AP Guest Blog

You, Me And Everyone We Know Tour Diary (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:45:00 +0000

Sleep when you're dead.

Don't worry about that cough you've been developing, just find the rest of the corn whiskey and bring it back to the hot tub. I can't begin to explain how awesome this last week has been. I totally forgot to mention in my last post that our friend Hanna is singing the female parts with Forgive Durden on this tour. She joined up after the crazy as hell Philly show I mentioned and she's been doing the fantastic job we knew she would ever since. It's really fun to have her around and I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Speaking of singing with Forgive Durden, I started singing "The Spider and The Lamps" with them over the last week. The time signature is pretty crazy, so it had a few bumps the first few nights but I think its going great now.

We also returned to Chicago after not really touring the midwest for six months. I decided that this night, which is probably going to turn out to be one our biggest draws of the tour, was the perfect night to get a new tatoo. Jaren, FD's number, was more than happy to facilitate this. We started the outline around doors, which was 6 o'clock. The buzzing didn't stop until I had to walk on stage. It actually didn't hurt as much while we played as I thought it would This is what we have so far, we have to wait two weeks to color it in:

Now, if you're ever in St. Louis, do one thing. It's called City Museum. Words like eight stories of jungle gyms, slides, ball pits, tubes, caves, and themed rooms all made out of found and recycled objects don't begin to describe what became my favorite day in the history of being a touring band, so I hope some of the footage in this video helps.

We're gonna be in that southwest for a few days, so get on your sundresses and cowgirl boots girls... and guys...where something that breathes. It's going to be a hot one.
-Ben

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 6)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Well, here we are!

Two months on the road and we finally did it! We made it through the Bamboozle Roadshow and our first short headlining run--the Rockin' Rodeo Tour!

I will be the first to say that it has been a long and winding road, but at the end, it's so good to look back and see all that we have accomplished. Thank you to everyone who came out to any of the shows, crowd surfed, moshed, sang along, clapped your hands, bought a T-shirt, took a picture or even just stopped to say, "Hello." You are very much loved and appreciated!

So as far as the next few months go, we're taking time off to record new music! Yes! We will be in and out of the studio for all of June and July preparing for a new record for everyone to enjoy, so please bear with us, as we will not be on the road for the first part of the summer. Speaking of the summer we will be releasing a deluxe edition of Underdog Alma Mater sometime in July (official date to come shortly) which will include a DVD, a new song and a lot of exclusive tracks from the early days of FTSK. I think you guys will enjoy it. :]

Right now, we're all at home resting, getting ready for another stint out on the road with our TM, Robi, and our tech, Snafu. It takes a lof of patience to keep up with those two. Until next time, thank you for checking out this blog and keeping up with us. Remember to check out the UAMDE this summer! Much love!

P.S. "Whoa Oh" featuring Selena Gomez will be available digitally on May 26, so make sure you pick it up!

Kent

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:42:00 +0000

So this week has been adventurous to say the least. The most memorable part of this week had to be making a miniature bonfire outside the bus in Columbus, Ohio. Only bad thing was that it made the whole bus smell like a hott mess of burning shoes and cardboard. I climbed a few roofs this week, just to keep my spontaneity fresh and clean.

We all watched the Dallas Mavs last game and tears ran heavily from our eyes. Someone brought me that Monopoly game which is freakin' ill cause I'm about to involve myself in 14 hours of board game entertainment. It feels like we've been on tour for years but it's really only been about two months. I love it, don't get me wrong. I just cannot wait to get into a vehicle, start up the engine and drive into the sunset. Well, thats all I have this week. Give hugs not drugs.

Austin Bello

You, Me And Everyone We Know Tour Diary (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:45:00 +0000

I wake up.
I shower with what hotels call soap.
I hop on my scale. It tells me whether or not i should have eaten that pizza at 10 p.m.. Generally, no.
I put on underwear that shrunk in the dryer and are now half a size too small. That scale should help.
I wander off to the local eatery and hope I don't have to eat anything fried or overly processed.
I listen to something that puts me in a good mood, like "Summertime" by Will Smith.
I think about the people I miss. Hugs and such i would i could get on demand. I'm a softy.

This is my morning.

To be honest, i'm a little tired right now so I'm not much in the mood for writing. I just wanted to tell you about this morning.

Last night's show in Philadelphia was incredible. The Barbary is a small venue, but it had a great vibe and the room was packed, so I was pleased as punch. I saw so many new faces last night. I liked that more than anything. I love hearing people tell us stories about how they've been waiting like two years to see us. I'm glad they are starting to be able to make it to our shows.

Like I said, I'm still kind of asleep. The only thing keeping me able to drive is sugar-free Red Bull. We'll be in Buffalo tonight, playing that skate park we've hit up a bunch over the last year or so. Hopefully we will see some of you there!

My first video post here will likely be on Monday. We have the day off, so I will have some time to edit some things together for you.

-Ben

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Howdy, AP!!

Kent from the Sickest Kids Forever here once again to update you on what's been going on with us! So last week was our last week of the Bamboozle Roadshow and it was an amazing last week of tour. We got to play in Worcester, MA at one of my favorite venues of all time (the Palladium) and it was sooooo much fun! I'll never forget it. The crowd tore the place down during "She's a Lady" and our good pal Geoff Rockwell came out and played drums with us. It was the bomb. If you were there you know what I'm talking about. After Boston we head to NY and played the last show at the Crazy Donkey in Long Island. It was insane as well! A good farewell show for an amazing tour.

We played Hoodwink festival in which we covered a band but it was raining the whole time and cold. We woke up the next day to go to BAMBOOZLE! We played at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It was INSANE!

There were so many people there it was overwhelming, it was like emptying out lake Ontario and filling it with screaming, moshing, crowdsurfing fans, that's what it felt like. The crowd was as far as i can see, and that's pretty far. LOL. So now we are on our headlining tour the "Rockin Rodeo" tour. A lot of sweet bands are joining us on this run including Cash Cash, White Tie Affair, Friday Night Boys, Mercy Mercedes, The Audition and more! Stoked about this little run down to Oklahoma, then we get to go home for a week before we leave to record a record. :) Check out our new poster/ad in this month's AP (with Taking Back Sunday on the cover) and hang it on your wall!

