We drove the new van to Texas, and when we were 40 miles east of Austin, a clogged radiator totaled the motor. Pistons shot through the engine, destroying it, and leaving us stranded again, this time in Texas instead of Alabama. We couldn’t believe that this was happening again. There was a lot of towing and maneuvering, and in the end, we made it to Austin to play the show, and the next day some of us came back to Chicago in a rental car and some of us stayed in Austin until the engine is replaced in the van.

The only thing worse than totaling two vans in one week would have been actually totaling them in accidents and injuring our bodies along with the vans. In spite of all that’s happened, we’re thankful that everyone is safe and that we’re talking about mechanics and engine transplants rather than doctors and organ transplants.

It isn’t all bad. The church we bought the van from is getting some money back to us to cover the engine. The mechanic is a solid dude who is getting us a really good deal on a new engine. It was a bummer to have to cancel a bunch of shows, but on the bright side, we’ll come out of this whole thing with a practically new van, ready to take us back to Austin for SXSW next month.

We’ll be laying low until then, writing and recording more songs for our elusive debut full-length album, which we promise will be completed soon. Also, we may have a couple other secrets up our sleeves, maybe. Keep checking back in the coming month for more info.