May 2012

Hey Everybody!
Woah, what a crazy month! On April 11 I left Minnesota to travel to the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi. My dad was my copilot, and it was great to have him along for company and to help fix the motor home when things went wrong. Despite the front brakes, the alternator, and one of the belts failing, we managed to get to all of our performance obligations!

I flew home from Memphis on Sunday April 15, the morning of the final battle of the blues bands competition at Famous Dave's. My dad started driving the camper home the night before and somehow made it back to Minneapolis with time to spare before we took the stage! There was stiff competition that night, but Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders took first place! Huge thanks to all my fans and family for coming out to support us!

The following weekend, both Crankshaft and Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders competed in the Minnesota Blues Society's annual Road to Memphis Challenge. There was a band category and a solo/duo act category and I decided to enter both to have a better chance of winning one of them. When they read the results at the end of the night, I was honored and amazed to find that Crankshaft had won in both categories!!! We earned the chance to compete in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in February 2013. I decided to take the band with me to Memphis and let the runner up in the solo/duo act have my slot because the IBC rules say that you can only compete in one category there. There will be plenty of MN Blues Society events between now and then to try and raise some money for the trip down to Memphis.

On top of those big wins, I have been playing like crazy and trying to coordinate the recording of my next album, which will be recorded in the hay loft of an old wooden barn in St. Francis early in June. Pete Hennig and Keith Boyles will be the rhythm section for the recording along with special guests Bruce McCabe (of Johnny Lang and Lamont Cranston, also recorded on Junkyard Rhythm) and Zach Lozere (of the Jack Brass band) will be a couple of the many guest musicians. Be sure to mark your calendars, on June 8th we'll be filming a music new music video at the same location! It is going to be a black tie optional event, so please dress your best! More details and a reminder will be included in the June update, but you can join the event on Facebook right now

April 2012

Hello everyone!
In less than a week I'll be traveling down to the heart of the Mississippi Delta to a town called Clarksdale to perform as a one-man band at the Juke Joint Festival! This is the town where highways 61 and 59 meet to make the famous "crossroads" where legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his lightning fast guitar skills. To my knowledge I'll be the only Minnesota musician booked down there, so this is definitely an honor for me!
Last Sunday Keith and I advanced to the final round of Famous Dave's Battle of the Blues Bands, which just happens to land on the same weekend as the Juke Joint Festival! This has created some crazy logistics for me and my family. This is what we came up with: My dad agreed to drive down to Clarksdale, MS, with me for the festival during Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday morning he's going to drop me off at the Memphis airport, and I'm going to fly back to Minneapolis, while he drives the camper back home. When I land, my mom is going to pick me up at the airport and literally bring me straight to Dave's to compete at the final Battle! Yes, it will be a marathon, but hopefully it will be a worthwhile one. I'm pretty confident that my band and I can win!
I've also set a plan in motion to record another full length album! We'll be recording the guitar, upright bass, and drum tracks live during the first week of June in a early 1900's wood barn about 40 minutes northwest of Minneapolis. This will be the first album that I'll be hiring a national publicist for too! I'm aiming for a November or December release. Last weekend "327" was played on NPR's Car Talk as a bumper track. This is the second song from the album Junkyard Rhythm that they've played in the last three months! The next album is going to blow the last out of the water in both writing and song arrangement, so I'm pretty excited to see what kind of momentum it will create if songs from Junkyard Rhythm are getting national play! I hope you've been well, 'til next time, keep the knob cranked!

March 2012

Hey everybody! After a two-month hiatus I'm back in full tilt boogie mode, and I've got some great news... Keith and I advanced to the semi-finals at the Famous Dave's Battle of the Blues Bands! Mark your calendars, the next round will be April 1st! We had a crazy good turnout the last time that we played down there, I hope you can make it out again! If not I hope to see you at one of these shows!

February 2012

I hope you've been enjoying this crazy mild winter, I sure have been! I've got some fun shows booked for February and March including a battle of the bands at Famous Dave's the last Sunday of the month. Hope you can make it out, the best part is it's FREE and ALL AGES! I've also got a bunch of great guest musicians lined up this month for my Thursday night residency, including Scott "Frenchy" Fremont, Keith Boyles, and "Hye Pockets" Robertson; who played all over the world backing up Luther Allison! Frenchy will be moving to Los Angeles, CA in April so these will be his last few shows as a Gear Grinder, help send him off right! Thanks for your continued support... Turn it up and BOOGIE DOWN!

