So I just did a load in here in Montreal for a band with yet another one of the whackest names ever.
The Devil Wears Prada.
Honestly I can't really think of a better name at the moment and honestly for a band as such there can't really be a better name.
I would think personally if you were in a band that you respected, gave your heart/ soul too, and was a part of your history you would actually sit at that coffee table with your other band mates say a couple minutes longer to come up with a better name.
From what I read on Wikipedia the band is a "Christian "Metal"core band".
This world as we se every single day is an extremely weird weird place.
Christian Metal=Nazi Reggae pretty much sums this all up.
These days in this musical world of our when it comes to a specific type of band/ genre (flouresceent colors) they usually all bring like 4-5 other bands on tour with them. Its like the thing to do or something. Like your band isn't crappy enough you decide to subjugate everyone else with another 4 to 5 other bands. Boring.
And almost every band on tours like such actually go way over board and show up with way to much gear. They are all packed in their nice little cozy buses with their huge trailers, carrying their 4 different guitar amps, their lighting rig, and all the other up to the date gadgets to make their show "something else".
We are talking about children here.
Anyhoo....long story short. Its pathetic and it's usually always the most horrific bands out there doing this.
Then you have the whole money aspect. How can any of these bands even come close to breaking even? Yes you may think its cool to ride in a bus, and bring with you all your fancy lights but honestly at the end of the day you have literally just thrown thousands of dollars down the drain for nothing.
Bye now
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Land Down Under 2
Feb 20, 2009
Melbourne is where you will find us for the next 2 nights playing at the Corner Hotel both of which are sold out. Nice.
It’s always really nice to be in a city playing 2 nights because it means that after the first show number there isn’t really too much to do. Tonight I will wind up some chords, pack up the guitars and leave the rest of the gear in place for an easy day tomorrow.
The last couple of days have been pretty fun with an amazing soundtrack blasting through my ears of singer songwriters such as Peter Gabriel, Jose Gonzalez, Kate Bush, and Sinead O’ Connor. Yowzers!
We played 2 University’s in Newcastle, and Wollongong which are always interesting shows. The show in Newcastle smoked hard but I felt that the show in Wollongong was a little lack luster due to the University- Student Union Hall vibe. Again you can’t win them all and the good thing always is the show wasn’t super horrible at all.
The morning after our Wollongong show this girl named Souli who works for the promoter- Blue Murder took Beaver, Todd, Chris and myself to the beach so we could surf. Hahaha. Souli’s brother is actually a surf instructor and was kind enough to lend us all boards plus a quick lesson. I know all of us had sharks on our minds due to the recent shark attacks here on the east coast of Australia but it was more of a joking matter in the sense of “it’s a good day to die”….As it was. Super blue sky, sun out in full force and the beach. What more can you ask for?
I wasn’t quite sure the night before if I would be up for the morning beach run but I did set my alarm just in case so once that went off I felt okay, got a call from Chris/ Beave and off we went.
I can’t remember the last time I had a chance to swim in the Ocean as we did that day. Souli’s brother wasn’t at the beach yet so we all made our way to the water until he arrived. I definitely thought the water would be warmer as we all did but after a good 2 minutes swimming around it felt amazing and wasn’t that cold at all. The waves were pretty good so we all swam out to the surf, tried to body surf, and just play around in the waves. Getting pummeled and tossed around under water by waves is truly a neat thing however I guess you have to know your limits. These waves weren’t anything to huge and for the most part the ocean floor seemed like nothing but sand so there was no real risk of hitting rocks.
Soon after Souli’s brother arrived so we made our way to the parking lot to grab our boards that we would try and surf on for the remainder of our beach “sesh”. I have only tried surfing a couple times in the past while living in California as a teenager but it wasn’t something I ever picked up. Surfing is a pretty hard/ tiring thing that takes patience so while living in California I actually was really into body-boarding going a couple times a week for years. “Spongers unite!”
It was pretty hard actually getting out to where the real sets were breaking due to the ocean being covered in sea weed that would get bunched up and tangled in your leg leash. It was pretty insane actually trying to get out to the waves but you weren’t going anywhere because you had tons of sea weed tangled around you. Booo!
The first wave I managed to catch I actually stood up for a good 3-5 seconds which was pretty rad. I wasn’t able to catch the actual wave due to the problems expressed above however I caught the white water which was fine.
We all managed to stand up at least once or twice during our “sesh” but Beaver definitely had himself the best ride out of all us. At a certain point I looked behind me and Beaver was standing up, riding a wave that kept going taking him with it. Amazing!! Hang ten bra!!
Our “sesh” had to end shortly afterwards due to meeting the rest of the circus for lunch a at the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple (largest Buddhist temple in Southern hemisphere from what I hear) and then eventually driving to the next show which was in Canberra- last night. Canberra turns out to be the capitol of Australia which I had no clue about. For lunch I had myself a Curry Laksa, and some vegi drum sticks.
The show last night was definitely the “punkest” show of the tour which was pretty rad. The show was located at a community center in Canberra which was basically a hall with no barricade. Finally! All the shows thus far have been amazing but have had barricades which like I have mentioned before definitely holds back some of the energy. There is nothing like a show, with kids going nuts right up in front of your face and I knew for myself I would have a little more work on my hands which is also a plus.
Nothing to crazy happened and the show was a little “tamer” then I thought it would be but I am also comparing it to a lot of other shows with no barricades. With Propagandhi some of the shows are truly completely off the wall insane where others are still crazy but not off the wall.
Melbourne is where you will find us for the next 2 nights playing at the Corner Hotel both of which are sold out. Nice.
It’s always really nice to be in a city playing 2 nights because it means that after the first show number there isn’t really too much to do. Tonight I will wind up some chords, pack up the guitars and leave the rest of the gear in place for an easy day tomorrow.
The last couple of days have been pretty fun with an amazing soundtrack blasting through my ears of singer songwriters such as Peter Gabriel, Jose Gonzalez, Kate Bush, and Sinead O’ Connor. Yowzers!
We played 2 University’s in Newcastle, and Wollongong which are always interesting shows. The show in Newcastle smoked hard but I felt that the show in Wollongong was a little lack luster due to the University- Student Union Hall vibe. Again you can’t win them all and the good thing always is the show wasn’t super horrible at all.
The morning after our Wollongong show this girl named Souli who works for the promoter- Blue Murder took Beaver, Todd, Chris and myself to the beach so we could surf. Hahaha. Souli’s brother is actually a surf instructor and was kind enough to lend us all boards plus a quick lesson. I know all of us had sharks on our minds due to the recent shark attacks here on the east coast of Australia but it was more of a joking matter in the sense of “it’s a good day to die”….As it was. Super blue sky, sun out in full force and the beach. What more can you ask for?
I wasn’t quite sure the night before if I would be up for the morning beach run but I did set my alarm just in case so once that went off I felt okay, got a call from Chris/ Beave and off we went.
I can’t remember the last time I had a chance to swim in the Ocean as we did that day. Souli’s brother wasn’t at the beach yet so we all made our way to the water until he arrived. I definitely thought the water would be warmer as we all did but after a good 2 minutes swimming around it felt amazing and wasn’t that cold at all. The waves were pretty good so we all swam out to the surf, tried to body surf, and just play around in the waves. Getting pummeled and tossed around under water by waves is truly a neat thing however I guess you have to know your limits. These waves weren’t anything to huge and for the most part the ocean floor seemed like nothing but sand so there was no real risk of hitting rocks.
Soon after Souli’s brother arrived so we made our way to the parking lot to grab our boards that we would try and surf on for the remainder of our beach “sesh”. I have only tried surfing a couple times in the past while living in California as a teenager but it wasn’t something I ever picked up. Surfing is a pretty hard/ tiring thing that takes patience so while living in California I actually was really into body-boarding going a couple times a week for years. “Spongers unite!”
It was pretty hard actually getting out to where the real sets were breaking due to the ocean being covered in sea weed that would get bunched up and tangled in your leg leash. It was pretty insane actually trying to get out to the waves but you weren’t going anywhere because you had tons of sea weed tangled around you. Booo!
The first wave I managed to catch I actually stood up for a good 3-5 seconds which was pretty rad. I wasn’t able to catch the actual wave due to the problems expressed above however I caught the white water which was fine.
We all managed to stand up at least once or twice during our “sesh” but Beaver definitely had himself the best ride out of all us. At a certain point I looked behind me and Beaver was standing up, riding a wave that kept going taking him with it. Amazing!! Hang ten bra!!
Our “sesh” had to end shortly afterwards due to meeting the rest of the circus for lunch a at the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple (largest Buddhist temple in Southern hemisphere from what I hear) and then eventually driving to the next show which was in Canberra- last night. Canberra turns out to be the capitol of Australia which I had no clue about. For lunch I had myself a Curry Laksa, and some vegi drum sticks.
The show last night was definitely the “punkest” show of the tour which was pretty rad. The show was located at a community center in Canberra which was basically a hall with no barricade. Finally! All the shows thus far have been amazing but have had barricades which like I have mentioned before definitely holds back some of the energy. There is nothing like a show, with kids going nuts right up in front of your face and I knew for myself I would have a little more work on my hands which is also a plus.
Nothing to crazy happened and the show was a little “tamer” then I thought it would be but I am also comparing it to a lot of other shows with no barricades. With Propagandhi some of the shows are truly completely off the wall insane where others are still crazy but not off the wall.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Land Down Under
FEB 8TH, 2009
So I am currently sitting on an Airbus 321 where I left Montreal, QC about 1.5 hours ago on my way to Vancouver, BC where we should arrive in about 3.5 hours. It’s a nice day outside with blue skies on both sides of the plane and thus far a pretty smooth flight which I always enjoy. I am sitting towards to rear of the plane just by coincidence which is funny because about 4 weeks ago I was listening to a podcast from Howstuffworks.com entitled “How to Survive a Plane Crash”.
One of the things mentioned in this episode was that you are more likely to survive a plane crash if you are sitting in the back of the plane. A couple of other facts in this episode were
- more likely to be involved in an auto accident then a plane accident.
- chances of being in a plane crash are 1 in 1 million which at that rate you would have to fly every single day for about 1500 years to be guaranteed something as such.
- also when sitting in a plane count the number of rows between you and the emergency exit in case there comes a time which this vehicle is filled with smoke.
Okay I’ll end this here. I am truly not sitting here thinking of a plane crash although there are times on flights when I think of such things. A natural thought for someone as myself who gets nervous every once and awhile on these flights.
I am flying to Vancouver to meet up with my brothers in Propagandhi at which time we will jump on another plane to fly over the mighty Pacific Ocean (yes the whole thing!), land in Auckland, New Zealand, and then board yet another flight with a final destination of Wellington, New Zealand.
Crazyeeeee!
We are heading to New Zealand to play 2 shows and then over to Australia for 9 more shows including about 3-4 days off. I have never been to either NZ or AU ever so as you could imagine this is going to be quite the trip and I know only a couple of the other dudes have been to AU once which was about 10 years ago.
Cities that will be getting their heads rocked like no other will be Wellington/ Auckland-New Zealand, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, New Castle, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth- Australia.
On this adventure we will have:
Jord, Chris, Beave, Todd, Barney, Myself plus in each country we will be with 2 locals acting as Promoter/Tour Manager and Merchandise.
Missing on this run will be the one and only Sammy who usually is head Field Marshall of these operations however he now has himself a contract/ job at a nice little rock venue in Winnipeg, MB named the Royal Albert- which I have been voting for recently in the CBC Best Rock Venue in Canada…Good luck Albert! They have a good little BBQ Tofu Burger and have started making Vegan Cinnamon Donuts so if there is ever a place that should win the Albert is the place.
The last couple weeks back home have been pretty chilled for myself. Literally chilled if we want to talk about the weather as well which is why this trip is going to rule. The average temp that I have seen for the next 2 weeks is about 20c which is nice compared to the -15 to -20c we have gone through back in Montreal. The sunscreen, flip flops, and swim trunks have been packed and are ready for their use in the next couple of days.
Feb 12th, 2009
So we have now been in Aotearoa for 3 days now and I must say New Zealand has a super amazingly chilled vibe.
We arrived in Wellington after a (for myself) 5 hour flight to Vancouver, a 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Auckland, and then finally a 1 hour flight from Auckland, NZ to Wellington, NZ.
