*shoutout for making the trip from Canada!*

I am back in more ways than one. Over the last few weeks, I embarked on The Traveling Light Tour across the American midwest. This consisted of myself and my friend/fellow artist Abstract co-headlining small venues in a bunch of cities. We called it The Traveling Light Tour with a pun on light intended—we’re spreading light in the world through the messages in our music, and we’re receiving a lot of light from every single person who follows our music, but we’re also doing it VERY DIY—traveling literally lightly, with all of our things stuffed into a few suitcases, and 5 dudes packed in a rented 7 passenger van. Whatever you’re picturing, it was probably more indie than that, and probably less comfortable than that. We did it as indie as indie gets, so I am SO PROUD of how much of a success & blast this tour was.

I’m going to attempt in this blog post to document the tour from step zero to the finish line, since documenting everything I experience is consistently important to me and helps me process different chapters in my life. This tour encompassed so much of my last few months of music work, so there’s a lot of ground to cover, but I’ll do my best to not miss any details.

It’s long been a dream of mine to tour. If you’ve listened to my song There’s More To Life, or Young Skins, or The Glory Years Aren’t Over, or a handful of other ones, I write a lot of puns about wanting to be on the road instead of at home going through stages. Touring has always felt like a pivotal arrival point for an artist’s career, from my perspective. I grew up watching pop punk bands and hardcore bands pack out their shows in American Legion and VFW buildings and any other makeshift venue that would let us party for the night. About a year ago I started talking to Abstract about this run, and it’s crazy cool to me that we made it a reality.

Some backstory on Abstract: we’ve long been connected online and have always shared mutual respect for one another. Just like me, Abstract has a vision of doing things his own way, largely outside of the music industry, and has built a beautiful community of souls who relate to his music. I can tell we both grew up on similar underground and alternative hip hop as kids which informed our shared music taste today. 9 years ago, he commented on my There’s More To Life poem video on YouTube, saying let’s do something together DOWN THE ROAD. That’s when it started, so it feels serendipitous that we ended up ON THE ROAD together.

*shoutout to Gabe’s in Iowa City for repping our poster*

The planning wouldn’t have been possible without Dylan Reese, a talented and passionate artist in his own right & a wearer of many hats just like me. Abstract recruited Dylan Reese (aka ELLIS!) to help us plan this beast of a thing, and we ended up bringing along two other future friends as well: Adam Yokum, talented artist/songwriter and multi-media visionary, and Jake Luke, ultra-modern alt pop artist by day and sound mixer/engineer by moonlight (and any time we got into a snag). Some of you reading this might know that I design almost all of my own visuals, and this tour was no different—I took my printer and scanner, cut out photos of me and Abstract, handwrote all of the text with a fat blue permanent marker, and made us a poster to go with the theme of The Traveling Light Tour. I then designed an individual poster for every stop along the tour, and some venues hung these up in their windows as we arrived. That was pretty cool to see them printed out nice and large and just slightly pixelated. Abstract and I also thought this would be a once in a longtime chance to make a collaborative piece of merch based on the tour. So I whipped us up a t-shirt design based around a retro lightbulb, which kind of became the tour’s icon without us even planning it. It was extremely cool to see these shirts fly & sell out on tour, because now they’re pretty rare which I never would have seen coming.

*The Traveling Light Tour photo by @josh_klein*

*our friend in denver rocking one of the sold-out tour tees*

*in chicago with talented poet/author adrienne novy*

STOP 1 — DENVER. We rented a van in Los Angeles, navigated a whole lot of morning traffic, and then immediately drove for two days straight to make it to Denver one night before the show. We arrived in one piece, and our crew got a chance to meet up and hang out for a beat before the back-to-back show chaos began. Denver was a f’in blast!!!! People REALLY showed up, including some listeners and online friends who traveled from hours & hours away to make the show. A very longtime listener even took a plane ride and flew in from another state, because Denver would be the closest stop anywhere nearby him even including the flight. I was blown away by the warmth and open armed reception in Denver. It felt like home away from home. It reminded me of how much I love the good people of Colorado. Even though they’re just so chill, we turned up at the show. Chanted “old souls, young skins” at the top of our lungs and 50% of us won bragging rights, and I spit The Glory Years combined with The Glory Years Aren’t Over in a way that truly felt cathartic—definitely for me, and hopefully for the audience too. I couldn’t help but think about my own music career during the message at the end of that song. It’s never too late, it’s never too late….

