Sloan's bootleg album will be on sale again starting at noon, Tuesday, Nov. 15th. Click on the purchase link on our homepage sloanmusic.com
As yesterday's launch was hindered by technical issues, we are offering a FREE MP3 download of the Sloan Bootleg album until midnight tonight.
We Were Overwhelmed.
Due to an extraordinary amount of traffic in the first minutes of sale earlier today, our online merch partner's servers were overwhelmed and many requests were not able to be filled. As the day went on, problems persisted and as a result, they have removed the bootleg from their store to reset the system. Several orders did get placed successfully and those will be shipped as scheduled tomorrow. A permanent solution is being worked on and should be in place in time for any future sale events on our store.
In the meantime, we intend to re-launch the bootleg on sloanmusic.com via a different sales platform Tuesday, November 15th at noon eastern time. This will give all of our fans who were unable to complete their transaction today a fair chance tomorrow.
We sincerely apologize for all of the difficulties that the store's malfunction caused our fans, and are working hard to ensure that this does not occur in the future. Thank you!
Mike Nelson
mike@sloanmusic.com
Get Yer Boots On: Ltd. Edition Sloan Bootleg LP
We are pleased to tell you all about a new live Sloan 'bootleg' LP- 'Is That All I Get?' Recorded Live On Patrick's Birthday Sept. 20 1993 – made just for the vinyl fanatics. Numbered Ltd. Edition of only 300 available. On sale in our webstore starting tomorrow, Monday Nov. 14th!
Here's what Jay had to say about it:
"See, I’ve always been a big fan of the live bootleg LPs that began to appear in hip underground record stores in the 1970’s and into the 1980’s. So, here's our very own (legal) tribute to that tradition. Packaged in a heavy duty white jacket, it comes with hand numbered, risographed wrap around outer sleeve, photocopied insert and pressed onto luminous green marbled vinyl! To further continue with the bootleg custom, the original recording was captured via cassette by a fan in the audience back in Winnipeg, 1993. The results are a bit rough at the edges for sure, but kind of exciting and also finds our band at a point in our career where we were finishing a year or more of touring behind our first LP, Smeared, yet beginning to road test some songs that would wind up on Twice Removed. Early versions of Shame Shame and Worried Now appear with different musical bridges that would not be ironed out until a few months later. We even began the show with an Eric’s Trip cover! I found it to be an interesting time capsule (Patrick turns 24!) and hope you all think so too.
As an added bonus with the vinyl purchase, you will be sent a digital download of the LP, as well as a live video of a track that didn’t make the vinyl cut, Rag Doll. AND as an extra extra bonus...25 of you vinyl fans will randomly receive, "golden ticket" style, an original 10.5”x 23” poster from that fall 1993 tour. Chris recently found a stack of them in his closet (behind some G.I. Joes and Avant Garde magazines) and so we though we’d share some with you."
Dig it, Jay F.
Listen To The Radio
This week has been a kind week for Sloan on the American airwaves.
Last Saturday, there was nice piece on NPR's Weekend Edition regarding the early days of Sloan and some secrets about how to keep a band together for 20 years. You can listen to the story here .
This coming Saturday Oct. 15, 3pm - 6pm EST, tune into the popular free-form station from New Jersey, WFMU, for a broadcast of the recent Sloan In-Studio session with Terre T on the Cherry Blossom Clinic program. I think we played about 4 songs. I believe one of them was a Descendents cover. You can tune in here .
Thanks again to NPR and WFMU for their continued flag waving and support!
Tune in, Turn on, Etc. Jay
XX Tour Diary: Lamps on the Loose in Boston
Editor's note: I understand that it is now might appear a bit ridiculous to be posting these tour diaries after we have already returned to these towns for a repeat engagement. I want everybody to rest assured that the wealth of material that we have been collecting and curating shall indeed see the light of day. Take it away Hilliard!
