It's been quite a hectic journey up to our departure date, but it came and we went. Before we get deep into discussing our trip etc, there are some people who need to be recognized for all of their help and support:
The Bullock & Taylor families
Scuba Rob
Lavanya Ramanathan
Doug Mo
Kelly Hughes
Emily Gibson
Fabiana Talbot
Christopher Stewart
Patrick Kigongo
Allison Curtis
Jay Bynum
Simon Guggenheim
The Marvin Crew
Palace 5ive
All of your help and constant support over our last weeks has been huge in allowing us to embark on this cross country journey.
After hitting loads of traffic, uhaul trailers not fitting, and sleepless nights we finally made our way. We stopped in Tennessee and planned on stopping by Graceland, but with gas prices as high as they are, we opted out and carried on our way. We've had a hard time finding wifi so we apologize for the delay on updates. You can check our Facebook page for up to the hour updates.
We're currently in Oklahoma and nearly to Northern Texas. We're not sure of other spots to hit on our way down south so please leave us some suggestions in the comment box.
It brings us great pleasure to leave one last gift to you all as a token of our appreciation for all the good times. With the help of many dedicated Tennis System fans and our dear, dear friend "Scuba" Rob Orlowski we pulled off an amazing video for our new single, "Hey, We Tried."
With Love,
Tennis System
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Canadian System
Tennis System returned from Canada to find a really nice review of our show at Comfort Zone in Toronto as part of the Canadian Music Fest. Mechanical Forest Sound didn't just catch our show, however. They recorded it. Click here to check out a live recording of our Canadian Music Fest performance of "Arcane," a song from our upcoming record, "Teenagers." We weren't planning to leak it yet, but are totally excited to have leaked for us by Mechanical Forest Sound.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Hey New York, We Tried!
Well, the drive to New York last Friday was quite an eventful journey. There were many obstacles a long the way, but we made it! We made it.
It all began at 2 PM when we filled our gas tank with $88 worth of bad gas from the BP station located on 14th & Euclid in Washington, DC (buyers beware!!) After doing so we proceeded to New York, but we were forced to constantly hug the shoulder as the van stalled every time we dipped below 30-mph. Once we reached White Marsh it had become so bad that we had to call AAA. We sat patiently awaiting AAA's arrival, for an hour, only to be still patiently awaiting. Finally we decided our course of action. We will reverse the van as far back as it can go, accelerate until we reach 60 mph, then gun it across three lanes where we would exit at White Marsh Mall and hop on Pulaski Highway to stop at a service station to get the gas siphoned and refill the tank with fresh gas.
Once we reached the gas station, mind you it is now 5 PM, we had them siphon the bad gas out so we could put new, clean fresh, Shell gas in our van. We explained the urgency of this matter so they began working right away. While, again, patiently waiting for work to be complete, we decided to take part in the gambling available to us in the gas station store. We played several games of KENO & Horse Racing, hoping to make enough money to cover the cost of the work being done. Unfortunately, this was not the case, Matty made $14 on KENO, not nearly enough to cover the $150 dig to our pockets.
The time is now 7:02 PM and load-in is 8. The van is fully siphoned and the finding was that our gas tank contained more water than gas. WTF?! So, after all the gas was removed, we filled the tank, another $88, hoped back in and hauled ass! We were then making great time. In fact, time was being chiseled off from the expected time of arrival generated by/on our GPS. Then we hit traffic on the NJ Turnpike. This changed everything. We began breaking down, AGAIN! The most stressful thing about this time was, a) it was now too late for AAA to take us somewhere to get repairs b) we were in a road-work zone so there were no shoulders & c) we were just 35 minutes away from the venue. To ensure our arrival, Matty had drive in the traffic jam with one foot constantly pressing the gas and the other holding the break. This allowed the engine to constantly get gas, while at a dead stop. This worked for about 4 miles before we were completely broken down, once again. Baffled, we pulled into the emergency pull-off area and began brainstorming. Conclusion: Call AAA and have them tow us the rest of the way. We have a 100 mile tow limit/day. The venue was close enough we could make it in time. Just when we called AAA, a cop pulls up behind us. Get ready for it, things are about to get crazy.
After about 5 minutes, the cop approaches the van. We explain the situation and he replies, "Ok, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to put my lights on, you all pull out, and I'll follow behind you until you reach a speed that will keep you from breaking down." Such a rad cop, he followed us nearly the entire rest of our time on the TurnPike. We then hopped off the NJTP and onto the BQE. Again, we were faced with traffic and break downs. We broke down 10 more times on the BQE. We finally exited into Brooklyn where we, AGAIN, broke down. Every time we made a turn, the van broke down. Finally we make it to Bruar Falls, the van breaks down right in front, and we coast into an open parking spot. We rushed our load-in and were able to play just over a 20 minute set.
Now, we made mention of this being the last Tennis System show on the East Coast, but after a shit-show such as that, we feel incomplete and unfinished. So there is a slight possibility we will set up a show in Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Virginia. Not positive just yet, but keep your eyes peeled.
Without further ado, here is the amazing video our dear friend Scuba Rob pieced together after being trapped with us for the 9 hour drive to New York.
Enjoy!
