Man, it’s like that awkward moment when you go on a first date and things go well, you get a little frisky, and then you don’t call, but not because you’re uninterested, but more so because your life got busy. I guess I could recall that other awkward moment when I slept through the english class that focused on run-on sentences. Either way, what I’m trying to say is hello, it’s nice to see you again, sorry I didn’t call (or in this case write), but you sure do look good. I could make false promises to be a better man, to write more, to tell you the things that you want to hear, but lets be real and just enjoy our time together. 

So much has happened since we last spoke: We wrote an album, we recorded an album, we grew a beard… To explain further, we spent the latter half of December and pretty much all of January writing our upcoming album “Death Letter Jubilee.” We feel that the songs that come out are among the best that we have ever written, and we’re incredibly proud to have them on the album. The first 2 weeks of February were spent in the studio recording the album, and we tracked 16 songs in our 10 day stint. It’s currently be mixed, and we’re looking at a September release for this bad motha. As for the beard, it was an experiement. I was in a weird place, and the preteen scruff made me feel saucy. 

But enough about me, how about you. What have you been up to? We’ve seen you around the shows so far, looking good in that one-peice neck to ankle bathing suit. You look good, like a nun on holiday. You sexy little minx, you… We’ve pretty much been on a coastal tour so far. We started on the Gulf of Mexico, and after a few days we drove on over to the Atlantic coast. We played some shows in Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and last night in Wilmington. Myrtle Beach was it’s usual raging boozefest. We played the annual St. Patty’s Day street fest, and had an absolute blast. There’s just something awesome about being able to play music in front of that many people that makes this life so damn sweet. We chased the street fest with a late night set at the trusty ol’Ocean Front Bar and Grill, which has become our Myrtle Beach home. Russ and his crew run a tight ship, and are some of the best people around.  The Durty Myrt ensured that the final walk to the hotel room was full of class and coordination. Sunday was a wash- greasy food, water, and lounging on the couch watching March Madness. Monday was similar, but done at our managers house, and was filled with BBQ, a dog named Loretta Cornbread, and a cat named Crusty. Our hangovers didn’t stand a chance. 

Enough about you, back to me.. We’re beginning our trek up to New England. Tonight is Roanoke, and we will be bouncing around North Carolina/Virginia for the next couple of days, ending up in Johnson City, TN on Saturday, and then on to DC, NYC, and the surrounding cities. We’ll be hooking up in Johnson City with our good friends The FloorWalkers . They’re a hell of a band out of Columbus, Ohio. Check them out at (http://www.thefloorwalkers.com/) After we get our fill of aggressive drivers and lobsta, it’s back to the south, and then a nice little 5 day jaunt to the Oasis of sin, Vegas. We’re busy, but it’s all for you, babe. We’ll be doing a few other short runs through May, all wrapped up at the Wakarusa music festival in Mulberry Mountain, Arkansas. After what I’m sure will be a hazy weekend, we take a week long breather, and then it’s back to Europe to work on our mustaches, and our rolled “r’s”. But don’t worry, I promise to call. I’m a changed man, swears. 

On a somewhat serious note, we’ve said it before, but feel that we should say it again… Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past few years. Everyone who has come to our shows (no matter how big/small/sober/drunk), bought a shirt, shared our music, allowed us to crash on your floor, and to everyone who helped make our Kickstarted campaign an absolute success. You are the reason we do this. You make this fun. This record is for you, and we are so damn excited to finish it, and get it to your ears. Be good, you fellow wanderers. 

