tour august 22nd to august 25th

So far this trip has been nothing less than spectacular. Right now I am sitting shot gun with nate at the driver seat. We just grabbed some coffee and are leaving Portland for seattle. Portland is a pretty unique and amazing city (in the right situation) and in the morning. To my left is downtown Portland and some amazing looking bridges. There are few things that are as simply wonderful and satisfying as a cup of coffee, good music and conversation and the road. I was just telling nate that there is no where else in the world that I would rather be right now.
We started off the tour in san diego with a show at the epicenter. Basically the epicenter is an all ages youth center. We had a band called thieves and liars open up the show. They were all amazingly nice guys and a pleasure to hang out with. They definitely played some rippin tunes. I am pretty sure that this had something to do with the fact that the guitar player was playing a double-necked white sg. Next was the delta spirit. I love these boys. When they are not being the funniest group of people I have ever been around they are the most sincere and kind people I know. They are the band that we originally wanted to take out with us on tour but it didn't work out in the end due to lack of funds for these insane gas prices and a little bit of label/booking politics as well. These boys are such a great band to watch live and I love their music. And Jon, the bass player is someone who always inspires/makes me jealous with how incredibly talented he is. After that came the shys. The shys are all sweethearts as well. They seemed to have a bit of a crowd there that came for them which was cool to see. There is definitely a feeling of camaraderie among all the bands. I don'?t feel like anybody is trying to compete or one up each other. There is just a really encouraging vibe of creativity and openness. We made a new set where davey and wyatt start off with dirge to earth and sky. Davey playing piano and wyatt singing. It is really stripped down and dramatic. It was crazy standing back stage waiting to go on with luke and nate. We all kept getting the chills watching our own bands mates. It felt like we were about to see a play or some crazy musical or something. I think it caught a lot of people off guard because they were ready to see a rock band and we start off with this crazy slow piano song. At the end of the song we all walk out on stage and end the song in kind of a sing along. We followed with salt the earth which starts off with a bunch of feed back and this cool jimi hendrixy '?fire' type drum beat. It is all very dramatic and crazy. starting a show this way is so much better than anything we've ever done in the past. So anyway, the show was great all around. There were a few hundred people there and they all had a great time from what I could see. It was the first night of what I know is going to be a memorable tour to say the least.
Since we had moved out of our whittier studio the day before san diego, we were still home but with nowhere to stay. So the next day we hung out at brent's (our manager) office while he finished up the last few things to prepare for leaving on tour with us.
That night we played the troubadour. right before we went on we had one of the best and funniest interviews i have ever been a part of. This show will definitely go down in my books as an all time favorite. The show sold out the day before. This was pretty encouraging to find out because the last time we had played there it sold out the day of the show from walk up ticket buyers and the guest list was over 200 people. This time the guest list was half of that. I love playing the troubadour. You can just feel it when a place has an amazing history. They treat us great there and it definitely feels like home now after having played there a few times before. The sound is also pretty incredible. The first time I played there was when I had first joined the band and we went out on tour with eisley. our new intro is best in a setting like this because when you walk out and every little thing you do people cheer for. ahahah that is so vein and stupid but it feels pretty cool either way.
so the show was simply amazing. not saying that we were amazing. just the interaction with the crowd and the vibe was unlike any other. you can tell when people understand you and are feeling it. i feel like i am slowly becoming more and more comfortable to just be myself onstage. especially after seeing wolf mother at street scene. they have an unbelievable stage presence. it's so funny because there have been a few times in the past when i forget that i am the bass player and not hardly as hot or admired as davey or wyatt and i will walk up to the front of the stage to get in close and interact with the crowd. usually when wyatt or luke or davey do this the crowd freaks out and grabs at them and tries to kiss them and all this crazy stuff. but when i would go up, i would be freaking out slamming my head all over the place (mind you i would only do this in a fit of crazed excitement that would obviously take over my body and mind and good judgment) and the crowd would give me this look like "who the hell is this crazy ugly bearded guy getting sweat all over us?!" and then a second later they would go right back to dreamily gazing back at wyatt. i hope this doesn't sound like self pity because i think it is endlessly hilarious. so moving on.... the troubador was the first time i went up to interact with the crowd and i actually was recieved with love and excitement. people reached out for me yelling at me and smiling. it felt so good. it was like some weird mystical rock and roll right of passage. there were so many family and friends in the crowd too. it is unbelievable and humbling to think of the support and love that we get from some of these people. after playing (in my opinion) the best show we could ever play, we encored with an old favorite called little wren, which we haven't played live in california in probably two years. it was the perfect end to a perfect show.
