Summer Tour Entry #5: Riff-raff, street-rat, I don’t buy that.
Sunday, August 9/09, West Edmonton Mall AB If only they’d look closer… Things I have found over years of pestering people about my band, interupting conversations, meals, making them late for whatever errand, are the diverse reactions to having 2 or 3, or even all 4 of us, our clearly out-of-town garb, demeanor and lingo, approach them with ipods out of the seemingly regular blue. Almost all of the time, we look pretty haggard and desperate (and we are) and we feel bad for disturbing such tranquility, but like most of the population, we gotta make a living somehow. Whether it be peddling cheap cd’s and music online, shirts, promoting the evening’s and future events, it is all relevant. Most people are unassuming and easy-going, don’t usually mind being asked
Summer Tour Entry #4: I want to jump in a lake
Saturday, August 8th/09, GCFB’S, St. Albert AB Camping rules. The whole process, the tents, the fire, the vulnerable foliage, the wildlife, it’s pretty amazing to me. Most of the time there’s swimming or fishing involved, and lots of partying, hard. For some reason, we have this compulsion to go to the nearest outdoor gear store, spend hefty dollars, drive out to the middle of nowhere, or sometimes collectively to places they have dubbed “campgrounds,” light a fire in the middle of a severely flammable area of the world and drink a small village’s worth of alcohol, pass out under the stars. The next morning you probably feel pretty haggard, eat breakfast or something, but that’s the point. It is very reminiscent of a tour. I’ve always enjoyed camping, the time
Summer Tour Entry #3: Nine-Inch Louisville Slugga, if you know what I mean
Friday, August 7th/09, The Pawn Shop, Edmonton AB I am very surprised at us this tour, about our musical tastes and the arrangement of songs we have selected for our own personal tour mixes, another ritual in which we share. I went pretty mellow this time around, choosing bands like The Decemberists, The Format, Attack In Black, Mother Mother, Wilco, Get Up Kids, as well as many others (indiefuck) Dan firmly adheres to metal and rock n roll, something he’s done for years, but still manages to sneak in “Life is a highway” before any of us get a hold of the stereo, within the first 5 minutes of driving. I don’t know though, somehow we decided to listen to a vast selection of R&B, Rap and hip-hop, something we
Summer Tour Entry #2: What was I thinking when I let go of you?
Thursday, August 6/09, The Taphouse, St.Albert, AB Everyone eventually forgets to bring something when they are going on a trip, especially a long one. I am notorious for putting things down and leaving them there. Anything, really. The items could be very small or very large, I would still forget where I left them. We were tempted to name this tour the “Keys? Wallet? Phone?” tour, due to the amount of times I’ve already left my shit in random places… let’s just say I found my keys on the front lawn this morning and I was stone-cold sober last night. Now, I don’t think we have forgotten anything. What I own is minimal, a bed, a desk, a tv, a bookshelf, everything else usually comes with me, items I store
Summer Tour Entry #1: On a Quest for Glory
Tuesday, August 5/09, The Road, BC And the tour begins, like always, with a ferry-ride! Yes, that’s right! We have paid our $66 Canadian dollars to cross a body of water, which has always been $112, but thanks to the spectacular summer sales, the greatest of promotional tools, we were spared the injustice and boarded on what was the most excellent ride to the mainland we have ever experienced (no, really) The ritual continues, the spritz to the cafeteria, the over-priced meal, the complaining about the over-priced meal, the half-conscious walk around the inner and outer decks, the search for something captivating, anything at all, and inevitably ending up in the van after setting a couple of car alarms off in the process. I don’t know why we even bother
Summer Mini-Tour Entry #6
Sunday, July 5th/09, The Perfect Game Bowling Alley, Hinton AB And now, the end to something that should have been much longer. We were disappointed to find that this tour was the shortest one we have ever went on in our history as a band and as always, wished hard it was infinite. Sharing this experience with such great people, such great friends, really means alot to us, and although this was not the first time we have been on the road with A Trophy Life, it is always the biggest bummer (man) when it is over… but it won’t be the last time we duo the Canadian outback! This time, it was more of a vacation. We shared beverages, cigarettes ( DON’T SMOKE, EVER), songs, beds, bathrooms, clothes, vehicles,
Summer Mini-Tour Entry #5
Saturday, July 4th/09, Burnsy O’Flannagan’s, Leduc AB Today was an interesting day. I woke up to find a rather astonishing pain in my shoulder, probably something I did while hauling our combined band’s gear (or “lifting beer” according to Nick) up flights of stairs BY MYSELF CAUSE I’M THAT BAD ASSED… anyways, for real though, strained muscle, no big thing. We loaded in to the venue early afternoon to get everything ready for the evening’s event, which included us, A Trophy Life and Drive By Punch, a sold out show, which had the greatest connotations leading up to an amazing night! The pain in my shoulder got worse throughout soundcheck, spreading to my arm and back, worriesome now. We all decided to head into Edmonton for the day to hang
Summer Mini-Tour Entry #4
Friday, July 3rd/09, St. Michaels Church Basement, Leduc AB There is truly something about waking up in the afternoon surrounded by all of your friends and a cat on the window sil that makes a tour, a tour. Some of us shower, some of us don’t. Cody showers, Tyson, Dan, and I don’t. It has not become apparent yet but will soon enough and that is the fun of it, I guess. The constant thrill of who can become the grittiest, unaesthetically pleasing dude possible first. Sean, bless his golden heart, made us coffee (still partying, of course) before we woke up. We sat around for awhile in the sun, discussing the game plan for the day and writing songs about the music industry… nothing came out of it but
Summer Mini-Tour Entry #3
Thursday, July 2nd/09, Renfrew Community Center, Calgary AB If you haven’t read any updates on our website, myspace, facebook, twitter, etc, there may be a chance that you haven’t heard that our friend and most trusted colleague, Cody Beer, has joined us on this tour, filling in for our beloved drummer, Lewis Carter. Cody is a Taurus, loves veggie burgers and has many awesome tatoos you will no doubt ask him the meaning to in the event that you meet him and find that he is quite the catch. Cody is also in a new up and coming band from Vancouver called “The Transition.” We love him and couldn’t do this without him. We drove to Calgary today, after crashing a few hours in Tyson’s parents’ abandoned condo and hitting
Summer Mini-Tour, Entry #2 (Happy Canada Day!)
Wednesday, July 1st/09, Doc Willoughby’s, Kelowna BC And what a grand Canada Day it was! Kelowna BC has always been known for it’s massive and forgive me, “off the hook” Canada Day celebrations. We left Vancouver early so we could hit the beach in Kelowna, we didn’t, but we still joined in on the fun. It was crazy and the day was the nicest it could have been. We walked around for hours in the sun, listening to funk bands and what I thought was a Danko Jones cover band, got some rub-on tats, had a few beverages… someone even shouted at us from their vehicle, well to Dan, that he had a part of the female reproductive system on his face, how awesome! I have thought that for years!
