Arcata to Portland

Got back from the show around 2-ish, up at 8 for a quick shower.  Sarah shows up with bagels, Craig just barely awake in the cold and foggy dawn.  We stumble into the van, and we're off, through the fog.

The waves crash near the towering redwoods.  I want to wake everyone up, but there's no shortage of scenery, and there's always a shortage of sleep.  Robby fully extended on the back seat, Colin and Jesse slumped over in the middle.  Justin fitfully dozes in the passenger's seat.  "tour brain" has fully set in – the lack of sleep and unhealthy habits of being on the road.  The hardest question you can ask a touring band is "where were you two days ago?"

San Francisco

Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge:

Santa Cruz to San Francisco

The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz is one of my favorite stops.  In addition to incredible crepes and a great staff, both shows we played there were memorable.  Its just a tiny room where you set up on the floor.  No separation between audience and performer.  And because of that, the set is incredibly visceral -  you're face to face with people, watching them respond to what you're doing (and vice versa).  As the saying goes, you build your audience one person at a time.  In this case, it couldn't be more true.  And that's a really special thing to be a part of.

After the show, the message not to take the 17 up to the place we're staying gets lost in the shuffle.  So, I take route 17 in the middle of the night…through the mountain passes and the rain and fog.  It is just as harrowing as ever, but we make it.

...and then we're in San Francisco.  I love the city.  But I also love that we have so many friends here.  Its hard to feel lonely when you're surrounded by old friends (one of my college housemates lives here) and new friends. 

Los Angeles

There is nothing like the rush of playing a good show.  From that first moment when things start coming together, to that moment when you realize that the audience is actually on your side.  For me, that's our LA show.  I actually think that as a band, we're getting good at playing big/important shows.  The surreal ones where you can't quite believe the people who are showing up – the industry folks, the connected ones, the famous ones, etc.  Its those shows where it actually feels that we're making slow, steady progress.  It also feels really strange.  It helps that we've been playing so many shows at at this for a bit – because otherwise my sense of "self" would probably be thoroughly skewed, or at least well on its way.

We talk a lot about how at this point in our career, we get booked into two types of shows – we're either "art" or "entertainment".  Our Halloween show was "entertainment" – the loud, raucous, party shows.  Where the goal isn't to get people to do anything other than have fun.  The "art" shows are where we get to do what we do – to put on something people want to listen to.  Obviously, with something as visceral as rock music, the ideal show is a mixture of both.  But the show at Spaceland in LA is our first "art" show of the tour.

We've got our manager Kyle along for the next few days.  He's absolutely fantastic at his job, and also just a fun person to be around.  One of my favorite things about our team – our label, our PR people, and so on – is that they're just a great group of people.  I'd want to hang out with them even if we weren't all working together.  I realize that its not considered very cool to like your label…but we do.

San Diego, CA Nov. 2 – 4

One show in San Diego, but the rest is…relaxation.  Our friend and photographer Sarah lives in Del Mar, about a block from the beach.  So we wander out to the beach in the middle of the night, and the fog.  And again in the morning.  And again after the show.

Considering that we're used to playing 7 nights a week, being on the west coast and having time to relax seems positively decadent.

November 1, 2009 – Sedona, AZ

One of the new things (for us) about this current tour is that we actually have a few nights off – Sedona, AZ being one of them. We end up at our new friends April and Jake's house…after a full day of driving, we pull up in beautiful Sedona, tired and exhausted and hungry in the dark – to light. To a beautiful house in the mountains with a campfire and a grill and wine and food. And so we get out our guitars and pass them around the fire, everyone taking their turn. Playing songs we know, songs we barely know, songs we don't know at all.

And that moment, that connection, is restorative – to find that despite everything this year, the good and the bad, the countless hours and the argument, we still love playing music. We love playing it, we love knowing it, we love talking about it, we love listening to other people play is - we love to be a whatever small part we in this art.

Halloween in Santa Fe

Standing by the graveside of Billy the Kid, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. "He Died As He Lived", carved into the marble. That's about all we can ask for, in the end. So I toss a quarter to the grave…for luck, or inspiration, or maybe just because it seems like the thing to do. And then we drive on across the sun-blasted plains.

Halloween in Santa Fe – we came up with the idea of being…a 1950s band dressed up as classic monsters. So – matching black shoes and pants, white shirts. Jesse as the wolfman, me as the mummy, Robby as Dracula, Colin as Frankenstein, and Justin as a classic Halloween witch. It is definitely difficult to play music with about 25 strips of cloth tied around your head. Also difficult to breathe. Drinking is tough, but I managed somehow.

It was surreal for me, playing a big show, dressed up, in a town where we don't really know anyone. And then a KISS cover band plays after us…which is cool. I never was all that into Halloween as a kid, or even as an adult – it was usually a party I skipped or ignored. But it was fun to play.

Halloween is such a strange and interesting holiday. One night, where people basically confront their own fears, desires…the extremes of the human psyche. All wrapped up in one bacchanalian celebration. I realize that most people probably view it as "get dressed up and drink a lot" – but getting to watch it from the outside (ie not knowing anyone around me), I felt like I saw it from a slightly different perspective. But it could have just been the cloth strips around my head.