A marrel of bonkeys

Scott 'fixed' his glasses. They didn't last long.

Day 23 – Edmonton

Sleeping a little late, we awoke with a start to a humid Saskatoon and got down to driving. The Edmonton gig was at an outdoor festival (The Works Art & Design) in the heart of the city. There was a large fountain and much talk of jumping in, but the weather turned on us and gusto for wetness waned. The set was very fun – massive stage and sound system and all of our amps on 11. After, we hung out with Cara and Jenn from Montreal band Un (like uhhhhn, not U N). They were very good times – we cavorted, made light, and drank warm Miller Highlifes in the van.

Day 24 – off

We slept ridiculously late, but didn't really have anywhere to go anyways. We spent the day hanging around Edmonton and trying to accomplish things that we'd been putting off. After making some soup in a parking lot and discussing the finer points of rip-off-ery with a Bell representative, we headed out of the 'ton and made our way south, headed to Spokane by way of the southern pass. A while out of Calgary we found a proper camping zone and posted up for the evening.

Heat your soup, man!

Deer contemplating a poor life choice.

Day 25 – Spokane

The southern pass through Fernie and Cranbrook is really really nice. It's significantly lush and curvy, and the towns are quaint. We did not see any wildlife of note unfortunately. The border crossing was uneventful and we passed into Idaho, which was also quite beautiful. Plenty of farmland, supergreen pastures, fresh air and swimmable lakes. I was imagining a lot of potatoes, but saw none. A lot of lazy cows were hanging around though.

We got into Spokane and investigated the food situation. Scott got some burgers, but upon arrival at the venue we got some free dinner and PBRs too, so he was exceptionally full – and hilarious because of it. We hung around with a couple dudes named Jeff, played pinball, played the set, and then drove out of town to a place called Sprague.

Julian chilling with one of the Jeffs.

Sprague is the epitome of a one horse town, but it's the kind of horse that has caught a terrible malady and is now in the processing of being turned into glue. If there was any place that we could have been murdered, buried, and forgotten all in the same night, it would have been here. We slept lightly by a park and, by the time we left the next morning, we'd still seen very few signs of life.

Day 26 – Seattle

The drive from Spokane to Washington took us directly by the home of Sasquatch Music Festival – the Gorge. We took this opportunity to dip our dirty selves in the Columbia River, and damn that was refreshing.

Here we see a Julian in its natural habitat - notice the soapy Danzig mohawk. Classic.

We meandered our way into Seattle, hit up a guitar centre to repair Scott's kick drum pedal (which was showing serious signs of wear), and met up with our good friend Andrew for some serious Mexican dinner and drinks. So very glad to be back on the west coast.

The show was at a place called Rendezvous, a super killer space. The bands for the night were Friendly Creature, Chemical Clock (both jazz wildness of significant brilliance) and Pollens (six part vocal harmony madness – absolutely beautiful and highly recommended). A great night of music truly was had.

Friendly Creature with subtle lighting -

Chemical Clock digging into it -

And a couple shots of Pollens doing their incredible thang . . .

Later, we went back to our pal Paurl's place and watched us some discovery channel until way too late in the night / early in the morning. The most important survival tip learnt was – bring a knife if you're going to be stranded.

Off to Portland now, hopefully with some delicious donuts and taxless alcohol! Shazam!

Science FACT

Debilitating sickness? Rub some Tussin on it.






Coney dogs in Detroit. Smothered in Chili. Two for 5. The best choice when trapped in a van?



Day 18 – Kalamazoo

The Strutt is one hell of a nice venue. It's a bar / restaurant / coffee shop / hangout that seemed to be frequented by a lot of locals and entirely staffed by babes. Amazingly, these babes were incredibly nice to us – much free beer was consumed over the course of the evening and they all seemed genuinely stoked about music. The bands we played with included The Lorax Tree (Cleveland, Ohio), who cultivated a live drum and bass sound. Ghosting was plentiful.

After they finished up, a local act named The Good News got on stage – two young guys playing guitar and drums. Both were really enjoyable to watch, but the drummer was out of this world. Incredibly fast, interesting voicings, stand out breakdowns. Really a pleasure to watch. Also a well informed cat – we discussed local politics and the petition to remove their locally elected official for some dastardliness.

After the show we hung around with the bar staff until closing time and then headed over to the promoter (Sean)'s place – deceptively monikered the “no fun house”. A couple other bands were also crashing in the expansive house, and we all ate some pizza together. There were also some resident pet rats – quite friendly! Breakfast in the morning at a local diner and then the road to Chicago.

friends don't let friends pee on friends?