Hopefully i will see you guys on the Rockin Rodeo tour! If not, Warped Tour is just around the corner. ;)

much love! keep it real

kent

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:23:00 +0000

Howdy, Alt Pressers.

Kent Garrison here. The current time is 4:10 p.m. and I am still in the darkness of my bunk. It's hard for me to wake up on the bus a lot of the time because it's so dang dark in this bunk. No windows or anything so it's like sleeping in a coffin all night long. With no daylight, it's hard for my body to realize when it's daytime, I guess. At least that's the explanation I've come up with to justify it. So, we are here on the Roadshow, and things could not be better.

Since last week, we've played in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philly, Baltimore and more. I can't say enough good things about the shows because they've all been amazing, sold out and the kids have been going crazy so you guys get an A+ from me. In Chicago, we played at the House Of Blues (aka the House Of Stairs). We call it that because it's literally 10 flights of stairs to get from the bus to the dressing room/stage. Just hope you don't forget something in the bus and have to go all the way back down and up. I'm too old for that kind of stuff.

In Cleveland, I made a trip by myself to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame only to find out it was closed at 5 p.m. I was shocked and appalled that they would close it so early, especially on a weekend. Most people work until 5 p.m., so I guess in order to go see it you have to take a day off of work instead of keeping it open 'til 8 p.m. I thought that was weird. Oh well, it looked cool from the outside :]

My favorite snack this tour has been Hot Pockets by far. I feel as if I'm the only reason the Hot Pocket company still exists anymore, because I keep them in business with the dozens of Hot Pockets I eat every week. After Bamboozle in New Jersey, we take a few days off and then head out on our headlining run, so I guess I will check back up with you guys then! See you all very soon thank you for reading! :]

kent

You, Me And Everyone We Know Tour Diary (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:15:00 +0000

I am very important.
I am very interesting.
I am very well spoken.
I am very attractive.
People are very interested in reading about my life on the road.
These are the reasons I gave Alternative Press while trying to convince them that they should give me a tour blog for the duration of Razia's Shadow: The Tour. I figure at least one of those has to be true in order for me to be here today:

Hi, my name is Ben Liebsch and couple years ago I accidentally started a band called You, Me, And Everyone We Know. I don't know how we came to be called that, I only remember the idea coming up on a porch swing at a house-turned-pizza place in Georgia. My friend Ryan had apparently heard me singing in the shower and insisted that I be the one to record the vocals for some songs we had written together. I guess I sounded pretty good, because we split up the band we were in and started You, Me, and Everyone We Know in a basement on March 3rd, 2006.

I could get specific about everything that has occurred between then and now but for the sake of brevity I will sum it up by saying some faces have changed, major mistakes have been made, a van has gone up in flames, arrest records have been established, and we've survived it all solely through the moral and monetary support of our fans. Over the next few weeks, this blog will hopefully give you some insight as to who I am, who this band are, and how we make it all work as a thriving independent act. However, we can live the future later. Let's live in the now.

We just left for a roughly 30-day tour with Forgive Durden and Anarbor on Forgive Durden's Razia's Shadow: The Tour. I actually met Anarbor at the Columbus, Ohio, stop of the Take Action! Tour about a month back. I had originally gone to imbibe a little with the guys from Every Avenue but it was fantastic to meet future tour buds ahead of time. They were very nice folk and I'm really stoked spend a month freeing my mind. I am very eager to see how FD's musical gets delivered live. It's such an interesting concept and I'm glad to be a part of it. We're going to be everywhere on this tour. We'll be seeing all of my favorite places like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Texas. I love Texas. It's probably because I love sweating in the sun. It makes me feel like a kid again. In addition, we'll finally be spending some quality time with the west coast. We're even going to Las Vegas, which should be an experience in itself. Here's hoping we make it through without incident.

Current Stresses:
1. The van kind of stuttered out for a second while we were sitting in traffic on the way to practice the other day. We were running the A.C., so that could have something to do with. I need to get it checked out.
2. I recently moved and a very important check got lost in the mail until just the other day. This caused a delay in paying for CDs, shirts, and a new laptop (all of which the band needs desperately).

Thing to smile about:
1. We're finally ordering real CDs! We haven't had the money to do so up until now, and I couldn't be more pleased. I loved the handmade CDs don’t get me wrong, but these cost so much less and are so much easier to deal with.
2. Our new t-shirt design looks amazing. It should be available within the first few days of tour.
3. We are main support on an awesome tour. This is a big deal. I plan to make the most of it.

Wow! This turned out to be a pretty long first blog entry. Thanks to Altpress.com for hosting this diary of sorts. We have a fun road ahead of us, so keep checking back for all sorts of pictures, videos, and updates all may and some of June while on Razias Shadow: The Tour featuring Forgive Durden, Us (You, Me, And Everyone We Know) and Anarbor. See you soon!!!

-Ben Liebsch

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:50:00 +0000

Well, another week on the Bamboozle Roadshow has passed and I am here to update you on all the new happenings. Right now Robi and Kyle are eating their boogers... gross... and we are about to wrap up the Best Bunk awards for the weekend. Somehow me, Kyle and Jonathan have already been disqualified, I think it's jealousy partly, but it's something you prepare yourself for when you make a killer bunk.

Somehow a ton of Red Bull showed up to our bus the past few days and we have all been hyped up, I haven't slept in like 4 days so it’s all good. Joe just walked in with a trash bag full of ice.... who puts ice in a trash bag? Tonight I’m pretty sure the band is hiding in our beds and gonna run the gauntlet on everyone that walks through the hall... pounding them with pillows as they try to pass through the bus. I will let you know how many casualties we have next blog.

This past week we have hit every type of weather, and it’s playing with me now. The first part of the week was humid, hot Florida weather. Followed by some perfect 80 degree short-wearing weather. Now we are in Milwaukee and it snowed this morning and is now raining and is about 40 degrees.... freezing.

This is the part of the blog where I keep zoning out and can't think of anything else to say, so right now we are going to do some interviews and I will be back after that to share something that is hopefully interesting and about 50% made up!

And we are back on the bus after our wonderful interviews. Me, Caleb and Austin are hooked on nazi zombies Call Of Duty.

