We started off on Thursday, 4/30 with disappointment in our vehicle, a limo, and it's current inability to have a hitch installed for the trailer. We then followed that disappointment with the limo breaking down on I-75 so that Mike could stand on the side of the road in the hot sun and get sick for 4 or so hours. Good times.
Mike made it back to his house, we opted to pool some money together and get ourselves a rental vehicle, a dodge nitro which was very nice. However we ended up cancelling the 1st night of tour. We couldn't get the wiring harness figured out for the dodge nitro, Chad and Allen spent the better part of thursday night fucked up with that.
Friday morning it got taken care of thanks to uhaul wiring people. However, Mike, whom is diabetic, has hip problems and thigh problems, had to go to the emergency room to get himself fixed up. Chad also had to go to the doctor's due to what turned out to be pharyngitis. It was fun times. We ended up cancelling day 2.
Saturday morning rolls around, Mike as it turns out is ok to go on tour, and so is Chad. We get everything loaded up and roll our way out for a 10 hour drive to Wilmington, NC. After that long ass drive, we get loaded into the venue, make ourselves some delicious pasta that Marissa got us to cook for ourselves amongst a ton of other groceries, and then we watched the show. We were at a place called Reggie's. The first band, DFX, was good old fashioned gutter punk with hints of ska and surf. They weren't too bad, but honestly we weren't paying as much attention due to our hunger for pasta. The headlining band, Spring Break 1931 was also a gutter punk style band who was AMAZING. It was refreshing to hear a quality old school punk band instead of primadonna bullshit poppy blink 182 worshippers.
We performed and with the first hit of allen's drums it was clear the audience was into it. A few of the guys from WEEDEATER were there, and Shep even offered us a place to crash, but he was also a little beyond fucked up. We played awesome and it made all of the terrible things we went through to get on the road worth it. Ended up making some good money, too.
After our place to stay getting a little screwed up, we decided to hoof it overnight to MD and we crashed with Mrs. Jones, whom is a goddess of a woman. We had Sunday off so we just did a ton of sight seeing. Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, White House, you know, the usual.
We crashed Sunday Night at Mrs. Jones house, too as our show the next day was in DC. Where we played with Dark Castle and Old Crow. We were supposed to play with Ol' Scratch but it didn't happen because James' Sunn 6x12 fell on his foot and shattered it. Awesome. Dark Castle is AMAZING albeit retarded loud. Old Crow's new singer really takes them to a new realm and I think they're gonna be bad ass when they get him good and worked in. We played good, although it was a monday night and kind of empty. I was drunk. The bartenders were very nice and the bar was awesome. We'll definitely be playing there again.
I should also note that during the day on Monday we went to Atomic Music, which is the coolest music store ever. They have tons of awesome old school shit. This time the pickins were a little more slim, but Mike got a free mixing board and I got a new amp head. Good times.
Tuesday was Delaware. We got drunk as shit, rocked out, listened to some HORRIBLE local bands that were a little on the anally annoying side of professionalism. Said bands also need to learn how to chug beer and the appropriateness of when to chug beer onstage. During dinner is probably not that time. Cheeseburger Quesadillas and fries that piled up so high it was unfair. Also, Pat is the man. Terrible is also the man. It was good to see Sleazy D again. Chad almost got into a fight while onstage with some dude in the audience. We made good money, crashed at some dude's house and then had lunch the next day AT the venue w/Pat the Bartender.
Wednesday our show got Cancelled because of Swine Flu paranoia. So we went to James from Ol' Scratch's tattoo shop and got some ink done. I got Southern across my knuckles and Chad got HOT DAMN! tattoo'd inside his lip.
thursday we played in Hickory, NC with Dark Castle, Darsombra and Stinking Lizaveta. HOLY SHIT what an amazing lineup. All the bands were phenominal and it was a good time all around. We ate at a place called Shell's BBQ, which was good EXCEPT for their BBQ. They should change their name and call themselves Shell's Diner, because their diner food is fucking AWESOME. They should stop serving what they're calling BBQ.
Friday we played in Spartanburg, SC at Ground Zero with Red River Revival. RRR is Dave from Artimus Pyledriver on vocals and Kevin Bond from Superjoint Ritual on guitar plus a few other guys. It was an amazing treat to play with those guys and Mick at Ground Zero ALWAYS treats us very very well. We had a great time and I got drunk enough to puke. Good times.
We drove home that night. Overall, one of the best tours we've ever done.