Dear Diary: Dad Jokes Hit North America
Pizza-loving punks Dad Jokes were recently invited to play at Ottawa Explosion, an epic weekend in the Canadian capital of shows, shows and more shows. While on that side of the globe the two-piece also took the opportunity to visit some other North American joints, like Olympia, Seattle and Los Angeles. We asked Matt and Ian to fill us in on some of the local music they discovered on their travels and to show us some of their holiday snaps. Here's what they came up with...
Hey! We’re Dad Jokes and we just got back from playing some shows in Canada and The States. Turns out there are heaps of awesome people who also make really awesome music! Here’s a short list of awesome bands who helped us out along the way!
Average Times
These guys and gal let us hop onto an extra show that they were playing in Toronto. Not only are they a ripping garage band but Todd has some of the best/weirdest stage banter we’ve ever heard! Also, they may actually love pizza more than us...
The White Wires
Hoooooooooolly. We can’t get over how much we love Ottawa Rock Royalty, The White Wires. They have some of the catchiest power pop/garage songs EVER. Also, their bassist Luke is one of the best dudes and is one-half of the Ottawa Explosion Weekend.
Pink Wine
DAMN this band is awesome. They gave us their record and it has been spinning non-stop in Dad Jokes HQ. Not only did they get a crowd of hungover people dancing on a Sunday afternoon, but Joel, their singer, is one of the nicest (and handsomest) dudes around! A++ would party with again.
Mike Krol
Mike Krol is the best dude ever. There, we said it. We sadly didn’t get a chance to play with him on the tour but he was nice enough to let us sleep on his couch and when we arrived he gave us beers and then took us for pizza. AND then gave us a sneak peak at his new record. If you don’t love his music then there’s something wrong with your brain and you should probably go see a doctor.
Tough Age
After Tough Age blew us away at OXW (they finished their set with an AWESOME cover of Yummy Yummy Yummy by Ohio Express) we went up to them and noticed that one of them was wearing a Toy Love shirt. We quickly bonded over Flying Nun and they promised to come see our set the next afternoon. And would you believe it, they actually showed up! Top notch gang of rad people.
This is all of our swag after OXW, two weeks into the tour. Photo only includes a small amount of tee-shirts and hangovers.
While we were away we got really good at posing for photos. Here we are in Ottawa, Canada next to some firemen statues, Olympia, Washington next to the Marvel Universe, and next to some Giant Trees in Northern California.
While in Seattle we also made a pilgrimage out to where they filmed Twin Peaks. Ian was like a kid on Christmas morning, but Matt has never seen the show so he wasn't having a very fun time. Also, shout out to this lady in her awesome Happy Trails jacket.
We ate disgustingly good food everywhere we went but in Olympia we had some amazing slices from Old School Pizza. Then in Seattle, we each ate a bag of Dicks. It was delicious.
This is at our last show of the tour in LA. One thing that really amazed us was that people actually dance at shows. Who would have thought?
Finally here we are basking in the LA sunshine. Pizza and beer in hand and a beautiful view of some parking building.
xoxo DJ
Dad Jokes have a bunch shows coming up in Auckland that are worth checking out... on August 16th they are playing with Trust Punks, Graves, Small Boys and Slavedriver. On 22nd August they are taking part in The Tag Team Extravaganza at Lucha Lounge. And we also got word that they are supporting NoBunny and The Hussy on September 12th. Holy!
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