Onward, etc. – 2nd ROAD BLOG from their “2014 U.S. Tour”

The folk band, Onward, etc., is currently on a tour across the United States throughout April and May. While they’re on this tour, they will be writing a blog for us. You can check out the second entry, after the break.

What’s happening guys! So we have just a brief update of our tour from our last journal log, and I’ve completely lost track of day numbers out here (sorry!), so the paragraphs will be sectioned into events now, instead of days. Take a second to read about what we’ve been up to!

So from New York, we made our way down south to Charlotte, North Carolina. We had a one-day break between shows which meant that we had to cannonball all day and all through the night to get to our next location. We had a TV interview the next morning, and decided that instead of renting a hotel room, having to wake up early and drive MORE to get to our destination, we would just drive all the way through the night and camp out in the parking lot of the TV station! We pulled into their parking lot at 4:30 in the morning, let the security guard know who we were, and got a whole three and a half hours of sleep! We woke up, did the TV interview, got the oil changed in the van, then made our way to UNCC where we had a small acoustic session as well as a radio interview. After THAT, we rented a hotel room, took a mini nap, then made our way to the Tremont Music Hall. At the venue we met up with our good friend Zach Stamey, who recorded an acoustic music video for us and hooked us up with a mini photo shoot! We met some AWESOME people there and completely tore the place down. Charlotte welcomed us warmly and we returned the favor by melting their faces off with rock!

After Charlotte, we drove to Marietta, Georgia where we played at Swayze’s, a local hotspot for bands to play and showcase their music. We played a kickass set and then talked with the crowd a little bit. Our drummer’s cousin and her husband graciously put us up for the night (thanks Tanya and Justin!), where they provided plenty of sleeping room, warm showers, a hearty breakfast, and sent us on the way with more snacks and drinks than we could hope for! We were all very thankful and felt refreshed after such a well-spent night, and hit the road once again.

So our next location was supposed to be Knoxville, Tennessee, but unfortunately, after probably 5 hours of driving, we discovered the show to be cancelled. But we made the best of the situation! We continued on the road, stopped at a fireworks emporium (where obviously we loaded up,) and made our way into Nashville. We struggled to find parking, but when we finally did, it just happened to be in front of the Third Man Records record store! We poked around inside for a little bit and Rosco and Dave cut a couple vinyls for their loved ones. After that we piled in the van and pressed on to Springfield.

Springfield, Missouri. The “home”town of violinist KC Olsen and our positive vibe technician (PVT) Stacey Gill. The reason the quotations are around the word “home” is for the fact that they were actually moving out when we left the city the next day. We got into town and stopped at KC’s place, where Tom (the roommate) grilled us some DELICIOUS steaks and got us ready for the gig that night. We rocked the Outland Ballroom that night, where Springfield really welcomed us and created a great energy for us to play. After the show, we all had a great time at the after-party at Pappo’s Pizza, and then caught some Z’s before leaving for Columbia the next day.

Our next destination wasn’t too far away (only about 4 hours,) but we also enjoyed our stops along the way. We pulled up, started unloading, got the drums mostly set up, only to realize that we didn’t have a hi-hat stand! So we made our way to the local music shop which had everything we needed! A hi-hat stand, a new snare drum head, flat-wound strings for Dave’s bass, and rosin for KC’s violin strings. We all felt a little exhausted that night, but regardless, we rocked the place, talked with some awesome people afterwards, and then went home to sleep!

the date today is April 13th, 2014. All the events that I write about in this paragraph happened yesterday. We woke up at 7, after going to sleep at 2 the previous night, and I (Nolan) took the first driving shift. We left at 7:28, with an eleven-hour drive ahead of us to make it to Denver, Colorado at around 8 o’clock (stops included,) to play our show that night. I drove for about an hour, while KC got just a little more sleep in the back, and then he took over when we had to gas up again. The problem with the road we took yesterday, was that we were battling headwinds ALL day, and could only average around 50-55 miles per hour. At that rate, it was going to take us more like 13-14 hours to get to Denver. But that did not deter us! We pressed on. KC drove for two and a half hours, and then I drove for two and a half hours, and then Dave drove for a little bit, and that’s when things started to get interesting. We knew that there was snow in Denver, but what we didn’t realize was that we were heading right into a snow-storm. Dave pulled off to get gas, and it was frosting outside. The cashier-attendant warned us of icy roads ahead, but we didn’t know how badly they were going to get. We got maybe a mile from our last stop, and had to slow the van down to 15 miles an hour to just crawl over the iced over roads, otherwise the tires would spin, we would lose traction, and we would slide. We braved the roads for a good two hours, but then KC no longer felt safe and pulled off the road. We discussed our options; either push on and try to make it to Denver, or find a cheap motel and bunk up for the night. After a lot of thought, we decided to push on with Dave behind the wheel. We got maybe two miles out, then it happened. We were cruising along, when we started sliding and just couldn’t control the vehicle any longer. It careened off the road and into a ditch where finally the fresh powder snow helped stop the van. We all took a deep breath, thankful that we were okay, then started trying to plan a way to get out. We tried EVERYTHING and the van would just not budge. We called the insurance company and was actually able to get a hold of a towing service. While we waiting for the tow truck to arrive, we decided to light off our fireworks we had bought on the way to Nashville! They were glorious, and quite literally, a shining ray of hope in our bleak situation. The tow truck arrived, pulled us out, and we nursed the van to the closest hotel. We ended up getting to sleep last night at like 1 o’clock in the morning, but we thankfully survived.

So that’s about all the adventures we’ve experienced so far! Unfortunately we don’t have a gig tonight, so we’re just going to make our way to KC’s moms house where we’re going to clean up and regroup. Keep checking back to read more of our whacky tour!

Keep up with Onward, etc. on Facebook and Twitter. Check out all of the band’s upcoming tour dates here!