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Urban Chickens – Ybor City, Tampa FL

No matter where or when you go on tour, there is one universally held rule for every band and crew that hits the open road: don’t eat at Denny’s. A week and a half into the tour, we have managed to avoid eating at America’s biggest crime against cooking. Not that there haven’t been some close calls. Don’t blame us though – it’s hard to find food at 2 am. Aside from the aforementioned close calls, the past week of the tour has taken us through sunny, and periodically rainy, Florida. We didn’t see any alligators, but we did have a chance to hang out and play in a bunch of really cool spots. On Friday night, we played on Jacksonville Beach. After a long battle with the Canadian winter and the equally intolerable Texas heat, a night on Florida’s beaches were exactly what the doctor ordered. Tim and Anthony sat on a patio overlooking the ocean, Max and Mike went for a swim, and I sat on the beach remembering just how enjoyable my “job” can be. On Sunday night, we played in the historic district of Tampa, Ybor City. The Cuban and Spanish influence meant the streets were full of culture, music and cigar shops. Wanting to take full advantage, Anthony and Chris (our tour manager), filled our dressing room with more cigar smoke than a Rick Ross music video. I don’t know anything about cigars, but I was told they were very good. On Tuesday we played Atlanta but unfortunately, missed the Georgia Jug Fest (www.georgiajugfestival.com) by a couple weeks. According to Mike, it’s the best of all the Jug festivals. Today we play in Louisville, home of Louisville Slugger and Jim Beam. Two products that when used separately, can be very enjoyable, but when mixed, can become a deadly combination.

More updates soon,
Nick

Hey all,
Mike here. Over the next 8 weeks, I’ll be posting a weekly photo blog documenting our North American tour with The Maine and Lydia; hopefully it gives you a glimpse into our daily lives on tour with some local flavour along the way. This week’s blog features some shots of our American hosts The Maine performing, some moments from our big night out in New Orleans (featuring the newest and youngest member of the team, our tour manager, sound guy and resident cigar aficionado Chris “High Life” Miller) as well as the usual galavanting, hanging out and driving that makes up most of our days. For more day to day photos, you can follow me on instagram (@mjdeangelis), as well as Tim (@timoxford) and Anthony (@anthony_carone). Make sure to check back next week for some more photos from the road.

-Mike

We spent the night of April 18 in New Orleans. None of us had ever been, and we were immediately swept away by the unmistakable spirit the city is known for. There was a rhythm in the air as we skipped down Decatur Street, beer in hand, passing the “other” Jackson Square. We have many reasons to be thankful, and the Big Easy helps any musician put things in perspective: “Yes, THIS is why we do this”.

On the drive into town that day we were all thinking about Levon. His character and disposition stood for what I like about playing music the most: the community and friendship it offers. At 3am we left Frenchman Street and recorded this in our hotel room. We’ve been singing this song in the van for as long as we’ve been a band – here is a thank you to Levon and what he represented.

-Max

April 20, 2012

After two weekend shows in Austin and Dallas, we enjoyed the tour’s first off day this Monday. Sometimes, you are so bagged from tour, that your day off is spent within twenty feet of your hotel bed – but this early in the tour, we were all feeling energized enough to make the most of our free time in Dallas. Early in the day, the band’s resident Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong (Max Kerman and Mike DeAngelis), decided to take a bike ride along Dallas’ famous Katy trail. Meanwhile Tim, Anthony and our tour manager Chris, had lunch (pulled pork of course,) at a famous Dallas BBQ joint: The Baby Back Shak (that’s not a typo Mom). After lunch, we all met up and spent the afternoon relearning some of the contemporary American history we forgot from our university days, at the JFK museum and memorial in downtown Dallas. For dinner, the guys sampled another southern delicacy: fried chicken, at a joint called Chicken Scratch. While they were eating, I took the opportunity to follow the NHL playoffs on something other than twitter for the first time since we arrived in the US, and was treated to a very entertaining Bruins/Capitals game 3.

Yesterday we played in Houston, and just as importantly, celebrated the release of Michigan Left in the US. It’s been a long time coming and we are excited to have the record finally out. We’ve had a lot of fun on the first few days of the tour playing and hanging with the Maine and Lydia. We’re also looking forward to the next week where we will be playing four dates in Florida and yes, going to Disney World. We plan to meet Goofy and Donald. Unfortunately, Mickey and Minnie are away on business.

