Photos by Jay Maude of @jonathanandjonathan
Dinosaur Pile Up have hit the road for a string of shows, supporting Brand New. We’ve teamed up with guys to bring you the tour diary; check out the first installation here, and the second below! And be sure to pick up the band’s full-length Nature Nurture on iTunes here.
LOUISVILLE
Fuck I really wanna play ping pong right now.
YOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
So two days a go we played Louisville Kentucky at the Mercury Ballroom. We had a pretty gnarly drive so by the time we got there we were all kind of floaty. The air was really thick and it felt like it was gonna pop sometime later, like there was a giant bath in the sky just slowly tipping over. We were almost certainly gonna be under it. S.W.E.E.T. I wouldn’t even mind. I like the rain over here. I had to play with a different amp to usual as mine exploded on stage in soundcheck. The Brand New crew handed us their spare which was sweet of them. The most invaluable thing when you’re on the road is nice, helpful people. We’ve been lucky – we’ve mostly had the pleasure of touring with really positive, nice people. Every so often you’ll come across a band that have a shitty ego which sucks, but when you do you’ve gotta just breeze past them. Egos are a waste of time and energy. Everybody is just a person. You’re no more special than the next guy and everybody dies, so why the fuck are you acting like you’re a fucking jesus christ. Do you know what I mean? So, when my amp blows and I have nothing else, and one of Brand New’s crew runs out, bust his balls to dig out an amp so we can play, it makes you realise what a great bunch of people you’re on the road with.
We played the show and it was awesome. A packed out room and everyone was listening and really behind us. Mike, Jim and I kept catching glances between each other, just looking totally stoked. We finish the show and start loading out our gear. We were loading out into a kind of outdoor concrete parking lot (carpark). We open the door with all our shit, about to make it across to the concrete and that big ol’ bath in the sky finally tips. HOLY – FUCKING – SHIT. God is taking a piss. A vertical wall of water hits the floor in one second, Mikey yells “FUCK!” and I drop his snaredrum on my foot. Our shit is SOAKING. It was a hilarious clusterfuck. We’re all freaking out throwing drums and cables under the concrete but the rain is hitting so hard that the spray travels about 10 meters. It was crazy. Lightning and everything. We filmed a bunch of it. It was cool.
Aaaaanyway. Hit the merch after and met a bunch of cool people. Hung with Kevin Devine and the boys after, a local pizza place came down and brought us like 4 boxes of pizza so we chowed for a bit and then bailed. It was all in all – caramel.
Call me. X
LANSING
HEY WHATS UP.
So yesterday we played Common Ground Fest in Lansing Michigan. It was fucking ace.
That’s the end of this blog.
… NNNNNNNNNOT!!!!
So we rocked up to Common Ground fest in the morning or something. I’m always a zombie for the first half of the day and my voice is always boned so I hardly talk and struggle to remember anything in general. So… I think it was the morning. Let’s just say it was the morning. We got in and said hey to Andy and Kevin etc of Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra fame and in general hung out. It was hot, there were beers, and it was my fucking birthday. That’s not just a figure of speech like “aw shit we’re having such a good time it’s my fucking birthday dawgz” no no, seriously, it was actually my fucking birthday. Yeah, I know. It was also Dinosaur’s first US festival EVER, so the whole gang, and particularly Mike and Jim and I – were really really stoked to be there. The guys of Seahaven we’re knocking around, and also the guys from The Front Bottoms, The So So Glos and Say Anything. Brand New were around, Vincent was wandering about with a yoga mat. We took a walk around the place and took a look, it was a cool vibe, everyone seemed pretty chill. I think the whole thing was pretty much curated by Brand New, and it was all the bands that they had toured with because everybody knew everybo
We’re listening to Fleetwood Mac in the van right now, driving to Pittsburg to meet the Brand New guys for food. It’s Jesse’s birthday tomorrow, so we’re having beers for both today.
So anyway. Brand New played on the main stage, and we were to go on as they finished at 11pm on the second stage. That was actually a bit of a bummer because due to us loading our stuff on to the stage and everything it meant we had to miss Kevin Devine’s set (it was his last night on the tour and we loved his band and he people in it) AND Brand New’s set. We could hear Brand New ending their set, so right as they did, I had a bunch of Jamesons because my throat was boned and we went on. It was super cool. Apparently Jesse told everybody to come to our tent to see us play, and the last thing he said on stage was ‘See you at Dinosaur Pile-Up’, and that there was gonna be free ice cream and donuts and maybe even a signing or something?? Which just blew our minds. He wanted people to come and see us. That was really humbling for us – obviously we’re pretty new over here, and to have someone like him endorse us like that was just really really encouraging. He’s a freaking dude. So we played the set, we were just super in to it. Playing for us and having a great time. Closing the set with Nature Nurture I suddenly realised that half of Say Anything were out front watching our set head nodding, Ryan from So So Glos was on the front barrier getting down and Jesse and the Front Bottoms were side of stage. It was crazy!! I was like “Oh shit!! I hope we were good!!” We came off stage and I met Ryan from the SSG’s for the first time – he was PUMPED. Fred from Say Anything came over with the guys, Jesse came over, it was so killer. They’d all been watching – I guess because they hadn’t seen us play before, except the brand new dudes – and they we’re all super into it. For me Mike and Jim it was just rad. We hung out at the buses and vans plus The Front Bottoms. I talked about the Kinks at length with Ryan. Everybody had to split so we called it.
Anyway I gotta bail just got to Pittsburg! Loveyoubyeeeeeeeexxx
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Purchase Dinosaur Pile Up’s Nature Nurture on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/nature-nurture/id782118600
