Friday, October 15, 2010

Goodbye Van, hello Mrs. Hippo



We have a tour bus. It’s monstrous. It sleeps twelve, operates six independent air conditioning units, and between the girth of its walls manages to contain a small kitchen. Should the last couple sentences appear distastefully boastful to you, let me offset that impression by letting you know; nobody is more grateful or surprised to have a tour bus than us. We jumped up and down like an award winning seventh grade Girl Scout troupe when “Mrs. Hippo” (which she was immediately named) first rolled into our lives. The once seemingly insane idea to spend most of the money we’ve saved over the last year to lease the twelve wheel behemoth for this six week US tour came when we saw the drive schedule and venues we’d be playing. Two nights at the Henry Fonda in Los Angeles, the Fillmore in San Francisco, the Showbox in Seattle, etc, etc. The list of legendary venues rolls on to Webster Hall at the end of October in New York. Any band should count their lucky stars to get the chance to perform in so many inspiring spaces. That’s why we got the bus. Not because we deserve it, not because it makes financial sense, but because we owe it to the fans who come out to support us to be our best. Being on the road the last two years straight, we’ve spent enough sleepless 48 hour periods trading off driving through the night and pissed in enough shaking, empty water bottles while barreling down the freeway to appreciate the finer comforts Mrs. Hippo affords the touring life. However, its not the two satellite televisions or the ability to pour myself a bowl of cereal en route between Portland and Boulder that makes me fond of that incessantly sputtering hunk of metal. It’s the early morning instore performances we’ve been able to add (and hit our harmonies at). The time to finally let the new songs start kicking their way from my mind into existence. The capability to stay out at the bars with our new friends The Love Language and watch them freestyle rap battle with the house hip hop band. It’s the best six shows we’ve had all year in a year full of hundreds (literally) of great shows. This is going to be the best tour we’ve ever done. A special thank you to Mrs. Hippo, and to the crazy kids, you men and women of the west coast. Eastward ho!

Taylor

Local Natives


*photos by Bethany Toews









6 comments:

tiffiny said...

Just got your album. FANTASTIC.

Come to Dallas again soon.

-Tiffiny

Anonymous said...

It was awesome meeting y'all on Saturday at the admiral! And thanks for the stellar birthday show. That one will definitely go down as one of the better ones I've had. Hopefully we'll meet again when you're in town next. We'll have to make sure to get Tara out too for some massages. Take it easy and safe travels!!

-Will Avrett

Grace Erickson said...

The show in Minneapolis was just wonderful. Glad I was finally able to see you all live.

Grace Erickson said...

P.S. My friend and I had a theory on why you chose to play Prince for the introduction. He thought you chose a different 'local native' from the city you were currently playing in. I thought it was because Prince owns First Ave. Turns out we were both wrong as the same song played at the Chicago show. Then I found 20 bucks and all that...

Johanna Rose said...

My band and I named our tourbus 'Denver'.
I'm sure Mrs Hippo and Denver would be good mates.

SoaneHonor said...

Mrs. Hippo is one hell of a HUGE tourbus!
You guys have been at Amoeba? I've been to the one in San Francisco, and that store is the best music store ever. I ended up with over 12CD's in my basket, and for someone who doesn't have all the money of the world and is at the start of her holiday, I brought it down to 5.
I've seen you guys live twice, and both times were awesome. Come to Utrecht, The Netherlands again?