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January 3, 2008.
Ok, ok... so the tour happened ages ago, I know. It was such a riot that I've finally recovered enough for storytelling. So, here goes. First of all, the camera with the pictures of broken van windows on dirty downtown streets and broken Gruff hearts bathed in neon street signs never made it back to us. The camera arrived, but the pictures didn't. You'll have to continue to use your imagination. So! Let's start on:

Wednesday Dec 5, 2007. Nanaimo, BC.
The second half of our December tour had a new ingredient to touring with The Gruff: Kent McAlister and the Iron Choir. A band of lovely young fellas from Vancouver who were finishing up a two month tour of the country here on our little Island with our little Gruffians. We met up in Nanaimo where we were given a sign of things to come: Nanaimo was on a boil water alert..... we had to drink beer instead. After a very sparsely attended show at The Queens we all headed over to the Port o' Call Motel where they have fantasy shower caps (Oh aye!) and tiny little tubes of toothpaste. It was here that The Gruff promptly locked themselves out of their room at 3:00 in the morning and the Iron Choir broke back in... a sign of good teamwork to come. The next day came quickly and after breakfast it was off to the mall for new contact lenses and a photo with Santa.

The Gruff and Kent McAlister and the Iron Choir with Santa on their laps.

Thursday Dec 6, Hornby Island BC
After we had our photo taken with Santa we were officially addicted to text messaging (by the end of the tour it was the only way we communicated with each other...), loaded into the Goose and the Mule and on our way to Hornby Island for a show at Joe King Hall. There were more people out to see us there and we started two new tour traditions. Hanging out in the Goose and dancing!

Gruffing out in the van.

Friday Dec 7, Denman Island BC
The next day we only had a short ferry ride to travel to Denman Island for a show at the hall there. In typical Gruff fashion, we arrived a little early for a game of frozen frisbee in the field. We distracted ourselves from our freezing hands by discussing whether or not Justin Timberlake actually exists, let alone writes his own songs. We had a wonderful time at the show and solidified another tour tradition: having Kent McAlister and The Iron Choir join us on stage for our Leonard Cohen cover and having us join them on stage for theirs.

Kent McAlister and Jenny and Phaedra singing Leonard Cohen.

Saturday Dec 8, Ucluelet BC
After the show on Denman we all headed back to the house of our gracious hosts and had a nice big sing along jam into the wee hours of the night which inspired a good sleep-in the next day. We rolled out of bed and into the Goose and Mule just in time to make a ferry and headed off towards the frosty mountain highway to Ucluelet after a brief stop in Port Alberni for some much needed sustenance. The show in Ucluelet was great. Lots of people came out and had a big party full of whooping, drinking and more dancing!

Jenny and Phaedra waltzing.
After the show we managed to collect ourselves and head upstairs to our home for the night. We had the whole little hotel to ourselves and commenced an epic jam party in various rooms and hallways that went on longer than the wee hours and right into the itty-bitty hours. There were slow songs, fast songs, interpretive songs, wrestling matches, and copious complementary phone calls to the Buttered Pretzel Stick hotline. We started the next day off with our fourth Mexican food meal of the tour and sorting through the mess we made the night before to find all of our stuff and load it up to head home. We kidnapped Tim Tweedale of the Iron Choir and took him with us while the other boys headed off to various destinations to spend a couple of days off. The Goose was feeling a little under the weather and kept stalling at random points on the highway to Port Alberni but we made it home where we all went to sleep.

Friday Dec 14, Victoria BC
After a couple of days off and a couple of guest appearances by Kent McAlister and The Iron Choir at our local shows we all piled into Logan's for the tour's last show on the Island. There weren't a whole lot of people there besides ourselves but those that were there were up for a party and so were we.

After the show at Logan's we headed off for yet another epic night-long jam session at the studio we're recording at right now. This one was complete with interpretive dance, Disney sing-alongs and clap tracks.

Saturday Dec 15, Vancouver BC
Saturday started rough. Exhausted from our revelry of the night before we got off to a bit of a late start and only the Goose made it onto the ferry we were aiming for. The Mule was not so lucky and left most of The Iron Choir and part of The Gruff stuck at the ferry terminal trying to sleep crammed into a very, very full minivan. After a nice meal in Vancouver (and a Caesar or two) everyone was feeling much better.


