Lioness recently embarked on a 3 day jaunt through the States and let us get a peak of their life on the road.

LIONESS take on America – DAY 1

We decided to leave Wednesday night to beat the border heat before our first American show in Philly. We ended up waiting four hours for our visas. We were planning to drive half way and ended up only in Williamsville at the Garden Place Hotel. We were starving from the wait and thankful to find a 24 hour Timmy Ho’s. The gold lions lead us to our room.

DAY 2 – Philly here we come!

We get up and ready ourselves for the 3-hour drive. Then the burning smell… I thought it was the smell of Philly in the summer, but as we pull into the Holiday Inn beside the stadium, the parking attendant informs us that our van is smoking. MF. Our show is in a few hours and we have enough gear for five people. We call the promoter for the show and explain what a great start to our trip this was. Thank the tour gods! Kung Fu Necktie had a cargo van. We load up the van and as we pull out onto the street we notice about fifteen cops and a tarp with a body under it, and a pool of blood surrounding it. I take back the thanks, South Philly, what? We made it, and the show was amazing! We stayed up late learning Philly slang and sayings. “If your v-neck is lower than your necklace, you’re a douche. And saying, “Blow you” when you disagree with someone.

DAY 3 – NO SLEEP TILL BROOKLYN

Nothing like going to bed at 5:30 and walking up at 7:30 to take the van in. We have a full day of waiting and hoping we’ll make it to New York. Steven the promoter from the show takes us to a great place for breakfast where Ian the dj from Night Train comes to meet us in the shitty limo. No mini bar, broken cassette tape, broken locks and no AC – what a sweet ride.

$850.00 later we have new brakes and we are on our way. Good-bye Philly, I will miss you and your kind souls and dead bodies. Hello Brooklyn, I love your free pours and four o’clock last call.

After the show there was a karaoke party. It as fun to watch people belt out Metallica and Jay-Z “In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of…” I sang Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams.

Lioness Take Manhattan – DAY 4

Although eating 99-cent pizza & pretzel M&M’s seems like a good late night idea you end up having nightmares about being dragged under a red car and watching someone’s intestine’s turn into silk worms and pour from their stomach. Jeff had a strange dream too. It was about our friend Devon from YSP! And in the morning we found out he had recently stayed in the same room, in the same apartment. We talk about our visions over coffee and breakfast, then ventured into the lower east side. Hell yes!

DAY 5 – Welcome to Canada

QxBxR at Cake Shop was amazing! People danced and sang along, it was a great feeling inside. And now it was time to head back home. We stayed with the best cat. Stopped in Syracuse on the way back, crossed the border at midnight. And ended our epic 3 day American tour.

There’s more fun on the road coming. Stay tuned for the next round…

Well, our three week tour with Young Rival is over and we’re back home in Toronto, where there was a pretty out of control homecoming party for us – torched cop cars, smashed windows, even the President was here! Thanks Toronto!

But for now let’s flash back to our show in Cleveland, where we blew the power.

Yep.

Little old us. In fact, we blew it during our gentlest, least-rockingest song ever, Little Garcon. One second we were playing, the next, the PA was gone. We kinda looked at each other like “wtf guys,” but luckily, the fine people of Cleveland…

… were kind enough to sing along without microphones and help us through the end of the song, which was really cool. Either way, I’m pretty sure we’re the first band to blow the power by playing a song that has more handclaps and harmonica than it does distortion.

We also played the same night as Beach House, in the same venue. I got to see one song, which was great.

But more importantly we snagged their beer after they left.

And drank it while eating rice out of a glass. Classy!

We then moved on to Brooklyn (here you can see Aron of Young Rival (*http://www.myspace.com/youngrival*) rocking out in a room that appears to only have fireflies or christmas lights.

But the highlight of that show for me had to be when two girls leapt on stage in an attempt to give Luke a big old smooch. At least I think that’s what happened. Anyway, what followed was us ending the song we were playing, leaving the two girls kind of in an awkward situation where they were now just standing on stage with us with no music.

So, naturally, we made them stage dive by chanting DO IT DO IT until they did it. I’m pretty sure Steve swore at them. One girl did all right. The other, not so much. She kinda fell on her head. But that was the crowd’s fault, right? Right?! PLEASE BELIEVE ME! I hope she is alive.

