A lot has happened since I spoke with Toronto band, Hooded Fang back in June. They finished up their tour at the LA festival, Growing up is Dumb, played a show in the now-on-the-market Honest Ed’s parking lot, and have seen a lot of open road. They released their LP, Gravez, back in May and have been on the road with it since. Only 30:09 long (according to my iTunes), Hooded Fang hugs you into their world with a short instrumental intro and outro, feeling very reminiscent to the world you would enter in a carnival house as a youngin’.

Back in San Diego we spoke of the trails and tribulations of a touring band. Being on a tight schedule unfortunately led them to limit their “vacation” time, but they made me feel like the inside of a touring van, more specifically theirs named “Big Blue,” could actually be amusing. April Aliermo (bassist, mother hen, tour manager*) explained to me the logistics of one of the games they play in the tour Olympics to pass the time. “Two competitors grab a plastic ball and on ‘go’ they have to try to take complete possession of this, in the back seat of the car, while we’re driving,” said April. There is also charades, a game where they can’t say names, and an actual game called yelling. Who can shriek the loudest is a game they’ve created to pass the time. Their playful demeanor is definitely a desirable travelling trait.

“Driving definitely makes you get really crazy, you do kind of go crazy,” said D. Alex Meeks (drums, driver, merch girl*), which explains the silly games and dreamy talk about the wistfulness of the road.

Another thing that is likely to have passed the time is the amount of energy they give to one another. They’re like each other’s conversational red bull, which is probably how they came up with the shriek games. They seem like the four best friends that anyone could ever have, which I guess would happen as you’re travelling over 10,000 km in a van together. They don’t seem to take themselves too seriously, D. Alex pushing his ear lobe into his ear which causes Dan Lee(vocals, figure head*) to begin laughing mid speech and Lane Halley(treasurer, guitar player*) and April to giggle along. (Sorry Lane, man-ly giggles for you).

So there we were at a coffee shop on a sunny June afternoon in San Diego. Hooded Fang and the touring Olympics van, ready to play their second last show on their North American tour. The tour began May 29^th, which seems like a while away since they’ve played 20+ shows since they’ve started.  (Look to map to put this into perspective). Gravez had been worked out and recorded in October of last year. This, being their third album, takes a new musical route.