Feb 13th, 2009
Brisbane, Australia is the location for our touring circus today where we are playing a venue named Arena this evening. Thus far our time here has been amazing, and I know will continue being amazing however I think most of us are still trying to catch up on some rest which hasn’t come so easy as of late.
Once we arrived in Wellington, NZ we all decided that the best course of action wasn’t sleep and was to stay awake the whole day so our bodies would still be some sort of a day time/ night time schedule. The promoter in NZ had arranged for a shuttle van to pick us up and take us to the hotel which was located in the center of Wellington. This hotel was definitely a 5 star hotel which was pretty funny for all of us. I myself have stayed in some pretty nice hotels throughout my touring travels however the Prop boys I know haven’t stayed in many places as such. The reason being is truly there is no need for it. Why stay in a extremely stale posh hotel which charges you for everything including internet when you could stay in a cheaper place, still have 2 beds to sleep on, free continental breakfast, and internet?
Again non of us truly really cared because ultimately a bed is a bed and when you are trying to catch up on sleep you’ll sleep anywhere.
After we were checked in we all headed out to a vegan/ vegi Malaysian food restaurant which was pretty decent. I ordered myself a tofu gado gado.
Once lunch was consumed we took aCable car to the top of some mountain and headed to the Botanical Gardens of Wellington. The fauna here, plus the ecological system here makes for some amazing plants, and trees.
It was cloudy, and raining when we arrived and still is 3 days later as I write. Its actually a nice feel being in a tropical country where its super warm and there is a rain. Since our arrival the temp hasn’t dropped down below 20C and in fact yesterday in Auckland it was record breaking 32C which they haven’t seen since 1872. Crazy!
Botanical gardens are always such amazing places no matter which country they are located in however these particular gardens definitely had a very rainforest, jungle vibe to which I have never seen before. Huge greens leaves with beads of water just resting on top of them. I was walking around and would randomly take my hand, brush it against the leaves, and the water which was pretty neat. We stayed at the gardens for a good couple hours which was a work out in itself due to the terrain here being extremely mountainous so our legs plus our tired bodies made for some heavy breathing.
The road we followed ended up taking us back into the downtown area and at that time all of us were super hungry again which was weird seeing how we all had huge meals 2 hours prior. We found an Indian food place back on Cuba street which was the name of the street the venue was on, plus the Malaysian place we ate at earlier. The Indian place didn’t open for a couple hours so most of us indulged in local Wellington beer before eating.
Later that night I actually ended up going to the beach and getting in the water in the dark of night. The water wasn’t super cold however with the cloud cover, my loopy sleep deprived mind, and the nighttime it was a chilly experience. But…..I did get into the mighty Pacific in New Zealand and that is not something I will get to do that often.
The next day we had our first show on this tour which was at a venue named the San Fran Bathhouse. Propagandhi had never played NZ before so non of us were sure what to expect. First shows can always be interesting especially while traveling long distances.
The venue was packed with stoked kids and all in all I thought the show went well but again it was the first show of a tour.
After Wellington we had a 7AM lobby call the next morning so we could catch our 1 hour flight to Auckland where we played yesterday. After we arrived in Auckland we were picked up by a girl named Lucy who drove us into where first before we went to our hotel we actually drove up a volcano located in the middle of Auckland overlooking the entire city span. Amazing. I guess just in that city alone there are at least 7 different non active volcano’s.
The hotel we stayed at yesterday was definitely more posh then the night before which we were warned about. The promoter in NZ told us “this hotel is where Presidents stay”. Crazy!! Again these places were not our choice and were booked by locals.
Once we were checked in we went to a place named Revel in the downtown area of Auckland and had a nice café style meal. My dish was named “Beans, and Avo” which was 2 different kinds of beans, with a sauce, on top of 2 slices of seeded bread, with avocado.
The show last night was in a bigger venue (named Studio) then the night before however there wasn’t as many people at the show. There was a handful of kids at the show who were there the night before in Wellington which was cool to see. In fact we ran into a couple of the kids actually in the airport waiting to catch their flights to Auckland.
After the show last night we loaded out as quick as we could because we had a lobby call at 6:50AM for a 3.5 hour flight from NZ to Brisbane, AUS where we find ourselves currently.
Feb 15, 2009
“Baby once I thought I knew. Everything I needed to know about you.”-Lonesome Day- Bruce Springsteen.
I must say that thee almighty Bruce Springsteen is truly like no other. Every time I listen to this genius of a man I seriously get goose bumps. Amazing.
So we are in Sydney, AUS this evening at a venue named the Metro which is sold out at 1200. Cool eh!?
We flew here this morning from the Gold Coast, AUS where we played last night. Last nights show thus far was the mellowest show yet. The kids were definitely into it but there was definitely something lacking on their part which ultimately sometimes affects the bands show itself. I thought the show was good but definitely saw that the kids were just there and that was pretty much it.
The Gold Coast seemed like a pretty cool place being located right on the coast. Yesterday it was yet another day with rain but the waves seemed to be pretty good which caused for surfers everywhere.
Feb 15, 2009
Sitting on the balcony on the 20th floor of some high rise hotel in downtown Sydney where we are staying at for the next 2 days on a sort of vacation due to no shows. I woke up still feeling a little groggy which is getting old. The jet lag plus for the last 3-4 days I have been nursing a cold, cough which sucks but it hasn’t truly stopped me from givin’er.
Last nights show was incredible. 1200 kids going nuts and singing as loud as they could sometimes louder then the PA system during certain parts of certain songs. Amazing.
Flying yesterday was pretty crazy. We woke up and left the Gold Coast around 8 AM to stop at an amazing whole foods/ vegan café named the Magic Apple where we had also ate dinner the night before. I had myself a scrambled tofu on sour dough which was okay however I have had much much better. The dinner the night before was definitely quality but the breakfast was lacking just that.
We arrived at the airport 1 hour exactly before our flight but we still had to fuel up the rental vans, and load in 37 pieces of gear, luggage into the airport. Crazy! Never have any of us flown with so much gear/ backline but the promoter here in AUS said this is the way its got to be down. We literally were down to the minute with the lady saying “You’ve got 1 minute to get all this on the belt” so after some running and everyone doing their part we were loaded up, checked through security and on our flight.
When we landed we drove straight to the venue and that’s where I found myself all day. I must say I miss shows with no barricade and miss the work that comes along with it. Every show so far has had a barricade so basically during Prop’s set I just sit on the side of the stage keeping a watchful eye on all the dudes making sure that everything is set with their gear, and nothing goes wrong. At shows with no barricades there is nothing but chaos with kids jumping on stage/ diving off stage, pedals getting stepped on, mic stands falling, chords getting ripped out of pedals the list goes on and on. By the end of nights like these I am usually drenched from head to toe in my and others sweat which is a sign of a true work out. All these shows I haven’t broken a sweat yet so I am patiently waiting for that one show with no barricade.
Last week here in Sydney at the main city beach there was a shark attack with a surfer loosing his hand plus another shark attack the same week on a Navy diver.
Feb 17, 2009
So we are on our 2nd day off and thus far our little holiday from what is already pretty much a holiday has ruled.
Woke up thi morning with what I still think is slight symptoms of jet lag. I went to bed at 2 AM and woke up at 9 AM….7 hours exactly on a day off. I feel like I should just do to the vacation factor I should have slept at least 10 however at the moment I do feel fine.
Once up Todd, Jord and I hung around for awhile checking the internerd, and I caught up on some much needed yoga and then eventually we went out for the day with Barney, and Robbie as well.
We discovered this Thai restaurant yesterday named Peace Harmony which is an amazing vegan Thai joint that has hands down really good food, juices, appetizers at pretty cheap prices which is nice at the moment due to most of our funds running low from higher prices here. After eating Thai we headed towards the Sydney Harbor where we walked around the Opera house, checked out the Sydney Harbor bridge but didn’t walk across it, and then headed to the Botanical Gardens of Sydney.
Gardens are such amazing places whether they are in your backyard, man made exhibits or just in their natural settings. Tree’s and their roots just working their way through the earth and planting themselves firmly into the soil.
We were walking through the greenery when we came across a big group of Cockatoo birds. Beaver had mentioned something yesterday about seeing them so it was something we were all hoping to see today. Beaver slowly made is way super close to one of the birds and ended up feeding it leaves, and grass. Wild. These birds were extremely tame and eventually got a lot tamer. We were sitting there around a group of about 12 of them when all of a sudden 1 just jumps right onto Beavers arm and another onto his head. Wild! Talk about super cool. Barney then was next with the same sort of thing. A cockatoo just out of nowhere comes swooping in and lands right on his shoulder.
I was trying to creep closer and closer to any bird near me to try so I could try to get one of them on my arms. When you lowered your hand most birds would nibble- bite (hard) your hand, and fingers. Their birds were I guess as hard as any bird bite so you had to be careful. Having a full finger in the way of their beaks would be an extremely painful experience. No cockatoo was having my arm so I kept trying when eventually a bird out of nowhere just lands directly on my hat. Within the first 5 seconds of this bird making a temporary home on top of my head the sucker decides to drop a load of its excrement directly onto my shoulder. Haha. Classic! At this time another bird decides to swoop over, land on my arm making for now 2 birds trying to balance on my body. Earlier when Beave, Todd, and Barney each had birds on them these suckers would bite anything they could so the birds that were on me started trying to bite my ear lobes which wouldn’t have felt to good.
After a little while longer chilling with these fellow creatures we made our way over to another little section of the garden where all the trees around were being used as sleeping spots by huge gigantic bats. Definitely the biggest bats any of us had ever seen and they were everywhere. It is safe to say there were hundreds possibly even 1000 of them. Most were hanging in the tree’s sleeping, cleaning themselves, while many more were actually flying around the sky. Rad. Batman! We were all fine with birds randomly swooping down landing on our shoulders but there is no way any of us wanted bats on us. Thankfully non did.
Last night while watching TV here some of us saw a pretty crazy, really deep down disturbing commercial come on. It was as such.
A black screen saying “Have you seen something suspicious or do you suspect suspicious activity?” , and a couple more fearful quotes as such. The next thing to come up was
“If you suspect activity as such please call, and inform the National Security Agency” and left a 1 800 number. I’ve never seen something as such. This was full on the real deal and something that was straight up trying to instill fear into people, and keep on with this whole “Terrorism” situation you here so much about.
Back home yes we have Canadian Forces commercials everywhere including on coaches corner and in the US you have military commercials with the same vibe. Very quick, bright colored, almost video game like simulations of war to attract peoples fragile minds. But I have never seen a commercial as such saying “If so please contact the CIA” or the “NSA” or even “CSIS”.
You can walk through a garden, have wild exotic birds just land on you out of nowhere and then come home to turn on thee tube to be inundated with fear which ultimately boils down to profit. Friggin eh what a crazy mess we have gotten ourselves into.
So I am currently sitting on an Airbus 321 where I left Montreal, QC about 1.5 hours ago on my way to Vancouver, BC where we should arrive in about 3.5 hours. It’s a nice day outside with blue skies on both sides of the plane and thus far a pretty smooth flight which I always enjoy. I am sitting towards to rear of the plane just by coincidence which is funny because about 4 weeks ago I was listening to a podcast from Howstuffworks.com entitled “How to Survive a Plane Crash”.
One of the things mentioned in this episode was that you are more likely to survive a plane crash if you are sitting in the back of the plane. A couple of other facts in this episode were
- more likely to be involved in an auto accident then a plane accident.
- chances of being in a plane crash are 1 in 1 million which at that rate you would have to fly every single day for about 1500 years to be guaranteed something as such.
- also when sitting in a plane count the number of rows between you and the emergency exit in case there comes a time which this vehicle is filled with smoke.
Okay I’ll end this here. I am truly not sitting here thinking of a plane crash although there are times on flights when I think of such things. A natural thought for someone as myself who gets nervous every once and awhile on these flights.
I am flying to Vancouver to meet up with my brothers in Propagandhi at which time we will jump on another plane to fly over the mighty Pacific Ocean (yes the whole thing!), land in Auckland, New Zealand, and then board yet another flight with a final destination of Wellington, New Zealand.
Crazyeeeee!
We are heading to New Zealand to play 2 shows and then over to Australia for 9 more shows including about 3-4 days off. I have never been to either NZ or AU ever so as you could imagine this is going to be quite the trip and I know only a couple of the other dudes have been to AU once which was about 10 years ago.
