Spring Tour Diary - 2016

[tedious1]

Wow a little cold and grammar goes right out the window...

Prolly my last update from the road, just hours from home now. Last night was a good take, 270, plus merch. The singer, who generally tracks finances, hasn't crunched the numbers yet, but he's cautiously optimistic.

The guitar player has started laying out next year's edition, some cities/venues will be getting it in the neck, replaced with others we found out about this trip, like a micro brewery that we can tour in the afternoon and play in the evening...

We also have a couple more short legs coming up later this month, one doing the cities in Alberta with a band we met last year, and another doing Vancouver and the Island with Riot Porn.

And I'll be updating this thread with some more content when I get a chance over the next few days, mostly more pictures.

Thanks for tuning in!

 

[McG]

like a micro brewery that we can tour in the afternoon and play in the evening...

That could be fun and dangerous at the same time

Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks for the reports. It's been a blast following your tour.

 

[tedious1]

So some additional photos, probably still more to come, I think we're all taking a couple down days since getting home...

Actually looking at it, I think this was from a show late last year, not from this tour, but we didn't have our usual 'roadie' so until the photos start to trickle in from other folks, this was one I could quick post.

Tour poster.

Shot of us, Raygun Cowboys and the Owner of the Black Pirates Pub in Thunder Bay, ON. Great guys, and a good time, next year we're flipping things a bit and starting the tour later, so we hit the Black Pirates anniversary bash on the way out instead of the way back.

Lead vox, touch of drummer, from Sudbury, the guy was taking photos all night, but only sent us 6 pictures of the singer...weird.

Some shots from Coalition in Toronto, taken by an old friend from University. His major was Social Work, not photography...

If/when more photos come in, I'll post 'em and we've got a few more shows lumped under this tour on separate legs, so I'll post for those too.

But I'll just take this opportunity to thank everyone once again for tunning in, and special thanks to:
@Zebra
@Oddly
@trailer
@McG
@Ubersheist
@dbase
@Jimmy4string
@BawanaRik
@kjones
@Ender_rpm
@StayLow
@Bassammich
@rllefebv
@seanm
@b/o 402
for dropping in and reading and liking/posting feedback and such, nice to know your thread is getting views and I appreciate all the support from all of you.

One very last special thanks goes out to @BassCliff whose gig reports really got me thinking of a tour diary, and whose likes are littered all over this thread, thanks again!

 

[Bassammich]

And thank YOU for sharing your tour with all of us! It's been a very fun read!

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. tedious1,

So some additional photos, probably still more to come, I think we're all taking a couple down days since getting home...
View attachment 860271
Actually looking at it, I think this was from a show late last year, not from this tour, but we didn't have our usual 'roadie' so until the photos start to trickle in from other folks, this was one I could quick post.
View attachment 860272
Tour poster.
View attachment 860274
Shot of us, Raygun Cowboys and the Owner of the Black Pirates Pub in Thunder Bay, ON. Great guys, and a good time, next year we're flipping things a bit and starting the tour later, so we hit the Black Pirates anniversary bash on the way out instead of the way back.
View attachment 860273
Lead vox, touch of drummer, from Sudbury, the guy was taking photos all night, but only sent us 6 pictures of the singer...weird.
View attachment 860281 View attachment 860282 View attachment 860283
Some shots from Coalition in Toronto, taken by an old friend from University. His major was Social Work, not photography...

If/when more photos come in, I'll post 'em and we've got a few more shows lumped under this tour on separate legs, so I'll post for those too.

But I'll just take this opportunity to thank everyone once again for tunning in, and special thanks to:
@Zebra
@Oddly
@trailer
@McG
@Ubersheist
@dbase
@Jimmy4string
@BawanaRik
@kjones
@Ender_rpm
@StayLow
@Bassammich
@rllefebv
@seanm
@b/o 402
for dropping in and reading and liking/posting feedback and such, nice to know your thread is getting views and I appreciate all the support from all of you.

One very last special thanks goes out to @BassCliff whose gig reports really got me thinking of a tour diary, and whose likes are littered all over this thread, thanks again!

