Breastretchers (Springfield, IL)

We played our hometown venue, Breadstretchers, on Saturday night. As always, it was a good time. There was a decent crowd (not as big as we hoped, but still solid). I think the crowd size was due to a lot of kids going back to college and us booking the show last minute. Regardless, the guys played well and the crowd was way into it. They were clapping along during "The Formula" before Corey even instructed them to! They were also singing along to a lot of the songs. We did alright on merch. Overall, it was a good time!

*We are leaving tomorrow for our overseas tour. We will be playing Germany, the UK, and Amsterdam over a ten day time period. I will do my best to update the blog from over there. The time has finally come for The Graduate to go international!

Bloomington, IL (Coffee Nation)

We played Bloomington, IL last Wednesday. The show was pretty decent. Our good buddies in Asteria were on the bill as well. There was a pretty good turnout and the guys got a good crowd response. We did ok on merch.

After the show, we hung out and stayed the night in Bloomington. This is the town where I went to college, so I still have a lot of friends there. I hung out with some friends and had a good time. Overall, it was great evening.

Tour Ends Early

So we stayed in Chicago the night of our House of Blues show. We wake up the next morning and start our drive to Papillion, NE. We only make it to Dekalb, IL when we smell something weird coming from our van. We immediately know this is bad news. We go to the nearest mechanic and get it checked out. It turns out that our transmission was shot. The van wouldn't go in reverse. Also, our transmission fluid was supposed to be red, and it was black. Not good.

We end up driving (slowly) all the way home to Springfield. Every time we hit a red light, it took about a minute to get the van to go forward in drive. Luckily, we made it all the way home.

The downside is that it is going to take a while to get fixed. As a result, we are forced to drop off the remaining dates of our tour with June and The Higher. This is definitely a bummer for us.

We didn't want to sit on our hands for the next week, so we've already pulled together three central Illinois shows for this upcoming week. We're playing Bloomington on Wednesday, Quincy on Friday, and Springfield on Saturday. Hopefully these shows will help us pay for the transmission...

*Sorry to all the kids who were planning on coming out to see us on the remaining dates of the tour. We'll do our best to make it your way as soon as possible!

Chicago, IL (House Of Blues)

Friday's show was at the House of Blues in Chicago. Before we get to that, let's talk about the earlier portion of our day...

We drove overnight from our Minneapolis show to Chicago. We got to our hotel in Oak Brook around 4:30am. We all showered and went to sleep for two hours. It was then time to get up and head to our commercial shoot in downtown Chicago. The guys filmed a thirty second commercial for their upcoming single, "Anhedonia". The commercial is going to serve as a teaser for the next music video they'll be shooting. It's other purpose is to keep the hype going around the band and to get kids stoked on the next single.

The commercial shoot ended up going really well. We were there from 10am-4pm. After the shoot, we rushed to House of Blues to start loading in. Well, on our way there, we got into a little fender bender. I won't go into a ton of details, but the side of our trailer got a pretty decent gash. It's still totally functional though, so it's all good. For the record, I wasn't driving this time...

The House of Blues show was awesome! There were around 800 people there. The guys went on third, and they killed it. They were really energetic and spot on. The crowd was way into it. I've never heard so many girls screaming for this band before! haha. My parents, little brother, and six relatives (from St. Louis) were all there for the show. I'm really glad that everyone got to see the guys play in this environment!!

We did pretty well on merch. Overall, it was a good night. Chicago is always great to us. I can't wait until we play the House of Blues again!!

*Thanks to all my family who came out and supported me and the band! It really means a lot.

Minneapolis, MN (The Varsity Theater)

We played the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis tonight. We layed this
venue a few months back. In all honesty, this is the nicest venue we
have ever played. There are plush couches and stuff everywhere. Pretty
cool.

The show ended up being ok. The sound guy didn't seem to have a clue
what he was doing. As a result, none of the bands sounded their best.
There was a decent crowd. We did ok on merch.

Overall, it was an alright show.

We're now driving to Chicago. We have a comemrcial shoot tomorrow from
10am-4pm. The guys are filming a 30 second spot for their next single,
'Anhedonia.' It should be pretty cool! After the shoot, we're going
straight to load in at the House of Blues.

Tomorrow's show should be awesome! I've got a bunch of family and
friends coming. I'm really looking forward to the whole evening!

Madison, WI (The Loft)

Yesterday's show was at the Loft in Madison, WI. This was also the
third time we've played this venue since January.

The show ended up being really solid. There were 210 people there. The
guys played well and a lot of people were singing along. It seems like
visiting the same cities/venues multiple times is finally paying off! We
did well on merch. Overall, it was a good show!

We went to iHop after the show. After that, we went to a friend's place
to crash out.

Des Moines, IA (House of Bricks)

Tuesday's show was at the House of Bricks in Des Moines. This was the
third time we've played the venue in a matter of five months.

The show ended up being pretty decent. There was a decent crowd (~100).
The guys played pretty well and they got a good crowd reaction. We did
decent on merch.

As always, I had their potato skins for dinner. They were great.
Overall, it was a good show!

DAY OFF - Home

We had an off day between our Columbus show and our Des Moines show. We
got to go home for the day. I relaxed and hung out with a buddy. It
was a good day.

