Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 7

Day Eight: Louisville, KY

The show was outdoors in Kentucky. Usually this may have presented some sort of weather issue, and when we rolled into Kentucky the skies were dark and the air moist with humidity. When I asked a local if they thought it would rain, she just laughed and replied, “We haven’t had a drop of rain in over a month, honey!” Still, the weather felt ripe for a good ol southern shower.

My fears ended up being unfounded as the weather held and the sun went down, but the temperature remained pleasant. We played on a stage in a big field of grass inside the University of Louisville. The goal of the festival according to the director, who kindly let us use their nice indoor facilities before our set, was “to show people how nice the University of Louisville really is. Most people think it’s a concrete jungle, a downtown commuter school, unsafe and uncultured.”

If anything, the Discover Louisville festival did convince the 2000 or so attendees that U of L, KY does have grass, does have outdoor functions with food vendors, and, once every 10 years, puts on a concert for its students and surrounding community. It should be noted that I met very few people at the show who actually went to the college. Most attendees that I encountered were local high school kids or Louisville stoner burnouts who read on the flyer that the show was free.

All this being said, our set went ok. We had a nice guest appearance that we will post video of soon. The audience response felt a bit tepid from stage, but many, many people came and talked to us after the show, so it felt like it turned out all right.

I've become a bit listless as I write this, knowing full well this entry is lacking some of the bravado of earlier entries, and it can be noted that tour entropy has definitely started to take effect. I'm sitting in our shared green room in Cleveland, OH after just finishing soundcheck. I'm drinking a tall boy and am certainly content. That will have to be enough.

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 6

Day Six and Seven: Chicago, IL

The last two days were incredible. I hesitate to recount them because I know I will fail at adequately expressing the extent of my happiness. The days’ events seem jumbled together in my mind like the contents of my now-all-dirty-clothes bag. Instead of a play by play retelling, I feel I can only provide snapshots of some of the highlights from our time in Chicago.

Snapshot One: We scurried from the gigantic stage of the House Of Blues after completing a stressful soundcheck (our bass head is not working at the moment and we had to borrow Company of Thieves last minute). The room was empty when we left it at 6pm. When we returned at 6:15 to play, the 1300 capacity club was nearly full. It was a surreal experience, as well as logistically stupefying. We didn’t complain.

Snapshot Two: Looking out into the crowd mid song and seeing my friends from Madison in the audience. I felt so proud that they got to witness this epic show. It made the whole tour finally feel real to me.

Snapshot Three: Watching Ok Go from the third floor balcony as the confetti rained down on the screaming crowd.

Snapshot Four: Meeting Lars. Lars is a young boy with blonde hair and two adult teeth. He was as energetic as any fan I’ve ever met. He gave us this advice about being on the road: “Have a good tour but don’t take it over the top but still have fun.” Priceless advice, Lars.

Snapshot Five: Dancing with our friends at Beauty Bar until 2:30 am then taking a cab back to Ok Go’s hotel. Dan left his iPhone in the cab, and the cab driver actually came back 30 minutes later and handed it back to Dan, for a small recovery fee. Somewhere during this debacle I wandered off and got lost beneath the hotel where the service entrance to House of Blues is. Heather received a phone call from me. Apparently I didn’t know why I was down there and had to be reminded that I was there to walk Peno.

Snapshot Six: Eating at Manny’s, an old school, cafeteria style diner in south Chicago. They just put things on the glass counter and if you wanted it, you grabbed it. I grabbed the biggest Pastrami sandwich I’ve ever seen, a potato pancake, a piece of boysenberry pie, and a Coors Light.

Snapshot Seven: Hanging out with the band and Tim from Ok Go in Wicker Park area, or as it looked like to me, a combination of Brooklyn, Echo Park and Melrose Ave. We met a ton of Tim’s friends from Chicago (Dan actually went with Tim to see Tim speak at his collegiate alma mater) and went to a couple of bars and a tasty pizzeria.

Snapshot Eight: Bowling with Ok Go. Damien was kind enough to treat us all to a big giant bowling match at the bowling alley adjacent to their hotel. No one bowls in this bunch, but it was schoolyard fun, chalked full of trash talking and laughter and not a few cocktails.

Snapshot Nine: Cruising through downtown on the Elevated Train. What a way to see the city!

Honorable mentions: Chicago, your people are the nicest city people I’ve ever come across. Both our lovely hosts, Ally and Chris, and the whole Ok Go crew made us feel very welcomed and at home.

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 5

Day Five: Madison. WI

Playlist Continues:

Ben :: Brand New The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me

Dan :: Sigur Ros ágætis byrjun

Heather :: Cat Power The Greatest

Todd :: Bon Iver For Emma, Forever Ago

Ben :: Modest Mouse Good News For People Who Love Bad News

The drive southeast from the Twin cities into Madison was another scenic masterpiece. Fall was in full swing with forested hills peopled by trees afire in orange, yellowgreen and the occasional cranberry burst. Rivers calmly cut beneath I-94 as we leisurely drove into Madison. I’m just bummed I didn’t stay awake for the whole drive. I awoke with a sore throat and a fever so I took the opportunity to get a little shut-eye during the drive after my turn at the wheel.

We came upon Madison just after their college football game had ended. The streets were flooded with men, women, and children adorned in red shirts, smiling, drinking openly on the sidewalks, and engaged in other benign forms of merrymaking. Festive as it was, it did make for difficult navigation through the throngs of supporters, so much so that Heather felt tempted to star running over the next drunk college co-ed that stumbled blindly into the intersections.

We were blessed in Madison with the home of our dear friends, Josh and Jessica, and we arrived to a house awaft with the sweet aroma of homemade pasta sauce and the hiss-sound of bottlecaps opening. We spent the remainder of our day relaxing and recharging, watching a little playoff baseball, strolling around the lake, drinking whiskey and playing Scrabble at the Glass Nickel. Unfortunately due to his illness, your faithful blogger crashed out early so there is no record of how the evening descended, but based on how the rest of the band minus Todd looked this morning, and the fact that our hosts were barely able to make it out of bed to say good-bye, the rest of the night must have ended in debauchery. Well done, Darlings!

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 4

Day Three + Four: Denver, Co to Omaha, Nebraska to Northfield, MN

Nebraska: The Good Life, Home of Arbor Day

We spent the first part of our day off in search of a mechanic that would have the time to diagnose our van's problem. Luckily we were able to find such a place in a little shopping center that had a sandwich shop with free Wi-Fi. Dan and I played catch in the parking lot. I hit a Bud Light truck. Peno and Heather ate bagels and listened to new music with Dan. Todd worked on our merch spreadsheet.

The diagnosis was that the RSC function on our van was inoperable so to avoid confusing the van's computer we had the mechanic disable the function. We learned that were in no serious danger by driving without it, which put our minds at ease as we hopped onto the I-76 east towards Nebraska. Along the way we stopped at a pleasant rest stop and took picture of horses. Nebraska, you kind of smell like poo.

In Omaha, Dan scouted out a bar called the Nomad that had precisely two customers in it upon our arrival. The bartender was very nice, yet very green as a bartender--at one such moment he spent three or four minutes searching for a beer opener to open our Coors Lights. He more than made up for his slowness with huge pours and dirt cheap happy hour prices. Tour delirium had already set in as we estimated that we'd spent 31 of the last 64 hours in the van and had already logged 1900 miles by the end of our third day. I was ready for a hotel bed to stretch out on and the sensation of being stationary!

* * *

Dan returns to the hotel room Friday morning fresh from a trip to the local Walmart. He's sporting a denim long sleeve work shirt and a proud smile. He'd gotten himself a cup of coffee at the neighborhood Cracker Barrel and been eye-judged by the Rotary Club greeting staff at Walmart and was feeling properly Midwestern.

