Mitch again.

Good evening folks,

Philmont has just returned from Michigan where its so stinking cold. I was not prepared for the coldness that awaited for us up there. We had 2 awesome shows with December Radio, met some cool guys and new friends. Philmont dominated in a game of spoons against some lucky fans. They were good sports about and we love you all. We also developed a love for the intense game of Knock Out! In case you dont know, you need a basketball goal and two basketballs. Form a line and as soon as the person in front of you shoots you try to make a shot before they do to knock them out! New favorite Philmont calorie burner.

Speaking of calorie burning, me and a friend went biking all around town yesterday. Im sure looked like hoodlums racing down sidewalks and barreling through intersections. But man was it fun. We ended getting lost in the woods but found some houses and found the road. Be sure to wear your helmet kids and watch for traffic.

So im working on setting up a local show to help a friend out with her senior graduation from college project. Its going to be a blast, hopefully tons of family and friends will make it out. Its been forever since we’ve played around here.

Well im outta here.

See ya next week

-Samsy

“The Jesus of Suburbia”

So I finally finished the book I’ve been reading- “The Jesus of Suburbia” by Mike Erre. Nothing like a good 13-hour drive to Michigan (plus 13 hours back) to get you in the reading mood.

So the book compares the Jesus from the Bible (the Jesus of Nazareth) to the watered down version we worship today (the Jesus of Suburbia). The book is filled with examples and details about how much of a rebel Jesus was and talks about how we’ve subsisted that rebellious Jesus for one that better fits our comfortable lifestyle and culture. Truly a fascinating read!

I wanted to share an excerpt with you all from the last chapter. It’s a great piece on how we’re led to ministry in whatever we do. Erre states that we’re quick to label things “Christian” and “Non-Christian” when in actuality we should see and portray Christ through all things, including the so called “non-Christian” things (ie work, school, driving, eating dinner, etc.)

“Who, then, are the best missionaries, the best demonstrators of the gospel? The pastors? No way. We’re “paid” to be religious. I think it’s the mortgage brokers, moms, students, janitors, baristas, and executives who fill our churches. How does God reach lawyers? By dressing up some of his children as lawyers and putting them to work. How does God reach college students? By dressing up his children as college students and sending them off to school. As Jesus put in Matthew 28:19, As you are going through life, “make disciples of all nations.”

I’ve realized that I’m far too quick to separate my ministry (Philmont) from my everyday life. I want to start looking at my entire life as a ministry and use Philmont, as well as time spent doing mundane things while off the road, as outlets for my ministry.

So if you’re looking for a good read I recommend diving into this sometime!
If you have any recommendations for me feel free to fire them my way!

-Scott
Tweet me @ ScottyMcTaube

JP017 – Huron Philmont’s Blog!

Hey friends. We are currently in Port Huron, Michigan (named so due to its close proximity to Lake Huron. If you don’t know your Great Lakes you can remember them with the simple acronym S.H.E.M.O. – Superior, Huron, Erie, Michigan, Ontario). We just finished an awesome show with the Love Can Tour alongside Decemberadio and Sevenglory (both of whom coincidentally use compound words for their band names…) and tomorrow we are heading home for a little bit of downtime.

Without further ado, here is the next installment of Philmont guitar tabs. This week is Setting Off and Letter to the Editor. Learn them, videotape yourself playing them, and upload them to Youtube! Then send me the link to the vid and we will leave comments. Promise!

TABS WEEK FOUR

The Replacements is on TV here at the hotel. Keanu Reeves is lame. Sweet hair, dude.

So as some of you may or may not realize, we are not the most physically fit people in the world (being skinny does not equal being in shape). We hardly ever engage in any physical activity other than playing the actual concert and maybe a round or two of Halo (but that really only works out the thumbs and throats [since there is a lot of yelling involved]). Anyway. Today we played a lot of basketball and even a short 2-on-2 game of football outside. Don’t get me wrong, we are terrible at these games, but it is still good fun and good exercise. So we decided that we are going to try to start having at least 30 minutes of physical activity for every day we are on the road from now on. We are gonna pack miscellaneous balls and discs and rackets into our trailer, and get in shape! This is the most positive outlook on the situation. In reality, we will probably play one game some day, for fifteen minutes or so, then get tired and play Halo. We are not the best at commitment (I mean, didn’t we once say we were going to upload our indvidual video segments on here like every other week??). So if you ever want to come to a show early and play sports with us (or any game for that matter), let us know!

