Sooo every night I've been like... GOTTA BLOG! DON'T LET IT BUILD UP! but there keeps being really late bus call, like 2am, and I feel like I'm missing out on stuff if I don't hang out. But tonight bus call is 10pm so I have an excuse to go to bed early and play with the interwebz!
Hello interwebz!
This was my first week with Four Year Strong. The bus is driving along now and everyone but me is in the back lounge smoking weed. We are very stoked to actually HAVE a back lounge now though... as up until now it was taken over by The Lordz Of Brooklyn. So they've finished the tour now and it's me, another random merch girl, the three Music Saves Lives kids, and MC Chris and the guy who works with him. And we have space! I moved stuff into DRAWERS today so I no longer have to sleep with everything I own INSIDE my bunk! I also swapped bunks to one with a working lamp! THIS IS EXCITING TO ME. I have a bottom bunk now. I had a top before. I would like a middle, but the only free middle didn't have a proper light either.
So first day with 4YS was Mansfield, MA which is right by their hometown and it was fucking insane. It was flat out ALL DAY and the day was punctuated with thunderstorms. Like really terrible rain. And we still pushed about 10 grand. INSANE. The guys had quite a late set time and they sign after they play, so we were like the only tent still set up... in the bucketing rain... with a huge queue of kids waiting for a signing.. at 8:30pm. Halfway through the day I ran back to the bus to change into my pink rain boots and they got many compliments, especially from FFTL's merch guy, whom I adore. He calls me Australia and we now have a mutual headrub/shoulder massage relationship. It works very well for me. Anyway, besides from that, two things of significance - 1) a redhead tumbled into my tent at approximately 9am politely demanding a 4YS shirt to wear onstage as he wanted to support them at their hometown show. I have spent the whole tour up until now thinking that this guy was really obnoxious and watch me eat my words - he is sugar made human and has no ego to speak of. I am sure you will hear more about him. 2) Farewell's last day. Blahhhh. They played a gorgeous acoustic set which I filmed and later, during the rainstorm, I ran under their lowered tent. Marshall was sat there by himself with a total shit-eating grin, completely dry, and kids were ducking underneath to get stuff signed. It was sort of hilarious. We went and sat on their bus for a while to say bye, took a bunch of polaroids - some of which didn't work out and so Marshall drew what the pics were meant to be, om the fucked up pictures. All kinds of awesome. But sad times, as I don't have anyone else so solid to hang with now. Though the redhead is getting there, maybe.
Next day, Darien Center, was like an hour outside of Buffalo NY, I think? And it was attached to a Six Flags. It was also fucking cold for a while, I took a hoodie from merch and wore it over my own hoodie. My phone completely stopped working due to getting wet in the rain the day before, and I freaked out and ended up wasting $80 on car rides into and out of the town to go to the A T and T store. While I was there, the phone magically started working again. And then I found out I was/am literally broke, so HEY, RAD. I am just not thinking about it and maybe money will magically appear in my account. On this trip into town, I also discovered that we were in the middle of fucking nowhere, upstate New York - like we passed cows and cornfields. When I got back I found out that my friend Matt had a spare phone anyway, which I am now using because it its flippy and cool as shit. I love taking pics with it... never had a camera phone before. I also got very excited when I discovered that the amusement park was free for laminates - I don't even like rides that much but i enjoy my laminate way too much. I will go home and go grocery and be like 'what, I can't cut the line? BUT I HAVE A WARPED TOUR LAMINATE!' I ended up going to the park - was talking with one of the FFTL boys, Chris, and their merch guy Ricky, comes running up completely drunk being all NO LINES LETS GO and Chris and I just shrug at each other and go. But all the rollercoasters closed JUST as we got there, due to lightning risk (the sky was black and it was actually raining.) They'd let kids from the show come in for free as well by this point, and so it was a bit full, but we ended up going on the Flippy Ship (completely the official name... not) and Chris chivalrously swapped places with me right as it was about to start as I was too scared to sit on the outside. It was insane because the guy made it go round like 3 times longer that it's meant to, due to us not having any other rides to go on. When we got off I could barely walk. Wandered aimlessly, talked to some people... the redhead introduced me to Alex Gaskarth from All Time Low, who was fucking drunk off his face, and the most random thing happened:
T: This is Alex, he sings in a band called All Time Low.
