Tour Diary: Dearly Beloved

Dearly Beloved is writing a tour diary exclusively for Pink Mafia chronicling their long cross-Canada journey with fellow label members Die Mannequin. Make sure to catch them in Toronto on June 15th for NXNE at the Mod Club Theatre @ 8pm and Velvet Underground @ 11 pm.

IN THE VAN WITH DEARLY BELOVED

In the van again. It’s been 9 months since Dearly Beloved was on the road, last time was across North America with Sloan. This time around it’s across Canada with eOne labelmates Die Mannequin. The first leg of the tour has been a journey – starting in Toronto, first show in Sault Ste Marie, going all the way west to Nanaimo/Victoria and then back again. Basically 11 shows in 15 days and over 10000 km by the time we roll into Toronto. And an interesting ride it has been to say the least.

Sault Ste Marie kicked off the tour in high style. And i do mean HIGH style. We met a kindred spirit in Allie – a delightful Pixie soul who introduced us to the Lunger. They even made us our very own.

Fright Night opened, complete with facepaint and dismembered heads onstage. The crowd that first night was awesome – moshing and thrashing after the first song, which fueled our excitement to be on the road.

And then the cycle begins. Sleep somewhere between 3-6 hours only to get in the van and drive about 8 hours (Oh Canada) to the next venue, play a show and do it again. Somewhere along the way to TBay we found this remnant of the golden days, how spectacular.

The actual Thunder Bay show was ok with a morning of epic proportions. We recorded The Mother’s Day Edition of the DB Tour vlog – where the bands joined forces for some cinematic brilliance. Check our youtube page for our whole series of them. Bottom line, keep your video running at all times.

Winnipeg brought its usual charm where Dearly Beloved played The Pyramid for the 3rd time. Half the band stayed at this guy Les’ house – he greeted us with some sweet ribs and bbq. Probably the raddest part about Winnipeg was meeting Clifford Adams from Kool and the Gang in the lobby of our hotel. He sang the song Joanne. Other than that it seemed like all I could encounter in the city was a handful of sticky doorknobs. Oh and a brilliant little coffee shop called Buehler. Buehler? Buehler.

Our luck ran out a little a bit in Saskatchewan – between no vacancies and closed gas stations we ended stranded with no gas just outside of Maple Creek. Could have been worse, apparently it is expecting 20-30 cm as I write this so maybe we were lucky. Thanks to Bob who woke from his slumber and came to our rescue with some gas and a bit of advice in the middle of the night.

HEADING WEST

Calgary. Oh Calgary. For some reason we always have the most epic of shows in Calgary and this one was no different. We needed it. Greeted by our old friend Jeff who brought the band more ribs and vegan cornbread. C’mon seriously? Ridiculous. Played Dickens Pub. Had several shots of tequila with the lovely staff before crawling back to the hotel that was recommended to us.

Now checking into a hotel at 3am is generally a crapshoot and although we’ve become somewhat road warriors in our quest for the best of the worst, sometimes we falter. Witness exhibit A, above the bed – that is some nasty shit.

What did make up for that disgusting hole in the wall was being able to drag the furniture out into the parking lot and have an impromptu ping pong tourney. For any of those interested I am pleased to announce that after a near trouncing by Sir Stacy of Stray – I managed to take the double or nothing shot and steal the title. What title I don’t know, but it was the funniest morning on the tour so far.

From Calgary off to Edmonton – seems a bit of a blur. Had a crazy interview with a former headbanging Mom turned blogger – fascinating. Had to pack up pretty quickly after the show to make the long haul to BC though – driving through the mountains is something. You know, the darkness, the lack of railing, fog, snow, animals … Die Mannequin witnessed an elk hitting the truck ahead of them. Enough said.

Pretty sure that is some remnants of blood on the floor of this venue.

Vancouver! A bit of a homecoming, as a couple of us used to live there. So lovely to see my sister Ceanne and the folks at Union Salon.   Thankfully they provided a new ‘do for our ‘tour manager’ – an updated cut and colour – appropriate for this circus of a tour I think …

The show was at the infamous Cobalt Hotel – we played to a packed house and then I got to curl up to my big sis and crash.

