Who went along on the fun adventure!
Justin, Matt, Raf (me)- We were Skeletons
Bill-We Were Skeletons' dude
Chris, Mike- 1994
Ol' Greg- 1994's dude
June 3- Charm City Art Space (Baltimore, MD)
Hi! We got to Baltimore pretty early and just sat in the car doing nothing for awhile, and waited a bit more after the venue opened. We played alright, I personally still had some butterflies since it was our first out of state and tour show. It still went really well, Lost Hands Found Fingers and Mr. Mocassins played and they were awesome. We wet our pants to 1994 and Army of Kashyyyk was unsurprisingly amazing. Had a moment where I realized how much my life has changed lately; how I was rotting in a classroom doing the same thing over and over and now I'm suddenly at my band's merch table in Baltimore waiting for our first show of our first tour to start with a band whom we have idolized for the longest time. Life is suddenly in motion, and it's an odd but incredible feeling. ANYWAY we stayed at this girl Nataya's parents' house (i'm sorry i spelled your name wrong!) in Takoma Park, closer to DC, and got Taco Bell and played Apples to Apples under a space age fan. It was too much fun
June 4th- Dudebrohaus (Washington, DC)
A pipe burst this morning and we couldn't shower for hours! But Nataya made pancakes and they were amazing, but still second to the trip we took to the zoo afterwards. The pandas got so close! And there were slothbears, hippos, and all sorts of awesome animals. The actual show was great too, probably one of the best we've ever played. The kids were super nice, the other bands (Another Reason to Hate Machines and Impure Jazz) were ridiculous. It was our second time playing with ARTHM and they didn't have a mic either time. Bummer! But it was awesome to see those guys again. My dad and his girlfriend came down from Lancaster to take me to graduate the day after, which was awkward at first but then it was fine. It was still one of the most fun shows ever!
June 5th- Livin Lattes Cafe (Pilot Mtn., NC)
I'm gonna let Justin and /or Matt write this one, I was back home.
June 5th- Hempfield High School (Lancaster, PA)
I finally graduated High School! I much rather would have been at the show but my parents insisted I went to commencement. It was still an okay if not extremely surreal time. I didn't take many classes at the high school and took a few college courses so i already felt more than a few degrees of seperation between myself and that school- It was almost as if I just graduated last year. In any case, it's finally over, so thank god! My friends and I also witnessed a car chase tonight it was hilarious
June 6th- The Spazz House (Greenville, NC)
We get to Greenville and think its some nowhere ghost town ripped straight from an American History video on Civil Rights. It's hot, there's noone anywhere, and we're pissed off... And then we walk 2 blocks and realize there's a downtown and actual civilization. Oops! We eat and establish the rule that I owe everyone 25 cents for every bad joke I make on tour (I ended up owing 1994 two pizzas and a case of beer. I still owe them the beer). Afterwards we walk by a restauant and 2 waitresses run out and say "We just had to talk to you, you look like you're on a mission from 1991!" (we were wearing headbands, wristbands, some aviators, colorful clothing and cut offs. we are nerds). We felt pretty good about ourselves and tell them about the show, ironic foreshadowing to our nerdy antisocialness later that night (we can't talk to girls)! Oh well. There were a lot of good people at the show/party and it was a fun time. Some of us tried to sleep on the trampoline but ventured to a gross but air conditioned room in the house when they awoke at sunrise drenched in sweat and covered in flies. Thanks North Carolina. We also met a gentleman named Potatotrash* that night as well, a man who will forever be in our hearts.
June 7th- Ramakin's (Richmond, VA)
We manage to lose Potatotrash and head to a pool recommended by a fine lass in a bikini who we met at Sheetz. It was one of the most surreal and uncomfortable experiences ever. This place was seriously straight out of MTV Spring Break, frat boys and sorority girls all drinking beer in the pool included. Also saw a kid with a classy cowboy hat made out of a Keystone Light box. We all just kind of stayed in our little group being weird and getting stared at. I can't wait for college. We head up to Richmond and hang out with the bartenders at the venue for awhile and find out that the band that dropped off the show to give us their spot didn't tell the venue or the other bands. So the venue didn't get the chance to promote and there was literally noone there except for bands. But even though it wasn't his fault the owner paid us out of his own pocket, so we were really thankful for that. We stayed at the bartender's parents house that night and played pool.
June 8th- Starlight Cafe (Whitesburg, KY)
1994's tire popped on the way to show! Thankfully we had a GPS so we could figure out the closest place to get tires (...Walmart) so they could get on their way. The drive was long but gorgeous, I've never seen such mountains outside of Puerto Rico. We managed to kill a lot of time by listening to the audio from Superbad through my iPod. Anyway, we ended up getting pretty screwed over and have to headline with 1994 playing right before us, but hey at least we got gas money.TThere was noone watching except the guys from the first band, Dead from Dancing, who stuck around because they're the best kids ever. They're the first people we ever met that actually listened to us and knew our songs. That was a pretty surreal experience haha. We stayed at the bartender's trailer and had to follow her down roads that were taken straight out of Wrong Turn and Deliverance. But everything was okay because she had a pet duckling and lots of Beatles records. We also tried to take some medical staples out of Ol' Greg's head, with mixed results.
June 9th- It's a Kling Thing House (Akron, OH)
The nicest house we've ever played a show at! For the first time on tour the weather wasn't sweltering hot, so it was a good oppurtunity to just relax and watch episodes of Undeclared, the best show ever. There was a pretty decent crowd for everyone (we have a lot of pictures too) and met a lot of awesome people. A few of us tried our hand at lady gettin', and much like Ol' Greg's staple pulling, there were... mixed results. Except that night we actually managed to get all of Ol' Greg's staples out, which is more than we can say about any of our attempts at lady gettin'.
June 10th- Pool Party (Monroeville, PA)
We played in front of a tiny and unswimmable pool to a bunch of kids who didn't even care. We got no gas money and sold no merch. Pretty piss poor way to top off the tour, but I guess it's impossible to have all good days.
June 11th- Other Room Theatre (Lancaster, PA)
So we have our first good spot on a really great show in our hometown and have a GIGANTIC turnout. So of course the cops had to come in the middle of Teeth Of Mammals' set and shut it down. So Lancaster has no DIY venues anymore because a woman couldn't find parking on her block and say a bunch of kids outside. Awesome.
It's been awhile since I've really written so please pardon any stylistic faux pas, grammatical errors, or excess of worthless information you really don't care about. Thanks for reading though, it was honestly the best experience I've been through in my entire life, and everyone else who went on the tour would probably say the same. See you this Winter!
*Potatotrash- long story to explain this juggernaut of depression and hilarity. I'll post an explanation if people are curious enough.