Day 24
On Easter Morning we awoke in Syracuse and headed over to Adams house to say thank you, but not before taking advantage of his generous offer for some free breakfast back at the Funk n Waffles. With full stomachs we drive over to his house and the group sat around trading a few tour stories while Tanner played some jams on one of Adams many old school pianos. We could have sat and talked all the day at the rate we were going but we wanted to make it to check out Niagara Falls before dark, which was an awesome display of rushing water and the grandeur of mother nature. after a quick trip to the Horseshoe Falls nearby, we got back on the road made it to Cleveland just in time to use the Walmart bathroom and sleep in their parking lot.
Day 25
None of us expected our coldest morning so far to be in Cleveland but then again we didn't expect a lot of things that have happened so far on this journey. After taking a quick glance at our surroundings we decided our best bet would be to charge on to Chicago and try to find an open mic somewhere on a Monday night. On our way into the city we connected with a local hostel for musicians that offered to host us for free for the night. After finding some parking for the bus we met Julie and her roommates who run the music hostel Earphoria in Logan Square. The situation they have created there is awesome for traveling and local musicians, as well as listeners. We were able to find an open mic at a cool local venue called Quenchers who were nice enough to allow us to set up all our gear and play some songs for the crown at a mostly acoustic open mic. We played a small three song set for about 20-30 people that was very well received and we ended up meeting some awesome locals. After that we headed back to the hostel to thankfully sleep in the warm basement instead freezing in our bus.
More photos from Quenchers...
Day 26
Following our restful nights sleep in the hostel we awoke to find that our bus engine had gotten a little too cold the night before and needed a little work before we could get it to start again. While Dan worked on getting the bus to start, Elliot and Jamie got down to business recording their new song Pass It Around in the basement/studio area of the Hostel we were staying at. After the song was finished and we got the bus to start, we headed over to the open mic night hosted by Earphoria and played a quick set for a new friends in Chicago. The talented Bear Weather made another appearance as well as the comic styling's of Tim John, and a few other local musicians that made it a great musical experience. Once the music there was winding down we headed back to another open mic at a popular local Hip-Hop club that was just getting started. Upon arriving we realized was more of an open cypher/freestyle session hosted by two local MC’s. The two hosts laid down the rule of law on the crowd of MC’s getting rowdy and drinking pitchers on stage, no cursing on the mic, and if you sucked, they would start the countdown, “ONE, TWO, ONE,TWO,THREE,FOUR” and you had to pass the mic off to the next MC. Elliot bravely jumped on stage, got in on a few verses and held his own on stage against the talented local artists while turning a few heads as well. Although we were a little out of our element this was by far the most honest and fun displays of genuine Hip-Hop we had encountered on our this tour. After a long night and a 45 minute drive we pulled into Cary, the homeland of Tanner and caught a few hours of sleep on the bus.
Day 27
We awoke to another cold and blustery Walmart parking lot, a situation we are growing all too accustomed to, and headed over to Tanner’s house to raid the fridge and enjoy a much needed free breakfast. With full bellies and a sunny disposition, we ventured back out into the cold to drive our bus to a marina that allowed us to park there and do some much needed cleaning, An operation we have dubbed “Gypsy Yard Sale” due to the out pour of weird trinkets and mess that erupts from the bus and onto the lawn of wherever we are at the time. Once the cleaning was finished we headed back to Tanner’s house and enjoyed an epic homemade meal prepared by Tanner’s family and regaled them with stories of our journey thus far. Following the dinner we drove down to Middletons on Main to play an open mic that had been set up for us by Tanner and one of his friend’s local bands. We got to play a few songs on a balcony overlooking the crowd which was a change of pace and a pretty cool view, although it did make Elliot look like Charlie Chaplin from the dictator due to his more prevalent tour beard and yelling while swinging his arms over the crowd below. We stuck around to see a few more local acts and then headed back to the marina for a nice night by the water that consisted of a 30 rack of Icehouse, huge bonfire, and roman candle fights.
