guerilla post dans le hotel

In montreal, just commandeering the computer in the lobby. laptop has died and lost the pictures on that, so much for computer skills.
Akron/ Musica was surreal - the club was a litle cafe type place, very clean and uber-professional and despite our warnings the soundguy mic'ed everything and it was like a gale force assult on the mostly deserted downtown crowd that we brought. Not to say there wasnt about 30 or more people at the club, but outside the club it was apparent that everyone drove some distance to get there and the foot traffic was non-existant. Wovenhand was powerful, and very measured. Their set built over the course of the hour or so the played and it became obvious of their strength in crisp musical power strokes delivered to the eager crowd. There was nowhere to go outside the club walls so in a sense it was a captive audience. *edit* it has been confirmed that this club will never be played again so on with the backstory: when we arrived and were met by the club manager steve, he was completely disorganized and seemed to try and confuse us at every turn. We were the only band that did not get a soundcheck, and when we were in the throes of our last song the soundguy broke into the PA and cried "times UP!" Totally lame and more like some cheesy amateur battle of the bands than a real music venue. Part of the problem was the idea of having 4 bands go on between 9pm and 1am. Each band got barely 30 minutes (somehow the locals got a bit more time) and in our case there was the audible admonishment from the soundguy at 30:05. Club people take note: this is the kind of ridiculous behavior that convinces bands they never need to go to your town again. Both Wovenhand and White Hills agree.

Buffalo/ Mohawk Place was almost polar in contrast. A welcoming and darkened dive bar with glass on the floor from the night before, the staff of Bill and Nick were so generous and very appreciative that we came to play. The stage was set back into the furthest grotto of the club and it was a little like playing in some archaeoligical dig in a foreign country. Lots of people packed out the club and although doentown Buffalo was mostly deserted in that post-industrial way it lent rather than detracted from the whole "last show on earth" feeling. This was the first night when we were at the top of our scale and the set was even and exciting. Downtown Buffalo was eerily empty except for the bars that had TV's showing the first Sabre's game of the season. I also was accosted by a very drunken guy who mumbled and slurred "hey, big guy huh? Put 'em up!" It was comical and I looked around for the camera's because it just seemed so staged.

Montreal is another country, complete with language and money. The show was at a Spanish social club and 3 flights of stairs up. Looks like my time is up on this machine, more missives from the outlands later.