Tour over.

And all I can say is said better in these lyrics:

Making come true our modest impossible dreams.
Stuck in public school classrooms at age 15.
Those long hot days just before the summer...
Knowing that we're stuck here...
And there's something happening somewhere.
Knowing we know we gotta get there.
It's true what they say...
Death is more perfect than life...
That's why we already died.
What could have been?
We don't wanna know.
Tonight we'll get our kicks.
Tonight we're all letting go!
'Cause we're all Dead Ramones!
Sore back!
Sore feet!
A ragtag army and we're sick in the heat.
We're not pretty and we're not rich.
We're gonna hafta fucking work for it.
It's our life!
We do what we choose!
Black Jeans.
Black
Shirt.

Black Shoes.
Mom and Dad still don't approve.
Twenty eight shows.
28 days.

Pulling up new rogues all along the way.
I'm just another face in this desperate youth parade.
And all the bunk beds locked doors, hardwood, sweat,
Guts, skateboards, cold war bomb shelter basement screams, no sleep, good dreams.
We're playing hard as we can and a whole lotta time stuck in the van.
Reading the graffiti on every bathroom wall in truck stop fast food hell.
Save me from ordinary.
Save me from myself.
Another punk rock summer came and went
Now I just wanna go back home and turn up my stereo
Until the rhythm melts my bones 'cause I'm a Dead Ramone.
D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

The wisdom of graffiti

There was a stretch of days without Internet, hence the lack of updates to this blog. However I'm about to do a big post now that I'm in Worcester, Mass. To tide everyone over till then, here's a single glorious picture and example of why graffiti can be amusing, enlightening and just plain wise (well four out of five on the list ain't bad I guess).

Nashville redux

Bart is vegan, this is his cousin's t-shirt. Bummmmmmed!

Be careful what you shake hands on...
All the bands on the tour love each other. REALLY.
I don't even know...

Louisville to Nashville

My iPhone went kaput on me. Mostly while in Toronto of all places! Damn it... We tracked down an Apple store using our GPS and they were cool as shit! Gave me a brand new iPhone without any stress at all. I decided I should pick up a protective case while I was there :)

Bad news in Louisville. A little boy got hit by a car right in front of the club in front of a lot of people. I was out front seconds after it happened, and it turned my stomach, he was pretty messed up and in such pain. I sent my thoughts/energy his way, I hope he's alright.

We roll into Nashville. The show was great and fun, unfortunately due to some violence and fighting that broke out Heaven Shall Burn had to cut their set short. Damn it...

Murder capital of the world

... or so they say. We played Detroit last night. This girl said it ain't as bad as most people say.

and although the show was the smallest on the tour, and we have nearly zero merch for sale, it was a good show for many reasons. Free drinks (yay!), crazy psychedelic bowling till 3am, cool people, etc.

 The people who were there for HSB raged pretty hard. It was great. The final stretch to the finish line.

Nothing like a good t-shirt to pump you up for disco bowling!!!

 

family and friends seem a a universe away when on tour...

...sometimes not even just a universe away, but an entirely different universe.

You love the freedom, but you miss home too.

You hate tour, but you also love tour.

And it weird cause it's not like a normal love/hate relationship where sometimes it's love and sometimes it's hate, it's at the same time somehow.

Anyway, long drives make you think about that kind of abstract stuff.

:)

Enter the fist... of Canada

 We got to Toronto, but not before the 5-0 pulled us over. We all had to get out, get searched, have documentation, ID, passport, etc. It wasn't so bad, as it was annoying. Especially when you see cops digging through your bags.

I did get to visit Niagara Falls which was cool. I didn't realize it was one of the eight wonders of the world. Is that true? Someone tell me... I can't entirely trust info from Germans unless someone verifies it ;)

I did get to eat sushi after the show (which was on par with Cleveland... yea, that's right, TWO insane shows in a row, both ridiculous amounts of merch flying off the table!)

 It was the best sushi I think I've ever eaten. Full on authentic, and the people there didn't even speak English, a true sign of legitimacy.

Cleveland DOES rock!

What would a tour be without having your transportation sidelined for a time?

Just when I was recovering from the great merch day in Cleveland, Chicago goes the extra mile and nearly DOUBLES the merch sales (insane). We are running so unpredictably low that we made some quick arrangement for more goodies to arrive in Nashville.

