i was at work the other day and my friends and i decided to make a list (in no real order) of our top records 2000-2009.  feel free to add your own. to some people music is the lifesaver, the definition of who they are. i love that. music makes us cherish our time with ourselves, as all art does. isn't that amazing?

so we're back in la after 3 months of touring. it's no surprise that everything here is the same. in case you've been away, we did tours with mandi perkins, 12 stones, and royal bliss.  it was amazing to get out on the road and become a functioning band again, after the year plus of record drama.  touring at our level can be pretty tough, but i swear it's living to the fullest extent. everyone should sleep in the beast on the side of the road during an ice storm at least once in their lives.  so now we're off for a few months, working, saving, preparing for the bigger tours after the first of the year.  if you haven't heard our record yet, feel free to support us and pick up a copy online... and feel free to burn and pass to a friend if you think they'd enjoy it. we're in the business of connecting.  we do love that record.  

..

We ran into a really cool kid named Chris the day of our show in Jackson, who offered us sanctuary at his place in Hattiesburg (the next stop on tour). One of my favorite things about touring is meeting new cool people and getting a window into their lives. I got pretend shot helping them film an indie film (by Tyler), and subsequently almost really shot by two cops that were under the impression it was a real robbery (noooot fun). Our friend Jeremy got arrested for laughing, by the way. But it was a lot more interesting than sitting in the beast. Thanks to all you awesome kids for letting us into your lives for a second. Cody and Justin, we expect you at the next round suckas. You made Mississippi feel like home on our first trip there. Street teamers, we're compiling a list finally. If you're interested in joining the team, just write us with your info. Ryan

that should cover it.

so 102.3 the breeze in my hometown of tyler texas has put "the pressure" in rotation. as long as people keep calling, they'll keep playing it regularly. apparently they've been getting calls everyday since the first spin.
 
thank you guys. keep calling.
 
we've never been in full on rotation before, it's pretty sweet. so here's the deal. if any of you guys know of a local station that might spin an unsigned band, let us know. i think we're going to try a grassroots approach to the radio market and see what we come up with. maybe radio will become the champion of music again now that the majors and clear channel are having such trouble? good times.
thanks again to liz and the kids for pushing us through the door.
ryan
 
 

our record hasn't even been released yet and it leaked to a radio station in my hometown of tyler, texas.

earlier today dj brain from 102.3 the breeze played a burned copy of an unmastered version of "the pressure" that a family of fans championed to the station. and tomorrow he's championing the song to have it put in rotation.

not only do i appreciate the irony, but it gives me hope that the songs are strong enough to do a little radio push by ourselves and with our fans.

if you have a minute in the next few days, do me a favor. call 866-953-1023 and thank the station from whatever city and state you live in. thank them and dj brain for giving RH some love. i'll bet no dj's ever get that.

love you guys. it's a good day.

ryan

head over to residentherofans.com and follow instructions to download three tracks from the record. they're only pseudo-mastered, because the master was crappy and we want it perfect. in the meantime, enjoy these almost finished versions from the most punk rock pop act you know.

party.

-ryan

know we'll always be honest with you. for better or worse.

i just made my round of phonecalls. i heard jay's voice turn under my information, i heard luke trying to take the burden onto himself. i heard my mother's familiar sweet cooing of comfort that she's used to giving.

apparently we have nothing but radio hits and i'm an amazing songwriter.

sounds like a setup for an offer, wouldn't you agree?

apparently our "presentation" was dissatisfactory. thanks for your time universal republic.
what does that mean? for once our live show lost us a deal? hilarious.

i was informed i'm an amazing writer and should write for other artists. i should help young bands get to the "next level." no thank you.
i'll keep my heart in my chest where it belongs.

for the record we kicked ass. i'm proud of my boys. we caved the roof in with "radio hits".

it's been a long year. i feel very tired.

love you all. thank you for being our champions.

ryan

we've been here before.

