St. Louis, MO

I didn't see Star Wars tonight, and I don't feel bad about it. I'll get around to watching sometime, possibly on video, I don't know. The BMG music club is a great thing, so many choices of cds I really kind of wanted, but would never pay full price for. I don't know how, but every night I end up wth my own bed in the hotel, some people share a bed, another sleeps on the floor and I get my own. The people in the room next door have a dog and it barks everytime someone walks by, I'm thinking about ratting them out to the front desk, but only if it keeps me up tonight. I'm looking forward to coming back home, two weeks left of tour, plus one afternoon home halfway through that. Wayne Newton is on tv, I'll leave you with that.

Tupelo, MS

So I'm in the south and it's been pretty nice, except for the lack of the internet, these southerners haven't tapped into the new century yet and purchsed wireless internet, except for this place, a Super 8 of all places. Everything has been going great though. The band we're on tour with have been super nice guys, all very southern and well mannered. We started this tour off with a nice little 48 hour drive to Birmingham, Alabama, or BAMA!, as I like to call it. The show was a little different, but we all loved it considering we'd been in a car for two days straight. Then it was off to Orlando, Florida, another nice little drive of ten hours and a time change, but this drive was well worth it. We played the Florida Cornerstone Festival which had about every band you'd want to see playing. The first day was kind of exciting, I can't remeber any of the bands off the top of my head, so I guess it wasn't that memorable, except for As I Lay Dying, they are an excellent band, I like them. The next day was THE DAY. We played, which was exciting and went pretty well, but the best line up was in the evening, starting with the Chariot. I'm not too into them, but one of our friends is playing drums for them, so it was exciting to watch. After them was Emery, Copeland, Anberlin, underOATH, Relient K, David Bazaan, Jon Davis and mewithoutyou, I was beat after all that, not to mention very sleep deprived due to the time change and the early mornings. Another highlight of the festival was the hotels. The promoters decided to put all 75+ bands in two hotels next to each other, so there was a lot of (for lack of a better word) partying going on. The first night us and Morning September thought it would be fun to get some beer and hang out around the pool, and everyone else had the same idea. Almost every band I knew was there at once and it was great. Leaving a festival is always hard becuase you have to go back to "reality", less people at shows stuff like that. It's not really that bad. We've spent the last two days on BAMA! and then tonight in Mississippi, and I've found that southerners are a lot friendlier than people on the west coast, they are kind of weird and some seem a little inbred, but they are friendly. We're acting like we're cool right now and are watching 8 Mile, Eminem is doing his battle rap, and I think we're going to have our own rap off after we watch this. and why do some people cover their mouths when they laugh? I don't get it. Is that Coolio? So not much more around here, St. Louis tomorrow, I'll think of some good stories to post.

Nashville, TN

So we are still in Nashville, getting pretty boring now, I want to play a show. A bunch of us got tattoos yesterday, and my leg is a little sore. I cut the crap out of myself shaving with the razor, not good at all. The thing kept bleeding for almost two hours, but I'm healing up just fine today. Memphis tomorrow, finally a show. I get to sleep in my own bed monday, can't wait to be back home.

Nashville, TN

So we have three days off and we decided to spend it in good ol' Nashville. Last night we had a barbeque with our friends in Yellow Second and the Merienthal sisters. Tonight we had a barbeque with our friend Sam from Bleach, he's one of the best people in the entire world, I always leave feeling real happy after we hang out with him. I had the idea to get another tattoo tomorrow, so I shaved my leg, and it is gross. Men should never shave their legs, especially if they haven't seen the sun in over four years. I can't even look at it, it is so damn gross. I hope they can fit me in tomorrow, or I'm going to have a bald leg for the next five months, because my hair does not grow very fast. My brother made the drawing for me and he tells me my mom is not happy about it. I made the decision to get a picture of Leatherface and Ash (Bruce Campbell) fighting. I love both of those characters and thought why not put them together? Well, my mom doesn't like the idea of me getting horror movie characters permanently affixed to me, she'll get over it someday.