The next night we played a crazy show in New York that ended with us being denied an encore by the venue’s curfew (gotta get those clubbers in to dance and puke on each other!) – however, we managed to plead our case and get one more song. We then went out to a bar and felt like real grown-up rock stars by shooting pool and drinking the night dry.

Then we ended our US trek in Allston, MA, where our friend Julia (owner, operator and ruler of fuckyeahbornruffians.tumblr.com came and was nice enough to take a picture with us.

You can see more of me in my embarrassing tank top here in this video from our show:

We ended our tour back home in Canada, with shows in Montreal:

Ottawa:

and finally, the big finale, in Peterborough:

That’s all for me – see you in the summer, as long as our homecoming party hasn’t destroyed the city.

ruffian mitch

I’m going to start this off with a bit of a tale – because it turns out I didn’t really know what we were in for when I sent my first blog entry from Calgary – things took a turn for the douchey.

Not the Calgary show itself. No no no. That show was a lot of fun (including the dance party after). There was a small incident however; one we’ve never encountered before, because our fans are usually (a.k.a. always) not the type to give us the finger, because hey, if you’re a fan of something, you generally don’t show your appreciation by giving that thing the finger. Unless if you’re a fan of Stone Cold Steve Austin like me.

Anyway, here’s the full silly story:

We were about halfway through our set when Luke accidentally unplugged his guitar, thus cutting the sound out at a crucial moment in the song. He fixed it pretty quickly, but once the song was over, in a fit of self-rage, he threw a roundhouse kick at the microphone stand, which tumbled over into the crowd.

At the time I didn’t think anything had happened, but one guy took the brunt of the mic in the head apparently, and his friend (not him) took it personally, because that’s what bros are for, right bros?! From then on in, he kept pushing the mic stand back at Luke and into his face, as well as using some rude hand gestures that I can’t describe on here in fear of my mom reading this.

At one point I saw Andy (who is a man that I have never seen show even the slightest sign of genuine anger towards another person), pointing and shouting something at this guy. I didn’t know what was up, but I knew something was wrong if Andy, earth’s kindest soul, was shouting expletives into a dude’s face.

Then came the last song, when the guy pushed the mic stand completely over when everything BUT the vocals were supposed to drop out, thus bringing the song to a complete halt. At this point, I now knew what was going on and went over to yell swear words at this guy along with Andy for derailing what was a really fun set. He was taken out, we somehow pieced the song back together and finished.

Then I went outside before the encore to see if the guy was out there, and I beat him mercilessly with my bare hands.

Not really. I did that thing where your voice quivers and you make vague threats then leave. I’m a true badass!

I apologize for the lack of pictures in Calgary – I was completely derailed by that guy pushing the mic. Please accept this David Wilcox video that we watched before our show in Chicago and I hope you will forgive us: 

We then moved on to Saskatoon, where we had a great show at Amigo’s (you can check out some really sweet photos from the show here). Good thing that guy got some pictures because I sure as heck didn’t. Still rattled from Calgary I suppose.

From there we spent several hours in the van getting to Winnipeg.

We literally rushed to get there, loaded in, played almost immediately (to a really fun crowd)

Then had to leave almost immediately (after packing up the van from ON TOP OF OF THE VAN!

because of a long drive we had to do the next day. We were so delirious that I thought the road was covered in snakes. Turns out it’s just tar. Yep. Tar. We also hit a wolf or coyote driving through the night. It was both sad and 100% terrifying. We’re a bunch of fragile little boys.

We then played in Minneapolis at the Turf Club, which had a strange juxtaposition of back rooms (is that the right using of that word? I’m just trying to sound like an educated man.) One room looked like this:

While the other looked like this:

You can safely assume we spent more time in the cool room playing piano and taking psychedelic pictures than we did chilling in the murder basement.

During the show a girl jumped up on stage during Moose Bruce and tried playing Luke’s guitar, then just awkwardly climbed back down. It was pretty hilarious. To me. Not so much her.

Then it was off to Chicago, but first we hit up Daytrotter where we and Young Rival both recorded sessions that will go up sometime in the near future.