Cities that will be getting their heads rocked like no other will be Wellington/ Auckland-New Zealand, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney, New Castle, Wollongong, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth- Australia.
On this adventure we will have:
Jord, Chris, Beave, Todd, Barney, Myself plus in each country we will be with 2 locals acting as Promoter/Tour Manager and Merchandise.
Missing on this run will be the one and only Sammy who usually is head Field Marshall of these operations however he now has himself a contract/ job at a nice little rock venue in Winnipeg, MB named the Royal Albert- which I have been voting for recently in the CBC Best Rock Venue in Canada…Good luck Albert! They have a good little BBQ Tofu Burger and have started making Vegan Cinnamon Donuts so if there is ever a place that should win the Albert is the place.
The last couple weeks back home have been pretty chilled for myself. Literally chilled if we want to talk about the weather as well which is why this trip is going to rule. The average temp that I have seen for the next 2 weeks is about 20c which is nice compared to the -15 to -20c we have gone through back in Montreal. The sunscreen, flip flops, and swim trunks have been packed and are ready for their use in the next couple of days.
Feb 12th, 2009
So we have now been in Aotearoa for 3 days now and I must say New Zealand has a super amazingly chilled vibe.
We arrived in Wellington after a (for myself) 5 hour flight to Vancouver, a 13 hour flight from Vancouver to Auckland, and then finally a 1 hour flight from Auckland, NZ to Wellington, NZ.
Feb 13th, 2009
Brisbane, Australia is the location for our touring circus today where we are playing a venue named Arena this evening. Thus far our time here has been amazing, and I know will continue being amazing however I think most of us are still trying to catch up on some rest which hasn’t come so easy as of late.
Once we arrived in Wellington, NZ we all decided that the best course of action wasn’t sleep and was to stay awake the whole day so our bodies would still be some sort of a day time/ night time schedule. The promoter in NZ had arranged for a shuttle van to pick us up and take us to the hotel which was located in the center of Wellington. This hotel was definitely a 5 star hotel which was pretty funny for all of us. I myself have stayed in some pretty nice hotels throughout my touring travels however the Prop boys I know haven’t stayed in many places as such. The reason being is truly there is no need for it. Why stay in a extremely stale posh hotel which charges you for everything including internet when you could stay in a cheaper place, still have 2 beds to sleep on, free continental breakfast, and internet?
Again non of us truly really cared because ultimately a bed is a bed and when you are trying to catch up on sleep you’ll sleep anywhere.
After we were checked in we all headed out to a vegan/ vegi Malaysian food restaurant which was pretty decent. I ordered myself a tofu gado gado.
Once lunch was consumed we took aCable car to the top of some mountain and headed to the Botanical Gardens of Wellington. The fauna here, plus the ecological system here makes for some amazing plants, and trees.
It was cloudy, and raining when we arrived and still is 3 days later as I write. Its actually a nice feel being in a tropical country where its super warm and there is a rain. Since our arrival the temp hasn’t dropped down below 20C and in fact yesterday in Auckland it was record breaking 32C which they haven’t seen since 1872. Crazy!
Botanical gardens are always such amazing places no matter which country they are located in however these particular gardens definitely had a very rainforest, jungle vibe to which I have never seen before. Huge greens leaves with beads of water just resting on top of them. I was walking around and would randomly take my hand, brush it against the leaves, and the water which was pretty neat. We stayed at the gardens for a good couple hours which was a work out in itself due to the terrain here being extremely mountainous so our legs plus our tired bodies made for some heavy breathing.
The road we followed ended up taking us back into the downtown area and at that time all of us were super hungry again which was weird seeing how we all had huge meals 2 hours prior. We found an Indian food place back on Cuba street which was the name of the street the venue was on, plus the Malaysian place we ate at earlier. The Indian place didn’t open for a couple hours so most of us indulged in local Wellington beer before eating.
Later that night I actually ended up going to the beach and getting in the water in the dark of night. The water wasn’t super cold however with the cloud cover, my loopy sleep deprived mind, and the nighttime it was a chilly experience. But…..I did get into the mighty Pacific in New Zealand and that is not something I will get to do that often.
The next day we had our first show on this tour which was at a venue named the San Fran Bathhouse. Propagandhi had never played NZ before so non of us were sure what to expect. First shows can always be interesting especially while traveling long distances.
The venue was packed with stoked kids and all in all I thought the show went well but again it was the first show of a tour.
After Wellington we had a 7AM lobby call the next morning so we could catch our 1 hour flight to Auckland where we played yesterday. After we arrived in Auckland we were picked up by a girl named Lucy who drove us into where first before we went to our hotel we actually drove up a volcano located in the middle of Auckland overlooking the entire city span. Amazing. I guess just in that city alone there are at least 7 different non active volcano’s.
The hotel we stayed at yesterday was definitely more posh then the night before which we were warned about. The promoter in NZ told us “this hotel is where Presidents stay”. Crazy!! Again these places were not our choice and were booked by locals.
Once we were checked in we went to a place named Revel in the downtown area of Auckland and had a nice café style meal. My dish was named “Beans, and Avo” which was 2 different kinds of beans, with a sauce, on top of 2 slices of seeded bread, with avocado.
The show last night was in a bigger venue (named Studio) then the night before however there wasn’t as many people at the show. There was a handful of kids at the show who were there the night before in Wellington which was cool to see. In fact we ran into a couple of the kids actually in the airport waiting to catch their flights to Auckland.
After the show last night we loaded out as quick as we could because we had a lobby call at 6:50AM for a 3.5 hour flight from NZ to Brisbane, AUS where we find ourselves currently.
Feb 15, 2009
“Baby once I thought I knew. Everything I needed to know about you.”-Lonesome Day- Bruce Springsteen.
I must say that thee almighty Bruce Springsteen is truly like no other. Every time I listen to this genius of a man I seriously get goose bumps. Amazing.
So we are in Sydney, AUS this evening at a venue named the Metro which is sold out at 1200. Cool eh!?
We flew here this morning from the Gold Coast, AUS where we played last night. Last nights show thus far was the mellowest show yet. The kids were definitely into it but there was definitely something lacking on their part which ultimately sometimes affects the bands show itself. I thought the show was good but definitely saw that the kids were just there and that was pretty much it.
The Gold Coast seemed like a pretty cool place being located right on the coast. Yesterday it was yet another day with rain but the waves seemed to be pretty good which caused for surfers everywhere.
Feb 15, 2009
Sitting on the balcony on the 20th floor of some high rise hotel in downtown Sydney where we are staying at for the next 2 days on a sort of vacation due to no shows. I woke up still feeling a little groggy which is getting old. The jet lag plus for the last 3-4 days I have been nursing a cold, cough which sucks but it hasn’t truly stopped me from givin’er.
Last nights show was incredible. 1200 kids going nuts and singing as loud as they could sometimes louder then the PA system during certain parts of certain songs. Amazing.
Flying yesterday was pretty crazy. We woke up and left the Gold Coast around 8 AM to stop at an amazing whole foods/ vegan café named the Magic Apple where we had also ate dinner the night before. I had myself a scrambled tofu on sour dough which was okay however I have had much much better. The dinner the night before was definitely quality but the breakfast was lacking just that.
We arrived at the airport 1 hour exactly before our flight but we still had to fuel up the rental vans, and load in 37 pieces of gear, luggage into the airport. Crazy! Never have any of us flown with so much gear/ backline but the promoter here in AUS said this is the way its got to be down. We literally were down to the minute with the lady saying “You’ve got 1 minute to get all this on the belt” so after some running and everyone doing their part we were loaded up, checked through security and on our flight.
When we landed we drove straight to the venue and that’s where I found myself all day. I must say I miss shows with no barricade and miss the work that comes along with it. Every show so far has had a barricade so basically during Prop’s set I just sit on the side of the stage keeping a watchful eye on all the dudes making sure that everything is set with their gear, and nothing goes wrong. At shows with no barricades there is nothing but chaos with kids jumping on stage/ diving off stage, pedals getting stepped on, mic stands falling, chords getting ripped out of pedals the list goes on and on. By the end of nights like these I am usually drenched from head to toe in my and others sweat which is a sign of a true work out. All these shows I haven’t broken a sweat yet so I am patiently waiting for that one show with no barricade.
Last week here in Sydney at the main city beach there was a shark attack with a surfer loosing his hand plus another shark attack the same week on a Navy diver.
Feb 17, 2009
So we are on our 2nd day off and thus far our little holiday from what is already pretty much a holiday has ruled.
Woke up thi morning with what I still think is slight symptoms of jet lag. I went to bed at 2 AM and woke up at 9 AM….7 hours exactly on a day off. I feel like I should just do to the vacation factor I should have slept at least 10 however at the moment I do feel fine.
Once up Todd, Jord and I hung around for awhile checking the internerd, and I caught up on some much needed yoga and then eventually we went out for the day with Barney, and Robbie as well.
We discovered this Thai restaurant yesterday named Peace Harmony which is an amazing vegan Thai joint that has hands down really good food, juices, appetizers at pretty cheap prices which is nice at the moment due to most of our funds running low from higher prices here. After eating Thai we headed towards the Sydney Harbor where we walked around the Opera house, checked out the Sydney Harbor bridge but didn’t walk across it, and then headed to the Botanical Gardens of Sydney.
Gardens are such amazing places whether they are in your backyard, man made exhibits or just in their natural settings. Tree’s and their roots just working their way through the earth and planting themselves firmly into the soil.
We were walking through the greenery when we came across a big group of Cockatoo birds. Beaver had mentioned something yesterday about seeing them so it was something we were all hoping to see today. Beaver slowly made is way super close to one of the birds and ended up feeding it leaves, and grass. Wild. These birds were extremely tame and eventually got a lot tamer. We were sitting there around a group of about 12 of them when all of a sudden 1 just jumps right onto Beavers arm and another onto his head. Wild! Talk about super cool. Barney then was next with the same sort of thing. A cockatoo just out of nowhere comes swooping in and lands right on his shoulder.
I was trying to creep closer and closer to any bird near me to try so I could try to get one of them on my arms. When you lowered your hand most birds would nibble- bite (hard) your hand, and fingers. Their birds were I guess as hard as any bird bite so you had to be careful. Having a full finger in the way of their beaks would be an extremely painful experience. No cockatoo was having my arm so I kept trying when eventually a bird out of nowhere just lands directly on my hat. Within the first 5 seconds of this bird making a temporary home on top of my head the sucker decides to drop a load of its excrement directly onto my shoulder. Haha. Classic! At this time another bird decides to swoop over, land on my arm making for now 2 birds trying to balance on my body. Earlier when Beave, Todd, and Barney each had birds on them these suckers would bite anything they could so the birds that were on me started trying to bite my ear lobes which wouldn’t have felt to good.
After a little while longer chilling with these fellow creatures we made our way over to another little section of the garden where all the trees around were being used as sleeping spots by huge gigantic bats. Definitely the biggest bats any of us had ever seen and they were everywhere. It is safe to say there were hundreds possibly even 1000 of them. Most were hanging in the tree’s sleeping, cleaning themselves, while many more were actually flying around the sky. Rad. Batman! We were all fine with birds randomly swooping down landing on our shoulders but there is no way any of us wanted bats on us. Thankfully non did.
Last night while watching TV here some of us saw a pretty crazy, really deep down disturbing commercial come on. It was as such.
A black screen saying “Have you seen something suspicious or do you suspect suspicious activity?” , and a couple more fearful quotes as such. The next thing to come up was
“If you suspect activity as such please call, and inform the National Security Agency” and left a 1 800 number. I’ve never seen something as such. This was full on the real deal and something that was straight up trying to instill fear into people, and keep on with this whole “Terrorism” situation you here so much about.
Back home yes we have Canadian Forces commercials everywhere including on coaches corner and in the US you have military commercials with the same vibe. Very quick, bright colored, almost video game like simulations of war to attract peoples fragile minds. But I have never seen a commercial as such saying “If so please contact the CIA” or the “NSA” or even “CSIS”.
You can walk through a garden, have wild exotic birds just land on you out of nowhere and then come home to turn on thee tube to be inundated with fear which ultimately boils down to profit. Friggin eh what a crazy mess we have gotten ourselves into.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Let The Games Begin #3 or 4?