Thank you for taking us along for the ride! I enjoyed all the pictures and reading about your adventures. Until next time!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[McG]

I'll add my thanks for taking us along with you. Glad you had a fun and safe tour. Keep on rockin'

 

[Ender_rpm]

Now I feel Like I need beard dye.....

Great stuff man, thanks!!!

 

[seanm]

Thanks for the thread! It was a LOT of fun.

 

[Jimmy4string]

Great stuff tedious! keep livin the dream!

 

[tedious1]

Leg 2, short, just 2 shows Edmonton and Calgary (home).

First up Edmonton:

DV8 - third invocation of this venue. Still in the process of rebranding. 5 band bill tonight, we count as the 'local' draw.

 

[tedious1]

First band, Sh*t Liver, they opened the nite we played in Sault Ste Marie as well. Tight, not my cuppa, but very tight:


Next up will be The Rhubarbs, who really are local...

 

[tedious1]

The Rhubarbs:

Pretty good band, I think we've played with them once before, at least the bass player (go figure) looks familiar...

 

[tedious1]

Third band, Hard Up, acoustic folk/punk, great band, great kids. Their sub bass player put us up in Montreal. Their bass player borrowed my rig, house was short a DI, sounds pretty damn good. Fun band to have on a bill, makes a nice change up. Someone talked about that in another post...I've always loved playing with acts that are out of our sub-genre, even bands like tonight's opener, not my cuppa, but more than one person tonight will buy merch from both bands...

Shut up Tedious, post the pics:

 

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Third band, Hard Up, acoustic folk/punk, great band, great kids. Their sub bass player put us up in Montreal. Their bass player borrowed my rig, house was short a DI, sounds pretty damn good. Fun band to have on a bill, makes a nice change up. Someone talked about that in another post...I've always loved playing with acts that are out of our sub-genre, even bands like tonight's opener, not my cuppa, but more than one person tonight will buy merch from both bands...

Shut up Tedious, post the pics:
View attachment 866494 View attachment 866495 View attachment 866496 View attachment 866497 View attachment 866498 View attachment 866500

A band like that has got to be a trip. Would you happen to have any links to their music?

Keep up the good work!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[McG]

Third band, Hard Up, acoustic folk/punk, great band, great kids.

I'd love to hear those guys. Acoustic folk/punk with an upright and a banjo. Now THAT's unique

 

[tedious1]

@McG , @BassCliff

We are playing with them again tonite, I'll ask, but offhand I think they have a bandcamp page, and I know they have an FB page.

I'm kind of envious, actually. But Mrs Tedious gave me a green light on a DB awhile back, and that would be an excuse for proper lessons...maybe a new band is in order... Go a more bluegrass...ha...Punkgrass, route, but I digress.

Late night, the opener made the classic passive-aggressive play, they aren't exactly green, so someone's G string was backwards...

So we are prolly putting the Ripcordz policy in place. First the Ripcordz have double our longevity (36 years) and are definitely landmarks in most Canadian punk scenes at one point or another in that time. Second, and the point, if you have a five band bill including the Ripcordz, they play 4th...

Anyways, Riot Porn:


Hanging at the Father-out-law's with Mrs. Tedious, dinner, maybe a nap and then off to Vern's, the venue for this evening. Another late one on the cards, Hard Up heads East, and Riot Porn West, though we'll be seeing them again for Leg 3!

 

[tedious1]

OK, so first thing, it's hardup.bandcamp.com for Hard Up's stuff, a bunch of it is essentially pay what you can, the latest rage up here for shows and low hanging merch like stickers and patches.

Didn't get too many shots on Saturday, and slept most of yesterday, so here are the photos in any case:

So the venue, outside is nothing special, just a door with Vern's over top of it, but the inside:


Special Edisons - Instrumental Surf punk:

The drummer was our sub drummer for last year's tour, great guy, nice to see him in his native habitat...

Next up Mandible Klaw, featuring Calgary's Drum Whore (you know your a punk musician in Calgary, 'cause you've played with Mikey Blotto):


And some more shots of Hard Up, sorry missed most of Riot Porn locked in Conversation with the guys from Hard Up and Mandible Klaw, and the couple I did manage were pointless - underexposed, I somehow got my flash turned off. But in any case, once again Hard Up:


Anyways, that's it for a couple weeks until we do Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. As previously mentioned, we'll see Riot Porn out that way, and we'll introduce y'all to Spree Killers and Gnar Gnars...