Day 28
While waking up next to a lake in our bus at the marina was quite picturesque, it was also quite freezing so we got out of there pretty quick and headed to Tanner’s house to warm up and eat some breakfast. After a basement screening of Gangs of New York, some computer work, and a few loads of laundry, we got back on the bus and headed down to our show at Colemans in Cary. Loading all our gear in during the dinner rush was a tad bit awkward but once the show got started everyone joined in and we ended up having one of the most fun crowds of the tour. Seth, the owner of the family run bar was an awesome and gracious host who even hooked us up with some beers and bacon cheeseburgers to go after our set. We met some cool people after the show who invited us back to a huge mansion that belonged to the owner of a certain established east coast sandwich business and had an absolute blast hanging out with our new pals swapping stories and trying to sing along to some Danny Brown.
More photos from Colemans...
Day 29
After a rough wake up and scavenger hunt through the multitude of rooms in the house to locate all the band members, we once again headed back to Tanner’s house for some recovery and work time before the next show. We headed over to Dukes around 8:30 and were stoked to encounter an awesome two story alehouse dishing out awesome food ran by a friendly staff and an awesome owner who welcomed us with open arms. After the crowd got warmed up by the talented local band The Ars Nova, we hopped up on stage and started what was our longest set of the tour by far. The crowd was very receptive and it made for an awesome night of music, everyone kept dancing and singing along for the whole 75 minute set which was great and some of the people from the show the night before came out to see us play again which really meant a lot to us. After mingling with the people from Dukes and getting to meet the owner Zach, who was also the chef and an all around great guy, we loaded our gear back on the bus and drove over to one of Tanner’s friend’s house where a few of us did some more mingling and a few of us passed out on the bus due to exhaustion.
More photos from Dukes....
Day 30
We awoke in the driveway of the "venue" we were to play that evening, and began the mental preparation of playing 2 shows in one day. This consisted of watching the Flinstones movie, and eating tanner's mom's delicious left over tacos. Our first show of the night was at the Penny Road Pub, an iconic throw back to the days of Motley Crue, and leopard print leather pants. We played first in the basement of the club, and made the most of an awkward situation. Warming up a crowd of arm crossed Goatwhore worshipers with some rousing indie hip hop songs is no small feat. However after our first couple of songs the crowd became very receptive. Though humble, the show was still fun, and (at least I'll tell myself) I think the metal heads welcomed the change of pace. After that we packed up our gear and headed for Andrew's basement, an underground hotspot in the suburbs of crystal lake. The ceilings were low, but the spirits were high, and the crystal lake natives were not afraid of getting down. After the set we got drunk on honey whiskey, danced to some Michael, smoked fine cigars, and of course stood in a circle shoving each other.
More photos from the house party...
Day 31/32
Drove through Iowa and Nebraska. If you have ever done this you will understand why that's all there is to say about that. Arrived in boulder Colorado, watched the NCAA championship on our friend Jackson’s couch, and Sam got to experience his first snow storm.
Day 33
We awoke to a surprisingly warm atmosphere on the inside of the bus
considering the 9 inches that were covering the bus and the streets
around us. Although we were prepared for it to snow on tour(some of us
more than others) it was pretty evident that none of us or our shoes
were prepared for trudging through more than a foot of powdery snow all
day long. Although it was cold it was also an insanely beautiful sight
to see the snow covered rooftops and icicles hanging from street signs
that some of us had only seen in pictures. Despite the cold we were
able to start the bus and head up the mountain to Thomas’s cousins house
located in the Flatiron mountains, although the roads were slightly icy
and a little treacherous, Dan navigated them like a champion and
eventually we found the house nestled on the edge of the mountain
covered in a blanket of powder. Cassie opened her awesome home to us
and we took full advantage of the hot tub
overlooking the mountains and a lovely home cooked spaghetti dinner.
After a few showers and some time enjoying the warm house and good
company provided by Thomas’s cousin, we headed back down the mountain to
make it to our show at Connor O’Neils.
