On the Road: The Sleepless Nights Winter 2010 Tour

Join the Sleepless Nights on tour throughout Eastern Canada for the next two weeks! Full listings of shows can be found at thesleeplessnights.com. Keep up to date on all of the happenings from the road right here in this spiffy On the Road: Sleepless Nights Winter 2010 Tour Blog.

He also has an actual T2: The Arcade Game console, which we played for a good while. Feb 8.10 by Jeff Pineau
So, thanks to a lot of driving and tiredness, I have been slack on this blog and for that I apologize for nothing….suckers. It’s been a week to the day since I last wrote. We have two more shows left before we head back to the east coast and I go back to work. But one of those shows will probably be one of the most fun. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

The last thing I left writing about was getting ready to play in Saint John, NB. Which happened, but as per usual, unless you are Slowcoaster or The Jimmy Swift Band Saint John sucks. No one goes to shows there, Even when their local “go to” band hasn’t played there in about six months and is playing that night. The show was at an awesome bar called The Blue Olive. It’s part bar part Greek restaurant, which was a plus cause we got some awesome free food before the show.

Hamilton Trading Co played first and it was as good as ever, although since they played on the floor, which was cement, their stomping had some considerable less effect then when it is on a nice hollow wooden floor or stage. We played next and played a decent set. The stage was great and the P.A. was pumping. Also there were LASERS!!!

Hospital Grade played next and it was easily the best set by them I ever saw. Their drummer is so great. Sean Boyer; he is one of those drummers that makes everything look so flawlessly easy. After the show we went back to Courtney’s place where we were sleeping. Caught the last of the Grammy’s, just saw the heavily censored Lil Wayne/Drake/Eminem performance and that Taylor Swift won the best album of the year. I went to bed after that.

HTC had opted to drive all night after the show to get to Ottawa early as load in for the show was scheduled at 5pm. Since we had partied pretty hard Saturday night, none of us felt up to undertaking that ten or so hour drive. Instead we got up at 7am and hit the road. With three drivers in the band it usually works out well, 3-4 hour drives each can pretty much cover most regular distances.

We make it in to Ottawa around 7pm and go straight to the club. When we get the HTC is already there, but the sound guys are just getting there and haven’t even turned the P.A. on yet. So I am glad we didn’t drive all night and get there at 5pm and have no one there. We load in and do a quick check. HTC for the first time is going to use the P.A. and let me tell you it was awesome. They put a mic on the stage to really pick up the stomps and bring them through the system. Also they had a bunch of overhead mics hanging down and for once you could really hear all of the different harmonies and parts. It was amazing.

After the show we hung out a bunch, sold some merch, which was nice, since the Monday shows there don’t pay anything. We made it back to our friend Chris’s house and watched Strange Brew and the other guys all order some pizza.

We got up in the morning and headed out of the city to Pinky’s cousin’s house. Upon arriving we were treated to pizza and chicken fingers. I ate and took a shower, which was well needed and deserved. If you know the next day you are going to do a ten hour drive, sometimes it seems a little pointless to shower and put on fresh clothes just to sit in a stinky van all day.

So after that we went downstairs where he has this amazing home theater setup. In addition to that he also has an actual T2: The Arcade Game console, which we played for a good while.

The thing that his cousin collects the most though is WW2 stuff. I’m talking helmets, knives, guns, propaganda posters and anything else you can name. He has actual Nazi helmets, knives and guns. Some really rad posters, American, Nazi and Canadian propaganda. He also just has some random guns. Like SWAT team shotguns and automatic weapons.