 

[tedious1]

OK, so we finally finished all the stops on this years tour, below are the photos from last weekend. So without further delay:

Thursdays Venue:


First up, the local draw, Spree Killers out of Vancouver:



Switch out the drum kit, leaving the backline in place for the night, next up Gnar Gnars out of Victoria:



And y'all met Riot Porn before:



Not a great turn-out, not bad, but I had no trouble getting good photos.

So we slept in the Van in a lot beside the venue, we did have a couple of offers, but nobody really in shape to drive, and most of them were further from the ferry we needed to catch on Friday than the parking lot.

So Friday we hit the Ferry (and I know Basscliff would have managed a few shots of the passage, but go back to post 1 on that score...) and crossed over to Vancouver Island. Did a little sightseeing (back to post 1 if you're looking for pictures...) and ran into some friends in the after noon.

Hmm, pictures limit, time for a new post...

 

[tedious1]

Continuing on, Fridays Venue:


Then we have the Spree Killers, their drummer is fussy, the rest of us happily mixed and matched a backline as we went. Chatting to the drummer after Saturdays show and he won't have any reservations in the future, at least not with us:


Then Gnar Gnars again:


And, once again Riot Porn.


Since it was so much easier to handle the post by pushing up the files, inserting all of them and then adding text, (refer back to post 1...) I'm going to do a third post for Saturday....

 

[tedious1]

And here we go, Saturday in Nanaimo, none of the bands except Gnar Gnars have played there, but the guys in Gnar Gnars have all played there with other bands.

First the venue:

As it is a hostel, we got a room, didn't get a great shot of it, but stuffed full with two bunks, a private bathroom, and a chair, the height of luxury compared to the bench seat in the Van...

Gnar Gnars opened this show:


Followed by Riot Porn:


And lastly, Spree Killers, only a couple of shots this time, the booze caught up with me...:


Finally a couple of shots from others:

That be us at Funky's on Thursday night.

Yours truly, the dye job was a turquoise, the red lights are washing it out, but one pass held the entire weekend, much better mileage than I was getting from the purple.

So after some 12,000 km, 2 weeks, and 2 weekends, Spring tour is done!

We have a show booked at the end of the month opening for Leftover Crack (green beard for that one!), which should be off the hook, and we stumbled on to some free or near as free to make no difference recording time early in July, but after that we go on hiatus again, at least 6 months or so, unless something comes along we have to play, then we'll cram and spin up real quick... Singer needs these breaks to keep from snapping and pulling the plug altogether. I'm happy because this time he told us, instead of just kinda engineering it (he used to do the bookings, so he kinda had to say something this time...)

So the guitar player and I will write, we'll get together with the drummer and make sure he's in the loop, like that, I've been writers blocked recently, but found myself starting to write again in my head over the weekend, so apparently brain knows what it is supposed to be doing now.

And it's edumehcation time, thinking I'll be picking up a DB and taking some lessons, although banjo is calling to me too, and I know the guitar player is contemplating Mandolin, so maybe hiatus will involve the genesis of the Melon Farmers, which is the phrase A&E would use to mask our band name when showing Repo Man, and should be a perfectly serviceable name for a folk/punk band... But we'll see how that develops over the rest of the year.

Thanks again for dropping in, while I expect photos to keep trickling in from others, I'm less sanguine that I'll actually get them posted here.

I'll close off with a reminder to myself of what I want to do differently with the tour diary next year:
1) More photos outside of venues, bands, rigs and crowds - it's not a gig report, it's a tour diary, what comes between shows is as much a part of the landscape as the shows themselves.
2) Mini-interviews? - Nothing fancy, three or four canned questions I can ask someone from other bands, try to flesh out the photos of the musicians with some small amount of detail.
3) More photos of us - I have an idea on this score...
4) Video/sound clips - I did record (sound only) a couple of the shows, but I haven't played them back yet, so I haven't figured out how badly I've messed it up... But, now that I have the recorder, I'm sure I'll figure out how to use it to good effect.