Kevin Bronson on February 19th, 2009

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[Here’s the second installment from the Henry Clay People – Joey and Andy Siara, Jonathan Price and Mike Hopkins, along with tour manager Dane Sundseth – who are on their first major tour of the U.S., with the Airborne Toxic Event and Rademacher. While Joey authored the first chapter, this time kid brother Andy weighs in:]

Let me begin by warning you that I’m not a writer. Most of what I’ll write probably won’t make sense, and it’ll probably go back and forth between passive and active voice – never perfected that, so I’m not gonna stress about it now. Also, about a year ago I stopped putting “g” and the end of most “ing” words … not sure why … maybe a secret desire to be from the South? Don’t judge. [Ed.: No worries, I’ve added the g’s.]

Anyway, I’m sitting in the van on the way to Vancouver, where we’re playing tonight. Jonathan is to my right, working on some web development stuff on his computer. Joey is to my left, trying to sleep. He’s smelling pretty bad – fairly sure he hasn’t showered in a few days, and has had the same clothes on since the beginning of the tour. Mike is in the front seat trying to figure out how to work Jenny (that’s what we named out GPS device). Dane is driving, listening to the Hold Steady’s “Boys and Girls in America” (he’s excited because the Parson Red Heads never let him listen to Hold Steady when he travels with them). The van has an interesting stench right now, a cross between farts, feet, cheese and rotten fruit. All of us are nursing hangovers too.

Last night, in Portland, the plan was to cancel the Vancouver and Boise shows. Something with Mikel’s [Jollett, Airborne’s frontman] voice and the doctor telling him to not use it for three days. Bummer.

So after the show we (us, Airborne, Rademacher) ended up at the Water Trough, my kind of dive bar, complete with pool, darts and shuffleboard. Plus, it was empty, which was nice because we’d been around big crowds for the past five days. We drank, played games, ate hot dogs, drank more, learned that our bass players (Airborne’s Noah and Jonathan) make a good shuffleboard team and made human pyramids. We finally got to bed around 3:30, but no worries because we knew we could sleep in, now that we didn’t have to get up early to drive to Vancouver.

Just before 8 this morning, I get a call from Mikel – singing the National Anthem. He’s miraculously feeling great. The show is on. We’re happy, of course (it is a sold-out show in a 600-capacity place). However, we’re feeling the pain of PBR and spicy hot dogs eating away our innards. Was this just a big test by Mikel, to see if we could hang?

Other brief notes:

”¢ Jonathan and Mike snore so badly that I’m genuinely beginning to worry for their health.

”¢ My teeth are most likely rotting because any chance I get, I have to by candy (first stop, I bought a tub of cotton candy, sweet tarts and strawberry Mentos).”  Must be an age thing …

”¢ Joey’s not a hunter, but he has become quite addicted to Big Buck Hunter, an arcade game.

”¢ A good crowd is key to a good performance – they’re just as important, if not more important than how proficiently the band performs.

Ӣ Airborne sold out the entire west coast portion of this tour Рa testament to the power of singles, radio play and nonstop touring. An admirable feat.

”¢ Being on the road for the next six weeks hasn’t sunk in yet – it probably will once we start playing unfamiliar places … which starts today.

”¢ A few records I’ve been listening to during my driving shift:”  Jackson Browne’s “For Everyman” and “Running on Empty,” the Boss’s “Nebraska,””  Grandaddy’s “Sumday,” the Hold Steady’s “Separation Sunday,””  and the World Record’s “Guitars Forever.”

So yeah, this is “touring.” A lot of down time. A lot of bars. A lot of food. Hanging out with your best friends and seeing the country, which as of last November, I am actually proud to be a part of. Talk soon.