Missing Passports, Fireworks, Right-Wing Nutjobs & More With The Love Junkies

Coffee – I miss good coffee so fucking much. American coffee sucks. It tastes like it’s been filtered through a dirty sock.

We rolled up to El Paso just after the sun went down. The boys were pretty much the most hungover I’ve seen them and the van had that two week man-boy smell you would expect. We were staying in accom, because we had no idea what to expect from a border town and needed showers pretty bad.  Pizza Hut and Harrison Ford movies concluded the evening.

We hit the desert properly for the first time on our way to Tucson. I’d heard so many good things about Tucson and it didn’t disappoint. Downtown was filled with bars, venues, smoke shops and beautiful people. We met a group of people at Sky Bar and they took us down the road to another bar before the show. It was my turn to drive so I had to keep it pretty tame. The boys filled themselves up with $3 Sierra Nevadas and we played our first floor show of the tour. The show was awesome; I love that even on a weeknight people will come out to see live music. We ended up at our new friend’s apartment, Marie and Tori. Gravity bongs and ciggies until 4am. Lewis greened out and narrowly avoided spewing in the van.

After spending way too much money on breakfast and nachos we headed into Phoenix. As we arrived Harley realized he had left his jacket and passport at Marie’s. After a couple of hours stressing we organized to meet Marie half way back in the morning. She totally saved us and we can’t thank her enough.

We then had an epic tour of Fender HQ with a dude named Jamie. The place had some seriously awesome gear. Hangovers and forgotten passports were pushed aside for the next hour as we soaked in Fender’s amazing history.

The show was at a little dive bar called Rogue. We were super early so we had a beer and sat out the front. We were then met with the most awful, dumb ass, right-wing, piece of shit. I don’t think it really needs details. As he walked inside he said, “We might have to kill a lot of people, but we will put a stop to it.” That conversation put a massive shit stain on Phoenix and I was left with a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the night. It scares me that there are so many people out there with these views.

The drive to Las Vegas was stunning. There were rocks piled on top of rocks and hills everywhere. We stopped at Hoover Dam and had a look around. The sheer size of it was overwhelming. I suck at heights, so I was over it pretty quickly. We were super excited for Las Vegas, but also pretty bummed that we only had one night and no money.  I still couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that Vegas’ main source of income is from exploiting people’s vulnerabilities.

We arrived in LA after battling a fuckload of traffic across the desert.  Our first show in LA was at a Pirate themed bar called the Redwood. After the show we stayed for a lock in and drank with the bar staff until 3AM. There was a guy named Bill Bateman who played in the band before us. He was the former drummer of The Cramps. I suppose LA is littered with people who have done amazing thing in the past.

Our second show in LA was at Grandpa Johnsons Cocktail Lounge in Hollywood. We ran around the corner to watch our good buddies Methyl Ethyl before our set. The rest of the night was the full LA/Hollywood experience; everything you could expect.  We finished up on the rooftop of our apartment at 7AM wondering where the time went. Then we headed up the coast to a beautiful little town called Morro Bay where we’ve set up for the night.

Overall America has been awesome. It feels like you can do what ever you want here. I struggle with the amount of homeless people. People that we’ve hung out with tell us to ignore it, but it’s kind of hard to ignore when it’s everywhere.

Written by Robbie Rumble 

The Love Junkies take their new single, Nobody, around Australia this May. For all dates, see theGuide or The Music App.