Death Cab For Cutie #1

Here's the good stuff. We embark on a month long tour opening for Death Cab For Cutie with Cold War Kids.

Our first show was in Toronto the day after Webster Hall in NYC... that was a hell drive. Departing at 6 am, we arrived in Toronto around 5 to the venue. Within minutes we had all met Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer, and Jason McGerr of Death Cab. It was entirely thrilling to be greeted so kindly at the onset of the tour. They truly made an effort to introduce themselves and make us feel welcome. All we can talk about is how cool they are. There have been countless times when Death Cab members have come over to Ra Ra Riot's dressing room territory or dining tables in the catering room to hang out and chat. For me, it was wild meeting them. And it remains to be wild. Death Cab is a top-five favorite band of mine.

That first Toronto show went great. Ra Ra Riot played a standup 25-minute set for a crowd of about 1000; Many of whom had intentions of catching them as the opener. Next, we played a large theater in Upper Darby Pennsylvania just outside of Philly, followed by DAR Constitution Hall in D.C., Davidson College, and another fantastic, ornate theater in Louisville Kentucky.

As Ra Ra Riot's front-of-house sound engineer, this tour has been really exciting for me. I will admit that I was a bit intimidated by the notion of mixing every night on a large, flown, line array PA in large rooms with a digital console that I have never used before. But this stuff is state of the art technology, and its surprisingly intuitive and easy to use. The coolest thing about the console is that, because its digital, every adjustment and bit of progress I make at each show is stored at the end of the set, and loaded up at the next venue we play. The band's mix has gotten progressively tighter and stronger... almost eliminating the need for a lengthy sound check. Working with the system technician (employee of the hired production company that brings semi's of lights, stage, and PA to every show) and Will, Death Cab's sound engineer, has been so helpful.

Merch sales have been INSANE every night on this tour. dozens of CDs/vinyls, and catastrophic amounts of t-shirts.

Really looking forward to the rest of this tour. Check out the first video I put together.
Till next time