Delta Spirit Find Touring Fun in Truck Stops and Hobos

Posted on Jun 9th 2010 4:00PM by Jolie Lash
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Southern California's Delta Spirit have kicked off a summer-long trek in support of their newest LP, 'History From Below,' which was released on Tuesday.

The jaunt will take them from the West Coast to the East Coast and plenty of stops in between, so to pass the time, singer Matt Vasquez says the boys amuse themselves at truck stop gas stations.

"At Love's gas stations or Flying J's, we buy like 'Butthead' DVDs and watch the latest Judd Apatow film or like really bad horror films," he tells Spinner. "Or we just buy beer and drink and have fun and get in the Jacuzzi at some Priceline hotel -- or find some hobo and buy him a beer and hang out."

Supporting 'History From Below' means Vasquez's side project, indie "supergroup" --though he laughs at that word -- MG&V with members of Deer Tick and Dawes, won't be hitting the road.

"Yeah, that thing, we're not gonna tour it at all," he explains of the band, which made its debut at SXSW earlier this year following recording sessions in Nashville. "It was really like we all had extra songs for our records and everybody's very weary of that being a deal, because we're not really big enough to have a supergroup. It's not really a supergroup is it? We're not 'super' yet. Super on the inside. Our mom's think we're super.

"Easily, hands down, the Deer Tick record and the Delta record are way better than that project," he adds.

Vasquez revealed he and fellow MG&V members, Deer Tick's John McCauley and Dawes' Taylor Goldsmith, recorded nearly two albums worth of material.

"It's fun. That's what it was. It was a fun week," he explains. "We did 22 songs in a week. It was really stupid. We just went right through it because we all had so many songs."

Vasquez explained that the trio would stay up all night to make the music, with a little help.

"A lot of whiskey and beer," he says, laughing. "And when John McAuley's involved, you don't get much sleep. That guy will stay up 'til 6AM."

While no details about the MG&V's album release were immediately available, Vasquez says they nearly took their moniker from the biggest movie of all-time, after tossing out an expletive-laced name first.

"We were gonna call it Monsters of F---, you know. Then we were gonna call it Avatar: The Band," he says. "We were really serious about that one. [We also thought of] the Traveling Bill Murrays."