Go Backstage At Warped with your favorite bands!

Backstage At Warped with the Academy Is... (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.


We The Kings - Whoa (live in Cleveland) (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.


Backstage At Warped with Norma Jean (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.


Against Me! - Don't Lose Touch (live in Cleveland) (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.


Backstage At Warped with Jack's Mannequin (AltPress.com exclusive) from Alternative Press on Vimeo.

LAX To O'Hare (To Hopkins)

Big props to Warped Tour main-stagers the Academy Is... for inspiring today's blog title. I'm currently sitting in LAX with some dinner and a glass of wine (don't worry, I've been of a legal drinking age for quite a while now, and the wine helps me relax for the flight), getting ready for my redeye back to Cleveland which takes off at 11:55 PST. I have a layover at O'Hare in Chicago though, so I won't be getting back to Cleveland until 9-something tomorrow morning. Time zones are trippy.

So today was the last day of Warped Tour. It was pretty standard procedure for the most part, though as the day ticked away, more and more of the sponsor peeps were counting down the hours to tear-down (Keli from Hell Cat, I'm looking at you). All day long was a flurry of goodbyes and hugs and "see you on the next tour"s. It was also a plus that Luis and I had a street-teamer today, so we could take turns showering early and packing up our bunks. I definitely didn't get to say goodbye to everyone before I had to take a cab to the airport from the Home Depot Center. (Side note, this is the venue where the LA Galaxy play, and our showers were down in the locker room area. I saw three dudes wearing Galaxy practice jerseys, but none of them were David Beckham. Bummer.) Even though I was only on the tour for 10 days, it's hard to say goodbye to some people (especially the ones I knew from last year's Warped), and it's so obvious how much of a family everyone becomes, it's hard not to get caught up in it all.

As far as the day itself, we had two signings--one with Say Anything, and one with Sky Eats Airplane. It was the first time we did a signing with SEA, and we had quite a crowd. Those dudes are also super nice and they were really thrilled that we wanted to do a signing with them. They even asked me and Luis to pose for a pic with them afterward. It was really sweet of them.

I also checked out two of the five acoustic sets the MySpace tent held today, one being FTSK (they let Kent play guitar!) and one being El Bronx's mariachi set. El Bronx's set was by far one of the coolest things I saw on Warped this year. They are such a talented band, and I encourage everyone to check out their "real" stuff (just the Bronx, uh, duh), and if you ever get the chance to see them in mariachi mode, you definitely have to take it. Check out the cell phone vid from both sets above, in the video section.

Overall, I got to see some amazing bands, I met a lot of dedicated readers (I love it when people say they heart AP before they realize I work for AP) and for about two weeks, I got to be part of the "family" that Kevin Lyman started building 14 years ago. All in all, not a shabby way to spend part of one's August. See you next summer!

Destination: LA

Because I know how much everyone is into my blog posts, I'm gonna go ahead and give you two in one day (it's still technically Saturday out west, for those of you keeping score with the blog post times).

For the first time in what seems like forever (which is probably three days in "real" time), our tent was set up where we could see the stage. It also happened to be the Hurley stage, which I hadn't really gotten to see at all on the tour. So aside from having our tent engulfed by the All Time Low and We The Kings crowds early in the day, we also got to hear/watch Automatic Loveletter, Pierce The Veil, the Devils Wears Prada, All That Remains and many others. The best set of the day, though, were Mayday Parade. Their singer, Derek, had to miss the show for his brother's wedding, so the band got a bunch of guest vocalists to fill in (there's a vid of Alex from All Time Low guesting above). Anyway, here's the guest spots:

"Jamie All Over" -Alex (All Time Low)
"Walk On Water" -Vic (Pierce The Veil)
"Jersey"-Danny (The Audition)
"3 Cheers" -Travis (We The Kings)
"Black Cat" -Dan and Alan (Four Year Strong)
"When I Get Home" -Fred (The Color Fred)

Other than that, the coolest thing about today was the fact that there was a Jamba Juice vendor on the grounds. F'reals. Now we're on the bus, headed to L.A. for the last day. Man, already? I guess so...

Still somewhere in California...

Hey, guys. Sorry for the delay in the blog post from yesterday. Sometime around 4 p.m. California time, our snazzy little internet card decided it didn't really feel like working anymore. So... from yesterday...

The day was pretty INSANE in the booth. Luis and I were, for some unknown reason, feeling super ambitious and decided to schedule four signings:

1:00: Forever The Sickest Kids
2:00: We The Kings
3:30: The Academy Is...
5:00: The Devil Wears Prada.

The crowds for all four of these signings were huge, and all four lines had to be cut (much to the chagrin of some concert-goers. Hey, man, thems the breaks. The bands can't sit around all day, no matter how much we'd like them to).