Danny, who was the host of the open mic night and had been for the
last 12 years, was nice enough to carve out 40 minutes for us to play a
set at the end of the night. We played a partially acoustic set to the
local crowd and met a few nice people after the show, including one of
Tanner’s childhood friends who recognized our bus from facebook and
offered us a place to park it in front of his house. At the end of the
night we feasted on Top Ramen and piled back onto to our partially
frozen bus to bundle up for the night.
Day 34
After
another white wake up in boulder we decided to head to Denver to a
friend of Tanner’s house who had offered to put us up since we had an
off night. We got to the house and were greeted by Tanner’s friend Mike
and his two roommates who were way too nice to let us invade their home
and went above and beyond the call of duty by purchasing some food and a
keg to throw a little party to promote our show the next night in
Denver. Although most of us were tired enough to hit the rack at 7pm,
we decided it would be the height of rudeness for us not to enjoy the
keg that was bought in honor of our show, and immediately got started
playing a game of “baseball” while mingling with the crowd. We made a
few new friends, had some fun promoting the show and listening to music,
and once again piled back on the bus for the night.
Day 35
We
awoke in denver to a feel of happiness in the air, a certain
electricity that we couldn't quite put our finger on, until we realized
that it was the anniversary of the birth of our drummer Daniel Wells.
After a rousing rendition of happy birthday, Dan capitalized on the the
offer of one of our newfound friends to take him skiing that day in
Denver. While Dan was skiing, the rest of us hit the jacuzzi, made some
food, and rested up in preparation for the show that night at Hermans Hideaway.
Once evening rolled around we made our way down to the venue to set up
our gear and watch the few acts that went on before us. As our showtime
neared we began to see a good amount of the people we met the night
before begin to filter in to see our show, which was really encouraging
since they actually got to meet us before they saw our music and still
wanted to show up. The venue had a great stage and we played an awesome
show for some random attendees and our newfound friends in Denver.
After some complimentary pizza from the great people at Herman’s we got
back on board the bus and began our drive through the night to make it
to California by friday.
Day 36
After a sketchy trek through the snowy colorado mountains, we powered
through Utah, Nevada(passing vegas without stopping was rough), and
finally Arizona before crossing the california border in the wee hours
of the morning and stopping at Dan’s moms house in Thousand Oaks.
Day 37
Following a bus cleaning and some breakfast, we hit the road to Santa Barbara to make it to Lucidity Festival
a day before our show to promote, meet up with a bunch of friends that
were there, and of course enjoy the perks of the free wristbands. We
stopped in Isla Vista to enjoy another free meal thanks to Woodstocks
and spend some time with Cosmo’s family. Once we made it to the front
gate of lucidity we realized we were missing a few tickets on our order,
which Thomas deftly handled with the staff and we were in the festival
in no time. Thanks to our good friends the Hooch House,
we had a parking spot for our bus waiting right near the stage we were
playing at and we spent the day and night wandering around enjoying the
ocular candy and interesting people that lucidity had to offer.
Day 38
After an interesting night at Lucidity we woke up sunday morning
excited to play our set on the Alive stage. The festival organizers had
created a really cool scene with live music acts going all day combined
with circus and acrobatic performers putting on shows in between the
sets. While we were getting ready to go on a woman did an amazing rope
climbing dance routine hanging 15ft in the air which drew a few more
people to the stage before we went on. By the time we began to play
there was a decent crowd gathered in front of the stage and the guys did
not let it go to waste. The sound was amazing and with each song we
played the crowd grew and grew to the point where their dancing was
causing an actual dust storm in front of the stage. This was by far one
of the most fun and interactive shows of the tour and throughout the
whole rest of the day we got random people coming up to us and
complimenting us on the sound and the show which is always an amazing
and humbling experience for the band. After hanging out at the festival
for a few more hours we headed back towards Santa Cruz to try and
squeeze in as many hours at home as possible.
