Mazes US Tour Diary: Part 1

Our favourite dishevelled punk slackers Mazes have just started a US tour with eclectic Texans White Denim. Frontman Jack Cooper will be filling us in on all the goss (plus tales of dogs, bagels and comfortable chairs of course) as it happens. Here’s the first instalment…

Our tour with White Denim has started frustratingly. First of all the US Embassy, in their wisdom, decided to keep our passports for an extra couple of days,  meaning we missed the first show in Washington DC.

Anyway… Our flight yesterday went swimmingly and we arrived smiling, only to be greeted on arrival with the news that our van had broken down. Fun.

We spent the night in NYC, ate a pretty excellent BBQ chicken sandwich and hit the sack. My bed was a leather sofa. The leather, combined with a faulty air conditioning unit, meant I had to be peeled off it this morning. Peeling over, we walked around and got a bagel, coffee and orange juice – trying to be NY. Then I spoke to my friend in Austin on Skype. ‘There’s lightning lighting up my bedroom,’ she said. Blew my mind.

Other things that have occurred to me: The Lower East Side smells as bad as Bill Hicks said and the shop workers’ attitude to customer service is laissez faire to say the least. We’re now on our way to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. I wanna climb the Rocky steps and eat Cheese Steak. Tour is fun. Oh, we’ve just boarded the Amtrak, we’re wishing Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were with us. Of course, we’re listening to Jonathan Richman.

OK. Just woke up. Philly was a blast last night. Good crowd, great venue and an extremely hospitable promoter. I type this from one of those lazy boy chairs that Joey and Chandler had in Friends – a surprisingly comfortable sleep. Before me, I see three sleeping bandmates, Adam from FatCat, Baxter the dog and a cat I haven’t met. We drive to Northampton today.  I’m just hoping it’s better than the UK Northampton (no offence). More news as I get it. Jack.