Because He "checked in" to the Cracker Barrel, our friends in We Barbarians contacted us with a surprised "you're in Iowa too?" message. They had just played in St Paul, MN the night before and were headed down to play Omaha as we were headed up to play in Northfield, a college town just outside of St Paul.

At the best rest stop in the United States, rolling green hills, trees to nap under, shaded park benches, air-conditioned bathrooms, free Wi-Fi--Iowa, you're doing something right, we met up with We Barbarians and traded stories from the road, stories that reaffirmed this transient life as something to be desired. We shared some PBRs and smokes and heard them recount the last time they toured with Ok Go and how Ok Go destroyed them in a van-to-van food fight. We already had a pretty good idea of our tour mates' mischievous nature--one only has to see their live show to know that--but the food fight story is really indicative of how Ok Go operates. They are ready to have fun at any moment. Case in point, later that evening when doing the bell performance section of their set, one of the bells was a half step flat, but instead of Ok Go letting this mishap affect the song, they used it to their advantage and turned the moment comedic and enjoyable for everyone. After the set was over, they invited us to their dressing room to have some drinks, and then on to their bus for some more drinks until it was time for them to take off. they are definitely a fun band to be on the road for the first time with.

Our set was also filled with some antics as we played to 400 or so St Olaf College students and a whole host of younger kids. Dan had an audience member play the tambo part on "This Would Be The Time" and I sang the quiet part of "My Reminder" off the mic to a small semi-circle of terrified 16 year old girls and boys. Tim from Ok Go Dj'd the night and played some great exit music for us, including that bad ass new Cee-Lo jam. We thanked Tim by playing his favorite song of ours, "Ride," during our set, although it was pretty rusty.

The night ended like most nights so far, the four of us deliriously exhausted, Todd at the wheel, hurtling through the dead of night trying to find our hotel and a pinch of rest before the sun could start the madness all over again.

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 3

Day Two: Albuquerque, NM to Boulder, CO

Top 20 Playlist Continues:

Dan :: #18 Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy

Heather :: #18 Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream

Todd :: #18 The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Ben :: #18 Built To Spill Keep It Like a Secret

Road signs are often misleading, or confusing, but in some cases highly understated. On I-25 as you cross the border from New Mexico into Colorado there is a big blue sign that reads simply, “Scenic Views Next 2 Miles.” They’re not joking. The drive up the north corridor of 1-25 is filled with spectacular views, and we were given a picture perfect day weather-wise to enjoy them.

One side note: One of my favorite things to do on tour is to laugh at the slogans. For example, New Mexico is the “Land of Enchantment.” Colorado is “Welcome to Colorful Colorado.” Off hand I can’t recall Arizona’s…perhaps its “The Grand Canyon State.” California I’ll get on our way home. Tomorrow I’ll find out Nebraska’s slogan.

About 70 miles south of Denver, the RSC system on our tour van begins to engage unnecessarily causing me to have to constantly battle with the wheel in order to keep the van going straight. There was no danger, just the feeling that the van’s alignment was fucked up. RSC is a system that senses when too much pressure is applied to any one wheel on the van then counteracts that pressure by automatically applying the breaks to the other wheels. When it malfunctions it can causes this alignment effect. Upon reaching the Fox Theatre in Boulder, the odometer had disappeared in favor of a flashing warning sign indicating RSC failure. Needless to say it was a rather unsettling way to end the drive.

The Fox Theatre was a hubbub of activity as one would expect on the first day of a major tour. The venue may have been a 600 capacity room, but Ok Go always rolls like they’re playing a large arena. Crew was everywhere setting up any number of instruments or props for the highly technical performance. Tim and Andy from Ok Go said hello to us briefly, but they were concentrating mostly on their soundcheck, which seemed by everyone’s estimation, to not be going all that smoothly.