Needless to say, we missed lunch and relied very heavily on our awesome street-teamer (Sarah) to work the subscriptions table. Luckily, Luis had some super, SUPER rad friends who brought us In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Oh, yeah. In-N-Out Burger twice within 24 hours is a-okay in my book (the rumors were true about our bus stopping the other night).

I had to leave the booth early to attend to some other requirements, and by the time I got to the showers (way later than sponsorship people are supposed to use them) the lukewarm water was long gone. Yay, ice showers! :P It didn't really bother me for too long, though, as last night was the last big BBQ of the tour. Since we had a 2 a.m. bus call and tonight's bus call is 9:30, it was really the last night for people to hang out before the tour's over tomorrow. The band buses and the production buses weren't set up together, so essentially there were two parties. The BBQ was in full swing--the amphitheater actually let us have it inside the venue, and aside from the BBQ band, Kevin Lyman himself was in back, grilling some tri-tip steaks. MmmMmmMmm. The Aggrolites (along with special guests like Oreskaband and Fear Nuttin' Band) provided the evening soundtrack, and there was a massive hot dog-eating contest. I think someone in the Anberlin camp won, and I heard this morning at breakfast that all the participants promptly puked afterward.

Over by the band buses, things were equally hopping, as Story Of The Year were providing a dance party in their pop-up tent, and there was an organized cornhole tourney (with color commentary and everything). It seemed like everyone was in a pretty good--if not bittersweet--mood. I can't imagine touring full time. It seems like it would be a relief to be having some time off before moving onto another (hopefully less sweaty) tour, yet difficult to say goodbye to your summer family.

As much fun as I have being out on the road and as rad as it is to meet our readers, I am definitely looking forward to having a regular shower, a bed that doesn't jerk around with every road bump and a closet, rather than a suitcase. Still, seeing everyone say goodbye last night makes me a little jealous that I'm not a full-time nomad.

Chula Vista

Greetings, Warped blog faithful (aka Scott and my p-rents). Today was a beautiful day in Chula Vista, which I'm told is near San Diego. If I've learned anything on this tour, it's that I'm not super familiar with California geography, but I know we're pretty far south.

Right now, I'm sitting next to Mikey Galt of MySpace, typing this here blog. I'm only allowing him to stay on the seat next to me because it's freaking freezing on the bus, and his muscular body is radiating warmth. (He may or may not have dictated that last sentence.) All in all, it was a pretty smooth day as far as Warped's concerned. We had a ton of street teamers (and all their friends) helping us out today, which was super nice, and freed me up to do some other pressing work. So a big, big thanks to all our street teamers who worked super hard and who also laid down the law during our Gym Class Heroes signing (which was nothing short of epic).

The only complaint I had about today's crowd (and "complaint" may be a little strong)? No respect for yellow "Caution" tape. I mean, if it's up, it's up for a reason. You're not supposed to duck under it. In case you're wondering, it's not put up so we can purposefully make you walk further to get to the Ernie Ball Stage. It's so you don't get taken out by a road case. Believe me, after 10+ hours working Warped, no one pushing a road case is going to care if they take out a couple of jerks that decided they were cooler than the caution tape. Let that be a warning for all of your future Warped experiences. Other than that, today was pretty nice, and I can't believe there are only three days left...

Right now our bus is heading all the way back up north to Mountain View (which I've learned is near San Francisco). I'm not sure who put together this crazy routing, but I'll have driven (well, okay, ridden) up and down the California coast three times by the time Warped is over. But hey, whatever works. We had a super early bus call tonight (9:30), but the rumor is we're stopping at an In-N-Out Burger in about 45 minutes, so I am totally hoping that's a rumor that turns out to be true.

I'll let you know how that works out tomorrow.

Second Half Of Monterey Bay And First Half Of Fresno

So, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: The weather in Monterey Bay yesterday sucked. I don't have a problem talking (um, complaining) about the weather on this here blog. If you think about it, the weather is the most common "small talk" topic, so it can't be that wrong, right?

Anyway, it was cold and rainy all day yesterday, and it is 48 degrees warmer today in Fresno. I guess the days of perfect temps (George, Wa, and St. Helens, OR, I'm looking at you) are over. Well, I knew it was probably too good to last. Oh, well.

As for yesterday, I finally got off the bus for a while and took the shuttle downtown with Lycia, Jess from Girlz Garage, Jake from Mayday Parade and Zack from All Time Low. We decided to hit up a sushi joint, which, sadly, turned out to be only so-so. The best part? It was overlooking the harbor, and there were two otters playing in the water right outside our window, which was super rad. Later, we walked around a neighborhood street fair in search of a Starbucks, and ended up finding a local coffee joint which was much better (I think it was called Plume's). I had a delicious lemon bar and my stomach was back to being happy after the so-so sushi (try saying THAT three times fast).

