**ive been slow with this stuff but here is the latest and below some stuff from the past
July 13, 2009
So it’s been sometime now that I have sat down to record some of my adventures, travels, and stories. The last 2 tours that we (Propagandhi for those just arriving) have done have been in North America which means most of my daytime are stuck behind the wheel driving and then upon arrival at the venue I am then consumed with show related work.
It actually seems as of recently that the most time I have to write is actually in an airplane going from one destination to the next. So in normal fashion here I am high above the Atlantic on my way to Frankfurt, Germany to meet the other dudes for a 2 week (10 shows) run of Germany, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, and France. The only place I have not been on this run is Budapest, Hungary so this I am pretty pumped about and looking at the map today in this airline magazine Budapest is definitely pretty east in Europe which rules.
Oh….they are bringing out the “special meals” which means its time to eat.
I must say that vegan airplane food honestly is really okay stuff and what makes it just a tad better is when the flight attendants bring you your food first. Sorry everyone but we just roll with the punches.
Before today’s flight I thought the airline to Frankfurt was going to be United and wondered how entertaining the entertainment system was going to be. Once I got my boarding pass I realized that the airline was Lufthansa and instantly thought “oh yeah” there is going to be some quality entertainment more so then United.
Wow was I wrong. No individual TV screens which means you are forced to watch (or not) the movie which the airline has chosen which is probably very family friendly. Oh well. Roll with those punches.
It’s pretty wild that I and 200 or so other people are here 35 000 ft in the air flying to another continent. Think about even 60 years ago and what technology offered then and what it offers now. Pretty wild stuff eh.
Last night I watched a documentary on the NFB website named Kahnasatake (spelling?) 270 Years of Resistance. The NFB website is unreal and you can actually watch 95% of the films they have released which is something else. So this documentary was about the Oka stand off which took place in July of 1990 outside of Montreal. The city of Oka had plans to construct a 9 hole golf course over ancient Mohawk burial grounds. In response to this the natives barricaded themselves in their land to fight for what was going to be taken. For the next 3 months there would be a heated standoff between the Mohawk warriors, the Quebec police (SQ), and eventually the Canadian army all over land in which was rightfully native land.
I remember as a child sitting in my downstairs TV room with my Dad watching this unfold on the news. At the time I was only about 10 so didn’t really understand what was happening until years later when I read a book named “the people of the pines” and also viewing a couple of NFB docu’s.
MAY 13, 2009
“Some say that our connection to Orca whales is deeper and goes back further then we could ever understand.” I am currently watching a documentary named “Saving Luna” on a flight from Montreal to Los Angeles.
Luna is a baby Orca that was born to a pod of whales known as the Southern Residents but soon after his birth became an orphan and found himself lost 200 km’s in Nootka Sound in the Vancouver Island Chain.
Orca’s are one of the most socialized creatures on the planet and need that socializing to survive.
The documentary follows 3 years of Luna’s life interacting with boats, people, dogs, and rubber toys in the water. Luna had no family so turned to humans for friendship and family. Throughout the story all humans had one objective in mind which was to keep Luna safe. Some of these groups wanted to offer a “tough love” approach and not pay attention to the whale at all. Another group (Department of Fisheries) wanted to net the whale, try to return him back to his pod, and if this didn’t work into capitivity. And another group (First Nations, Scientists, and just your regular Joe, and Jane) wanted to protect the whale through friendship, love, and companionship. Its such an amazing documentary showing the bond between this whale/ humans, the bureaucracy of governments, and the 3 years of life of this orphaned whale.
The story of Luna ends tragically when he is hit by a tug boats rotor and doesn’t survive.
A must see!!
This little thought and what I am currently watching isn’t going to win me many friends at the moment. Oh well!!!
I am now watching a Coldplay (whom I hope to see live one day) concert on this entertainment system on the plane as we currently are flying over the Grand Canyon.
A couple years ago I did a trip across the US with some of the Bouncing Souls where we were meeting the others on the West Coast. Kate, Matt, DJ, Dubs, and Myself found ourselves arriving and stopping at the Grand Canyon for sunrise and it was one of the coolest things ever. I had never been to the Grand Canyon before so what a better way to take it in all by ourselves, not a person in sight, watching the sunrise over this deeply carved out wonder.
So I am flying to Los Angeles to spend a couple days with my Dad who recently has decided to move back to the Vancouver after him and I moved there in 1992. He has currently hit a point in his life where he needs a change and I have to be in LA to pick up a van in a couple of days to drive to Dallas, TX for tour so it’s all worked out where I can hang out with Dad, and then head off to another tour.
The circus continues!! This next Propagandhi tour starts in Dallas, TX works its way west though Arizona, Nevada, and then up and down the coast of California. Yet again like any of the tours we have done, or are doing this one will certainly have its surprises and good times. Touring the west coast especially California to me is a pretty sweet thing due to it being the place I grew up from 12-22 yrs old and the amazing Mexican food that California has to offer.
May 18, 2009
So we (Philippe and I) have finally made it to Dallas, TX. 1450 miles which took a good 3 long hot dry days in the desert of south west US of A.
I landed in Los Angeles about 6 days ago and spent all my time with my father visiting and keeping him company before his move back to Canada. When it was time for my Dad to hit the sack I would meet up with my friends John, and John to catch up on our happenings, and hang out. Fun times.
John and I were going to go surfing one day but due to the flatness of the ocean and the chilliness we stayed out of the water. Hanging out in So Cal was definitely a lot of fun and nice to be back in the place I called home for a good 10 years of my life.
On Saturday my Dad drove me back into LA so I could pick up our tour vehicle, Philippe from the airport, a trailer, and our backline gear for this run. After we were packed up we searched out a Whole Foods- stocked up on some travel snacks and hit the road.
The first night we made it as far as Phoenix which was nice because it was all night driving. The temperature at 11PM was a full 95F/ 35 C so driving in this heat in the full on day would have been rough on us, and the van plus the temp would have even been higher. Nothing like driving down a highway, not to many cars around, windows down blowing in warm air, a sky full of stars, and music just blaring as we make our way eastward.
The next day we stopped off in Tucson, AZ for some good healthy eats at a place named Loving Spoonfuls which was a full vegan café/ restaurant. For breakfast I had myself a burrito stuffed with potatoes, soy chorizo, scrambled tofu, and beans. Yum. There is nothing like South Western Mexican food and this tour will definitely be top notch when it comes to such.
