Well…
That was a wild ride! The summer's not over and there are still more SUSS gigs on the horizon, but we wanted to look back and recap some of the high points of our recent tour. There's so much to say, but I'll try to keep it brief:
First off, just trying to get the three of us, our crew member Kevin, all our gear, and our merch into a Pacifica mini-van was a feat in itself. It was a cross between Jenga and a Chinese puzzle game at every stop on the tour.
Our first stop was The Blue Room and Third Man Records in Nashville. From the front door to the Green Room, to the stage and the room itself, we knew we were in for a unique experience. There was not a square inch of the place that hadn't been touched by the aura and artistic eye of Jack White. The early single that Elvis Presley made and gave to his mom- yep, it was there. And that was just the start. The most important part was the staff at the Blue Room who were about as warm as could be. Ben Swanke (Third man co-owner) himself greeted us as if we were old friends, and let us know that he'd been waiting for this moment for quite a while. And there he was again as we left the stage, being as congratulatory as could be. The fans were amazing- many of whom ended up lying on the floor during our set in (hopefully) a state of bliss. Thanks to J. Childers for his opening set and adding to the bliss.
And then it was off to Louisville, KY. As some of you may know, Louisville serves as home base for Jonathan and I during part of the year, so this was a bit of a "homecoming" for us. Trivia fact: though Jonathan and I have known each other and played music together since the early 80's, our wives have been best friends since the 60's. It's a long story. Anyway, playing at the Whirling Tiger in Louisville meant that we got to play for old friends and family, and thank goodness for them as there was a 4 day major Americana Music Festival in town that did a good job of keeping audience turnout at the club to a minimum. But that didn't keep us or our audience from having an amazing time. Pat and Kevin were introduced to a side of Louisville, and KY, that they had never seen and we all look forward to our return, which we plan to do in the spring.
Then, we headed north to Ohio. With a day off, we decided to check out the Nelsonville Music Festival and get a lay of the land before our show there on the following day. Now, having grown up in Columbus, OH, I knew a lot about southern OH, Nelsonville and the Hocking Hills, but this festival (which has been going on for close to 20 years) was a complete surprise to me. The family-friendly, neo-hippie vibe was amazing. Just walking on the grounds, checking things out, we had people stop us and ask if we were SUSS. And we were! That was fun. Walking around the festival seeing people wearing SUSS merch was a real kick. The downside was that it was over 100 degrees in the sun, and there was plenty of sun. Luckily, we played in the woods at the Creek stage, where fans sat on the ground or hung from hammocks in the trees. It was a scene. We ended our time in Nelsonville by hanging out with the festival Artistic Director, Tim Peacock. After a short time with Tim, we understood why the festival is so loved by fans and bands alike- he has a special vision.
So, how do you follow-up something like NMF? Well, how about The Hideout in Chicago? The Hideout has quite a reputation. Everywhere we went, when we said we were headed to The Hideout, we were met with tales of wonder and awe for one of the greatest small music venues in the US. We were also met with a full room of fans and a standing ovation - something that I was not quite sure we were prepared for. And we were also graced by a great opening set by Hali Palombo, who we recommend you keep your eye on. And I have to say, I personally was a little nervous going into the evening knowing that one of my all-time music heroes Mark Nelson (Labradford, Pan-American) had made the scene to check out SUSS. The pressure was on, and I hope we rose to the occasion!
And finally, we ended our run at a private event that I can't talk too much about (it was private), but I can give you some high-level details. It was a private party for members of an exclusive golf club in the Hamptons that used to be a stock car track, and now was an outdoor sculpture garden/golf course combo that had to be seen to be believed. We played an outdoor set that finished just as soon as the skies opened up in a torrential downpour. We were ultimately drenched but we all left with new, dry golfing togs courtesy of the pro-shop. We're deciding if this might be our new look!
Yep, from the neo-hippy mecca of Nelsonville to the exclusive Hamptons crowd - SUSS is prepared for it all and we love the fact that, like the music itself, our fans and audience won't be pinned down to a single thing. We can't wait to see where the adventure takes us next time!
Speaking of next time, the next time you can catch SUSS will be when they play with Peter Gordon and the Love of Life Orchestra at the Bowery Electric in NYC TOMORROW, Friday, Aug 9. Tickets available here!
Also, as you saw above, we have given our Suss-stack subscribers an exclusive premiere of the projection visualizers we used for Flight on tour, made by the wonderful Ghost of Provence. There are many more where that came from, so stay tuned!
Until then,
Bob & SUSS
Share this post