wild rice (andrew)
ben and darwin
Driving away from Heathrow, back again in the Elephant Riders van like old times, the band was elated to hear our tour manager Ben’s new recording, a song titled “Achiever.” It reminded us of Toto. It reminded us of Everything Everything. It’s proggy. It’s sexier. It’s more r ‘n’ b. It’s a wonderful song, and I predict it will have a strong presence on this tour’s soundtrack. Throughout the afternoon, the band assailed Ben with ideas about his new project, what the name should be (Wild Rice* is a strong contender), what Ben’s image should be (Darwin is in favor of a Bowie-esque “plastic man” presentation). Ben politely but bashfully entertained our ideas, as is his wont.
There are three things in which the British undisputedly excel: smoothies, pre-packaged sandwiches, and brekky. I turned 29 on the plane ride, and to celebrate, my birthday request was to seek out a fry-up in Luton, which we effectively accomplished despite the customary British drizzle. We ate roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, crispy hashbrown triangles, all at suspiciously low prices. I indulged myself in a whipped cream engulfed chocolate pancake for dessert. My birthday cake, if you will. We sang the happy birthday song in a delightfully abstract, atonal manner. Darwin presented me with two oddball jumpers at our hotel, including one bearing the enormous image of a teddy bear. Our group tried to throw back some beers in my honor, but we couldn’t make it through the first can. Everyone, exhausted from the journey, was out like a light by 7:30 pm.
*Ben liked the name DJ Wild Rice, which Greg made up on a previous tour as a joke. We’ve discovered Greg has a serious knack for nicknames. The name refers to the Uncle Ben’s brand of shitty rice products.