August 11, 2009

We’re hanging tough in Plano, TX right now on Day 3 of tour. The day after the tour kick-off show we drove up to Claremore, OK for a quick show before coming back home and heading down to Dallas the next morning for an in-store acoustic show at the Hot Topic at the Galleria. Claremore was pretty dead seeing as how it was a Sunday night in such a small town, but we did happen to see Will Rogers reading a newspaper on a bench in downtown. Although he claimed to have never met a a man he didn’t like, he sure was pretty standoff-ish towards us. We kept trying to talk to him, and he would just sit there reading his paper, ignoring us like we weren’t even there, but whatever. I’m not going to lose anymore sleep about it again tonight.

We stayed the night at Dan and Andy’s house after getting back from Claremore and it was a little depressing because I got to sleep on a king-size bed by myself, woke up and had a hot shower, after which Mrs. Adamson ordered Pei Wei for all of us before setting off for Texas. Why would these things be depressing? Because it was the first night of tour and there is no way that things will possibly get any better as the days go on. So as awesome as all of those things would be on any other day of the year, it isn’t as great to know that everything will be going downhill from there.

After getting into Texas and dealing with the afternoon traffic, we got to the Galleria and received what we thought to be the VIP treatment by getting to park underneath the mall and go up through the service elevators through the back alleys to the store. However, turns out that the “VIP” treatment is actually getting to unload the trailer and walk around in an unventilated garage that smells like the pachyderm house at the zoo. After getting up to the store and unloading our stuff we walked around the mall and came to a depressing realization. I had previously been under the impression that the Galleria was one of the biggest and best malls in Texas, I mean, it seems justified, there’s a freaking ice skating rink on the bottom floor, but come to find out, while they can have an entire store set aside for Tommy Bahama clothes, asking for a book store of any kind is way out of the question. Chris and Adam walked around trying to get kids to come into Hot Topic for the acoustic show to be put on by Scott and Andy, but I’m pretty sure they just ended creeping out the kids they walked up on more than anything. One pair of girls were so distraught by the sudden encounter with strangers that they didn’t speak a word, and just stared blankly at Chris nodding nervously until he walked away.

We left the mall and came over to our good friend JanDe’s house in Plano where we stayed the night. Dan and I watched the episode of True Blood that we missed while in Claremore, and everyone went to bed. We woke up today with no major plans on the agenda since we didn’t have a show booked tonight. We ate lunch/dinner at a Pizza Inn buffet, and afterwards Andy and Chris both threw down fifty cents a piece to play the Jurassic Park III video game in the kids area. After watching them play for about five minutes I got bored and left and found my way to a Fat Straws beverage place. About 10 to 15 minutes later, after enjoying a strawberry slush thing, I went back to Pizza Inn to find Andy and Chris still killing dinosaurs, and that all the kids who were previously in the room when I’d left were now all gone, and I have a possible theory about what happened. Now, I cannot be certain that this caused the children in the room to disperse but apparently, Chris’ gun wasn’t consistently working correctly, and he resolved to shouting obscenities to try and fend off the dinosaurs on the screen every time his gun would fail. Anyone else seeing a possible connection here? After probably twenty minutes, and two or three levels later after coming back to the Pizza Inn, Andy and Chris did something I’ve never seen take place in a video arcade: they beat the game. It was ridiculous, and kinda bittersweet. There was no reward for beating it, we thought about trying to take the game home with us, but apparently beating the game doesn’t mean you get to keep it. Who knew? After a lackluster victory over some video game dinosaurs, we proceeded to run some errands around town that took us from another mall, to Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Guitar Center, and finally Fry’s Electronics. None of us had ever been to a Fry’s Electronics, and we were all highly impressed. If you’ve never been, imagine if Best Buy had class and a nicer selection, and BOOM, that’s Fry’s Electronics.

