Black Bickel (Bronson Arm)
SPB: What is your favorite stretch of highway to drive in the US?
Bickel: My favorite stretch of highway is that bit between Milwaukee and Minneapolis, two cities that Bronson Arm always have a great time playing. So if we are leaving Milwaukee, we are usually riding on a high from a great experience and looking forward to having another overwhelmingly positive experience in Minneapolis… and vice versa. So I guess it’s really the anticipation and reflections we have while driving that highway that we enjoy.
The other thing that sticks out in my mind is… that although the drive is something like 5-6 hours, it FEELS like 10. That may not sound like a good thing, but we have learned to find a twisted passive appreciation for it. Like walking into an episode of Black Mirror or a surreal David Lynch film. Whenever we drive it time seems to stand still. Like maybe will we need to fill up on fuel so we will check the map to locate the next truck stop, and it will be 45 minutes away. No big deal.
We will listen to an album… Then listen to a podcast… maybe Garrett will take a nap… and then I kind of snap out of a fog and think, “Oh shit!!!! Did I already pass the truck stop?” I will check the map and…. Nope… gas station is still 30min away. At this point it’s kind of like, “What weird shit is going to happen this time.” It’s a total mind fuck!!! Especially at night. There is one portion where there are hundreds of red blinking lights from windmills. And YES… I am an absolute space cadet who is completely inside my own head, but I have yet to see them during the day. It’s probably just us - HAHA. But I’d be VERY curious to hear if anyone else feels that stretch of road is a little different.
In the big picture - Bronson Arm is still a young band at 5 years in. Playing regularly out of state is relatively new to us. But we have done a fair amount of 5-10 hour drives… including a 16hour drive in one day on our way down to Savannah, GA. And those all felt like what they should be. There is just something about that stretch between Milwaukee and Minneapolis that’s a bit strange – and I kind of like it :)
