A Few Realizations

I feel like being on the road for the last week and a half or so has taught us all a significant amount about how this whole tour thing works. It's one thing to book the shows, plan the route, figure out where we're going to sleep, and rehearse the music, but something completely different to actually be out here. As someone who generally keeps to a regular schedule the rest of the time, the first thing I learned is that it's really easy to completely flip your sleeping schedule. Because we're only out here for about 2 and a half weeks, we're all trying to fit in as much "Rock and Roll" as possible. So for the week or so I don't think we went to bed before 4am ever, and most of the time it was more like 6. For us the "work day" starts in the afternoon when we start learning some new songs for cover nights and it doesn't end until 2am, when we get off stage anyways - so it makes it really easy to get into that routine. The second thing we learned is that it's really easy to spend too much money. Eating, drinking, occasionally needing socks or something of the like - it can add up in a hurry. So, we've been trying to get to grocery stores as much as we can as well as swapping bar beers for store bought beers where possible. This all makes a dent but really the thing to do was told to us by Sarah Smith from the Joys the second night we played with them in Ottawa. Play every night. Even if it's only for a meal or a bed. Every other tactic combined wouldn't yield the kind of result that Sarah's advice would. That's why we're trying to hookup at least some acoustic shows on the way back if nothing else. The list here could keep going for pages and pages, but in the interest of moving things along I'll sum up the many of the rest with this: We all love doing this. It seems funny and obvious to say at first, but when you think about it, playing almost everyday (most of the time for 3 hours + per night), living in very close quarters with three other dudes, driving for a few hours almost everyday, and having far fewer creature comforts than we would other-wise have at home - these things could very easily lead people to disliking touring. Luckily, and maybe amazingly, so far these things haven't gotten to us at all. In fact, travelling this relatively short distance has made us all start talking about going further next time, and even further the time after that. It turns out that we can handle being around each other for wildly extended periods of time, and when someone needs to have time for themselves it's no big deal to chill in a different room or toss on some headphones or whatever. Even though by the end of this we will have logged only two and a half weeks of touring, I can see many systems and strategies for doing this longer and better in the future falling into place. I'm convinced that with this group we can do this for a very long time if we can create that opportunity for ourselves. Mat

Thoughts about the first couple of days out

Technically we've been on tour for a week or so now, but it didn't really start until last night. A late night of beer and Euchre is making the thought of being on the road settle in a bit. We enjoyed the crowds of Ottawa last night and will again tonight before leaving (on monday) for Saint John, NB. The Joys were amazing last night, as usual. They're definitely veterans of the stage!

Right now we're enjoying the hospitality of Eric's mother's place - which means pancakes and fresh coffee in the morning. However, I get the feeling this will be in stark contrast to the rest of the tour once we all pile in the van start sleeping on floors. However, that being said, we're all reeling with excitement to get out there.

I'll keep posting stuff on this as time goes by. Probably some videos and pictures as well.

Talk to y'all soon!

Mat