Ontario, NYC, and Poutine!

Hello everyone! So its been some time since my last update as we’ve been pretty busy here in Bend Sinister land. Last time, I spoke of our return to Toronto and the release of our new tour EP ‘Spring Romance’. Since then we spent several weeks playing some shows around Ontario before our plan to head down to New York City. The Ontario shows all went pretty well, but as we drove the van to and fro, it started to get a really bad shake.

We played the Dakota in Toronto, an outdoor festival for a Christian all girls school in York, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Kingston, London, and Peterborough. On our return to Toronto from our Peterborough show with the Spades, the van issues finally escalated to a massive shake which made us pull over on the 401 at 3 am. We sussed it out but with no sign of anything, we continued driving slowly. Minutes later the rear tire blew out and got torn to shreds. We were stuck on the highway til around 6 am when a flatbed tow truck could be coordinated. We got the van back to Toronto to a 24 hour garage by 8 am. It was a bit of an ordeal to say the least, but we were all glad it happened when we had a day off the next day instead of en route to New York.

After sleeping the day away, we met at 6 pm. The van was given a new set of tires to venture to New York. First we did a complete detail of the van to ensure no unsavoury evidence of any sort for our border crossing. Turns out we got into the States with ease, crossing at Niagara Falls. We just showed them our passports and the paperwork we had explaining our showcase and they let us through without even a search. We got to spend a few extra nights in New York and the band all went off to explore and meet up with some of our ladies who decided to fly out to meet us in the Big Apple. We saw lots of sights and I must say that NYC is truly one of the raddest places in the world.

Our showcase, which was primarily a show for American labels, booking agents, and industry folk, was at a really hip bar called Pianos in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We destroyed our set, with all the guys intent on performing the best set possible. While I haven’t heard from our management about anything specific, we certainly turned some heads down there and are planning to return soon in the fall.

After the show we had to do the nine hour drive to Quebec City for another show. We left around 2 am to avoid traffic and get there in time. Again we were able to glide through the border with just a few questions and we were very surprised that we never got searched. When we arrived in Quebec City at 11 am we all crashed hard in our hotel room, getting up just in time for early soundcheck at 4. Because it was our first time in Quebec City, we didn’t expect the greatest show, but it turned out amazing. The folks there went crazy for our music and we sold out of every cd we had with us.

After the show and many handshakes and chats with the crowd, we got wind of Quebec’s best poutine and so we went to grab one before heading back to our hotel room. It was pretty good, but I think I’ve had better at La Belle Province around Montreal. Anyway, we had one more long drive back to Toronto where we played last night at the Rivoli. The show was almost like a homecoming as the place was packed and the crowd incredibly receptive. We had an amazing time. Pete Nema was there photographing the show and should be posting photo’s shortly.

Now we begin on final journey back to Vancouver and the guys should arrive home on June 13th… I, however, am going to get dropped off in Kelowna for a friend’s wedding and some rest and relaxation up at my folks cabin. It’s not like I have a job to come home to anyway, lol!

So stay tuned for more news and an update of our travels across the country, I will also post a selection of photos from the last few weeks! Cheers.