Every musician dreams about going on tour one day. It’s something that very few of us get the opportunity to do; either the band breaks up before gaining any real momentum or real life responsibilities like jobs and kids get in the way. So you can imagine my surprise when I got the call from Tom Monda of Thank You Scientist, “Hey, do you guys want to go on tour?” It was a call that came on the same exact day that I’d been offered the job at Maple Street Guitars. 

I’m Chris Capitanio and I believe most of you have met me at the store or at least seen my videos since I joined the team in December. Prior to joining the Maple Street Guitars family, I lived in New Jersey where I was the founding member of a progressive rock/metal band called In The Presence Of Wolves (ITPOW, for short). We had done some short tours, one lasted 16 days and another about 10 days, but this was an undertaking that we’d always hoped for. 25 shows in 22 states in 31 days.

Over the next few months, I’d like to take some time to reflect on the tour. As I thought about writing this column, I realized that one installment would either be way too long or wouldn’t cover nearly enough. So this month, I’d like to start with what led up to the tour. Later we’ll take a look at the positives of touring, the negatives that they don’t warn you about, and some general touring tips if you should find yourself in the position to tour one day!

The beginnings of this tour start with a band of wonderful gentlemen called Thank You Scientist. TYS is a band that we’ve known pretty well for a while now and is the band that I think is most similar to ITPOW’s style. They combine classic prog rock with modern metal heaviness, pop sensibilities, a healthy dose of jazz, and this intangible “Jersey-ness” that I recognize in both my band and theirs. I was first introduced to them by the frontman of a band that played with us at ITPOW’s first ever Philly gig. He’d messaged me saying, “You guys gotta be the best progressive band in New Jersey! No wait, second best.” Naturally, my curiosity outweighed the slight offense I’d taken to his backhanded compliment. “Who do you think is the best?” He replied, “Thank You Scientist.” 

I immediately looked them up online and discovered the song “My Famed Disappearing Act.” I was floored. There’s another band in New Jersey playing music like this?! How had I not heard of them until now? It only took a couple songs for me to agree with my new friend. They were the best. 

After that, it became one of my earliest goals for my band to get us on the same bill. Through years of hard work, it eventually happened, a few times, in fact. Our producer was friends with their guitarist, Tom Monda, and he made sure Tom knew who we were. They invited us to play a hometown show with them and another incredible band from Boston called Bent Knee where we got to actually spend some time meeting them and formed the beginning of a relationship with them. Several months later, they offered us a short touring run of 4 shows up to Canada, our first time playing out of the country. In hindsight, this run of shows was an audition. Could we hang? Did our twisted senses of humor match up? It turns out that it was a perfect fit.

TYS is a band that’s full of some of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met. Tom’s guitar playing is monstrous, on a level that I could never imagine achieving. His guitar work, mixed with singer Sal Marrano’s incredibly catchy vocals that feature a staggering amount of conviction, is truly what gets people into this band. Then the listeners discover that everyone in the band is at the top of their game technically and creatively. Additionally, they all have sick senses of humor that made time on the road a lot of fun. We engaged in battles seeing who could photoshop the other band into weirder and weirder circumstances. It didn’t take long for us to be hugging daily and develop a bond that we didn’t even share with local bands we’d known for years.

The Reign of Kindo, on the other hand, was a band that we weren’t particularly familiar with. We’d been in the same prog rock circuit for many years but somehow we’d never crossed paths. About a month before the tour, I looked them up on Spotify and listened to their newest album, Happy However After. The first track “Human Convention” absolutely blew me away. Its rhythms constantly shift into new and interesting terrain in ways that are fresh and exciting. I rarely listen to a song twice in a week. I listened to this one 3 times in one day and at least once every day for the rest of the week. It was extremely important to me that we try to forge a strong relationship with them as well.

As I previously mentioned, I got the call to go do the tour on the same day that I got the job at Maple Street. I didn’t quite know how to feel. At first, I was thrilled! This was a very exciting opportunity and I’d just finished telling my family how thrilled I was to be starting my new venture at the store. But would they let me do the tour? After all, this request was pretty unheard of. I opted to let Lindsay know just a couple days later. I hoped that maybe if I was as transparent as possible and let them know several months ahead of time that they’d consider letting me go. It took a while to get a definitive answer, which admittedly led to a fair degree of stress, but eventually the Petsch family gave me the go ahead. I’ll forever be indebted to them for allowing me to go on tour for a month and still come back with a job!

I decided to spend the month ahead of the tour preparing as much as I could. I took every opportunity I got to rehearse the songs I knew we’d be playing, since I wouldn’t get the chance to jam with my bandmates until the day before we left. I also made sure to stock up on picks and strings before leaving.  Of course, I was in constant contact with my band the entire time. We opted to rent a van since we knew our beloved Ron (named after Ron Burgundy because… well… he’s a burgundy van) wouldn’t be reliable enough to make the whole tour. I figured out how to (poorly) pack my Line 6 Helix into my carry-on bag and grabbed everything else I needed for the tour.

My flight back up to Philly was on the Wednesday before the tour began. I figured I’d work that day and then head to Marta and take the train to the airport. Of course, in my infinite wisdom, I left my passport at my apartment which would have prohibited me from playing our show in Toronto that Saturday. My fiancé came to the rescue and brought it over before the store closed and we were able to grab some dinner before I had to head on my way. She and I had been in a long distance relationship for 3 years, so we were pretty used to spending lengthy times apart. Still, it gets tougher every time I have to leave her. This was no exception. 

My flight home was uneventful and my dad picked me up from the airport. The next morning, I grabbed brunch with my family and got to celebrate my birthday a couple weeks early. My bass player picked up our van rental and we rehearsed all the songs that night. Somehow, one play through was all we needed. We went our separate ways to sleep in our beds for one last time and the next morning we were Pittsburgh bound!! The lengthy drive through the rain would in no way prepare us for the month we were about to have.
(to be continued...)