After eating I grabbed myself an Acai smoothie and continued on through the 104F/ 40C to Pesco, TX where we stayed last night.
Today we did the remainder of the drive to Dallas and are now just sitting here relaxing for the evening. Everyone else flies in tomorrow evening so Philippe and I will run some errands- picking up merch, checking into our Dallas hotel and then head to the airport to pick up the rest of the circus. Pumped!
June 5, 2009
Currently flying from Seattle where I had a layover from Vancouver, BC on my way to Washington DC to go camping with my buddy Helene.
The last couple weeks have been pretty busy with me not finding or setting aside some time to capture some thoughts, and adventures.
Tour ended about 5 days ago and went as well as most of them do.
We started in Dallas, TX for the first of tour, then made our way to Austin, TX for the Chaos in Tejas fest which we were part of with many other punk bands around this planet. Austin is a pretty cool city and with a fest as such you are always going to run into many people you actually know. The day we were there Ted (Leo) was in town playing which was cool because him and I hadn’t seen or talked to each other since the tour I did with him/ them (The Pharmacists). Ted was playing in Austin solo so this meant I wouldn’t get to see the others which was unfortunate but you take what you can get. He ended up coming to the venue where Propagandhi was playing and hung out with us for awhile before his set which was at the same time as Propagandhi but at a different venue. Oh well. The next morning we picked him up so we could all go out and grab a nice vegan brunch before we all went our own ways. The highlights in Austin were hanging out with Ted, and the show Propagandhi played to 700 wild, crazy kids pumped out of their minds.
Next we headed west into Arizona stopping off in Tucson, Phoenix for shows, and then onto Vegas for a show.
The Vegas show was pretty interesting. It was the show of the tour which we were all worried about due to venue changes, permit problems, and PA problems. The show happened which is all you can ask for but it happened after I personally, and some others in our circus actually got into a verbal argument/ conflict with the venue owner who was a total freak. Long story short the venue was basically just a room with 2 speakers and a sound board which could have been a childs toy. The owner claimed the PA was incredibly amazing even while right in front of him it was making the most horrific crackling noises. Oh well. You win some you loose some but it was pretty entertaining afterwards thinking about myself, and some others all having our own interactions/ conflicts with this venue owner.
After the show Todd, Chris, Ethan, and myself ventured over to the Stratosphere so we could ride the rides on top of it. Lets just say I had done one of these rides years ago but it was by far scarier this time and even at that time I told myself I would never do it again. Well I did and I am not sure why. Looking back on it, it was fun but some times certain things are just a little much especially while getting older. Haha. Old Fart I am.
Onto California we went where the show in SLO, San Diego were a little interesting however all the rest and over all California was amazing.
After the tour I headed to my fathers house in Oxnard, CA where I hopped in his car, he hopped in a U-haul truck and in 2 days we drove to Vancouver, BC.
I was in Vancouver for 1 full day before this current trip to Washington DC where this evening Helene, and I will head to the mountains of Virginia for 4 days of camping before I have to head to Pennsylvania to pick up a van/ trailer to drive to Minneapolis to start another leg with the dudes. Go go go.
Yesterday while my Dad and I were driving for some food in Chilliwack, BC I felt my Dad coming to a pretty abrupt stop. I looked ahead and just a couple of meters in front of us I see a mother duck with her 2 ducklings crossing a very busy 2 lane street. I quickly stuck my arm outside my window as far as I could to signal the other lane to stop which the car next to us did very quickly. Phew!! These ducks were naturally doing what they do by walking to a little swamp however they had to cross a man made obstruction (asphalt road) which almost cost them their lives. Totally crazy to come across, be apart of, and then think about. It was pretty amazing. The mother duck was definitely in front of her ducklings, leading the way, but also protecting them and she definitely seemed to be looking directly at traffic in a way of “Hey. STOP!!!” Fortunately my Dad, the people in the lane next to ours were paying attention and stopped or it would have been a fatal crossing and something that I would never want to witness or be apart of.
The Nature of Things?
June 12, 2009
On a train from Washington DC to Lancaster, PA rocking out to the REGULATIONS from thee almighty Sweden where I am heading to pick up a spaceship for Propagandhi’s next space mission here on planet Dearth. After I am suited up and inside this space craft I will then head westward towards Minneapolis, MN where everyone else arrives from Winnipeg for a 9 show tour of the mid-west and then 5 shows in Canada.
This next tour is an adventure I am super pumped on because it’s with some very close friends from Richmond, VA who like to STRIKE ANYWHERE with their rock. Pumped.
Years ago while touring with Strike Anyere I was fortunate enough to do a tour with them, and the Bouncing Souls (before I actually toured with the Souls) which at that time was something we were all so incredibly pumped on due to us being huge fans of the Souls. How rad? Here we are getting to tour with one of our favorite bands.
Fast-forward to today and the same thing holds true however on this run I am with Propagandhi who has Strike Anywhere out as support. Good times lay ahead.
On this tour we are going to have Substance/ Rainforest Action Network out with us on the whole run bringing attention to the tar sands in Alberta. An issue which hits home for me due to being “Alberta born, Prairie raised” and that environment in which I grew up in.
Grande Prairie, Alberta in the 1980’s was not a big place at all compared to where I have lived since. If my memory hole holds true it was a town of around 25000 people which main industries were forestry-lumber-logging/ and oil which is still the case today. Once you were outside of G.P. there was to the east the Prairies of Canada and to the West (1 hour) the beginning of the Rocky Mountains. I grew up in an outdoorsy type setting with forests, hills, mountains, lakes, rivers, streams, marshes, and wildlife. When not in school you could usually find me outside playing with friends, building forts, playing war, playing ice/ or street hockey, playing baseball, and just being outside as much as possible. During holidays my family and I would make the trek from Northern Alberta to South Western British Columbia to visit relatives. At the time there was Highway 40 which made the trip a couple of hours shorter however it was still a dirt road at the time which we would take for about 4 hours or so to the main highway. Driving through the mountains, forests, seeing moose, elk, deer, mountain goats, and bears will have an affect on you especially when you don’t see much of these creatures in these parts today.
It’s a scientific fact that the decline of wildlife in this part of the world is due to logging, and oil.
Alberta is now a major player in the world market due it being home to the 2nd biggest oil deposit in the world which is located in the tar sands and underneath the forests of the province. Seeing how our world has/ is approaching its peak oil production this means that the tar sands in Alberta will be the last thing lubricating the wheels of this earth.
