It all started back in April when their bassist, Jackson, was telling someone about their tour. He will tell you that that I legitimately leaned out from behind someone and asked, "Sooooo....you want a photo/video person for this tour?" And, welp, the rest is history....
Tonsillitis Tour 2K17
“It’ll make for great footage!”
Having finally collected me from my apartment in Rochester, we settled into our mini bus of sin (later referred to as the mini coffin of death on our way home from New Hampshire) and officially started on our way to Poughkeepsie, by way of Staten Island. Confused? Let me explain because, believe me, we were too.
Having been collected from my apartment, I found out that the show in Poughkeepsie had been canceled and that we were on our way to Staten Island for potentially another show, somewhere, that had been found by our tourmates. However, once we got down near the city, we find out that the show in Staten Island was no longer happening either. We decided to stop and take a break at a rest stop while we waited to figure out what we should be doing.
Thankfully, an Air BNB back in Poughkeepsie had been reserved for us for after the show that was supposed to happen in Poughkeepsie. So, it was a pretty much unanimous decision to head back to Poughkeepsie and, instead of a show, hang out and have a little party. And that's how we ended up in Poughkeepsie by way of Staten Island from Rochester.
Once we arrived at our Air BNB, we all instantly fell in love with it. I wish I had more photos of the actual place because it was so beautiful. It was this lovely farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere in Woodstock, NY, with a beautiful front yard and stone porch as well a stone path in the back leading up to the hot tub in the trees. Needless to say, it was the perfect place to relax and run amok after spending eight hours in the mini bus. What happens in Woodstock, stays in Woodstock.
The next morning, groggily arising from the night's festivities, we prepared to leave for Vermont. I had to be extricated from a giant down comforter on the sofa, having only been visible thanks to our small, stuff tour moose. Highly suggest every tour has a tour moose. We found this beautiful little bed and breakfast on the main stretch of Woodstock, snagging some food after the night's festivities. I'd recommend it but that would require me to remember its name.
Having finished our late breakfast, we wandered through Woodstock a bit before we got on the way to Vermont with fingers crossed that this show would actually happen. It did. Though, in the process of driving to Vermont I found I had to teach the guys about the NY to Vermont ferry. Having taken it two summers previous for a tour, I had to reassure them that yes, the mini bus of sin would fit on the ferry and yes, we were allowed on it. Vermont will forever be known as the home of the great Cheeks. Guitarist Frisky Misky found a goth girl that he became hopelessly in love with after a grand total of three hours. The alcohol really sped the falling in love process real quick. Quite to the point where he asked her if she wanted to travel with us to New Hampshire for the next show. She politely declined. However, they do now follow each other on Twitter and Instagram. We're just waiting for the wedding.
Sadly, Cheeks did not accompany us to New Hampshire to be what we didn't know at the time, the only other show that would be played on this "tour". We lied, it was actually just a nice scenic tour of New England with a couple shows and a lot of alcohol thrown in. We made it to New Hampshire at like three or four in the morning, staying at the house of one of the locals playing the show at Bungalow. The next morning, regaining consciousness from what felt like a near death slumber we took into account potential plans for the day. Out of all options, we obviously felt that McDonald's was the best one. Because why wouldn't it be on tour-ish? Delicious McGriddles were calling our name.
After we finished up our food, we proceeded to casually jog down the plaza (no, I lied we have sprinted) to the pet store we found. Thus comes the preachy part of this tour blog, please be cautious when you see those expensive beautiful baby puppies in pet stores. Because there's a good chance that they came from a puppy mill and have scores of potential physical, medical and behavioral issues that may not have presented yet. HOWEVER, we did all play and snuggle with the most adorable little Husky puppy that we wish we could've kidnapped and taken with us. Because paying $1200 for an animal is whack and not necessary.
Little did we know that night how lit that show would truly be. We were not informed that there would be a rave occurring in the other room of the venue. Metalcore and EDM mingling together, but is anyone truly surprised? Although, I will tell you some of the rave goers who accidentally came to our show instead had ~far out~ outfits for sure on. We even thought the second coming of Cheeks had occurred.
The next 36-48 hours, however, were not lit. Tour reminder: if you get sick before you leave for tour, TAKE SOME DAMN ANTIBIOTICS. (Cough, Jackson, cough) In hindsight, though, the culprit still could've been quiet Jarrod hiding in the back of the now mini bus of death. Tonsillitis had felled us all. Throat coat tea and McDonald's ice cream cones being our only saviors. (I guess we could thank the McDonald's gods as well for letting the ice cream machines actually, y'know, work.) Thankfully, the last show was also canceled so Steve, aka the only one without tonsils and a couple other hauled our dying asses back to Western NY. I'd have more to say except I'm pretty sure I slept for a good chunk of it. Or was some sort of delirious from lack of sleep and high on McDonalds' ice cream.
Who would've ever thought so much sheer ~ridiculousness~ could be crammed into one weekend? Watch below for my attempts to cram the weekend into a three or four minute video