When last we left them, Kansas heavy blues rockers were deep into the Pacific Northwest on their current US tour. This past week has taken them further south, through California and into the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. Last night they played in Albuquerque, and today, guitarist/vocalist Steve Moss — joined in the band by bassist Mike Boyne and drummer Brandon Burghart — continues his “Mea Culpa” tour diary for The Obelisk.

The Midnight Ghost Train‘s third album, Cold was the Ground is out now as their debut on Napalm Records. Their tour runs until May 16, at which point apparently Moss will undergo surgery. More in the diary:

Mea Culpa 2

Driving through the desert right now towards Albuquerque, NM. The past few nights have been excellent shows and good times. Like I said in the last post we went to the Giants and Dodgers game on our day off. That was a lot of fun and relaxing. But relaxing never lasts long. I like it that way. I don’t like to stand still for long. If you have seen us on stage I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

The other night in San Diego we had a great show. It was a last-minute add but it was a blast. I think they put something in the drinks in there though ’cause everyone was insanely wasted. Made for an interesting night. I don’t drink so it’s always quite amusing to see the insanely drunk ones at the shows. But it can also get a bit annoying especially at the merch table. One guy wanted to buy all three of our vinyls, a hoodie, two shirts, a tote bag, a hat, a poster and two bottles of our TMGT hot sauce. I get everything out, all ready for him. The price is somewhere around $150 and he opened his wallet and only had $20. Then he actually tried to see if I would let him go with all that stuff only paying $20. No way in hell. He would not let it go, started yelling, “Why can’t I just pay $20, this is bullshit I thought you guys were cool. I promise if you let me go with all this stuff for $20 I’ll tell everyone I know about your band.” Absolutely not. We need to make our money.

For those of you that are unaware, this is how we make our living. This is our job. So we don’t give anything out for free, ever, and don’t make deals. I don’t care how cute of a girl you are, I don’t care how uncool it makes me, you pay full price. If you really like a band enough that you want to buy their merch, than you should respect them enough to pay for it, and pay the price that they ask. We go through that every night. But this guy just for some reason got under my skin. Maybe because he held up the merch line for 10 minutes while he was bitching and arguing. “Sorry you gotta go, there are people with money behind you trying to buy stuff.” I guess some people just don’t get it. I’m sure other bands out there feel that frustration.

So I’ve got some bad news. I’ve been battling with some pain the past few months that has made life very uncomfortable. I went to the doctor and found out I have two hernias that have to be surgically repaired immediately. So as soon as this tour is over I’m going in for surgery. Not excited about that. After this tour, we have one month off before we go back over to Europe. So I just hope that during that month off I can fully recover from the surgery, and there are no complications so I can be rip-roaring and ready to go for our European tour. In the meantime, I’m not able to lift anything. Doctors said I can’t lift anything over five pounds during this tour. Now that’s just crazy. But I have been staying away from lifting amps and really heavy stuff.

The guys have been a huge help moving stuff around for me. It sucks. I feel worthless and helpless. But I was warned that my hernias are at risk of becoming strangled, which can kill me, so I’m taking it as easy as possible. What really sucks is the uncomfortable pain that I’m in the entire time on stage. But I’m a fighter and I get through it night after night. Just hope that after this surgery I recover quick and well enough for our European tour. I’m so thankful I got good band members to help and pick up the slack for me. We still get off stage in less than two minutes, and we still get everything done quick and on time. It’s just tough to have to adjust to not carrying anything. Hope this surgery is as easy and as quick with recovery time as they say. ‘Cause there is much more rocking left to do.

The Midnight Ghost Train, Cold was the Ground (2015)

The Midnight Ghost Train on Thee Facebooks

The Midnight Ghost Train at Napalm Records

Tags: Cold was the Ground, Kansas, Napalm Records, The Midnight Ghost Train, The Midnight Ghost Train Cold was the Ground, Topeka

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2015 at 9:33 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.