Day 19 - Chicago

We got into town in the early afternoon and immediately napped. We have been napping a lot, as the night time sleeps are often short and fitful. We had secured an interview with Fearless Radio, an internet station that had previously talked with some bands we dig (Maps & Atlases, Tera Melos). It was humourous, and they had an amazing loft studio. I managed to mention Sheep Tickling on air, which I am being ribbed for consistently now.

Hey we need internet! It can be so hard to find unlocked wifis.

yup.

The show was at Memories Bar in the Northwest – sorta out of the way in the grander scheme of Chicago, and there was 5 bands on the bill. The styles were pretty diverse, and we played early, but it was fun nevertheless.

Drew (whom we had met while in New York – he plays drums in Yourself and the Air) showed up and we ended up returning to his place. It was located in the Latino district; a great neighbourhood with incredible food and pretty nifty architecture. Jeff (bassist for Yourself and the Air) and Nicholas (friend) also lived at the house; we partied on into the night. They are seriously righteous cats, and provided us with DELICIOUS home cooked mexican food - stand out guacamole, chorizo burritos. They're headed to Portland in the future, which is great for the West Coast.

After some sleep in a cool and comfortable basement we awoke, had a little coffee, and kicked off for the drive to Minneapolis.

Day 20 – Minneapolis

The drive to Minneapolis was humid, hot and then rainy and stormy. We heard reports of funnel clouds for the area but did not see anything. In Minneapolis there were sirens, but we were told that it's mostly to convince the suburban moms to buy more duct tape.

Checked out a cool used gear shop in Minneapolis – they had a pretty slick Gibson Grabber bass – and popped into the venue – Cause Spirits & Soundbar. Cool space, great staff (particularly our foul mouthed waitress who lamented Ryan Dunn's possibly death by postulating on tossing his salad). Also some pretty delicious food was had– Don from Hardcore Crayons (a post-rock / dub / ska trio) ate a burger with glazed donuts for a bun. INTENSE.

The opening act was called Toilet. Their set was about 5 minutes long and included the shaking of metal sheets, the throwing of money off the stage, the dropping of a pillowcase that was worn as a skirt by the small guitarist (serious nudity), the wearing of luchador masks, and some crazy music. I had wished their set went on longer, but it was intense, comical and utterly surprising. The dudes from this band also run a pretty sweet local DIY venue.

I feel we played a pretty radical set and we talked to a lot of fun cats after. I was convinced to sell a record for five dollars and two shots of whiskey. It did not take a lot of convincing.

Hardcore Crayons played after us and we seriously enjoyed it – they played mostly new material that hasn't been recorded yet – and it was very exciting stuff (they are planning to record in the next couple months). Afterwards, we continued to party and ultimately returned to Don's place. It was raining heavily by this point and I dropped my jacket in a puddle.

The morning held more wetness of the weather and some brief interneting (as we'd lost a show and needed to fill the gap). Now we make the 7 hour drive to Winnipeg (plus border crossing!) to play at the Death Trap. Shazam!

At the border we acquired some extremely affordable provisions.

Day 21 – Winnipeg

Pulled into downtown Winnipeg with a little time on our hands, so food was negotiated (there's a great veggie place called Mondragon, but we opted for the cheapness across the street). Met up with Zach (Pumas) and dilly dallied a bit. I made a peanut butter and jamwich.

The loading in and the playing of the show commenced, with Enjoy Your Pumas, us, and the Peaches. Best set we've seen Enjoy Your Pumas play – they seemed to be having a lot of fun and really getting into it, which we always enjoy.

The Peaches played some craziness and melted faces left right and centre.

After the gig we headed over to Joshs (Pumas) house with Rosie, Luke and some friends and had a backyard fire, drank High Lifes, ate pizza and talked about funny things. Josh is quite humourous. We slept comfortably and showered, which was very much appreciated. In the morning we got a packed lunch (!!!) and went to a greasy-spoon diner for some greasy-spoon breakfast. Lots of blue hair was in attendance, which confirms a good breaky joint. We departed Winnipeg soon after, very glad to have made new friends and thankful for the great hospitality.

Day 22 – OFF

Not having a show, we had decided to try and jump on a bill in Regina (which traditionally has been our least favourite Canadian city). We were making good time on the highway and it seemed like we might get onboard at O'Hanlons (a Regina venue). And then – a curve ball. Highway 1 was flooded out and we were forced to detour into noman's land. Without access to wifi, 3G network and a stubborn GPS, we were forced to rely on the spirit of exploring adventure and a map that we hadn't quite made it onto yet.

