Summit Avenue

all good things come to an end

2009-03-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

It’s been awhile since we’ve wrote. This time we have a very good reason for writing. I’m sorry to tell you all that Summit Avenue’s last show ever will be on July 25th at Bunkers. We’ve decided that after 5 years together as a band, it’s time for all of us to move on to different ventures. It will be tough to
walk away, especially from seeing all of you out at the shows on a regular basis. You have all made the last 5 years amazing for us

Thank You.

The good news is that we are going to go out with a bang. We still have shows between now and July 25th and will be adding some more. In fact, we’ll be at Bogart’s this Friday night opening for GB Leighton!

Also coming up we have our April 11th show at Bunkers, which marks 5 years of playing together for us!! So we want to celebrate with you. That night, Room for Gray will be opening and we will be providing FREE BEER from 9-10 pm!! There will also be lots of other fun stuff going on that night; free cd’s, special guests, etc, so be sure not to miss that show!!!

And be sure to check the schedule and make it out to as many shows as you can before we call it quits – it would mean a lot to us to see you guys out at the shows!

See you soon,
Jeff

Digging through the vault

2008-12-31T09:51:00.000-08:00

I was looking though some old Summit Ave pictures and found a this picture Ben took with Martin Zellar.

For those of you that don't know, Martin is the lead singer and creative influence behind the Gear Daddies. We played a show with them last summer in Austin, MN. We've met Martin a few times and every time we talk to him, he's very gracious and down to earth. It's always nice to know that not all the big artists let it go to their head.

We totally will let it go to our heads if we get big. HA!!!

Just kidding. Kinda. ;)

With modesty,
Shua

Contrary to Popular Belief...

2008-12-28T16:42:00.001-08:00

We're NOT breaking up. Jeff didn't go to rehab (that's for losers, HA!). Tony didn't join a cult. Ben didn't move to Madagascar. I didn't get arrested.

YES; we haven't had a ton of new shows on the schedule. It's been a little slow this winter for us, but we're going to start filling up our calendar quickly. Summer festivals are just starting to book now. We're looking into new clubs to start playing at.

Moral of the story... Keep checking our website and MySpace for information and upcoming gigs. We'll be coming to a city near you before you know it.

Also, if you haven't already done so, click below to buy our new album from ITunes:

Peace,
Shua

"DETOX JUST TO RETOX!!!"

Where's Summit Ave This Weekend?

2008-09-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Summit Avenue is playing a show again this Saturday at Bunker's. If you've been to Bunker's before, (1) you know where it is, (2) you know there's free parking (always a plus in downtown Minneapolis), (3) you know the sound is great, the drinks are strong, and the people are friendly as all hell.

The Jade Murphy Band will be kicking it off at 9:30. We'll be hitting the stage at 10:45. You should seriously come and catch The Jade Murphy Band, though. Jade used to play with Dazy Head Mazy. JJ from Panaramic Blue also plays guitar in the band.

See you Saturday.
Shua

Summit Ave Website
MySpace
The Jade Murphy Band
Map to Bunker's

Gear Daddies Gig Saturday

2008-08-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

There's a bit of press about the show in Austin this Saturday. Check it out:

Post Bulletin

Austin Daily Herald

another Post Bulletin

Don't forget, we'll also be at Bunker's tonight.

Summer's Fading

2008-08-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I KNOW! Depressing, isn't it? But, have no fear, (ugh, I was going to saying Summit Ave is here; not going there) we've still got some cool shows coming up.

One: We're playing Friday the 22nd and our second home, Bunker's. It's always a good time there. Our fans and all of the staff there really make us feel like family. If you want to enjoy a real touchy-feely show, make your way to the Warehouse District in Minneapolis. We'll give you a hug or something. ;)

Two: WE'RE OPENING UP FOR THE GEAR DADDIES!!!!! Their playing a show in their hometown and mine and Tony's, Austin, MN. It's going to be a blast. We've met Martin Zellar a number of times and he's always very courteous and encouraging to us. I can't wait to meet the rest of the band. Leep 27 will be playing right after us as well. You won't have many opportunities to catch a show from those guys. They don't play too much any more, so come out and check out the show. It will be Saturday, August 23rd in Austin, MN at Marcusen Park. I KNOW! A ballpark. Good Thymes!

