The Coup‘s got a metric ass-ton of talent, but they’re seriously lacking in luck. As if it’s not hard enough for a heavily political, stylistically untrendy rap group to get over in the world, they also have to catch shit like having a record with artwork showing them blowing up the World Trade Center come out on the day that the WTC actually blew up. Last weekend they nearly got exploded themselves: according to a press release from their label, Epitaph, the bus carrying the band, as well as tour opener Mr. Lif and assorted support staff, flipped and burned early Saturday morning two hours east of San Diego.
From the release:
All occupants managed to get off of the bus before it became engulfed in flames and were transported to El Centro Regional Medical Center. However, Silk-E, Mr. Lif’s DJ, Wiz, the group’s bus driver, Glenn, incurred severe injuries requiring them to be flown to hospitals in San Diego and Palm Springs. Silk-E suffered several broken ribs and a punctured lung and Wiz suffered a deep laceration to the head and a broken leg. The tour’s merchandise person, Zhana, sustained a severe hand laceration and was transported by ambulance to San Diego. Despite losing all of their possessions in the fire—including laptops, clothes, equipment, cell phones and cash—the rest of the bus occupants walked away with minor bruises, cuts, scrapes and are doing okay.
The rest of the dates of Mr. Lif’s and the Coup’s tour (including a show at the Abbey Pub on December 9) have been canceled, according to Mr. Lif’s Web site, which adds:
The tour bus ran off the road for a 30 foot drop. Everyone is alive, but four need extensive hospitalization & surgery.
It’s easy to forget that touring isn’t just hard, it’s also dangerous as hell. Even if you can afford a bus with a driver, you’re still spending several hours a day traveling in the most dangerous way you can. For smaller bands, you can factor in the exciting variable of, say, a drummer who’s already cashed in his night’s allotment of drink tickets. That is, if your van’s still there.
Touring is fun for, like, discovering regional fast food chains, but a lot about it straight-up sucks. Now that I think about it, maybe I was wrong to think that people doing concerts in Second Life are just dorks.