American Tour 2024 [Washington DC]
We left Chicago around 8am. We didn’t sleep much, but everyone was upbeat. That kind of short and heavy road-driven tour usually tests the limits of your touring party, and so far, I must say that I’m really impressed by the level of joy and enthusiasm floating around between us. The cheap hotels and their alternative breakfasts (for lack of better words) greatly add to the experience, as our German friends try to understand what type of processed food they are eating every morning. It’s hilarious! The best thing so far is when Kerim found a written warning about the possibilities of cancer, artery, and colon damage right beside the buffet. “Wait, if they know, how come they serve that cocktail of bad news to their customers?” he asked. “Because it tastes sooooo good, brother!” Ben answered as he took a bite of something that looked like bacon. Everybody laughed like crazy. So yeah, everyone is pretty cool about the daily accommodations. We compare notes every morning… Let’s just say that it’s nowhere close to being as haute boutique as La Maison de Tanger we own in Morocco!
The road was a little less funny. All the hours spent in the van with very little sleep are starting to take their physical toll on most of us. Back pain is killing us, the temperature contrast we went through from Oakland to Columbus was so intense that it brought a cold and headaches to our funky équipage. So today, we were more on energy-saving mode than anything else, trying to catch on a little sleep in any way we could. Resting at this point of the trip is a key factor in getting ourselves to Boston with the high passion we have for the people. Otherwise, it will be a stagnant, soulless, and automatic display of notes and words that wouldn’t mean much, if anything. It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure the spirit we want to share with everyone keeps uplifting our collective moment higher and higher from one communal evening to another.
We were all surprised to find how bleached out and gentrified the district in which the venue is located was. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t like the elevator, the reserved parking spot, and all the stage hands that came to help us; it was just more surprising than anything. I grew up emulating the Dischord Records community values and the straight edge and hardcore DIY ethos that originated from Washington, DC, so the nice and clean harbor surrounded with posh restaurants and expensive à-la-carte menus was quite contrasting to that world my personal foundation was based on. Again, I don’t have anything against oyster bars, and I’ll eat my home-made sandwiches in the same grateful manner no matter what, but I did hope I’d see the rich diversity of the people that constitute the real heart of the city. Otherwise, it would be a real disappointment. I have never liked the corporate type of events where everybody looks the same, let alone being part of its entertainment program.
My worries completely vanished when I entered the room and met the venue’s team. I told myself “the life is in here” and saw this beautiful place as a beacon of community harvester standing in the middle of the otherwise illusionary bubble it was located in. For me, the venue’s staff define the nature of the place you have the privilege to share your heart and art, and every time people are friendly, open, curious, and generously human, you know it will be a special evening. So far, every stop we made on our journey has been incredible in that regard. Therefore, if I knew that our soundcheck would be a quick one, I didn’t bother, as I would have had in a different context. My conversations with people I had met since our arrival were enough to have my emotional preparation in full bloom, and every detail we had to manage leading to our show time would greatly define that spirit as well, from having to set our green room in the production cases, eating between cars on a table of fortune in the underground parking, and doing my vocal exercises in an “empty” space close to the trash cans. “I wanted real,” I laughed with myself. Couldn’t be more real than that! It reminds me of our early days with Your Favorite Enemies. It’s not that I need to be close to trash to be nostalgic, but it puts things in perspective. Can I be grateful in whatever circumstances I have to cope with? I’m happy that I can say that I do now. My environment doesn’t define me anymore, nor do I fear what people might think of me if they see me like this. Jeff’s pre-concert talk about DC being a place of visions and dreams resonated in the same fashion within me.
The road was a little less funny. All the hours spent in the van with very little sleep are starting to take their physical toll on most of us. Back pain is killing us, the temperature contrast we went through from Oakland to Columbus was so intense that it brought a cold and headaches to our funky équipage. So today, we were more on energy-saving mode than anything else, trying to catch on a little sleep in any way we could. Resting at this point of the trip is a key factor in getting ourselves to Boston with the high passion we have for the people. Otherwise, it will be a stagnant, soulless, and automatic display of notes and words that wouldn’t mean much, if anything. It’s everyone’s responsibility to make sure the spirit we want to share with everyone keeps uplifting our collective moment higher and higher from one communal evening to another.
We were all surprised to find how bleached out and gentrified the district in which the venue is located was. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t like the elevator, the reserved parking spot, and all the stage hands that came to help us; it was just more surprising than anything. I grew up emulating the Dischord Records community values and the straight edge and hardcore DIY ethos that originated from Washington, DC, so the nice and clean harbor surrounded with posh restaurants and expensive à-la-carte menus was quite contrasting to that world my personal foundation was based on. Again, I don’t have anything against oyster bars, and I’ll eat my home-made sandwiches in the same grateful manner no matter what, but I did hope I’d see the rich diversity of the people that constitute the real heart of the city. Otherwise, it would be a real disappointment. I have never liked the corporate type of events where everybody looks the same, let alone being part of its entertainment program.
My worries completely vanished when I entered the room and met the venue’s team. I told myself “the life is in here” and saw this beautiful place as a beacon of community harvester standing in the middle of the otherwise illusionary bubble it was located in. For me, the venue’s staff define the nature of the place you have the privilege to share your heart and art, and every time people are friendly, open, curious, and generously human, you know it will be a special evening. So far, every stop we made on our journey has been incredible in that regard. Therefore, if I knew that our soundcheck would be a quick one, I didn’t bother, as I would have had in a different context. My conversations with people I had met since our arrival were enough to have my emotional preparation in full bloom, and every detail we had to manage leading to our show time would greatly define that spirit as well, from having to set our green room in the production cases, eating between cars on a table of fortune in the underground parking, and doing my vocal exercises in an “empty” space close to the trash cans. “I wanted real,” I laughed with myself. Couldn’t be more real than that! It reminds me of our early days with Your Favorite Enemies. It’s not that I need to be close to trash to be nostalgic, but it puts things in perspective. Can I be grateful in whatever circumstances I have to cope with? I’m happy that I can say that I do now. My environment doesn’t define me anymore, nor do I fear what people might think of me if they see me like this. Jeff’s pre-concert talk about DC being a place of visions and dreams resonated in the same fashion within me.