After some Illegal Pete’s, a morning coffee and omelettes with green chile hot sauce, and severe clear skies, I was ready to hit the road to play Iowa for the first time and begin our back-to-back sprint across the midwest.

Shoutout to FLWRS and merch from Denver who held it down opening the show.

Here are some amazing snapshots of the first show of the tour in Denver Colorado, with the photographers on the professional photos credited upon hovering:

*this country beat a great depression, and so can you*

STOP 2 — SIOUX CITY IOWA. My first show EVER in the state of Iowa was pretty unforgettable. Sioux City is a small city that looks kind of like an antique town, or somewhere a John Green novel could take place. Not too different than where I grew up in the rural part of the state of New York. I grabbed dinner and coffee solo before the show and got hyped up to rock the performance. This show was proof that a great performance and show are defined by the quality of people in the room, not the quantity—Sioux City welcomed us with open arms, fans traveled from hours and hours away, new people discovered our music… and that beats a stadium full of strangers any day. I was so stressed out about losing my voice, since I’ve been out of practice with the back-to-back show grind, but I drank a ton of warm black tea with honey throughout the day and somehow pulled it together just in time. My vow to myself is to always give 110% to my performances whether there are 4 people in the room or 4 thousand, and I delivered on that self-promise in Sioux City Iowa.

We made delicious burgers and chicken on the grill & shot some hoops (of which I did not miss any) before hitting the road…..

STOP 3 — MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA. Underground Music Cafe was a really cool venue. They had a giant hardcore music festival happening next door, and even alongside them we STILL held our own. Minneapolis had a really great attendance. Minnesota shows up! I was so pumped to see some fans again who were there over the winter when I played in Minneapolis for the first time in years & years. We didn’t get a chance to eat this day until right before showtime, so I kind of felt like I was going to faint, but thankfully me and Abstract found a very delicious bar where these rappers could get some wraps. After the show, we all talked about how deeply we hold music in our hearts and as our calling in life. For all of us, music goes so far beyond numbers, and what matters to us as artists is true human connection & true community building. How much cooler & more meaningful is that than streaming charts & album sales? Somebody tell that to all of the executives who let data alone determine what they think is impactful art.

Shoutout to Bowdizz and Cole Tindal in Minneapolis who held it down opening the show.

STOP 4 — IOWA CITY IOWA. It’s 6:20pm on Sunday June 9th and I’m in Iowa City for the first time. About to sleep in my car because the lady at Subway yelled at me for trying to sleep in the booth there. I get it. She doesn’t know I’m about to go rip a show and this nap is going to make it infinitely better. I was up until 2am having some good conversations with the dudes in Minnesota, and woke up at 7am, so I’m running on 5 hours of sleep. My brain and my voice are tired. But I am so ready for tour stop 4.

Flash forward a couple of hours, and there was some truly amazing energy at this show! Including from folks who had never heard my music before but took a chance on the show. The personal highlight for me in Iowa City was meeting three brothers who have been listening to me since MYSPACE. Nah, that is crazy. At that point in my life, I didn’t think anyone outside of my local area in upstate New York knew about my music let alone followed it and listened to it. Social media was not what it is today, so we weren’t even in touch yet back then. Mysteriously, serendipitously, my music found its way across the country to Iowa. Pretty freakin’ full circle to finally perform and shake all of their hands. Also, I grew up as a middle child with brothers, so meeting other siblings who relate to the music always has a big impact. The venue was awesome. The bartender was awesome. We got some awesome interviews for a future tour vlog. And Iowa City said we can come back any time for another show. I’ll probably take them up on that.

Shoutout to SoulTru and Bowdizz who held it down opening the show in Sioux City!

