From the band’s monthly VoiceboxX column series — recovered from a 2006 AppleWorks file in the band’s archive. The move to Nashville, told at the time.
It was dark when we came over a rise and saw Nashville's lights. The twin spikes of what we affectionately call "The Batman Building" gave character to the skyline. We had driven all day, from WV through Lexington, and finally into Tennessee.
I'd made the trip so many times that I could do it in my sleep...I practically have a time or two. But this time it stood out a little more.
One reason is that in Lexington there is a castle, rumored to have been brought over brick by brick from Scotland. It has been there as long as I can remember; I remember the castle from before I knew of the state of Kentucky. And the thing I knew about it was that it was never completed. Presumably through some miscalculation or financial ruin, the castle was never finished. And it stood like a stark parable to the world.
But in the last two weeks, something has changed. They've started building.
A tower has started rising inside the walls. And it is rising rapidly. In one weekend it c hanged significantly. And it feels funny to think about how I went years without seeing it sometimes, only to pass by again, and see it exactly the same. And now, it is changing.
The other reason that this trip was different was that we had just finished a concert. In December of 2005, for the first time, we did a show at the Teays Valley Cinemas theater. This was an unconventional move on our part . . . what band plays in a movie theater?
By the end of February, when we did it again, we had outgrown the first theater, and had to move to the 300+ seat theater at the Cinemas. This was our farewell concert, and within the month we had completed the move to Nashville.
Many people ask us why we moved to Nashville, and there are lots of answers. Nashville is the mecca for country singers, but we do not sing country. Nashville is also the mecca for people wanting to get a record deal, but we are not searching for a record deal. More important to us is the ability to be in a place where getting out on th e road to tour gives you more practical options than just Ohio.
And there is something to be said for expanding your creative horizons. When you're in a town where your waiter is a songwriter, your pizza delivery guy is a weekend rockstar, and your retail co-worker tours with a nationally known artist, you've got to step up. You've got to borrow, learn, and study everyone and everything for whatever gems they have to offer. And you've got to really throw yourself into what you are doing in order to make any kind of impression.
So that is why we moved. But the weekend of June 2, we had come back for one last cinema show. And after playing, feeling more together and more in-touch than I ever remember feeling, we had packed up and left.
And we will probably not be doing any more cinema shows in WV. The next time we play a major show, it will be in the Charleston Civic Center. And we will be releasing our next CD.
It's not a big deal, but to us, it's the end of an era.