Anna Coogan: Blog

About “The Nocturnal Among Us”

Making “The Nocturnal”

“The Nocturnal” is a collection of songs that I wrote over the last 3 years. It is my first record as a solo artist (I have put out two records with my former band, north19). It is also the first time I have worked with a producer (JD Foster, who has worked with Calexico, Richard Buckner, Patty Griffin and many others) and recorded in a studio outside of Seattle.

To date, making “The Nocturnal” is the most fun I have ever had playing music—it was hotter than hell, humid, sticky, and we were up in Maine in a big old farmhouse with no internet or cell phone reception. We drank too much and had a lot of coffee and went into town everyday to get huge ice cream cones. Maine has some incredible ice cream. It is the first time I have felt such a synergy: 5 people in a house with nothing to do but make music. We tracked 14 songs in 6 days. Later, we had the honor of being joined on 3 songs by Austin Nevins, the guitar [...]

1) Connecticut. It's bigger than it looks! Ditto for New Jersey and Rhode Island.
2) New York and PA: they look big, but they are bigger than they look.
3) Toll roads: not always very well maintained.
4) The Northeast: does it ever stop raining here? Or perhaps I carry the rain with me?
5) New York City: SO cool. Really. It lives up to the Hype.
6) Touring solo= not as fun as being in a big van filled with Italians, husbands, drummer, and one small dog. Still generally more appealing than most other jobs.
7) The 2008 Subaru is more reliable than the 1984 VW van.
8) I am going to become an auto mechanic before my next tour.
9) I better get back on the road, gotta get to Rochester.

XOXO

Anna

The list....continued. This should mostly cover the second half of the tour:

1) Most biblical event: the rain that fell in Providence and literally swallowed Rhode Island whole. That was us, driving through it, in the van! That was me, sitting pretty in Providence, waiting for an ark!
2) Second most biblical event: the big, big cross outside of Amarillo, TX.
3) Closest call: getting off the road in MA, looking for a McDonalds bathroom (which I never found, go figure), and getting involved with a seriously swollen river. Thank god I made it to the Dunkin Donuts.
4) Best coffee, leg 2 of the trip: Dunkin' Donuts, of course! America run's on it! Anna loves it! It's just really, freakin' good.
5) Most times coffee spilled in the van: 5+ (I basically lost count).
6) By who? Me.
7) Favorite new song: everything Katie Todd. Love, love, love her.
8) Favorite new city: Chicago.
9) Coolest new club: Radio Radio (Indianapolis. Thanks, Nightjar! Go Butler! Or, is that over??)
10) Best guitar [...]

By some miracle, we have made it to the Wisconsin, and have only 3 shows left to go on the "extensive driving" portion of the tour. And it has been extensive. We got caught in some serious snow in Texas-- TEXAS!!-- and missed our would-have-been killer show with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines. However, I did get to eat a waffle in the shape of the great state (TX) at the Best Western Breakfast Bar in Canyon, Texas. This only partially made up for the terror of driving on glare ice with a trailer, but at least it was a start.

We limped into Iowa at 3 AM, having finally escaped the treacherous and icy Great Plains, and it's been easier going since then. Milwaukee, our current home city, is cold and windy-- I miss LA. (Even though in LA I couldn't stop complaining about how damn hot it was!)

There is so much to say about this tour I don't even know where to start-- so many great towns and people- so I'll start with the list. I learned this trick from Laura Veirs, who always has great tour [...]

I promised I would keep this updated better on the road-- to keep everyone back home posted on the in's and out's of the tour. So, here I am, on an insanely slow computer in Oregon (no offense to slow computers owner) with a hungry, squeeky corgi at my feet.

This is the first real tour I've gone on in over 5 years-- the last one (with my former band, north19) ended in a life-changing bout of insomnia that I still have yet to fully shake. (Hence the titles of the last 2 records of mine: Sleepwalker and The Nocturnal Among Us. Being an insomniac has shaped me more than I would have liked...)Here's hoping that this tour is more restful and less life-altering than my tour-de-southwest 2005.

We had a nice show in Portland- in an old Funeral home (seriously, our gear got stored in the coffin elevator. I shit you not.)The staff told us that while the main part of the venue was not haunted, the upstairs most definitely was, and woah to whoever was the last to close up. This was one of the first [...]