We are currently on our ‘tour of the Americas’, covering Canada, the USA and Brazil. In this second episode of our tour report Glen talks about our sight seeing spree around New York City, sleeping in a former porn studio and overnight drives to make it to the next show.
Hurricane Sandy is everywhere in the news these days, and it’s really weird to realize that we were in that exact area only last weekend to play 2 shows in The Big Apple. In the meantime, a lot of friends at Fest who are from the New York area (or those who have connecting flights there) have stranded in Florida due to cancelled flights. At the same time, things couldn’t be more comfortable here in Gainesville: nice and sunny, and definitely way warmer than back home!
Welcome to the Fest
Last week rushed by like it was only one day, pretty much like the first week did. Since our last update we have gone on a sight seeing spree in New York City and we spent 2 nights in a row in The Marine Electric’s apartment in Brooklyn (they’re touring Europe very soon!). Only just before leaving their apartment, we noticed a framed picture in the kitchen which after further examination turned out to be a still from a porn scene that was shot in that same kitchen. Apparently the previous tenant ran a porn studio in there. Another one I can cross off my list of interesting places! The guys luckily did ensure us that they spent a proper few days cleaning out the apartment before they moved in..
Sight seeing on Times Square NYC
Our first overnight drive on this tour is a fact! From Wilmington NC to Gainesville FL, we made the 9-hour drive overnight to be in Gainesville in time for Fest. I never thought that a 300-kilometer driving shift and then another 3 hours of navigating until 8 am would cause a jetlag sort of feeling. Then again, arriving in sunny, warm Florida immediately made up for that.
Overnight drive Wilmington NC – Gainesville FL
While finally arriving in Gainesville is great, it also marks the end of the North American leg of this tour. During the 3 days of The Fest, Gainesville is almost literally flooded with visitors and bands from all over the world, which results in a very unique and comfortable atmosphere. We already met up with some Australian fest-goers up in Massachusetts, met them again at some of the shows down the coast, and now we meet them again at Fest. Everybody seems to be travelling down to Gainesville! Among my personal highlights at Fest are bands like PJ Bond, Restorations, Astpai, RVIVR, Iron Chic and Red City Radio. Our own show at Fest was very cool too. The venue was not sold out, but a lot of people took the time to miss another 10 bands that played the same slot, and they seemed to be very much into our music. Quality over quantity!
Static Radio’s final show at Fest
The other shows we played last week were also pretty well attended. Pretty well attended, especially if you consider that there are so many bands playing the same cities and a lot of people choose to watch those bands at Fest instead of in their own city. After the show in Richmond VA, we were stuck without a place to sleep for the first time on this tour. So far, we’ve been quite lucky to have a place to stay every night, because that is not always the case in the USA. Luckily, promoter Brad (drummer of Worn In Red) introduced us to Tyler, who lives in a very comfortable apartment just around the corner. He gave us a place to stay, treated us to some beers and even cooked up a healthy breakfast the next morning. As if that was not hospitable enough, he also gave me a book from his collection of American novelists to read on the road (Brett Easton Ellis’ “less than zero”). Thanks Tyler, you’re a lifesaver!
Gallery 5 – Richmond VA
As I am writing this, Fest has just finished and we are getting ready to fly out to Brazil tomorrow. To put an end to all the clichés of the rock n’ roll life, this is what we are up to today instead of snorting coke and making out with groupies (whatever that may be): crunching tour statistics, dropping off laundry, editing tour videos, adding subtitles, repacking our bags for the flights, getting rid of stuff we don’t need anymore, sending out postcards, catching up on sleep, cleaning out our rental car and hopefully eating our last slice of pizza for a while to come. And of course, we’re looking forward to what will happen in Brazil.
I said this in a tour blog last year, and I will say it again. There are only 2 kinds of shows: good shows and bad shows. Luckily I feel like I played good show on every night of this tour. The other day, someone came up to me and asked what it is that makes touring so much fun. I couldn’t really come up with an answer right away (probably too tired), but Riekus summarized it very well: the coolest part of touring is meeting so many new and old friends.
There you go, I’m signing off! Time to catch some sleep and get ready for another full day of travelling.
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