Nick

Today we crammed our suitcases, baseball gloves, and newly purchased folding bikes into the trailer and began our long drive to Texas. Whenever we set out on tour, there is a long list of things that we can expect: hours and hours in the van, the odd flat tire, eating enough McDonalds to make an eighth grader sick of it, and the time honored (I cringe at using the word honored) ritual of Tim and Anthony blaring Big and Rich through the van stereo system. Traveling through the US brings with it a set of challenges that touring in Canada doesn’t. With that in mind, here are some of the differences between touring Canada and touring the United States in the world of Arkells.

The Border
This is first on the list because this is the first thing we actually have to deal with. We can play anywhere in Canada without showing passports, equipment manifests or works visas. Not so in the US. Bringing a giant trailer full of anything into a foreign country would be difficult, doing it when you have beards, skinny jeans, and claim you’re trailer is full of guitars will not make it easier. We’ve never encountered anything that would be considered a “violation of constitutional rights”, but we have definitely spent hours at the Detroit and Buffalo border crossings while US Customs agents make sure there are actually guitars in our trailer; not the foreign plants commonly associated with rock and roll.

Stopping for Food
You can always find somewhere good to eat inside a city (Canadian or American) before or after a show, but for touring bands, most meals are ingested somewhere along the side of the road. Despite Canada’s reputation as a cultural mosaic, most of the cultural diversity that makes the country so great is not found at rest stops along the Trans Canada highway. That means we end up with the same two or three options every time we stop for food; yes one of them is Tim Hortons. Luckily, we are not confined to the same lack of choice when in the US. Whether it’s a family style country restaurant (like Cracker Barrel and Bob Evans), the quintessential American Roadhouse (Like Applebee’s or TGI Fridays), or a wider variety of non-burger fast food options (like Panera Bread, Waffle House, or Chipotle), you can eat anything you want, whenever you want once you cross the 49th parallel. God Bless America. You can also order your sub with spinach instead of lettuce, so they got that going for them too.

Cell Phones
Like any good Canadian, I could go on a diatribe about how one of the three major cell phone carriers is robbing me blind. This holds especially true if you try and keep your Canadian cell phone on while in a foreign country. The band has one US phone that we share, but for the most part, we hunt for wifi. Skype, iMessage or bust.

ESPN vs. Sportsnet/TSN
So I’ve probably lost some of you here, but there really is a difference between Canadian (TSN and Sportsnet) and American (ESPN) sports TV. Unless we have an off day, our schedule usually requires that we take in our sports in the form of the nightly highlight package. For me, US sports coverage is a doubled edged sword. The positive is that American networks show way more baseball than you get in Canada, the negative is that they show almost no hockey. Max is happy because there is more basketball and Mike is indifferent, as competitive slack-lining is ignored equally by all networks.

Talk soon
Nick

This weekend we were lucky enough to attend the Juno festivities in Ottawa. The weekend is a celebration of Canadian music, and having everyone congregate in one geographic location (no small feat given the chaotic touring schedules of most Canadian musicians), gave us the opportunity to watch, talk and play, with some of the artists and musicians that we love. We also ate poutine.

We had a very busy weekend. We played a Motown set on Saturday night in honour of our friend Gary Slaight, Max spent Sunday afternoon at the Juno Songwriters Circle with Dan Mangan (congrats on the Junos Dan!), and no matter how busy we are, we always make time to go to the Elgin Street Diner. Getting to do anything with Sam Roberts is a huge treat – Max and I met and bonded over a Sam Roberts t-shirt he was wearing during frosh week at McMaster. On Saturday night, Sam joined us onstage for a cover of “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”. We were also honored to have Jim Cuddy ask us to be his backing band for a cover of the Beatles’ version of “Baby It’s You”. Playing with Jim was a treat, but a little nerve wracking to play a song knowing that Jim Cuddy is going to hear it if you screw up. Max also joined our old amigos Hollerado onstage to sing one of our favourite Canadian new rock songs “Got to Lose”. We will be posting content from all the festivities throughout the next little while.

Aside from all the fun we had playing and catching up with our friends, we ended up winning the Juno for Group of the Year. Needles to say, we were surprised and ecstatic. Beyond surprised and ecstatic. There are so many excellent Canadian artists that there is no wrong answer to the question of who deserves to win. It is an honour for us just to be considered the peers of so many talented people. We also owe an enormous amount of gratitude to more people than we can name in any type of band communication – not in a blog, not in an acceptance speech, and not in album liner notes of any length. Whether its friends, family, fellow musicians, the people who have worked so hard on our behalf or anyone who has spent their time listening to our music or watching our band perform, saying thank you doesn’t come close to giving you the recognition or gratitude you deserve. Thanks for a great weekend and a great year, we can’t wait to get out there, play more shows, make more music and keep doing what we love (which includes eating more poutine).