Day 39
We
had about 12 hours in Santa Cruz to get all our errands and activities
that we had spent the last 37 days planning done, so everyone spread out
into the city for the day to accomplish their respective tasks. Once
everyone met back up at the bus we gave it another much needed cleaning
after a dusty weekend at Lucidity and hit the road in order to make it
to Seattle in time for our show the next night. Being home for less
than a day was a very surreal experience for everyone, and even though
we love Santa Cruz, being back on the bus and on the road again just
felt right.
Day 40
After another all too familiar drive through the night, we arrived in
seattle around 1pm and were happy to find that it was not raining. We
drove through Fremont and checked out the Nectar Lounge
where we were playing that night before heading over to Chance Random’s
house who would be joining us on stage that night with his group the Knowgooders.
We spent the day wandering around Seattle and enjoying sights like the
Waterfront, Pike’s market, and the gum wall before heading back to the
venue to prepare for the show. The highlight of the day was out in
front of the original starbucks where a gospel quartet invited Elliott
to join in with them and “spit some rhymes” as our drummer Dan likes to
put it. The lovely melodies and guitar playing combined with Elliot’s
seemingly effortless flow and poignant lyrics created a musical
spectacle that most passers by stopped to enjoy. Once we made it back
to the venue we were stoked to find out they had a comfortable green
room to hang out in and we got to spend some time with the other guys
who we were sharing the stage with that night. The Nectar had an
amazing sound and a great local hip-hop scene with an especially awesome
turnout for a tuesday night. The Knowgooders started the night off
with a bang and we hopped up on stage after them and had a great time
playing to a crowd of hip hop heads who were there to enjoy the music.
After us Black Magic Noize blew the crowd away followed by The Nightcappers
who absolutely slaughtered it to close out the show. We don't often
get to play purely hip-hop shows on the road so getting invited to play
at a great venue with some talented local artists who have created a
great scene for themselves was a treat and a cool experience.
Day 41
After a quick drive following our show the night before we woke up on beautiful
Cimano
island near the home of Thomas’s lovely grandmother and had a delicious
breakfast waiting for us. We spent the day catching up on work,
messing around on the beach, and filming some more parts of the video
for Pass it around.
After a few sandwiches and some farewell photos with Thomas’s
grandparents, we hopped back on the bus to drive to Bellingham for our
show that night with the Knowgooders and My Dad Bruce.
After a late soundcheck thanks to Dan and Cosmo having a run in with
local law enforcement(or rather avoiding one) the show went off without a
hitch and we played to a great crowd of local music appreciators thanks
to our gracious hosts. after the show we spent a little time hanging
out with some of Jamie’s canadian brethren and then had to get back on
the road for another all night drive to Ketchum, Idaho
Day 42
Driving through the night and most of the next day is never very
enjoyable, but the beautiful mountains and skyline of idaho did make the
drive a little bit more bearable for your weary travelers. Because we
got the awesome invitation to play lucidity festival this leg of our
tour got mixed around a little bit leaving us with a one day strike out
to idaho before heading back to washington the next day. We arrived in
Ketchum around 6pm and were greeted by the friendly and very manly owner
of the one of the coolest venues we have ever played, Whiskey Jacques. When
we walked in the door we were immediately greeted with a huge case of
PBR tall boys, an awesome green room to hang out in, 4 large gourmet
pizzas from the venue, and to top it all off a condo to stay in for the
night only 15 minutes from the venue. After we did a quick soundcheck
we headed back to the condo to gorge ourselves on pizza and squeeze in a
few showers before the show. Because of our reworking of the schedule
we ended up in Ketchum the weekend after the ski resort closed, however
the small crowd that was there came ready to rock and we had a blast
playing for a supportive local crew. Unfortunately because of reworking
our schedule to make the show we had to leave that night and didn't get
to enjoy the comfy beds that our condo had to offer, so after spending a
few minutes with some new friends we made during the show, we hopped
back on the bus for another long drive back to Washington.
Day 43
Tired, hungry, and somewhat smelly we pulled into the fraternity
parking lot at Washington State University ready for a shower and some
food. Thankfully we were not disappointed by the facilities and spent
the morning taking advantage of the group shower and kitchen area.
