April 14 - Victoria and April 15 - Vancouver

We arrived on the island at about 3pm (I think). That morning was foggy... I mean I was foggy. We had driven from Prince George the day before and made it as far as a town called Hope (about an hour from Vancouver) and decided to crash for the night. Thinking that even if we did get to Vancouver that night it would be too late to find a place to sleep so we'd be staying in the van anyway. Hope is a very small town and appeared to be a safe place to stay over. In Hope, we popped in for a pint at a local pub. The waitress asked us if we were a touring band (its that obvious eh that we don't come from Hope). We told her “yeah” and that we were called The Rotten. When she left the woman sitting by herself having a coffee at the table next to us asked us again what our band was called. Turns out that a show we played in Montreal a few years ago was actually a benefit show for her son. It was to raise money to send his remains back to Hope after he died of an overdose. She was so happy to see us and share some stories about Tom (her son). She said it was like all the starts aligned and sent us to that tiny pub in Hope, BC as a gift to her from Tom. I can see that. We sat with her for a couple hours then went to a truck stop for the night.

Although our van is equipped to sleep 4 people that does not mean that it sleeps 4 people comfortably. The weather was crap and raining and the bed were cramped. We all didn't sleep much that night and were super tired.

We woke up at 7am and decided to just start driving to warm up the van and ourselves. We caught a morning ferry to Victoria and were arrived at Hoon's place (Lesbian Fist Magnet) early afternoon. Hoon we met while he was on tour with Dayglo Abortions and have been friends ever since. It was really great to see him and catch up. We hung out for the day with Hoon and friends... and lots of dogs that helped me fill my doggy void. I miss my little munchkins. Everyone we met in Victoria was really awesome and we had a great time. The show was at Logan's pub. Awesome venue but not a great turn out. There was some confusion with this show and almost had it cancelled a few days before we left for tour so the fact that the show still happened, regardless of attendance, was cool. We played with two bands, Gastric Acid and Smoked Out Brainzzz. Really cool guys and good bands.


We went back to Hoon's place after the show and got to sleep in beds!! Yay!! We were so, so, so tired by that point and slept until 11am. We hung our for a bit in the morning then wandered Victoria for about an hour and then headed back to the ferry. I was excited on the ferry this time because they were doing a overboard rescue drill that was got to watch. Also, I watched the waters for any kind of sea life but didn't see anything aside from birds. That reminds, I still need to touch the ocean before we leave.

We arrived at Funky Winker Beans a little ahead of schedule and walked Hastings street for something to do. It is insanely depressing on Hastings with all the homeless addicts collecting bottles and asking for change. It is like nothing I've ever seen before (aside from on Hastings street as a kid).

The show we played was a 5 band bill (we got added to the bill last minute because we couldn't nail down a Vancouver date for Friday. Wendy13 and Hoon put us on last nights bill. Originally we thought we would have to play last and as a first time touring band its not always the best spot but one of the bands was late for their set so we played 2nd instead. It was really cool. There were lots of people there including our Rebel Spell friends, Cam and Marco (in Vancouver for a week vacation). I really like that bar.

We slept in the van last night again but Will was not with us because he stayed with a friend. The van is 1000000000 times more comfortable with just 3 people and we slept parked on the street by Stepha's house until 11am.

I wish I had more interesting things to blog about but its been pretty low key today. Just resting up for the long haul home... 8 shows in 9 days.