January 2012

Hey everyone,
I hope you all have a great New Year! I thought it would be fun to do a 2011 Crankshaft year end review, here goes:

January 2011:
Finished recording the album "Junkyard Rhythm" after four months of collaboration with 14 local musicians.
February 2011:
Finished the album cover art for the new release.
March 2011:
Threw a CD listening party where Crankshaft fans chose three singles for the radio promotion campaign.
Directed and co-shot the music video "Neighbor Boys," one of the singles chosen from the new CD.
April 2011:
Pressed 2000 copies of "Junkyard Rhythm," as well as 250 promo copies.
Mailed over 100 copies of the new album to college and independent radio stations nationwide.
May 2011:
Released "Junkyard Rhythm" at Lee's Liquor Lounge, and despite tornado warnings, I-94 being closed downtown, and competition from Art-A-Whirl that weekend, over 150 people attended!
June 2011:
Junkyard received play on over 25 FM radio stations nationwide.
Started booking a 30-day national tour.
Recorded every Sunday show during this month for a new CD, "Lubricated, Live, and Loud."
July 2011:
Crankshaft fans raised nearly $4,000 towards a national tour bus at CRANKFEST!
August 2011:
Ran a request bomb 89.3 The Current campaign.
September 2011:
The single "Neighbor Boys" was featured on The Local Show on 89.3 The Current! Yes, it worked... don't try this at home.
Left MN on a 26-show national tour!
October 2011:
Opened for Bob Log III in Chicago, IL.
Met Cy Taggart and John L. Venable, who was a road manager for Atlantic signed bands for 20+ years in Richmond, VA.
Played with Nick Savage in Gainesville, Florida (Bo Diddley's Sax Player from '88 to '08)
Met Red Morgan, who is a staple in the New Orleans Jazz community.
November 2011:
Released the limited edition "Lubricated, Live, and Loud" CD (500 pressed).
Wrote, recorded, mastered, and released the single "Louisiana Bayou Santa."
December 2011:
"Louisiana Bayou Santa" was played on 90.3 KFAI, 88.1 KVSC, 89.3 The Current, and it received over 700 plays on SoundCloud!
"Motorcycle Woman" was used as a bumper track on NPR's Car Talk, this was our first ever nationally syndicated play!
Ran a canned food drive that earned $222 for the Anoka Food Shelf plus a boatload of food.
Played my last Sunday show at the River City Saloon (and last show of 2011), thanks for the awesome year and a half we had together there!

What's in store for 2012? I have a new house gig at the Eagles Nest Lounge in Robbinsdale (4106 Lakeland Ave N--on the corner of 41st and W Broadway), I will be playing there every Thursday at 8:30pm starting January 5th. A lot of folks are wondering if I'll be playing any shows in the Anoka area and I can assure you that I will! Tanner's in Andover has picked me up on a 6-week rotation starting in March! I will continue to play some out-of-state events in the coming months as well. In April I will be going to Clarksdale, MS, to play and hopefully make some good national connections at the Juke Joint Festival. Locally I'm booked for Rumble Fest in Amherst, WI this summer as well as the Bayfront Blues Fest in Duluth. There are a few monumental things that I'm working on as far as booking goes too (I'm talking overseas!), but nothing is solid yet. I do plan on recording another album this year, I'm not sure if the release will be in 2012 or 2013 though, that depends on how many copies of Junkyard Rhythm are left come the end of summer. I can say, if 2012 is even half as productive as 2011, you can look forward to a bunch of awesome music and art from Crankshaft in the year ahead! Thanks again for all your support this year, I hope you have a great 2012!

Mid-December 2011

Hello folks!
Just sending you an update to let you all know that this Sunday will be my last at the River City Saloon. I've had an excellent year and a half run there. Thanks for all the unbelievably fun shows! The energy and the motivation you have all given me is appreciated so much! Unfortunately, and after months of consideration, I have realized that it is necessary to make a move closer to the city. Mainly because I've had a hard time getting attention from the press and the larger radio stations in Minneapolis/St.Paul. This was confirmed again this morning when a writer that contacted me a few days ago pitched the Canned Food Drive that I'm running this Sunday at the River City Saloon to his editor as a possible feature story and it was turned down, and I quote, "Mainly because it's outside the Twin Cities." This being said, my new residency will be Thursday nights at the Eagle's Nest Lounge (connected to Broadway Pizza) on the corner of 41st and West Broadway, which halfway between downtown Minneapolis and Anoka! Please come out to the opening show Thursday January 5th and BOOGIE with me! I stopped by there a few weeks ago to scope the place out and it has mad style, beach cruisers, vintage beer signs, barn steel, pool tables, hot rod art, and even a painting of Robert Johnson on the wall! I think you will dig the place for sure! The shows there will be NO COVER and will start at 8:30pm. Thanks so much for your support this month, don't forget to share the free download of "Louisiana Bayou Santa" with your friends! It will be available to download for free at www.crankshaftmusic.com until January 1st! Happy Holidays!