Oct 9th, 2008
I am in Philadelphia at the moment where in 2 days this nut job Sarah Palin will be on hand for the Flyers, NY Rangers game where she will attempt to drop the game opening puck. What a disgrace!!! A complete load of turd this is and the only thing somewhat exciting about it will be the crowd response.
Oct 10th, 2008
Currently sitting in the back sit of this van while Ted is up front driving, and Scott is riding shotgun. A day off from driving-not by choice- which I am living it up. We have an Xbox here in the van soI did attempt to play some Pac-Man but ended up giving up quite quickly instead to surf the web-wireless in the van too- and pay attention to the news on the radio.
Two days ago we played the Black Cat in Washington DC which I have been to a handful of times and is a place I enjoy due to their Vegan Lasagna, Vegan Chocolate/ Peanut Butter Cake, and the Ginger Ale there. For this show I handed a guest list which included the fellows from Fugazi which was funny. Ted is old friends with all of them from his time in DC “back in the day” (haha) and from one of his prior bands Chisel touring with them. James’s brother in fact was the drummer of Fugazi who also produced the Pharmacists latest album “Living with the Living”. I am not someone who gets giddy around people in this little music thing because in fact this music is a small world so most of the time you cross paths with people/ bands that you personally like- and that have been inspirations/ influences. It happens and long story short it happens to those same people too. But yes it was cool that they came to the show and the band actually ended their set by covering an Ignition song “Kiwi Chant” with Alec Mackay doing his vocals. After Ted’s set I did go downstairs to grab some water and Ted introduced me to Ian and Guy-Fugazi who I had actually met years and years ago while helping a friend put on 4 of their shows in California.
The show in DC was also the Pharmacists show yet again. They played an amazing set once again and the fans agree as well from what I can tell by their reaction. Once they were done the temperature in the Black Cat actually seemed to drop and it turns out the reason why it did was because a lot of people left after the Pharmacists played which left Against Me! playing to a half full room.
Last night in Philly we were at the Electric Factory which is a huge room and again there weren’t that many people in it. I think the capacity of the Electrc Factory is around 1500 or so (I’d say) and there was probably 600-700 kids last night. We did get ourselves some Vegan Cheese Steaks from Govinda’s delivered which is always a must in Philly. With my order I added a slice of Pumpkin Cheese cake to enjoy the tastes of the fall/ festive season. My friend Jorge and his lady fried came out last night which is usually the case when I am in town so we had our usual “show hang” which consists of trying to talk over loud music in a venue the whole time while I am working. It sucks because I know some other people I knew wanted to come out and hang with me but our guest list last night was too big so it wasn’t possible. After the show Ted, Scott, and I drove to the Holiday Inn to lay our little heads while the other dudes went separate ways with their lady friends.
I am in Philadelphia at the moment where in 2 days this nut job Sarah Palin will be on hand for the Flyers, NY Rangers game where she will attempt to drop the game opening puck. What a disgrace!!! A complete load of turd this is and the only thing somewhat exciting about it will be the crowd response.
Oct 10th, 2008
Currently sitting in the back sit of this van while Ted is up front driving, and Scott is riding shotgun. A day off from driving-not by choice- which I am living it up. We have an Xbox here in the van soI did attempt to play some Pac-Man but ended up giving up quite quickly instead to surf the web-wireless in the van too- and pay attention to the news on the radio.
Two days ago we played the Black Cat in Washington DC which I have been to a handful of times and is a place I enjoy due to their Vegan Lasagna, Vegan Chocolate/ Peanut Butter Cake, and the Ginger Ale there. For this show I handed a guest list which included the fellows from Fugazi which was funny. Ted is old friends with all of them from his time in DC “back in the day” (haha) and from one of his prior bands Chisel touring with them. James’s brother in fact was the drummer of Fugazi who also produced the Pharmacists latest album “Living with the Living”. I am not someone who gets giddy around people in this little music thing because in fact this music is a small world so most of the time you cross paths with people/ bands that you personally like- and that have been inspirations/ influences. It happens and long story short it happens to those same people too. But yes it was cool that they came to the show and the band actually ended their set by covering an Ignition song “Kiwi Chant” with Alec Mackay doing his vocals. After Ted’s set I did go downstairs to grab some water and Ted introduced me to Ian and Guy-Fugazi who I had actually met years and years ago while helping a friend put on 4 of their shows in California.
The show in DC was also the Pharmacists show yet again. They played an amazing set once again and the fans agree as well from what I can tell by their reaction. Once they were done the temperature in the Black Cat actually seemed to drop and it turns out the reason why it did was because a lot of people left after the Pharmacists played which left Against Me! playing to a half full room.
Last night in Philly we were at the Electric Factory which is a huge room and again there weren’t that many people in it. I think the capacity of the Electrc Factory is around 1500 or so (I’d say) and there was probably 600-700 kids last night. We did get ourselves some Vegan Cheese Steaks from Govinda’s delivered which is always a must in Philly. With my order I added a slice of Pumpkin Cheese cake to enjoy the tastes of the fall/ festive season. My friend Jorge and his lady fried came out last night which is usually the case when I am in town so we had our usual “show hang” which consists of trying to talk over loud music in a venue the whole time while I am working. It sucks because I know some other people I knew wanted to come out and hang with me but our guest list last night was too big so it wasn’t possible. After the show Ted, Scott, and I drove to the Holiday Inn to lay our little heads while the other dudes went separate ways with their lady friends.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Whirly Ball #2
Oct 4th, 2008
Here at the House of Blues in Orlando, FL or shall I say Disney World Florida where outside the weather is hot, sticky and inside this very stale venue the air conditioning is on full blast and I am in a hoodie.
We arrived here in Orlando earlier this afternoon after a 2 hour drive from St. Petersburg, Florida where this tour played last night at a outdoor venue named Janis Landing. The drive today was definitely quick compared to the last couple of drives so we were all able to sleep in and take it easy this morning. Some went to Starbucks while I myself went to fill my little pot belly with a burrito from a independent burrito joint modeled after Chipotle-McDonalds burrito’s. An indy food joint mondeling themselves after a humungous chain.
Yesterdays show was definitely the best show thus far of the tour (3 days of it). Against Me is from Gainesville, Florida which was only about 2 hours away from St. Petersburg so the kids came out in full force. About 45 mins after doors opened I was wondering how well the show would do because the turn out was low indeed however through out the night things changed and the venue was absolutely packed with crazy Floridians.
The Pharmacists definitely put on a great show and there was one song where Ted actually didn’t play guitar and just went nuts on the mic which added to their intensity. Totally cool. I guess there was some issues with the kids get crushed up front due to boneheads in the crowd not respecting peoples spaces. I missed all of this and what was said but I know the band was definitely super bummed.
All in all though the show was Against Me’s.
I met a couple from Edmonton which was cool and they definitely got a kick out of me being from Grande Prairie and now here I am on tour in Florida. Most people who I come across at shows who are from random parts of Canada definitely get a kick out of me being from G. P. Also last night I was able to have my first Thai Red Curry Tofu dish of the tour which is always nice except I have had way better in other parts. Cant win them all.
So Ted Leo is currently playing here at HOB and the show just seems weird. So stagnant and stale. When it comes to this particular venue we are still 20 miles away from Orlando and in the middle of the whole Disney structure which is completely disgusting. No rock band let alone “punk” band should ever play such a place but when you are on someone else’s tour you have to kind of go with the flow and go where the tour takes you.
Oct 5th
Sitting here in our hotel room with Chris, James and myself watching Saturday Night Live. Ted was with us until about 2 mins again when he bailed to probably go too sleep however someone just knocked on the door. Who is it? Marty has just arrived from an adventure downstairs in the bar so I am sure there will be some stories.
On SNL this evening the musical guest is the Killers who I will say yet again I am definitely a fan of. I back the Killers and will always back them. Sorry ya’ll. What was cool though is once this came up Ted started talking about them and it turns out he backs them too!! Right on. The others I don’t think are too familiar with them yet however by the end of this tour they probably will be.
Something I heard a couple years ago was that when the singer of the Killers got married in Hawaii he flew their entire touring crew out for the wedding with days off. These things stoke me out because there are many o many of bands out there who would ever do things as such #1 because they can’t which is completely understandable but there are many bands that could and don’t. So when a band who can do something as such and actually does this rules for everyone involved.
So with this conversation Ted mentioned a story about Pearl Jam who they just toured with and how the band has an actual profit sharing system set up for their crew which is a cool thing to hear and I guess if you are with them for 6 years you get actual investments in their band/ project- I guess you would call this a collective of sorts…?? Rad
Oct 7, 2008
So I should first and foremost introduce the Pharmacists
Ted Leo, Chris, James, Marty, with Scott moving the dials on the sound board and myself doing some other tasks in between.
Currently we are in Greensboro, North Carolina where we arrived a couple hours ago after a 6 hour drive from Atlanta where we had spent the night after a day off yesterday. The drive was pretty much the same as any other drive although I do remember seeing and passing the most amount of police I have ever seen on the highways. In about 1 hour I swear I visibly saw at least 20 cop cars on the side of the freeway, in the middle median and others who had pulled over vehicles. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What a complete bum out. The police do more harm then good. When you are driving and come across a cop car people instantly hit their brakes and when a cop is hiding some people actually freak out on the highway. Not good for anyone behind the wheel of a moving machine. It turns out that this lady who I have been hearing so much about lately named Sarah Palin was giving a speech in these parts so now it makes sense although there always seems to be WAY TO MANY cops in these area’s. Not NEEDED!!!
So we played Gainesville 2 days ago which was nice because I have actually never been to a show there before which is hard to believe. It’s a place I have only stopped through to eat, and spend the night. My roommate Yannick and friend Phillipe actually flew down for the show to film the show, do interviews with fans, and catch some moments with Tom-Against Me! for video stuff with his new upcoming solo record. A small world eh?
The show in Gville was a benefit for Civic Media Center in the city which is a independent media outlet. The show was at the Common Grounds which I am very familiar with due to the stories from Gville and it was a nice little punk venue. The show was sold out which probably made for a good benefit for the CMC seeing how no one else took any $$....Hence the benefit.
Yesterday we had a day off so drove to Atlanta where we stayed with this nice fellow named Henry who was a friend of the bands. Henry does a zine named Chunklet which seems to be a pretty well known zine however it wa the 1st I heard of it..Hahaha. Henry was a good dude and had 2 crazy ass dogs. The dudes had also planned on doing something named Whirly Ball which I had no clue as to what it was. So after grabbing a bite in which I consumed a nice Black Bean Burger with a nice IPA beer we hopped in the van and drove a little north of Atlanta to the sight of this Whirly Ball.
So Whirly Ball in a game played in a big court with 10 (5 to a team) bumper cars. On each end of the court you have a goal elevated up near the roof (like basket ball) with a target on it. Each player is in a bumper car holding the steering of device of the car with 1 hand while the other hand is holding a sort of paddle, basket, scoop, catching device in which you use to pass, scoop and shoot a wiffle ball into the goal. Totally mind blowing I know but beyond fun. I sit here with a sore body and a mind full of good times. I played every game there was and actually did fairly well. It’s the hockey player in me.
Here at the House of Blues in Orlando, FL or shall I say Disney World Florida where outside the weather is hot, sticky and inside this very stale venue the air conditioning is on full blast and I am in a hoodie.
We arrived here in Orlando earlier this afternoon after a 2 hour drive from St. Petersburg, Florida where this tour played last night at a outdoor venue named Janis Landing. The drive today was definitely quick compared to the last couple of drives so we were all able to sleep in and take it easy this morning. Some went to Starbucks while I myself went to fill my little pot belly with a burrito from a independent burrito joint modeled after Chipotle-McDonalds burrito’s. An indy food joint mondeling themselves after a humungous chain.
Yesterdays show was definitely the best show thus far of the tour (3 days of it). Against Me is from Gainesville, Florida which was only about 2 hours away from St. Petersburg so the kids came out in full force. About 45 mins after doors opened I was wondering how well the show would do because the turn out was low indeed however through out the night things changed and the venue was absolutely packed with crazy Floridians.
The Pharmacists definitely put on a great show and there was one song where Ted actually didn’t play guitar and just went nuts on the mic which added to their intensity. Totally cool. I guess there was some issues with the kids get crushed up front due to boneheads in the crowd not respecting peoples spaces. I missed all of this and what was said but I know the band was definitely super bummed.
All in all though the show was Against Me’s.
