Tahoe Onstage photo by Tim Parsons
South Lake Tahoe’s Strange Weather bid adieu to its hometown fans for awhile, playing a farewell gig at Himmel Haus tonight before the group heads out on its first tour.
“It’s kind of a farewell, to help raise money to buy crack when we’re down in Hollywood,” frontman Vinny Berry said. “That was our drummer’s joke, which I thought was pretty funny.”
Please note: The band does not consume crack (as far as we know).
Along with Berry, Strange Weather is John Munroe (guitar), Todd Christensen (bass) and Jon Gardner (drums).
The quartet aimed to have a blast at its last show for a while at South Shore.
“It’s just going to be one of our rocking shows,” Berry said before the show. “We were thinking about doing kind of a black light party, getting a bunch of black lights going and wearing white T-shirts,”
Strange Weather will travel south for a few weeks in mid-October, with a series of shows around Southern California, including Molly Malone’s and Space 1520 in Hollywood, along with venues in Santa Monica, Pacific Beach and Bakersfield.
The band will be cruising in style for its first trip, sporting a vintage RV that is roughly as old as the members.
“Yeah, Ted Kennedy bought an RV and he said that we can borrow it for the tour,” Berry said. “It’s like a 1986 Toyota Dolphin. We haven’t completely decided yet, we want to do a dry run and make sure that we can fit all the gear and all the guys and it will actually move with us all in it.
For Berry, who hails from Southern California, taking the groups first road tour back home is an enticing experience.
“I’m from down there,” he said. “I’ve got a bunch of buddies down there. I’m stoked for them to come out and see my new band that I’m super proud of,” he said.
Strange Weather has accomplished a considerable amount in its first year of existence. The band put an immediate focus on writing and recording original tunes, investing time and money into a series of recording session at Play Your Own Music in Carson City, with the goal of having a demo in hand for the first tour.
“We’ve got four songs back from Vince (Berry) and they sound awesome, but we haven’t gotten the whole thing yet, we’re hoping to,” Berry said. “At the very least we’ll have those four songs to hand out.”
Strange Weather also enjoyed its debut as an MMA fight “walkout” band on Friday night, Sept. 25, as MMA fighter Cory Carlson chose the group’s song “Freeway” for his entrance at the World Fighting Championships at Grand Sierra.
Strange Weather’s return to South Shore is one to mark on your calendars, as the band will join Groove Box for its annual Halloween show at the American Legion.
Related story: Strange Weather tears up Whiskey Dick’s Saloon. LINK
