Traveling band

Hitting the highway with String Builder

by Bob Gulla

Providence's fine acoustic roots act String Builder has safely returned from its first significant eastern region swing. The band, together since 1995, released its self-titled album just prior to the tour and will celebrate its release locally on the 14th at White Electric. It'll be an early party, so get there 'round 5pm and have a burger (veggie or otherwise) from the grill.

The String Builder tour, roughly 14 dates in 16 days, is a follow-up to their rather infamous Greyhound Bus tour of American street corners back in 1999. What follows is an impromptu tour diary from Alec Thibodeau as he recounts the day-by-day meanderings of his band, which also includes his brother Joel, Don Larson, and Margie Wienk.

Day 1: We left Providence and played at American Legion Hall in Haydenville, Mass. near Northampton. It was a casual show and the music just wasn't quite there. Don Larson our banjo player went out on the town after the show with a "friend" and lost his glasses. The tour was already being threatened with cancellation.

Day 2: Luckily, we found Don's glasses and drove down to Philly. We played with Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops at the Tin Angel. They're a little more traditional than we are with more bluegrass banjo rather than Don's clawhammer style. But it was a good show and we had good response. People gave us compliments about it, but we didn't sell much merch. Slept in the other band's RV.

Day 3: Back north to New York, where we played at 9C, which is a place on the corner of 9th Street and Avenue C. It's a great place with Hank and Patsy posters on the wall. We played an early show, but played for two hours to a receptive crowd. Stayed over with a friend in the Bronx.

Day 4: Drove to Arlington the next night, which was real lush. We went from seedy neighborhoods around the Bronx to the country. We played at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington with a band from Boston, I think, called National Blue. They were nice guys, but really loud. We were curious as to why we were paired together. They were just really, really loud.

Day 5: We headed to Morgantown, West Virginia and ended up having one of our best shows. The place was called 123 Pleasant Street and we played with Will Oldham's band, Bonnie Prince Billy. Bob Arellano, who plays with Will, helped us with our record so that's how we hooked up. But the crowd was amazing. People were screaming hysterically during our set, which is really strange for an acoustic band.

Day 6: From Morgantown, we took a long drive to Knoxville, Tennessee. It started getting really hot and our van, a 1988 Ford Econoline we bought in Providence, didn't have AC. And the bugs started accumulating on the windshield. We played there with the Carry Friddly Band, formerly of the Freighthoppers. We showed up at the club and saw they had done nice letter-pressed posters. But then we heard people whispering and looking really sullen. Someone even mentioned cancelling the gig. Apparently, a good friend of the venue and a prominent local musician had just committed suicide. What should we do? We didn't know the guy so it would've been presumptuous to say anything or dedicate a set to him. It was real awkward. But we just coped by playing our music.

Day 7: We met up with a friend and drove to Memphis the next day. We were the Pick of the Week in the local arts paper the Memphis Flyer. Here we played at a place called the Map Room with the Great Depression. That night we chose to stay in a motel; it was hot and we had played every single night so it was time for a rest. But Margie and Joel are allergic to cats and the hotel owner had cats so they had to sleep in the van again. We definitely got the sense here that this snobbery northerners have toward the south isn't justified at all.

Day 8: We had tried to book a show in St. Louis the next day, but couldn't, so we had our first night off. We drove around Memphis, went to record stores. We met a really cool guy named IQ who took us for free pizza and places where we could get picks and strings. We drove north that night and stayed at another motel, the Budget Inn. Bad choice. If you call yourself the Budget Inn you're gonna get the bottom of the barrel. People like us.

Day 9: Now we're in Rock Island, Illinois, where we played Theo's Coffee Shop. It was a nice place where people were sitting around and chatting. But as soon as we started playing, they began talking louder. Oh well. Stayed with people there we met on our Greyhound tour, had a cookout. Van showed signs of leakage. Radiator was empty. Got Stop-Leak and prayed it would work.

Day 10: We took today off and made a detour through Sparta, Wisconsin, where Don's dad lives. We went to nearby LaCrosse and took in the sights, especially this strange, exotic hunting store.

Day 11: The next morning we got up to do a little concert for a member of Don's dad's family. He put us up, took us out to lunch, and wanted to pay for everything. We kind of needed someone to take care of us that weekend and it helped us chill out.

Day 12: We blasted back east, for more sleep, drive, and play. We played the Pilson Café, a place that was recently rebuilt after a fire. We slept there and it still smelled of burnt wood. Jason Pontius flew out from Providence to visit friends and he played with us.

Day 13: Our brakes needed work in Chicago from the wear and tear but it was the 4th of July and where could we find someone to do that? Jason got on the phone to help us find a mechanic. After he fixed it, we decided to named the van after the mechanic. We had been searching for some exotic name previously, but we were so grateful we named it "John." That night we made it to Detroit and played with an amazing local band called the Immigrant Sons at the Gold Dollar. In town we saw press on Lightning Bolt who were playing there the following week. We stayed at immigrant Sons gigantic loft space and then headed to Cleveland with them for another show.

Day 14: The show in Cleveland was fun, but sparsely attended. From there we drove as much as we could, which was only a couple of hours, and stopped to eat at this horrible restaurant. I think it was called Park and Eat, or something stupid. All we wanted was Denny's hash browns, but we found this horrible place that had this specialty of the house called a "Sticky." It was a rectangular, deep fried thing covered in syrup. Dreadful.

Day 15: We drove all day to get to Northampton, where we played a show at the Bay State with Neal Cleary and a local woman named Miranda Brown. Great show.

Day 16: We drove to Maine and played our hometown, at the Free Street Taverna, a Greek restaurant run by a huge guy named Pete who worked security for ZZ Top in the '70s. It was the first place that String Builder ever played five years ago when it was just Joel and me with a bass player. My parents were there. It was nice and overwhelming in a good kind of way. Pete kept yelling, "Welcome home, boys!" Even though we don't really live there anymore.

There were no real dramas, no tragedies, nothing that would amaze people. Though the heat alone was enough drama, we sweated it out OK. It was a very good self-contained tour, pretty organized. We went out with $100 and came back with the same amount. Got by on merch sales which supported us for the most part. We put 4000 miles on the van. I like touring. I really like touring for touring's sake. I can't speak for everyone in the band, but I like performing, moreso than recording. A song can exist in both locations, but for me I like to be onstage, among a crowd of people.

WANDERING EYE. At Joker's in New Bedford, the management has decided to do some smoke-free dates. The next one, July 13, is a very hot jazz-fusion-world bill with Planet Groove and Entrain. Leave the smokes at home and feel better when ya get up. At the Safari on the 14th you can find Lightning Bolt and Pink & Brown.

E-mail with music news at b_gulla@yahoo.com.