Cheating death.

So i had the last 2 days off. They were relatively boring. Just a lot of eating, laundry, video games and weed. Nothing too fun. We went and ate at our favorite spot in SLC last night, The Red Iguana. That was dope. Other than that, unexciting.
While driving last night, apparently our bus was sliding backwards down an icy stretch of road through Donner Pass in Utah. We almost jacknifed and flipped everything. We also slid around a bunch other than that. I'm pretty spooked. On the plus side i haven't drank in over 2 weeks.
I can't wait to be home.
The opening band in Boise today sounds like Rick Ta life and the singer of turmoil co vocalizing for a faggy synth metal band. Worst.

Messin' with Texas.

We just finished up the run of states where it was warm, and nice. We did three shows in Texas, this time, all around SXSW, which is where everyone I know, for the most part, was for the weekend.
The first Texas show was in Houston. To be honest, this show was a giant waste. It was in an enourmous arena, and only about 600 people showed up. It was depressing. I didnt sell dick. The majority of the day was spent sitting around, and walkin around Houston's business district in search of food or coffee. No dice, we found a burger king. After the show, Beemer, Ed, Grden, and Katie came out. I also met a friend of theirs, who's name i forgot. We bullshitted for a bit, swapped out some merch, and that was about it. I then went and took a shower and had to use paper towels to dry off, cause there were no towels anywhere. Awesome. Then i smoked a joint with Flip, and one of the FYS dudes. I chatted with veronica for awhile before bed, and that was my day.
Up next we were in...San Antonio. This day ruled. Merch outside, decent sales, near beer, and buddy Nathan came out to hang. We kicked it all day, and bullshitted in between games of c-lo. Afterwards he took me, Neltie, and Jordan to Taco Bell. It was kickass. He also hooked me up with a copy of the new Mammoth Grinder cd. It fucking smokes.
Next up. Dallas. Fuck Dallas. Fuck the venue. Fuck it. I had a non work day, but fuck, dude. Was it really worth it? The only good thing was the sickass Caribbean food I ate. Oh and sweet hangs all day. After load out, i sat around and did nothing special. Watched the cancer bats roll out with some annoying stripper from the Pantera strip club. Then i sat up til we got to the Flying J, got some mexican layer dip pringles. i sat up and said goodnight to V, and then hit the hay myself.
Now i'm sitting around listening to the Carpenters in he back lounge, driving to Denver for our day off. This shit is pretty and boring at the same time.

Day off, New Orleans

I wound up losing 100 bucks gambling. Ate Lump Crab Au Gratin, and walked around a lot. I even got a caricature drawn of me and Neltie. It looks nothing like either of us. All in all it was decent. I heard that a hooker followed some people around for a while too.
Also, a side note, i got a citation from the "Fun Police" for not smiling. I'm not kidding.

Photos!!!

PLease hold.

Singin some McDonald

Merch Crew

Josh and Juice.

Centerfold material.

Me and Neltie, Worcester.

Ft. Lauderdale.

I don;t think I've ever been surrounded by such a large collection of drunk douchebags, and total bitches in my entire life. It's a good thing the weather was so nice. I mean real nice. I was walking around in shorts for a majority of the day. It was kickass.
We loaded in relatively early, in an effort to try and go to the beach, but those efforts were thwarted by pending rainstorms, and inability to find transportation there. It was fine, cause we were all pretty satisfied with just sitting around outside, and bullshitting all day. After a while i went to buy ciggarettes from the 7-11, got carded, and not having ID i couldn't get smokes. Drag.
The show was waaay more irritating than i expected. Full of people who were enjoying their first beer, as well as a bunch of stupid people. Mouthbreathers and total a-holes. I sold a lot, and that was cool. I was incredibly frustrated though. Every time i went to pull re stocks, i had to fight my way through a shitty drunken street festival. I also had to answer an inane amount of stupid questions. I probably yelled at more people, and got shitty with more people than i have in a long time.
Loading out was probably the best experience, since we had to do it in a monsoon. The venue didnt have showers, but i sure got one when i was loading out. After getting on the bus, and seeing a shitload of people, I decided to go to the afterparty they were having for everyone at the Bar next to the venue. After me and Neltie went on a fucking voyage we finally found a bartender that would serve us. We got a couple of near beers, and hung out for a bit. There was lots of drunken dude on dude dancing, and a grip and a half of nasty sluts. I def saw girls making out with multiple dudes, some at the same time. Tom definitely hooked up with the girl who groped me and Josh, FYS's merch guy. Gross. I told him earlier not to get drunk and make mistakes, unfortunately he didnt listen.
On the plus side, V told me she got her plane ticket today, and I was pretty stoked on that. Also, I hung with Cortez for a bit, and before i went to bed, i went and hung with the FYS dudes. We smoked, and kicked it for a few. I got back to the bus and passed the fuck out. Then today, I woke up at Disney World. We can't get in, but it's at least nice out.
Hopefully there won;t be as many punishers today as there were yesterday.

