Youse guys wanna go getta cuppa cawfee?

Day 9

The last time we met here the band had just played (and were amazed by) Pittsburgh, and were headed off with high spirits for 4 days off driving and a solid relax in New York City. None of us had ever been there, so there we anticipated plenty of accent mimicking and strut adopting. We had been extensively warned about traffic and the cost of parking, but were ready to face the challenges head on.

Exit only?

According to New Yorkers it is a hive of scum and villainy.

The first night we drove to Greenpoint in Brooklyn to play a show in a loft. Free parking was located by mounting a curb and pizza was eaten. The building was converted commercial space and filled with musicians and artists. Supercool. Justin and Ritchie – who make up the engaging Noxious Foxes – lived in the space and operated a studio there. The show started late with a band called Multitudes – a high energy jazz-punk trio. Incredible drumming with intense blast beats and some aggressive and playful guitar lines. They put on a great show, but by the power of grayskull it was hot. The place didn't really have air conditioning, and everyone in the place was sweating buckets just watching the band. In between sets the entire party shifted to the roof to drink and cool off.

Noxious Foxes set up next and laid waste to the place – two piece with the most insane loops I've ever heard; they rocked my socks clean off. Not pleasant for anyone standing nearby.

After their set it was our turn. We got it all ready and raced into the set. Everything was going swimmingly, when suddenly – with us in mid-song - a flash of yellow jumpsuit, tangled hair, and oversized glasses burst through the door, screamed “you're not suppose to be here” and slammed Scott from the side. He turned to defend himself with his drumsticks, not entirely sure what was happening. This crazed canary lady grabbed his sticks and ran out the door, 2-stepping it down the stairs with Scott in hot pursuit. Julian and I were dumbfounded and questioned whether that had just happened. As we were realizing that it actually did just happen, Scott burst back through the front door, grabbed another set of sticks and we kicked back into the song. Intensity followed and we neared the end of the set. As we were about to kick into the last jam the party fell oddly silent. We looked up to see the NYPD. Party was over. Time to go home everyone. We pleaded our case (we're Canadian, we only have one song left) to no avail, and two New Yorkers of the female variety stepped in to run a diversion. We continued to drink until the drinking was done.

Day 10

Saturday – waking up in Brooklyn. We walked with Ritchie and Nolan (one of Ritchie's roommates) and got ourselves some bagels and coffee, chilled in a park and wandered around Brooklyn / Greenpoint / Williamsburg. Bloody Marys on a patio and a visit to a local music shop filled out the day.

They are watching.

And then it rained crazy.

At night we played at the Rock Shop in Parkslope. Pretty decent venue in an interesting part of town. Free parking easily located (and $12 was found on the ground in our parking space). So far we'd made money parking in New York. We played with a bunch of bands, but the one the stood out by leaps and bounds was Chicago's (and soon to be Portland's) Yourself and the Air. Three guys making pretty exciting, danceable and intricate music. Great dudes too. After the show we accompanied them to a nearby establishment to drink way too many beers. Or perhaps just the right amount of beers. Regardless, Eric, Jeff and Drew were great fun. We heavily suggested that they come to Vancouver.

Considering our excessive inebriation, we ate sandwiches from a local deli and slept in the Van after some artful barrier work.

Day 11

Sunday – We awoke hung over. In addition to the beer and whiskey shots, we'd dipped into the Four Loko stash. That stuff makes me see lazerbeams and talk in the best kind of foreign langauges, but you pay for it dearly. We sorted out some food, did some interneting, and drove into Manhattan for our gig at Pianos. We found parking but had to pay for it. $1.50, because it was Sunday and the time of day. We drank some margaritas at a Mexican restaurant and met some friendly locals.

The gig was fun, playing with Rioux – a music student come electronica performer. After packing gear at about 1:30am we drove down to Times Square. It is something to see – huge and monsterous and boisterous and flashy – but we left a little put off. Maybe it was the garbage everywhere, or the sheer opulence of everything, or the distinct lack of toilets, or the single worst hot dog I've ever had. It was a bit much. We sallied forth and returned to Greenpoint to sleep in the van by an industrial district.

Day 12

Narwhals migrating reminds me of friends across the country.

During the day we drank coffee and ate bagels while chilling out in a garden cafe. Extreme pleasantness, such a nice day and it was good to take it super easy. When we met Young Boys in Minneapolis, we had a good time together and they ended hooking us up with a gig in Brooklyn for Monday night at a place called Don Pedro. This was a really awesome dive bar. Steven – the manager – was a nice guy and even changed the tv from baseball to the hockey game for Scott.

This one probably doesn't need a caption.

We drank mega cheap beers and and played some pinball and then watched the bands for the night, which included The Hussy and Young Boys. After the music and the loading, we headed to a recommended all night diner and ate delicious burritos. Best decision ever.

Next we head to Montreal for a gig with our pals in Cinema L'Amour. La journee continue.

