The Main Squeeze – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, Corey Frye of the rock ‘n roll band, The Main Squeeze, talks about some of their crazy moments from touring. You can check out the feature, after the break.

As I sit here a week after our most recent tour and reflect on the last six weeks on the road, I am blessed to be alive and well. You see this blog was supposed to be a video blog where I show you how The Main Squeeze does life on the road — our van, our beds our favorite food stops etc. — but alas, the van did not make it home this time.

After five weeks on the road, riding the high off of a great weekend in Burlington, VT and Boston, MA with Lotus, it was time to leave the East Coast and head to the Midwest to put a final stamp on our ‘Without A Sound’ Tour Part II. It was little before midnight and I had been tasked with finishing the drive to get the van to our drummer Reuben’s house, where we’d be hanging for the next few days before playing our last shows of the tour. Rob (bass) and I were in the front listening to a new podcast that he showed me, while Max (guitar), Rueben and John (sound engineer) rested in the back. Now the midwest in October is my favorite time of year. The crisp autumn air cools you off as summer ends, and the colors of the leaves changing on the trees are as cool in the daytime as the stars look amongst a late-night bonfire. The only worry in the Midwest during this time of year is the enormous deer population just roaming the lands, flirting with the roads and just waiting to meet their doom.

At approximately 1:33 am, I met one of those deer and it completely turned our last week of tour upside down…

I had just stopped at a random gas station that was closed to check the trailer lights. They had been flickering on and off and I just wanted to make sure that the connection wires were good. After getting the lights back on, I continued down Highway 6 from Ohio towards Indiana and received a call from Ben, a good friend of mine. Ben had no idea when he called me, but I was about 40 miles from his hometown and that was the topic of our conversation before this deer came out of nowhere and…BAM!!! We have all heard the term “like a deer in the headlights,” well let me tell you this was nothing like that. When I say this deer came out of nowhere, I want you to picture a deer running as fast as he can without a care in the world… He wasn’t standing in the road. He was moving very fast in the middle of the night on an Ohio highway without many lights; in an instant, a big 12-passenger Mercedes Sprinter with a trailer full of equipment traveling about 55mph — and me behind the wheel — collided with him and took him out. I told Ben that I had just hit a deer and had to call him back. I pulled over off the highway and stopped the van to assess the situation, and at this point, everyone is wide awake and checking out the van with me.

When we got out of the van, I noticed what seemed to be radiator fluid leaking from the vehicle and both lights on the passenger side were smashed, among many other things. Basically, the whole front passenger side was in pretty bad shape, and to top it off, there was deer hair all over (sheesh). I knew it was pretty bad and that we probably should not drive very far in the van, but were stuck in the middle of Egerton, Ohio population 12,000 and we needed to get the van (and ourselves) to a safe place.

I decided to get everyone back in the van drive to the nearest gas station which was a couple of miles down the road. Here I would park and call the police to get some help. It took a while for Officer Towns to arrive, as he was the only policeman in town, and when I called 911 they had a hard time identifying where we were and which police department they needed to contact to assist us. Officer Towns was very helpful in getting a report together and putting us in contact with the one cab driver, Leroy, in Egerton. In true Midwest fashion, Leroy took us to a motel that he knew of and gave me his personal phone number to call him for a ride back to the van in the morning.

Rueben and I proceeded to walk to the gas station across from the motel while Max was checking in rooms, and when I came back to the hotel, all I could do was sit outside and reflect on the events that had just transpired. I sat there having a smoke and contemplated how unfortunate the whole situation was. I looked that deer in the eye as he hit the van, and this is an image I have thought about more than just a few times since the end of the tour. There was no way of avoiding this deer and even if I could have, I’m not sure I would have done so without out risking serious injury to my brothers in that van. I went to sleep sad for the deer but happy and thankful that we were all alright.

In the morning, Reuben’s dad Jud had already called and given us a place to tow the van to for repair and was working on a way to come pick us up in Ohio. Max handled speaking to our insurance company to get them up to speed with what was going on, and we called Leroy to pick us and take us to back to the van to get it towed. Now after we got the van towed, Max and I grabbed Subway sandwiches at the gas station while we waited to get picked up. While Max was in line making conversation, we find out that the guy working — who is on his first day on the job — knows of our band and just recently saw us at one of our first shows of this tour, Resonance Music Festival. This guy was really excited and proclaimed “Your late night set was my favorite set of the whole weekend!” A little sunshine on an otherwise rainy day, but it’s those little things can change the whole trajectory of a day. Rueben’s dad drove 1.5 hours to come pick us and the trailer up, and then we drove another 1.5 hours to get us to Goshen where we met up with Reuben’s mom Rita and celebrated our much needed day off over beers. The Squeeze parents are unbelievable and would do anything to take care of their boys, we’re just blessed that they love us so much.

We found out two days later that the van would take a few weeks to get fixed, but Enterprise Truck rental came through with a Ford F250 Super-duty to haul our trailer and we also rented a small car so we could get everyone around for our last five shows of the tour. We proceeded to put 1000+ miles on that truck and car as we played five shows in five days in Goshen, IN, Bloomington, IN, Chicago, IL and Madison, WI. Through all of that chaos, we had some killer shows had some fun getting down with the best fans in the world! It was one hell of a week, but we got through it together, ’cause at the end of the day, no matter what, the show must go on. A very special shoutout to our good friend’s Cory and Brittany Marlow for allowing us to park our trailer at their home while the van is being repaired and until we fly back for our Thanksgiving show in Indianapolis Nov 22 @ The Vogue.

Rest in heaven little deer, I’m sorry it had to end the way that it did.

DEC 30 SAT The Mint Los Angeles, CA
DEC 31 SUN The Mint Los Angeles, CA
JAN 17 WED Jam Cruise Miami, FL
FEB 2 FRI The Bluebird Theatre Denver, CO
FEB 3 SAT Schmiggity’s Steamboat Springs, CO
FEB 15 THU Harlow’s Night Club Sacramento, CA
FEB 16 FRI The Dip Redding, CA
FEB 17 SAT Crystal Bay Club & Casino Crystal Bay, NV
MAR 22 THU The Wayfarer Costa Mesa, CA
MAR 24 SAT Innings Festival Tempe, AZ
APR 19 THU Wanee 2018 Live Oak, FL

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