We have been playing for the past hour or so and starting to have nightmares. I will leave everyone with the nice thought of us munching on bean dip and lays potato chips and coca cola classic.

-Marc

Forever The Sickest Kids tour diary (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:30:00 +0000

YO AP!!!

Kent here from the Sickest Kids checking in from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

As many of you know, we're currently out on the Bamboozle Roadshow with We The Kings, the Cab, NeverShoutNever and Mercy Mercedes. So far the tour has been nothing but a blast! We started out in California at Bamboozle Left (which was super pwning) and then played in Arizona, did three shows in Texas, Oklahoma, St. Louis, Nashville, and now Florida. The shows have all been sold out, so it's been insanely fun every night!

We've made really good friends with all the bands so far and we're all having fun just hanging out and goofing around. There has been some sort of a rivalry going on between the Sickest Kids bus and the We the Kings bus at FIFA 2009 and NBA LIVE 2009 on XBOX 360. Pick your side and we will be sure to update you on the status of the competition. I think as of right now FTSK might hold a slight advantage, but remember: it's still early in the tour so it is anyone's game!

Be sure to check us out on the Roadshow tour but if not, we're going out on a headlining tour run in May which will be just as fun. Mark your calendars for the date nearest you!!!

Austin and I will be keeping you updated on here on the happenings of the tour so come back to Altpress.com for all of your FTSK needs.

See you soon!!!!

Kent Garrison -- FTSK

Flogging Molly Tour Diary (Part 5)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 23:10:00 +0000

March 16
Chicago, Illinois. We played a sold out show at the House Of Blues. The show was added because our St. Patrick's Day show at the Congress Theatre sold out well in advance. Great venue, one of the best House Of Blues in the country. Steven aka the Badger had a slew of problems before sound check. The night before, Bridget broke a string so he had to change her strings. Changing the strings on a violin is way different and more difficult then on a guitar. It takes a lot longer as well. Matt's accordion broke, Dave's acoustic guitar was sounding awful, the bass was cutting out and my amp blew up. No wonder he has grey hair. It's all part of his job. We tour pretty hard, things get broken, but Badger always has everything fixed them by show time. We had a good show. After the show we went to a few bars, I don't remember the names of all of them, except the last one "The Exit." It's a 4am bar, so I did some damage. The Aggrolites were there. It was punk rock night and the DJ was spinning some good tunes. So as usual, after a night out on the town in Chicago, what else do I do? I hunt for Chicago pizza. $30 in cab fares later I found a place open. I had a feast.

March 17
Happy St. Patrick's Day. I woke up not so well. What did I expect after a long night of drink and 3 pieces of stuffed Chicago pizza? I was better by sound check. I did have to take a photo though of the first people in line. They were there hours before doors. I met them all. It was great meeting them. I ran into our super fan Rachel, who was in the line. She was at the last 7 shows in a row (She's been coming to shows for years, always in front, always many shows in a row).

This is a big day for us and our fans. It's funny though, because I remember Dave saying through the years "Every day is St. Patrick's Day when you're in Flogging Molly. " There is a lot of truth in that statement, even though he was saying it as a joke. The show's the same, we don't drink any more or less than usual, or have any special effects... You guys are what make it special. For example, I took this photo from the balcony. Look how many people were wearing green!

And that's only one angle. There were a couple thousand people behind me. People came from all over the country. Dave has said over the years that when he was growing up in Dublin, his memories of St Patrick's Day were going to Mass and then a small parade where the highlight was a couple of Irish Wolfhounds. It's different here in America. People really celebrate the day with big parades, dying rivers green, wearing green and not to mention many people getting drunk. Flogging Molly gets to be a part of the celebration every year in some city. We love it, and always have a great time. Green 17 2009 was a great tour. Thank you to all who came out and made it a success. You keep us going. Thanks for reading this, I hope it wasn't too boring. Flogging Molly will head over to Japan then Hawaii in April. We will be back on tour again very soon. Keep an eye out for us. Until then, Take Care.

Dennis

Flogging Molly Tour Diary (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:52:00 +0000

March 9
Richmond, Virginia at The National. It's a great venue that has been fully remodeled. Backstage has many rooms, a pool table in one, a sauna in another and even a Jacuzzi in another room. Too bad we didn't have much time to hang out there. We had to head up to Boston. A few old friends came down to the show, which is always nice. Carina who worked for us selling merch many many years ago was there. Our good friend and all around great human being Josh from the 9:30 club also came down. I look funny standing next to him. I look funny period...

March 10
Shipping up to Boston. after a long drive we arrived at the new The House Of Blues. Not bad, but backstage area is very small. It was a busy day, our good friend Ken Casey from The Dopkick Murphy's invited us down to his pub McGreevy's for a pre show party. We did a sound check and then headed down there. Nice place with Magners cider. A favorite of mine. There was a lot of people there. I had no idea so many would come! Had a great time hanging out meeting new people, drinking Magners on ice. We made our way back to the venue, only to be greeted by many old friends. Ted from Rhode Island, who used to let us stay at his house after we played in Boston. Patrick Lynch, who is James from Dropkick Murphys' father. He is always good for a few hundred laughs. The Cote family with homemade cookies. Cort Johnson my friend who is always trying to get me on Twitter. Lori The Legend, who used to work at SideOneDummy. She's a riot, haven't seen her in years. We used to live in the same building in LA. After the show I tried to hook up with Ken Casey but he was not in town yet. Although he did call as were driving on to the expressway and asked if we were in a black tour bus. I guess we just passed him. Oh well, would have been nice to see him. Next time. How great of a line up would this be?
Flogging Molly
Dropkick Murphys
The Pogues
Boston is a great city. I remember when we first played Boston at Bill's Bar. We played early at 8pm and there were about 100 people outside just coming in after we finished. They were pissed. Someone got the idea to play again at the Cambridge Port. We were into the idea and went down to this dive bar and played again. Those were the days....
Thanks Ken and McGreevy's for a great pre-show party!

