I'M WITH THE BAND: ROAD TRIP
Nina Persson and the rest of A Camp pick their favorite American pit stops.
A Camp knows how to travel. The Swedish trio, featuring Niclas Frick, Nathan Larson, and The Cardigan’s Nina Persson, have toured the world over, playing everywhere from dive bars to huge stadiums. So just before they embarked on a tour in support of Colonia, the band’s new album, we asked them to document their trip cross-country.
As the band explains, “The thing about being on tour is you only get a sense of a small slice of any given town, usually within a couple blocks of the club. Hopefully the club is in a cool area, as is the case 50 percent of the time. The other 50 percent of the time, you just gotta figure it out for yourself.”
Here, their tips for a summertime road trip. The good news? You already know what music to play while you drive.
ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS
Daytrotter
225 18th St.
We took a detour on our way to Chicago and popped by a town called Rock Island, Illinois, right on the Iowa border. Here we did a session with our friends at the website Daytrotter, who have a funky ass studio where we did some acoustic versions of our songs. Nina rocked the glock! And the boys at Daytrotter provided the snacks. The strawberry donut holes were the hottest.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
“We’re playing the Double Door tonight in Chicago, but before soundcheck we did some radio stuff and went down to see our bud Bob at Threadless.com’s HQ. They make rad T-shirts. Also, they had a small skate ramp and Niclas took some time out to shred.
Myopic Books
1564 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Great bookstore, all handpicked used stuff, lots of occult material, some great classic fiction.
Earwax Café
1561 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Excellent place to chill, and they have fantastic coffee.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Café Brenda
300 1st Ave. N.
We ate here – awesome food with an emphasis on the organic and vegetarian. It’s really hard to find healthy food on the road in the USA, but it is slowly but surely getting better. This is in the warehouse district in Minneapolis, which used to be nothing but rad old warehouses. It’s quickly filling up with a few good spots like Brenda’s, but mostly wack-ass sports bars and nightclubs. The scene in the eve in this hood sucks bad, but come early and eat here.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Half Price Books
1002 Westport Rd.
In a strip mall, like a lot of hidden American gems. It has a great selection of books, graphic novels, and a beautiful—if modest—sampling of vinyl. Who knew Michael Jackson put out a solo record in 1973? We didn’t. We also like the soundtracks section.
Broadway Café
4106 Broadway
We know jack about Kansas City, but it seems like there’s this grooved out area called Westport where there’s a bunch of cafes and all the stuff you’d expect. Having hung around there most of the day, we were able to take a serious sampling and in the end we thought that Broadway Cafe had the nicest vibe and the best coffee.
Dollar Tree
1014 Westport Rd.
The Dollar Tree, another fun strip mall dweller…Where else would you find this kind of crap? We love it – [especially] patriotic tchotckes and church supplies! Our pal Justin bought Nina and Nathan a ceramic bride and groom statuette as a "belated wedding present." Nina and Nathan were married in 2001, so belated is right, but hey!
DENVER, COLORADO
Bastien’s
3503 E. Colfax
This place puts the “ye olde” in “ye olde skool.” The specialty is something called “sugar steak”, which is exactly what it sounds like…steak with a bunch of sugar on it. Sweet cocktails, fantastic late ‘50s/early ‘60s jet-age flav that’s been around since the jet-age.
The Shoppe
3103 E. Colfax
Cupcakes, cereal, ice cream, and some art and design books. Nathan is a bit of a cupcake expert, and tried both the tres leches and the red velvet. The tres leches was fantastic, and the red velvet would be great if we weren’t spoiled by the Two Little Hens Bakery in New York City, which kicks out the definitive Red Velvet. The staff is cool as hell, and they’re open ‘til 2 am. Bought a bib for Nathan’s niece that says, “Don’t be a Hater, Eat a Cupcake.”
REBECCA WILLA DAVIS
Visit myspace.com/acamptheband for more info.
