Summers End

It's been some time since my last post and a lot has been going on. I finally got home from tour, just in time to enjoy the last bit of summer in San Francisco. Being home has been a blast and full of fun. Awesome parties on the deck with the room mates, bike rides, trips to great america, and all kids of amazing cook out nights. The last couple days brought us some rain and reminded us that fall is now here. I'm excited for what this new season will have in store.

Get me out of this southern heat

Throughout the last few weeks, we've been slowly making our way through the southern portion of the country. This is the part of the tour that I'd been dreading. Even knowing that the shows in this part of the nation usually do well, the humidity and summer heat of the south are completely unbearable. Knowing I would constantly be feeling sticky and dehydrated, I was not excited at all to pass through these states. 

  While in Florida, the heat pushed me to do things I'd never thought I'd do. Waring sleeves was just too much, so I had to borrow a silly tank top from Garin just to stay remotely comfortable. In west palm beach, I was slightly distracted from the heat by a guy who was hanging out around the show who carried birds with him. The guy let us take turns hanging out with the bird and when it got to me things got a little wild. For no apparent reason, it started flipping out, making crazy noises and flapping its wings. I thought it was going to fly away and bring me with it! Luckily it calmed down enough to let go of my arm and move on to someone else. 
In Alabama, things got as southern as you could imagine. We pull up to the address we had for the venue and it turned out we were playing in a giant shed behind a little house in the middle of a field. When shows happen there the house converted into a coffee shop and the back living room turned into the merch area. The air conditioned house proved to be a much needed oasis from the deathly heat and the bug infested grass.  
Austin is one of the few cities in the country that I have come too several times. It's pretty much the only place in Texas I can stand and it is strange being somewhere so far from home that i feel a sense of familiarity. If it wasn't for the year round heat, I could foresee calling it home for a while. The 6th street area houses tons of cool shops and bars. Great restaurants cover the city. The capitol building is rad. They even have a theater that plays the classic films Jaws and Jurassic Park. A city full of good food, people on bikes, big city parks, and bands playing around every corner, Austin is by far the best thing the state of Texas has to offer. 

Tour mates Terra Firma at red 7

Today is the last day of texas and then we move west, coming closer to the Pacific coast and closer to home. About a week left until I get to see my cutie, sleep in my own bed, and hang out with my awesome roomates for a brief stint and then a few weeks past that until the tour is done. It's not going to be easy to leave home again after those two days but hopefully the final leg of the tour with pass by quick. I am ready to be home.

East Coast

For the last few days, Tara flew out to visit and joined us on the road. For the first couple days we got to hang out in DC and go sight seeing, visit museums, and eat some expensive and delicious vegan food and also some not so satisfylin vegan food. It was beyond awesome getting to have Tara with us for a few days and I couldn't have been happier about it. 

Unfortunately a huge fight broke out on the last day she was here and our bass player somehow got dragged into it. He got kicked to the floor had to be taken to the hospital until three in the morning. Luckily one of the guys involved was arrested that night. I couldn't believe it. Fuck fighting. After we left the hospital I drove Tara to the airport and we said our  goodbyes. Goodbyes suck. Luckily in a few weeks we are passing through home for a couple days and a few weeks after that we are finally home. I can't wait.

out and about aye?

This Canadian tour has finally wrapped up. It's been a descent little run. The shows have been so so. Some went really well, some not so much. A lot of booking problems arose as far as shows getting moved or cancelled last minute. The people in the other bands have been fun to hang out with so that made up for it. It was awesome finding veggie friends in The Agonist to help hunt down some yummy food. The Cities have definitely been cool. Here's a few shots of where we've been. 

Toronto skyline

train tracks in Hamilton

Crappy downtown load in in London

Old port Montreal

After two weeks of long drives, funny accents, loonies and toonies, and all kinds of problems with shows getting moves and cancelled we finally made it back into US soil. (again!) It's crazy how long it's been since we've done a US tour. After Montreal we had a day off and ended up staying in Buffalo, NY. Lucky for us it was a short twenty minute drive from Niagra Falls. It is seriously breathtaking. The wind had so much force that every so often it would blow the mist on you like it was raining. There's still a long month and a half left on this tour but I am very happy to be back in the US and have all the comforts that come along with that. One more week until Tara visits and we get to check out DC!

Fallen Soldier

Sorry little friend, better luck in your next life.

Speaking of fallen soldiers, tour mates Execute the Sinner, have been forced to drop off the tour after only being on for two days. Yesterday morning they were struck by a police car. The cop apparently paying attention to her little computer in her car rather than the road, ran a red light, and then t-boned them as they were pulling out of a driveway. Their van was totaled and now they have to take a rental car home to get their pick up truck and drive all the way back to get their trailer back home. Luckily the cops are giving them money but it is still complete bull shit. Fuck the police.

Crossing Borders

Thursday we finally made our way over into Canada. After getting held up at the border for about and hour waiting on work permits to get faxed over, we got to Winnipeg for the first show. Once we got into town I was really surprised as to how few people were out and about around town. I always imagined it to be a fairly big city but it seemed totally empty. 

Above the venue was an old hotel which I apparently became a whore/drug house. A couple of years ago one of the biggest murders in Manitoba happened in one of the rooms. The promoted offered to show us where it happened. Apparently a guy was there completely fucked up and managed to dismember another man in the bathroom and stack his extremities on top of his torso in the bath tub. The next day he walked into the police station and said "I think I killed someone." Incredibly disturbing and unbelievable. 
After the show we drove overnight to Thunder Bay. Once we crossed the province border into Ontario, the sun revealed some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen, full of thick forests and glass like lakes. We even saw a giant moose on the side of the road!
The next day was in Thunder Bay. It's always overwhelming looking out onto one of the great lakes. The just go on and on forever. There was a street festival going on and the show was fairly descent.  

Backline in Thunder Bay

Today we had a day off and got a hotel in Salut Saint Marie on our way to Sudbury. The town is completely boring but we lucked out and found the best hotel. It has a huge built in water slide that goes in and out of the hotel to an indoor pool. It was a good way to kill some time and relax after some ridiculously long drives.
Tomorrow we continue on and play in Sudbury. We meet up with a couple more bands so things should get more interesting. We are told that it is supposed to be a good show so our heads are up!

Heading North

  Sunday night we started our trek out to our Canadian tour. Driving through the norther mid west is like driving through a time warp. All that exists is a lot of nothing, more nothing, and then every five hours you  might pass a little town that looks like people should be riding horses and be ready for a gang of bandits to stick them up. 

somewhere in Nevada

Wyoming

South Dakota

North Dakota

Also, don't believe the myths. There's no pot of gold at the end of rainbows.