Stories from the road

East Coulee, Alberta

July 6th-8th

So, we decide to get out of Calgary while we still can. It's the day before the Stampede and it's starting to get kind of odd. At this point, we had been there for 3 days with no official accommodations. We felt like we were starting to be a burden on Jim and his roommate and it was time to move on. Turns out that it was all in our heads and we were welcome to stay but, with our alcohol singed brains made up, of to Drumheller. It is now Wednesday and we don't have our next show 'till Friday, so we got some to kill.looks like 2 nights in the van. Hey, that's what it's all about, right? Rock n' roll, Right? Downtime during a tour with not a lot of money in the ol' pockets is probably the hardest thing for a band to deal with. This is when people start annoying each other just 'cause there's nothing else to do. On the plus side, we do get a break from sitting in a bar all day and there's not a liquor store in the van (that I've seen, anyway) so It'll be a nice relaxing night. After much debate we cruise in, under the cover of darkness to Horseshoe Canyon and set up camp (in the van). Later, we found out that the cops would have hassled us and the lady at Mohly's coffee shop made it sound like people go missing there... Had a great sleep though. In the morning we woke to find that a coffee vender had set up shop almost right beside us. Perfect or what? The next town Wayne is our destination after a complete exploration of Horse Shoe Canyon. Wayne's population? Let's just say it is basically a bar. " the Last Chance Saloon" it is called. The place is awesome! Bullet holes in the walls. Ancient liquor bottles. Great! Just what three Victorian rockers need to be in! So we are sitting enjoying a beer when over the radio is a spot for our upcoming show in East Coulee. It's like a minute long! It makes us feel like Nickleback or someone like that! Then at the end, it says that we'll be playing from 9-2! Holy shit! We leave to East Coulee early. You know to see if we can correct any misunderstandings. the town is only like 15 km away, so in no time we're there. So what if the are what looks to be only 50 houses. So what if the bar/hotel/restaurant/store looks like it eats West Coast bands. We're walking in there and god dammit, we're gonna ROCK the place!!I'm not saying we weren't worried. oh, yes there was definitely a smell of fear in our tour van.

There's just no use in making it vocal. DAMN THE TORPEDOES! FULL SPEED AHEAD!! Wait a minute.. There are a handful of young guys sitting around a bottle littered table. What? they know who we are! They are excited about us playing and take turns asking us rock n' roll questions. the bar owner Thelma is feeding us round after round of beer and it turns out that we're the first original rock band they've had playing there. and man are they a great bunch of people! We were treated like celebrities. Thelma gives us a room for the night for free (remember, we're here a day early). Michael manages to cut the sets down to 2 and a half. The bar closes around 9pm and we split up. Vern and Travis hang out with Jai and Michael and watch zombie movies in the hotel room, while Chris is sent into Drumheller on a "PR" mission with a bunch of the boys. Thanks to Wade, Lance and the boys for bringing our drummer back in (pretty much) one piece.

The next day breaks. Chris...missing. We are assured he is fine.We play the first night. Dead. oh, did we mention that there was a biker rally going on in Wayne? 2000 bikers, bands, bike rodeo, booze and a wet s-shirt contest. Upstaged again. We play our acoustic set for 10 people then blast through an electric set and Thelma tells us we should stop playing for the night. she closes down the bar and we go over to Vern's and booze 'till what?.. 6am?...Sure.

Day 2, the afternoon.

we're in the hotel, watching "Hard Core Logo" and there's a knock at the door. Holy Shit! It's two of our buddies from Victoria!! Derek, an old friend of Michael's who holds parties that we play at from time to time and kirk from Victorian metal band PUNISH! turns out these guys were road-tripping to a place called Cold Lake. They decided to look on the web site and see if we were playing somewhere on their route. It ended up that they drove a day's drive out of their way to see us. "Looked closer on the map', they said. What a total shock to see them. well two pairs of ears to give us an honest opinion on how we sound as a 3 piece.

show time creeps up and this time there's about 20 people. Not bad considering the competition. This time we play our whole show and everyone present is just trashed. I've never seen Kirk this loaded. We spent the last half hour before closing jamming with Kirk. Turns into a total metal fest. The local guys are digging it. The barrage lasted until everyone over 30 has been driven out. the survivors grab off-sales and over to Vern's for another all-nighter. thanx for the tacos and the hotdogs Vern! Yer the Coulest Coulee! We had a damn great time here. made alot of new friends that we will hopefully see again in the fall. Thanks to Vern, Thelma, Gary, Jenny, Lance, Gay, Mohly's coffee, Lorna, Travis, Lance, wade, Terri, Karen, and Laurel!!! We hope you guys keep in touch! Sign our guestbook! E-mail!

For more info, drop us a line at band@jefferysez.com