What I Learned On Tour

So, I learned a great deal on this tour about a lot of things, but I really tried to focus on honing my performance skills every night. And being the consummate professional that I am, I also did homework when we were in the van. The video you see here was and is my primary study aid. Forget the old Mick Jagger live footage, or that of Bowie as Ziggy Stardust; THIS is the pinnacle of all that I aspire to as a frontman.

-- kg

End of Tour......and now.

So okay we are back home in Los Angeles and it took a day or so to adjust. You get so used to being in a van,sleeping on people's floors,using gas station bathrooms about every 2 hours,taking naps whenever you can, eating as healthy as you can and whenever you can, etc.....but most of all and the beautiful thing is.....you get used to playing shows all the time and that is your main focus more than anything. Music. Its amazing and its truly beautiful and I wish we were leaving again this week. Now that we re home its back to rehearsing,playing locally,writing new songs ( which is great cause I love the direction and ideas we are going in and touching on), and planning our next step in the Novista Revolution. The last show of the tour at Mojito's in San Francisco was awesome. Great crowd,old friends,new friends,cool place and we played very well that night. We even felt so great about it we improved a song on the spot and just jammed it out for a few minutes. We thank you Mojito's,friends,and everyone else there that night to give us such a great experience our last night of our tour. Please come see us live if you get the chance we just continue to grow and get even stronger live and I would love to share our music with everyone possible. Okay well enough for now still tired from it all. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Ando Calrissian

July 20th - Portland is a small town

Hey everyone - as Andy said, we had a great first few days of the tour and saw some beautiful scenery on the drive north. Portland is a quirky place that feels like home the moment you hit the streets. After the radio show we went to the famous Doug Fir for a late dinner (which was excellent and cheap) and as we left, we saw what was clearly a band's tour bus pulling around the corner towards us. Don't get me wrong, we love our trusty Vanny Van Vanderson, but seeing the plushness of that bus had us a bit green. We were wondering aloud which band might be inside, when Andy decided to bust my chops and said, "Yeah, Kev, it's Tegan & Sara's." I've been raving about the twin sisters from Canada, as I finally bought their last album a few months ago and can't stop listening to it. (their new album comes out today, i believe - buy that sucker!) Having had a few beers, I didn't hesitate to ask a woman standing by the bus door whose bus it was. As she replied "Tegan & Sara," I saw that the woman standing behind her was none other than Sara. Or maybe Tegan. Give me a break - they're fuggin' twins, ok? Seriously though, I'm pretty sure it was Sara. Anyway, I introduced myself and told her how insane their music had been making me lately. She graciously and bravely accepted the compliments of a lunatic, and was cool enopugh to ask about our band. Andy stepped up with a handful of stickers - good man. She was extremely nice and her friend seemed happy to see some fans giving her respect, so I don't think we embarassed ourselves too badly. The whole experience made me feel part of the larger music community - two bands on tour, passing through the same town. Awesome. Now, if we can just get our hands on that bus.....

xo,
kg

July 20th KPSU in Portland

So after a lot of driving the previous day we finally arrived in the northwest.Portland is so lush and green its really beautiful.Somewhat overcast and a lil rain going on which is a nice change for us being we live in L.A. where rain is unheard of in summer time.We find the campus radio station and load in.Andrew Stern was our gracious host for the show.Thank you Andrew.This was our first time on a radio show and it was really fun.You can access the show in the archives at
www.KPSU.org
After repacking,then unpacking again it was off to check out lovely Portland nightlife with our friends Jessica and Nate.They were also gracious hosts to us as well.I'll let Kevin tell his little story tho....

-Andres of the North

San Francisco July 18th

Okay so this was the first night of our tour and it couldn't have been better.We had awesome Italian food before the show,and the guy even gave us tiramisu free of charge.Mmmmmm.The people at Grant and Green were really cool and after hanging out for a bit it came time to play.We played probably our best show ever.The people that came out to see us were cool and we just let loose on stage.Gilday broke his bass,my guitar strap came off but neither of us missed a note.Pretty awesome energy we had that night.Afterwards we milled about to check out Mojito's where we'll be playing next week.Cool place.Can't wait to come back through and play SF again.Tomorrow morning we're off again.Hope everyone is well.

Costa Nova Live at the Knitting Factory Video

Check out our new video of 'On Your Side' live at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood on Father's Day, 6/17/07 - Plus there's a special Father's Day surprise at the end. Check it out!!!

-Gilday

->*<-->*<-->*<-begin transmission ->*<-->*<-->*<-

People of Earth............time for me to initiate first contact on this here blog. We have been running ragged trying to get everything in order before we hit the road - which is the best kind of ragged running that I know of. New song coming together called 'Wailing Wall'. Oh shit it's gonna be a doozy. Let's see if you can decipher the lyrics, that is if you can hear them at all. I will be accepting all guesses/translations because I haven't finalized any words yet. You sign over all rights of your lyrical brilliance to ME, of course. That way YOU get to be part of the creative process and I don't have to do my homework. Cheers!

Ok, gotta run to rehearsal. Maybe get some pad thai with tofu on the way. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

xoxo, kg

Broom Brrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooom!!!!!

WE HAVE A VAN!!!!!!!!!! Yes thats right Costa Nova is now the proud parents of a van.Whats that you say?YOu like Costa Nova and would like them to play in your city?Oh dip.Not a problem.We have a van!!!!We can drive whereever we want to go.Play whatever city(as long as they book us) and drive to YOUR town.Can't wait to play on July 12th at 14 Below in Santa Monica so that we can all get in the van and drive to the show.Our van is sitting right outside my window right now.I think it misses us already.Our van rules.Okay I know I know this post seems silly but its honestly a huge step in such a great direction for us.We are so very grateful to the people that made this all happen.I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July and hope to see you all soon.
Loves,Andy
P.S. WE GOT A VAN!!!!!!!