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In Tour Diaries intrepid local bands report from the road as they build up mileage and recruit new fans.
This is the first we have heard from So Long Forgotten, a Champaign-Urbana based rockers on a massive two-and-a-half month bad boy of a tour.
“Trips like ours are greener grass left unknown for fear of believing trite sayings; sayings that are sometimes true. But our friends back home live an existence under the weight and awareness of time; a place we are slowly escaping; a world growing fainter by the hour and the mile.” – Donald Miller
July 17, 2008 Topeka, KS
Today is the 4th day of our run to the west coast and back. As I sat in the bus on our way from Kansas City, MO to Topeka, KS this morning, I noticed the book Through Painted Deserts sitting on the floor. It beckoned memories of our origins as a touring band. This was the first book I ever read on the road. It complimented those first weeks as a real touring band like a beautiful soundtrack. Those first few weeks playing shows every night, meeting new people every night, and going new places every day. I picked the book up today and began to skim through it seeing if I could conjure up some passages that really made that time so poignant in my mind.
July 12th - Day off in Portland, OR:
We woke up in Portland at our friends Joni & Mary's house after a late-night drive from Boise. We spent the day seeing why Portland is a haven of music, culture, progressive thinking, and, overall, good things. We went to The Doug Fir for a show, but only saw a SOLD OUT sign on the ticket window. Some friends of ours were going to be there; one, in fact, playing in the Portland Cello Project who was on the bill. So, we did the old shove-our-hands-in-our-pockets-and-kick-an-imaginary-rock-thing as we started walking back to the van. We commenced with Plan B and headed down the street to Dante's for a sweaty, drunken two band bill: Jacuzzi Boys from Miami (Aaron McAllister's twin on lead vocals and guitar) and King Khan & The Shrines. King Khan's is like a James Brown-meets-punk show: horn section, cheerleader, 2 of the members were French, and by the end of the night, the girl who kept hopping up on the corner of the stage so she could lift up her skirt just enough for her boyfriend to take a picture of her, her panties, and the band...still with me?...well, she hopped up one too many times and her arms, weary with whiskey, lifted her 2 inches short of a complete hop and she quickly made friends with the floor, her face being the handshake. It was rough.
Saturday, July 5th: The Blue Fugue - Columbia, Mo:
Day 1 of our 35 days out on the road. This tour will be 4 times longer than anything we've ever done. We'll put 7,000 miles on the van, spend $2,000 on gas, and inflate our air mattresses just about every night. So, you start somewhere familiar, and Columbia is our 2nd home. We've played the Fugue 4 times before, so it's a nice shoving off point. Columbia is what Champaign-Urbana would be if all 3 downtowns (Cham/Urb/Campus) were smooshed together, so you're almost guaranteed a crowd if you hit The Fugue or Mojo's.
With their recently released sophomore album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, in their hot little hands, local indie-pop darlings Headlights head home from Virginia, now halfway through a North American tour. Guitarist and vocalist Tristan Wraight reports from the road.
February 23rd. 3rd Floor. Fredricksburg, VA.
It's hard to leave the lap of luxury, but them's the breaks. We are playing an all-ages place that sounds like it will be a lot of fun. We have a shortish drive through the Virginia country side. It is as gloomy as it is beautiful and Shearwater's Palo Santo feels good and spooky. We make a wrong turn or two but get there at the perfect time. Not too early, not too late. The 3rd floor is just as we predicted: a large open art gallery with a corner stage set up. It's really great. These shows are always fun. There is a back room where we are allowed to have beer. Beer is better than nothing, but it's not the kind of juice that makes us hurt children with sound waves. Luckily Ben and Laura have come to this show too and have brought the supplies for "Big T's Tavern" (another name for the looney bin...probably our band fave). There are a lot of kids here and they are full of energy so we have to try to keep up with their youthful verve. The promoter and the other bands (Exit Clov from D.C.) tonight are great. We got some rooms at a nearby Days Inn and had one last hurrah with Ben and Laura. It will be sad to say goodbye to some of our best friends in the universe.
With their recently released sophomore album, Some Racing, Some Stopping, in their hot little hands, local indie-pop darlings Headlights take to the half-pipes and highways on the first leg of their North American tour. Guitarist and vocalist Tristan Wraight reports from the road.
February 16th. The Void Skate Shop. Lexington, KY.
It's impossible to leave for tour on time. No matter how well you plan, you are certain to forget at least two things that you really wanted to bring. No matter how emphatically your booking agent says, "Just pack up the van the night before and get up early…suck it up," there are still all the little things that you just can't account for. Like your van dying right as you are finally ready to leave. It happens, though, and generally promoters are pretty forgiving. So, we were all fairly proud of ourselves for getting on the road only an hour late. Pretty good. Pretty good.
Local rockers Shipwreck complete their utter and total domination of the West Coast...
11/14/2007
Mappy wanted to write today’s entry. So here it is:
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010000100111100110100100100101001001010101111010010
010100101010100101010010011100100101010010101001010
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Owned! Face! You gonna take that from a frickin’ robot?
Local rockers Shipwreck continue their pillaging of the West Coast, shilling their new album, Rabbit in the Kitchen with a New Dress On.
Healthy Times Fun Club – Seattle, WA
10/31/2007
Jake and Rebecca have the coolest quasi-legal club around. It’s so cool that they don’t even advertise their address. You have to have an internal hipness radar to find the place. It’s fun standing outside their unmarked door watching hipsters use their hipness echo location. Some hipsters, like some bats, aren’t as good at it, and end up running into walls looking for the entrance.
Four-piece Champaign group Shipwreck tie up their magic phones, live cobras, and intoxicating brand of atmospheric rock into a red handkerchief on a stick, take to the highway to inspire enchanting dance parties in strippers, hipsters, and orange trees alike with their newest release, Rabbit in the Kitchen with a New Dress On.
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