Tour Day Penultimate: Ours to Discover

I am sitting in a room different from the one in which you are sitting now.

Here I type, in Pressed Cafe in Ottawa, which will be the setting for our last show on tour. We're playing a set on Ottawa college radio tomorrow, so tour isn't quite over, but today still has an air of finality about it. Pressed is a pleasant place with vegan desserts and wild boar soup and craft beer, and over one hundred people are attending the facebook event, so it seems like tour will end on a good note.

Your correspondent at work.

It's been a long journey with highs and lows (mostly highs really). We've made some dough. We've made a lot of new friends. Found out about cool bands. Learned about the awesome music scenes and performers that seem to infest every nook and cranny of the Northeast part of this great continent if you look for them. This tour has exceeded my wildest expectations. I'm very thankful. I'm very tired. I'm very smelly.

Now, to the recap.

Two nights ago we played in Peterborough, a town of 81,000 people an hour or two outside of Toronto that somehow manages to support a rad college radio station, a music scene that varies from blooze-rock to noise and a very respectable alt-weekly. One thing this tour has done is that it completely destroyed my supercilious city-slicker notions about the backwardness/boringness of smaller municipalities.

We had a sort of knuckle-clenching ride to Peterborough because we were scheduled for a live-on-air interview on Trent radio that we were in very real danger of being late to because of evil Tronno traffic. Fortunately, we made it, and got interviewed there by a dude named Pat who asked us probably the most insightful questions of any interviewer we've ever had. Thanks Pat!

There's Pat!

Our hosts in the Borough were Dave, who we played with in Montreal a while back and plied us with beer and food and ran the show and was all-around a real sweetheart, and Wes, who let us crash in his house and was also great. We played at The Spill, which had sweet vibes.

Ersatz in Peterborough.

The Spill from another angle.

Post-Peterborough we played Toronto. I like Toronto quite a bit, but I've noticed that non-Torontonian Canadians do nothing but talk nonstop shit on Canada's largest city. I don't really get it. It's a nice place. A little horrifying Corbusian at times, but large swathes of it are really pretty.

Our first sight in Toronto. This guy really wanted to let people know he wasn't cheating the balancing.

Observe.

The venue we played at, PACT bar, had roof access, which was sick. We got a vista. The bar was also close to one of Toronto's Chinatowns, so we got killer food.

Here we are, being all profound.

 Spicy cold chicken, a recipe I had read about and was really curious to try. I really had to convince our waitress to let me order it. She was sure I would think it was awful.

Eli smells the flower we were given by a lady on roller skates on account of it being such a gorgeous day.

The Toronto show itself was a little weird. The bands we played with were very far across the musical spectrum from us, and we closed, so not that many people stuck around. The promoter Matt took really good care of us though. Thanks Matt! Also, the dudes from Eli's other band, Look Vibrant, came and watched, which was super nice. We slept at Justin from Look Vibz's parents' house, which felt luxurious.

PACT.

For the drive to Ottawa today, we decided to take scenic Highway 7, which was such a good idea! We drove through beautiful rural Ontario farm country, and it made me nostalgic for the childhood months I spent cottaging in Orillia. So excited to go there soon.

Eli takes a tour shower on 7.

Next stop, home.

Tour Day Liberal Arts: Broadcasts and Border Crossings

After our day off in Pittsborg, we got an opportunity to play a live session for Carnegie Mellon's radio station. The people running the session, Anna and Bryn, were super rad, and the recordings sounded great. Anna and Bryn clued us in to a pretty great-sounding noise scene happening in the Borg right now, which we hope to check out the next time we're over there.

Anna asking us something. Note the sick audio treatment on the walls.

Bryn at the controls!

Next we went to Oberlin and stayed with Eli's friend from home, Asher. He lives with a few other swell guys in a beautiful house with a massive grill and a bucolic feel. It is hard for me to imagine what going to Oberlin must be like. All these kids from big cities on the coasts go to a tiny town in Ohio to study with no distractions, only to return to their big cities. Living in a community that small seems crazy. Where would you disappear to?

This was a beautiful moment. Eli has been blind all tour, because he broke and then lost hist glasses.  He discovered that Asher's roommate Noah had an old pair of glasses that worked for him, although they made the world look like Instagram. He didn't end up taking them though, so I can expect many more moments where he sees an old woman and asks me, "Is that Alex?"

Is this Alex?

Asher works for Oberlin's radio station and he set us up with a sweet live session was also filmed. We gonna have so much content! Thanks to everybody who helped out with that it was a lot of fun.

Watching the watchers.

My bass's neck has been getting progressively fucked throughout tour. In order to raise the action, we shoved a defunct OPUS card under the bridge saddles. Montreal represent!

Iso booth for bass.

Both Oberlin and Carnegie Mellon had crazy nice equipment and setups for their live sessions. We were able to isolate each instrument more or less and they had awesome mixing gear. Shows what those $30,000 a year-plus tuitions can do. Go America!

After Oberlin, we traveled back up to the great white north. Or first Canadian stop was Hamilton, Ontario, where we played at a self-described "taco joint and metal bar" called Doors Pub. It was a great time, except for the fact that I was violently ill with a fever/chest congestion combo and tried to nap in the green room the whole time. Tour!

The Corbusian Hellscape of condo blight.

Doors Pub.

My view for most of the evening.

Kevin and Mike, who hosted us. Preposterously nice, just like everyone else who has put us up on this tour.

Next stop Peterborough!

Tour Day Scrapple: Blogsylvania

After the disappointment of Baltimore, PA really needed to treat us well to lighten our spirits. And it did!

First off, Philly, my hometown. We stayed with my lovely parents and collaborated on a vegan Mexican feast with them. We've been eating Mexican constantly on tour tour because of its veganability for Eli.

