Tour Blog: Day Ten, the Final Day

We wait in eager anticipation for the gig tonight. This is the climax of the tour. The house has an air of anxious preparedness. Strings are being changed, gear is being loaded. Tonight we are not alone,as we are accompanied by good companions from another band playing the gig as well. It comes time to head out, and our vans form a nice little convoy headed to the heart of this metropolis.

We navigate the downtown streets, and the closer we get to the venue, the streets are bustling with activity. There is a bit of unrest with an occupation downtown, offset by people also just looking to have a good time. We pull up to the venue,and both vans get unloaded fast. As we storm the inside of the venue, I'm reminded of everything it took to get here. Years of playing in bands,and now we're here with good friends who are on the same mission as us, to annihilate this room with every scrap of energy we have left.

The show kicks off right. Our companions light up the stage,and I even get to do a guest spot on a song. It's an honor. They prime the audience for an intense night of rocking. It'll be a tough act to follow, but we'll give it our all.

When it comes time for us to hit the stage, we set up fast as always. We're not here to mess around. There's a lot of friends, new and old in the audience. We hit every note with all our force and capability, falling to the stage with tremendous weight, smashing into everything around us. I sing every line like it's my last, literally straining the ability for my body to hold together. I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head. They sing along, and the sense of cheer and common purpose is palpable. Our friends are holding us up, lifting us with their voices and raised hands.

I make sure we get it all out of our system, and then we bow off the stage. It's done, mission accomplished. Together, we destroyed one of the coolest places I've ever played, in front of an unsuspecting audience. We've made new fans, and we've finished what we set out to do. Soon we can finally rest. The tour has come to a close.

We say our goodbyes,and we're sorry to leave,but we're reassured by the knowledge that this isn't the last time we will be joined under the common purpose of rocking with our friends. The all-night van ride home is made bearable by the fact that we have an awesome tour under our belt now. We listen to music, talk about the funny and awesome stuff that happened along the way, and before we know it,we're back on familiar streets.

The road was awesome, the people were extraordinary with their hospitality, and the rarest of good memories and stories were formed. We left a piece of us wherever we went, and took an even greater piece with us. I can't wait to do it all again. Everything is good. I'd like to go up to every person I met on the road to give them a hug and thank them again, but I can't. I guess we'll just have to put it in a song.

Tour Blog: Day Nine

We file into the house. The folk here are a little bit different. The inebriated bands before us fumble through their sets, and we patiently wait to set up and flood the basement with our screaming instruments and boisterous melodies. The night is young, and so is this audience.

It's our turn, and we're in. We pierce the lulling vibe of the basement, and shatter the blissful atmosphere floating around this youthful crowd. We're here to pull them out of their trends and whatever small preconceptions they have about music and the world. We've been here longer. By the end, the bottom of this house is filled, and we share every intimate note we have prepared for them. We deliver it with such force that they have to reckon with us.

We've all sung along with each other now, and in our eyes we're good to go. Like a whirlwind,we were there,and we pack up and leave,and we're gone. Now it's time to shift gears and join our brother from another band.

We follow our comrade to his home, and he sets us up right. Before long we have a fire in the back yard, and we're right at home. Sharing tour stories, band influences, and filling the late night air with laughter, we congregate around the fire pit. The time just flies by, and finally we retire just shy of the sun rising. We're all in this together, and we're ready for the big finale tomorrow. There's going to be an amazing act to follow, but having this amazing time to share with them beforehand, I'll think we're going to just have one big collective throw-down and demolish the venue together.

Tour Blog: Day Seven and Eight

I love when you're getting near a big city at night, and you can start to see the glow on the horizon from an hour away. Soon we're in a red sea of brake lights, and we fight our way into the city. We get to the venue on-time somehow, and the night goes off without a hitch.

This city is a little more intense than the others. I can feel the energy from all the people around me,with their busy lives, and hardened nature. Don't get me wrong though, I love it. We kill it, and it's all good.