STOP 5 — MADISON WISCONSIN. I was blown away by my second time ever doing a show in Madison, Wisconsin. So many fans — of all ages — showed up to the show and rapped along nearly every word with me. With our hands up at the end of the night during the Take Care Of Yourself remix feat. Abstract, it felt like a homecoming moment for me as a performer. We also put our flashlights up during There’s More To Life, and I did something I have never done before during a show: performed Ghosts off the stage, from the audience, with everyone at the show around me in a circle. The “yeah and I got ghosts!” chant hit especially hard. Was a moment I will always remember. Videos capture it better than photos, but here are a few photos since I don’t know how to embed videos on here….

A big highlight for me was playing an unreleased song called “Mom’s Basement 2007” off my next mixtape. The song is already recorded, mixed, and mastered, and it’s coming out July 5th, so we’re actually only a few weeks away. By the end of the song, the audience was singing along with the chorus, which is a vulnerable and straight from the heart refrain, and reminds me of my childhood in orange county NY…. so it was an emotionally fulfilling moment singing this with the good folks of Madison Wisco. You guys show so much love. I can’t wait to come back and do it all again.

Shoutout to TeawhYB who held it down opening our Madison Wisco show!

STOP 6 — CHICAGO ILLINOIS. In Chicago, after a seriously feverish power nap, I searched around the venue for a cup of coffee and ended up getting one from the back of a restaurant. Black market coffee!? I guess it had a special touch, because we rocked the dive bar sized venue like a STADIUM. My old friend Nicole from Goshen, who was the first musician to ever play violin with me on stage, was at the show, along with some longtime listeners, folks who traveled hours & hours to see the show, and even somebody who flew out from Las Vegas. I signed a hoodie of a very loyal listener named Liam for the second time, since I was adding to the signature I did on his hoodie at my Chicago show over the winter. Things like that are so cool to me. We can make relics out of our memories, and we don’t need permission from anyone to decide what is meaningful to us. It was extremely meaningful that true, sincere fans of mine were there in Chicago, and they told me they’ll be there every single time I play, forever. That warmed my heart. I also signed somebody’s passport book full of the locations where he has done “Chicago handshakes,” which is a beer + a Malort shot. If you’ve never had Malort, it’s the best….. thanks for such a good time Chicago, and I will most definitely be back.

Shoutout to Loveteddy. and Brad Varsity for opening up in Chicago!

STOP 7 — DETROIT MICHIGAN. I didn’t know what to expect with my first Detroit show. I mean people have asked me to come to Michigan many times, but new territory is new territory. In the hours during load-in and soundcheck, slowly but surely, fans started to filter in. I started to recognize merch, people started to ask about the scrapbook and for me to sign vinyl, and then boom…. i’m on stage to a packed small room of people who REALLY love the music and who make every second of me doing this worth it for me!

Seriously there was a crazy amount of people rapping every word of my lyrics which blew my mind, people flew from Napa Valley California, people drove from Toronto, people were decked out in merch with my lyrics on it (and John from MI rocked an awesome homemade Land of the Brave t-shirt). Insane!!!!!! This one felt really really special. Took a whole lot of pictures with a whole lot of people, and filled up the scrapbook with a lot of names that were overdue for years & years. A longtime listened named Tyler requested that I play The Book Report. It had been probably a cool decade since I’d performed that song besides livestreams, but I wanted to make it happen for him. So I holed up in the corner, loaded the instrumental onto my beat machine that I use to DJ, and gave it everything I’ve got when I spit those lyrics on stage. People rapped EVERY WORD and sang the “you are my favorite miracle” refrain at the top of their lungs! As Tyler described it afterwards, the energy in that room almost felt like church. And I agree. There was a special spirit in that room. Really surreal, and a quick flash of a very young version of myself having achieved some of his daydreams. I was on cloud nine. And somebody told me my music had helped them through hard times in their life for many years now. That reminded me of why I do what I do. Detroit reinforced my commitment to never stop doing this. I’ll probably keep posting clips of it for a long time, since there were some really great moments during The Book Report, Mom’s Basement 2007, There’s More To Life, and Ghosts.