BOSTON Tuesday, June 28th Kevin “Lamps” Hilliard and I set out from the cool bus for a hot walk. Once walking he said to take him anywhere but Harvard Square, which is where I assumed we were headed. We went there anyway because the very idea of me taking anyone anywhere in Boston is a joke. I have walked from TT’s/The Middle East (venues) to Harvard Square dozens of times. It’s usually uneventful then I turn around and go back, usually stopping at a coffee shop. Instead of turning back this time, Kevin and I took the subway down to Newbury Street.
It turned out to be a long strip of high-end boutiques. I usually don’t want to buy anything and I don’t have the confidence to buy anything for my wife character as she is very particular and the only weaknesses I know of Kevin’s are barbeque and Joe Walsh and neither seemed to be represented on Newbury Street. We couldn’t even really find anything we wanted to eat. The sight of reusable napkins scared this cheapskate and we couldn’t smell barbeque so we took the subway back to Cambridge stopping for a long time between stops presumably due to some malfunction. Once back we ate these yummy Indian crepes across from the venue.
TT’s again?! TT’s is quite small and we have played there the last few times in Boston. We’ve played bigger places in Boston over the years but I always say I want to play the venue that snuggly fits our audiences and it felt nice and snug. The staff is nice to us and the show was really fun but it would be nice to move up to a bigger venue in Boston. PS. We played TT’s the night Bill Clinton was elected the first time. Maybe we’ll play when Obama is re-elected. If Palin gets elected we’re making a hardcore record because a Palin White House would be a real boost for the hardcore scene.
BOSTON Tuesday, June 28th Kevin “Lamps” Hilliard and I set out from the cool bus for a hot walk. Once walking he said to take him anywhere but Harvard Square, which is where I assumed we were headed. We went there anyway because the very idea of me taking anyone anywhere in Boston is a joke. I have walked from TT’s/The Middle East (venues) to Harvard Square dozens of times. It’s usually uneventful then I turn around and go back, usually stopping at a coffee shop. Instead of turning back this time, Kevin and I took the subway down to Newbury Street.
It turned out to be a long strip of high-end boutiques. I usually don’t want to buy anything and I don’t have the confidence to buy anything for my wife character as she is very particular and the only weaknesses I know of Kevin’s are barbeque and Joe Walsh and neither seemed to be represented on Newbury Street. We couldn’t even really find anything we wanted to eat. The sight of reusable napkins scared this cheapskate and we couldn’t smell barbeque so we took the subway back to Cambridge stopping for a long time between stops presumably due to some malfunction. Once back we ate these yummy Indian crepes across from the venue.
TT’s again?! TT’s is quite small and we have played there the last few times in Boston. We’ve played bigger places in Boston over the years but I always say I want to play the venue that snuggly fits our audiences and it felt nice and snug. The staff is nice to us and the show was really fun but it would be nice to move up to a bigger venue in Boston. PS. We played TT’s the night Bill Clinton was elected the first time. Maybe we’ll play when Obama is re-elected. If Palin gets elected we’re making a hardcore record because a Palin White House would be a real boost for the hardcore scene.
On The Road Again
We boarded a bus at midnight and crossed the border back into the USA to kick off this leg of Sloan's XX 20th anniversary tour. Tonight will be the first of a series of shows with our Australian friends You Am I, and for the next couple of weeks starting tomorrow, we will have Taylor Locke and the Roughs along as well. Hope that you are able to join us for one of these shows.
Sep 12 - Washington - Rock and Roll Hotel
Sep 13 - Brooklyn - Bell House
Sep 14 - Boston - Brighton Music Hall
Sep 15 - NYC - Bowery Ballroom
Sep 16 - Hoboken - Maxwell's
Sep 17 - Philadelphia - North Star Bar
Sep 20 - Waterloo - Starlight
Sep 21 - Peterborough - The Venue
Sep 22 - St. Catherines - Barracuda Pretty
Sep 23 - London - Music Hall
Sep 24 - Moncton - Atlantic Touchdown
Oct 04 - Ottawa - Mavericks
Oct 05 - Kingston - Ale House
Oct 07 - Detroit - St Andrew's Hall
For those of you who can't make it to one of these shows, perhaps you can catch Sloan on a television set near you. Sloan will be featured in Life is a Highway, a new two-hour CBC documentary on Canadian music in the '90s. The show airs in two parts on Thurs. Sept. 15 and Thurs. Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.