We're hosted for the night by a wonderful couple, and breakfast the next morning is great. I'm a man of simple tastes, and some good home brewed tea in a little black mug,with a bagel and cream cheese is all I need to start the day right. You have to appreciate the small things.

We load up in the van, and head downtown. Walking around this city, I feel a sense of history that the cities out west lack. Old brick and stone grace the sky right along with all the monstrous steel, and it stretches on and on and on. There's a lake that might as well be an ocean, and when we head to our next destination in the city, we follow the shore of it almost the whole way there.

I'm very excited about our stay tonight. I get to see and stay with an old friend and roommate that I haven't had a thorough visit with in ten years. We arrive and are greeted with all the warm hospitality we could ever expect. The scent and decor bring me back immediately to fond memories of late nights with soda,cigarettes, chocolate, and chess. A time in my life when reading and conversation was more than an ample supplement for having cable and a nine to five.

As the sun goes down, more and more lights get dimmed,and more and more candles get lit. Of course, there is an acoustic in my hands, and an impromptu performance follows a bountiful meal had earlier. This night is filled to the brim with intoxicating music and stories. As one by one people are pulled into sleep, my friend and I engage in a battle of chess. The second match is better than the first, but I am still defeated in a two game sweep. Ah, good times.

Now it's just the two of us, and it's far too late for any normal human being to be fully functional and firing on all cylinders, but we still decide to go out,brave the cold, and walk over to the lake. We get to the sandy beach, and head up the shore towards a lighthouse. A pitch black sea, with a backdrop of skyscrapers and apartment high-rises, and the sound of waves coming to rest on the rocks and sand are my current surroundings, and it's surreal.

We head out a narrow concrete path leading to the lighthouse,the cold ominous lake terrifyingly close on either side. There's not a soul in eyesight, which is hard to imagine in a city with such magnitude. We pause to take it all in, then head back. The night, now early morning, ends on a great note, and we crash.

Morning comes a little sooner than I would have preferred, but that's alright because a warm shower, and home cooked breakfast await upstairs. This is a nice reprieve from snacks in our mobile grocery store filled with junk food. This not only re-charges me for the rest of the tour, but will for a long time to come. I can't wait to see my old friend again, and it will not span a ten year gap between our next match of chess and wits.

Tour Blog: Day Six

We wandered into the bar last night,it was easy to spot. The one on the main strip with our name on the marquis. If that doesn't put a smile on your face,then I just don't know what will. It's the middle of the week, and we roll our equipment over the warped wooden floors of a bar that has seen hard times, floods, but has remained and endured it all. I love dirty little river towns, this is just like my home.

Tonight's a celebration, and all our good friends are here. It's the middle of the week, but there is nothing better to do, so why not have a few and listen to some music and rock out. Some are here to say goodbye, and some are here to say hello. Some are just here. Tonight we are all singing along, and getting along fine.

There's nothing like coming up for air after one of our songs, and looking out to a crowd that has their glasses raised and big smiles on their faces. There's cheers, there's singing along,there's everything one needs to have a great show. Some faces familiar, a few are new, all will be remembered after another great night of rocking.

After the show, we spend the evening with some of the coolest people on the planet. I'm never more content than when I am amongst my fellow musicians and artists. We all share a common bond from exposing our raw souls to the world, and having it all out there to be scrutinized by the general masses. But we keep each other going with encouragement, applauding each other along the way.

I'll be sad to leave this place, but I'll get back here soon. It's become a part of my being that I can't do without. Something about growing up in places that have nothing, forces you to make the most of anything and everything. I can identify with everyone in those small musty taverns, and I love serving as a reminder that they don't have to move to some hyped up over glorified hole on a coast to get what they need out of life. It's right here in front of you with six strings and a microphone.

Tour Blog: Day Five

We rolled into the venue a little early, and it's cold and rainy outside. The streets are empty, and the brick buildings stand tall in what's left of this old river town. When we walk through the side door in the alley to load in, I slowly pan across the room,and I'm brought back in time. This place feels like it was left here by a golden generation of jazz and blues and martini drinking people in suits. I love it.

