40 days. 25 shows. Thousands of kilometers. Very little sleep. Not enough meals. Many friends. Much celebration. Metal through and through.

I’m writing this in the van as we head home. It hasn’t sunk in yet that this tour is over. I can’t even believe that the things we did at the beginning are part of this one huge string of insanity.

I’m not going to go into a credit list of thanks here, because the amazing people across this country that made this tour what it was know who they are. And frankly, they didn’t help us because they wanted recognition. They helped us because they’re good people and they love music.

Signing off now. Thank you Canada. We will see you soon.

Ah, Brantford. Another home away from home. There could be no more appropriate place to end a tour than surrounded by our good friends in this city.

The show was put on by our label guy James from Kerosene Media, and as always he showed us amazing hospitality and support. We played to a packed house of Brantford metal fans, alongside our friends Odium, Ending Tyranny, and As Oceans Burn. Who could ask for more?

As was appropriate we ended the night in celebration and were entertainment by Dale from Odium, who claims we drugged him. This may or may not be true, you can decide. It was all good fun until he attacked me with an inflatable pool toy…

I end this post with a grin on my face. Good times behind me and home ahead.

We got lucky again! Our gig in Barrie got canceled because of a venue screw up, which was pretty devastating since it was a Friday. Luckily, Southern Ontario has an amazing network that supports us, and our buddies Ending Tyranny were able to sneak us onto a Hamilton show. It was organized by As Oceans Burn, a solid Hamilton deathcore band you should really check out.

Although I was exhausted, under-fed, and almost passing out from the heat on stage, I had an amazing time and got pulverized by some of the Hammer’s finest bands.

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, you saved our asses!

For the last three years we’ve hit Thunder Bay twice on each of our big tours. June 9th marked our fourth ever performance at the Black Pirates Pub, which is amazing because that bar has one of the best live sounds in the country. I forget what the sound guy’s name is, but props to him!

The show was organized by our buddy Josh from local band Norris. Norris just recently signed to YOTS so we’ll be collaborating more in the future. Check these guys out!

Many thanks to everyone who came out to support. There were lots of people from bands we’ve played with in the past, which is really awesome and makes us feel like we’re leaving our mark. You you all again soon!

We’re now three for three at playing Sioux Lookout on our cross-Canada tours, and we have been treated like kings every time. Our fan base in SL are loyal, dedicated, and absolutely ravenous at shows. This is just one more example of the amazing energy and interaction that comes from crowds in small towns. We played every single song we had prepared and had one of the best times we have on this tour.

One of the coolest things about playing Sioux Lookout is that the shows always take place at the youth center, which is run by volunteers. These guys and gals are a close-knit team of kind-hearted souls whose main goal is to bring positive activities to the kids of their town. We couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that!

Infinite thanks to Brendan Clace for the booking and housing, as well as to everyone who participated. Also, keep your eyes on our photo galleries for some fan art from local Sioux Lookout artist Darrel Monias.

We were very lucky to be booked for a second Winnipeg show, because the date we were rolling through was immediately after a multiple-day metal fest in town. Locals Dead Ranch were nice enough to reserve War On Music, a local record store and venue, and put on the show.

We were as always extremely happy to see our Winnipeg friends at the gig, including ex members of Xplicit, current members of Mahogany Frog, and many more.

We had a blast but are slightly nostalgic to be moving on, as the next day’s drive takes us back into Ontario and our own time zone. Four more and then home!

As expected, our second Saskatoon gig was freakin’ sweet. The show took place at the legendary Amigo’s, where we warmed up the crowd for local horror-rockers The New Jacobin Club. Featuring members of Adolyne and countless other Saskatoon bands past and present, NJC put on an insane live set complete with a freakshow, a cello, and believe it or not, a theremin.

Similarly to Prince Albert, we noticed significant growth as many fans returned to see us from previous years, filling up the room and making for an awesome time. Seeing as Amigo’s is also a kick ass Mexican-style restaurant, we also had the privilege of celebrating Jordan’s mom’s 60th birthday right before playing.

Although Saskatoon is Jordan’s home, it has also become a safe haven for the rest of us. The support and hospitality we receive there means the world, and the friends we’ve made have become extended family. Thank you all!

Some towns have the perfect combination of long standing wild music scene tradition and home grown insanity to make for the perfect spots for metal shows. Prince Albert is one of those towns.

We had the pleasure of playing there in 2008 on our first Canadian tour, and the madness happening in that moshpit ensured that PA would become a staple stop on our future treks. Sadly the stars did not align in 2009, but this year it all worked out and as expected, the PA scene threw down like none other.

We played at a really nice location downtown known as the Art Center. The room was decorated with pieces from Saskatchewan artists (including Unspoken Words concept artist Cate Francis) and it made for a great setting. Antania, Celestial Machine, and our brothers Adolyne all played sweet sets and got people moving from the first note.

As soon as we hit the stage things erupted even further. There were moshpits from the first to the last song, and people were slowly pushing inwards to our floor stage area. My riser was actually being used more by some from row fans that it was by me.

Prince Albert was the place with the strongest reaction when I asked the question “So who saw us here last time?”, proving that PA is a home for Derelict and that its scene people are loyal and dedicated. Thanks to Harley, Darius, Skot, and everyone who made the show happen.

Our next show was in Oliver, on the Rez, at a house party. Despite this being kind of strange, we had a good time and made some new friends. Apparently, living rooms with wood floors make for excellent live sound! We met All Else Fails from Edmonton, who are an excellent band as well as cool guys, and we partied it up pretty hard. Also of note: someone brought a wolf/dog to the party, and it seemed entranced by our music. It kept sneaking ito the house during our set and trying to come up to us. Really cool!

Leaving Oliver brought us through the magnificence of the Rockies once more. We arrived safely in Regina, and headed out for supper at a pizza joint. While we were eating, I noticed that one of the wheels on our trailer was sitting at a strange angle. We checked it out, and discovered that the bearing had worn completely through, and the axle was grinding a hole through to the outside of the hubcap. We were rather appalled, because the wheel was barely holding on and we had just completed an eight and a half hour drive. Needless to say, we are very lucky that it did not fall off on the highway.

We limped the trailer to The Exchange, where we discovered we were playing with a bill of punk rock bands. We got a slightly stunned reaction to our technical death metal. Regardless, a few metalheads were present and we did our best to destroy for them anyway.

Having loaded out the gear, we checked on the trailer again and realized that the only reason the wheel had still been holding on was because of the weight of the equipment. Once empty, it was shaking and bound to fall off any second.

We left our stuff in the venue, slept in the parking lot, and after calling five garages at 7am finally found one that services small trailers. If anyone has a similar problem while driving through Regina, go to Frame and Wheel. In the end they replaced our bearing and axle, and tightened up the other wheel which was on its way out too.

Despite the cost and waste of time, we’re happy it all worked out and we’re currently on the road to Prince Albert.

Last year when we played Kamloops, the crowd was small but we definitely felt a strong metal scene vibe in the town. It was a Sunday and we were advised to try again on a Saturday next time around. We heeded that advice for this year and were not disappointed.

We played at the Pogue Mahone with Maelstrom and Bloodrunk. Kamloops brutality was well represented. Bloodrunk present a refined death metal style with atmospheric sampling that will raise the hair on parts of your body you didn’t know you had hair on. They also put us up for the night and showed us a great time. Amazing people!

The show was immediately preceded by two fights. One was the UFC event on television, the other was between two guys in the bar arguing over the outcome of the UFC event. Kind of ridiculous but it set a dangerous tone to the night which was cool.