Sad news for the week. One of my favorite bands, Copeland, has decided to call it quits. Since their formation these guys have put out four amazing albums and zero un-amazing ones. I got to meet them at Cornerstone this year, where they put on the best show of the festival for me. I’m really hoping their farewell tour this spring comes to NC!

I have no idea what I want for Christmas! Such a dilemma. Maybe I will ask for a robot that writes blogs for me so I don’t have to do it any more. Just kidding, I actually really like being able to say whatever I want once a week. And to think people like you actually read some of this madness! To you I say thanks. Hope you all have a nice week. Thxgiving is right around the cornercopia! Check out these songs. Later!

Three Songs to Buy on iTunes This Week:
1. “Silhouettes” by Swimming With Dolphins

2. “No One Really Wins” by Copeland

3. “Run” by Snow Patrol

Thanksgiving now, Christmas later, Halloween yesterday

Greetings from Michigan! It’s cold! Not like the weather we just returned from in Vegas. Which was an excellent trip. Scott’s post pretty much summed up everything about the trip but my personal highlights were:

1. Holding a Komodo dragon
2. Seeing the fountains at the Bellagio and reliving the Ocean’s 11 scene
3. Staying in the Paris hotel. Awesome!
4. Winning $28,638 from slot machines!!
5. Seeing many epic costumes on the streets (#1 being wannabe – Howie Mandel and 30 Deal or No Deal assistants in matching dresses and briefcases)
6. Seeing an overhead view of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam from the plane
7. #4 didn’t actually happen.

Good times.

Now we’re on a string of shows with Decemberadio around eastern U.S. and it should be more good times.

Pet Peeve: Though Halloween is over that does not mean that playing Christmas music and even decorating for Christmas is now acceptable. Now is the season for Thanksgiving music and decorations. Turkeys, cornucopias, pilgrim music, and so on. Once Thanksgiving ends, then and ONLY then is it acceptable to commence with the Christmas jams. But not the “Wonderful Christmastime” or “Feliz Navidad” songs. Those need to be banished from the radio for being repetitive and annoying.

-Todd

Web clip of the week:

Viva Las Vegas

So as you guys may know, after a good chunk of time off, Philmont hit the road last weekend for a one-off show in Las Vegas. Well, we didn’t so much hit the road as we hit the runway but you get what I’m saying.
We played a concert as part of a Vegas church’s Halloween fair. The show was a lot of fun, the stage was huge and the kids were rowdy! Some of the guys threw together last-minute costumes for the show. As he rushed out of the house to catch the plane, Josiah grabbed a Jason style hockey mask to wear on stage. During the first song I looked over at him and couldn’t stop laughing. His mask had slipped up on his head and the only thing peeking through his eye holes were his overly expressive eyebrows!
We took the following day to be tourist in Vegas it was a lot of fun. We were able to find an amazing deal on a hotel room right on the strip in the Paris Hotel–which was breathtaking inside! We’ve become experts at finding the free stuff to do whenever we go somewhere and Vegas was no exception! I think my favorite thing to see was fountain show at night outside of the Bellagio! Amazing!
Below are some pictures I’ve snapped from the trip…Enjoy!
We’ll be in the Michigan for a couple shows this weekend with Decemberadio so come on out if you’re in the area!

Our guest drummer for the evening:

New York, NY Hotel:

The Bellagio Hotel as seen from the top of the Eiffel Tower:

The Las Vegas Strip as seen from the top of the Eiffel Tower:

The Eiffel Tower:

Until next week…
-Scott (Twitter: ScottyMctaube)

JP016 – Plane and Simple

Last night I had a dream that I was suddenly playing football for the Minnesota Vikings special teams unit. We initiated an onside kick against our opponent (the Kansas City Chiefs, if I remember correctly), they fumbled, and I recovered the ball and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown. The funniest part was, in my dream, I found out about my new-found football fame by watching the game on TV. I said “wow, I didn’t realize I was such a great football player!” then all my friends started texting me saying “dude I didn’t know you played for the NFL!” It was a crazy dream.

I just woke up and am now getting ready to fly (hence the title) out to Las Vegas for a show at a church’s annual Fall fair. It is a medieval theme, so hopefully I will get to show off my world-renowned jousting skills, or my legendary dragon-slaying skills. Only time will tell.

I’m really just trying to get some content into this blog post because my last few ones have been sparse. In reality, I should have typed up a blog last night before I went to bed then posted it today, but my foresight failed me. Later on I’ll probably think of some cool metaphor that I could’ve used to relate my dream to real life or something, but until then, it is just a dream.