The RAN/Substance people have named our tour “Freedom from Oil- Tar Sands Resistance Tour” which is pretty rad if you ask me. On this tour as all of our tours we will have plenty of organizations/ groups some of them being: speakers from Rainforest Action Network, Canada Haiti Action Network, Indigenous Resistance and support groups, Liberty over Violence, plus some Animal right groups. All in all many different groups but ultimately one cause I would say- enough of the bullshit.
Okay. So tonight is a big night in NHL. Game number 7 in the Stanley Cup finals will unfold between Detroit and Pittsburgh. I am not sure how much of the game I will get to watch due to driving to Minneapolis but I am hoping to catch some of it on the radio while driving through Pennsylvania and there is a good possibility that I’ll pull over to watch the game. My fingers are crossed that the Penguins take the game but they are up against the almighty wall known as Detroit.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Circus of Propagandhi in Europe- April/ May 2009
April 17, 2009
Sitting here in our / my (Propagandhi) new home-a bus- for the next 2 weeks while we travel across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Czech Republic bringing the kids an ear dose of the heavy thrash.
April 19, 2009
On this tour we have
Chris, Todd, Beaver, Jord
Ethan-stage, Barney-sound, Stern-merch fellow from Germany-old Propagandhi friend, Franklin- our cool German bus driver, and myself.
Just waking up after a good 10 hour sleep which in a way was needed but also due to it’s length and with the time change I still feel like I could use more.
We are here in London, UK today for the 3rd show of this Circus tour. The sky is blue and the sun is out.
This is Propagandhi’s (as they are now) first bus tour which is quite neat. Not really a band that would choose to be in a bus but in the long run logistically with out drives, our 8 (9 with driver) person circus, most of the venues having showers which cuts out day rooms-hotels, and then also just having a coffin-bed to sleep in whenever you want.
On a bus you are definitely around everyone at pretty much all times which means you have to respect everyone else’s space. Not a problem here.
The last 2 shows have been pretty interesting in the least.
The first show was in Sheffield, UK at a place called the Academy which I is a big chain of venues here in the UK. Carling Academy. The venue was big, very professional, and all the staff were super nice.
It was the first day with all of this backline over here so everyone spent a little extra time tweaking their gear and I myself spent some time tweaking some files/ spreadsheets that I will need for this adventure.
We found a vegan café just a walk away from the venue named the Blue Moon Café. Basically in a deli case they had a couple hot items, and a couple cold items in which you just pick the items you want. I had given my dinner money to Chris because I wasn’t sure if I was going to make dinner due to having to have a security meeting with the folks at the Academy Club. Chris got me this sweet potatoe, peanut sauce dish, with cous cous, coleslaw salad, and macaroni salad. All amazing food however the best item was by far the sweet potato dish with peanut sauce. You can never go wrong with peanut sauce.
So the first show went fine until around ½ way point in Propagandhi’s set I see Ethan over at the monitor board look to my direction of the stage, point, and tell something to the in house monitor fellow. I then smell a heavy dose of electrical (fire) smoke and proceed to turn on my flashlight to hunt it down. After a couple seconds I find smoke coming out of what I hear later is a big distro box for the lighting system. No flames just a bunch of smoke which has now caused the entire stage to wreak of fire smoke. The band is playing but is also concerned as they start smelling it as well. The venue manager runs on stage, turns off a fuse box and then all of a sudden this whole distro box gets engulfed in flames all again while the thrash continues. At this time the locals are running on stage with a fire extinguisher and telling me “the band HAS TO STOP NOW” so I catch eyes with Jord and have them stop their song half way in…….to be continued
April 20, 2009
So…the band leaves the stage, security tells the crowd to evacuate the building which the crowd was not pumped on. Glasses started getting thrown so I was told that everyone had to evacuate due to the fire brigade being on its way. I saw that things could potentially get a little out of hand and I was told that once everyone was out of the venue they would be allowed back in so I go onto the mic and tell the 600 people booing that “please evacuate, its not our fault, and once things are safe the show will be continued”.
We were then evacuated ourselves through some back exit to the bus and watched the chaos ensue.
The fire brigade showed up while 600 kids huddled around outside without jackets due to them being inside the coat check waiting to see what would happen.
Propagandhi and the crowd were being fed 2 different stories by many different people.
-once the fire brigade deems it safe the show will go on.
- no the show will not continue.
It was pretty hectic and the freezing people outside were not pumped. So in typical UK drinking fashion the crowd started getting rowdy which caused the entire police force to arrive while windows were getting kicked in, and all of us sat around our bus waiting for a riot to ensue.
The fire brigade deemed the venue safe however due to the crowd clashing with the antagonizing entire Sheffield Police force arriving the show was cut off. Boooo!!
First day blues!!!
We proceeded to eventually make our way back into the venue, pack up our gear, and some of us sat up until 3 in the morning watching Pittsburgh play Philly in the NHL playoffs.
So since the “burning down the house” we have played 2 other shows.
The first being in Bristol UK which was quite the punk show indeed.
A venue packed with 500 people (capacity 450) most of which had been drinking quite a bit of alcohol and add to that no barricade. Non of us are fans of barricades during live shows because they definitely contribute to a lack of energy, and interaction.’’
April 21, 2009
Todd and I are sitting in our hotel room here in Cologne watching some weird German television game show. Wild!
The first week of tour has been crazy.
Propagandhi has had a fire at a venue, kids almost rioting outside with the police, 2 security guards run on our stage to brutally tackle some young kid, and last night we had some male during the last song come flying over the barrier, head first but upside down landing brutally on monitor majorly breaking his leg….we are now outside of the UK. Let’s see what happens.
So last night I am sitting side stage during the show and see some dude come flying over the crow, the barricade and land head first with his leg snapping over the monitor.
The band was in the middle of a song, I ran over to the kid, the band stopped playing and I tried to communicate with the dude who was very injured. He couldn’t move his leg, or his toes and was in bad shape. I ran onto stage, grabbed some waters and ran back over to him. Another fellow in the crowd was an over duty paramedic so came running over. This kid was down for the count and this could be bad. Meanwhile there are 300 loud sweaty kids literally crammed against the barricade. I ask the medic if we can move the barricade back to give him, and the injured dude more breathing room. The medic says it was okay and held the body of the dude in case of neck injuries while we moved the barricade back.
The show was over and it definitely brought everyone from pure rock show mode to a very somber deep sad mood.
