Our return journey to Ames took us to Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota and re-invigorated us with the midwest spirit.

In Montana, we played at an excellent nonprofit art space called the Zacc in Missoula. Missoula is a great town, well known for its music scene. Our good new friends Mikki from Fagrag and Tyson Ballew kindly set up the show for us. Before the music, there was a screening of a documentary about the underground punk label Plan-it-X Records. The movie was very interesting and had a lot to say about DIY ethics and practices and some of the people in the movie were actually playing at the show in a band called Imperial Can. Dom is really into Plan-it-X Records and so it was a special night for him. There was also an amazing “rez punk” (Native American punk) band called goddamitboyhowdy playing the show and they destroyed.

A bunch of the bands at the Missoula show were playing at the Why Not? Festival in Minot, North Dakota, including Tyson Ballew and goddamitboyhowdy. So we all separately drove the 12 hours to Minot. Minot is a beautiful little college town in way northern North Dakota. It reminded us a lot of Ames. The festival they were having was awesome, so well-planned and executed. Billy from Father, Son and Holy Smokes invited us to play and he and his friends did a great job. We played at another legit art space called 62 Doors and the show was being run by the artists who have studio space there. Later in the evening we played with Tyson outside of a biker bar and it was really fun. At first we tried playing inside but it was really loud, so we took it outside and it worked great.

The next day we drove to Bismarck where Chris had set up a show for us with his lifelong friend Alex. The show was in an auto garage owned by Alex’s father. There was a really nice PA there. It was a party!

Then we drove on to Fargo to play with our new friends Sunrise Sunset, who we met by playing a show together in Colorado Springs early in our tour. Not only are they an amazing band, they are also extremely kind and loving people and they put together a great show for us at a nice spot called Red Raven Espresso Cafe. After the show, they let us stay at their house and they bought 15 frozen pizzas for us and we brought 60 beers and we became friends for life. Can’t wait to bring them to Ames!

Our last night on the road was in Minneapolis at a very classy spot called 501 Club. Our friends Mama Doom opened the show with their lovely harmonies and giggling. The bar has a very, very high stage so we enjoyed jumping off of it and running around like we do. The place treated us very well and also a bunch of Ames friends who now live in Minneapolis came out to the show, which made us feel really good and reminded us how close we were to home.

And then the next night, we WERE home! Our return show to Ames was crazy to say the least. It was the inaugural show at 704 Duff Ave and it got wild fast. Our good friend Dot Coma opened the show with ear-bending jams and then Utopia Park initiated the madness with a set filled with crowd-surfing, insane dancing and total surprises. Mumford’s was in the midst of a wild and super-sweaty set when the Ames police arrived to shut it down. We had to stop mid-song, which was a bummer, but the officers were very nice and respectful and, honestly, we were playing super loud. We called it a night early, which was okay. We’ll just have to bring it extra hard to our next show to compensate!

Tour was a great experience for our band. We accomplished our goals and we’re excited to be back in Ames to start working on our next record and to play fun shows with our friends. Ames forever!

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After two days of chilling in Portland, we played a show at an amazing spot called The Funky Church, which is an old church that has been converted in a house. The folks who live in the house let people play in their living room, right where the altar used to be. When we first arrived, one of the dudes who lives there, Jake, let us climb the ladder up to the bell tower which overlooks the neighborhood. There is even a confessional there, which brought back a lot of memories for me. “Father, forgive me for I have sinned. I worship rock and roll!”

Playing in an old church felt like hitting the jackpot because we incorporate a lot of religious imagery and themes into our music. In fact, this fall we are going back into the Spacement Studio in Ames to record a whole album of religious-themed songs to be released next year.

Our show was super fun and in between the dancing and yelling and jumping, we also played a scary old acoustic song called “Feet” and it rang out really well in the church.

Utopia Park has a LOT of friends in Portland and so we were excited to open for them and then let them shred gray matter. And shred they did! They brought a lot of profound insanity to this old church and all their old and new friends were going crazy. A local drummer named Jones told us that Portland crowds are usually the type that kinda sit on their hands and don’t move around much. But leave it to Utopia Park to bring the party because that’s what they DO!

The folks at The Funky Church were kind enough to let us crash on the their couches and floor. The next morning we woke up, loaded the vehicles and started driving to Spokane, WA.