I met a couple from Edmonton which was cool and they definitely got a kick out of me being from Grande Prairie and now here I am on tour in Florida. Most people who I come across at shows who are from random parts of Canada definitely get a kick out of me being from G. P. Also last night I was able to have my first Thai Red Curry Tofu dish of the tour which is always nice except I have had way better in other parts. Cant win them all.
So Ted Leo is currently playing here at HOB and the show just seems weird. So stagnant and stale. When it comes to this particular venue we are still 20 miles away from Orlando and in the middle of the whole Disney structure which is completely disgusting. No rock band let alone “punk” band should ever play such a place but when you are on someone else’s tour you have to kind of go with the flow and go where the tour takes you.
Oct 5th
Sitting here in our hotel room with Chris, James and myself watching Saturday Night Live. Ted was with us until about 2 mins again when he bailed to probably go too sleep however someone just knocked on the door. Who is it? Marty has just arrived from an adventure downstairs in the bar so I am sure there will be some stories.
On SNL this evening the musical guest is the Killers who I will say yet again I am definitely a fan of. I back the Killers and will always back them. Sorry ya’ll. What was cool though is once this came up Ted started talking about them and it turns out he backs them too!! Right on. The others I don’t think are too familiar with them yet however by the end of this tour they probably will be.
Something I heard a couple years ago was that when the singer of the Killers got married in Hawaii he flew their entire touring crew out for the wedding with days off. These things stoke me out because there are many o many of bands out there who would ever do things as such #1 because they can’t which is completely understandable but there are many bands that could and don’t. So when a band who can do something as such and actually does this rules for everyone involved.
So with this conversation Ted mentioned a story about Pearl Jam who they just toured with and how the band has an actual profit sharing system set up for their crew which is a cool thing to hear and I guess if you are with them for 6 years you get actual investments in their band/ project- I guess you would call this a collective of sorts…?? Rad
Oct 7, 2008
So I should first and foremost introduce the Pharmacists
Ted Leo, Chris, James, Marty, with Scott moving the dials on the sound board and myself doing some other tasks in between.
Currently we are in Greensboro, North Carolina where we arrived a couple hours ago after a 6 hour drive from Atlanta where we had spent the night after a day off yesterday. The drive was pretty much the same as any other drive although I do remember seeing and passing the most amount of police I have ever seen on the highways. In about 1 hour I swear I visibly saw at least 20 cop cars on the side of the freeway, in the middle median and others who had pulled over vehicles. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What a complete bum out. The police do more harm then good. When you are driving and come across a cop car people instantly hit their brakes and when a cop is hiding some people actually freak out on the highway. Not good for anyone behind the wheel of a moving machine. It turns out that this lady who I have been hearing so much about lately named Sarah Palin was giving a speech in these parts so now it makes sense although there always seems to be WAY TO MANY cops in these area’s. Not NEEDED!!!
So we played Gainesville 2 days ago which was nice because I have actually never been to a show there before which is hard to believe. It’s a place I have only stopped through to eat, and spend the night. My roommate Yannick and friend Phillipe actually flew down for the show to film the show, do interviews with fans, and catch some moments with Tom-Against Me! for video stuff with his new upcoming solo record. A small world eh?
The show in Gville was a benefit for Civic Media Center in the city which is a independent media outlet. The show was at the Common Grounds which I am very familiar with due to the stories from Gville and it was a nice little punk venue. The show was sold out which probably made for a good benefit for the CMC seeing how no one else took any $$....Hence the benefit.
Yesterday we had a day off so drove to Atlanta where we stayed with this nice fellow named Henry who was a friend of the bands. Henry does a zine named Chunklet which seems to be a pretty well known zine however it wa the 1st I heard of it..Hahaha. Henry was a good dude and had 2 crazy ass dogs. The dudes had also planned on doing something named Whirly Ball which I had no clue as to what it was. So after grabbing a bite in which I consumed a nice Black Bean Burger with a nice IPA beer we hopped in the van and drove a little north of Atlanta to the sight of this Whirly Ball.
So Whirly Ball in a game played in a big court with 10 (5 to a team) bumper cars. On each end of the court you have a goal elevated up near the roof (like basket ball) with a target on it. Each player is in a bumper car holding the steering of device of the car with 1 hand while the other hand is holding a sort of paddle, basket, scoop, catching device in which you use to pass, scoop and shoot a wiffle ball into the goal. Totally mind blowing I know but beyond fun. I sit here with a sore body and a mind full of good times. I played every game there was and actually did fairly well. It’s the hockey player in me.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Too Many Factors To Cover
Oct 1st, 2008-
I’m currently flying from Washington DC to Atlanta to join forces with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists who are supporting Against Me! on a 5 week tour across the troubled country known as the “United” States of America.
I have never met the Ted Leo folks before but know that they are good peeps and know that I will have fun. My good ol friend/ roommate from Richmond Mr. Nathan Plummer (comic genious folks!) has been touring with Ted Leo for the last couple of years and is responsible for this next adventure of mine. Nathan has decided to hit the books, dedicate himself more to school so he hooked me up with this tour which rules. Thanx bud! So I know due to Nathan, his vibes and the people he surrounds himself with I will be in good company.
Oct 2nd. 2008
So I sit here this evening in a bar named Stages in a city, town, weird beach community named Hilton Head, South Carolina which is located about 30 miles Northeast of Savannah, Georgia right on the coast.
Tonight is night #2 for myself on this tour and night #3 for the tour itself. On the TV screens at the bar in this venue are the Vice Presidential debates being played live. No clue what is being said, or for that matter what is even being asked but most likely nothing of any substance whatsoever. On the debate note Canada also tonight had it’s National debates which I missed and wont get to see. I have checked the Globe and Mail sight (not the best source whatsoever but I find myself checking this “news” source daily..weird) and you cant really tell anything from the article so I checked the “comments” section to read what the people are saying. Again doesn’t sound like anything of any substance whatsoever. We are in trouble people!!
Against Me! has just taken the stage and the kids are pumped as they were last night. I missed Against Me! in their “prime” which some would say was years ago however there are also a lot who would say their “prime” is now. I just know that I have heard many o many a stories about their shows “back in the day”. I know many personal friends of mine would tell me stories about when they went to see AM! and these stories always sounded so so amazing however it was something I missed and that’s how it is.
Currently they do have a good live show and I think that is a good thing when presenting live music to the fans. Are they relevant? Not sure. They are however very very sweet people which I have always thought and for that I respect them deeply.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on the other hand the last 2 nights have blown me away. This is the 3rd time I have ever seen them and it’s the raddest thing. Yes I think they are relevant very much so and YES I do think they have blown Against Me! away both nights. Again just a personal opinion. Against Me! dudes/ dudettes are some of the sweetest people out there and yes I do like them but I just feel that the Pharmacists have this tour in their hand and that’s a obviously a good thing. It was also pretty funny to watch them this evening while the debates were happening on every television screen in the house. No one cared whatsoever about the screens and people were just drawn into the music which is hard no to be with this band.
Thus far the shows have had a far different turn out then I expected. Tonights show is very ill attended as was last nights show and I am not sure why. I heard last night that the whole Atlanta/ Georgia area has a huge fuel crisis happening which I had no clue about. From what I was told you are only allowed 5 gallons of fuel at $5 a gallon and most gas stations are dry. Crazy!! Again We are in trouble!! It’s happening all around us. So that was definitely a factor last night in regards to the turn out and the reaction but as for tonight I am not sure. Yes we are in a place which seems very small and off the map but I still thought there would be a couple more people here this evening. However everyone is having fun as we all did last night and ultimately this is all the matters.!!
I’m currently flying from Washington DC to Atlanta to join forces with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists who are supporting Against Me! on a 5 week tour across the troubled country known as the “United” States of America.
I have never met the Ted Leo folks before but know that they are good peeps and know that I will have fun. My good ol friend/ roommate from Richmond Mr. Nathan Plummer (comic genious folks!) has been touring with Ted Leo for the last couple of years and is responsible for this next adventure of mine. Nathan has decided to hit the books, dedicate himself more to school so he hooked me up with this tour which rules. Thanx bud! So I know due to Nathan, his vibes and the people he surrounds himself with I will be in good company.
Oct 2nd. 2008
So I sit here this evening in a bar named Stages in a city, town, weird beach community named Hilton Head, South Carolina which is located about 30 miles Northeast of Savannah, Georgia right on the coast.
Tonight is night #2 for myself on this tour and night #3 for the tour itself. On the TV screens at the bar in this venue are the Vice Presidential debates being played live. No clue what is being said, or for that matter what is even being asked but most likely nothing of any substance whatsoever. On the debate note Canada also tonight had it’s National debates which I missed and wont get to see. I have checked the Globe and Mail sight (not the best source whatsoever but I find myself checking this “news” source daily..weird) and you cant really tell anything from the article so I checked the “comments” section to read what the people are saying. Again doesn’t sound like anything of any substance whatsoever. We are in trouble people!!
Against Me! has just taken the stage and the kids are pumped as they were last night. I missed Against Me! in their “prime” which some would say was years ago however there are also a lot who would say their “prime” is now. I just know that I have heard many o many a stories about their shows “back in the day”. I know many personal friends of mine would tell me stories about when they went to see AM! and these stories always sounded so so amazing however it was something I missed and that’s how it is.
Currently they do have a good live show and I think that is a good thing when presenting live music to the fans. Are they relevant? Not sure. They are however very very sweet people which I have always thought and for that I respect them deeply.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists on the other hand the last 2 nights have blown me away. This is the 3rd time I have ever seen them and it’s the raddest thing. Yes I think they are relevant very much so and YES I do think they have blown Against Me! away both nights. Again just a personal opinion. Against Me! dudes/ dudettes are some of the sweetest people out there and yes I do like them but I just feel that the Pharmacists have this tour in their hand and that’s a obviously a good thing. It was also pretty funny to watch them this evening while the debates were happening on every television screen in the house. No one cared whatsoever about the screens and people were just drawn into the music which is hard no to be with this band.
Thus far the shows have had a far different turn out then I expected. Tonights show is very ill attended as was last nights show and I am not sure why. I heard last night that the whole Atlanta/ Georgia area has a huge fuel crisis happening which I had no clue about. From what I was told you are only allowed 5 gallons of fuel at $5 a gallon and most gas stations are dry. Crazy!! Again We are in trouble!! It’s happening all around us. So that was definitely a factor last night in regards to the turn out and the reaction but as for tonight I am not sure. Yes we are in a place which seems very small and off the map but I still thought there would be a couple more people here this evening. However everyone is having fun as we all did last night and ultimately this is all the matters.!!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
PROPAGANDHI- EUROPE 2008
Monday, July 28th, 2008
I am sitting here in pretty new airplane over the Atlantic Ocean heading to Frankfurt, Germany where I will meet up with the fellows in the rock group Propagandhi where we all will catch a flight to Helsinki, Finland too begin a Scandinavian/Belgium/German tour. The lighting in the vehicle is a very nice blue/ purple and the entertainment system is a touch screen state of the art system….I guess?
The last 2 months have been extremely go, go, go and I think it is slowly catching up to me. Unfortunately I can not sleep on flights so all my body will have to take this a little more until we finally arrive in Finland later today (or tomorrow shall I say).
In the past 2 months I did a 3 week Canadian tour with my friends in Strike Anywhere from Richmond, VA. I was home in Montreal for a couple days when I then I hitched a ride for 3 days to Philadelphia, PA with my friends The Loved Ones. I got to hang out with these fine folks and manage to watch Snoop Doggy Dog from side stage as well on this trip. Once in the US I headed to DC where I went camping in the Appalachians with my friend Helene before heading up to New Jersey to start the Warped Tour with the Bouncing Souls. The Souls and myself only did 8 shows on the summer circus which was quite enough for sure. The last 2 times doing this tour I have been on the whole thing which is a full 2 months of brutal work, and conditions and these 8 shows sometimes felt like it was 2 months.
Warped Tour is a extremely whack tour to begin with but this year was totally bonkers. You had huge pop-artists on this tour who had their own security guards and entourages with them at all time. You had one artist who would clear the womens bathroom before her set so she could do her make up. Bonkers!!! Out of about 100 bands I only liked 3 of them. The Bronx, Against Me!, and the wonderful and always amazing Bouncing Souls.
Thanx always!!!
