Sunday, September 23, 2007

Minneapolis, MN (University of Minnesota - The Whole Music Club)

Friday night's show was in the student union at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The club was really cool. It had this industrial feel, but it was still really clean.

We got to the venue and did the normal show routine. There were two other bands on the bill. One band was from Michigan and the other band was from St. Louis. The St. Louis band, Ludo, is going to be on half of the tour we're on in November. It was nice to meet the guys and get acquainted before that tour.

The show went pretty well. There were around 120 people there. The guys played well and they got a good crowd response. After the show, we drove home. It was about a nine hour overnight drive. We're now home until our press show in NYC on October 4th.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Laramie, WY (University of Wyoming - Union Ballroom)

We played our first college show (ever) at the University of Wyoming
yesterday. This was also our first headlining show in the US (excluding
IL).

The show was pretty good! It was a free show (open to both students and
the general public). There was a pretty good crowd (~100). The guys
played the longest set they've ever played (it was a full 60 minute
set). It went well! The crowd enjoyed it and the guys performed well.
Merch sales were pretty good.

The university bought us two hotel rooms about a mile from the college,
so we stayed there.

We have today off. We're driving all day. Tomorrow's show is in
Minneapolis, which is a 13 hour drive from Laramie...

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Cardiff, UK (Barfly)

Our last show of the tour (on Monday)was in Cardiff. The show ended up being pretty good! There were about 60 people there. The guys played well and went over well with the crowd. We sold a good amount of merch.

The venue was across the street from a huge castle. Pretty awesome. That's definitely something you wouldn't see in the US :o)

We flew out of London on Tuesday morning. The flight was fine. We landed in Chicago and made the drive home from there.

Overall, the tour was great. We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of new things. Hopefully the crowds will be a bit bigger next time (as well as the cash flow, hah). It's all good, though. It was our first trip over there, and we were just getting our feet wet. Next overseas tour, we'll have a better idea of how to do things! I hope we get a chance to go back over sooner than later...

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Amsterdam, NE (Melkweg)

Friday's show was at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. This venue was awesome!
We got most of our rider and everything.

The show ended up being really good. There was a solid crowd and they
really dug the guys' set. They were cheering for another song after the
set, so the guys came back out and played 'Justified'. We did real well
on merch.

We went out in Amsterdam after the show. It was a good time.
Definitely a lot different than going out in the US.

We had yesterday (Saturday) off. We just stayed at the hotel most of
the day and hung out. It was a nice relaxing day.

We're now on our way back to Viper's place. We're going to stay there
tonight. Tomorrow is our last show of the tour (in Cardiff, UK). It's
pretty crazy that this trip is already coming to an end!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Glasgow, UK (Barfly)

Last night's show was at the Barfly in Glasgow. The drive there wasn't
bad at all. This barfly was a bit bigger than the previous ones. The
stage was bigger as well. I thought it would be really hard to
understand people in Glasgow (because of their thick accents).
Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to understand them. The people in
Liverpool were actually harder to understand!

We got everything set up and then went to eat dinner. We decided to have
Pizza Hut. This was the one American food place (also located in the
UK) that I hadn't had yet. It was great! We all got appetizers, pizza,
and dessert for 5 pounds a piece! Pretty good deal. The food was really
good. This was the first food place that I liked BETTER in the UK (than
the US).

The show ended up being pretty good. There were about 50 kids there.
The guys got a good crowd response and we had our best night in merch so
far. After the show, we went out to a club called 'Cathouse.' It was a
punk/metal type of place. We had a pretty good time. It was an
interesting environment, but definitely a fun time. We had to meet at
the van at 1am to start our trip to Amsterdam. We drove all night and
got to the venue in Amsterdam at 4:30 this afternoon.

We're now at the show in Amsterdam. This venue (Melkweg) is awesome!
It's really nice. We have a sweet backstage room and we actually got a
decent amount of stuff that's on our rider!

We're going out in Amsterdam tonight after the show. It should be a
good time!! I'll fill you in (on select details, haha) tomorrow.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

York, UK (Barfly/Fibbers)

Yesterday's show was at the Barfly in York, UK. This barfly had the
nickname 'Fibbers.' Anyways, we got into town a few hours before
load-in. We went to our hotel. This place was awesome! It looked like
a huge castle. There was a huge chess board and croquet in the lawn
outside.