N: I know, I actually met you in Australia and asked you...
A: OMGWTFBBQ *almost doubles over, points and backs away grinning, then grabs me in a massive hug* I KNEW I KNEW YOUR FACE. YOU MADE IT!
Becauuuuuseee back at Soundwave I asked him some vague advice about getting on Warped Tour. I met the guy through a fence with like a bunch of other kids, and I don't really listen to his band. So it was completely weird and kind of cool that he remembered. Anyway. William came up to me and the redhead while we were talking and they hugged it out. Batman was discussed, as well as Batmans of the past... I havent seen it yet but after asking permission Bill spoilered me. Also discussed the new TAI video and how the internet are all little bitches. He was not the happiest I have ever seen him, lets just say that, and I kind of am at the point where I want to pull a Chris Crocker on people about him. I forget that not every fan sees what I see at the moment, or knows what I know about whats going on. I get super defensive because I assume people are making judgements based on what I know, rather than the little that they know. And then I remember that oh, yeah, they don't know the actual deal with that... so they'll stfu when they find out about it. I forget that I am in an unusual position for a fan and that they're all where I'm at.. I don't know, either way, homeboy needs to NOT read stuff about himself on the internet. The redhead agrees - says when he does it he wants to go out and start punching kids in the face at his own shows.
Camden NJ - oh Jersey. Oh, dirty Jersey. Camden is actually about 10 mins drive from Philly PA - just across the river - and in honor of this, catering served CheeseSteaks for lunch. Not that I'd eat them.. and not that I get catering any more! Ha. First thing in the morning, Butcher grabbed my by the shoulder as I was setting up merch and was all 'hey your painting is going up for sale today' and I'm like 'ha i know, i already bit on it. - if you're unaware, he's done these paintings that he is selling via auction at their merch and one in particular i fell in love with and was determined to own. We discussed it at The Higher's art show (in their trailer lol) in Toronto and I know he really wanted me to get it, because he liked what I said about it... and I did win it, $75 that I really couldn't afford. And it now lives in my bunk and is the wallpaper to my phone.
Evan my TM took me to the bank to try cash my money order from Steve... as it was the last bit of money on earth that I had. Bank wouldn't do it. Post Office wouldn't do it. Western Union wouldn't do it.. as the thing was over 10 days old and they have some policy, despite the fact that I rang the company and they're meant to be valid for a year. There's some store-to-store policy about what they cash though. And I started freaking out. Ended up going back into production - who think I'm a total idiot I believe - Kevin got dragged into it, they tried to get Steve in so I could get the money off him in cash, but he wasn't even at the tour, so Kevin ended up taking the money order from me, giving me a grand in cash, and taking the money from Steve's pay. Ha. I genuinely hope I never have to go into the production office with an issue again this tour. That night was totally insane. Number 1 - Ryan Dunn. I don't know if you're a Jackass/Viva La Bam/Haggard fan, but I REALLY AM and motherfucking Ryan Dunn was there playing the throw the sandbag in the hole game. WHAT THE HELL. I was lurking for so long waiting for a break in the game cause I wanted to meet him so bad, and Travie made fun of me for falling into a fence during my lurkage. By the way, Trav has a totally badass green moped which I want to steal, and he rides around with Katy on the back all the time. He's gonna kill someone on it though.
After I lurked RYAN DUNN for long enough (I did meet him and get a pic by the way. I was actually nervous. Ha.) I wandered around looking for a cab, and ended up getting a ride into Philly to eat with Suarez and his girly and their friends. I cabbed it back later and got into a really weird mood and wandered around almost in tears, but ended up having an okay night moaning and groaning with Tori and Jack and being endeared by an intoxicated, and still weirdly defensive, Bill. He taught me how to do a hand hug. Cute as kittens. Bus call was really late and I stayed up too long and was so tired the next day.
