(Joel’s note: I’ll be posting these in sections as I get them, which is just now, so we’re starting at the first of the tour and we’ll work our way up to the present…)
JULY 31st – INDIANAPOLIS
Two Cow has been touring for seven years and not once in that time have we ever traveled with a trailer. We’ve debated it to the point of exhaustion and I personally have railed against it. Up until this point I have won out, maybe because I do most of the driving, or maybe because no one wanted to hear me bitch, but for whatever reason it just did not happen. Until now. The tour we are currently involved with is a package tour, a sort of revue of our record label Suburban Home Records. So, the Suburban Home Records Tour is to feature Two Cow Garage, Austin Lucas, Mike Hale, and a smattering of Jon Snodgrass. Six people all traveling in our van. I finally lost the trailer fight. I will say this, at the risk of sounding stubborn, there are pros and cons. That’s all.
So we start the tour in Indianapolis, where we are to meet Mike Hale and Austin Lucas. We’ve borrowed a trailer from a friend, and before it’s even completely loaded up we realize that the taillights are not working properly. After an hour in an Auto Zone parking lot, the decision is made that they are working “good enough” and that we should just head to Indianapolis and see how things shake out. The drive is fine and once we reach Indy we decide to spend the extra time on getting the taillights figured out, which, with the help of a nice O’Reilly’s employee, and another hour in a parking lot, we do. Or I should say Andy does, I have no fucking clue about that stuff. We meet up with Mike Hale (whom we’ve never really met), and Austin Lucas at the show, which was possibly the best show we’ve ever had in Indy. It has not been a very friendly town to us in the past. The next show of the tour is back in Columbus, which is also something we’ve never done before, played at home during a tour. We drive straight back home after the show.
AUG. 1ST – COLUMBUS
Turns out playing a show at home to kick off a tour is not a bad way to start. Even with the New Bomb Turks playing at another club we still had a great show. Austin is from Indiana but a lot of his family lives in the Ohio/Michigan/Indiana, tri-state area and he records with his father and family backing him. Several of them came out and played with him, which turned out to be pretty cool.
I don’t remember how I got home.
AUG. 2ND- NASHVILLE
After a bit of a late start we were on the road with an uneventful drive ahead of us. We pulled into The Basement late and rushed to load in and get set up. Two Cow is the only full band on the tour so set up and tear down is pretty easy, but I hate being rushed like that. Three fifths of the band Glossary drove up from Murfreesboro and it was really nice to hang with some old friends. This was also probably one the best Nashville shows we’ve had. All in all a victory. We stay with our friend Marsha, who has been putting us up, and putting up with us for years.
AUG. 3rd – Memphis
Two Cow has somehow managed to never officially “play” Memphis. Years ago we had a show that no one came to so we did not even set our gear up. Since then we’ve managed to skirt Memphis every time we’ve gone through the Mid-South. The club that we’re playing is the same one as the infamous (to us anyway) no show night. Another member of Glossary comes to the show and I spent most of the night hanging with him. Also, that band rules the fucking school so check them out. If you don’t know, now you know. Lightly attended show but considering the past I’ll take it. Pretty sure 90% of the folks were from Little Rock though. Thanks Little Rock.