Music, Prairie Post

Here Lies Haunter: Saskatoon

Like I said, we left Edmonton late. It was so much fun that it was hard to leave, and that left us with not much time to get to the next gig in Saskatoon. But hey, it’s not too far.

The way there was unremarkable. It’s a nice drive, but there isn’t much around, and so we played many rounds of ‘Would You Rather…?’ It was universally decided that we would rather be blind than deaf (musicians, eh?), but that’s about all I can tell you about the game details without incriminating anyone. I can say that four of a horse’s bodily fluids came into play many times, but I’ll leave it to your imagination to decide what those fluids were.

Any stops we made were gas stations (gas, Gatorade, chips), or “real food” (Subway, Tim Hortons). When we stopped for subs, I was the only one who decided to save mine for later in the van, much to the chagrin of Ryan, who made a big stink about the stink he’d have to endure when I opened said sandwich and the smell filled our vehicle. That’s a thing, right? Everyone talks about the Subway smell. I don’t mind it. I guess some people wanna puke when they smell it. Regardless, my band-appointed nickname (‘Prince Williams’) indicates I like to get my way, and so I ate it in the van anyway. Suck it, Ryan. No one puked. Success!

We got to Saskatoon a couple hours before we were supposed to play, so there wasn’t a lot to do but eat some pizza from Nino’s (the restaurant attached to Vangelis, our performance spot for the night), and sit around. I, however, got the chance to hang out with my wonderful girlfriend, who made the trip from Winnipeg to see us and hang out with a friend of ours. She also took the photo for this article, since I took none in Saskatoon due to “exhaustion” (you know, like what Justin Bieber has when he cancels shows). When I headed a couple of blocks over to see them, our host, Lara, even had ice cold Standard in her fridge, which tasted just like home. It was at that point I couldn’t tell if I missed the Standard or my girlfriend more on this trip (just kidding!).

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Vangelis is a cool place, and their promoter, Rich, is a cool guy. The servers and bartenders are all tough women, which is nice. They’d probably hold their own in a bar fight better than I could. It has a nice raised stage and people from Saskatoon seem pretty fun. I discovered during our set, while playing a song I don’t use guitar on, that as long as the bathroom is only 20 feet away, I can make lemonade in the middle of the break and get back in time to hit my next spot no problem. Playing Vangelis was great, and it was a nice way to end our last show of the tour.

The Nino’s Pepperoni Pizza Review: 

This pizza looked positively beautiful, but it had a fatal flaw. You know when pepperoni is just this gigantic, kind of grey, slimy meat on your pizza? That’s what the pepperoni was like. I prefer my pepperoni small and crisp, tasty and important but not overwhelming. If you like an entire, unending layer of the spicy meat under your cheese, this pizza’s for you, but I could only eat one slice. The sauce and cheese, however, were outstanding. The crust was a bit slimy but still decent. I’d give this specific pizza a 6.5, but I have a feeling if it was just the cheese, it’d be more like a 7.5 or 8.

After our set, we went out for a smoke, only to find a 17-year-old puking his guts out right outside the door. Tanner from Hudson Bay, his name was. I took Tanner to the street to find him a cab, but we had to wait because his shitty friend Sam wouldn’t leave her perch chowing down on some wrap in the bar to take care of him. So we sat and talked. If you ever read this, Tanner, get some new friends. Also, try not to mix whatever you’re doing that night. Sage words of wisdom, passed down through generations. You seem like a decent kid, so D.B.A.D..

I got a chance to see Pandas in Japan, who sounded very cool, and then the show was over. We grabbed some beer (Luckys!) and went back to where we were staying to indulge quietly on a picnic table. And that was it. We Went West, and then we crawled back home to Breaking Bad marathons and families and cats and significant others. Touring is always fun but nothing beats coming home. Right around the time we hit Winnipeg, ‘One Great City!’ came through the speakers. Apt.

haunter cannon bros mtn
Thanks for the good times, western Canada.

Matt Williams is a Winnipeg-based writer and musician infatuated by lady country singers. Follow him on Twitter @MattGeeWilliams. Follow his band, Haunter, on Twitter @HaunterMusic.

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