The Gay Blades tour diary, part one [video]

The Gay Blades tour diary, part one (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Chiodos/Silverstein tour diary, part five (by Shane Told)

Hi kids!

What a crazy week it has been. Right after I finished the last blog, we got our costumes for Hallowe'en ready. We were the band "Dethklok" from the animated TV show Metalocalypse. It was so much fun to dress up, and Paul and Bill's costumes definitely came out the best. Chiodos was the Blue Man Group, except for Craig who was "The Big Bad Wolf". Alesana dressing up in bikinis was pretty classic, Escape the Fate dressed up as their album cover and A Skylit Drive dressed up as The Locust. (Not sure if they busted out "Moth Eaten Dear Head" though.) Since we were in New Orleans, I had a great time standing outside the venue with a "Sneaky Soda" watching the mob of ridiculous Hallowe'en costumes roll by. Good times.

After New Orleans we headed to Florida, which was amazing. In Orlando, I got to visit the NBA Cafe (those who know me know I'm a huge basketball fan) and also go on some rides at Universal studios Island Adventure. The "Hulk" roller coaster was totally insane. Definitely the most intense ride I've ever been on.

After our Atlanta show which was awesome as expected, we had a day off for election day. Being Canadians, it's interesting how much we cared about another country's election. But the fact is, that the US really has a lot of control over how our economy does as well (Not to mention other factors). To be quite honest I was seriously affected by this and I started getting pretty stressed out that there was a chance the Republicans could win again, as I have been disgusted with what has happened over the last 8 years. So a bunch of us decided to take our minds off things we'd get out of in front of the TV and the opinions of Fox News, and go to see the most ridiculous movie we could. So we went to see Zach And Miri Make A Porno. Well, we sure got what we asked for. It was totally ridiculous, but I have to admit it was pretty hilarious. I am gonna call it, Seth Rogen is the new Will Farrell. I don't know if I exactly recommend it, but if you're looking to sit back and just turn your brain off for 90 minutes like we were, it'll definitely do the trick.

So we come out of the mall movie theatre and there's a crowd of people around a television and it looks like the Democrats had just won Ohio. I knew that was pretty crucial, so that made me feel a lot better about everything.

I definitely don't talk about politics much, but I definitely am excited that America could rally together and believe in someone as heavily as they do for the future. It's a beautiful thing to see and I am genuinely hopeful for the next 4 years.

After the election we got to play my favorite venue ever, The Norva in Norfolk, VA. It's such a cool place, they always pack it full of awesome kids and they have awesome dressing rooms with every amenity you could ever want. They have a hot tub, and steam room as well as a basketball court, so it was a lot of fun. The show was sick of course. Kids went crazy, and we had one of the best shows of the tour.

Going up the East Coast we hit up Philly, New York and Massachusetts. All 3 of these shows were sold out and packed, and the crowds were so rowdy. In Philly, the recent World Series champs were so crazy that they were throwing shit all over the venue including all over the stage. Paul's drums got Snapple all over them (I don't know who drinks Snapple at a show...?) and Josh slipped on a marker someone threw on stage. I tripped as well, on a condom! That being said, the Philly crowd never lets you down and we had a blast.

New York was the biggest show of the tour sold out at 3700 tickets. Roseland Ballroom is pretty legendary so playing there was definitely an honor. Escape the Fate's bass player got stuck in a NYC cab and was 20 minutes late for the show which sucked, but other than that the show went off without a hitch. Afterwards we got to hang out in New York at this sweet Irish Pub where we sang along to Rancid, Paramore and of course, Katy Perry. Good times of course.

All in all this week has been so rad. The best shows yet, a new president everyone should be excited about, and a lot less bumps in the roads for the bands on this tour. We only have 7 more shows left! Hard to believe, I feel like this just started!

Love,
Shane


The rhythm section of Dethklok, Bill "Murderface" Hamilton and Paul "Pickles" Koehler getting ready to slay.


ShaNathan Explosion says Hallowe'en is so BRUTAL!


Dethklok and crew before they go on stage at House of Blues New Orleans. They've already sold this place out 7 times.


Our tour manager Sean works hard while Bill buys records on Ebay.


Sean gets ready to challenge anyone and everyone to a game of NHL 09 for xbox.


Shane and Rich Nandes cool off from the hot Florida sun at Universal Studios Island Adventure.


Shane says "pass the rock" at the NBA restaurant in Orlando, FL.

Fireworks studio diary, part two

Fireworks studio diary, part two (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Chiodos/Silverstein tour diary, part four (by Shane Told)

Wow the third blog already so that means the tour is half over! I'm
kinda bummed about that because it feels like it just started. It always
happens on these tours; the last week everyone starts hanging out all the
time and really bro-ing down and then next thing you know its time to go
home.

