Tour Recap and Hello.

Home safe, fishing stories and cool videos.

I grew up cutting my touring teeth on the icy snow-covered highways of western Canada.

Lads packed into a rickety old passenger van, with snow tires we could conquer the world.

A few years back I decided I was done touring in the winter, as I saw one too many Facebook posts of bands pulling their wrecked tour vans out of ditches and multiple weather-related show cancellations. This tour was on the cusp of winter, thankfully the weather wasn’t too bad on this run though. There was one nasty day and one snow-covered day but It was actually quite pretty. I did all but 2 hours of the 7000km of driving in the past 3 weeks as the band wasn’t totally comfortable driving the van and trailer, especially in the snow. Usually, Ryland will shoulder half the driving, but he’s away on tour in Australia. So suffice to say I’m bloody tired of driving. 

(Load out of Festival Place in Sherwood Park Alberta)

Thankfully this run of shows was very exciting. All but two of the shows saw great crowds and even those that weren’t full were pretty great.

Going into this tour without Ryland for the first time in 8 years had me full of anxiety and doubt.  I decided a reset emotionally and musically was in order. I explained to Tyler what I needed, the concept of a 4 piece band that could do what I needed. (It was really based on Patti Smith’s 4 piece band) Together we really took things to the edge each night. It made for some of the most exciting musical moments I’ve had onstage in a while, in fact the whole band including our three stellar drummers (Geoff, Hicks, Kyle Harmon and Tony Ferraro), had my back every night! Luke was playing and singing amazingly. It was the leanest and meanest 4-piece (6-piece in YYC, Thanks Geoff Hillhorst) rock band right now in the country by a long shot. So much of my music is about the space between the notes and these fellas were as wide open as the prairie skies through our windscreen. It was a treat to front that engine every night and the crowds could feel it too. Of course, Ryland was missed.

 Lately, so much of my heart and mind has been occupied with thoughts of war and suffering in the Middle East, mass shootings to the south of us and distrust and division in our own country. My stomach turning, sleepless nights, prayers and meditations for those in the darkest night of it all. When I meditate I see the interconnection of all of us as human beings, regardless of religion or Ideology or skin color, we are all human beings, byproducts of our surroundings. We all start out as beautiful innocent little children, ready to explore the world and all that it has to offer, but for so many, those offerings are in short supply. We as humans, interconnected as ever have a responsibility to do better. I travel the world for a living. I pay attention, I listen on street corners, in cafes and bars. I’m looking into the soul of the world. We are in trouble my friends. Until we can find common threads, until we can take care of each other and make sure all humans are fed and looked after in a world that has so much abundance, we are in dire straits. 

And of course, my friend Buffy has been on my mind a lot too. I don’t have answers there. I just have compassion for everyone involved, especially for my First Nations friends who feel betrayed. 

So anyway, yes, that has been on my mind a lot.

I had a couple of days off in Fernie B.C. And found myself in my waders and boots standing in the world Famous Elk River with a Fly rod and a determined disposition. My first day was spent with my pal Steve catching about 7 beautiful Cutthroat trout while he was targeting bull trout. The next day I decided to go out solo. I read the water just like my teacher Paul Kype has taught me over the years and was rewarded with a few beauty cuttys, I noticed a monster Bulltrout kept coming after my fish on the line, it was wild! I decided to grab some lunch and hit up Elk River guides to figure out what to use to catch that Bull. I bought one Dalai Llama (fitting) fly and returned to the riffle I had been working on. I cast that big fly for about 30 minutes to no avail, I was starting to head downriver but decided to throw one last fly…… and then wham! Something took my fly and started taking line off my reel at an alarming rate. Panic and excitement started to hit….what do I do!? There I was standing in the Elk all by my lonesome with a very big fish on my line, with no net and nobody coaching me on how to play this fish…I decided to play it like a salmon, let it run, try to wear it out a bit. After a good 10 minutes of fighting this fish, I slowly stepped towards the beach so at least I could put my rod down and try and get this guy off my line and safely back in the river. I got a quick picture so my pals would believe me and got him on his way back to the safe confines of the stream. I was totally blown away at the experience. The snow was slowly coming down followed by thunder and heavy rain but what else could I do but keep fishing, I was having the time of my life out there. I caught a few more cutthroats before calling it. Not a bad day off from the tour, it made me realize that I need to book my tours around fishing season from now on. 

After a very early morning out of Edmonton, we headed south to Calgary to do a

couple of hours of radio for the CKUA fundraiser, my pal Lisa Wilton and I had some funny and delirious moments on-air and raised a good bunch of money for the beloved station. Then back in the van pointed south where we celebrated my birthday (41) at our sold-out Lethbridge show at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre presented by the Geomatic Attic and my good pal Mike Spencer (Happy Retirement Mike) and had a beautiful night surrounded by the band and great friends which ended with Tea and chips (I’m wild, I know) at my friends David and Carmen’s house. It was the perfect way to end a great day.

It was nice to be in Lethbridge for a couple of days, as much as that city is struggling with an opioid epidemic, it’s really very grim, it is still so much a part of my heart and still feels like home when I am there.

I shed a couple of tears as I left the prairies and descended into the beauty of the eastern slope of the rocky mountains back to my now home and towards the place I grew up on Vancouver Island. 

We had a great show with a light turnout in Rossland BC at the Flying Steamshovel with some old and new friends. I love Rossland and can’t  wait to get back and do some fishing in that area too! Our new friend Tony Ferraro filled in flawlessly for the show that night while myself, Luke and Tyler hit some new levels with our cosmic jams. I think because the crowd was a little sparse that night I was a bit more adventurous with my playing which made for a fun time on stage. Tony seemed to lock in with our jams and kept right up with us as we trudged along unknown territory. 

That night In Rossland my stomach was off and I didn’t get much sleep at all, I was feeling strange. In an abundance of caution we decided to postpone our Penticton show until May. It was a major bummer and I feel terrible about having to let people down but I’d rather be bummed than get anyone else ill these days. 

Also I’d like to thank everyone for their kind mention of the new songs! River Rats and Chop Wood Haul Water have been an absolute blast to play love and judging from audience reaction they will be a staple of the live show for a while. 

I’m sitting on a couple of records that I just don’t know what to do with. Part of me wants to release them on band camp and physical copies only, and bypass the unfair royalty rates of streaming, or maybe a few songs go to streaming and the rest are paid for fairly? I don’t know, music should be paid for if enjoyed yeah? 

Ok, so in closing, this tour was a litmus test to see where I set my sites for the future, whether I want to tour anymore at all even, and I’m still left with more questions than answers but I have a full heart and a real feeling of accomplishment. 

So thank you pals. 

Xo

L

P.S. Check out this really cool version of the unreleased “Alberta Stars” from our show at Festival Hall in Calgary.