March 11
Rochester, New York - Water Street Music Hall. We were supposed to play one show here but it sold out in less than a week, so we added another show. Two nights in my hometown turned out to be a great time. Many, many friends and family at both shows. The show was good, Dave and Bridget were suffering from a cold. Being sick on tour is no fun. There was an after party at O'Callaghan's Pub for 94.1 The Zone, where some of us planned on playing an acoustic session. Nate, Matt, our crew, and I went to the after party. Holy Shit! I couldn't believe how many people were there. The placed was packed and people went nuts when we walked in. They set up an "area" for us but I never like going behind some rope and separating myself from our fans at these events. So I just headed in and went to the bar. After a while, Matt and I pulled out our instruments and started playing. The whiskey was flowing along with the Guinness. We played a few tunes, then Nate came and sang a Bob Marley song. "No Woman No Cry." After that I think we played a few Flogging Molly songs and a fan sang them with us. We had a great time. Thanks O'Callaghan's! My friend Laura took these photos.

March 12
Rochester second show. We were feeling a bit under the weather today after last night's party at O'Callaghan's. Nothing a few whiskey and red bull's wouldn't cure. We call those Irish baby shakers. Matt jumped up and played the organ with the Aggrolites. Laura took this photo as well.

Laura took this photo as well. I liked it, Dave and Bridget singing together on stage and Bob sitting. I think it's unique and I just like it........

March 13
Atlantic City House Of Blues. We had some friends bring us some Pal Joey's sandwiches. Bob Shuhart and his neighbor do this every time we play New Jersey. He's the father of our former agent Shane Shuhart. I have to say that those subs are the best I've ever had. Everyone usually agrees after having one. I ate 2 and a half at the end of the night. After the show we were invited to try to kill a $1000 bar tab in the foundation room. Great views of the ocean from up there. Don't know if we used up all of the $1000 but it was fun trying. That night on the bus Dave, Bridget, and I stayed up till 5 am singing the Dubliners. Well, Dave wasn't allowed to because he was losing his voice. You should have seen him trying NOT to sing along to some of his favorite songs.

March 14
Washington D.C. ShamrockFest. It was cold, wet and raining all day. Add in about 26,000 drunk people wearing green and you have the ShamrockFest. It's a lot of fun. I was hanging out at our merch booth for a while and got to meet some interesting and fun people. Then this guy walks up.

This is Chaz. He is a legend, great friend, and all around good guy. He's been coming to shows for 10 years or more. He'll show up in the oddest places. He flew to Amsterdam once to see us. He's had our song "Selfish Man" dedicated to him more than anyone it seems. He's bought dozens of tickets when they go on sale and then hand them out to people trying to get in. First time I met him we were playing at a club called Peabody's in Virginia Beach. He bought the whole staff of about 20 girls and 10 guys Flogging Molly shirts to wear the whole night. I didn't know he did it and was wondering what the hell was going on. Why is the whole staff at the venue wearing Flogging Molly shirts? At the end of the night our merch guy told me it was that guy over there. That's how I met Chaz. He'd always show up with bags of the coolest vintage clothes for us. He's thrown parties for us. After the show this night, he took us to his new bar called The Pug. Great place. Cheers Chaz.

Pre-show Shots of whiskey.

The show itself was cold and it was raining. Then the PA system would shut off during songs. I guess the generator was in too much water. I don't know. We didn't stop playing though, it was interesting watching the reactions of the thousands of people watching. All in all I think they had a good time. I did.

Oh yeah, one last thing. We dared Feddy our merch guy to get an afro/perm. He did it.

March 15
On our way to Chicago to play two shows. Thanks for reading this and thanks to everyone who came out to the shows and parties.

Flogging Molly Tour Diary (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:27:00 +0000

February 27
Houston, Texas. It was a hot, humid day. Tobe from Street Dogs called me up and let me know his band were in town rehearsing for their upcoming tour. He told me he organized an after- party and all of the Street Dogs were coming to the show. Always great to see our good friends in Street Dogs! They have to be one of my favorite bands to tour with. I think we will tour with them in Japan. The after-party was great. Tobe was the DJ, and there was lots of drinking and dancing. End of the night photo:

February 28

Austin, Texas. We played Stubb's--an outdoor venue with a great vibe. We always like playing there and it was a sold out show. Many friends were in town: Johnny Madcap and Lee from the band Madcap and Victor Ruggiero from the Slackers to name a few. Vic had a gig in town as well, he was playing later than us and invited us down to the show. I took a couple of photos of the show. Vic is a very talented guy, he had this one man band thing going for the first half where he played drums, guitar and harmonica at the same time. Then, he invited a guest drummer and guitar player to join him to finish the set. We brought a lot of fans from our show down to his. Many people bought us shots and beers, thanks to all of you.

March 1
New Orleans, Louisiana. The first of a three-day stay. Two sold-out shows at the House Of Blues. Flogging Molly and New Orleans go together quite well, it seems. Many locals come to our shows and have been for years, so it's always great to be able to stay in town for three days and get to hang out with old friends. The first show was the Mighty Stef's last of the tour. They asked Bridget to play a song with them and she did:

They asked Matt and myself to play Dead Flowers with them:

It was really great to play with them, especially seeing it was their last night. They are a great bunch of guys with a great band. Hope any who saw them liked it and I hope we get to tour with them again soon. After the show, we all decided to go a few doors down to Ryan's Irish Pub. Ryan's is close and we've been going there for after shows for years. As you know, New Orleans is the place to go to fall on your face drunk. Dave, Bridget and I stayed til 6 a.m. singing at the top of our lungs, screaming and dancing. I was trying to wrestle a rather large fan/friend I don't remember his name, I hope he sees this and tells me. I also had a bullfighting match with his friend:

I was was just having fun... We all did, I was in rough shape the next day.

March 2
The second New Orleans show was looooose and sloppy but a great time. Everyone went out late the night before and were feeling it. Dave had a great time. He gave a security guard in front of him (and most of us) a hard time. It was funny! I was told by many who saw both shows that this show was better. Mistakes were made but it didn't seem to matter to us or the audience because we were having so much fun. Before the show, our friend Tom brought his accordion backstage to trade a few tunes with Matt. He had a really cool accordion. He was showing him a few cajun tunes.

After the show it, was off to Ryan's again. Another late night of the same. No wrestling or bullfighting though.

Brendon of the Mighty Stef was going around to all who were at the bar saying "Fight Ya, Beat Ya, Pleased to meet ya," Crazy Irishman.