Kansas City. Louisville. Day Off.

So Kansas City was pretty awesome. Sherry and Steve came by after load in, since they were in town the night before to see the get up kids. We hung out for a couple hours, and got some lunch. I was stoked to hang out, for sure. The show was cool, i guess, it was about a thousand degrees after they got things going. I wound up seeing me friends Keenan and Rob, so it was fun reminiscing with those dudes. After the show we wound up going to some rock and roll bar. It was cool for about 5 minutes, then the live music started. We stuck around for about 5 minutes, then went back to the bus. I stayed up hanging out with Neltie for a little bit. Then I went to bed. Yaaay tour.

The next day was louisville. A place i love to go to, when i'm on tour. Unfortunately the venue wasnt downtown. It was in the ghetto on the outskirts of town. It was also flanked by 2 flea markets, and the venue itself was a bomb shelter. It was pretty ridiculous. We sat around all day and kept making random trips into the flea markets to look around. I wound up buying a new beanie, and a few 45's. I talked with V for awhile before doors, and then ran in when they opened up the gates. The show was relatively boring, with a couple exceptions. The Ernie Ball band wound up cancelling, so that fucking ruled. One less shitty band a day always makes me happy. Towards the end of the show, I registered to win the Ernie Ball guitar giveaway contest. I won. I was pumped, cause i can sell that shit when i get home for a few hundred bucks i hope. A few kids were kinda shitty, but being in the bible belt, about 80% of the kids were cool. After the show we went to Denny's again, for one of their meet and great post show dinner things. I enjoyed a moons over my hammy, sans the hammy. Then i went back to the bus, and we got on the road. We stopped an hr into the trip, because Four Year Strong's driver didn't clear an overpass, and broke some stuff on the top of their bus. While waiting for them, i smoked some weed, and played video games. That was a decent end to my night.

Today we are in valdosta, ga. We are enjoying our day off, and i got some new socks, flip flops, and money bags. We just kinda bummed around all day. I also took a shower today and feel fucking awesome! A little bit ago we went to dinner for mexican food, and are now sitting on the bus watching home makeover shows. It was a pretty decent day. i really want to have a drink today, though, and that kind of sucks. I wish there were a way to curb wanting it, but trying to break a 10 year old habit is kinda tough, ya know? We're here for a few more hours, then onto Ft. Lauderdale!!!

i'm getting bad at this.

St louis was a relatively cool day, and a shitty night. I spent most of the day relaxing, and hanging around the venue. Drank some coffee, got some smokes, had shitty catering. During the walk to get smokes, me and Tucker went the wrong way, and almost went into the wrong side of town. It smelled like dead babies over there, no shit. The usual, really. The show was nice, cause they had us set up merch in a coffee shop inside the venue. It was quiet and filled with non offensive music. They had a fucking sickass collection of posters, and I had to talk myself out of buying a framed Moz poster from the last tour. Jay from the bats came and hung for most of the night, as well as Neltie's friends from town. She used to live there apparently.
I didn't sell very well, but it was relaxing so that was cool. After the show, we went out to celebrate Ben's last night on the tour, and Tim's departure back home. They were the lighting guy and Bass player respectively. Manny from Glassjaw/Saves the day is gonna be filling in on the rest of the tour, and i'm stoked cause that dude fucking rules. He showed up today, too, when i woke up. Pretty awesome.
After the show, we went to a couple bars, and had some drinks, and good times, then we went back onto the bus. When we got there, i started vomiting blood. A lot. This is the day that i finally have to stop drinking. For real. I am no longer Baltimore's Party Machine.

