"The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
You sometimes drive me crazy
But I worry about you
I know it makes no difference
To what youre going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you..."

- Rush

Tattoos?

Probably not for me. I don't like being stuck with stuff... forever. I suppose there's a certain romance in "staying true". There are very few things I'd ever want to "stay true" to. I think that's just an excuse to be lazy and let the world pass you by. I'm fine with the fact that I could dump my entire belief system and be a completely different person next year. Why is that so wrong? Change is only bad when things get worse. I'd like for things to at least have a chance to get better.

But I digress.

Brewing Updates: The Last Resort Of Blogging

Briantology is moving out at the end of the month and we will hopefully be welcoming a new memeber into the fold. I won't jinx it by saying who. A party will result and the Scotch Ale will be busted out at that time.

Next up: another raspberry wheat variant, but this time no honey, coconut, or even rasperries. We're going maple syrup instead: plus cinnamon and nutmeg. I have high hopes for this one. Concurrently, a double oatmeal stout kit shall be prepared.

After La Barbe's party though... I don't know if anyone should even bother having parties anymore. I can't imagine topping that at our house... we'd need a whole island or something. I feel like this summer has had way fewer parties than last year, but on the other hand I've been out of town for four weekends (soon to be five), so I've missed a lot of opportunities. It's been worth it though. Crossing the country, going to France, etc.

How Do You Relax After Tour?

With a road trip!



Here.

Major Foul, Number 7, Offence.

Unnecessary cruelty. Eighteen month penalty. It remains fourth down.

(even those not into sports probably know what I'm talking about)

The Leafs

...are a Mickey Mouse organization. You heard me: a Mickey Mouse organization.

Until they prove otherwise.

Dieting

Not that I'm doing it, but I can see where that shit would be hard. My stomach's been bothering me a lot, so I've cut out red meat and stuff like french fries. Tonight I wanted fish and chips in the worst way. But instead I ate pan fried haddock with rice and a side salad. And it was fucking great. Then I biked home and really pushed it, because I had no other concept of restraint at that moment.

Earlobes

What if you tried to stretch them, but then thought better of it?

You'd be fucked!

Beer Pt.2

If all there was was Keith's, Molson and Bud, I'd take Bud because Canada... you let me down.

And for that you must be punished.

Beer

You introduced me
To my mind
And left me wanting
You and your kind

The Mood I'm In Now

Sure, I only drank, but still. That was one helluva party.

Tour Pics!

These are backwards in order of occurrence.

Deleted Links

Half of the blogs I had linked here are dead or moribund. I removed a few, and I have to admit it made me feel a little sad. I left some others that haven't been updated in ages, but maybe they'll be gone soon too. I posted a while ago that blogging was dead... I was drunk when I wrote that, but I think it's probably true. I think I'll keep at this one though. Bustin' a move like it's 2001.

Wanna Hear Who We Played With?

This list is fairly comprehensive, although some bands took too long to track down so I left them out. I've kept up the tradition of no name dropping.

Lil' TO:
A
B

Big TO:
C
D (Suds too)

Suds:
E (actually a side project)

tBay:
F
G

The Peg:
H
I

Cal:
J
K

Van:
L
M
N

S'toon:
O (a related project)
P
Q

Ott:
R

Mtl:
S
T

Seeing The Country For The First Time

NB - 1972
NS - 1972
PE - 1980
NL - 1981
PQ - 1995
ON - 1996
SK - 1998
MN - 1998
AL - 1998
NT - 2002
BC - 2007
YK - n/a
NU - n/a

514: The Final Chapter

...last stop on the trip. We really built up some momentum at the last show and this seemed a great opportunity to end on a high note. We'd be playing with old friends, for old friends. The venue was a small but reputable bar on St-D. We got there early to load in (not as early as we could have... traffic was bad due to...). None of us wanted to navigate back home after that, so we flaked out in various locations. Here was mine:



I was tired but looking forward to this show perhaps more than any of the others. I tried not to drink too much beforehand, always a risk when you hang around the bar after load-in. I played it smart this time.

