Tour Diary #2: Lost Highway
A meditation on the nature of touring
Sorry that it’s been so long since my last proper newsletter! Needed to take some time off to recover from the tour and finish the first draft of my book. Writing a book has been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. Can’t wait for you all to see it next year! The tour has been done for just over a month now but I wanted to deconstruct some of the observations I jotted down as we traversed the United States and share those thoughts with you.
There’s a peculiar, pulsing rhythm to touring that is unlike any other experience. A sense of perpetual motion, a repetitious cycle of meals and miles. Packing the van and unpacking it over and over and over again. I tried to carve out a sense of organization out of the chaos wherever I could but tour life is simply not an ordinary way to live. Sleep is irregular, the ricocheting across time zones contorting what a normal amount of rest should be.
We searched for nourishing food wherever possible. I learned that I have a gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance earlier in the pandemic so that made an already challenging situation more difficult. What I remember most is being more tired than I’ve ever been in my entire life on a regular basis and operating on that level at all times.
I tried my best to conserve energy for the shows. In certain cities where we had friends in town, navigating social situations became another factor. Dodging the virus was perpetually on my mind. I would search for moments of rest and stillness like a prospector examines the silt in their pan for gold. But my mind was always active: trying to not to forget something at the Airbnb, remembering to check in for my flights, making sure the guest list had been submitted properly, booking a PCR test, doing inventory on my shirts and records.
As the days went by, the soundtrack of my mind frequently featured swirling fragments of various Fat Tony songs. This is a typical phenomenon when you watch the same artist perform every night for a month. Luckily for me, I’m a big Fat Tony fan. There’s a hallucinatory quality to touring that causes the minutes and hours to bleed into each other until a month feels like one really long day. Rolling across the country, I found it interesting how the accents and regional food might change depending on where we were but certain cultural elements remained the same from city to city.
Gentrification has had a flattening effect on urban life across North America. Inequality isn’t something that Toronto has a monopoly on. Most cities I visited in the States had encampments, extreme poverty and economic disparity far beyond anything I’d seen at home. Conversely, I noticed a strange sense of regional pride in the different airports I flew out of: Seattle has a Sub Pop record store, Atlanta has a Black barber shop, San Francisco has a yoga room.
The shows themselves held the catharsis that I dreamed about throughout the pandemic. I loved incrementally refining my set from night to night, adding new routines and tracks depending on where we were. It was so fun running into so many different rappers from town to town. Sometimes it would feel like when there’s a crossover issue of a comic book where The Incredible Hulk is randomly hanging with Wolverine. More than anything, being able to perform again is a total blessing. Thanks to all who came to the shows and I look forward to seeing you again soon!
I’m playing with July Talk in Calgary on December 18 and Edmonton on December 20. Couldn’t be more thrilled to end this whirlwind of a year with two big shows in my home province. Get your tickets here!
Returning to Montreal on February 4th for Taverne Tour Festival at La Tulipe. Tickets just went on sale for that one, can’t wait to see the crew again!
I’m coming back to SXSW next year from March 14-20 and playing Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City from April 7-9!
More 2022 dates to be announced soon!
You can find me at my website, updating my playlist, DJing on Twitch or hanging on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. You can listen to my music on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp