A couple weeks ago, before the band's big Fresno send-off, I wrote about Blake Jones & the Trike Shop's trip to Liverpool for a couple dates at the The International Pop Overthrow Festival. Those shows were this week, wrapping up tonight actually. Here's an e-mail interview I did with Jones talking about their Liverpool trip. Check back at The Beehive soon for an update on the group's trek.

How did this Liverpool trip come to be?
We've played this festival called The International Pop Overthrow Festival (IPO for short) for several years now. They have several editions of this fest around the U.S. We've been playing the San Francisco and Los Angeles ones ... well, because they were within driving distance. When they established the festival in Liverpool I guess it was only a matter of time until someone in the band suggested it; and they did. Then we all kind of looked at each other with that...."I'm in, how 'bout you?"-look and then went rushing off to find our credit cards.

How much has the Internet helped you guys promote and gain fans over there?
We set up a special MySpace account just for the trip. In true 'Gidget Goes Hawaiian' fashion, we called it "Blake Jones & the Trike Shop Go To England". Then we started connecting with friends through two different sources. One was a band called National Pep whom we had befriended earlier (one of their members had heard a CD of ours and had posted a few really nice reviews on various pop-related websites. How he first heard of us, I do not recall, but it obviously was some sort of internet facilitated connection). This was the band that organized our non-festival/ non-Liverpool performance in Bradford [Note on Bradford: Very near Leeds, it's the hometown of prog-rock guitarist Alan Holdsworth, rock band http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cult, and famous painter Brit-turned-Los Angelino David Hockney]. The other source was the website for the IPO. It listed all the bands playing the festival in Liverpool and had links to their MySpaces. So, through these two connections we've been getting the word out. The internet really has become an amazing resource for bands wishing to network.

On a scale of 1-10, how big is this for you guys, just as music guys?
For the music -- it's at least an 8, just the opportunity to play to an entirely new crowd. But add to that imaginary number eight ... a 10 for 'ultimate fun buddy road trip' ... .and a 10 for the geek/tourist factor of us being music fans/brit pop fans -- and what number are we at right now? That's a solid 28 out of 10!

As a guy who also plays in a Beatles cover band, is going to Liverpool and playing at the Cavern Club something you'd always dreamed of?
I'm not sure I ever dreamed of it until the opportunity came up, then the excitement built steadily. Obviously there are some serious Beatle-fans in this band, me being one of them!

Will they let you bring your theremin on the plane?
I've actually been worried about this, and I'm still not 100% sure of what to do. So far, I think I'm taking the antennae off, wrapping it in my clothes for softness and checking it through in my suitcase. I think going through those endless security checks with it in my carry-on would be asking for trouble. You've seen it: A simple wooden box with electronics inside. Nope. It looks wayyy to suspicious. I'm definitely adding my owner's manual and some pictures of it being played in case I'm called on to answer the dreaded "What exactly IS this thing?" question.

What lasting effects will this have on the Trike Shop? Are you going to be "discovered" now?
We're doing this because we love to play. We think the music is good and we want to share it. Every band, every artist of any sort need to figure out what words like "success", "discovered" and "making it" mean to them. I'm having the opportunity to travel with people I like, play music that I like ---to me, that's 'success'. [Though we are getting some serious label interest---we're courting Nestle and General Mills at the moment, but Johnson & Johnson want to get in on the bidding.]

Related Links:
- Beehive Review of the Trike Shop's Rogue Festival show
- The Trike Shop @ MySpace (with streaming music)