The room was cleared and the paramedics spent about the next 45 mins working him, cutting his jeans while he yelled in an English accent “those jeans just cost me 60 quid you fucking cunts”, shot him up with morphine and then loaded his mangled leg up and took him away. Before being loaded up Chris, and Todd went out to say hello at the dudes request and then off he went.
We are now in Cologne where we arrived around 3:30 this afternoon to a nice, bright blue, clear day.
Tonight the Montreal Canadiens play game 4 with the Boston Bruins. Boston is up in the series 3-0 so tonight very likely could be Montreal’s last game of the season. Jord, Chris and I are going to be watching the game here in 1 hour (1AM Cologne time) on the computer with an internet feed..
April 25, 2009
Its 3:54 in the morning and we are driving from Munich, Germany where there was a show this evening to Solothurn, Switzerland for a show tomorrow night.
I am the only one awake at the moment so I have my headphones on listening to tunes I haven’t had the chance to listen to because I lost my ipod on the flight over here to Europe. It happens. Ill buy a new one when I get home.
The 2 German shows have been well attended and we have been treated amazing. Both shows drew about 850 kids each and the hospitality here in Germany as always is like no other. When you arrive at a venue there is a feast of breads, spreads, juices, fruits, veggies and chips waiting to get devoured. The local crews at all these places are extremely helpful and into what they are doing.
Back in North America at every venue you arrive at the promoter gives you a buy-out which is money for dinner that evening. Very impersonal and in a way its kind of like “here’s your money. Get out of here”. And then the whole hospitality vibe in North America is quite opposite with plenty of venue people just being completely burned out and pretty rude.
April 25, 2009
Here on a beautiful, very clear blue skied, very warm day in Solothurn, Switzerland.
A neutral country in which at one time the bridges leading into the country could be destroyed if needed during World War 2 to protect itself from invaders.
A couple of us walked into the city center with this girl named Lana from the venue where we are playing tonight named Kofmehl.
Solothurn is a pretty small town hugging a river which originates in Bern, Switzerland from the glaciers in the alps. The city center is a nice little courtyard/ square which is the usual meeting place for the locals in town. There is a huge cathedral which is located in this square that we all went inside to check out.
Cathedrals are such intense structures that you can never truly describe. What’s even more interesting is almost all cathedrals have almost the same feel to them- the air is chilled, moist, and still. The amount of artistry that goes into these structures is also beyond comprehension. The statues, paintings, engravings, marble work, and wood work were all super intricate and must have take years to do.
On our walk back to the venue Todd, Ethan and myself discussed jumping off of one of the bridges into the river in which hugged our walk back. I walked down to the bank to check out the temperature which was no where near anything close to cool. Just upstream from here was the winter melt off from the glaciers so this was very cold, crystal clear water. There was a bridge pretty close to the venue however was actually higher then the bridges we had talked about jumping off of. I was quite nervous but Ethan had decided he would be the first to jump so we went to the bus, got into our undies, grabbed a towel, and headed to the bridge. It’s always pretty scary jumping off of a high structure into the water when you haven’t seen anyone do it before and to be honest there is a good possibility that we were the first ones to jump off this particular bridge. The bridge was built in Oct which would have been winter time here and I don’t think any of the locals are as stupid as we were with the temperature of the water.
Ethan jumped first which was a relief for me but when he surfaced we could tell by his movement, and facial expression that the water was brutally cold. I was next and was pretty nervous about the jump and the impact in this cold water. This thought only lasted about 5 seconds when I just didn’t even think about it and let go. Whoa!! Landing in this water was like landing in a pool filled with needles. The bank of the river was about 35 ft away so I just put every bit of effort I had into my body to get there as quickly as possible. If the distance was twice this it would have been extremely hard with the potential of disaster. Todd jumped after me and has mentioned a couple times that he “thought he was going to die” and “has never experienced anything as cold”.
We all lived and are all pumped on the adventure we chose.
Now its time for another thrash show however this one this evening will be a little quiter then most due to a sound limit at this venue. Propagandhi’s actual stage sound with no sound system as a factor is actually louder then the limit….We will see.
April 29th, 2009
We are just leaving the venue/ squat/ fort we played tonight in Rome. I am sitting in the front lounge of the bus listening to some tunes-Dead Can Dance, and catching up on some solo time.
The last couple of days have been pretty interesting, intense and fun.
It’s pretty crazy being so far away from friends and family during certain situations that you can’t really be apart of or there fore. Currently I have someone special in my life who I try my hardest to keep in touch with and be there for the best I can but it definitely is not in the slightest sense easy. I won’t go deeply into it because these writings are more so I can keep in touch with friend/ family and they can keep track of me. I have a pen, and journal that is better for the personal thoughts then these travel journals of mine.
So we arrived in Roma, Italia yesterday after our drive/ show in Bologna, Italia the night before. As soon as the bus arrived at the hotel yesterday everyone woke up instantly, gathered their belongings, and we all went straight to our rooms to pre pare for our day off. ROME!!!
I have been to Italy now about 4 times however have never been to far South never being to Roma, or Venice where we will be tomorrow.
Exciting!
Edder Vedder “Rise”- amazing
So after we were all showered and prepared for our day Todd, Jord, Beaver, Franklin, Ethan and myself all packed into the hotel shuttle and headed to the city center of Roma.
The architecture (Helene!!) was really something I was pumped on viewing and experiencing.
Our first destination was the Vatican and the St Pietro Basillica. We walked along the main river in the city named River Tevere which was this peculiar nice green colored river but also had a very dirty vibe to it. The colors of the buildings and the river down below had a definite “Rome, Italy” vibe- whatever that means.
Walking up to the St. Pietro Basillica was definitely pretty amazing. A long busy street with lights, and statues stacked along both sides of the street running all the way down to the Cathedral. There in front of us lies the Vatican.
Before we ventured much further we decided to try and find some food to quench our hungry stomachs. Eating food which contains no animal products is amazing, and fun but when you are in the center of a huge tourist spot in the middle of Roma sometimes your choices are very slim. Oh well. What can you do but just keep on keeping on.
We found a place that served just regular tomato slices of pizza which was a jackpot at that moment for us. A couple of warm slices later we were now fueled up for the day ahead of us. We walked to the Basillica, which is definitely an amazing place to see while standing in the middle of the court yard which is a huge circle surrounded my huge white pillars. The home of thee ol lil fellow most refer to as the poop…Oopps I mean the “Pope”..My bad.