--Shua

Flight of the Avenues

2008-05-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

We had a very interesting experience last Saturday. After our benefit show for Johnfest in Fairmont (great show, by the way; I think we might have a few new fans), we had some van trouble. Jeff was driving. I'm not saying this to point fingers It wasn't any one's fau-JEFF'S FAULt. Our van ran out of gas... Carl [the van] was not happy. But, being the boy scouts we are, we actually had a spare gas tank in the trailer. When we tried to start Carl, he said, "no way, sucka!" The battery didn't even work. We had no power what-so-ever.

Lucky for us, Lala had a AAA card. All those years or sobriety finally paying off! Ahem, yeah... Anyway, while waiting on I-35 for a tow-truck, an SUV blew a tire RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR VAN [CARL]. Ash concluded that we were in the dreaded stretch of I-35 known as the Lakeville Triangle.

Ben had a pretty amusing conversation with a very nice highway patrolman about our treacherous stretch of highway and about breaking a road flare in half before figuring our how they work. You just whack them on the ground, right???

Within a few minutes, our hero, the tow-truck driver came and hoisted Hot Carl up on the bed of his truck. The problem was, it was 3 am Sunday morning and we didn't have any trusted fans in the area to drive us back to Bloomington. We convinced our hero that Summit Avenue would be brave enough to ride in the van while it was being towed. I KNOW! We're such rebels! It was actually pretty fun. Tony had a little freak-out, though, thinking we were going to smash into a bridge. HA!

P.S. we didn't die.

That means we're going to need some fan $upport at O'Gara'$ ($t. Paul) and Torge'$ (Au$tin) thi$ weekend. Fixin' Carl won't be cheap. Along with the new CD, we've got some nice t-shirts and new stickers. Oh, and it's my birthday on Friday...

Peace,
$hua

The long awaited return of the Shua

2008-05-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

So, as you may or may not know, this is Josh that updates the website blog. I also update the tour dates page, so now you have someone to blame when the calendar isn't up-to-date or just plain wrong. The next time you see me, you can kick me in the arse a couple times.

I'm going to start updating the website blog more often. I may not have much to say, but I'm going to update it, gawd damnit!

Update1: The CD Release was a huge success. We sold a bunch of CDs and merch and packed the Fine Line, but most importantly, so many of you came out the show and supported us. We'd be nowhere without our fans and we're so priveldged to have such a cool group of people support us. Uh, oh,... Starting to feel the love... Getting a little weepy...

Update2: We'll be getting the new album up on ITunes as soon as we sort out some copyright issues we're having. I'm acutally working on getting the music up on Songza as well, so you can stream the songs or free (i'm getting too techy nerd, aren't i?)

Summer is quickly approaching and along with the warmth, a lot of exciting things should be happening with Summit Ave. I'll try to keep up. :D

Peace,
Shua

For a good laugh at my expense, enjoy...

SXSW Notes

2008-03-17T10:08:00.002-07:00

Wanted to give you all a quick update from SXSW.

We play tonight at 9, but we hit the town last night and saw a lot of good bands. It’s crazy down here...TONS of bars - everyone with live music.

The funny story of the night...I won’t get in to how we knew it was him, but have you watched the tv show The Bachelor? Well we met the most recent Bachelor last night!! He was coming in to the Dizzy Rooster as we were leaving. We got a picture with him - I promise you we’ll have it up here soon. Tony tried to put a move on him, but he passed.

Outside of that, we blew out a trailer tire in Kansas City on the way here, but were saved by Frank the tire ninja. Long story.

