Still recovering from turkey overload. The last two months have included a trip over to Spokane where we played at the new Jones Radiator, and then went a bit further into the East and did our first Montana show at the Top Hat. Then we had a whole week off to regroup and prepare ourselves for the madness that was Halloween at the Buffalo. Thank you Bellingham for being the best gosh darned home town anyone could ever ask for. Still not sure how 500 people managed to stay inside the entire night. R.I.P. R2D2

The next weekend was spent out on San Juan and Lopez islands. As always, the best fed weekend of our lives. Then to Anacortes for Brewgrass festival. And finally a weekend jaunt to Corvallis and Hood River, where we hope to see again soon.

This weekend is going to be two great big shows, both with comrades. Friday night will be at Nectar in Seattle with the Polyrhythmics (one of our favorite bands) and Eric Tollefson who we got the chance to play with in Missoula. Then the next night (3rd) we'll be up in Bellingham for the show at the Wild Buffalo with Vaughn Kreestoe and the Staxx Brothers. Also this evening will be Jeremy's talent show where he will attempt to perform with all three bands without making everyone else look bad.

 

Isn't this awesome? Thanks to Joseph Wynne Reamer for his creation!

What a whirlwind! Since we last checked in, Polecat has migrated south and back. Our first shows out of state took the band down through Oregon, all the way to San Fran, and back again. We played in some great rooms and met lots of nice people who were willing to dance. The trip included TWO popped tires on the RV and completely soaking all of our equipment in the shower. The trip started out with a show at the Whatcom Musuem's Lightcatcher Courtyard which was a beautiful setting. Katie brought her dancing girls out and made it a fun night as usual!

We met Ethan from 83 Music in Bend who was kind enough to take gome really good pictures and a high quality video that you can check out on youtube. Playing at Amnesia in San Fran was one of our favorite shows and we hope to make it back very soon. Polecat swam in some rivers and checked out the majestic redwoods, then got back in the RV and headed into Oregon again. We played at the Applegate Lodge in Applegate, Oregon and then McMenamins in Bend where we hung out with the guys from Acorn Project and had a hoot.

Then up to Seattle for a night at the Dubliner and a quick jaunt over the Chewelah, WA for a wedding. We thought it was all over after that, but then a suprise gig the next day and we ended up playing in Oak Harbor for Race Week!

We kept it fairly local after that for a while. On July 22nd we opened for national touring act, Cornmeal at the Wild Buffalo, the 27th was the fundraiser for What's Up! magazine, and August 3rd was Downtown Sounds with the Moondoggies (FUN). The 9th we went down to play at Nectar for the first time and to gear up for what turned out to be my favorite band weekend of all time.

August 12th-14th included the Skagit Valley Fair, Subdued Stringband Jamboree, Summer Meltdown Festival, and Whidstock (not to mention two Giants' Causeway shows and a Vaughn Kreestoe set). Really the weekend started on the 11th when Sam and Eben arrived at McKay's Taphouse in their baby blue 1970's WTA bus to pick us all up and haul us and all of the gear to Jamboree. The rest is history :)

But summer wasn't over! Headed to Chelan for the Caffe Mela outdoor series where we played downtown in a park, then the NW Herbal Fair where we all felt the love. August 25th we played at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle and opened for Poor Man's Whiskey, then the following night in Bellingham at the Buffalo for our show with Lamppost Revival. Last but not least, a well-fed weekend in Friday Harbor at the Rumor Mill. Peggy treated us right as usual!

Just before we took our break, Nick at the Roost invited us to use his beautiful home for our first ever video shoot! Our goal was to create a high quality live video of one or two of our songs to release into the wild (youtube). Thanks to Russ Fish and Erin Bennett for their work and patience! More on this project later...

So now I am pleased to annouce the arrival of the newest in Polecat merch:

Summer at last! Polecat finds itself with sleeker fur and sharper claws (haha that's for Karl).  After our CD release in Bellingham we moved over to Central Washington to bring our new album to the awesome folks in Chelan, Wenatchee, and Twisp. We crashed an Earth Day festival and busked until we were removed for making everyone too happy (case closed). 

The next weekend we went down to Seattle for a show with the Hackensaw Boys at the Tractor Tavern. Daniel Ahrendt did a cool photo essay on the show which you can check out HERE



Plus, my favorite moment (thanks Sandy Lam)



Then we played a super fun show at the Roost in Bellingham. Nick, Jonah, and Scott treated us very well and we got to hang out with Seattle band, Gentlemen Buckhunters. I'm fairly sure we were there til 3:30 in the morning, but I fell asleep on a couch in the middle of an awesome jam session. But before that... a video by Jonah

Followed by another sweet show at the Old Foundry! Thanks to Lamppost Revival and Cara on this bill. And to Carlton for putting it all together!



Then we hopped on over to the Green Frog and had a great time playing with the Blackberry Bushes (thanks Sam for the awesome poster)


Then we headed down the Anacortes for the annual Waterfront Festival and met quite a few awesome Anacortians (?) Thanks to Greg Kirckpatrick for these shots.




Then a full day in Seattle busking at Folklife and playing on the Fisher Green Stage for the Subdued Stringband Jamboree showcase. Afterwards we loaded up and did it all over again at the Dubliner where we ate burgers and nursed our sunburns from the day.



How come Karl isn't at any of our gigs?

There he is!


Then back to Bellingham for a full weekend at home, Friday night at the Urban Music Festival and Saturday night at the Appliance Art Revival.

