Updated Update

Ignore that last blog posting. We are playing the Oasis pub on 7/10 with Bombadil and American (members of Quiet Life) as originally scheduled, instead of Saturday at Sailfest. Sorry for the confusion.

-Doug

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July Tour Update and Booking Info
Current mood: pirate

We're getting excited about playing a few shows in July. There has been one schedule change. We won't be playing the Oasis Pub show on 7/10. You should still go since a great band called Bombadil from my new hometown of Chapel Hill/Durham, NC is playing: www.myspace.com/bombadil. Instead of doing that show in New London, we will now be playing on Saturday, 7/12 as part of Sailfest. A time and location will be announced soon.
The reason for this last minute schedule change revolves around Dan T.'s life situation. Without going into a lot of details, let's just say you can now call him "Captain Dan." He successfully passed an exam that lets him pilot 100 ton vessels with passengers. We may soon lose him forever to the call of the high seas.
We've always joked about doing a boat or a barge tour. With gas prices so high and a licensed Captain among us, maybe one day it will become a reality. Stay tuned, matey....
Other than that, our booking situation remains pretty much the same. I am still living 700 miles from the rest of the band, and I plan to return to my life down here after the week of shows in July. Most likely the Can Kickers will be unable to play live for the rest of the year, although there may be one or two more shows around the end of December.
It will be good to see you all in July.

-Doug

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666 Shows, School Buses, Tobacco Barns, and Hangers

We just got back from a 21 day tour that took us from Boston to Florida and back. It was a lot of fun, but it's good to be home. I just finished updating our web page. We just played show number 666 on Tuesday night. I was hoping number 666 would be in New London with a metal band or something. Instead it was at a Boy Scout camp in Tennessee in front of a bunch of college activists campaigning against mountaintop removal mining. A worthy cause, but would Satan really approve? Danny and I both had the flu, and we had to cut the tour short by a day and head home the next morning.
So, the tour. The shows were fun. I could go into detail about each one, but I was talking with my friend Robert Daniel about how I describe shows, and there's only so much "this show was awesome, and then we got drunk and ate burritos!!!!" the reader can take. Yes, all of the shows were good. Especially Boston, Atlanta, Kirksville, Missouri, and New London at Oasis. People danced, blah blah blah...
Instead, let's talk about sleeping spaces. One of the best (sometimes worst) things about touring the way we do is the places we end up laying our heads at night. On this tour alone we slept in a school bus, a farmhouse, an old cement factory that looked like an airplane hanger, and a boy scout camp.
First, the school bus. You "folk punk" fans out there might recognize it as the bus that toured around as part of the Plan-it-X festival last year. It's painted purple and it has couches and a loft built into it. It's very comfortable. It's parked at Chris from Ghost Mice's house in Gainesville, Florida. February's a good time to sleep outside in Florida.
Then there's the farmhouse. It's on 600 acres of land in Springfield, Kentucky. We played a show in the tobacco barn there, and then we slept next to the woodstove in the house. That was the first night I had the flu, so I was pretty stoked about the fireplace. A tobacco barn is a great place to have a show in. It's got big rafters where the tobacco is hung up to dry and people who feel like getting rowdy can swing around on them.
The airplane hanger is in Athens, Georgia. It's actually a quonset hut that was used as part of a cement factory during World War II. That being said, it sure looks like an old hanger that you'd see at a grass airstrip with prop planes. Everyone calls it the hanger, anyway, so there you go. If you want to get technical about it, I actually slept in the van that night, but at least a couple of us slept in the hanger. We did hang out there and I watched as Dan T.'s jacket was stenciled with a Wu-Tang logo, something I told him he'd regret in the morning.
The Boy Scout Camp was the last place we stayed. Ironically enough it's where we played our 666th show, too. We showed up after an 8 hour drive hacking up lungs and generally pretty miserable with the flu. We pulled up in the freezing rain and found out that a) The power was out. b) One of the speakers at the event had just had a heart attack and c) A dog had just died.
We managed to get it together enough to play, and it turned out to be a great time. An organization called seeds of change was there and I picked up lots of vegetable packets to plant this spring so I can eat this summer. That was nice.
I've already had a bunch of people asking whether or not this really was our last tour. Wasn't the last one supposed to be the "last one"?
Well, here's what's happening. I live 700 miles from Dan and Dan right now. I will be living there at least until July 2009. Between gas prices being what they are and the amount of gas it takes to get our van just about anywhere, we won't be touring any time soon. I live in an area where I can ride my bike to just about everywhere I need to go, and that's fine with me. It'll be nice to be in one place for a while. Touring can be a lot of fun, but it can destroy your physical and mental health.
As a band, we've ended up in more places than any of us ever thought we would. I'm surprised we're still playing, to tell you the truth. This is our 8th year of existence. We still get along and enjoy playing together, but I feel like we could walk away at any time and be totally satisfied with what we've accomplished. It's a good place to be in.
All that being said, we do have a couple shows in the works for the Northeast in July. We'll keep you posted.
If any of you have pictures from this past tour and feel like sharing, you can send them to cankickers@hotmail.com. I was really lazy and only managed to take 4 or 5 pictures of the whole trip.