That’s about it for now...I’m going to try to go get rid of this hangover before we play tonight.

Oh...and if you are looking for our CD release party tickets on ticketmaster, make sure you search "Summit Avenue" and you should be able to find them.

Later,

Jeff

CD Release Party Tickets

2008-03-17T10:08:00.001-07:00

Tickets for the CD Release party will go on sale this Friday (March 14th) at 10 a.m on Ticketmaster.com

There are two types of tickets

- General Admission $8-9

- VIP tickets $35 (includes admission, our new CD, 2 drinks and a reserved seat in the mezannine of the Fine Line)

There are limited VIP seats available, so if you want to go that route get your tickets soon!!

Volunteer - Join the Street Team

2008-03-10T20:06:00.001-07:00

We're starting to recruit a Street Team. We're looking for a chosen few people to put up poster's, hand out flyers (stickers), and generally promote the heck out of our upcoming CD Release Party on April 12th at the Fine Line. A good candidate would be someone who's dedicated, enthusiastic and a huge fan of Summit Ave. Your dedication will be paid-off. We'll decide a fitting pay-off for those dedicated few. It will most likely be a CD, a VIP party at the CD release and/or free admittance into upcoming shows.

Please go to our myspace page and send us a message if you're interested.

Last Saturday at Fine Line

2008-02-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic night at The Fine Line this past weekend. We opened up for the Trippin' Billies to a sold out crowd. Thank you to everyone that came out. A lot of people had some really kind things to say to us after we got off stage. We really appreciate that.

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to our CD Release Party at The Fine Line on Saturday, April 12th. The album is really coming together now. We have a tentative title, but I'll wait to reveal that after the album artwork is done.

I highly recommend that everyone mark the 12th on their calendars right now. It's going to be a HUGE party. We're throw all the stops for this.

--Josh

Big Things in 2008

2008-01-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We had a fantastic New Years show in Marquette, Michigan. I'll write more about that in an upcoming post. All I have to say right now is 2007 was a good year for the band, but 2008 is looking to be really exciting for us. We're going to be in the studio in a couple months and we've got some great prospects for shows this spring and summer. Keep checking out our website to see what's coming up.

In the near future, we've got a great show at O'Gara's this Saturday co-headlining with The Subsidies.

New Band Pictures

2007-08-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's a LONG overdue post, we've had some new professional band pictures taken by Drew Bendell. You can see all the new pictures in the Gallery section of our website or here.

Here's a taste. Not bad, huh? :)

You can also see pictures Drew took at our last Bunker's show on our MySpace page. This is just the first couple rounds of pictures we had taken. We'll be taking more pictures with Drew soon and we might actually smile in a couple of them! Hehe. Just keep checking the website for new stuff.

Oh, just to let you know, we'll be playing another show at Bunker's next Friday (Aug. 10th). If you've been to a Bunker's show before, you know it will be a good time. If not, well..., you need to catch the next one. Seriously...

Peace,
Shua (aka. Kobow, Josh, The Circus, etc.)

Busy, busy, busy

2007-02-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hey EVERYBODY!!!

Sorry about the lack of blog entries. I'd say we've been really busy, but that's not necessarily true. Well, we have been, but I've also been very lazy lately. Hence, the 'sorry'.

We've got a VERY busy schedule come up, though. There's a lot to be excited about. We have a great show at Tiffany's this Saturday. That's a very fun bar in St. Paul. They treated us really well the last time. Our Cities 97 Acoustic Sunrise show at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts show last weekend went really well. So well that we actually got booked again on May 20th. Bunker's is bringing us back in on March 23rd. That club has so much history and there's always a party there every time we play.

For those of you fans outside of the twin cities we've got show on the schedule in Rochester, Blue Earth, Hudson, Sioux City, Waconia, Mankato, and last but not least Austin (April 28th).

