Leave Cleveland as fast as you can

Our drive from Ann Arbor to Cleveland was less than 3 hours, but it felt like the longest drive of our trip. We were all feeling the imminent end of the tour, and we weren't sure how we felt about it. We pulled into Cleveland and went straight to the venue, Tower 2012.














As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw Nick (the guy who booked this show for us) biking onto the property. Nick quickly welcomed us, as did some friendly people hanging out on the rooftop.

Tower 2012 is a DIY art-performance space. It's really a house that happens to have a very large open room on the ground floor. Nick and a few roommates live upstairs, and another two guys sleep in the basement.

Four bands were slated to play the show. During the first band, Dom's family -- who'd driven an hour and a half from Brookfield, OH to see us -- arrived at the club. It was good to chat with the lot of them, which included Dom's little sister, his parents, his aunt and his "cumad," which is an Italian word that basically means "good friend of the family."

We went on second, and started our set off really strong. We had a great crowd and they liked us right off the bat. However, after the first song, SMV's keyboard batteries died. The song "2012" is usually saved to close the set, and we had especially wanted to end with it at Tower 2012 (!), but because it is solely a guitar and drums song, we decided to revamp the set and play it second. This allowed SMV to attend to her keyboard.

Unfortunately, in the repair process, which was taking place in a darkened room, SMV knelt down in a pile of puke, and covered herself and part of her keyboard in it! She was a trooper, though, and made no mention of it upon her return. She miraculously got her keyboard working by the end of "2012," and all three of us resumed playing the set.

We put on a strong show, but it definitely felt bittersweet. Last shows of a tour usually do. We played our hearts out and the crowd was eating it up, and yet it felt like we were in a state of suspended animation, watching it all happen from above, from outside of our bodies. It was an eerie experience of disassociation.

There happened to be a bench inside the venue that had the words "Leave Cleveland as fast as you can" spray-painted onto it.














It felt very synchronistic to see that at our last show of the tour. It reminded us of how touring is a constant process of change and movement. It also spoke to the ambivalence we were feeling: partly, it was clear we were all ready to get back to home, that it was the right time for this whole thing to be over. But it was also a reminder of how important it is to enjoy each moment as it comes, because nothing ever lasts, no matter how much you might want it to.

We spent the ride back to Dom's house that night mostly in silence.

Anarchy in Ann Arbor

We had it all planned out perfectly -- we would leave Chicago at 2pm to get into Ann Arbor at 6pm for load-in. Halfway through the trip, one of us happened to look at a cell phone to check the time -- it was an hour later than expected! We forgot to take into account the transition from Central to Eastern time when you leave Illinois!

So, by the time we arrived in Ann Arbor, the first band was already mid-set at the anarchist punk house where the show was being held. The house has been dubbed "Raw Haus" and has a sign on the front porch announcing itself as such.














Six bands were scheduled to play that night. By the time the fourth band went on, it was about 10pm and we were chatting with some locals outside. All of a sudden, a police car rolled up to the house. A nice (and, yes, good-looking) police woman approached and issued the house a noise warning. She could have written a ticket right on the spot, but said she was willing to work with us if we promised to bring the volume down. The fourth band had to be cut short because they were simply too loud. But members of the house, the remaining bands and the audience came together to put up extra sound proofing so that we and the 6th band could still go on.














Even after pillows, blankets and foam were added to all the windows surrounding the performance area, we still had to play our set at half the volume we normally would, and also had to limit our usually frantic onstage movement. Dom later jokingly referred to this as our "jazz set." Perhaps not the best venue for a subdued, polite set, but we still had fun.

After the show, we crashed over at our friend Karen's place -- right next door! While eating some much-needed pizza that we had delivered, we watched a documentary about Karen's band, The Pussy Pirates. They are fantastic -- sort of like early Erase Errata meets the Slits. Check them out!