Since we were playing a day party for 420 we got our stuff set up
right away at the frat house down the way and moved the bus out front to
attract the occasional passerby. The astounding assortment of cheap
alcohol at the party was second only to the speed and ferocity by which
it was being consumed thanks to fraternity and sorority patrons present.
This however made for a loose crowd that we an awesome time playing
for. Although it got off to a slow start eventually the party goers
were torn away from the beer pong table by the lovely musical stylings
of yours truly, and by the end they were pouring alcohol down our poor
penguin’s throat and demanding a double encore. After the show we had a
great time trying our best to keep up with the highly developed franzia
and cheap vodka game of the college students surrounding us, and
although we put up a valiant effort, all of us were asleep on the bus by
10:30 due to box wine and the utter exhaustion of being on the road for
42 days.
Day 44
We awoke on the bus to a tad bit of a hangover and the sound of pledges
cleaning up the trash around us, as well as a parking ticket, and
struggled our way down the road to an awesome breakfast at The Old
European. Seriously, if you are ever in pullman, this place is a
classic and amazing meal, you will not be disappointed. After stuffing
ourselves with eggs benedict and goulash we got back on the road to
drive to Portland and try to find a show since we had the next few days
open. We got to town and were greeted by our lovely friend Melody who
let us invade her home and make bean and cheese burritos in her kitchen.
Since the outlook on finding a show was not looking good, we decided
to go check out hosts performance at a burlesque variety show in
downtown portland. We got to see a few amazing and outlandish
performances and had a much needed night off from playing shows and
driving.
Day 45
Our next morning and afternoon in portland was spent by half of us
catching up on some computer work and the other half of us playing some
baseball in a park near the house we were staying at. Later on that
evening we followed up on a tip from our friend and fellow musician, Worth, and hit up a local open mic at a bar called The Goodfoot.
The venue was two levels, the bottom one which hosted the open mic had
an intimate environment and an awesome Sopranos pool table. We played a
fun set to about 20 people who were really receptive to the music and
we had fun meeting a few of them after the short set. After the set we
followed Worth back to his house for another nights sleep on the bus.
Day 46
After
a few hours of bus cleaning and some jamming with Worth and his
bandmate Kenton, we hopped back on the dusty trail south with no solid
plans since we had no show scheduled for a few days. We decided to stop
at some hot springs on the the way which we were located in some oregon
mountains. although they smelled a little like sulfur the hot springs
were just what the doctor had ordered, especially after Dan and Tanner
took a 50ft plunge off Bridge into some icy water on the way up the
mountain. After putting a few more hours on the road we passed out in a
Mcdonalds parking lot in Grants Pass, Oregon, less than 100 miles from
the California border.
Day 47
With some Mcdonald’s breakfast in our stomachs, we eagerly drove the
last few miles through Oregon and across the California border towards
home. Our first stop after being in our homeland was at a 75 ft tall
statue of Paul Bunyan accompanied by another giant statue of his Big
Blue Ox. After wasting a few minutes taking pictures with the statue we
got back on the road and decided to try our luck finding a show in
Arcata since we usually have good luck in college towns. Jamie scored
another place for us to cook and shower with an awesome local named
Sunflower. That afternoon she showed us a great time on the Mad River
and let us invade her home that evening. One of her roommates gave us a
tip on a show that night, and although we weren't able to hop on the
bill, we did have a rousing game of ultimate frisbee at the park
downtown.
Day 48
We woke up on the bus and filtered inside Sunflower’s house for an
awesome breakfast she offered to cook for us. We hung out for awhile
trading stories from the road and jamming a little bit on the porch.