Obviously at a place as such there is a lot of security so after screening our bags, and walking through metal detectors “we were in”.
I will never fully be able to describe what the inside of this Cathedral was like. Impossible to even imagine actually. Its bigger then big!
I had a random thought about what the actual capacity of a place as such was and now that I think of my 20 000 estimate I do think it’s probably even double that. Again this isn’t a sports stadium but a cathedral.
The statues, art work, engravings, marble work, tile work, and flooring was something that would have taken days and days to fully examine. Then in different sections of the place they actually have embalmed bodies of dead popes. Nuts!
Honestly I wish I would have known more about what I was looking at, the statues I was viewing, and the place I was walking inside of. Maybe ill read up on it a little now that I have been there. Seeing all of that art work, with a religious twist was pretty neat but also erie and dark as well. That’s the beauty of it I guess?
May 2nd, 2009
The last couple of days of tour have been something else.
I have started so many of my writings with me being on a plane going to my next destination or home as I am now. Flights are flights however I am having a first here today. My friend Bettina is a flight attendant for Swiss Airlines which I happen to be flying today so it worked out that she is on my flight to Montreal. When I checked in and was told I had an “upgrade” and they gave me a new ticket. Thanx Bettina! I am flying 1st class (a first) on an international flight and let me just say its really cool. Actually now that I look at things it seems to be “business class” and not “1st” Hhmm. Strange because honestly this definitely has a 1st class vibe not that I know what that vibe would really mean or business class. The seat in front of me I can’t even touch even when leaning forward trying to. There are some pretty crazy settings for the seat positions which makes for more of a relaxing trip. You have a choice of extending a leg rest, lowering the seat up and down, lowering the back of the seat up and down, and there is even a air bag that you can fill up for lower back support. Damn! Again I am not sure how often or if this will happen again so yes it’s a nice treat and ill take it.
I still need want to capture more of our adventures in Rome and the show we played the following day at the Forte Prenestino squat but that will come soon or not.
Yesterday we played our last show in Prague, Czech Republic which I had never been to in the past and this incredibly beautiful city did not disappoint.
We left Venice right after our show to make the 12 hour drive to the Czech Republic. The promoter Milan in Prague had been in touch with me about our arrival time in the city and getting in touch with him when we are close because he has our hotel-apartment- keys. So I lost my phone in Rome which meant I had no way of making contact with anyone if there wasn’t internet.
While we were getting close to Prague I looked in the tour book to see no number for Milan at all. After some more investigation I came across 2 numbers- 1 for a record store in Prague, and another for the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. Both of these numbers came back faulty and we were getting closer to the city. What adventures lie ahead? Our bus driver was on a tight schedule due to high tailing it back to Germany after dropping us off and the time restrictions that drivers in Europe have while driving their bus. We arrived in Prague around 3PM and had no clue about what was going on, and if this was all just something sketchy that was set up. After more investigation while sitting on a street with the bus parked and everyone just hanging out on the sidewalk for a good hour + we managed to find Milan and head to our hotel which was actually in a completely different spot then what I was told. A “last minute” change. Oh well.
We got the keys and went up to our apartment which turned out to be pretty cool All of us in the same house however there was still rooms for groups to have their own space.
After showering Jord, Barney, Stern, and myself walked across the river to go eat at a place named Veg Food. Quite interesting though was the other dudes-Chris, Todd, Ethan, and Beaver were heading to the same spot but left earlier because I don’t think they were into waiting for everyone to shower. We’ll when we arrived at the restaurant they were not there and ended up not being able to find it. That sucks because we walked straight to the place with not even a question of where it was. Patience is a virtue but I have done the same thing and had the same outcome.
Our show in Prague was an Anti Fascist show for the May Day festivities. For those in the dark about this May 1st is the International Day of the worker however in North America for some reason we have strayed paths and have never recognized this day as the rest of the world. It’s a very historic day in most parts of the world when it comes to the working class, union organizing, anti-fascism and leftist thought.
I have never been that far east in Europe before so this was all a new experience for me and that it was. This fest was the real deal. It was on an Island in the city of Prague and was put on by the Anti- Fascist group in Prague. We had been told that the same day as our fest the Nazi’s in Czech were having their huge gathering 200 km’s away and that there is the potential that things could get interesting/ violent if these boneheads chose to come into the City. We were also informed about the security situation and the pre-cautions that were in store for our event. The Nazi’s were 1 threat and then the Police were another threat as well.
Arriving at the venue yesterday we passed about 8-10 male figures all dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and no part of their actual being showing. These dudes were the “armed” (yes armed) security getting into the Island for the fest to stand guard in case any trouble started between the fascist sectors. This whole situation is something that was pretty neat to witness and experience because honestly back at home this stuff really doesn’t happen and I am not saying I would want it to happen either. Everyone working the show were 1000% down with the cause of fighting fascism and fighting the right wing. It was the offical workers holiday and there at this fest there was a good 200 people working-volunteering- at this fest with cooking, setting up, security, driving around the city to make sure the Nazi’s weren’t on their way, and protecting everyone else at the fest. The main security leader was this tough looking eastern European dude who I talked to for a bit and the dude ruled. He was a a ju-jitsu/ kung fu/ UFC fighter and was ready for anything. Backstage they had an area with tons of steal pipes in case the Island/ Festival was invaded. Most of the security guards were also armed with guns and were all wearing earpieces for communication with each other. Crazyeee!!
It’s so crazy to think there is still a huge Nazi problem in this world but on the other hand I am not surprised due to right wing politics in the past, and currently. Boneheads. Boneheads. Boneheads.
During Propagandhi’s soundcheck in the morning the Police had their helicopter hovering above just checking things out- you know…city money well spent- and I saw a couple of people walking around with this huge meter by meter mirror type board. What this was for was to reflect the sunlight towards the helicopter to block their camera from taking pictures of the people, activities at the fest. I had also heard that before the doors were open there were a couple police officers spotted wearing normal civilian clothes walking around the perimeter taking pictures of people inside the fenced off fest area. Boooo!
This fest was a really amazing experience and everyone involved were truly something else. I guess this years fest did double of what last year did where my Swede buds in the INC played last year. This year there was about 5500 people from what the organizers said when we left and the whole thing was FREE for everyone who came. Everyone worked for free, the stage, the PA system were donated for the day for free, and no Nazi’s showed up which was good however all 5500 of us were prepared. POWER IN NUMBERS.