The next day we had some time to kill, so we did a little sightseeing around Ann Arbor. It's a very quaint college town, and the U. of Michigan campus is quite pretty.














Up next: Cleveland -- the last stop on the first leg of our summer tour!

Chillin' in Chi-town

We left Iowa City as soon as we got up and hit the road to Chicago. We were eager to get there as soon as possible. All of us were getting a little stir-crazy and needed some big city love. SMV was so restless she took more than 50 pics of the endless fields and old barns that dotted the landscape between the Mississippi River and Chicago.




























Finally, the big city came into view.














Our good friend Mark (pictured below) greeted us at his apartment when we arrived in town. His place is gorgeous, and Mark gave us the 5-star treatment all weekend long. We completely took over his space and thoroughly enjoyed his spacious, sparkling-clean shower.


















Mark showed us around town for a bit before our show and we had a scrumptious dinner in the quickly-gentrifying but still cool Wicker Park 'hood. Then we headed over to Ronny's Bar for the show.



















There, we met up with the ladies from Lemmy Caution, who helped organize this show with us. LC have not been together long but played a killer set of classic riot-grrrl punk -- if they come through your town, check them out! Members of the band are also part of Girls Rock Camp Chicago.

We played next, and it was AWESOME (video to come when we have access to faster Wi-Fi!). We had some old friends in the audience including Joe Graziano, who played bass in Lisa's first band, Danger, Giant Ranger! The whole crowd was enthusiastic and full of energy. Ronny's is kind of a dive, but that's what's so great about it. The vibe is very DIY and people were genuinely excited to see non-mainstream music.

After us, Team Band and Coltrane Motion played. Team Band is a good party band -- they rock out in matching mechanics' uniforms and just have a lot of fun onstage. Coltrane Motion (pictured below) is a guitar/keyboard duo that meshes sampled drumbeats and hip-hop-esque vocals with indie rock soundscapes. They are really innovative and put on a great show.














After the music ended, our good friend Conor (originally from Ireland) and his pal Elisa took us to an incredible speakeasy-style bar called The Violet Hour. It's a very classy but unpretentious joint that serves delectable old school cocktails. All the waiters and hosts are dressed to the nines, and you really feel taken back in time to the '20s or '30s.

Sunday was our one and only day off from tour, and we needed it. We spent the day gallivanting all over Chicago, including a trip up to the top of the Hancock building for an incredible -- and sometimes dizzying -- view of the city.














After an excellent brunch Monday morning at Bongo Room (you must go there if you are passing through town -- the pancakes are heavenly!), it was off to Ann Arbor for our second to last show....

Iowa City

We left Omaha pretty early. The drive east through Iowa was a another very pretty one, at least for the first few hours (by the time you hit Des Moines the landscape flattens out a bit and the roads become slightly more congested). There were some threatening and impressive storm clouds out in the distance, but it never did rain.














Other than the landscape itself, we also enjoyed watching the Kum & Go gas station pop up every so often.














We rolled into Iowa City around 5pm or so. We've been using Google directions the whole tour, and we took exit 224, Dubuque St., to get into town and head over to the club. However, as soon as we got off the exit, we were stopped in our tracks. We witnessed first-hand the extensive damage the flooding has done to Iowa. It was pretty eerie walking down to the flooded area -- it had a terrible smell of decay. The reflection of the trees makes it hard to discern at first, but try to spot where the road ends and the water begins in the pic below. (That's Dom walking back after having a look at the damage.)

We obviously had to find another way to The Mill. We called up the club, and the door guy, Seth, gave us alternate directions. We finally arrived and met up with the band Mannix! who helped organize the show. It was bass player Sarah's birthday, and she was preparing balloons and streamers for the festivities. She also made stellar cupcakes for the occasion.

The Mill gave us band prices for dinner, which was awesome -- half-off! We had a little time to kill before our set so we walked around town. A street festival was going on nearby the club in support of flood relief efforts, and the band that was on was doing some great covers and had attracted quite a crowd. Also, the University of Iowa is in Iowa City, and the campus is sprawling and beautiful. The main buildings have a very imposing, classical design.

