty sure you've all seen the pictures.

september:

- more yo gabba dates. still an obscene blast.

- a short tour with OAR in the south. the one thing i'll say about this tour is that we were the craziest we've been in years for a week ... out of nowhere. i won't go into detail, but i'll go on record with this - it involved justin almost dying, a horse, someone stripping to that mumford and sons song, a hippie, some strange israelis we met... and so on. ask one of us at a show. ok

- we complete the oar dates and immediately start a long tour with fun.

- also in september we released our gay rights = human rights benefit shirt. i want to thank everyone for the MASSIVE support here. we've raised great money for great causes and we are so proud to have smart, open minded, forward thinking fans like all of you.

october:

- fun. tour throughout this entire month. total blast. i felt so excited and proud to be back with a large group of friends that had toured together in 2004. seriously, i'm so thrilled that the best days turned out to NOT be behind us. no glory days type of shit, this tour was amazing and current.

- somewhere in this month we started planning the '7-inch of the month club'

november:

- some time off, then more dates on the fun. tour

- its getting cold, but the shows are getting better and better. this also marks the first time that the four of us dropped all of our insturments at the end of 's.o.g burning in hell' and dove into the crowd. felt like sharing that since for some reason its a major memory for me this year. stage diving is a youthful act and can rocket you back to your youth if you do it right.

december:

- DADT repealed!!!

- started off with more dates on the fun. tour. we went until december 13th and then drove back to NJ from a freezing kentucky. like 8 degrees. apocalyptic.

- a few days later we shoot a music video for 'bullet' (coming really soon!!!!). this was very possibly my favorite experience of all time. we rented out the teaneck american legion hall which is the very site that we grew up playing our first shows in as 15 years olds. the place holds 90 people, and was the birth of an entire scene in new jersey back then.  just like the theme of the entire album cycle, the video was a return to who are and where we come from both literally and artistically. it was an experience that truly defined success for me. it was all right there. we opened the video up to 50 fans, and the way they got in was by writing why they wanted to be a part of the video. just reading those e-mails alone was one of my favorite experiences this year. so as result of this process, the 50 people in the room were as excited to be there as we were. they came from all over the country. people flew in from california, arizona... some people even drove from st. louis. the journey everyone went on to be a part of the video shoot created an unmatchable vibe in the room. it felt like the last day on the earth and we were all in the right place. so, in between numerous takes of 'bullet' we got to play what was one of my favorite shows of all time even though it wasn't really a show. we played songs we haven't played in years. school is for losers, gypsy waves, we  played road song with scott and matt who both of whome used to play in steel train.. etc etc. real bookend type moments.

- decemeber ends at the same place it did last year. at an italian resturant in teaneck, NJ. all i can hope is that in 12 months i'll be back at that same italian resturant with a list of memories like those of this past year.

thank you all so much. seriously.

so.... the point is this. 2011 is going to be all that squared. hope you're ready, because this record cycle is just kicking into gear.

sending love-
jack