 

FERRY STYLES: NANAIMO / VICTORIA

Then it’s off to the ferry – on the long weekend no less – but it actually turned out to be less hellish than I thought so we ended up getting there early enough to get ripped off on breakfast and four-twenty. The ferry is always so lovely …

Gigged at Queen’s Hotel in Nanaimo and Club 9one9 in Victoria on May long weekend. I don’t have any evidence (or memory apparently) as I lost my phone, aka my pony. I lost my pony! Let’s say that me losing my phone left me a bit lost – literally. As the band’s navigator, and admittedly the worst person for that job, I couldn’t access the venues or maps. Or anything. At first it drove me batty as our album Hawk vs Pigeon was soon to be released and I couldn’t tell anyone. But then I kinda resigned myself to being off the grid and just enjoyed the ride. No texting, tweeting or navigating (hehheh).

 

OFF THE ISLAND: ALBUM RELEASE DAY!

So we leave the Victoria ferry to travel to Lethbridge! A bit of a drive to the next gig … after the ridiculous drive of Crowsnest Pass – loaded with bears, elk and deer – we made it to Lethbridge unscathed. Lethbridge brought us a reminder of our Juliette Lewis tour because it was a social in conjunction with the local Derby Girls. Rockabilly band The Phantom Creeps opened with a killer set and we were ready to rip. Super fun night and by the end of it we were signing titties. And it was album release day! I even found my phone, turns out I left it in the merch. Brills.

Here’s the link the new album.

It’s also streaming on Exclaim!.

Derby Girl Medi Evil

arrrrtwork

Oh yes Regina, what a treat, two nights in the same hotel. I grew up not far from here so I was looking forward to seeing some old friends. We played The Exchange, which is apparently a venue run by a non-profit. The show was fun, it was Rob’s birthday so we celebrated with one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve ever eaten. Plus Brenna from Ganache Queen gave us some morsels for the road!

Get this in your belly! Topped with a chocolate bass!

The Regina afterparty was not nearly the welcoming committee we hoped it would be. Let’s just say if you get picked up and taken on a twilight ride by one of the city’s best in blue, make sure to have some cash on you to extricate yourself from the situation.

Then it’s off to Brandon, MB (wha?) for the last show of this leg. Tip Top Tailor Shaun threw the party at the ol’North Hill Inn – a throwback acid trip hotel complete with crazy artwork, ornate eagle furnishings and full-on pink bathrooms. Turns out my Dad knows the owner and we ended up getting a free room. Thanks Eric!

And that wraps the western leg of this tour. Some new faces, different venues and repeats but there are some tour constants that always seem to remain: shitass showers, weirdos working the late shift, too early of a check out, running out of smokes, the familiar faces mouthing the words, the new fans digging in …

Baby geese!

The best part was finally being able to finally release Hawk vs Pigeon, our album that was recorded at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree. We worked on those songs and the artwork for so long, so it’s been an honour sharing it with people. Now back to Toronto for some party planning and getting sorted for the eastern leg of the Circus. Here’s the rest of our tour dates, so come and get your rock on x

May 30, 12
ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX
27 York Street
Ottawa, ON
with DIE MANNEQUIN

June 8, 12
The Heavy Pickle Party
GYPSY THEATRE AT SENECA FALLS
Niagara Falls, ON
L2E 2L6
with SPOOKEY RUBEN

Jun 15, 12
MOD CLUB
NXNE
722 College Street
Toronto, ON
M6G 1C4
with DIE MANNEQUIN
Dearly Beloved at 8PM

Jun 15, 12
VELVET UNDERGROUND
NXNE
510 Queen Street
Toronto, ON
M5V 2B3
with IVAN JULIAN
Dearly Beloved at 11PM

June 16, 12
Red Dog Tavern
189 Hunter Street West
Peterborough, ON
with DIE MANNEQUIN

June 21, 12
THE DOMINION HOUSE
3140 Sandwich St
Windsor, ON
with DIE MANNEQUIN

June 22, 12
CALL THE OFFICE
216 York Street
London, ON
with DIE MANNEQUIN

June 23, 12
CLUB VINYL
52 Macdonell Street
Guelph, ON
with DIE MANNEQUIN

June 24, 12
Scene Music Festival
57 Leaside Drive
St.Catharines, ON
Time TBC

Birch Prease. Outside of Zack’s – near Dryden, ON

Bison Burgers! Outside of Zack’s – near Dryden, ON

New tour = new hat

Backstage Regina.

Look for Dearly Beloved’s next Tour Diary entry on Pink Mafia on the 17th of June, and check them out on Facebook for more pics and tour info.