Sunday, June 15, 2008

New York, NY (Crash Mansion)

The Bang! Tour ended last night in NYC. We stayed an extra day and played a party for a friends at Inklings.tv tonight at the Crash Mansion in NYC. The venue was really cool and the party went really well!

We played with Lannen Fall and Socratic. The Graduate headlined the show. The sound was great and the crowd loved it.

Thanks so much to Inklings.tv for having us play! We had a blast.

And now I can officially say it..........we're GOING HOME tonight!!! Ahhhh. It's currently midnight. We should be leaving the city in the next thirty minutes. We have an eighteen hour drive back home. We're doing the whole thing straight.

This last two and a half months has been a great experience. It's had a lot of ups and downs (as all tours do), but overall, it was a fun time. The was the longest we've ever been out at one time, and I think we did a good job maintaining our composure (and sanity) on the road.

We've got about three weeks at home and then we're hitting the road again for an 8-week full US tour. I better rest up while I can over these next few weeks!

New York, NY (Blender Theatre @ Gramercy)

The tour ended last night at The Blender Theatre in New York City. The show turned out to be pretty big! Nightmare of You is from Long Island, so they definitely had a big draw.

The venue was really nice. Great lights and whatnot. We got to hang out with some people from the label. We also got to meet a few people from Girlie Action, a publicity firm that just jumped on board with us. I'm really excited about working with them. I think they're going to help us out a lot.


Overall, it was a good tour. Everyone was really cool and we all got along really well. We've been out for over nine weeks now, and we're all more than ready to get home for a few weeks. We've got one more show in NYC tonight. It's a 1 year birthday bash for our friends at Inklings.tv. It should be good!

After the show, we're driving straight home. It's going to be an intense drive, but we'll all be hyped up to get home, so it'll be alright.

Friday, June 13, 2008

OFF DAY (MO to PA)

We had an off day yesterday. We drove from MO to PA. We got a hotel in Harrisburg, PA. That's where I'm at right now.

Our show tonight is in North Caldwell, NJ (not too far from NYC). It should be pretty good!

St. Louis, MO (2 Cents Plain)

Wednesday's show was at 2 Cents Plain in downtown St. Louis. We'd never played this venue before. The show was pretty crowded. My family came down for it. We got to go to dinner and catch up on things. It was great to have some time with them. I had a lot of good friends come out to the show too.

The venue was really hot and the sound was sub-par, but the guys still put on a good show.

After the show, we went to a bar a few blocks away called Rue 13. The place was pretty cool! They had cheap drinks and they served sushi. Pretty cool.

I always love playing in St. Louis. We're not hitting it on the Secondhand Serenade tour, which is a bummer. Hopefully we'll be back soon though!

Tulsa, OK (Crush Lounge)

Sunday's show was at the Crush Lounge in Tulsa, OK. We played this venue on the Mayday Parade tour. The show was alright. Pretty small crowd. We actually packed up and left the show after the guys were finished playing. We headed out early because we were driving overnight to Alton, IL.

Oklahoma City, OK (The Conservatory)

The next day we were in Oklahoma City. The show was at a venue called The Conservatory. We played the Bricktown Ballroom in OKC on the Mayday Parade tour, but we'd never played this venue. It was pretty run down! You had to hold your breath if you walked in the bathroom. Not cool.

A buddy of mine happened to be in OKC for a conference, so he came out to the show. It was good catching up with him. He'd never seen the band play, so it was cool that he finally got to see them.

After the show, we stayed with some girls that we know. Nightmare of You stayed with us too. It was a good time! We all went swimming and hot-tubbing.

We're coming back to OKC on the Secondhand Serenade tour...

Dallas, TX (DAY OFF)

After the Austin show, we drove back to Dallas, TX. Well, the city was called Allen, TX to be exact. We stayed with some good friends. It was a great day. We cleaned the van, went swimming, had some great home-cooked meals, and caught up on some sleep.

Great day.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Austin, TX (Stubb's BBQ - Indoor stage)

Last night, we were at Stubb's BBQ in Austin. We'd never played this venue before. It's one of the real popular venues in Austin, so I'm glad we finally got to play there.

There was a good crowd and everyone sounded really good! We all got to eat a free meal at the venue. Man, it's was good!

After the show, we drove back to Ft. Worth and stayed with our buddy, Sean, again. We're at his place right now.

We have an off day today. We're going to stay with a friend in Dallas. Tomorrow's show is in Oklahoma City, so we'll drive there in the morning.

I'm pretty stoked for this off day. We're going to clean out the van and go swimming. Should be productive.