Uniondale NY - Long Island. This was a great day. I loved it. I went offsite for lunch, took a driver to get pizza and it ended up being Kevin's driver who was filling in for the usual runner. He was so lovely and interested in all the different levels of stuff on the tour. Ended up giving me $20 for my lunch despite the fact I was meant to be paying him... he felt so bad for me I think. I tried very hard to give it back but he wouldn't accept it. And that day I had many varied people to adore there - Natalie, Bel, and Will. Last time that I was gonna see Natalie and Will both for a really long time... Will in March and Natalie.. who knows. There was a bbq that night, another really late bus call.. and usually when I just wander from group to group I get lonely and weird but I had a really good night. Will challenges my brain more than anyone I've met in a really long time, he's so smart and intense that I actually think really hard in order to not feel stupid. I told him this and he says a lot of people call him challenging.. or difficult, if they don't get him. He's one of those people who's not at all swayed by other people as far as self esteem goes, and who says that whole 'you can choose how you feel/choose to be happy' thing. Yeah, I wish. He introduced me to Fred who is the sweetest, most mellow guy alive, and I drifted to hang with Chris for a while, he stole me soda and we watched a bit of High Fidelity on his obnoxiously printed bus. Very fond of that kid already. Also will see him in March! Then Nat and I wandered and she got all *stares* when Suarez pulled me aside and got all stern with me about bailing on him and Lauren the night before. Long story which you don't need to know here. But he thought I was uncomfortable with him as a friend and was all worried and upset that I would feel like that. That wasn't the case anyway, but whatever. It was so cute that he was upset but he was all 'I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU' and Nat and I both jumped. That guy is still one of my fave people here and I can't wait to take him out at home.
Yesterday was Scranton, PA and it was a clusterfuck. The venue was long and narrow and we had to cancel our signing because the line would have clogged up the walkway. In the morning I started making a scrapbook at merch. In the afternoon it rained intensely and started hailing too. It then cleared up and actually got really hot. Watched TAI and Cobra's sets, which were both cut short due to them going on late due to the rain shutting down the stages for a good long while.. then went back to the good old Hurley stage to see what the redhead can do, as I'd never watched them before. Backstage at the Hurley stage I was all *pines* and missing the Spiders and wheeling gear and all the crew that I saw every day and they were all HAI. Especially the truck manager, Large, who likes how 'versatile' I am and may be able to hook me up next year. Mission for the next 10 months: learn to tune and restring a guitar and bass, properly. Went to a hotel and had a very long shower and made the mistake of lying down in the lovely bed and wanting to stay there.. went back up the mountain to the venue, danced to the Grease MegaMix, watched a drum-off, and pretty much fell over from exhaustion.
Today - Englishtown NJ - was just.. nice. The venue was so EASY - smooth blacktop, no gravel, buses very close to the park. It also had really cheap vendor food - $3.50 for a massive dish of fries, $1 for a 6 pack of oreos. It was just a chill, easy day which was sorely needed. I made $16 in tips which meant I can sustain myself for a few days without dipping into my own money. I told the redhead this at the BBQ tonight and he was all 'one day I am going to bring you a plate of food for lunch, and it is going to be completely full and delicious and it will have everything you could possibly want.' Ha. For the record, he's the first person on this tour to take a serious personal interest in my shitty situation re: bus spot/not getting paid and is constantly so concerned about it - wants me to move into his bus/back lounge for free if he can convince his TM. He was making me laugh tonight by saying he wanted to be more of a shitty dude so he could throw a diva fit at the rest of the guys and just demand that it happen. Loves. Bel was here again today which was also great, but it was her last show. If you are reading this, my dear, I will send you a lonnnnng email about... Sandra Sully. Sigh.
Hardcore sleeptime now. Intended to be done by 11:30 and its now 1:30am.. I hope you appreciate it, interwebs.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
wb - a winged demon.
So right now I appear to be locked INTO my bus. AWESOME. Watching Dan In Real Life. Also, earlier today, I thought I had lost a $1000 money order and a scrap of paper with Andrew's handwritten SoCo lyrics on it for my new tattoo... guess which I was more freaked about losing? However, both were safe in my bunk. Sigh.
