Good Trip, Bad Trip: L.A. Foster x Wake Island

Touring tales from two new Canada based acts...

POP Montreal has grown to become one of North America's most vital new music events.

Taking hold of venues across the Canadian city, the festival welcomes an international array of acts, crossing styles, genres, and disciplines.

This month the POP Montreal experience has come to Europe, with L.A. Foster and Wake Island joining FOXTROTT on tour.

The British section of the tour closes tomorrow (May 31st) at Manchester's Deaf Institute, with Clash deciding to hook up with both L.A. Foster and Wake Island for a special instalment of Good Trip, Bad Trip.

– – –

– – –

L.A. Foster…

Best Trip…
So L.A. FOSTER is pretty new – I played my first small set March 2014 and it was actually in Mexico City. My dear friend David Romero is a talented visual artist who invited me to take part in his art show. He had it all done in this abandoned building in Mexico City's Roma Norte. It was a very inspiring place to be and to start the project. We spent days redoing the space for it to be 'art show ready' – there was no bathroom in the building so I would have to cross the street to use the bathroom at this hotel. That hotel happened to have a lot of musicians staying at it that were in Mexico City playing NRML festival. I ran into Blood Orange in one of my bathroom trips. I took that as a good omen for the start of the project.

Worst Trip…
I've been lucky, I don't got much to complain about in this department. I'm still pretty fresh though, I'm sure the shit will happen haha!

Our favourite foreign venue…
I'm one that really enjoys seedy bars and venues. There was the one amazing club in Austin I went to in 2013 when I was singing with Mozart's Sister – it was downstairs and the subs were just UNREAL. I love clubs like that. Buenos Aires has a ton as well, these unsuspecting places and you go down the stairs and its total sound heaven.

We’re surprisingly popular in…
I haven't had the chance to play much outside of Canada – this is my first time playing in the U.K. and Europe. I have many supportive friends in Mexico, Argentina and Chile and would love to go spread the love down there.

Best or worst exotic foodstuff…
OK, Mexican food is amazing but AVOID the street tacos. The El Pastor taco I ate at 2am did me in for a week.

Most interesting individual you've met on the road…
Honestly, I feel really blessed to be touring with Wake Island from Montreal/Beirut. They are such special guys with huge hearts that are so encouraging and make me feel positive about being a musician and doing what we're doing. Amazing musicians. Couldn't be happier with this tour so far.

Worst on-tour injury, or infection, or accident…
As a singer its always throat related. I have every kind of homeopathic pill and spray and I drink honey all the time. Nothing too wild thankfully… *knock on wood*

My essential travel item…
Earphones.

My essential travel tip…
Direct flights are always better. ALWAYS.

– – –

– – –

Nadim from Wake Island…

Best Trip…
When the band went on tour in Lebanon and Europe in 2014, we had a wonderful time showing Lebanon around to our Canadian and American musician friends for the first time ever, they were totally shocked to discover the beauty and wilderness of our country. We also had a great time in Europe afterwards discovering and rediscovering cities across France, Switzerland, Belgium.

Worst Trip…
There's no such thing as a bad trip. Even when terrible things happen to us on the road, we remember the adventures quite fondly in retrospect. The shittiest thing that happened to us recently is that our van broke down in the Adirondacks in the middle of winter (-20 C) at night on our way back to Montreal from New York City with another band we play in called How Sad. We were literally stranded for six hours on the highway, freezing and trying to keep each other warm. Finally, a cop found us, took us in his car and gave us feet warmers and we then got towed back to Canada.

Our favourite foreign venue…
Our favorite venue in the world is the Rossli Bar (Reitschule) in Bern, Switzerland. We can't say enough good things about it. The venue itself is magical: an old horsing school in the middle of Bern, run by a wonderful crew of anarchists with good values, a crowd of passionate people, who legitimately care about music and culture. Artists are treated with so much respect there, they cook us five course meals, lodge us in a wonderful room, party all night. It's going to be hard to find a better venue to play in honestly.

We’re surprisingly popular in…
Bern, Switzerland. After we played there a couple times, we are surprised to have a nice following there. We play on radio frequently too! It's really great to be able to go to a city so far from yours and get that kind of reception. We are truly humbled.

Best or worst exotic foodstuff…
Bad kebabs run amok. We keep trying them, and keep getting disappointed and sick. Best food: pizza slices in NYC, can't get enough 'Za. Sour beers in Vermont are the best. We had a really great breakfast in Wrexham (Wales).

Most interesting individual you've met on the road…
We met a nice group of french and swiss folks in Toronto five years ago and stayed connected with all of them, one of the dudes called Antoine actually helped us organize our first tour in France which was awesome. There was this girl, very young at the time (around 19), she was travelling around North America and ended up in the Southern states involved in shaman rituals and stuff. We're still in touch and maybe we'll pay her a visit and go get our souls healed down in New Orleans one day…

Worst on-tour injury, or infection, or accident…
We never got injured or very ill on tour to date (knock on wood). Worse accidents we've had so far involved our tour vans breaking down in the USA (like the story above). Another very annoying van breakdown happened to us a few years ago on our way back from a US tour to Canada, our stupid van actually broke down at the border and we had to literally push it across the Canadian customs, that was pretty funny. We are now very happy with the new setup of the band that travels super light. We just have a couple of suitcases, which means we no longer have to use vans and we can just easily hop on trains/buses or rent small compact cars.

My essential travel item…
Quick-dry towel. Essential when you surf couches and want to avoid the smell of moisture in the car all day long.

My essential travel tip…
Always pack light!

– – –

Buy Clash Magazine

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.