2024 fall tour with mold gold part 1

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In early November, Mere(Mold Gold) and I went on a tour through the upper Midwest.

our first show was in Columbia, Missouri. The first time I went there was to record some demos by myself in a tiny home as a “retreat”. The second time I went was for True/False, a documentary film festival that has musicians open for films. That time I was overwhelmed by being around so many people and playing in front of large groups.

this time in Columbia we played at Hitt records. The amazing Ripped Genes played, just crushing acoustic slowcore. Mold Gold played as a full band and crushed it. When I played, I had stage fright like I haven’t had in so long. I was shaking, I couldn’t explain it either. But I played well and tried not to be too disappointed.

we slept at Jimmy from Ripped Genes’ house(they’re also in Telepathy Club). The next morning we got Goldie’s bagels and it hit so hard.

the next day we drove to Kirksville to see Mere’s Alma Mater Truman State before heading to Dancing Rabbit Eco Village. On campus at Truman, we snuck into the music building and each took a practice room for a while. Afterwards we got Taco Bell then met up with mere’s friend(and my new friend) Nicholas. Nicholas lives in Kirksville with his wife and son. He also runs a podcast about candy. He showed up the space he runs up there. Hearing mere and Nicholas reminisce about the aqua dome reminded me of being a teenager and going to the firehouse and the forge.

Nicholas gave us candy to review(the chocolate peanut butter animal crackers were good tier. Then we headed to Dancing Rabbit. Dancing rabbit blew my expectations out of the water. It’s technically a commune? But the 50-60 people there have their own autonomy and live in their own homes. I could not detect some weird power dynamics or a weird over arching religious thing. Just some woke progressive people who want to live sustainably. It was really powerful to witness. That’s really a whole post in itself.

they made us food and gave us our own rooms to stay in! There was a mouse in my room but he was a chiller.

we played in their dance hall and there were people of every age there, kids were running around; but everyone got quiet when we played. I had terrible stage fright again but everyone was so nice and attentive. After I played, they had both mere and I play more songs. Then they opened the floor and two dudes Erik and Mark played covers and originals that were so good! After the show, there was a jam session in the house we stayed in. It was very surreal but very fun. I smoked a joint later that night using a candelabra to light it.

https://rippedgenesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/ripped-genes

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