The band tours the deep south and gets weird in Florida. They stay with an alligator hunting man. Spatola attends an exorcism. (full audio below)
SNIPPET…
Brett: Last May we did a run all the way down south and back to Wisconsin. Did you have an enjoyable time?
Spatola: I did. I love being in the south. I love how everything changes from us being up here in Wisconsin. And the food. And the Waffle House *laughs*.
Brett: It is amazing, it feels like you need a passport to go there.
Spatola: It’s so different!
Brett: Now, I have to preface this episode by talking about the “drive-by.” It’s one of my favorite new tour terms.
Spatola: Not the one with guns.
Brett: No, not the one with guns. It’s a musician terminology, it’s called the drive-by, I learned it from Ike Reilly, who’s a rock and roll hero out of Libertyville, Illinois. I went out touring with him, and he told me all about the drive-by.
The drive-by is where you’re driving the van, and you slow down in front of the venue, and you get a sense that it’s going to be a rough night. It’s kind of a crappy venue, it’s cold, it’s a Monday, it’s icy outside, whatever. You can tell it’s going to be a tough show.
And the drive-by is where you slow down in front of the venue...and you just keep driving. You don’t do the gig. It’s a risky move.
So Ike would be driving the band van, in front of the venue, and his band is starting to get used to the drive-by, so he’s driving in front of the venue, and his band is like, “Oh! What’s this!? Reilly...Reilly’s doing a drive-by! Ike’s doing a drive-by! Yeahhh!!!!”
Spatola: *laughs*
Brett: And then he would take the bar down to the pub and get drunk instead of doing the gig.
My favorite drive-by story of his is this—they’re loading gear into this venue in Washington D.C. and the production guy at the venue starts being really grumpy and mean to him. Ike just stops, and goes, “Hey everybody! Put the gear back in the van! We’re not doing the show! We’re not putting up with this crap!” And he kind of sounds like Joe Pesci when he talks, little Italian guy.
So, they put the gear BACK in the van, he goes to the bar, gets everyone drunk. Meanwhile, there are two guys who are there super early for the show, who come out to the bar with them, they drink with them all night. These two guys who are fans of Ike Reilly, and at the end of the night, one of them goes to Ike and says, “That was really fun, man.” He shakes his hand and in his hand...a wad of two thousand dollars. He just gives him two grand. How about that?
Spatola: I bet he doesn’t tell that to his band *laughs*
