Tour Diary: U-Melt’s Zac Lasher (Part 3)

I totally get off on this shit when it’s done well, but even at it’s best, I often feel like there is a lack of melody – and a lack of the virtuosity of someone showing their expertise at playing an instrument.  I suppose that’s part of how U-Melt has come to be U-Melt – we attempt to combine the non-stop energy of a killer DJ set with the song-craft and technical prowess of a killer rock show.  At its best, it works really well – at its worst, we probably confuse a whole lot of people.

5/1 – New Orleans, LA

I’ve been sick for the past several days… I woke up in Tulsa with a bad sore throat that pretty much kept me from singing for two shows. Fortunately, we now have plenty of songs where I don’t need to sing so we were able to put the shows together accordingly.  I don’t think I sang a note in Austin.  Being sick on the road is really awful.  Not only do I feel like crap, but really… all I want to do is sleep, and there’s no time to do that.  If I could sleep in the van, I’d be fine, but I’ve never really been able to do that, so I just have to take some medicine and tough it out – relaxing whenever I can.

Tomorrow, we play the final show of the run in New Orleans.  It’s going to be a late-night show during Jazzfest – just the way we like to do it.  Tonight, I had plans to go out and hear music until the wee hours of the morning as can only be done here in NOLA, but, my throat is telling me that I need to take it easy, so that’s what I’ll do.  I think that I’ll be ok tomorrow as long as I take care of myself tonight.

Thanks to Zac and U-Melt’s manager Jason for helping to put these articles together. U-Melt returns to the Summer Camp Festival this weekend for two sets and returns to the Mountain Jam festival the next weekend. On June 4, the quartet comes home to Long Island for a post-Phish show at what’s become a home venue of sorts – Mulcahy’s in Wantagh. The Mulcahy’s show starts at 11:45PM and tickets are currently available here.

• Previously on HT: Zac Lasher’s Tour Diary Pt. 1, Pt. 2