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Pomegranates Kick Off Tour With Oh No! Oh My! -- Road Report

Afternoon Records


Pomegranates are currently on the road with Oh No! Oh My! in support of their third full-length album, 'One of Us.' The release marks the first with the Cincinnati natives' new album Afternoon Records, and co-produced by the band and TJ Lipple of Aloha.

Following their 2009 album 'Everybody, Come Outside!,' Pomegranates were touted as a highly ambitious experimental outfit, garnering rave reviews and memorable performances at SXSW, CMJ Music Festival and more.

Now the four-piece is enlightening new and old fans with the dreamy sounds of their new effort. Although their tour began with a rocky start, a dip in the spa and a little card-counting, says guitarist Dan Lyon, made for a good time regardless. Read about Pomegranates adventures, after the jump.

We started this tour having a lot of gear stolen, and our band being surprisingly pretty broke. So mix that in with 24 days of long nights, long drives and bad sleep; you might not end up with four happy people. I think we started off complaining a lot (am I doing that now? I don't mean to), but ended up embracing, and almost laughing at ourselves, and basically giving it to the creator to take care of.

Daniel Lyon

Missoula, Montana.

I'm not sure if there are many other natural things I love besides mountains. We certainly have a lack of these in Ohio, for better or worse. We all marveled at their snow-misted wonder as we drove through Montana.

Usually we try and eat pretty well. We have made an exception this tour: Taco John's. If you don't know what Taco John's is, I will sum it up in two words: Salsa Bar. Brilliant. Get anything here sans beef, add beans, and BLADOW! So good, and pretty cheap.

We played Missoula. People were very warm and friendly. We then drove through the night to Spokane, Washington.
In Denver, we met a musician/friend who was going to travel to Seattle with us, we we'll call him "Bill." We found out on this trip that "Bill" used to be a blackjack card counter. It just so happened that he got sent a free night's stay at a casino in Spokane, so we stayed at a luxurious hotel for a night.

In the morning, I walked down to the pool/spa. It was empty. I swam and relaxed for a bit. After everyone else got up we checked out the casino. It was crazy -- we all had never been to one before. Retired people scrambling to make a little more money, or spend a little of their sons' inheritance before they die. Sad really.

We played a few slots -- I won $16 on one! Bill and I scoped out blackjack tables. We found "a good one" he said. He gave us the signal to enter the game. I came out $19 ahead, with the help of Bill coaching me the entire time (totally legal). I then of course left that game to play another and lost all of it. Get out while you're ahead. It is easy to see how people get addicted. Also, according to BIll, slots are usually a losing game -- it's all luck. Blackjack however, you have a 52% chance of winning, if you count cards.

We headed to the show at Empyrean Coffee in Spokane only to find a note on the door saying "Show Canceled. See ya tomorrow!" Really? Well, thanks for the heads up. It was sort of nice because we had a friend to stay with in Seattle that night with beds, food, and children to play games with.

-Daniel

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