Sep 12 - Washington - Rock and Roll Hotel
Sep 13 - Brooklyn - Bell House
Sep 14 - Boston - Brighton Music Hall
Sep 15 - NYC - Bowery Ballroom
Sep 16 - Hoboken - Maxwell's
Sep 17 - Philadelphia - North Star Bar
Sep 20 - Waterloo - Starlight
Sep 21 - Peterborough - The Venue
Sep 22 - St. Catherines - Barracuda Pretty
Sep 23 - London - Music Hall
Sep 24 - Moncton - Atlantic Touchdown
Oct 04 - Ottawa - Mavericks
Oct 05 - Kingston - Ale House
Oct 07 - Detroit - St Andrew's Hall
For those of you who can't make it to one of these shows, perhaps you can catch Sloan on a television set near you. Sloan will be featured in Life is a Highway, a new two-hour CBC documentary on Canadian music in the '90s. The show airs in two parts on Thurs. Sept. 15 and Thurs. Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.
XX Tour Diary: Delaware and DC
REHOBOTH Sunday, June 26th
We decided to drive a little bit out of our way in order to have a day at the beach. I woke up characteristically late. Some of the crew guys were out on bikes on what I was told was a recon mission to assess the best places to hang out and make a plan. “We” were in a hotel parking lot waiting but we were waiting for nothing. They came back having eaten and spent time at the beach. They were taking naps. It turned out the only people waiting were Gregory Macdonald and me so the 2 of us took the shuttle bus to the beach grumbling about having wasted time waiting. We walked along the boardwalk, looked in some silly stores and had a nice talk without those jerks. Nyah!
We went back to the hotel where my new arch enemies, the crew guys that had abandoned us on the first wave beach run, were playing bocce but I was already out of sync with them and also doing one of my sulk/protest combos so decided to take my second shower of this leg of the tour.
Hot Kid showed up with a bunch of supplies appropriate for the beach day they (and I) thought we were having. We informed them that beach day for them was actually going to be hotel parking lot day but we took them out to one of the steak houses that Patton Oswalt includes in his list of “shit ball” steakhouses.
My sulking was subsiding until I noticed this bill added up to $650. What is this (Mike), the “Money Is No Object Tour”? You’re welcome Hot Kid!
VIENNA Monday, June 27th
Vienna Sausage Fest… we like ‘em etc. Turns out there were plenty of women at Jammin’ Java. There were some anyway. CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence has riffed on this venue name relentlessly. Yes, they serve coffee but it’s a proper venue and the show was great. Where does your band play in the D.C. area these days, Grant!? I thought so.
We decided to drive a little bit out of our way in order to have a day at the beach. I woke up characteristically late. Some of the crew guys were out on bikes on what I was told was a recon mission to assess the best places to hang out and make a plan. “We” were in a hotel parking lot waiting but we were waiting for nothing. They came back having eaten and spent time at the beach. They were taking naps. It turned out the only people waiting were Gregory Macdonald and me so the 2 of us took the shuttle bus to the beach grumbling about having wasted time waiting. We walked along the boardwalk, looked in some silly stores and had a nice talk without those jerks. Nyah!
We went back to the hotel where my new arch enemies, the crew guys that had abandoned us on the first wave beach run, were playing bocce but I was already out of sync with them and also doing one of my sulk/protest combos so decided to take my second shower of this leg of the tour.
Hot Kid showed up with a bunch of supplies appropriate for the beach day they (and I) thought we were having. We informed them that beach day for them was actually going to be hotel parking lot day but we took them out to one of the steak houses that Patton Oswalt includes in his list of “shit ball” steakhouses.
My sulking was subsiding until I noticed this bill added up to $650. What is this (Mike), the “Money Is No Object Tour”? You’re welcome Hot Kid!