after the show i spent some time talking to people and hanging with family. we said goodbye to the girls and i got in my never nudes and traveling shoes and we were off. to tell the honest truth, the further away we got from LA the better i felt. it just made the fact that we were finally doing this really set in. we drove about half way to san fransisco and crashed at a hotel for a quick nap and showers.
the next morning we arrived in san fransisco. there is something wonderful about entering that city. visually it is so beautiful and stimulating. it was a perfectly sunny day but not hot. there was a bit of san fransisco fog coming from the west as we crossed the bridge. something unexplainable stirs in you when you enter a new city. it conjures up all kinds of wonderful feelings. with the case of san fransisco i always think back on memories there and the rich culture of this colorful city. we drove right to our first radio show of the tour. it's so funny arriving at these stations because the offices are usually pretty stale and quiet. i mean it is a normal work place you know? and we arrive sleep starved and smelly and looking like a homeless person with an identity crisis. it is so odd sometimes how detatched i feel from that world now. so we had a live semi-acoustic perfuming and people could call in and the first ten got to come see us play at this radio station. they taped it and later on the played it on the air after a quick little interview. when i realized that half the people in the audience of about fifteen were the ones who called in i could barely hold in my laughter. see we don't really have any following in san fransisco so the people that called in probably never heard us before and were just looking for something cool do to. there were two couples who couldn't have been any younger that their forties. this was actually kind of cool because they probably actually saw, in person, most of the bands that we called influences today. next was an old autistic woman in a bright yellow jump suit, a random quiet dude with white man's jerry curls; and the only guy our age, a true san fransiscan tripper. this guys was actually pretty sweet even if he didn't know where he was. it was a good experience though because radio station visits can usually be pretty lame and uncomfortable.
that night we played at slim's. i was surprised when i first found out we were playing there because it is a pretty big and nice venue. i was worried that we wouldn't be able to fill it out. well, we didn't really but it was a good show. probably the worst so far but by no means did it suck at all. the highlight for me was definately getting to see evan and isaac who were in town for evan's bachelors party. there were a lot of friends that came out and that made up for anything else that could have been a bummer. it is so cool to start to form relationships with people in all these different cities. you come into town and there are all these people that you already know who are so excited to see you and hang out. so we had to be at another radio station in portland that next morning at 11am. if you have ever driven from san fransisco to portland you will understand how crazy it is to schedule something like that. after the show i was ready to drive. usually luke and i take the late late night drives. mainly it is because we normally have weird sleep schedules. we both really enjoy the whole long night drive thing too. so i drove while everyone slept. it had been so long since i had spent some good time alone with that road and we didn't miss a beat. we i make these drives i feel like the world is mine and i can go wherever and do whatever i want. there is something magical that i experience everytime i make these drives. even though i was thoroughly enjoying myself, after about three coffee's and half a pack and two tanks of gas i felt like i was going to puke. the sun was just coming up so i woke brent up and told him that he needed to take the wheel because i was delirious. the only thing that sucks about doing those drives is that when you finally get to sleep you get about and hour before everyone wakes up and starts being all loud and rowdy. we got to the radio show and did pretty much the same kind of thing. it was a little bit more awkward than SF but it was fine.