You know what rules?! When I help everyone out on stage including the show goers up front I try my best to look out for everyone and people realize this and thank me after the show. I like that. I try to do what I can to make everyones show experience fun fun fun. I keep an eye on everyone but honestly most of the times it is these sweaty, smelly, males so I do try and keep my sisters up front a lil extra safe by sking if they are okay. This evening in Roma there was quite a bit of females up front which rules however that soon changed with all the dudes who decided to stage dive, and float. Relax gents!!!!
Sitting here in our / my (Propagandhi) new home-a bus- for the next 2 weeks while we travel across the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Czech Republic bringing the kids an ear dose of the heavy thrash.
April 19, 2009
On this tour we have
Chris, Todd, Beaver, Jord
Ethan-stage, Barney-sound, Stern-merch fellow from Germany-old Propagandhi friend, Franklin- our cool German bus driver, and myself.
Just waking up after a good 10 hour sleep which in a way was needed but also due to it’s length and with the time change I still feel like I could use more.
We are here in London, UK today for the 3rd show of this Circus tour. The sky is blue and the sun is out.
This is Propagandhi’s (as they are now) first bus tour which is quite neat. Not really a band that would choose to be in a bus but in the long run logistically with out drives, our 8 (9 with driver) person circus, most of the venues having showers which cuts out day rooms-hotels, and then also just having a coffin-bed to sleep in whenever you want.
On a bus you are definitely around everyone at pretty much all times which means you have to respect everyone else’s space. Not a problem here.
The last 2 shows have been pretty interesting in the least.
The first show was in Sheffield, UK at a place called the Academy which I is a big chain of venues here in the UK. Carling Academy. The venue was big, very professional, and all the staff were super nice.
It was the first day with all of this backline over here so everyone spent a little extra time tweaking their gear and I myself spent some time tweaking some files/ spreadsheets that I will need for this adventure.
We found a vegan café just a walk away from the venue named the Blue Moon Café. Basically in a deli case they had a couple hot items, and a couple cold items in which you just pick the items you want. I had given my dinner money to Chris because I wasn’t sure if I was going to make dinner due to having to have a security meeting with the folks at the Academy Club. Chris got me this sweet potatoe, peanut sauce dish, with cous cous, coleslaw salad, and macaroni salad. All amazing food however the best item was by far the sweet potato dish with peanut sauce. You can never go wrong with peanut sauce.
So the first show went fine until around ½ way point in Propagandhi’s set I see Ethan over at the monitor board look to my direction of the stage, point, and tell something to the in house monitor fellow. I then smell a heavy dose of electrical (fire) smoke and proceed to turn on my flashlight to hunt it down. After a couple seconds I find smoke coming out of what I hear later is a big distro box for the lighting system. No flames just a bunch of smoke which has now caused the entire stage to wreak of fire smoke. The band is playing but is also concerned as they start smelling it as well. The venue manager runs on stage, turns off a fuse box and then all of a sudden this whole distro box gets engulfed in flames all again while the thrash continues. At this time the locals are running on stage with a fire extinguisher and telling me “the band HAS TO STOP NOW” so I catch eyes with Jord and have them stop their song half way in…….to be continued
April 20, 2009
So…the band leaves the stage, security tells the crowd to evacuate the building which the crowd was not pumped on. Glasses started getting thrown so I was told that everyone had to evacuate due to the fire brigade being on its way. I saw that things could potentially get a little out of hand and I was told that once everyone was out of the venue they would be allowed back in so I go onto the mic and tell the 600 people booing that “please evacuate, its not our fault, and once things are safe the show will be continued”.
We were then evacuated ourselves through some back exit to the bus and watched the chaos ensue.
The fire brigade showed up while 600 kids huddled around outside without jackets due to them being inside the coat check waiting to see what would happen.
Propagandhi and the crowd were being fed 2 different stories by many different people.
-once the fire brigade deems it safe the show will go on.
- no the show will not continue.
It was pretty hectic and the freezing people outside were not pumped. So in typical UK drinking fashion the crowd started getting rowdy which caused the entire police force to arrive while windows were getting kicked in, and all of us sat around our bus waiting for a riot to ensue.
The fire brigade deemed the venue safe however due to the crowd clashing with the antagonizing entire Sheffield Police force arriving the show was cut off. Boooo!!
First day blues!!!
We proceeded to eventually make our way back into the venue, pack up our gear, and some of us sat up until 3 in the morning watching Pittsburgh play Philly in the NHL playoffs.
So since the “burning down the house” we have played 2 other shows.
The first being in Bristol UK which was quite the punk show indeed.
A venue packed with 500 people (capacity 450) most of which had been drinking quite a bit of alcohol and add to that no barricade. Non of us are fans of barricades during live shows because they definitely contribute to a lack of energy, and interaction.’’
April 21, 2009
Todd and I are sitting in our hotel room here in Cologne watching some weird German television game show. Wild!
The first week of tour has been crazy.
Propagandhi has had a fire at a venue, kids almost rioting outside with the police, 2 security guards run on our stage to brutally tackle some young kid, and last night we had some male during the last song come flying over the barrier, head first but upside down landing brutally on monitor majorly breaking his leg….we are now outside of the UK. Let’s see what happens.
So last night I am sitting side stage during the show and see some dude come flying over the crow, the barricade and land head first with his leg snapping over the monitor.
The band was in the middle of a song, I ran over to the kid, the band stopped playing and I tried to communicate with the dude who was very injured. He couldn’t move his leg, or his toes and was in bad shape. I ran onto stage, grabbed some waters and ran back over to him. Another fellow in the crowd was an over duty paramedic so came running over. This kid was down for the count and this could be bad. Meanwhile there are 300 loud sweaty kids literally crammed against the barricade. I ask the medic if we can move the barricade back to give him, and the injured dude more breathing room. The medic says it was okay and held the body of the dude in case of neck injuries while we moved the barricade back.
The show was over and it definitely brought everyone from pure rock show mode to a very somber deep sad mood.
The room was cleared and the paramedics spent about the next 45 mins working him, cutting his jeans while he yelled in an English accent “those jeans just cost me 60 quid you fucking cunts”, shot him up with morphine and then loaded his mangled leg up and took him away. Before being loaded up Chris, and Todd went out to say hello at the dudes request and then off he went.
We are now in Cologne where we arrived around 3:30 this afternoon to a nice, bright blue, clear day.
Tonight the Montreal Canadiens play game 4 with the Boston Bruins. Boston is up in the series 3-0 so tonight very likely could be Montreal’s last game of the season. Jord, Chris and I are going to be watching the game here in 1 hour (1AM Cologne time) on the computer with an internet feed..
