Touring Western Canada with a Rock Band: Day Three (part 8)

Leaving Nelson in the morning, we got a jump on the drive to Lethbridge. We had agreed we were go on straight to the next town even though we had a break in the tour for a couple days, but it was a bit tough to stay such a short time in such a cool place. On we went, unhurried but tired after a short sleep until we stopped in Creston BC for a short break. We continued on from there, listening to podcasts in the truck, in a mostly zombie-like state, staring at the picturesque scenery until we got to Fernie BC.

~Cheers, Rev. D

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Touring Western Canada with a Rock Band: Day Two (part 7)

The reality is the biggest adventure of The Adventure Hotel was trying to find our room. Tucked in the far recess of the building was our tiny dorm. Up two flights of stairs, passed the the laundry room, passed the staff room, hang a left, to the end of the hall, turn right and to the end of the hall. Do all this while navigating some optical illusion 3-D trippy “only-in-a-hotel” crazy carpeting.

If that wasn’t enough, I had the idea to get high on some (legal) BC weed. I’m a lightweight when it comes to cannabis, but that particular night I had shared a whole joint. Not on purpose, but because I was enraptured in good conversation and by the time I knew it the joint was gone. This made navigating to the room the second and third time even more arduous. We had previously picked up some hotel room drinks (gluten-free, low sugar vodka sodas of course), but I doubt we even made it though six of them after the moderate drinking at the bar, so after some barely coherent conversation, we all crashed for the night so we could get at least a few hours of shut-eye before making the long-ass drive to Lethbridge the next day.

Next: We leave BC, we cross the Rockies, we arrive weary and worn in Lethbridge, Alberta.

~Cheers, Rev. D

Touring Western Canada with a Rock Band (part one)

I just got back from touring with Vogue Villains, a four piece alt rock band from my home town of Campbell River BC. They are friends of mine, and we have worked together on a few projects in the past. A couple months back they asked about taking me on the road with them for their first tour to promote the launch of their first EP, “Happy” (links to check it out below, it’s awesome). At first I thought “yeah right, I’d love to but how?”, then as I worked out the logistics of taking time off work and finances I realized that I could actually do this. It’s the slow season for my cooking job, and we recently welcomed back a crew member who was away for medical reasons, so essentially we were slightly overstaffed anyways. I could essentially miss work for a couple weeks, charge the band a deeply discounted rate for my services, and still pay my bills. So I said yes.

The next bunch of posts will be a recounting of the tour, and all that comes with that. Check back regularly to follow the odyssey with us.

We started the adventure on a Friday. March 29th. The morning we were to leave we loaded up a U-haul trailer full of band gear and a pickup truck with all five us wedged in and headed down island to the ferry to play the first gig in Vancouver. Andrew, the singer of the band and (sometimes) our faithful leader of this ragtag crew, had the foresight to make reservations for the ferry sailing. When we arrived at the terminal a few hours later, slightly late for being early to confirm our reservation, the ticket attendant informed us they had given away our reservation and we would have to wait for the next sailing. That was fine, we were plenty early anyways and had lots of time to make the show. So we parked the truck and trailer in the queue line, I went and grabbed a coffee and a couple of the band guys had some adult beverages while we waited. A while later we were joined by some of the members of Under The Mountain, another heavy rock band who the Vogue Villain boys had a relationship with. They were also boarding the ferry for a gig on the mainland. So with some good company and satisfying drinks we killed a couple hours until it was time to board the ferry.

Once safely aboard the Ferry we had some food and did the regular BC ferries routine, which is to say not much, but admired the view and relaxed before what was sure to been an eventful night.

Next post: Arriving in Vancouver, finding the venue, and the gig.

Cheers, Rev. D

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Images shot with Canon 6d with 50mm f/1.8