May 11

Well, we’re off. The Monk was really a terrific sendoff and a great start to the tour. The place was pretty much packed to capacity, super warm with lots of energy, and good sound. Benjamin Keith played an opening set - he claimed he was coming down with something but you’d never know it from the intensity of the notes he was hitting.

We played about a 45-minute set, including “Through the Spaces” which is still pretty new, and gave away some goodies. Two of the giveaways were suspiciously won by tickets #720 and 721, two guys sitting right next to each other. I suspect raffle tampering, and a full investigation will be launched upon our return. The big prize was the tickets to see City & Colour at the Orpheum. The guy who won the tickets was beside himself with joy - it turned out he’d already been trying to get tickets with no success! He was so happy, it just made a great night even better - it’s nice when things work themselves out like that.

Some of our good friends helped us strike and load our gear at the end of the night. We’ll miss them while we’re away, not just for the help, but also the company.

The drive to Kelowna was pretty uneventful; a little snow on the Coquihalla but nothing that impeded our progress. We had a rehearsal scheduled at Kelowna Rock School where we worked on a few new songs that have been gradually percolating over the months. They’re coming along nicely! I can’t wait to play them live; one’s just about ready, the other still needs a little more time. Or we may change our minds and make sweeping drastic changes. We do that, sometimes, when it’s called for.

The pic to the right is from rehearsal. Video to come…

Kirsten / ARCTIC