The opening act was a nice combo of ambient, free music and film projection. This got everyone in the mood for an adventurous show. The Spesh were up next. I was sporting their t-shirt (yes, I'll wear a band's t-shirt to their show - imagine!), as was GN sporting a BB t-shirt. That man understands. Anyway, those guys kicked ass as always. I felt like I was at the One World! The third band was the same two-piece noise outfit we played with last year, and they were awesome once again. You should see the posters they made for this show! (come over to my house and I'll show you)

We were up. I was just buzzed enough to rock harder than usual, but sober enough to remain in control of what I was doing. I rocked a little too hard on the first song and broke a string. Tobe kept the crowd into it with some clever banter while W&E improvised. In his banter, T referenced these guys, but no one seemed to get it. Even after I got tuned up and whipped off a bar of their 1972 hit single. (I'd like to dedicate that song to W's van, by the way) We blasted through most of the new album and our split with the above noise band. The closer was 'Dick again and we nailed it with the help of GN and perhaps others I did not see. W's drums stopped working at the end so I set the theremin to a feedback-heavy delay and did some interpretive dance. This was a great show... maybe the best of tour. Many thanks to all who helped put it together!

Afterwards we were supposed to play a party. I felt like I was done for the night, but I was willing to have a go if everyone else was. The plan was to just do B'dick, but a wild, freewheeling version with lots of extra members. We got to the party and checked out the scene. It soon became evident we would not be playing. People were dancing rhythmically to music with no beat. I felt like the entertainment might best be provided by someone other than BB. After some sociable hanging out, we left.

WE was a trooper - he drove all the way to F'ton from Mtl on no sleep. I was unconscious for vitually all of this. That's the best way to experience that drive.

Now we're back home and it's probably for the best. We've been in close quarters for a long time and it was starting to show. But this tour was awesome.

Fucking awesome.

The Nation's Capital

The Ott show was in the basement of an apartment, a smaller but nicer (brick) version of the ones on Chebucto. By the time W and I got back from record/underwear shopping there were already quite a few people there. Looking around, I could tell we'd be playing for people who understand what we do. This felt very good. I was more pumped for this show than perhaps any other on tour.

There was just one other band on the bill - a 7 or 8-piece, spastic, post-something band. They were awesome! I took a ton of pictures, as well as some video. One of the best bands we played with on this tour.

It was really hot down there, and crowded. A 6'6 guy would not have been able to stand up straight. Nevertheless, we were in our element. Bar shows with uptight sound guys aren't great for BB. Wide open spaces don't work either because it's harder to send and receive visual cues, and also because it feels like we're whacking the audience with a smaller bat. If I may use such a metaphor.

We opened with a tune from the purple record, and things got a little topsy-turvy when a crash cymbal hit the deck. We recovered and did a bunch of shit from the new album. The sound was a little uneven, but things were going well. The real test would be the 'Dick. It was awesome... we must have had seven people gathered around two extra floor toms. Band and audience were one. Hell yeah!

I figured we'd stop there. B-Dick usually feels like a closer to me, but we had skipped Track 6 and T wanted to do it. I wasn't gonna complain, I love playing that song. But the stifling conditions in the room had taken their toll on W, who'd been playing like a maniac, as usual. Halfway through... you know what happened. But in a weird twist, he seemed to get it all out during the short guitar breaks so he never missed a beat! I didn't even know until the song was over. Apparently it was mostly on the snare and had been flying back at him with every hit. Ew! Now that's dedication to the craft.

The audience was justifiably concerned, but we let them know this was not unusual given W's condition. Naturally, he cleaned it all up after he'd had a chance to recover.

People seemed into the us, and it was one of the most fun shows of tour for me. The apartment is right across the street from the police station but we were not hassled by The Man. We sold a little bit of merch, and probably have enough in the band fund for gas money home (all of our gas money came from what we earned on tour). We hung around for a bit afterward, then headed to Mtl to crash at Ross' place. We got here at like 3:15 am and he had to get up for work at 5:30. The man's awesomeness is above question.

This is the last stop of tour: a bar show and a party tonight, with lots of cool bands/people in attendance. I think it'll be a great end to this crazy trip.

In Transit

We left S'toon at about midnight. I had driven from Lethbridge at my own request and I was the only one who'd gone napless that day. W took the wheel and once we were out of town I allowed myself to enjoy some van "sleep". I missed all of SK and some of MN in the process. By now, the sun was up and we needed to eat. The first place we tried had just done away with their kitchen. They should also do away with that sign that alludes to having a kitchen. Next, we stopped at a place that seemed to specialize in hot dogs and otherwise looked like a seniors' pick-up joint. I could live with that, but the menu was no good. We tried a third diner, but their grill had just broken and the waitress cheerfully informed us that all they had was toast and coffee. The place was packed. Evidently, Manitobans love their toast and coffee. Luckily we didn't have to get back in the van again, as there was another diner just across the parking lot. This one was marginally acceptable. Fourth time's a charm.

