Though it upsets my wife to hear it, there's almost nothing in the world I love more than touring. Because of
the studio,
my job, my family, et al, I don't get to travel nearly as often as I'd like, so I really enjoy the time I do get to spend on the road.
One of the best parts of touring isn't the shows themselves: it's meeting new people, catching up with old friends, seeing the best parts of the rest of the world, and eating. After a tour in May of 2005, I realized that almost all of my photos were of dogs and food, hence the name of this blog.
I've been lucky to hitch along with some of my favorite bands in the world, running sound, driving, and cracking terrible jokes the whole way.
The New Year was the first band to ever take me on the road, for a UK tour in April 2002. We played London, Glasgow, Leicester, and then the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands. It was my first time out of the country, and I was young and my nerves were electric. I've been touring with them ever since.
In the fall of 2002, I spent two weeks on the road running sound and tour managing
The Baptist Generals, who were opening for John Vanderslice and the Mountain Goats. I've since done one other tour with the Mountain Goats, running sound for
Shearwater, in May of 2005. I've run sound for just about every Shearwater show since.
I will be stowing away with Shearwater for three tours this year: two weeks in July, a week and a half in September, then two and half weeks in Europe at the end of October. The New Year are doing a few shows as well, so I'll hopefully have something to write about.
Shearwater begins their first tour of 2006 in Kansas City on 30 June. Co-headlining the tour is the Court and Spark of San Francisco.
