I thought I might’ve been able to write this from the road but, it turns out you don’t have a ton of free time when you’re the band and the chauffeur on tour. That’s okay, though – we’ll catch you up now that we’re home.
It’s me, Dilly.
As you may already know, over the weekend I finally fullfileld one of the longest running items from my bucket list – I went to Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario.
This has been on my mind since I was 12/13 years old and deeply invested in my passion for all things Treble Charger. The band is from the Soo and that’s about all the knowledge I had of the place. That and that it’s reasonably far away from me – or so I thought.
I ended up splitting the drive over in half because I figure this is the only real road trip I’ll be taking this year and I wanted to enjoy the weekend as best I could.
So on Friday night after escaping the north-bound cottage traffic that pools right around Barrie, I made the drive up first to Sudbury, Ontario.
There’s not a lot I knew about Sudbury either, honestly. Whenever someone brings it up, they usually don’t have much to say about it and what they do say is usually painted sorta negatively. What I did know is that it’s home to The Townhouse Tavern, a popular live music venue that most travelling bands play at some point. They didn’t get back to me when I reached out some months ago about trying to get a date but, maybe next time.
Otherwise, Sudbury is your typical mid-size Canadian city with one huge bonus – it has a beautiful waterfront and is nestled between tons of nature. As far as Candian cities go, those two features are my highest on my list.
I stayed at a little motel called the Belmont Inn, chosen for it’s location within the city and reasonable room rate (about $100 CAD). With check-in conveniently all done through my booking app, I didn’t have to say much to the front desk when I arrived. “If you’re going to smoke, just go outside,” he tells me. That’s okay, I don’t smoke – but when I did, I smoked Belmont’s.
My room was way bigger than I expected with a full living room and a blacony overlooking a back road. Way more space than a 1-girl band needs on a solo acoustic tour, but I can’t complain about it.
After I dropped off my stuff in the room I took a walk to the water and strolled the boardwalk. There was a stage set-up in Bell Park and something of a country concert going on. If you didn’t have tickets like me, there was plenty of space on some grassy hills that gave you a pretty good view of the stage anyway. The band sounded great, but I didn’t stick around too much since I was only there for the night and wanted to enjoy as much of the waterfront as I could.
I grabbed a late dinner from Tim Horton’s on my walk back to my room; a lot of places were closed and I was a little too tired and not hungry enough to sit myself down in a bar, plus I wanted to get back on the road nice and early the next day for the second leg of the trip.
I woke up around 6AM after having the most bizarre dream where a bunch of stray cats wound up under my bed and got weirdly aggressive with me. Then Dakota appeared (in the dream) and I hurried him away from the cats to safety. I definitely missed him. Would’ve loved to take him on the trip but he’s not really a Roadie and most places have a problem with such a large dog even though he’s the most polite guest you could hope for.
I felt like there was no way you could go to sudbury without taking a quick stop in at the Big Nickel, so that’s exactly what I did next (after grabbing another coffee, of course).
In case you, like me, don’t know much about Sudbury, it’s actually most famous for its mining. Is it the mining capital of the world? I asked Google.
“With nine operating mines, two mills, two smelters, and a nickel refinery, Sudbury is arguably the hard rock mining capital of the world. Sudbury is home to a major geological structure in Ontario, Canada called the Sudbury Basin which is the third-largest crater on Earth, as well as one of the oldest.”
And there you have it.
Anyway so I got to the Big Nickel just before 8 AM and was pleased to see that I wasn’t the only one who popped in so early; a young couple of parents and a baby came to give it a wave from afar (for the safety of the baby, I assume) and about 4 young guys who made sure to go right up and give it a whack.
It’s actually a pretty cool Big Nickel so I recommend checking it out if you’re in the area.
Back on the road to Sault Ste. Marie I grew really bored of the country music station I’d dialed into when I first left Sudbury. I know it’s not indicative of all country music, but every song on that station was basically the exact same. I also got to hear Jelly Roll’s Chevrolet about 4 times and, well, I’ll let you decide what you feel about it when you hear it if you haven’t already. So I spun around the dial until I found something that tickled my ears better – an oldie’s station out of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Honestly, I can’t remember the station, but it was great! The radio hosts had that classic older radio voice that can literally only be described as “classic older radio voice.” You could just imagine yourself sitting in your living room listening to the radio perched on your fireplace mantel as they shared sort of generic mundane stories without any type of lure/click-bait and peridocially mentioned the weather between all-time favourite’s like “Jessie’s Girl”. This is what they mean by the Golden Age of radio and here it was, on a random dial in 2024 on the road to Sault Ste. Marie. I was over the moon with it – it was great company for the final highway stretch.
