"My Life" LIVE (Survival Sounds Preview)

RUBBLEBUCKET: SUN MACHINE TOUR
tickets @ rubblebucket.co...
6/23: Tolland, MA @ Unifier Festival
7/5: Burlington, VT @ Battery Park (The Point Summer Series)
7/7: Portland, ME @ Thompson’s Point^
7/13: Canandaigua NY @ Lincoln Hill Farms#
8/1: Troy, NY @ WEQX Riverfront Event+
8/2: Dennis, MA @ Cape Cinema+
8/3: Westerly, RI @ Paddy’s Beach Club
8/4: Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes+
10/6: Arrington, VA @ The Festy
10/25: Fairfield, CT @ Warehouse
10/26: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
10/27: Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10/29: Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
10/30: Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
10/31: Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
11/2: Burnett, TX @ Utopia Fest
11/4: Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
11/6: Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
11/7: San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
11/9: Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/10: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/12: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
11/13: Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
11/14: Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
11/17: Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
^ w/ Lake Street Dive
Star Rover supports
And The Kids supports
. US: Survival Sounds is out now ▶ found.ee/ILwD3
UK: Carousel Ride EP is out now ▶ bitly.com/1qbNUPP
Listen on Spotify ▶ bit.ly/RBonSpotify
Check out our Fall tour dates ▶ rubblebucket.co...
▼▼▼ Below is the background story on "My Life" ▼▼▼
I would wager to say Adam Dotson is one of the top 5 jazz euphoniumists in the world. Sure, there may not be many of them out there, but if there was a jazz olympics, I think Adam would get a medal in the euphonium category. The dude is really a brilliant and natural improviser and also a virtuoso. So much of what we do in Rubblebucket is about songwriting and playing parts and it's easy for me to forget and get completely floored every time I'm reminded. He basically taught himself slide trombone for Rubblebucket and had a technical revelation one night on a gig when he discovered a huge wad of gunk inside the tubing obstructing the airflow. He's played a lot louder ever since. Kal and I met him on a Boston parade gig in the summer of 2007. Those gigs were pretty absurd. One time there wasn't enough drums so the bandleader grabbed a spare trombone from his car, which he had one of the drummers pretend to play as we marched through a suburb of Boston for 2 hours. Ever heard Elliot Smith's song "Rose Parade"? It was like that.
In December of 2008, I was touring with another band in the midst of a blizzard the likes of which the Pacific Northwest wasn't equipped to handle. I saw half a bus hanging off an overpass while we were in bumper to bumper icy Seattle traffic. Effing surreal. We realized we weren't going to make our gig in BC, so we pulled off the highway and stayed in a hotel adjacent to a Hooters. I got a call from one of my best friends, Rubblebucket's then guitarist, saying he was quitting the band. It was heartbreak on a level I had never experienced. It was worse than when my 6th grade crush kissed another guy and I listened to "Wonderwall" by Oasis over and over, in tears.
A lot of people have come and gone through this band. The pure mechanics of 10 people in a van traveling 50-60 thousand miles per year to express themselves emotionally on stage and get drunk every night, for very little bread are unlikely. It's not for everyone. But the change always hurt even if it was for the best. Adam and I co-wrote this song, "My Life." At its core its about coming to terms with impermanence, and learning how to let it hurt, grow from it, and keep on keeping on, la di da da da da!
Alex