Choosing Poverty

Photo by Maxim Ryazansky/www.foreveroutsiders.com

Being on tour is pretty miserable. It’s all about sleeping on floors, peeing in bottles and showering with no hot water (if you’re lucky). It’s a lot like living in poverty actually, and chances are that you’ll blow what little money you make playing on booze because you get so bored doing nothing but sitting on the buss, and you’ll come home even broker than you left. But some people still choose to do it freely, and claim to love it. Modern Life is War are some of those people. Vice: We hear you had some trouble with the van on your last tour? Modern Life is War: We have ruined three vans since we have been a band and we are on our fourth one now. The first one died when we collided with Bambi’s Mum doing 120 km/h on the interstate on our way home from Winnipeg. After that we were in the back of a u-haul cargo trailer with no windows for 12 hours. There was a sign that said what we were doing could lead to serious injury and death so I told my friends to keep their fingers crossed, cause we really wanted to make another record. The other two were just boring engine problem bullshit. Did you get to sleep anywhere good on the last tour? The tennis courts were nice because they aren’t as hard as concrete and they don’t get all wet like the grass. We broke into an elementary school classroom and they had air conditioning so that was great. We slept on picnic tables in a park and got woke up by the pigs one time. Someone usually slept on top of the van. We had a big skull painted on it… it wasn’t that comfortable but it was nice to look at the stars. Do you want to be rich? I honestly don’t know if I want to be rich. I would like to not be in debt and not worry about making bills. But being rich is not what I want most. However, If I got suddenly rich I would buy a nice professionally tailored suit and a 1964 Chevy Impala and rig up a big powerful stereo and pirate radio station inside it. I would cruise my rich ass around town kicking out the jams with my station number, shoes polished on the windows so all the people could enjoy my tunes on their own private radio. CHRISTINA CHACONAS
Modern Life Is War are currently touring through the US.