Photo credit: David Juarez
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Right now we conquer the long Alaskan roads with our trusty 2006 Dodge Sprinter. With just over 250k miles on it, it is certainly entering the end of its life with the band. We’ve had ‘Milk Milk’ (our affectionate name for our vehicle) since 2014, and Alaskan roads are particularly hard on it. Between salty coastal air and bumpy permafrost tundra highways; gravel roads and icy winters, there is nothing that van hasn’t been through.
There are too many breakdown stories to count, but coming home from Fairbanks in -20 degrees when the sliding door came open was an especially legendary one. We ended up driving across the entire state holding the door closed still atrophying heat and losing feeling in our hands. That was a doozy of a day.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Eating healthy on the road is hard, but especially hard in Alaska. We often play in towns that don’t have restaurants open by the time we get there, but we make do. Whether it’s gas station scavenging, planning our meals ahead, or relying on the kindness of our hosts, we find ways to stay fueled up across the state, and none of us have fallen over yet!
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
With my energetic style of picking, I break maybe 30 strings a year? It used to be a lot more but I have learned to tone down the intensity for self-preservation and as the band has evolved to be more dynamic. Still, I probably spend $400 at least on strings throughout the year!
Where do you rehearse?
We usually rehearse in our keyboard player Kyle’s house. He has three big beautiful dogs that we love spending time with and space to huddle around his pool table and prepare our music for recording and touring. During this last winter we spent 2 months of 8-hour days there rehearsing to cut ‘A Lovely Place to Die’ live in the studio. To get it to the quality we wanted, we knew we had to step up our game. That was the first time any of us had used that live approach for a whole record and it was nerve-wracking, but in the end the payoff was incredible for us as we are very proud of the finished product.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first song I wrote for Blackwater was called ‘Leave Your Light On’. We still play it too! “Those who ask about my situation, could never grasp all of this. It was a fistful of troublesome vibrations, or maybe it was the cold twisted with a kiss.”
Describe your first gig.
First Blackwater gig would’ve been the spring of 2013 at Chinook’s seafood restaurant in Seward, AK. I had been doing solo gigs in town for a while and over the course of a winter I pieced together a set with other transient folks in town. The bass player had a washtub bass with a microphone, we had no PA and instead ran everything through two practice amps. It was a rough show, to be honest! Amazing what it turned into as the years went on.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last day job was bartending in Seward which I did for many years. Honestly my favorite day job was being the janitor for a local Seward business.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
The percentage of our income coming from music steadily grew over the first years of the band and then dropped tremendously during COVID. Now, we are on the up again and building. All of us in the band are full-time touring musicians which is an incredible blessing that none of us take for granted. Our goal is to push further to where we are all living comfortably and then maintain it there. Being able to pay a team of folks to take the pressure off is also a huge goal for us. At the moment we run everything ourselves while playing upwards of 100 shows a year, and that takes a tremendous amount of work.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I had sobered up sooner!