I spent the majority of the month of November on tour playing bass with Tourneforte. I had a great time and I’m going to recap it to the best of my ability on here. In true Windleyhub fashion, I am not proofreading this.
Day One: Camp Transylvania, Greenville SC
We kicked off the tour in Greenville SC at the third annual Camp Transylvania. This was the third and final day of the fest. We played right after our friends in the North Carolina band Condado, who are super tight and entertaining. We took the stage at 5PM. I usually remember to take my hat and glasses off when I perform since I move around a lot. I forgot to on this occasion, and my glasses flew off my face onto the stage where I at some point stepped on them. After the set, I helped load out gear and had Andrew pick me up to meet with our good friends Justin and Meleah at a Halloween party their friends were having. We got to meet some cool people all in various degrees of corpsepaint, including the legendary “DeathMetalCousin”.
Day Two: Marvelous 3, Atlanta Georgia.
This fortunately was an off day well before I agreed to hop on this tour. And that’s a good thing because there was no way I’d be missing the band Marvelous 3. Andrew and I drove to the Tabernacle in Atlanta Georgia, but not before a stop at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, where we partook in some of their “boat drinks” before heading to the gig. We met up with my uncle Ryan, his friend Renee, and Scout. For some reason at this show there was a DJ from the local radio station spinning all the early 2000s rock/pop punk hits. We were kind of confused, but by the time the confusion wore off M3 took the stage and delivered the best live music experience I’ve ever been graced with. From start to finish these dudes delivered a better show than many younger bands can only dream of. It really psyched me up for the next couple weeks on the road.
Day Three: Graveyard Gallery, Murfreesboro TN
Andrew drove my car back to Myrtle Beach and I hopped in the van with the Tourneforte boys and found my spot on the back bench of what would basically be our home for almost a month. We made our way to Murfreesboro TN to play at a place called Graveyard Gallery, which was a cool DIY spot. Before that we browsed the selection at Carter Vintage Guitars, which had a lot of stuff that I was afraid to touch. We then dined at the Whataburger before meeting up with our tour mates in Clementine at the venue. The local bands on the bill were Buzie and Juliet’s Apartment, who both played really fun sets, and was a great spot to start our tour. We then made our only Waffle House stop after the show with the Clementine boys. It was there I realized that I was gonna be best friends with the Clementine boys for the rest of my life. We stayed at a friend of Clementine’s house, and they had two dogs. One looked like a deer, one looked like my old dog Dixie. I forgot everyones name.
Day Four: BirdHouse, Knoxville TN
The next day we headed to The BirdHouse in Knoxville. That morning I called several Walmarts to see if they had my frames for my glasses. Nobody did. I gave up on my shiftily taped glasses and raw dogged the tour with lesser eyesight than preferred. After a stop at Guitar Center to kill some time, to the venue we headed. This building was a house, but it was a community center. They had a surprisingly good sound system for this type of place. I forgot the names of the locals on this show, but they’ll never read this so it’s okay. We stayed with a mutual friend of our keyboardist Jose. She had a dog named Hank and a cat named Linda.
Day Five: Different Wrld, Asheville NC
We were in some familiar territory again, which was nice. We stopped at White Duck Tacos, which happened to be next to a park. I had a walk with Kyle and Jose around the area and it was nice to get out of the van and just get some air. We stumbled into a nearby farmers market and I got a very nice cup of maple cider. We got to Different Wrld, which we had played back in September. Suzie True was the only other band I remember the name of, they were on tour from LA and I think had just played fest. I saw their drummer doing jumping jacks in the green room and they were going pretty hard. We also saw Reis from the band Kerosene Heights and it was cool to talk to him before he moved away. This was the final night we got Cookout, and the first night we treated ourselves to a hotel room at a Holiday Inn Express.
Day Six: Schoolkids Records, Raleigh NC
We got in to Raleigh with a decent amount of time to kill. So we hit up another park where I quickly got exhausted kicking a soccer ball around with Kyle and Jose. We dined at Ruckus pizza next to the venue. I mistakenly got two slices of pizza, which I found out was the size of your standard medium pizza cut in half. This show was very special to I think all of us. We were supporting Fred Mascherino, formerly of Taking Back Sunday, on his solo acoustic tour. He is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, especially in a band/music related setting. A lot of our friends from Myrtle Beach made the drive up to come see us, which was very nice to see some familiar faces. We dined at DP Dough before heading to Weymouth guitarist Jose’s house for the night.
Day Seven: The Biltmore, Charlottesville VA
We were still riding off the high we all got from the Raleigh show, but still didn’t know what to expect from this one. We had kinda been warned by the local band Flight Club “It’s a college bar, learn some covers to pander to the crowd if you want”, we did not do this. The staff was indecisive on our start time, but it was a free show with a band tab, so we were pretty stoked on that. We rocked, Clementine rocked, Flight Club rocked. Also, I met a girl named Jen and she came to the next three shows of ours. She’s pretty cool. If you’re reading this, hi Jen. We treated ourselves to another Holiday Inn Express that night.
