Where am I?

The touring life and why I love it.

Suzie Ungerleider & BJ Baartmans in Newbald. Photo by Robert Mitchell. Show presented by John Tomlinson and his fine crew at Newbald Live just outside of Hull, UK

NOW I AM HERE.

I just moved my newsletter over to a platform called Substack. Many of you know what that is and some of you don’t which is absolutely fine. Basically, you don’t need to change a thing.

One thing that will be changing is that I want to write longer stories that allow for a deeper look behind the scenes about my life as a singer-songwriter.

JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM.

For those who just want the bullet points of where to see me play or what music I have available or other projects, I will include that too but that will be at the end of the newsletter so just scroll past the blah blah blah all the way to the bottom.

At the end of today’s letter is a link to download two songs that were recorded live from my most recent tour with guitarist BJ Baartmans.

This is a little thank you for letting my letters arrive in your mailbox.

THE TOURING LIFE.

Right now, I am sitting at my table looking out at the North Shore Mountains in my beloved Vancouver. I am happy to be home.

Yesterday I walked on this beach with my dog Willow. I grew up very close to here. You could reach this beach by walking through the woods from my elementary school. At the time I took the beauty for granted but now I know how lucky I am to live here.

For six weeks, I was on an incredibly fulfilling tour where I got to travel to so many unique places from big cities like London to tiny communities like Lochwitz.

I love being on tour because every day has a rhythm and a structure that culminates in the performance. There is no question about what to do. The day follows a basic pattern that is something like this:

Get up,

Take a shower and get dressed,

Drink a coffee or tea,

Eat something,

Brush your teeth,

Pack your stuff,

Drive a few hours,

Look out the window,

Talk to your tour-mates or, if you are alone, yourself

(topics might include: music industry, streaming, your kids, your crazy ex, how to drive better, people dying, songs you love, books, the worst food you ever had, your sore back, the gig last night, the hilarious hotel clerk, avocado toast, the price of gas, how the world is fucked, how humans are fucked up yet lovable, the weather, your favourite guitar, the beauty of the landscape, what the trees look like, how you are craving a filet o’ fish)

Check in at the hotel,

Drive to the venue,

Load in your gear,

Figure out where to park,

Meet the sound person,

Get a drink from the bar-staff,

Set up and soundcheck,

Eat snacks or dinner,

Get changed and put on your make-up,

Brush your teeth,

PLAY THE SHOW!

Talk to people at the merch table,

Eat chips,

Get changed,

Pack up,

Load out,

Thank the promoter and the staff,

Drive to the hotel,

Unload your gear into your room,

Park the car,

Have a nightcap,

Try to sleep,

WAKE UP AND REPEAT

Amongst these basic bones of the day, the details are new and unique so that your senses are always stimulated.

When you are playing grassroots shows like I do, every stage and room you play is so very individual, no show is ever the same. I think when you are really a huge band you play arenas which are essentially identical the world over.

Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum at Hastings Park (otherwise known as the PNE) It used to take us two hours on the 14 Hastings bus to get here from the Endowment Lands. This is DEEP EAST VAN TERRITORY where things were scrappy and tough. We were west side softies who were only pretending to be tough.

BACKSTAGE PASS

As a kid I had the privilege to see the not-so glamourous vibes of arena shows when my cousin Howard would get me backstage when the legendary band Rush came to Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum to play.

My cousin Howard (yes, he is from New Jersey) started working with Rush BEFORE Neil Peart joined the band. He worked with them throughout their 40 years with Neil and is on tour with them RIGHT NOW with their new amazing drummer Anika Nilles.

Howard was hired by Rush in the early 70s to be their road manager meaning the guy who made sure the band didn’t get ripped off by the crooks in the biz. The band would get paid in cash and Howard could be seen with an Anvil case full of money handcuffed to his arm – maybe I am making up the handcuff part.

My cousin Howard Ungerleider on the road with RUSH with the famous Anvil case. It is likely full of cash.

Eventually Howard started doing lights one night when no one was around to do it and now he is himself a legend for his lighting design (and his crazy stories that he tells with his eyes bugging out and often saying IT WAS TOTALLY IGNORANT! when something went sideways).

Back in the early 80s, my sister and I would go backstage in our tight jeans and feathered hair and flash our backstage passes and act like we were cool but then we realized that all we were seeing were some biker-looking guys moving heavy road cases among grey concrete structures and occasionally eating some catering sitting under fluorescent lights at a foldable plastic table. I am sure there were more lurid happenings but mostly it seemed like rock and roll was a lot like moving.

Circa 1981: Full on greaseball….My older sister Jessie after using the curling iron and me in my RUSH t-shirt.

SOLVING THE PUZZLE

When I am on tour, it also feels a bit like moving but in between the heavy lifting I get to sing and breathe deeply and tell stories to people. So it is very cathartic and connecting.

Each time I get onstage, there is a mystery that I might solve or perhaps I won’t and I will be left with a room strewn with clues. Shows where all the pieces fit together can be so satisfying but sometimes the best times are when things go sideways and you have to solve the puzzle and find a new way to do something you have done a thousand times before.

A LITTLE INSTANT GRATIFICATION

On this last tour, many people I spoke to at the merch table were hoping to take home recordings of my songs performed with guitarist BJ Baartmans.

The good news is that you can stream the deluxe edition of Among the Evergreens which includes four songs that BJ and I recorded live off the floor in his studio HERE

BUT ALSO, You can download two songs recorded live from this recent tour. RIGHT HERE this is what in the biz we call an INSTANT GRAT for subscribers only.

Thank you for being here.

xo Suzie

TOUR DATES

FRI JUNE 12 – ANMORE, BC – 7PM – TICKETS

SUN JUNE 14 – NORTH VANCOUVER – 3PM – email NeilRCreighton@gmail.com

WED JULY 15 – GIBSONS, BC – 7PM – TICKETS

AMONG THE EVERGREENS DELUXE EDITION