For those who were into the Road Journal, I'm sorry. I'm a completely unmotivated turd who doesn't follow through with anything. I'm home now from the tour, so I'll due a retrospective review from where the last post left off. Once again, I apologize. I'll be updating this blog alot more now since I'm home. I'll also be making Issue #1 of the zine available very soon. Be on the lookout for some really cool interviews/tidbits in the upcoming week.
Looks like I left off while we were in Spokane. Fuck. That was a long time ago. I'll do my best to recollect all the cool shit that happened from then until now.
After Spokane we headed towards Portland, Oregon. Man, that was a really cool city. We stayed with our friend Jessica. I knew Jessica from her previous stay in Florida. Cool chick with an even cooler dog. We saw Dark Knight that day, such a solid movie. Harvey Dent was awesome. Klint Got a tattoo with his friend Gus that says "Fuck Work, Lets Party". That was pretty funny. If you have any questions on that way of life, feel free to direct them to him.
Once we left Portland we headed into California, a place I had yet to visit. First show was in Sacramento. A band called Bastards of Young played this gig, and they were really fucking great, check them out if you get the chance. The next show was in San Francisco. We stayed at our buddy Nicks house. He's in a band called Crucified that recently signed to Double or Nothing Records out of South Florida. do yourself a favor and check out them & their labelmates Meantime. The city was really cool. Lots and lots of Toyota Prius's rolling around. I think the count was 30 or so in the first five minutes in town. Wyld. The vegans split with the carnivores and we went off to find decent veg food in the city. Klint suggested a place a few miles away so we trekked on foot. This made me realize how utterly out of shape I was. Once we got to the place it was closed, so we settled for this horrible indian place down the street. oof.
So we drove to Tijuana Mexico after San Fran. What a wild place that is. We spent the day walking around the beach. We collected 10 dollars and told Bob (Letdown) we'd give it to him if he jumped the border, touched a flag on the US side, and ran back into Mexico. All of this in front of the Border Patrol truck about 100 yards away. There was a tall wooden fence that stood as the border. There was a gap in the fence and Bob squeezed through. He took off towards this
flag, touched it, and ran like hell back toward the fence. The border patrol got out of the vehicle and before they could get to Bob, he was across to Mexico. He makes his way over to us to collect his ten dollars, and one of the locals pointed out a helicopter and explained that whenever there is a jump, they dispatch a helicopter, so the helicopter was for Bob. The show was cool, but the drive across the border was blast. While sitting in traffic we had a bunch of people trying to sell us souveniers from Mexico. One specific guy would just linger around other dudes, not saying anything, with a statue of a turtle, an extremely blank expression on his face. What a dude. San Diego was pretty cool, we stayed at a friends and she made us vegan breakfast. Very sweet. We were all pumped cause Sound & Fury was up next.Sound & Fury was ill. I got to hang out with a bunch of friends, as far away from home in the states that I could be. Three days of moshing side by side with some of hardcores greatest heads such as Nick Fit, AV, and Sammy 3B. 'Sup doggies? End of A Year blew me away that weekend. What a wild dude Pat is. His stage banter is second to none, I'll just say that. Trash Talk fucking killed it. This band is great. I know that too much hype is a killer to the "cool crowd", but I say fuck that. TTC '08.
After S&F we headed to Sin City and played this dudes living room. real fun. I have the worst luck in this city, maybe that means I shouldn't gamble. Last time I was in the city the van I was in flipped off a small cliff and rolled 6 times. Not. Fun. This time around I just lost my wallet. Not as bad but still blew. After Vegas was Denver again, then to Albequerque where we met up with The Carrier. Great band even greater dudes. I was pumped to see them every night.Texas was great cause I got to hang out with a true coreman, Zack. What a master of disaster this dude is. One of my favorite new people. Austin was sick. Dallas was sick. Scott Corbin shredding for Bitter End was sick. Band fight at party house and Klint telling homeowner hed beat him with a rock 'till he stopped responding was sick. Oklahoma, not sick. I liked the venue though. Up next was Nashville. We ate like pigs in this city. The girl we stayed with gave us tons of food, so we stayed up all night stuffing our faces. ATL was the next night and I was pumped to see some old friends. Alex and Nate of Overdose fame were in the building holdin' it down for ATL straight edge. What sweet dudes. The Shop is such an ill venue. My band played there a little less than a year ago and had a ton of fun. If you're ever in Atlanta, make sure you check out one of the gigs these dudes put on. Great time.
Anyways, after Atlanta, we were going to my homestate, Florida. Needless to say, I was psyched. I hadn't been home since I made the retarded decision to jump in my car and head to philly. First stop was Orlando. I had heard about this new venue, Black Box Collective, and I was pumped to finally see the place. The venue was cool but one thing really stood out. IT WAS FUCKING HOT! Someone has GOT to get one of those retardedly big industrial fans in there or something. The show was cool, other than the fact that there was some stupid fight. Yuck.
The next night was Tampa, something I'd been looking forward to the whole tour. The turnout wasn't bad and kids were going off and having fun. I've been pretty fortunate with my shows at Transitions. The Staff is the best thing about it. Ill dudes.
So while we were in Florida, The Carrier and I crashed at Sammy B's pad. What a fucking pad it is. We watched tons of movies, and spent alot of time poolside, getting in some pool dives, practicing for the next gig. Someone ate Mike's burrito. Dude was pissed. I fell in love with Bacca even more on this weekend. What a dude. I already miss him. Zac Wolf came to the pad for a night of chill. Love this head. Check out his photos: http://flickr.com/photos/zacwolf/
Anyways after Florida we went straight to Johnson City, TN where we picked up Wes to take over my Road Dog duties after we got back to Philadephia. This is a pretty cool city. Home to Dead End Records, who happens to be releasing the new Learn Nothing 7". The show was pretty cool, afterward I said my goodbye's to The Carrier and we hopped in the van onward to Philadelphia.
So, that's that. Overall the tour was pretty ill. I had a good time meeting alot of you, and I'm sure I'll see you all again someday. Peace & Love.
-JP