MORE TRAVEL TIPS FROM YOUR FAVORITE BANDS:
Cryptacize pick their favorite vintage stores in San Francisco
The Little Ones take you on a tour of the best taco trucks in Los Angeles
The best record stores in Stockholm, according to Those Dancing Days
As the band explains, “The thing about being on tour is you only get a sense of a small slice of any given town, usually within a couple blocks of the club. Hopefully the club is in a cool area, as is the case 50 percent of the time. The other 50 percent of the time, you just gotta figure it out for yourself.”
Here, their tips for a summertime road trip. The good news? You already know what music to play while you drive.
ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS
Daytrotter
225 18th St.
We took a detour on our way to Chicago and popped by a town called Rock Island, Illinois, right on the Iowa border. Here we did a session with our friends at the website Daytrotter, who have a funky ass studio where we did some acoustic versions of our songs. Nina rocked the glock! And the boys at Daytrotter provided the snacks. The strawberry donut holes were the hottest.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
“We’re playing the Double Door tonight in Chicago, but before soundcheck we did some radio stuff and went down to see our bud Bob at Threadless.com’s HQ. They make rad T-shirts. Also, they had a small skate ramp and Niclas took some time out to shred.
Myopic Books
1564 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Great bookstore, all handpicked used stuff, lots of occult material, some great classic fiction.
Earwax Café
1561 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Excellent place to chill, and they have fantastic coffee.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Café Brenda
300 1st Ave. N.
We ate here – awesome food with an emphasis on the organic and vegetarian. It’s really hard to find healthy food on the road in the USA, but it is slowly but surely getting better. This is in the warehouse district in Minneapolis, which used to be nothing but rad old warehouses. It’s quickly filling up with a few good spots like Brenda’s, but mostly wack-ass sports bars and nightclubs. The scene in the eve in this hood sucks bad, but come early and eat here.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Half Price Books
1002 Westport Rd.
In a strip mall, like a lot of hidden American gems. It has a great selection of books, graphic novels, and a beautiful—if modest—sampling of vinyl. Who knew Michael Jackson put out a solo record in 1973? We didn’t. We also like the soundtracks section.
Broadway Café
4106 Broadway
We know jack about Kansas City, but it seems like there’s this grooved out area called Westport where there’s a bunch of cafes and all the stuff you’d expect. Having hung around there most of the day, we were able to take a serious sampling and in the end we thought that Broadway Cafe had the nicest vibe and the best coffee.
Dollar Tree
1014 Westport Rd.
The Dollar Tree, another fun strip mall dweller…Where else would you find this kind of crap? We love it – [especially] patriotic tchotckes and church supplies! Our pal Justin bought Nina and Nathan a ceramic bride and groom statuette as a "belated wedding present." Nina and Nathan were married in 2001, so belated is right, but hey!
DENVER, COLORADO
Bastien’s
3503 E. Colfax
This place puts the “ye olde” in “ye olde skool.” The specialty is something called “sugar steak”, which is exactly what it sounds like…steak with a bunch of sugar on it. Sweet cocktails, fantastic late ‘50s/early ‘60s jet-age flav that’s been around since the jet-age.
The Shoppe
3103 E. Colfax
Cupcakes, cereal, ice cream, and some art and design books. Nathan is a bit of a cupcake expert, and tried both the tres leches and the red velvet. The tres leches was fantastic, and the red velvet would be great if we weren’t spoiled by the Two Little Hens Bakery in New York City, which kicks out the definitive Red Velvet. The staff is cool as hell, and they’re open ‘til 2 am. Bought a bib for Nathan’s niece that says, “Don’t be a Hater, Eat a Cupcake.”
REBECCA WILLA DAVIS
Visit myspace.com/acamptheband for more info.
MORE TRAVEL TIPS FROM YOUR FAVORITE BANDS:
Cryptacize pick their favorite vintage stores in San Francisco
The Little Ones take you on a tour of the best taco trucks in Los Angeles
The best record stores in Stockholm, according to Those Dancing Days
This story was published on June 23, 2009.
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