Photos by Sean Gonzalez
Life on the road is highly romanticized. Luckily, one of our writers Sean Gonzalez is about to be wed to that idea soon thanks to Hodera, a rock/folk outfit out of New Jersey. Expect lots of fun and scares from his adventures as he embarks on a six week tour to SXSW and back with the band.
Five.
Let’s be real, South By Southwest was one of the most amazing weeks of this tour, but it didn’t feel like tour. We were in the same city for days on end (actually about a week). The world of music was racing by us at amazing speeds. Between running through the city trying to find different showcases and befriending people, it’s safe to say that South By was the best experience for my career and Hodera’s career. Watching people advance in life is amazing, considering it can treat us so hard at times, but thanks to music for freeing people.
We finally left Austin to start a small tour packaging with Looming. Looming so far have been nothing short of extraordinary. The vocals are even more ambitious and urgent then what the recordings make them out to be. Nailbiter is one hell of a record, and I can’t wait to continue watching both Hodera and Looming engage on stage and in personal manners as well. We have had a total of two sleepovers thus far, including big breakfasts.
We played in Norman, Oklahoma last night and I can already taste the Midwest. The wind is blowing much like I remember; all over the fucking place. The jet stream resides here and tries to sweep you away, or blow you away or just take everything away. Look at it how you want, but I can feel the Midwest salivating with its jaw unhinged ready to bite at me yet again. It’s like a horror movie gone wrong, where the first cornfield I see I will be taken back to the endless nights before my life transcended that which I thought would become my cage. It’s like that moment of self realization that everything always comes full circle and you’re closer to your home than you want to be, which is like staring into a black abyss and pretending like you know what’s out there, but life’s mercy will never let you see all of what it has in store for you.
I read my first William Faulkner novel over the stretch of time between my last update and this one. His writing style is very lengthy and he shoves plenty of scene changes between beautifully descriptive sentences that connect plenty of ideas together while juxtaposing different characters as if they were their own forces of nature in the story. The complete lack of care to how he presents himself is rather inspiring; if you believe that words really do take you places besides the actual wind shattered plain you stare at currently, then he can take you anywhere. He includes the heart with all of its veins as your own hell because love is a complete fallacy invented by some standard way of life that we can not perceive anymore because we rather would enjoy a corrupt standard where we judge things based on the wrong context. William Faulkner, thank you for showing me a new reality, and thanks New Noise Magazine for letting me write my thoughts. We have two more weeks to go, see you next time.