But don’t worry, I have not forgotten about all you aspiring Philmont cover bands out there. Here is the next installment of guitar tabs.

TABS WEEK THREE

Pray for us as we travel across the country this weekend. If you celebrate Halloween, be safe and don’t play any mean tricks. If you don’t celebrate Halloween, feel free to pop some popcorn and peruse the back catalog of Philmont’s Youtube page. There are some gems in there.

See you soon! Josiah

Three Songs to Buy on iTunes This Week:
1. “Hair” by The Early November

2. “Fell In Love Without You” by Motion City Soundtrack

3. “Synchronicity II” by The Police

For Kicks and Giggles

Today’s post is plain, simple, and enjoyable…

Epic Halloween Costumes.

If you catch Philmont in Vegas this weekend you may or may not see us in epic costumes as well…

Enjoy.

-Todd

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Analog Facebook

Toy soldiers coming to life, every kids nightmare. Mine at least.

Pure genius…

I always thought this would make for a good scene in Jurassic Park

Most epic high-five ever…

Obvious Epicness

Great costume, great marketing. Win Win situation.

“Ohh Yeah!!!”

I’d only be impressed if he actually transformed into a little semi-truck and rode off.

Epic Mario fans. If they had a dog it could’ve been Yoshi

Hahahahaha

Nacho Libre’s offspring? I see a sequel coming…

Too much time on his hands, but epic nonetheless.

Last but not least, and most epic/terrifying of all, I give you the Rock Giant

Pumpkin up the jams, pumpkin up

Hello everybody sorry for being a day late with this one. Anyone been to any fall festivities lately? Ive already carved a pumpkin, which is one of the most disgusting things ive ever done… Ive cut some awesome birthday cake, and swallowed some silly string. Yes, silly string, it was terrible and thus proves you should never be laughing or have your mouth open during a silly string fight.

Its been great being home for these past couple of weeks. I love spending time with family and friends. Also i got to work for a couple of hours which was a plus. I forgot how much my legs and feet hurt after a long days work. Im still recovering… At the end of this week Philmont will be flying to Las Vegas for an awesome show! The rest of the gang will be hanging out spending Halloween in Vegas and Ill be flying back bright and early the morning after the show to spend it with my lovely girlfriend who is having a birthday. Arent I a nice guy

Well I have tons of laundry to catch up.. any volunteers?
Next week ill try and have some more for you all

-Samsy

A Day in the Studio…Universal Studios!

Quick blog from me this week due to the fact that I’m at a hotel in Florida and the Internet is not free so I gotta bang this blog out on my phone. (isn’t there an app for that?). Why yes there is but the WordPress iPhone app is absolute trash and at the last blog I tried to write from it!
So as I mentioned I’m in Florida taking the first vacation with my wife since our honeymoon! We’re hitting up Universal Studios today and I’m pretty darn excited! I love rollercoasters- I just have to figure out a way to convince Britt to ride them with me!
It’s such a blessing to be able to duck out of the regular band world for a few days and just spend some time together! You’d think I’d be tired of staying in hotels but it’s a totally different experience when the room isn’t packed with a bunch of dudes!
I’ll have a full report of my time here including my pic for best ride next weekend.
Until then be sure to visit www.gospelmusicchannel.com/gmcva/rock and vote for our video “The Difference” a couple times a day! (or just txt a few votes like I do!)
Stay frosty!
-Scott (@ScottyMcTaube)

JP015 – Better Late Than Neverending…

Been in Nashville for a few days now, to participate in the wedding of my good friend and longtime Philmont partner Matthew Arcaini. He was our very first bass player, my roommate in college, producer of our song “The Ascension”, and producer of many of our demos. Anyway, it was a great couple of days culminating in a wonderful ceremony today, and all went well.

So that’s why this post is rather late! But as promised, the next two tabs have been added to the repertoire. Enjoy.

TABS WEEK TWO

Right now I am watching the movie Signs. That is a great movie. Haven’t seen it in a while, it’s got some pretty good little scares in it!

Tomorrow I will be catching up on the TV shows I missed while here in Nashvegas. Particularly excited about Flash Forward…I really hope that show will eventually fill the void that Lost leaves after this (final) season.. *sad face*

Well, that’s about all I got for now. I should have a more substantial post ready next week. These past couple weeks I’ve been slacking! Autumn is upon us! The weather is awesome! Three songs!

Three Songs to Buy on iTunes This Week:
1. “Real World” by Matchbox Twenty

2. “Cool” by Gwen Stefani (yep, that’s right)

3. “Eating A Book” by He Is Legend