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.