We woke up to a large breakfast and happy faces. It was Thanksgiving in Canada and for the first time we spent it, not only outside the appropriate country, but together as two bands! Before parting ways, Jordyn’s mother took a large group photo of us using Jessie’s camera. A great moment was watching Jessie teach Jordyn’s mom to use the camera. It was something from a sitcom.
Driving to the venue was incredibly fun; the 12 of us tucked in a van driving together, shouting and singing, laughing and being tourists- it was a moment I wouldn’t trade for anything else. We drove through a different neighbourhood- A Jewish one. It really threw us off because none of us knew it existed in Brooklyn. There was a clear, defining line where the Jewish neighbourhood started and ended. Finding a spot to park took a long while for us as the local streets were all filled with parked cars. All the streets were also one-ways, and many of them were one-lane roads. The area purely operated on side-street parking. We parked next to a school playground, where we were incredibly impressed by Rob’s parking ability (he parallel-parked a narrow spot, in a large van, with a trailer attached. Amazing.) It was a bit of a walk to the venue, and the weather that day was particularity windy.
When we arrived at the venue behind the bar we were greeted with a really laid-back sound guy (who knew his stuff) and a stage full of gear. This venue had everything in-house, which we tried to argue to use most of our own stuff. The sound guy insisted we use the in-house equipment for the sake of saving time, which made sense after much consideration. Compromises were made which allowed us to mix and match with the venue’s equipment. We decided it was necessary to park in front of the venue, as the walk to and back would be too much effort for no payoff. We waited outside until a spot large enough would clear out and when it did, a number of us stood on the road to “reserve the spot”. Rob pulled the van over onto the opposite side of the venue. We unloaded into the holding room behind the venue and started to set up our necessary gear. After setting up our merch we had a lot of time on our hands. I went to a local Mexican restaurant with a few others to grab a bite to eat. The bite turned out to be an entire meal that even we couldn’t finish. We each ordered Chimichangas, not aware of the size they made them. After our meal we headed back to the venue, where we found it the show started behind schedule. The bar was packed full of people and there was also a pool table. While we were playing Lauren had approached me and mentioned we were set up to do an interview for podcast/radio show. We went outside to do the interview with WSOU (https://soundcloud.com/wsou/red-handed-denial-interview) outside of the venue, so there was a lot of wind going on. Jessie’s friend had also showed up that night and she was happy to reunite with her.
At most of our performances during the tour, Lauren would wear her “Honchkrow” hat that she would take off partway through the set. As soon as she did, Rob would slyly run onto the stage and wear her hat for the night (or until Lauren asked for it back). This was a running gag that had been going on the entire tour, and I thought it would be funny to take one for our team. I had been wearing Sam’s cap for the day, and thought it would be great to take his hat on stage. I soaked his hat. The lighting for this show in particular was horrid, but the energy was great for this show. A group large of people showed up halfway into our set because they were caught in traffic. The show finished and we were loading into the van through the windy night. We spent a lot of time hanging outside of the venue talking to our fans. Eventually we had to drive off. We drove to a nearby pizzeria because we were feeling hungry, and we ordered sandwiches and wings. I think somebody ordered slices of pizza. The next drive was a bit of a lengthy one, but it definitely wasn’t a quiet one! The entire ride was a loud karaoke trip, driving to a hotel.
Sam’s parents had booked us a hotel for the the next remaining nights and it was definitely a comfortable spot of hospitality before the final US show. Sam had to direct Rob to the hotel, but had fallen asleep near the destination. There were two hotels next to each other and before we made a turn, we woke Sam up. In a groggy and disoriented manner he directed us to the incorrect hotel. When we pulled up, he woke up again and told us it was the wrong hotel. Afterwards, when we made it to where we were supposed to be, we grabbed our necessities and headed towards reception. Initially there was confusion over our booking which sent Sam into man-mode. He angrily (hilariously) dropped everything in his hands and walked closer to the receptionist to solve the issue. After some phone calls were given the keys to our suites and headed to our room. We had two rooms facing each other across the hallway. It was already late when we had arrived at the hotel so we decided to call it a night.
[http://jessielau.com]