Nick

Also, if anyone is interested here is a setlist of the Motown cover set we played on Saturday Night:

Nowhere to Run
Ain’t to Proud to Beg
My Girl
Same Old Song
Baby It’s You
Uptight
I Feel Good
Tracks of My Tears
You Make My Dreams Come True
Signed, Sealed, Delivered

One thing that sets touring Canada apart from touring everywhere else in the world are the remote places a Canadian band will end up traveling to and from. Whenever we talk to bands, managers or touring crew from other parts of the world, one of the first things to come up is the sheer enormity of the Canadian landscape. For an English person, who can drive across their entire country in 10 hours, making five, eight and half hour trips from one major city in western Canada to the next is almost unfathomable. Traveling through prairies, savannah, Rocky Mountains, and an almost completely uninhabited island in the North Atlantic, all under one political domain is equally perplexing. Confusing to visitors or not, we spent this weekend traveling to, and playing in one of these remote places, in the town of Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

Looking to take full advantage of our first time in a place the locals call, “The Best Coast’s West Coast”, Mike and Brad made full use of Newfoundland’s rocky terrain by hitting the slopes at Marble Mountain. They were easy to spot, as they were the only two people on the ski hill in skinny jeans. Tim took in some local colour by getting “Screetched In”, a Newfoundland tradition that involves kissing a codfish and drinking rum, while Max and Anthony spent the afternoon recording vocals for a collaboration we are doing with the Maine and Lydia on our upcoming American tour. Thanks to everyone in Newfoundland for coming out to the show and making the trip a memorable one, whether you were from Corner Brook or made the 6 hour drive from St. John’s. We are excited to come back soon. This week, we are playing a couple college shows at Carleton and Laurentian before we make our way to Ottawa for the Junos this weekend. Lots going on means lots of updates, so we will be posting again soon.

Adios for now,
Nick

Today we piled into the van and began the 25 hour drive from Austin back Hamilton after five days at South By Southwest. Anyone who has made the pilgrimage to Texas will tell you that being in Austin for the festival is a memorable experience that any music lover should experience at least once. It is a week spent playing music, listening to music, eating great food, making new friends, seeing old friends and enjoying a brief respite from the Canadian winter. For us, all of this held true and our trip to Austin will undoubtedly be one of the band’s 2012 highlights. Spending five days in Austin means doing, seeing and eating more than we could accurately describe in a blog of any length; so with that in mind, here is a brief rundown of our trip in numbers:

Number of times we ate BBQ or Mexican food: 13
We wanted to make sure we experienced real deal BBQ at least once, so Max, Mike and I had our good friend, and part time Texas resident Mat, drive us an hour and forty five minutes outside of Austin to Cooper’s BBQ in the small town of Llano Texas. It was the unanimous choice for best BBQ of the trip. A must for anyone headed to central Texas.

Number of Band’s we saw: too many to count.
But to name a few – Built to Spill, Jimmy Cliff, Henry Clay People, Wintersleep, Cage the Elephant, Said the Whale, Pennywise, Titus Andronicus, Jesus and Mary Chain.

New Beers we tried: 8
Some of our favourites: Lone Star (the economical option), St. Arnold Amber Ale, and Fire Eagle IPA.

Number of venues we visited: 13
We visited and played in some of the many venues in downtown Austin, if you are ever in town, we recommend trying to see live music at: Cedar Street Courtyard, the Maine (formerly Emo’s), Trinity Hall and Lucy’s Retired Surfer Bar.

Number of times it rained: 0
Everyone gets paranoid about something, for me, it’s getting stuck in the rain. Despite screaming at the top of my lungs that we absolutely, without a doubt, NEEDED to stop in Dallas to buy rain gear (in my fugue state I thought Austin would be sold out), the rain held off. The weather was perfect and never dropped below 15.

Hours we spent parking/hailing a cab downtown: too many
Unfortunately, that’s the nature of the beast when it comes to the festival.

With SXSW now in the books, we have a couple busy weeks that will fortunately involve us returning to Canada, but regrettably require us to once again don our winter coats.
See you soon
Nick