Plymouth, MI

So much to write about, so many thoughts coming out at once. I'll try to start from the beginning. We arrived in Nashville last sunday, checked in to our fancy looking hotel only to find that the internet advertised cost $10 a day to use, so we were internetless for the week. I'll get to the good stuff. Monday was the day of the Country Music Awards, and I was excited for some reason. I've been caught watching CMT on more than one occasion, but I didn't think I would be excited when I spotted Montgomery Gentry or someone of the same stature, but I was star-struck the entire day. I got to see Big and Rich soundcheck, but missed their set, I saw the Low Cash- Cowboys try to hype up the crowd, they were jackasses, but it was still neat to see them. The most exciting star spotting was that of Lynryd Skynyrd walking through our hotel doors as I was walking in, I was speechless. I can't remeber much else off the top of my head, except Chris and I got free tattoos from a place in Nashville, our booking agent told us all bands booked by him get free tattoos at this place anytime we come through town, so I'm going to take big advantage of that deal. We drove 11 hours today to get to Michigan to play a show that we were told was going to suck really bad. So we go into the show knowing it's going to be awkward, it was for some youth rally at a church. The show was a little odd, but it was the most fun we've all had in a while, there six hundred or so kids, and you could make them go crazy. We were throwing shirts and cds out to them, and they were insane, we also made a good little bit of money and they put us up in the Hiltin Garden Inn, not too bad for a few hours' work. We're playing the University of Wisconson tomorrow, easy drive, time for a shower.

Driving

I almost forgot what being on tour was like, it's been over six months since we last went out, but it seems a lot more fun this time around. We started off in Salt Lake City, which is a nice little drive from Chico. The show was a lot fun, we were all nervous for some reason, but everything went off without a hitch. Night number two was in a little town called Greeley in Colorado, again a nice little drive for us, but it was only eight hours this time, the first drive was about twelve hours. The show was pretty crappy, especially for being on a Friday night, but it was fun none the less. Today we were supposed to play in Kansas, which was a ten hour drive, so we planned ahead, got up early, actually left on time, but there was no way we were making it to the show, so we called and cancelled, the guy was bummed, but at least he can keep his money. Instead of going to the show we decided to drive straight through to Nashville, we're going on twelve hours in the van, but it's been some good fun. So far we've seen a lot rest areas, the outside of the OZ Museum, it was closed, some buffalo and some other less interesting things. I pissed off a whole store full of people when I decided to run my hand over the two dozen large wind chimes they had, they were very unhappy. I roads here are probably the worst thing in the world, especially since I'm trying to type while we're driving. They should fix this shit. I got invited to a party in Nashville that is being out on by a tattoo shop, and they said free tattoos for band members, I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can actually get a real tattoo and not some four leaf clover or a sailor's anchor. Almost Kansas City, then we get to eat Fazzoli's, which is the best and least expensive Italian food ever known to man, I've been waiting months for the food out here. Waffle House, Chick- Fil- A, Cracker Barrel, Fazzoli's and so many truck stops with great food, I can't wait. It's too damn bumpy to type anymore. One last thing, my phone got turned back on, so I can communicate with the outside world.

Denver, CO

Not much time to post much of anything, it's 8:30am, i went to bed at 5:30 and need to drive over ten hours to the next show that is happening tonight, but everything is great so far. I'm alive, I have no cell phone still, so I keep to myself, and the IHOP I had before bed isn't sitting too well. Off to Kansas. I'm trying to find a picture and the computer is going slower than anything ever.

Bye Chico

So I'm leaving Chico for tour in about four hours, and I'm getting more excited by the minute. It's been over six months since I've last toured, so I'm ready to go. We play Salt Lake City tomorrow, then Colorado, then Kansas, then Nashville, and then some other places, I'll list them later, and then write about each place, maybe. More exciting things to come.

today, not all too good.

So most of today was horrible. I woke up to find that my phone was shut off due to my dumbass not paying the bill on time, shitty, then to top it all off, the airport card I ordered for my computer was undeliverable to me for some god awful reason, so it is being sent back to New Jersey, which means I probably won't get it before I leave for tour, super shitty. So I have no way to stay in contact with people, at all. On the plus side, I drove to Stcktone today to get a new bass head, and the guy ended up giving me a new cabinet also, so I am a little happier, until the reality that all the other shit went wrong sets in. I am kind of pissed off though, and I so badly want to be mad at the post office, but they didn't so anything wrong, and I have to be nice and civil to the guy I bought the airport card from so he will send it back to me, even though I paid for two day shipping, it's going to take over a week for me to get it. Dammit, it's frustrating to even think about it.