We left Fry’s and came back to JanDe’s house where the next few hours consisted of rolling T-shirts, taking inventory of all the merch stuff, and reorganizing the trailer while watching TV. Later in the evening Scott misplaced his phone and proceeded to spend the next half hour accusing me of hiding it from him because apparently “that’s what I do.” The idea that maybe his dumbass had just misplaced the phone was completely out of the question. Eventually, I walked him out to the van and in less than ten seconds found his phone lying in the front seat from when he had gone to van about an hour earlier to get something to eat. It was a victory for me not just because it proved that I didn’t have the phone, but it also made Scott look like a complete idiot, considering he had previously gone to the van to look for it without my assistance, and came back telling me the phone wasn’t there, and that he knew I was hiding it from him so as to have stuff to write about in the tour blog. If not for that last little bit of paranoid accusations, I would have just let it slide, but considering he scoured the van in search of his phone, couldn’t find it lying in the front seat, and came back inside relentlessly telling me I was hiding it from him was just too perfect of an opportunity to not make him look like an asshole.

Tomorrow morning we have to get up early because we will be playing a show at Six Flags Over Texas and have to be there at 10:00, a half hour before the park opens. The sweet side of that deal is that we get to hang out in the park all day, and as if that weren’t enough, we get front of the line passes to use on whatever we want. So, if you’re planning on being at Six Flags on August 12, there’s a good chance you’ll see us there, as we walk past you while you’re waiting in line.

August 13, 2009

Sitting around in Bryan, TX right now, waiting for the show to start. We’ve been here for about three hours, and all that’s happened so far is unloading all the equipment, driving over to College Station to see the Texas A&M campus, and Andy ordering a chocolate chip milk shake from a old-fashioned ice cream parlor called Must Be Heaven, and not drinking any of it.

Yesterday we had a ton of fun at Six Flags, and today we are all exhausted. We got to the park a little before the park opened at 10:30, and drove aimlessly around until we found the designated area for employees, etc to park. We got all of our stuff inside the park and received our “Don’t Hassle Me” passes that allowed us to get to the front of the line on all the good rides in the park. Adam and I went to town on the ride situation, whereas some of the other guys, namely Scott, got sick and walked around the park with a grimace on face because his stomach hurt, waiting for us all by the exits of all the rides, like that lonely grandma who pays to get into the park with her family and doesn’t do anything but watch other people have fun. Our good friend Katy showed up at the park to hang out with us for the majority of the day and supplied us all with sunscreen, seeing as how we’re all guys and forgot to bring our own. It came time for the first of our three shows, each 30 minute sets, and 30 minutes apart, and we had a decent amount of people stop by and watch. The second set opened with ‘At Your Expense’ which now features a pretty amazing trumpet part that debuted at the CD release show played by yours truly, and once again, I stole the show. Katy hung around the merch booth with me and helped sell stuff.

We left Six Flags and drove a few minutes away from the park to stay with our friend Jaime at her apartment. We went swimming in the amazing pool at her complex and played water volleyball against some of her neighbors, which we won with help of Jaime’s boyfriend Jeremy, but he goes by Jethro. We silently decided that Jethro, who is a freaking massive guy, decided that he goes by Jethro so he can be a security guard or bouncer somewhere. If a guy named Jeremy told me to do something, I wouldn’t be that worried about it, but a guy named Jethro? I’m going to do whatever he says in a now-like fashion. However, Jethro, despite being a mountain of man and having such an intimidating name, was a terribly nice guy, and a ton of fun to hang out with, so after spending some time around him, we stopped worrying about him throwing us through a wall just because he could.

We woke up this morning and headed for a guitar repair shop in Arlington called Sound Repair, and met one of the nicest guys in the world. Not only did he fix Chris’ guitar that inexplicably didn’t work for the Six Flags shows, he basically detailed the guitar, and gave us a bunch of stuff, and advice, to keep all the guitars in the best shape possible. Then, on top of the that, he only charged us five bucks. So if you’re in or around Arlington and are in need of guitar repair, look him up.

