We’re coming in on the home stretch. We had day off today, which wasn’t even fully a day off, because it was service day. Service day is where production and bands on the tour help give back to the community. Today bands like Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Skinny Lister, Matt Toka, The Silver Comet, Cherri Bomb and Twin Atlantic helped alongside production to clean up garbage from a creek in Baltimore, helping Blue Water Baltimore.

Starting tomorrow, we have nine days in a row, drive two days (from Milwaukee to Seattle!), then our two final shows. It’s definitely going to be a bittersweet time going home. Though I’m excited to come back to some form of normalcy, this routine has become normal, and it will be a huge adjustment to go back to what my life was before tour.

I’m finally to the point where I know people by name and can go to the BBQs without being worried about not knowing anybody. I never thought I’d be working this tour, let alone sharing a bus with musicians I’ve known of for years (namely Geoff Rickly of Thursday or Kristopher Roe of The Ataris), so it’s definitely going to be sad to see it come to an end.

Bus 13

However, a lot of great things have come from this experience! Some bands that I’ve completely fallen in love with on tour are The Chicharones from Portland who perform on the Bring it Back hip hop stage every day. They’re energy is just insane and they have a live band plus a DJ. Definitely a band to check out. Skinny Lister is another favorite. They’re from the UK and play any chance they get, whether it’s at the Acoustic Basement, main gate line, BBQ, or the amphitheatre for fans when they all got ushered in there during a horrible storm in Toronto. The Silver Comet is another band that I try to see as much as possible. They’re one of those small bands that never gets credit, but deserve it. They’re a soul-infused alternative band from Atlanta who struggled to stay on the tour (they’re van broke down the first week), but stuck around, despite the chaos.

See the rest of my updates here.

- Stacy Soquet // KROQ Promotions