What a crazy past couple weeks it's been. I'm writing this from Hamilton. One of the first times we've made it to a city early and with enough time to get our bearings before playing. We've finally got our full bands back together and are playing our own gear again.
The first night of the tour we were to play in
Golden but after toiling in Coquitlam (to get a trailer) for 3 hours we realized there was no way we were going to make it. We got on the phone to the Whitehouse in Kelowna to see if their offer of a private house party was still standing... it was! The Whitehouse was amazing and Renee, Heather, and Laura put us up after... thanks for the french toast (a hit!). Unfortunately, I lost the right to say "I love french toast" in a rock, paper, scissors match with Scott... doh!
After our first show we got a text from the rest of the crew stating that the van was F&!@'d. We lost the rear differential. Right at the start of a long weekend! Cory, from The Mohawk Lodge, and Leah, from Octoberman, stayed to sort it out with the auto shop. The next day they realized it was going to take another 4 days so they jumped in a rental car and caught up to us in Edmonton. Troopers! We were missing them in Calgary and played through Rocky Fortune's gear. Ian from Flemish Eye put us up at his house... thanks!
Lethbridge was great aside from the requests for Elvis or Led Zeppelin covers ~ ha! After that show we decided the best plan of attack was for a make-shift band of The Mohawk Lodge and Octoberman to roll on while four people went back to Kelowna to get the van. This time it was Arch, Scott Freeman, C.L. Mclaughlin and Graham Christofferson who stepped up to the plate. They drove the 9 hours back, waited four hours for the van and then drove 36 hours straight to catch up to us in Thunder Bay after our Apollo show ~ awesome! Unfortunately they arrived at seven in the morning - post show - with no idea what time it was, what day it was and what their names were. The four of them did have some new ideas for a band called Delta 4's who only cover Black Flag and Smith's songs (think of Morrisey singing "T.V. Party" ; if that's not funny to you then stay up for three days and you'll get it.)
Thunder Bay at the Apollo was really cool. Marc was playing bass for The Mohawk Lodge off of chord charts I made for him a few nights earlier and it really started to click after three days of me slaughtering Octoberman songs and vice versa. There were some Kids These Days fans in the audience too so we played a couple of those numbers, seeing as there weren't a lot of songs from each others sets we were really comfortable with. The Apollo stuffed us full of food and the crowd was amazing ~ dance party!
Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Kitchener and Guelph were all good times too. Sudbury rocked. We all mastered our own Don Cherry impressions, C.L. from Octoberman got punched trying to break up a local fight, and Arch from the Lodge performed his traditional "tighty white'y" march through the band room...including a stint on the 1980's treadmill which he swears not to remember.
We played live on CFRU in Guelph yesterday. Thanks to Vish Khanna and crew! I sang my heart out during the live show and am currently looking for a Witch Doctor to rescue my lost voice. Green tea and Jagermeister will have to do. If you have suggestions for a quick vocal chord remedy, email us! Marc from Octoberman had to play last night sitting down as he pulled out his shoulder... Normally a perfect gentleman, the painkiller's he was on loosened his respectable lips enough to come close to breaking a golden rule: what happens on the road, stays on the road! He was off to the hospital today.
Writing this I'm realizing what a gong show it's been. Despite this, we've played our hearts out every night, made every show so far of 23 straight dates and had a blast! In fact, we have the BEST crew ever! I haven't heard anyone whine about anything and i haven't laughed so hard in a long time.
Footnote for the CBC R3 fans. There's been at least one of you out every night and some of you who drove hours. Thanks everyone!
I'll try and keep you all posted again a little sooner than later.
Cheers,
Ryder / The Mohawk Lodge
ps. upcoming shows include CMJ, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and more! Check out our
show dates, or invite your friends through the
open event.