The place is empty right now, but the sound guy fires everything up,and the stage is ours. We run through a couple toons, then the guys leave me to it, and I start writing a song. Once the verse and chorus are formed, I'm no longer alone and the bass and vocal harmonies kick in. I notice a silhouette in the back of the room. We have an audience now. Almost ready.

I run to the van, jot some lyrics down in my little book, then head back inside for a friendly game of pool. After getting schooled, we play our set. After the show,we go a few buildings over, where a friend has prepared mattresses for us to crash in his loft. Everything is different on the road. You get to catch glimpses into total strangers lives, and a piece of them enters your head as inspiration.

This place is full of inspiration. The loft is littered with musical instruments, and technology from bygone eras, carefully integrated with the new. This has a profound effect on me. So many people lack patience with their crafts, but this place does not. I learn that time can have the greatest effect on your art, and the more the better.

Tomorrow will be a better day, because it will overlap with all the days gone by, and all together they will make a bigger picture, with more depth. I won't forget this day, and it will go in the collective, and when the final image is posted, you'll catch a little glimpse of everything that inspired along the way. Can't wait for tomorrow.

All in all,the band has a few more friends,and of course better for it. Every time we play, I look at the other members of the band,and we smile at each other. It doesn't matter who's in the room with us,we are going to cut loose and let it all out. This is what we love to do.

Tour Blog: Day Four

I can remember driving through big cities when I was a kid, looking up at all the skyscrapers and thinking wow. And later as a young teenager,going through the massive streets, the concrete and glow of neon lights,and thinking that somewhere there was a place in all of this where a band could play, and it would be amazing. Last night, we found one of those spots,and it was exactly how I imagined.

It's strangely familiar, walking into a scene that's been in your head for years, and actually realizing,you're here, you're doing it. It's raining hard,and the streets are reflecting the red and blue glow from lights on skyscrapers. We're in the thick of it. The bar is off in the shadows of all the tall buildings, and it's trickling in people who are there to be impressed, nothing less. Every band that plays is better than the last, no messing around tonight. We're calm though,this is what we're here for, and we're ready.

We haul our stuff in fast, no messing around. When it's our turn to set up and play, we're efficient,and prepared. As soon as the sound man says go, we're on it. We explode with the first two songs,by the third, people we've never seen before are singing our songs with us, and the front of the stage is filling up with drinks offered up by the audience. They dig it. We slam the stage with everything we have, and then drape our tattered souls out for everyone to see. By the end, we've bared it all, and it all goes amazing.

Loading out, strangers are shaking our hands, and other bands are letting us know how well we've done. We came, we played, we did it. The soft blue glow of that stage, and the angry thumping of the speakers won't leave my head for a long time. The imagining of my youth, is now replaced with a fond memory. Hope I get to do it again soon.

Tour Blog: Day Three

Sunday,a day of rest. We have no show tonight,so we head to a hockey game,and then a very homely lasagna dinner. And,of course,the Walking Dead. We share food,laughs,and the feeling of family extending beyond blood to brothers and sisters brought together by friendliness. A clean house in a peaceful neighborhood,filled with hockey players,good people,and four rocker dudes with tattoos,who are treated no different than anyone else,with hospitality.

Early the next morning,ok,afternoon,we wake up and prepare for our next stop. We recharge our batteries, and take in a few performances on the tele to get the juices flowing again. It's all still in me,and I'm ready to let it out tonight.

We will depart this quiet,unsuspecting neighborhood soon,and everything will be as it was. I cannot say the same for the place we're heading to tonight. We will leave a little imprint of ourselves wherever we go,however small,and the seeds will be planted. That's part of the fun that goes into a tour,knowing that you're growing something. And with determination,it will pan out for better or worse eventually.