Everyone was in a pretty crummy mood because of the weather, so I just did some more work on the bus before calling it an early night. We had an early bus call (which we've had every night since I've been out), so I've actually been getting a pretty decent amount of sleep. Bus sleep is weird, though. I always wake up a few times, which I hardly ever do at home, and I always have really, really, really weird dreams. I could try to explain the one I had last night, but it probably would just seem like gibberish to anyone else, even though it seemed totally legit to me, though. There was one part, though, where my Toyota Corolla had the ability to fold itself into a travel coffee mug. Weird.

This morning we arrived in Fresno (aka "the furnas") and Luis and I have been trying to keep cool ever since. You guys should seriously come by and high-five Luis for all the hard work he's done for the AP Tent this summer, along with his rad recycling efforts. I especially feel bad as today (and for the next couple days) I've been only popping in and out of the tent while I work on an assignment. Can't say much more about that now, but it's been interesting juggling the tent, office work and a story all while on the road.

Anyway, I think I better jet as we have a signing with the Academy Is... in half an hour, and the line's already well under way. If we weren't right next to the super loud skate stage again today, I think I'd ask the people in line to play mad libs with that band's name for a web video: The Academy Is... (verb); The Academy Is... (adj.), etc. But that's just the nerdy English major in me coming out.

Day Off #2

Today was another day off for the Warped Tour. We're in Monterey Bay, and most of the production/sponsorship peeps were participating in "Volunteer Day" with various projects around the city. The crew from Bus 11 (the one I'm riding on) were assigned to the Beach Clean-Up. This normally would've been really great, but it's only 60 and raining, so.... I guess I'm not that disappointed that I chose to stay on the bus and work, even though we're sitting in the parking lot at CSU-Monterey Bay.

Last night at the RV Park, we were treated to a wonderful dinner that started out as Mark from Atticus cooking pasta for our bus and merged into a giant cook-fest when Kevin Lyman himself showed up with a ton of pasta, sauce, lasagna, salad, bread and wine. Needless to say, no one left hungry. After dinner, Lycia, pit reporter extraordinaire Erin Caruso and myself walked a few blocks to a local mini-mart and got some ice cream bars. Pretty much the perfect cap to a perfect summer day.

Bus call was an early 10 p.m., and I fell asleep in my bunk watching The Simpsons movie. So not a lot to report for today, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to work at the tour stop tomorrow in Fresno. Even though weather.com says it's going to be 104.

St. Helens and stuff

Hey, all. I'm currently writing this blog while sitting at a picnic table at an RV Park near Shasta Lake in Northern California. Most of the Warped production and sponsorship peeps are out on houseboats on the lake right now, while a select few of us who didn't feel like boating (not me) or who had too much work to do considering it's still a Monday in the "real world" (me) are camped out at the RV park with the buses. Not that I can really complain. I'm sitting in the shade, facing gorgeous mountains, and the shower facilities here are top notch. I've got a bag of Baked Doritos and a can of Mosh Water, and I am ready to rock out the e-mail all day. :)

Anyway, back to the tour. Yesterday, we were in beautiful St. Helens, Oregon. I actually didn't realize how pretty the venue was until after we took down the tent for the day and I could see past some of the stages. We were definitely surrounded by lots of forest and mountains, which was rad. It was also cool all day long, which is super rare for Warped, so everyone was loving it. Like I mentioned yesterday, I only had a view of the Skate Stage during the day, but after take down and dinner, I caught Rise Against, Every Time I Die and the Academy Is..., who were the last three bands to play the mainstages for the evening (which were set up next to each other again, for maximum aural enjoyment).

I have to say, while ETID may've had the smallest crowd of the three (not that it was that small, by any means), they were by far the most energetic. First, singer Keith Buckley pointed out the dudes in Four Year Strong, who were apparently in the pit, instructing the kids to catch them "mid-windmill" if they wanted a FYS autograph. Then, as Keith was introducing the last song, he said, "I'm going to take this party straight back to the forest as soon as this song's over! Who's with me?" And indeed, at the end of the song, he crowd surfed to the back of the crowd and then literally sprinted the entire width of the venue to get to the steep, tree-covered hill at the other end, all while ripping off his shirt in the process. He and the throng of audience members who ran after him were unfortunately stymied by the fence at the edge of the venue. But, it still looked pretty good. Oh, what you won't do when there's a dude filming you for your upcoming DVD... (This of course was all soundtracked by TAI's first song, which made it even funnier.)

Also, if you were at St. Helens and missed the end of the mainstages, hopefully you caught 3OH!3 (I think on the SmartPunk or Hurley.com Stage... I can't remember), because apparently Katy Perry made an appearance as a crowd surfer, and she was wearing a skirt and may or may not have flashed the crowd... Based on the excitement from some of the dudes on our bus, I'm gonna go with "may have."