VIENNA Monday, June 27th
Vienna Sausage Fest… we like ‘em etc. Turns out there were plenty of women at Jammin’ Java. There were some anyway. CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence has riffed on this venue name relentlessly. Yes, they serve coffee but it’s a proper venue and the show was great. Where does your band play in the D.C. area these days, Grant!? I thought so.
XX Tour Diary: Hardcore Hang & Then We Got Crabs.
PHILADELPHIA Friday, June 24th
I woke up really late again. Not quite 5:30pm but well after noon. The last time the band was here I feel like it was pretty dark. Things feel pretty light on this tour. Andrew was amazing on the tubs. We played “G Turns To D” and it was so fast and crazy/fun I couldn’t stop laughing.
We heard that OFF! and Dinosaur were playing across town the same night. We wanted to go but it was impossible to pull off but we were in touch with Steven McDonald from OFF! who suggested we come to meet him afterwards. It was walking distance so some of us went over. Steve introduced us to Dimitri Coats and Mario Rubalcaba from OFF! I had the pleasure of meeting Lou Barlow and went on to talk to him for quite a while. I knew a fair bit about him and he knew at least some about Sloan and we have a few mutual friends. He is very funny. Henry Rollins wasn’t there but he is also on that tour interviewing Dinosaur or some such thing.
The next night for them was D.C. so Henry Rollins, Keith Morris and Ian MacKaye would all be corral-able for the ultimate hardcore photo op. I would have skipped the Baltimore show if I could have photo bombed that picture. Oh God, here it is! Is that me in the doorway? Sadly, no.
PS I should add that I made sure everybody knew how to play “Nervous Breakdown” in case Steven McDonald dragged Keith Morris to our show. I’m not embarrassed.
BALTIMORE Saturday, June 25th
Part of Gregory’s research into how to have fun included a trip to a restaurant called Bo Brooks where they specialize in crabs and evidently long wait times between ordering and eating. They didn’t take reservations but we managed to get our table for 8 without a ridiculous wait.
I talked at length with an extremely drunk man who upon finding out we were a band was blown away that I didn’t know who Phil Lesh was. FYI, he was (is?) the bass player in the Grateful Dead. When he heard I was the bass player in our band he was even more blown away. “You are SHITTING me!”, he said over and over. At one point I guessed Mr. Lesh’s affiliation with The Dead but he repeated his disbelief mantra. Despite his disbelief, he still let me know that he was having fun talking to/at me and wanted to come sit with us. We avoided this and had a nice (expensive) dinner.
Maybe I should come out and admit I am usually a frugal person. I don’t like to think of myself as a cheapskate and I value generosity but I try to avoid blowing money when I can help it and I never really enjoy extravagant spending. Oftentimes my fellow travelers have an equal and opposite viewpoint so I find myself in the position of wanting to hang/bond with people that I love but I don’t drink booze and I never want steak or crabs for that matter but I also hate party poopers. What to do? PS It was a $20 cab ride each way x 2 cabs… but it was fun.
I woke up really late again. Not quite 5:30pm but well after noon. The last time the band was here I feel like it was pretty dark. Things feel pretty light on this tour. Andrew was amazing on the tubs. We played “G Turns To D” and it was so fast and crazy/fun I couldn’t stop laughing.
We heard that OFF! and Dinosaur were playing across town the same night. We wanted to go but it was impossible to pull off but we were in touch with Steven McDonald from OFF! who suggested we come to meet him afterwards. It was walking distance so some of us went over. Steve introduced us to Dimitri Coats and Mario Rubalcaba from OFF! I had the pleasure of meeting Lou Barlow and went on to talk to him for quite a while. I knew a fair bit about him and he knew at least some about Sloan and we have a few mutual friends. He is very funny. Henry Rollins wasn’t there but he is also on that tour interviewing Dinosaur or some such thing.
