Wow.

ThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYouThankYou to everyone who took some time out and supported us! This is so ridiculously exciting – we cannot even describe what it was like watching the charts last night only to come out on top! It was crazy and surreal and awesome!

Check out our 1 chart-topping glory and listen to the other great songs from the finals here: http://www.ourstage.com/winners/2008/5/

The $5000 grand prize is going to make a huge difference for us – cutting a big chunk into our post-album-making debt. And hopefully the prestige of this big win will carry over to many more opportunities for us!

So again, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. So many of you have sent us notes or comments of congratulations and encouragement – little notes of “I voted for you!” – and we truly could not have done it without you

Big Hugs and Much Love,

~Matt, Mike, Alie, and Tom of Cobalt & the Hired Guns

To our most loved friends and fans,

You braved the rain and the heat, you sweated with us in the basement of the Elbo Room all night long and you made last Saturday a night we will always remember. You were a fabulous audience, thank you all for coming and being a part of our big night.

We had folks from New Orleans, Connecticut, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Washington DC, Madison, and many other locales to celebrate with us. Over 100 people showed up for us, and it really meant a lot. The show was a huge success, and as tired and sore as we all were when we woke up (especially matt, who sprained his ankle right before the show), you made all that hard work feel worth it.

It was really exciting to get to meet so many new people that are friends with our friends. Keep bringing your friends to the shows! That’s the way we want this community to grow. It’s all about making friends and loving music.

To those of you that got up on stage and danced with us- we’re gonna need you and all your people to be at every show you can from now on. Cobalt & the Hired Guns loves blurring the line between performers and audience. You are as beautiful as you are enthusiastic.

Andrew Plotsky made a beautiful green, vegan, chocolate cake- and it was delicious.

Thank you to the people who came and joined us from Urban Habitat Chicago – your presentation about green roofs and green lifestyles was fun and interesting- you really helped us create an atmosphere at our show. They left us with a ton of seedballs, so you can get some more at our next gig! Thanks to the people from A Cooler Planet for giving us so many cool samples- and remember “Jump the Fence” counts at a 10% off coupon at the store.

Oh, and guess what? OUR ALBUM IS NOW OFFICIALLY AVAILABLE ON CDBABY AND iTUNES MUSIC STORE!!! If you can’t get one from us at a show, make sure you pick it up that way!

Stay tuned for pics, video, and audio from our big night at the Elbo Room!

Thank you So much. We love you.

~Tom, Matt, Alie, and Mike Cobalt & the Hired Guns

Cobalt & the Hired Guns take South By Southwest music conference and festival by storm:

Thank you, Austin. Thank you for the shows. Thank you for the sun. Thanks for the free food and the free beer. Thanks for the friends we made. South By Southwest was incredible. I think. What I remember of it. There’s always a lot to take in. This was our first time down there as a full band but for 5 days and 5 nights, we made that city home. There was a lot to learn- sometime you learn from watching a band try to play a set when they’re too drunk, other times it’s some guy with white hair in a panel that throws you free blueberry muffins and proves he knows what he’s talking about, teaching you more in an hour than you’ve learned all year. Thanks to our friends in Austin that drive us around and take us out for pancakes and queso at 3 in the morning and drive us to the airport while we sing along to our own cd at the top of our lungs, throwing free demos to people in cars next to us at red lights. You know who you are, and you are loved. Thanks to the good weather that didn’t rain but a little while we were down there. Thanks to our softball team, who won it’s first game but lost in the semi-finals to the “talent buyers and venue owners” which was really just a bunch of ringers. There are a lot of REALLY good bands out there. At times it’s exhilarating and exhultant, at others it’s totally intimidating and you wonder why anyone would ever chose you, and why did you get into this business in the first place and shouldn’t you maybe just listen to dad and go to grad school. And then you remember that there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing, and to enjoy the little space you’ve made. And that if it wasn’t this band, it’d be another band. And you’d rather have it be this band. Go Cobalt & the Hired Guns. Clap your hands if you believe in us! (oh- and come to shows! please!).

and HEY if we met you down in that craziness give us a HOLLER! tell us what you think of the record. Tell us stories of your crazy times down at SXSW.