Okay, time for me to get on with some more work. Tomorrow I'll be coming to you live from Monterey Bay, California.

The Gorgeous

So, you’ve probably gathered by now (based on the video I took yesterday), that the Gorge in George, Washington, was one of the prettiest venues I’ve ever seen. The view really was incredible—quite the backdrop to the mainstage if I’ve ever seen one. Also, production and catering were set up right next to a fence separating us from a steep drop off overlooking the gorge and the river/lake, so I got to eat my breakfast and lunch with an incredible view, watching the boaters.

As far as our view from where the AP Tent was, not so great. I couldn’t see any of the stages, but we were right across from the SkullCandy Tent, so there was still plenty of, um, noise. We didn’t have a ton of foot traffic, either, but we did have three really awesome street teamers, which is always rad. They were a huge help. I’ve had a ton of people ask me in the last two days how they can work for AP someday. I’d say a great way to start is our Street Team—if you’re interested, you should definitely check it out. If we don’t have one by you—demand it!! ☺

As far as getting a subscription to AP on Warped Tour, it seems that people need a little extra convincing this summer. Lemme just break it down for ya: If you want to just try AP, you can get 5 issues for $5, plus a Bed Head backpack and our Warped Tour issue. So, that’s essentially 6 issues (plus we’ll probably thow in another one if you’re polite) and a rad backpack to carry all your Warped swag for the SAME PRICE that it would cost you to buy ONE issue in the store (they retail for $4.99). I mean, it’s kind of a no-brainer. Just sayin’.

Anyway, after breakdown yesterday, I caught some of 3OH!3’s set, as well as Gym Class Heroes and Motion City Soundtrack. I gotta tell ya, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing “The Future Freaks Me Out,” even if it does have a tendency to get stuck in my head for the remainder of the evening.

After the show, the Set-Up Crew from Bus #4 had a “Greaser”-themed party at the BBQ. It was pretty nice to stand in line for my excellent hot dog and listen to Golden Oldies. It definitely helped take the chill out of the air, because I have to say, it got pretty cold last night. Quite the contrast from all my Warped dates last year, but I’m definitely not complaining.

Now we’re at Columbia Meadows in St. Helens, Oregon, and it’s another beautiful, cool day. I’ve got a front-and-center view of the Skate Stage, so I’m pretty pumped to actually see Gil Mantera’s Party Dream because I’ve heard they’re ridiculous live. We’ve also got two killer signings set up: We The Kings and Say Anything. I already know they’re going to be insanely packed based on all the kids who’ve already stopped by and asked how they can guarantee a place in line (HINT: Bring a recyclable to the tent).

Anyway, that’s about it for now. I’ll check in again soon, if you promise to do the same!

Oh, Boise.

EDIT: I wrote this blog last night on the bus, but once we were driving, my spiffy little wireless internet card didn't want to work, so here ya go. Bright and early from the Gorge:

So my first day back on Warped Tour was pretty great. I can say with certainty that it was a world apart from my first day last summer in Miami. Last year I had no idea what to expect and I didn't know anyone on the tour. (This all changed after a few days of course, but it was still a bit daunting at the beginning.)

This year, I wasn't even on the grounds of the Idaho Center Amphitheatre six minutes before I saw people I knew. My cab driver dropped me off by the buses, and while I was waiting for Luis, the AP tent leader, to meet me, I saw my friend Artie from Vagrant. Shortly after, I bumped into Lycia (who ran the AP tent last year and is now on the tour with MySpace) and Erica from Keep A Breast. It was really reassuring to see some familiar faces right away.

Setting up and selling subs and waiting in the catering line all came back pretty darn quick (hey, AP peeps, can we please get different racks for the programs next year? just sayin'...). The venue today was set up like a fishbowl, so everyone was on a pretty nasty incline, which prevented having a ton of things on our tables. But we were near the top of the hill, so we had a great view of the big stage (which housed both the Route 66 AND the Highway 1 stages), plus the mountains in the background. Because the main stages were sharing a stage, the rock was non-stop today (as I tried to explain in my first attempt at a phone video--see above). The highlight of the day musically? The Oreskaband brass/woodwind section coming out and playing a song with Motion City Soundtrack. That was pretty amazing. We also did really great signings with 3OH!3 and Norma Jean--both of which drew big, big crowds during their respective sets today. (Side note: Nathanial from 3OH!3 is really, really, really tall. Like, probably about 6' 7" tall. Who knew?)

