Things Are Heating Up

Weekend #2 of the Sundown Heaven Town tour hit Phoenix, Chula Vista, and Irvine. Phoenix hit a brisk 103° F on Thursday but didn't stop the crowd from getting into the set - quite the opposite! The heat had everyone in full party mode. 

Last year, we came through Chula Vista with Rascal Flatts and couldn't wait to come back. It cooled down a bit from Phoenix, was beautiful out and I did some hiking nearby - great views! One of the added bonuses of Chula Vista's Sleep Train Ampitheater is the post-show taco truck. Oh man, are these things good! Being only a mile or so away from Mexico, these bad boys are the best tacos you'll ever eat. Mmmm... 

Last night was another beautiful night. Irvine was very welcoming, and seeing all the fans in the pit singing along to all the songs won't ever get old. Like most things, it's not always easy, but playing music with good people on a beautiful night - you can't ask for much more. It's in those moments that I appreciate being out here the most.

Don't forget to keep voting for Cassadee!  More soon...

"On The Road Again..."

Today, we loaded up the bus and are on our way out to Fresno, CA for the first show of Tim McGraw's Sundown Heaven Town Tour. All of team Cassadee is ready to get back out on the road and make it another great summer! We're going to be all over the country - click here to see when we'll be in a city near you!

Last week, we had a show in Las Cruces, NM. Very very windy - but still a fun show, no less. Then we headed down to West Palm Beach for an acoustic show. Had some great hang time with Cass and Steve, and filled in on acoustic and vocals - had a blast! Check out my Instagram (patmccarthybass) for a short clip of a song from the set :)

From there, we shot up to Kentucky to perform with Steve Holy and Scotty McCreery. Had a great time with the Scotty McCreery camp and they put on a helluva show! Afterwards, Dan, Cass and I got to take our first helicopter ride around the city - SO MUCH FUN! Much smoother and more comfortable than I expected. Obviously, the music is what we are all passionate about, but to share all of these extra fun experiences makes each moment that much more special. 

Again, this Thursday kicks off the tour with Tim McGraw and Kip Moore! There will definitely be more to come...

Headlining Weekend

This past weekend, we shot footage for a music video at The Bluestone in Columbus, Ohio. The Bluestone is an amazing room - a 115 year old church that was converted into a venue in 2010. It retained its amazing acoustics and elaborate stained glass windows - a great concert experience for the audience and performers alike. The crowd was one of the best! So loud at times that I had to turn up my monitors a bit! This was also the first show that I got to play my new Eastwood Classic 4 bass, and I am loving the tone - amazing warmth and low end from a beautiful semi-hollow body. We all, especially Cassadee, felt the love that night. Sincerest thanks to you, Columbus Ohio. The video is coming soon.. keep an eye out for it!

The last couple shows were at Clarion University and Shippensburg University. Our main man, Mr. Jim McGorman, had a 24-hour bug and was feeling very under the weather for the Clarion show. He pulled it together though, and we ended up having 2 more really great sets. All in all, it was a great headlining weekend filled with bus antics, a video shoot, birthday cake (happy birthday shout out to Dan O'neill.. Aka One Ill Dan) and best of all, 3 long sets of having fun playing music together!

In other awesome news, Cassadee's music video for "I Wish I Could Break Your Heart" (watch it here) made CMT's Top 20 Countdown! Click here to vote for it!

Vegas is coming up this weekend for our Outnumber Hunger show. More soon...

Goosebumps!

Knowing that we were going to be touring Canada in February, I expected it to be cold. For the first half of the tour though, we lucked out with the weather - we got some snow but the temps still remained somewhere in the teens. The past few days we've seen Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, and today, Saskatoon. During the day it's a cozy -5 and at night it has been getting down towards a brisk -25. The bus has been our best friend as anything outside can be downright painful. 

