Round 2

We left this morning for our next tour. We're currently on our way to
Poughkeepsie, NY (to play the first of three shows we have with Jack's
Mannequin)! We will probably end up getting a hotel a few hours outside
of Poughkeepsie.

The morale is real high right now. These three Jack's Mannequin shows
will be the biggest shows the guys have ever played (1,000+ people per
night)! Everyone is really stoked for these!

After the Jack's shows, we'll do a week with The Forecast and then head
down to the huge music festival, South By Southwest (SXSW)m in Austin,
TX for a few days. It feels good to be back on the road!

Pictures from Waking Ashland/The Fold/Jonezetta/Sound The Alarm Tours (Jan./Feb. 2007)

Millvale, PA

Our last show of tour was at Mr. Small's in Millvale, PA (right outside
of Pittsburgh). The venue was really cool. It was an old church that
had been gutted and turned into a venue. We made load-in time and did
the normal show routine. I basically acted as the headlining tour
manager for the show. (I was the only tour manager on tour this past
week.) It was good practice for when we actually have a headlining tour
(maybe in the Fall or something...). This show even had security and
stuff. Pretty cool.

The guys played well. There was a decent crowd (for a Sunday night).
The crowd was kind of dead during the set. I took pictures and video
during the guys' set. I ended up getting some real good footage!

The green room at this place was pretty sweet! All the bands hung out
before the show. It was good to get some time with everyone before the
tour ended.

We are going out with a band called 'Punchline' in April. Steve (the
singer of Punchline) came out to the show. I already knew him through
interning at Fueled By Ramen. (Puncline is on Fueled By Ramen.)
Anyways, I got to introduce him to the guys. We hung out with him for a
while. It was cool.

Overall, our first national tour went really well! The first two weeks
went better than the third week, but overall, everything went pretty
well. We all learned a lot and we have a lot to look forward to. Our
next tour starts March 1st. The first four dates of the tour (are with
Jack's Mannequin) are going to be huge for us! I can't wait!!

(I probably won't update this again until we start the next tour.)

Allentown, PA

Our show was at a venue called 'Crocodile Rock' in Allentown, PA. This
place was awesome! It was really big and it had a really cool vibe. It
reminded me of a club one would see in Orlando, FL or something. The
show was crazy because it started at 5pm and had to be over by 7pm.
There were two other shows going on after ours that night!! Anyways, the
guys were supposed to play at 5pm, but a fuse on Max's amp went out
right before they played. This cut into their set. The guys ended up
packing four songs into the (remaining) fifteen minutes of their set.
There was a decent crowd there when the guys played.

The sound and lights at this place were excellent! This was definitely
the guy's best (sounding) performance of the whole tour!!!

The green room at this place was awesome too! It was huge! Overall,
everyone loved the place and we hope to play there again in the near
future.

We stayed at Brian's (from Sound The Alarm) house. We're currently
driving to Millvale, PA. This will be the last stop of our tour. After
the show tonight, we are driving home (through the night).

Bethlehem, PA - Day Off

We slept in late today It was such a relief! We then went to a diner
for brunch. After that, we made our way to our hotel in Bethlehem, PA.
We hung out there and then went to a random frat party in the
surrounding area. It wasn't that great. We are going to go pass out and
then go to our show about fifteen minutes away tomorrow. It should be
cake.

p.s. Matt (guitarist/synth player) and I walked over 2 miles to get beer
tonight. Note to self: beer is HARD to find in Pennsylvania!

Bound Brook, NJ

We played at the Hamilton Street Cafe in Bound Brook, NJ. We got to the
show on time and did the normal routine. The venue was pretty cool. A
ton of New Jersey bands (that I listened to when growing up) have played
there. Two local bands played before us. There were a lot of kids
there for the local bands. Unfortunately, right after the second local
band played, about half the crowd left. This was not cool.

*Note to promoters: If you have a local band on a show with national
touring acts (and the touring acts are not extremely well known), have
the local band headline. That way, kids will stick around for all the
bands.*

The guys played well and the crowd gave a good response. We did well on
merch. We ended up staying at a new friend's house. Overall, it was a
good time.

There was a sweet pizza place (Tony's Pizza) across the street from the
venue. We liked it so much that we went there twice!

Allston, MA

Boston streets are confusing! We made it to the venue after getting
lost around the area for about forty-five minutes. This has been a
common trend for us lately. We're good on directions until we get into
the city, but then we manage to get lost. I think east coast cities are
just confusing. One street will change names like three times in a
mile. Not cool.

The show was at ICC Church in Allston, MA (which is right outside of
Boston). The place was pretty cool and a lot of big bands still play
there. We were first on the bill. The guys played really well. There
was a small crowd (~35-40) there when they played. The crowd really dug
the set! I ran lights and had a good time with that.

My friend Kristen (from Tampa) came out to the show. It was great to see
her! She even brought the band candy. What a good friend.

We stayed at a friend-of-a-friend's place in Boston. It was fun. We're
now on our way to our show in Bound Brook, NJ.

(Building character in) Hartford, CT

Yesterday, we played at a place called 'The Webster Underground' in
Hartford, CT. This was part of the Webster Theatre. (The Webster
Theatre has two rooms -- a big one and a smaller one....this was the
smaller one). So we got to the show and did our normal routine. We got
our two new t-shirts, and they look really good!

So this venue wasn't too bad -- they had a good sound system, a bar, and
a 'green room' (where bands hang out). The only catch to this
show....there was no one there. OK, there might have been about seven
people there while the guys played. Four people from our label came
out, and it was great to see them! The guys actually played REALLY
well! They sounded great and put on a great performance. They were
more laid back due to the limited crowd size.

