We were playing smaller venues at the time and some of the venues were just tough because we would have to keep her in the Winnebago. Chihuahuas by their nature are very nervous, very jumpy and she got really nervous and jumpy. Not everyone in the band was crazy about the Chihuahua being on tour with us. I love animals and the Chihuahua was great to have around, I thought. We toured with the Chihuahua and the Chihuahua’s a great little dog. John: We did, were you following us back them? We hopped on the ferry with the bus and we went to Victoria.īobby: You used to tour with Lucy, John’s Chihuahua right? And we’ve done two cross-country trips in Canada from the Maritimes – from Nova Scotia – all the way out to here.Īctually the last time we were here, we went as far West as Victoria. We’ve done about five or six trips across the US, like cross country. It had a lot of miles on it but it’s taken us around the country – United States and Canada – over six times. I know Johnny was looking at a lot of other stuff and I know it was the best thing that he found or he wouldn’t have jumped at it. John: I wasn’t the guy doing the shopping. So this is way better than any vehicle we could ever hope to be travelling in.īobby: Do you think that’s probably the best find you’ve ever found on Craigslist? It was a Mini Winnie and it was cramped, it was really cramped. We did a few tours with nine people in that Winnebago. When I joined the band, it was eleven which was in September 2009. It was Johnny’s dad’s Winnebago that he just lent us to use and that was when the band was eleven people. We used to actually go around in a Winnebago. It’s safe and we’re used to it.īobby: It’s still better than a minivan or something like that.
#Old man markly plus
Seven band members plus a merch girl and a sound guy, a big sound guy too, and we’re able to do it. It’s very cramped but we have nine people on the bus right now. It’s a little cramped, your personal space – when you’re laying down at least – begins and ends around four inches beyond your head and feet. So inside the bus, it’s like a submarine. These melted frames with benches that can be converted into bedding areas once you put your bedding on it. We took out all the seats and a welder friend of Johnny’s welded these bunks. We bought it from someone in LA and then we ripped out all the seats because all the bus seats were in it still. It had already been driven around the country a lot. We bought it from someone who had been using it as kind of an RV. It’s a short Seattle city bus, it must have been like a shuttle bus but it’s still got the Seattle colors – the green and the yellow. Johnny purchased it with the band fund off of Craigslist. You’re driving on a lot of icy roads and a lot of mountainous roads.īobby: Are you still driving in the refurbished Seattle city bus? It’s always scary when you’ve got a big bus and a trailer and you’ve got a lot of people inside. There’s still more treacherous driving ahead of us, we gotta go across the Cascades into Montana, so there’s still more mountainous stuff. John: Yeah, and we were hoping to because it’s treacherous.
We end up going back south from Missoula into much warmer weather and we just tour on our own into Idaho and then central Oregon, central California and then down south.īobby: You escape the horrible winter storms that have been hitting everywhere. So thankfully we’re missing that portion of the tour. Then they continue east, across Montana and then into the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Minnesota, where it’s like, right now, thirty below. I think what’s going to happen is when we go off the tour – we have like three or four more dates with them and our last date with them is in western Montana. I mean, it’s been cold but it hasn’t been too bad. His crew is just awesome a great bunch of guys, just a close knit type of family and we made friends with them. The Reverend Horton and his gang are awesome to work with. It’s been one of our best tours, I think. As the sound of Nekromantix‘s thunderous bass flooded through the venue, Rosen spoke fondly of their retrofitted tour bus Fiona, the trials and tribulations of travelling with a Chihuahua in tow but more than that he also opened up about the motivation behind some of his more personals songs, his constant battle with narcolepsy and the fact that, until he joined Old Man Markley, he rarely ever even listened to punk.īobby: You guys are coming up to the tail end of this tour with Reverend Horton Heat and Nekromantix how’s that going so far? Still sweating from their energetic set just minutes before, Old Man Markley‘s banjo player John Rosen sat down backstage at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom to discuss the constant evolution of the unique punk meets bluegrass band.
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