We left and I slept a little more, lasting just about until the ON border. Eb was now behind the wheel. We plugged on through the endless wilderness, arriving at tBay in the early evening. Food was procured and it was time to get back at it. You've got to understand though... this is a brutal drive, and the S'toon gig was the only thing we'd seen outside the van since Lethbridge, Tuesday morning (it was now Wednesday night). W said we should go bowling. I thought this sounded absurd, but no more so than starting a 24-ish-hour drive through nothingness at 9pm. We all got behind the idea, and did two strings of big-ball 10-pin. It was a blast. I sucked so bad... I've done my share of candlepin, but never big-ball. The left gutter was my only friend for the first few frames. But by the end I had righted the ship somewhat. More on that when I can upload my pics.

We left the bowling alley/tBay at 11pm and I took the wheel. I got us to SSMarie by 7am. We had a group van-sleep for about two hours, then kept blasting through with Eb back at the wheel. It seemed like the worst of the drive was behind us, but then we got caught in traffic for 90 minutes while a fatal accident was dealt with by the authorities. In the end, we arrived in North Bay around suppertime and decided it was motel time (on our own nickel - the band fund was getting low from not having a big payout since Cal). To put it in perspective, we'd been driving, eating, playing shows or bowling since Tuesday morning. It was now Thursday night, so some spoilage was in order. To that end, I grabbed some beers, clicked on a football game, ordered a pizza, and drank myself unconscious. I exaggerate a little... the unconsciousness had more to do with lack of quality sleep. The beer didn't hurt though.

Got up this (Friday) morning, drove into the nation's capital. We met the guys at the house we're playing. They seem cool. Their band plays spastic weirdo hardcore like we do... we haven't played with rock and roll soulmates in a while, so I'm very pumped for this show. I think we'll be able to really cut loose. We've got to hustle some merch though... the band fund has 2-3 more fill-ups to cover and the cupboard is getting bare.

S'toon

I was pretty excited to play a show in my former (May 98-Jan 00) home. Although I made some awesome friends there, my memories of that time are tainted by feelings of homesickness. I remember how surreal it was the few times people from home came to visit me. Going back with some good friends in a band would be even more so.

I felt kind of crappy. I'd only eaten red meat once on tour, in Lethbridge. My stomach was not being nice, adding impetus to my plan to quit this type of food altogether.

The show was at a French cultural centre. We were overdue for something other than a bar, so this was good. The past two bar experiences in particular had been fraught with bad vibrations. We met the promoter right away, and he seemed very laidback. We knew we'd be the only "rock" band on this bill, so given all of this we decided to play a little more loosey-goosey than we normally would. A couple of my old friends came to the show, and I found myself dropping a lot of disclaimers to them (lest they think we are a pure-improv noise band).

A visual artist was supposed to have worked with the bands at this show, but she turned out to be unavailable. The opening performer could perhaps have benefited from visuals, as he did noise from a laptop. The second performer, however, had the visual part covered... or maybe uncovered would be a better word. Musically, she was somewhere in the ballpark of T&TPs, but more "girlie". Her performance could be described as burlesque. I think women who do this type of art face a tough challenge, since there's the risk of sexuality becoming the sole focus for the audience. You'd have to poll the people at the show on this one. The third performer was the guy who put on the show - he did looped sound collage type stuff, and was really frantic to watch. He did a great job.

As stated above, we needed something really loose and free after our last few shows, which felt uptight for various reasons. We did ambient noise at the start (for maybe 10 minutes), with WE and Tobe at one point moving some drums onto the bar while Eb and I did our thing. I kept worrying people were going to think that's all we do (in fact we rarely improv outside of B-dick), but it was still fun and, I thought, interesting. W&T moved the drums back and we did an unreleased tune. I think the one downside of the show for me was the enormous snarl of patch cords, extension cords and power bars stretched to their limit, sometimes unplugging.

Next we break into B-dick... unusually early in the set. It went ok, I busted out the spacebeam again... we were loose as fuck. At this point we'd done about 20 minutes of improvisation with 1 and 1/2 minutes of scripted material in the middle - with the vocals unplugged by the chaos. I guess we could have ended then and there, but we all wanted to play some actual songs too, so we did another unreleased track, one from the purple 7" and two from the new album (ending with the title track... might as well). Although the set was a total mess in many ways, I felt oddly happy with it. It was neat to see CA and DM for the first time in years, let alone have them watch my band.

A couple of people were really into our set, and we got some compliments. There were maybe 25-30 people there and quite a few of them stayed for us. We moved a small amount of merch. We had offers to crash, but it was necessary to hit the road. We had maybe 65 hours to get to Ottawa.