The next night for them was D.C. so Henry Rollins, Keith Morris and Ian MacKaye would all be corral-able for the ultimate hardcore photo op. I would have skipped the Baltimore show if I could have photo bombed that picture. Oh God, here it is! Is that me in the doorway? Sadly, no.
PS I should add that I made sure everybody knew how to play “Nervous Breakdown” in case Steven McDonald dragged Keith Morris to our show. I’m not embarrassed.
BALTIMORE Saturday, June 25th
Part of Gregory’s research into how to have fun included a trip to a restaurant called Bo Brooks where they specialize in crabs and evidently long wait times between ordering and eating. They didn’t take reservations but we managed to get our table for 8 without a ridiculous wait.
I talked at length with an extremely drunk man who upon finding out we were a band was blown away that I didn’t know who Phil Lesh was. FYI, he was (is?) the bass player in the Grateful Dead. When he heard I was the bass player in our band he was even more blown away. “You are SHITTING me!”, he said over and over. At one point I guessed Mr. Lesh’s affiliation with The Dead but he repeated his disbelief mantra. Despite his disbelief, he still let me know that he was having fun talking to/at me and wanted to come sit with us. We avoided this and had a nice (expensive) dinner.
Maybe I should come out and admit I am usually a frugal person. I don’t like to think of myself as a cheapskate and I value generosity but I try to avoid blowing money when I can help it and I never really enjoy extravagant spending. Oftentimes my fellow travelers have an equal and opposite viewpoint so I find myself in the position of wanting to hang/bond with people that I love but I don’t drink booze and I never want steak or crabs for that matter but I also hate party poopers. What to do? PS It was a $20 cab ride each way x 2 cabs… but it was fun.
XX Tour Diary: Pittsburgh
PITTSBURG Thursday, June 23rd
I woke up in Pittsburg at 5:30pm! Really. Everybody had a full day before I even woke up. I heard stories and saw lots of pictures of the Andy Warhol museum. I saw nothing.
Pittsburg and Baltimore are the 2 places on this tour where we’ve only ever played once before. The venue was a bit ambitious in size for a band with no track record there. The showing was respectable and very receptive but it should have been at a smaller place. The show was way more fun than I thought it would be and I think we played well. I honestly think we are playing as well as we have ever played.
We are joined on this leg of the tour by Toronto 2-piece Hot Kid. We have known the drummer, Robbie Butcher for a long time. He is in line for best drummer we know with Taylor Knox, Juice and me behind Andrew. The other half of this duo is guitarist/singer Shiloh Harrison. We didn’t know her but she is a lot of fun to have along for the ride. Rounding out their camp is Robbie’s brother Chris who has worked with Sloan before on video stuff and Shiloh’s boyfriend/chaperone, Andrew. After the show we had a 50’s dance party on the bus with Hot Kid and some friends who drove in from Michigan. It was really fun.
I woke up in Pittsburg at 5:30pm! Really. Everybody had a full day before I even woke up. I heard stories and saw lots of pictures of the Andy Warhol museum. I saw nothing.
Pittsburg and Baltimore are the 2 places on this tour where we’ve only ever played once before. The venue was a bit ambitious in size for a band with no track record there. The showing was respectable and very receptive but it should have been at a smaller place. The show was way more fun than I thought it would be and I think we played well. I honestly think we are playing as well as we have ever played.
We are joined on this leg of the tour by Toronto 2-piece Hot Kid. We have known the drummer, Robbie Butcher for a long time. He is in line for best drummer we know with Taylor Knox, Juice and me behind Andrew. The other half of this duo is guitarist/singer Shiloh Harrison. We didn’t know her but she is a lot of fun to have along for the ride. Rounding out their camp is Robbie’s brother Chris who has worked with Sloan before on video stuff and Shiloh’s boyfriend/chaperone, Andrew. After the show we had a 50’s dance party on the bus with Hot Kid and some friends who drove in from Michigan. It was really fun.
