Sleep Deprivation, Malnourishment and the Greatest of Experiences (NIGHTBOX TAKEOVER)

Sitting here on the Irish Ferry at 7am with the rest of Nightbox, everyone’s eager for what lies ahead – heading over to the UK to commence another tour, this time in support of Strokes’ guitarist, Albert Hammond, Jr. It’ll be another full day of travel and fingers crossed, we’ll arrive at the Newcastle venue just in time for our sound check.

Life on the road involves a lot of driving, very little sleep, an abundance of shitty, cheap grub, and yet proves one of the greatest experiences. After spending the last few months holed up in our living room in Toronto, recording and producing our EP “The Panic Sequence” it feels great to change gears and get back into tour mode. The daily gig routine: wake up earlier than you’d like to, go for a run around whatever city you’re in (it’s really the only chance you get to explore the town), eat whatever has the most caloric bang for your buck, sit in the van for hours on end, load-in to the venue, sound check, perform, head out for a few post-gig drinks, go to bed later than you’d like, repeat. The day-to-day activities don’t stray far from that, but each day brings it’s own nuances. Last UK Tour, we got food poisoning our first day. The next day we found our guitarist, James Tebbitt, curled up in the fetal position on main street, Liverpool. It’s those experiences that really unite a band, no?

But by far the greatest aspect of touring is the shows themselves. Being able to get up on stage in front of a completely new crowd every night is an incredible feeling. You never know what to expect. Each crowd brings a different vibe and atmosphere to the show. Some nights, the stars align and we connect with each other and the audience in a way that has us coming off the stage asking ourselves “What the hell just happened?” We feed off the audience’s energy just as much as they do, so it’s somewhat of a magical moment when a certain synergetic energy is created. You lose yourself a little bit on stage. You go into another world. The best part about it is, any one of us can look at any other member on stage and know that they’re feeling the exact same thing. Then after the show, once the adrenaline subsides, we’re able to realize what just transpired.

So as we travel across to the UK, we look forward to being sleep deprived and malnourished. Being able to play our music for receptive audiences night after night makes it all worthwhile. We wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

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This post was written by Nightbox percussionist Nicholas Bitlove, as part of their Takeover of Indie Music Filter.  Find them on twitter here.