Day Eight: Washington D.C.
There wasn’t a show on this day so we just basically played tourist. We visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History as well as the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I didn’t realize how massive that dude was. Insane. Afterwards, we made our way to Reading PA to stay with Jimmy’s friend Jak, who I did not meet, and had no pets.
Day Nine: The Fire, Philadelphia PA
This was by far the strangest show of the entire run. We’ll get to that. We stopped by the art museum where Rocky Balboa famously ran up the stairs. I saw many tourists doing this and eagerly awaited someone to absolutely fuck themselves up but it never happened. They have a statue of Rocky outside and you can pay two guys that do not work there to take a picture of you with it. Pretty hilarious hustle to be honest. We grabbed some cheesesteaks (that’s what they call Philly cheesesteaks there) and headed to The Fire, which was a venue/bar attached to an old fire station. What we learned this day was that the Philadelphia Eagles had a home game, which people were understandably stoked about. We pretty much played to the other bands (and Jen) at this show. But the eight of us in the tour package had never been met with a colder and less interested staff than at this venue. The sound guy was trying to watch the game, and at one point during a bands set went and sat in the gear closet. The Fire, more like the Dumpster Fire…. Elephant Jake was one of the locals, the vocalist Sal did an acoustic set. It was very nice. We stayed with a dude that really liked weed. He had a Tupperware container on his coffee table that just said “community joints”.
Day Ten: Nigels house, Hackettstown NJ
This was another off day, and boy did we need it after the fun we had in Philly. We grabbed some panzarattis, which is essentially a deep fried hot pocket. It was wonderful. We then headed to to stay with our friend Nigel from the band Pheller, who we’d be with for the next few nights with his dogs Ravioli and Garbanzo, and his cats Tofu and TaJin.. He made us some pasta, and it was very nice to have a home cooked meal on the road. We took turns playing Project Cars on his play station, which Jose was very good at, being a F1 fanatic. We had some drinks. I had my first shot of a liquor known as Malort, which is typically only found in Illinois and some other midwest states. The flavor profile can be best described as peppermint and earwax. Absolutely dreadful. This unfortunately was not my only taste of Malort on this tour. We settled in with our drinks and watched the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
Day Eleven: Bar Freda, Brooklyn (or Queens) NY
I still don’t know if we were in Brooklyn or Queens, but I do know that we were at a place called Bar Freda. For those who are closest to me, you may know of my really dumb muscle problem/potassium deficiency called “hypokalemia” that causes me to be very weak and useless. Well it started to happen at this show. More on that later. The staff here were excited to have us and they had everything backlined. It was very refreshing. The sound guy there used to work for the band Trixter, and even had their drummers old kit set up on stage for us. It was here where we might have gotten a taste of Karma for publicly trashing the Fire on social media. We ended up breaking the PA twice during our set, which if you’ve ever listened to Tourneforte, you may ask yourself “How?”, which is extremely valid because none of us knew either. Everyone says “You gotta get a slice of pizza if you’re in New York.” So I did. And it tasted like any other “New York style” pizza I’ve had anywhere else. Give me a better recommendation. Back to Nigel’s we went.
Day Twelve: Nigels house again, Hackettstown NJ
I was very happy to have a day to do nothing after being struck with my lousy condition. But the junk food we continued to eat did not help me. We hit up two nearby hot dog stands, because we had to compare the two. The first was Hot Dog Johnnys, which apparently had a lot of history in the area. They don’t have a menu. Just dogs and fries and soda. I got two of what they call the route 80, which was piled high with ketchup, mustard, relish, onions, and a pickle. The second spot Hot Rods I opted for a single chili dog, since it wasn’t offered at Johnny’s. We actually saw a family walk out of there when they realized they had no chill. We enjoyed a night in of more pizza, and watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again.
Day Thirteen: The Upside, Lancaster PA
We stopped at a bagel place with Nigel before hitting the road again. This was a very cool venue that I wish I could have enjoyed more, but this was the worst night of my hypokalemia. I was so winded trying to carry gear up stairs that I literally thought I was going to pass out. I felt like a piece of shit making the rest of the boys carry my stuff but they were very nice and patient with me. But we rocked, and the Clementine boys said some nice things to me about how cool it was that I still played a good set despite what I was dealing with, which meant a lot. Despite my bullshit, this was sort of a positive turning point of the tour. After the show, we ended up back at Jak’s house in Reading.
Day Fourteen: West Egg, Pittsburgh PA
I was starting to feel better, we didn’t explore too much in Pittsburgh but it was a nice place. After dropping our luggage off at our friend Angela’s house, we headed to our second house show of the tour, but first in a basement. They call em row homes up there, but we call em townhouses. There is no difference. This basement was tiny. To the point where I could reach up my arm and touch the ceiling with my hand. It filled up quick and the bands we played with were pretty cool. I got to see my friend (and former boss) Zoe, and her girlfriend. It was very cool that they came out since I hadn’t seen her in like two years.
