Are there any particular items that you guys take on the road with you when you go out — certain books or music or good luck charms?

Contreras: I have a little patch of magic that I take with me. Just anything that means anything to me. I've got stuff on me right now [he empties his pockets]… My magic rock, and things that I take, like talismans that people have given me over the years.

Downie: I guess it's a struggle, because you're always struggling to bring things you need, to be as whole as you can be out there, y'know, on battery power, let's face it. And never wanting to take anything you can't afford to lose. Sort of The Accidental Tourist ethos. But you need that stuff, so you're always walking a tightrope out there. I've got a briefcase of stuff, and if that briefcase fell in the river, I'd go in after it.

Contreras: I've left a trail of stuff, from my clothes to my favourite blanket [which] I left in Victoria. At the Daffodil Motor Inn. It's [former Change of Heart frontman] Ian Blurton's fault, actually. He was cold so I lent him my blankie, 'cause he needed it more than me. And he didn't load it into the van.

Downie: And you get kind of accustomed to loss, at least of clothing.

Contreras: And books. Twice in the last few years I've lost my book with all my numbers, all my notes, all my lyrics, all the notes from people that I met, strange little love notes and things like that. But at the same time, that's okay, too. It's like those sand drawings that the monks do. Those sand paintings? You look at it for 15 minutes and then it's destroyed.

Next: THE BIZARRE OMEN OF A DEAD RABBIT