We played at the Mile High House, a show house just a block or two from Temple Campus. Temple kids seemed really into us. My friends from home came!

I don't know what my hand is doing in this picture.

My Mom! And the Nicks. Zeke had fled the scene by this point.

Can you tell my dad was the one taking pictures?

The next day, we journeyed to Pittsburgh, which was a long-ass drive that tired Alex out. Pretty though. The Borg was one of our best shows on the last tour so we were pretty excited to play.

Our show was at my friend Nick Tannen's house. He's a super swell dude and has been a gracious host to us both times in the Borg. A pretty nifty punk band called Bat Zuppel played first, and then a math-rock duo called Hi Deaf. A lot of the crowd was made up of people who had seen us last time and were coming for seconds. We have fans!

Led Zuppelin.

The basement.

Tannen played drums in a project after us whose name I fucked up every time I tried to say it.

After the show, a kind lady named Robin took us to a Mexican place that has half-price food after 11. We gorged ourselves.

Robin kept trying to take Instagram selfies while we ate. Little did she know I take the best group selfies!

Aaaaaaart.

We had a day off in the Borg because of shows falling through, which was great. We got to run away from each other and decompress. I chose to read in the park. I made the right choice.

Pretty.

Pittsburgh's regional yellow beer. Didn't know it existed, but was excited to find it. We've been trying the regional yellows from everywhere on tour. Preliminary ranking so far:
Narragansett (New England)
Iron City
National Bohemian (Baltimore)
Yuengling, a PA regional cheap beer, would top this list but does not count as yellow beer due to its amberness.

Today we play on Pittsburgh's own WRCT, then drive to Oberlin to perhaps play at another radio station. Press!

Several Days of Tour: Tragedy, Triumph, and Urban Planning

Tour got real hectic during the past few days, so I haven't been as attentive to the social media needs of this band as I should be. Shame on me! Here's what happened. It's a lot.

We drove into DC and stayed at the lovely home of our friend Lillian's parents on Capitol Hill. They fed us delicious vegan pasta with caramelized lemon.

These are very accomplished people.

We played at the last unrenovated house on a heavily-gentrified block not too far away from the Hill. It was a beautiful place, and the folks there treated us very nicely. It was kind of a strange show, because we were by far the loudest/weirdest band, and about two-thirds of the crowd was not super down. One-third was super into it though, which was comforting.

Da house.

Rockin in unison.

Rockin solo.

We've been thinking a lot about gentrification, urban planning and income disparity on this tour. The first leg has basically been a tour of cities that are ground zero for income inequality and gentrification. In DC the differences between gentrifier and gentrified are quite stark. Literally a block around the corner from the venue we played the neighborhood turned bleak and poor. In some ways, playing in these transitional areas makes me feel like a colonist. I am part of the force that is pushing the locals in poor neighborhoods into more marginal spaces.

On the bright side, in DC the crowd watching us was quite diverse. The sea of white faces usually present at indie shows unnerves me.

The house, brighter.

After the show we got chili dogs and fries at a DC local landmark, Ben's Chili Bowl. I was into it. I was apparently quite vocal about this fact.

I am a monster.

The next morning, we were brunch wine and dined by another set of friend parents, the Tokarzes. Mimosas, bagels, lox eggs, fruit salad. We felt bouge.

Check out the views!

Then we were off to Baltimore. The lamestream media has been painting a highly inaccurate portrait of the state of this city. Yes, there were riots a few days ago, but for the most part it was business as usual there. We were charmed.

We sere supposed to play at this dope warehouse that had been converted into a crazy artists colony with dozens of gallery spaces and perhaps hundreds of studios. It took up a whole city block.

Woah man, lens flare.

The room we were slated to play in was maybe the largest we've ever been booked in. Shit was crazy.

Giant!

I really cannot overstate what a cool scene this one single building was. There was a huge network of hallways and empty chasms connecting the different areas of the building, which lent it a certain FPS flair.

Blind Eli

Art kids.

Alex: "Take me a profile pic, Craw!"

Unfortunately, the landlord freaked and our show got shut down by the man! Way to go, Charm City!

Actually, Baltimore is really cool. Would love to actually play there some day.

Pennsylvania next.

Day 4: Small Town Livin'

Yesterday we drove to Kutztown, PA, a place none of us have ever been before. I think we will go again soon.

We have picked up an Irmak for this stretch of tour.

Kutztown is so fucking great you guys. I love New York and all, but it's been really nice escaping the noise and grime of the city to go to a nice plant-laden small town with cute houses.

View from the house we played. I predict someday that train station will serve artisanal coffee.

We played at and slept in Spaghetti house, a dope railroad apartment in a nice old building close to Kutztown's main street. The guys who live here play in a great band called Ghost Dads that plays pretty out there experimentalish punky music. They treated us so well too!

Spaghetti house, from an angle designed to make it look imposing.

Spaghetti house, interior

Quite a few people showed up to our show, and the energy was really great. During Ghost Dads' set the crowd erupted into a mosh pit instantaneously. Folks here seem to be really supportive of the local scene, and it's really paying dividends.

Ghost Dads from a very great distance.

Cool basement. I broke a lamp in this room. Sorry guys!

We hadn't played a basement show in so long, and it was marvelous! The energy was palpable, and people were digging our shit super hard. We sweated a lot. Eli got shirtless, which he swore he would never do again.

Image courtesy Taner Photography, LLC.

Airing out my gut.

The next day the Ghost Dudes brought us out for breakfast and regaled us with tales of the Lynchian weirdness that us city folks always imagines to be hiding behind the cuteness of small towns.

Next stop DC.