The concert was particularly heartfelt. My voice was powerful and spot on, which means I would be able to do whatever I felt like doing with it. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to deal with limited vocal resources on stage when all I’m looking for is to convey sensations I feel compelled to dwell in. The crowd interaction, after our first 2 songs/20-minute introduction, is one of the moments I deeply like because every evening is different — every crowd is unique, every experience singular. So if what I have to say is only repeated platitudes, I would truly be missing out on the blessings of the connection people are willing to have with me. Tonight was especially funny, as I could feel just how surprised and stunned the audience was before letting go into our creative universe. I like a crowd that can sniff out fakes from miles away. It makes interactions dangerously fulfilling. That’s why I like to gently laugh with them as I introduce who we are to a room filled with stupefaction. Back in the days, when I was fronting Your Favorite Enemies, I used to be petrified of those impromptu and unprepared interactions, even when the concert halls were packed with crazily pumped and enthusiastic fans. It’s terrible to realize just how depriving fear can be — fears of rejection, of not being enough, of disappointing. If it’s all in your head, it’s your heart that pays the price. No more of that self-imposed misery!
We started The Hunter. Less than 2 minutes into the song, we were clearly all friends and family. Everyone got into the clapping part, laughing at the light tone coming with my comments regarding the “clappers”, which led to a raging and liberating finale, where I repeatedly screamed “My body is broken, my body is broken” before concluding the show with “But my spirit’s free,” summing up the day, outlining the connection we had established with the people, and expressing the state of the band’s renewed mantra: Freedom!!!
We finished the evening talking with friends we had met at our hotel in Tangier a few months prior, when they came celebrating their wedding with family and loved ones. They were pretty stocked by the world of difference they encountered seeing us on stage. “Alex, what was that? We saw you as the quiet one, always carrying a book, soft-spoken and gentle, but you’re a flamboyant beast on stage… My God!!!” We couldn’t stop laughing. We were so happy to see each other. Tangier has that impactful element and indelible effect on people who connect over there, and it’s particularly true with those guys, who found it so inspiring that Jeff and I wrote long journal entries about them last summer. Magnificent people. Same for the kind and generous people who came to talk with me at the merch table afterward, as much as all the deeply warm and cheerful comments the guys received as they were giving away flyers as people were leaving the venue.
We started The Hunter. Less than 2 minutes into the song, we were clearly all friends and family. Everyone got into the clapping part, laughing at the light tone coming with my comments regarding the “clappers”, which led to a raging and liberating finale, where I repeatedly screamed “My body is broken, my body is broken” before concluding the show with “But my spirit’s free,” summing up the day, outlining the connection we had established with the people, and expressing the state of the band’s renewed mantra: Freedom!!!
We finished the evening talking with friends we had met at our hotel in Tangier a few months prior, when they came celebrating their wedding with family and loved ones. They were pretty stocked by the world of difference they encountered seeing us on stage. “Alex, what was that? We saw you as the quiet one, always carrying a book, soft-spoken and gentle, but you’re a flamboyant beast on stage… My God!!!” We couldn’t stop laughing. We were so happy to see each other. Tangier has that impactful element and indelible effect on people who connect over there, and it’s particularly true with those guys, who found it so inspiring that Jeff and I wrote long journal entries about them last summer. Magnificent people. Same for the kind and generous people who came to talk with me at the merch table afterward, as much as all the deeply warm and cheerful comments the guys received as they were giving away flyers as people were leaving the venue.
We packed our stuff, thanked all the venue’s fantastic staff members, and drove to our hotel for the night: Red Roof Plus + (a name that got me thinking, in all honesty). After a bad night of sleep, interrupted by other guests screaming by our rooms, loud and endless banging at 5am, suspiciously stained bedsheets and coffee makers with moldy paper filters inside, patches of hair blocking the shower drain, I wondered what was the “Plus +” experience we were promised! I wanted real, true, but I also wanted to sleep!
Anecdote: We were super happy to have hot home made meals offered by the venue tonight, which is a luxury for us! Everyone had a pizza of their choice, and since I only eat after the show, I was wondering where my meal was once we got off stage. Asked everyone around; nobody knew. But I found it strange that Sef wasn’t looking at me when I asked. He brought me a sandwich, saying he was sorry that he had eaten mine, thinking it was part of his own meal, which included his own pizza, a big box of french fries, and chicken wings. When he saw my unpleased facial expression, he told me that the sandwich would be way better for my health, as pizza is only junk food, not good for my heart at all. He then left, joining Ben to eat some pieces of his pizza. I wanted real, but I do like pizza nonetheless!
Anecdote: We were super happy to have hot home made meals offered by the venue tonight, which is a luxury for us! Everyone had a pizza of their choice, and since I only eat after the show, I was wondering where my meal was once we got off stage. Asked everyone around; nobody knew. But I found it strange that Sef wasn’t looking at me when I asked. He brought me a sandwich, saying he was sorry that he had eaten mine, thinking it was part of his own meal, which included his own pizza, a big box of french fries, and chicken wings. When he saw my unpleased facial expression, he told me that the sandwich would be way better for my health, as pizza is only junk food, not good for my heart at all. He then left, joining Ben to eat some pieces of his pizza. I wanted real, but I do like pizza nonetheless!