We occupied our time by getting the lay of the land, meeting the members of the direct support band, Company of Thieves, setting up our merch area in the lobby, drinking cold Bud Light—I was surprised it wasn’t Coors!—and making a few phone calls to investigate our ailing chariot. Our line check began at 7:40, nearly an hour behind schedule, but the crew of the Fox Theatre did an efficient job figuring out all the ins and outs of our sound in the remaining time before doors opened. All of it seemed pretty standard and I found myself completely relaxed until about 15 minutes to stage time, as three hundred or so kids began hugging the stage in anticipation of the first band.

All my life I’ve been going to shows at venues this size and saying to myself, someday, I’ll be playing on stages like these. After 31 years, I can now say that goal has been realized. So before I go any further with these stories, it must be noted so that I don’t forget, that we as Summer Darling set out to do something and we did it with the help of a litany of friends and a good share of luck. This realization was not lost on me in the moment we took the stage. I stared down at my tuning pedal, but had to look back up to see all the people waiting intently for what were about to do. I also remembered in that moment what it was like to be them, most of whom have never heard us, and in that curious place between wanting to be amazed but wanting it to be over quickly to speed up the arrival of the headlining act.

We did them that favor. We opened with “Son” and proceeded to burn through six songs in 25 minutes. Because our set kind of all runs together, many times the kids didn’t know when to clap, which added to the feeling that we were really catching them off guard with our jams. Before I had a chance to really think about it, the set was done and I was rapidly loading our gear off stage and into the rain.

* * *

Today on the drive out of Colorado, we can laugh about last night’s drive to our host house in Aroura, CO. But last night there was no laughter, only fatigue and frustration. Not only was I battling my own private anxiety concerning the safety of our van, the roads were slick with rainwash and the visibility marred by fog. Compounding the issues at hand were some fucked up google map directions that at one point had me pissing in a field where I could look in the four directions and see nothing but flat grasslands and distant lights like prairie mirages on the horizon. Where the hell were we? We’d gone up and down a toll road looking for a street that didn’t exist in a part of the country that the population had abandoned.

Exhausted we finally found our home for the night by studying a grid of this bizarre subdivision and lewis and clarking our way through. And no one was in any mood to laugh it off. Another lesson learned on tour: the highs and lows can come right next to each other, but always remember, what looked like a hopeless situation at night, in day often looks like an absurd joke. The trick is to figure out how to laugh this shit off in the moment.

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary 2

Day One: Albuquerque, NM Part Two

The scale with fun on one side and danger on the other severely tipped in favor of the latter after we left Flagstaff. In the high mountain planes of Arizona, gusty winds and torrential rainfall slowed us to a crawl. We turned off the stereo to enjoy the tremendous thunderclaps. We put down our iPhones to watch the electrical storm turn the night sky a celestial pink with violent flashes of lightning. The whole world seemed awesome and terrible, beautiful and menacing, and I clung to the steering wheel to keep us on the road.

We crested the bluffs above Albuquerque late Tuesday evening. It has a similar feeling as when one travels I-15 into Vegas: you can see the lights of the city illuminating the night sky many, many miles before you see the city itself. Burt’s is tucked away on Gold Street in the downtown historic district, which seemed filled with more nightclubs and strip joints than it did historical landmarks. However, since we were running so late, we did not explore much past the venue, so in all fairness to you, Albuquerque, perhaps me didn’t drive down far enough into your historical heart. I did notice the hotel we stayed in last time Kissing Cousins played Albuquerque was condemned. Ominous?

Burt’s was hopping for a Tuesday with Evol Lived playing to a small yet energetic college crowd. Tucked away in the booths was the more rock and roll crowd, sipping their PBRs and shots of tequila. The staff was friendly, and the sound engineer, Ken, was downright warm-hearted and helpful. A brief aside: every person we met this night was gracious and kind. Thank you to Damien and Andy for pulling out your people!