So long time no blog. I am currently eating my way through my newly-acquired stash of four Twix bars, a 100g block of Lindt 70% Intense Dark Chocolate, a 400g bag of M&Ms, Busy Bee Honey in a bear-shaped bottle, and a large packet of Wasabi Peas. Thank you very much Dan Lipski, for palming off Cobra's fan gifts on a hungry Australian. They seriously have a whole crate of candy under the bus that NO ONE is eating because of that stupid blog Gabe made about giving out his phone number. Anyway.
Today is the first off day we have had since Atlanta - that's a run of 12 days straight. Hence the no blogging... my brain has just been mushed up. I've checked emails etc, but I have not been able to actually sit down and think... however I have made notes about each day, and we'll have a bit of a photo post tomorrow.
Last time I wrote I was waiting to go to the TAI show at New Orleans House of Blues. We were 2nd row and it was pretty incredible, as a matter of fact it felt like the first time I had seen them all summer, despite watching their set sidestage every day. My little heart was about to explode and being there with my girls was just... perfect. Cobra and Gym Class were both great too. Amusing event of the day: Ziggy was unpacking the trailer and I asked if I could ride his bike around, as I often do at Warped, and he said yes and when I took it these girls in the line were like 'HEY SHE'S TAKEN YOUR BIKE' and he's all 'lol it's okay.' Oh deary me.
After the show, my girls drove through the night to get me back to the next Warped date - Atlanta. My girls, for the record, are: one of my best friends from England, Amy, a girl that Amy and I met over in the states last year called Lacey who is now also one of our best friends, and Megan.. Megan is someone I used to be super-close with, from England, Amy and her met through me and are now also very close. Megan and I were no longer close, you may call it the opposite. I thought it was going to either be awkward or bad having to spend time with her. Turns out we've remembered why we used to be best friends. No one expected it to happen but we're having a great time together and that's all that will be said about that - so I have 3 great friends over who are road-tripping along with Warped until Chicago. Amy and Lacey, however, have sunken down in the ranks as they have become obsessed with the Jonas Brothers. All that gets played in the car is Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock and Miley Cyrus... and they have a Jonas Brothers shrine on the dashboard of the car, ripped out of magazines. I think it's only half a joke. Megan and I just cringe in fear together. The only hilarious part is when Amy is pissy at Lacey, she calls her PaulKevin. Which is allegedly the proper name of the oldest one, like George Ryan Ross? "PaulKevin, what ARE you doing?"
Atlanta: Significant things were a Jack's Mannequin acoustic set where they played the Everley Brothers 'Dream', spending $40 on a cab to go get a pizza only to have the bus driver throw out the leftovers that I wanted to eat later so badly, and the arrival to the tour of two more friends!!! Both whom I met in the same place actually... when I was out on the Get A Life tour with The Used in April. Brian, who was doing merch for Army of Me and is ridiculously adorable, a complete affection whore, and the only straight guy I know who is as obsessed with Wentz as I am... he's here doing some sort of beer promotion til the 30th.. and the other is Will Noon, the drummer for Straylight Run who is just riding with The Color Fred for like 6 days to hang out. Will is the first person I have met in a really long time who challenges me... talking to him makes me think really, really hard. He's probably the smartest and most jaded person I know.
Orlando - Fran and Nettie, more English friends, are at the tour to go to the Florida/Canada dates. The Orlando venue was so lovely.. nothing special, just a field, but it was by a lake that had an old dock, a gazebo and a weird little cottage.. like a tiny picket fence with a rose garden and stuff.. but the little house was only about 5 feet by 5 feet. Bizarre. Hung out with Bill for a little while and Lacey was having this very emotional conversation with him and I was feeling so awkward because I was wearing only a bikini top and all I could think was I WISH I WAS WEARING A SHIRT RIGHT NOW. Some time in Florida I just gave up on actual clothes and all I wear every day is running shorts, bikini top and sometimes a teeshirt that I cut the sides out of. You would not believe how much cooler it keeps you when your under-arms are bare. Bus Call was realllllly late so I went and showered in the girls hotel and we got pizza and drove around.
