Earlier this year, some friends in a band called Conduits asked if I could help them out as bass friend while their OG member Mike Overfield went to the Congo. Their self-titled album came out a week before we left to support Cursive on the east coast leg of the I Am Gemini tour.
Also on support were Cymbals Eat Guitars from New York. I took a picture every day except for our days off. There were a total of 17 of us in three vans traveling to 27 cities in 32 days. A lot happened. Here are the pictures:
The very first day was a busy one and I didn't take too many pictures. This is one right before the van come to pick us up for the trip! Here are our things ready to go.
This is from behind the stage at 400 Bar. We got to watch Cully play like a bear. He is like a bear with octopus arms. Fun fact: JJ had a birthday on this day!
Soundchecking at High Noon Saloon. This picture shows the sensitive side of Conduits.
Cymbals Eat Guitars soundchecking at Lincoln Hall. What a nice venue. John Dillinger was murdered across the street from here. I saw a rat for the first time walking in the park.
Craig Dee = Cute Dee
Our one-off Conducts show at The Blind Pig.
This is a sleeping moment on our way to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was one of my favorite places to play, but this picture was too cute to not post as pic of the day.
HI IM JAY HAYMAN
It got colder as we headed northeast and it was finally snowing in Buffalo. This was a miserable time for me because I was sick. And having it be freezing cold when you're sick is the worst! After this show, we had a nice couple days off and I got some color back.
Nate, Matt and Matt being cute friends. We are at The Middle East!
This is a picture taken about three hours before Matt and Tim almost got arrested. (Ask them about it sometime. It's a good tale.)
Patrick has a fun shaker moment at Bowery Ballroom.
Pennsylvania rules. Union Transfer is the nicest venue I've ever played. There are separate green rooms, but we go to Cursive's room to eat their food. This is me eating Cully's cookies. You can't see, but I am also wearing his cowboy boots. After they play their set and the cookies are gone, I say, "Who ate all the cookies?" Then I cackle and leave the room.
We are at the Black Cat. This is Roger and Joe being merch lords. There are a lot of nice people in Washington!
This is my food at Beasley's Chicken & Honey. At this point, I hate music and going to shows is lame. So here is a picture of the food instead. In case you don't know, I put away chicken like an MF.
This is when Nate leaves to join Mike in the Congo. This is his farewell photo taken outside of The Earl.
JJ and Matt fall asleep together on a king-sized bed.
This is us the morning before we leave for Orlando, so we're still in St. Augustine in this picture. Matt was taking a nice picture of me by the ocean and then JJ came along and photobombed my moment.
Another impressive food picture. This is Matt's first time at Waffle House! We played Club Downunder that night and played rock music and then video games for the rest of the night.
JJ pretends to be a little kid ordering at Denny's.
This is all the bullshit we carry everyday. I think there are a total of three drum kits, four bass guitars, six keyboards, nine amplifiers, 10 guitars and one Craig Dee (Craig Dee is not bullshit, though).
Down the street from Trees! A lot of great murals are around, my favorite is the one of Lisa Loeb.
Joe tries to shows off his guitar moves, but in real life, he only knows three chords. That was a spoiler alert.
Photobombed by Patrick while I eat a rib. We are outside the Hi-Tone Cafe. Memphis rules. There is a dog friend in the green room named Fezzik. This is the night I have too much whiskey early in the night and pass out in the van for the entirety of Cursive's set.
Here we are at Cosmic Charlie's. Brian loves chips so much, he tries to eat chips through his nose. This is the town where I got hit on the most by babes.
Matt has a tender moment by himself at Bangarang's. This is the night where we run away to Cinncinnati and play with a cat and eat hot dogs.
This is me, Joe, Brian and Ted at Off Broadway. This was after some drinks, bathroom breaks and moshing in the pit. Rock and roll smells.
Me and Matt. He is my bass friend. This is at Mojo's and our last night with Cymbals Eat Guitars before their 16-hour drive home.
This is a picture taken while we were still in Columbia, but this seems more appropriate as an end of tour pic with everybody. This was the nicest thing that happened that night. Everything else was degenerate.
Sara Bertuldo is a Hear Nebraska contributor who also plays in Millions of Boys.