RecCenter.com

This tour began with a 16 hour drive from N.15th street Brooklyn, NY all the way to Rockford, Il. There is nothing unusual about starting a tour with a long drive, but there is something very rare in having five consecutive weeks off before said tour. Five weeks “home” makes you almost feel like a normal human being again. It’s the longest vacation we have had since March when we began touring, first with Haste the Day, in support of our last record Holding a Wolf by the Ears. Since March we have played x shows, and have been very fortunate with touring opportunities. When you tour consistently like that you get hardened. You feel like you could stay on the road forever, completely comfortable with discomfort, and always a challenge to find a clean toilet. After five weeks vacation you shed that thick skin, 16 hours in the van might as well be ten years, your senses are not as sharp, maybe. You need to readjust to life on the road, or else I’m just trying to make up an excuse for my absent minded move of leaving a brand new jacket in the motel room on the very first night. Been cold ever since.

Next day we drove to Madison, WI. We had just parked in front of the club and were getting out of the van when a minivan ran through a red light and collided with a motorcycle. Hearing the sound of the impact we looked towards the intersection saw a body, motionless in the center of the road. Face covered in blood.

Luckily he was wearing a helmet, which most people in Wisconsin that I saw were riding without helmets since there is no law. Paramedics responded quickly. While they were trying to move the body onto a stretcher the man regained consciousness and began to panic when he realized what had happened. An old couple that had been driving the vehicle sat on the curb sobbing. We stood on the sidewalk with some other spectators because even though there isn’t much you can do to help it’s impossible to walk away. I felt sick to my stomach thinking about the aforementioned five week vacation during which my only means of transportation was a Harley-Davidson Superglide, and how people drive like shit. Otherwise the show was fine except for a fight or two.

We played North and South Dakota. Both shows were such a good time. We saw an amazing display of thunder and lightning driving across the great plains. Flashes of light so frequent and constant it looked like stage strobes. That was an overnight drive from Souix Falls to Colorado Springs. Great show except for a brass knuckles episode.

Show was followed by a 16 hour drive from Col. Springs to Reno, Nevada. We played across the street from Carl, the Aqua-teen neighbor. He had frequent encounters with a girl we affectionately referred to as “tweaked-out-Tina”. Carl had a meth lab in the basement. We were sure of it. That show was great until there was a cloud of pepper spray let loose during our second song. It made the rest of the set pretty difficult to enjoy. I’m told the security guards were spraying kids with pepper spray for dancing. Who knows what really happened. Either way I’m in no rush to go back to Stoney’s in Reno.

The fun meter is on maximum.