St Pete - This was one of my fave days of tour so far. The venue was directly on this bay... and walking along the edge of it during the day, we saw DOLPHINS playing. Seriously. Lacey and I also fed a bunch of birds... gulls or something but for some reason we started calling them penguins and then couldn't stop. Raf and I built a giant sign to display set times. I mean giant, it was taller than me. Kevin Farewell rocked a Clan shirt onstage without knowing its Wentz connotations. Win. I spied on Jac Vanek. Let me say something about her - I am no fan of the idea of scene queens. I resent that she is 'famous' for... no reason except some internet buzz and I don't think she should try make a living off that. However, she's not trying to live it up on this tour. She looks as rough as most of us girls... she doesn't try dress up or anything, and goes to the parties in no makeup and what she was wearing that day. So for that, I say, good on you, Jac Vanek. I may actually buy one of your Punk Rock Summer Camp Shirts, though I would be more inclined if it didn't have your name visible in the middle of it. We The Kings, who play on our stage, had a million billion fans there who all crowded round the fence etc. Travis from WTK is very very good to fans, he'll go over like... as he walks offstage, no time to himself, and hang out til everyone is satisfied. We had a good show too, though Matt broke his guitar strap and accidentally swore onstage while explaining why they're not allowed to swear onstage (florida has some weird law about it.) He's like 'so we have to change the fucking words...' and his face was just PRICELESS, like a little kid. It wasn't even an 'accident' - it was genuinley automatic. I almost cried laughing. That night, as we were just in the middle of taking merch back to the van, it started raining and then pouring. Worse than the storm the night Steve kicked me on the bus... well, heavier rain.. the Kansas City storm was COLD and WINDY, this was just thick, warm, wet rain. It was pretty amazing actually... running back to my bus I recieved probably the most romantic, movie-moment kiss of my life (no, not going into it... but it's no one you know so who cares!) and then later I came back out into the rain in my swimsuit and showered. No joke, others were doing it and I grabbed a squirt of body wash and showered in the warm rain. It was truly amazing and there were dudes doing it butt-naked. I saw penises.. lucky it was raining so hard that I couldn't match faces to penises. Once it stopped raining... finally.. I ventured back outside in my rain boots and went for a wander. Discussed the newly released TAI album cover picture with Jack, Buddy Farewell and I broke down a fence, and eventually Kiss in the Rain boy, his friend, and I went in a cab to a grocery store to get some supplies for the next 10 days of tour. We were served by the most amazing girl who was wide-eyed at how 'cool' we were for working on Warped and gave us huge discounts - like took $15 off my small bill and $40 off the boys massive one. She couldnt attend Warped because she had to work and had a baby at home (she looked 17, emo and pierced) and she loved TAI and I just... wow. I was so amazed that she thought we were so awesome when she was clearly the awesome one.
Miami - I hated this day. It was humid and hot and then it rained during the day on and off which was just annoying. Though the bands had HUGE crowds - TAI had a giant crowd, the Spiders had a good one too. Oh, let me tell you though... I did my first bit of crowd control that day, these super-excited dudes were side stage and like trying to grab picks off the stage while the set was going on. I repeatedly moved them back and told them I'd get them something after the set. At one point, I had to jump offstage and get more water for my keyboardist. I come back and the two boys are WRESTLING ON THE GROUND grabbing at a pick and almost tripping up my guy and unplugging gear. I pretty much drag them up by the hair and my stage manager throws ALL the sidestage watchers off. When the guys are done, we're packing up and this pack of kids keeps edging closer and eventually I go over and say hey, guys, its just me and the band, im all the crew they have so we have to just get packed up and then they'll come over. Can you wait by the fence? And they just kept creeping up. It was very odd, we have people come to the signings but there aren't usually that many people at the stage. It happened on the main stages too... Cobra and TAI both had huge mobs waiting for them. Apparently it was all the Music Saves Lives people.. the blood donation? They had a LOT of people that day so there were hundreds of kids backstage. I also saw the most ridiculous thing happen... alright on this tour I have witnessed a lot of stupidity, a lot of it comes from venue security. So this woman had been told that after a certain point no pink wristbands (that was the MSL bands) were allowed through. This girl is at the gate being all 'my car is back there. I was working today. I just had this one as well.' - and it was true, she was wearing 3 wristbands - a VIP, a Vendor, and an MSL. and like.. seriously. All this security guard could process was 'no pink' and so even though the girl was wearing two ALL ACCESS bands, because she had this other wristband on, she wasnt allowed through. To take the stupidity one step further, she says 'okay what if i take the pink one off?' and the guard is all 'then you'll be allowed through. i was told no pink.' really. really! do some people just not have brain function? I wont even go into the rest of the night.. all I wanna say is that it was shitty and I got into a terrible, awful mood which did improve just before bus call but I was like a wreck for about 4 hours.
