Blog
Living the dream and my first RI show.
Feb 23rd
I took the opportunity on fiveawesomegirls today to talk about how happy I am that I will finally get to live my dream and tour full time once I graduate in May, but that I really don’t know how much longer that dream is going to last. Less people are coming to shows and buying merchandise, because of the economy or school nights or snow or worst of all, because they think they can just go to another show in two months or something because we always come back.
If we run out of money, we can’t come back. I’m not even on tour right now, but I’m pretty much terrified that something I’ve been working towards for four years might not actually last.
Here’s the video I posted about it:
On a brighter note, I’m playing my first show in Rhode Island on this Friday with The Whomping Willows, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Draco and the Malfoys. You should come! It’s free, but if you buy merch, the bands will love you because it means we get to eat for the next month. Details are on the Shows page!
Also, just a reminder that the merch design contest ends this Sunday! You have a few days to get your submissions in. I’m so excited to have new merch made, and to get to use your designs! Click here for the rules and to see the submissions so far.
I love you guys.
Custom ukulele in the works!
Jan 25th
For the past few months, I’ve been obsessing over everything I can find on the Fluke ukulele online. I first saw this thing in Molly Lewis’ YouTube videos and then, after doing some research, I found out that they can be completely customized, with options for the tuners, fretboard, body shape (Fluke or Flea), neck length, acoustic-electric pickups, and you can even have a custom soundboard designed if none of their awesome designs do it for you.
Since I had never played one before and had only heard them on YouTube, I was determined to find some in stores so I could test out all of the custom options and decide exactly how I wanted mine to be made. I ended up going to Connecticut over Thanksgiving break while I was staying with Matt and we visited the Magic Fluke factory to try out some of the ukes they had in person! A few days ago, I finally placed the order.
Karen Kavett, who is amazing, designed the custom soundboard for me. It will look like this:
I’m adding geared peghed tuners, with a B-Band undersaddle pickup (with volume control and preamp). I’m keeping the concert neck and molded polycarbonate fretboard because I liked the way it felt when I played it and I’m going to be touring with this thing so I need all the durability I can get.
It’s probably going to be a few weeks before it comes in, but I wanted to share this with you guys because I’m super excited. I will definitely be making a video with this guy as soon as it comes in the mail!
Want me to play a show near you?
Jan 12th
One of the reasons why I put together this website was to make it easier for people to find out where I’m playing and when, since nobody really uses MySpace anymore and not everyone follows me on Twitter. It bums me out when people send me messages such as, “You NEVER play shows in Tennessee!” because that is not true. That person just didn’t know that I have played there, and I’ve been making every effort to help the people who want to see me to know it when I’m playing shows, without being too annoying or over-promoting.
The truth of the matter is, I’ve never played in a LOT of places, and I’d like for that to change. I’m very excited to tour full-time once I graduate in May, and that will make it so I can go to lots of new places! Unfortunately, willing venues are becoming more difficult to find, especially ones that can afford to pay us for the performances. This is going to be my only source of income, and while I’d rather play for free than not at all, if I run out of money, I’ll have to stop playing. And I don’t want that to happen because I love touring and playing shows for you guys. It’s the only thing I could imagine myself doing professionally, and I can’t wait to get started, even if it means giving up luxuries like my Blackberry and health insurance because I won’t be able to afford them.
There is a way that you can help, and you’ll most likely end up getting a show booked near you if all goes well! Matt of The Whomping Willows is in charge of booking the tours I’ll be going on from now on, and he is organizing a way for you guys to help us with our future shows, through finding venues and promoting the shows locally! Here’s an excerpt from his blog about the new street team.
Rather than just suggest a few things you can do to help, or put out a general call for potential venues, I’ve decided to take this effort one step further an organize an official street team. By joining The Whompketeers, you’ll be on the front line in the effort to keep wizard rock tours alive.
With our most dedicated fans helping us find DIY venues and promoting our shows at the local level, we can contribute to the perpetuation of the wizard rock scene and disprove the notion that it’s just a cultural flash in the pan.
Want to share in the wizard glory? Simply email me at thewhompketeers@yahoo.com and express your interest in joining the team!
To read the rest of Matt’s blog about the street team, click here. Street team members will have access to exclusive goodies as we get going! Hope to see you guys on tour! 
Well, here goes!
Nov 17th
So here’s a scenario for you.
You’re an independent musician focusing on internet promotion to get your music and other projects out there. After around four years, you’ve accumulated a bit of media attention and some really awesome fans, many of whom have become some of your greatest friends. You can’t play very many shows yet because you’re still in college, but you spend every free moment you have trying to spread the word about the performances you do manage to line up. Eventually, you get to play the show in, say, Winner, SD (and it’s awesome). Immediately upon returning home, you check your YouTube messages and right on top is one that looks like this:
Subject: Your Biggest Fan!
Dear Lauren,
I love your music so much. I have all your CDs and they are constantly on repeat in my car. My ultimate dream is to see you play a live show. Why don’t you ever come to Winner, SD?
jnrfdgoffseosfkdfsdkdsfjj (In case you were wondering, that is the result of your head banging into your keyboard because your diligent promotion managed to escape the attention of your biggest fan and you really have no idea when you’ll have the money to visit Winner, SD again)
That brings us to this news update. Today, I’ve decided that I’m actually going to put together a comprehensive website that covers all of the various music and internet projects I’ve started over the past few years. I’m not sure if I’ll even finish the website before I get distracted and start another project, but it’s a start.
I realize that I’m probably going to be linking to this site on all of my other various methods of internet expression for a long time before people even consider coming here first for updates, but we’ll see how it goes. If I can reach one more fan that would have missed a show update otherwise, then it’s worth a try.
