Spirit Animal: TAS Tour Diary
Although Brooklyn's Spirit Animal craft athletic psychedlic rock, the band found itself briefly hobbled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Like so many other people in the area, Spirit Animal's members were hit with storm damage, losing instruments and recordng gear.
Nevertheless, the quartet, which recently released their EP This Is A Test, which is available for a free download on the band's Bandcamp site or the widget below, shook off the stormy setback and embarked on a brief tour earlier this month, traveling down the East coast. Spirit Animal — singer and Moog master Steve Cooper, drummer Ronen Evron, bassist Paul Michel an guitarist Cal Stamp — will be heading out on wintry roads next year too, beginning on January 17 in Chicago and making their way back to New York to play a late show at Mercury Lounge on February 1.
Curious about their travels this December — including a Hurricane Sandy benefit that Spirit Animal played in Nyack, New York —The Alternate Side asked the band members if they'd do a tour blog and Steve Cooper sent back a detailed account of Spirit Animal's adventures, accompanied by a Bruno Mars soundtrack and the greasy residue of chicken nuggets.
December 15, Rock 'n' Roll Hotel, Washington, D.C.
We couldn't have asked for a better beginning to this tour. For starters, we remembered Road Trip Pro Tip #1: when dipping chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce while driving, always remove your scarf and jacket. This way, if you totally wipe out and a nugget ricochets off your collarbone you still have a chance to cover up the mess for showtime using the scarf and jacket you so brilliantly removed.
As for the show, it was the perfect kickoff for a few reasons: a) D.C. is our surrogate hometown since a few of us lived in the area and started our careers there b) It was the opener's (Kin Heads) first show and they drew a big crowd of new faces c) We discovered that Paul [Michel] still has the flexibility of an adolescent gymnast.
December 16, Habitat for Humanity Benefit, Nyack, NY
Nyack has a very quaint vibe even though it's only 45 minutes north of New York City. It sits high up on a hill and you can see the Hudson River for a long stretch towards the end of the drive. We lost most of our backline and some of Paul's recording gear in Hurricane Sandy, so participating in this benefit hit home for us. The mood wasn't somber at the event, though, it was very local and festive with people from the neighborhood milling about, food vendors giving taste tests, and a filled-up donations area. Someone had donated a Raggedy Ann doll and when I saw it, I was amazed at how iconic the doll still is. The photo booth came equipped with ridiculous props and wigs which afforded us the opportunity to take our first ever, family style Christmas pic.
December 18, Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
We'd never played the early show at Mercury before (they have early and late [set times] each night), but as it was the end of December, it was dark outside by the time we were loading in, so it was actually indistinguishable from previous Mercury Lounge experiences. Churchill was very welcoming and played a great show. It was packed, so some of our newer material -- which is heavier on the crowd participation demands -- got a solid workout . [Ed. note: the two photos below are courtesy of Michael DiGiovanni]
December 19, The Fire, Philadelphia, PA
Jim's Cheesesteaks had literally no line after the show. Translation: The night was a huge success. [Sidenote: Sadly, the joy surrounding how quickly we'd gotten to eat our cheesesteaks and how damn good our cheesesteaks were did not prevent us from winding up in a heated, multi-day dispute about the right way to order a cheesesteak and, further, how one's cheesesteak order relates to the value of one's opinion about food henceforth. Boys will be boys.]
December 20, All Asia, Boston, MA
We thought we were ahead of the game leaving a full nine hours before we needed to be at All Asia ... but it was barely enough. Boston traffic was batty. Luckily, we had been falling for the new Bruno Mars song, "Natalie," so we kept the van rocking on repeat mixed with new favorites like Haim and one of Paul's go-to road rage pick-me-ups/get-me-downs, Cloudkicker's "Beacons." Even something as highly syncopated and aggressive as that was no match for Paul's unabated hatred of traffic, however. Since this was an early-ish show we had time to meet up with buds after the gig who run a cool Electronic Music School called Mmmmaven. They throw parties at a space called Middlesex as well. It has a banging new sound system so we knocked a few back and danced up on some strangers.
December 21, The Space, Hamden, CT
The last night proved to be pretty unique. Hamden is a suburb of a relatively tiny city (New Haven) and The Space is located in what looks like a small business complex. Even odder, the structure that houses the stage is this kind of stand-alone "house" in the middle of the parking lot. On the way there other artists had told us they'd played there and loved it, and once we arrived we saw stickers and posters from all kinds of bands like Races, Two Gallants, even Cisco Adler. The showroom is all ages, so there's no alcohol, but they have a separate structure across the parking lot, The Outer Space, that has beer and wine and was hosting a craft/homebrew festival that doubled as a fundraiser (in conjunction with a Kickstarter campaign), to open a new venue called Spaceland Ballroom. It was all very hip and unexpected.
— Steve Cooper, December 2012
Spirit Animal 2013 Tour Dates
1/17 - El ‘n’ Gee (New London, CT)
1/20 - Woodruff’s (Ann Arbor, MI)
1/21 - Cause (Minneapolis, MN)
1/23 - The Whistler (Chicago, IL)
1/24 - Blind Bob’s (Dayton, OH)
1/25 - Zazoo’s (Louisville, KY)
2/1 - Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)