December 2011

What if Santa ain't a polished and primped fat man, but instead a bad ass Cajun that does whatever he wants? After I got back from tour, there were only two things on my mind: good sleep and writing songs. "Louisiana Bayou Santa" is one of the tunes I wrote when I got back! During my stay in New Orleans we visited City Park where I was drawn to a statue featuring Santa and his sleigh being pulled by alligators instead of reindeer. That image inspired me to twist the folklore about Santa, making him a tough ass alligator catcher instead of the jolly St. Nick our parents and Coca-Cola told us about! Check out the song, you'll be entertained for sure! Please tell your friends that it will be free to download on www.crankshaftmusic.com starting on Friday! That's right, you get to hear it first! A short run (30 copy) 12"x19" poster, screen printed and illustrated by Dwitt will be released on Sunday, November 27th at my Sunday house gig at the River City Saloon in Anoka. The rough inking of it is attached. Try and make it to a show this month! Happy holidays!

November 2011

Hello Everyone!
Rachel, Trixie and I all made it home safe and sound. Thanks again for the awesomely reliable tour bus, we didn't have any major breakdowns during the 4,635 mile trip around the east side of the country! The tour was amazing, we met so many awesome people out on the road, some of them even got me gigs for the nights I would have had off or before/after the shows that I had scheduled already! We left with 21 shows booked and picked up five extras making the total 26 in 30 days. During the second week of the tour I got a voice mail message from Bo Diddley's sax player, Nick Savage! He said he likes to hideaway in the venue that I was scheduled to play in Gainesville, FL. He saw my flyer on the wall and checked out my music videos online and loved them! I called him back and asked him if he would be willing to sit in for part of my set and he said he would love to! So that was super awesome! We also met Bob Log III, Red Morgan, and John L. Venable (who was a road manager for Atlantic Records signed bands for 25+ years) - who helped us get two of the additional shows. We got tons of offers for us to come back to the places I played and also met folks that said they would help me get better gigs if I come back through. We sold over 200 CDs while we were gone too! All in all it was a great success in both of our minds, and we even still love each other! BONUS!
The home coming show is this Sunday at the River City Saloon, Hope you can make it! The Live At The River City Saloon CD (Limited edition - only 500 pressed) release party will be the following weekend, November 13th. Hope to see you at a show soon! Until then, keep boogiein'!

October 2011

This week has been an insane week of running around with my head cut off! I tuned up the RV to make her road ready for the 4,500 mile tour, and now she's stuffed to the gills with Crankshaft merchandise, including the new Crankshaft bombing T-shirts! Across the past few weeks a bunch of people have asked us to keep them up to date about the tour so Rachel started a tour blog at http://www.leavinthistown.blogspot.com/, be sure to bookmark that page! Check out the dates below, if you have friends or family in the cities I'll be playing in please let them know! All of the events are also listed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crankshaftmusic.
This week we also got the artwork done for the Live at the River City Saloon project and it was dropped off at Copycats CD Duplication! It's going to be a short run (500 copy) CD in a four panel digi-pack. The CD release will be Sunday, November 13th at the River City Saloon, hope you can make it! Thursday I uploaded a new live Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders music video to YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8sLPPR8Wu4, this was recorded at the Junkyard Rhythm CD release party at Lee's Liquor Lounge back in May. The full band just landed a pretty bad ass gig too, when we get back home we'll be playing during halftime at the North Star Roller Girls bout on Saturday, November 5th at The Convention Center! Their events usually draw between 1,500 and 2,500 people so I'm pretty sure that will be the biggest gig I've ever played! See you all in six weeks! Thanks for your support!