a very large label is flying the 3 of us to the big ol' city of new yawerk to showcase privately on tuesday. our album is beyond completed, we're hungry and confident. we know it's been a long and trying year for both ourselves and our fans. we understand losing interest on a small level to other new and shiny products while we've been waiting for chances. the boys and i have been through a dark place this year, going from the height of touring and recording to the depths of playing smattered shows here and there while working full time jobs... as our record waits for a decision from unknown mouths. we will release it regardless, and i'm so sorry it's taken so long. i know i can speak for all of us when i say we want the best shot possible at being heard, and that means playing the gamble.

send us your ears, stream our music. let us know if you love or even if you hate the first taste of our album.

this is the problem with resident hero: we firmly hold true to the same beliefs we did when we were 16 years old and thought music was the most amazing magic ever, and more important than anything. if it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. one of my best friends, and sort-of-co-frontman in my other band birds of new york, had an argument with me the other day about music as a career, and music as a dream. sometimes creative decisions are made for the sake of money and family. i explained that i slept on a couch for half the year partly due to the belief of musical ideals, and would gladly continue to do so if it meant not selling out what i believed in. i know that i'm wrong in my way, not him, but this is part of the basic heart of rh that has made us 3 what we are. i owe music that. i owe the first fan i ever made that. i owe God that. i owe my father that.

i fucking owe myself that. the spirit of rock music is violent and brave, a commanding leader for those who seek to be led. i am absolutely none of those things. but when i write i can fly.

we've been here before.
it feels good.

ryan

the mixing, mastering process has given us all plenty of time to do absolutely nothing. we're very excited for you to hear what we've been up too, but the lack of shows in almost four months now is KILLING ME. so, with or without the record, we'll be doing a few runs this summer i think.

starting with my favorite intimate venue: hotel cafe! saturday may 24th at 10pm. it'll be gavi and myself with some special guests here and there. i love these shows because i can play whatever i want... i may try some new takes on resident hero stuff, i might not play any rh at all. haven't decided yet. gavi just got a job playing for GAVIN ROSSDALE!!!! we're really excited for him, but it's also almost guaranteed that this will be the LAST hotel cafe show this year. now that i know what we can do in that room together, i can't go back.

also, i'll be at a show at 8 at the improv before the gig, if anyone would like to join me. two of my friends robin and reggie will be performing. these hilarious guys are part of BLUE GIRAFFE COMEDY TROUPE, which blake and i are a part of. check it out in our top friends.

we're playing a festival in BAKERSFIELD may 31st at noon... as soon as i have more info, you'll know more. hope our bako fans come out to rock in the daylight.

our sponsors at PATRIARC clothing have had their page deleted, so do us a favor and re-add them. the head designer has done all our album covers and several shirts. show some love.

how did the ALL CAPITOL LETTERS work out for you? some BANDS do this to show POINTS OF INTEREST!! i think it's REALLY LAME.


love,

ryan "happy without me" white

ps. our mgmt company is making us change our name to

"BLUE EYES AND THE HAPPY WITHOUT ME'S"

we're so excited.

from february 3rd through march 26th, we as resident hero created a record in a suburb of nashville tennessee.

facts always look so boring.

now: it's an amzingly beautiful day outside today. the view of la cienega from the 6th floor of flynt tower is bustling and hectic; something that has become serenity to me now in my 5th year living in los angeles. it's hard to begin writing about the experience, and i'm best at digressing, so i figured i'd start there. i will say that after 2 months of creativity, returning to normality has been a hard shock to my system.

then (the beginning): the four of us drove to hermitage tennessee over a 3 day period. it's not an easy drive. blake hooks of course being the 4th member, documentarian extraordinaire. we arrived at brian's house late on the 2nd, parked the trailer, and went to crash at our terrible hotel, the hermitage inn. hey, it was cheap, and we're poor.
brian virtue. we call him "the carrot" because he's a vegetarian and is tall and skinny like a carrot. we all agreed on brian for several reasons.
1. he had worked on records we all liked. not an easy task considering we all have very different and opinionated views on recording and music.
2. when we first met, he didn't ooze with charisma. this is important. because right off the bat i felt brian had built his career on sheer talent, not shmoozing.
3. he isn't a fan of major labels.
4. he isn't a fan of over-compression or sucking out the fat of a song for no reason.
5. he gave us a great deal.
the next morning we met for preproduction is the massive studio behind his house.