XX Tour Diary: Toronto & Toronto (& Toronto)
Editor's Note: It is a rather interesting coincidence that this blog post is going up just before yet another Toronto play. This Friday (August 5, 2011) Sloan will be performing a free, outdoor, all-ages, licensed show at Ontario Place's new "Echo Beach" stage. Chris would suggest that I should have posted this weeks ago, but I would counter that this was all part of an elaborate scheme to keep the website interesting with timely updates through the summer months. (xxmn)
TORONTO Tuesday, June 21st
Any show on the same day as a family day at home is trouble for me. It means I have to get up 13 – 15 hours before the show when my energy is supposed to peak and if there is to be a family day the next day, I have to unwind quickly and get to bed so I’ll be ready for the kids at 6am. I should add that I am a big baby about sleep at the best of times so since we have had kids I have been somewhat of a constant nightmare for my “wife character”/girlfriend/baby’s mama, Rebecca.
I invited my favourite band in the under 14 division, Toronto’s own 11 Toes and their parents to our “sound test”. I had just seen them (for the 3rd time) at Tot Stock, an amazing kids’ event with a music component, which featured our friends Oldies 990 (members of Local Rabbits) and 11 Toes.
At the sound test, we did the whole picture-taking thing on stage with 11 Toes holding Sloan’s guitars then I showed them our tour bus. I hung out with their parents as each of the kids took a bunk and watched the tiny TV’s that are in the bunks. I may have watched TV in my bunk 5 times in 20 years. They watched the sound test and were very appreciative. Rock on kids!
I biked home in time to say goodnight to my own kids. We got a babysitter and Rebecca and I biked down to the show. The Mod Club is great and it’s right in the neighbourhood. We had a large guest list. Lately our tour manager/manager Mike has been calling them “guessed lists” as he is pretty much able to make the lists without asking us for names based on who we’ve been talking about and using old guest lists.
When we hit the stage it seemed as if I knew just about everyone. The crowd was receptive but I was somewhat distracted from all of the (ridiculous) winking I was doing at the people I knew. I saw my cousin Greg and realized that I was supposed to have put him on the guest list and couldn’t remember having done it. It is difficult to ask someone whether or not they had to pay to get in and at the same time apologize for forgetting to put them on the list with your eyebrows but that’s what I attempted to do during “Follow The Leader”.
Rebecca stayed until the end of the encore but went right home to relieve the sitter and to wisely get as much sleep as she could before the kids wake up in the morning. I stayed to talk to people after the show as I always try to do and hung out pretty late on our bus talking to friends. I knew I had a family day that would come early but tour starts tomorrow and I will have lots of opportunity to sleep then.
TORONTO Wednesday, June 22nd
I was a bit of a mess getting up but I had a great day with the family. There was no sound test so tonight I was able to partake in the goings on between 5:00 and 8:00 that we call “bed, bath and beyond”. By that we mean dinner, the bath and bedtime stories. Once the kids were down I had to pack for the next leg of the tour then I said goodbye to Rebecca and took the streetcar down to the Mod Club.
Well, I’m sorry Tuesday people but I have to say that the second show at The Mod Club was better. I’m not sure why. Was it us? Was it the crowd? Wednesday did go on sale first, which may have meant that the people who bought tickets first were more determined to see us play. I had been somewhat distracted by all the people I knew on Tuesday. Patrick told me after the Tuesday show that he nearly pulled the plug on the before we started. He was that sick. I had no idea. He powered through it and pulled it off but I’m sure he preferred the show where he didn’t feel quite that bad. We had also been off for about 10 days so we might have been a bit rusty on Tuesday. Anyway, Wednesday just felt looser but Tuesday (the night that all of the journalists wrote about) was fun too.
I don’t think we’ve ever played a gig in Toronto, since we’ve lived here, when we didn’t sleep in our own beds that night. I think I was excited even while on stage to know that there was no incentive to beat it the hell home after the show to get enough sleep to not be a terrible co-parent the next day. I went out after the show to Sneaky Dee’s for nachos. The last time I did that was when the Evaporators stayed at the place that I lived in before I moved to the place I lived in before the one I live in now. I always feel a little bit guilty staying up late on tour knowing I don’t have to get up with my kids but I felt especially guilty doing that in Toronto with my family sleeping just down the street. Anyway, I had fun.