Dallas, TX (Prophet Bar)

Friday night's show was at the Prophet Bar in Dallas. The show was really good! The crowd was really receptive and all the bands played really well.

Our buddy, Wegs, ran merch for me that night. It was a nice relief. I got to hang out with the bands during the show, which was a good change of pace.

After the show, we drove toward Ft. Worth and stayed with our buddy, Sean. We woke up the next day and drove to our show in Austin.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

San Antonio, TX (Rock Bottom Bar)

I'm here at the merch table in San Antonio. It's midnight and the show is coming to an end.

We survived the overnight drive from Tucson. It was pretty intense with no A/C, but we did it.

The venue tonight is pretty run down....they weren't lying about the "Rock Bottom" part. Haha.

We're driving three hours tonight to our hotel in Waco, TX. I'm going to be at the dealership at 7am tomorrow. We're crossing our fingers that they can fix our A/C tomorrow before our show in Dallas. I really hope it happens. It would make our lives much more pleasant.

Well, that's about all I have for tonight.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Tuscon, AZ (Club Congress)

We're in Tucson for our first time ever tonight. The venue is called Club Congress. It's a really cool place. It's connected to a hotel. I believe we're in a very historic area.

Tonight's show is a bit small, but the sound is great, and things are going smoothly. Nightmare Of You is on stage right now. The fun part about tonight is what we're doing after the show....

We have an all-night 13 hour drive to San Antonio, TX tonight. Yeah, not cool. We're going to leave the venue to night and drive straight to San Antonio. We'll still probably only get there a few hours before load-in. Luckily, this is the only overnight drive on this tour that we HAVE to do. (We'll probably drive overnight to St. Louis after the Tulsa show next week, but that's our choice.)

Oh, I forgot to add that I got the A/C checked out today, and they think the compressor is shot. That's going to cost us $1,000 minimum. We're going to have to wait until we get home from this tour to get that fixed.

The next two weeks are going to be pretty rough without A/C, but we'll live. Maybe it'll build character or something.

Besides all the complaining I just did, everything else is good! Haha. I'm happy to be making our way back east....

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Tempe, AZ (The Clubhouse)

I'm currently at our show in Tempe, AZ. We're at a venue called The Clubhouse. We played here almost a year ago to the day on The Audition tour. I like this venue.

Tonight's show is pretty decent. Nothing too crazy, but there's a solid crowd and everything is going smoothly.

The drive from San Diego today was pretty intense! The A/C in our van is out, so we were pretty hot. We're trying to get it fixed in the morning. The next three or four days are supposed to be like 95+ degrees where we're going...

We're going to stay in town tonight with some of Corey's friends. We're off to Tucson tomorrow. We've never played there. New city = sweet!

San Diego, CA (DAY OFF)

We had the day off today and we spent it in San Diego. We woke up and went to the beach. It was only about three blocks from where we were staying! Perfect.

I threw on a wet suit and attempted to surf. I had surfed one time before (a few years ago), but I was a little rusty. I didn't do as well I had hoped, but it was still a lot of fun.

The rest of the day has been relaxing. Jared's brother, Jeremy, treated us to an amazing dinner tonight. It was at a Brazilian restaurant in downtown San Diego. The restaurant offered us 16 different types of meats...it was nuts. I tried some new things, which was cool.

We're back at Jeremy's place right now watching a movie. We're getting up pretty early and making the drive to Tempe, AZ. WE're playing at the Clubhouse tomorrow. It's a cool venue. I'm looking forward to going back there.

San Diego has been good to us. I'm excited to come back here in July!

*Thanks to Jeremy and his friends for all their hospitality. We really appreciate it guys!

San Diego, CA (Soma - Sidestage)

Last night's show was at Soma in San Diego. This venue is nice! We played here about a year ago. This show was decent. We had a few friends come out, so that was cool. We played the side room, which holds about 500 people. The main room must hold a few thousand. That's pretty crazy, considering the fact that the venue is in a strip of stores and it doesn't look half as big as it is from the outside.

We're coming back to this venue on the Secondhand Serenade tour. We're playing the side room again, but I have a feeling it'll be pretty packed.

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

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Chain Reaction (Anaheim, CA)

Last night we were at the Chain Reaction in Anaheim, CA. We played this place a year ago on The Audition tour.

The show last night was good! There were about two hundred people there. The guys played well and everything.

After the show, we made the drive to San Diego. We stayed at Jared's older brother's place. I'm at our show in San Diego right now. We're staying in town again tonight. We have an off day tomorrow, so we'll be here all day tomorrow and tomorrow night.

We're supposed to go surfing tomorrow! I haven't gone in a few years, but I'm stoked! We'll see how it goes..