The drive from Minneapolis to Rock Island (Daytrotter) to Chicago was our longest trip of the tour (woke up at 6:15, arrived at venue around 8:00 I think), and it also may have been the biggest payoff in terms of stir craziness accumulated in the van and awesomeness generated at the show. If that makes any sense at all. All I mean is that we had a crazy fun show that was even more awesome because of how long we sat still in the van on our way there.

The pace of tour can definitely be jarring sometimes, in a way that’s more funny than anything really. You sit still for fourteen hours, then IMMEDIATELY rock out as hard as humanly possible, get drunk, go to bed. It’s like baseball. Sit still for a long time then run to first base as fast as your body will allow you. The only difference is that when you tour with us nerds, no one gets to first base. :(

I think I’ll leave on a high note. We’re all hanging out in the bar in Allston as people are coming in – should be a sweaty one tonight. Hoo boy.

ruffian mitch

Hello internet users and people who print out the internet to read it on regular paper (do you exist?). My name is Mitch and I play bass for a band called Born Ruffians, and we are currently on a North American tour in support of our new album, Say It.

There are seven fellers in our van because we’re travelling and playing with Young Rival, a rock and roll band from the rock and roll town of Hamilton (of the rock and roll province of Ontario).

So now is the time that you hum the Perfect Strangers theme song  in your head as I introduce every person in the van:

Luke – Guitar/Vocals (Born Ruffians)

Steve (“Mike Dakota”) – Drums (Born Ruffians)

Andy – Keys/Guitar (Born Ruffians)

John (“Demetri”) – Bass (Young Rival)

Aaron (“Dr. Edward Poon”) – Guitar/Vocals (Young Rival)

Noah (This is his sexy glamour shot that I took without his permission) – Drums (Young Rival)

And there are no known pictures of me, so in order to know what I look like, you’ll just have to combine Jack White, John Belushi and a modern incarnation of John Goodman’s Dan Conner in Roseanne – all comparisons I’ve received this tour. With the body of Usher.

We hit Victoria after four shows in the US that included confetti,

balloons, a failed marriage proposal on stage,

me smashing Luke over the head with my bass, about three broken bass strings, two shirtless men (one of which was the dude proposing), one pantsless man (for real) and we also played songs. We also discovered that men like to get naked to our music, but not women.

In Victoria we played with Mother Mother at this massive church.

The crowd was great and really receptive, but the highlight had to be when they all rose out of their seats and gradually danced up to the front of the stage during What To Say.

Right after the show, there was the after party (then after the party, we went to the hotel lobby) that Young Rival was playing. That night we discovered that even if no one knows they’re playing, Young Rival attract girls to their shows from all corners of the city. Their music is like some kind of conch shell that only babes can hear.

In Vancouver we returned to playing our own show, and it was maybe the wildest of the entire tour so far.

The place was crammed, people brought balloons again, I got blasted in the head with an empty can of PBR, Steve tore his shirt on the steel cage that surrounded the stage, and fans invaded the stage on our last song (before the encore even!) and they pretty much obliterated our gear. Between the steel cage and beer can to the head it was more like a pro wrestling show than an indie rock show, and THAT I can get into.

From there we spent two days driving, where we encountered this herd of wildlife.

Last night was Edmonton, yet another show that included balloons and sheer chaos.

There was no steel cage to climb, so it was back to being like a rock show again, which is okay too. At the end of our encore, my bass strap popped off and into the crowd. After the song I tried getting it back from a fan, which turned into a tug of war, which would’ve been embarrassing if I lost, because she was a small girl. But I won BECAUSE I AM A STRONG MAN.

We’re in Calgary right now getting ready to soundcheck. The sound guy just read us a short story over the PA. It was bizarre and pleasant all at the same time because he has the voice of a book-on-tape. Now he’s just naming cities and imperial measurements into the mic…

See you in five days!

Ruffian Mitch

You Say Party! We Say Die! have been catching up with us as they traverse from East to West this great Canadian north in what is only loosely referred to as “springtime” which is a relative term for Canadians.

End of the night at Amigo’s, Saskatoon. Great show, great food, great place.

