It has officially been 10 days since we returned from our month long tour of the states. I have been debating about this blogging process and the best means to go about it so its not too long. I have come to realize, there is no way around it, so I have to decided to do it in week long incriments.
Week One:
If I was to be 100% honest with you all, I was hardly excited before we left. In fact about 10 minutes into the van ride I was having a bit of a nervous breakdown in my head questioning why in the world I would be doing this. Its not that I don't love the band or my band mates and I love to travel but I hadnt had a single moment of reprieve since December and it was wearing me thin. During the recording process it was recording then mixing EVERYDAY, then album art while in the mean time, bookings, emails, photo shoots and the like all being run solely by Taylor and Myself. Then the album was out and it was the music video premiere party, and bookings every weekend leading up to the album release. Then Mat quit the band, which made more immediate work for us then we could handle, but we did. We found, auditioned, and got a drummer, Chet! but he had prior arrangements for a couple of our gigs so we worked with two other of our favorite drummers, Shlomi and TeeJay. Needless to say there was more work then any two people could handle. Some how, we got as much of it done as we could and on August 23rd we left for our 3rd full national tour, and EGRESS PLOWED AMERICA.
We started in Delaware, Asylum 13 put together an AMAZING night, the place was packed, and we got an encore, it was the best and worst show to have first. (I only say worst because it set the bar so high that we were worried there was only one way to go from there, ha!) Afterwards we stayed in a Beautiful Home/ Mansion owned by a musician friend named Lyndon. It was sprawling and clean, we each had our own sleeping quarters and he cooked us old fashioned apple and walnut oatmeal in the morning when we woke. This is a shot of us and his wife. It was the first of many tastes of the tremendous amount of support we were soon to receive along our way. The next day we were in D.C at The Bier Baron with a friendly and enthusiastic band, The Torches and were happy to catch up with our friend Melina who was so kind and opened her home to us after the show. The next morning was our first little haul down to Charlotte N.C. We made it a bit before the sunset. The venue was beautiful, it is called Petra's Piano Bar and the owner is a wonderfully supportive man, unfortunately the evening was a bit of a bust b/c it was their first pride parade in 19 years and the venue was not normally open on a sunday. Howeer, it didnt get us down because we got to hang out with our amazing friends Valerie-- aka Miss Mousie from Hellblinki and the amazing fiddler Ian Moore.
We played in the streets, I tried my first concord grape which I searched for in every city there after and we went to rest our weary heads at Valerie's parents. They had welcomed us back since the lat time they opened their door to us, they fed us and were so incredibly welcoming. it's always nice to be brought into a parents home. The next day we had a brief drive to Asheville, NC and I have to say I was kind of expecting the show to be a bit of a bust. I was however so excited to share a bill with Skunk Ruckus and Miss Mousie, but I was like, it's Asheville on a monday? and I have to say I put my foot in my mouth. We had a really fucking awesome time. The bar upstairs from the venue was selling herbal tonic drinks and We played band Quizzo, which resulted in many, many laughs and crude jokes and then had a parade, and played our asses off. Miss Mousie made me cry with her amazing voice in Dumpsters and Divebars and Skunk Ruckus was the perfect storm of balls to the wall--powerhouse tunes and we even got to catch up with the other Hellblinkis, Andrew and JP. I think my heart grew like,,5 times bigger that night. It was very apparent to me that I was surrounded in love, and rich in free spirited friends with amazing talent. As if that wasnt awesome enough, Valerie and Ian made us Falafel Waffles with all of the fixins for us to take on our way and they were AMAZING! The crew or the "kids" as Taylor and I would frequently say, stayed at JP's that evening and Taylor and I got a room at a hotel to ourselves. The following morning I sent him on a wild goose chase with me to find muscidine grapes which I did and then shortly after realized I was slightly allergic to them. Allergic enough for my lips to get puffy and burn and itch when I ate more then three of them but that didnt stop me.
We left shortly after saying by to JP and we were off to Knoxville, TN.
We got to knoxville where we met up with the really sweet and awesome Lulu Skidoo from Sidecar Symposium. We played in the streets and made some extra loot and that night we were joined for an awesome night of tunes by Sidecar Symposium and the ever mighty friends of ours, Ford Theatre Reunion. The show was great and a really goid time, afterwards however there was an unfortunate event that took place and there was an apartment fire where we were staying that evening. Thats about all I am going to say about that, except that we were very grateful no one was hurt and very, very sorry for the tenant whose apartment it was. Here is a shot from after the show in this shot is SIdecar Symposium, Ford Theatre Reunion and us Egressians:
From Knoxville we went to Atlanta, GA it was wednesday the 28th, the day before Dragon Con so we weren't sure if that would work for or against us. Unfortunately, there wasn't a great turn out at all, however The Extraordinary Contraptions joined the bill with us and were so awesome, they played their ever--loving asses off and were incredibly supportive by dancing and singing along to our songs, which made playing to a pretty empty room very, very bare able. Afterwards, a friend of theirs named Dave, put us up in his hone and it was a really great place to get to stay. They had their own chickens and left out some eggs, garlic and a big cast iron pan for us to cook ourselves breakfast with and it was incredibly yummy. After my breakfast settled I went upstairs to where Taylor and I slept and stole a quiet 15 minutes to myself to do some yoga.
~ These little moments on tour are little boosts to my morale and the definition of why we are doing this. There is this whole world of folk out there that just honestly and whole-heartedly believe in supporting and keeping the arts alive. People that actually BUY cd's and don't just rip them off the internet, people that Come out to shows, pay the door fee and then by $50 worth of merch, people that tell their friends about us, make music mixes with our music to get our name out there and then open their home too us. People open their home to us, that is the highest compliment we can receive. That people trust us and in what we are doing enough to allow us into their home, sometimes even when they aren't there. Today there are so many challenges and I am not going to pretend that my generation has it any worse then any other generation, for everyone has had their crosses to bare, its just not easy to follow your own path as a free thinking human sometimes. especially when you have laziness, apathy and greed standing in the way of what you do. People, society, the government sometimes even friends, family or band mates telling you that the dream you are chasing "isn't realistic." I am not sorry to say, it is realistic. It is my reality and way of life and I am grateful for EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. FRIEND and FAN that graces me with their presence and contributions and makes what I do work. I am making it work for myself, Taylor- my love and partner, and our band of miscreants. We played many-a-songs and planned many adventures and Little did we know at this point in the tour the AMAZING ups and downs that were to come.
Anywho, back to the happenings, we decided after leaving his house to busk the streets of Atlanta. There, we did INCREDIBLY well. John spotted a little nook by a building that wasn't occupied and we played for about an hour and a half and then packed up and set out for Alabama where we had a hotel for the night. Before we begun the haul, we stopped at a grocery store where we brought in our coolers, did a shopping and then picnic-ed at the tables in the cafe area. These little band picnics were some of my favorite times with everyone. I really felt like a family passing around the condiments, laughing at the day to day happenings, making fun of each other. I would often look over at Taylor and think to myself, we are doing so well for ourselves, Our crew is fed, you and I are organized, we have set up many adventures for everyone to have along the way and in the process we were spreading our " Mighty Seed "across the country. More to come in part 2-
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