I'm up early as I am usually on tour in the states. I think I'm up earlier than normal on this one though. I had only been in europe, six hours ahead of the east coast, only a few days before I jumped on the bus and headed another three hours into the past to california. So I woke up at like 4 am here. Long before the sun came up. It was cool, I had the bus to myself. Everyone else was sleeping or in the hotel. I love days off in the states. Everyone aside from myself is like "get me off the bus!!!" And I'm left here by myself. Best way to get alone time, and alone time matters when you live in a giant metal tube with 10 other people, is to get used to the bus. Anyway, rehearsals for Mayhem are today. I am so fuckin pumped. It's gonna be a great time! Summer fests in the states rule. Even warped tour, where we were definitely out of our element, are an amazing time. This is a metal tour, with great friends, and a million other little reasons why this is gonna be AWESOME. It'll probably be the most fun I've ever had on tour. KsE, God Forbid, Bullet, are AMAZING to guys to be around. It's like a bbq with friends everyday. I think I might get a grill. 

We were in Gothenbourg today. And what a GREAT day it was. I was so excited to come here cause all the bands I love most are from here. In Flames, The Haunted, At The Gates, Soilwork the list goes on and on. The venue was clean. Swedish people are WONDERFUL. The dinner they made was great. The wi-fi was fast. The shower was hot and clean. The dressing room was nice. The catering was all that we hope for. The venue was packed. The crowd was LOUD as hell. The monitors were perfect. The show itself was one of the best shows we've ever played. Definitely one of the best shows ever. So thank you gothenbourg.

Then the personal side. My girl is deploying to Iraq in a few weeks. That and a few other things have kinda stressed me out. Today she did and said some things that really made me feel amazing and really made lots of my stress go away. So thank you so much Jorie, without you today would have been a good day on tour. Cause of you today was one of the best days I've had in far, far too long.

Best person EVER

So we had an awesome year last year loaded with so much stuff for me. Started the year with an amazing headline tour. Wrote a record faster than we ever had. First time we recorded anywhere but home. First time with Jason Suecof producing and it came together wonderfully. Had my heart broken. First time on Warped Tour. Overcome debuted in the top 20 on Billboard. It keeps selling like crazy. We had our first song on rock radio. We actually did "Two Weeks" acoustically live on air a few times witch was really nerve racking and awesome.First time we played in South Dakota and Wyoming. Quit smoking. Started eating special K. Lost 20 pounds. We signed a new deal with our label for a couple more records. I got my first car in 4 or 5 years. Started eating way more cheese burgers. Gained 20 pounds. I met an amazing girl. Ended the year better than I've been in years.

This next year looks to be amazing. I know we're gonna be in Europe then Australia this winter. Japan will be after that. Then we will probly be doing something state side. Then we're hoping to make something happen in Europe again. Then a we are hoping to do some kind of summer fest in the US. THEN we'll take a few weeks off. Probly back to Europe or Japan , One more US tour. Then I'll be doing this again. And that stuff is just band stuff. Who knows what cool gadgets, video games, movies, tv shows and other stuff that's gonna come out this coming year. I'm pretty pumped.

So again I'm giving credit where credit is due and saying thank you. To everyone who picked up our disc. Everyone who came out to shows. Everyone who came out the meet n greets. Thanks to everyone who left comments on our page. Who put us in their top friends. Who told people to check our stuff out. Thank you guys so much. It's a great privilege to be able to do what I do. I know I don't answer enough emails and I'm sorry. But thank you for sticking by us. I am indeed a lucky dude.

So every once in a while I get an email that is fucking amazing. Thanks so much for stuff like this. Some of you know how to make a dude feel really good.


hey phil,
whats going on my name is dave i live in jersey we hung out quite a bit at shows but i wanted to tell you i was supposed to go to your show sunday but u had to drop off hope your feeling better. i know you probably get this all the time but no bullshit you have been such an inspiration towards me becoming a better person and honestly i thank god everyday you released overcome cause in all honesty it saved my life i was going through such a dark and depressing time with my relationship, and kicking habits in general i was fed up with life but overcome inspired me it made me not want to give up im telling you this because i know your not a self obbsessed rockstar who doesn't appreciate it however you guys don't give yourselves enough credit any how i just wanted you to know how much you actually do for your fans and thank you i can't wait to see you guys when you come back to the states and if you could it would be awesome if you could take a lil time to right back if not i will understand

sincerely your loyal fan
Dave

So we're going on tour in Europe with the Haunted come January. So I was pretty impressed to read this. It's a blog post Peter Dolving the singer of The Haunted. It makes sense and this guys not even from our COUNTRY. I'm pretty pumped to meet him.

Peter Dolving, the outspoken frontman for Swedish thrash-metal titans THE HAUNTED, might not be able to vote in next week's election, but that doesn't mean he can't have an opinion on this year's presidential hopefuls.

