The adventures of a touring band is something that a lot of local acts have yet to experience. For Illinois band Flaccid, however, the adventure has been the road, and welcoming bands to play in their home state, as well. On April 29th, Flaccid’s road comes through Up & Under for a show with Milwaukee’s The Young Revelators, and we caught up with drummer Nick Ward to talk about the band, as well as touring. Check out what he had to say:

B&E: Introduce yourselves! Who are you?

WARD: We are: Nolan Kelly-Guitar, Jack Kendrick-Guitar, Kyle Woith-Bass, CJ Kelly (no relation to Nolan)-Keys, Nick Ward-Drums

B&E: For those that haven’t heard Flaccid before, what bands are you influenced by?

WARD: Our influences are across the board from classic rock to hip hop and soul, jam music, jazz, funk, fusion, little bit of bluegrass. Each member has fairly unique tastes in music, which really lends itself to an eclectic sound.

B&E: How did you meet The Young Revelators?

WARD: We met The Young Revelators online and played with them at Fire on the Water back in January (I hope they aren’t catfishing us).

B&E: We always like to hear about bands’ misadventures on the road. What’s the worst tour story you have?

WARD: The worst (funny) thing that has happened to us on the road was two years ago. We finished playing in Denver and had a gig in San Diego 30 some odd hours later. Nolan was driving and stopped at a rest stop by the Colorado border. He got out and slept in the grass at the rest stop, and at some point in the night Jack also got out and laid in the grass. In the morning, I woke up about 20 minutes down the road to no Jack in the back seat. So we realize we left Jack at the rest stop and turn around the next opportunity we had and went back to get him. When we got back to the rest stop, Jack was still asleep in the grass. Nolan goes to wake Jack up, and against what we all said, told him that we had left him there. Jack looks up at Nolan with tears in his eyes and says “Thanks for coming back for me man.” We went on to drive straight through to California.

B&E: The band started out playing basement shows, and you’ve played all the way up to the festival stages. Which do you prefer, and why?

WARD: Both have their merits and there is a lot of over lap between basement and festival shows compared to bar gigs. The band and audience are more free to do as they please in both of these environments, which is something that we really enjoy. Basement shows are cool because they’re just a big party and there’s not set times. The energy in a good basement show is insane as well. Playing at an outdoor festival though, with production and such, is really musically satisfying and can have a really good energy flow as well. On balance, I would say I prefer playing festivals but I still love a good house show.

B&E: Lastly, you’re coming to Milwaukee. What’s your beer of choice?

WARD: Historically, Hamm’s has been the beer of choice of Flaccid. We tried to get them to sponsor us, but they didn’t call us back so we’re open to any other beer endorsements.

You can check out Flaccid on their website and Facebook.

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