We then just kind of hung out and I worked on a song on my macbook. I think everyone else was watching DayBreakers or something about vampires. Finally we packed up, dropped Chris off at his place and drove the two or so hours to Kingston for the next show. The bar we played at was Dan Aykrod’s old bar. It used to have the bluesmobile sticking out of the side of the building. Awesome. We loaded in and order up some free food from the bar. The food was great. I had a burger and fries, which was far superior to regular pub food. The show was kind of shit, but was expected as it was a Tuesday in Kingston. My friends in Basia Bulat band were playing some early show at a church across town and we tried to hook up for some hang outs, but everyone was pretty tired. Our friend Alexey from HTC did manage to pick up some crazy drunk lady at the bar, which was pretty funny. This was also our last show with HTC for the next four days. So we said our goodbyes to everyone that night as they were driving back to Toronto for the night. I think Alexey got pulled over for some reason and then had an expired ID. Oopsy. We stayed in town at the promoter, Terry’s, house. This fellow has a fairly impressive record collection. When we first got there, he had a pre-loaded bong and took this pretty massive hit. There was some smoke still in the pipe and since he wasn’t offering to anyone else, pinky says, “there is still some in there, suck it up!” So the kid does, and then walks into the kitchen and pukes on the floor. I go to bed promptly after this.

Saying good bye to HTC in Kingston:

We get up pretty late and once again have missed meeting up with Allison and the Basia Bulat band for breakfast. We were just driving around and randomly found some amazing diner and stopped and ate there. We were almost going to get a parking ticket, but could see the van, so Pinky runs out, convinces him we are moving the van, and to not give us a ticket. But then he realizes he doesn’t have his keys, runs back in and then runs back to move the van. We take off from Kingston and head toward Waterloo.

It is an early show in Waterloo, so we get in around 7 or so. The bar is pretty nice. It’s a newer campus sort of bar with a brand new radio station upstairs. We load in and do a quick check and Trevor and I take off to Quiznos for some eats. Aaron wanders over later and then in typical Joe fashion, our friend Joe wanders in. The first time we met Joe was a few years ago, we were staying at our friend Katherine’s house in Guelph. We had a day off, it was a Tuesday, we planned on drinking most of the day. We said to Katherine, where are you friends, any of them wanna come drinking with us? So she calls this Joe guy. Twenty minutes later(around 11am) he shows up with a quart of vodka, ready to party. He’s been a close friend ever since. We have stayed at his folks house a few times. It is some sort of mansion. Outdoor hottub and pool. There is a bar/gym/pool table/entertainment room/sauna in their basement. We haven’t stayed there the last few times due to an incident of nudity and Joe’s mother and a different Halifax band. But this time we did stay there. Joe’s room has two bunk beds in it, and two couches, so we just stay in his room. His room has it’s own full bathroom and is bigger than most apartments I’ve lived in before. We get up the next day around noon. Get some showers and watch lost. I also raid Joe’s external harddrive for some TV shows, movies and comics. I scored Erie, Indiana, season 1 & 2 of Quantum Leap, season 1 of Veronica Mars and then all 3 pirates movies for funsies.

Joe’s room:

After watching the new episode of Lost, we had a nice chat with Joe’s mom and his lil nephew and then hit the road in search of the elusive all day breakfast. We stopped in Toronto to meet up with Keith and do some gear stuff. I saw a store operated by this adorable couple.

Oh yeah, I should mention that the show was pretty good. Our first of three shows with Keith’s other band, The Diableros. We played with a local band that was just terrible. They played a Pearl Jam song, a Collective Soul song and then I swear to fuck he said, “who here likes Alterbridge? Good cause here is one of their songs.”

Ugh.

Guelph being the next stop and it only being twenty or so minutes away we were in no hurry, but also had nothing to do. We get to Guelph and hit up the pawn shops and music stores and there is nothing but crap. We then go to the mall where there is a pretty awesome café and we hang out and nerd out. Trevor does some work, Aaron watches a movie and I work some more on my song.

After spending a good 3-4 hours there we pack up and go to the best crappy Chinese food place in town. People will often say, “You can’t eat Sun Sun in the daytime!” As it is much like China garden and a popular place for drunk people to go and eat at after the bars. We hang out there for a long time milking the buffet. At one point Aaron and I hear some one at another table say, “Yeah but that would probably be shitty cause it’s made in China.” While in a Chinese restaurant!?!??!?!

Load in and hang outs at the Jimmy Jazz are typical. There is a bunch of people there which is kind of odd for them. We do get to see our friends Cursed Arrows which is always nice and also our friend Steph and met a couple of her friends.

