Oh, Canada!!
Canada has been calling our name since the day we were born, we just didn't know it 'til we got ourselves up there. Let' s make no bones about it, our brother to the north is also our new brother from another mother!
Our adventure began when we realized the John didn't have his passport and that you do in fact now need a passport to drive into and out of Canada. In a stoke of pure dumb luck John's passport arrived literally the day we were set to leave for our border crossing. Sometimes I feel there's a little postal angel looking out for this band. So, once we stopped sweating bullets, we loaded the van and got cruisin'.
About 9 hours into our trip to NXNE we made a quick stop off at a Buffalo, NY rest stop and unloaded all potential contraband. Some of which i won't mention, but it was sad to see a full bottle of Maker's Mark get tossed because we figured it wasn't worth the trouble. However, upon reaching the border, the woman at the checkpoint opened the back door of the van where just about everything we poorly piled in began to spill out. Here response was both surprising and fortunate. Unbelievably, she goes, "wow, there's a lot of stuff packed in here. Can you help me get the door shut?!" I'm no border patrol officer, but if a van full of long haired, wild eyed, twenty-something musicians pulls up in an over packed van looking to cross the border and the contents almost spill out onto the highway when a door gets opened; I'd probably ask to give the van a little search. But, I'm not one to complain and we were thrilled with her decision to not do her job and let us continue on our way.
We arrived at the Dakota Tavern with plenty of time to spare, so we took a walking tour of Toronto and grabbed a few slices of Canadian 'za (pizza with canadian bacon). It was delicious!! We managed to lose John somewhere along the walking tour we took ourselves on, so we sent out a few texts, found him at a diner and then headed back to the venue.
Incredibly, we ran into Elsa Cross from Portsmouth, NH who we'd played with at an Americana Festival 2 years ago up in NH. She kicked off the night (2nd night of NXNE) and really brought the crowd in, for what turned out to be a stacked bill of great Americana/Folk acts.
For the next act the crowd really started to swell, which had us all thinking, "What's goin' on around this place?" The band was called Blackie Jackett Jr. and they were local Toronto folks. They were a great bunch of guys and gals, with a real retro rock 'n' country sound. We found out after the show that this group was a side project for the 2 guitarists from Finger Eleven, but you'd never know their day job was playing modern rock.
We took the stage around 10 pm and with a 40 minute set we were sure to keep the songs upbeat. We through in a few new songs we've been working on like "Black Mountain Blues" and "This Old House," then ended the set with "Soft Raccoon," which wasn't on the set list, but we were feeling the need to showcase a drum solo or 2!!
After turning down a very enticing offer for a rockstar afterparty, we were back in the van and crossing the border yet again back into the US. We crossed the border without a problem, regretting all the while our early show the next day that we were racing to get back to Massachusetts to play. We grabbed about 5 hours rest and then steamed back to Massachusetts for a gig with Hollis Brown at The Basement in Northampton.
Now, this is where things got whild with and H. We showed up at The Basement at 6pm and ready to load in. We grabbed a quick dinner, then headed back to catch the first act. Only they weren't there. At about 7:45 we were told that the other act was nowhere to be found for their 8pm set time and that we needed to get set up and ready to play by...you guessed it...8pm!! We set up about as quickly as 4 guys who drove through the night to get back from Canada could set up. Then pounded out a 90 minute set, during which time the other act showed up. It turned out that all bands involved had been told the wrong set times and hence, everything was a mess. We took a break around 9:30, then finished the set by 10pm and Hollis Brown took the stage and had the room captivated. These guys are great! If you don't know 'em yet, you will.
The show turned out to a great gig, even with all the confusion and we're really looking forward to getting back to Northampton very soon.
Take care and we hope to see you soon! We'll be all over the fine state of Pennsylvania during 4th of July weekend, so be sure to check out schedule to see when we're coming back to a town near you. Happy birthday Amerrrrica!! -Ward