Hello Out There!

Here we go! I've never written a blog before, so bear with me. My goal is to keep our fans informed of what kind of Ruckus we're making between gigs. The other reason is to sort of catalog what I'm sending out in our email updates for anyone who might visit our website but not yet be a subscriber, so if these look familiar, it's probably because you've already read it in the monthly email. Shameless plug: If you like what you're reading, subscribe at the bottom of the page. Anyway, here's what's been going on with the Ruckus the past few months:

Grand Ave Ruckus has been booked to perform at Iowa Stock music and arts festival this September over Labor Day weekend! We are totally stoked to perform at the maiden voyage of this all-Iowan festival held in St. Charles, just South of Des Moines. This event is shaping up to be a blast with over 150 acts booked for 5 stages and 4 days. There will be vendors selling Iowa-made art, food, drinks, and more! Iowa Stock helps support Grand Ave Ruckus by giving us 20% of the ticket sales purchased through our ticket link, so get your single-day, 4-day, or camping pass here. Early-bird specials last through May 31st, so get them soon!

I want to thank Andy Poppen for helping us get this new website up. Please share it with your friends, and feel free to mention the email list to anyone who might be interested!

If you've been following our social media, you probably saw that we recorded an album back in March. (Photo of the adventure on right) The tracks have made it through the final stages of editing, and are now being mastered. That should be wrapped up in the next week or two, and then we will begin putting together the packaging for our final product...CDs!!!!! We are planning an official release party for August with other artists at a fun venue. Stay tuned as we release the details!

While recording the album, we filmed a couple of music videos too! We'll have those out this summer, so keep an eye out! Lots of exciting things in the future!

Finally, getting this band started has been an adventure for sure! Lots of hours hustling gigs, putting up posters, writing new music, rehearsing tunes, and learning how to do this live music thing. I think I can speak for the whole band when I say that we appreciate all of the support we've received from those who help us out, particularly our families and significant others.

I'm not really sure where I want this blog to go, maybe I'll try to get the other band members involved in posting, maybe It'll be strictly monthly, maybe more often. Anyway, keep an eye out for what's to come, and we'll see you at a show soon!

Thank you,

Brad Sparks

Grand Ave Ruckus