We hit a brutal blizzard driving out of Saskatchewan towards Edmonton, wind gusts were up around 100km/h and there were a lot of highway closures all over the province. What is usually a five hour drive ended up taking about nine as we inched our way through the whiteout. This was the first glimpse of sun we had seen in hours, near the Westernmost point of the storm.

A herd of elk in Jasper National Park. Always nice to see the rockies again after crossing Canada, they mark the beginning of the final home stretch.

Tattoo salespeople in Prince George.

Our sold-out last show in at UNBC in Prince George.

Vancouver’s You Say Party! We Say Die! Are touring across the Great White North as I type this. They’ve been gracious enough to do a Tour Diary for us as they traverse their home country after a month in the USA! USA! USA!. As a side note, they take really nice photos and are making us envious of the ever illusive cross-Canada road trip that all Canadians grow up lusting after.

We played an all-ages Easter Monday matinee show in Sault Ste. Marie. It was not the busiest show in the world, despite the nice weather.

An abandoned gas station somewhere along the highway. There’s a lot of boarded-up buildings along the Eastern shores of Lake Superior; a lot of them are seasonal places that open back up in the summer, but this one’s been rotting for ages. I love it.

Stephen at the helm driving through the Shield.

Devon and Sissy enjoying a Standard Lager before the show at the Royal Albert, Winnipeg.

Krista, Becky and Stevie from APTN do an interview in Winnipeg.

The Royal Albert Arms: one of our favorite venues on the planet!

Krista attempts to ignore the dick room at the Albert… IT IS FUTILE TO RESIST. It is truly amazing how many band rooms are covered in dicks all around the world, but this is definitely one of the best.

Technically I’ve been to Paris once before. This journey occurred when I was in grade ten on a school driven trip. DONT WASTE YOU MONEY ON SENDING YOUR CHILDREN ON SCHOOL TRIPS. Not cool man. The only thing I remember about the trip was my principal eating baguettes. So needless to say that was not the MOST FUN EVER.

But don’t get sad dear friends, because five years have passed since my school trip and once again I find myself on a face off of fun with Paris. During university spring break I travelled to Paris with two pals. The mission of this trip was two fold. Most importantly the trip was planned to visit our dear friend who has been opereing in Paris for the last five months. And the second fold of the plan was to HAVE THE MOST FUN EVER.  So with a free place to stay and a cheap flight charged to our visas there was no stopping us and our missions.  (excepting for my depleting school loan. But I’ll deal with that later.) BRING ON THE PARISIANS.

So to introduce you to the most fun ever had in Paris my plan was to tell you about one amazing night to let you understand my perfectly parisian lifestyle. But that’s too difficult.  And not just because all my memories are clouded with excessive drinking. I want to focus on the tiny aspects that created LINDSEY PETERSON’S MOST FUN EVER IN PARIS! So then, let me break it down for you.

Shopping, is all of our best friends. So I shopped until I dropped. And I really had a list of things I wanted to acquire while in Paris. Wicked scarfs, boots, some jewels and a fake Rolex watch. I’ve always dreamed to light up my wrist with a blinged out fake gold rolex. Is that too much for a girl to ask? NO OF COURSE NOT. Unfortunately I did not find my dream rolex in Paris. But fortunately I found something better. I found Mona.

Now while in Paris what could possibly be MORE FUN than meeting a dead celebrity. That’s right people! I met a dead celebrity. Your last night on a vacation is always the wildest. On our last night everyone was going full throttle because we didn’t want to let Paris down.  She hosted us so well while we visited her city. So we brought the best party animals out of ourselves. So three of us ladies packed into the tiniest sweatiest club possible, Cafe Oz. I get my drink on a little. I get my crunk on a lot. And then I run into Biggie Smalls. Here at Pink Mafia I’m the suburban white girl who likes gangster rap. So you could imagine I went balls out when I met the dead celebrity.

*side note: ok fine. it’s not Biggie. But let a girl dream. And you have to admit that’s a pretty good parisian version of the dead rapper.  He told me he was a highly celebrated basketball player. I told him much like Biggie he was too fat to be anything more than the gangster definition of a baller.

