August Tour
The highlight of our recent tour was playing the Abbey Lounge in Boston. It ended our three dates out of town on a warm, high, bright note. We did a live radio broacast at WUMB early in the day and rolled around town checking out shoddy guitar stores. After a good Deli dinner, we got to the club. Seeing my friend Brad’s joyful ensemble Okay Thursday play before us was a gift to me. It made me smile to see his child-like glee bursting out of the power-pop pocket-symphonies, his band grinning around him happy to be playing rock and roll, baking cup-cakes for their fans, and selling CDs in a diorama box with plastic dalmations.
When we hit the stage, we were primed and ready. The mix was clear and dynamic, and it gave me a sense of control I don’t often have in the small venues we usually play. When EJ started in on “Lonesome Kid” I felt the warmth of his kick drum. Burke and Andy chimed in on either side of me. And I knew we were going to ride something for the next hour that was bigger than me.
A band is a unique beast. You sense its atributes when you play music with someone else, at a jam or a friendly session. But you don’t feel the taughtness of its muscle until you start to play with the same people for months and months. And then you ride in a van together, play four shows in a row, and realize you haven’t even taken this animal out of the stable yet. And then all you want to do is saddle up and ride into the rocky canyons until you get lost.