DATE LOCATION
Fri. March 8 Santa Barbara, CA
DP House Party
Sat. March 9 Agoura, CA
LA Producers Studio
Sun. March 10 San Diego, CA
Porters Pub
Wed. March 13 Austin, TX
Big Bang (415 E. 6th St.)
Bayou Lounge – ATN Showcase
Thurs. March 14 Austin, TX
Thirsty Nickel (RedGorilla)
Fri. March 15 Austin, TX
The Chugging Monkey (RedGorilla)Texas Rockfest Outdoor Stage
Sun. March 17 Galveston, TX
Brew Brothers
Tues. March 19 New Orleans, LA
Rusty Nail
Wed. March 20 New Orleans, LA
Neutral Ground Coffee House
Thurs March 21 Orlando, FL
Sat March 23 Miami, FL
Miamipooloza
Tues. March 26 Richmond, VA
Emilo’s
Thur. March 28 Boston, MA
All Asia
Fri. March 29 Boston, MA
House Party
Sat. March 30 Syracuse, NY
Funk and Waffles
Mon. April 1 Chicago, IL
Quenchers
Tues. April 2
Lilly’s /Subterranean
Wed. April 3 Wauconda, IL
Middletons On Main
Thurs. April 4 Cary, IL
Colemans
Fri. April 5 Chicago, IL
Sat. April 6 Barrington, IL / Crystal Lake, IL
Tues. April 9 Boulder, CO
Conor O’neills
Thurs. April 11 Denver, CO
Fri. April 12 Long Beach, CA
House Party
Sat. April 13 Santa Barbara, CA
Sun. April 14 Santa Barbara, CA
Tues. April 16 Seattle, WA
Nectar
Wed. April 17 Seattle, WA
House Party
Thurs. April 18 Bellingham, WA
Wild Buffalo
Fri. April 19 Ketchum, ID
Whiskey Jacques
Sat. April 20 Pullman, WA
Mon. April 22 Portland, OR
The Goodfoot
Thurs. April 25 Point Arena, CA
215 Wine Bar
Fri. April 26 Chico, CA
House Party
Sat., April 27 Chico, CA
Lost On Main
Day 1:
We spent the day driving to Santa Barbara with 1/2 of the music equipment filling the walkways of the bus. This basically made it impossible to move. We arrived in Isla Vista around 8pm, loaded in the gear, and headed back to the bus to drink Captain Morgan (…when in Rome). Lucky for us Magic Bronson did the dirty work of drawing the audience in and getting them good and liquored up. We are really excited we get to play with these guys again tonight in Van Nuys at The Producer’s Club Studio. By the time we began our set, the yard was just about full. After a few more minutes, the news of free kegs and music had passed along Del Playa Ave. Hordes of people arrived and everything turned into absolute mayhem. We began to find it difficult to protect our gear from getting showered in beer. About halfway through our set we noticed a gentlemen had began dancing on the table behind us and in an instant he lost his balance and tumbled over the back railing. This would have been greatly amusing had it not been for the 40 ft cliff directly behind him. There was a moment of horror until he emerged from behind the rail holding his hat in victory proclaiming that “we should not worry, he hadn’t lost his hat.” As it was he had fallen short of the cliff edge and escaped with just a near death experience. After all, we don’t want a Great White on our hands. The show culminated with a big group hug to Family Unit, and a hopping good bye toA.D.D. We rounded off the night drunkenly shoving each other in a circle and passing out to the smell of feet and the sweet sound ofmouth breathing. So far, so good. More Photos…
Day 2
About two years ago we rented an office space in Santa Cruz with the intention of turning it into a creative work space. The whole thing turned out to be a dismal failure and we were evicted within two months. Last night we got a chance to play at the realization of our dream. LA Producer’s Club was an incredible space with every room being dedicated to different mediums of creation. EnJulliet, The High Drags, Magic Bronson, and Cing James, thank you. Though I can say that was one of the smallest stages we have ever played, there is nothing wrong with a little intimacy. Well, that is until your elbow splits open on you bass player’s bass neck, and you stomp your guitar players pedal board into submission. Leaving a pint of sweat and several drops of blood on the stage it is safe to say day 2, not bad. Now it’s off to San Diego to play Porters Pub with Idyll Wild, 5 And A Dime and our homies Magic Bronson.More Photos…
Day 3