Columbus, OH (The Basement)

We played the Basement in Columbus, OH tonight. We actually drove from
Cleveland to Columbus last night after the Cleveland show. We stayed at
Matt's cousin's place. We got to sleep in today. It was great!

We went to Guitar Center today and picked up some necessities. After
that, we went to the show. It ended up being a really good show! We
got a legit sound check before the guys played, so they sounded a lot
better than the last time the played there! (We also had a much more
cooperative sound guy than last time....)

There was a good crowd (~170) and they really dug the guys' set! We did
really well on merch. The promoter was awesome! Overall, it was a great
night!

*Bonus: we got hooked up with a few cases of the new Vitamin water
energy drinks. They'll definitely come in handy for the overnight
drives!

We had a day off tomorrow. We're currently driving home. (It's
basically on the way to our next show in Des Moines, IA...) Some of our
instruments suffered some damage in the storm at Cleveland Warped Tour
last week, so we need to get some repairs done at home tomorrow...

We're also planning on making tour tags (laminates) for everyone on the
tour tomorrow. We need to make this thing legit! Haha.

Cleveland, OH (Agora Ballroom)

We kicked off our tour with June and The Higher yesterday at The Agora
Ballroom in Cleveland. We left home around 6am (in order to make
load-in on time). The show ended up being alright. There were about 110
kids there.

The guys played pretty well. It was one of the best sets they've played
(for a first night on a tour). There were a few technical difficulties
(that were out of their hands), but what can you do?! The crowd seemed
to dig them.

The venue was pretty cool. The promoter was cool. The sound was so-so
(the sound guy wasn't too cooperative...).

We did ok on merch......not bad for the amount of people there. The
other bands on the tour seem really cool. I think this is going to be a
fun two weeks!

Chicago, IL (Grant Park - LOLLAPALOOZA)

We drove overnight from Philly and got to Chicago around noon on
Saturday. Four of us went to Lollapalooza that day. I saw Silverchair,
Cold War Kids, and Muse that day. They were all great!

There was an awesome 'Artists Lounge' backstage. Free drinks and whatnot
all weekend. We hung out there for a while on Saturday. It was a
blast!

We got up real early Sunday morning. We had to be at Grant Park at 8am
to load in for our show. The guys played at 11:15am. Well, the morning
started out rough. It downpoured on our way to the van. Once we got in
the van, it wouldn't start. Someone had left a power converter plugged
in overnight and it drained the battery. We had to have AAA come jump
us.

We made it to the park by 9am and everything was fine. The guys played
pretty well. They had a good crowd by the end of their set. It was a
bit frustrating because doors were supposed to open at 11am sharp, but
they didn't open until a few minutes later. As a result, some people
were rushing in to catch the guys' set.

At the end of the set, Corey threw down a snare drum stand. Well,
things ended up backfiring on him. The stand broke, bounced back up at
him, and hit him in the head. He ended up getting two staples in his
head. Bummer.

The rest of the day was pretty sweet though. The guys did a signing at
the F.Y.E. tent and they did a photosession with fans at the MySpace
tent. Both events went well. I snuck off for a bit and watched Modest
Mouse with my friend, Laura. I hadn't seen her in over a year, so it was
great to catch up.

We ended up staying in Chicago that night. We went to the Lollapalooza
after party at the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown Chicago. It was awesome!
I got to catch up with my Fueled By Ramen buddies, Johnny and Erick. It
was a great time!

Overall, Lollapalooza was amazing. I had an awesome time, and I hope we
get to play it again next year!

Camden, NJ (Tweeter Center - WARPED TOUR)

Camden, NJ was the final stop of our Warped Tour stint. It was a pretty
normal day Nothing too crazy. The guys played a good set and got a good
crowd response. We did pretty well on merch.

Overall, Warped Tour was a good experience for us. It was really brutal
to do in a van, but we got it done. Hopefully we will be able to do it
in a bus next year. That would make things much easier.

After that show, we drove overnight to Chicago. We had Lollapalooza to
play on Sunday!

Cleveland, OH (Tower City Amphitheater - WARPED TOUR)

This day ended up being crazy. It was a normal day at Warped tour until
about 3:30pm. The guys were at the stage getting ready to play. All of
the sudden, some horrible weather hit.

There were really high winds, heavy rain, and even some hail. Wegs and
I were at the merch tent trying to hold everything down. In the end,
our merch tent got ruined. Our equipment tent also blew away. The
kicker is the we had to buy a new tent for our final day of Warped.

This was not a very fun day, but we made it through.

Cincinnati, OH (Riverbend Music Center - WARPED TOUR)

The Cincinnati warped stop was pretty good. We got a good merch spot
and the guys got to play on the amphitheater stage. We got a pretty
good crowd response and did decent on merch.

I got to see a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was great to
catch up with her.

Overall, it was a good day.

Milwaukee, WI (Marcus Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Yesterday's Warped stop was in Milwaukee. It was on the same grounds as
Summerfest (the festival we played a few weeks ago). The day was pretty
decent.

We didn't have a great merch spot, but we still did decent on merch and
cd sales. The guys played in the amphitheatre at 4pm. I didn't get to
see their set, but I heard it went over really well. They had a good
crowd and a lot of the people were singing along. I think that
Summerfest helped bring us some new fans today.

We're currently driving to Cincinnati. I'm captaining (sitting in the
front passenger seat) while Jared is driving. We're about to finish our
shift. Overall, today was good.