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| This doggie though... |
It's tour time again! After a few years of only occasional one-show meet-ups with Insomniac Folklore— the band I toured with in 2011 where I met Zach— I'm getting to go on tour with them again!
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| Hazel fields on the way to Roseburg |
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| Tyler and Adrienne at the Bill Frisell concert |
The past couple days have been full of road-tripping, hanging out in Roseburg, Oregon, lots of band practice, and two concerts— one by Bill Frisell and Trio at the riverfront park in Roseburg, and one by Insomniac Folklore at the Draper Tavern. Yesterday marked the first show of our tour, which began in Roseburg and will continue out to the Audiofeed Festival (although I'll be hopping off in St. Louis).
There are five of us on this tour: Tyler on lead vocals and guitar, Adrienne on vocals, Jessie on guitar, Nolan on drums, and me on cello. (I just picked up the cello a couple months ago, and although it's similar enough to violin that I learned it fairly quickly, it's still a challenge to play, which is part of the fun.) Zach and I agreed that he will stay in Vancouver and keep working while I go on this trip, for several reasons. He's coming to show tonight, but I'm already getting pangs of how much I'm going to miss him. I haven't been on a trip without him since back when we were dating!
Someone asked me to describe the kind of music that Insomniac Folklore plays, and I hesitated, because my old standby— "barrel-aged cabaret punk"— isn't as accurate to this particular line-up. We're a little bit punk, a little bit metal, a lot western, with a spattering of folk. This tour we are intense performance artists dressed in flowing white garments with white face paint. Tyler wears ram horns on his head. Behind us, an elaborate backdrop that Adrienne made depicts a northwestern forest with our name spelled out in sequin constellations. And we sing about atoning blood and the Exodus and environmental disaster and trying to hold it together in a confusing world. Playing this particular line-up is intense, both physically and emotionally.
The tavern last night was packed out, with people whooping and cheering us on through our set. I got several nice compliments on my cello (although some of the people thought it was a violin), and was followed around (and possibly hit on? I couldn't tell) by some terribly drunk men, one of which eventually wandered off and the other of which Nolan engaged in conversation, allowing me to escape to the other side of the room. I'm hoping that there won't be as many stupidly drunk people at future shows!
In the meantime, Tyler is making pad Thai and I'm mentally gearing up for another show, tonight in Portland. I'm really looking forward to playing some more with these guys!
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