March 3
Day off in New Orleans. Took a trolley ride with Bob through the Garden District. Got back and went to K Paul's for dinner. I got on my bike and decided to head down to Frenchmen Street. A friend recommended that we go there to hear local musicians. Some of the guys had tickets to see Terence Blanchard. It was sold out by the time I got there. The guys who went said it was "amazing" oand ne of the best shows they had seen. I locked up my bike and headed for the live music. Frenchmen Street has many clubs with live bands playing with no cover charge, you just tip the band. I ran into Nate at the first bar where there was a New Orleans/Dixieland jazz band playing. These guys were seriously good musicians...no mics, no pa, no light... just them playing their asses off in the corner. Nate and I went into every club that had live music playing: some funk, some roots rock, some jazz, some blues. It was a great night. All this music on one street, great musicians everywhere.

March 4
Atlanta, Georgia, at the Tabernacle. It's a beautiful old theatre that was seriously damaged last year in a storm. I'm glad it's up and running again. What a great venue, with a great backstage area. Pool table and large rooms. We usually hang out backstage after the show, get extra beers and have a party. My friend Tom Sylvester who has given me a few great tattoos over the years was there. Our friends from the band "All Night Drug Prowling Wolves" and a bunch of others were there as well. I went outside to grab some more beers for our party and ran into this dude with a guitar, I grabbed it and started playing the shit out of it. He wanted me to have everyone sign it. I obliged and proceeded to find all of the band members to sign it. I got held up at the party as Jesse from The Aggrolites and I traded Chuck Berry riffs on it. As I emerged with the signed guitar I was confronted by 2 kilt wearing fans wanting autographs. What a sight. Off I went!

March 5
Orlando, Florida. We played the House Of Blues in Disneyland. Many family and friends at these shows. Good times had by all. Great after show party . On the way to Pompano Beach I got out and helped wash the bus.

March 6
Pompano Beach. We were supposed to play the Langerado Festival but it got cancelled, sowe booked our own show. We added Against Me! to the bill and were stoked about that. We have wanted to play with them for a long time. We did a press conference/interview with the whole band that day for a program on SweptAwayTV.com's "The Rock Show." I don't think it's up yet, I couldn't get a link to it. It's the first and maybe last time you may see an interview with the whole band. I don't think we've ever done that. I'll post a link if I get one. Show was great, Against Me kicked ass/ I hope we will tour with them one day. We played the encore and somehow ( we still don't know who was behind this), a huge devil appeared in the background during Devil's Dance Floor. Dave could hardly sing because he was laughing so hard. We were all surprised and very amused.

We hung out after the show with Against Me. I had a great conversation with Tom, Warren and Andrew about politics, music & the new U2 record. James and I got into guitar gear talk blah blah blah.

March 7
Orlando again. Dave, Bridget, Matt, and Bob did an acoustic session at the pub Raglin Road. The show that night was great. Hung out with family and friends afterwards. A highlight of the night was when Nate sang one of his songs with The Aggrolites. I got a snippet of it here.

Nice job brother. That's it for this week.

This is some music I've been listening to;

James Booker- Manchester '77
U2- No Line On The Horizion
Dan Auerbach- Keep It Hid
Cajun Early Recordings Boxset

Thanks everyone who have come to the shows and who read this.

Dennis

Flogging Molly Tour Diary (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:43:00 +0000

WHAT'S UP?
Week two of the Green 17 Tour. Things are moving along fairly well, falling into place. A week of sold out shows! A BIG thank you to all who bought tickets. I bought a camera in St. Paul,Minnesota so I'll have more photos and videos.

February 20
Cleveland Rocks! Sorry, George made me put that there. Two shows at the House Of Blues, both have been sold out for weeks. My sister surprised me with a call saying she was in Cleveland 1/2 an hour before the show. She needed 6 tickets. Stress? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. The first show went off, all is great. Before I go on I have to tell you that there is an Irish pub called Flannery's around the corner from the House Of Blues. We've been going there for years and this year was no exception. These days 90% of the people from the show go to the pub after the show as well. It is nothing short of some of the greatest nights we've had as a band. Matt will usually start a session and tell all of us to get our instruments. He's always good at that. This time it was Bob, Matt, me and whoever else wanted to grab some spoons (or whatever was in reach) and join in. I was seeing double at this point in the night, so I played a few tunes and handed my bodhran to someone else. I proceeded to hang out with my brother-in-law and friend, Tim. We drank more whiskey and consumed more beer. As the night was winding down, Tim who was in the military gave me his dog tags. Wow, I was speechless, honored and kept asking if he was sure about doing that. Great way to end the night. Sorry no photos, I didn't have a camera yet...

February 21
Another great show. Then around the corner to Flannery's. Seemed like there were even more people there tonight. Thanks to all who bought rounds of beers and shots. I met this guy who kept buying me Irish Car Bombs. After about 4, I was well oiled. The Mighty Stef boys were there and we proceeded to sing all of Exile on Main Street in the middle of the place. And that was it. I blacked out. Don't remember anything. I was told the next day that I had a very good time. Thank you Bob for escorting me out of the bar and to the correct hotel room. Thank you Cleveland.
Here is a photo of Matt playing my guitar backstage:

February 23
St Paul, Minnesota..our first time playing the venue, Myth. It seemed to be surrounded by malls and strip malls. So I bought a camera for this blog. Here are some photos I took:

Matt's banjo, yes Matt also plays the banjo. He plays it all the time. He's been at it for about a year and he's really good now. Matt gets really good at anything he puts his mind to.
I took the photo at the odd moment he wasn't playing it. His friend put that cool design on it.

Bob backstage.

This is Steven aka "The Badger" the legend, the one and only. Check out his segment on "Whiskey On A Sunday" It's the funniest part of the DVD. I didn't take this photo, he wouldn't flip me off.

This is Angry Andy our truck driver who never seems to sleep...

This is a view from on the stage. The Aggrolites and The Mighty Stef are joining us for a song.

February 24
Kansas City has some great BBQ. We seem to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner when we are here. We played a beautiful old theatre that we've never played before called the Uptown Theatre. A guy from the Kansas City Wizards soccer team came to the show. He brought soccer jerseys with our names on them. Pretty Cool, it's my first soccer jersey!

