North American Tour.

01/08/25. Chris Buck

Our first ever North American tour starts this month. Even though it feels as though everything’s been building up to this moment for the last year or so, it’s still so utterly surreal to actually say that. For context, it was only a few years back that we were playing weddings, even after Tell Me How It Feels was released. It was only a few years back that that we were playing pubs, bumping belligerent punters out of the way so we could cart a bass drum across a crowded dance floor to bash out some covers for a disinterested crowd for a few hundred quid. It was only a few years back that I was pinning posters of Slash, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain on my bedroom wall, pumping out power chords in front of the mirror and dreaming of the land of milk and honey…and rock n’ roll. And now our North American tour is about to start. This month. And most of it is Sold Out.

Rehearsals are done, bags are packed, Visas granted and I’ve corralled every pair of socks that I own and stuffed them into my guitar case. I’ve secreted an AirTag in just about all of my worldly possessions and I’m now sat in my favourite coffee shop soaking in a few brief moments of calm and composure before the fever and frenzy of a month-long tour that will take in virtually an entire continent across 13 cities over 5700 miles of driving. In a minibus. Like a strange school trip but without the compulsory stop at Techniquest (a niche reference, I grant you unless you went to school in the South Wales Valleys…) and less pocket money to spend.

I spend most of my life in coffee shops. It’s the unspoken reality of being a musician in the 21st Century that it’s about 10% playing and 90% admin - emails, design, content creation, logistics, marketing, strategising etc etc. Scintillating stuff, I know but entirely necessary and the work that goes into a tour of this size, even with the backing of a label and booking agency is pretty intense to say the least. And most of it gets done in coffee shops. Even with headphones in - in my case, invariably listening to a podcast about the Titanic, WWII, politics or most recently, the Great Fire of London. Did you know that only 11 people are said to have died?! Although it’s estimated that temperatures reached over 1700 degrees so there’s a fair chance some people were atomised… - there’s something strangely soothing in plodding through a never-ending list of things-to-do while life happens around you. Snatches of conversation, reunions, business meetings and first dates; the customary cacophony of a good coffee shop in full flow. There’s nothing like it.

Looking at the schedule for the next month and the travel days involved, I’m not sure how much time we’ll have to take in the best beans that North America has to offer but even if it’s more Tim Hortons than tasting notes and more machine-made Mochas than single-origin shots, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on the tumult, trials and tribulations of a band tackling their first North American tour. Which starts this month. Not sure if I mentioned that?

Vibe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Coffee ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️