Its been a long road since the last blog and it has not been dull. When we last left off we were playing Sacremento with a Scorpions tribute and our journey has since taken us across the US- Mexico border and back.
After Sac-town it was on to Cupertino, just outside of San Francisco. We made our return to the X-Bar, pleased to see that they had made some upgrades since our last visit. The stage was bigger with a better sound system than last time. We reunited with Satan’s Blade for the show. I was stoked to get a chance to checl them out again and I was not disappointed. Like us they have had a lineup change since the last time but they brought it big time, we will be seeing them again for sure!
Although we have played Apple Valley multiple times, we saw a different side this time. After some issues with the original venue we booked we reached out to our friend Martin DeBourge who came through for us big time. He set us up at the Hilltop Tavern & Inn where we had a spectacular view of the whole Valley. With the relatively last minute venue change and the fact that the show was in the middle of the week we weren’t exactly sure what to expect but what we got was the return of friendly faces from years past as well as a couple new ones. Our set ended up being a little longer than usual as we were bribed to keep playing by a particularly enthuastic individual who came late to the party. All and all we had a blast! Thanks again Martin!
From there we continued further south to Anaheim, making a stop at the Doll Hut. I always love when we play a venue with a lot of history and for how tiny the place is, it oozes with history. Legendary Californian bands have graced it’s stage on their rise and we were honoured to have graced its stage too. The owners of both the Doll Hut and accompanying Doll Hut Studios turned out to be some of the nicest guys (Canadian too, eh?) And we had a lot of fun hanging out and getting to know them while we were in the area.
Doll Hut in Anahiem photo by Chris Sonea
The heat continued to rise the further south we travelled, getting dangerously close to melting us Canadians. Making things a little worse, for some undetermined reason, the morning we left Anahiem I began vomiting uncontrollably. Unable to hold down and food or liquids made playing difficult but the show must always go on. I personally would like to apologize to the San Diego crowd as I was not my usual energetic seld on stage. Next time we come through I’ll kick it extra hard!
The San Diego show was actually an awesome gig despite my ailment. We played with our buddies in Tzimani and it was the first show of a 3 show run with the wild and hilarious Headless Pez from Portland. We hit the stage late in the night and the crowd was still going. It was awesome to see the Headless Pez guys right in front and they were going so nuts I had to stop the drummer from putting my emergency puke bucket on his head. I hadnt puked in it and he didnt know what it was there for. It probably good I was paying attention though as that could have been bad!
I was still feeling a little under the weather the next day as we hit the southern border on our way down to Tijuana, Mexico. Being sick on tour is an unfortunate though very real possibility, but what made me extra upset with the timing was how much I had been looking forward to the Mexican food. We had tacos in Sacramento and Apple Valley but I was really looking forward sampling the local fare while in town. One thing is for sure though, we will be back again! We felt the love Tijuana!
We didn’t stay in Mexico long, prefering not to leave the border crossing to chance we crossed back in the early hours of Sunday morning. It’s great we did as a computer issue closed down the border for 3 hours. A huge thanks to our brothers in Tzimani for the hospitality in San Diego!
Sunday we played the Stardust Club in the Downey neighbourhood of LA. It was our first time in that part of LA. It was a pleasant neighbourhood and although Sunday shows can be difficult we had fun and enjoyed the night. I was happy to finally start feeling like myself again.
It’s a long drive between Downey and our next gig in New Mexico but thankfully we had a chance to stop and stretch our legs when we dropped in on some friends we hadn’t seen in years. A huge thanks to John and Angela Kidd for feeding us and giving us access to a shower as well as putting up with us! I feel a little pampered on this run as it seems like we have already had more showers than in the entirety of previous tours! Im not complaining though, it’s better to feel human than smell homeless!
Tonight you can catch us at The Jam Spot in Albuquerque, New Mexico!
Keep the Faith,
Leighton Holmes
(Bass Guitar)