I couldn't help but laugh a lot when I thought of us (Flogging Molly) as a soccer team. I know Dave's pretty good. Here's a photo of them.

I always like seeing our name on the Marquee. I've been taking these kind of photos for years.

Nate and a few of the boys from the Mighty Stef backstage at The Uptown.

We went to a bar across the street and had a few beers. It was a relatively quite night.

February 25
St. Louis. we are again playing a different venue and another old beautiful theatre called the Pageant . There are hundreds of photos backstage of the owner with any touring musician you can imagine and a few presidents. So many great musicians have played at the Pageant. It's an honor for us to play here and sell it out. It was a great show. We went to the bar next door after the show and got things going good...the party continued on the bus. More about that later. Here's a few photos of some, not all of our crew members. The guys who make it all happen. Hard working bastards...

The hardest working man in show business: Freddy.

Steven aka the Badger, who every day has to change strings on 2 acoustic guitars, 3 electric guitars, 2 bass guitars, a mandolin, and a banjo. He also takes care of a violin and an accordian.
6 amps, 6 tuners, I'm stressing just writing this . I'll stop now. He's worked with us the longest...6 years. He's one of us. Much respect and love.

Chris McCleary our monitor engineer. A job I wouldn't do in a million years. He's a masochist if you ask me. I think Monitor engineers take the most abuse.

Aaron's our tour manager, he makes it all happen. He's great at what he does. I hope he stays with us until the end. We're lucky to have him on our team.

Back to the party, it started in the dressing room:

Then to the bar next door ,then on to the bus. Aaron and Freddy got first dibs on the stereo, god help us. See video below.

The night wore on and the more booze we consumed the sillier it got. Jesse from the Aggrolites rode with us. Someone gave us some kind of edible fruit arrangement.

Stan our lighting designer decided to put it in his hair along with a piece of pizza. He has the perfect hair for it.

Public Enemy! This is a great video of Dave and Nate digging some Public Enemy. It's hysterical.

It was a great night indeed.
So that's almost all of our crew. The rest I'll get to. I just wanted to pay my respects to them, introduce you to them. They're a big part of what we do. The working man.
Thanks again to all who, in these uncertain times, shelled out their hard earned dollars to come to the show, buy some merch. Until the next time, Take Care.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Tour Diary (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus check in from their world tour!

Japan

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Tour Diary (AltPress Exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Brisbane, Australia

We arrived at the airport around 7 a.m. after a ridiculously long flight from Japan. The climate nearly mirrored that of summer in my hometown in Florida, a drastic difference from the Japanese winter from which we'd just left behind--a comforting attribute when you've spent so many days and nights from your own home.

First things first, we had to see some "roos," so I, along with the rest of the guys, piled into two taxi cabs and we were all off to the Lone Pine Koala Reservation. The walls of the gift shop were lined with photos of all types of artists, bands and celebrities--which was why we were all invited by the staff to visit their park.

After each of our individual koala cuddling photos, we gathered for a group picture that will eventually be added next to the rest of the musicians, actors and royalty that covered the the interior of the gift shop.

Koalas weren't the only residents at the reservation; exotic parrots, indigenous reptiles, kangaroos and wombats roamed the grounds that we explored for the better part of three hours. The creatures here are so different from North American animals. It was intriguing to finally see them all up close and not on a television screen or through glass at zoo. The kangaroos were surprisingly docile and accepted food from our hands and scratches between their ears. Being one of the most incredible things I've gotten to do on tour, I would suggest the Lone Pine to anybody planning a visit to Australia.

Later that night, we caught the Fall Out Boy show (which kicked ass) and got to hang out backstage afterwards. It was the first time I had ever met Patrick or Pete and both were so amazingly cool. I honestly was quite shocked and humbled to hang out with them. They definitely deserve all of the success they have achieved in my opinion.

Our first order of business was to kick off the Soundwave Festival at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane. I was pleased to see we'd be sharing a dressing room with some old tour mates: Madina Lake, a band we'd met and become friends with in the states. We were pumped to be performing for the first time in Australia on such a well known tour, and the lineup was filled with acts we could enjoy all day before and after playing. After playing a huge show that day on one of the two main stages, we stuck around to catch Alice In Chains and Nine Inch Nails, both of whom sonically and visually blew our minds. We then departed for the hotel, tired but stoked as hell. So far, Soundwave has been amazing for me and the rest of the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.

peace-RnS-Winter

Flogging Molly tour diary (Part One)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:16:00 +0000

Hey everybody it's Dennis from Flogging Molly. I'll be writing this blog during our Green 17 tour. I hope to get one a week done. It's my first time doing something like this. So if you have any questions or ideas on what you'd like to see let me know. I'll do my best.

February 13 & 14

We decided to add some new songs to the set and dust off some older ones. Having decided this, we needed to rehearse. Rehearsing is something we don't do much of, because we are almost always on tour. The first date of the tour was February 15th in at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, so we found a rehearsal spot near Times Square. We set up shop, crammed into a little space and made a lot of noise.

As you can see it's a small space for seven musicians. But we always end up in small spaces rehearsing or writing. This place was nice. New York City, pizza, delis and pubs on every block...what more do you need? We all had a great time. I think we should rehearse there more often.

February 15

Day of the first show. New York City is always crazy with guests. I have a lot of family there and we've all have made many friends in NYC over the years. I remember when we first played there in 2000, we played every Monday at the Continental for free and every Thursday at the Parkside Lounge in the back (there was no stage). I remember after the first night at the Continental, we went to Jesse Malin's bar, Niagara, and had a great time. We piled into our van (that had the back bench seat removed) and had a celebratory mosh pit. I wish I had a camera that night. We were all pretty sore. Anyways, back to the show on Feb. 15. It was sold out. The crowd was great. We've come a long way. Thanks to everyone who came to the show. Here's a photo of your backs:

Dub Trio are on the bill. They're a cool sounding band. They make a lot of noise for just three guys. After the show, we went to a pub around the corner and hung out and had some drinks. We were having so much fun, we couldn't get Dave to leave. We had to cross the border into Canada that night and that takes a while, so after a bit of coaxing Dave, off we went. The party continued on the bus till 5 a.m. A few hours later, we were awakened up by our tour manager, Aaron, yelling at us to get up. We had to go inside and show our faces. Anyone in a band who has been to Canada can testify that this part sucks, but it wasn't bad this time. We didn't have to wait long. I remember one time, we waited at the border inside their waiting room (with a filthy toilet and a water fountain) for five hours. But thats another story for another day.

