We've been so busy running back and forth from state to state that we haven't had time to update this thing! After St Joe, IN we headed to Lansing, MI to play at an anarchist ran DIY space called B414. (Basement 414) We had played there last year while on tour and really wanted to come back through this time around. We got a hold of our friends Chaz and Katie who go by Safe In Sound Booking and they hooked it up big time. The show was really awesome and a ton of really great local and touring bands played. A band from the area called Yearbooks opened the show with a really incredible set followed by a band called Hum Drum. A band called Fisher King played right before us and absolutely crushed it. We were headlining the show and everyone stuck around and really enjoyed our set. We were super excited to be back in Lansing and glad that we got to see Chaz and Katie! After the show we went and got some great deep dish vegan pizza and crashed out in our bus.The next day we woke up and make the short drive to a place called The Trumbullplex in Detroit, MI. The Trumbullplex has been a radical/activist house since the 1960's and we couldn't wait to get there and check it out. When we arrived we were greeted by a kid named Matt who invited us to a bread making workshop. We agreed and had a bit of time to explore, so that's exactly what we did.
The Trumbullplex is two beautiful victorian houses right next to each other, connected by gardens intertwining throughout the property.
A previous owner built a theater onto one of the houses which is currently the show space. Before becoming The Trumbullplex in 1993 the house was used as a bullet factory, a playhouse, and a home for many radical/activist folk and artists such as R Crumb. Today it is used as a show space, a zine library, an outreach to the community, a collective house for currently 8 residents, an art gallery, a place to hold workshops, and many, many other incredible things.
The bread making workshop was great and when it was finished we all feasted on tons of sourdough bread and homemade rhubarb jam. When we were finished eating we had a little bit of time left before the show started so we did a little more exploring. The second of the two houses is the "project house," or the house that needs the most work. Attached to the side of it is a chicken coop and behind it is a garden full of veggies. In front of the main house is a "free box" of clothes that anyone from the community can take. Beside it is a few crab apple trees, a fire pit, and an old Blue Bird school bus with a wood stove. We were so caught up in exploring that we lost track of time. The show started around 9 and was absolutely great. It was a room full of new friends and everyone was having an awesome time. Outside we met a man named Illy Mack who is notorious in Detroit for drawing portraits for $1. Being that we were a touring band I think Illy hooked us up.
This gem is now hanging in our bus. After the show, we went to our new friend Shane's house from the band Noman to eat some vegan stew. Shane is the one who set up the show and really helped us out bigtime. A huge thanks to him and Noman for being awesome. We were all really tired from a long and exciting day and we crashed out at around 3 in our bus in the driveway of The Trumbullplex. In the morning we woke up and headed into the city to check out The Heidelberg Project.The Heidelberg Project is an open-air art environment in the heart of an urban community on Detroit’s East Side. The project stretches two blocks and is made up of discarded materials recovered by it's founder, Tyree Guyton.
We have wanted to check this out for a long time and we were really pumped that we finally got to see it. We hung around for about an hour and then headed for The Black Cherry Info Shop in Toledo, OH. We played with Kevin Tuckers anarcho/primitivist metal band Peregrine and a bunch of other metal/punk bands like Early Graves and The Funeral Pyre. Everyone was super nice and we were all really excited that we were playing with each other. The show was a total success and we ended up making a bunch of new friends. After the show, we started heading towards Kalamazoo, MI to find a 
place to sleep for the night. While driving we were hit by the crazy rainstorm that instantly turned the interstate into one big river. We couldn't see anything out of the window and we had to frantically get off at the next exit. Luckily, there was a WalMart a mile away and we ended up staying there for the night.In the morning we made it to Kalamazoo and met up with our friend Nola from The Almanac Shouters. She lives on a nature preserve in an old farm house on 110 acres of land and we couldn't have been more excited. We explored all day in the woods, made a fire, and picked a ton of black berries. When we returned, Nola had made us, along with the other two singer/songwriters from Australia and Alaska that we were playing with, vegan chili with sweet potatoes, and a pasta with a tomato and mushroom sauce. After feasting and laying around for a bit we headed to the No Fun House for the show. Evan from Australia opened the show and played a really awesome, intimate set. We played next and ended up having a bunch of technical trouble and I broke a string but all in all we played a pretty good set. Brandon Reid played a folky/country/bluegrass set after us and everyone was really into it. Our friends The Almanac Shouters closed the show and were really awesome as usual. After the show, there was a bonfire at Nola's house and we turned the berries we had picked earlier into some delicious blackberry jam. We got a great nights sleep under the stars and now here we are sitting in Nola's living room.
We have two off days that we're going to be spending in St Joe, Indiana, swimming, relaxing, and getting my stitches out! We won't have the internet for a bit so check back in a few days.
