So I’d been hearing nothing but great stuff about the Black Sheep Inn, and was very excited about this show. It’s quite a prestigious place to play, and is considered the best place in the Ottawa area to see good music, even though it’s about a half-hour drive from the city and situated in the small town of Wakefield, Quebec. It’s a pretty little town, right on the river, surrounded by forests. There’s a nice patio and you can watch the world drift by.

We arrived early, met the pleasant bartender, and had a bite to eat in their restaurant section before setting up. The stage is big and there was plenty of room, good monitors.

And then the soundman arrived. Without so much as a hello, the first thing he did was treat us to a harsh lecture about rock drums and amplifiers in his “cabaret” environment, and how unnecessary and inappropriate they are, and how different types of world music convey plenty of character and quality without any of that nonsense. We weren’t sure how to take this, and were very uncomfortable and somewhat intimidated. Was he angry at us for having drums? We hadn’t played a note yet, so surely volume wasn’t the issue. We conferred outside the venue and decided to play a more downtempo set, dropping the more intense “You Coming Down” and one of the new songs, and having Marcus open with a solo version of “Launching Pad".

While setting up, we tried to give him a printed copy of our stage plot, which is a helpful diagram of our setup and lists what we need in terms of microphones, DI boxes, etc. When we did this at the Spill, Sean the soundman was so pleased and appreciative, he said he wanted to frame it. But here, the soundman didn’t even look at it, snarked “I don’t need that,” and then when it was our turn to play later, was annoyed when I asked him for the DI boxes he hadn’t provided. After the show he handed us an envelope with our pay and grumbled thanks without looking at us and left.

The other bands, Culture Reject and Flotilla, put on really good shows and were all very sweet and personable people. Culture Reject is a solo act who also uses a looper to achieve his own creative ends. Flotilla is a female-fronted three-piece from Montreal, finishing up a new album of intriguing and lovely melodies.

I really don’t like to criticize venues here, and I try to gloss over the little hiccups that occasionally arise; no situation is going to be perfect, and you just have to roll with it. We try to be professional under any circumstances. I can certainly see why people like to attend shows at the Black Sheep Inn - it’s a nice place with good sound in a beautiful region off the beaten track, and there are many quality musicians who play there. But it takes all the fun and enjoyment out of playing original music when you’re given this sort of rude treatment and when your ideas and attempts to help are steamrolled. You’re just not comfortable when you play, and the audience ends up losing out when you’re not at your best.

We headed south again in the morning. Oshawa was a completely different type of show from anything we’ve played, really. The Atria is a watering hole in the downtown area, nearly 30 years old, that has recently been hosting indie bands on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s the kind of bar that has a cast of regulars who’ve probably logged more hours on the barstools than any of us have touring. And there’s some real characters there. It was an older crowd than we usually play to, but friendly - everyone friendly, cheering at the peaks of songs, chatting with us on-stage in between. It was relaxed and informal, and I think we actually played one of our better sets just because of the atmosphere.

As it happened, there weren’t any other local bands on the bill for the night, but the house band, Sons of Adam, took the stage after us. They did some solid covers and were terrifically enjoyable.

My old camera is dead and cannot be repaired, long live my new camera. It’s just a newer version of my old one, but I’m still trying it out to see what’s new. Here Marcus and Todd discuss travel routes:

We’re off to Windsor for our last Ontario show before we start heading west again. The weather is crazy - heat and thunderstorms. After two weeks of mostly chilly days, it’s both welcome and weird.

The Peterborough show was pretty interesting. The Spill is a good-sized coffee shop with a stage in the window, and they have music pretty much every day of the week. They’ve got a great reputation for hosting local and touring bands, and the owner, Dave, is extraordinarily friendly and welcoming.

We had asked a local duo to play a set, met and talked to them in the afternoon about set times and so on. The Spill decided we should play first, so we went out to get a bite to eat with plans to start the show at about 9:30.

We ate at a Cajun restaurant that took a ridiculously long time to seat and serve us, and ended up getting the food as take-out. We got back right around 9:30, and started playing; I noticed that the other band wasn’t there yet, but that’s not unusual. We played a fine set - it’s a really nice room, and soundguy Sean was very helpful and attentive.

The other band never materialized, and we learned that they’d had some, um, technical difficulties and weren’t going to be able to play. Which was too bad - we’d been looking forward to hearing them - and officially made them the fourth band to bail on a bill on the tour thus far.

