I just woke up from a two day nap. I think my body was angry at me for rocking too hard. That, or the excessive amount of Taco Bell Chad forced on me. That guy has a problem, seriously. Anyways, the tour was a freakin smashing success! We don’t actually want to have sexual intercourse with the city of Vancouver, but gawd damn it’s nice to get the fack outta dodge and rock a few shows! The hospitality we were shown and the ridiculously talented bands we shared the stage with in each and every city is mind blowing. Even right now, as I type this a single tear is trickling onto the keyboard. Seriously, it’s amazeballs that one weekend on the road can give you a fresh breath of perspective, and make all the hard work worth it.
Colin and I spent hours playing Tetris with our gear trying to jam it in the rental van. In the end everything fit, and despite the price, ol’ Rick the blue Caravan served us well. The first night we drove up to Winfield, B.C., which is just outside Vernon to meet up with Chad at his parent’s place. Slamming homebrew vino in the Jones’ bar is the absolute best way to start a tour in my opinion. Somebody tell Chad that Nachos involve actually melting the cheese though. Jeez.
The next morning we hit the road nice and early on our way to Calgary. A tragic accident closed the highway and we were stuck cooking in the van for four hours! Despite the set-back we made it to Calgary with time to spare and lots of pictures of big mountains. Broken City is a really awesome venue and it felt good to melt the indie rock offa the walls. Good sound, nice low stage, and not too many places where people can hide from Chad. Akakor was up first and they somehow managed to give everyone in the place a lesson on how to pull off ridiculously crushing tech metal while cracking endless jokes. Seriously, you need to see this band. After we ran around like idiots Exit Strategy brought the house down. I’ve been into Exit Strategy for years so I was really excited to share the stage. The new line-up and tunes are their best yet in my opinion and I was not let down. Even after bailing off the monitor and smashing her head, Thérèse managed to still be hilarious while busting out some really brutal vox. These guys are going places, look out. After about ten offers for us to crash the night, free beers and food and way too much laughing for a metal show I realized Calgary rocks! I didn’t see one cowboy and apparently all the girls in Calgary are in wicked bands. Neato!
We rolled into Edmonton after the longest straight away I’ve ever driven. Making roads in the prairies must be as boring as pop music. It seems like everyone always rolls their eyes at the mere mention of Edmonton but after finally going there, I don’t get it. We hit up a beautiful park on the river to watch Hell Preacher kill it at Weedfest, ate some delish burritos with hash browns in them (yeah I said hash browns) and got to rock a crazy basement show. Once again the never ending hospitality, crushing bands and genuine people won our hearts. Even in a basement the size of a closet superheated to tropical itch the kids crammed in to get soaked by our disgusting man sweat. Faxanadu, Todos Caeran, Ringleader and Jimmy Eat Maus were all so effing good! Cold winters breed good tunes apparently. Staying on a farm for the night while the Coyotes howled in the distance sealed the deal for me. I love Edmonton and can’t wait to go back.
When I woke up, it seemed like I hadn’t even slept (two hours will do that apparently) and we were off to Kamloops. The road through Jasper was the most beautiful of the trip and I got to see mountain goats, stupid tourists and even more magical mountain peaks. We weren’t expecting much considering it was a Sunday night but after a refreshing dip in the Thompson River the Little Big House showed us how Kamloops does Sunday nights. Seriously, these guys know how to party. It didn’t matter how many people were there, cause everyone there gave it their all. The Slurpee fiending punks in Young Oppression and Dysphoria showed us what crust was all about, Kamloops style. After our set, the night turned into a bit of an open jam, perfect way to end a tour. That’s what it’s all about, some dudes playing music cause it’s fun.
I can’t wait to get out in that stupid van again. I seriously can’t. Bands complain about money, and shows, and so much bullshit, but in the end, it’s totally fucking worth it, and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. The amount of amazing bands, beautiful country and upstanding citizens we met along the way is absolutely overwhelming. I know I speak for everyone in the band when I say, that we love you all and a huge thanks to everyone that helped out with the tour. We got some neat stuff coming up in the future, some good local shows, and even a new record coming out sometime this Fall. More details to come. For more pics and info go here! See you soon!