I splurged a bit for a nicer hotel in the Soo – the Days Inn; this is a special trip after all and I have a big 7 hour drive home on Sunday. I was hoping my room would be ready even though I was well early. It was about 11AM and the underground parking lot was nearly empty. Of course, I couldn’t be so lucky and the front desk guy told me they were still cleaning. I doubted it, but it didn’t really matter. It was going to be ready around 3:30PM which still gave me plenty of time to get changed and cleaned up before my gig so I left the car and headed out for a walk.
I started to head toward the bridge that connects the U.S and Canada, but there’s a big park out the other way and that’s much more appealing.
I know what you’re thinking. “Touring with Dilly must be so boring, all she does is go for walks.” And you’re right. That’s how I spend a lot of my time at home, too. But these are new trees! New lakes! New ponds! Look at that statue! Hey, cool art! I wonder what’s in this record store? Wow it’s also a skate shop! I wonder where the best ice cream shop is?”
You can learn a lot about places just by wandering around in them. In this case I learned a lot of Sault Ste. Marie is under construction and getting a bit of a face lift.
I lucked out huge with the weather so I really enjoyed myself as I made my way over to Bellevue Park and sat in a giant Adirondack near the furthest point of the park and took just a few minutes to think about how cool it was to finally be here.
And I spent about an equal amount of time wondering if I’d been had about the show. It’s sort of a weird thing to explain but I get pranked a lot over the internet and sporadically in my daily life in recent years, so I thought there must be a big possibility that the people I’d been speaking to about performing in the Soo that night were also in on the gag.
If it turned out to be a joke, I was fine with it. It would just mean more time to enjoy the city and maybe hit up some hiking trails, but it would be such a cool thing to be able to play here, too, so I hoped I was wrong and mentally prepared myself for either scenario.
Back at the Days Inn I ran through a couple songs from my set and made some last minute changes to the order after collecting all my stuff from the car.
My room was nothing to write home about – actually I think the Belmont was a cooler vibe despite the ruggedness of it. It annoyed me just a smidge how offcenter the TV stand was even though I wouldn’t wach it and it was a bummer not to have a balcony. Set me back $200, but it was one of the better sleeps I’d had in weeks so I’ll consider it worthwhile.
Doors for the show were supposed to be at 6 and I was told to arrive about an hour before just to get everything checked and running; the late check-in at the Days Inn meant I ended up being 15 minutes or so late, but the nice part about being a solo acoustic performer is sound check and set-up only takes a couple minutes.
I was thrilled when I opened the door to The Distraction to find the first thing in my view: a P.A.
So there’s a real show happening tonight! Cool!
PJ and Mikhal were setting up and I was so relieved to meet them. Mikhal was who helped coordinate the show with me and PJ owns the space that we played in.
It turns out that this show was the last show that will be played at this space which is pretty cool albeit bittersweet I’m sure for PJ. It used to be abarbershop and PJ used to be a stylist. “A couple of the Treble Charger guys have had their hair cut here.” Wicked.
I really can’t speak highly enough of these two for allowing me a space and opportunity to live out such a unique and lifelong goal of mine – if I hadn’t booked this gig with them, I’m not sure I would have ventured out to Sault Ste. Marie just yet. Thank you again for your kindess, great conversation and making me feel welcomed.
I extend the same appreciation to Eli Russell who hopped on this 2-songwriter bill and opened up the show. Shows for touring bands are nothing without their local support and that was obvious as ever that night. Sometime during Eli’s set-up, I went next door to grab a quick bite to eat per PJ’s recommendation of the woman-owned pizza shop next door, Gino’s (it really hit the spot). By the time I got back I was delightfully surprised to say – hey, we have an audience! Awesome!
And then I found out why. Eli Russell is an incredible musician. He’s got serious guitar chops an a keen understanding of what it means to be a performer. He played some great covers from artists like The White Stripes and Hozier and a handful of originals that really showcase his unique songwriter and delivery. He’s got a bunch of stuff on Spotify so I really recommend you check him out if you have a moment.
He’s one of those acts you don’t really wanna follow, but here we were – following it.