now: the caffeine is kicking in. so many things to write about. i apologize for everything that will be lost in the recap.

then: preproduction lasted four days. it's basically the time to play everything for your producer, pick the songs to record, and then go over those songs meticulously looking for weaknesses.

i hate prepro.

the first day we played around 35 to 40 songs i think. we all discussed our favorites and narrowed it down a bit. eventually we got down to 20 songs. we were originally only supposed to do 17, but brian really liked the acoustic ones, and was really cool about working harder for no extra money. this guy loves music.

so having to choose songs to cut from the recording process was like pulling teeth. this is the first real record i've ever gotten to make. 10 years of recording ep's and low budget records at friend's houses... no rain forever?! no open target?! and now we're in the very interesting situation of having the ability to let people down.

all of the sudden i got the realization that thousands of dollars were being put behind a bunch of songs i wrote in my room.

let me repeat that. thousands of dollars were being put behind a bunch of songs i wrote in my room.

so mr. virtue, tell me what is wrong with my songwriting. the reason brian is great is that he doesn't like consolidating a record just to shorten. if anything we lengthened, with the exception of "almost home" and "the pressure". he understood what we wanted to be and actually listened. now, the time is nothing situation was the only time we butted heads. carrot thought it was an epic song that never got off of the ground. luckily for us a tornado siren had us locked in the studio after we were done. i took a guitar into a vocal booth and played parts for about 30 minutes. what surfaced was a piece of a puzzle that had always been there. we rehearsed it once and layed it down. that may have been my greatest accomplishment throughout the entire process of recording. i love time is nothing even more than i did. it was already one of my favorites. other highlights were the stadium rock kick drum in "permanent tracers", and the ridiculously long gap of space in "life in hell".

all of the sudden we had this big and mean rock record on our hands. i was afraid of it being too poppy. now it was dark as hell.

songlist:
vendetta black
throwing knives
teething ring
happy (without me)
stepping through
life in hell
the pressure
idle
title withheld
permanent tracers
winner take all
look
time is nothing
stars
behind your back
send the chariot
tears and kisses
the air where you belong
almost home
prophet

now: i'm on my second large can of monster java, and haven't eaten today. anything could happen. it still hurts me that throwing knives didn't make the record. ah!! see? that's foreshadowing. i just gave a shot of information to whet the eyes for what's next. stephen king does that alot, but usually with more blood and death.

then (recording): nasty did his drum tracks in 4 days. luke, although he lost some songs early on, easily conquered his bass. i would do usually 2 guitar songs a day and 2 vocal tracks at night. this took it's toll. while the boys were up late celebrating their victories over the studio, i was right in the middle. one night after i stayed up till 7 smelling cigarette smoke and hearing conversations i wish i hadn't, i decided to move into the studio. now, the boys deserved their opportunity to cut loose, i was never mad. but this was my one shot at living up to my hopes.
i moved into the studio.
carrot pushed me as a vocalist and guitar player to the point of a breakdown. now, people say this sort of thing alot, and i usually roll my eyes at such dramatics, but in this instance it's completely true. i remember screaming expletives during an acoustic part of "idle" that i spent hours on without success. i remember feeling like i nailed "permanent tracers" only to be told "eh... i just don't believe you". every song was not about singing well, it was about experiencing what inspired the subject matter. the vocals on this record are so much better than i'd hoped. he made me so much better than i was.

so this was our game. i usually used a tele, a les paul, and a prs for tones through the diezel, and a bogner sheeva, with a marshall plexi. sometimes for extra grit we'd use an ubershall.

darroh from fair to midland came through and killed 3 songs, brightening our experience.gavi flew in and did 9 songs in 6 hours on this huge white baby grand. that guy just brings good energy with him wherever he goes.

brian had us cut a couple of songs wild (no click) which really felt great. we push and pull alot live, and losing that too much kind of ruins us sometimes. we always are told we're great live but our recordings aren't exciting.

