Sunday 14 July 2013

6 Shows Deep


So my band No Island has been on our Cross-Canada tour for just over a week now and we have been having an absolute blast. There is a TON of work that goes in to mounting a seven week tour of this magnitude. By the time we do our homecoming show we will have played 39 shows on the tour which is absolutely huge!! But so far everything has been going really well and the shows have been incredibly well received! I'll give you a bit of a break down of the tour so far...

Funny enough, we started with a day off! Our first gig was in Creston and that is a bit of a trek from Vancouver for one day so we were warmly welcomed into Max's Father's summer home in OK Falls where we were treated to incredible accommodations, a fantastic dinner, a swim and some wine. All in all, it was a great way to relax and prepare for the 7 week onslaught that was ahead of us.


The next day we drove to Creston for our first official gig. We LOVE Paul and Shelly at the Snoring Sasquatch. It's a fantastic, cozy little venue in a great town that seems to love and support music and the arts. The show was very well received by a very warm audience and we were invited back on August 22nd!!



 Another highlight of the Creston stop was of course Renee's Roadside Diner. We went for their famous breakfast and once again experienced a fantastic meal and astounding people. This is a place that comes highly recommended from 5 very hungry musicians.



Up next was another repeat from our last tour...we played the Fernie Hotel. Yet again, amazing people and incredible reception. Last year we played outdoors at their sort of tailgate party, but this year we were inside the bar on a very tiny stage that we, by some wizardry, were able to fit on. Fernie was yet another venue that booked us again for the end of our tour on August 23rd!



Following Fernie was a very cool day spent at the Canadian Scout Jamboree. No Island has played a Scout jamboree before but it was not nearly as big as this one. This had people from all over the country! We spent the afternoon giving 2 workshops on what it means to be in a band and what skills you can take from Scouts and apply it to music. These were a learning experience for us and were indeed a lot of fun. We met a lot of great kids who seemed so hyped by our music and were thrilled to meet us and have us sign stuff. Following that we played a full concert that evening. If we thought they were excited before, we weren't prepared for the pandemonium the ensued after we finished. We spent the better part of an hour meeting all these wonderful kids and signing merchandise, arms, legs, foreheads, hats, kool aid wrappers...everything! It was so nice to not play a bar or a club and to connect with the youth and to really see them get inspired.


After that we spent two days in the beautiful town of Banff, Alberta. We had a two night stand at the Elk and Oarsman. This is a cool restaurant/pub in the heart of Banff and we played two great, and very well received shows there. We even had repeat audience members the second night! They treated us very well with amazing food and even better accommodations. It was nice to be rather pampered. Oh...and did I mention they invited us back for the 16th of August?


Then it was off to Calgary where we played at the Blind Beggar Pub. There was a little confusion at first with the bands and who was playing and at what time but it was fine because we had a lot of friends that greeted us and kept us company which was really nice. By the time we got on stage, there was a huge audience that was so enthusiastic and welcoming and we played a really great and fun show! They said anytime we were in Calgary, we can play there no questions asked.


Since then we've been staying at my sister-in-law's Aunt's house where we've been treated incredibly well and have had an absolute blast. We've needed to stay in Calgary for a few days and do a bunch of errands, and have a bit of a recharge before the next show in Regina on Tuesday. We also got to experience the Calgary Stampede which was a lot of fun!

The only downside of this tour has been when our Road Manager/Jay's girlfriend Marianne had to go back home for work. She was an absolute life saver. This tour, without a doubt, would not have been anywhere near as successful as it has been without her. So we were very, very sad to see her go and we miss her already!

So that's a little look into the tour thus far. I hope to maybe do this once a week if I can to keep everyone updated, For day to day stuff, check out our webpages:





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