Day Fifteen: Real rocker shit, Cleveland OH
We originally had a show planned for this day, but I think we all felt the need for one more off day. We got to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without paying a dime since they allow touring bands free entry, and Jimmy scored us guest list spots for the sold out Hot Mulligan show that was happening (probably the reason our show fell apart). I stayed for half of the show before heading back to the van to allow my legs to rest some more so I could be better the next day. We treated ourselves again to a Holiday Inn Express in Sandusky Ohio, which had the best bed of the entire tour.
Day Sixteen: The Fledge, Lansing MI
I was finally feeling close to 100% better on this day. We played a really solid show for a lot of people. The Fledge is a very cool venue that is an old church turned into a community center. The locals really pulled thru with being awesome bands and awesome people. Shoutouts to Clipboards and Tournament. We stayed with Keifer from Tournament, and I had never met anyone with that name before so I actually remembered it. I lost my credit card at some point this day and could not find it at any of the places we went to.
Day Seventeen: Bookclub, Chicago IL
Chicago was a cool city. One of my favorite “big cities” we went to on this run. I didn’t see much of it, but it seemed very nice what we did see. We grabbed some Chicago dogs and Polish sausages from a place called Jim’s Original. They had everything ready by the time you were done ordering it. Highly recommend. Bookclub was a neat place. The sound guy was playing really cool music over the PA and it wasn’t anything like the bands that played, which I always love that. After we ripped thru our sets we celebrated by each downing a mini bottle of Malort. With one left over after wards, I regretfully had a second shot of Malort. It made me feel simultaneously awful, and like I could take over the world. I stumbled into the Mexican place next door, had a heartfelt talk with Joe from Clementine, and ordered a chicken quesadilla. We then made the trek to Mack from Clementine’s house in Roscoe IL, where we’d be crashing the next three nights.
Day Eighteen: “The Very Famous” X-Ray Arcade, Milwaukee WI
This show was hyped up to me by everyone in the tour package. Clem’s show on their home turf, X-Ray being a cool spot to play, Milwaukee being cool, etc. Each of those things delivered. This show ruled. I can see why it’s very famous. We played with Barely Civil and Man Random, and another band I’m forgetting. They had a very luxurious green room as well. The only thing about Milwaukee I didn’t like was that I couldn’t order a Milwaukee’s best at the bar, but I found a tallboy at a gas station later so we were okay. Before the show we met up with Kelsie from “The Yellowbutton” on Instagram and Tik Tok. She was nice enough to grab some good photos of us and get lunch with us at a local brewery where I had cheese curds that were made from scratch. Top tier stuff. Back to Macks house we went so we could get drunk. We ended up showing each other all our old bands on YouTube.
Day Nineteen: The Rigby, Madison WI
I still have a drink ticket from this place so I need to go back soon I guess. Nothing special about this one, just your average good show. I think at this point I was really just wanting to hang with the Clementine boys at the house. Show was cool, bands were cool, then we went to Mack’s.
Day Twenty: Big Green House, Rockford IL
Before we made our way to the show, we stopped at a local chain called Beefaroo. They’re known for their roast beef sandwiches and blue raspberry milkshakes. Gotta say, this was a solid fast food option. My sandwich coulda used some sauce, but it was very good. And the milkshake was awesome too. As for the show, this was the most insane house/basement show I’ve ever played. It was packed, at least 60 people in this place. Also in another city that Clementine claims as a hometown. We played with a band called Half Catholic that was too goddamn good. Some drunk lady talked to me with a heavy Minnesota accent and it was really hard for me to not start talking like her, fer dern sure doncha know?
Day Twenty-One: Peoria IL, Landmark Lanes
Who would have thought that the most packed show of the tour would be in a bowling alley in Peoria IL? Not a damn one of us. Their scene is popping off. I think there were maybe 150 people squeezed into this banquet hall of the bowling alley. Me and Kyle had befriended the saddest drunk guy at the bar and he bought us shots and beers. This was a bitter sweet show. We had reached the end of the run with Clementine and we were heading home the next day. We all rocked, each grabbed one of our tour posters and had the other band sign it and write nice things. I got teary eyed when I read what the Clem boys had to say. For only knowing those guys for 3 weeks, it started to feel like we knew each other longer. It’s really cool how music can bring people together and I’m really glad I met those guys.
The next day we drove straight home. 14 or so hours with only 3 stops. Shoutout to the Tourneforte boys: Jimmy, Kyle, and Jose for putting up with my shenanigans for three weeks and helping me out when I was unable to move anything. Shoutout to the Clementine boys: Joe, Mack, Levi, and Cory, for all the fun hangs and for rocking out with us every night.
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