then it came down to picking the songs. all of the sudden it was time for the next phase. we were literally over half done with mixing and still didn't have a final tracklist. luke and i really loved "throwing knives", jay really loved "send the chariot". it all came down to establishing our sound on this record. cutting "permanent tracers" was cutting out a piece of what we are the most. trying to grow too much too soon. it was like breaking up with someone you loved. deciding what songs would be remembered, and what songs would be forgotten. it stings right now. we already have taken a lot of chances. a full blown piano ballad with over the top vocals. a 49 minute record. i can't listen to it without crying.

right before the record was finished being mixed i flew to texas to get lacey's vocals. we recorded them at sameer's house and they came out great. lacey singing in a closet was really funny. she was excited and it really came through in the recording. going to texas after being stir-crazy in nashtown was amazing. plus i got some much needed bff time. love that girl. lacey cried a little when she heard some rough mixes. if you could possibly know what that means to me. she's harder on me than anyone, because she expects more from me.

now: sorry for rambling, skipping around, and shortening the story the longer it got. the past 3 weeks have been shockingly rough for me. i feel like God is telling me that i have to get my life in order if i want to continue this mission. the only thing that has kept me up is listening to this record. i know it's lame, listening to my own cd. but that's just how proud i am of it.

it justifies who i was, who i am, who i hope to be.

it reminds me of my mistakes, and what i have learned from them.

it keeps me close to you guys. i'm a waiter in a restaurant 6 months out of the year. and there are people with our symbols permanently burned into their skin.

resident hero: look

vendetta black
look
stepping through
the pressure
title withheld
behind your back
happy(without me)
permanent tracers
tears and kisses
life in hell
stars
time is nothing



thank you for caring.

ryan

so it turns out you guys actually read these. thanks for stroking my fragile, childlike ego. i guess i should wrap up the you're welcome tour in a nice little package.

christmas was nice, low key, much needed. family time: never enough. on with the show.

dallas:
day after christmas. it was madness all day. i was running around making sure we got all ftm's presents in time before our set. the gifts were as follows:
cliff: gambling set
matt: a shitty flatiron
brett: moustache wax, and a beard grooming tool
darroh: antibiotics and an icyhot pad
dicken, my best friend forever: a box and 1 finger glove to protect his bass finger, and a pair of dog tags inscribed like so: r dub & jd
best friends FOREVER.
we take stupidity waaaay too seriously in this band.
hugs were exchanged. this was the highlight of preshow; everything else was madness. dallas is home base for ftm, and pretty close for jay and i. my mom came, my tiny little mom, and i couldn't get away long enough to spend more than a few minutes with her. so that sucked.
the show was pretty good, definitely the most people for a single show on this tour. we had a lot of our own fans there... pretty sure it was mostly girls, judging by the squeals when i started happy. my mic stand kept falling down. thanks hob. and i managed to pull the hell out of my neck, which would be a problem for me the rest of tour. i'm falling apart!!!!!! well at least i'm not a crybaby.
ftm killed this show, almost sold it out. i watched sidestage, basking in rock.

baton rouge:
well i started this day off with the mother of all hangovers. excess, thy name is jager. we made our way south for a one off show with a band called meriwether. the venue was badass, and everyone way really nice. the crowd looked kind of bored until the end of our set, when we finally won the room with time is nothing. ftm came out to hang... we kind of like those guys.
2 important memories from this show:

1. au juliet, a band i've never heard of, blew me completely away. amazing, amazing. go check them out.

2. jay nasty earned his "oh god nasty is shitcanned" tour stripes this long evening. details will be withheld for the sake of our families, but in a nutshell, nasty is no longer allowed to drink jager/redbulls. ever. ever, ever. not ever. never.

never ever.

new orleans:
gosh i love this city. we loaded in early, and i just wandered decatur for a few hours, taking in the culture that separates n.o. from everywhere else. l.a. and new york are very much melting pots of diversity, and that's beautiful too, but this city all bleeds the same color. old churches, cobblestone alleyways, jazz bands setting up in courtyards just to play, no agenda.

when is the last time you set up to play live just to enjoy playing, musician?

i love this place.

i wandered back eventually, spud and i walked bourbon street, and the day began.

confession: i blew up the toilet in the dressing room (organically), and flooded the shower with disgust. true story.

when we took the stage, i was a little nervous. the crowd was rowdy, and i felt a heckling coming on. i was so wrong. loud insanity, enthusiastic and warm. interpretive dancing, a full on crowd clap during stars. and for some reason this night when i saw those that knew our words, it really touched me. all the way in new orleans, no deal, no radio, and people still care. what a great night. best crowd of tour.

rico's wedding/houston: final show of "you're welcome '07"
we squeezed a lot out of this day... flyleaf's sound engineer married flyleaf's new tm. i love these kids so much. we had to fit this wedding in, tour or not. and rico asked me to perform. when we arrived, our stomachs were saddened by a steak finger basket from dq that would haunt the rest of our day. but, once i saw a fine-vested pat seals, all was righted. understand something for a second. flyleaf is my family. never in my life has a group of people made me feel so collectively and truly loved. lacey looked adorable in her little red coat, accompanied by the first boyfriend i've approved of in years. love that guy. we made fun of each other, and lacey cried when vows were exchanged. cute. at the reception, i played almost home for rico, followed by time is nothing. we prayed with flyleaf's band pastor (eric), and headed to houston... way before we were ready.
let it be noted that katy looked lovely.

we loaded in late, and fitzgerald's was pissed. ah, whatever. it is a pretty sweet club, i must admit, and it's been around forever. we got that tedious rocking out of the way, my neck numbed once again just enough by a jager shot to get me through without crying. solid crowd. but the important thing, the only thing that matters to a band like us, the most important thing ever this way was about to occur. THE TOUR PRANK.

here in rh, we care about 2 things.
1. rocking
2. pranking, punking, etc.

i mentioned before that we excel in stupidity.

thanks to my lovely bff in dallas, i had secured a really quite expensive wedding dress. and thanks to wal-mart, jay had his bridesmaid dress, and i had makeup.
the tricky part... once ftm started, we had 15 minutes max to prepare. the song in question was 4th in their set. we rushed wardrode in. kryss applied my makeup, and the dress fit perfect. we finished right as they began "the wife, the kids, and the white picket fence". luke took the stage as a preacher, taking his place on a chair stage left. nasty followed suit, spreading confetti and cheer as the world's ugliest, smelliest flower girl. i took the stage gracefully, as oohs and ahhs were exchanged by an audience that was getting the treat of a lifetime. i was ravishing. luke married us on that stage. he seized the mic at the end of the song and announced "you may now kiss the bride". we followed suit. you're welcome.

we weren't done. during dance of the manatee, i rushed the stage during my darroh impression, and luke came shirtless with a cliff wig and guitar, imitating greatness. we wiggled about, and silly string was released on a band we listen to in our cars and ipods on our own time, when no one else is around. life is good.

look up wife prank on youtube. you're welcome.


we had breakfast the next morning. it was sad. but we'll meet again soon for fair to midland/resident hero 2: the legend of curly's gold.

tyler, new year's:
i was afraid it would end on a low note. the town that forgot me on a day that sucks to play a rock show. plus houston was so perfect. but people came. for one night, tyler was my home again, and we were accepted. my dad took the stage mid-set to play rain forever, and it may have been a moment i'll remember forever. it was the first time since he left the band, and he owned it. and the people rejoiced. they rejoiced and sang alot that night actually. we encored in '08 with the best version of open target ever played, saying goodbye to the best year ever for our careers, and hello to hopefully an even better one.

after the show click's had us sign a guitar to put on the wall. it was a first for me. what a great way to end.

thank you for reading. for writing us, for singing with us, for supporting us. for caring.

ryan

so, when last we left our brave heroes, much needed rest was had. i was pretty much better again, and we had our one-off show in little rock to get ready for.

