Thanks to the teeming democratic forest of the internet, there are thousands of photos of our band from around the world to peruse. I won’t lie - sometimes, when feeling particularly naval-gaze-y, I peruse away. And surprise! there are some really great photographers out there. I’ve put a few of our favorites together from this winter and spring if you care to take a look.
Between February and June of this year we toured more or less constantly. Not only was this type of non-stop schedule new for us, but most of our time was spent in England and mainland Europe, places we’d never been as a band. There were a lot of new people and places to encounter and, as with any tour that doesn’t end with someone in jail or stranded at the side of a highway, the simple fact that all the impossible logistics worked out so well was genuinely shocking.
We had such a good time getting to know these places and bands. When I remembered to I would take a picture. These photos are from those two UK/EU tours - with Editors and Tokyo Police Club - skipping (for now) our States-side spring tour with Cut Copy and Black Kids, which was also great. Click on breakfast to get started.
If I had to rank my favorite sports (something I’d be better equipped to do circa 12 years old anyway - rock and roll stole the sporting impulse from me at a young age), American football would be a few long country paces from the top. However - turn real life into a 1991 Nintendo game and I will gladly shout from the Belgian rooftops that Super Tecmo Bowl is the most satisfying waste of time ever.
In the context of a tour, what makes Tecmo so good is season mode, wherein your assignment is to guide a group of overpaid, heavily licensed, and maximally juiced up pro ballers to the early-digital Super Bowl that is their purpose.
Hello from Manchester! We are a few dates into our UK tour with Tokyo Police Club and all is well. They aren’t from Tokyo or even police officers, but are rather quite genteel, well-heeled Canadians. They are also a fantastic band.
But rewinding a few weeks, on our US tour this spring with Black Kids & Cut Copy something magical happened - I learned how to snap. Powerfully. Powerful, overpowering snapping. Something about 10 hour drives through Wyoming in both directions… anyway, I have since been impressing everyone in my path with my new ability, or at least impressing myself.
They say that you travel to learn about your home, and I guess now that our European travels have concluded (or, more hopefully, adjourned) I can finally understand what that means. The various people we met and places we drove through, often barely stopping for enough time to fill up our stomaches and gas tank, reflected a light back upon me that made everything look a little different once I got home. How much more I appreciate the relative stillness of my quiet life in the valley.
I apologize for not reporting more fully from the motherland as events unfurled. Sometimes you are too busy doing or not doing to talk about what you’re doing or not doing. And long drives and impatient waiting in backstage closets merely dull your ability to converse normally anyhow. Needless to say I had an amazing time, a good friend of mine might have called it “life affirming”: a once in a lifetime, memories racking up like the miles blowing by, millions and millions served, bull-ring, shot-gunning, no sleep, leg drop sort of occasion. And everyone shouting out “GARY” when you spill your beer on yourself for the hundredth time.
Here are some more European memories . . .
As we criss cross Germany this week, we’ve gotten to know the alternately amazing and frustrating highway system here, known as the Autobahn. I always thought it was one particular road - a mythical place where you drive as fast as possible as a sort of national imperative, ideally in a very nice German sports car. (more…)
This is a city that seems to push its artists to cover every inch with living images. Stencils and stickers, giant spray-paint murals to tiny tags, everywhere you look there is another little masterpiece. (more…)
Hello from Hamburg!
The european Mobius Band invasion takes a break for the day in the home (or at least namesake) of that most American of appropriations, the hamburger. Haven’t eaten one yet on tour, but the doner kebab in Germany is proving tough to beat. (more…)
Well, that bearded gentleman with the crazed glint in his eye is our good friend and current road master, Ryan “Cap’n” Pardey. He’s with us for our grand European tour as a driver, tour manager, shmoozer, snoozer, confidante, and general grease for the wheels of the old country. We threw him in the deep end of the pool, making him drive our massive “splitter” van through rush hour London traffic, on the wrong side of the car, down the wrong side of the street, on two hours sleep, the day after he learned to drive a stick shift. Yikes! That’ll grow ya some short ones.
So, the tour is going well so far. We’re backstage in Glasgow, at our third show. Ireland loved the Mobius Band, let’s hope the UK agrees.
Here are some more pictures. . .