The show ended up being so-so. The door count was 30 people. The guys
played ok. Though the crowd was small, the guys got a good response.
We did alright on merch (for the amount of people there).

This was my favorite barfly venue so far. I just thought the atmosphere
was great and the staff was really friendly.

The town of York was really neat. A lot of old buildings and whatnot.
I got the chance to walk around downtown for a little bit, and I really
enjoyed it!

We're now on the way to our show in Glasgow, Scotland. We're almost
there. From what I've seen so far, Scotland is cool. Big green rolling
hills, etc. Exactly how I imagined it would be.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Liverpool, UK (Barfly)

Yesterday's show was at the Barfly in Liverpool. We got to Liverpool
early in the day. We ate McDonald's for lunch. I thought it tasted
pretty similar to McDonald's back home. This is interesting because most
of the fast food (Burger King at least) over here tastes a lot different
than back home. In my opinion, it tastes better in the US.

After lunch, some of us went to The Beatles museum. It was really
cool. We walked through the museum with headphones on (to hear audio
commentary). Each exibit had a number, so you typed that number into
your little device, and you could hear more about it. The museum took
you through the Beatles story from beginning to end.
I'm really glad I went.

After that, we got two hotel rooms at a place called Formule 1. It was
the most basic hotel room I've ever seen. Ha. The bathroom and shower
weren't in the same room. They were down the hall. Kind of interesting,
but it's all good.

The show last night didn't end up being too great. By the time the guys
went on, there were maybe 15 or 20 people there. You win some, you lose
some.

We went out in Liverpool after the show. We hung out with some locals.
It was a good time!

We're now on our way to York, UK. That's where tonight's show is...

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Camden, UK (Barfly)

Last night (Monday) was our first Barfly show. It was in Camden (which
is right outside of London). There were 100 people through the door and
35-40 people there when the guys played. Not too bad. We did alright on
merch sales. Viper had a friend from Kerrang magazine (it's a big music
magazine in the UK.......it's the equivalent of Alternative Press in the
US) come out to the show. She did a show review and supposedly she
really liked it! It should be printed in about 2 weeks. Viper also had
his friend from the Victory Records UK office come out. She was really
cool.

Viper's a riot. He's really funny. Everyone gets along with him and
vice versa. I'm really glad we have him along.

The UK is cool so far. Everyone is having fun.

We're driving to Liverpool right now.

Random fact: I had fish and chips yesterday for the first time! It was
really good!

It's pretty cool that we're playing in the same city where The Beatles
got their start! We plan on driving by The Beatles museum today....

Hopefully the show in Liverpool goes well tonight!

DAY OFF - Tunbridge Wells

We stayed at Viper's apartment on our day off (Sunday). He lives in
Tunbridge Wells, which is about thirty minutes outside of London.

We were pretty lazy for most of the day. We slept a lot, went out to a
pub, and watched movies. It was great.

Konstanz, DE (Bodenseestadion - Rock Am See)

We flew from Chicago to London on Thursday. It was quite a task getting
all our equipment checked, but somehow, it all worked out. The flight
ended up being right around 7 hours long. We arrived in London at 6am
and met up with our driver, Viper, around 7:30 or 8am.

We ran a few errands around London, and then we started our 13 hour
drive to Konstanz, Germany. The drive was pretty cool. We hit some
mountains that were pretty tough to drive through. We got a hotel about
two hours outside of Konstanz.

Rock Am See was awesome. I'd say there were about 4,000 people there
when the guys played. We didn't do that great on merch sales, but it's
all good. The guys got a good crowd response. They were clapping along
to multiple songs.

The singer of Nine Inch Nails walked right by us when we were backstage
(right before Nine Inch Nails played). That was pretty cool. The
catering was really good. The promoter liked us a lot too, which is
great.

Germany was pretty awesome. It was very different, but I liked it a
lot! I met a lady who worked for a big radio station in Germany and
talked to her a decent amount. She spoke pretty decent english. I gave
her some cd's and she said she'd play a song on the air. Pretty cool.

Rock Am See festival was cool. I hope we get the opportunity to play it
again.