After tear-down and showers (which were actually really nice and there was no line!), I headed to the BBQ with Lycia. We took on Andy from Every Time I Die and Scotty from Norma Jean in a game of cornhole (that's bags if you're not from Ohio). Unfortunately, we lost, but I will go ahead and say that I had the most cornholes on my team. :)

Everyone seemed to be in great spirits today (probably having something to do with the day off everyone had yesterday in Montana), and the chill atmosphere at the BBQ was the perfect cap to the first day of my Warped trek. Now we're all back on the buses and headed to Washington. I can't even tell you how excited I am to see the Gorge after all the wonderful things I've heard about it. I guess loading in and out is sort of tricky because of the "big hill," but I'm down for the challenge.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sleepy, so I'll catch you all tomorrow.

This summer's best collaborations are...

Click here to see our list of Top 8 Warped Collaborations Of 2K8!

Agree? Disagree? Who did we forget? Leave us a comment below and tell us!

Idaho!

Hey, Warped Tour faithful: This is Rachel, managing editor at AP, and I'll be your Warped Tour guide for the next 10 days.

So, right now I'm waiting for the cab to come pick me up at my lovely airport hotel and take me to Idaho Center Amphitheatre so I can officially start my run on Warped Tour. Waiting for cabs seems to be the new theme of my blogs.

Anyway, I safely made it from Cleveland to Boise last night. When I first checked in at Hopkins in Cleveland, I was a little nervous as the United peeps informed me my flight to Chicago was delayed, and it looked like I'd probably miss my connection to Boise, which was also the last flight out of Chicago to Idaho for the night. Great. So, after a flurry of activity where the nice woman tried to book me on another airline to get me to Chicago in time, another United employee realized that there was no way I'd miss my connection to Boise because the plane that was picking me up in Cleveland to go to Chicago was the exact plane continuing the Boise. How lucky is that? The guy told me I should probably start playing the lottery. Needless to say, I had just enough time in Chicago to deboard and buy some Doritos before re-boarding. I guess if you have to have a lay-over, that's the absolute best kind to have.

So now I'm in Idaho. From what I've (kinda) seen of it so far, it looks really pretty. Granted, I landed at 11 p.m. and I can really only see what's right outside the hotel, but I think it's probably a pretty rad (and under-appreciated) state. So, we'll see if the Warped masses can confirm this for me.

Beat Union Warped Tour diary (part 2)

28^th JULY - ENGLISHTOWN, NEW JERSEY

Today got me thinking of home- good ol' blighty! My Dad is a motorsport fanatic and today we were at the raceway park. For the last 7 weeks I've had hardly any contact with home due to my phone breaking and me losing all my numbers! And my Dad has no email, so I got a few snapshots for him.

Today was real hot and the porta-potty's/loos were stinking up the joint more than ever! Now, a 26 year-old man must entertain himself on tour as much as possible to keep up morale. This particular 26 year-old, being myself, has a great appreciation for
toilet humour. After Brian Noonan (of Powerspace fame/our tour manager) and
myself got to discussing the terrible state of the "shitters", we proceeded to
find the ones were of remarkable quality, and take photos for an unsuspecting Dean to scroll through next time he's using his camera!

Deano, hoped you liked the shots!! (He didn't!)

29^thJULY. PITTSBURGH, PA.

When you're on tour, every member of your crew is on a slightly different schedule, depending on what your day involves. One day you may have hardly eaten, while another has had the fortune of scoffing 3 square meals at catering!! Another day you may bethe one who didn't find the shower block and is the butt of all jokes in thevan during the overnight drive 'cause you smell worse than a Warped Porta-Potty! For me today was 'co-drive' day. I got 3 hours sleep, 'cause I stayed up with Brian whilst he navigated the Beat Union van and trailer 'up hill, down dale and over yonder!' Today I was somewhat of a Zombie. During my 20 hours of semi-consciousness', I began to think back over how long we've been on this tour and how used to tour life you get. This tour is incredible, but it's definitely gonna make me appreciate some basic creature comforts a whole lot more when tour is over.

For example:
-A BED. A van bench provides a tough nights sleep when you can't lie straight!
-A BATHROOM. My entire summer I've been using a sweaty, dirty, bacteria-ridden Porta Potty. I'm going to appreciate readily available toilet paper for the rest of my
'shitting' life!
-EYE CONTACT. Everyone I ever speak to is wearing sunglasses. I'm sick of talking to my own reflection.
-Our tech/slave Squib has a tough time sleeping on 'back-boogie'!

It was Tomi's birthday from ORESKABAND today! She turned 20, so we bought her a lovely
birthday cake and partied with them and the OreskaCREW. Go check out their myspace(/oreskabandUS), buy their CD and better still, check them out live at Warped!!

30^thJuly. Cincinnati, OH.