To All You Saints, Sinners, And Soon To Be Drunkards

   Sunblock, Bikini Wax, Banana Hammock 

      _The Delta Saints

Well, it’s December again. The lead up to the end of another year. The season of guilt free boozing, guilt free gluttony, and guilt free laziness. Some call it Christmas, some call it Hanukkah, whatever you call it, I think that we can all agree that it’s a season of being thankful. Thankful for life, for the previous year, for family, and let’s all be a bit honest with ourselves and admit that we’re all a bit thankful for the warm/calming feeling that booze provides (especially during those moments within a family gathering when the young ones are running wild, Aunt Linda is nagging Uncle Frank about the smell of his flatulence, and Cousin Eddie is incessantly talking about the latest World of Warcraft update.) Ahh, sweet peace… In the spirit of being thankful, we here at The Delta Saints have had an absolutely wonderful and amazing year. We acquired a new steed, in which we ride steadily and without trouble. We toured all over these here United States, and did our first full-length European tour. And we rounded out the year with a Kickstarter campaign that is going to allow us to make our first full-length album. It’s been one helluva year for us, and for all of this we have a few parties to thank. Thank you to everyone who came out to our shows (the big ones, the little ones, and the in-between ones). Thank you to everyone who bought our tunes off of the interwebs, and at shows. Thank you to those who bought us drinks, and shared in the hangovers the next day. Thank you to those of you whom made our European experiences a dream come true. To those who made us feel at home, even when we were 5,000 miles from our own, and to those whom literally opened up their homes to us. Thank you to those of you who supported our Kickstarter campaign (The folks who shared the like via Facebook, and sent emails. Those who were able to donate money to the cause. The ones whom sent in kind words and helped encourage the campaign.) Thank you to all whom had anything to do with making this year so wonderful. We have continually been overwhelmed by your support this year, and we promise that next year will be even better. Your support is not taken lightly, and you’ve successfully lit a fire under our asses to make the next 12 months even better.

Now onto other matters. Just an update on all things album related. These last couple of weeks have been spent writing new songs for the upcoming album, and there are still a few more that need to be completed. We will be starting pre-production in January, and we couldn’t be more excited. The new tunes are sounding really great and the new record is going to groove pretty hard, so I hope that you get a new pair of dancing shoes from jolly ol’ Saint Nick, and that you break them in before the album release. We’re also planning our next European tour, which will occur in June and July. AND!..!..!.. We may or may not be planning a fairly large US tour to states yet unknown to this here band of drunkards. Stay tuned for updates and such. From all of us here at Casa de Santos, have a very merry Festivus. Now back to the eggnog and sweet things.

To All You Saints, Sinners, and Soon to be Drunkards

            Be Merry, Be Well, and Be Sober enough not to drop the F-Word infront of Grammaw.

                        _The Delta Saints

Greetings Earthlings,

For those of you who have survived, congratulations. Halloween was a drunk, dancing, low-cut mess from what was seen in East Nashville. Not that anyone over here is complaining. I’m just glad that we all made it to the other side, and can begin clearing room for the gluttonous monstrosity that will rightfully occur via Thanksgiving. 

We celebrated the Halloween weekend in the great state of Kansas with two shows, one in Lawrence and the other in Kansas City.  The Lawrence show was at the Granada with two of our good friends, Quiet Corral and Cowboy Indian Bear.  The Granada packed out and a usual, Lawrence, Kansas raged at startling levels. This entire week has been spent trying to recover. Lawrence, you’re a tough old broad, but dammit we love you. The next night was at the Brick in Kansas City and we had the extreme pleasure of sharing the stage again with Cowboy Indian Bear. We made the trek home with full hearts, and pounding heads. 

3 days later and we’re back out, but this time heading east. That Thursday was spent in Knoxville with some great friends over at Knox Ivy doing the 11 o’clock rock morning show, and then across Market Square for a show at the Preservation Pub that night. The next day we drove to Ft. Bragg, NC to play their celebration of Oktoberfest. The gods deemed that we had a bit too much fun over at the Munich version, and thus flooded the skies and earth with tears of sadness and sobriety. It’s ok though, we celebrated the evening in true “Rock’n’Roll” fashion by grabbed dinner at Ruby Tuesdays followed by a bedtime of 11pm sharp. Life is tough. The next day was spent en route and on stage in Macon, GA. The wonderful folks behind Bragg Jam had us out to play their Fly South Festival. The Cox theatre is a room of dreams. I could spend my life playing places like that and live a happy, intoxicated man.

I guess starting this thing off backwards is ok.. We got home from Europe 2 weeks ago and are still trying to adjust to the jet-lag/moderate sobriety/amazing Southern cuisine. The last leg of the tours was incredible. We made our way down to Spain, and were blown away by the amazing people, the beautiful country, and the oh-so-cheap-and-good wine. We’re talkin like 3 Euro per bottle. Let’s talk about drunk and classy. Our bodies could only take about 10 days of Spain, and then we pointed the van north. We made our way back through France, Germany, Holland, and finally ending up back in Belgium. One of the questions that we’ve had to answer quite a bit is “which country was your favorite?” To that exact question I have no one answer.  What I can give you is this; Spain has unbelievable wine.. The kind that is so good that it leave little to no hangover. France has great cheese. General rule of thumb, the more it smells like ass, the better it’s going to taste. Also, goat cheese is supposed to smell similar to a live goat. Germany should be renamed Weiner Schnitzel due to the stellar state that it leaves you in after you eat it. Belgium.. Beer.Beer.Beer.Beer. Best in the world. Let’s argue. Bring it. Holland, well I guess I’d have to say the smiles.. Or the coffee. Or the smiles. What were we talking about? Austria would have to be that fact that it made me appreciate musicals, as it looks just like it was portrayed in The Sound of Music. Sweden has a bar that serves Corner Creek Bourbon..winner. And Norway had the most amazing hotel breakfasts that I have ever encountered.. We’re talking a SPREAD. Cheeses, meats, breads, fruit, yogurt, hell, they’d even serve whale if they had it. That’s my answer. The whole experience was topped off with a 10.5 hours of flight time, which was aided by complementary beer and wine (and a sleep aid..BAAAAWWWWdrool).  We could still be sitting on the tarmac and I’d be ok with it.

