Dreamers spring run started in April at Colorado Spring's Black Sheep. We spent the morning at the RXP 1039 station to play a few acoustic songs and record an interview. A classic NES was sitting in the lobby, and with a few hours to kill before load-in, the band set up the games and relived their 8-bit childhood. Next we had a few dates supporting The Head and the Heart in Reno, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Vegas, and Tempe. Our spring run concluded with radio shows and festivals in Charlotte, Richmond, Minneapolis, SLC, Bottlerock, Ft Lauderdale, and Jacksonville. Here are some random memories from the road:
++ The drive from Colorado Springs to Reno was too long to complete in a day, so we stopped for the night in Ely, NV at a random spot I found on Priceline along route 50. Hotel Nevada and the town of Ely felt like it was created by the imagination of David Lynch. Jacob, Tyler, and I wandered off to a nearby pool hall. It was empty aside from the inebriated bartender and two off duty cops. Beers were drank and friends were made. The bartender insisted he show us photos from his bar's weekly stripper night. We were also invited to stay for free in the apartment attached to the bar when we return to Ely. Local hospitality didn't end there, as the off duty cops told us we couldn't leave town without taking a tour of the nearby local brothel. The nice lady showed us around the place and explained the interior design inspiration for each room. My favorite one was "Area 51" which had a life-size grey alien lounging on the bed. None of us were interested in taking a more comprehensive tour of the backrooms so we sat down for a drink. A third, older off duty cop bought us a round of beers and lectured me on how to succeed in life.
++ We were planning on driving halfway after the Reno show, stopping at a hotel in Stockton for the night. Many people warned us against driving through the mountain pass in the blizzard without tire chains, which we did have. An hour outside Reno, big snowflakes were falling, and through the windshield of our van, it looked like we were driving through hyperspace. There was a checkpoint on the way up the mountain to put on tire chains. We pulled over and got out in the snow with the chains, only to realize they were too big and would only fit our old van’s tires. After 5 minutes of figuring out what to do, we decided on turning around and sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The snow had passed by morning, and we made it on time to the next show in Santa Barbara. It was warm, dry, and summery. The night before felt like a weird nightmare that never happened.
++ Post-Head and the Heart tour, we played a Houston radio festival, where we met PVRIS for the first time. What a bunch of nice people. Our festival time slot was early and we were tired from driving through the night. After our set we raided our hospitality and booked it to the hotel in downtown. It turned out that The Mowgli’s were playing a few blocks away, and they invited the guys to jump on stage with them for San Francisco like they did the last tour. The headliner was a band called “The Maine” who Jacob knew from couch surfing 10 years ago. After that night they invited us for a month long hangout in the fall.
++ I have a great story about our show with the 1975 but I’m going to wait some time til I can tell it in full.
++ In May, we had two radio shows in Charlotte, NC and Richmond, VA opening for Weezer. At the first one, we were sitting in the greenroom eating string cheese when Rivers Cuomo peaked his head in. Naturally, our reaction was “Oh, you’re Rivers!”, and he responded shyly, “Haha yep thats me..!”. He talked to Nick for a while, picking his brain on who the young kids are producing and writing with. New bands are trying to sound vintage and legacy bands are trying to progress. The next day when I was side stage during “Sweet Disaster”, I turned around and saw Rivers standing next to me, enjoying the set. He looked back with a face that said “haha yep, it’s me..!”
++ A week later, we flew to Minneapolis. My flight from JFK was at 6 am and I arrived to town much earlier than everyone else. I pulled up Uber and chose a random neighborhood to be dropped off in and walk around. The car brought me to a residential neighborhood where I then followed signs for a garage sale. At the sale I met a mother and her daughter who reminded me of ‘Honey Boo Boo’ but with ‘Fargo’ accents. They were sweet, and I bought a loaf of banana bread from them.
++ Memorial Day Weekend for us was 5 days of consecutive shows: Salt Lake City to a pre-Bottlerock show to Bottlerock to Ft Lauderdale to Jacksonville. Bottlerock was great — our greenroom tent was stocked with two cases of wine. Unfortunately, we had to catch a red-eye flight at SFO to Florida right after the set and couldn’t stay to finish it all. I volunteered to drive while everyone else popped open a bottle of cab each for the two hour ride back down. I got the rental van back to Hertz, handed over the keys, and without wasting a moment, Tyler handed me the last bottle to drink before heading into the airport terminal. In hindsight, we could’ve wrapped a bottle or two in socks buried deep in our checked bags. The Ft Lauderdale show was hosted by 104.3 The Shark and sponsored by Jameson Caskmates.
++ Post Memorial Day, we had three days off before the next show. I got us an AirBnb with a backyard pool and tiki hut in Florida. What a time to be alive.