Elkton - This is apparently near Jacksonville. It was a field. With a covered sand horse arena in it, which was actually nice to sit under. It was also Amy's 21st!! I got really sick early in the day... I was carrying the sign and I got nauseous and almost passed out, had to go sit on the floor of the bathroom for like an hour. No idea why. Had a shower that day but the water smelled weird like sulpher... Amy said when she drunk some from the tap that it tasted like blood. Bizarre. Will's last day and I hate when people leave this tour. Sigh. Another fucking weird night.
Charlotte - Everyone was so stoked to leave Florida. No offence. It's just the worst part of Warped Tour, so sweaty. I loved North Carolina instantly on principle... it wasn't Florida! Venue was a bit of a clusterfuck, especially carrying the sign and wheeling my cart.. I beasted a lot of people, and by the end I wasn't even making an effort not to. TAI had a really, really amazing show that day in case you care... it was Farewell's hometown show which was so cool, Tori and I stood in front of the barrier and were all proud. 'I was beaming, truly, like someone's mum!' Haha. These kids had a sign saying Welcome Home and I actually teared up at that. That night we had a tour outing to the movies... we saw The Rocker and they gave us all this free stuff like bandanas, obviously the movie was free too. It's so, so much like camp, with these like, organized events and things to keep us sane. The movie was okay but would have been better if it had more of the funny lines and less of the slapstick... but Americans seem to need that, rather than wit. Mara, Tori and I were all swooning over Teddy Geiger, who plays the lead teenager in the band. There was a lot of arm squeezing going on and a few big jokes missed cause we were too busy gossiping about how fine he had just looked. Sigh. We are 14.
Virginia Beach - again, a fave of the tour so far. TAI were first so I watched them from the barricade which was kind of awkward but cool purely for the sound quality. Love. The venue was so weirdly cool, had this artificial lake in the private VIP bar area, toilet seats shaped like guitars, and a strange forest path that I got 'lost' in when I wanted to go off by myself for a while. I lined up a new job that day, for after the Spiders leave on the 20th... doing merch and running about for Four Year Strong. Should be cool. They share a bus with Kiss in the Rain boy and the people he works for, who are now my friends.. and while I won't be riding there, I am sure I will be hanging out there a lot. I actually rode with them that night because my bus wanted to leave early and there was a HUGE party going on that night - Gabe was dj-ing and the dudes from 30H!3 had about 150 people in a circle watching them dance. The bunks on the Four Year Strong bus are so much more comfortable than my own, sigh, I will have to crash with them as much as possible.