Warped ended about 3 days ago when I then flew home for 12 hours to wash clothes, wash the parking lots out of my body, before driving to Toronto-yesterday- for a Propagandhi show before our actual adventures “over the pond”.
This next tour seems like it is going to be completely INSANE!! Places we are visiting on this run are Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and Germany. I am pumped because it’s another visit to Scandinavia for me. A first to Norway!! Propagandhi hasn’t played Sweden in about 13 years from what Jord was saying last night and have never played Finland and possibly Norway either though I am not sure.
Last night’s show in Toronto was totally off the wall. It was a sold out show-1000 cap- at the Phoenix which is a bigger venue in the city. I knew the kids were going to loose their minds as they always do with this band from what I have seen from my last tour plus the few times I had seen them in the past. Since their touring is very seldom it makes for extremely special events and the whole thing is basically a spectacle of sorts.
This tour it seems is always going to be special because the set list from what I heard last night #1 RULED!!!! and #2 had about 4 new tight jams for everyone to take in. This is a band who takes their musicianship extremely extremely serious. Yes they do not tour that often- and who could blame them- so while at home they practice around 3-5 times a week, have been doing this for years and you can tell from their tunes (new and old). Practice makes perfect.
These days bands have the routine they stick too. Record a record, tour on this record for a good year and a half and then record another record, repeat repeat repeat until either everyone is burned out or the fans are over it. All good things come to an end always!!
There are some who can definitely pull it together and do this very very well but for the most part this isn’t the norm.
And then again on the other side of it you have bands who do not tour that much and don’t put out records that often and nowadays there shows aren’t what they used to be. So…..it just all depends… On what? I’m not sure.
WEDNESDAY- JULY 30, 2008- HELSINKI- FINLAND
So today I met Saku Koivu the captain of the one and only Montreal Canadiens!!!
Rad!!!
I went to the downstairs of our hotel to get a password for the internet and as I was walking inside the lobby I see Saku just sitting there. As soon as I saw him I knew it was him so I said “right on man!!. I’m from Montreal” and then we started talking for awhile about the Habs last year, how they are looking this year, who we may still get on our team and when training camp starts. He mentioned he was at the hotel because the Finnish National team was having a meeting. That means if this was the case tere was a lot more NHL players in the hotel but I didn’t see any of them. He asked what I was doing in Finland and I mentioned I was on tour with a band playing in town tonight and Turku tomorrow. It turns out his home town is Turk, Finland and he will be there tomorrow night. So he told me to put him on the guest list “plus a few guys” and he may show. YEEHAAW!!! After I mentioned I would put him on the list I asked for a signature and that was that.
I went up stairs and went straight to Chris and Beave’s room due to my giddiness and knowing they have the same giddiness. As soon as word came out that Koivu was in the building and the rest of the National team Chris seriously LEAPED out of bed and said “WHERE WHERE!!!? NO WAY!!!”
Classic!!!
Okay so we arrived in here in Helsinki yesterday afternoon after a long couple hours of plane rides and layovers. Flying into Helsinki ruled hard. I have been here once before but came by ferry which also rules but seeing the landscape, and the coast from the air is definitely amazing. Once we flew over Germany the flight path took us over the Baltic Sea towards the coast of I would say Eastern Sweden and then onto Finland. The coast of Finland is so absolutely beautiful with tons and tons of waterways, inlets with tons and tons of Islands everywhere. It’s really special. ITS FINLAND!!
We landed, gathered our gear and were picked up by a fellow named Janne who took us to the hotel. There wasn’t any sort of a border whatsoever which was funny to witness. We walked through 2 automatic doors to the main lobby of the airport and all joked “well that was the border”
Most of us were completely delirious with jet lag and exhaustion but all our stomachs were empty so after we dropped our bags off we headed our to a Nepalese restaurant to eat some pretty good food before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.
This morning I woke up from a knock from Chris who informed Todd and I that there was a really good breakfast downstairs that is worth checking out. I felt pretty weird-jet lag- but figured I needed to get up and get used to it. Walking into the banquet hall for breakfast was definitely interesting and crazy. Usually most hotels free breakfast are beyond basic and there is just a couple people eating. Well not here in Helsinki. The hall was filled with every seat taken-about 100 people id say- and there was about 4 buffet stations plus counters filled with stuff most of which non of us could eat but it was still amazing. There was tons and tons of fruit which we all piled onto our plates and a nice berry salad which was had native(Scandinavia) Lingonberries with strawberries.
After eating I went back up to my room where I did some yoga due to a sore back from the travels and exhaustion. I met up with Jord/ Sam where we cruised the streets of Helsinki, and ate before we had to head to the venue. I like Helsinki and I love Scandinavia!!. Always have. We stopped into a café and had ourselves and afternoon Finnish beer before heading back to the hotel.
Now I find myself at the venue where the doors are open and kids are filtering in.
Tonight’s show is going to rule hard as they all will. Propagandhi has never played in Finland before so it’s going to be a special night.
I must say their new songs completely destroy and I would say are the most technical to date which is insane too think about seeing how this band is already crazy technical.
Friday- August 1, 2008- in and airplane heading to Norway
Currently we are flying from Helsinki, Finland to Oslo, Norway where we then hop on another plane to Trondheim, Norway located on the west coast of Norway about half way up country. From there we will then hop in a van to drive 2 hours south for a fest this evening where we play at midnight. Other bands on this fest are bands such as Sons & Daughters/ Blondie/ and Lee Scratch Perry however due to our travels today and tomorrow I don’t think we will catch any of them which is fine. On our flight today is Blonde Redhead who are doing the same shows as us so we all talked in the security line about where we were heading, them, and about our shows.
We have played 2 shows (Helsinki, and Turku- Finland) so far on this adventure with more to come.
Helsinki’s show was at a venue named Tavastia’s Klubi which was around the corner from our hotel. A nice venue with a capacity of 450 or so I’d say. From what Barney said the venue had an incredible PA system which he was pumped on which ultimately pumps everyone up due to good sound. The show was sold out and was part of some festival however I am not sure of its name. This particular day there was 4 bands and 2 stages in the venue so while one band was playing downstairs a band would be setting up their stage upstairs and rotate like such. The show was sold out and the kids were pumped. It’s a lot of fun doing stage for this band and getting to see the show up close and the kids loosing their minds. The show went off without a hitch and everyone was content for their first show in Finland. After the show a couple of us joined Barney in his room for a coulple beers and laughs.
Yesterday Todd and I slept in right until check out so I am assuming that was the jet lag kicking in. We headed down stairs where Janne picked us up to drive to Turku, Finland the birthplace of Saku Koivu and Toskala (don’t know how to spell homeboys first name). On the drive we pulled over at a gas station to relief ourselves and they had vegan ice cream bars/ cones. RIGHT ON!! In the middle of Finland at some random gas station we could get a nice little treat on a nice sunny day.
We arrived in Turku where the venue manager greeted us and was a very nice fellow. The venue yesterday was also called Klubi and was the same situation as the night before with it being a festival with bands downstairs and upstairs. After we loaded in and soundchecked we all headed out to an Indian food joint to eat some dinner before the nights events. Some people went back to the hotel before heading to the venue for a quick nap while I cruised back to the venue to watch things go down. The band that played before us was a band named The Unseen who are from Boston and who I am somewhat familiar with. I have never ever heard them really but my friend Matt did play with them on a tour a couple years ago. They were nice dudes but not really my thing.
After they were done and the stage was clear we set up our gear and waited for the band downstairs to finish before we could start. The venue was packed with people waiting patiently for Propagandhi to take the stage. We used some of the backline that we brought with us from Helsinki and some of the backline that was at the venue.
I/ or non of us are fans of barricades at venues just due to them being pretty weird and “separating”. Last nights venue had a barricade however it wasn’t anything huge and was only about 1.5 ft from the stage plus was at peoples mid sections. I do think the show would have been the exact same vibe even if had the barricade not been in place and it definitely cut back on people getting on stage. When there are people jumping on stage from all directions sometimes it gets a little crazy.
Last nights show was a very hot show. The stage floor within the first couple songs become pretty damp/ slippery so much that Todd ditched his shoes/ socks and ended up putting towels under both feet to rock out. A sight too see! It looked as if he was mopping the stage floor. Later on in the set a beach ball came flying on the stage as one did in Helsinki however last night right after the ball an actual rubber raft came flying over the crowd and found its way on stage. A rubber dingy!!!! Funniest thing ever. So Chris hopped in it and played a song while standing inside this inflatable boat. Too funny. Towards the end of the set Beaves guitar started acting up so I ran over to try diagnose the problem the best I could. We couldn’t figure out the problem so we ditched all the patching and went straight into the amp which made things a little better but not how they should have been. Thankfully it was at the end of the set so nothing crucial was lost. After the show we checked things out and we are pretty sure it was the amp so fingers crossed.
We are now descending to Oslo, Norway!!! YEAH!!!
August 4, 2008- flying from Copenhagen, Denmark to Brussels, Belgium
The last couple of days have been pretty interesting with some crazy travels, 2 moose spottings in Norway and many sleepless hours. About 48 of no sleep at all. Fortunately yesterday was the first real day off of tour and today is a day off as well except for our flight from Denmark to Brussels.
We woke up in Finland a couple days ago around 9 AM to drive 2 hours from Turku to Helsinki to catch a 12:30 flight which took us from Finland, through Oslo, and then onto Trondheim, Norway which we arrived in the late afternoon. From there we jumped in a van and drove about 2 hours to Medal, Norway where we were playing a festival with Lee Scratch Perry, Blondie and some others.
When we arrived in Medal we went straight to the hotel due to the “hideous” travels ahead with no sleep in sight. The hotel in Medal was absolutely amazing. I’ll do my best to describe what I can. There were 3 different log cabins on the grounds which had probably 5 separate hotel rooms in them. Each cabin had grass, greenery, moss and even a tree growing on top and out of the roof. A very very outdoorsy feel it was. There was a huge herb garden on the ground’s which I think is used in the kitchen of the place. This hotel was literally in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the mountains. I think it was being used by the fest for all the bands. There was no time to sleep so wee killed a couple hours of rest by eating some pasta which the cook made for us, hanging outside trying out stilts that were there too be used, and playing badminton. The funniest thing ever was seeing Barney walk on these stilts while Chris and himself tried to have fight each other while on this wooden legs. The lady who ran the place was super nice and brought us out a huge bowl of strawberries and sugar while we waited to get picked up so we could head to the fest grounds.
A van arrived to pick us up and it had been decided to bring all our belongings with us because from the fest we would head straight to the airport instead of coming 30 mins back to the hotel which was in the opposite direction making. The drive then would be the 2 hours from Trondheim to Medal not 2.5 hours from out hotel. On the way back to the venue site Todd spotted 1 moose which I managed to catch after hearing “Moose!” and then within 5 mins I hear Todd again yell “Moose, Moose, Moose” and there was another wonderful beast of the north. In NORWAY non the less!!!
Once at the fest grounds we unloaded, and Barney and I headed to our stage to take a look at everything.
This fest was a first for Propagandhi. It is not too often where you will find these dudes playing an outdoor fest which has huge barricades which separate the crowd/ band and on a huge stage. But seeing how there was no corporate sponsors they had agreed to play such fest.
On this show we didn’t have any sort of a real set up or sound check. Once the band before was done we had 1 hour to set up our stage/ dial in everything/ and do a quick line change. All went smoothly and Propagandhi went on at midnight as soon as Lee Scratch Perry was done “jamming”. Kids were pumped but the energy was definitely separated due to the barricade however it made my job a lil easier at that moment due to no kids on the stage and seeing how tired I/ we were I was okay with it.
After the set which was good considering our tiredness and only a line check we waited until 2:30AM to get picked up and drive back to Trondheim where we had a 6 AM flight to Oslo, onto Stockholm and then hop in a van for 6 hours to drive to Lund, Sweden.
Pheeewwyy!! Crazy travels.
The trip from Medal to Trondheim was in this Ford van mini which only had room for 6 not 7 people which we are. So seeing how late/ or early it was and how completely insane we all felt with no sleep at that time I volunteered to sit on the floor so we could just get to the airport. This sucked big time and was definitely not comfortable but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. If it was more then 2 hours I probably would not have done this.
A couple days before these adventures took place the band had a meeting to decided quite what to do with all the travels. When the tour was first booked we had another fest in Sweden booked which got cancelled therefore this made all the travels completely crazy due to re-bookings of shows. The band voted for “hideous”.