We’ve never played in or near Spokane, nor did we know anyone in the town. There was also no local band on the bill, so we didn’t really know what to expect.

The venue was a bar and burrito shop. The bar half is called Baby Bar and the burrito half is called Neato Burrito. The show room is the burrito half. As soon as we arrived, the gentleman behind the burrito bar, Casey, informed us that they were giving us FREE burritos and drinks. YES! The burritos were so dank and we scarfed em down.

Soon, two friendly folks showed up and said they were there for the show. Their names were Chris and Angela and they are live music fans and they even checked out our music online before the show. What?! This blew my mind. And in addition to that, Chris and Angela are also accomplished hula hoopers and they hooped it up with us in the parking lot outside the venue, showing us sick tricks and watching us do our tricks too. James showed them his trademark move: The Money Walk.

The show was excellent. Some people in other towns had trash-talked about Spokane, but I’ll tell you what: Spokane RULES! After the show, Chris and Angela invited us over to stay at the house they are house-sitting for their friends and guess what?: the out-of-town couple who own the house are avid hula-hoopers.

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Our final show in the great state of California was in the small town of Red Bluff. The show was set up by Ami from the badass all-female punk band Social Concern who played at Ames Progressive once. She connected us with a great guy named Cody who was helping his sister Hillary put on a benefit concert at an art gallery in Red Bluff.

The proprietor of the art gallery was a bearded old blues fan from Chicago named Bill. Bill is a huge live music fan and this was the first ever live musical performance at his gallery, so this was special.

This was also the first night of the tour that we played since Donny and Chris flew back to Ames to get back to work. Also, Wild Man wasn’t with us because The Learning Channel flew him back to Iowa to appear on the reality show “Hoarders,” on which his mother is being profiled. So this show was also Dominic’s debut on bass with Mumford’s and he did a great job! Everyone who knows Dom knows that he is a super-energetic performer and he totally brought the sweat to our show. It’s been fun to jump up and down in unison.

Also, Kai’s cousins Chris and Kip drove up to the show from San Francisco and it was so fun to have them at the show! They are both musicians and they are totally chill people too, so it was an honor to have them their rocking with us.

After the show Hillary, the punk rock mother goddess who organized the show with her brother Cody, invited us over to her apartment for a feast of bacon cheeseburgers and pasta salad and steamed veggies and BEER! After dinner we drove for an hour and found a spot by the side of the road in the mountains where we could sleep under the stars for free (i.e. illegally).

The next day we woke up and drove all day to Portland where we met up with Hillary Nelson’s sister Trilby. When we arrived, she had fresh melon awaiting us and we dug right in. We had the next night off too, so we bummed around Portland during the day and then went to a backyard cook out that was completely populated with people who have lived in Fairfield. How beautiful to be at a party in Oregon surrounded by people from Iowa!

Oh Iowa, we miss you and your peoples, we seek you everywhere we go, we will return to you soon!

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Our second show in San Francisco was a perfect storm, it was an alignment of the planets, it was God looking down upon our little tour and saying, “Have fun, I approve of this whole thing. I’m actually more into your band than you would guess. I made the whole world. Your welcome.”

We knew that we had to bring it LARGE and CORRECT because this was the last show of the tour for Chris and Donny because they had to return to work in Ames and we knew that we were going to miss them so much. And it was Donny’s 24th birthday! Not only that, but our friends Matt, Dave, Andy and Lovelady from Ames were in San Francisco on vacation and they came to the show. AND my Auntie Bet and my cousin Carol Ann came to the show and it was so special to have them there. PLUS the show was at a venue called The Pink House and it is run by Sofia, Dani and Sean from the amazing band Little Teeth. We played with Little Teeth at Bali Satay House (R.I.P) last year and they blew our minds and we became friends. It was so generous of them to put on this show because it was the only Pink House show of the whole year and they put together an incredible lineup including the sick bands Honeycomb, iji and Saything.

So, basically, this show had it ALL and we were stoked. Utopia Park opened up the show with their blood-boiling, crowd-demolishing, limb-jellying set. Then we played and our set was a total blast, the basement was totally packed and there was a makeshift balcony and just looking out into the audience and seeing friends from Iowa and family from California and the folks in Little Teeth who we respect so much was a beautiful experience. This show was very enlivening and satisfying because we intended to BRING IT and we succeeded! Sweaty hugs and heavy loves abounded after the show.

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