Columbia, MD - I HATED this day really badly. The venue was like... all over a bunch of hills, and the venue security were the worst yet. I don't mind being stopped to show my pass. That's just normal. What pisses me off is when they stop you when you're already 6 feet past you. They're not paying attention, you're on your way and they YANK you back. It sounds like not such a big deal but when it's 15 times a day... it's just irritating. While I was holding the sign some girls came up and took a picture with it... alright then. Discovered there was a mall close by! Very exciting! Went there for lunch and sorted out my phone. I also saw Bill get MOBBED by kids as he went through the park from their stage to the other main stage to go on with Jacks. Like, walking along and 25 kids run up behind him, one of whom grabs him around the waist from behind and almost knocks him over. Me and Megan were both just staring in shock when he turned around and was just lovely, told them he had to go but hugged a bunch of them and just.. wow. When I am touched unexpectedly I tend to lash out and I guess he's kinda used to it but I have never seen people treat him like that at TAI shows and it was kind of painful to watch. When we were onstage for Jacks I asked if he was okay and that I'd seen, and he made a squiggly face and shrugged. After the Jacks set, we found Amy and Lacey and the four of us and Bill talked for a while behind the stage, one of those long, ridiculous conversations filled with the most stupid quotes and everyone is trying not to crack up. Loves it. I flailed over Andrew really badly to Bill as well, because when I went to Andrew to try say bye (they only had a few days left and I figured he'd be busy) he was all 'STFU, sweetheart, it's not time to say bye, come hang with us, any time, at the bus any night.' and I'm just dead right there. me: 'that mannn. makes me die. this is me dying.' bill: 'isnt that a band on this tour?' me: 'no you just invented that. you should make that band as a joke' bill: 'i should make an joke emo band?.... *long pause later* i already have an emo band' - at which i proceeded to re-arrange his hair into an emo fringe.
Cleveland - I loved this day. Just a very good one. Got a visit from a long-time internet friend, good venue, got some free shirts, the TAI mainstage was actually inside a tent thing on a big permanent stage and Andrew came on with them, I had a really long shower during the day, and I ended up having a good night as well. There was an offsite party that I intended to go to and then I just got in this weird mood and didn't want to any more. I was talking to Tori on her bus as she was getting ready to go, we hung out in there for a while with Matt (one of Katy's band) and Suarez, and I was still being indecisive about the party. the Jacks bus was the next one along and a few people were hanging out beside it. Andrew spots me when I came out of the Katy Perry bus and waves his arms over his head, yelling come say hi! So, I did, and ended up staying there til midnight. He tried to get me stoned, ha, and it was just nice hanging out with good people and chatting. There was a beautiful moon rise which he rambled about and I nodded and said 'yeah' a lot as I was not stoned. Bill and Jack came around for a bit and, well, were Bill and Jack, except for Jack not wearing a shirt. I repeatedly told him to go put one on and my favorite quote of the night was Bill saying to him 'do it, man, she's not attracted to you.' Bill's such a bloody sweetheart, you may have noticed on this blog that I am the dude's biggest fan, but I don't care. He's the most sincere guy I've ever met and he's so awkward in social situations. Took my hand after this random stoned girl introduced herself to him, and whispered 'i dont like this..' and im like 'dont like what?' and he said 'random social.. things', asked why he'd come over and he said to smoke with Andrew but he didn't know there would be so many people around. Then.. 'YOU are always welcome wherever i am, in fact its quite refreshing to see you every day but i don't care for any of these other people.' Not going to lie, I died a little at that, but told him to leave if he felt uncomfortable. Eventually Andrew took him on the bus to smoke and he hung around a while longer, the group got smaller and we ended up inside the bus singing along to Fat-Bottomed Girls by Queen. My life, let me confusedly show you it.
Detroit: Was at a baseball stadium. Had many huge statues of growly cats. Met another internet friend, someone I adore who I've never met, and she brought me the most amazing brownies ever created. She's a fantastic cook. The Spiders played first but had a big crowd and while I was carrying the sign I had like so many people ask where they were at and so many people follow me over to the stage. It was probably the best show they'd done so far, even though it was 11:15am. They killed it. Afterwards, this fan who was backstage and knew them a bit gave them what I thought was bags of jellybeans and m and ms, all different pink and white sweets and I'm like awww cute. In cellophane bags wrapped up with ribbons. Ben and I finish packing up the guitars and we're like sweet, jellybeans and Matt is giggling like a child and says 'it's not jellybeans... it's Vicodin.' and sure enough, the sweets were just a cover for getting in drugs. There were pills mixed into the bags of sweets. I couldn't believe it, the girl was about 15 and no one in the band had asked her to do it. It was pretty smart, but seriously! I distributed brownies to my friends and favorites.. Ziggy, my fave tour security guard Chris, Wil and Buddy Farewell, Farewell's stage manager cause he got jealous, Casper, and a few others. The girls and I had a hilarious lunch at Johnny Rockets where the waiter flirted with me and I abused him. I got asked about 20 thousand times if the brownies had drugs in them... I'm not even going to write about what happened with Cobra that day except that I don't think I'm the only person on Warped who's not thrilled with Gabe.. whatever. That night I drove with Lacey and the girls into Canada and CAN I JUST SAY NO ONE TOLD ME THAT CANADA WAS LIKE, IN DETROIT? I thought that we'd have like... a 3 hour drive to the border. BUT NO. THE BORDER CROSSING WAS IN DETROIT. 10 MINS FROM THE VENUE. We were all extremely confused and a lot of people made fun of us.