I’m not skinny like a Parisian girl. My grandpa once referred to me as pleasantly plump.  And that’s how I continue to live my life, loving food. And appreciating my ladies lumps. So hellllooooo PASTRIES in Paris. It’s clear that the skinny people in Paris aren’t eating these treats so as a tourists I felt it as my own duty to eat all the pastry treats in my sight. Seriously pastries are the MOST FUN EVER. Nice fluffy fluffy whipped cream. Mmmmm so creamy. Between fluffy pastry crusts with delicious fruit on top. I mean the only way I can really explain to you how great the treats are is through my weight gain of 7 pounds in the span of 12 days.

At the ripe age of 20, the most fun ever moments of my life are usually a  mixture of my blonde hair and well, mass amounts of alcohol. So it was pure greatness when I found out that wine in Paris  costs around 3.15 euros. So wine would be the only liquid I would consume for the next 12 days. That was until I met NAME OF BEER. This beer is like nothing you’ve experienced before. This beer is a get you drunk machine. This beer is not only beer. This beer has a wing man. And this beer’s wing man is TEQUILA. All in one delicious bottle is a PERCENTAGE mix of tequila and beer.  Beer and tequila mixed sounds so gnarly.  Drink one bottle of wine and then NAMEOF BEER will flow down smoothly deliciously and drunkly.

SELF  EXPLANATORY GREAT EXTRAS OF PARIS

Bartenders with pig tail french braids

Paris Love

Alexander McQueen interpretation of Alice in Wonderland

Sara Quin of Tegan & Sara is writing a Tour Diary for Pink Mafia on her trek across the great white north. The entire Tour Diary is based on the gnarly and hilarious dreams she has every night. Read. Enjoy.

TOUR DREAM DIARY: FINAL WEEK

The last week of our tour was a blur. I haven’t slept well because of a lingering hacking cough and so what I recorded was mostly fragments.

QUEBEC CITY

In Quebec City I dreamed that I was forced to decide between my best friend’s birthday party and a family gathering at my grandma’s house. My best friend and my mother were both very upset with me and I was afraid that if I didn’t attend my grandma’s party I would never see her again. I am sitting on a picnic bench in my backyard. It’s my childhood backyard, the bench is red, as is the garage. I keep seeing the garage door open, people are bringing in supplies for the party.

BUS FROM FREDERICTON TO HALIFAX

On my final sleep in my bus bunk from Fredericton to Halifax I dream that I am dating a friend from my past. I’m nervous to introduce him to the band and crew. I’m on a movie set that looks like Lucille Bluth’s apartment (from the television show, Arrested Development).  I am responsible for cooking a huge meal. I am left alone in the kitchen to cook a turkey. I’m afraid to cut open the turkey because I’m convinced that it will have human bones in it. There is a knock at the front door, when I open the door I mistake the guest for a man who I knew when I was a kid but it is actually a woman from across the hall. She is drunk and has run out of alcohol. She invites herself in and sits down at the dining room table. She pours herself a brandy and she removes the napkin from the place setting. I’m upset because I don’t want her to stay as my dinner guest. Even though no one has arrived, and the food hasn’t been served, I notice that Tegan has put away everything in the kitchen.

**Recently a woman bought and moved into the apartment directly next to mine. She comes home at 3 am most evenings, puts on French music or Peter Frampton at ear splitting level and cries. True story.

HALIFAX

In Halifax, our final day of tour, I am only asleep for a handful of hours. I wake up (to have a coughing fit) and attempt to scribble a few words down on a piece of paper that I place in bed next to me. I fall back asleep and have a waking dream where I write pages of notes in extremely small block letters with a green ink pen. When I wake up I’m disappointed to discover that my real notes are just blue ink scribbles and not detailed paragraphs.

TORONTO VIDEO SHOOT

After our last show in Halifax, Tegan and I fly to Toronto to shoot a music video for the song “Alligator.”

My wake up call for the shoot is 6 AM. I feel very nervous and I dream that Tegan and I are recording the video in my grandma’s bathroom. There are four other girls in the bathroom and we are recording a hip hop remix of the song. We are all dancing on the edge of the bathtub. The catering area for the dancers is in the kitchen and there are bowls of ice cream that have melted in the sun. I have a huge shawl on. It is dragging on the floor collecting lint and I am nervously picking at it throughout the dream.

