January 19th

Mini-tour recap

SF Station/ Photographer Meredith Nevard

We set out to play in some of our favorite little towns in Northern California last weekend. The Shants are a new band, so we wanted to get a feel for playing in varying venues (bars, cafes, all ages venues). It also gave us a chance to bond, and debate the Big Mysteries of Life: Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, The Cube, organized religion, bacon, and Skip’s dietary vices.

Along the way, we played with some artists that are doing truly extraordinary things in and around the Central Valley. We hope you will visit them as well: Christina Antipa, Boy Scouts, Fera, Boxes, Scott Bartenhagen, Il Gato, Ash Reiter and Brianna Lea Pruett.

Here’s some brief highlights & stats from the road, and various media that we’ve collected around the performances. Thanks again to all who came out to see us or helped us along the way. We hope to see ya’ll when we come up the West Coast this summer!

Highlights:

  • folks dancing at The Hemlock
  • taking “real band photos” on the streets of SF
  • incredibly hot Thai noodles in Stockton
  • the candy & snack offerings at Plea For Peace
  • the Boxes’ rambling stage banter
  • constructing a temporary 5th seat out of sleeping bags so Christina Antipa could ride in the van with us
  • In & Out
  • Nevada City’s narrow streets and shambling attitude
  • Carver’s opening set, including a Sam Cooke medley
  • a flurry of “musician jokes” on-stage at the Chief Crazy Horse
  • tea & board games with our hosts in Sacramento
  • backing up Christina on 2 songs in Chico
  • Carver’s mom’s review of our new EP - “It’s nice, but I just don’t like Western music.”
  • Brianna Lea Pruett’s blues stories

Stats:

  • Amps broken: 1
  • Lost items: 2 (Carver’s hat and mobile phone)
  • Van soundtrack: Wilson Pickett, Velvet Underground, Beach House, Muscle Shoals compilation
  • Number of That’s What She Said jokes: 28
  • Total miles: 437

Media:

We’ll leave you with this video from Nevada City:

*photo courtesy of SF Station/ Photographer Meredith Nevard

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