We arrived in San Diego at about 1:30 pm and were greeted graciously with a free meal at Woodstock’s pizza. While we waited for our food to cook Thomas and Dan decided they looked a little pale, and proceeded to schmooze their way into a free tan at the tanning salon next door. After they were nice and bronzy, it was time to get to the show. It’s always nice when a room a quarter full of people who have no idea who you are, make an effort to be pressed flush against the stage. San Diego defiantly has mad love, and the stages sound system was so powerful my feet were buzzing for an hour after the show. After the gig we packed up our gear and drove until the sun came up arriving in Miami Arizona around 7:30 am. The days are beginning to blend together and I think that is a good sign. Good thing there are 54 days left. Big thanks to Woodstock’s pizza, naked tanning, and porters pub for making San Diego an experience worth remembering.More Photos…
Day 4 / 5
We drove. All night and all day. I am tired. Hot springs, abandon house with tons of beer bottles, no hassle at Texas border, I guess the bus is less conspicuous then we thought.Random Photos…
Day 6
So next year for SXSW, we decided it was absolutely necessary to institute a strict physical training program before we leave. Usually 1 show a day is a lot, but 3 shows in a day, while carting pounds of gear across the hot and crowded downtown Austin area is almost too much for even us to handle, almost. Our first show was at Big Bang and as is tradition for SXSW day shows we started our set playing to a bar tender, two patrons, and our sound guy, Paul. By the end of the set there was a fair amount of people and the bar tender and sound guy actually enjoyed our set. So much so, that they invited us back to close the night out. The problem, however, was that this show was scheduled for 10 minutes after our ATN (All Together Now)Showcase at 11:25 show. Not being ones to pass up anything ever, we took the show and got ready for inevitable exhaustion. It’s too bad that the Bayou Lounge was so rocking that we had no choice but push it to the limit (Kenny Loggins). Though this made our show right after a feat of endurance it was absolutely worth it. After a day like this, I truly believe we can handle anything.
Day 7
After a very sore wake, we headed down to The Thirsty Nickel for our 12:00 p.m. show. We were the first act of the day, and were competing with Prince next door, so the crowd was a bit meager. However, this didn’t stop us from having a good time, and rocking as hard as we possibly could. After that it was back to the house for a big Texas BBQ, and recharging of batteries. A little whiskey, a freestyle jam session with our good friends in Magic Bronson, and an early night to bed around 2 p.m. after a trip to walk 6th street for some entertainment. Hopefully get us ready for our second hardest day of the week. Three shows tomorrow, Austin you ready.
Day 8
Yesterday we were a little bit haggard, so it was no disappointment when we found out that our first show at 11a.m. was canceled. Though we never like to have a show cancel it was still nice to know that we could put more energy into our later shows, and not have to worry as much about keeling over from exhaustion. Subsequently that meant our first show was at the Chuggin’ Monkey, right in the window on 6th street. This was greatly advantageous because we pulled a good amount of people off the street, some of which actually bought merch. Needless to say we ended the show on a great high, but as is tradition with Eliquate every time a door opens, a window closes. Shortly after the set Thomas received a phone call from a random Austin number, informing him that our bus was drifting down the street into traffic and the cops were coming to tow it. I have never seen this band move so fast. I had visions of children being mowed down, buildings on fire, and chaos in the streets. I don’t know what we did in our past lives to get so lucky, but we arrived to find a slightly dented fender and and even less dented pole, and some very sympathetic cops that were actually stoked when we gave them a CD.
After catching The Mowgli’s and learning a thing or two about great music we headed back to Trinity to meet up with the legendary Adam Brewer, and get ready for the Texas Rockfest… Yeeaar.