After the show it was off to bed. Then up for breakfast, a reluctant goodbye to our new friends, and back home to Victoria for some well earned rehabilitation.

Monday Dec 3, Victoria BC
Well, the first part of our three week Island tour is over and what a rollercoaster it was. It was supposed to be easy. Three shows, four days, four ferry rides. It all started on the way to the ferry to Saltspring. Phaedra innocently turned around in the van to ask: "Do you think that if we were less organized we'd have more crazy road stories to tell? Like leaving suitcases propped in door jambs in hotels and having them delivered by Purolater three weeks later. Or one of us drinking away our hotel money. Falling asleep at the wheel... you know, stuff like that." Everyone said they thought so, and that was that. We arrived on Saltspring Island with no difficulty and had a lovely show at Barb's Buns with Jaime RT. From there we headed back to her house for a wonderful night full of food and warmth. Jenny had her anti-cat medicine so she was asthma free and we all got our own bed. A nice long sleep, awesome breakfast and relaxing day later and we were off to Vancouver. The show at the Railway Club was by far our best show in Vancouver to this date. We played with our lovely friends Headwater and another band called Blackberry Wood. There was a line up down the stairs, out the door and down the block all the way through our set! After the show, Terri and Phaedra headed out on the streets of downtown Vancouver past people in shopping carts, drunk guys throwing up at the bus stop and drug deals to retrieve our beloved Midnight Goose from the parkade. When they arrived in the parkade Terri and Phaedra couldn't find the Goose anywhere. Just an empty parkade and some broken glass. Upon returning to The Railway Club and reporting to a stunned Jenny, Adam and Headwater that the van was gone they commenced trying to figure out what to do. After speaking with the police and some exceptionally unhelpful folks at the EasyPark security center the Midnight Goose was located at an impound lot having been towed there by the police for safekeeping, her front driver's side quarter window smashed in. The Goose finally got back to the Railway Club sometime around 4:30AM to find Jenny, Phaedra and Adam waiting in the lights of the 7-11 amidst the insane inferno that is the streets of Vancouver after midnight. All tuckered out and two backpacks and a gear bag lighter we unloaded everything at one of the Headwater houses for a well deserved, albeit very late (or early?) sleep. In the morning we woke up groggy, and disheveled only to find a beautiful winter wonderland outside. We led Jenny whose glasses were in her stolen backpack through the snow for a nice breakfast at The Reef and then began the journey to The Sunshine Coast. We only missed one ferry and spent a couple of hours in the van at the ferry terminal snuggled up in sleeping bags for fear of leaving all of our stuff in a perpetually unlocked van. Once on the Sunshine Coast we slid down the hill to the house concert and had a wonderful time there. Later that night as we hunkered down for the night at Serena's house we all hoped that not too much more snow would fall during the night and we'd be able to make it home the next day. Early the next morning after Jenny stumbled from the van in Serena's pyjamas where she spent the night because her anti-cat medicine (and her pyjamas) were also in her stolen backpack we loaded up again and slid off towards the ferry terminal. A reasonably uneventful couple of snowy hours later complete with only one large, semi-truck in opposing traffic, slush splash that went right through the broken window and down Phaedra's shirt and we were bundled up in sleeping bags on the ferry back to Vancouver Island imparting how much we love each other. Unfortunately, the camera with the pictures documenting our harrowing adventures got left behind in Gibsons....

Stay tuned for part 2!!
 

Wonder where we're at right now? Check out our tour journal.

The Gruff have been nominated for Best New/Emerging Act in the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Yay!!
www.canadianfolkmusicawards.ca/cfma

"The Gruff" is now available at CD Baby! (www.cdbaby.com)
Click here to order!

You can now collect your favourite tunes off of our latest albums from iTunes! Download and be merry.

Pick up the Spring 2007 issue of Penguin Eggs magazine to read our new article!

Yay us! We're happy to announce we were presented "Artist of the Year" at the 2007 Vancouver Island Music Awards.