We drove to Banff early in the week to play Tuesday and Wednesday at the Rose and Crown on Banff ave. When we got there though it turned out that the bar and agent had doubled booked the room that night. We were contracted to play the next week, even though this wasn’t conducive with some of the shows we had booked ages ago in the prairies, for on our way back. We didn’t have much choice but to come back the next week though. The bar was great still and gave us accommodations for the two nights so we decided to stay in Banff and take a few days off.

It turns out that the band who was scheduled to come in never ended up showing. They tried to get a hold of us through the band house but were unable to due to phone carrier complications, and so the cook at the Rose & Crown ended up getting the gig!! It’s funny how the world works sometimes haha.

We were fortunate enough to play at Bruno’s on Wednesday. Gary at the bar booked us in for a showcase before the open stage jam started that evening. Thanks again for the hospitality Gary, we had a blast jamming with you and everyone. And oh yeah, those ski shots to Bruno the mountaineer sure hit the spot!

Our next show was in Jasper on the Friday. We did the drive a day early to take advantage of the clear blue sky on, what I’ve heard is, one of the most beautiful drives in the world. Well I have to say that after driving it, it’s the best drive I’ve been on so far! All the pictures from the drive between Banff and Jasper have been uploaded. Some have been cropped and adjusted for exposure, but most are untouched and still do not look real, it’s amazing!

Our show Friday went extremely well! People showed up early to catch the start of the night, or the end of the hockey game, but they stayed all night! What an awesome crowd of friendly people everybody was, it was a pleasure to play and to play the extended set with the added jam at the end! Thanks again to everyone at the Whistle Stop, especially Vanessa for having us! When in Jasper, I definitely recommend the Whistler’s Inn. Adjacent to the pub, we were treated like kings!

We drove to Calgary on Saturday to meet up with Brandon and Ramsey and ended up getting free tickets to go see Todd Snider perform downtown. My friend Teena does promotions in town and offered us the tix for Todd. It was a great show, singer-songwriter hippie outlaw country music was the best way to describe it. Though as a side note I have to say I was really jealous of my girlfriend Erika for being at the Wooden Sky show in Toronto, which of course turned out to be an epic night at Lee’s Palace.

We had a show booked for Sunday evening at the Lord Nelson’s Pub downtown. Sharing the bill with us was Evan and the Poisonous Birds who put on a great show. Good energy and good songs! This four piece of drums, bass, guitar, and fiddle put on a great performance! Thank you to the Calgary crew again for all the hospitality and the show! We’ll be in touch again soon!

On Tuesday we made the drive back to Banff to play. When we walked in we noticed that the marquee for the night was advertising the wrong band again. Turns out it was just a mistake this time!

Both shows went great at the Crown even with the Trews in town playing at Wild Bills across the street to promote their new album, we had a good crowd of locals and visitors! :) Thanks to Ali, Stan, Vern and everyone at the Rose & Crown for showing us a good time and being so damn awesome! We hope to see you all again next time!

On Thursday, we had a mammoth of a drive ahead of us. We left at 8:30 in the morning from the Rockies and had to get to Brandon, MB. It took us about 13 hours and then I remembered the time change… Kaleigh offered us to stay with them in Brandon since she knew how long of a drive it was and that we needed to get to Fort Frances for the Friday. We left early again the next morning to make the rest of the drive and got in to the Fort for 4:30pm.

Carson and Lindsay couldn’t have done a better job at promoting! The place was packed with people and I had a visit from some old friends and family, the Johnsons. Thanks so much for coming out to the show guys, it was great to see all of you again!

Joss and John, two local musicians, opened up the night and we played 4 sets afterwards. It was a special show for us not only because it was the last one of the tour, but also because it was a chance for us to play as a trio! Carson had the stage set up with his bass amp and drums and we rocked the Little Beaver until all the beer was gone! Thanks to the amazing patrons and to the newcomers to the Little Beaver Cultural Centre, we can absolutely say that we finished off our tour in style!

 

Thank you Canada for another amazing journey through your land, your people, your parties, we do honestly have the best people and backyard in the world.

 

Musically,

The Road Models!

 

P.S. The new album is being recorded as we speak!

Advertisement