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2001 US Tour Diary
by Erik Carter
So another chapter in the Mumble and Peg minivan rental saga begins. After months of deadlines and last minutes lists of things to get done last week, Matt and I fill the vehicle with the various crap and wait for Jenya to return from her Great American Music Hall show with Mark Growden's electric Pinata. It all crams in. We all pile in. The driving begins....
It should be noted that I am to blame for the routing of this tour. I am a person who can sleep in any position under most surrounding. I showed the routing to Matt & Jenya and while we agreed that this was the most efficient way to cover a chunk of America in the least amount of time, I really did not take into account any sort of comfort for the three of us....
By midnight we are on the highway for the 750 mile trek to Salt Lake City.
We make it there okay. Only minor groggy stops for Nevada gambling and 99 cent breakfast specials along the way. We have created a padded 6 inch bunk on top of the equipment which is hardly comfortable or stable. It soon become evident that neither Matt or Jenya are going to get too much sleep for the next couple weeks. (Note to self....routing in a problem)
We roll into Salt Lake City and go to the Red Bennies' house where Matt & Jenya do a bit of napping and if memory serves I hit the record shops to scour for goodies....after a few hours we go to Ya'butts. I have flashbacks of Ether/Idiot Flesh shows there when it was under another name....I think thirst Alley was on those bills as well.. Anyway the PA was decent, the bartender,doorman and soundman were very nice and there was a good little crowd of people having fun.
Around 2AM we are loaded out and ready to head for Denver (500 some miles to tomorrow night's show)....This amazingly drunk 5 foot urban cowboy comes out of nowhere and yells some slurred statement out the back door at us and hurls a 50 gallon metal drum at us. It's the owner of the bar. A big shouting match ensues and ends an otherwise fine evening with the feeling that no band I book will ever draw for that fuck again....If you know this guy, kill him. Tell the judge I said it was alright.
Driving and driving we make it to the metropolis of Denver. We play at the fabulous dive that is 15th street Tavern. We hook up with J-Me from the band Danghead who will be sharing the bill with us. I have been a fan of his songwriting since he was in Granfaloon Bus and through them became somewhat familiar with the Lords Of Howling....Anyway it was a fun show. My Cape Cod friends didn't show up though....So much for playing to familiar faces. I was also disappointed that the booker, Scott, was not there. I would have liked to meet him. He is a good guy.
After the show we see it as time to load out and hit the road. 500 some miles to Kansas City...By this point, Matt And Jenya have seen very little sleep. we hit KC MO in the afternoon and I call up my east coast frinds Josh & Hannah. They meet with us and put the kids down for a much needed bit of sleep before load in and Josh takes me record shopping. I spend a bunch of money and feel the consumer bliss of a good record store (I forget the name but there was a really cool band doing an instore while I shopped). I found a Der Plan 7" as well as a Plastics pin.
Due to a scheduling mixup, the cool indie rock bill that we were intended for turned into us opening for an irish band at the Hurricane. The joint was packed and all of my east coast friends came. The checklist was full and I had a lovely time. We all went back to Josh & Hannah's for coffee and conversation and a bit of sleep.
Early the next morning we travel to Chicago. Sunday night at the Fireside Bowl. This was an amazing bill. Us, The Fire Show, Illusion Of Safety and Lozenge. Strange to finally see Lozenge as that was a short lived name that Mumble And Peg was going to use until we found out that they are already lozenge. The were amazing. The Fire Show were amazing. Illusion Of Safety was amazing. There were about 50 people there which I thought was sort of disappointing. Any of those three Chicago bands would be headliner special occasions out here in SF....Anyway I had a good time and got treated to a night of great rock. We stayed up late with Stacy & Tommy and drank and drank and eventually went to Toronto. I think it was the next morning....
All went well. The border crossing was smooth. We made it to the El Mocambo and had a hell of a monday night show. Dan Burke (booker at the El Mo and sort of a legend as promoters go) set us up and was the best guy ever. My hat is off to him. I think he had been up for several days and was running on empty. He puts his heart and soul into that club. They are damn lucky to have him.
Jenya's old friend from way back put us up in a fabulous apartment and showed us around the town for our first day off. I tried to go record shopping but came up with the worst stores possible. I bet there are some cool ones in that town but I couldn't find them....No Hayden demo tapes for Erik....
We split out of there and headed for Niagara Falls. It was a whole lot of water. I had been there before on the ill fated Earshot tour (long story) and after a family style meal at the local tourist strip, we headed for Boston. The old stomping grounds.
We drove through upstate New York in the middle of the night so I did not get to stop by and say hi to the family in Rome....Oh Well. We drove and drove and drove and rolled into Boston at about 10AM. Matt & Jenya went over to Mark's house to crash and I split to hook up with David Smyth and drink coffee and then a full day of record shopping. Boston is one of my favorite towns to shop in. I spent a buttload of cash and went to the bar. We played at TT The Bear's with all the Boston crowd there to cheer us on. It was nice to see all the old gang. Jen Hill took some great photos and I got to meet her new beau. Craig's new band Bipolarcoaster played and it was a rockin night.