After an hour of driving through what we decided was a much nicer and potentially redeeming portion of Saskatchewan, the decision was made to continue on to Saskatoon. No one really wanted to smell Regina again, and it looked like the show wasn't going to happen anyways. We stopped for provisions in Yorkton and riled up some children (to the chagrin of their father).

Then we drove 120 kph straight into the most incredible thunderstorm I've seen. We slept in the van.

Walkin' that dog

Day 15 – Hamilton / Hamiltron / Land of the Cheap Ceasar

After arriving at the Casbah we were informed that the show would be starting late (past midnight) and that we should sort out ourselves out with some food and drink and relaxes. This was accomplished at a nearby eatery, where we had one of the first sit down dinners of the trip. Ceasars were very reasonably priced and veggie burgers were on special.

We returned to the venue to wait for the gig. Luckily there was a beer representative for Flying Monkey (a local brew) handing out free IPA samples. We sampled thoroughly. The cats from Enjoy Your Pumas showed up and they joined in the sampling. After sufficient sampling they got their gear on and played some songs for us all.

One of the funniest parts of the night was the DJ – Ros Beef – who we realized we'd stayed with last year when we came through Hamilton (he had enjoyed cats and voiced his desire that we were all cats to increase our coolness factor). We played our sets, partied on and danced, played frisbee in the streets with some locals and carried on as anyone who is on an extended roadtrip is want to do.

With the night winding down, we packed up the van and voyaged back to Toronto – Scott's Aunt Stephanie had again offered us a place to lay our heads. Such kindness! A hot shower, load of laundry, and a well operating kettle certainly warm my heart.

Day 16 – Toronto, NXNE, and an unexpected meeting

A long lie in did us a world of good. Stephanie's place is very nice and a very friendly dog named Piper lives with her. He's a simple but kind hearted soul, and is always a pleasure to visit. We got some laundry on the go and fixed some breakfast and then headed into town to recover Scott's credit card (which he had misplaced during our escapades in Chicago).

The recovery of said card was expedient and we posted up at a nearby cafe to accomplish some interneting. We were without a show for the night (a friday during the North By North East festival) and decided to try out some last minute luck. Fortune again smiled on us and by 6:30 we'd been offered 2 gigs, one for the approaching evening at Hard Luck bar and one for the Saturday (a 3 am slot at Rancho Relaxo – we ultimately turned this one down as we had a previous engagement in Windsor with the Bulletproof Tiger).

We loaded into the venue and sauntered off into Kensington Market to get some eatables. A decent fish and chip shop was located – orders were placed and we sat on the patio in anticipation. While sitting there, taking in the hustle and bustle of a Friday night in Toronto during a music festival, a familiar face was recognized in the crowd – Jordan Minkoff of Victoria garage rock party bringers Slam Dunk. My brother Duncan and the rest of the Slam Dunk team was a few meters behind him. Hugs, high-fives and stories followed, along with a lie down in the nearby park. Turns out Slam Dunk was playing at the Hideout during the same time slot as us. We all travelled to Dundas Square (the epicentre of the festival) and looked on at the crowds and outdoor concert.

Later, we returned to the venue, raged through our set and met up with more friends – Simon and Cris, Dave, as well as some new friends – Zach from Enjoy Your Pumas (who we'd played with the previous night) and a hilarious dude named James. Drinks were consumed at Hard Luck, Duncan turned up after his set and we carried on at length.

As we got into the small hours we retired to a small back garden establishment where we were served beer sandwiches by Miley Cyrus' look alike. Scott found a bamboo spear that we kept for future foraging activities.

Simon had just passed his Bar exam to be a full-on lawyer. He had numerous hilarious things to say through the evening. Here's some choice cuts:

“I like justice almost as much as I like amaretto; I'm going to pour justice all over amaretto and fuck it”

“How to be a surgeon – Rule One: Cut; Rule Two: Surgeon”

We got back to Stephanie's place and had a good snooze, another great breakfast and a nice chat in her backyard. Thank you so much!

We rolled out for the Windsor show at about 2pm; I'm sitting on a curb outside the Phog Lounge writing to you all now. It's about 2 hours till show time so we're off to get something to satiate the never ending hunger.