 

along our way to little rock, a trucker almost ran us off the road. lane change blind spot? so i thought. we honked, pulled up beside him, and i gave him a mighty middle finger that surely made my redneck heritage swell with pride. unfortunately for us, this particular driver was insane. after riding our asses for a good solid 10 miles straight, luke pulled over, so that we might let him pass, and then also write down his license plate number. insane-o held back all of the sudden, then sped forward and cut over in our lane, cutting us off.

and stopping in the middle of the highway. yes. read that line again.

out came a crazy but large african american male with a bald head, goatee, and amazingly average sweat pants. he was screaming and flailing his large arms in the air, running at our van, which was also at a dead stop in the middle of the highway. and what, praytell, did our large, tough, security guard bass player do? why, he stared slack jawed at our pursuer, giving no reaction as we screamed and screamed him into action. off we sped into the southern horizon, only found once by speedy mcmurder, who we avoided via an exit to a gas station. what a great way to start a rough stretch.

 

little rock:

well, well. look how sobering a show can be. we were squeezed onto a bill that may have been a bit heavy for us. okay, a lot heavy. juanitas is an awesome place, with great food and a sweet backstage. but we've only played little rock once, and this was not a melodic crowd. we did have 2 amazing rh fans, both wearing rh shirts (one was homemade), so it was worth it. the staff was awesome, the bands were super nice, and i made a new friend who worked at a local paper. the only thing that sucked were the crickets in between songs. hey, you get spoiled easy, y'know?

a long night of rocking behind us, we set off to the next town. scottyrock heard we had a rough night, and bought us a bottle over the phone. our band has a big brother.

 

little did i know that little rock would haunt me further.

 

my christmas nightmare: by ryan white

 

austin:

we loaded in late, because traffic was horrible all the way. jay and i were super excited to be back home. we loaded in. i made phone calls, like i do. family, friends, and fans showed up. it was a last second add, so we were happy just to be able to play. about 20 minutes before set time, i decided to stop hugging friends and set my gear up. but where, oh where, were my guitars? heart in thoat, panic ensued for the first real time this whole tour. of course, upon my return home. yes. in fact, after packing up my gear, somehow my 2 precious babies had found themselves left behind in little rock. and i had less than 15 minutes till showtime. fingers were pointed, tempers raised. substitute guitars found at the last second. we rocked, i broke multiple strings, played a flying v (definite first), and we made the best of it. i owned up to my own bullshit, which i didn't want to do. no matter who is responsible for load in, my stuff is my stuff. blake laughed. "that's why they call you the genious". love that guy.

 

home:

my dad drove me home to tyler the next morning. ah, hometown. el chico, our crappy mall, and pine trees. an uneventful day, but nice. i realized almost all of my friends were gone from this place, and found myself in a rare state of mild holiday depression. plus, what would i do about my guitars? $300 dollars in overnight shipping seemed my only option. great. but hey, at least i was home.

i woke up this morning to an email from a fan in little rock. apparently one of blake's myspace posts sparked an interest in my forgotten guitars. yes, my homemade shirt fan had offered to help me.  i cancelled my day's plans, and with my grandmother as my wingman, headed to a meeting place in arkadelphia. 3 hours later i met with my christmas hero and retrieved my loves. as soon as i saw my blue prs, my heart was calm and peaceful. christmas was here. i tried to buy my new hero dinner: he asked for mcdonald's. i tried to fill his tank: $6.13 in gas. can't i do anything nice for this savior of my tour?!!! i gave him a bootleg of a live acoustic show that i liked, hoping to somehow repay what i couldn't.

i can't get over that some of you guys genuinely care and are emotionally attached to what we do. i saw that in this stranger today. i've never considered myself anyone to admire or look up to. the things i've lost for my beliefs are sometimes downright crippling. but this kid reminded me that no matter what, i've already accomplished all that i ever originally hoped. i never wanted money. or fame. and certainly not power. it's about relating to people. keeping the feeling of being alone away through music. and being heard.

thank you for making my christmas, fan and friend.

