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Archive Sunday #61

Added 2024-08-11 16:00:10 +0000 UTC

In early May we headed to New York to play a really cool spot in Brooklyn. It was called the Market Hotel and was right off the Myrtle Ave stop on the JMZ line. I remember it was a bit of a struggle bringing all the gear up the stairs, but once we saw it the room the view made it all worth it. The triangular room came to a point towards the stage where a couple big windows looked out to the elevated train track. And every few minutes the train would pass by while gently shaking the venue.

We got the chance to catch up with the Gold Connections guys right before, and they opened the night off with a 40 minute set. We started things off with the Devo cover Uncontrollable Urge and the excited crowd was onboard right away. After the show I remember grabbing a panini at a nearby bodega with Andrew as we walked the mile or so to the spot where we parked. But we called it pretty early because we knew the next day would be pretty busy.

The next morning we took an uber to 30 rock and started the preparations for our performance on Jimmy Fallon later. It was slightly easier the second time because we knew what to expect, but also because we now had our monitors on in-ears so each of us could control our own personal mix rather than having to constantly communicate with a in-house monitor engineer. We did the usual set up and run-through before breaking everything down again before the taping.

I vaguely remember the producers asking us if we wanted to perform a cover for their behind the scenes online exclusive series. So we quickly came up with a version of Drake's Nice for What with the instruments they had lying around in the green room. It was pretty stripped down, and I think I just played the kick drum part on the body of a guitar. They ended up filming us performing it a bit later, but it never aired probably because they couldn't get the rights for it. But it ended up being a welcome distraction in the couple hours of downtime.

A bit later we played Bodys for that night's show. It was probably our best late night performance yet, thanks to the addition of the Naked Giants guys. They were super excited as it was their network debut. But yeah I'm pretty sure it's impossible to find online anymore.

A week after we all flew out to Dublin to start another European tour. Ethan had previously let us know he was starting to get burnt out from touring, so we all decided to let him sit this run out. The Europe runs tend to be a little more stressful, so he appreciated the time to recuperate. It was nice to get an extra day in Dublin as we usually stop there right before we fly out. I remember walking around a bunch and seeing the Guinness factory, and all of us met up later to visit this awesome art museum.

The next day we loaded into the Olympia Theatre for our first show of the tour. Right after soundcheck Andrew agreed to film this rundown of his kit for a local drum shop. I remember finding it funny because pretty much everything except his cymbals and snare was rented for the tour. They kept on asking him about the kit, and he was like yeah it seems nice but honestly haven't even played a show with it yet haha. The show itself was great and it was a great way to kick off the tour.

In the morning we took a ferry over to Great Britain and made our way to Glasgow. We met up with a friend of the Naked Giants who was going to the art school nearby. We played at this cool old venue called the O2 ABC that had a massive floor and beautiful huge ceilings. But unfortunately about a month later we heard the whole place burned down in a fire.

The following day we went down to Liverpool which was exciting because it was our first time there. We played in this industrial district at a place called the Invisible Wind Factory. It was not only a venue but also housed big art installations so it had this really cool vibe. We played Crosseyed and Painless by the Talking Heads to start the night and the crowd especially loved Drugs with Friends.

After that we hit up Bristol to play a venue called SWX. It was smaller than the previous nights but fun nonetheless. I don't remember much else from that night other than seeing an accident right outside the venue. Someone hit a delivery guy with their car, but he ended up being okay.

From there we went west to Cambridge. I remember we stayed at a hotel right by the train station. When we were meeting in the lobby Andrew ran into this guy outside that told him he was a Lighting Designer. Andrew decided to hire him for the night as he didn't charge much. That was the only show we've played where I almost puked from the constant strobes haha. It definitely made things exciting but ended up being too much flashing lights for us haha. I'm just thankful Andrew didn't shell out the extra dough for him to bring out his confetti cannons.

I also got the chance to catch up with my brother who was living just outside of Cambridge. He gave us these delicious apple pastries the next morning from the bakery he worked at. They ended up being the perfect snack for sitting in traffic on the way to London.

Up next we had one of the biggest venues we ever played. It was the Roundhouse in London and seemed like an old circular arena when we pulled in. I think it used to be a theater house that converted to a venue and hosted bands like the Doors in the 60s. We played the night after Unknown Mortal Orchestra as we saw them pulling put when we got there. Before the show we ran into Will Arnett backstage because he must have been filming something in town and wanted to go to the show. I didn't get the chance to chat but maybe the other guys talked to him a bit. I remember we planned to hire a local LD to do some special lighting for the bigger show. It ended up looking pretty sweet, but I remember it seemed super monochrome compared to the night before cause he ended up using mostly white lights. But I guess anything would have seen subdued compared to the night before haha.