TORONTO Tuesday, June 21st
Any show on the same day as a family day at home is trouble for me. It means I have to get up 13 – 15 hours before the show when my energy is supposed to peak and if there is to be a family day the next day, I have to unwind quickly and get to bed so I’ll be ready for the kids at 6am. I should add that I am a big baby about sleep at the best of times so since we have had kids I have been somewhat of a constant nightmare for my “wife character”/girlfriend/baby’s mama, Rebecca.
I invited my favourite band in the under 14 division, Toronto’s own 11 Toes and their parents to our “sound test”. I had just seen them (for the 3rd time) at Tot Stock, an amazing kids’ event with a music component, which featured our friends Oldies 990 (members of Local Rabbits) and 11 Toes.
At the sound test, we did the whole picture-taking thing on stage with 11 Toes holding Sloan’s guitars then I showed them our tour bus. I hung out with their parents as each of the kids took a bunk and watched the tiny TV’s that are in the bunks. I may have watched TV in my bunk 5 times in 20 years. They watched the sound test and were very appreciative. Rock on kids!
I biked home in time to say goodnight to my own kids. We got a babysitter and Rebecca and I biked down to the show. The Mod Club is great and it’s right in the neighbourhood. We had a large guest list. Lately our tour manager/manager Mike has been calling them “guessed lists” as he is pretty much able to make the lists without asking us for names based on who we’ve been talking about and using old guest lists.
When we hit the stage it seemed as if I knew just about everyone. The crowd was receptive but I was somewhat distracted from all of the (ridiculous) winking I was doing at the people I knew. I saw my cousin Greg and realized that I was supposed to have put him on the guest list and couldn’t remember having done it. It is difficult to ask someone whether or not they had to pay to get in and at the same time apologize for forgetting to put them on the list with your eyebrows but that’s what I attempted to do during “Follow The Leader”.
Rebecca stayed until the end of the encore but went right home to relieve the sitter and to wisely get as much sleep as she could before the kids wake up in the morning. I stayed to talk to people after the show as I always try to do and hung out pretty late on our bus talking to friends. I knew I had a family day that would come early but tour starts tomorrow and I will have lots of opportunity to sleep then.
TORONTO Wednesday, June 22nd
I was a bit of a mess getting up but I had a great day with the family. There was no sound test so tonight I was able to partake in the goings on between 5:00 and 8:00 that we call “bed, bath and beyond”. By that we mean dinner, the bath and bedtime stories. Once the kids were down I had to pack for the next leg of the tour then I said goodbye to Rebecca and took the streetcar down to the Mod Club.
Well, I’m sorry Tuesday people but I have to say that the second show at The Mod Club was better. I’m not sure why. Was it us? Was it the crowd? Wednesday did go on sale first, which may have meant that the people who bought tickets first were more determined to see us play. I had been somewhat distracted by all the people I knew on Tuesday. Patrick told me after the Tuesday show that he nearly pulled the plug on the before we started. He was that sick. I had no idea. He powered through it and pulled it off but I’m sure he preferred the show where he didn’t feel quite that bad. We had also been off for about 10 days so we might have been a bit rusty on Tuesday. Anyway, Wednesday just felt looser but Tuesday (the night that all of the journalists wrote about) was fun too.
I don’t think we’ve ever played a gig in Toronto, since we’ve lived here, when we didn’t sleep in our own beds that night. I think I was excited even while on stage to know that there was no incentive to beat it the hell home after the show to get enough sleep to not be a terrible co-parent the next day. I went out after the show to Sneaky Dee’s for nachos. The last time I did that was when the Evaporators stayed at the place that I lived in before I moved to the place I lived in before the one I live in now. I always feel a little bit guilty staying up late on tour knowing I don’t have to get up with my kids but I felt especially guilty doing that in Toronto with my family sleeping just down the street. Anyway, I had fun.
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