Rock Plaza Central‘s 2007 album Are We Not Horses was an elaborately plotted and immaculately conceived album that brought the Toronto band’s Northern-gothic folk/rock accolades from both critics (MAGNET named it one of the year’s 10 hidden treasures) and academics (frontman Chris Eaton’s 2004 book The Inactivist was taught alongside Horses in a graduate English course at the University of South Alabama). Last month, RPC hit the road to support the release of this year’s … At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, and bassist Scott Maynard filed a tour diary for magnetmagazine.com. If you missed Rock Plaza Central this summer, catch the group on its U.S. tour with the Weakerthans in September.
“(Don’t You Believe The Words Of) Handsome Men” (download):
Vancouver, B.C., July 17
We got up fairly early (in rock ‘n’ roll terms) this morning in order to get a headstart on crossing the notorious border back into Canada between Bellingham, Wash., and Vancouver, B.C. We needed to be in Vancouver by 1 p.m. so that Chris could do an interview. As it turned out, we were through the border in 10 minutes and arrived in Vancouver with an hour to spare—so sushi. It is widely rumoured that the best sushi in Canada is in Vancouver.
This leg of the tour began in Milwaukee on Independence Day, and we’ve zig-zagged our way across the continent, playing almost every night, to get here to the Vancouver Folk Festival. We all look forward to three days of great hospitality, no driving and perhaps, most importantly, our own rooms. Yes, personal space is a rare commodity on the road. Gone are the days of sneaking five people and all the gear into one cheap motel room. These days we typically enjoy the heady luxury of two rooms, which means each of us gets our own bed, except for violinist Fiona Stewart, who we make sleep on the floor.
As a group, we are beginning to feel the strain of the last two weeks, so our little suite here on campus at UBC—complete with kitchen (did I mention the individual rooms?!)—seems like an oasis.
