From an internet cafe in Canada, My Disco’s BEN ANDREWS muses on a stolen laptop and passport, skater punk hecklers and a metaphorical raincloud that seems to follow the band every time they tour overseas.

So, after playing a sold out show in Toronto, the inevitable raincloud of bad luck that seems to constantly pour its way down onto us every fucking time we travel, strikes again. This time, not only do we get a passport stolen, making it impossible to continue to tour through the US until the British Embassy decides to not be closed on a fucking weekday, but our band laptop with essential tour information is nicked too. When it rains, it pours, as they say. And for My Disco, it's like a constant tsunami hitting us every time we leave Australia. Sigh.

So, whatever, we are stuck in Canada. Kinda feels like that scene in The Great Escape where Steve McQueen keeps bouncing that ball against the wall in endless boredom and frustration at his situation. Am I being overly dramatic? Probably should go and visit Niagara Falls while we are so close (everyone knows that the Canadian side is far more gorgeous), but it feels way too much of a tease to go that close to the United States without actually being allowed in. Oh, and I spat on the bouncer at the club for being, well, a tool.

So far, the tour with Young Widows has been awesome. Aside from the bombardment and aural overload that was SxSW, the rest of the shows (including Detroit, Michigan, would you believe) have been a success. Austin was insane, and we only played three shows. One of which was in a warehouse on the outskirts of a town aptly named “Broken Neck” (FYI don’t skate the half pipe while drunk). Did I mention there was a half pipe next to where the bands played? Young Widows arrived too late to actually perform at this one. No matter though, cause it was already 4am and we had just finished playing while some skater fuck yells out: “Play something fast that we can skate too, man!” Also, some drunk bozo was asleep/dead/passed-out on stage the whole time we were playing. We opted to play on the floor for this one.

Cross this one off the list of things to do before you are 30: play to around 10 people in some random’s basement. In my case, it was March 24 and we were in Indiana. Here’s another one. Pour your own beer at a bar, having never worked at one. Tick. The kind staff at the most amazing venue ever in Birmingham, Alabama, let me pour what looked and tasted like possibly the worst beer poured by a 30-year-old man ever. Still, tick.

Then we continued our fast food tour of the US by stopping in at Waffle House AND International House of Pancakes before heading to the Chicago show. Did I mention that we also ate at Kuma's Corner while in Chi-Town? Oh, its only an amazing heavy metal bar where huge 10oz burgers are named after heavy metal bands. I got the Slayer. It’s the largest, grossest thing on the menu – and I loved it. They also have a burger named Judas Priest that for some reason has fruit on it? I wonder why that would be...

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