Bo & the Locomotive Triumphantly Return, Having Only Slept On Cat-Piss Couches Once

Bourbon Street. Photos courtesy of Bo Bulawsky.

Bo & the Locomotive is gearing up for the release of its first full length, On My Way; it's out July 30th. The band is, in fact, exactly on its way, having just returned from a tour that took Bo and his band through the South. There were especially successful shows in New Orleans and Austin, camping in Florida and that cat piss was in Houston. These sorts of relatively short tours are the best and worst thing about playing in a band with aspirations for an audience outside St. Louis. It's a chance to meet other people in your shoes, hone your show and get music into fresh ears, but it also tends to require some marginal problem solving for basic necessities such as food and shelter.

Front man Bo Bulawsky went through the highlights, the lowlights and lessons and shared some snapshots from the road.

Kiernan Maletsky: What did you travel in?

Bo Bulawsky: A 1989 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, she's a beast..

What was your cheapest meal?

Well there were plenty of free ones, including pulled pork sandwiches, boiled peanuts, many varieties of pizza, homemade biscuits, and Pita Pit. But the cheapest meal we ate using our own money was probably a pack of hot dogs and buns that we cooked while we were camping on our day off in Florida.. dipped in honey mustard.. amazing.

Which venue treated you the best?

That's a toss up. We were consistently impressed and shocked at the level of generosity towards us, southern hospitality I suppose. But there were a few standouts, the Underbelly in Jacksonville bought us dinner, we drank for free, and they gave us a place to stay. Skinny's Ballroom in Austin has probably the nicest and coolest staff/owners, they were amazing. Rogue Pizza Company in Fayetteville was good to us too, free pizza, good pay, cheap drinks..

Where did you sleep?

We had places to stay every night except for one, we got a room at the Super 8 in Fayetteville for 60 bucks. Other than that, we pretty much had connections in every town with at least a couch or a carpet. We slept inside the venue in Houston, they locked us in and we slept on their cat piss scented couches.

Who was the most interesting person you met?

There were many. Tyler in New Orleans from the band Sun Hotel put us up and got us our show with his band (which was in a funky modern day speakeasy, you could call it.. it was amazing). He was so accommodating and friendly, we couldn't help be infatuated with him and band and the city of New Orleans. There was also the entire staff and black hole twilight zone of a venue called Super Happy Fun Land in Houston. There is something in the water in that town..

The Locomotive.