2014 was an unbelievable year for Karaoke Underground, thanks to every single one of you who sang with us! Hannah and I started this thing on December 31st, 2003, in our living room simply because we wanted to share some of our favorite songs with friends and meet some more fun people in our new hometown – people who weren’t afraid to be seen having fun. It’s come such a long way since then, and we’ve been lucky enough to make a lot of those friends we hoped we’d find, and even to meet and talk to some of the people who inspire us with their music.
The biggest kick for me is still watching someone’s eyes light up when they first open the list and realize that their favorite songs – the ones that mean something personal, that maybe they felt like an outcast for liking, or were resigned to keeping private or sharing with just a few close friends – are in there, and they have a chance to share that enthusiasm with a roomful of people who love the music too. It’s a simple pleasure, and we’ve all got so many stories and reasons why we like our favorites, but I’m incredibly grateful to you all for sharing it.
Special thanks to a lot of you, including everybody at:
* Nomad Bar, home base for more than six years!
* Sweetwater & The Highball, our new monthly residencies
* Red 7, where we celebrated our 10th anniversary with Heart And Soul School Of Music and The Missyfits
* Cheer Up Charlies, where our benefit for Lilith Fund featured an appearance from John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats
* North Door, where SafePlace, Pop Quiz and Transmission helped us put together an awesome Fun Fun Fun Fest themed show
* Beerland, where we played with The Villettes and Phantom Fox to raise money for Monkeywrench Books
* Scoot Inn, where we had a great joint 10th anniversary party with our friends in Karaoke Apocalypse
* Volstead, where KU and DJ John Gross celebrated one year of his NO DANCING with an amazing Sad Songs Only karaoke show
* All the other Austin venues we played over the year: Spider House, Dive, Legendary White Swan, The Liberty and – in just a few hours – Bar 2211, where you can kick off 2015 with us!
Big thanks to people who Let Us Play Your Party: Alie, Liza, Melissa, Danielle, Del, Jennifer and many more who celebrated by coming out to one of our shows.
Just a few road trips this year, thanks to:
* Conan, Ben and everybody at PRFBBQ West at Leo’s in Oakland
* Midwest friends old and new at Billy Frog’s in Sioux Falls and miniBar in Kansas City
Finally, thanks to those who made time to write about and interview us for publications both national and local. As far as press goes, 2014 was unprecedented for us, and we really appreciate it! Links to all these pieces on our Media page at karaokeunderground dot com
Summer Anne – Buzzfeed
Scott – Noisey
Sami – Consequence Of Sound
Morgan – OVRLD
David – Daily Texan