We played a good set at The Mill and sound guy Sam did an amazing job with the mix. Two out of three of us actually thought this was our strongest show of the tour to this point. The Puritanicals followed and they had a classic '80s alt-power trio sound with great vocals. Mannix! closed the show and put on a very drunken and very fun set to celebrate Sarah's birthday.

Afterwards, Andre from the Mission Creek Music Festival kindly housed us at his apartment. He's a terrific guy who writes about music and organizes shows in Iowa City and San Francisco. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with him, but he was definitely a very cool guy and good people.

Chicago next!

Omaha, somewhere out in middle America

On the drive up to Omaha from Kansas City, we ran into a bad rainstorm. We had to pull off the road several times because the rain was so heavy that we could barely see the road in front of us. However, when the light did break through and the storm calmed, the landscape we saw was magnificent. The I-70 might have had some lovely backdrops, but driving up the I-29 was an entirely more affecting experience -- one we won't soon forget. It was one of the most beautiful drives anywhere in America we've ever done. It was desolate, pristine, quiet, sublime. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

























































We rolled into the Saddle Creek Bar to play our set around 9pm. We were a little late because of all the delays on the road. The bar was pretty dead as the rain was still falling and kept the crowd away. There were a few diehards having beers and shooting pool, however.















Mike, who runs the bar, is a very cool guy and can talk your ear off about guitars and effects pedals. He's a great guy and did a terrific job on the sound for us.

We played a really good set, but it was more like band practice than a show. All was not lost, however, because it was good to tune up on some songs we hadn't been playing much.

The bar was a dive, but had a lot of quirky character. Check out the soap dispenser in the ladies bathroom.














That night, we headed out of the center of the city to stay in a motel. It was nice to be back in real beds. Unfortunately, though, we saw almost nothing of Omaha, but the beauty of the landscape surrounding it made our trip more than worthwhile. It was almost like discovering America for the first time.

Iowa City next.

We heart Kansas City!!!

Wednesday night we rolled into Kansas City. A good friend of ours, Ashley Weaver (on the far right in this picture), convinced us to come all the way out to to the heartland, and we were not disappointed! Ashley took us in and fed us a yummy homemade lasagna, then we were off to Crosstown Station for the show. There, we met up with the other bands, Ste. Simone and Mr. History.


















Mr. History had an impressive visual show. They were a big band (7 people), and had a huge sound. Ste. Simone were on second, and they helped organize the show with us. Tara, the lead singer, is awesome! Her voice is dark, ala PJ Harvey, and she gave an amazing performance. In her non-rock star life, Tara is a birthing coach. Rock on!

We headlined and closed the show. The sound onstage was amazing, and we played one of our best sets. Ashley captured this cool pic of SMV rockin' the keys.














After the show, we met this woman named Jen. She saw us four years ago at Ladyfest Columbus. She happened to see a writeup about our KC show in the local weekly (The Pitch), and came out to see us again after all these years. How awesome is that?

People really dug and got us in KC. The folks there were edgy and cool. We *heart* Kansas City.

After the show, we got down and partied with the other bands and Ashley. Good times!














We then headed to Ashley's to crash, and she was an incredible host. She let us take over her apartment and computer, and let us do laundry. She also carted us over to The Hen House, an awesome local grocery store.

Omaha next!

The Kids are alright in St. Louis

Heading from Indianapolis to St. Louis, the fact that we were in the heartland really started to sink in. Cruising down the I-70, which is an east-to-west route that covers two-thirds of the U.S., the grandness and vastness of middle America's open spaces became ever more apparent. The scenery, though fairly constant, is breathtaking in its scope, and even sometimes overwhelming. We saw lots of crops being tended to by farmers in massive machinery, old barns barely managing to stay upright, farmhouses both modest and impressive, and endless fields of grain.














