RIGHTEOUS BOOM!

Here I am again. Blogging. Who knew? Phil is playing again, with his massive clouds of smoke filling the room. Asheville, NC. I like it here, but for some reason there’s a really weird mood happening with all of us. We’ve had a few issues with merch shipping, getting everyone on the same page with travel, etc… but nothing too big. It’s just a weird vibe tonight. Maybe a few brews and some cigarettes will do the trick.

Florida was hot and filled with stupid drunks in Miami, shitty PA in Pensacola, and bad weather on the way to North Carolina.

Tonight we have a hellacious drive to Philadelphia from Asheville, NC. 10 HOURS! We were planning on leaving tonight, but due to a misfortune with a shipment of merchandise, we have to get up at 7am and pick up an order at Fed Ex and haul ass for 10 hours to Philly. We’ll see if we make it in time.

I’m looking forward to New York. I’ve always heard good things about the Bowery Ballroom, so it should prove fun to mix there. It’s already sold out, and apparently there are supposed to be some pretty important people there, MTV, Pitchfork, iheartcomix, Brooklyn Vegan, etc….

Only 2 more nights with Mt. Eerie after tonight. He’s been helping out a bunch on this tour getting some extra heads in the door and providing as an easy opener, technically speaking.

I’m a bit frazzled right now, so it’s time for some beers and some smokes, and see if I can shake this odd feeling.

So my photography skills are beginning to shape up. Well, a little bit at least. Here’s some photos from the video shoot in LA.

Tour has been amazing so far. Only a few hiccups along the way, but nothing too major. Here’s a recap from when I left off.

The drive from Albuquerque to LA to Santa Barbara back to LA was horrific. All I had was FM radio to listen to the whole time. 1000 miles of nothing but bad country and James Taylor. I actually acquired quite a taste for James Taylor on that drive. Sssshhhhhhh… guilty pleasure. Anyway, the drive was long and boring, but I eventually made it to where I needed to be to pick up Austin. After I got him, we went to see Centro-matic at Spaceland in LA. They were fucking fantastic! They always play well, and always amaze me in the sounds they get from the instruments. Such a great band. I saw some old Denton friends at the show, which was nice. Austin and I ended up staying with my friends Jace and John at their apartment in N. Hollywood. We ended up drinking on their rooftop until the sun began to come up.

The next day we met back up with the other guys to exchange vans and get to the video shoot. The video shoot ended up being really interesting and way different from the last shoot I was on. The stuff we got to see looked really great. I’m excited to see the finished product. After the shoot I went back to Jace’s place, had some drinks, reminisced on some old times, and got some long needed sleep.

This brings us to Thursday, the day of the show. We decided to go to Vegan Express before we load-in at the venue, and wow, was it great! I ate some of the best tofu scramble I’ve ever had. After we eat, we run some errands and end up at the venue on time. The Echoplex turned out to be a great venue with a great PA and great staff. The only part about the show that wasn’t so great, was their monitor guy letting some feedback slip into the system and the terribly loud drum & bass dance party that ensued afterwards. GROSS. After the show we went to a bar, had some drinks, and stayed at a friend’s house. Good night all around.

Friday is Tempe. Not a terrible drive. 6 hours. The Clubhouse is one of my least favorite mid-sized venues in the country. Their staff is terrible (minus their house engineer and one of their security guards), the PA is way way way way under powered, and the venue is just dirty… everywhere. The show ended up being not too bad with attendance being 309. The smallest yet, but still fun.

Saturday we go to this cool art gallery place in Tucson and have a great show! The venue sold out, their staff was excellent. PA was AWESOME for the size room. Austin and Yoni had a small spat about some CDs almost being crushed, but everything is good now. I really enjoyed Tucson.

Sunday is the LONG LONG LONG drive to Austin. It took about 12 hours (14 with time change) to get there. Nothing exciting to write about this day.