February 16

Montreal. Wow, it's fuckin' cold there. And the locals told us it was a warm day. It was anything but that to me. We mostly stayed inside or close to venue. Nothing crazy happened and we were mostly recovery from New York. Montreal is a great city. We've been there many times. It wasn't that easy in the beginning, but they came around. After the show, we went to pub next door. I met a crazy super-fan named Patrick. Great guy. One time, he and his friends drove all the way to Rochester, New York, to go to a show that was sold out. They were determined to get in. I let them in the back door. He knows more about us than I remember. Flogging Molly fans are the best.

February 17

Toronto. I've got that South Park song, "Blame Canada" in my head. The venue was far from the city on an island. There wasn't much to do because it was really cold outside. My buddy Smitty drove up from Buffalo and it was cool to hang out with him. I got a bottle of Vodka and hung out with Jesse from the Aggrolites. It's been a long time coming that we got to tour with them. If you're planning to come see us, get to the show early and definitely check this band out. You wont be disappointed. It's a pleasure to share the stage with them. We had another border crossing and then back to the U.S.A. It was a smooth crossing this time.

February 18

Detroit: the Dirty D. We spent our day off downtown. In the evening, we went to a few bars, including the Well. We ended up in a pub called the Old Shillelagh. An older guy was playing the acoustic and singing. It seems like most Irish pubs have a guy playing cover songs. So as the night went on, someone recognizes a song he's playing. We couldn't believe it--he was playing our song, "Drunken Lullabies." He's doing his own version, but he's playing our song. He didn't know we were in the band. That was a great feeling hearing that. It was the first time we've ever experienced that and it made for a great night. Later on, we went to a diner and left one of our guys there. He ended up getting lost and called me constantly, trying to find his way. We were both loaded and I'm not from Detroit. He finally paid a homeless guy to take him back to our hotel. He fell asleep in an odd position as you will see:

Days off are hard work...

February 19

Detroit's Fillmore is a beautiful old theater. I love playing here. Detroit fans were lined up for blocks outside freezing their asses off. They cheered louder when they opened the doors than they did when we hit the stage. I don't blame them. It was cold! The show was great. Good times after the show hanging out with family and friends.

As I said earlier, Flogging Molly fans are the best. We are blessed as a band to have the fans we have. A big thank you to all of you. Without you, all this wouldn't happen. I hope to meet all of you one day. I'll try to take more photos and get some videos. The Mighty Stef just joined the tour. Those boys from Ireland know how to have a good time. They seem to know how to play every Rolling Stones song no matter how much whiskey they drink. They toured with us last year. It's good to have them back.

Until next week, take care.

Dennis

Automatic Loveletter Tour Diary (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Automatic Loveletter frontwoman Juliet Simms checks in from the road...

So last night, we had a 300-mile drive to our hotel and we ended up leaving the venue at 1 a.m. Yay. Around 2:30, we got pulled over and our awesome merch guy didn't have his drivers license on him and our trailer lights were broken. On top of those two things, we couldn't find our van insurance. Uh-oh...

So we got a ticket and were told by the officer to pull off at the next exit and that if he saw us driving again he'd pull us over...again.

So we pulled off and two hours later, our amazing tour manager/drummer, Daniel Currier, fixed the trailer lights and we continued on. After watching like three minutes of The Office, I passed out. It was one of those night's sleep where you wake up every 20 minutes and don't know if you were actually sleeping or not.

Anyways, whatever.

At 6:30 a.m., we pulled up to a Starbucks, ran in, peed, Daniel grabbed a coffee and we jetted out again. We finally arrived at the hotel at 10 a.m., ran in and took showers and then packed all our shit up to leave. We still had four hours of driving to Atlanta.

Well, four horus turned into seven. Awesome.

We got to the venue, loaded out quickly and had sound check. As I type this, I'm sitting backstage at the Masquerade with my boys in A Cursive Memory and the Friday Night Boys. We're playing Call Of Duty 4 and listening to A Cursive Memory's new music while they listen to mine. :]

The show is filling up and I can't wait to play!

Juliet

Automatic Loveletter Tour Diary (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Automatic Loveletter frontwoman Juliet Simms blogs from the road...

So we played Chicago last night, which was rad!..and freezing..and a little scary but anyways that night we drove half way to Cleveland got to the hotel at like 5 a.m., slept for 2 hours, got up at 7:00 a.m and drove the rest of the way to Cleveland, Ohio.

We arrived at the venue, Agora Ballroom, at 10:00 a.m for a photo shoot with AP magazine:] immediately I was awakened by Daniel (drummer for A.ll) saying get inside for make up and hair, so I zombied my way in sick, tired, hungry and FREEZING my ass off!

Did hair,did makeup, got dressed and took pictures until around 3:00 p.m, which happened to be our sound check time. So then I ran outside to meet the boys, help load in and set our gear up. As I'm setting my amp down I noticed something was missing--my mic and cable box! Turns out it was left in Chicago. awesome.

So now at this point, I'm pissed, still haven't eaten, can't feel my toes, have an itch on my back that I couldn't reach (and wouldn't go away) and I have a sound guy asking me to line check my guitar. grrrrrrrr!!!! So we finish sound check and I finally get some food in me :D

Full and a little bit happier I go down stairs to change. Daniel comes down a little later and says, "Dude, go upstairs and check out how many kids are here!" I run upstairs to find the floor swiftly filling up!:] all in all we played a kick ass show, the crowd was AMAZING!! And I got off stage sweating and beaming!
Best show ever! I love you Cleveland<3>

Portugal. The Man studio diary [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:16:00 +0000

Portugal. The Man Studio Diary (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Silverstein studio diary [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Silverstein Studio Diary Part 1 (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

Fireworks studio diary, part four [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:25:00 +0000

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

Taking Back Sunday Tour Diary

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Unce, Tice, Fee Tines A Mady.