One band canceled which meant we played quite a longer set than we will most likely play with Ok Go. We busted through the hits from the record as well as a handful of classic tracks from our formative years. We got a great response from our untitled new song; quite a few drunk dancers took to flailing around like June Bugs with one clipped wing. Definitely a fun set, which I must admit, I was not expecting, due to past Albuquerque experiences.

After the set Dan went to the bar and found himself drinking next to Britt Daniels of Spoon. Later Dan recounted the story. At first he seemed to Dan another dude drinking at Burt’s. Then Dan had that vague recognition feeling and within a second he was sure of who it was. He turned back towards the bar where the bartender gave a discrete head nod and said, “Did you see who you played for?” Dan smiled and said yes. A few moments later, Dan introduced himself with a standard, “Hey I’m Dan, just wanted to introduce myself and say it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Britt responded with a sincere, “Thanks man, you guys sounded great.” We later passed along a vinyl copy of our record to the Spoon frontman, but it already was an incredible honor to play for a man who’s written some amazing songs. Check out the jam “Out Go The Lights” on Spoon’s latest record Transference to hear for yourself.

The night ended with a late, late check in to the hotel, but we were satisfied that a show where we only expected to get a tour “warm-up” out of became something exciting and inspiring.

Summer Darling North American Tour Diary

Part One: Introduction

Day One: Los Angeles, CA to Albuquerque, NM

Drive Playlist :: Our Top 20 Records, of all time, or just what we wanted to hear on this tour.

Dan :: #20 Kings of Leon Come Around Sundown

Heather :: #20 Timbre Timbre s/t

Todd :: #20 Radiohead Kid A

Ben :: #20 Broken Social Scene You Forgot It In People

Dan :: #19 Deerhunter Halcyon Digest

Heather :: #19 Massive Attack Mezzanine

Ben :: #19 Pinback Blue Screen Life

Awake at 6am after taking a red eye yesterday from Hawai’I makes it feel like three in the morning. Eyes sting, mouths crease in perpetual yawning motions. Nothing sounds appealing but returning to bed with shades drawn. Outside, Silver Lake slowly comes to life amidst the overcast dawn. My dog, Peno, and I walk down the sidewalk passing the occasional clump of high schoolers, hoodied and crusty-eyed, and I try to remember how to pray. 7000 miles in 15 days. It’s a daunting task even if it wasn’t our first tour outside the west coast, even if we weren’t traveling in a rented van, even if we had any idea what we were getting into.

I confess to shouldering more than my fair share of anxiety concerning this tour—giant 15 passenger vans rolling over after one of us falls asleep at the wheel comes to mind immediately, stress dreams of drowning or being unable to complete a task while the world waits on, mini panic attacks throughout the day. I suppose one could rightly ask, “Ben, what the hell are you doing to yourself?” and they’d have a doozey of a question.

My answer is pretty simple; I know it, it’s right here on my fingertips, but then, if you all knew the answer what would be the point of reading? So my answer to the question of all questions—what are we doing here and why the hell are we doing it?—will have to wait 15 days. For now sit back and relax like the four darlings are right now as we cruise along on I-40 corridor through the bushel-ed high desert, hurtling into the unknown.

* * *

We’ve just finished lunch at El Placidio in Kingman, Arizona after taking a tour of the Mojave Museum where Dan’s father, Shannon, is the museum director. Shannon told us an anecdote for each piece of art in his office, including a rather sordid tale on how he ousted the assistant director, who used to share the office, down to the basement with the other “relics.”

As we traverse winded shrubbery clinging to flattopped mountains beneath massive boomer clouds promising lightning and a few fall drops, Dan tells us how Shannon bought one such mountain and built a house in the deepest crevasse he could find. Shannon has a reclusive side that has become more pronounced with age. Physically the man is in good shape, with strikingly similarities in mouth and teeth structure to his son, our guitarist. His story telling is quick-witted and unrelenting. Dan is no anomaly, he is his father’s son.

Here comes the rain!