After playing our second show of the day at Texas Rockfest, we knew that this was the only time we would have to party so… We did. We chugged Lone Starsand danced our asses off, and moshed in a tiny club to this amazing band The Beautiful Bodies. As is tradition, we ended the night in a drunken circle shoving each other. Tonight we have our last show at SXSW 2013. After that it is off into the fray. Uncharted lands that we have never been to before, in an unprecedented amount of time. Though I say this often I am happy to say that this time, I think we are starting to get the hang of it.Chuggin Monkey More Photos…Texas RockFest More Photos…>
Day 9
We would like to say day 9 started with a bang, but it was really more of a whisper from the wounded Eliquate clan rising from our Lone Star soaked ashes. After a hearty breakfast and some BB gun target practice in the backyard, Elliot led the charge with a few brave souls down to 6th street to see his cousin’s band Bear Language (who played a killer show at the Warhorse) while a few of us stayed behind for a few more hours to lick our wounds and try to sniff out a house party to play at LSU on the way to New Orleans. We all reconvened on 6th around 8pm and joined the throngs of people who came out to enjoy the last night of SXSW. We all decided to try and catch a glimpse of the Smashing Pumpkins and even though the show was already packed by the time we got there, the stage was outdoors and we all had a pretty good view from across the street. Billy Corganput on a show that made the 90s kid in all of us pretty stoked, which is a good thing because we left with a few songs to go in their set and headed over to theJustin Timberlake show and see if the latest Daft Punk rumor had any substance to it, something that would have earned us a shunning from our former selves. Although there was no Daft Punk, we did get to catch a glimpse of the renaissance man himself dancing and singing the night away from outside the full Myspace relaunch party. after a few more hours on 6th street the police mounted their horses and cleared the streets while we headed back from downtown Austin for the last time this year to get some rest before the rest of our tour begins. Although its been nice to have a house with a shower and real beds, deep down inside all of us are ready to hop back on the bus and let the real guerrilla part of this national tour begin. Now we head out to New Orleans, a handful of orange fur in one hand and fistful of Eliquate demos in the other, ready to ride this tiger all the way to east coast and back again.
Day 10
It has always been common knowledge among the group that after SXSW, the real adventure was about to begin. We departed from our comfortable house at around two and headed to east Texas with the intention of trying to score a gig in Galveston. We got there and it was like a scene in a Guillermo Del Toro; film, foggy, dark, and abandoned. The prospect for shows were slim, however this did not stop Dan from walking into every establishment he could find and asking if they would host us for the night. Luckily our new friend Sarah from Brew Brothers was kind enough to take a risk and allow us to play. This ended up being a great experience for all. ether those are the nicest people we have ever met, or they legitimately loved our music, because we sold more merch that night than any other evening on the tour thus far. We got a lot of the old “i thought you guys were going to suck” compliment and decided to celebrate by going to the beach and shooting fire worksat each other. We awoke to find our bus full of sand and a battery that didn’t work. After jumping it we were off to Louisiana, and further into the unknown. Galveston, not a bad place.
.Day 11
After a surprisingly epic night in Galveston, we woke up a little late and after having to sweep off all the sand we accidentally stole from the beach we were a little behind schedule. We had wanted to make it to New Orleans by 7pm; since Cosmo scored us 8 tickets on Stubhub for a little over 8 dollars (apparently the Hornets aren’t too popular this season), this come-up was compounded by the fact that they were playing the Warriorsthat night. After charging down the 10 east for a few hundred miles, we arrived in New Orleans and were able to catch a good amount of the warriors beating up on the hornets. After that, we decided check out Bourbon Street as a group to try and promote a little outside the Watsky show. Apparently people aren’t used to seeing skateboards around these parts; because, we got more than a few weird looks, although that could have been due to the fact that we’ve been living on a bus without a shower for a few days. After realizing the show got out early and our waiting in front of the venue was all for naught, we earned ourselves some green beads by showing a little somethin, and had a great time watching all the people walk down Bourbon while having a few drinks on a overlooking balcony. So far everyone in the group seems to be involved in their own little love affair with this city, whether its the bright lights and jazz bands on bourbon, the historical architecture in the french quarter, or the fact this city seems to have bounced back with a vengeance after one of the biggest tragedies of our time, New Orleans has something special we just can’t quite put our finger on.