We are all still trying to locate a bit of recovery after this past weekends events. We were in Atlanta on Thursday, which is always a show when our good friend Shlee is involved. Kid Rock played next door, and we enjoyed his post show Pall Mall smoking customers. We received some pretty solid advice, in the form of us shaping our sound and repertoire into more of a Lynyrd Skynyrd direction. The next night was just up the road in Chattanooga. We had the great pleasure of opening the evening for Space Capone. Those gents are some funky white boys. The night was spent gettin down and drinkin up. A few kept the evening alive at a party in room 207 at the Days Inn. Great things were discovered, such as, the Chattanooga police will give 2 solid warnings before taking serious actions, and the folks in Chatty party hard. The latter must be an east Tennessee thing, because the next night in Johnson City hurt. Back at the ol’ home away from home, Capones.. It’s always a problem when you’re a few sheets to the wind before the first band has started. The night was incredible; people danced, sang, and drank. We were witness to a boozing battle of David and Goliath proportions. Both David and Goliath took direct hits from the stone by the nights end. I passed out on a couch. I’ve since eaten my bodies weight in Advil.

And in other important news!! Today marks the 21 day countdown to the end of our Death Letter Jubilee Kickstarter campaign. We’ve raised $9,010 so far, and need $5,990 to reach our goal of $15,000. Thank you to everyone who has supported so far. Your contribution to this record means the world to us, and has already lit even more of a fire under our collective asses to make an unstoppable album. Please help us spread the word by posting this link (thedeltasaints.com/kickstarter) on your Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and any other social media outlets that you can think of. Word of mouth is our biggest tool for this record, and we are so excited about what has already happened, and what will happen in the next 21 days. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

To all you Saints, Sinners, and Soon to be Drunkards

            Yo Ho, Yee Haw, And Drink the World Down.

                        _The Delta Saints

Greetings, Travelers..

We’re coming at you live, outside of beautiful Lenzkirch, Germany.  We’re surrounded by the Black Forest, which is actually many shades of green, and all are present and accounted for.  It’s been a minute since our last post, to which you have my deepest apologies, and but one excuse.. The Germans drink their beer by the liter, which doesn’t bode well for productivity or coordination.  But alas, our world has stopped spinning, and the world is right again.  

Our Norwegian adventure ended safe and quietly.  After a few relaxing days, we left the Nords to their saltings, and headed back to the land of the svedes.  Now, I’m not quite sure if it’s the lack of lingual understanding, or the largley unbalanced ratio of beer to water, but I’m seeming to have trouble remembering the names of some of the following cities.. Bear with me. We made our way through Sweden, playing in Eskilstuna (S-Kills-Tuna) and then to a biker/rock’n’roll club in Avesta.  The leather clad bunch were extremely gracious, and very unlike our original perceptions, which may or may not have stemmed from our enjoyment of the television show, Sons of Anarchy.  The owner of said biker bar, also owns a beautiful get-away resort, which also doubles as a rehab facility.. Needless to say, it felt strangely appropriate that we stay there.  Our morning sobriety felt clear as a bell, and the male nurse that made the medicine rounds and gave the sponge baths was gentle, with kind eyes..

