This is the first from Venice Is Sinking‘s Summer 2009 tour diary, by VIS member and Drive A Faster Car contributing writer, Lucas Jensen. Let us know what you think of these and if you’d like to see more tour diaries in the future! — Tessa, DaFC Editor-In-Chief

So the Venice is Sinking Summer Mini-Tour begins and, ugh, we’re back on I-85 again, driving to our show at Snug Harbor in Charlotte. I-85 inspires a special brand of revulsion and Hate Shakes™ in Venice is Sinking because it was the main artery of travel for us during our eight months of AZAR sessions. We recorded AZAR in Monroe, NC, home of Dale Jarrett’s car dealership and the best omelette I may have ever had (Knife and Fork, holla!). I-85 is remarkable in its ability to avoid anything and everything beautiful in a number of beautiful states, except for maybe this one lake at the GA/SC border and a mountain on the right (King’s Mountain?) when you enter North Carolina going north. That’s how bad I-85 is: Fleeting views of a lake and a mountain are so far removed from its scenic banality that they merit mention.

Though we recorded a record not more than 30 minutes away, we never really got to explore Charlotte. The neighborhood where Snug Harbor is located seems to have been recently gentrified, but some old Charlotte relics remain. Even though we’d chowed down on Bojangles on the way up (it was delicious, thank you very much), we decided to check out the Penguin Drive-In, a greasy spoon/diner/bar combo that made us some serious friend pickles and a $3.25 1/3 lb. burger that was about as good as a diner-style burger can be. I think I’m already gaining weight, even though I’m trying to rationalize eating this way: “Well, I’ll be moving a lot of equipment.” Keep telling yourself that, dude!

The word on the street (aka the word from our booking agent/guitar player/singer Daniel) was that we were playing with some trip-hop bands, which doesn’t exactly fit with our sound, but that’s no biggie. Neither band was trip-hop at all, but both were friendly and featured some pro players. Both bands were also very, very loud, and I was earplug-less. Snug Harbor was a comfortable place with a nice patio and cheap drinks. The sound was good, too. I hate to say this, but we always assume that sound is gonna be bad, and a lot of guys treat Karolyn’s viola as if we were asking them to mic an elephant, even though she runs the thing through an amp! Good job, Snug Harbor.

I thought we did pretty well, considering we were lethargic from fried food overdose. Scott Solter, our AZAR engineer and a real stickler for good pitch, was in the audience… added pressure!. The crowd was, well, those that were there seemed enthusiastic, but it wasn’t exactly a packed house. After yapping with Scott and others for a while we decided to drive all night to NYC instead of getting a hotel room for a couple of hours. At the time of this writing that seems like a crazy decision. I can barely think.