Day 37

Today is my last day in Seattle, and to celebrate we are having a big farewell to me/ Josh Head/ Toby Moreno dual birthday party. There's going to be lots of friends and lots of barbeque, the only downside is I have to catch a plane at 6:50am so I hope I'm able to get up on time. The record is still not finished, and probably won't be done on time, but it should be done at some point in the next few weeks, I'll believe it when I see it. I keep worrying that I'm going to forget something important, I have to keep checking, I've got my clothes, my computer, my cds, my house keys, my shoes, jacket, socks, underwear, guitar, that should be everything, I'll know for sure when I don't have it, and hopefully that's before the other guys leave. After I get home I get to find a job so I can earn some money for the week and a half I have off, I'll get something, or I'll have to look through dumpsters to find food. I can't wait to start practicing the new songs and then finally we get to tour again. First off we go to Nashville for GMA week. Now most people don't know what GMA week is, so I'll explain. GMA week is an event held every year in Nashville where the christian music industry shows off what it has. This time is the most hellish thing for bands that understand that there is a better market outside the christian market. Believe it or not, there aren't many that understand that, or want to understand that. Now, this may be my opinion, but I don't think I stand alone on this. We have gotten used to this whole thing as we have atended the past two years, so this year shouldn't be too bad. Our week will consist of a bunch of things; Sunday- Showcase show for booking agent; Monday- Thursday- interviews with various radio stations and magazines asking us questions like 'How did you get your name' or 'What does the title of the new record mean' or 'Why did you switch record labels?' stuff like that, which at first, isn't too bad, but after four days of this, it gets a little tiring; Tuesday- Acoustic showcase for EMI suits sales conference, we're basically trying to show EMI why they should put more money into us; Wednesday- Tooth and Nail showcase. This is a short overview of the week, I'll post more when I get there, there should be some good stories nightly.

Day 35

So here's some sorry shit. It's 5:15 in the morning and I've been playing the Legend of Zelda for eight hours straight, and I'm not even half way through it. I thought when I started the game at 9:30 last night that I would be done by two, or three at the latest, but not a chance. I've looked up maps and hints on the internet, but it's all come down to my skill level, and without much sleep I don't think I'll ever beat the game. Looks like I might be using my last three days in Seattle to finish the Legend of Zelda. I wouldn't really mind, it's raining anyway. I also found my Halloween costume early, can't wait for October.

Day 31/33

Ah yes, St. Patrick's Day, the most pointless holiday in the world, but also the most fun. I'm on my way out to sell some clothes that I don't wear to get some money for this evening.

That above sentence was started the other day, then I went to lunch and forgot about it.
So I have five days left in the great northwest, and I'm having mixed feelings about leaving. On one hand I'll be glad to be at home, sleep in my own bed, hang out with my friends and family, plus it should be spring time, so I can ride my bike. But on the other hand it is so nice up here. This city is great, there's so much to do, so many places I can walk to. I'll come back up to visit sometime. Tonight is Aaron's birthday party, it sounds like it's going to be a ton of fun, it will have the hippest, cred worthy guests in attendance. Speaking of hip and cred- worthy, I saw the guitarist from Modest Mouse (and MCD) walking to his brand new Volvo the other day, and he just stared up at me as I told the person I was on the phone with who was staring at me. He was probably wondering why someone looking like me was up in a nice condo. I don't know, maybe he wanted to be friends with me, but he didn't know for sure, so he was thinking about that? Our house guests have left, but we got Chris back, so it evens out. Lastly, Excedrine PM works wonders.

Day 29

Irony is a funny thing. To back up this statement I will share the following story. So I am broke. I have one dollar to my name, so I decide to try and get a job for the day at a place called Labor Ready. So I get myself up at around, oh, 8 am and walk down there. There are a ton of homeless drug addicts waiting for jobs as well. Now I don't mind any of this, but then I start thinking to myself, here's where the irony is, I'm staying in a 1.5 million dollar condo and am on a good record label and here I am waiting with a group of junkies to earn $30 so I can have some money in my pocket. That's about it.

Day 27

Everyone left today, and while I thought it would be nice, I'm actually kind of lonely. Luckily we'll have some house guests staying with Jeff and myself. Last night and everynight after we'll have the wonderful Josh Head bedding down with us, and then tomrrow we'll have Mr. Dave Tosti and his brother Aaron staying with us. Hopefully some other folks will be stopping by like they said they would. I think I'm just rpeating myself now, let me know. I got to see the Velvet Teen last night, the first time with Casey playing, and it was amazing. Today I was awakend by a man yelling my name with a hand towel tied around his face (turned out to be Jon Dunn), and they said I looked about the funniest they have ever seen me. I was also makikng some horrible yell/ screeching noise as he was shaking me, I don't know why. The recording is shaping up nicely, I'm excited for other people to hear it. Josh, Jeff and Jon have been playing Halo for three hours now, I really hate the game, I admit it is because I'm so horrible at it, so I guess I'm pretty much a sore loser, but I hate it.