-Doug

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More Show Info for 2/13 and 2/19

The show at Hampshire College on Wednesday, Feb. 13th is now at the Centrum Gallery on the campus. It starts at 8:30 and it's with Zebu and Eric Hnatiaw. All Ages.

We just added another show, too. February 19th in Chapel Hill, NC at the Philbog, 404 Lindsay Street w/Aunt Dracula, Putty Hands, The Party Band. We play at 8 PM Sharp. Later that night we'll be at Reservoir Bar in Carrboro.

Tonight's the first show of the tour. We haven't played in a while. I'm looking forward to it.

-Doug

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February Tour Dates

The February tour is just about all lined up. I think we said something about not touring again. Obviously we are lying scumbags. See you at the shows. We're also looking for people to put up flyers in these towns. If you're interested in helping out email us at cankickers@hotmail.com. Thanks!

-Doug



FEBRUARY 2008
(Dates subject to change. Check www.cankickers.com for updates.)

Tuesday, February 12th- JAMAICA PLAIN, MA @ Midway Cafe 3496 Washington Street 9 PM w/Whoa Man Jesus and Pariah Beat

Wednesday, February 13th- AMHERST, MA @ Hampshire College 8 PM All Ages Benefit for Flywheel Arts Space w/Chris Merenda (The Mammals), Zebu. Free for Hampshire Students, donations everyone else. Proceeds support Flywheel.

Thursday, February 14th- NEW LONDON, CT @ Bean and Leaf 13 Washington Street All Ages CD Release party for "Live at LavaZone" on Fistolo Records 7 PM Early Show

Thursday, February 14th- NEW LONDON, CT @ Oasis Pub 16 Bank Street 21+ CD release party for "Live at LavaZone" on Fistolo Records 21+ w/Paul Brockett Roadshow! 10 PM

Friday, February 15th- Brooklyn, NY @ Death by Audio 49 S 2nd between Wythe and Kent in Williamsburg w/Guignol, Mimi Lavalley 8 PM All Ages Trains:L to Bedford, JM to Marcy, G to Metropolitan www.myspace.com/deathbyaudioshows for info

Saturday, February 16th- WASHINGTON, DC @ The Velvet Lounge 915 U Street w/Sounds of Kaleidescope, Relay, Aunt Dracula www.velvetloungedc.com for info

Sunday, February 17th- STAUNTON, VA @ Baja Bean 9 W Beverly Street 9:30 PM

Monday, February 18th- GREENVILLE, NC @ Spazzatorium Galleria 807 Dickinson Ave All Ages 8 PM

Tuesday, February 19th- CARRBORO, NC @ Reservoir Bar 100-A Brewer Lane www.reservoirbar.net for complete info

Wednesday, February 20th- FLORENCE, SC @ 511 House 511 W Pine Street w/Mountain Yellers All Ages 8 PM

Thursday, February 21st- GAINESVILLE, FL @ Wayward Council 807 W University 8 PM All Ages

Friday, February 22nd- TALLAHASSEE, FL @ Oaf House 521 Conradi Street All Ages, 8 PM, donation for bands.

Saturday, February 23rd- JACKSONVILLE, FL @ Doozer's Pub 7636 North Main Street w/Helio's Eye, SuperAids, 2Legit, The Devil Runs the Truckstop www.myspace.com/doozerspub for info 

Sunday, February 24th- ATHENS, GA @ Transmetropolitan Pizza 145 East Clayton All Ages w/Pine Hill Haints, Hot New Mexicans

Monday, February 25th- ATLANTA, GA @ 11:11 Tea Shop 753 Edgewood Ave NE w/Pine Hill Haints, Ben Tricky

Tuesday, February 26th- HUNTSVILLE, AL @ The Flying Monkey 2211 Seminole  w/Pine Hill Haints, Mosquito Bandito

Wednesday, February 27th- Florence, AL @ Black Owl Trading Company 1207 North Wood Avenue w/Pine Hill Haints, Counter Clockwise

Thursday, February 28th- LITTLE ROCK, AR @ White Water Tavern 2500 W 7th Street w/Pine Hill Haints, Counter Clockwise

Friday, February 29th-Sunday March 2nd- COLUMBIA, MO @ True/False Film Festival

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Contra Dance Tour

This is Doug. I'm out on tour with a contra dance band called Lightning Strikes right now. Come out and do some dancing here: (I'm playing the ones with an asterisk *)

I'll be posting Can Kicker news next week...the February tour is almost completely lined up with lots of great shows. See you all soon.

Lightning Strikes on tour
(Corey Walters mandolin and flute, Jonah Sidman fiddle, Chloe Maher piano, Doug Schaefer drums and washboard, David Giusti calling)

*January 8: Winston-Salem, NC Contra Dance http://feetretreat.com/fiddlebow/public/winston.cfm
*January 9: Greenville, SC Contra Dance http://www.harvestmoonfolk.org/
*January 11: Concert in Ashville, NC (Details forthcoming)
*January 12: Brasstown, NC Contra Dance http://www.folkschool.org/
*January 14: Knoxville, TN Contra Dance http://www.discoveret.org/kcd/
*January 16: Baltimore, MD Contra Dance http://www.bfms.org/
January 19: Lancaster, PA Contra Dance http://www.lancastercontra.org/
January 20: Owego, NY Contra Dance http://www.tiogatrailscafe.com/
January 22: Concert in Brooklyn, NY (Details forthcoming)
January 23: Princeton, NJ Contra Dance http://www.princetoncountrydancers.org/
*January 25: Harrisburg, PA Contra Dance http://locustlanecontra.freeservers.com/
*January 26: Frederick, MD Contra Dance http://www.contradancers.com/mmfac/
*January 27: Glen Echo, MD Contra Dance http://fsgw.org/

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Aftermath/Tentative February Tour Schedule
Current mood: virginal

It's been two weeks since we've been home. The rest of the tour after Lafayette flew by. All the shows were pretty good. We really hauled ass. We ended up doing 34 shows in 34 days, and we a good portion of the country, including the entire West coast, from about 10 miles south of Canada to 20 miles north of Mexico. My whole body hurt for about a week afterwards...I haven't had a drink in two weeks to try and clear out my system. (Yes, that is the sound of the "waambulance" you hear in the backgound...ha ha).

Overall, the whole trip was super smooth. The van held up nicely, only giving us a couple of flat tires the entire way. None of the shows fell through, and we always had food and a place to stay. I kept comparing it to the first time we ever did a U.S. tour, when we'd cook spaghetti in parking lots and stay in a town for 2 or 3 days at a time when we couldn't find a show anywhere else. I'm pretty grateful that we're still able to do this. I've seen so much of the country and met so many good people. I definitely don't want to do this the rest of my life, but I don't have any regrets about what we've done so far.

That being said...so that last tour wasn't really the "last one." We're going to go out in February for a couple weeks so we can end up at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. After that trip we don't have anything planned at all. We live 700 miles apart right now, so we can only really do tours. Hope to see you all out there in February. Here's the tentative schedule...get in touch if you want to help with flyers or a show or whatever...

FEBRUARY 2008
(Dates subject to change. Check www.cankickers.com for updates.)

Thursday, February 14th- NEW LONDON, CT @ TBA

Friday, February 15th- NEW YORK, NY @ TBA

Saturday, February 16th- WASHINGTON, DC @ TBA

Sunday, February 17th- STAUNTON, VA @ Baja Bean 9 W Beverly Street 9:30 PM

Monday, February 18th- GREENVILLE, NC @ Spazzatorium Galleria 807 Dickinson Ave All Ages 8 PM

Tuesday, February 19th- RALEIGH/CHAPEL HILL, NC @ TBA

Wednesday, February 20th- SOUTH CAROLINA @ TBA

Thursday, February 21st- GAINESVILLE, FL @ Wayward Council 807 W University 8 PM All Ages

Friday, February 22nd- TALLAHASSEE, FL @ TBA

Saturday, February 23rd- JACKSONVILLE, FL @ TBA

Sunday, February 24th- ATHENS, GA @ TBA

Monday, February 25th- ATLANTA, GA @ TBA w/Pine Hill Haints

Tuesday, February 26th- HUNTSVILLE, AL @ TBA w/Pine Hill Haints

Wednesday, February 27th- MEMPHIS, TN @ TBA w/Pine Hill Haints

Thursday, February 28th- LITTLE ROCK, AR @ White Water Tavern 2500 W 7th Street w/Pine Hill Haints

Friday, February 29th-Sunday March 2nd- COLUMBIA, MO @ True/False Film Festival

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Roadrunner...Roadrunner...

If this really is the last tour we're going out in style. Almost every show has been great, and we've run into so many old friends. I sometimes forget how many genuinely good people we've met over the years. It's nice to see them all again, and that's probably the thing I'll miss most about going out on the road.
Anyway, we've put some serious miles on the ol' rustbucket since last time I wrote.
Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Tucson- Stayed with some ex-New Londoners and got to hike in the Seguaro National forest in the morning. We walked over beautiful mountains covered with gigantic cacti. I took lots of pictures. The show itself had a weird vibe to it. Even though people were friendly the room just seemed kind of dead.

Flagstaff and Las Cruces were good, then we drove 600 miles in one day to San Marcos, Texas. We played an early show in San Marcos, and then drove another half an hour to Austin and played at midnight. I think we'll try not to do that again, even though we were all so cracked out from the driving that both shows were fun in a surreal kind of way. Who books these tours anyway? Oh right...

Fort Worth was with Ghost Mice and the Dauntless Elite from England. Our friend Dylan from Ireland was selling merch for them. Small world. We stayed with Rick Vee and Danny interviewed him about his movie collection.

Alexandria, Lousiana was at a bar that fed us some of the biggest sandwiches I've seen in my life.

Last night was at the Blue Moon in Lafayette, Lousiana. We're in Cajun country right now. Yesterday we got into town early enough to drive to Avery Island, where they make Tabasco sauce. There was Cajun music playing on the radio as we drove through the swamps. The DJ's were speaking in French. We took a tour of the factory and tried some Tabasco ice cream and Tabasco soda.
The show was great. The Blue Moon is a combination guest house and venue, and the stage is set up on a covered wooden deck with lots of old signs and license plates on the wall. It's like you're at a shack on the bayou with alligators crawling around outside...except it's in the middle of a city. It's a neat place and a bunch of people showed up by our second set. People down here really know how to dance. Not just shake around awkwardly, but actually move in time to the music with a partner. It's amazing to watch.

There's only a little over a week left of tour. As of right now we don't have anything booked once we get back. There's something in the works for February, but we'll have to see how that works out. We don't even live in the same state any more.
We'll have to make these next few shows count...

-Doug

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Wilmington, California

So we've been driving our asses off all over the country. Since last time I wrote we've played Missoula, Montana, Bellingham, Washington, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, Arcata, California, Berkeley, California, Stockton, California, San Diego, and last night we played in Wilmington, California. Most of the time we've gotten up early, driven for a really long time, played a show, went to bed, and got up and done it all over again. You get pretty tired after a while. It's fun, but usually we take a lot longer to do a tour this big, and now I remember why.
All of the shows have been pretty good. Stockton especially stands out. I don't have time to write about all of them, so let's focus on Wilmington for a minute.
It's a little town next to San Pedro, which is pretty close to Long Beach.
We got added to this show at the last minute. We didn't even know where it was until two days ago. Something like 10 bands were supposed to play, so we were a little nervous...you know how those shows can go...dragging on for hours and the same people are in all the bands and they're playing with their "other projects." Lame.
BUT, Wilmington wasn't like that at all. It was a backyard house show. We got there and there were already a decent amount of people hanging out. 1 Keg was polished off pretty fast and a collection was taken up for another. The bands playing were actually really good. There was a fast, old school thrash type of band, and then a garage rock band with super catchy songs. More and more people showed up and people were getting wild.
We played sixth.
I think we've been getting a little too mainstream back home in the Northeast. Some of our shows have paid really well, but they haven't been wild, or even necessarily that much fun.
Well, last night it was back to our roots. From the first note there were loads of wild drunken youth falling all over the drumset, knocking mics into faces and bouncing off the walls. It was insane. There were times when I'd be in the middle of a song and I'd have to stop for a second to push some drunken dude back into the pit. We kept it up for about 30 minutes and right as we were finishing the last song the cops showed up. It's been a while since we've played a show where there was even a possibility of the cops shutting it down. In a way it felt really good.
We grabbed our stuff as people were literally dragging their drunken friends out to cars to get home. Some guy in the kitchen pulled out a butcher knife and waved it around in a threatening fashion. Crazy shit.
We're in San Pedro now. We've got a couple more minutes to check it out and then it's back in the van on the way to Vegas.
Don't know what I'd do without coffee at this point....

-Doug

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The Tour So Far

This is how it's gone down:

Thursday, October 11th- We played in New Haven with Defiance Ohio. They were a lot better than the last time I saw them. Fun to talk to, too.
Then I flew to Oregon for a friend's wedding. We were originally supposed to tour out to the wedding but Danny's work schedule got in the way. So now I'll be making two cross country trips in a little less than a month. Good thing I can walk everywhere I need to go once I get home from tour...
I flew back to Providence, Rhode Island on Tuesday the 16th. The Dans picked me up at the airport and we drove to Boston to play with Spoilsport and the Winsome Griffles, who cracked me up. Is gay showtune punk a genre? If so, these guys are the kings, or maybe queens, of it. Stay at Home Ramblers also played, but we got there too late to see them.
Wednesday night we played at home in New London at the food stroll.
Then we left for tour on Thursday morning. The first show was in Syracuse, New York that night. Joe and Tracey hooked us up with some of the best beer we've ever had. Everyone in that town either brews their own beer or works at a brewery. It was fun. There's an upside down traffic light in the neighborhood we stayed in. The green light is over the red one because there were a lot of Irish kids in the area and they would throw rocks at the red light, which supposedly symbolized the British army. The city finally reversed the lights in order to stop paying for repairs, and now there's a statue commemorating the rock throwers.
Friday night was at 29 Custer in Buffalo. A pumpkin was broken open and a seed fight ensued. Last time a table was lit on fire and someone went through a window, so this was a little tamer, but still really fun. Auger and Lousiana Purchase played fun sets as well.
Saturday night was our first time in Athens, Ohio, at the Smiling Skull Saloon. The Red Sox won nicely while we were in the middle of a crowd full of Indians fans, so we tried to keep our celebrating to a minimum. The show was one of the most fun of the tour so far. Woody Pines and the Lonesome Two played some great ragtime style old time music, with a clarinet. I loved it, except we hadn't eaten since lunchtime so by their second set around 1 AM I was ready to eat and kind of tired. Good times, though.
Sunday we played at Boxcar Books in Bloomington. Check out Abby Banks's new book, "Punk House." She did a film presentation on it that was hilarious. She and Tim also did some old popular songs from the early 20th century, and Pat the Bunny (you might know him from Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains) played some of his angry yet intelligent songs. I love how he's not afraid to make fun of himself and the people around him...sometimes people in the political punk scene take themselves a little too seriously. We'll see them again a couple more times on tour. I'm looking forward to it.
Monday was in Chicago, at the Mercury Cafe. Apparently there's a no dancing law on the books in Chicago. You have to have some special permit. But, people danced anyway and no one was thrown in jail or anything, so I guess that went fine. Al Schorsch and the Sparrowses played some great songs, too.
The Dans went over to Al's after the show and had a jam with Tim and Abby and Pat in a garage with some chickens. I ended up staying at my friend Grant's apartment. In the morning I got to take the train back to meet up with the guys and I saw Wrigley Field for the first time. Sort of. I saw part of it, anyway.
Last night was Minneapolis with the Knotwells, ShugE, and Blank Tapes. It was in a new art center, which is a lot different from the old warehouse space we used to play, but lots of fun. There was a good turnout, and people seemed to enjoy themselves.
This is the first time we've toured since Mexico. Everything is going super smoothly, and it's pretty mellow in comparison to that last tour. It's looking like this will be the last time we go out on the road, but we've said that before. I  think we're not really worrying about it too much right now and just enjoying this for what it is.
Tonight is Winona, Minnesota, again with the Knotwells, then a 1300 mile drive over 2 days to Missoula, Montana.
Game 1 tonight...Go Sox!

-Doug

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