dd/mm/yyyyWhile bands being arrested for trashing hotel rooms is nothing new, DD/MM/YYYY found themselves in a rather unique situation when they were arrested for having a pillow fight, according to CHARTattack.

The experimental rock band from Toronto were in Biloxi, Miss., where they were taking a day off between shows in Orlando and Baton Rouge, La. on Oct. 5 and 6.

According to the band’s guitarist/keyboardist/drummer/singer Tomas Del Balso, the band stayed at the Hard Rock Casino with These Arms Are Snakes. After DD/MM/YYYY were kicked out of the casino, they went back to their hotel room and took part in such an enormous pillow fight that the hotel staff told them to leave.

“After leaving, Mike [Claxton, bass/clarinet/vocals] drunkenly went back to the hotel trying to get [my] backpack which was left behind,” said Del Balso. “The hotel clerk gave him the key and everything but he couldn’t find it…afterwards the hotel casino guy saw Mike again and called the cops again.”

Del Balso then described the whirlwind that transpired.

“Mike left the area to a parking lot to let off steam but was picked up by police and handcuffed,” he said. “I thought mike was at the McDonald’s so I went there and smoked a cigarette. Four cop cars then roll up to the McDonald’s and arrested me too. Mike and I were brought to the Biloxi police station and they told us this charge was a misdemeanour and that would not affect our travelling to and from the states…we got put into a holding cell at 5 A.M. after getting our pockets emptied and my love necklace for my girlfriend cut off.”

Their bail was set at $500 U.S., but they could not reach anyone to pay the fine and get them out of jail.

“The cops told us that if we could not reach any one by around 12 o’clock noon we would be brought to the Mississippi county prison where we would be able to contact our embassy,” Del Balso said. “I stared at the prison wall for about five hours until my eyes where blurry and the details of other past prisoners’ feet and wall scratches were shifting and fuzzing.”

But the band mates were then saved by an unlikely hero. A man named Bobby was brought to their cell, and told them he was getting out before they were. He promised them he would find their other band mates and tell them where Del Balso and Claxton were.

“So he found our van, wrote a crazy letter and left it on our windshield until Jordan [Holmes, keyboards/guitars/vocals] and Moshe [Rozenberg, drums/keyboards/omnichord/vocals] woke up and found it. They got to the jail around 11, so we didn’t go to county jail. We were happy to be free and back on track.”

DD/MM/YYYY can next be seen here:

Oct. 16 Portland, OR @ Rotture w/ These Arms Are Snakes
Oct. 17 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project w/ These Arms Are Snakes
Oct. 18 Vancouver, BC @ The Media Club w/ SSRIs
Oct. 20 Salmo, BC @ Salmo Youth Centre
Oct. 22 Calgary, AB @ Broken City Social Club w/ Young Galaxy and Bend Sinister
Oct. 23 Edmonton, AB @ New City
Oct. 24 Winnipeg, MB @ Mondragon Cafe
Nov. 4 Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall w/ Dan Deacon and Child Bite
Nov. 20 Montreal, QC @ M For Montreal
Nov. 21 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar w/ Melt Banana
March 17 Austin, TX @ South By Southwest Music Festival






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