Day 25

It's all of a sudden damn cold here. they day started off nice and warm, and now the wind has picked up and it is chilly, what gives? Oh yeah, it's Seattle. Aaron hooked up this intercom on the outside of the building today. So we are able to talk to people walking by and we can watch them on the closed circuit t.v. It so far has been responsible for us losing about two hours in which we could have been recording, but it's so much fun. I spent the majority of my day sitting around the Tooth and Nail offices acting like I worked there. I signed three bands, all of which were dropped minutes after my phone calls to them. This part might have been made up. We have a new roommate now, Mr. Josh Head, Emery keyboardist/vocalist and one of the best people to have around. He's great, he makes food, tea, cleans, runs errands, and I think he's capable of other things as well. Tonight has a lot in store, but we'll see what actually happens when the time comes.

Day 24

Hey, I heard some crazy stuff yesterday. I apologize if any of you have read about this, but I doubt it. So there was a husband and wife visiting a chimpanze that used to live with them when two other chimps got out of their cages and started to maul the man and woman. The woman got her thumb bitten off, the man lost all of his fingers, an eye, part of his nose, heel, buttock and testicles, and then to top it off, one of the chimps proceeded to drag the guy down the road after doing all of this, so the monkeys were shot to death, end of story. So don't fuck with chimps, they're strong ass animals. I'm waiting for the O.C. to come on, I've gone a week without it, I'm doing pretty good though, so don't worry. We all got another free lunch today, and drinks, I can't get enough of free food, or anything free for that matter. I also got to meet some of the guys from the Blood Brothers today, they came by the studio and hung out for a while. I always think that some of these people will be dicks, but not at all. They were all super nice, namely Cody Votolato (note: Josh, Rocky's little brother). So don't let anyone tell you these guys are asses, and if they were asses to you, you probably deserved it. O.C.s on. More tomorrow.

Day 23

You know that feeling when you want to do something, but you do the same thing all time, so you always find yourself doing the same thing you just thought about not doing? That whole sentence ight not make any sense. So basically I'm getting restless. Guitars are being recorded, so I sit around waiting to hear the 'closer to being done' song. I tend to find things to pass the time, a few minutes at a time. Like last night, I went to a show, it was a good one. Project 86, He Is Legend and Classic Case, tons of fun. I hadn't seen the Project guys in a while, so we hung out all night, first the Cha Cha and then the studio. Today we got free sushi from Brandon Ebel, it was really good. I tend to find myself just doing things that I normally wouldn't do, not that they are bad things, just things that I'm usually too of a pussy to do. Lately I've gotten up the balls to get us product endorsements, and I'm on a roll. So far it's been amps and strings and the guitars we should know about in a few days. I don't know if it's just me, but these blogs seem really boring, I can't wait to start touring so hopefully there will be some more exciting things happening. We'll see.

Day 22

Trying to find new and intersting things to write about is kind of hard right now, since I don't do a damn thing. At least, until last night. So I finished my bass parts, all done, so in celebration we went to the Wing Dome, for the fourth time. Lots of wings and drinks, some of the Emery guys were there, we had a blast and I found the secret to eating a 7alarm wing is not water afterwards, it hurts for a second, but then its nothing. For the second part of my celebration I went to the Cha Cha with Aaron and Chris, it was fun. We get introduced to a few people and before I know, we're hanging out with the guitarist from Vendetta Red and the ex- drummer of Acceptance. Chris left and a bunch of us went to this kareoke bar. I found out after I entered the place that it was a primarily gay bar, there were still women and couples hanging out, but I guess this place was technically a gay bar. So I'm hanging out in a gay bar with Aaron Sprinkle, a guy fom Vendetta Red and another guy who used to be in Acceptance, it was the most fun I've had in a long time. We made fun of the horrible singers, drank a lot and then headed home. Aaron was going to stay the night, but he disappeared around 4 in the morning and drove home, but he left his shoes in the apartment. I also couldn't sleep because the wings had caught up to me and made me feel like crap. They have these new cigarettes called Marlboro 72's. They were two for one, so Chris and I bought some. These things are like pygmie cigarettes, we're guessing the 72 means they are 72% of a real cigarette, I don't know, they're tiny, so don't buy those. Free lunches this week courtesy of Brandon Ebel and a guynamed DJ, free food is always nice. The Velvet Teen is playing up here this week, so I'll finally have something to do this weekend, until then, I'll find something to do.