We ended up staying with the vice president of our label. His place was
sweet! We are now driving to Allston, MA (which is right outside of
Boston). I hope there's a few more kids there tonight! (Attendance this
week could be rough.)

*We all know that shows like last night happen to every single touring
band at some point. You win some, you lose some. Most importantly,
keep your head up and take it with a grain of salt. *

Buffalo, NY

We braved the bad weather and made it to Buffalo. We got there a bit
early, so we decided to get an oil change. This is our second oil
change of the tour! We then went to the venue and loaded in. This is
where things took a weird twist...

Everything was going smoothly until someone came in and started taking
out the PA system (for vocals). No PA system = no vocals = no
performance. Apparently, the venue was switching sound companies and
the new PA wasn't going to be there for a few days. Luckily, Gina had
friends from a local band that brought us another PA system to use.

We ended up playing the show. The sound wasn't amazing, but it got the
job done.

This was our first night of our week-long tour with The Fold and Sound
The Alarm. We ended up staying with our long-time friend (Kimbo).
Sound The Alarm stayed there too! We had a little party. We are now
driving to our show in Hartford, CT.

Tonight will be special because a few people from our record label will
be there! We are also getting two new t-shirts (new designs) today!

Pittsburgh, PA - Day Off

We had yesterday off. It was Superbowl Sunday, so it's probably good
that we didn't have a show (I don't think anyone would have come)! We
decided to take a little detour to Buffalo, NY by stopping in
Pittsburgh. We watched the Superbowl with our new friends in Waking
Ashland. It was a disappointing game, but we had fun regardless.

After the game, we started making our way to Buffalo. Unfortunately,
we hit some bad weather and had to get a hotel in Erie, PA. (Luckily,
the hotel was sweet!) We just left Erie about twenty minutes go and
we're making our way to Buffalo. The roads aren't great, but we should
be alright. (We have plenty of time to make it to the show.)

Covington. KY

The show in Covington went alright. The venue (The Mad Hatter) was
really cool. It reminded me of an old diner (there were neon blue and
pink lights lining the place). The guys played pretty well. They had a
few minor mistakes. Also, Corey's voice sounded thrashed during the
whole set. (He hit his notes and everything, but I thought his voice was
going to go out any minute.) We'll have to make sure we take care of
that a little better.

There was a good sized crowd there for the set, and the kids seemed to
get into it. The guys really went nuts during the last part of their
set. It was really cool because the guys from Jonezetta joined them on
stage to assist them with their drum cadence. (Jonezetta's singer,
Robert, also helped sing some vocals on the song 'Anhedonia.')

It was a good tour! We're really going to miss the Waking Ashland and
Jonezetta guys. Hopefully we'll cross paths with both bands again at
some point.

We are staying out another week to do some east coast dates with The
Fold and Sound The Alarm. Hopefully it goes well.

Today is Superbowl Sunday and we have the day off. We are going to
Pittsburg to watch the game with Waking Ashland and The Fold. It should
be a good time!

Lansing, MI

The show was really hectic. We were super, which was not cool. (We
were told there was no time change on the drive to Lansing -- that was
wrong, we also hit some bad traffic and some bad weather. Jonezetta
had to play before us (because we got there right when we were supposed
to go on stage). Luckily, all the bands were cool about everything and
the understood our situation. We are going to do our best to make sure
that doesn't happen again.

The show was not that great. The sound system was terrible and the venue
was filled with smoke. All the bands were really rushed. In fact, the
headliner (Waking Ashland) had their set cut short because of the tight
time constraints. There were a good amount of kids there, and they
seemed to dig the guys' show. Though, for some reason, these kids
weren't interested in any of the bands' merch. Kind of weird.

We stayed with Gina's friend (who lived just a few miles from the
venue). Overall, ok show, decent night.

I just finished driving my leg of the trip to Covington, KY. We should
be there in about an hour. Tonight is the last night of this tour. (We
are staying out another week on the east coast with The Fold, but Waking
Ashland and Jonezetta aren't on it). I hope it goes well!

Madison, WI

The drive from Chicago to Madison was pretty quick. We got to Madison
early in the afternoon and decided to walk around a popular shopping
area called 'State Street.' We found a really cool vintage store.
Everyone bought at least an item or two. We then went to the venue (The
Loft) and did the normal show routine. The place was a teen center. The
venue was alright. The acoustics and the sound system were sub-par
(compared to the places we have been playing), but the guys still
managed to play well (and sound the best they possibly could). There was
a good turnout and the crowd gave a decent response. Overall, it was a
decent night.

We drove to Milwaukee to stay at our Gina's (our merch girl) place. We
are now driving to Lansing, MI.

Chicago, IL

So we got to Chicago around 930am. The overnight drive wasn't too fun,
but we made it. We ate a real early lunch and went to our interview at
JBTV. The interview/acoustic performance went really well! The studio
was legit. A few friends/girlfriends joined us after that. We bummed
around for a little bit before the show. Then we started the whole show
routine.

The venue (The Beat Kitchen) was really cool! The sound was great! The
guys turned up their amps befoer they played, and their mix sounded a
lot better. (We were having an issue on this tour -- we didn't sound as
loud/full as the other bands.) It seems like we're now a lot closer to
that full sound. The crowd really got into it. Some good friends came
out to the show. It was great to see them!

We stayed with some girls that we met through an interview. They were
really cool. (They write for 'Venus' magazine.) We are now on the road
to Madison, Wisconsin. It's a short drive, so that's awesome. Overall,
Chicago rules and I can't wait for us to play there again.