 

merry christmas. i love you all.

ryan

so anyway, the drive from hell behind us, and snow everywhere around us, we arrived in madison for rocking. darroh, myself, and luke were all hacking up lungs from the weather. i'm guessing because luke and i decided to run in the cold one morning before we drove. geniouses. but whatever. it happens when you tour. we all seem to have matured into our roles as a touring band now, and i'm proud of that. i.e.: i don't freak out over nothing all the time anymore.

madison:

ftm took me to their radio interview, and i got to talk on air. sweet! i'm such a nerd for that stuff. i love it.

we soundchecked, and i was sitting on my laptop working. 3 kids came over and sat down. "excuse me, i don't mean to bother you..." i was of course shocked, because they actually were there to talk to me. it was an interesting show, because "our" crowd was pretty nice, and completely unexpected. we had our adorable little madison sticker girl, who made us bracelets, and my friend from seattle, who sat and talked music with me before our set for quite awhile. i have a very hard time taking in that some people in this world look at the choices we've made and the music we make as something to admire. but the feeling it gives me is an almost unrivaled warmth. thank you guys. the show was fun, and the cold was awful.  this is the beginning of the 4 day sickstravaganza.

we drove all night till almost 9 am to get to the next show. thank god for our tour mvp: kryss. caffeine saved the day.

flint:

once again: freezing. long story short, darroh and i were both really bad off. i was on antibiotics though. flint is a tough town. lots of hard rock lovers.and they looooved ftm. we did okay... i think at first they didn't want to like us. thank god for self depricating humor! ftm rocked, and we crashed exhausted.

sidenote: dicken, kryss and i visited the weirdest mall ever across the street. dort mall. 3 stores, no music, and hallways filled with weird old props. they should call it murder mall.

 

libertyville:

this place was a winter wonderland. i have never seen snow come down like this in person. one of my favorite tour memories.  we had to wait until a christmas party was over to soundcheck. haha. we found pantyhose with balloons in them, and made them our hats to pass the time.  the venue fed us steak, which was great, and the crowd was really accepting. other than that, both bands were in 4 day show mode, and we crashed as soon as we could. the lights tonight were really amazing by the way.

 

st paul:

last show of the sickstravaganza. and man was it great. dicken and i relocated the food rider in front of the big screen tv so we could cheer the cowboys (no, i do NOT want to discuss the eagle's game). by this point, dicken and i were bffs 4 f, and we faced constant ridicule for our budding "bro-mance". sorry that we're both awesome and funny. leave us be! we named our tour that day. "you're welcome".

minnesota was kind of lame to us on the last tour, but that night they were on fire. we killed because they gave us boundless energy. my friend molly and her friend came, and it was a great first show for someone to see. ftm tore the roof off of that place. it was the best show of tour at this point. a great way to end the 4 day run.

we went to the mall of america on our day off, and saw "i am legend". consensus was that it kicked ass. loved it. dicken and i decided to make tour shirts for ourselves. fair to midland, resident hero on the front. and on the back? why, a giant "YOU'RE WELCOME", of course.

 

cedar falls:

welcome to iowa. i tried to do a little shopping for my mother. no such luck. nasty ice and crappy thrift stores. the club however, was awesome. really small, upstairs. had the vibe of a really cool house party. the local opener was really nice, and the crowd was receptive. during our first song, i cut a small circle of flesh completely off of my pinky. i bled like a crazy animal nonstop for the rest of the set. i kept having to wipe blood onto my left arm. it was covered in blood by the end. for some reason it made me rock harder. after our last song, i did what brett (ftm drummer) dared me to do. i crawled to the mic: "we're resident hero... you're welcome." the crowd went wild.

 

darroh's sickness finally turned into a full-on flu. they played about 40 minutes before the show ended early. he spent a good while throwing up backstage. their audience was completely supportive and cool. we all hung out there till close with the fans, and we actually had a few of our own again, which is just the best. we had to cancel the next show, so darroh could heal. definitely the right thing to do.

after breakfast with ftm, we took off back down south again. there were cheers all around upon the disappearance of snow, and i got some christmas shooping done today. jay's birthday was today, and that was fun. we found the best bar in blytheville tonight, which is generally the worst bar in any other town. so while my giddy brother enjoyed birthday drinks with new friends, i snuck back to our hotel room to write this overdue factual meandering. goodnight friends. thanks for checking in.

i'm sure there are errors everywhere, but i'm just too tired to check.

ryan