After leaving Sound Repair we found our way to a CiCi’s Pizza, much to Scott’s dismay. However, one gem we found waiting for us inside was the arcade game of Jurassic Park II: The Lost World. We ate in somewhat of a hurry so that Chris and Andy could have plenty of time to re-extinct some dinosaurs, and see if they could keep the dream alive after beating Jurassic Park III only two days earlier. While they were playing and the rest of us were watching a little boy, I’m guessing around 5 or so, came up and asked Adam for a quarter, and for some reason Adam gave him one. Moments later, the little boys’ brother, who I’m guessing was maybe 3, showed up and started asking for quarters. They individually hit all of us up for a quarter at least once, never getting one after the initial one that Adam gave them. The younger of the two even upped the request and asked Scott for a dollar. The kid had no idea how negations work. I looked out in the restaurant for the kids parents and couldn’t find them, leading me to believe that these two little kids go from pizza buffet to pizza buffet making change off of people too stupid to tell them no. Anyway, in yet another amazing feat, Andy and Chris managed to beat the game, and still received no reward for doing so. We left CiCi’s, Arlington with a mixed feeling of accomplishment and defeat, and made our way to Bryan, TX, which is just a town over from College Station, home of the Texas A&M Aggies.

The venue tonight is a really great place, which seems like it would be really awesome to play if people were there. Sadly though, it doesn’t appear that will be the case tonight. On top of that, we don’t have a place to sleep tonight as it stands right now, but hopefully that will change. Fingers crossed.

So to reiterate, an important lesson learned today, never, in any amount, give money to beggars. They won’t appreciate it, and will only ask for more.

August 14, 2009

We just arrived in Waco, TX after a short drive from the College Station/Bryan area. The venue we’re playing at tonight, Art Ambush, is pretty awesome. It’s a tattoo parlor in the front of the store, and what appears to be an old mechanics’ shop turned venue in the back. I don’t think any of us will be getting tattoos tonight, but I can’t completely rule it out. If anyone were to do it though, it would probably be Scott seeing as how he already has a tattoo that says “Lion In All” on his rib cage.

The show last night was somewhat a bust, in the sense that there weren’t really any people there aside from the bands playing and the people who ran the venue. However, it was a good show overall despite the small numbers. A new guideline to a good show is one where Dan doesn’t fall off the stage, and seeing as how he stayed on both feet all night, we’re marking it as a success. Another highlight of the evening was when Adam held the door open for an old, homeless-looking, black man, who showed his gratitude by saying “Thank you, young Caucasian.”

We also finally found a place to stay with one of the other bands that played last night, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. They were all really nice guys, had good music, and I would venture to say they are worth checking out. Those guys were going to a midnight movie so we had some time to kill before going to their apartment, which we filled with eating What-A-Burger and driving to the Texas A&M campus, with hopes of getting onto the field and playing frisbee. Those hopes were diminished though, and we settled for tossing it around on the streets of the empty campus until a police officer showed up and more or less convinced us to leave without saying a word to us. He just kept driving back and forth around where we were until we got in the van and went to park at a strip mall waiting to hear back from the guys saying to head over to their place.

We’ve been in Waco for a few hours now, unloaded, sound-checked, and are now sitting around in the first green room I’ve ever seen that is actually painted green, trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Allegedly there are some fantastic BBQ places to eat at around here, but everyone we’ve asked is telling us a different “best place,” so we don’t know what to do.

August 16, 2009

We’ve been in Houston for a few days now, last night we played a show to a less than stellar crowd, and surprisingly made up for it today at another Hot Topic where we did an acoustic show in the store and sold a pretty good amount of CDs and shirts to the Sunday afternoon crowd.

The show in Waco, at a place called Art Ambush, turned out to probably be the best venue we’ve played at on tour, and fully expect it to not be topped for the rest of our time on the road. There was a big crowd, and the people running the place were absolutely fantastic. We are fully planning on making more trips down here again. As a result of the mixed responses from everyone we surveyed, we gave up on eating BBQ, and went instead to a place called Bush’s Chicken, which was allegedly founded by, or built by, or something of that matter by George H. Bush after his presidency was over. I’m inclined not to believe it, however, because he wasn’t there. The food was pretty good, but a little over-priced for being just a chicken place. We went back to the venue after dinner and listened to some bands then closed out the night and drove to Houston where we’ve crashed with Dans’ girlfriend Courtney ever since.

The show last night could have been better to say the least. The sound guy didn’t give a shit about his job, and proceeded to sound check every band before the start of their sets, and once they began to play would walk away from the soundboard altogether, and leave it under the watchful eye of what we all assumed was his 16-17 year-old daughter. The guys played well, but the end result from the abandoned was that they sounded bad coming through the speakers, at no fault of their own.

After the HHC set, there was one more band set to play for the evening, and I didn’t catch their name, but I also was not interested in finding out, and here’s why: crab core. If you don’t know what ‘crab core’ is, you should consider yourself lucky. I wish I didn’t. It’s one of those things that I could have gone my entire life not knowing about, and would have been just fine, I would have still lead a complete life, and died happily. However, just as the unfortunate curtain was pulled back for me that opened my eyes to the world of ‘crab core,’ I will explain what it is for those why have yet to find out. Up until last night, there was only one crab core band I was aware of, Attack Attack, and they are the biggest joke I have ever seen in my life. It’s disgusting. I’ve only heard one song, and it’s one more than I wanted. Their songs just take ideas from several genres of popular music, pieces these different clips together, and calls it music. I hate to be the one to say so, but throwing Screamo, Metal, Hardcore, and Techno/Dance Pop all into once song is not inventive or edgy. It comes across as though you could not figure out what one style of music you’re good at, so you figured, ‘What the hell? Let’s just put them all together. That should work, right?’ The answer is no. It officially does not work like that.

Also, if you were wondering where the ‘crab’ in crab core comes from, it is referring to the way that the people stand while playing their instruments. Legs spread as far as possible in your skin tight jeans, and then bend your knees so that your ass is as close to the ground as possible without actually touching, thus giving you a crab-like appearance while you play. What does this have to do with the music you ask? Not a fucking thing. But, if you throw in some head banging while in your crab pose, it does make you look like a horses ass almost instantly. Which leads me to the last key of being in a crab core band, and once again, has nothing to do with the music: running in place while singing/screaming. Apparently it helps with.... I actually don’t know. My guess is nothing.

So now that you are all in the know about crab core bands, back to last night. The disappearance of the sound guy was not an issue for this last band for one main reason: I don’t think they were playing their instruments. Like, at all. Everything, and I literally mean everything, seemed as if it was pre-recorded and played through two laptops that they had on stage with them. Meaning, yes, you could have plugged in an iPod to the soundboard and had the exact same show. While they were all pretending to play their instruments, the drummer was the exception. You can’t exactly pretend to play drums, however, every single drum hit and cymbal crash he made was still already recorded and he was simply playing along with a pre-recorded version of his part. The way we were able to notice these things was that on more than one occasion, the song would end, and the guitarist or keyboardist would continue to “play” their instruments with no music coming out. Add in some undistinguishable screaming, and you’ve got yourself a formula for me having an all out terrible night. Now, all that being said, just because I didn’t like the style of music that they played, reflects in no way on the band personally. The guys themselves were terribly nice and very friendly, I just personally don’t care much for any of the individual genres that they utilize in their songs on their own, let alone fuzed together into one song.

We left the venue and came back over to Courtney’s place where we spent the rest of the evening really living it up like rock stars: laying around watching TV. Really wild stuff. We had to get up somewhat early today so that we could make it to the Hot Topic in Deerbrook Mall all for our second in store show. This show was a little more successful, merchandise wise, and we came back to Courtney’s again for another night of taking it easy. We went down to the pool for a few hours and drank some beers, then once again kinda just sat around the rest of the night. It’s good to take in having a place to crash tonight, because we aren’t sure where we’ll be staying tomorrow. We were going to have a show in Louisiana, but it got cancelled, so we have another off day with nothing to do but be best friends all day long.