Missin' it Already // Summer Tour 2014
Iām sitting here in my dining room trying to think of a good way to summarize this past week, but nothing clever or profound-sounding is really coming to mind. Maybe I tried so hard trying to outwit/outjoke the 7 other musicians I was with this week that thereās no creativity left in my head. But I do know that Iām never going to forget this tour. We knew that going out for a week-long tour with The Yugos was going to be a blast, but I donāt think we realized how much we would bond. We learned so much about each other, as bands and as individuals. And I think thereās too many inside jokes from the past 7 days to list. Weāve done a lot of laughing since Mondayā¦
Monday July 14 // Muncie, IN
Our first show was at a venue called Be Here Now in Muncie, Indiana. On our way there, the skies opened up and the wind picked up a ridiculous amount. I think all of us were secretly playing scenes of Twister in our own heads, wondering if weād even make it to the damn venue or just get sucked into a āclassic Indianaā tornado before our first show. Butā¦we made it. And when we showed up it was still raining. Kind of ironic that Be Here Now is primarily an outdoor venue, so we were a bit discouraged at first. But in the time it took to find a strange eagle mascot costume head, eat some dirt-cheap āGreekā pasta, and load our gear in, the sun had come out and we were good to go. During our set, we met a dude named āChefā and he told us that he liked us but if we āgave it 6 monthsā weād be much better musicians. Guess Iāll report back on our status next January. Anyway, we found a place to crash that nightā¦like all 9 of us sleeping on a very nice ladyās living room floor. We got bagels and coffee the next morning and trudged on to Kalamazoo on about 4 hours of sleep.
Tuesday July 15 // Kalamazoo, MI
Our first stop in Kzoo was this amazing breakfast spot called The Crowās Nest. Holy shit it was the best breakfast sandwich ever. After eating, we hung out in a used book store and talked to its owner about the history of Kalamazoo and how they used to be huge in the celery industryā¦ Fast forward through visiting a record store, walking 2 miles to the Kalamazoo public library to use their scanner, and playing football in a park, we loaded into the venue: Louieās Trophy House Bar and Grill. This place was CRAZY. There were taxidermy animals everywhere you looked, even a huge buffalo head behind the stage we played on. But we got to play with some cool bands called Squirrel Shaped Fish and Dogs In Winter. The drummer of Dogs in Winter, Nate, was super kind and let us crash at his parentsā house about an hour away. Hereās a picture of that:
Wednesday July 16 // Chicago, IL
After a pretty peaceful drive and a bathroom break in what seemed like the most quaint little lakeside town in Michigan, we finally arrived in Chicago. Our first stop was this metal-themed burger spot called Kumaās Corner (likeā¦they had a burger called Slayer). Jason and I ate these burgers at Lollapalooza a few years back and HAD to have them again. They were just as amazing as we remembered. After that, we met up with The Yugos and walked to the lake. That was a super cool momentā¦ just sorta realizing that we were in Chicago together for the sole purpose of playing music. Really reaffirming feelings on that lake. After that we headed to The Elbo Room. The sound guy at this place was incredibly talented and everything sounded amazing! The only problem was that no one in the bar knew how to do anything but watch stiffly from afar. Needless to say, it was the least-dancy/least-head-bobby set of our tour. At one point Christian from The Yugos told everyone that they were heartless and we all laughed and they all stared back. Good times. This really cool dude we actually met in Kalamazoo the night before let us crash at his place in Chicago that night and took us to coffee in the morning. His name is Parker and we suggested he change his name to ParkEST, cause he was the BEST.
Thursday July 17 // Ferndale, MI
The majority of Thursday was spent driving to Michigan. It was a back-tracking route type thing where we passed through Kalamazoo again on our way to Detroit. Ferndale is just outside of Detroit and we played at a venue called New Way Bar. It was pretty cool because we had honestly quite a few friends/family come out to see our show. By the end of the night, though, it was basically The Yugos playing to a select few (us) standing in the middle of a cleared out bar. Regardless though, it was one of the best shows of tour. The Yugos raged on and we all danced and sang and they played a song from like 4 years ago that they rarely play nowadays. The sound guy was super cool and was laughing and fist-pumping along. And the bar owner left us with a gracious amount of gas money for us to get homeā¦ I donāt think weāve ever experienced an offer so generous and kind. That night, we drove a few hours to my Uncleās house in Huron, Ohio and stayed the night. Frozen pizza and vintage 1970ās Playboy magazines is all I can say about that nightā¦
Friday July 18 // Cleveland, OH
On Friday we officially decided that weāre going to record new material THIS FALL. It was a really good day.
Saturday July 19 // Columbus, OH
One of the best shows weāve ever had in Columbus, hands down. Holy shit. A good amount of people came to check the show out at Rumba Cafe and I think itās safe to say we all had a really good time. Our friends Multimagic from Cincinnati played and so did PUBLIC from Cincinnati. By the time The Yugos went on, everyone had morphed into dancing mode. During our set, there was this amazing connection between us and the room, it felt super special and super right. We closed with a cover of āWeāre Going to be Friendsā by the White Stripes and The Yugos stormed the stage and helped us rage out to it. Even my mom was slamminā and dancinā around in the audience. It was an incredible way to end the tour.Ā
Thanks to everyone who supported and made this tour possible. Thanks to Dean for putting most of it together. Thanks to The Yugos for keeping our hearts warm. And thanks to everyone who listened and talked to us. Canāt wait to get back on the road again. New stuff on the way!
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