Thursday, June 28, 2007

Second tour ends, back home for a bit

After wrapping up our tour with We Are the Fury and Rookie of the Year, we’re back at home for a few weeks of home cooking and regular beds. Its nice, but we’re already itching to get back on the road. We do need this time to touch up the record, catch up on logistics, and get our van fixed. Its also nice to have some privacy and time apart. Everyone got along famously in close quarters, but we’re not dying to hang out with each other on our off days. Strange, but unsurprising. Here’s the recap!

LA to Kansas City, MO -

We had a nice lunch with the Thrive staff (with more hot women added to the roster daily), and then got our characteristic late start leaving the city. We had to haul ass across America (again) to make it to Kansas City in 48 hours, but that didn’t stop us from a Grand Canyon stop. We made it on time, played a really cool show opening for Kill Hannah, and then partied with our friends and their four dogs. You have to check out the photo of the dancing Spongebob guy in our photoblog. This guy apparently comes to every show in full regalia and dances. Oh, and he’s married and has a kid.

Cleveland -

Our first contact with Rookie of the Year and We Are The Fury. We’d played a few shows with Rookie in the past, but had never really got to know the guys. All three bands immediately got along, however, setting the scene for much debauchery. The first show was low key and fun, but the after party was completely absurd. We went to an abandoned house in the burbs (with no power or furniture) and had a wild party in pitch darkness. Everyone slept over and woke up in a funk. Brandon from Rookie woke up with a massive laceration on his eye from a drunken faux pas. Fun times!

Boston –

Rocked a show with no monitor speakers, ate spicy ethnic food, bought weapons at a military surplus store, and had a sleepover party with some of our good friends. Fake moustaches were drawn. An intense game of “Red Rover” spontaneously generated during our set. Strange.

Portland, ME –

Met some cool local opening bands and reunited with some of the Boston show crazies. The spoiled rotten Furies ate lobster. We had Subway. After drinking tequila with a wasted Texan, and watching a drunk girl punch her own car window out (her keys had been confiscated by the bartenders) the group split up. McKenzie and I ended up sleeping in the van in a parking lot to be woken up by the police, and the rest went to a hospitable fan’s house for a slumber party.

New York –

The whole tour played with The Higher for our first sold out show of the run. It was a great set for everyone, but things got pretty chaotic at the Knitting Factory. The room was too small for the show, and many people got turned away at the door. NYC is our favorite place though, and we stuck around late night to hang out with some friends.

Baltimore, MD

Our happy return to the Ottobar. A tremendous amount of attractive girls were in attendance, including our favorite heavy drinking soccer moms. We spent the next two days relaxing in luxury at the Leon household (Dan’s girlfriend’s parents). They fed us steaks, wine, and Trader Joe’s finery, and let us lounge around and watch terrible movies. Good times.

Virginia Beach, VA

So far Virginia Beach has always been a disaster for us. Last time we had car trouble and were so late we missed our set. This time we miscalculated drive time and got there so late that we almost missed our set. Larkin was still parking the car as we were setting up on stage. When we finally got going, the power onstage cut out, cutting down our set time by a few songs. The rest of the bands played without issues. At the end of the show, we briefly parked outside to load out. As everyone said their tearful goodbyes, the VA Beach bike cops rolled up and gave everyone a series of ridiculous tickets and a really hard time. The only place to load out was the “trolley only lane”, and we were fast and efficient. Then these guys show up and held everyone up there for at least a half an hour, blocking more trolley traffic than we ever would have. Way to capture the spirit of the law. Hopefully we’ll see everyone again soon under happier circumstances.

So now we have a few one off shows to keep us going. Philly, NYC, etc, then another mini tour. More updates soon. Check out the photoblog!

Matt

1 comment:

Gitsie said...

*Ahem*
next tour... san diego.
=]