Relative Significance

Day the Sixth (which started last post but nothing significant had occurred yet. If none of this has been significant yet, this next piece certainly is. . . )

We ground to a halt in Chicago traffic – according to the GPS we were 5 minutes from the venue – although we've learnt that the GPS is no longer to be trusted. It seems to insist on completely irrelevant detours, where we get off a the interstate, only to merge back on 15 minutes later. Doubleyouteaeffff. We bemoaned our situation, as the 5 minutes took about an hour, but it turned out to be enlightening. Not going a trillion miles an our, we noticed how badly the van was shaking. After final arrival at the Elbo Room we inspected the van and discovered the culprit – a 6” x 4” section of tread was missing, leaving only internal wire mesh exposed and peeling away. We thanked our lucky stars that it hadn't blown on the three lane 70 mph highway we'd driven on for 8 hours and set about finding a suitable establishment for tire replacement. Matt – the manager of the Elbo Room – hooked us up with a 7:30am appointment at a local joint.

With that organized we set about loading in for the gig.

After playing we talked with locals and extensively with the Norwegian bartender – Solfrid (her full name meant happy as the sun snakehouse!!!!). It happened to be her birthday and she was stuck working. Seeing as we had a morning appointment with the tire shop before another 8 hour drive to Pittsburg, we did the only honourable thing and got supremely sauced with the foreign birthday girl.

The bar closed down and we continued. Plenty of Jamieson shots later we stumbled out into an insane thunderstorm (that lasted for 12 hours) and accompanied Sol to a local bar called Exit. It was there that the serious drinking and dancing began and continued until 4 in the morning.

Day the Seventh

Significantly worse for wear, we roused ourselves an hour late for our appointment, arrived at the tire repair shop and were told that we'd have to wait for about 5 hours. This would not do. Harnessing the available technology, we got ourselves out to another shop (which had a $100 dollar discount on tires), sorted the van out, ate disgusting breakfast and were on our way in an hour. The drive took us through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and into Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh was our destination – playing at the Smiling Moose.

Pittsburgh surprised us. We didn't know much about the city before we rounded a corner on the highway and saw it burst forth from the tree covered hilltops. Damn. Gorgeous scenery, crazy mix of architecture, so many trees, great neighbourhoods. We learnt that you could buy a house for $19,000; a number of peoples we met payed less than $200 a month in rent.

In motion van shots never really deliver, but here's a couple none the less. . . .

The show was great, splendid bill – a passionate spoken word poet called William James started it up, followed by In the Wake of Giants. Worn Out Tiger closed up the shop. All three of the acts had toured a bunch together and were great friends, and their music ranged from post-rock to a dirrrrrty kind of hardcore – pretty freakin' amazing. We ate pizza and drank two dollar beers to recover from our lack of sleep.

Here's Worn Out Tiger doing there thang -

Justin (from In the Wake of Giants) hooked us up with a nearby place to crash – thanks to Mary-Ellen! - and we crashed gooooooood. New York is the next destination, and we've got four nights to play there, so a little time to cool our heels.

the above image is Julian doing some much needed 'splainin'

Ruuuuuumplemints

Day the Fourth – continued.

We arrived in Winnipeg to little fanfare and we're informed that the venue which we had a show booked at (the Royal Albert) was flooded out. There's a lot of flooding in Manitoba right now – while bombing along the highway we saw an off ramp that was entirely submerged.

The loss of the venue was unfortunate, but fortune quickly smiled upon us again and we hoped on a bill at the Death Trap, which is just down the street. We played first, followed by three hardcore metal bands – one local, one from Minneapolis, and one from California – all pretty nice dudes. There was definitely some blood spilled at that show.

Lacking a place to sleep, we located a nearby and relatively secluded parking lot and made camp.

Day the Fifth -

We awoke to a rainstorm in Winnipeg and made preparations to cross the border - we ride for Minneapolis. The border was a longer stop than we'd hoped for, and a thorough search of the van was conducted. An hour later we were on our way – straight into a heat wave.

A giant blade for the wind turbines round here!

Sweet mother of submarines it was hot in Minnesota. Seriously, it hadn't been so hot there since 1988. A bonifide heat wave, which initiated the in-van shirts off party. Some of us didn't stop at shirts.

We played at the 7^th Street Entry

We played with a couple bands, including a crew from Brooklyn, NY, called Young Boys. Well turned out gentlemen with solid indie jams. Reminded me of a cross between Joy Division meets and Hank Williams with a twist of synthyness. We enjoyed their set greatly.

A little dillying and and a little dallying later we were all packed up and ready to go – Julian had secured a spot for us to crash at a chap named Dave's place. Our GPS tried to trick us, but we were fortunate to befriend Sonya (a local violinist and employee of 7^th Street whose job was to watch all the bands gear!). We took her bike on board and she guided us to Dave's house, and enjoyed a bonfire, sing along, warm Luckys and something called Rumple Mints, which is basically mint flavoured moonshine.