Day 16

It's been a while, say this to yourself in a yeah voice, it has a bad effect on me, I hate this phrase because of this thought. Anyway, It has been, not that things haven't been exciting and fun, I just haven't felt like writing. And then just when I work into my routine up here, I get the horrific news that the O.C. will not be on tomorrow, what the hell? I have my brothers coming up though, so I'll get by without it for one week. So I'm almost all done with my tracking, well, half way done, then I get to sleep in and do nothing for another four weeks. It will be great. Today one of the most awkward things happend. One Michael Freestone, or Freakstone as J.R. McNeely calls him, calls and says he'll be by in an hour. So we wait in anticipation, Aaron tells us he doesn't want him to come inside, so we aren't allowed to let him in. We also have to get the idea across to him that he has no chance in hell with this label or studio or anything that has to do with any of us. So he finally shows up and says he has to come inside and talk with Aaron, we tell him Aaron's not in, and he insists on wating in the lobby for him to come back. Not cool, mainly because Aaron was in the other room. After a lot of b.s.ing with the guy we get someone to say they are an intern and will give his record to aaron to listen to, then he starts to lay into the girl, one of our good friends, about how her promotions department needs to get this record out as quickly as possible because it is going to fly off the shelves, or some crap like that. Then, out of nowhere, Austin, one of the most quiet and unassuming people ever, tells the guy to do that himself because we are not interested in his music. This catches Michael off guard and he asks why. Here is the best part, Austin calmly tells him that he doesn't like his music and it's not good, the guy is speechless and turns and walks away. I could not believe that whole thing, i was unbelieveable. In other news, there are some really crappy cars, probably abandoned, that are parked in front of the studio, and for some reason they really piss me off to look at them everyday. But I think they are going to get towed tomorrow, so now I won't have to look at those pieces of crapanymore and we can get a great parking spot. I almost forgot to mention, we hit up the Wing Dome for a second time on Monday, and this time it was a killer, ten 5's again and a 7 to finish up the night, but it killed me this time, and for some reason I can't wait for next week, Wing Dome again.

Day 13

It's the weekend, and I am having a great time. Friday was lots of fun, Ben and Mary came to town, Emery came home for a show, it was like a huge, happy family. The drums also got finished, so it was a glorious day. I ended up staying at Jon and Jenny's house that night, we watched some t.v. and that was about it. Saturday we ate meatball sandwiches and went to the mall, the mall here sucks. All that stuff was just filler for the day and our true activity, Wing Dome. For everyone's knowledge, Wing Dome makes buffalo wings, and they have the dreaded seven alarm wings. So we all walk down to the Wing Dome and find out that Jon, Ben, Jenny and myself are the only ones man enough to eat the wings. We order a bucket of Miller and ten five alarms each, Jenny got barbeque flavor. I'm expecting something really hot, and these were pretty dang hot, but not unbearable by any means. So I get through my ten wings and I'm recovered by now from the heat, and Jon orders a round of "sevens". These wings aren't just any old wings, they are sold individually around $1.99 each, so you need to be serious about actually eating one of these. The wings show up and they look damn hot, you can't see the meat anywhere under all the sauce. We cheers the wings and dig in, at first it didn't seem all that hot, then it hit me, right in the nasal cavity, I started tearing up, Ben was sweating like he just ran a mile, and Jon seemed perfectly normal. By the end of the wing I couldn't get anything into my stomach, and my body was shaking like it was in some sort of shock. That was an experience, and to top of my experience, I went to the bathroom, not thinking to wash my hands before, and got the worst burning sensation in my groin ever. So I learned a valuable lesson, wash your hands after eating spicy foods, especially before handling yourself. Today was church/ fishing day, church was boring, fishing was great, no bites, but it was nice to be out on the pond with my friends, that's going to be a Sunday event for sure. I'll tell more about our spot next weekend. I start my bass tracking tomorrow, I need to learn some of the songs still, I'll get to them when they come up.