Shoutout to Josh B. and JAYJ who held it down opening up in Detroit.

STOP 8 — INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA. This venue is hard to describe, but imagine a giant abandoned concert theater where Elvis last played right before he died, then imagine that building haunted by ghosts for 20-some years and eventually being a really cool alternative performance space. The walls were lined with loose church pews and ripped velour movie theater seats. To be honest, I did not expect more than maybe one or two people to know my music in Indiana my first time in the state. To my surprise, a TON of people showed up, knew my lyrics, requested songs, signed my tour scrapbook, and asked for photos. When I was a young teenager and first started performing, it was in venues that looked a lot like this. There was no stage, so I was at eye level with the entire audience. That felt very natural to me, and like the environment was filled with an automatic camaraderie from the first word. Multiple listeners traveled all the way from Cincinnati Ohio (perhaps I need to hit Ohio on one of my future tours, I realize….), and one of them even asked me to SIGN THE DASHBOARD OF HIS CAR. I sold out of my last vinyl and unreleased DO BEFORE YOU DIE mixtape cassettes by the end of this night, and we sold out of all of our tour collab t-shirts as well. Indianapolis showed an insane amount of love. I can’t wait to come back. Easily top 1-2 shows of the tour for me!!!!! Thank you for the warm welcome and delicious late night sandwiches, Indianapolis.

Ghosts performed from the middle of the audience felt especially powerful and cathartic.

Shoutout to my friend VITO who held it down opening up in Indianapolis.

STOP 9 — PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA. Our final morning of tour started off with a bang—or actually, it didn’t start at all. The key fob to our van suddenly stopped working to get the van started, even though the doors still locked and unlocked and the rest of the buttons worked. We tried a new battery. We tried roadside assistance. We tried walking far away from the vehicle and knocking on wood. In the end, with about 7 hours until showtime at Pittsburgh, we got our van towed, bothered every automobile place in the city, and eventually got on the road again. Though the trip to Pittsburgh was a long one, I slept in the van on the way when my driving shift was finished. Once we arrived, we were immediately hyped up for the show, and my jaw was on the floor because my brothers surprised me by traveling all the way to Pittsburgh from NYC to be there on the final night of tour. My older brother was even rocking a vintage t-shirt of mine. That was awesome.

Despite being tired, I probably could have kept going forever if someone told me there were more cities ahead that magically popped up on our schedule overnight. I gave the performance 110%, shouted every word from the top of my lungs because I no longer had to worry about losing my voice or getting hoarse the next day, and by the end of the show, I had every stranger in the room rocking out with me & my very longtime fans who came there to support, decked out in merch. Wonderful last night in Mac Miller’s city.

Shoutout to T-Burk and The Architek who held it down opening up in Pittsburgh PA.

We’ll be back.

So, The Traveling Light Tour is now in the books! It isn’t often that I feel like I’m at the right place in life, doing the exact thing I should be doing, but while standing on that stage every night over the last two weeks I was absolutely sure of that fact. I’m actually in awe of how energizing the tour was. I knew it’d inspire me - it always does to get out and actually meet the real humans beyond this screen - but it blew any and all expectations I had out of the water. I am grateful for every convo discussing life and art over a hotel lobby or McDonalds breakfast, every caffeine fueled power nap in our 7 passenger van, every opener who made these cities feel like home and rocked their own sets, every venue who welcomed us in and took a chance on our DIY touring crew, every person who traveled far and wide to be a part of these nights, and most importantly. MOST importantly. Thank you to YOU guys - the fans - for giving this thing that I do meaning far beyond me, and far beyond what I ever could have imagined as a kid. I can’t wait for what’s next for this family, and seeing it grow fills me with happiness. Much love & infinite thank you’s to my guys who provided good laughs, great shows, true artistic inspiration, and unforgettable memories out on the road @abstract307 @dylanreesemusic @adamyokum @jakelukemusic @immortal.melodies.

In the words of the great blink 182, the tour is over we survived.

Much love.
See you guys July 5th
For the release of Mom’s Basement 2007
🧡
- D.O.