Day 12
After preparing for a hot, sticky, and terrible night’s sleep on our bus in the parking lot across the street from the super-dome in New Orleans, we were all pleasantly surprised by the cool breeze that blew through the whole night making it one of the more restful sleeps we’ve had this tour. Once we were awake it was back to business since the day before we had realized that our alternator wasn’t working correctly causing our batteries to be completely drained, meaning that we could not start the bus until we recharged them and found ourselves a new one. After Dan got the alternator out of the engine, he went with Brian into the depths of the New Orleans industrial district to try and find us a used alternator, after their most promising lead didn’t pan out they were told to walk on down the road and talk with McCreedy, who ended up having the exact part we needed for a good amount cheaper than expected. After Dan put the new part back in the engine he was covered in grease and the rest of us weren’t exactly smelling like roses, so we decided to rent a one bedroom room at a local Motel 6 so we could shower and use some interwebz to reconnect with you lovely people. The Motel 6 was in a swanky neighborhood right near the highway overpass, sandwiched between an abandoned school building and a subway, across the street from two separate dollar stores and a myriad of fast food restaurants. Here we were able to recover, clean up, and locate an open mic night a few blocks away from the french quarter in New Orleans. We found a parking spot near the venue, wrote our names on the list, and starting practicing a few Acoustic songs on the hood of the bus in order to get ready for the show. Before we went on there were some awesome local performers who got up on stage and killed it, perhaps the most impressive part of the night though was that in between sets, instead of throwing on an Itunes playlist and waiting for the next act, an awesome local pianist named mike hopped on the keys and laid down some jams for everyone in the bar. We played a quick three song set, and then mingled with a few of the open mic night performers and patrons who came out to the rusty nail to support. We would like to throw a big thank you to Todd of the local band Country Fried for letting us get in on his awesome open mic night, and to the rest of the rusty nail for welcoming us into their weekly tradition and making us feel like locals.
Day 13
The third and final day in New Orleans started with a mad 8 man scramble to shower in our 1 bed motel 6 room before check out at 11. We spent the remainder of our time in New Orleans busking in the French quarter, eating catfish by the river, and getting to know the city a little better. It is such a treat to visit a city with such rich history, and culture. Despite the devastation the city had endured it was clear that it had not lost its spirit. It felt as though the whole city was buzzing with an undeniable energy that made having no real place to stay more than bearable. Even though we only spent three days in New Orleans, the city definitely had the largest impact on our group so far. There’s something about traveling the way that we do that allows you to garner a better feel for the city you’re in than traveling the traditional way. Instead of walking to and from our hotel room, were trying to find a spot to park the bus that has a bathroom close by and where no one will bother us. Instead of buying novelty drinks the tourist traps on bourbon street; we get to meet a lovely local register girl at the cafeteria near the bus who will let us fill up our empty water jugs. We met people in New Orleans that showed us how nice locals can make your day, and ones that showed us how living in a tourist city can make you bitter to outsiders, but most importantly the city and people of New Orleans showed nothing but respect and appreciation for music, which is why all of us felt a little twinge of regret leaving the great city and continuing on our trek across the south.