April 25, 2009
Its 3:54 in the morning and we are driving from Munich, Germany where there was a show this evening to Solothurn, Switzerland for a show tomorrow night.
I am the only one awake at the moment so I have my headphones on listening to tunes I haven’t had the chance to listen to because I lost my ipod on the flight over here to Europe. It happens. Ill buy a new one when I get home.
The 2 German shows have been well attended and we have been treated amazing. Both shows drew about 850 kids each and the hospitality here in Germany as always is like no other. When you arrive at a venue there is a feast of breads, spreads, juices, fruits, veggies and chips waiting to get devoured. The local crews at all these places are extremely helpful and into what they are doing.
Back in North America at every venue you arrive at the promoter gives you a buy-out which is money for dinner that evening. Very impersonal and in a way its kind of like “here’s your money. Get out of here”. And then the whole hospitality vibe in North America is quite opposite with plenty of venue people just being completely burned out and pretty rude.
April 25, 2009
Here on a beautiful, very clear blue skied, very warm day in Solothurn, Switzerland.
A neutral country in which at one time the bridges leading into the country could be destroyed if needed during World War 2 to protect itself from invaders.
A couple of us walked into the city center with this girl named Lana from the venue where we are playing tonight named Kofmehl.
Solothurn is a pretty small town hugging a river which originates in Bern, Switzerland from the glaciers in the alps. The city center is a nice little courtyard/ square which is the usual meeting place for the locals in town. There is a huge cathedral which is located in this square that we all went inside to check out.
Cathedrals are such intense structures that you can never truly describe. What’s even more interesting is almost all cathedrals have almost the same feel to them- the air is chilled, moist, and still. The amount of artistry that goes into these structures is also beyond comprehension. The statues, paintings, engravings, marble work, and wood work were all super intricate and must have take years to do.
On our walk back to the venue Todd, Ethan and myself discussed jumping off of one of the bridges into the river in which hugged our walk back. I walked down to the bank to check out the temperature which was no where near anything close to cool. Just upstream from here was the winter melt off from the glaciers so this was very cold, crystal clear water. There was a bridge pretty close to the venue however was actually higher then the bridges we had talked about jumping off of. I was quite nervous but Ethan had decided he would be the first to jump so we went to the bus, got into our undies, grabbed a towel, and headed to the bridge. It’s always pretty scary jumping off of a high structure into the water when you haven’t seen anyone do it before and to be honest there is a good possibility that we were the first ones to jump off this particular bridge. The bridge was built in Oct which would have been winter time here and I don’t think any of the locals are as stupid as we were with the temperature of the water.
Ethan jumped first which was a relief for me but when he surfaced we could tell by his movement, and facial expression that the water was brutally cold. I was next and was pretty nervous about the jump and the impact in this cold water. This thought only lasted about 5 seconds when I just didn’t even think about it and let go. Whoa!! Landing in this water was like landing in a pool filled with needles. The bank of the river was about 35 ft away so I just put every bit of effort I had into my body to get there as quickly as possible. If the distance was twice this it would have been extremely hard with the potential of disaster. Todd jumped after me and has mentioned a couple times that he “thought he was going to die” and “has never experienced anything as cold”.
We all lived and are all pumped on the adventure we chose.
Now its time for another thrash show however this one this evening will be a little quiter then most due to a sound limit at this venue. Propagandhi’s actual stage sound with no sound system as a factor is actually louder then the limit….We will see.
April 29th, 2009
We are just leaving the venue/ squat/ fort we played tonight in Rome. I am sitting in the front lounge of the bus listening to some tunes-Dead Can Dance, and catching up on some solo time.
The last couple of days have been pretty interesting, intense and fun.
It’s pretty crazy being so far away from friends and family during certain situations that you can’t really be apart of or there fore. Currently I have someone special in my life who I try my hardest to keep in touch with and be there for the best I can but it definitely is not in the slightest sense easy. I won’t go deeply into it because these writings are more so I can keep in touch with friend/ family and they can keep track of me. I have a pen, and journal that is better for the personal thoughts then these travel journals of mine.
So we arrived in Roma, Italia yesterday after our drive/ show in Bologna, Italia the night before. As soon as the bus arrived at the hotel yesterday everyone woke up instantly, gathered their belongings, and we all went straight to our rooms to pre pare for our day off. ROME!!!
I have been to Italy now about 4 times however have never been to far South never being to Roma, or Venice where we will be tomorrow.
Exciting!
Edder Vedder “Rise”- amazing
So after we were all showered and prepared for our day Todd, Jord, Beaver, Franklin, Ethan and myself all packed into the hotel shuttle and headed to the city center of Roma.
The architecture (Helene!!) was really something I was pumped on viewing and experiencing.
Our first destination was the Vatican and the St Pietro Basillica. We walked along the main river in the city named River Tevere which was this peculiar nice green colored river but also had a very dirty vibe to it. The colors of the buildings and the river down below had a definite “Rome, Italy” vibe- whatever that means.
Walking up to the St. Pietro Basillica was definitely pretty amazing. A long busy street with lights, and statues stacked along both sides of the street running all the way down to the Cathedral. There in front of us lies the Vatican.
Before we ventured much further we decided to try and find some food to quench our hungry stomachs. Eating food which contains no animal products is amazing, and fun but when you are in the center of a huge tourist spot in the middle of Roma sometimes your choices are very slim. Oh well. What can you do but just keep on keeping on.
We found a place that served just regular tomato slices of pizza which was a jackpot at that moment for us. A couple of warm slices later we were now fueled up for the day ahead of us. We walked to the Basillica, which is definitely an amazing place to see while standing in the middle of the court yard which is a huge circle surrounded my huge white pillars. The home of thee ol lil fellow most refer to as the poop…Oopps I mean the “Pope”..My bad.
Obviously at a place as such there is a lot of security so after screening our bags, and walking through metal detectors “we were in”.
I will never fully be able to describe what the inside of this Cathedral was like. Impossible to even imagine actually. Its bigger then big!
I had a random thought about what the actual capacity of a place as such was and now that I think of my 20 000 estimate I do think it’s probably even double that. Again this isn’t a sports stadium but a cathedral.
The statues, art work, engravings, marble work, tile work, and flooring was something that would have taken days and days to fully examine. Then in different sections of the place they actually have embalmed bodies of dead popes. Nuts!
