"Welcome to the Tour": This Place is Awesome by Adam PW Smith
My Quick Take: I was taken on tour with The Dreadnoughts for a week and I really enjoyed the ride courtesy of some witty writing and fantastic photos.
My thanks to the author for a gifted copy of the book!
*I have a giveaway for this book live on my IG page until Feb 23*
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Let me take you back a bit to 2009, and a Vancouver band called The Dreadnoughts, five guys who played folk-punk and went on tour across Europe and the UK. Photographer Adam PW Smith, who’d long been documenting the local music scene, collaborated with the band to spend one eventful week with them as they toured Britain. And then he wrote a book about it.
And a bit about me: I’d never heard of The Dreadnoughts. I also haven’t listened much to their music genre and have never been one to go see small, indie music shows. Happily, the author is a friend, and I really wanted to read his book. I’m so glad I did! I love books that take me out of my rut and place me firmly in a situation that I know nothing about. And, unlike author Smith, I didn’t actually have to experience the disconcerting, almost surreal discomfort and weirdness of being on tour.
This Place is Awesome is a relatively short book, and the photographs are amazing, presented in black and white. They capture the performances in equal measure to the scenes of everyday life, including both the glory and the squalor. This is where the words come in, and Smith does an admirable job of telling the stories behind the photos. He lends a unique cadence to his prose and it emerges on the page as genuine and approachable.
This is an excellent book to spend a couple of afternoons with. Smith offers a compact narrative in a short book packed with photos and prose in a well-designed layout. I just love the fact that in recent years the self-publishing industry has enabled creative individuals to produce and realise a project like this. This Place is Awesome is a lingering glance into a time and place that deserves a position in the annals of the Vancouver music scene.
The book is first and foremost about the tour. I liked learning about the complete wear and tear of being on the road, in a kind-of broken down tour van, never staying in a place more than one or two nights in a row–and not having a guaranteed place to sleep besides the dilapidated vehicle. The Dreadnoughts were doing this tour on the cheap, for the love of the music, so luxuries were rare.
***
Let me take you back a bit to 2009, and a Vancouver band called The Dreadnoughts, five guys who played folk-punk and went on tour across Europe and the UK. Photographer Adam PW Smith, who’d long been documenting the local music scene, collaborated with the band to spend one eventful week with them as they toured Britain. And then he wrote a book about it.
 |
| Photo: Adam PW Smith |
And a bit about me: I’d never heard of The Dreadnoughts. I also haven’t listened much to their music genre and have never been one to go see small, indie music shows. Happily, the author is a friend, and I really wanted to read his book. I’m so glad I did! I love books that take me out of my rut and place me firmly in a situation that I know nothing about. And, unlike author Smith, I didn’t actually have to experience the disconcerting, almost surreal discomfort and weirdness of being on tour.
This Place is Awesome is a relatively short book, and the photographs are amazing, presented in black and white. They capture the performances in equal measure to the scenes of everyday life, including both the glory and the squalor. This is where the words come in, and Smith does an admirable job of telling the stories behind the photos. He lends a unique cadence to his prose and it emerges on the page as genuine and approachable.
 |
| Photo: Adam PW Smith |
This is an excellent book to spend a couple of afternoons with. Smith offers a compact narrative in a short book packed with photos and prose in a well-designed layout. I just love the fact that in recent years the self-publishing industry has enabled creative individuals to produce and realise a project like this. This Place is Awesome is a lingering glance into a time and place that deserves a position in the annals of the Vancouver music scene.
The book is first and foremost about the tour. I liked learning about the complete wear and tear of being on the road, in a kind-of broken down tour van, never staying in a place more than one or two nights in a row–and not having a guaranteed place to sleep besides the dilapidated vehicle. The Dreadnoughts were doing this tour on the cheap, for the love of the music, so luxuries were rare.
 |
| Photo: Adam PW Smith |
But to make a compelling read, there’s got to be more than the facts, and there were lots of features that drew me in. Smith wasn’t shy about putting his own thoughts and feelings onto the page; he became just as strong a character as any of the band members. He spoke personally about how it felt to be a middle-aged man who lives and values a comfortable life, suddenly faced with a week of poor sleep, constant companionship with few breaks, terrible odors (in particular, one oft-worn and never washed shirt) and a growing sense of dislocation.
Surprisingly, the food on tour was pretty good most of the time, if you exclude Smith’s antipathy for pork scratchings. They do sound kind of gross. But the sleeping was rough–often in the tour van–and the schedule gruelling. However, it was all in service of a bit of adventure, and the music. That shone through, and these band-mates survived their European gig.
Having finished the book, I felt that any review of Smith’s work wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t spend some time listening to The Dreadnoughts' music. I chose their 2007 album Legends Never Die and their 2009 album Victory Square, since I imagined this was the music they played on this tour. I was quite taken by it! Here, I will reveal myself as no music critic, because all I can say was that it was upbeat and catchy and provided plenty of potential earworms. I loved the fiddle particularly. It reminded me of something East Coast rather than West, but the lyrics were full of Vancouver and Salish Sea references. I particularly liked one song called "Ivanhoe," thinking that this must be about the intrepid Saxon knight of Sir William Scott’s 1819 epic, but then I realised that no, this is about the Ivanhoe pub on Vancouver’s Main Street. And that made it even better, of course. Their music just seems good hearted, and when you listen to it, you feel like the band is having a great time.
It looks like The Dreadnoughts are still around, playing on tour in 2026 and going strong. I kind of like that. Things fall apart, but sometimes, for a while, they don’t. I’m so glad I read Smith’s This Place is Awesome. I got to read a slice-of-life narrative of a band on tour, take in some great photos, and listen to music that I would never have chosen but for this book. A fantastic reading experience all round.
Surprisingly, the food on tour was pretty good most of the time, if you exclude Smith’s antipathy for pork scratchings. They do sound kind of gross. But the sleeping was rough–often in the tour van–and the schedule gruelling. However, it was all in service of a bit of adventure, and the music. That shone through, and these band-mates survived their European gig.
Having finished the book, I felt that any review of Smith’s work wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t spend some time listening to The Dreadnoughts' music. I chose their 2007 album Legends Never Die and their 2009 album Victory Square, since I imagined this was the music they played on this tour. I was quite taken by it! Here, I will reveal myself as no music critic, because all I can say was that it was upbeat and catchy and provided plenty of potential earworms. I loved the fiddle particularly. It reminded me of something East Coast rather than West, but the lyrics were full of Vancouver and Salish Sea references. I particularly liked one song called "Ivanhoe," thinking that this must be about the intrepid Saxon knight of Sir William Scott’s 1819 epic, but then I realised that no, this is about the Ivanhoe pub on Vancouver’s Main Street. And that made it even better, of course. Their music just seems good hearted, and when you listen to it, you feel like the band is having a great time.
It looks like The Dreadnoughts are still around, playing on tour in 2026 and going strong. I kind of like that. Things fall apart, but sometimes, for a while, they don’t. I’m so glad I read Smith’s This Place is Awesome. I got to read a slice-of-life narrative of a band on tour, take in some great photos, and listen to music that I would never have chosen but for this book. A fantastic reading experience all round.
 |
| Photo: Adam PW Smith |
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