The Stetson – Calgary, Alberta – March 4th 2006

We wake up exhausted and a little hung over from the night before at Red’s. Two shows in a row, this will be a first for us, but definitely not the last. Our Roadie shows up in his Buick Rendezvous to pick us up and we begin our Journey to Calgary at around 1:00PM. We don’t actually leave until 3:00PM. Mark (our bass player) and Sean (our drummer) ride in another car and they’re way ahead of us.

We stop at a 7/11 in Red Deer and proceed to fill up our bags with the garbage known as road trip food. From beef jerky, to Doritos, to slushies and candy bags we pick up enough crap to tide us over till we get to Calgary. Once in Calgary we realize that we don’t have a map, nor do we have any idea where we’re going. I jumped on my cell phone and called Brent Gerlitz, a good friend whom lives in Calgary and our host for the night.

He informs us that he lives about 5 blocks away from the bar we’re playing at and gives us directions to his place. We go to his house and get directions from his girlfriend Tara on how to get to the bar. After dropping off our night time gear we head over to the Stetson and begin to haul in the gear for the show. After we finish the bar manager comes to talk to me about the show.

At this point in time he informs me that he has some bad news. He can’t get a hold of the headliners Hail Damage and he’s not sure if they’re going to make it. Ian (bar manager) tells us to hold tight order some food and he’ll let us know in the next hour what the plan is. All of us order food, score some free pool, and get some comped drinks.

Tonight we are scheduled to play with Hail Damage and Pin Dalls and as we watch another band begin to load in we find out that they are the Pin Dalls and not the headliners. Ian comes back and lets us all know what the plan is. The guys from Hail Damage got really sick and will not be making it. So instead of 3 bands there is only going to be two. We opt to open as the Pin Dalls are a little heavier than us.

Some friends from back on Vancouver Island whom now live in Calgary show up and looked stocked to see us play; we BS with them for a bit. The Calgary Flames hockey game ends, we get the signal and start to load stuff on stage. We get all our ducks in a row and get ready to start playing. Drums kick in and we begin our first song.

There are only about 50 people in the crowd but they all seem to actually be listening. People cheer as we finish our songs and look impressed. Half way through our set the bar tender brings us shots of Jagermeister which we proceed to shoot back. I ask for another beer which they bring and we finish out our songs with flying colors.

Once finished I haul my gear off stage and as always I run around selling CDs. About 25% of the crowd buys a record, not to bad at all. The rest of the band hauls their gear off stage, Mark & Sean head out because their on there way back to Edmonton. The rest of us on the other hand order more drinks and are happy that where we’re sleeping is only 5 blocks away.

The Pin Dalls start there set and we get even more drunk. We don’t stop drinking. We watch the band play and continue to drink the beer that is fed to us by the bar. The Pin Dalls finish out there set and start tearing down. We head around back to tell them that they did a great job. More drinks get ordered and Jason becomes an angry drunk. At that time the waitress tells us that she thinks we’re awesome and buys a CD.

Closing time is just around the corner so we bail and head back to Brent’s. It’s around three and we’re all hungry so we order pizza and wait for Brent to get back from his gig. Pizza arrives and Brent does about 45 minutes later. We all BS and eventually pass out at around 5:00AM.

The next morning we all wake up sporting a hang over and tired as hell not wanting to drive back to Edmonton. After all our shit is in the Rendezvous we start our journey back. Feeling hungry; we stop at a Smitty’s and proceed to eat $20 meals and get introduced to Earl the fish. Earl was cool, the food was garbage.

I can see how playing a show every night you could become an alcoholic.

Happy and Fulfilled,
Shane Lamotte