Egyptrixx just released (yesterday) his latest offering, Battle For North America EP, released on influential UK imprint Ramp / AAh Real Monsters Records.

Here’s some bio info:

With the tons of hyped up (but utterly mediocre) dance music that comes out these days it’s pretty hard to stand apart from the herd; not the case with Toronto’s Egyptrixx.

In just over one year his distinct sonic aesthetic has become an acclaimed presence in underground music, garnering praise from The Wire, Fact Magazine, Grindin and countless other blogs and websites. His unique and energetic live sets are in-demand with headlining gigs banked all over Europe and North America and a busy touring schedule in upcoming months as he switches to a live performance.

He makes celestial club music; jeep music for a Saturn desert. There is an exhilarating right-but-wrong tension that all of Egyptrixx’s tracks share – a shifting balance between melodic and dissonant – rapturous and antisocial.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD MP3

EGYPTRIXX IS DOING A TOUR DIARY FOR US OVER THE NEXT TWO WEEKS FROM EUROPE. SO KEEP AN EYE OUT

Sara Quin of Tegan & Sara is writing a Tour Diary for Pink mafia on her trek across the great white north. The entire Tour Diary is based on the gnarly and hilarious dreams she has every night. Read. Enjoy.

Tour Dream Diary: Toronto

Tegan and I are at a street fair. There are magicians performing and we stop to watch a man who is shooting arrows that are weightless and hovering in the air above our heads. Another man is doing tricks with a small white sheet. The sheet keeps taking the form of a ghost. It also appears to be floating. People on the street are applauding.

Johnny, our bands drummer, is  trying to sort through a very complicated Indian food menu. We are responsible for ordering enough supper for the entire band and crew. Neither of us can read the menu, the words are very small and it all appears to be in French.

Damon and Kate, from AN HORSE, are upset because someone has leaked their cell phone numbers on the internet. They are both receiving threatening messages. They keep showing me their cell phone screens but I don’t seem to be able to read the messages. Damon shows me a folded note from his pocket. its a long list of things to order at the coffee shop. I take the note and collect coffees and pastries. He specifically has request almond croissants.

The last dream I have in the morning is that I am dating an actress on a television show. She has gray hair and she seems to only speak French. She is much taller than I am and we are having an argument in a mall. She rushes off to get back to set and I keep hearing my name over the mall PA system.

The last note I made when I woke up in the morning said ” Group shower, bathing suit”. It doesn’t jog my memory further.

Sara Quin, 1/2 of super Canadian sister-duo Tegan and Sara (who are just now getting their dues in the press after over a decade of beating the proverbial shit out of the people who DO get all the attention where it counts in tour tickets, downloads and albums sold) is doing a tour diary for us.

But it’s not just any old tour diary filled with boozy nights and airport talk. Over the next month, Sara’s going to detail her dreams on the road. Oh you think that boring do you? Well we’ve known her for over a decade and girlfriend has some gnarly dreams, in fact we’re really looking forward to this one. More than usual. More than booze and airport talk. That’s a lot for us.

Tour Dream Diary: Tour Bus

It is the second morning on our tour bus. Everyone has red eyes and sore throats from the altitude change and the restless night of zigzagging perilously through mountain passes. This is a photo of my bunk.

Last Night’s Dream:

I’m in a large house where a foot ball game is being shown on television. I hide my credit cards and ear plugs in an oven. The oven is on and so everything melts and the fire alarm goes off. The game is canceled. Texas is playing. People are very upset with me and so I hide in a room that I recognize as my cousins childhood bedroom.

A woman dressed in a football outfit enters the room and scolds me about the game, she insists I make a public apology. Then I am suddenly in a gymnasium and I’m standing in front of the entire team. I explain how sorry I am and everyone seems to forgive me. I leave the building to find breakfast, I realize that I am starving. I end up sitting outside of a cafe, seated with half a dozen people I don’t recognize. We are celebrating the relationship status of one of the male couples.

At one point I begin scrolling through a menu on my phone selecting films for my netflix queue. One of my selections starts to play on my phone and I’m really embarrassed because it is an adult film. I shut my phone off so it will stop playing. I keep asking people the time, I repeat over and over, “is it 10 am?”. I wake up when my alarm goes off at 10:18 am.