Tour Journal #3: Moon Tooth On The Road Again

Column
New Noise Staff
December 12, 2016

This third Moon Tooth tour journal entry was written by bassist Vincent Romanelli and covers four days in Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville, and Columbus w/ Thank You Scientist & The Tea Club!

<a href="http://moontoothny.bandcamp.com/album/chromaparagon">Chromaparagon by Moon Tooth</a>

Tour Journal #3

Today marks Day 9 of our tour with Thank You Scientist and The Tea Club. We are currently loaded up in the Tooth-Mobile trying to keep our niblets warm on our way to Rumba Cafe in Columbus, Ohio. Despite a flat tire, Midwest freezing temperatures, some horrendous gas station food, and a douchey sound guy this tour has been amazing so far! The crowds have been sick and seem to be getting down with the Tooth and it’s been interesting to hit some new markets where people have never experienced the freak show that is our band!

Flo-rida

Even though the drive from DC was longggg asssss fuckkkkk, the ride down to Florida was pretty exciting and gave me plenty of time to process and digest my first Changa trip in Philly. As the hours passed by we decided to throw on “There Will Be Blood” and put on our best Daniel Day Lewis impressions for all the gas station attendants (“I HAVE ABANDONED MY CHILD!”)… I also learned on this night that Creamcicle Slurpee and Tequila are a match made in heaven.

We got to crash at my Dad’s house in Summerville, SC where I got to catch up with the OG Doberman best pup in the world, Bello. Getting a hot shower and a night in a familiar bed is always amazing, plus it was a chance for my whole band to laugh at my childhood photos.

Tooth has played the entire East Coast, but this was our first time hitting up Florida so we were all pumped but not sure what to expect. I’ll be honest, seeing palm trees and Christmas lights together was a little weirder than expected. The show went great though. We had a line of nearly 60 people before doors, which was an awesome sight, and the Floridians came ready to rage! It was great to hang and catch up with some old friends (shout outs to Kristina and Juan) and meet some new Tooth fans who drove over 3 hours to come see us play. Also shout-outs to late night, semi-decent, overpriced Florida pizza.

Hotlanta

This was our first time in Hotlanta where it was actually cold as fuck. After doing some overnight driving from our show in Orlando, we decided to pull over and put the newly installed bunk bed to the test. The bunk bed passed with flying colors (great job Ray and Mr. Marte!), however we woke up to a flat tire. It’s all good though because we brought a diesel ass car jack for this exact occasion….aaaaand it broke. On the bright side, waiting for AAA left us plenty of time for pooping and staring at all the bedazzled Truck hats and camouflage jackets that Love’s had for sale.

We got to play at the legendary Masquerade’s new location in ATL. While the newer venue was decent, nothing beats the old location in the defunct textile mill where you could feel the history of the building just walking through the front door. Shout out to our great buddies Tim & Will from Atlanta’s heaviest band: Harvester for coming out and bringing the ruckus during our set.

Note to all bassists: stop putting your phone on your bass amp because it will rattle off and shatter… which is what mine did. Also, Verizon can eat a dick.

Thank you to the mega homie Bryan from Lazer/Wulf and his housemate Walker for the warm place to sleep and shower. You guys rule!

Walker: “Did you just sniff the dogs butt?”
Walker’s 4-year-old daughter: “I just wanted to say “hi”

Nashville Smashville

I spent the morning being a salty bitch about my broken phone but was immediately brought back to life by Nick and John writing a song about a kid and a smoke dragon fighting off a home wrecking bully and his green mutant army… I’d like to say we are that random but that story actually came from a young kid named Carl. We wrote a song based on a story he wrote for the “Sing Me A Story” charity. Basically, kids who are sick or disabled submit stories to Sing Me A Story and they find artists to record songs inspired by them. Once the song is finished and mixed they make it available to purchase online and that money goes to whatever charity or research foundation applies to the kid who wrote the story. Sing Me A Story came to the show at The High Watt and recorded us playing the song in the van while Thank You Scientist was sound checking. It came out pretty hilarious! We will definitely be letting everyone know when it’s available to buy!

While Ray was on a quest to become a whiskey bootlegger; Nick, John, and myself headed over to “Cinco De Mayo” for some Mexican with some of the homies in Thank You Scientist. We finally got to break bread (or tortilla chips) together and get our hangs on.

Despite being told to turn my bass amp down three times before the set and getting no guitar in my monitor even after asking for it multiple times, the Nashville show at The High Watt was super sick! The crowd was down to get weird with us and erupted when we finished out set with “Offered Blood.” I love this musical city and always look forward to returning to explore and experience more of its magic.

After the show we stayed with our homie Stephen of the killer noisy, heavy, punk rock band Sheep Shifter in his beautiful new home with his chihuahua, Butch and his shiba inu, Oso. Thanks Stephen!

Cold AF Columbus

Most of the day was spent going crazy in the van trying to make the show since we were running a little late and losing an hour crossing back into the eastern time zone but with flurries going on throughout the day, slow and steady was the safest way to be.

To be honest, we have played Ohio a few times before but we didn’t necessarily have high expectations of this show. Luckily, to our surprise last night’s crowd was the best of the tour and the show was sold out before doors even opened! Everyone was getting rowdy, which just allows us to get a little weirder. The front row got most of the weird. During “Little Witch” I was mid-headbang and I felt a solid amount of sweat whip off of my brow like an aimless arrow into a crowd of people. This poor kid in front got the brunt of it. He took my sweat like a Peter North jizz shot to the face… sorry dude, my bad.

The show was at Rumba Café in Columbus and there is a sick record store right across the street. The name escapes me but it’s worth going to for sure. After the show, we did the usual load out in the cold, which penetrates your bones and shakes you to the core. Luckily, our buddy Ben (Thank You Scientist Violinist and master chef) invited us on board their bus for some delicious vegan chick pea curry which warmed us up for out overnight drive to Chicago.

We thought it would be a great idea to sleep in the van in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot in between Columbus and Chicago. I have never felt cold weather like this. Maybe our blood is still warm from our Orlando show, or maybe I’m just a pussy but if this is just a small taste of what’s to come in Minnesota and Canada, I don’t know if ill make it. I might have to hunt down a wild moose and skin that mofo for a nice winter coat.

Sorry Wal-Mart for all of puddles of frozen piss we left in your parking lot but thanks for the sleeping bags!

Onward to Chi-Town to play The Beat Kitchen!!!!

Remaining Tour Dates:
Dec 13 Tue // Grand Rapids, MI // Pyramid Scheme
Dec 14 Wed // Cleveland, OH // Mahall’s
Dec 15 Thu // Toronto, ON // Hard Luck
Dec 16 Fri // Montreal, QC // Ritz
Dec 17 Sat // Brooklyn, NY // Knitting Factory
Dec 18 Sun // Asbury Park, NJ // House of Independents