Some funny things we saw along the route: a sign for "Lu-Bob's Home Cooking," a "cow mobiling" vehicle packed with live cattle, and a sign for "foot-high pies -- actual size!"

Pulling into St. Louis, the famous Arch looked spectacular. Pictures don't do the structure justice. The Mississippi River was also a sight to behold. Mighty, swift, mysterious. You could see the effects of all the recent rain on the Midwest, though, as the river had spilled over into areas along the shore where it clearly didn't belong.




























Our show that night was at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, a community center geared toward teenagers that offers workshops, exhibitions and a safe place for kids to hang out. They also put on all-ages, alcohol-free rock shows on a regular basis, and some fantastic bands have come through there, including Xiu Xiu. We got to play with an incredible all-instrumental band from Asheville called Ahleuchatistas. If you're into out-jazz and progressive styles of rock, make sure you check this band out. They've got stuff out on John Zorn's label, Tzadik. A heavy local band called Dhat also played, and the kids in the crowd really got into their sludgy thrash-core.

We were a little disappointed that there weren't more girls in the audience, which was dominated by metal-listening teenage boys (no offense at all to metal-listening teenage boys -- Dom was one of them not too long ago, and we love Dom to death -- but it would have been cool to have a more mixed crowd), but we were thrilled that most of the girls who were there went home with CDs of ours that night. The guy who runs the center, Mark, was also extremely gracious and treated us to a wonderful homemade meal before the show.















We were supposed to crash on the center's couches that night, but opted to upgrade to a hotel. Four nights in a row of floors, couches and aero-beds were finally catching up with us.














The hotel, just a basic, bare-bones, one-star joint, was like the Taj Mahal for us. We slept well!

Next up: Kansas City!

Boozin' in Indy

Monday night we played an *AMAZING* house party in Indianapolis at our friend Steve Molyneux's house. Steve just moved in two weeks ago to this lovely spot.

Steve is a phenomenal artist and musician himself; he was a member of the now sadly departed band A Poet Named Revolver (find their music any way you can!). Steve and his gal Marisa took us in and cooked us an awesome tofu curry dish. They also had a beautiful cat named Isha who was very shy and very seductive.

We played the house party with a great band from Bloomington called Dust From 1000 Years (pictured below). They were so quiet they didn't have to mic vocals, but their whispers drew you in seductively. You wanted to lean in and hear every note.

We were up next, and played one of our best sets ever. The energy was through the roof, or in this case the basement, and a lot of dancing was taking place.

We also met this local fellow named Jake who ran to his house twice to pick up an extra mic and boomstand for us. Thanks, Jake!

Before the show, neighbor Enos came and chatted with us for a bit. He introduced himself as an alcoholic and was sipping his own bottle of "Dark Eyes" vodka. He brought over a photo album and showed us pictures from throughout his life as a mechanic and as a military man. He also told a lot of great stories, especially one about being the only guy to ever get let out of jail on July 4th weekend in some small, notoriously tough town in Alabama because he was slightly less drunk than everyone else in the car he'd been driving and the cops wanted them all out of there. But Enos eventually ran out of vodka and had to interrupt his storytelling to run out and get another bottle! Hilarious.

Lights out in Columbus

So we forgot to mention that after our show in Pittsburgh, we drove back to Dom's parents' house in Brookfield, OH. The drive is only supposed to be an hour, but it took almost two because there was heavy fog. At some points, we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of the van. And, because we were driving through some very rural areas, it was totally dark on the roads. We were kind of freaked out for a while, but we decided to embrace our fate and just roll with it. It was very zen. Next day, we woke up to the smells of a busy Italian kitchen. Dom's mom was making us a feast.















It was a classic Italian meal starting with pasta, then meats and sides, and then ending with salad. We hobbled into the van!















