Beckley, West Virginia. We're about 3/4 into our fall tour, getting ready now to drive up North to Canada this weekend.
On this tour we are traveling without our sound engineer Tyler; after 6 years of incessant touring with the CGT he is opening a specialty beer store in Louisville. I am planning to go to the Grand Opening on October 30, right after this tour is over.
Paul organized our gear in such a way that we just send a stereo line to the sound engineer of each venue, and we also have a separate 'rack' with recording gear to record our concerts. We're also bringing our own in-ear monitoring mixer; we're not using monitors at all on this tour, just our in ear headphones. This saves a lot of time and makes for a consistent sound each night for us to play to.
It's an intricate, yet simple set up, and Hideyo is in charge of operating the recording system. It took a few concerts to fine tune everything, but now we have a really excellent recording quality.
Each of us has a more specific task now that Tyler is not here: in a nutshell: Paul is setting up the recording gear and advancing the shows, Hideyo operates the CD burner and records the show, and Bert is in charge of setting up the merch. In addition to this Paul and I share the driving; Hideyo navigates, with the help of 2 separate GPS systems.
Paul is setting up the recording gear and the monitoring system.
Hideyo is testing the recording gear during sound check
And that's me, counting CD's before the show!
It has been a little difficult the first two shows to forego with Tyler's care for our sound, but we made a good transition, and the tour is going very well now. WE rely a bit more on each other. There is a great group dynamic present, and though we are a little more 'fragile' and have more tasks at hand every gig, we tend to look after each other more, and be more aware of the situations we're in. It's been a joy so far to tour with Paul and Hideyo. I feel lucky and privileged.
Below are a few highlight photos from the concerts this past week, while we were zig-zagging across West Virginia.
Last night's concert in Beckley, WV-photo David Ross
Posing with high school student yesterday afternoon: we played for a large group of middle and high school students at noon. It was an amazing event: the kids were paying attention, and had lots of questions for us, and requested a Pink Floyd song! In the middle of Echoes they started clapping along, all the way through the end. It was very special to meet them and play for them.
Set up for sound check in Abingdon, VA
Paul loading out the gear in Williamson, VA.
I-52 South through the Appalachian on a rainy day, and one of the poorest areas in the country. Hit hard by the coal crisis.
Hideyo warming up behind the audience, minutes before our show in Charlotte, North Carolina. No backstage here...
Lunch at a drive-in in Beckley-fried chicken livers for Hideyo, meat loaf sandwich for Paul, and a cup of hot chili for me
Hallway on the third floor of Microtell Inn. A parachutist is preparing to jump this weekend. There is a big event about to happen here in Beckley where people jump of a tall bridge with parachutes.