We then made our way to Stockholm, and were all pretty blown away.  The city is beautiful, and the people seemed very kind.  We played at a bar called Akkurat, which specializes in whiskeys and bourbons from around the world.  The gods were smiling on us that day, they were.  Now, I’ve felt homesick a small number of times on this trip.  Of the times when my heart hurt the most, was when we saw that this little bar in the middle of Stockholm was serving our collective favorite bourbon, Corner Creek.  Never before has home tasted so sweet.  I was also just informed by Cap’n Kraan, that the original meaning of whiskey is “water of life”. I couldn’t agree more.  We have thus far seen many things on this trip.  Seen things that we like better in Europe, and things that we like better in America.  On this particular night, America scored a big point in our hearts.. As we sit down for dinner, I decide that a glass of Corner Creek is an appropriate addition to my meal, and so I ask the nice waitress for a glass.. She then asks how much I’d like.  I had until that moment taken for granted the American “shot” measurement. When I asked what she meant, she directed me to the fine print, which indicated that I need to order in centiliters.  What in the hell is a centiliter?  Apparently it’s the volume in which you order liquor.  I had no idea what to do, so I made simple calculations in my head as to what I thought would be a good portion, and then ordered.  Score one America, for your nationally universal measurement of a “shot”.  

We’ve pretty much spent the last 2 weeks in Germany, drinking our weight in great Weissbiers, eating our weight in schnitzel, and looking for the perfect pair of lederhosen.  Last wednesday we made our way to Munich, and experienced Oktoberfest.  We go back to the above mentioned comment on beer served in liters.  The important thing is that we all made it back safely.  We all collectively were able to piece together the trip, and for the fuzzy moments, there’s always the flip video.. I’m pretty sure that we used up a good portion of our luck, and our guardian angel’s patience that day.  We owe him a beer.  We spent Monday and Tuesday of that week traversing the beautiful village of Oberaudorf, and the surrounding mountains.  We hiked a 3,000+ ft mountain, and I found out that even with my small, somewhat thin stature, that I’m a genuine fat ass.  I’ve never breathed so hard, perspired so much, and was generally aggravated at life as I was that day.  But we made it.  The view was one from a dream, and the beer tasted extra sweet at the bottom.  We’re done with Germany for a while, and are headed to Switzerland today.  We’ll see how the border guards like us.  We’ve had a fair share of skepticism aimed in our direction from the law enforcing entities so far.  Apparently 6 scruffy looking individuals in a the European equivalent of a Pedo-Van is full reason to pull us over and search our stuff.. Get me back to Liberty, Damnit!  

I will upload some pictures soon, and update more on the reg.  Until then..

To All You Saints, Sinners, and Soon To Be Drunkards

Guten Tag, Donnerstag, and Betrunkenen

_The Delta Saints

We seem to have found ourselves with off days in the land of the Nords.  Upon entering their country, we were boarded by a lady Viking with a strong jaw line, and a confident smile.  She then proceeded to take our captain off of the ship, and interrogate him as to our onboard payload.  Cap’n Kraan charmed her with his Dutch ways, and then she released the hounds onto our ship, searching for contraband, and what I can only imagine was treasure, of which she found none.  After full cavity searches, we were on our moderately merry way, and she bid us adieu fully confident and satisfied.  We traversed this vast country all the way to the town of Sandefjord, and a bar appropriately called “Dirty Nelly’s”.  All we can be confident in is that the Vikings can out drink us, and still manage to stay upright.  Mighty beings they are.  We then traveled to the capital city of Oslo, where the roads were as confusing as the currency (Norwegian Kroner, which is about 1/8 a Euro, which is about 3/5 more than an American Dollar….) A fine show was played, and we feasted upon the fine local cuisine of New Orleans style Jambalaya and Kansas City Style Ribs.  We then met up with some locals, one of which’s name was Bjorn (literal translation is “Bear”).  Bear took us to the local salt and watering holes, one of which was Irish themed, and we bought moderately priced beers ($17.50 American dollars per pint).  After we grew tired of the Norwegian Irish accents, we took a stroll down the road to a bar made completely out of ice.  The bar maid was kind enough to lend us some parkas, complete with fur lined hoods, and gloves that were attached to the jacket (like Mom used to do).  We drank from glasses made of ice, and generally froze our jewels off.  But we didn’t crack under Bear the Viking’s tests.  A few peeled off and headed for sleep, a few trudged on, the next morning all were accounted for, and back to Sandefjord we went.  One more round at Dirty Nelly’s last night, and today, we are all here, a bit sore, and searching for all belongings.  As of now, it seems that we thwarted all attempts at attack. 

