Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, there are always stories to tell. In Tales From The Golden Road we let musicians tell their own stories of life on the road to get a behind-the-scenes, up-close look at what really goes down between each show.
This month Glide Magazine is excited to share dispatches from Brooklyn rockers Spirit Animal as they squeeze in one last tour before the year comes to a close. The band’s sound is anthemic and poppy, clearly suited for large stages and festivals. Spirit Animal recently released a new EP called World War IV and you can bet they are bringing the album’s soaring rock sound on this tour. In between shows, the band will take us behind the scenes. Rock on!
We’ve seen it all, now.
The southeast run continued after Durham, hitting Atlanta before we got to kick it with a bunch of musician buds in Nashville. The day after our show at The High Watt we took the tour gang to Prince’s Hot Chicken. A couple of us had been there before, so we were able to provide fair warning. Even the medium heat brings a tear to your eyes and ass.
St. Louis was next, at the Blueberry Hill Duck Room, which Chuck Berry made famous. The place is a memorabilia masterpiece, with sports and music idols as far as the eye can see. Show was great, but it was the last of the sunny days, sadly. The weather turned treacherous in the Midwest, and following a post-show McDonald’s scavenger hunt in St. Paul, we spun out on the exit ramp, crossed four lanes of traffic, and slammed into the barrier. Remarkably, both of Cal’s cheeseburgers made it through the madness unscathed. Paul wasn’t so lucky. Bun down.
After 8 inches of snow piled up overnight we decided to get an extra early start on our trek to Chicago. That proved prescient. Cars were strewn along the side of the highway, flipped over, and deep in the ditches. We must have seen 50. We worried about the condition of our van following the previous night’s wreck as we fishtailed about. So we hit a local mechanic in Hilton, WI who was luckily open. Turns out we didn’t have any damage, just a propensity for finding every patch of black ice on earth. Feeling confident in our vehicle for some reason, we headed back to the highway only to spin out AGAIN, crossing four lanes of traffic AGAIN…but narrowly missing the dividing rail this time. We drove 40 miles an hour for the next 240 miles and made it to Chicago in 11 hours flat.
Chicago was a highlight. Tons of faces new and old. They sang along. We half-joked about being alive. And some guy got kicked out for throwing a snowball.
Winter is coming.
Stay tuned for more!