After an amazing 8 hours sleep ('cause someone else stayed up co-driving) I felt good. We played at 2:30pm, it was one of the best shows of the tour so far. The crowd was so enthusiastic, there were dancers, a bum chain, a circle pit and we seem to play pretty good, so people were loving every minute. The brass section of Oreskaband came and jammed with us during our song 'Pressure Zone'. They killed it and made it sound awesome. So Thank you to the crowd in Cincinnati for showing us a good time and thanks to Oreska also for being great sports, great musicians and great people!





My favorite bands of the day-

-BROADWAY CALLS. They dropped a Jawbreaker song into the set today, which can't hurt in my opinion!

-STREET DOGS totally rocked the main stage and got everyone singing and jumping.

-THE COLOR FRED is a top bloke, a top songwriter and plays a top live show. TOP!

-THE AKA'S are rad peeps and played a wicked show! Today was the first time I caught them and I loved it. They bigged us up on stage with a huge compliment which was sweet to!

Thank you for checking our blog!

Love Davey Warsop and the Beat Union bandits. More to come sooon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beat Union Warped Tour diary (part 1)

July26^th Uniondale, New York.

Hello! This is Dean here from Beat Union, one of a
few limey English acts on this year's Warped Tour. It's crazy to think we've been on this tour for over a month
already! It's flying by crazy fast!

Today was my birthday! As you get older b'days become quite a bumout, but
today to be playing in New York to one of the best crowds we've had all tour,
it was definitely a special one! The boys bought me f'all!
Ha. But the lovely peeps in OreskaBand hooked me up
with some Guiness tins! We had a 2:15pm set today,
the stage placement and our merch' guy Chris's
pre-show pipe up meant we had a more than decent crowd to throw down to! Our aftershow signing was awesome also... we're a new band out
here so our signing sessions are sometimes us four, Chris and a young scallywag
with no manners who just wants to blag a free water. It's a cool way to meet
the kids and no matter how much we hear "I love your accent!",
it never gets old.

In the evening, the boys from Shwayze kindly invited us
to party down with them in Manhattan! They're busy boys at the moment promoting
their new tv show. Twas wicked of them to let us taste that vip treatment! + free drinks on ya bday is always a good one.Their main man DJ Trevor threw in American Boy by Estelle,
one of our tour anthems! Also Hot and Cold by Katy Perry! Some
fine jams.

(b U & Cisco Adler)

We
were pretty well behaved all night, until Davey decided to spray every one
(inc. the driver) with Beer in the cab on the way back. The poor geezer was
pretty vexed and threatened to kick us out, luckily Lucky Luke saved us with
his gift of the gab sweet talk. We arrived back to the van at stupid o'clock
ready to hit the road to Scranton, Pa.

July 27^th. Scranton, PA.

Today was a slow day... our production homeslice Damone scheduled us to
play last on our stage, predicting we'd have sore heads or worse. Another crazy
ass storm hit today, there seems to be a lot of these occurring! Luckily the
trusty web lab provided some warmth and shelter and time to update our myspace with awesome new Flogging Molly support dates!!

Our Rock show today was a lil lightweight crowd spectator person-wise,
onstage we had technical B S slowing down the proceedings! This equalled in us
giving a pretty ag' performance, the piss in the
bottles being thrown by Bring Me The Horizon (Brits abroad!) fans fuelled our
fires for sure.

(post show aggro!)

After show Reel Big Fish played the hits
at the BBQ. Aaron Barret's drunken stupor provided
many a laugh for all!! After the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life, me and Luke threw down some moves in the DJ tent, where Gabe
Cobra was spinning some sick tunes! The likes of Paula Abdul, Bobby Brown and
Boys II Men were piped up... so good to see I'm not the only rocker who digs the
funky shit also. On the dancefloor I bumped into Nata 3OH!3, where we discovered
we've both mastered the art of the faulty leg, where one turns one's feet the
opposite way...always a good party trick to pull out of the bag. Luke pulled out
his Dwarfism act!

(Dean and Gabe Cobra)

(Nate 3OH!3 and Dean's faulty feet)

(more faultiness)

(Luke and Pleasure Ryland Cobra)

(Jock Dwarfson)

After
this, I got in the van and stayed up all night trying to get Luke's computer to
work so I could deliver this blog business!

Have I paid my debt to MPLS?

Today's subject line is a shout-out to one of my all-time favorite Minnesota bands, the Stereo. Check 'em out on their fan-made, posthumous MySpace page. As you've probably deduced, we were in Minneapolis (well, technically Shakopee), Minnesota, today, and what looked to be a major storm brewing:


Storm clouds gather in Minneapolis from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

Never quite materialized like we all thought. In fact, the weather -- while always looking ominous -- only sprinkled for a few minutes in the early morning, instead choosing to just look eerie all day. Until Minneapolis' current golden boys, Motion City Sountrack, took the stage around 5:45 p.m. and all of the sudden, the sun broke through and shone on the band and their massive hometown crowd. "Look, you made the sun come out!" Justin Pierre told the audience. Don't be so humble, Justin: I definitely think your killer rendition of "Everything Is Alright" did the trick.