            Since our last post, we spent some more time In Neijmegan, at the Funkenstein bar, with incredibly gracious people all of whom we never saw nor heard a wooden shoe.  We then went to Bremen, Germany where we played a fine show, and then proceeded to celebrate Greg’s birth with the ol’kitchen sink method of drinking.. The bartenders grabbing whatever liquor they could find and mixing to their own fancies, and then making Greg drink it.  It appeared as if he sampled a liquor much respected and revered by the Asian culture.  The Mexicans may put worms in their Tequila, but Asia felt the need to one up the Latin culture..  We couldn’t remember/pronounce the actual name, but we’ll just settle on Iguanamakeyoupukejuice.  The bottle literally had dead iguanas floating around the bottle (See the pictures above) He stood strong.  We then dueled the Germans on a Foosball battle royale, with pride and country on the line.  We lost.  Our sorrows were drowned with Jaeger and a 3 star hotel.  Then it was on to Malmo, Sweden.  We all studied the Swedish language very diligently before we came over, and I’m confident in saying that our accents are perfect.  I’m including a link to a video of our incredibly insightful professor.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo)  The show was great, the Swedes were wonderful, and the local Mom and Pop hotel was great.  The Radisson hotel breakfast was superb.  From there we started our Norwegian adventure. 

            Our fearless leader, Cap’n Remco Kraan has been teaching us the ways of the Dutch, and overseeing our adaptation into the European ways.  He charmed the hotel maid into letting us sneak our laundry into the washer and dryer.  Our stealthy cover was almost blown due to Cap’n Kraan’s insistence on wearing his wooden shoes, so we came to a peaceful compromise of stealth and style. (Dutch/American Compromise)  Our next 2 days are looking like they will be somewhat relaxing, although these are the moment when a crew has to be on top of their game.  Watching the hilltops for scout Calvary, listening to the wind for the blowing of the Horn of Gondor, and watching the sky for battle flags.  Tonight we are dining upon filet of Ox (seriously). Will posts more if we survive the night.

To All You Saints, Sinners, and Soon To Be Drunkards

            Drink Like a Viking, Talk Like a Swede, and Smoke Like the Dutch.

                        _The Delta Saints

Greetings from Eindhoven, Holland.

   There are many lessons to be learned when traveling anywhere.  When we first ventured to Bowling Green, KY, we severely underestimated the level of party that those people possess.  When we travelled to DC, we had underestimated how bad traffic could be.  And when we traveled to Belgium, we possessed a severe under-estimation of how hard they rage/how strong their hangovers are.  If I may make a quick comparison… The standard American hangover, in which we are familiar, typically lasts until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  It starts with a drunk awakening, lots of cursing, 1/2lb (0.23kg) of aspirin, a nap, and then finally some greasy food.  This seems like a very natural progression.  The Belgians have a whole different idea to how this progression is to go, starting from the night before.  Their beer is some of the best in the world, along with that, most is around 9% alcohol.  What would seem like a manageable drunk (12-14 beers), in fact is not manageable at all.  It is my personal equivalent to a bathtub of anger.  The big difference, was that there was no real spike in hangoverness, it was longevity that was the killer.  1.5 days later, there is still a twinge of pain behind the eyeballs.  She’s a hard one to kill.. Anyways.

We’ve got a couple of days off, to rest our bodies, and explore Holland.  We’ve played 3 shows, now only 39 more to go.  Gawd help us.  The first show was in Diksmuide, Belgium, which was awesome.  A good crowd showed up, complete with an 80 year old woman, who heckled after every song.  Her preferred phrase was a broken english version of “Yipee-Ki-Yay”.  Bruce Willis would have been proud.  She was a sweet lady, trying to buy us drinks, and throwing down on the dance floor.  Not a bad first impression.  

The second show was in Varenwinkel, Belgium, at the Gevarenwinkel Blues festival.  It’s crazy how many people flock to these festivals over here.  We played to around 2000 people, and were blown away by the response.  When we ended “Momma” the crowd kept the chant going for like 2 minutes. It was the same when we played “Johnny Be Good”, the crowd was screaming every word.  It was out of control.  Everyone kept screaming through 2 encores, and we left the stage with permanent smiles on our faces.  We are undeserving of such kindness, but we appreciate every second.  We also may have appreciated to many beers that night.  Bring on the 2 day hangover..

Last night we played at “The Rambler” in Eindhoven, and had a great relaxed evening.  Holland is a trip.. literally.  It’s 11:15am here in Holland, and we’re about to head out to see what kind of trouble Holland has in store for us.  Be good, and send us some American love.  We miss you all.

To All You Saints, Sinners, and Soon To Be Drunkards

Be Well, Go Easy, And Gawd Bless Dat USA (and Belgium/Holland)

_The Delta Saints