Our beloved, Jacob Cole, is on tour for two weeks playing guitar with Dante Elephante. While he’s away, he’s keeping us updated with this tour diary, so we can live vicariously through him. Here’s his third entry.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
March 20th 6:30am
We stayed in an air bnb. Very cush.
Albuquerque is notorious for theft so we wanted to make sure our gear was safe and secure, and brought everything in last night. Not fun loading everything back in the van this early.
10 1/2 hours to Salt Lake City, Utah…
We had some good lengthy discussions in the van about the volatility of the music industry. It’s ups and downs. Some of the greats that we feel inspired by, Jeff Buckley, Kurt, Buddy Rich – how they lived their lives and navigated their careers. Currently re-reading Bob Dylan’s Chronicles and it has a lot of good insight pertaining to that subject matter and more. Songs of note on this 10+ hour stretch were the entire Burt Bacharach hit list and Gary Wilson’s album “you think you really know me”.
Currently listening to a record of Chet Atkins and Lenny Breau while sipping on tea in Salt Lake City, waiting for the shower. Highlights of this classic are Tenderly and This Nearly Was Mine.
Didn’t have time to stop for a proper meal, so I made a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich. While eating out and savoring different flavors from different cities is amazing, the reality is I pack as many non-perishables as possible to save on time and money. So even though the thought of peanut butter makes me sick (from having it literally every day) I find ways to mix it up and not hurt my wallet.
livin’ the dream
We got to the gig about an hour late thanks to the Monticello Police Department. One legal right lane pass and a siren later we were driving away with a speeding ticket.
Caught the tail end of the first bands set. But the band I dug were called The Boys Ranch. Their sound was like 60’s surf mixed with 80’s pop, not unlike the LA band Sad Girl.
First proper sound check of this tour. The sound engineer made sure to help with load in, get the monitor mix right, and balance vocals accordingly. Also, the best set to date. Felt like we were listening, jamming and locking-in with each other. The set was short and sweet and the crowd was grooving hard.
The Metro Music Hall
Maybe 50 people in the crowd, but it was good and energetic for a Tuesday night in a city none of us had ever played.
We were missing our keyboardist Erich, but we filled it out, and it was our tightest show to date, regardless.
I would say the most unusual thing was these stuffed animals littered throughout the stage area from the opening band who had this whole stage show thing going on, very Flaming Lips-esque. The venue was a nice room, but it was very ambient. Still good to play on a real stage, and move around freely.
Met some great people. Salt Lake has been very kind.
