Laying the groundwork: Teach Me Equals talks life on the road

Wrapping up a set in a seedy motel lounge in Jackson, Miss., Erin Murphy and Greg Bortnichak were already thickening their skin in anticipation of the crowd’s reaction. Huddled near the pool table in the back of the room, the spectators were less than enthused — most of the clientele only acknowledged the band’s presence with the occasional glare.

“If there was any show on the tour we were going to get booed at, this was it,” says Bortnichak.

Much to their surprise, after the show, a few people approached the band to tell them that they’d enjoyed the performance, and they even sold a few albums.

“That was a really cool small triumph,” says Bortnichak. “It’s moments like that that we remember and like to focus on.”

For the past five months, Murphy and Bortnichak have been touring the country in a 1979 A-frame pop-up camper (which has since bitten the dust and been replaced) under their newly assumed band name, Teach Me Equals. This Friday, the band will return to Sarasota for a homecoming performance before heading back out on the road.

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The Sarasota-based band, originally named Bard and Mustache, began as a side project for Murphy and Bortnichak, but as it evolved into something more serious, they decided to adopt a more suiting name, settling on Teach Me Equals.

The duo hopes the tour will help them gain some national exposure and make contacts to lay the groundwork for future tours. With a new name, revamped writing style and a newly recorded album to be released next year, Murphy says the band has come a long way in recent months.

“When we set out on tour, we found a more cohesive way of writing,” she says. “In the past, we wrote songs from separate perspectives and combined them. Now, we have a completely collaborative process. I feel like we’ve broken in our shoes, so to speak.”

After months on the road, both members say they’re excited to come home, if just for a little bit, and see the music scene they spent so much time fostering.

“We’re definitely excited to see our old friends and show them our new band — and it feels like a new band at this point,” says Bortnichak. “For as much encouragement as peopel gave us in our early days, two months into the tour, something clicked, and we thought, ‘Wow, we really weren’t playing before the way we are now.’ The music is really in our muscles now. It’s going to be a nice experience.”

+ IF YOU GO

Teach Me Equals — takes place at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20, at Cock & Bull Pub with Hail Dale, Gunther Doug and Cats in the Basement. $5.