We met at Secret Stash at 10am to load up the Knight Train, and then hit the road. Grisha, our tour manager, was unable to join us for this one off road gig. Also, Nick (bass) and Blair (guitar) drove separately because Nick had an early gig to get back for today. The plan was to meet up with those guys and Riley (trumpet) at Riley’s parent’s place in The Wisconsin Dells. He just got married (congrats, dude!) and was spending a few days out there with his family, wife, and in-laws to celebrate. However, about an hour and a half outside of the Dells we discovered that there had been some sort of miscommunication regarding load-in and we were running over 2 hours behind. It was raining pretty hard so we had to be extra concerned about safety, and we still needed to meet up with everyone in the Dells.
We wound up meeting Riley and the others at a Dunkin’ Donuts right off the freeway in the Dells (as opposed to driving 15 minutes each way to the house). Nick left his car there and we got back on the road. These types of scenarios can be very stressful. The schedule exists for a reason and we hate to make things difficult for the club that was kind enough to invite (and pay) us to play in their room.
The staff at City Winery was among the best we’ve ever encountered. When we arrived there were 5 or 6 people waiting behind the club to help us load in. I hopped in the back of the bus and just started handing gear off and load in was completed in record time (thanks for all the help)! We tore through setup and completed one of the fastest sound checks I’ve ever seen. The sound guys were fully prepared for our arrival and ran check like pros (because they clearly are).
After check we were treated to a great meal and all the delicious wine we could drink. The dressing room featured something I’ve not seen in many (any?) dressing rooms; a large flat screen TV with a DVD player and DVDs. We tried to watch Pulp Fiction but the disc didn’t work. So we were left with either Boondock Saints or The Goonies. We went with Boondock Saints.
It was very nice to unwind a bit after the stress of being so late. By the time we hit the stage, we were ready to do what we went there to do! The room was full with people eager to see the show. We’ve had a couple weeks off and I’ve found that we play some of best gigs after a nice little break like that. It’s like we come back to it and everything seems fresh again. Blair and Nick brought out some different gear last night too, which can often be a ton of fun. You start to find all these different textures to explore within music you’re already so familiar with.
I felt better about our set last night than I have with any show we’ve done in months. After the show we got to meet lots of very nice people and enjoy a little bit more wine. At about 11:00 PM we departed for the Dells. Riley’s folks were nice enough to put us up for the night (thank you so much!). We got there, ate some sloppy joes, drank some whisky, and made inappropriate acrostics out of each other’s names. Most of us went to bed around 4am. We were up a little after nine and back in Minneapolis around 1.
Tomorrow the rhythm section is going to play some tunes with some friends in the alley outside our office. The Third Bird, a nice restaurant across the alley from us, holds little parties out there every Sunday afternoon. Then we’re all back at the MN State Fair Monday and Tuesday night. We’ll be doing 2 one hour sets/night at 7:30 and 8:45. After that, we have a couple weeks to tighten up some new tunes and then we’re back on the road touring the west coast until early October. Check out tour dates page for more info.
Special thanks to City Winery Chicago and everyone who came out last night. Let’s do it again soon!
-Eric (Drums)