Top Ten Things We Loved About This Tour in No Particular Order:

1. Playing music together and having a blast every single night.

2. Bringing our brothers in Envy On The Coast along for the tour and geeking out on music nerd stuff with them.

3. Eddie's christmas tree for the bus.

4. Meeting all the amazing people who make long drives to come out and support our music night after night.

5. A plentiful supply of Honey Bunches Of Oats, Emergen-C and throat lozenges.

6. Our bus driver, Bart. He loves playing the Lotto.

7. Receiving all the sweet Frisbees and gifts from fans (and playing Frisbee a lot).

8. The excitement from the fans and hearing how much they love the new songs.

9. Hanging with the fans at Denny's after the shows Tucson, Arizona, and Norfolk, Virginia.

10. Last but not least, our killer crew. They are the glue that keeps the machine together and we'd be lost without them.

Thanks to all the fans, friends and family who have come out on this tour. We have the best job in the world and we owe everything to all of you.

Much love,
Matt Fazzi + TBS

Taking Back Sunday Tour Diary, Part Two

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Hi, AP readers! This is Matt Rubano from Taking Back Sunday.

This has been a really important tour for me. It's marked the beginning of another era for Taking Back Sunday. We've been through a lot as a band. We have seen the darkest and the greatest moments of our lives often sandwiched right next to each other. There is one single thing that has enabled us to make it through everything: you.

Before and after these shows we have all spent a lot of time hanging around the venues and meeting our fans. I have met people who are seeing us for the first time, people who came from overseas (seriously!!?), people who saw the band before I was even in it, and people who have seen 50 or more shows. All of which, completely amazes me. Even now, it feels so strange to me to call you our "fans" because I genuinely feel like I know so many of you. Honestly, I would rather call you our friends. If you're so inclined to make one, swallow your sarcastic comment and listen to what I'm saying.

It's easy for a band to lose sight of what's important because you're constantly inundated with stimuli and responsibilities. We have always tried to keep things in order but even when it's on the forefront of your conscience, sometimes life gets the best of you.

This tour however, has put me back in touch with what it felt like when I first joined TBS. I am blown away by the homemade shirts, signs, and the passion in each audience we have played for so far. We have been given the nicest road gifts; and after one simple mention of needing a Frisbee to play with on our MySpace page, we are now sitting on nearly 100 personalized, totally unique Frisbees.

Meeting people face to face, night after night has been our favorite part because it makes this whole thing so real. You aren't faceless masses to us. You are our friends. To us, it's not a show, it's a party - and we can't thank you enough for coming.

I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes, a break and a step back can give you the best perspective on things. I cannot wait for this upcoming year of touring. We have reconnected as band mates and friends. We are having the most fun on stage and I hope you can see it.

I hope to see you soon,
Matt Rubano

P.S. Sal Bossio from Envy On The Coast is the coolest MF I have ever met in my whole life. I secretly wish I was him and I am definitely not being forced to write this at gunpoint. (HELP!!)

Taking Back Sunday Tour Diary, Part One

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Karan) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:31:00 +0000

Hello AP readers!

I'm sitting here in wonderful El Paso, Texas, and it's Day 4 of my first official Taking Back Sunday tour. I suppose I should kick off this blog with a brief introduction about who I am. For those who may not know me, my name is Matt Fazzi and I'm the new guitarist around TBS town--well, kinda new anyway.

I..am...Batmatt.

We've had a blast just in these first few days trying to develop a working rhythm with our crew and also just with the five of us playing together. That's the beautiful thing about touring as opposed to doing one-off shows: You get the time to really tighten up as a musical unit and work out the kinks.

Adam Lazzara and I in Mission, Texas

Our crew is a great group of hardworking people from top to bottom and they are all Taking Back Sunday tour veterans, so I get to learn a lot from them about what it means to be on the road with this band. Those guys are who keep the machine moving along in tip-top shape and we owe them tons and tons of credit for working so hard for us night after night.

Our crew member Ray and I.

This is a tour of many firsts for me. It's my first time doing a legit tour with TBS; my first time in some cities where I've never played; and first time being on a tour bus for a long stretch. I got a little taste of it when we visited the UK back in August, but it was a very brief trip and the experience flew by pretty fast. I truly appreciate the little things about what it means to tour in a bus instead of a van. It really helps as a musician to be relieved of the stress and agony of making a 16-hour overnight drive, or even having the simple luxury of being able to stand and stretch out a bit or not have to sleep in a seated position for several hours on end. Heck, even just having a bathroom on the bus so you don't have to stop for ten people to go No. 1 makes a huge difference. Every little bit of rest or comfort is never taken for granted.

One of my favorite things to do on tour is play Frisbee and I've managed to spread the love for Frisbees among the rest of the band and some of the crew members. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball and forgot to bring mine--the best Frisbee in the world that I got in Sandusky, Ohio. (Thank you, Sandusky.) So Matt Rubano had the brilliant idea of asking our fans to bring us one and the response has been awesome. I learn how truly sweet our fans are more and more every day. We posted the idea a little too late to get any Frisbees at the first show in Corpus Christi, Texas, but Mission, Texas, came through. Even the Envy On The Coast guys are getting in on the frizz. Speaking of Envy On The Coast, they are a fantastic group of gents and a sick band and I couldn't be more stoked to have them out with us. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them as musicians and we all get along really well because we're close in age. I'm looking forward to hanging with those dudes even more on this tour.

Matt Rubano and Mark O'Connell in Corpus Christi

The shows so far have been phenomenal. Corpus Christi and Mission were in these sort of half-outdoor type venues which, depending on the weather, can do funny things with your instruments. My guitars had some trouble last night because the cold was agitating the tuning. Rubano had a similar experience with his bass, but the great thing about the vibe in this band is that we can laugh off the troublesome stuff that will always happen no matter what you do. That's the recurring theme around these parts: Have fun first and foremost. We sacrifice a lot in the name of doing what we love to do (leaving family and friends behind) so you absolutely have to make the best of it and keep morale high or else you'll just end up miserable and spinning your wheels for nothing.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I'll check back with everyone in a week!

Much Love,
Fazzi + Taking Back Sunday

The Gay Blades tour diary, part two [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Heisel) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:52:00 +0000

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

Fireworks studio diary, part three [video]

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Heisel) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:11:00 +0000

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