talking to A Day Without Love, who just finished playing shows in all 50 states

No one is doing it like A Day Without Love. The Philly-born, Boston-based folk-punk project of singer/songwriter Brian Walker has been a longtime embodiment of the DIY or Die ethos—something I wrote about when I covered a song from Walker's last album, A Stranger That You Met Before—but it reached a whole nother level this summer. On September 7th, Walker achieved his goal of playing shows in all 50 states, making it official in Fargo, North Dakota before clocking in for a gig at Parachigo Art Recreation Center.

"I’ve been touring for 8 years and today I spent my drive crying because of how far I’ve come on my journey. Before my grandfather died I asked him about his regrets in life. He said, 'I wanted to see all 50 states, maybe one day you’ll do that with the guitar.' 10 years later...I got to do it," he wrote in an Instagram post. "I am my ancestors dream, I am the dream and hope of the slave. I rise and I will continue to rise."

I simply had to talk to him about what it was like to visit every state in America while grinding it out at various house shows, community centers, dive bars and independent venues; we hopped on the phone for a quick chat as Walker made his way back east...

[Molly Mary O'Brien] Hi, Brian. What's up?

[A Day Without Love] I'm doing well. I'm in Indiana today. I've played all 50 states, so now I'm just playing places I've been to before.

Victory lap.

Yeah, that's basically what it is. It's like, you've done the hard part.
Now it's the second harder part of make sure you don't oversleep...which is exactly what I did today. But the good news is I have less than a two hour drive. And the show still starts relatively late. I can relax. I can exercise.

Where is the show?

In the city of Louisville, Kentucky. I'll be playing at Cave Valley Kava.

Well first of all, congrats on 50 states!

Yeah! I had a goal to see if I could play 50 states in one go. Then I changed the goal to, let's see if I could play 50 states in my career, slash in a year. And I did that, so I feel good.

That's truly incredible. I feel like I'm asking you the "you just won the Super Bowl, now what are you going to do?" question but how do you feel having accomplished this?

I definitely feel like a rare breed. Like, I've always felt a little different than others, but due to other reasons. But now I've done something that most people don't get to do in their whole lives, and it doesn't make me feel superior...but it does make me feel accomplished, if that makes sense.

Totally. We don't have to play favorites, but do you have favorite states/shows vs. ones that didn't go so well?

I think I could find something good in every state, even Alabama—which was my worst show, hands down. It was all different vibes. The most rowdy show, period, was Seattle. For favorites, going by like how much people danced and sang along...and let's do comprehensive, overall, vs. just this tour...Denver, Colorado is number one. South Carolina, consistently, I played in 2 or 3 towns in South Carolina and they've all been really, really crazy. North Carolina is a third. Philly is another one. California, specifically Santa Cruz, California.

Now how did you end up picking Santa Cruz for this tour?

Some of these shows, a friend would reach out and say, hey, I'll do the booking for you and take care of you. So I have this friend named VALENTVNE. We've been friends since like 2017 or 18 in a Philly warehouse where they were playing in a band called Two Headed Girl. Philly warehouse, so typical, right? They were like, hey, myself and my partner want to go on tour with you. They booked me five shows in the Bay Area, and I already had an LA show. So I was like like, alright, cool, I have week in California to play shows.

Or right now, I'm with a much newer musician named Lex Lunar who booked me Ohio dates for this tour. But the rest of the shows were just the product of, like, 12 years of grinding and working and getting to know people and making friends.

What would you say to someone who would want to go on a cross-country DIY tour? Any words of wisdom?

My big words of wisdom are are a little unorthodox. Or maybe they're orthodox! The first one, I would say, is get off the internet. And I know I feel weird because we're so used to being on the internet. But 97% of my connections on this tour happened because of me playing shows for years. Playing North Carolina with Boygirl Rising happened—granted, that relationship started because of the internet, but at the same time it's the because I kept showing up for them and vice versa.

All the places I stayed was because I met these people in person from different shows. My PNW shows, a lot of that was booked through people I had already met, and I did some shows with this band called Blisster. San Antonio happened because my brother lives there, but also because the locals [local acts that share the bill with touring ones] had seen me at a show in Denver.

That's why I say get off the internet. The internet's going to give you some connections, and those follower counts kind of matter, but the real conversion, the real magic happens because you showed up for someone, and someone showed up for you, and you continue to let that happen, and then it goes from one friend to another friend to another friend or another friend. So if you're going to do this, make sure your book of contacts is more personal than it is digital, because the bottom line is, big or small show, you've got to be a good hang and a good time.

Secondly, I would take a growth approach. Get some tour practice. Streaming numbers, or going viral on a video, those things open doors, but they don't prepare you for sleeping on a stranger's bed, having to wake up at any hour of the night, adjusting for time zones. It doesn't prepare you for, like, waking up in a papaya farm in Hawaii. That was crazy. Or having your car break down and not knowing what to do. I'm sounding very like the internet, ahhh. But you have to practice to do a tour this big and ask yourself, what are my limits? That ten hour drive through Montana, I can't say it destroyed me, but it made me acknowledge my limits. And half the time I don't have internet, either, so I have to be present with myself.

Those are the two big things. Sending the emails, making sure you get some money, all that stuff is going to happen. But you very much have to be a people person. You have to be able to be responsive on the phone. You gotta have sales skills!

I have to ask about the Hawaii and Alaska of it all, because those are obviously the non-contiguous states. What were the shows like?

Hawaii surprised me. Their attendance is truly reliant on the tourist industry. It's pretty much no different than being a band that plays in a brewery. Now I was on Big Island, so I don't know about the other islands. And I did meet a local through, drum roll, a friend! And I asked her if there were house shows, and she was like, not really, it's more art spaces and bars, nothing off the beaten path. That sounds rude, but it's it's just different than what most punk bands like are used to. Alaska threw down. It was a true diversity of people. You have people from Canada there, there are people from the mainland, people from other parts of the world, Indigenous people. They were very caring, and I felt really loved there. And I hope to come back again.

Thank you Brian! Follow him on IG because chances are he'll be in your town sooner rather thank later. And check out his link aggregation.

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