On Tour’s End

Tour is almost at an end. The feelings ebb, expand, explode.

I’m feeling all of the feelings. Exhaustion. The tickle of UK hayfever. A modicum of happiness, a smidgen of pride, a genuine desire to stop lugging my over-sized cymbal case out of the car, on to stage, off-stage, in to the car.

We’ve been talking about the tour as the tour unfolds. We’ve been talking about the tour since at least this time last year. We’ll keep talking about the tour for the rest of the tour, the rest of the year, the rest of our lives. It’s been a bloody delight, an insurmountable challenge, a test, the best of times.

The general vibe I’ve caught from most band members is that it’s been fun. The general vibe is that we would do it again. That we thought it was a great use of three weeks. That we are ready for a little break before I coax them back into the rehearsal room for the next thing.

We’ve been touring with Duncan, a fill-in Scottish accordionist for the last week of tour, as our beloved Pan is off romancing his way through France and our beloved Sam is presenting his particularly unique visions of the future of space in PHD to NASA scientists in California (worth asking him about it if you get a chance).

Duncan asked us today what the next big plan for the band is.

We’re in an odd spot, because we’re actually having almost six weeks off, which is un-heard of for this project. Since the first show we’ve played I’ve consistently booked us between two and fifteen shows a month. We’ve careened through some 97 shows in the last two years, but now everyone is off for a real holiday around Europe before we all head back to Australia to release our new album.

It feels good to have some downtime, to have some time off emails, to have some time off six people asking what time soundcheck is, what the address, who has the car keys, where we’re stopping for lunch. I’m off to Budapest to see some good music and eat some good food.

I’ve truly had a blast on this tour. All of the low points have been off the band-stand. The reason we’re touring is for the music and the music has been awesome. The band has grown together over the tour – the gigs have felt great, the chemistry and joy and silliness have gotten better each night. I come out of this tour excited to play music and ready for the next big thing, and I’ve got lots of ideas of what it might be.