Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

I’m back home for 10 more days. The shows went really well. In fact, I think it was the most successful jaunt I’ve ever been on. There are a few things that help keep spirits high when you’re on the road with your band:

The first is people actually coming out to the shows. Since we were opening for a bigger band we had nothing to worry about in that department. Sometimes you can hit a town half a dozen times and still only get 10 people out. On this one about 100 people watched us every night which is rewarding after sinking hour after hour into writing and rehearsing.

The second is promotion for the shows. We had some awesome people work really hard for us on this tour. That and the fact that we’re charting nationally now added to people actually being aware that we existed before we hit the stage. It’s neat to be out of town and have people sing along to your songs. I’ve never experienced that before, though the last touring band I played in was an instrumental one.

The third is pay. It can be a real bummer when you get paid out $6 at the end of the night when you have to find food, a place to stay and put gas in the tank. Fortunately for us, we were paid handsomely by each promoter and sold some merch to boot. This alleviates a ton of stress and I don’t think any of us had to dip into personal savings. A huge success in the world of independent music.

Fourth: tour tantrums. Spending a large portion of your day in a hot van with your bandmates can be grating. If people aren’t careful to keep their attitudes in check, the day can easily turn into a drag. Being that we’ve all run this gamut before in other bands, we made a point to air our grievances which helped raise awareness of things that can be done on a personal level to improve the overall enjoyment of the experience. It’s neat, we’re all older dudes and we were all pals before we started this thing, so it feels like everyone is a little more invested in making sure people are having a good time.

Anyways, our homecoming show was bananas and we were offered a spot to play at the Western Canadian Music Awards which is kind of neat. It’s a strange thing, this band. Things just seem to keep coming our way. The band we played with wants to bring us to Montreal in the fall. They really dug our stuff and would like to help us out so we’re starting to draft plans for the fall, which brings me to my next topic.

When I returned home, I arrived to find that I got a B in my ethics class and a reply from the public school board. Turns out my application was accepted and I was provided with information on how to apply for a job subbing this fall (which I will be able to do once I finish my last class and get my teaching certificate). That’s really what I’m going to shoot for. Having the flexibility to do the band thing and be in the school environment when I’m at home seems like the bees knees to me, for the next while at least. You know, you’ve got to keep moving forward, but you can’t forget who you are or what keeps you in love with the world. This is a lesson I’ve come to learn in the last couple of years re: happiness.

Ok, Africa time. Today I begin making with the preparations. First thing’s first; getting my itinerary together as well as a making list of supplies I need to pick up and things I need to take care of.