USA (well Canada in this case) Tour part 2 - Toronto

This entry is a little shorter as my time in Toronto was considerably less than the other cities i visited on this tour.

I took a flight over rather than travelling with the beasts so i could spend a bit of extra time with my Brother and my two nephews who live there which was lovely. Steve (my bro) left the UK when i was about 15 (im 29 now) and so it's always great to get the opportunity to hang out with him and the kids. Although i have to confess i do like to play xbox, and i do get to speak to my nephew Jared over the pleasantly violent setting of Modern Warfare 2 every now and then.

We spent the evening eating pizza and watching one of my favourite (crap) movies of all time. Commando. My god there is not a bone in my body that can express anything but love for that dire piece of trash. It is so dreadful it has some kind of space and time thing going on where it makes bad become good. I could actually spend the majority of this blog writing about that movie from start to finish but i'll save you that. Otherwise i'll start talking about Death Wish III too! :)

So i left my guitar in the WB van for ease of travel but sadly it meant that they had to meet me with it when they got to Toronto which was about 2am. Kelley (the Wild Beasts Tour Manager) basically wanted to break every bone in my body when i met them. They had been driving for hours and hours throughout the time i was enjoying Commando and were desperate to get to bed. I'll never forget when i went over to say hi and she didn't even look me in the eye, just said "Paul, just take your guitar and go". I felt DREADFUL. Naturally i went to bed that night with a heavy stomach.

The next day i went to a radio station called CIUT in Toronto a bit early for my liking. My voice doesnt lend itself well to early mornings and so i did the best i could. I sang 4 songs in a chapel on a University campus which was fun and got talking to the Australian lady who ran the show about how i don't want to play in Australia due to my fear of spiders. Her stories didn't help!

I then went to a place called Explore Music which is in a fancy new building on the docks of Toronto for an interview and another session. I really, really enjoyed this interview with a dude called Alan Cross who i could tell had really analysed my album and we shared a love for a lot of the same things. You are able to see this interview by clicking here!

I then made my way over to the venue called 'The Mod Club'. It was a beautiful place actually. Pretty massive and it was nice to see the Kissaway Trail boys there ready to do thier sound check. I aslo saw Kelley again and was all apologetic about them having to bring my guitar so late etc.
So, no sound check for me that day due to time restraints and so i just had to go out there and do it. I was pretty nervous becasue i had never played in front of my Brother before and i wanted him to see what this kid of 15 he left in the UK was able to do these days. I think the result was the best performance (technically) i did on the whole tour and the crowd were incredibly well responsive.

So after the show i went out with my Bro and his/my mate Mike to some random bar downtown which to put it bluntly, wasn't for me that night. Those guys were doing the whole "hey man you're on tour let's get fucked up" vibe and all that was on my mind was the fact i had to catch a flight to New York early the next day so i let those guys enjoy themselves and took a cab home.

Sadly, I discovered that there are two Connaught Avenues in Toronto and so after being taken to one and then the other it took me about an hour and a half to get home and a taxi fare of what should have been $90! I managed to haggle the driver down to $50 by blaming him for taking me to the wrong place. Lets say he wasn't pleased. I got in to find my nephews Jared and Connor fast asleep which was really sad as i was hoping to see them one last time before i went to New York.

So yeah this leg of the trip was a little more family orientated, but NEW YORK IS COMING!!!! WOOOOP!

:)

Love you all

xxPaul Mxx