Now we are going to Jeremy's house to work on some new tunes (one is a Bela Fleck and the Flecktones tune!) and getting ready for another great weekend on the road in Central Washington. Watch out for us in Oregon and California next month :)

-polecat

The new album is out and it was released with a mighty bang if I do say so myself. We had the show at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham. Thanks to Tana for making everything run smoothly and working out all of the little glitches. Pat and Riley worked the door (thank you!), Phoebe ran our merch table and sold more than 70 CDs that night, and Todd and Mike ran sound for us, not to mention hauling ALL of the equipment in that day and out that night. We couldn't have done this without all of you. Not to mention the TWO HUNDRED awesome people who showed up and had a good time with us.

Thanks to Brandon Fralic for taking great photos. You can check them out on our photo page or see them on his site HERE

On an exciting side note, apparently we are being played on Georgia Tech College Radio?! And through our distribution service we can see people buying and downloading the album in Florida, Hawaii, and North Carolina!

The CD is available for purchase on CD Baby and at The Mill in Bellingham which is Bison Bookbinding's shop in downtown Bellingham on E. Chestnut St. right across the street from La Fiamma. Bison, of course, did the album covers for both of our CDs. You can check them out HERE

Hope to see everyone at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard on April 28th, and then at the Roost in Belligham on April 30th.

I'll leave you with some classic Polecat snapshots of our time on San Juan and Lopez islands. I seem to be gathering quite a collection of photos of the backs of four boys doing something with rocks or sticks. Maybe one of them will buy a camera soon haha (hint)

March went so quickly! That means that our CD is almost ready to be released into the wild. New t-shirts and stickers are also in the works.

St. Patrick's Day at the Wild Buffalo was AWESOME! Apparently the show was sold out by 10:30. Eclecticity (check them out HERE) was great and got the night going. Jonathan Gipaya took some video footage and made a sweet little video that you can find on our homepage.

Clea also took some cool pictures!


Our first trip in the POLECAT RV! Had a fun weekend at the Rumor Mill in Friday Harbor. Thanks to Peggy, Benj and family for a great time and the royal treatment!

Rumor Mill stage...


And a Polecat outing at South Beach on San Juan Island...



Hope to see everyone on April 8th at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, WA!

We had a great time over in Port Townsend on Friday! Thanks to the awesome staff and Sirens Pub, and the enthusiastic crowd there.

http://sirenspub.com/

Not to mention our Canadian friend who treated us with a flute solo! Saturday we played up at WWU for the Pop Conference and got some great pictures from Ms. Cotton that you can check out at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelcotton/sets/72157626206198700/

Now on to Mardi Gras!!!! See you at the Fairhaven on Tuesday!

We're back from another fun trip to San Juan Island where we played at a fund raiser for sound man Benj's nephew at the Friday Harbor Fairgrounds. We played on the ferry on the way over and had a great time, as well as met some awesome islanders and friendly ferry-goers. Polecat stopped by the Rumor Mill for a drink where we will be playing on March 18th and 19th. Word has it that Shaw Island might be the next island on the Polecat hit-list.

We had our last McKay's Taphouse Brewer's Night a week ago today. Great times with great people. And it was Amber's b'day so what more could you ask for. We made an awesome Polecat poster for our favorite beer-pouring/pizza-making/hug-giving Mr. Dave McKay and here is a picture of it!



New sticker, shirts, and of course the CDs are all in the works! Busy busy busy. Plus, what's this? An official Polecat touring vehicle!?!? 

Make sure you leave the date of April 8th open for the CD release party. It's gonna be a whopper :)

Here are some spooky photos from when we played out in Maple Falls and it was raining and very very cold and ash was blowing into our faces and I got a heat blister from the heater on stage that was too close to my arm.

SLACKER. This is why I can't keep a diary. What a summer! We had a great time playing in the Boundary Bay Beer Garden on Mondays all summer, and it seemed like everyone had a good time dancing out there despite the uneven terrain. After our first trip to Chelan in the afore mentioned entry, it was decided that we love that place and it's awesome host, Mike, and made another trip back in July, and then another in October.

Summer Meltdown Festival in August was crazy! We almost felt bad playing first of the day because no one wanted to be awake yet... the next weekend was Subdued Stringband Jamboree which was incredible. We played on the mainstage on Saturday night and woah! Thanks to everyone for making that a great show. Also jammed in there was the Skagit County Fair, Bite of Bellingham, the Majestic, a surprise show at the Tractor Tavern opening for Trampled by Turtles (!), Cloud Mountain Farm, a couple of great nights at the Wild Buffalo including HALLOWEEN, the Old Schoolhouse Brewery, and the Rumor Mill on San Jaun Island.

Now we're getting down to recording the new album and gearing up for a fun first weekend of December. Hard type fingers frozen ten below freezing ahhhhh. We'll leave you with these photos of a Polecat Halloween
WE LOVE JEN

-polecat

These last couple of weeks have been pretty busy! We hit Wenatchee, Chelan, Twisp, and Anacortes on a quick four day road trip which, most of the time, looked something like this:



We got to play at Caffe Mela, the Vouge Lounge, the Twisp River Pub (see above photo), and the Brown Lantern all in four days. Our 4th of July weekend was jammed pack included two nights at Herb's Tavern on San Juan Island, busking on the ferry, and playing down at Squalicum Harbor before the fireworks. And now we're off to Boundary Bay and it's so nice out! Finally!

-polecat