Oh man, here I am selfishly talking about us. Tell us how you've all been doing. Drop us a line on our MySpace page. Everybody's doing it...

Peace,
Shua

The Varsity...Thursday

2007-01-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

So, we had a great time at our show last Saturday at Tiffany's playing with Half Act and Town Crier. Thank you to everyone that made it out. It was a really fun night. We were really excited to be able to play at Tiffany's for the first time.

We really need to give it up for Ben being able to make it though the show. Many people may not have noticed it, but he was REALLY sick. Somehow, I think he actually sounded better than normal. HA! Just kidding, bro. We don't want you to get sick on us again.

Anyway, there's something more important I need to bring up. We're playing at The Varsity Theater on the U or M campus in Minneapolis tomorrow (Thursday) and we need as much support as possible. We want to pack that place. And anyone who's been to the Varsity know that's not easy to do. It's a big house. So, COME OUT! We're playing at 8:15pm. It's going to be a good time. Trust me.

OH! I think we're also going to be video taping the show. So Ladies, Wear somethin' cute and shake it like a polaroid picture. Fellas, flex for the camera.

Varisty Theater...tomorrow...8:15

Peace,
Shua

Crazy bad dreams

2006-11-27T19:21:00.000-08:00

So I had a dream about the band last night. Usually it's Tony that has these kind of dreams about us playing Hockey together or something. My dream goes in a whole new direction. The Dream starts off.........

Josh, Tony, Jeff and I(Ben) have just finished up practice for the day, when Josh turns to all of us and says, "Hey guys, you know what would be cool?" If we robbed a bank truck!" We all laugh because we think he's kidding, but no, Josh is very serious about this endever. So the next thing I know, the band I are unloading bundles of cash from this bank trunk into our trailer. We grab the last bundle, when two police officers walk up. At this point Tony turns to one of the officers and says, "Is it hand-cuff time?" Which the officer replys, "Yes Tony, it's hand-cuff time." So we are all hauled off to jail, where they put us in plastic see through jump suits(Don't ask). The guys and I are sitting in a cell waiting to see the judge. Jeff is takin out first. A few minutes later Jeff walks by the cell, that is still holding Me, Josh and Tony, and casually waves and says "I'm out of here", and leaves us. He just fricken left us!!!! Not a, hey I'll try and get you guys some help, noooo! Just a, see ya! Next to go was Tony and Josh at the same time. So I'm left alone in the cell. A little while longer and they came for me. An officer walks me into the court room, where everyone and their mothers are sitting, looking at me. I'm talking my Mom and Dad, Brothers, Cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Friends, my fricken Boss was there! The Judge looks down at me from his bench and says, "What were you guys thinking?" I reply, "I have no idea." The judge says back "Well don't do that again!" and lets me go! That's it! Don't do that again. So I start to leave the jail when something catches my eye. Tony and Josh sitting in a jail cell wearing orange jump suits with a number as a name tag. And all I say to them is,"I'm outta here!" And I woke up.
So that's my band dream. Hope you enjoyed it.

Benjamin

Lately...

2006-08-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Que tal, amigos?
Long time since a blogger message. There's a lot of new stuff that's been going on lately. We got to play at the Mall of America! We played 6 tunes during the Back to School Fashion Show. We played on a 9 foot tall stage while a bunch of high school kids modeled on a runway right below us.

Check this out.

Here's a shot of me catching air. Check, out my ups!

This Saturday, we're playing at Bunker's. We LOVE playing at Bunker's. The last time we played there, it was 100 degrees outside and the air conditioner was broken, but we still had a huge turnout. Thanks again to all you rad fans that stuck it out. I think everyone still had a great time. I know we did.

Bunker's is one of our favorite places to play. Some of our favorite bands play at Bunker's regularly. Here's a picture of the July's schedule...

We've enjoyed playing with most of these guys and gals. Some, quite a bit. Bunker's Music Bar is definetely the place for us. I can't wait to play this Saturday. Hope to see you all there!