Day 14
Our day started right at 12:01am careening down highway 10 through Mississippi and Alabama on our way to Orlando to play a show with George Watsky and Dumbfounded at theBackbooth in Orlando. We were going to have to drive all night and through the next day in order to make it to the Backbooth in time for soundcheck, but if all went according to plan we would be there with a few hours to spare, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and Eliquate. After driving through Mississippi and Alabama in record time, we filled up the tank inPensacola and got back on the road only to hear a loud snap which was the sound of our alternator belts snapping, apparently they had become a little loose from when we replaced the alternator, and after a few days of driving the tension became too much for them to bear. Since it was around 6am and there were no auto stores open, we had to wait for awhile to get our alternator belts and luckily an awesome trucker at the rest stop was able to hook us up with a battery charge since ours had gone completely dead after the belts snapped. We got back on the road around 9am and were able to make it to Orlando around 6, just in time to load all our gear in the club and get a quick sound check before the doors open. Big thanks to Watsky and Dumbfounded. We were able to play a show for a sold out crowd of about 300 new faces, most if not all had no idea who the fuck we were, which is just the way we like. Despite a few hiccups with the sound at the start of the set the show went off without a hitch and after; we got off stage we got to watch the next few acts while selling merch and signing autographs for some brand new fans, including Karina and Beth who were insanely awesome and hooked up us with 8 tickets to Universal Studios. We met so many cool people, and were so humbled by the love Orlando showed us that we all agreed that we need to make an excuse to come back. after all the people cleared out of the venue and everyone piled back on the bus, We said our goodbyes to the Watsky crew and found ourselves a 24 hour fitness to shower and prepare for Universal Studios adventure.
Day 15
Everyone awoke to an air of excitement with smiles on our faces that would rival the most amped little kid on Christmas morning, for today was the day Eliquate got a day off to go to Universal Studios. And more importantly the brand new Harry Potter attraction. After grabbing some breakfast and coffee, we made our way to the park and printed out our free tickets, thanks again to Karina and Beth from the Watsky show, you ladies really made our day. We ran around the park riding coasters and eating giant turkey legs until they shut the park down, and capped the night off with a large cup of Dippin Dots, “the ice cream of the future (since 1998)”Sam Working. A carefree day off was exactly what the doctor ordered, feeling refreshed and recharged we hopped back on the bus and hit the road toMiami, the land of Dan Wells.
We arrived in Miami to find that we were not ready for humidity. This is a harsh realization when you are on a bus with no air conditioning, and every time you stop you feel as though you and everything around has been warped in cellophane and hit with a blow dryer. This by no means affected our level of excitement to be playing in the legendary city. The show was Miamipooloza, a pool party at the Howard Johnson, and from the get go the bus drew a lot of attention. This proved to be highly beneficial, because when we took the stage there seemed to be a familiarity with our name, that enabled us to really go for it in a room full of strangers. So far Florida has shown us mad love and we can not wait to come back. Now we are off to a totally different extreme weather climate, the north east of the united states.
Sunday was a relaxing day. We hung out in some air conditioning at Dan’s dads house, and drove north. We landed near Savannah, Georgia and slept in a WallMart parking lot.Day 18
The people in Richmond Virginia were so friendly it almost made us feel bad. We arrived for our show at Emilio’s and the first guy we met bought all of us round before asking what our name was. I guess the California hats gave away that we were from out of town, and true to their reputation we were greeted with the Southern hospitality we had heard so much about. The show was very well received, and we are happy to say that we will be coming back as soon as we can. This was also our first show that we had to deal with real cold weather. As insnow on the ground and shit… A harsh wake up call as we awoke early and visited Jefferson Davis‘s corpse, packed back on the bus and drove toBaltimore.Day 19
After an awesome night in Richmond, we hopped back on the bus and drove through the cemetery to check out Jefferson Davis’s grave which was very surreal, that combined with the drive down monument avenue with statues of Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and other southern figures gave a few of us a little history boner. After getting back on the road, we had a gap in our show dates and decided to stop and find a show in Baltimore, a place we had called was very nice and offered to let us try and play a show in their small bar on short notice. But after seeing the area we realized that even small space veterans like ourselves wouldn’t be able to make it work. This was disappointing but the fact that the whole neighborhood smelled like fresh cinnamon bread made it a little better. A night off in Baltimore right by the water was just what the doctor ordered, we spent the night walking the cobblestone streets of fells point which is a trendy young professional neighborhood. We marveled at cool stuff we don’t have on the West Coast, like heavy metal cellar doors outside all the business, and even kvetching a bit about insanely cold weather in the spring. After a few beers and catching up with some friends we knew in the area, it was back on the bus for a good nights sleep in preparation for the drive to New York the next day.
