Guest Blog: August Burns Red

August Burns Red frontman Jacob Luhrs checks in from the road for the fourth installment of his exclusive guest blog.
AP readers!



At the time of this writing, we’ve just crossed the Canadian border. We’ve probably crossed the Canadian Border about eight times! Due to past experiences, we feared this moment. Cleaning the van up and straightening every bag and trying to look presentable. We show up and park at the border control and 20 minutes later we were out! Okay that doesn’t happen. Ever! We are usually stuck there for hours and hours, getting searched and questioned.



For example: We stopped at the border. Three guys about our age or maybe in their later 20s asked us what band we were in and what we were doing. These guys were armed to the teeth, extremely intimidating. One waltzed up to me and started asking questions with a jerk-off tone. Well, I don’t take kindly to people who aren’t kind, so I gave him a little ‘tude! He didn’t respond well to that. He knew we were in a Christian band and used it against me. Haha.



He grabbed my wallet and went through it. He saw a hotel key and said to me, "I could get you arrested for this! You stole this hotel key! I thought you were a Christian? Christians don’t steal!" Then he and his buddies started laughing at me because I guess I wear pants a bit tighter than the usual cat. So he gave me crap for that. "What, you get those pants from your sister? You fu*&king queer!”



Ugh. And then to top it off, he went off screaming about how my band hates me! "Your band doesn’t even like you! They all hate you! You’re the lead vocalist, right? Yeah, they all told us they hate you." Then he threatened to hold me back in the states and not let me cross. He went through my cell phone, pictures, text messages. It was the worst.



I feel bad for guys who need to push others around just to feel some sort of power. Abusing authority? Well, that’s okay. Because once I’m done writing this tour blog, I’m going to be playing in front of more than 1,000 kids. So I let it go. Anyway, that’s just a taste of tour.



Okay, on another note, the Fray know how to write hits! I may be a softy for listening to these jams, but it’s good stuff. I’m a fan!



Pics for your enjoyment, from the road:





Uhhhhhh.





Drum lessons from D Rock of Unearth.





Creepin’.





You gotta eat!