Dekalb, IL (The House Cafe)

Tonight's show in Dekalb ended up being kind of a bummer. The guys
played fine, the venue was cool, the sound was decent, the promoter was
cool, but the turnout was pretty low.

On a good note, the crowd that saw the guys' set definitely enjoyed it!
A few fans even got up on the mic and sang some gang vocals at the end
of the set.

After the show, we packed up and headed out pretty quick. We're now on
our way home. We'll be home until Halloween day (when we fly out to
L.A. to do a one-off).

DAY OFF (I <3 Ap.net)

Yesterday was our day off. We spent the majority of the day driving
from Boston to Dekalb, IL (where Sunday's show is). It was a nice little
17 hour drive. We decided to drive all night and we arrived in Dekalb
around 6:30 this morning. We parked in a parking lot and slept for a
while. We're now at the venue killing some time before load-in.

Tonight's show should be fun. We're playing in a college town (NIU),
and the venue is close to campus. We're headlining the show, so I
really hope it goes well! After the show, we'll be going home (for a
couple weeks).

*My journal got mentioned today on the ever-so-popular
Absolutepunk.net!! Check out the post here:

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=273512

**Hello to all who just found out about my journal from
Absolutepunk.net! Thanks for checking it out.
I keep this journal for two reasons: 1) To log everything for myself,
and 2) To give others an insight into the life of an up-and-coming band
on the road.

Feel free to email me at alex@wearethegraduate.com if you have any
questions, comments, etc. Special thanks to Julia Conny for the post!**

Allston, MA (ICC Church)

We drove all night to get to Boston. We made it to the TV filming right
on time. The taping ended up going really well! The guys played two
songs (Anhedonia & The City That Reads). Anhedonia is set to air on
November 1st, and The City That Reads will be an online-exclusive
video.

After the tv shoot, we went into the city to find some parking. Well,
parking was impossible to find, so we just went to the venue. We hung
out and grabbed lunch.

The show was the last one of our mini-tour with The New Amsterdams and
Anathallo. It ended up being alright. It definitely wasn't the best
show of the tour, but hey, you win some, you lose some.

After the show, we hung out at a friend's place in Boston. It was a good
time.

Washington D.C (Rock & Roll Hotel)

We stayed in Towson, MD the night of the Philly show. Our good friends,
Julia and Jacqueline, let us stay at their place (once again). We had a
blast! We stayed up until 6am talking and hanging out.

Thursday's show was at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington D.C. This
was the first time we've played in D.C.

The show went well. The guys played first, and they had a decent crowd
there. People seemed into it. We had a crew of friends from the
Baltimore area make the trip out to see us. It was great to have some
familiar faces in the crowd. This tour has been interesting because
almost no one in the crowd has ever heard us or seen us before.

The club was pretty cool. We got to order food from their menu, and I
got a grilled peanut butter and marshmallow panini. It was every 4 year
old kid's dream meal!

After the show, we drove straight to Boston. We were filming two songs
for Boston's 'Fox 25 In the Morning' program at 9:30am...

Philadelphia, PA (Northstar)

Yesterday's show was at the Northstar in Philly. It ended up being a
pretty good show! There was a good crowd (160) and the guys went over
well. We had never played this venue before, but it was pretty cool.

We didn't do great on merch...I have to say that the food there was
really good! I got some awesome potato skins.

After the show, we drove to Baltimore to stay with some friends. We
stayed up way too late last night, but we had a blast!

We're now changing out another trailer tire. (One of our tires was worn
down and looked like it could blow any minute...) After this, we'll be
heading to our show in Washingto D.C. We've never played D.C., so
hopefully things go well!

Cleveland, OH (The Grog Shop)

Today was the first day of our mini-tour with The New Amsterdams and
Anathallo. The tour started in Cleveland. We left home around 6:30am
and made it to Cleveland right on time. Unfortunately, we blew a trailer
tire about an hour into the drive. Luckily, we had a legit spare!

This little tour is different for us because the guys are playing
(somewhat of) an acoustic set (acoustic guitars, bass, small drums set,
keyboard). The set tonight went really well! I really liked the vibe.
The songs were re-arranged from their normal (electric) versions. It's
great to hear everything stripped down.

There was a good crowd (150). Only a few people had seen us before. It
was good to play for new ears and eyes. We did alright on merch.

Anathallo and The New Amsterdams were both awesome! We're really excited
to be out it them!

We're now driving a few hours to our hotel (outside of Pittsburgh).
We'll have about a five hour drive left tomorrow (to the show in
Philly). Overall, it was a good day!

New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)

We played a show at The Knitting Factory in NYC last Thursday (10/4). We started our drive to NY on Wednesday. We drove until we were about two and a half hours outside of the city and got a hotel. We finished the drive on Thursday morning. We arrived in the city around 1pm. We went to the label and said hello to everyone. After that, we (the band + everyone at the label) went out to lunch. We ate at a nice italian restaurant called "PJ's." This place was good!

After lunch, we went straight to the venue for load-in. It took a while to find parking (surprise surprise). We eventually found parking, loaded in, and soundchecked. This show was special because we were the only band on the bill. Our label actually rented the room out for us. The show was basically a talent showcase to people in the industry. It was a free show, open to the public, so there were a good amount of fans there as well. Oh yeah, did I mention there was an open bar?!

The show went really well! The guys played about a 45 minute set, and they killed it! I was really happy. After the show, we mingled with people for a while and eventually loaded out.

Matthew and Amena (both from the label) then took us out to dinner. We went to a cool place called "Morocco" (or something similar to that!). It was good! The lighting in the restaurant was really cool. It reminded me of the lighting that was on the back cover of the guys' cd, 'Anhedonia.'

After dinner, we went to our hotel in Elizabeth, NJ (right outside of the city). We slept in late the next day and then made the drive back home to IL.

Overall, it was a great trip. Our time in NYC was short and sweet, but we definitely made the best of it!