We added some additional East Coast Tour dates to the schedule, check out the tour dates tab for details.
We just posted a few early summer tour dates. Check out the tour dates page!
Hello again everyone, its good to be back behind the keyboard.
Firstly, I must apologize for being so lax about finishing the tour blogs. (That is, of course, assuming anyone is actually reading this stuff in the first place.)
This particular blog will quickly explain why I've taken a few days for myself, so allow myself to explain......my......self. As many of you know, we had a really great homecoming show at our local Atlanta venue The Masquerade over the weekend. It was one of the most animated crowds we've ever seen, and the opening bands Tetrarch and Hermits of Suburbia were great. All in all, we were all incredibly happy to be home, but the night was not without a little sadness, too. If you were there, then you already know: Kevin has played his last show as a touring Bastard Sun.
The truth is, we've seen this coming for a while. He recently got engaged to his beautiful fiancee Lisa, and it's time to become the man of the household. Also, he's always suffered from really strong allergies, especially to cats, and as luck would have it, it seems everyone we stay with owns at least one cat. A couple of years sleeping in a van can get to a man, and no one knows that better than we.
And so it was with a happy, albeit heavy heart that I took the stage that night. Kevin and I met in the 8th grade, and since then we've been through high school, art school and hard-knock music school together. We started this band together. I love that guy, and he'll always have a place at the Bastards' table. (Also, hopefully now that he's not touring, he'll have time to work more on our art and photography.) I don't know how many people even realize that his art has been the visual side of The Bastard Suns since the beginning.
So I'll keep it short and sweet, as I'm sure Kevin would prefer it. So long my life-long traveling mate, thank you for all the good times and memories, and may the good Lord grant us a reunion show at Wembley Stadium in 20 years.
Ok readers, (again, assuming there are any of you out there) we now return to our regularly-scheduled tour blog. Thank you for your patience.
Ah, Denver. Where the weed grows as fast as....well......a weed. Colorado has always been good to The Bastard Suns, and Denver has been downright awesome every time! We've had more fun here in the past than any other place in the country, we always have a warm place to stay with our good friends Scott and Wendy and their family, and people here tend to be very generous with the pot and the shots.
That's why, when I realized we were going to Denver on 4/20 this time, I immediately got a huge grin and said, "OOOh, that's gonna be a GOOOOD show!"
Hello again, my loyal literary companions. As I type, I am perfectly content.
Having arrived home yesterday after our grueling Nationwide tour, I promptly took an hour-long shower and collapsed on my bed a la "Almost Famous" and slept for a good 10 hours. Then I awoke, hugged my dogs, kissed my lady and promply ate a steak that would have fed a small eastern-European village.
Folks, I tell ya, into every life a little rain must fall, but there are also days when I'm near-blinded by all the sunshine. Peaks and valleys, that's what it's all about. I'll try to relate a little more of our cross-country trek now...
Clayton's Log: Stardate 4/27/12 SPECIAL TOUR BLOG INSERT. READ THIS WHENEVER YOU LIKE.
I had to skip a really awesome part of my narrative because it doesn't have too much to do with the shows, and yet it truly deserves its own blog.
During most of our stay in Southern California, we bunked up with a good friend of Bobby's from Atlanta.
Mike is a sweet, unnassuming ex-Georgia boy who just happens to live in Laguna Beach...
And now for a good story. You see, we had yet another cancellation in Bakersfield, California on Saturday, April 14th. I tell ya, sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Water off a duck's back. There are cases where these very cancellations lead to the most memorable moments of the trip.
We called our good friends Arden Park Roots from Sacremento and asked if we could jump on their Saturday show as the opening band. They said that there was a great place up in Northern California mountains. They said it was a long drive, but definetly worth the trip. They were right on all counts.
Now I'm not going to tell you the name or location of the town that we found. I will tell you that it is in one of the most beautiful places in the country, situated next to a mighty river, and I will tell you that the official population of the town, (according to the sign) was 128.
*As I write these next lines, it is early morning in Denver and I am high off my rocker after repeated uses of the Cypress Hill vaporizer given to us by Silver Surfer Vaporizers last night at our show in Colorado Springs. Just warning the reader ahead of time. (Whew, that was a mouthful.)(Hehe that's what she said.)(I've gotta stop overusing parentheses.)
Presently,I'm sitting in a green room (actual color: slate blue) at the venue in Colorado Springs and I've finally got a few hours of down-time while the other bastards do laundry down the street. So I reckon I'll fill all you readers in on the next leg of our great cross-country adventure. In this episode, your loyal Bastards venture out of the South, and strike out bravely towards the Pacific. Oooooh.
But before I go any further, I want to make a disclaimer: there are far more sweet, generous people in this country than one would think, and everyone in the band parties and works equally hard, and sometimes maybe we forget to mention a few of these wonderful people. More specifically, I forget to mention them. Shit, sometimes I forget entire shows! This job is exhausting! (For instance, initially I forgot to thank Shawn and Amanda from Palm Beach. Sorry, you two. Also, initially I forgot about the cupcake guy in Vero, too.) I just want to state for the record that we love you all and value you more than words can express. We're a very lucky band, we're just tired. Awww.
Ok, enough of that, lets get to the booze and hedonism and stuff...
Ah, folks, what can I say about this tour that hasn't already been said about the movie Titanic? We've laughed, we've cried, there's been adventure, violence, romance and always the outside chance that we'll all end up stranded in the ocean, (figuratively) clinging to a barn door. Oh yes, it's certainly been an adventure and it would probably be the best tour we've ever taken, were it not for a LONG string of mishaps whose causes ranged from simple carelessness, to overzealous police presence, to downright acts of nature. (For instance, just the past day has been incredibly trying: Jay Tea spent two hours typing his own version of this blog and I spent another hour editing it, only to have it completely dissapear the minute we uploaded it to the site. Also, I dropped my phone in the toilet, and it was working again till I dropped it again, now it's dead like disco. Oye vey.) So here goes: I will attempt to recount the events of the last month by referring to my trusty datebook...
