The view from our window

8:30 am.
Dryden, ON

It's cold. We're camped out in a Wal-mart parking lot against the
wishes of the city of Dryden (who's law enforcement officers came to
escort everyone else but us off the premises last night. Apparently,
the campground lobby is huge in Dryden.

Everyone is asleep. Wes and Jason perched precariously on top of our
road cases and amps. Mike with a kick drum resting gently on his legs.
I'm upfront with a hard center console in my back. I've been reading
David Foster Wallace essays (which will hopefully explain some of the
sentence structure an tone of this post) and considering yet another
egg mcmuffin since sunrise.

Sorry if we've been out of touch on this run. Personally, I was a bit
blogged out after writing for exclaim! during our last tour. There are
only so many angles one can take on the road and truthfully, driving
has made up the bulk of this trip, hi-jinks are at an all time low.

I will say that this run has made me feel more like a band than
anything else we've done. We've recieved some big exciting news, which
will soon enough be revealed here, that has helped to cement that
feeling. Sled Island was a blast a whirlwind of andrew w.k. Spottings,
beer, ladyhawk shows and driving around Calgary trying to figure out
the city. We were up against the Breeders, one of the festival's
headliners, so our crowd was a little meager at first but kept
building and building until the sweltering mass (complete with spirit
fingers from
Caitlin from Calgary's fox opera) propelled us over the top and out
into the night. Also, apparently we were so loud that people came
upstairs just out of sheer curiosity at the kind of volume we were
producing.

Anyway, not all the shows on this run have felt as spectacular as Sled
Island, but they've all felt solid and composed, shoulder to shoulder.
Boys to men? (said in a manner as free from ironic undertones as
possible). Anyway, the moral of the story is that it feels great to be
out here. Cold fingers, sleepless nights, busted bank accounts Wal-
mart parking lots et al. It feels meaningful and worthwhile (we have
been afforded some gravity) free of the sometimes ennui inducing
experience of trying to be in a rock band.

Thanks for listening and showing up.
See you tonight in Thunder Bay.
Love,
The Darcys