Summer Tour Blog #1

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Hello all! Originally I planned to write a blog for every city we visit this summer but due to how busy we are and the fact that we are rarely around a computer that hasn't quite happened. I will try to sum up all of the goings on so far in this first blog. I realize that only a few people will read this but it's like therapy for me to write it so I'm going to. Now I have to try and remember all that has happened in the past 2 weeks...

PARKER, AZ

August 2nd

We hung around town (mostly McDonalds) and waited to meet the rest of the tour at a local church. We actually met Submission Red (one of the bands we are touring with) at the McDonalds before we headed over to the church. When we got to the church all of the other bands were showing up....Submission Red and The Lacks in their vans and trailers, The Lyrical Disciplez in their four-door sticker decorated car, About a Mile in their mini-van and The Jox in their giant blue school bus. We said our hellos, hopped in our respective vehicles and drove to a bar right across the state line. We went in and played a couple of acoustic songs for the crowd there and then headed back to the church for a meeting with Submission Red and the tour manager (sort of an orientation for new bands on the tour). Then, we split up and went to host homes which the church had arranged for us. This time it was us rooming with The Jox.

August 3rd

We got up and went to the Church for lunch and then we had a couple of hours of free time. I went to McDonalds with Submission Red. Nathan went cliff diving with some other bands which is way cooler...only I would never do it. There is footage of this by the way. We will try and scrounge up a podcast pretty soon. That evening we went to the local skatepark to promote the show.

August 4th

We went to the local high school and promoted that nights event during a school assembly. The Lacks and Lyrical Disciplez played for about 600 kids so it was pretty cool to see the school being open to it. That night we played our first official show of the tour at Grace Assembly of God in Parker, AZ. The show went really well and there were around 200 or so all crowded around the stage. We spent around 45 minutes after the show saying hello, taking pictures and signing autographs which was a new experience for us. The highlight though was a woman who came up to me and told me how much she appreciated us coming to their town and giving our time. I told her it was no problem and she began to cry. I didn't know what to do other than to give her a hug so I did that and she began to tell me about some troubles she was having and that seeing people come and give their time and talent at no charge was a very encouraging thing. It was then that I realized that this tour is really about coming to towns that don't have a lot going on and pouring in to the people there. We weren't signing autographs because of how much people liked our music, we were signing autographs because nothing like this ever happens in this town. I'm becoming more and more thankful to be apart of this tour as things like this continue to happen.

Okay...I can see that this blog will end up being forever long so I'm gonna start going by city instead of by day...

MURRIETA, CA

We played a show at Mulligan's which is a celebration station-like place with go-karts, mini golf, lazer tag, ect. This show's turn out wasn't quite as plentiful as the last show, but it was still pretty cool. We set up outside on this outdoor covered stage they had there and played a pretty solid show. I had a lot of fun at this show just hanging out and getting to know some of the other bands. I'll get to that later...

VICTORVILLE, CA

This is where I currently am as I write this. We played several shows in this area, so we've been at the same host home the whole time. We've been bunking up with About A Mile and the skate team for almost a week or so. The host home we're staying at is pretty sweet. Plenty of movies/video games to keep us occupied. I've gotten into "Kingdom Hearts" for the ps2 which is unfortunate since I won't finish it before we leave and I don't own a ps2 any more.

We played two shows in VICTORVILLE....One in the parking lot of the church that's hosting us and one in the parking lot of a place called "John's Incredible Pizza". Both of these shows were sort of duds for us musically. Just kind-of "off" nights. I did start sitting in with The Jox on piano during their song "If I Die" which has been a treat. The real highlight is a kid that we met at the mall named Justin. To promote the first event, we went to the mall with The Jox and played some acoustic songs outside of Barnes and Noble. We met Justin during that and chilled with him for a while. Turned out that he actually played guitar. So, he came to both events and during both of those events he played guitar for us on "That, I Give".

LOS ANGELES/HOLLYWOOD/SANTA MONICA, CA

Between the two shows in Victorville, we had an off day and the tour planned a day at the beach for us. Nathan and I got up early and went to LA and Hollywood to do all of the touristy things since niether of us had ever been. Driving in Hollywood is something I wouldn't wish on Jafar himself but once we were out of the car it wasn't so bad. The Rugrats have a star on the walk of fame. I love the Rugrats as much as the next person...I'm just not sure that's appropriate. After the sightseeing we drove all the way down Santa Monica Blvd. to the pier. We met the rest of the tour there and just sort of hung out. I had never seen the pacific ocean so all-in-all it was a cool experience. I actually swam a bit in the ocean, which I now regret because of "shark-week". Nathan tried surfing, and he actually did pretty well. We headed to Chipotle with The Jox afterward and called it a night.

PALMDALE, CA

This is where we played tonight. It was another Mulligan's. For most of the show there was literally no one there. Most of the time this would be discouraging, but tonight it was quite the opposite. I enjoyed so much being at the front of the stage, listening to the other bands and really getting into their sets. We are on tour with such talented bands and it was really cool to get to let that soak in. Also, I think we found our set tonight. The other bands are starting to learn our songs and tonight everything clicked perfectly. I even facilitated a dance competition which is something I know nothing about. It was just a really cool night. We really grew closer to our tour family tonight and I can see that going deeper and deeper. Just a bunch of traveling musicians playing to eachother and their God...

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Tomorrow we have our first official day off (as in nothing is planned). I'm gonna head back to LA because I found out that the building where they shoot "the office" is a publicly known address. I've also read around that the security guards are really cool about letting you take pictures. If it's a success I will probably write another blog tomorrow. For now, I will leave you with a brief description of the bands we are touring with and the assurance that the next blog won't be near as long.

THE JOX: Such a good band from Kansas. They are composed of a husband, wife and a friend they picked up in Albuquerque. I'm a sucker for a good female vocalist. If you dig bands like the cranberries or jewel you'll dig them. You probably will even if you don't like those artists. They have a lot more of a folk-like sound to them than either of those examples. A must-listen for sure. www.facebook.com/theJOX

LYRICAL DISCIPLEZ: Some of the best Hip-Hop I've ever heard. Hailing from Detroit, these guys are super talented. They're also way cooler than I could ever hope to be. The whole tour tries to talk like them by saying phrases like "like a mug" and "hecks naw", but it's never as good as when they say it. Excellent examples of using music for positive influence. Plus they are so much fun live. www.myspace.com/spittin4christ

SUBMISSION RED: Hard rock and pure energy live. Yvonne, their lead vocalist, is insane on stage which makes for a great show. Their record was produced by skillet's producer so it rocks as well. Such good guys too. www.myspace.com/submissionred

ABOUT A MILE: These guys are incredible musicians. Think the catchy choruses of bands like Lifehouse meets the technical prowess of Stevie Ray Vaughn. So much fun to watch these three brothers from Pennsylvania play. www.myspace.com/aboutamileband

THE LACKS: This is Scott, the tour director's band. It's composed of him, his wife and his two daughters. Great musicians. You can tell they've been playing together for a long time. They do several classic rock covers that are really hard to do but they nail them dead-on. www.myspace.com/lackmusic

Well....there's talk of watching Transformers 2 so I think I'm gonna go stick my head in the oven.

Stay tuned...

-jDS

P.S. I would bathe in a tub full of In-n-Out burgers.