-Shua

Pacelli Golf Day

2006-07-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

We got the excellent opportunity to play the Pacelli Golf Day benefit in Austin, MN a few weeks ago. Tony and I both graduated from Pacelli, so it was a great change to get out and raise some money for the Shamrocks. We actually played some golf that day as well, if you want to call that golf. Of course, I had the best game that day (I had the most strokes).

Before the show, we decided to go "old school" in the todler play area back-stage at St. Edward's gym. Oh yeah, check us out.

Yeah... we take ourselves too seriously, don't we?

Peace,
Shua

Why Summit Avenue?

2006-05-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

So, we have frequently been asked, "Why are you guys called Summit Avenue? Did you go to St. Thomas?" Let me just make the record clear, no one in the band has EVER gone to St. Thomas. As a matter of a fact, Tony, Jeff and I are all proud Johnnies (St. John's University for you 'out-of-staters'). Our buddies in Panoramic Blue are also proud Johnnie alums. Well, 75% of them. AND Kevin and Matt from Quietdrive graduated from St. John's. Wow, that's a lot of studs coming out of Collegeville, MN.

But, I'm clearly getting a bit off track, which NEVER happens to me. Back to the name... Jeff, Tony and I were in a previous band called Another Day. Another Day had a song called Summit Avenue about our runnings-in around our old rehersal space in St. Paul not too far from the famous road. When Ben joined the band, one of his suggestions was "Summit." We told him about our song and he was totallly down with the name "Summit Avenue". Thus, the legend began...

Since then, we've shortened the name to Summit Ave. Don't worry, we're not going to go all CCR, ELO, or OAR. Maybe NKOTB, though. You know what I'm saying!

Peace,
Shua

How far can you go on 3 gallons of gas?

2006-04-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

When we initially created our new website, the entire band sat down and we had a heart to heart about journaling (is that a word?) on our website. We all agreed that we would keep the journal up to date and give all of you something to read on both our site and on our MySpace blog. Tony even agreed to learn the English language just so he could write a journal entry! Well, here we are, over two months removed from our last entry. So let me get you caught up on some stories and news.

Just recently, we finally have started to look like a real band. We are now driving around in a full sized red conversion van with a trailer hooked up to the back. No more minivans for us! And yes, this is our 4th or 5th van. We have started to lose count. And yes, this van and trailer is putting us into debt a bit, so when Josh asks you to buy him a drink at the bar...help a brother out! And say prayers that this new van and trailer getup isn't going to have to suffer under the same curse our other vans have.

Funny story to tell. We recently played at Rookies down in Rochester. Josh and myself were driving the van (our old minivan) down there and all of a sudden Josh says "I'm not able to accelerate." A certain four-letter word soon followed when he looked at the gas gauge and realized we were out of gas. Luckily, Tony was following us and was able to drive up to the next town and get us 3 gallons of gas. At the time, we were 26 miles away from Rookies. So we would need to get 8.66 miles per gallon to just barely make it there. No problem right? Josh urged us to get gas as the gas gauge plummeted just 4 miles from the venue. I insisted that we continue on and try to make it. Well...of course...we ran out of gas again...this time right at the top of our exit where we were able to see Rookies! Apparently, our minivan wasn't encouraged enough by Josh and I cheering it on the last quarter mile as the engine sputtered. We are now big supporters of filling up before our gas gauge gets dangerously low.

Lastly (since this is getting long), we wanted to thank all of you for your tremendous support over the last couple of months. We have had some amazing crowds at our shows and we just went through our first 1,000 CD's and had to order more to sell. We feel like our show just keeps getting better - we have three new originals we have added in the last two months and many new covers to keep things fresh. Keep spreading the word about Summit Ave to your friends, co-workers, MySpace friends, etc...and we'll keep talking you up like usual too!

And don't worry...that blog entry from Tony will be coming soon!