After saying our goodbyes we hopped back on the road to head south to
Point Arena where we were playing a show for the Grace Project thanks to
our friend Andrew from Dysfunctional Species. After getting treated to a delicious dinner we headed to 215 main
to set up for our show that night. Point Arena is far and away one of
our favorite places to travel to and it did not disappoint in the
slightest. The small venue was packed tight with people who all came to
dance and have a good time, leading to one of the most fun sets we
played this tour. After hanging out with a few locals and friends we
met at the show, we drove the bus to some campgrounds nearby where
Thomas’s parents were staying and crashed.
Day 49
The smell of cooking eggs and sausage woke us up from our bus induced
slumber and we all feasted on breakfast burritos thanks to the
generosity of the parents. After catching up a bit we piled back on the
bus and headed down towards our last destination of the tour and by far
one of our most anticipated ones, Chico. The roads were a little
bumpy, not helped by the fact our right front shock was broken, but we
made it to chico in one piece that afternoon. The sun was out in force
and so were the college students of chico who were all returning from a
day spent on the river ready to transition into having a good time that
night. We met up with out friends Max and Will of the clothing company Common Culture who
had offered to house us and let us play a party at their house that
night in order to promote the show on saturday. We got all the gear
setup and started to play around 10pm to a solid crowd of around 40
people, however once the music started and word of the good time spread,
parties from all around Chico started filtering towards our set. By
the end of the third song the crowd had tripled inside and everyone was
having the time of their lives, evidenced by Jamie jumping on top of the
speaker during the last song and the whole crowd yelling for an encore.
After the set we had an awesome time partying with old friends and
making new ones from the crowd, ending of course in a group crash out on
the bus.
Day 50
The dawn of the day of our last show of the tour was one of mixed
feelings, although all of us were run ragged and broke as hell, the
feeling of excitement of being able to go home was overshadowed the
reality that our amazing experience was almost over. Fortunately for us
though, we had saved one of the best nights for last. The first act to
take the stage at Lost on Main was
our good friends Dysphunctional Species who had put on a show for us in
Point Arena a few nights prior. They rocked out on stage and left the
crowd ripe and ready for one of our favorite live acts ever, Planet Booty.
As usual The Booty left no prisoners and were responsible for the
shaking of many an ass that night, if you ever get the chance to see
them live, do not pass it up. They gave us a tough act to follow, but
on our last night of tour it was one we were ready for. We played one
last awesome set for a solid group of great fans at lost on main and
left it all on stage. After the set we stuck around for The Deaf Pilots set and then piled our gear on the bus to drive through the night in order to make it home by morning.
Summary
Living
damn near two months on a bus has it's way of putting things into
perspective. First off, you realize how low you are willing to drop your
standard of living, and what a necessity really is. Second, it teaches
you that anything is possible with hard work, sacrifice, and lunch meat.
Lastly it teaches you a lot about playing as a team, or rather
operating as a family. Seeing this country in all it's glory has lit a
fire underneath our asses and enabled us to realize that we have no
choice, this is our life.
I
think the most common question we were asked aside from what city was
our favorite (which I refuse to answer) was, didn't you guys want to
kill each other by the end? Perhaps the most encouraging part of the
whole venture was that the longer we spent on the road the better we got
along. It was as if the exhaustion and excitement enabled us to realize
what was truly important and how much we truly care about each other.
in most of the cities we visited the only faces we recognized were that
of the eliquate operation and as inside jokes worked their way into
common vernacular, we realized that coming home, didn't really mean
coming home. Though we missed those we left behind dearly, it was clear
to all of us by the end that this pirate lifestyle we had adopted had
become our new standard of living. Of course there were some skirmishes
among the troops, but by the end we had fashioned ourselves into a mean
little fighting force, both onstage and off. With very little sleep,
even fewer showers, and the same damn ham and cheese sandwich every
meal, we all have accepted that this is the life for us, and that this
is our team come hell or high water.
Aside
from the core 8, none of this would have been possible without the
faith and help of some very important people, between the kickstarter,
and all the couches we have slept on we owe it to all of you to never
quit, no matter what. We can not wait to see all of our new friends
again, and hope that our story might inspire you to take a huge risk,
because it's fucking worth it.
Thanks again America,
Eliquate
