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.

Chiodos/Silverstein tour diary, part one (Silverstein)

Hello, girls and boys!

Shane from Silverstein here. We just started a super sweet co-headline tour with our buds in Chiodos and we're going to be posting some cool stuff on this page over the next few weeks. Keep checking back, we'll be adding videos, more photos and of course tour reports from yours truly.

Right now I'm chilling on our day off in lovely Boise, Idaho, where Paul, Billy and I went to see Burn After Reading. Another totally original cinematic masterpiece from Joel and Ethan Cohen. I recommend you all check it out and see something interesting and different rather than going to see The House Bunny or Disaster Movie (as if the latter title didn't tip you off as to how awful it is).

So far the tour has been totally amazing. We've put together such a huge lineup for this tour with Escape The Fate, Alesana and A Skylit Drive. I've never seen kids so excited about a show, and its so rad to be a part of it. We're five dates in, and already this is the most fun I've had on any tour. We're pulling out all the stops and doing things we've never done live before. Every band seems to be trying to out-do each other, and its awesome. It's all in good fun, and makes the show that much better.

Some stand out moments in the first five days: The first Chiodos vs. Silverstein poker game (regretfully, Chiodos won), half the tour getting tattoos in one of the venues already, nightly Chiodos bus dance parties, extremely competitive NHL '08 tournaments (we are soooo Canadian), Chiodos' merch girl getting a jaywalking ticket, and Robert of Escape The Fate being possibly the funniest dude I've ever met, especially when he is searching for "The Hive." With another 26 shows left, I can't imagine what else is going to happen.

As we make our way out west and the weather gets warmer, I'm getting more and more excited. If there's one tour you have to check out this fall, it's this one. See you at the show.

-Shane Told



The Chiodos bus and the Silverstein bus hanging out together in Wisconsin and being "right neighbourly".


The legendary Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado.


Yours truly attempting my best Bright Eyes impression in Denver.


Billy gets silly in Minnesota rocking out on his air guitar.