Tennis System
It all began at 2 PM when we filled our gas tank with $88 worth of bad gas from the BP station located on 14th & Euclid in Washington, DC (buyers beware!!) After doing so we proceeded to New York, but we were forced to constantly hug the shoulder as the van stalled every time we dipped below 30-mph. Once we reached White Marsh it had become so bad that we had to call AAA. We sat patiently awaiting AAA's arrival, for an hour, only to be still patiently awaiting. Finally we decided our course of action. We will reverse the van as far back as it can go, accelerate until we reach 60 mph, then gun it across three lanes where we would exit at White Marsh Mall and hop on Pulaski Highway to stop at a service station to get the gas siphoned and refill the tank with fresh gas.
Once we reached the gas station, mind you it is now 5 PM, we had them siphon the bad gas out so we could put new, clean fresh, Shell gas in our van. We explained the urgency of this matter so they began working right away. While, again, patiently waiting for work to be complete, we decided to take part in the gambling available to us in the gas station store. We played several games of KENO & Horse Racing, hoping to make enough money to cover the cost of the work being done. Unfortunately, this was not the case, Matty made $14 on KENO, not nearly enough to cover the $150 dig to our pockets.
The time is now 7:02 PM and load-in is 8. The van is fully siphoned and the finding was that our gas tank contained more water than gas. WTF?! So, after all the gas was removed, we filled the tank, another $88, hoped back in and hauled ass! We were then making great time. In fact, time was being chiseled off from the expected time of arrival generated by/on our GPS. Then we hit traffic on the NJ Turnpike. This changed everything. We began breaking down, AGAIN! The most stressful thing about this time was, a) it was now too late for AAA to take us somewhere to get repairs b) we were in a road-work zone so there were no shoulders & c) we were just 35 minutes away from the venue. To ensure our arrival, Matty had drive in the traffic jam with one foot constantly pressing the gas and the other holding the break. This allowed the engine to constantly get gas, while at a dead stop. This worked for about 4 miles before we were completely broken down, once again. Baffled, we pulled into the emergency pull-off area and began brainstorming. Conclusion: Call AAA and have them tow us the rest of the way. We have a 100 mile tow limit/day. The venue was close enough we could make it in time. Just when we called AAA, a cop pulls up behind us. Get ready for it, things are about to get crazy.
After about 5 minutes, the cop approaches the van. We explain the situation and he replies, "Ok, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to put my lights on, you all pull out, and I'll follow behind you until you reach a speed that will keep you from breaking down." Such a rad cop, he followed us nearly the entire rest of our time on the TurnPike. We then hopped off the NJTP and onto the BQE. Again, we were faced with traffic and break downs. We broke down 10 more times on the BQE. We finally exited into Brooklyn where we, AGAIN, broke down. Every time we made a turn, the van broke down. Finally we make it to Bruar Falls, the van breaks down right in front, and we coast into an open parking spot. We rushed our load-in and were able to play just over a 20 minute set.
Now, we made mention of this being the last Tennis System show on the East Coast, but after a shit-show such as that, we feel incomplete and unfinished. So there is a slight possibility we will set up a show in Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Virginia. Not positive just yet, but keep your eyes peeled.
Without further ado, here is the amazing video our dear friend Scuba Rob pieced together after being trapped with us for the 9 hour drive to New York.
Enjoy!
Tennis System
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Hey, We Tried on iTunes
Hello everyone. "Hey, We Tried" is now available on iTunes. If you weren't able to make it out to the Rock and Roll Hotel show and are interested in purchasing a hard copy, we have a few left, send TENNIS SYSTEM an email and we'll set up a paypal transaction.Thank you again to everyone who made it out to our last DC show!!
Photo By: Marion Desnoyer
Saturday, March 5, 2011
FS
Here's the video for FS that our good friends Scuba Rob and Chandler Macik shot from our Velvet Lounge show.
Enjoi:
Enjoi:
The Tennis System: "FS" from Robert Orlowski on Vimeo.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Hey, We Tried
Ello, Ello, Ello, Ello! Hope you all are excited about Friday as we are! So to give you even more excitement we're going to give you a sneak peak of the artwork for the "Hey, We Tried" single. But, before we do, Tennis System wants to give a HUGE thank you to our dear friend Edward Max Fendley for doing such an amazing job on the artwork.
Without further ado:
Without further ado:
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
DC We Depart Thee
Over the last three years we have met some amazing people, shared stages with some extremely talented musicians, and had some of the best nights of our lives. None of which will be forgotten. But after 3 solid years of calling DC our home, we have made the decision to move on.
As of April 2011, Tennis System will be relocating to Los Angeles, California to further ourselves as musicians.
There are a number of people we want to give special thanks to for their constant support, encouragement, and belief in
Tennis System:
Richie Giese
Dale Holmes
Damien Taylor
Clinton Cole
Doug Morrison
Lavanya Ramanathan
Jeremy Teter
Steve Lambert
Patrick Kigongo
Nate Frey
Ryan Carlson van Kriedt
Simon Guggenheim
Justin Young
Brad Fullilove
Sheldon Scott & our Marvin family
Ora Nwabueze
Our Families
It gives us great pleasure to inform you that our last show in Washington, DC will be Friday, March 4 at Rock and Roll Hotel. We hope you can make it out and really look forward to a killer farewell show! We'll have a few surprises and a hard copy of our new single, "Hey, We Tried"
Thank you again for all the love and support DC. You will be missed.
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