As they begin their Summer Tour, friends of the site The Mammoths have agreed to give us the inside scoop into life on the road touring across the country over the next few weeks. They will share the good, the bad, and the ugly, all in their own words! Stay tuned as we will update you withe the adventures of The Mammoths every week. With that said, let's go!
July 15th - The Brewery show was quick and easy. Our friend Melissa sang “I want you/she’s so heavy” with us which set the tone for is to let loose on stage. We packed up and got in the van for a 4 hour drive to my aunt’s Lake house on Lake Oconee. We arrive to not only our own beds, but our own rooms. A much needed day off starts now.
July 16th - Our day off was spent reading, watching Netflix, running, and napping. That night we reconvened in the kitchen with a box of wine and spaghetti dinner (thanks chef Tyler). After dinner we had a fungi dessert ;) and watched the history of the Eagles together. The three hour documentary took a trip down the band’s ups and downs, which was very inspiring to us all. Tomorrow we’ll wake up and head out to Athens refreshed.
July 17th - We woke up around noon the next day and lazily drank coffee and hung out until about 3pm. The trip to Athens was a quick and beautiful drive through the Georgia back roads. We arrived at the venue and we’re greeted with two very clean hotels rooms (we’re getting spoiled now). Our last tour was 3 straight weeks of sleeping on floors. Sound check was quick and the engineer told us we only had to play an hour and a half instead of three, thank god. The set was not our tightest and the crowd was thin. Our history in Athens has been playing to at least 50 college kids screaming the lyrics in the front row. This was not the case tonight. There were probably 10 people in the crowd all seated. It was honestly pretty weird for a rock show. After the gig we went out with the sound guy to see a show down the street. We retired to our hotel rooms after a of couple beers.
July 18th - We’ve been playing a lot of shows for very little people. I think it’s the combination of college towns in the summer and an abnormal amount of rain. Our drive to Awendaw was a rainy one. We showed up to the outdoor venue expecting nobody to be there, but we were wrong. The venue was on the sort of hippie commune thing and there were about 100 people sticking it out in the rain to see the six band bill on a Wednesday. This was probably our favorite show to date. A dentist from Charleston puts this “Barn Jam” series on every Wednesday for music lovers. The crowd was extremely receptive and our spirits were rejuvenated. That night we slept in the sound guy’s place down the street. His new kitten peed on our sheets. It was lit.
July 19th - We woke up in the car den around 11am, made sandwiches, and headed to the beach. The rain was coming down on us (surprise, surprise), but the ocean was warm. We threw around a gas station football and showed off our supreme athletic ability to casual onlookers. After the beach we headed to Our booking agent’s house to shower and chill before the show. The venue in Charleston has a tiny stage that barely fits us and our gear. We played our best show here and had so much fun. Definitely our favorite show so far.
July 20th - A four hour drive in the rain again :) to Wilmington. Wilmington is the only town on tour where we don’t have a place to stay. I reached out to the opening band and they graciously put us up in their parent’s house in the suburbs. We were greeted with beer, pizza, and beds. Again, we feel super spoiled. Wilmington is a cool town that we didn’t get to explore because it was basically flooding during our set. We played well and had fun, but the turnout was super low due to the Waterworld sequel happening outside.
July 21st - We woke up casually and our lovely hosts cooked us breakfast. We’re on the road to Richmond right now to what we think will be a packed show for a local band. I’m feeling a little down because my baby brother is surprising his girlfriend with an engagement party in Austin tonight. He offered to pay for my flight back for the party, but I couldn’t make it happen. The hardest part of being on tour all the time is missing life events back home.
Below are our upcoming dates for the week, so if you're in the area, be sure to come check us out!
July 24 - Washington, DC
July 27 - Philadelphia, PA
July 28 - New York City, NY
FMI on The Mammoths, visit: http://themammothsmusic.com/