The next day we were in chicago. I woke up early, and went to get lunch and buy new socks, and underwear. It was alot tougher than i thought. I also realized upon walking back to the venue, that i could have taken a more direct route, that would have saved me about a half hour, at least. It was a sober day, and i didnt sell shit cause it was a venue sell. they let me put out one shirt, so i was pretty much prepared to call the day a wash. i ate dinner with the cancer bats, and Neltie. i had a fucking massive burrito. it looked like a small child. After the show i ran into my buddy Damon, from Braid. It was awesome to hang and catch up. The jukebox in the bar we were at, ruled. It had the undertones and the Replacements on it. Total plus. Everyone had some drinks and hung out for a bit. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to Tim and Ben, and headed on to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis. Cold. Day 2 of sobriety. It felt weird. I felt like shit all day long. My stomach is totally fucked. The show sucked attendance wise, and the kids were totally shitty. I saw Sean from Holding On/Regret, and he went to the triple rock for me and got me a veggie po boy. It was awesome. After the show, Tom tried to score with some random ho's who were talking about cosmic connections, as well as suspension. At one point i swear i heard them talking about Foxy Boxing. I sat up talking to Veronica for a bit. She was in baltimore and i was in Minneapolis. Shitty.

Picture update coming tomm!!!

One giant post, to catch everyone up.

So, since i have time, today, i'm gonna do a blog during the show. I haven't updated since the rochester show, since i've been pretty much lazy. The worcester show was pretty awesome, saw some old friends, like my buddy gerry, and Noelle, of course. I was able to get a liquid lunch with gerry, which was pretty awesome. The show was awesome, a ton of kids, and actually a lot of fun. Seeing four year strong in their hometown was pretty sick. They also gave SSE a shoutout, and that helped a ton. Everyone was in a really good mood. I was busy, so that made my day go by real easy. After the show i chatted with my bud Josh, who i hadn't seen in a long ass time. We bullshitted about being old, and hating kids. It was pretty sweet. I think we both laughed the hardest we had laughed in a long time, so that was cool. Beemer was pretty stoked on the numbers too, so that ruled.
After the show, the whole night took a weird turn. I went to down to the bar, Shooters, i think it was called. Or some other token pseudo sports bar name, Chances, McGillicuddy's, Tracy's, whatever, i dunno, it was a bro bar. I got some drinks, hung out, got loud, and generally had fun. We went back to the bus after the show and hung for a few. I was on the phone with V when some real shit went down. I looked down the street to see a bunch of dudes fighting. Me, Steve, and Tim ran down, then were followed by Tucker, Cortez, and Jay from the Cancer Bats. A 30 man brawl went down, and a couple dudes from the tour got beat up pretty bad. Like hospital bad. Needless to say, we stayed on the bus for the rest of the night after we got back on it.
The next day we were in Hartford. This show was a giant shit sandwich. I sold well, and that was cool, but it sucked dog dick for sure. The only highlight of the night was me doing a flip dive off of the merch table, and crowdsurfing my way across the room to the door, to go pull some merch. Then to top it all off, some ignorant asshole was speeding around the corner, and was about 3 ft from ending my life in a trailer full of merch as i stood inside of it. Motherfucker was on the ramp/backdoor of the trailer. Big thanks to that asshole for making 28 years of life flash before my eyes. It would be kind of fitting that i died on tour, maybe, but fuck, in Hartford, get real.
Next day we were in Clifton Park, Ny. I have no idea where this even is, to be honest, and it didnt really matter. the show was wack. The highlights of today were as follows...Wiring my rent money was the most ridiculous experience ever. The woman who did it had no clue what she was doing, and got locked out of the office in the "information center" of the grocery store(Price Chopper) i was in. I should have figured as much, when I walked through those sliding glass doors into 1989. I swear i saw new Coke in there. During the show, I decided to drink an entire bottle of Jameson. An adult sized bottle. I was sauced, but realized it when i was on the bus and had only a sip left. That's when it was time for me to go to bed, so i could get up in NYC.
Nothing is more fun than a 930 am load in, when it's cold as fuck, and you're hungover. It's also fun when everyone at the venue is an asshole, and you're returning 16 boxes if thursday hoodies to the printer. All in the span of about 20 minutes. Trying to not vomit all over the sidewalk was an incredible feat, one of which I avoided, thankfully. The rest of the day was cool, showered, shaved, and the stache was officially looking good, and not sketchy anymore. I was stoked. Beemer came and hung out for the night. That was awesome. After the show we drove to a Jersey parking lot, again.
The next day in Sayreville, home of Bon Jovi, we just hung all day, got the best catering of the tour, which isn't hard cause there never is any. I got a shipment of boxes about 20 minutes after doors and couldn't get the locks off of my trailer, so i had to cut one of em off, that was fun. The show itself was dece, sold okay. After the show we hung and drank on the bus. I talked to v for awhile on the phone, and watched people make out in the parking lot.
Next day, Philadelphia, I got to hang and eat with Erica and Jess, which ruled. The show was busy, and a venue sell, so that means I got to hang out by myself all night, and sell a bunch, best show of the tour so far. After the show I bolted out of there to Baltimore, to sleep in my own bed.
Baltimore. Drunk, very drunk. I saw a couple friends, got absolutely hammered, and wound up staying an extra night since we had the next day off in Cleveland. I also did a very long winded, and slurred bday greeting for Geoff on stage. It was epic. I was also wasted enough to be shirtless most of the night, as well as do stage dives for bring me the horizon. You know i'm loaded if that happens. Big ups to Steve from Ruiner for coming out and hanging and helping me out. More big ups to people for making sure i didnt die, haha.
The day off was spent on a very long train ride. Fortunately i was able to sleep the drunk/hangover off. When i got to cleveland at 530 am, i went straight to the bus, and slept even more.
When i got up the next day, we loaded in, and sat around all day. The venue had a restaurant that would deep fry anything, and had a ton of deep fried stuff on the menu. i had a deep fried pb&j for dinner. Giant grease bomb. The highlight of the show for me was watching a drunk girl freak out on her phone, throw it on the floor and smash it. Then she topped off the whole exchange with throwing her beer in the air, only to have it land on her head, and soak her. It was fucking awesome.
Today, we were in rainy depressing detroit. The show was kind of busy, and loud as fuck. Then during load out it poured buckets of rain soaking us to the bone. During the show, Jordan had some friends come out, who were both weird hc kids. They kept fucking with people during the show. At one point, one of the dudes, Oakley, showed the same dude his asshole twice, cause he was being a dick. Total class. Now i'm just sitting here doing this blog update before i go to bed. We're driving through a wicked storm on the way to St. Louis, and I'm listening to the lemonheads. I promise I'll not let this thing go for a week again. I'm gonna do another picture blog during the day tomm, so that should be cool. Most of em will be Neltie's. There will be a few shirtless pictures of me, fair warning.

