“Come one, come all! Experience the creatures and critters that live within this man’s beard, or the beard that calls this man’s face a home!”

Here’s a few excerpts from the Canadian portion of our winter tour thus far. Lots of driving, pretty treacherous roads, coffee sweats, road-trip games, to be expected this time of year. But the shows have been excellent this time around, and it is so nice to see all of our friends across the provinces again!

OCTOBER

The last leg of our Canadian tour brought us up North to Prince George, where we performed not 1, but 3 shows in the span of 2 days! We may be old guys now, on the verge of washing up and a little distant from what’s popular with the kids these days, but let us tell you, nobody’s too old or jaded to perform at a mandatory assembly at College Heights Secondary in Prince George. NO ONE. And hey, most of the students actually liked it! It was nice to have a such an attentive and large (about 500 seats) audience! The next day, we stopped by the elementary school as well for a short performance for the amazing kids there who had been looking forward to it all week. Needless to say, they all loved Dan’s beard, saying it was “neat” and “gross” and “Ewwww” and “Wowwww” and whatnot. They seemed to have mixed feelings about it, but they all took turns feeling it, like you would at say, a petting zoo or circus side-show! The night wrapped up with a farewell dinner with our good buddy Jesse Modz of 94XFM and a great show with loveable locals The Statistics at The Art Space. It was a classic night!

Thursday/Friday, Oct 25/26

On to Dawson Creek! We spent two epic nights at Rockwell’s Pub, experienced a full on Canadian “test of faith,” otherwise known as winter, (or Hockey Night In Canada, if you want to be a jerk about it) and enjoyed the un-ending hospitality of our good friends Nichole and Jordy Armstrong, who kept us fed, warm and with plenty of activities at our disposal. Let’s put it this way, there were tire chains involved, a gun range, kittens and a little old place called Maverick’s which houses most of Dawson Creek’s night life on Friday and Saturday. Vodka water’s were definitely flowing in the club, or whatever. A massive thanks to the Armstrong’s for the love! We’ll be back soon!

Sunday, Oct 28

We entered Alberta on a Sunday morning and didn’t reach Edmonton until the late-evening. Why, you ask? Well, snow of course, silly! Yes, it was a very slow 8 hour crawl to the gas city, and at one point, our windshield washer fluid froze up so there were frequent stops to clean the windows by hand. I do believe there was a slight, but amicable, argument over what constitutes “Winterization” in each province. It was gruelling but we managed to make it to Wunderbar in time for the first band, Yellowknife, to go on, followed by Tanner Gordon and The Unfortunates. It was a quaint and comfortable Sunday night show with tasty ales, good chunes and all the greats of Edmonton friends. If we had to guess, we bet all of our BFF’s from this city were out at Wunderbar that night, so thanks for coming. Edmonton, you really know how to make 4 working stiffs feel special.

Wednesday, Oct 31

We spent a few days in Edmonton, seeing the sights: Filthy McNasty’s Ale House, The Filthy Feud, Dodgeball with California Lane Change, Mt. Spracklin; we basically never left Whyte Ave, and jammed 48 hours straight in CLC’s basement. It was a non-stop good time, which made driving to Calgary on Halloween in snowy conditions sound not so fun. Oh, but it was! It was a 3.5 hour turned 6 hour drive to Calgary, an all-ager at The New Black, and we rolled up 15 minutes before we hit the stage. Now, we’ve been doing this for many years, but tonight really proved how professional, and quite the opposite, we can be. In those precious 15 minutes we managed to load all of our gear up a giant flight of stairs, set up and organize our merch table, grab a Red Bull and suit up into our Dan Ball costumes. Hey, it was Halloween, right? And you’re supposed to dress up as the coolest, scariest, sluttiest thing you know, so BOOM. Also, did we mention that Kevin Vos skipped work to hang out with us and did our merch as Jackie Moon? Well he did, and then we played Jenga and drank Patrone into the All Hallow’s Eve. Big shout out to Run Romeo Run for having us at their shindig, and also, for rocking so hard.

NOVEMBER

Regina. The way to you was paved in ice and snow. Therefore, we were late again, or right on time, depending on how you look at it. This show was an amazing example of why live music still exists. A full bar on a Thursday night, 2 great bands to share the McNally’s Tavern stage with, Nick Faye and Fly Points and a jolly new friend by the name of Redbeard from a local radio station, who shaved his epic beard for Movember. Did we mention we’re partaking in the cause? Just ask our boys Shaner and T-Rex all about it. ‘Staches you can really set your watch to. The night ended with the rudest of pizza parties, and a 3 hour nap until the morning. The next day we felt like fat kids with a food hangover.

Friday, Nov 2

Just so everyone knows, we hate being late. It is a personal pet-peeve of ours collectively, but with the surprising winter conditions, ie. the road to Winnipeg completely sheathed in ice until about 30 kms outside of the city, you’re going to have to deal with it. We even left early in anticipation of this. Still, we got to the gig with time to spare, and in time to watch Dangercat perform. It was a happy end to a long day, as we all are big fans of the band. Our set went quite well, a little more punk rock than usual (it was that kind of show) And by punk rock we mean, no set-list, amps up 2 notches, a bit more jovial cursing from Jeff than usual. You know, punk rock. The Ripperz went on after us and killed it. Winnipeg, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, you are most talented. Thanks for a killer show!

Stay tuned, boys and girls! More to come shortly… as the wifi permits! Thanks again!