"If I had citizenship, I couldn't vote for any of the two candidates, because it's a mockery on democracy," Dolving told MTV.com's "Metal File". "You have a two-party system, and it's just ridiculous. It's not even remotely politics, and it's in complete disregard of anything that has to do with the constitution. There is a truly great political tradition in the U.S., of democracy and speaking out, but it's been subverted so harshly by business-market interests over the last 150 years that it's just sad. The potential for something truly great, something so radical that no other country's tried it, something that's truly libertarian ... it's been stabbed in the back by people who have no interest whatsoever in that kind of thought tradition and that kind of society, because it doesn't promote their personal goals and gains. It's really sad."

Very true. bummer.

Now I knew it was gonna be a good night. I knew it was gonna be a good turn out. I knew I was gonna see some friends I haven't seen in a long time. But I had no idea it was gonna be the best night I've had in YEARS!!! The show was so sold out if the fire marshal had shown up they probly would have shut it down. I saw some friends who are AMAZING to be around who I love very much. I met some new people who are all sweet as hell even if they don't like dudes. The crowd was the loudest thousand people I have EVER had the privilege of playing for. I am still finding it difficult to believe I had such an amazing night. Thank you Ken, Rob, Erin n Sean for making the trip. Thank you Josh Kline for coming out n hanging. Thank you New Haven, everyone from NYC, everyone who drove from Mass who made it out. Thank you everyone who was singing along. And thank you Seana for making my night. Pics in the Attack Of The Carpet Munchers album. Leave some comment love.

I keep my ears and eyes open. Pretty much everyone who has ever crapped on me or tried to make me feel like I am less than them has at some point had to eat their words. I've been a little lucky and a damn hard worker and I've come out on top over and over. More often than not it takes time, very rarely do I have instant gratification. But today I got some news that makes me pretty happy. Now because this is a public forum and I'm not airing peoples dirty laundry I'm not gonna explain any further. What I will say is for all you people who have been shit on, who have been passed by, who have been made to feel second class. Don't give up and don't lose hope. If anyone tells you that you're not good enough, prove them wrong. If someone has pre conceived notions about you that aren't true, show them the error of their ways by action not by words. And don't gloat. Don't make them feel crappy, cause if you really do prove them wrong, they know. If they congratulate you, take the kudos and be humble cause there is no better way to show you're better than to not have to point out that you're better. Treat people, even those you best, with respect. Cause if you don't, you are no better than they are. It's not good to beat someone or to show someone they are wrong, if you have to drag yourself down to a petty level and shit on them too. Victory is much sweeter when it's not stained with malice.

I had no idea when I came up with the title of the new disc how poignant it was.

It's good to be me.

HOLY CRAP, I was basking in the glow of the New England Patriots Tom Bradyless win over the Favre infused New York Jets yesterday and didn't even dawn on me that this is the week. Overcome is available tomorrow. Now I know there's a shit load of you who can hear it on the myspace or the youtube or countless other places on the web so don't waste your time to email me or reply with "ROFL!! I R HAD IT W33KS AGO!! I RULZ LOLZ!!1!!" Cause you're just gonna look like a tool. BUT there are still people out there who hate computers and will never read this but will go out and pic up the disc. Then there are those who use computers, but only for the internet and don't know how to download stuff. Like Jason. He only uses his computer for IE and WoW. That's it. He don't even get PR0NZ on the internet. (I told you ATR was full of weirdos) But, for all you people who don't download stuff early go pick it up this week. Please. I'm really excited to hear the rumblings on the internet once more people have the disc. So far really the only negative thing I've heard is about the singing. And I expected that cause it's not the fall of ideals nor did we ever tell you guys it was gonna be the fall of ideals. I mean think about it, how close do the vocals on TFOI sound to TDH? And TDH to BSAS? Not very. So to think that we're gonna sound the same two in a row is kinda dumb. BUT I DIGRESS!!!! It's out tomorrow, if you're in Memphis tonight, We'll sell you a copy.

I'm not gonna tell ya where you can hear it but I doubt you need me to tell you. I'm really excited for people to hear the record. Sure I wish everyone would buy it but whatever. I know that's not gonna happen and I'm cool with it. Really what I want is to hear how people respond to the songs. Not right now cause the disc is quite different than The Fall Of Ideals. I can't wait till people give it a bit to get used to the changes. The new stuff we've tried. I am really proud of the lyrics. I feel like it's the best and most honest stuff I've done since Behind Silence. The topics were very real and current on this one. I wasn't writing about stuff that had happened to me in the past. Almost all the songs on this one were what I was feeling right when I was writing. I've never been the dude who explains what I was writing about but it's not that hard to figure out. Hope you guys like it.

Ok, so the bus showed up at my place tonight and I started putting all my shit on it. In fact I'm sitting on the bus, in front of my house, right now. I love the bus. I know it's a HUGE expense, but it makes life on tour bearable. Vans suck. At least for a long tour they suck. I can do a couple weeks in a van. No big deal. But this one coming up is SIX weeks. That's a long time to sleep on a bench or in a chair. I really feel comfortable on the bus now a days. It's better than a hotel cause it's yours. Or as yours as it gets when you go from city to city every day. But it's become more home than my home.