Day 17 - WINdsor

Fed and watered we did some more sitting outside the venue with the rad guys from The Bulletproof Tiger - played with some yo-yos, rang some bicycle bells, drank warm PBRs and chatted. Red Red Run loaded in and then Ontario Plates rolled up in their severely beaten Chrysler LeBaron, jumped out looking like the wild children of Frank Zappa, loaded in and got the show rolling. Both were excellent, but Ontario Plates blew our fucking minds. I can't even really explain how awesome they were, suffice to say that this drummer, keyboardist, bassist, and guitar player (x2) Windsor outfit is a top notch group of young dudes that utterly devastated the Phog Lounge.

(above Red Red Run)

(above Ontario Plates)

We roared through our set and then danced crazy like for another astounding Bulletproof Tiger set. Ridiculous.

We were super fortunate to see another old friend in Windsor - Cindy (former Vancouver resident and friend to some of youse out there!). I have a graham cracker that seems to be important.



Post gigdom we drank, packed gear and located a house party that continued until the next morning. Jamming, dancing, Led Zeppelining, couching, imbibing and more of the general carrying on. I saw the sun come up as I walked along the river, splitting Detroit and Windsor like a hot knife through butter.

Julian had some excellent jams with band dudes, here he is adding the touch!



This is Greg from Ontario Plates - he plays the keys, but turns out to be a phenomenal drummer as well. Bastard.



We're on our way to Calum; A Zoo! now (actually Kalamazoo, but my name rarely works for these sorts of thangs)

Homme Votre Chevalle

Jour numero treize – Parce-que nous sommes en Montreal cette post du blogue va etra completement en francaise! S'il vous plait excuse notre usage de la langue Francaise et le pouvre “grammar” et l'ommission de accent sur notre ordinateur anglophone.



Le premier place que nous trouvons cete une parc pour beaucoup des bierres, parce-que c'est completement legal, avec Dorian de la groupe musical “Cinema L'amour.” Dans la parc un homme que regarde comme Iggy Pop - sans chemise et toute – prepare pour un “fotochute sexualle.”



Apres les bieres nous mangeons le poutine a un reastaurant fameux - “PatitaPatata.” Bon.

Toute les group musical “Crabe”, “Glass Works Coastal”, et “Cinema L'amour” jouons les musique extraordinaire a la venue “Divan Orange”. Bon aussi.



Cinema L'amour



Crabe!

Nous dormons a le maison de Dorian et le jouer de batterie, Chris. Merci! Les bieres continue avec hospitalite Francaise. Dans le matin Julian, Scott et moi prendre les douches. Pas ensemble.

Clean as a bag full of whistles we set for our nation's capital – Ottawa.



Day 14 – Capital City.

We drove straight into the heart of the beast, beset on all sides by symbols of our Canadian Empire. It's a bastion of tourism, business people and school children. We set about trying to promote the show (as we were playing at a rather large venue). It was incredibly hot. So hot in fact that Scott changed into a suspiciously unisex tank top. It did have a sweet panther on it, so he certainly had the right idea.

After some serious hanging out in the van to avoid paying for parking ($3 an hour), we loaded into Zaphod Bebblebrox – without our towels – and went about soundcheck and food foraging. I recovered some bread from a closing bakery, Julian located some fine meats and cheeses.

Highlights from the evening include Enjoy Your Pumas, an outfit from Winnipeg with wonderful vocals and slick chops. Very enjoyable! Also splendid were Scary Bear Soundtrack – four nice ladies with beautiful harmonies and refreshing sincerity. The locals in attendance seemed very friendly, and we had some good chats after our sweaty performance.



Scary Bear Soundtrack!!! Hi Gloria!



Nice to meet Vanessa, Chelsea & Jack / Rioting at a college level.



Thanks for stopping by Vanilla Ice.

After the gig we loaded out a went to local party, it was winding down a bit but we brought some new friends in the van and some warm PBRs, so everything was all right.




Some chatting and drinking and animal drawing later we packed it in – heading to our friend Sam's place for some sleep.

Sam, recently returned from Bangladesh, is an old and capable friend. His capabilities include, but are certainly not limited to, sorting us out for sleeping and hooking us up with breakfast. Unending thanks to such good friends.



While Scott and I enjoyed the comforts of Sam's well appointed abode, Julian slept in the van to protect the gear.

Upon our revelry we sauntered into the morning heat to rouse Julian for eats. We found him pants-less and confused from the waking, and realized that he had slept in a tinted window van directly in front of a busy elementary school. Given the state of the van and the Julian inside, it's a wonder he remained at large.

Now we roll to Hamilton (along with Enjoy Your Pumas and all other Greater Toronto commuter traffic) to potentially play a show – forces beyond our control may have conspired against us. We're not sure what the outcome will be, but some safari's cannot be stopped.



The true face of blogging on tour.