After the show we load up and take the hour and a half drive to Bayfield. We have a cabin there for two nights, so it is worth it. We get into town, find the cabin and the fire place is on and it is nice and toasty. There is two bedrooms and some couches, no floor sleeping for us. We sleep in decently late, get up, go to the Black Dog, meet up with Peter, the promoter. We load our gear in and then head to the grocery store. Get some foods, snacks and breakfast fixings. I eat breakfast and watch some Quantum Leap and fall asleep.

My room came complete with a sweet Cassablanca poster:

We later get to the bar, meet up with the Diableros and watch the Leafs blow a 3-1 lead. Setup our gear and start drinking. I think everybody gets pretty hammered this night. I play my best drunk set ever. Wooo!

After the show is done and everyone clears out both bands walk the two or three blocks back to the cabin. We party for another hour so and then, well I go to bed. I dunno about anyone else.

In the morning the Diableros get up and take off fairly early as some of them need to work or something. We hang out longer and waste some time. Hung over and only a two hour drive to Hamilton makes us in no rush. We clean up the cabin and take off and get into Hamilton and go to our friend Maria’s house where she cooks us some awesome food. Roasted potatoes, shrimp and some cauliflower thingies, so yummy. We then go to the bar and load in and have a joyous reunion with the HTC.

The show goes pretty well and we play great. Get to see our friends Pneumatic Transit, who play some awesome rock and roll, think Carpenter without the high kicks. We play with another shitty 90’s throwback band that took themselves waaaaaaaaaay too seriously.

We go back to Maria’s for sleep. We wake up, get showers, get food. I leave my hat and scarf at the restaurant. I’m sad. We get to Toronto, go to Paul’s Boutique and the Moog store. So much stuff I want to buy. Aaron and I go to Urban Outfitters and I get a new pair of Kicks. I’m happy. I stop back to Paul’s Boutique and get a new fuzz pedal as well.
Now I am at the boat, just watched the HTC practice while I wrote this.

Somehow today I completely fucked up my knee and have no idea how. It mega sucks. But it won’t stop the rock and roll.

We pile into the room and pass the booze around. Stupid stuff happens. Gavin sings to a hair dryer for a while. Feb 2.10 by Jeff Pineau
Friday around 2pm, I meet up with the rest of the band and head back to Gus’ Pub to load our gear out of the bar and get on the move. First We dropped off one of Aaron’s cabs back at our jam space and while there we remembered that we were supposed to return our rented PA. So we loaded that up in the van and dropped it off at Long & McQuade. Picked up the rest of gear and took off.

Due to the seriously shitty weather the ride that normally takes around four hours, took us closer to seven or seven and a half. I drove for the first 3 hours or so and then was sleepy, so Pinky took over for the next few hours. We stopped in Chipman NB and I took over driving again. While stopped at the gas station we ran into one of the cars with some of the members of the Hamilton Trading Co.. We all had a pee break. Alex managed to get herself locked in the washroom. I questioned her ability to operate doors. After a few minutes of struggle she finally freed herself from her bathroom jail cell. While at this gas station we also discovered that there is Kam and Prem, which I guess is premium spam? Regardless Pinky approves.
PHOTO OF PINKY AND KAM.

So I took over the drive to finish off the trip to Fredericton. The roads were ok, up until out of the blue, the van slides, turns into the passing lane, I tap on the breaks, we slow down and gently slide back into the normal lane. You can call me Cucumber….as in cool as a. So the next eighty km or so, we didn’t exceed the speed of 60km/h. Finally we made it to our favourite bar in the world, The Capital Complex. Since we were late, The Wooden Sky were already setup and doing sound check. Which is fine, we’ve played the Capital so much that Leah, the sound girl, knows us so well.

So we get all our gear settled and meet up with the cats in Hamilton Trading Co. & got everyone introduced to each other, Sleepless Nights, Hamilton Trading Co. & The Wooden Sky are a rolling twenty person party machine. This is the best birthday I could possibly have. Playing a rock and roll show in my favourite bar with a lot of my best friends, what more could I ask for?