Despite the bone-chilling temps, we've been staying busy. Kingston, Ontario was a nice little town with plenty to do. We hit a local music shop, picked up some much needed cold weather gear and treated ourselves to some post-show gourmet cupcakes (so good). The next day in Hamilton, Cassadee's music director extraordinaire, Mr. James McGorman III, had found out that Weezer was performing early before sound check only minutes away from our venue. Having worked with Weezer before, he was able to hookup the entire team with tickets - Thanks, Jim!

The shows themselves have been very fun and inspiring! We've dialed in our monitor mixes, tweaked the set list and the crowds have been dancing/singing along. In Hamilton, Cassadee asked the audience to hold up lighters (or virtual lighters ;) during her song "One Song Away" - the result was beautiful! We were in a theater with two balcony levels and it felt like we were in outer space. It was an unforgettable moment for sure. It's nice to get goosebumps from something besides the cold once and a while! 

If you are on Instagram, follow me at: patmccarthybass. Twitter: @apatmccarthy

More pics and stories from the cold coming soon...

Toronto (tron-o) Adventures

For the past few days we've been staying in Toronto (pronounced "Trono" up here in Canada). Before we got here though, we had a show in Fredericton, New Brunswick that was great! Cassadee looked into the crowd, saw a little girl singing every word and decided to call her up on stage! (Watch on YouTube: http://youtu.be/rscqqzb6Ypg) I still remember all of the concert experiences that I've had, and it was always a dream to be up on stage with my idols singing/playing with them. Our Fredericton show is a memory that little girl (Rebecca) will never forget - and to be a part of that experience is priceless. 

After that we got hit with a TON of snow and headed up to Barrie, Ontario. Mr. Steve Fekete was the MVP on this one! Because of the storm, canceled flights etc.. Steve ended up driving from 2am to 8pm from Boston to Barrie in the storm just to make the show by the second song in! (We did have a back up lead guitar pro standing by - see below ;) We were all very relieved to see him walk up on stage with us safe and sound. A tip of the hat to you Steve - well done sir! 

On our day off yesterday, the band took a road trip to Georgetown, Ontario to visit the team at Eastwood Guitars. We got to test out a bunch of cool guitars and basses through some sweet amps. Click here to check out all the great stuff on the Eastwood Guitars website: http://www.eastwoodguitars.com/

Today we are headed to Oshawa, Ontario to perform. More soon...

Oh Canada!

Last night was the first night of the "Crop Circles & Tractor Beams" tour with Dean Brody! For a full list of dates, click here. We started at Mile One Stadium in Saint John's, Newfoundland and now we are headed to our second stop in Moncton, New Brunswick... on the smallest plane ever!! Just a little frightened haha. See our full route on the map below. Also, there is still time to vote for Cassadee as Taste of Country's Artist of the Year (click here to vote.. You can vote once per hour!). I'm not gonna lie.. it's a bit chilly up here - but still very beautiful. This is just the beginning of an already great trip and I couldn't have asked for better company! More soon...

The Year Ahead

Happy New Year! 2014 is going to be filled with new and exciting things. We just finished shooting Cassadee's new music video in Nashville (I can't give anything away but trust me.. It'll be worth the wait!). Cassadee is also nominated for Taste of Country's Artist of the Year! (Click here to vote!). Right now we are down in Florida for a couple shows (One in Cassadee's hometown of West Palm Beach and another in Miami with our pals in Rascal Flatts among others) We'll be soaking up as much sun as we can before heading up to Canada for our February tour with Dean Brody. That's right, February in Canada - brrrrrrrr! It's going to be a blast though and we are all getting pumped to get back out on the road. Later this year we will be opening for Tim McGraw on his "Sundown Heaven Town" tour which will hit 30 cities over the course of the summer. More updates to come - looking forward to seeing everyone at the shows!

First full-band shot of 2014!

TEAM CASSADEE!

Beyond excited to announce that I will be playing bass for Cassadee Pope this summer on tour with Rascal Flatts and The Band Perry! Click here to check out her new single "Wasting All These Tears" on iTunes: