Floater: Our Hangovers Are Apparently Visible to the Families Who Are Buying Snacks (San Diego, CA)
10-17-08
I am struck these days on the road by how much our trip resembles a World War II submarine mission. We are locked into a tiny, confined space for days at a time. There is a constant checking of all mechanical operations. Calculations are being made all the time. Estimated time to arrival, fuel consumption, sleep shifts, drive shifts, piloting and co-piloting assignments, distances between fueling stops, equipment to be repaired, a strange array of tasks and problems to be dealt with.
Once in a while we find ourselves at a truck stop and everyone climbs out of the van. We emerge squinting at the daylight, wobbling on uncertain legs weak from long stretches of sitting. Our hangovers are apparently visible to the families who are buying snacks. We set a time for regrouping at the van to move on to our day’s objective, the next show.
These ongoing missions are punctuated by the clubs we pull up to. Load the gear in and onto the stage, set it up, sound check it, check the video projectors, open the doors, start the show. These are the hours when we get to move our arms and legs, stand up straight and slowly lose the feeling of rumbling movement. If we seem ill at ease, or far away somehow, it is because there is a part of each of us still in the van, incapable of getting out.
It’s strange how the show itself becomes more than just exciting. There’s a touch of scary to the shows after a while on tour. We have so much pent up madness from all that time imprisoned in the submarine that when shore leave comes the blowing off of steam can be, well, overwhelming. Actually strapping the guitar on and playing makes your body shake like it has a desperate need to break free of itself.
Yesterday in an interview a DJ said, “I don’t do drugs anymore, but when I watch Floater play I feel like I’m stoned.” It’s the strangeness of this life, I told him. More and more as we travel we feel that same way.
Links:
FloaterSpace
Photo by Sarah La Du
EganFire
says:The Effect You Guys Have On Us, The Crowd, Is much the same..We Come stumbling into our favorite local Venue(The Crystal) and Wait, milling around, for your electricity to go spilling thru us…Your Sense of Being “Not Quite There” is Translated Like An Ancient Tapestry across us, your audience..And It has been Floater Shows From The WoW Hall to The Crystal That Have Thrilled Me and Ignited my passion for that nameless Drug We All Share, for those special moments, Before we both go on to Different things, and the Other side of our Lives…
“The Movie Star In Your head, Its Like a Drug..And Someone says ‘here we go….’”
Your music Speaks To us all, and I thank you For your Weird Missions Underneath this teeming Sea Of Humanity…
Sincerely,
One Die-Hard Floater Fan…
Posted @ October 24th, 2008 at 6:20 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkThe Keeper
says:Cool, nice post Rob. Thanks WW again for this, the best tour diary out there. Probably doesn’t hurt that Rob is a fantastic writer!
Posted @ October 24th, 2008 at 6:48 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkTerry
says:Make sure that diary ends up with a story of you guys playing in Portland every weekend,but not just at the crystal ball room.Thanks for all the feelings of madness at the shows.
Posted @ October 24th, 2008 at 9:23 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkLeitmotiv
says:You’re shore leaves are greatly appreciated. They are a lot like taking big gulps of fresh air amidst a raging fire in your house: greatly refreshing and life saving. It’s as if your mind suddenly becomes lucid again. Let’s hope you take shore leave at new vistas along the way.
Posted @ October 25th, 2008 at 12:12 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkNicol3
says:How you can so eloquently define such situations is certainly a marker of your many talents. The world is a better place with you in it.
Posted @ October 25th, 2008 at 2:08 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkLeitmotiv
says:oh why thanks Nicol3! Oh… you were talking about Rob… nevermind.
Posted @ October 27th, 2008 at 8:53 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkNicole
says:How about I say I was talking about you both?
Posted @ October 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm (October 24th, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalink