Tour Blog #4

California: Hills & Valleys.

Well, the west coast leg of this tour has officially come to an end. 4 shows in the Golden State and we've begun our trek east; first stop: Phoenix, AZ.

On the marquis at the legendary Roxy

California had some special moments waiting for us as well as some important lessons to be learned. This last week was chock full of on-the-job training, from surly sound guys and bud-smoking club managers to audiences as different as ice cream and Tabasco sauce. Most of the club crews we've worked with have been fantastic: friendly, accommodating, hard-working. But every once in awhile you run into the scenesters, who care only about their favorite types of music and won't be bothered enough to offer up even a monosyllabic grunt or two if your band doesn't happen to be their particular flavor of death-metal-thrash-core-screamo-punk-rock. And then there's the entitlement crowd, who passive-aggressively condescend to the young rock band on the road the moment they don't get exactly what they want.

Welcome to life on the road.

We've also compiled some crazy travel stories, including a misplaced credit card reader that ended up being found in the gutter of Sunset Boulevard, a late-night drive towards San Francisco after our Los Angeles show that had us arriving at our hotel room at around 4:00 in the morning, an impromtu tour of Taylor Guitars' HQ, and the discovery that the club in San Fran in which we played, Slim's, is owned by the legendary Boz Scaggs. We've also begun to hit our walls: a certain amount of exhaustion has begun to get the better of some of us; as I write this I've just woken up from a Nyquil-induced coma due to the symptoms that began to appear in my head and sinuses last night.

Welcome to life on the road.

Tyler at Taylor

Adaptation is the word of the day: the show must go on, and God-willing, it will. Because every single night that we are blessed enough to walk out on that stage to the ear-splitting welcome of our fans, we're reminded that it's all worth it. There is nothing in all the world quite like performing for people who have waited months and (in many cases) years for the opportunity to see our little band do what we do. We feel so loved and appreciated on this tour that no matter what technical issues, personnel issues, or health issues we may be experiencing, if we can get to that stage, we're going to bring it. Every night.