The kids in Cleve-O are great, a good time was had by all and I was pretty excited about the whole night.

No time for bathroom breaks = peeing in a bottle... Not entirely uncommon.

This dude had the sickest Snoop Dog shirt on. Besides the Germans all the other kids on the tour are west coasters so when he was reppin' this shirt we were all stoked and I had to snap a photo.  

Chicago

We played in Chicago yesterday. It was very interesting. The venue was enormous, but a small turnout (however, those who WERE there, were totally amazing fans and incredible responses throughout all bands’ sets).

There was some violence and fights at this show. It was shitty. The cops came and the plug almost got pulled.

A girl working there came up to me and pleaded with me to help regulate the crowd by telling them to dance less violently or else the show would get shut down. Of course security there were total dicks and provoking the tension. While this girl spoke to me in the deafening venue, I took everything she said with a grain of salt, and then she dropped the key phrase, ”I’m a hardcore kid, I don’t wanna see this show get shut down.” Instantly my attention perked up. A hardcore kid, eh?

When it was spoken it was said with honesty, but the thing that I later realized while driving in the van is that this term is like a badge of honor. Instantly I took her seriously. A hardcore kid knows the scene, the politics, the strife and also the elation that comes with the extreme underground. Her saying this was like uttering a password for a secret brethren, and instantly I knew she was on the level. She wasn’t some typical suburban kid, she was a HARDCORE KID.

It was just an interesting anecdote that came to mind when driving in the van.

We’re on the way to Cleveland right now. We’re late because of the time zone change.

We’re all tired and dirty.

We stayed with my friend Selena in Chicago (big ups!)… She’s a true pro when it comes to photographs (lurk her out: www.selenasalfen.com). A fellow Gemini, we have a lot in common and a good connection that I treasure.

The band sold the most merch in Chicago than any of the other shows, AND with the smallest attendance! Go figure. Guess these kids are bloodthirsty for HSB.

Prior to the show time was spent counting merch, getting the beauty school next door to give bikini waxes, riding fixies, etc… basically “the usual”

By the way, I found out Oreos are vegan. Cool!

Chicaaaaaaago.

Between here and there

 Sometimes I'm amazed by food... The sign may be low brow, and when the tour manager made it, I hesitated, but it's actually worked on this tour, so what do I know?Sometimes backstages are really shitty basements that look like out of a serial killer movie...

Show in St. Paul, MN after the 35 hour drive

 Oh man. After a 35 hour drive, people regress into Lord Of The Flies like it's not even funny... we were rapidly becoming Jack Nicholson from The Shining, it was scary. 

So, we were tired, cranky, etc. our expectations of the show were not that great... I'll be frank morale was low, we thought the show would suck.

 We thought the show was going to be in the seedy, dirty, ghetto of St. Paul, but-surprise-it wasn't! Even better, the merch area was nice! The staff was cool, the fans were totally nice. ...And what's this? The sound is REALLY good there? Whoa. Don't call it a comeback... spirits are up again, just in time for EMBRACE THE END to shred the stage, and they sounded amazing. After them, the crowd was blood thirsty for Heaven Shall Burn who delivered the goods in spades. Everyone was eating it up and the vibe for the show was great! Especially when this little six year old kid got on the stage as the band were destroying and just jumped up and down in place for an entire song! So cool! (His coolness was only multiplied by his size extra-large HSB shirt which looked like a nightgown on him) The band gave him big props to the crowd and he was the cool kid of the night. The band did an encore. I don't think they had a choice, people were rabid for them at this show. Afterwards we sold a good amount a merch (yay!) and the band signed autographs, hung out, etc. Then this cool girl, invited us to this mega cool place for vegan food (note: it's midnight on a weekday, vegan food in these conditions is a miracle), so naturally we couldn't say no. Embrace The End joined in on the fray as well. Everyone had a great time laughing, chatting and generally bringing the party to this restaurant. Of course when you roll in 15 people deep (all but three are vegan) you're gonna bring some liveliness to the place. Oh, and what about having veganaise as a standard table condiment? Hell fucking yea bitch! We also decided that Addison, the bass player for Embrace The End, looks just like Milhouse from The Simpsons (the pictures don't do this comparison justice).

And a good time was had by all...

From there to the hotel, where I am now, it's 2:15 am and we have to have up around 7 to drive 6 hours...