Trapper Schoepp & The Shades

We went big in Texas. Let’s run down the highlights…

Before we even made it to Austin, we played a couple of great gigs in San Antonio and Corpus Christi with our favorite songwriter from the UK, Frank Turner.

En route to check-in at SXSW we met Dave Grohl! He was walking with producer Nick Raskulinecz, an old buddy of our drummer Jon (he produced Jon and our manager Ben’s old band The Benjamins back in the year 2000). Dave did a funny impression of Rami, who plays in the Foo Fighters in addition to the Wallflowers. Dave Grohl was a rad enough dude to oblige a picture!

Our first showcase was at the Ginger Man pub for BLURT! magazine. We met a Shades superfan from Belgium named Huddie. With all the bands out there, it’s humbling to meet folks from across the pond who listen to us.

Craig Shelburne from CMT was also there and wrote in an article:
“Trapper Schoepp & The Shades: I caught this band at one of my favorite bars, the Ginger Man. I think it was on Wednesday around, um…beer thirty. My notes are scarce, but I do remember thinking their boisterous tune ‘Tracks’ is probably going to end up on all of my summer playlists. You can tell these musicians really enjoy playing together.”

Our last show was at a new BBQ joint, Freedman’s Bar, owned in part by our buddy Jimmy Ace, who is the soundman for The Wallflowers. It was the eatery’s first venture into live music – they literally built the stage out of benches and plywood an hour before showtime. Jakob, Rami and Bob Dylan’s guitarist Charlie Sexton showed up right before our last song. The ‘Flowers were opening for Eric Clapton down the street that night. They all came up and sat in on “The Weight” and “One Headlight,” we learned the latter the day before leaving Milwaukee.

The feather in our cap was stopping at Ardent Studios in Memphis and getting a 90-minute personal tour by Big Star’s Jody Stephens. We’re huge Big Star fans, and the history and vibe of the place left us all inspired. Jody is a golden soul, a very gracious gentleman., and we may have found the canvas for our next record.

Well, that’s it for now. It was a star-studded tour to Austin, and we made plenty of new friends. Thanks for the support, everybody! Stay tuned–we’ll try and stay current with what’s going on in our camp, including a new MUSIC VIDEO(!) and tour dates for the Spring.

Lurve,
TS&TS

While on tour with our new pals Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band in Santa Fe, NM recently, the good folks over at LightBright came out and filmed the gang playing “The Ballad of Olaf Johnson.” It’s a new song that Trapper wrote about his great-great-grandfather and how he managed to endure a long South Dakota winter after his wagon busted. Enjoy…

We’re loading up the Chevy and heading out next week for (more or less) the rest of the year. First off is three shows in NYC for CMJ, then we head for Omaha to play ten shows with The Wallflowers. It’s quite an honor to be able to share the stage with them, and if you haven’t checked out their great new album Glad All Over yet, you should go ahead and do that. We especially can’t wait to play with them at Turner Hall in Milwaukee on Halloween. When that ends, we beeline from Toronto to LA to do a handful of dates with our labelmates Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band.

December finds us heading back to California to play three shows with a reunited Limbeck. We’ve always been big fans of this band, and one Record Store Day their drummer Jonny strolled into our instore at Exclusive Co. and ended up joining our band. We’re all beyond excited for these shows, and the cherry that tops it off is when we open for Social Distortion in Anaheim after that.

Click here to go to our SHOWS page for a list of where we’ll be.

We can’t wait to head out on the road…spread the word and we’ll see ya out there!

Lurve,
The Shades

That’s right, the guys will be opening for the quintessential Little Band That Could, Soul Asylum, at the Troubadour in LA on August 2 and at The Independent in SF on August 3.  Check out the shows page for more info!

What more can we say?  We’re thrilled to be amongst such great company as Gaslight Anthem, Gogol Bordello, Flogging Molly, and much more.  There are some great people at this label and we’re very excited to get working with them.
Run, Engine, Run will be released on CD, LP, and digital on Tuesday, September 25, with endless touring to follow.  In the meantime, check our shows page to see if we’re coming anywhere near you.

Check out “Tracks” the first single from Run, Engine, Run, and check out the BIO section of this site to learn more about the band…