We're now about 2 hours outside of Chicago, flying along the I-94, hoping to make it in time for load-in and maybe some deep dish pizza?

it's an elk!

Morning, Day 1 – After a morning of the SERIOUS ironing, we were ready to make way!

Gig the first was at the Commodore in sunny Kamloops with our good friend Trevor – aka SGT SEABY - a highly enjoyable DJ, entertaining host, and original member of Bangers & Mash.

A dance party occurred. I harnessed the power of the dinosaur.

This is Scott. He's a pretty observant guy.

While in the alley loading gear after the show he noticed an audience member receiving oral pleasure against a nearby brick wall. We had a bit of a laugh and kept loading gear. Returning with some guitars in tow I noticed that Scott had now been approached by two people inquiring about the availability of some cigarettes. When I got closer I realized that the male component of the twosome was the oral pleasure receiver. The female component was staring at Scott. Suddenly she embraced him, hugging him with such speed that he barely managed to use the rear van door as a pelvic barrier. Now it looked suspiciously like she was going to plant a smooch on him. I almost died laughing watching him crane his neck back and forth to avoid what would certainly be a severe case of salty tongue. Scott broke away and the embrace dissolved – cigarettes lit, our two lovers sauntered up an alley full of possibilities.

After the gig we drank Red Stag Bourbon at Trevor's house until way too late. It smelled like dreams and tasted like bourbon. With Cherries. And sorta like medicine, which I guess it really is.

We had to get a move on early. The rockies awaited.

Day the second!

IT'S A MOOSE IT'S A MOOSE IT'S A MOOSE. it's and elk

Calgary at the Sprout Fair in Inglewood. The venue was called The A.R.E.A. (Agriculture, Recreation, Education and Art) – and the fair was a fundraiser for their community garden. They had local youth art on sale and aspirations of a rock school for young'uns – all pretty radical. A whole whack of bands played, including Günther. They are an instrumental sonic assault and everytime we've watched them it has blown our minds. And with the addition of a new member on the Casio and a strap-explosion-come-bass-guitar-juggle, this was no exception.

here's some Günther for you -

Big thanks to Cara and Ryan Mountain, Chilli and Pepper, and the cat for a soft bed and the best (vegan) blueberry pancakes I've ever had.

Day the third! So we headed off towards Regina. We didn't have a show lined up, but we needed to make Winnipeg on Monday, so an 8 hour drive it was.

We slept in a Petcetera parking lot. I ate a triple decker peanut butter and banana sandwich, which was heavy on the peanut butter. Good stuff. Then we drank fireball and all piled into the Safari for a close quarters sleep.

Day the forth! An early morning drive heading to Winnipeg and a stop in the very small Whitewood for a little roadside fry-up. We're class to the max.

The journey continues. Tune in next time we locate free internet for more scintillating observations and hopefully focused photos.

Who are you? Danny Zuko.

In an effort to limber ourselves up in advance of tour, we headed down to Seattle and played a gig at the Comet Tavern.

With US visas all in order we blasted through dense traffic, ate some sample sandwiches, and vigilantly searched for a reasonable parking space. Highlights included performances by local acts Wah Wah Exit Wound and Panther Attack - super nice cats playing brain snapping music. A ridiculous amount of free tallboys and Seattle dogs (hot dog + cream cheese + fried onions) later we tried to crash a soul dance party but ended up tailing a couple new acquaintances back to their apartment for drinking / bb shooting / spell casting / snoozin'. On the way home I ate what was billed as a "giant" pancake; it was of average size.

Back in Vancouver - we slept on a floor for an hour and then loaded in at the Biltmore Cabaret - to open for Nomeansno and the Ford Pier Vengeance Trio. One of the best sets I think we've played, followed by the sonic revelry that is Ford and a Nomeansno onslaught. I don't think I can really express how radical that all was. So, instead of a thousand meandering words, here's a crappy cell phone photo of Nomeansno.



We leave friday on tour. Van upgrades are ongoing.

The quickening approaches!

So, we're heading out across the great expanse that is North America again, caps in hand, to play a whole bunch of shows in a whole bunch of cities. Nick L'Rage (VANeUS MAXiMUS) shows signs of weariness, but there is life in the old dog yet - he was built to safari or die trying.

Let's move on from the dying part and get to the good stuff!

We've just released a new EP, which is completely free for downloading
(here: http://manyourhorse.bandcamp.com/ )

That's exciting for us. We've also silk-screened a stack of new shirts and spray painted some more records too, so if you see us out there somewhere and we look dirty, malnourished or just plain old tired, buy something so we can drink heavily. It's all "inexpensive" and we're open to the bartering system (especially if you have some peanut butter for trade).

None of us are getting any prettier, so I'll wrap this up.

Thanks for reading the words. As the adventure continues we'll put things here depicting the arc of the adventure, so if you're into arcs, curves, or bends - you'll find it all here - brilliantly depicted in 800x600 72 dpi.

Here's one to get the ball rolling - courtesy of our pal Selina Crammond!