Jamie sets up the projection screen in Toronto.
Backstage at WLU Athletic Complex.
Rob unpacks guitars.
Soundchecking.
More setup and soundcheck.
Green room at WLU Athletic Complex. We were chatting with the performing escape artist.
Duct tape special.
Ground Control (our friend Jon) sprays Atlas (our bus) black. Apparently it is illegal to drive a school bus for non school purposes and have it be golden.
Atlas in the prep-deck.
Jon's help was immeasurable. We couldn't have done it without him.
Early Farewells
NAME: Atlas MODEL: 1986 Chevy cutaway RUNS ON PAIN
My gear for 7 weeks.
10km into the journey. honestly. yes. i crawled into my bunk and tried to disappear.
Night 1. Sudbury.
Stage in Sudbury.
Tearing hair out.
Set lists.
Memorable band room from Sudbury. had to unplug the fridge to mute the incessant humming.
Paul Coch is our friend in Sault Ste Marie. He saw a person gang beaten against the side of our old tour bus in this exact spot a few months earlier.
Free coffee makes confusion easier to deal with.
Atlas from above. Note invert tiger markings.
US ARMY
Rob enjoying the luxury interior of Atlas and a free coffee. Oh yes, it is a glamorous lifestyle.
shopping malls are just some of the many terrible monuments of the 21st century.
splash. that was vacuity.
stranger things happen.
this is how the memories feel.
Coch (and his staff?) participate in a chili contest. They made these as mascots.
Chili effigy no. 2
one of many propane stops. atlas was fueled by propane (and mental anguish) and only traveled a maximum of 300km per tank. we stocked bbq sized tanks for emergencies. there were many.
a frost storm had ruined hundreds of acres of dense northern wilderness. would have been fun to explore. had to cover 700km of winding moose territory before the last propane station closed in the early evening. -10 luck pts.
thunder bay. 3 hours later I would be sleeping in Atlas. outside it was 26 below. I was sick for weeks.
onward to winnipeg. there's a similar picture of this on the way home 7 weeks later.
grime and dirt. lots to come.
Our merchandise display case at gig no 2. By then end of the tour, there was nothing left of the case or its contents.
morning pack up at the cavern in winnipeg. this was one of the greatest nights of the tour. we met Chris and Evan from AmpedUp Tv and had a great show.
initial sleeping arrangements for nights in Atlas: 3 in the loft, one on the pull out bench seat. This was soon adjusted to 2 in the loft and 2 on the pull out bench.
sometimes dinner was bagged salad and soup on the hot plate. those are expressions of happiness.
a welcome hotel room for a few days off in Winnipeg. we were on our way to see Watchmen. Little did I know at this moment I would be shivering and feverish all night and miss out on Rob's birthday celebrations.
Rob's birthday. Tequila. Hotel room. Winnipeg. The swimming pool was out of order so we decided to drink instead.
Dark silhouette figure.
Everyone should have a bed to lay down on.
While en route to Regina a dodgy white van pulled up beside us with a sign held against the passenger side window reading, 'Vacuity?' We pulled off at the next exit and met up with Kitchener-Waterloo's 'What's He Building in There?'. They were headed to Saskatoon.
A biker bar run by a very friendly lady in Regina. After our set a group of bikers setup and 'performed' Rock Band (the video game) for the audience. Oh the times we are a living in...
ghostly figure of me walking downstairs at the gaslight.
moments later we were hunting for late night food and a parking lot to sleep in.
the gaslight. biker bar in regina. neat?
VACUNITY. Previous entries: Vaculity, Vacuumity, Faculty, Vacuty. It's not that hard guys!!
Reluctant lead mechanic of the expedition.
buds on broadway, saskatoon. we missed our show here the previous time through due to vehicle failure. it was great of them to have us back.
another shot from stage. difficult to acquire when you're playing. i swear it was a tour where we played shows! lots and lots of them.
emeri relaxes in the guest apartment at Buds.
stray cats became a sub theme of the tour. this one was happily soaking up the morning sun.
morning head count
take the road less traveled. no fuel. no rest stations. but look at that sky...
stage setup at the ottoman lounge. like a tv set for the cool kids! very fun.
mobile hotel atlas outside the ottoman lounge. sleeping on such an incline is trickier than one might assume.
medicine hat. just finished breakfast with the owner of the ottoman lounge, Shawn. we had been watching the new james bond on his tv and eating bacon. sometimes life is easier. fond memories.
medicine hat. nice hills. pretty skies.
the stetson, calgary. this was a good night.
blues on whyte, edmonton. free coffee for the band in the morning so we lingered. i almost trade two guitars for a nice tele custom later this day.
downtime/laundry plotting.
blues on whyte and the ghosts of vacuity.
Alberta seemed to us to be the land of truckballs. what a dumb product to manufacture. a friend attached a pair to Atlas as a joke.
Atlas breaks through the Asteroid Belt.
Emeri is the best in town driver in the band.
I always liked the old school control panel in Atlas.
Edmonton skyline.
Pedestrian bridge.