Photos!!!

Here's more photos...


New moustache early on...Bad cop.


Sleepin'.


Workin'.


The best fucking fish taco i have ever had in my life. After I finished this, the mexicans danced to Morrissey around the restaurant.


Whores. Thee girls were a fucking mess obviously. This is what distracted everyone briefly from the grown man crying about getting kicked out. They were the exact opposite of a "hot" mess.

A few photos!

Here's a few photos to tide you over til the next update, cause i'm just havin a lazy snow day today.


Here's Me, Tucker, and Neltie, gettin ready to head into the hotel bar.


There's Neltie,myself, and Jaye(Cancer Bats) hangin out in merchworld in Worcester.


Creepiest pool ever, underneath the Rave in Milwaukee, it's like the shining in that fuckin place.


Andrew, getting stoked on load in, in Tucson


Best day off meal I had, for 6 bucks. I ate about half of this.

I'll put some more up later.

Rochester.

I was bummed about today, cause everyone i know from Rochester has moved, or is on tour. So i kinda fucked off all day, and was lazy. Didnt shower again, and just kinda hung with Neltie and the cancer bats dudes. i got hammered, and then we took off to worcester. This was the loudest venue ever.
Up next, Worcester... This is where shit got mad real...

Cincinnati

Shitty load in. Shitty venue. Shitty kids. Decent sales.
Quote of the day...
Young kid:"Hey are you in the band?"
Me:"What band?"
Young Kid:"Thursday!"
Me:"No, sorry dude."
Young Kid:"It's ok, I just guessed, cause they're old"

Cool, i look like an old dude. Yeah, and Cincy sucks. Sudsy's closed, bummed. Nothing crucial about today.

Milwaukee

These next few entries are gonna be short. just sayin.
Today ruled, kinda of. It was fucking cold. Like REAL cold. We had loaders though, and that was awesome. The show was boring, we fucked with Flip a bunch. My homey Cara came out for a bit, and that was cool. Some gross fat girl commented on being able to see my dick through my jeans, and that was pretty much it. The venue was also haunted and i got to see the weird private room with the pool. Oh yeah, and the fat dick looker stole 125 bucks out of bring me the chorizo's merch money. Way to go dipshit!!!