Honestly I wish I would have known more about what I was looking at, the statues I was viewing, and the place I was walking inside of. Maybe ill read up on it a little now that I have been there. Seeing all of that art work, with a religious twist was pretty neat but also erie and dark as well. That’s the beauty of it I guess?
May 2nd, 2009
The last couple of days of tour have been something else.
I have started so many of my writings with me being on a plane going to my next destination or home as I am now. Flights are flights however I am having a first here today. My friend Bettina is a flight attendant for Swiss Airlines which I happen to be flying today so it worked out that she is on my flight to Montreal. When I checked in and was told I had an “upgrade” and they gave me a new ticket. Thanx Bettina! I am flying 1st class (a first) on an international flight and let me just say its really cool. Actually now that I look at things it seems to be “business class” and not “1st” Hhmm. Strange because honestly this definitely has a 1st class vibe not that I know what that vibe would really mean or business class. The seat in front of me I can’t even touch even when leaning forward trying to. There are some pretty crazy settings for the seat positions which makes for more of a relaxing trip. You have a choice of extending a leg rest, lowering the seat up and down, lowering the back of the seat up and down, and there is even a air bag that you can fill up for lower back support. Damn! Again I am not sure how often or if this will happen again so yes it’s a nice treat and ill take it.
I still need want to capture more of our adventures in Rome and the show we played the following day at the Forte Prenestino squat but that will come soon or not.
Yesterday we played our last show in Prague, Czech Republic which I had never been to in the past and this incredibly beautiful city did not disappoint.
We left Venice right after our show to make the 12 hour drive to the Czech Republic. The promoter Milan in Prague had been in touch with me about our arrival time in the city and getting in touch with him when we are close because he has our hotel-apartment- keys. So I lost my phone in Rome which meant I had no way of making contact with anyone if there wasn’t internet.
While we were getting close to Prague I looked in the tour book to see no number for Milan at all. After some more investigation I came across 2 numbers- 1 for a record store in Prague, and another for the hotel we were supposed to be staying in. Both of these numbers came back faulty and we were getting closer to the city. What adventures lie ahead? Our bus driver was on a tight schedule due to high tailing it back to Germany after dropping us off and the time restrictions that drivers in Europe have while driving their bus. We arrived in Prague around 3PM and had no clue about what was going on, and if this was all just something sketchy that was set up. After more investigation while sitting on a street with the bus parked and everyone just hanging out on the sidewalk for a good hour + we managed to find Milan and head to our hotel which was actually in a completely different spot then what I was told. A “last minute” change. Oh well.
We got the keys and went up to our apartment which turned out to be pretty cool All of us in the same house however there was still rooms for groups to have their own space.
After showering Jord, Barney, Stern, and myself walked across the river to go eat at a place named Veg Food. Quite interesting though was the other dudes-Chris, Todd, Ethan, and Beaver were heading to the same spot but left earlier because I don’t think they were into waiting for everyone to shower. We’ll when we arrived at the restaurant they were not there and ended up not being able to find it. That sucks because we walked straight to the place with not even a question of where it was. Patience is a virtue but I have done the same thing and had the same outcome.
Our show in Prague was an Anti Fascist show for the May Day festivities. For those in the dark about this May 1st is the International Day of the worker however in North America for some reason we have strayed paths and have never recognized this day as the rest of the world. It’s a very historic day in most parts of the world when it comes to the working class, union organizing, anti-fascism and leftist thought.
I have never been that far east in Europe before so this was all a new experience for me and that it was. This fest was the real deal. It was on an Island in the city of Prague and was put on by the Anti- Fascist group in Prague. We had been told that the same day as our fest the Nazi’s in Czech were having their huge gathering 200 km’s away and that there is the potential that things could get interesting/ violent if these boneheads chose to come into the City. We were also informed about the security situation and the pre-cautions that were in store for our event. The Nazi’s were 1 threat and then the Police were another threat as well.
Arriving at the venue yesterday we passed about 8-10 male figures all dressed in black, wearing sunglasses and no part of their actual being showing. These dudes were the “armed” (yes armed) security getting into the Island for the fest to stand guard in case any trouble started between the fascist sectors. This whole situation is something that was pretty neat to witness and experience because honestly back at home this stuff really doesn’t happen and I am not saying I would want it to happen either. Everyone working the show were 1000% down with the cause of fighting fascism and fighting the right wing. It was the offical workers holiday and there at this fest there was a good 200 people working-volunteering- at this fest with cooking, setting up, security, driving around the city to make sure the Nazi’s weren’t on their way, and protecting everyone else at the fest. The main security leader was this tough looking eastern European dude who I talked to for a bit and the dude ruled. He was a a ju-jitsu/ kung fu/ UFC fighter and was ready for anything. Backstage they had an area with tons of steal pipes in case the Island/ Festival was invaded. Most of the security guards were also armed with guns and were all wearing earpieces for communication with each other. Crazyeee!!
It’s so crazy to think there is still a huge Nazi problem in this world but on the other hand I am not surprised due to right wing politics in the past, and currently. Boneheads. Boneheads. Boneheads.
During Propagandhi’s soundcheck in the morning the Police had their helicopter hovering above just checking things out- you know…city money well spent- and I saw a couple of people walking around with this huge meter by meter mirror type board. What this was for was to reflect the sunlight towards the helicopter to block their camera from taking pictures of the people, activities at the fest. I had also heard that before the doors were open there were a couple police officers spotted wearing normal civilian clothes walking around the perimeter taking pictures of people inside the fenced off fest area. Boooo!
This fest was a really amazing experience and everyone involved were truly something else. I guess this years fest did double of what last year did where my Swede buds in the INC played last year. This year there was about 5500 people from what the organizers said when we left and the whole thing was FREE for everyone who came. Everyone worked for free, the stage, the PA system were donated for the day for free, and no Nazi’s showed up which was good however all 5500 of us were prepared. POWER IN NUMBERS.
You know what rules?! When I help everyone out on stage including the show goers up front I try my best to look out for everyone and people realize this and thank me after the show. I like that. I try to do what I can to make everyones show experience fun fun fun. I keep an eye on everyone but honestly most of the times it is these sweaty, smelly, males so I do try and keep my sisters up front a lil extra safe by sking if they are okay. This evening in Roma there was quite a bit of females up front which rules however that soon changed with all the dudes who decided to stage dive, and float. Relax gents!!!!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Mess We Are In
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
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, 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.
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