Hamilton Trading Co. are up first. As per their thing, they setup on the floor and play their set to a stunned audience. Tonight they pull out a pretty rad cover of the Arcade Fire’s "Wake Up". With twelve people singing the hook, it was pretty awesome. Dennis (GTB/Share/Force Fields) showed up supporting an amazing moustache.

Up next was The Wooden Sky. They tore shit up. For a folk band, these guys rip hard. They did an awesome cover of "American Girl" by Tom Petty. The Wooden Sky end their set, being a nice guy, I am helping them get some of their gear off the stage and downstairs. I grab an amp and head towards the stairs are to go down to the storage room. Kip and Wyatt from The Wooden Sky are coming up the stairs and they see me, so they step aside as to let me walk down the stairs with the amp, to which I reply, “Pfft, I’m not in your band, I’m not carrying this down the stairs.”

I was taking my gadget box and keyboard stand towards the stage and there was this girl standing in my way. I give her a little nudge and she slowly turns around but doesn’t get out of my way, so I say, “Hey, MOVE.” She just stares at me for thirty seconds. I look at her and say, “I gotta set up my stuff, I’ll deal with you later.” So we set up. Play. It’s a pretty good set. Everyone is having a good time. I get a few birthday drinks and shots brought up to the stage and the show goes well.

During the start of the last song, I am not playing for the first minute or so of it, I see the girl that was in my way standing near the stage. At this point I am fairly drunk, so I point at her and say, “Hey I know you.” She comes closer and I lean down and she says something to me, I can’t hear cause the band is playing. She repeats whatever she said and I just say, “Ok, I can’t hear you, don’t leave and I’ll deal with you in a few minutes.”

We finish up the set in typical fashion with most of us on the floor just making as much noise as we possibly can. I get off stage and grab another drink. Hang out at the merch table and talk to the other bands and some people buying merch. I see the in the way girl sitting on a stool with a couple of her friends. So being the drunk guy I am, I saunter over and say “hey, what’s up?” she says, ok. I am kinda stunned with nothing else to say and actually say, “I don’t have anything else to say, I don’t even know why I came over here.” I go to walk away and her friend is like, “well this is Katalin, what is your name?” So I stay and we small talk for a minute or so. Then her friend goes, “so have you ever seen It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Cause you really look like Charlie.” Funny story I say, I had a picture of him as my facebook picture for a few months and people thought it was me. Her friends go to get coats, I say some drunkenly stupid things during this time. I do convince her to give me her phone number. She gets her coat and says she is leaving, she goes for a hug and cheek kiss, I go for the real kiss and she kind of laughs and says no no, not this time. Fair enough I say and settle for the cheek kiss and she takes off.

Ryan, the tour manager from The Wooden Sky comes over to me and apparently I told him I wasn’t able to move from the stool I was sitting on. We decide it is best if we leave our gear at the bar and head off to local late night drunken food fave place, The Diplomat. We run into The Wooden Sky cats once again share some sweet bro grabs and get our table. I figure that in my state it’s best to just order some chicken fried rice instead of some elaborate meal cause it’ll probably all taste the same to me. I do convince the waitress to bring me some free dessert shit for my birthday. We pay our bills and pile back into the van. Trevor is driving and instantly backs into a parked car. After a close inspection we determine that there is no damage, in fact we just knocked a bunch of slush off their car. We get back to Zach’s house and pretty much just crash right away.

Saturday morning we wake up and head off to this rad breakfast place that has a build your own breakfast. We meet up with Zach’s gf Kristin and our friends Corrine and Allie. After breakfast we hit up the Wal-mart where I purchase a sleeping bag and some hand warmers. I was so close to buying a long john onesie, but it was thirty-four dollars. So I settled for just some six dollar long john pants, but I did forget to buy gloves.