Monday! We stay at my sister’s apartment in Austin. Josiah, Yoni, and I ran a bunch of errands and got things very organized with spreadsheets, merch binders, etc…. Everything is a lot easier now. My good friend Beth met us at Mother’s there to have lunch. It was good to see her in Austin. Once we got to the venue, I was a little worried at first. The PA was very under powered for an outdoor stage, but the house guy was extremely helpful and definitely helped us all out. The show ended up being pretty big with around 680 paid through the door. Not bad for a Monday night. The show went off without a hitch and we all ended up being a little inebriated by the end of the set. We went to another bar afterwards and continued the debauchery. I ran a bunch of people around and played tour manager for the evening and made sure everyone got to where they needed to be.

Tuesday we wake up, grab some awesome sandwiches at Whole Foods and pick up everyone around town. The drive to Dallas was quick and painless. We arrive at the Granada to what could possibly be an IATSE union crew sitting outside of the venue, ready to help us get everything taken care of. The Granada was really great. Could possibly be one of the best venues so far. The show was slightly under attended with only 360 people paid. 400 with guest list and all. It was still a bunch of fun. I got to see a ton of friends from home and my parents even came out to the show! Needless to say they got wasted and garnered the attention from all of my friends for the entire night. We had some good banter between front of house and the stage throughout the show, with a shout out to my parents half way through. The show was a whole lot of fun. After we finished we drove back to my house and had a few beers. I cannot express enough how awesome it was to sleep in my own bed! I slept soooooooo great.

The next morning we woke up, ate at Spiral Diner in Dallas, and begin out drive towards Pensacola. We stop in Mobile at 4AM and that’s where we are now. Bright eyed and ready for today and the show tonight! It’s at Sluggo’s in Pensacola. I’ll keep you guys updated and let you know how everything turns out.

I’ll post some pictures I’ve been taking along the way in the next day or two.

One show down, 25 left to go…. until the next tour starts.

The first show couldn’t have gone better! Over sold show at the Great American Music Hall. Great staff, great crowd (except for Becky’s set, fuck those assholes), great food, great sound, etc, etc, etc…

The K2 that I was mixing on felt a little bit like a toy, but I managed to get some good sounds out of it. All of my new equipment worked perfectly, and all of the delays turned out to be quite fun!

I’ll post some pictures of the venue once I get a chance. It’s one of the most beautiful venues I’ve ever been to. I’d compare it to a slightly smaller version of the Trocadero in Philly.

After the show we didn’t hang out too late, and just went back to Yoni’s place to sleep. It was much needed after my shitty shitty shitty flight on the way to Oakland. A 6 hour delay while you’re on the runway isn’t the best way to spend a night. Anyway, the next night proved to be a lot of fun! We went to a party for one of Yoni, Josiah, and Doug’s friends from high school that was moving away. I managed to get sufficiently inebriated and meet a bunch of really great people.

Monday ended up being pretty low key. Yoni and I went to see the biopic about The Germs. The name escapes me right now, and I’m too tired to look it up on IMDB. It was TERRIBLE. The only part about the movie that was enjoyable at all was seeing The Bronx portray Black Flag for all of 30 seconds. Eh. After the movie we went to a birthday party for a friend of Josiah. We drank a few cucumber margaritas and decided to go get some food. Falafel sounded tasty to us, so we went across the street to a great place and filled our bellies. From there we met up with some friends at a tiki bar to have some drinks. After that we decided to go to the grocery store and get some food and some booze and take it back to Doug’s brother’s place and just chill for the rest of the night. After some good talks and some good fun, we all retire to our respective domiciles for the time being. I got up extremely early today to catch a flight to Albuquerque to see some family and pick up a van to drive to LA tomorrow.

I’m very excited to get to see Centro-matic and South San Gabriel tomorrow in LA. It’ll be good to see some friends playing in a venue outside of Texas. I’m not so looking forward to the excruciatingly long drive I’ve got to go through tomorrow. UGH. Oh well, time to catch a few hours of sleep before I hit the road. No rest for the wicked!