We eventually arrived in Lund, Svergie (Sweden) around 6:30PM after being awake since 9AM the morning before.
The venue we played in Lund was a really nice place as they have all been but this particular show had only been booked a couple days before hand so we all knew the place wouldn’t be packed and considering everyone’s energy level I would say that it wasn’t a bad thing. We set up our stage, the band sound checked and then we were fed a nice home cooked vegan meal of chili, bread, and rice. It’s always a nice thing over here in Europe being cooked food with love from the kids at the venues.
The show in Lund turned out to be okay. My friend Robert made it out which was nice to see him and hang out. Robert and I toured together a couple years ago with the (I)NC. In fact on that tour years ago I went and bought Propagandhi’s latest album the day it came out and Robert and I one night listened to it in the back of the bus. Funny!
This show the band wasn’t stoked on their gear at all. I know Chris’s amp was just a total pile from what he was saying and he wasn’t able to get the right sound out of it from the first song. You could tell during the set that this all was an issue so with this plus the lack of sleep I know the band has had WAY WAY better shows. But again from being a fan I didn’t think the show was horrible at all and went off okay under all the strain/ stress.
After the show was done we all headed to the hotel where everyone was planning on having their first sleep in almost 2 days. I was on my 2nd wind as well as most others so Sam, Chris, Jord, Barney, and myself actually went out to some left wing bookstore which was having a “party” after the show. It wasn’t much of a party besides being a sausage party with about 15 dudes who some were pretty intense in your face type people. They did give us free beer so we hung out for awhile and just watched everything go down. It was definitely a little weird due to some of the people.
After hanging there for awhile we all cruised back to get that much needed sleep.
The next day which would have been yesterday we were supposed to have a show in Copenhagen, Denmark however that show was cancelled days ago so a group of kids somewhere else in Denmark were trying to put together a show. We ended up pulling the plug on this show because the promoters were not able to get us the right gear to pull off such a last minute show.
Jord on his drum set uses 3 rack toms plus a floor tom while Beave, and Chris have specific amps they like but still play on many others. For this show the promoters were only able to get a drum kit with 1 rack tom plus a floor tom. The dudes mentioned maybe they could play a “comedy” set however the type of songs these fellows play and the technicality of them there would be no way for Jord to pull this off. He mentioned he would not know how to play most songs with such a kit and therefore it wouldn’t even be funny so with that, plus our lack of sleep they decided to cancel the date that was already cancelled.
Canceling the show yesterday gave us 2 days off in a row- today being a travel day.
August 7, 2008- Bochum, Germany @ the Matrix
So we are on the last leg of the tour with 2 shows played and 3 more left. We were picked up at the airport by our driver/ now tour mate Thomas who is from the Czech Republic. We drove to Antwerp, Belgium where we had rooms booked for all of us for the next 2 nights. We got checked in and all went out too look for some food after a day of flying/ driving. The part of town we were staying in seemed like the suburbs and there was nothing at all to eat. Most of the gang settled for these vegie wraps from a donor place and I ended up searching out a falafel due to the vibe of the donor place which I wasn’t feeling. Turns out the donor place from what everyone said wasn’t that good however my falafel wasn’t super great either but I’m glad I made that choice.
After eating we all hung out on some patio and had beers in celebration of Barney’s 46 (I think..if not 45) birthday which was nice and fun. Our night was spent outside drinking Belgium beer’s in celebration of a good fellow’s day of birth.
The next day we had a show in Temse, Belgium which was about 25 mins away from our hotel. The venue was a sort of a community center and was really really nice as are most of the venues of this sort in these parts. This particular venue had a huge computer room (about 6 computers), a game room, hammocks everywhere outside, and a nice kitchen where we were cooked an incredible meal later in the evening of pastas, salads, garlic spreads, chili, and even desert after the show for Barney’s birthday….A vegan cake!!
Temse’s show was completely haywire. The kids lost their minds and their were bodies flying in every which direction on stage. It was nuts. I am still bruised and battered from the evenings events and my clothes are still damp. It was so hot I had to ditch everything but the shorts and shoes that night which is something I don’t do often if at all. Little me baring my hunk of a body. Aaahahahaha. Also for that nights show Chris had a bad cable which needed to be switched and Jord’s drums had to be taped down due to them moving. It is a very interesting thing being drenched, in a very humid venue, with dampness everywhere trying to tape things down in the middle of the set. Let’s just say under these circumstances nothing works. The band destroyed it this evening and the kids helped them out with their energy. It was funny after the show seeing the floor of the club covered in sweat, mud, and broken glasses/ bottles.
Yesterday we played in Trier, Germany which was quite different then the Belgium show. The venue (the Exhaus) was another sort of community center which was super nice and HUGE. However the crowd last night was super duper chilled out and not very energetic at all. As soon as the dudes walked on stage people just stood there and didn’t say a word. It was quite weird in fact. It made my night a little easier compared to the chaotic night before which was okay but I wouldn’t trade that in for anything. This band deserves and needs craziness every night to be honest. And last night due to their being none the show wasn’t what it should have been and you could tell even from the dudes set. Earlier in the day though it was quite fun due to a rad soccer game Chris, Barney, Thomas and I played (Chris and I on a team- we lost) inside the venue in the gym. Super hot work out but much fun. We had tried to go swimming at the pool across the street but they were closing when we arrived so we opted for a hot work out instead.
I am sitting here in pretty new airplane over the Atlantic Ocean heading to Frankfurt, Germany where I will meet up with the fellows in the rock group Propagandhi where we all will catch a flight to Helsinki, Finland too begin a Scandinavian/Belgium/German tour. The lighting in the vehicle is a very nice blue/ purple and the entertainment system is a touch screen state of the art system….I guess?
The last 2 months have been extremely go, go, go and I think it is slowly catching up to me. Unfortunately I can not sleep on flights so all my body will have to take this a little more until we finally arrive in Finland later today (or tomorrow shall I say).
In the past 2 months I did a 3 week Canadian tour with my friends in Strike Anywhere from Richmond, VA. I was home in Montreal for a couple days when I then I hitched a ride for 3 days to Philadelphia, PA with my friends The Loved Ones. I got to hang out with these fine folks and manage to watch Snoop Doggy Dog from side stage as well on this trip. Once in the US I headed to DC where I went camping in the Appalachians with my friend Helene before heading up to New Jersey to start the Warped Tour with the Bouncing Souls. The Souls and myself only did 8 shows on the summer circus which was quite enough for sure. The last 2 times doing this tour I have been on the whole thing which is a full 2 months of brutal work, and conditions and these 8 shows sometimes felt like it was 2 months.
Warped Tour is a extremely whack tour to begin with but this year was totally bonkers. You had huge pop-artists on this tour who had their own security guards and entourages with them at all time. You had one artist who would clear the womens bathroom before her set so she could do her make up. Bonkers!!! Out of about 100 bands I only liked 3 of them. The Bronx, Against Me!, and the wonderful and always amazing Bouncing Souls.
Thanx always!!!
Warped ended about 3 days ago when I then flew home for 12 hours to wash clothes, wash the parking lots out of my body, before driving to Toronto-yesterday- for a Propagandhi show before our actual adventures “over the pond”.
This next tour seems like it is going to be completely INSANE!! Places we are visiting on this run are Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and Germany. I am pumped because it’s another visit to Scandinavia for me. A first to Norway!! Propagandhi hasn’t played Sweden in about 13 years from what Jord was saying last night and have never played Finland and possibly Norway either though I am not sure.
Last night’s show in Toronto was totally off the wall. It was a sold out show-1000 cap- at the Phoenix which is a bigger venue in the city. I knew the kids were going to loose their minds as they always do with this band from what I have seen from my last tour plus the few times I had seen them in the past. Since their touring is very seldom it makes for extremely special events and the whole thing is basically a spectacle of sorts.
This tour it seems is always going to be special because the set list from what I heard last night #1 RULED!!!! and #2 had about 4 new tight jams for everyone to take in. This is a band who takes their musicianship extremely extremely serious. Yes they do not tour that often- and who could blame them- so while at home they practice around 3-5 times a week, have been doing this for years and you can tell from their tunes (new and old). Practice makes perfect.
These days bands have the routine they stick too. Record a record, tour on this record for a good year and a half and then record another record, repeat repeat repeat until either everyone is burned out or the fans are over it. All good things come to an end always!!
There are some who can definitely pull it together and do this very very well but for the most part this isn’t the norm.
And then again on the other side of it you have bands who do not tour that much and don’t put out records that often and nowadays there shows aren’t what they used to be. So…..it just all depends… On what? I’m not sure.
WEDNESDAY- JULY 30, 2008- HELSINKI- FINLAND
So today I met Saku Koivu the captain of the one and only Montreal Canadiens!!!
Rad!!!
I went to the downstairs of our hotel to get a password for the internet and as I was walking inside the lobby I see Saku just sitting there. As soon as I saw him I knew it was him so I said “right on man!!. I’m from Montreal” and then we started talking for awhile about the Habs last year, how they are looking this year, who we may still get on our team and when training camp starts. He mentioned he was at the hotel because the Finnish National team was having a meeting. That means if this was the case tere was a lot more NHL players in the hotel but I didn’t see any of them. He asked what I was doing in Finland and I mentioned I was on tour with a band playing in town tonight and Turku tomorrow. It turns out his home town is Turk, Finland and he will be there tomorrow night. So he told me to put him on the guest list “plus a few guys” and he may show. YEEHAAW!!! After I mentioned I would put him on the list I asked for a signature and that was that.
I went up stairs and went straight to Chris and Beave’s room due to my giddiness and knowing they have the same giddiness. As soon as word came out that Koivu was in the building and the rest of the National team Chris seriously LEAPED out of bed and said “WHERE WHERE!!!? NO WAY!!!”
Classic!!!
Okay so we arrived in here in Helsinki yesterday afternoon after a long couple hours of plane rides and layovers. Flying into Helsinki ruled hard. I have been here once before but came by ferry which also rules but seeing the landscape, and the coast from the air is definitely amazing. Once we flew over Germany the flight path took us over the Baltic Sea towards the coast of I would say Eastern Sweden and then onto Finland. The coast of Finland is so absolutely beautiful with tons and tons of waterways, inlets with tons and tons of Islands everywhere. It’s really special. ITS FINLAND!!
We landed, gathered our gear and were picked up by a fellow named Janne who took us to the hotel. There wasn’t any sort of a border whatsoever which was funny to witness. We walked through 2 automatic doors to the main lobby of the airport and all joked “well that was the border”
Most of us were completely delirious with jet lag and exhaustion but all our stomachs were empty so after we dropped our bags off we headed our to a Nepalese restaurant to eat some pretty good food before heading back to the hotel to call it a night.
This morning I woke up from a knock from Chris who informed Todd and I that there was a really good breakfast downstairs that is worth checking out. I felt pretty weird-jet lag- but figured I needed to get up and get used to it. Walking into the banquet hall for breakfast was definitely interesting and crazy. Usually most hotels free breakfast are beyond basic and there is just a couple people eating. Well not here in Helsinki. The hall was filled with every seat taken-about 100 people id say- and there was about 4 buffet stations plus counters filled with stuff most of which non of us could eat but it was still amazing. There was tons and tons of fruit which we all piled onto our plates and a nice berry salad which was had native(Scandinavia) Lingonberries with strawberries.
After eating I went back up to my room where I did some yoga due to a sore back from the travels and exhaustion. I met up with Jord/ Sam where we cruised the streets of Helsinki, and ate before we had to head to the venue. I like Helsinki and I love Scandinavia!!. Always have. We stopped into a café and had ourselves and afternoon Finnish beer before heading back to the hotel.
Now I find myself at the venue where the doors are open and kids are filtering in.
Tonight’s show is going to rule hard as they all will. Propagandhi has never played in Finland before so it’s going to be a special night.
I must say their new songs completely destroy and I would say are the most technical to date which is insane too think about seeing how this band is already crazy technical.
Friday- August 1, 2008- in and airplane heading to Norway
Currently we are flying from Helsinki, Finland to Oslo, Norway where we then hop on another plane to Trondheim, Norway located on the west coast of Norway about half way up country. From there we will then hop in a van to drive 2 hours south for a fest this evening where we play at midnight. Other bands on this fest are bands such as Sons & Daughters/ Blondie/ and Lee Scratch Perry however due to our travels today and tomorrow I don’t think we will catch any of them which is fine. On our flight today is Blonde Redhead who are doing the same shows as us so we all talked in the security line about where we were heading, them, and about our shows.
