The Little Stevies vs Canada

Hello! We are in Canada. Actually, I think I’m in a Twilight film and will be disappointed if I don’t come face to face with a vampire before this two month tour is up. Right now we are in a town called Kamloops which is situated a few hours out of Vancouver, and it is reminiscent of the town Forks in which the vampire trilogy is set, much like a lot of these regional towns we have found ourselves in on the east side of this country so far. A few days ago we caught a ferry across to Vancouver Island which was breath taking, to play three shows, and drove highways through some of the most spectacular mountainous landscapes that I have only ever seen in travel broacher pictures. I won’t lie; I was floored and intimidated by how small I felt next to these huge lush snow capped beings fencing us in and carving the way through the patches of cloud that lead to the next town on the map. I have most definitely found a whole new respect for the landscape which will always be bigger than us no matter how much we try to control it, and I sense of guilt for any foreign traveler visiting Australia who has to survive our somewhat less impressive and dull Hume highway drive up the east coast.

We are though on a pretty big adventure though Canada where by the end of August we will have seen more of Canada than some Canadians would see in a lifetime, so we’re told by the locals. We arrived last week in Toronto, and being the no time-wasting band we are, got straight to doing our first show the following night at the Drake Hotel supporting the very cool Ron Hawkins. We then started our road trip to Sudbury, five hours out of Toronto, where we played the first of five festivals that we’ll be doing, called the Northern Lights Festival. This festival, which was situated next to a huge fresh water lake, was a beautiful setting and our time and performance there couldn’t have been more enjoyable. Our show happened to be snapped and stuck on the front page of the local paper which was quite hilarious and we were even lucky enough to be invited out sailing by Jorge, a local Geography Professor who showed us a great time and the essence of living and enjoying yourself.

So our adventure continues. After tonight we head back to Vancouver for a couple of shows and then begin the drive back across the country to Toronto over the next three weeks, playing along the way, in our ridiculous jet black SUV. Hopefully we get to see a bear, or an elk, or a moose along the way too, though from a distance and the safety of a human-made structure preferably.

Until the next blog,
Beth