OK! Welcome back to an extremely late (or as I like to think of it, one whole day early) Tour Days With Lazerbeak. We spent the last week and a half on the road playing a handful of shows surrounding Tech N9ne’s Independent’s Day Fest. I was able to capture a grip ton of photos (with some help from my International Touring DJ partner in crime Paper Tiger). SO much footage, so little time. Let’s just jump right into it.
The return of Mom Snacks! Oh man, my mom really outdid herself this time around. I’m talking TWO kinds of homemade cookies, dried mangos, kettle corn, Combos, the list goes on and on. We managed to devour everything in about two days flat, a new record for the van.
We had to drive through Iowa to get to our first show in Boulder, CO. Here is Papes paying tribute to this great state.
The usual suspects.
Our first truck stop of the tour and Mike immediately was drawn to this Viking warrior helmet. That’s a real good look my guy.
We stopped in Nebraska the first night and an epic (yet ultimately regrettable) Taco Bell throwdown was had by many. Sims, Dessa, and I decided to stick to the tried and true Bud tallboys for dinner.
Haha, Stef rocked this generic team jersey for the majority of the trip. He’s looking extra athletic in the above picture due to the constant consumption of G.
He also rocked around 3-4 pairs of sunglasses at once on more than one occasion. The man is a trailblazer in the fashion world.
Legend Recognize Rodeo. This happened to be quite the omen for what would greet us in Montana.
We stopped at this very scenic rest area as we entered Utah and took turns posting up against that extreme “Life Elevated” sign.
At this point I was able to sneak/photo bomb a quick mad faced Legend Point on Dessa.
Then out of nowhere a ton of these little animals started popping up all over the place, and Dessa was transformed into a weird Godfather-esque negotiating Critter Whisperer.
Stef got in on the action too, making sure our demands were met. The whole thing played out like a sort of good cop/bad cop talking animal movie. Don’t worry, we’ve already begun developing the screenplay.
After the Utah shows, we arrived in Helena, MT to play the aforementioned festival. Remember that rodeo foreshadowing I did a while back? Boom, the whole thing was held at the county fairgrounds inside of a giant rodeo ring.
What a strange thing we had gotten ourselves into. Turns out the festival was really just an extension of Tech N9ne’s Strange Music tour. Everyone in his camp were incredibly good to us, and it was nice to hang out with a bunch of different artists for a couple days. Huge shouts to Kidz In The Hall, Stophouse, Blueprint, Rare Groove, and Murs too.
Yes, that is our van (MOUNTAIN) parked directly next to one of Tech’s busses/trailers. Those dudes do it real big. Notice Stef is still rocking that awesome jersey. Pippen or Bird?
I barely got any pictures of the show due to the fact that I have no flash on my phone. Above is an idea of the mayhem that went down during the Tech/Krizz/Calhoun set though. Suffice it to say that Strange Music does not mess around. They take their live show more serious than almost any rap act I’ve seen in years. Respect due. Sidenote: for everybody wondering about the crowd percentage at this event of the Juggalo persuasion, I did not see one person that outright resembled what I understand to be a Juggalo. Not saying they weren’t there, just saying I didn’t see anybody ouright rocking clown face paint, orange Faygo, and Psychopathic Records tees.
Paper rocking that new BTZ shirt like a champ. You already know where to cop one of those….(right HERE buddy).
Dessa, so not amused by the amount of water crushing going on at the festival.
The kid Ander, followed everywhere at the fest by his two deadly serious Secret Service agents. You know you’ve made it as a rap crew when your intern extraordinaire/merch guy requires bodyguards.
I think catering was a little confused about the actual pronunciation of Dessa’s name. Guess we’ve still got a little more grinding to do.
It being the 4th and everything, the dudes got pretty into some fireworks with our homies from Stophouse. Don’t think I’ve ever seen Papes so happy/terrifying.
So ecstatic to report that there were no casualties that night. The next day we decided it was probably high time for a little bit of aerobic exercise. In addition to the usual push ups/sit ups, we ended up working out a couple more unconventional core muscles.
That’s Dessa the Trainer working on Paper’s left leg.
We then progressed into a little more gravitationally challenging strength training session.
Mike was the clear champion. Impeccable form.
We got routed back home through Wyoming and played an awesome show in Jackson Hole. A bunch of kids designed this sweet wings and teeth metal banner for us at the venue. The hospitality in this town is second to none. The promoter not only fed us tons of BBQ and Crown Royal, but he also put us up in this ridiculously fancy suite for the night.
You know it’s fancy when you’ve got a random gold sculpture of a floating face kissing a floating hand just hanging out on the kitchen counter.
Stef and Mike’s sleeping quarters.
Paper’s Pillow Palace.
Dessa’s first (and might I say very successful) attempt at planking. Well done, but still not quite as cool as these guys:
In Casper, WY we stopped at a Dollar Store next to the venue and Sims immediately found this incredible hat.
Haha, this man’s facial expressions cannot be beat!
The obligatory “hanging out at a gas station while some local walks out with a 12 pack of Coke” shot.
The final night’s drive home. So many bugs man. That’s Sims going the extra mile to keep the windshield clean. Safety over everything.
Well, that about does it for the mini tour. I told you I had a lot of pics. We made it home on Friday just in time to see Cecil and his band headline a huge show at the Guthrie. They debuted a ton of new material that got us all even more super amped about Porcelain Revolver. So good. Here’s a couple pics courtesy of real deal photographer Ben LaFond.
That’s Cecil and Swiss Andy in that last picture. They are the masterminds behind Wugazi, the internet sensation sweeping the nation. Make sure to check back here this Wednesday when we’ll be unveiling the entire 13 Chambers album for free. You can go to www.wugazi.com for more info too. So excited that this project is finally gonna see the light of day. I’ll leave you with the two Wugazi leaker tracks as your Bonus Jams of the week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs79tXcK1Og
Ok, I hope you all have a wonderful week. If you live close to the Twin Cities make sure to come out to the Northrop Auditorium this Friday night for a FREE outdoor concert that Sims and I will be playing. I’m gonna be doing a full on Lava Banger set and then Sims is gonna destroy the headlining slot. It’s his last Minneapolis show until October, so you definitely don’t want to miss it. Bight Club is playing too! You can check out all the info right HERE. See you next Tuesday for a regular old Tuesdays With Lazerbeak post.
— Beak