I had one of my shakier performances guitar wise – I didn’t have a lot of licks built into the renditions of the songs I chose for this set, but my hand’s weren’t having it anyway which sucks in the moment because you always think it’s so much worse than it is, but overall I was pretty happy with the show. I played some stripped down versions of some songs I’d never done before, like Wishing Well and Feel Something, attempting to let my voice carry the songs more than any guitar playing (a personal experiment that I think worked out decently well) and my own silly subdued take on Treble Charger’s American Psycho. I goofed a lyric on that one which seems imposible given all the times I’ve sung that song, but Treble Charger also goofed the lyrics to their own Hundred Million just a couple weeks back at Big Shiny Saturday so I don’t feel too bad about it.
I can’t really explain it, but it was a very very cool moment for me to be able to perform a classic Treble Charger song in their hometown. It’s almost like how some people go on religious birthright trips to learn more about where their ancestors came from; Despite no blood relation, Treble Charger have been so intricately woven into the fabric of my being that it carried a similar sentiment for me personally.
I also could not have played to a more polite and attentive audience, many who were even kind enough to come up afterwards to offer compliments on the show. People in Toronto are usually shy about that sort of thing, but not here. And the funny highlight of it all was the amount of them that approached afterwards to say, “So you’re a big Treble Charger fan? I know Greig and Bill! I’m gonna tell them about you.” I was internally beaming. “That would be really cool, thank you.”
I’ve always found that kinda funny and unique to Treble Charger. Whenever I meet other people that are familiar with them, if they’ve met them they never say, “I’ve met them before,” they always say they’re friends with them or know them. Now, this carries a bit more weight here in the Soo where they live and work and it’s way more likely to run into them around town, but I think it speaks a lot to who they are as people. I’ve only ever met Greig out of the bunch and had some brief encounteres with him, but I always appreciated that he was so easy to talk to – you really do get that feeling that you just know them and are already friends.
Funny to think that they might get encouraged to listen to my Treble Charged Still Wide Awake Bored album as a result of this cool acoustic show I played.
To everyone at The Distraction, I am entirely grateful for the experience and really hope to be back again soon.
The whole set in all it’s fumbled glory is available on my Youtube channel if you want to check it out.
I got up around 6AM the next morning with ample time to take advantage of the Days Inn complimentary breakfast, which as far as complimentary hotel breakfasts go was one of the better ones I’ve ever had. And then I checked another item off my little bucket list and made my way to the Crystal Falls Trail loop just about 10 minutes north of the city.
Mikhal had actually recommended the Hub trail which is in the downtown core basically, but this other one popped up on All Trails and was close enough anyway. Turns out the Crystal Falls trail is attached to a massive network of trails and if I had the time I would’ve liked to spend way more time there, but I’m really glad I went even just for a couple hours to enjoy the scenery.
It was a 7 hour trip back home afterwards. I stopped for ice cream off the highway (Tiger Tail, it’s my favourite) to celebrate a successful trip.
The other part of this trip that seems important enough to note is that as much as it was about seeing Sault Ste. Marie, playing some songs there and fulfilling that little goal that’s been nagging my brain since I was young, it was also the first time I’d taken such a long road trip by myself. I’ve done a lot of solo travel to far away places in the last couple years, but never this long of a drive. In a way, it was important for me to do just to see how I felt about it, because I know I’ll be doing a lot more of it in the future.
I always envisioned when I eventually got around to playing gigs in other cities, I’d be doing it with a band and the trip would look a lot different – and maybe we’d even trade off on driving duties. Now, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m a solo performer and responsible for all the other little parts that come with that – at least for now, maybe that’ll change in the future.
The nice part about driving to travel rather than flying or otherwise it that it’s much more freeing. It’s really nice to know you can stop at any point along the way for a stretch or to grab a snack, or just to check out a random little town.
I’ve been driving since I was legally able – a necessity when your college is in a neighbouring city that’s too far to take transit. So I understand the freeing nature of having a car, but I spent my teens and early 20’s rushing from school to work to home to work to one studio or another and not much else in between. Plus, I didn’t own it myself, so that limits you. Once I moved downtown at 23, I didn’t need a car anymore and I largely haven’t driven anything since.
Late May of this year, after securing this gig I just told you all about, I finally took the plunge and bought one. We’re still on the fence about whether or not it’s a sound financial decision given the current economic climate and volatility of the employment market in Canada, but this trip alone has made it the most worthwhile life investment.
All that said, they say it’s not about the destination, but the journey. In this case, it was both. I’m pretty excited to see where else this strange little music adventure takes me. If these past few years are any indication, we’ll at least have some interesting stories to tell.
Keep it silly,
NCDilly
Neither Could Dylan 
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