We arrived in Columbus, OH around 8:30pm and loaded into Carabar. It's a big space with a good PA, but being Father's Day Sunday, the joint was pretty quiet. It was still a good show though, and it was good playing with Paper Airplane and Animal Cubes.














After the show, the kindly Kyle Sowash (of the excellent band The Kyle Sowashes) put us up at his house, but the power was out. To get around, we had to wear head lamps (yes, head lamps!) -- we looked like cyclopses! With all the stumbling around in the dark, we didn't end up going to bed until 3:30am -- for the second night in a row. Just look at the weary face of Lisa.


















Indianapolis tomorrow!

Steel Town USA

Last night we played an amazing show at a rockin' venue in Pittsburgh called Brillobox. Notice to touring bands: make sure you go there! It was opened a couple of years ago by some ex-pat New Yorkers, and it's a super hip spot with a great jukebox. The downstairs is a killer bar/restaurant area and the second floor has another bar and a large performance space with a kick-ass stage. They also gave us a discount on the dinner we ate, and noted that by calling us "NY Band" on our bill (see below).




















We had the fortune of playing on a great bill with two bands we really dug: Medic Medic and Red Team Blue Team. Seriously, these bands blew us away. RTBT (pictured below) have only been together for four months and are better than most bands that have been around for four years. They've got the double bass guitar attack of Umami, but add two guitars to the mix, and have a maniac drummer. These guys are going to turn heads wherever they go! They are also a genuinely nice bunch of guys. Medic Medic have been together longer and just realeased a new full-length that was recorded at Studio G in Brooklyn. They put on a highly energetic live show: it's a lead female singer with a feorcious voice and great stage presence; a killer guitarist who goes through a bass amp and a guitar amp; and a sick drummer. Think Bleach-era Nirvana, but led by a woman. Pretty bad ass!














All the people we met last night were friendly and kind and the crowd was terrific. Special shout-out to Eric the booker and Nick the sound guy. This show reminded us why making music is what we want to do.

Philly Cheesesteaks

Yesterday afternoon we played an in-studio at Drexel University's WKDU in Philly.














It's a very cool radio station and the peeps who work there are super nice. We recorded 4 songs in the studio which will be archived and played on later radio shows. We also did a short, live interview. A huge shout-out to Caitlin and Sam for having us in.















We then met up with some good friends of ours, Nandi and Moni. They took us in, fed and housed us and showed us where to park the van. We also got to hang with Zoe and Max (pictured below). What more can you ask for? It was great to kick off the tour in a city where we had friends to help take care of us. Felt like home.

Next it was off to play a show at The Fire in the Northern Liberties section of Philly, which is sort of an artists/musicians haven. The Fire is -- har har -- next to a Fire Station. It's a decent joint with a surprisingly good sound system and -- even better -- a large private hangout area upstairs for the bands called the Green Room. It wasn't exactly a VIP lounge (no Hennessy was being sipped, let's put it that way), but it was nice to have a quiet place to hang and chat before the show. But some weird scheduling mishap resulted in us going on at midnight instead of 10p, which -- worse -- meant we had to suffer through a band that consisted of four middle-aged, suburban-dwelling white dudes who apparently still think it's 1975 (and not in a good way). The perils of rock and roll!

We were pretty tired after our first day of tour, but it's off to a good start.

We're on the road to Pittsburgh now!

parkingtix.jpg

Before we even left Brooklyn, we got a parking ticket while we were loading up the van. I guess it's NYC's way of saying goodbye and good luck.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Gettin' ready

This will be our ride and home for the next two weeks:













Obviously, we're traveling in style!

And yes, we really did drive all the way to Ohio to get the van and then back to NYC to get our gear!

In fact, our first stop after we picked up the van in Ohio was the Guitar Center in NYC, where Dom picked up his brand spankin' new Gretsch drumkit. He bought it specifically for this tour.

It's elegant and pretty. Just like Dom.
















We kick off our tour tomorrow in the city of brotherly love.