September 2011

Hello everyone!
The request bombing was a success, Dave Campbell played the song Neighbor Boys Sunday August 20th during the Local Show on The Current! Thanks for requesting! This week Rachel and I are getting some photos together for the album art for the Live at the River City Saloon album which will be released on Sunday, November 13th. It will also mark the one-year anniversary of Crankshaft playing every Sunday at the River City! In other news, I'm almost sold out of Crankshaft T-shirts so if you like the screamin' design you better snatch one up, there are only 30 left (mostly mediums). I designed a new one that's inspired by the request bombing flyer and that should be printed within the next two weeks. The show this Friday at the River City Saloon will mark the 100th Crankshaft show of 2011! The first 25 fans through the door will get a free 11x17 Crankshaft poster illustrated by Tim Jewett of the Frankensteiners Car Club! The posters will also be for sale for $5 if you come later. If you can't make it to this show, I hope you can make it to one before I leave for tour at the end of the month. Have a great week and thanks for your continued support! CRANKSHAFT!

August 2011

Hello everyone!
Crankfest is this Saturday at the River City Saloon in Anoka (201 Jackson St.) and it is going to be a blast! Crankfest is a beer bust fund-raiser to help me tour this fine nation in October! The day's events start with a motorcycle ride, leaving from the River City Saloon at 10 a.m. and going to the Roadhouse Tavern in Chisago, then a stop at Route 65 in East Bethel, and back to the River City around 2 p.m.. Registration for the ride starts at 9:00 am and is $15 (driver or passenger) which includes an all-you-can-drink beer wristband and 5 raffle tickets. If you don't want to ride, beer wristbands will be for sale for $10 and will also include the 5 free raffle tickets. Live music will start at 2:00 pm featuring Crankshaft and a ton of guest musicians including Mr. Mark Vetsch, Pat Nudd, Kirk Humbert, Keven "KP" James, Al & Carmen Mevissen, Jay Walter, Dan Schwalbe, Scott Kalpakoff, Jake Stevenson, Elmer "Danger" Johnston, Pete Henning and maybe more! There will be a Crankshaft look-alike contest, so come in a suit and you will get a prize! We're going to have a dunk tank too, so you can pay to dunk your favorite River City staff member or me! There will be a silent auction and raffle featuring gift baskets, gift certificates, and other goodies that have been generously donated by local businesses and lots of Crankshaft swag as well. And if you have a sweet tooth, stop by the bake sale, which will include the Red Hot cupcakes that were at the River City on the night of my birthday, brownies, pies, and a bunch of other delicious baked goods. Hope to see you there! Thanks for your continued support!

July - 2011

Hello friends!
Today is my 28th birthday! So ... I'll be taking a break from shows this weekend including my Sunday house gig at the River City Saloon. June has proven to be another busy month, I recorded every Sunday gig I had this month at the River City Saloon for a live CD. The coolest part is that all of the recording was done on analog tape! A big thanks to everyone who came out to help make some noise for the recording! Rachel (my wife) and I also started booking a national tour this month and already have five dates confirmed starting September 28th in Eau Claire, WI where I'll be playing with 4OnTheFloor! Which brings me to my birthday wish: a camper for touring. This will be my first large-scale tour and I don't expect to make enough money to sleep in hotels every night across 30 days. So I started a Kickstarter fund raiser project to get some money raised for a camper. The project can be found here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1695414819/motor-home-fundraiser-for-a-national-crankshaft-to?ref=card I'm pretty sure if each of my friends and fans donated just a couple of dollars for my birthday, the project would be totally funded. Or you can donate more and choose a reward for your contribution. One of the backer rewards is the new album, Junkyard Rhythm, for $15 (which is the same price I'm selling it for on www.crankshaftmusic.com). Also available are T-shirts, limited edition posters, and one of a kind Crankshaft memorabilia (including the Rustbucket station wagon)! Mark and Holly from the River City Saloon are throwing me a beer bust called CRANKFEST on July 30, the day before the project ends, so hopefully the money raised there will bump the project over the top of the goal. Look for more details on CRANKFEST in the coming weeks on Facebook and my website, we have lots of fun things in the works! Rumor has it there may even be a Crankshaft dunk tank...
I've got a ton of shows this month, hope to see you at a few, at least at CRANKFEST! Thanks for your support! Cranky.