So we leave Wal-mart and head back to the bar to load out our gear. We hang out for a few minutes with The Wooden Sky and part ways until we’ll meet up with them later in Sackville. We head towards Corrine’s for showers and birthday cake. We are heading out of town to Sackville Nb, and get a phone call from Alex from HTC (not the phone company that uses inferior plastic for their phones) and she wants to know if we have room for her and Robin, if they come to Sackville to come to Saint John. Yes we do. Party time. After a fairly uneventful drive to Sackville, we roll into town and stop at Mel’s Diner for supper. It’s great and cheap:

We get to George’s Roadhouse just as The Wooden Sky are starting to unload their van, although their trailer lock is frozen. Some hot water and de-icer they managed to get it open. There is so much gear in the bar while we are loading in:

The Wooden Sky checks and people start trickling in, including some girl that drove all the way from PEI to the show. Fred from Shotgun & Jaybird/100 other things is there and doing sound. While he is setting up the monitors, Aaron and I are just kind of standing around watching him. He bends over, picks up this cigarette butt, one of the ones with the plastic filter tips on it. He smells it, thinks for a moment and then tosses it away. What an odd character Fred Squire is. Also, it should be noted that he broke his glasses frames, so he taped his prescription lenses to the back of a set of the real 3D glasses from Monsters Vs Aliens.

There is a band that plays first, it’s their first show. They are young and really good and tight. A little too jammy for my taste, but they are really good. During their set most of the bands get decently drunk. There is lots of MJ impressions and some pretty rad dancing happening. Some stoned hippy girl starts feeling up Kip and he keeps pushing her away, she stops and tries the same thing on myself, she gets pushed away and just kind of keeps going. Weird people.

We play next and it is a good set. I feel comfortable now with all the new songs and we have another great set. Included a nice two minute feedback noise jam while Aaron had to switch guitars. The Wooden Sky close out the night with another amazing set:

We are once again blessed with being allowed to leave our gear at the bar and get it the next day. So the non-drivers booze up. More dancing and shenanigans ensue. We’ve decided to bite the bullet and crash at the same hotel they are so we can hang out and party on our last night together. We get there ahead of them and check in. Grab my booze and have a drink. We say, “well I wonder where they are? I asked to get a room near them.” We then hear large amounts of shouting from the hallway and sure enough it is them and they are next door. I don’t think they even had the door open and the night worker came up and gave us a noise complaint. We pile into the room and pass the booze around. Stupid stuff happens. Gavin sings to a hair dryer for a while:

For whatever reason we are hanging out in the room near the door and the bathroom. Just standing being stupid. We hear a knock on the door. Gavin says, “Who is it?” The voice (the night manager Allan) says, “it’s me!” Gavin replies, “FUCK OFF” Thinking it was one of the bands. The manager guy freaks out and says if we aren’t quiet he’ll call the cops and kick us out. And that other people who are trying to sleep paid more money than us (????) for their rooms. So we retreat further into the room onto the beds and try to keep noise down; which is pretty easy to do while we are talking, but then as something funny happens and everyone laughs, the volume goes through the roof.

Simon started doing backwards summersaults and more MJ singing and dancing impressions on the bed, before falling in between the beds and then having Gavin drag him around the floor for a few minutes:

With our booze running out and exhaustion setting in people are starting to calm down and get into bed:

We wake up around noon, pack up our stuff and head back to the bar for breakfast and load out. Alex, Robin and Ryan come with us cause they are ready. The rest of The Wooden Sky meet us there later. Everyone is looking pretty haggard. Apparently Kip has pissed on the hotel floor between the beds.

We eat and share our love of the bump app on the iphone for sharing contacts. Load out our gear. Some sweet bro grabs later, we part ways with The Wooden Sky. We may cross paths with them again in Ottawa on Monday, but I'm not sure. Hopefully it won’t be our last time. It’s not always that you play just a couple shows with a band and seem to have such a quick connection to all the members. Alex and Robin are now traveling with us. It’s a sunny day and the roads are good. Trevor is driving and we are off to Saint John. I watch a few episodes of It’s Always Sunny in the back with Pinky. Alex invents Gorilla Feet with her gloves and Robin reads some Fyodor Dostoevsky.

We make it to Saint John and head to our friend Courtney’s place. I decide that I need to write this blog as I am two days behind already and if I don’t, I’ll never catch up. So I sit in the kitchen and do that, while the rest of the crew watches Trapped in the Closet pt 2 and now Forbidden Planet. Show at the Blue Olive tonight, with HTC and local heroes Hospital Grade.