On the bad news front, we had a signing scheduled with Say Anything that was canceled an hour or so beforehand for reasons unbeknownst to me. Shortly thereafter, word spread that Say Anything canceled their entire set, too -- which was quickly confirmed when there was a half-hour of silence on the main stage instead of Max Bemis & Co. rocking through their jams. The word I heard was that Max has a case of strep throat (which is also why he had to miss yesterday in Chicago). With two off-days on the tour starting tomorrow, hopefully he can use those 48 hours to get in some solid R&R and get back into the game. We miss ya, Max!

Anberlin definitely didn't cancel their signing; instead, they signed autographs for what seemed like every single person at the Warped Tour, as the line definitely got longer and longer during their autograph session instead of the other way around. Check it out:


Anberlin signing in Minneapolis from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

All in all, it was a pretty relaxing day, and a fine way to bring my Warped stint to a close. I got to see some killer bands today including Set Your Goals and the Bronx (both are must-watch bands for your upcoming Warped date; take note), and I got to meet some killer fans of AP (if you're reading this, you know who you are!) . Now I'm sitting in an air-conditioned hotel room by the Minneapolis airport eating room service and watching cable televisin -- and I don't want any of it. Put me back on my cramped bus in my comically small bunk. Give me baby wipes for showers. Permanently insert earplugs into my ears. All I want to do is stay out here.

Hey, AP higher-ups: You can count me in for next summer. Just see if you can get Kevin Lyman to invite Oreskaband back on the bill.

Chica-go, Chica-going, Chica-gone.

Today became the quintessential example for why Warped Tour is such a great environment. Forget for a second that the weather in Chicago was absolutely perfect (80 degrees and nary a cloud in the sky), or that the kids were going just as nuts for Story Of The Year early in the day on the Hurley.com stage as they were for Reel Big Fish at the end of the night on the Route 66 stage, or that our signings with Ludo, the Academy Is... and Four Year Strong were tremendous. What really made today special was Say Anything's Highway 1 stage-closing set tonight. Apparently Max Bemis, SA's singer, came down with some sort of bug and was bedridden today, but instead of canceling their set, the band recruited a host of guest singers and played a full half-hour (with many of the songs having not been performed on Warped this summer yet). It was incredibly special, if a little comical at times, but the crowd was feeling it and singing along plenty. Here's the setlist and who sang each song:

Alive With The Glory Of Love w/Motion City Soundtrack's Justin Pierre
Every Man Has A Molly w/Norma Jean's Cory Brandan
Feudal w/Relient K's Matt Thiessen
Woe w/Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley
Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too w/Anberlin's Stephen Christian and the Bled's James Munoz (who was there only because he lives in Chicago now, apparently)
Belt w/The Color Fred's Fred Mascherino (with the finale sung by every guest singer plus Dr. Manhattan)

(Of course, as soon as I tried to shoot a few videos of this once-in-a-lifetime set, my cell phone's battery died, so I apologize for the lack of exclusive footage, but I'm sure there will be plenty of videos on YouTube soon.)

It's moments like this which really show how special Warped Tour is. Instead of disappointing thousands of kids by not playing, the entire tour rallied behind the band to put together something that will most likely never happen again. It puts the biggest smile on my face just thinking about it.

Our bus is currently speeding up the highway toward Minneapolis, my final show with the tour this summer. I can't believe how fast this week has flown by. I feel like I've been out here forever (and I mean that in a positive way). I know I'm going to miss this lifestyle as soon as I get back to Cleveland. My top mission for tomorrow? I have to watch Set Your Goals, no matter what. I still haven't caught SYG live since I've been here, and I'm determined to change my luck tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes in 24 hours!

Milwaukee, which is Algonquin for "the good land."

For starters: Milwaukee, you totally ruled. Tons of awesome kids, everyone was super polite and friendly (except for a few negative nancies trying to sneak into the signing lines for the Academy Is... and We The Kings), the venue's location was great (right on Lake Michigan!) and the weather was to die for. Until the moment we almost thought the weather was going to cause us to die, During the Devil Wears Prada's signing session, right around 5:15 p.m., you could look out over the lake and the clouds turned a verrrrrry nasty shade of black and began quickly rolling toward us (remember that scene in Independence Day where the alien spacecrafts first appear on Earth, and all you can really see is big masses of clouds rolling out of the sky? That is seriously exactly how it looked). The wind picked up bigtime, the temperature dropped a good 10 degrees and we seriously thought we were in for the storm of a lifetime.

And then it just sort of passed right over us, without a single drop of rain. Way to come through in the clutch, Milwaukee!