You just don't know. This could be the first of many,or the last. But,either way we're making something happen that upsets the natural order,or routines laid out for many, by introducing a new element to a place that has begun to settle. We upset the mold,and bring something new into the fold. We are travelers for now,and the road accepts what we graciously have to offer,new music and cheer for those willing to listen.

Tour Blog: Day Two

Back into the van. The show last night was a mission accomplished. For us, it's not about how many come through the door to see, but making the few that witness believe. This is the best thing I've ever been apart of, and it is good.

After the show we stay at a good friends. We're all night people, so eating breakfast at 1am, then drinking, breathing music until 5am is the natural course.

Everyone in the room has a guitar in their hands, and no communication is needed other than the smiles and nods, and notes shared by all. Every so often we come up for air, head out to the porch and sit around an old metal table that takes you back to childhood memories with grandparents. We time travel, while some smoke, and I'm just taking in the crisp fall air and time shared with some of the coolest people on the planet.

Now we're driving to the next destination along the road, Tom Waits is invading my ears, and seeping into my thoughts. I think tonight is going to be powerful. We are slowly spreading through the system of scenes throughout the Midwest. For better or worse, we are coming around.

I've always felt strangely at home on the road. I've always had a different currency, counting myself rich with good friends, and music and art. Being in the van, and bringing everything we truly value with us is more rewarding than slaving at a 9 to 5, and paying off that new whatever it is you think you need to have. It's not everyone's calling though, but for everyone in this van right now, it is.

I'd be lying if I said we have it rough, or we're starving artists, or something like that. The truth is, we all have big smiles on our faces, and people feed off that, and then they turn around and feed us. As long as the music keeps gas in our tanks, we're going strong.

To download The Tank whole album (320 kbps MP3), right click & choose (save as): http://bit.ly/twisthetank2011

Tour Blog: Day One

Spirits are high as we enter the van and hit the road. Dark pastels are all across the sky as the sun sets, and the only lights remaining will soon be headlights, and the soft glow of my phone as I write this. Ah, the new age.

I imagine from way up above, we are just a tiny lit vessel, traveling through the veins and arteries that connect our world. As we travel through the heart of the Midwest, we are pumped to electrify the venues and places that the road spills us on.

The White Stripes are banging out of the speakers in the van, setting the mood for what will surely be a soul filled adventure. We are fully charged, and ready to bare it all for total strangers, who will hopefully make the connection to our music and spirits, and be left with a sense of our longing to be something real.

This is what we do, and we're cramming it all in a van, and bringing it to you. Time to put my phone down, and release some of this energy I've stored up. Probably in the form of many bad jokes, some great notes, and a whole lot of love.

To download The Tank whole album (320 kbps MP3), right click & choose (save as): http://bit.ly/twisthetank2011

Upcoming Shows:

Nov 7, 2011 - Kansas City, MO (US) @ Czar Bar - w/The Slowdown & Phonologotronic & The Author and the Illustrator

Nov 8, 2011 - Burlington, IA (US) @ The Washington

Nov 9, 2011 - Keokuk, IA (US) @ Tipenecker's Tap - w/Nalani Proctor

Nov 10, 2011 - Chicago, IL (US) @ Stage Bar - w/NIGHTCAP & The Freakish Reasons & Up From The Wormwood

Nov 12, 2011 - Minneapolis, MN (US) @ Portland Lakehouse - w/the Trends & Pandora's Box Cutter & Ogre Smash Death Boom & Animal Gray

Nov 13, 2011 - Minneapolis, MN (US) @ 7th St. Entry - w/Johnnyrook & the Deadphones & Crooks and Shanks

Nov 23, 2011 - Ottumwa, IA (US) @ Kuhly's Bar & Grill - w/A Well Dressed Man & 12 Days Silent

Nov 26, 2011 - Keokuk, IA (US) @ CARS Pit Stop - w/North to the Future & Wrestling With Wolves

Dec 3, 2011 - Ottumwa, IA (US) @ The Outer Limits - w/The Mighty Accelerator & Pat Lanips & Burnout

See you out there!