We have played 2 shows (Helsinki, and Turku- Finland) so far on this adventure with more to come.
Helsinki’s show was at a venue named Tavastia’s Klubi which was around the corner from our hotel. A nice venue with a capacity of 450 or so I’d say. From what Barney said the venue had an incredible PA system which he was pumped on which ultimately pumps everyone up due to good sound. The show was sold out and was part of some festival however I am not sure of its name. This particular day there was 4 bands and 2 stages in the venue so while one band was playing downstairs a band would be setting up their stage upstairs and rotate like such. The show was sold out and the kids were pumped. It’s a lot of fun doing stage for this band and getting to see the show up close and the kids loosing their minds. The show went off without a hitch and everyone was content for their first show in Finland. After the show a couple of us joined Barney in his room for a coulple beers and laughs.
Yesterday Todd and I slept in right until check out so I am assuming that was the jet lag kicking in. We headed down stairs where Janne picked us up to drive to Turku, Finland the birthplace of Saku Koivu and Toskala (don’t know how to spell homeboys first name). On the drive we pulled over at a gas station to relief ourselves and they had vegan ice cream bars/ cones. RIGHT ON!! In the middle of Finland at some random gas station we could get a nice little treat on a nice sunny day.
We arrived in Turku where the venue manager greeted us and was a very nice fellow. The venue yesterday was also called Klubi and was the same situation as the night before with it being a festival with bands downstairs and upstairs. After we loaded in and soundchecked we all headed out to an Indian food joint to eat some dinner before the nights events. Some people went back to the hotel before heading to the venue for a quick nap while I cruised back to the venue to watch things go down. The band that played before us was a band named The Unseen who are from Boston and who I am somewhat familiar with. I have never ever heard them really but my friend Matt did play with them on a tour a couple years ago. They were nice dudes but not really my thing.
After they were done and the stage was clear we set up our gear and waited for the band downstairs to finish before we could start. The venue was packed with people waiting patiently for Propagandhi to take the stage. We used some of the backline that we brought with us from Helsinki and some of the backline that was at the venue.
I/ or non of us are fans of barricades at venues just due to them being pretty weird and “separating”. Last nights venue had a barricade however it wasn’t anything huge and was only about 1.5 ft from the stage plus was at peoples mid sections. I do think the show would have been the exact same vibe even if had the barricade not been in place and it definitely cut back on people getting on stage. When there are people jumping on stage from all directions sometimes it gets a little crazy.
Last nights show was a very hot show. The stage floor within the first couple songs become pretty damp/ slippery so much that Todd ditched his shoes/ socks and ended up putting towels under both feet to rock out. A sight too see! It looked as if he was mopping the stage floor. Later on in the set a beach ball came flying on the stage as one did in Helsinki however last night right after the ball an actual rubber raft came flying over the crowd and found its way on stage. A rubber dingy!!!! Funniest thing ever. So Chris hopped in it and played a song while standing inside this inflatable boat. Too funny. Towards the end of the set Beaves guitar started acting up so I ran over to try diagnose the problem the best I could. We couldn’t figure out the problem so we ditched all the patching and went straight into the amp which made things a little better but not how they should have been. Thankfully it was at the end of the set so nothing crucial was lost. After the show we checked things out and we are pretty sure it was the amp so fingers crossed.
We are now descending to Oslo, Norway!!! YEAH!!!
August 4, 2008- flying from Copenhagen, Denmark to Brussels, Belgium
The last couple of days have been pretty interesting with some crazy travels, 2 moose spottings in Norway and many sleepless hours. About 48 of no sleep at all. Fortunately yesterday was the first real day off of tour and today is a day off as well except for our flight from Denmark to Brussels.
We woke up in Finland a couple days ago around 9 AM to drive 2 hours from Turku to Helsinki to catch a 12:30 flight which took us from Finland, through Oslo, and then onto Trondheim, Norway which we arrived in the late afternoon. From there we jumped in a van and drove about 2 hours to Medal, Norway where we were playing a festival with Lee Scratch Perry, Blondie and some others.
When we arrived in Medal we went straight to the hotel due to the “hideous” travels ahead with no sleep in sight. The hotel in Medal was absolutely amazing. I’ll do my best to describe what I can. There were 3 different log cabins on the grounds which had probably 5 separate hotel rooms in them. Each cabin had grass, greenery, moss and even a tree growing on top and out of the roof. A very very outdoorsy feel it was. There was a huge herb garden on the ground’s which I think is used in the kitchen of the place. This hotel was literally in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the mountains. I think it was being used by the fest for all the bands. There was no time to sleep so wee killed a couple hours of rest by eating some pasta which the cook made for us, hanging outside trying out stilts that were there too be used, and playing badminton. The funniest thing ever was seeing Barney walk on these stilts while Chris and himself tried to have fight each other while on this wooden legs. The lady who ran the place was super nice and brought us out a huge bowl of strawberries and sugar while we waited to get picked up so we could head to the fest grounds.
A van arrived to pick us up and it had been decided to bring all our belongings with us because from the fest we would head straight to the airport instead of coming 30 mins back to the hotel which was in the opposite direction making. The drive then would be the 2 hours from Trondheim to Medal not 2.5 hours from out hotel. On the way back to the venue site Todd spotted 1 moose which I managed to catch after hearing “Moose!” and then within 5 mins I hear Todd again yell “Moose, Moose, Moose” and there was another wonderful beast of the north. In NORWAY non the less!!!
Once at the fest grounds we unloaded, and Barney and I headed to our stage to take a look at everything.
This fest was a first for Propagandhi. It is not too often where you will find these dudes playing an outdoor fest which has huge barricades which separate the crowd/ band and on a huge stage. But seeing how there was no corporate sponsors they had agreed to play such fest.
On this show we didn’t have any sort of a real set up or sound check. Once the band before was done we had 1 hour to set up our stage/ dial in everything/ and do a quick line change. All went smoothly and Propagandhi went on at midnight as soon as Lee Scratch Perry was done “jamming”. Kids were pumped but the energy was definitely separated due to the barricade however it made my job a lil easier at that moment due to no kids on the stage and seeing how tired I/ we were I was okay with it.
After the set which was good considering our tiredness and only a line check we waited until 2:30AM to get picked up and drive back to Trondheim where we had a 6 AM flight to Oslo, onto Stockholm and then hop in a van for 6 hours to drive to Lund, Sweden.
Pheeewwyy!! Crazy travels.
The trip from Medal to Trondheim was in this Ford van mini which only had room for 6 not 7 people which we are. So seeing how late/ or early it was and how completely insane we all felt with no sleep at that time I volunteered to sit on the floor so we could just get to the airport. This sucked big time and was definitely not comfortable but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. If it was more then 2 hours I probably would not have done this.
A couple days before these adventures took place the band had a meeting to decided quite what to do with all the travels. When the tour was first booked we had another fest in Sweden booked which got cancelled therefore this made all the travels completely crazy due to re-bookings of shows. The band voted for “hideous”.
We eventually arrived in Lund, Svergie (Sweden) around 6:30PM after being awake since 9AM the morning before.
The venue we played in Lund was a really nice place as they have all been but this particular show had only been booked a couple days before hand so we all knew the place wouldn’t be packed and considering everyone’s energy level I would say that it wasn’t a bad thing. We set up our stage, the band sound checked and then we were fed a nice home cooked vegan meal of chili, bread, and rice. It’s always a nice thing over here in Europe being cooked food with love from the kids at the venues.
The show in Lund turned out to be okay. My friend Robert made it out which was nice to see him and hang out. Robert and I toured together a couple years ago with the (I)NC. In fact on that tour years ago I went and bought Propagandhi’s latest album the day it came out and Robert and I one night listened to it in the back of the bus. Funny!
This show the band wasn’t stoked on their gear at all. I know Chris’s amp was just a total pile from what he was saying and he wasn’t able to get the right sound out of it from the first song. You could tell during the set that this all was an issue so with this plus the lack of sleep I know the band has had WAY WAY better shows. But again from being a fan I didn’t think the show was horrible at all and went off okay under all the strain/ stress.
After the show was done we all headed to the hotel where everyone was planning on having their first sleep in almost 2 days. I was on my 2nd wind as well as most others so Sam, Chris, Jord, Barney, and myself actually went out to some left wing bookstore which was having a “party” after the show. It wasn’t much of a party besides being a sausage party with about 15 dudes who some were pretty intense in your face type people. They did give us free beer so we hung out for awhile and just watched everything go down. It was definitely a little weird due to some of the people.
After hanging there for awhile we all cruised back to get that much needed sleep.
The next day which would have been yesterday we were supposed to have a show in Copenhagen, Denmark however that show was cancelled days ago so a group of kids somewhere else in Denmark were trying to put together a show. We ended up pulling the plug on this show because the promoters were not able to get us the right gear to pull off such a last minute show.
Jord on his drum set uses 3 rack toms plus a floor tom while Beave, and Chris have specific amps they like but still play on many others. For this show the promoters were only able to get a drum kit with 1 rack tom plus a floor tom. The dudes mentioned maybe they could play a “comedy” set however the type of songs these fellows play and the technicality of them there would be no way for Jord to pull this off. He mentioned he would not know how to play most songs with such a kit and therefore it wouldn’t even be funny so with that, plus our lack of sleep they decided to cancel the date that was already cancelled.
Canceling the show yesterday gave us 2 days off in a row- today being a travel day.
August 7, 2008- Bochum, Germany @ the Matrix
So we are on the last leg of the tour with 2 shows played and 3 more left. We were picked up at the airport by our driver/ now tour mate Thomas who is from the Czech Republic. We drove to Antwerp, Belgium where we had rooms booked for all of us for the next 2 nights. We got checked in and all went out too look for some food after a day of flying/ driving. The part of town we were staying in seemed like the suburbs and there was nothing at all to eat. Most of the gang settled for these vegie wraps from a donor place and I ended up searching out a falafel due to the vibe of the donor place which I wasn’t feeling. Turns out the donor place from what everyone said wasn’t that good however my falafel wasn’t super great either but I’m glad I made that choice.
After eating we all hung out on some patio and had beers in celebration of Barney’s 46 (I think..if not 45) birthday which was nice and fun. Our night was spent outside drinking Belgium beer’s in celebration of a good fellow’s day of birth.
The next day we had a show in Temse, Belgium which was about 25 mins away from our hotel. The venue was a sort of a community center and was really really nice as are most of the venues of this sort in these parts. This particular venue had a huge computer room (about 6 computers), a game room, hammocks everywhere outside, and a nice kitchen where we were cooked an incredible meal later in the evening of pastas, salads, garlic spreads, chili, and even desert after the show for Barney’s birthday….A vegan cake!!
Temse’s show was completely haywire. The kids lost their minds and their were bodies flying in every which direction on stage. It was nuts. I am still bruised and battered from the evenings events and my clothes are still damp. It was so hot I had to ditch everything but the shorts and shoes that night which is something I don’t do often if at all. Little me baring my hunk of a body. Aaahahahaha. Also for that nights show Chris had a bad cable which needed to be switched and Jord’s drums had to be taped down due to them moving. It is a very interesting thing being drenched, in a very humid venue, with dampness everywhere trying to tape things down in the middle of the set. Let’s just say under these circumstances nothing works. The band destroyed it this evening and the kids helped them out with their energy. It was funny after the show seeing the floor of the club covered in sweat, mud, and broken glasses/ bottles.
Yesterday we played in Trier, Germany which was quite different then the Belgium show. The venue (the Exhaus) was another sort of community center which was super nice and HUGE. However the crowd last night was super duper chilled out and not very energetic at all. As soon as the dudes walked on stage people just stood there and didn’t say a word. It was quite weird in fact. It made my night a little easier compared to the chaotic night before which was okay but I wouldn’t trade that in for anything. This band deserves and needs craziness every night to be honest. And last night due to their being none the show wasn’t what it should have been and you could tell even from the dudes set. Earlier in the day though it was quite fun due to a rad soccer game Chris, Barney, Thomas and I played (Chris and I on a team- we lost) inside the venue in the gym. Super hot work out but much fun. We had tried to go swimming at the pool across the street but they were closing when we arrived so we opted for a hot work out instead.
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