LIGHTS Tour Diary #1: Hold On To Your Butts

11/12/09 7:01pm

by LIGHTS (CHARTattack)

Super-heroine and keytar queen LIGHTS is currently crossing the country on a massive tour and she'll be writing tour diaries about her adventures for CHARTattack. Check in next Thursday for the next installment.

Here's part one:

The past year has been an extremely busy, dizzying, ass-busting one.

We kicked off 2009 with a Canadian club tour in January, northeastern U.S. headliner in February, then spring recording, mixing, mastering, an April U.K. tour, album art and concept planning, the Warped tour, video shoots, back to the U.K., a cross-Canada tour with Keane, festival after festival, Canadian record release, American record release, entire cross-U.S.A. headliner (all of this in a van and tiny trailer)... and finally this major headlining tour across my home country which began just a few days ago.

So here I sit, taking a momentary breather to look back on how much has happened over 11 months. It's funny how pressure, stress, chaos and exhaustion seem to progressively mount up and max out before things are allowed to elevate to the next level. But I must say, it really feels like they finally have. And with every ounce of hard work that was put in, there was some extraordinary result that manifested itself in a way that makes every missed hour of sleep, every keyboard-busted bicep, every frustrated sigh completely worth it.

Just last week we finished off a very exhausting, soul-stealing (yet extremely exciting and successful) American tour a mere day before we plunged into what will be the biggest tour of my life. Needless to say, from the chaos of the previous weeks, the endless planning going into the production of this tour, and the addition of new team members for this purpose, my nerves were raging before the first date in Vancouver at the sold-out Commodore.

Thankfully that day, one of the biggest pay-offs for the year's hard work, came in the form of a dusty mauve tour bus. I don't even think I bothered looking back at the van as it drove away. After all, we'll be seeing it again very soon once this tour is over. But that's neither here nor there… let's focus on the now.

Being in a bus has its perks, but at the same time it takes some getting used to. Myself, I'm a bit of a control freak (thanks, Daddy) so careening helplessly through snowy mountain passes between Kelowna, B.C. and Calgary in the pitch dark while laying in a coffin-esque position in the bus' back catacombs can make for an interesting "sleep."

That's when a mini-midi controller and GarageBand in your bunk can make for an excellent distraction until 6:30 in the morning — a stylish synth lead and funky rhythm can solve a whole lot of the world's problems if you ask me.

But to be honest, the fear didn't strike my heart as deep as it could have since I've submitted to trusting Doug's 20-some years of driving experience. I've even considering dubbing the front cabin the "Doug Out." However "The Lodge" seems a tad more appropriate as the interior looks like the inside of my uncle's fishing hut. It probably creaks and groans the same amount, too.

No fish, though, unfortunately. In fact, there's no food at all, which is another thing that bums me out about waking up on a bus. But, hey, we're only a few days into the tour. I sense a tour pit stop in the near future that will put our haggard, tour-bent bodies in the ranks of peopleofwalmart.com.

Okay, flashback to Vancouver, Nov. 7, first day of the Canadian tour. Jets Overhead (great bunch of music-making mammals from Victoria, B.C. joining us for this tour) had just gotten off stage. The Commodore Ballroom was packed. I was in the back room jogging on the spot, partially to calm my nerves and partially to resurrect the last ounce of energy hidden somewhere deep inside of my tired self. There was a lot I want to think about and worry about, but I wouldn't let myself.

This was the first night I implemented visuals into my show and the first time I've brought along a second piano for the more intimate moments in the set. This was also the first night I played in my own country since the release of my record in September, and there was a lot that can go wrong.

Two things made this show an amazing night and a wonderful kick off to our biggest tour to date: 1) my resolve to submit to the inevitability of flaws and performance glitches and just to go with it, and 2) the realization I made when walking out onto that stage that the people in the crowd were there to hear my music, and were definitely on my side.

Since that show, I look forward to walking out onto the stage more than ever because for over an hour a night, nothing else in the world matters.

Now we're a few shows in, and every night things are getting tighter and smoother and more incredible. I was thrilled to blast a couple episodes of [video comic] Captain Lights in the old church environment and hear the contrast of my pulsing electro sounds with the epic acoustics in the Victoria venue, and the next day experience the unforgettable intimacy of the Kelowna show.

I now find myself in Calgary, where the show will be going down tonight. I don't know what to expect, but I know it'll be amazing, and based on the way things have been going, I can't wait to show the rest of Canada what I've got.

So, until next week, "hold on to your butts." —Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park, 1993

LIGHTS.