We loaded out and headed for Matt's parents' house outside of NYC. They were away so we sort of took the place over. They are some nice folks. Those of you who were there for the last east coast M&P tour might remember Matt's father's vehicle which he loaned us to tour in...That is some above and beyond the call of duty parenting if you ask me....
The next day we played at Brownies in NYC. We went on 1st at 8PM and lo and behold no one was really there yet... Eric Speck from the club was there and is quite a character. Got to meet him finally. My buddy Jon showed up early and I got to spend some time with him surrounded by rock. By the time the final band went on the place was well sold out. Ron Anderson was there and didn't realize that we were in fact the Mumble And Peg in question. He was going to email me to tell me that there was another band called M&P that was from New York.....UGGGGH
So then we went to Cape Cod and I hooked up with more friends. We were playing at the Prodigal Son in Hyannis (small joint run by great people). Jay Cournoyer was supposed to open for us but it seems that in the afternoon he found out that he was double booked and couldn't do the show. Punk ass bitch. He plays all the time with his rock band and when a double booking happened he goes with them....Did not even get to see him....Brett was all talking like he was setting us up for an all night hang out at some 4 star hotel which never happened. Brett worked til 2AM at his bar and missed the whole night. We ended up staying with Emily and that was a hell of a lot of fun...Got to go shopping at a couple stores on cape...
Next day was off. We hung out and went back to Matt's parents' house. before the Easter show
Now I do not know where you live but Easter does not rank high on my list of holidays. Seems like it does in Baltimore. There was about 4 people in the Ottobar including one who went to College with Matt and they got to talk about the last 8 years or so since they were hanging out...I got to hit a couple record shops in Baltimore but nothing really great....After the show it was time to drive....
We made it to my parents' house in North Carolina the next morning. Another day off. Nice to see them and relax and eat and eat. Food is very big in their lives.
The next day was Murfreesboro TN. We were playing with The Chamber Strings. I had co-booked their tour as well and it was good to touch base with them and see how things were going. Bingham set up the Murfreesboro show and is the best guy ever. His PA sucked ass though. got to hit a couple record shops but I do not think I bought too much...A Melvins CD for the road...Nice thing about rental cars, they come with CD players....
Next night New Orleans. I like New Orleans. We were playing at a huge Warehouse space that the Know Nothing Circus runs or something.. It was to be a great show. As it turned out, the Know Nothing rooster had died and everybody in the scene was at a funeral for the rooster down the street. The joint was empty and it was hot....I got to hook up with Blokker though he had to go do something at night so he didn't stay for the show. Perhaps he was at the chicken funeral...I dunno... I hit a couple record stores and had a terrible time due to this guy with so many great obscure 7"s that I wanted that he wanted $10 each for. I hate stores where they do not price anything until you bring it to the counter.... That is when the smash your hopes... We head to Houston
More old stomping grounds. We play with my buddies The Lost Episodes and Japanic. It was a great show. Lots of people and a good time with old friends. I had already been to all of the Houston record stores the month before when I was in TX for SXSW so I just hung out and then we went to Austin
Red Eyed Fly. Nice people. Good Bar. We were to be sandwiched in between the two locals insuring a good crowd. As it turns out, the soundman was in the band that was to play last and he told us we were playing last cause we were the big touring band...Sure enough all of the crowd that did not know us personally took off and we were playing to a small crowd all of whom we knew by name. Jenya's old roommate, Andy, stopped by afterwards. I seem to only see him in Austin even though he lives in Oakland. We went back to Gary and Aubrey's house and crashed before the big trip to OKC....Last night of the tour...
This was to be a very exciting time as Virginia was flying in for the show. It was actually in Norman OK at a place called the Medicine Hall. Once again some of the best people I have ever met. The show was great and we went back to Gianni's house to crash. Virginia and I strayed the next day as well and hung out with the kids from the band that we played with, Stellar Chromatic, and went record shopping and they turned me on to Bright Eyes. Go buy the Bright eyes records. They are good records.
Matt and Jenya headed back to Oakland in the mini van and I flew off to the German tour....
Now the whole idea of an acoustic song guy opening for Jud (think Black Sabbath) in the hopes of pushing the new M&P record to a German Audience is far from the best promotional idea. I really had no idea what to expect or even what to play....When we loaded into the first club I started drinking....hard.....I made it through the first night and was a drunk for the next two weeks. Memory foggy...No tour diary for that one.
May 7th I got back home and have not really played music too much since. It was time for a long overdue break. Various rumors have circulated about my selling the equipment and becoming a monk or something. I can not say what you have heard but most of it is probably not true.....Even if you heard it from me....