If you’re a resident of Michigan, it’s a been a rough few years. You don’t heave clean water, your state was an early hot spot for COVID-19 and, holy shit, the Detroit Lions haven’t won a fucking playoff game since 1991. But perhaps the biggest indignity has been the the constant bombardment of “Pure Michigan” tourism campgain commercials featuring narration from noted Tool (-Timer) Tim Allen.
Like pretty much every other band on earth, Chicago noiserockers Something Is Waiting we’re forced to cancel their tour this spring. But rather than lament for too long, the band channelled their creative energies — and sense of humor — into their own “Pure Michigan” spot, explaining the cancellation.
“Booking runs is more labor-intensive for us than some bands of our stature who work with agents,” says Something Is Watiting frontman Eddie Gobbo. “Frankly, a lot of those bands don’t deserve agents. They fear rejection from the cool venue or their ego getting bruised by untimely responses, or they’re just lazy, so they pay someone to do the work for them. This usually results in a ‘Dude, all the shows sucked’ email at the end of the tour and everyone crying.
“That said, this was the easiest run we’ve ever booked. Some of the dates were going to be with Fashion Week. Lot of great venues locking us in. Friends out East helping us out. We’re very grateful for that. We were probably about a week away from announcing, then COVID-19 hit and tour went bye-bye. Everyone’s tour did! Sucks WAY worse for a lot of bands, trust me. We just wanted to address touring in general being cancelled in an interesting way. I guess this is it? [Laughs]
“It sucks not being able to jam and play gigs, but don’t take a four to eight month break. Find new ways to get your shit out there. Get creative.”