See you soon.

So back at Pinky's we take turns cooking lobsters in pairs and eating and generally making a large mess. Jan 29.10 by Jeff Pineau
The show was at Gus' Pub in Halifax, Thursday night. Line up: Hamilton Trading Co, Doug Mason and Sleepless Nights.

I got to Halifax on Wednesday. I just kind of lazed around while the rest of the guy went to the Tegan and Sara show. They had skybox tickets, which also meant they all got super bombed, which resulted in Aaron and our friend Richard going to Karaoke and singing Don't go breakin' my heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee.

I went for warm beverages with my friend Vanessa:

After that I met up with the twelve members of the Hamilton Trading Co. and we came back to Pinky's house to settle in. They had been driving pretty much non stop from Toronto so we went for a walk in search of food. We ended up going to Your Father's Moustache, which at 11pm was probably daunting to the server for thirteen people showing up.

We went home after that and while walking ran into our new friends in The Wooden Sky (whom we are playing with on Fri/Sat), high fives all around and then home. We played some card games for a bit and then crashed. It's a pretty fun game called Apples to Apples. I recommend it.

Thursday, I woke up and got a shower and then went to meet my old boss, Melanie, and we had some lunch at the place I ate so many time when living here in Halifax. I came back to Pinky's house really tired and tried to take a nap. I got about four minutes in and then fifteen people showed up. We then went to the superstore and proceeded to buy a large amount of lobsters as most of the central Canadians haven't had it before.

So back at Pinky's we take turns cooking lobsters in pairs and eating and generally making a large mess of Pinky's house.

Sleepless Nights then had to go run through a practice for the show, load up the van and then go and set up for the show. The show was pretty awesome for a snowy Thursday night. Good to see some friends out again. Myles Deck and the Fuzz were out in full effect, Rock Garden Rob, Megadan and a few other good friends.

Hamilton Trading Co. is a really fantastic sight to experience. Twelve people. One guy plays acoustic guitar, the rest just sing, clap and stomp. They don't use a pa for anything. Which makes sense, the sheer volume they can get with twelve voices and such is amazing. I am looking forward to seeing them for the next two weeks. Also, these are super nice and super fun people, so should be a good two weeks.

Doug Mason was great as usual. Their bi-yearly show is always something to see. Such fun catchy little 90's Halifax rock and roll.

We got back to Pinky's after the show and I don't really remember what happened much from there, and just passed out on the couch.

Today we are off to Fredericton for another show at The Capital Complex. Fredericton is basically our home town. We love that city and playing there is always a blast. I am looking forward to seeing a full set by The Wooden Sky.

Talk to you tomorrow.

X X X X X

My bags are packed. Synth: Check. Case full of gadgets: Check. Clothing: Check. Jan 27.10 by Jeff Pineau



I just have to pack up my laptop and my day to day make-you-beautiful things.

I went out to see a few songs by The Wooden Sky --myspace.com/thewoodensky-- last night at Baba's. We are playing a couple shows with them on the weekend and it should be a good time. I ended up being out way too late last night and thankfully at the last minute I found a ride to Halifax today. Which meant I didn't have to wake up at 6:30am to catch the bus over.

Today will be a fairly relaxed day, nothing going on. Hence the skimpiness of this first update. But Thursday will see a band practice and our first show of the tour. It features our long time friend Keith and his twelve person band, The Hamilton Trading Co --myspace.com/keithhamilton--, whom we will be playing with on pretty much every date of this little tour. Keith also plays in The Diableros, who are on the other dates.

The other band playing Thursday will be releasing their new CD. It is one time Sleepless Night and one time TV star (I think he was on Danger Bay), Doug Mason --myspace.com/dougmason--.

More pictures and such to come over the next two weeks.

PS: I will be celebrating my birthday from Thursday to Sunday, so things may get messy.

Ok shower time. More to come soon kiddies.

Also, don't forget our new complimentary EP available at --thesleeplessnights.com--

THE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS ARE ON TOUR IN CANADA FOR TWO WEEKS!
JUNNNKTANK.COM IS A MAD ASS MOTHA FUCKA.