Hamilton and Sudbury

Hamilton was great fun. We ended up leaving Ottawa quite late since Cameron and Steph got pretty wasted the night before and Steph peed in Chris' sink with Cameron still in the washroom since neither of them could find the light switch.

There's something about the highways leading into and out of Ottawa that makes them exceptionally windy. There was an incredible amount of road noise coming into the van most of the way between Ottawa and Hamilton, from high-pitched whistling to low, beating growls. The van sounded haunted. However, on the drive to Toronto from Hamilton that night, lil' shipwreck was quiet as a lamb. (same thing goes for Toronto to Sudbury, even though I was driving about 140 most of the way to Parry Sound)

In Hamilton at the Casbah Lounge, a fellow named Mike Simon opened for us, playing the outright weirdest set of music I have ever seen. He was running a dictaphone into a four-track recorder, then running that out of a small amp with built-in effects, and singing into his headphones. It was very noisy. During his whole set, there were Bollywood movies playing on a projection screen on the wall and during his last song, the guy on the Bollywood video was playing a trumpet and dancing around in a sequined feather suit. Every time Mike Simon would wail into his headphones, the guy in the movie would play his trumpet...ever watch "The Wizard of Oz" with "Dark Side of the Moon" playing?

I'm sorry to say I didn't catch much of our other opener, Alyssa in the Apple Tree's set. You see, on Friday night Tom Wilson's band Lee Harvey Osmond was playing next door at the larger Casbah. It was a $20 ticket, but Brodie was nice enough to let us all in for free. So, you see I became so entranced with their awesome blues/country/rock fusion that I did not watch Alyssa's set. I'm very sorry Alyssa.

We also got to meet Cam and Aaron from the band Huron, who just so happened to be playing in Tom's band. Amazing musicians, both of them, and super nice guys. They seemed as interested in how our show went as we were in watching theirs!

And our show went pretty well. I think we may have been a little loud for the venue because as soon as we launched into Parallelogram (our second song, with a very loud intro), we cleared the room. I'm pretty sure it was due to volume, anyways.

Oh well, we had fun, and we at least had more people who stuck around to watch us than we had in the Sault. I mentioned before that Brodie let us watch Tom's band. Brodie's the fellow who books the Casbah. He's a super nice guy, and has been kind enough to book dates for both the Meadowlark Lemon and Birthday Cakes tours for us! Glad I got to meet him!

Obviously, Saturday at the Townehouse was AMAZING! We opened the night, playing what I think was probably our most solid set of the entire tour so far. Despite the fact that we took the stage at 10:30 instead of the normal 11:00, the Townehouse was packed. There was even a lineup outside all night long. I know it sucks for the people who had to wait in line, but it made me feel good at the same time.

Hello Marx played a great set, and even included Tiger (which I was very excited about). It struck me on Saturday night how much Jordan has improved as a singer!

Shotgun Jimmie was also excellent, as were Attack in Black. Attack in Black is a LOT noisier live than they are on the album, and it makes their songs live and breathe in a dynamic way that is absolutely exhilarating. In short, my mom liked the album, but I'm pretty sure she would not like the band live.

Shotgun Jimmie's stuff was a bit more out there than I expected. There are some unconventional rhythms and song structures that I found surprising. I can't wait to give his album a listen!

Jimmie seemed a little more interested in talking to me than did Attack in Black. I guess they were a little tired from touring nearly nonstop. But, there's always that insecurity that plays in the back of your mind that makes you wonder if maybe your band and your songs aren't all that good, and you've been found out and one of your favourite bands simply didn't like your music.

I'm pretty sure it was due to fatigue though, because I could feel it settling in myself at the end of the night. Even though I went out to the after-party, and didn't get to bed until 5AM, I have slept in excess of 22 hours over the last two days. It may also be due to the copious amount of weed I smoked at the after party.

I will update today or tomorrow on what I did with my downtime, but today Carter and I are supposed to be going golfing and I have to get going if I want to make our 3PM tee-off!