Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Saturday July 12, 2025 - Tillsonburg, ON

Road Blog
July 12, 2025
Tillsonburg, Ontario

Day two of Buddies Fest kicked off with a mid-level hangover, ringing ears, and the bleats of the goat heard under a pulsating sun, 90 °+ temps, and high humidity. I called home to check on TrooperGirl22 who seems to be enjoying some peace and quiet in my absence. The hosts of our AirBB were cleaning out their massive RV that they’d just sold, and the nice Dutch lady Nellie said in her very thick accent “Do you have a headache today hahaha!” And I explained that yes, I had a headache and I wasn’t driving last night so I overdid it a bit with the partying, and she so nicely said if we both wanted to party tonight she would come into town to get us. That was amazingly kind, and I actually pondered it for a moment, but it doesn’t really work that way with gear in the vehicle and all that.

And of course it was soon uncovered that Adam Wild Honey Collective and I were musicians (pro-tip: don’t tell your potential Airbnb hosts you're musicians in advance if you don’t want your reservation cancelled). “Ooooh zere is a music fest in Tillsonburg?!” Pretty soon the husband joined in, who’s English isn’t quite as good, and within moments she’d face-timed her son in The Netherlands who’s also a musician “it is the heavy, how do you say…. Heavy….” Metal? I asked. “Yes! Ze heavy metal! I do not like it so much but he has fun.” So a moment later, at her insistence, I’m on her face time with this dude in the Netherlands and he’s in his practice space and shows me the kick drum head “Rearviewmirror.” They’re a major Pearl Jam tribute band, so much so that they’d recently had a call with PJ’s management and legal team who has been “watching them” and they had to change a couple things around with their branding, but ultimately got the blessing of Eddie Vedder and company. Anyhow, sounds like they’re kind of a big deal as tribute bands go and he was a pleasant dude and it was just one of those crazy life experiences on the road that was out of the ordinary from the day to day. Check out RearViewMirror and tell `em Nellie sent ya, via Jeremy Porter.

We headed into Tillsonburg and immediately got the records and guitars out of the steamy vehicle and had a great chat with sound engineer Billy and his fiancé/co-helper also amazing person Amanda then headed upstairs, said hi to Jon Snodgrass, and met up with buddies Jason (Detroit) and Woody (Toronto via Newfoundland) and had some great conversation over vegetable juice and poutine. Woody is a vegan (he'll tell ya himself within 8 seconds of an introduction) and had a list of requirements for the kitchen staff that was literally longer than the bible and twice as complicated. You could see my eyes roll from Kitchener. As always, the staff at The Mill was absolutely aces and made his falafel plate almost perfect (like, 99.999%) on the first try and absolutely perfect on the second try. I gave the waitress a wink and a nice tip for her trouble. I love Woody but can't let an opportunity to give him some shit pass by unexploited. ??

Chad Price Peace Coalition, who we’ve been playing with leading up to BuddiesFest, went on the outdoor stage at 4:30 in the sweltering heat and sounded great, as they did in Toledo and Windsor before. We’re grateful to know those dudes and spent lots of time chatting & hanging with bassist Anthony and guitarist Cory who also play in a band we all dig from Portland, Oregon called LiquidLight.

After Chad’s set we watched most of Jon’s set (with punk-legend drummer Bill Stevenson and his son on bass), then Adam and I worked our way back to Paddy’s Underground and checked out some of the acoustic acts that were on before us and then got our stuff set up. We sound checked with Billy and I got to hear a few ALL songs (the Scott Reynolds set) down at the main stage before it was time for us to get ready. I wish Janet was here with him but she didn't make the trip. We went on at 7:30 sharp, which was basically the moment ALL wrapped up, which means our room was nearly empty. By the end of the second song we at about 25% cap and after the 3rd song it was great crowd in numbers and engagement - attentive and responsive, and quite possibly enjoying the AC down there just as much or more than our songs, if I’m being realistic. We played well, had a blast, and even got to get a few extra songs in while Scott made his way over from the main stage for his solo set right after ours. That set was the catalyst for the whole run. The Toledo and Windsor shows with Chad and the Husker set with Greg Norton were just (albeit awesome) add-ons.

We watched Scott’s set, sold some merch, helped sweep some water from the flooding green-room into the floor drain and made sure no gear back there was getting damaged, and headed out to see a few The Flatliners songs. Those guys were awesome, and new to me, though we’d met briefly the night before.

Finally, back at Paddy’s, pals Rad Owl from Minneapolis, we I’d met in April when The Tucos played with Snodgrass in Detroit, went on and played a great set. One of my favorite moments of the whole weekend (so far, anyhow) was when they pulled up pal Brock Pytel to sing “Home Again” by his old band Doughboys. I haven’t heard that song in a live setting since 1988, and like Woody, it nearly brought a tear to my eye it was so great. Rad owl is an awesome band. Jeremy and I get along great, and I also feel it necessary to say that, besides being a standup dude, David is one most bad-ass drummers, and everything he plays on is better for it.

Dreadfully low on sleep and longing for a nightcap, we said our goodbyes, loaded out, and headed back to the AirBB with the sold RV, goat herd, and the Dutch parents of The Netherlands best Pearl Jam tribute band, where we did some damage to the Jameson’s we bought at the LCBO in Windsor and crashed out again around 2am, despite our intentions to get more sleep.

It was another awesome day at BuddiesFest. I keep expecting that I’ll be exposed as unworthy to be here (not fishing for validation, just that great things like this usually don’t happen to me). One more day, kicking off with a couple cups of some godawful raspberry chocolate Keurig coffee (do they drink this shit in The Netherlands?) then lunch with pals and the SLIP~ons outside, then heading back to Detroit later in the afternoon. See ya there for day 3! xx