Day 20
On the way to New York, we decided to stop in Philly to see some sites and, of course, enjoy an original Philly Cheesesteak. We were able to catch a glimpse of the Liberty Bell and some other local sites while enjoying said Cheesesteak, but after that it was back on the bus to try and make it to New York in time for a spaghetti dinner at Elliot’s lovely and exceedingly generous mother’s house. We also enjoyed the shameless action movie Jack Reacher while Jaimie made some music and enjoyed some sleeping arrangements outside of the bus and inside of a house for the first time in awhile.More Random Photos…
Day 21
Feeling rested and well fed we piled back on the bus and started our journey to Boston. After a few shameless sing alongs to “Shippin Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphy’s and six hours of driving we were on the outskirts of the city eager to get to the venue and check out Boston, little did we know what obstacles lie ahead. After passing through the last of many toll booths, the Massachusetts turnpike turned into an absolute clusterfuck of smoking cars, unmarked merging lanes, and horrendous Boston drivers. People paid no heed to the fact we were a 24ft bus towing a Chevy truck and darted around us like snowspeeders trying to bring down an imperial walker. Once we made it into the city and through a police blockade, we found a great parking space right outside the venue and all was well. Although this was Eliquate’s first time in Boston, it was not Elliot’s, around six years ago a younger and much prettier Elliot Wright hopped on a plane with just his Ipodand boyish charm to visit family and play his music for anyone who wanted to hear it. The connections he made on that trip lasted to this day and some awesome friends he made back then came out to hang out and see the show that night. After another great set and a great stand up comedy special by the owner of All-Asia we got back on the bus with our new found Boston friends to take advantage of their generous offer of a place to hang out and shower.
Day 22
On our second day in Boston we woke up and got right to work at Red Stair Studios recording one of our newer songs “Honey” so we could start editing the footage we have for a new music video. The guys at Red Stair heard we were coming through to Boston, and after listening to our music generously offered to let us record a song there for free. The studio was located in the basement of a classic old east coast house and was run by a group of friends who were some of the nicest and most hard working people we’ve met so far on tour. after a few hours of recording and 3 large pizzas from down the street we loaded back on the bus and went to Luis’s house, who was one of our new local friends and had awesomely offered to host a house party for us to play at. After setting up for the show we realized we had misplace our microphones since using them in Miami, after a mad dash to find one through some local connections and even trying to set up a camera boom mic failed, we decided to have the guys play a little softer than usual and just make Elliot yell. The hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings coupled with the small crowd and no microphone actually added to the atmosphere and created an awesome night filled with music, freestyles, and of course, liquor. Thanks to our awesome hosts and new friends Kevin, Tasia, and Luis we had an awesome time in Boston and are looking forward to our next visit.
Day 23
After a late start in Boston thanks to a little too much Erk and Jerk at our house party/show the night before we got on the road to Syracuse to play our show at a venue called Funk n Waffles. We pulled into Syracuse around 7pm and witnessed a sea of orange shirted college kids piling out of every bar around us, after a bit of confusion we realized this was due to the victory their basketball team had earlier that day earning them a spot in theFinal Four. The venue lived up to its name completely, funk records and interesting art hung on the wall while they served up some of the most innovative waffle dishes we had ever seen that had also been featured on a recent episode of Guy Fieri’s Food Network show. Thanks to our good friend Adam from the awesome band Sophistafunk who owns the place, we played a great show with the band Dr. No and The Pharmacists while enjoying some thanksgiving dinner waffles and other delicious recipes. After spending some time with Dr. No and some other rad Syracuse cats we met over at their house, we boarded on the bus and enjoyed The Departed while drifting off.
More Photos Funk N Waffles…
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 hostelEarphoria 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 calledQuenchers 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
fter 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. Onceeveryone 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 theNectar 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 theKnowgooders. 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 at The Wild Buffalo 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 sound check 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 wefollowed 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 lwt 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.
More photos from Lost On Main…
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.
Asidefrom 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
