Tour Blog: Candy Hearts (Part One)
Our good friends in Candy Hearts are currently on tour in support of their upcoming new album, 'Everything’s Amazing And Nobody’s Happy', and vocalist/guitarist Mariel Loveland has kindly agreed to write a series of blogs for Alter The Press!
Keep checking back regularly to read Mariel's updates from the road!
"Right now I’m sitting in the car while we’re driving down I-95 and trailing Mixtapes by about a half an hour – we’re definitely the ones who are always late on this tour. It’s not completely our fault either (even if it’s usually my fault). The car is kind of quiet right now except for the Descendents on as loud as Kris would allow me to play it and somehow Christian is sleeping. Last night we played in Richmond, one of my favorite cities with some of my favorite people. It’s strange how sometimes you can be hours from home but feel like you’re right there.
Yesterday, I left my apartment around 8 a.m. even though I had been up late the night before. Kris had packed the van by the time I got there, soaking wet from the downpour and struggling to carry my bag, backpack and umbrella at the same time. We picked up Matt from the band Man the Change, who’s filling in on drums for us while Christina finishes up some major projects at work. Within one hour on the road, hopes high and excited to meet up with Christian after his weekend at Insubordination Fest, we got into a minor car accident. Admittedly, both of us were making a U-Turn that was questionably legal; however, the car behind us probably should have...I don’t know...used his brakes? Miraculously, not a dent was put into our already beat up van – it’s been through years of driving kids to soccer practice, my siblings and I learning how to drive and all of us slowly discovering that blasting music will blow out the bass in the speakers.
After the small hiccup, we trucked on for 8 or 9 hours in a mix of the hardest rain I’ve ever seen in my life and bumper to bumper traffic. But it was alright. With the small silver lining that’s always apparent when we pass a sign for Waffle House or Cracker Barrel and tiny breaks in unyielding traffic, we made it in time.
I was asleep in the blanket my grandmother had made when the sun finally came out and we pulled into the venue that was a converted animal hospital. From there, we went on with the usual stuff. We met up with old friends, teased Mixtapes and sang along to their set, played some songs and laughed.
Maybe it was me coming down from a major sugar high (too much Mountain Dew and not enough substantial nutrients) or the fact that I had about 4 hours of sleep the night before, but I suddenly felt really, really far from home. I’m not a very sentimental person by any means, but sometimes you just feel disconnected from what you’re singing and what is going on in a way that bums you out – but not usually on the first day. It’s in the late night talks that I adjust to the lack of routine that’s the nature of the beast – it’s in the pineapple pizza, the beers shared outside of the venue with my friends who are huddling under the doorframe to light cigarettes in the rain. It’s in the crowded van and falling asleep with the sound of rain hitting the windshield while everyone I know in the entire city is inside, playing songs that they’ve carefully memorized every word too after years of playing the same scratched CD.
I woke up this morning on the floor of the venue before the band was fully awake and for some reason my body hurt less than it did the whole week before. After brushing my teeth and washing my hair with a bottle of water in the broken sink, I started my shift at work (I’m a freelance writer so my job comes with me on the road). Mixtapes and the rest of the band got Waffle House and I’m sure they ate well. Today we’re getting barbeque with Scotty from Death to False Hope Records and playing a show with Dear Landlord and Slow Death. I’m excited to, by the end of this week, have finally seen Atlanta for the first time."
