On our last blog we left off
at Myrtle Beach. After that show we played the final 2 shows w/ Collective
Soul & Gavin Degraw in Florida. The Orlando show was amazing! We
played a massive House of Blues pretty much smack dab in the middle
of Disney World. The crowd was great; nice & loud! After the show
we all hung out pretty late w/ the CS & Degraw band and crew. We
went down to Planet Hollywood and had one last hurrah. It was blast.
We had a ton of fun on tour w/ all them, and it was pretty cool how
close everybody had gotten by the end of it. Kinda like one big touring
family. The next day we played the last show in Ft. Lauderdale and said
our goodbye’s to everyone. All in all the tour was amazing. The Collective
Soul guys have always been super cool to us since the first time we
met them & they have helped our band out a ton over the past couple
years. It was also really cool getting to hang w/ Gavin and his band,
seriously an awesome group of guys.
After the show we packed up
and drove 4 hours back to Orlando. We got in at about 2:45am and woke
up at 5:15am to play on a TV show called “The Daily Buzz”. We were
SUPER tired, but the show was really great. As soon as it was over,
we went back and crashed at the hotel till noon. So there we were in
Orlando, w/ a whole day off and too poor to go to Disney World. We decided
to see if we could sneak into the Hard Rock Resort because we heard
they had a massive sweet pool. Annnnd it worked! Just act like you know
what your doing and nobody stops ya. So we spent the rest of the day
lounging, catching some sun, sipping on margaritas, and enjoying the
sweeet Hard Rock pool.
From there we made the long
drive from Orlando to Indy to jump on the David Cook tour. On the way
we stopped in Nashville. We hung out w/ Josh’s brother Matt and we
went to NAMM ( a musicians gear heaven). We made it to Indy and the
first couple shows w/ David were amazing! The crowds were INSANE! The
4th show on the tour we played a giant fair in West Bend,
Wisconsin, one of my favorite shows of the summer. The weather was perfect
and there were over 15,000 people at the show. We got there early and
got hang out w/ David Cook’s band and crew. We threw the Frisbee and
football and their tour manager grilled out for everyone. It was awesome.
We’re always a little nervous
going into a new tour b/c you never know if you’re going to hit it
off w/ the other band. But David, his band, and crew are awesome! Seriously
some of the coolest group of guys we have met on the road. David
and his band are super down to earth and have been incredibly cool to
us. We’ve had a blast getting to hang w/ them the past couple weeks,
and I can’t say enough good things about them as players and guys.
From there we played a massive casino in Minnesota (I lost $4 to penny
slots) and another huge fair in Iowa. The Iowa fair was awesome! We
ate fresh Iowa corn, got sick on carnival rides (the hurricane destroyed
me), watched a killer firework show, and had a great show (despite David
and TC throwing peanuts at us the whole time….but don’t worry
we got them back during their set).
So far this summer has been
nothing short of surreal. We have gotten to share the stage w/ some
of our favorite bands, have played in front of the biggest crowds of
our career, we’ve sold tons of records, and have made a lot of new
friends and fans. The response has been incredible and extremely encouraging.
I’m definitely humbled and thrilled to be experiencing all of this,
and we are incredibly grateful for everyone who has been coming out
to the shows and buying our record.
-jamey