Oh, Canada!

So there is this whole other country that is a lot like America, and it's even really close to America, but it's not America. You would only know it's not the U.S. by very little things. For one thing It's a lot colder. Also there's no Taco Bells, everything is measured in the metric system, and their currency has silly things on it like polar bears, kids playing hockey and the queen of England. This place is called Canada and we've been hanging out here for the past week or so.

We first arrived in this strange, yet somehow familiar country last Sunday. After a miserable drive through a very wet and cold Washington state, we arrived at the border eager to explore and receive our free pancakes and maple syrup (the guys in Rebuilt told me this was a common occurrence during customs and for some reason I believed them). We expected to spend at least an hour at the border, especially after hearing horror stories from other bands trying to cross into Canada. Strip searches, interrogations, being taxed for all your merch, that kind of stuff. Though we were asked a few seriously worded questions, such as if we were "into civil disobedience" we got by unscathed and headed in.
No joke, as soon as we drove in the skies opened up and welcomed us into the new land. We pulled into Vancouver somewhat awestruck at this big city juxtaposed between cloud covered mountains and blue ocean. The show that night was in a small loft that is currently a sort headquarters for anarcho-punk kids who are super pissed about the Winter Olympics coming to Vancouver next year. Not a huge turnout, but fun none the less. After the show we made our way to Kelowna, which meant driving through lots of mountains and lots of snow. Coming up here I really assumed "Hey it's April, how cold can it get?" Apparently enough to drive through snow for a few hours.


After having a belated Easter dinner at Dustin's from Horizons in Kelowna (which was amazing btw) we had another long drive through more snow covered mountains, but this time the weather was much better and it was daylight, so we were able to enjoy what was probably the most epic drive we have been on. The scenery on that drive was insanely beautiful and I've never seen anything like that. That night we played Edmonton, which we heard was going to most likely suck, but it ended up being a lot of fun, especially since Grave Maker played and hung out, and Todd from Means was there and let us stay with him in his cramped little apartment.

The next night we played Calgary in the most Canadian bar you've ever seen and then proceeded to party into the night with Horizons. We ended up at this party after the show where within the first ten minutes of our arrival there was a dance party, almost everyone got half naked, and a fight was super close to breaking out. The party was followed by all of us getting into Horizons' van and moshing/ stage diving inside, until all the mosh spilled out onto the side of the highway. It was one of those nights where you just had to be there.

Most of the shows so far have gone pretty well. There's been some good and some bad. The show in Winkler the other night was unreal and it was cool to see everyone get into the new stuff. Winnipeg wasn't so great but the beatboxing in the street with the locals afterwards made up for it. Horizons have been great guides on this tour, teaching us about the best parts of Canada such as poutine (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds), "Good Gods" (attractive Canadian girls) and the very Canadian show known as Trailer Park Boys. The Winnipeg show was our last night with them and we're bummed we had to say goodbye. We'll see if we can survive the east coast on our own. I'm sure we'll be fine as long as we don't hit any moose.