We hung around Peterborough a bit in the morning - I do quite like the town, it has a nice vibe to it, although it does get a bit noisy at night. There’s a great record shop up the street from The Spill, too, called Bluestreak Records, and we hung out there and had a great chat with the owner.

It’s driving me crazy not having my camera - I keep seeing awesome things I want to take pictures of, and not being able to. I should know later today about its condition.

We finally said our goodbyes to everyone and headed up Highway 7 towards Ottawa, which is a beautiful drive through the countryside, a nice change from the tedious 401. More on that next… have to hit the road to Oshawa now!

We had a day off on Sunday, and spent most of it on Sunday hanging out at Morris Amps with our esteemed amp builder, Glen Morris, his wife Linda, and their greyhound Sugar. Glen made some clever modifications to Marcus’s amp, and tweaked my bass amp as well. They’re terrific people and a ton of fun to hang around. We tried to take them on tour with us but couldn’t sway them.

The show on Monday night was in Hamilton, at the Casbah. There are two rooms in the Casbah, an upstairs stage and a smaller downstairs lounge area. It’s a very nice venue indeed. There were a slew of hardcore Christian bands in the upstairs section, apparently, and we were scheduled to play the lounge along with some young local bands and singer-songwriters.

The stage in the lounge is pretty small, and it was an entertaining challenge to fit all our ridiculous amounts of gear on it. Marcus actually had to place his pedalboard on his case OFF the stage, and I played without my pedalboard and rested my keyboard off the stage as well. Yet somehow, a six-piece (named Alex&Andy) managed to fit in between all our stuff; fortunately most of their instruments were small and portable like fiddles and mandolins. They were good, too, a lot of fun. They and all their friends were from Burlington, just up the road from Hamilton.

We went on at 11, which in Vancouver would’ve been the death knell for any show - 11 pm on a Monday night?! Yet people hung in, and were really enthusiastic about us - we sold the most t-shirts we’ve sold at any show, had the most mailing list signups, and lots of great chats with new fans. It was a very happy night.

Tuesday we stayed in Toronto again and I had a bass lesson with Ian from the Sisters Euclid, and came away with some new ideas and approaches to ponder. In the evening we had dinner with a bunch of Toronto friends, and I managed to break my camera in a fumbled handoff to the waiter who was supposed to take a picture of the group. I am not pleased. I’ve dropped it off at a repair shop and hopefully can pick it up on Saturday when we’re back in town, but that’ll cut down a bit on the blog photos for a few days, probably. Marcus has a camera but I just like mine better. *sigh*

We’re in Peterborough now, hanging out at the Spill, which so far is an awesome cool place. Actually, so far I’m liking Peterborough best of all the towns we’ve seen so far - they actually still have a lot going on in their downtown section, and lots of little funky businesses with care and character. And it’s a beautiful sunny day, and finally warming up a bit.

Our Montreal show was at Bar St. Laurent 2, down Boulevard St. Laurent a bit off the beaten track. I had asked two bands, Postcards and Coulees, to join us on the bill, and I was really pleased with them both - they were a really good fit, interesting and melodic. Postcards are a guitar and bass duo that play to a drum machine, and sound a bit like surf rock meets shoegaze. Coulees are an energetic trio with shared male and female vocals and a creative Montreal vibe.

As for us, I think we played an okay show, but it wasn’t our finest; I had a stomachache and Marcus had a headache (at least Todd seemed to be okay). We played everything well enough, and I think it was fine to the outside observer - there were no actual problems, and the sound was good, but we weren’t as high energy as we’d been in Toronto and we didn’t chat as much between songs.

Nevertheless, our friend Duleepa was taking some awesome photos during the show, and afterwards Marcus pointed out that there was a crazy red light and graffiti-covered wall in the washroom that would make an awesome background for a photoshoot. So we piled into the stall and Dups started clicking away. The shots are just unreal - these are not retouched or recoloured in any way:

We look like a metal band. Todd looks like he could be prone to violence.

We had a day off on Friday. The guys just hung out and relaxed and I wandered around the city in the daytime, and went to a party with some old friends at night. I played Rock Band for the first time, and I did quite well, thank you very much.

Saturday we left for Waterloo. Breakfast was a Montreal bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese - a fine, fine thing. We didn’t quite leave ourselves enough time to get back to Bren’s in Belleville, unfortunately, but ended up at Raintree Cafe in Waterloo next to the venue, which was quite good.

The venue, Maxwell’s Music House, is totally brand new. It’s a worthy and ambitious venture - it’s a rock school with lessons, workshops, rehearsal spaces and shows. It’s in a strip mall across from Wilfred Laurier University, but once you get inside the place is terrific - huge ceilings between two floors, and a cozy lounge in the downstairs part surrounding a nice stage.

The grand opening is next week, but they’ve booked a few shows in advance of their big opening - and today was the first one ever. Ken Tizzard, formerly of The Watchmen and Thornley, is releasing a solo acoustic CD next week, and heading out on a US tour in the summertime. He’s from St. John’s, Newfoundland - my hometown! - but has such a western folk/blues/country vibe going on that you would never guess he’s an east coaster.

Marcus played a few songs solo to warm up the evening and was officially the first artist ever to grace the stage of Maxwell’s. Ken followed with a nice set including some of his own material, a few Dylan covers and a truly beautiful interpretation of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World". He told stories from the road - somewhat tamed down for an all-ages show, but you could tell there were some pretty terrific tales to be told.

We hopped on stage and played an inspired set. The vibe of the room and Ken’s comfort with the crowd set a great mood, and we had a terrific time. The audience seemed to really get into what we were doing, and we practically had a comedy routine going between songs - people laughed easily and were clearly enjoying themselves. It was just one of those nights where everything felt right.

I can hardly wait to go back - before we even got off stage we were already planning Maxwell’s one-year anniversary reunion show.

Right now it’s 2:00 am, and there is a spectacular orange moon close to the horizon ahead of us, about 2/3 full and looking like a big uneven teardrop. I’m writing this on the highway as we drive towards St. Catherines, and I’ve got a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling because I feel like tonight reminded me why we do what we do.

The Boat is a funny place. It’s in a completely unassuming building at the edge of Kensington Market, and it’s possible to overlook it entirely. But head up the stairs and you’re inside something that looks, well, very very much like a big wooden boat, complete with portholes. The Boat even leaks - there are actually buckets nailed to the ceiling to catch the worst offenders. It’s a place with a lot of character. Nice stage, too. And it was good to see many of our Toronto and even a few of our Vancouver friends in the crowd.

I think we played a really good set, and by midway through I found I had a lot of energy from it. Some of this was nervous energy. Right when we were about to go on I could not track down my earplugs. I knew I’d had them earlier while another band soundchecked, and I knew they couldn’t have gone far, but they wouldn’t turn up. I ended up using a pair of orange foamy earplugs, which turned everything on stage into a big puddle of mud. My keyboard didn’t appear to be working in Amazed and needed some cable-twiddling. But we made it through without further incident.

After our set, I found my earplugs in the same pocket I’d already looked in five times, but lost my cell phone and had to track that down at the end of the night. All is well, though, and as an added bonus we also found our funky metal water bottles we brought with us on the trip, which had been missing for a few days. We’ve been trying not to buy disposable water bottles, but the catch is, of course, that you’ve got to keep better track of the bottle…

Another thing we’re trying to stay conscious of is not going to chain restaurants and stores if we can help it. We’ve been shocked by how many towns have hollow, dead downtown cores while the main road is littered with the same identical bland strips of the same identical bland box stores and chains and fast food restaurants. It becomes impossible to tell one town from the next (was the Arby’s on the left here or across from the Reitman’s down from the Home Depot?). Just a little further down the road, there are gorgeous, character-soaked classic buildings sitting vacant, and interesting independent businesses struggling to survive.

It’s as if there’s no point in even travelling any more. I suppose people seek the familiar, but when every place is so familiar (and in Ontario, even the landscape is pretty much the same), it’s like you haven’t gone anywhere at all.

On our drive up to Montreal, we stopped in Belleville and bypassed the main strip for lunch, heading to the old downtown section. Todd spotted a little place called Bren’s Bakeshop & Cafe, which turned out to be fantastic. I was a little worried at first when they appeared to be out of most of their lunch menu except a few soups and wraps, but it was clearly because the food is so damn good that there was none left by the time we got there. We had veggie curry soup that was so obviously homemade, it felt like being in your aunt’s kitchen or something.

We’re going to go there again on our way towards Waterloo on Saturday. Take that, Denny’s!