All I Wanted for Christmas...

"I didn't really know what I was doing," says Seventh Soldier singer Hyun Soo of his recent attempt to book a tour for his band.

"I found this guy on MySpace, Captain Grind Me Booking, and he said he would get us six tour dates in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado. We got him to lower the fee from $725 to $300, so we were stoked. We had to plan it around my school schedule, so we booked shows during Christmas break, with our friends the Hoedown coming along."

"Two weeks before [the tour] is supposed to start, this guy is lagging. He hasn't given us a contract yet...then the Hoedown decided to back out; they didn't believe we'd break even." The Seventh Soldier did its own number crunching and came to agree. "With the van mileage, I figured it would have [cost] $1000 per band.... My family was willing to put some money into it because they felt that this would be a worthwhile experience.

"The guy never came up with a contract, though, so we ended up backing out too. Everyone had already arranged for time off from their jobs, so we ended up sitting around bored for two weeks."

The Seventh Soldier plays February 2 at Adams Hall, in the College Area.