June 2011

Hello everyone!
May proved to be a crazy busy month! Thanks to everyone who came out to the CD release party! The new CD Junkyard Rhythm is now availabe at Mr. Mark's Music, Cheapo, Electric Fetus, and Down In The Valley. If you prefer mp3s you can download the whole album on CD Baby, Itunes, or Amazon. As always the new album will be available at my shows now for $10. We finished the music video for Neighbor Boys which is one of the singles from the CD and posted it to YouTube on the 17th. Since then there have already been 940 views! Check it out and share it with your friends! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXB2AP1E6cI
I'm playing a ton this month including some shows with my backing band The Gear Grinders! Another fun thing...all of the Sundays at the River City Saloon this month will be recorded for a limited run live CD, so come out and make some noise! Thanks again for your continued support and I hope to see you soon! Crankshaft.

May 2011

Hey Everyone,
The CD release party for my new album Junkyard Rhythm is only two weeks away! I've been busier then a cat on a hot tin roof lately. I have new shirts, hoodies, and tank tops for sale at shows, and 2000 copies of the new CD in the basement just waiting to be released. I've also been doing lots of radio station call backs and Junkyard Rhythm is getting air play both locally and across the nation! On a more concerning note, I have had no luck getting onto the playlist on our local indie mega station 89.3 The Current. You would be doing me a huge favor by taking a minute to request Crankshaft and The Gear Grinders here: http://www.publicradio.org/ The more requests they get, the more likely they are to play your favorite song! Thanks! I'll be playing a ton of shows this month including every Sunday at the River City Saloon from 6-10 pm in downtown Anoka. Please check crankshaftmusic.com for the rest of the dates. Thanks for your continued support, hope you can make it to the release party and BOOGIE!

April 2011

Hello!
Well, the CD listening party was a success! The songs you chose for singles are The Curse, Neighbor Boys, and Solid Gone. I sent out promo CDs to 102 college/public radio stations on Friday including 88.1 KVSC, 90.3 KFAI, and 89.3 The Current. The three singles will be up for sale on Amazon and iTunes in about a week. Today I recorded two one-man band tracks for the local Robert Johnson Centennial Compilation that Chris Holm (4 On The Floor/Fattenin' Frogs) is producing and releasing on the SlabTown Label! I think I might've made Robert Johnson roll over in his grave today when I laid down Terraplane Blues, oh well. The release party for this comp will be May 7th at Palmer's Bar in Minneapolis. I'm also in the process of getting some shirts, tank tops, and hoodies printed with a new four color design, yes, FOUR COLORS! I should have them up for sale by the start of next month. My Sunday gig at the River City Saloon has switched to summer hours, now I play from 6-10pm, hope you can make it out! Thanks for your continued support! - Alex.

March 2011

Hello!
Got some great news, "Junkyard Rhythm" is totally finished! It has been mastered by Greg Reierson and is waiting in line to be pressed in a 6 panel digi-pack by Copy Cats. The CD listening party will be at Avant Garden Coffee Shop in Downtown Anoka Friday, March 18th between 6-8pm. Come out to vote for your favorite song! The singles will be picked by the Crankshaft fans that make it to the listening party for the NATION WIDE independent/collage radio release. The radio release will be mailed by April 1st, so you should be hearing Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders on the radio soon! The CD release party is booked for Saturday May 21st at Lee's Liquor Lounge, put it on your calender! It will be the first time I'll be backed on stage by a full bad... BOOGIE! In the mean time get your ass to a show! Thanks for your continued support - Cranky.

February 2011

Hello everyone,
The new album is done being recorded! The recording engineer (Trent Urness) did a phenomenal job blending the 14 guest musicians different approaches and styles. I will be sending the album off to the record mastering company today, they should be finished with it by the 10th of the month if everything goes as planned. In the mean time I will be working on the album art with my wife Rachel for the next couple weeks. She and I have decided to push the release date for the album to May so there will be enough time to get some local radio play and press reviews before the CD release party. So in the mean time you will have to settle with a live show to hear the new tunes!

January 2011

Hello!
January is going to be a light month for me locally because I will be going on a seven day tour to New Orleans with my brother, so unfortunately I will not be playing at the River City Saloon Sunday the 9th. When get back from tour I'm going to focus on finishing the mixing on the new album and getting the art work together. I should have a solid idea of when the CD release party will be by the time I send out the February News email SO THAT IS EXCITING RIGHT?! Hope to see you at The River City Saloon this Sunday, it is usually standing room only by 6pm so if you want a good seat come early! I hope you have a great 2011, I know I'm going to!