The only band I saw yesterday was Angels & Airwaves, who won the extra 10 minutes and used it to work in a Blink-182 number (Tom did "Reckless Abandon" solo -- it was kinda neat). Outside of that, I was locked into the booth pretty much from start to finish because so many of you wanted to subscribe (and thank you for that!).

The real fun started last night when we got our third PunxDirtySecret party this summer started up at a club across the street from the venue called Riptide. Check out the "before" view:


Preparing for Milwaukee's PunxDirtySecret party from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

Last night's party was beach-themed, including sand, beach balls and a $500 limbo contest (won by one of the very tiny girls in Oreskaband -- it was almost too easy for them); we also had guest DJ sets from Parker and Jeff of Say Anything, Cory of Norma Jean (who showed some serious mixing skills) and Fred Mascherino of the Color Fred. Here's a video of Fred getting the party started with some Michael Jackson:


Fred Mascherino DJing the PDS party from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

Here's Nate Novarro of Cobra Starship telling us how much he loves PDS parties (sorry for the bad video quality, it was dark!):


Nate from Cobra Starship at the PDS party from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

Just when we thought the party was starting to wind down around midnight, Fred dropped in Jimmy Eat World's "Sweetness" into his set and the shit pretty much hit the awesome-fan, as showcased in the following two videos. Can you spot what bands are involved in this insanity? I definitely see guys from Set Your Goals and Evergreen Terrace:


Jimmy Eat World sing-along at the PDS party (part 1) from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.


Jimmy Eat World sing-along at the PDS party (part 2) from AP/Warped Tour video exclusives on Vimeo.

It was definitely one heck of a party -- if you somehow managed to sneak in past our super-tough bouncer (aka me), I hope you had a blast hanging with some of Warped's finest. Today, we're in Chicago, and it's beautiful outside. Cobra Starship just took the stage a few minutes ago so I'm gonna sign off and try to catch the end of their set. See you guys in Minneapolis (for my last of the tour -- already?!?!?).

It's not the heat, it's... Okay, it's the heat.

I told myself when I started writing these blogs that I wouldn't harp on about the heat. If there's one thing that's beaten into the ground by people writing about their Warped experiences, it's complaining about how unbearably hot it was during the day. I told myself I wouldn't be one of those people.

Fuck that: Indianapolis (Noblesville; whatever): You were fucking hot today. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as some of the earlier days of this year's tour (Phoenix and all of Florida, I'm looking at you), but man oh man, it was easily the hottest it's been since I joined the tour last week, not to mention it was humid as all hell and there was virtually no breeze the entire day. Misery, thy name is Warped Tour.

But enough about that; let's talk about the positives. (This means we won't be talking about the AP tent's rather unfortunate, seemingly backwoods location today.) Our signings with Gym Class Heroes and Motion City Soundtrack were off the proverbial chain today; it was Josh Cain of Motion City's birthday, and a few girls in line presented him with a little sign. Too cute. After Gym Class' signing wrapped, Travis had to split immediately to avoid being mobbed but the remainder of the band hung out for a while, chatting with fans. Matt their drummer stayed in the booth and talked with me about the state of music today for a good 20-30 minutes -- while I was selling subscriptions to kids who apparently had no idea the drummer for frickin' Gym Class Heroes was standing right in front of them. (Also, you should all check out Matt's side band, Kill The Frontman -- it's some seriously good shit.)

Once again, big ups go out to Katie and Rachel, our two incredibly awesome street teamers, who have been with us for a week or so now and are continuing to help out daily -- completely for free -- through Chicago this Saturday. They've been essential in keeping our booth running smoothly, so if you stop by in Milwaukee or Chi-town, give 'em a high five and an "atta girl."

As for band-watching today, we were wedged a stone's throw away from both the Ernie Ball Stage and the Skate Ramp Stage, which meant I saw plenty of entertainment. Highlights included Greg from the Bouncing Souls joining Animo onstage for a song (even stranger when you realize that the Souls have been off the tour for a week now and Indianapolis is nowhere near New Jersey, so who knows where Greg even came from); an amazing set/striptease from Gil Mantera's Party Dream (seriously, watch this duo, they will entertain you big-time); the Randies covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room," causing half of Motion CIty Soundtrack (and myself) to sing along; and MC Chris' rather enormous crowd who all willingly did calisthenics with the rapper for the first five minutes of his set. You could say I was entertained for the majority of the day -- at least what I could see when the sweat wasn't in my eyes.

All right, our bus is in motion, heading toward Milwaukee where we will be having our third and final Punxdirtysecret Warped after-party. (Sorry, laminates only.) It's a beach-themed party with a $500 limbo contest, so expect some pretty gnarly pictures in the coming days at Punxdirtysecret.com. I'll post a recap tomorrow!