It's Halloween and we are in quite possibly the best city for it, New
Orleans. Apparently they have the world's scariest haunted house here, and
someone has actually died attending it. I think we gotta hit that up after
the show! If you haven't been to this city, it has a lot of personality and
definitely a bit of a spooky vibe. I can't imagine the characters that are
going to come out on Bourbon Street tonight.

We just came through Texas where the shows were amazing... Well, San
Antonio was anyways. In Dallas, about 3/4 of the way through the set the
entire PA just stopped working. We had no power whatsoever. It's funny
because this has never happened before in the 1000+ shows we've played, many
of them in the sketchiest venues ever, and this time it happened at House of
Blues! I had no idea what to do, and it was completely out so I couldn't
even talk to the crowd over the mic. So I decided to grab an acoustic, tell
everyone to be super quiet and play a couple songs while they fix the sound
problems. It was beautiful, I couldn't believe how quiet it got in that
place. You could hear a pin drop. So I sang a Saves the Day song. After
finishing it and still having no power, I had no idea what to play. So I
randomly busted out a song I haven't played in probably at least 10 years...
Basket Case by Green Day! Everyone sang along and it was awesome. The
power came back on right at the end and the energy did as well. Afterwards
I felt bad that the kids had to miss a few songs and sit through that break,
but most people seemed more excited about it! One kid put it best, when he
said: "If things like that never happened, no one would have anything to
talk about, that's what stories are made of". I found that to be very
profound.

As we've been criss-crossing the west and south and we've been seeing
friends from all over... But in Tulsa, OK the other night we got to hangout
with our best friends in the world, Bayside. We have experienced so many
ups and downs with those guys, it is so amazing to see them doing so well.
They truly are our brothers. So what did we do? Challenged them to a game
of NHL hockey for Xbox. You'd think our Canadian hockey blood would let us
beat them, but Bayside is from the north, and they handed our asses to us.
If you haven't checked out their new record "Shudder", make sure you do, its
by far my favorite Bayside record.

This wouldn't be my blog if I didn't talk about Las Vegas. Those of you
who know me, know I frequently get the gambling bug. I decided to take it
easy and not have my usual night of high stakes poker, tequila shots and
blackjack. My sister lives in Vegas so we hung out and played some slots
and drank some BL's (bud lights). And I won $500 on a slot machine! Pretty
damn awesome. Afterwards we went over to the Hard Rock for the Escape the
Fate CD release party, and those dudes were surprisingly chill. I thought
being in their hometown, new record and everything we'd see some Motley Crue
type of shit, but apparently those dudes can mellow out with the best of
them.

It's been another awesome week. Next week I'll let you know about what
kind of craziness we'll get into here in New Orleans on Halloween, Florida
(always a good time), and the start of the East Coast dates (not stoked for
the cold again!)

Oh yeah, don't forget if you are 18, get out and vote! No excuse! It's
an important one this time!

Peace and Love,
Shane

Our pals in Bayside and us enjoy a fun loving NHL 08 tournament on Xbox

Our guitar techs Kevin and Paul-Marc are serious about Texan beer

Paul-Marc celebrates that Wal-mart in Oklahoma has his favorite
t-shirts.

Craig from Chiodos showing us the secrets to his fine figure.

Billy tries to chow down on some vegan ice cream without getting it in
his mustache.

Texas edition.... So you know it's good!

Looking bummed out at the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, TX.

Dallas, TX the Grassy Knoll and street where Kennedy was shot.

Fireworks Recording Video Diary Part I

Fireworks Recording Video Diary (AltPress.com Exclusive!) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Chiodos/Silverstein tour diary, part three (by Matt Goddard)

