Acres Of Lions 2012 Tour Journal, Entry 4
“I was looking for a pisser on the SeaBus and ran into a guy who said he was the first seaman, and I was all like SO AM I, BRO.” – #shitdanballsays Saturday, March 10, 10:00 am We wake up as one big collective hangover in Cody’s apartment, in which he has politely vacated to give us a comfortable space to relax while we are in town. Before we are on our way to Kelowna, we say goodbye to Kiana, who I’m sure, at this point, realizes how ridiculous and strange, and gross, we are as a band, and as people, and is relieved to know she no longer has to share our clearly awesome, yet disgusting van with us. Seriously though, we can’t thank her enough. She is one
Acres Of Lions 2012 Tour Journal, Entry 3
Friday, March 9, 1:00pm Today we visit our old pals Tamara Stanners and James Sutton at 100.5 The Peak for a little chat, discussing subjects such as our upcoming Canadian tours, our short stint in the UK at the end of the month, motherly love according to Tamara, alcohol: pros and cons, should James grow and maintain a mustache, the 2012 Peak Performance Project and it’s importance to groups and artists based in British Columbia. There were no obscenities uttered on the air this time around, or references to female genitalia or inane and controversial sexual acts, it was truly a blessing, but since our performance tonight was taking place at the CBC studio, we were excited and its announcement kind of slipped out of our mouths. There was a
Acres Of Lions 2012 Tour Journal, Entry 2
Thursday, March 8 We spend most of the day rehearsing at NAL Sound in North Vancouver, right around the corner from the fabled Seylynn hall, where, in the past, we have all individually spent some good times attending all-ages matinees, the nostalgia heavy with the sweat and grit from growing up in those halls with those old punk-rock bands we used to love and would lose our voices singing along to. Well, let’s face it, we still do. I choose to believe that I will always be 18 in some way, the age where I developed all of my bad habits, saw my favorite bands and made all of my friends. The young at heart know what I mean. The rehearsal goes surprisingly well and the songs sound solid. There
Acres Of Lions 2012 Tour Journal, Entry 1
Wednesday, March 7 Today I performed an acoustic version of our song “Reaction” for Urban Rush in Vancouver, a Shaw television program that features guests from film, television, sports, food, fashion, music and pop culture. This was technically the first day of our tour, but since the band still had some last-minute preparations to take care of in Victoria, surprise surprise, we decided to do this simple, folky, stripped-down version of the song. Cody Beer and I caught the 9:00 am ferry and met up with our good friend Alfie, in Vancouver down at Shaw tower, where he entertained us with old stories from his days of working with some of the most raucous and ridiculous touring rock and roll bands in history while we waited in the green room.
Acres Of Lions 2012 Tour Journal, Introductions
And the tour begins with a quote from our living, breathing thesaurus, a legendary figure who is the mind and body of this well-oiled machine we simply call “a band.” He is the Rush-worshipping, bass-playing, mullet-wielding , cat-loving, PBR-drinking, Teen Burger-devouring Adonis, our treasure-trove of chuckles, Dan Ball: “I checked the weather for our tour this month, boys. The forecast called for alcohol, poor decisions and low standards. Hash-Tag, GET INTO IT.” – Dan Ball, while simultaneously putting on Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a highway” through the stereo. And what potentially successful Acres Of Lions rock and/or roll tour would be complete without it’s newest additions to the crew? We would like to give a warm welcome to our friends Cody Beer, who will be filling in on the drums
Acres Tour Journal, Entry 17
Quote of the day: “You guys want an encore? I’ll play you anything. I’ll even play you Lady G’GAH if you want.” – Craig Thursday, November 24th, 9:30 am, Montreal We sleep for 3.5 hours at Lucas and Mel’s apartment and split. The drive is very tedious and sad, leaving the city and leaving our old friends. We hit all kinds of construction and heavy traffic on the way to London and end up being 1.5 hours late for our load-in and sound-check schedule. We each consume well over 500 ml of coffee this morning, in an effort to plow through the daunting free-way heading south from Toronto, to stay alert and stay safe. We have discovered the usefulness of Ontario’s “On-Route” road-side fast food oasis (plural?) There is literally
Acres Tour Journal, Entry 16
Quote of the day: Dan Ball selects “Ted Nugent” on an old juke-box, people start exiting the bar. “Hash-Tag, I learned all my moves from my dad.” Wednesday, November 23rd, 10:00 am, Toronto I wake up confused and shattered. Last night’s celebration, an after-show party at Sneaky Dee’s, “My Friends Over You,” a pop-punk dj set including Edmonton’s finest, Craig and Sandy from Ten Second Epic, ended in a haze of Toronto friends, fajitas and the invention of “The Sprack” which is a shitty grilled cheese sandwich with jalepenos, and late night beers at our pals Tristan and Dean’s house, where I somehow managed to score a bed in the basement of their roommate, who apparently was out for the evening, hence my confusion. Quite often on tour I wake
Acres Tour Journal, Entry 15
Quote of the day: “Hey guys, I checked the weather for our trip today. It calls for alcohol, poor decisions and low standards.” – Dan Ball Tuesday, November 22nd, 5:00 pm, Toronto The trip through the shield and further into Ontario took 16 hours. It wasn’t the worst drive. There’s some pretty magical scenery to take in along the way, but also in turn, miles of factories and strip malls. Hooray. We stay in another cheap motel when we arrive in Sudbury the night before, called the “sketchy shade inn” or something along those lines. Trip Advisor told us there had been vehicle and room break-ins in the past so we slept with our instruments of defense under our pillows, a tire iron and a whiskey bottle, they do the
Acres Tour Journal, Entry 14
Quote of the day: “It sounds like the van is playing ‘Hot For Teacher.’” – Dan Ball’s famous last words Sunday, November 20th, 10:00 am, Winnipeg The road through Manitoba is never really that forgiving. It’s jagged, long, desolate, fraught with night dangers, which I have yet to, and hopefully, will never encounter. It’s a beautiful piece of Canada, but the 9 hour drive to Thunder Bay is never something you truly look forward to, even if you say it is and try to be relentlessly positive, like me on this tour. I won’t lie, I’m a pretty bitter guy most of the time, all the time really, just ask my friends, but it never stops me from exhuming some good cheer once in awhile, when it is needed, and
Acres Tour Journal, Entry 13
Quote of the day: “Dan, the only battle-axe you will ever wield is a malformed sentence.” – Tyson, on the subject of Dan’s fighting skills Saturday, November 19th, 7:00 am, Yorkton I wake up with frost in my moustache, if I can call it that for a moment (It’s MOvember, right?) The heater went out in the over-priced shack we rented for a night to sleep in, so I spend 15 minutes in the dark hitting it with my shoe until it kicks back in. I shower but it doesn’t take, unfortunately, and I change my strings as the rest of the boys get ready to go. It’s cold one out today, for sure. When we get on the road we get texts from the boys in TSE saying that
