THE LAST TOUR BLOG!

So where do I start?……

We are on our way to Colorado, we’re happy that the “Ol Mule”, our 1995 Chevy tour van, is still going and that we are actually gonna make it. Ross (guitarist) has family there and we had 2 days off to get to MI, so we were pumped! We finally were all going to be able to get a good night sleep, wash our clothes, relax, and even get a nice home cooked meal. On the way to CO, we got a call from a writer who did an interview with us as a band in the van for a feature coming to Outburn Magazine. Things wre looking up…so we thought! We did everything we had to do and played a great show in CO. (even though we should’ve really went on in the middle). But thanks to Elan and Bands 4 Bands.
We came back to Ross’ families house and were told that one of Ross’ cousin’s b/f’s, JC, was a mechanic so we wanted to get the oil changed on the van and check out this minor exhaust leak we had. JC checked it out and hooked us up fixing everything we needed. This made us feel secure and happy to continue driving towards MI. We left again to drive for 2 days to the next show. Well on the way to the show, we got a call that our MI show was cancelled. Now we were really screwed because that means instead of 2 days off (Monday and Tuesday which we needed for travel), now we had three days off with no food or pay etc. So this kinda sucked. I made some calls around and found a second show for that Wed. in Illinois. Since we were playing IL in Thurs, we figured that it would be better than no show at all. Again we were wrong….
The music business, bands, and booking red tape, and politics got in the way and because we were getting paid descent money for Thurs. show, we were forced to turn down and cancel the last minute Wed. show offered to us. We felt bad but had to do what we had to do. So now 3 days off WTF… Luckily we had our friend Michelle in Chicago, who we’ve known since we started touring. She’s done some promoting so she kindly let us crash again at her place. We finally made it to IL, parked the van with no worries and had a BBQ with some old friends.
Show day finally arrives on Thurs. We had the last 3 shows on our tour left to play and then we go home. This is where the shit starts hitting the fan!
We get all of our stuff together and jump in the van, say our goodbyes and drive off on the way to load in and sound check at the Q Billiards. We drive approx. 2 blocks when all of a sudden we hear a medal on medal noise coming from underneath the van that sounded like it was from Hell. Being that it’s a for a couple days, we weren’t sure what to do so immediately we drove back to Michelle’s house to figure it out. At this point it was already 5:30 pm, load in was at 6, and the location of the show was about a 1/2 hour away from Chicago. If we can’t get to the show there would be no pay to help with this van predicament. Michelle suggests a mechanic down the street. So we empty the van and manage to limp it over to them. We get to the shop and the contact person she knew was, of course, no there. We try explaining the situation to the peeps there but they were all Polish ( off the boat) and none of them spoke any English. We had to be in Ohio for one of the best shows on the tour the very next day and takes 6 hours to get there. We were screwed! At this point, I started Googling transmission shops around that area who could help. Finally we found someone who was sympathetic to our situation and told us to drop off the van ASAP, and would look at it in the morning. So we did. After this, we had no way of getting back to Michelle’s place, so we begged a stranger on the street, coming out of a car wash, to drive us to the closest U haul. How was convinced him, I have no clue but the guy was cool as hell. As we race and pull up to U haul to rent something to get us and our gear to the gig, they literally close the doors in our face. We didn’t know what to do. The same guy felt bad and was nice enough to drive us back to home base (Michelle’s house). Both Michelle and the band called around to try and find someone with a truck or van to help but it was a loss. We then call the promoter of the show, who called the other bands to see if they could come and pick us up. It was a long shot but shortly after we received a call from a guy named “Pervert”, from the band Whut? (a band we never met or knew before). They offered to send over one of their guys “Boner”, and let us use their gear to play. Unbelievably nice dudes and Boner was cummin! That eliminated on problem about the van and the rest of the tour?
We wake up early to try and figure this debacle out in hopes to salvage our Ohio gig (especially since we had to cancel on them last time around, we did not want to again). We called the transmission place and they give us the worst news possible. They tell us that both the tranny and rear end wre blown and that it would take 2 days and cost about $1700 to fix. We told them to just put it back together, which they still charged us for, so we could get AAA to tow it somewhere for us. It’s always something! AAA wouldn’t even pick up the van without proof that we paid the mechanic. So we had to pay first and then wait for the mechanic to “release” us for AAA to come. Total bullshit!! Well now what? Fortunately the night before, the singer Jeremy from the same band Whut?, (who became our guardian angel, and again was a band and a dude who we didn’t know at all), had mentioned that he was a mechanic who rebuilds rear ends and also said that he had a legal running, old piece of crap Jeep Cherokee, that might be a one way ticket back to CT. He also thought it had a hitch on it which would be perfect for our trailer. It wasn’t pretty but it could work. We called him on it and he came through, so in that same day we towed the van to Jeremy’s house, in the outskirts of IL. We emptied it and left our poor tour van there. At the same time, we went to pick up this old jeep. We get there with AAA and the jeep he thought had a hitch, had nothing. So again we Google ( Thank God for I phones), about a dozen places to see if they could wire and attach a hitch on the spot. Ever try this? lol… No one could help except for one dude like 20 miles away. So we trek there, he wires it up, but would not attach the hitch due to it being a universal hitch that they did not want to be responsible for. So we end up attaching the hitch ourselves. Here we are under the jeep with nuts, bolts and wrenches, all greased up, with mosquitoes eating us alive (idk if you’ve ever been to the burbs in IL but it’s mosquito central). We finally finished everything but by that time we would still have to drive during rush hour in Chicago to pick up the rest of the guys, attach the trailer and hit the road for 6 hours. We look at the clock and with Ohio being one hour ahead, time wise, even if we left at that moment and busted our asses there was still no way we’d make it. Even if we were last to play. Again we had to put our tails between our legs and call Ohio with the terrible news. It was all about getting everyone and all our equipment home and safe.
We drive the jeep back to Michelle’s house, attach the trailer, and pick up the rest of the band and gear. Right off the bat, there was no way the jeep was going to fit 5 peeps. So we made our driver, Unkle Jesse, take a Greyhound bus home so we could hopefully all fit. We then proceed to pack the jeep and realize how tight it actually is. But oh well we try to do it. We finally start to leave again from Michelle’s, went a few blocks and sadly realized the suspension of the jeep was completely shot, making the rear tires rub from all the weight. So now what? We stop and drop off Mike and Joey at a random gas station to have them try and take a bus or train home. At this point, Ross and myself were left to attempt the 15 hour drive home with this beater jeep just to get the trailer with our gear home. Ross and I leave on our adventure. Reducing some of the weight worked. The tires stopped rubbing but every bump was scary and sounded to us that we were going to loose the trailer. Little by little we trudged along and felt we were gonna make it until we hit the New Jersey line. The exhaust was so bad that literally we had to drive all night with the windows open and heat on and it still smelled so bad that our eyes actually burned. I think this actually took at least a year off our lives. Anyways the radiator in the jeep went at the end of hte PA hills into Jersey. We realized that this jeep is not making it home. Again we start googling scrap yards to see who would take the jeep and pay us to give to the dude who gave it to us. Luckily we find one guy on a Saturday willing to take it. We attempt to drive it there. We get there, drop the trailer, take all of our shit out of it, leave the key, and then call a family friend in CT who had a hitch attachment to come rescue us at some scrap yard in NJ. The tour ends with just me and Ross sitting on the side of the road with all of our shit haha…He comes, we go, it’s over, but our van is still in IL. Isnt’t Rock n Roll fun!?!! If you actually read this entire Blog..Thank You!
xo -Opus