greetings friends and fellow earthlings, it is me, matt goddard of the tribe, chiodos. let me tell you about how tour is going. here's a quick run down, its been wicked sweet, and been going by super fast. the bands have been great and playing the west coast was badass to the max. BUT let me tell you about this one special night that i'll never ever EVER fucking for-fucking-get. so i'm hanging with the skylight drive dudes and they were inhaling (literally) volcano tacos from taco bell, after awhile i was obviously a bit concerned (considering this was about 30-40 seconds before their set started) turns out they went through 17 POUNDS OF VOLCANO TACOS. SO these dudes hit the stage and you wouldn't fucking believe me but they bust out 5 part fart harmonies for a whole set. It was the most incredible thing i've ever seen..... and the fact they killed the first 4 rows of people. BUT WAIT, thats not it, if you thought that was impressive you should go get your IQ checked because you just might be...SARS. so right before silverstein fucking PWNS the stage like a giant stupid NOOB, the lights go out, everyone goes silent, all of the sudden the lights slowly come back on and there's this huge god damn great white shark onstage, dead of course (as badass as sharks are they can't breathe on land) of course my initial reaction is 'holy fuck! did anyone here that giant fart?!?!?!' but then after that it's 'HOLY FUCK LOOK AT THAT STAGE! oh yeah that shark...is it preggers?' right as i finish that stupid thought silverstein busts out of this fucking great white with ninja swords sending shark flesh everywhere, then goes and plays the most epic set ever, kind of like watching every episode of ALF at the same
time...... well i'm really looking forward to melting some faces with the power of rock to you good ol' folks in texas, which is coming up here soon. real soon, son. oh, and the east coast...and florida....OH FUCK IT i can't wait to see all you people out there its going to be a great fucking time, without a doubt. i feel like there's going to be some real exciting things happening this week, hopefully i can keep it properly documented, just like all the stories today. they all totally
happened and all, its all.....totally real. WELL untill next time, beer me.

-matt goddard

Chiodos/Silverstein tour diary, part two (by Shane Told)

Hello again, everyone, and welcome to the second installment of the Silverstein/Chiodos tour blog. I'm writing this (on my Blackberry) as I sit on the curb of a Chipotle in San Diego. I'm currently debating whether or not I should get a smoothie at Jamba Juice... My life is full of such tough decisions.

In the past week, this tour has just flowed like butter. Great shows, great dudes and nothing but good times. Traveling down the west coast is always fun as hell, watching the palm trees start to spring up as the mercury inches its way up the thermometer. Being from Canada, I never really mind the heat, even when it's almost unbearable.

Last night in L.A., we had probably my favorite show of all time. We have so many friends and family out there and it was a great feeling to be able to play our best in front of them. The kids were so awesome, there was a no moshing or crowdsurfing rule which sucks, but surprisingly it didn't ruin the vibe or make it lame. The crowd found their own way of getting into it, and the energy was so great. Our friends in Blessthefall were in the house and at the end of our set Jarrod from Blessthefall came out and sang "Bleeds No More" with me. He killed it, and it was such a great way to end the show.

Our San Francisco show was awesome, too (except way too hot!), and our buds in Set Your Goals came out. We toured with them over in Australia and Japan earlier this year and really became close. I'm sure you already know them, but if not make sure you check them out. They are one of the most honest, straight-up and positive bands in the scene right now. Anyways, in their honour we played a cover song by Lifetime (another band you need to check out) and Jordan came out to sing it with me. I was so stoked that later on I played an acoustic Saves The Day cover of "Three Miles Down". That's one of the reasons we still tour so much. Its so awesome to hang out with some of your best friends that you only get to see once in awhile when you pass through.

Last weekend in Seattle we had the pleasure of visiting the Starbucks corporate headquarters where we made friends with the people in charge there (see photos below), and told them how much we enjoy their delicious beverages. It was, as always, good times.

In Portland, it decided to rain all day (fairly typical) so Paul and I decided to see a movie again. It was between Sex Drive, Max Payne and Religilous. We decided we would go with the much more thought-provoking movie and see Religilous. It was really good. It's definitely an intense movie, and probably a movie that will piss you off if you are on one far side or the other. But for someone like me closer to the middle of the debate, I really enjoyed it. I heard Sex Drive is funny, though, so maybe you should just see that.

Other interesting events over the last week:
-Chiodos inventing a new sport involving Twinkies and a Louisville Slugger... I'm not exactly sure of all of the rules
-I finally shaved after almost two weeks, see photo below
-Robert from Escape The Fate finally finding "The Hive" (which is where the Honey's be swarming)
-A vicious Skelanimals plush toy fight between Silverstein and Chiodos (no winner was declared)
-Almost getting "jooked" and robbed in Fresno (where our tour manager also got his computer stolen)
-Watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall another five or six times

Thanks for reading and tune in next week when we'll be blogging from Vegas, Phoenix and my personal favorite Texas!

Love you all,

Shane

v
A couple Silverstein fans show off their homemade shirts in Seattle.


Paul gets "extreme" on his air motorcycle.


Shane and Paul outside the Starbucks headquarters.


Shane and Paul do business with the Starbucks barista at the HQ.


Shane before.


Shane after.


Paul shows off his sweet new "bleep-bloop" record.


Paul, Marc and Jeff from our crew load in our crap in San Diego.


So many shirts, so little time!


We love Starbucks apparently.


A Skylit Drive dudes hanging out in LA.


The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA


San Francisco, CA


Bill and MJ get silly again, this time in San Fran.


The best record store ever!


Paul loves records.


Robert Ortiz and Monte Money from Escape the Fate go acoustic.