Canadian metalcore band Vesuvius have been on their first-ever U.S. tour, and tomorrow, they start a second leg. As a band from Ottawa, they’ve toured around their home country plenty of times, however. As the band head southward for their tour in support of their debut album, My Place of Solace and Rest, we thought it would be interesting to get their point of view on touring Canada, courtesy of vocalist Ben Cooligan. Scroll down to see the tour dates, and if you’re interested in picking up their debut album on Tragic Hero Records, you can do that here.

As a Canadian band, touring in Canada is relatively second nature. Aside from the obvious landmarks of different geographical areas, much of Canada shares many common traits universally. Canadians are generally kind and accepting of all cultures, including the mild extremity of being a touring metal band, making it simple for us to be diplomatic in any situation regardless of where we may be. The main downside to touring in Canada is that the weather for at least 40% of the year  includes risky driving conditions with the coming of snow, hail, etcetera. That being said, the same can go the other way, as our summers are reasonable to deal with in terms of the heat when having to camp out on the road.

A few things that an American band should bear in mind while touring in Canada is that things are significantly more expensive. Unlike the US, a lot of essentials (I.e. food, hygiene product) are imported product. Our taxes rates are also a fair amount, which may involve you budgeting more in order to survive day to day. Our gasoline prices are also quite a bit higher than American pricing, however usually a booking agency or promoter can be understanding of that and can plan to accommodate ahead of schedule. This all being said, usually tours coming to Canada involve Canadian dates on a North America tour, which likely will only include select cities such as Montreal, Toronto, and sometimes Ottawa. There are many beautiful places to visit provided said tour brings you elsewhere, but being such a huge country, Canadians generally tend to vastly disperse among that geography, resulting in only a few cities being of significant interest for a tour package.

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We’ve noticed a vast difference on this American tour despite only having gone through the North and Midwest thus far. Music scenes here seem to be more in depth and more involved, which likely has to do with much more populated regions. Gas and food here is much cheaper, allowing us to survive fairly well on a tight budget. Although we haven’t gotten to see anything too different yet, the beautiful drive through Pennsylvania was noteworthy; there is definitely more green space than we had originally expected.

It’s interesting to see how easily we can be singled out as Canadians despite the fact that we don’t really look or act that differently than the mass populace of Americans. We’ve also learned the strength of our Canadian accent which is interesting to us, because in most popularized American culture aside from anything based in the south, there isn’t a significantly noticeable difference in our manners of speech. That being said, it is also obvious to us in simple day to day life that we are somewhere far away from home, and that is the most enjoyable element of this adventure.

Ben

7/12 Las Vegas NV @ The Warehouse
7/14 Spokane, WA @The Pin
7/15 Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur
7/19 Omaha, NE @ Alchemy Bar
7/20 Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s Live Music
7/22 Moline, IL @ Bierstube
7/23 Plano, IL @ Brick Lounge
7/24 Saginaw, MI @ Counter Culture