CANADIA.
Toronto: woke up after sleeping in the car on the floor between the front and back seats. oh yes i travelled like this in a moving car. Toronto was just... horrible. Just awful. First of all the nearest business to the venue was a strip club that advertised '69 hot girls.. and one ugly one.' no joke. But it sucked mainly because it started insanely raining at about 5pm and all the stages got shut down. The only decent thing about the whole day was that Casper put me and mine in the 'special' part of the stage to watch Jacks - like the far side, usually all I can see is the back of Andrew's head as they don't spread people across the back for Jacks. It was lovely and we all cried including Megan who has never listened to Jacks, she's just been blown away by how people react to the music. Farewell, because they are brave, brave idiots, kept playing their acoustic set on a stage that was being flooded. Like they kept edging back til they were literally at the back of the stage and the whole stage floor was wet and the tent roof had loads of water building up and sporadically gushing off it. I thought they were going to be electrocuted and my dear Wil looked like he wanted to kill himself. I ended up bolting into the gear truck because the rain finally got too much, and finally they gave up on trying to play and cleared off too. Oh, not before Buddy, the idiot, who was still hopping around like he always does, slipped and fell flat on his back during the last song. I almost screamed, what with that and the cords all over the stage being soaked I thought someone would get hurt. All my lessons about Occupational Health and Safety at shows from when I was studying Music Business were going through my head. Another minor heart attack when they went back out to try take the stage down and Marshall was climbing up the thing in the pouring rain, balancing on a railing 8 feet in the air and not holding on to anything while dismantling their backdrop. Bloody idiots. We watched the Bouncing Souls from the back of the truck and then I ended up making a break for it back to the big hall where catering was and sitting there for hours. After I got changed and the rain died down a little, I went for a work, was given the aforementioned candy by Lipski, and went to see the art display that was going on in the Higher's trailer. It was really quite rad. I talked to Butcher for quite a while about one of his paintings that he's currently displaying at the TAI merch booth, and met a few new lovely people.
Montreal - was better than Toronto, another really good day despite rain at that one. It was quite a few people's last day on the tour though, which was so incredibly sad... my band for one, Jacks for another. Very close to saying bye to Farewell too. I ate two ice cream cones for lunch. Ha. Also the last day I was going to see my girl Fran, til god knows when. Last day hanging out with the Hurley stage guys, last day unloading the truck. They are carrying the Bouncing Souls gear on that truck right now and I unloaded all their guitars which was exciting for me. Watched TAI from barrier as they played first and afterwards William thanked me for doing it. Hearts. Watched Jacks from the crowd/photo pit. Photographed Farewell's set. Wandered to look at the weird-ass BioDome that was part of the park the venue was in. Tried to catch a ground hog for a pet... they were EVERYWHERE on the lawns near the buses, fat little things and I want to cuddle one. Was shocked at the kids who didn't speak english.. I know they speak French in Montreal but I assumed they all spoke english too. Clearly not. Matt was having fun as he actually speaks it. Learnt about the iPhone and I shall be getting one when I go home. Spiders played last. By the way, want to know what I actually did for a job? Right this is a day with the Pink Spiders:
Get up at 8. Go to catering. Go to the stage. All the gear is in a big truck. There is a truck manager, he's sweet as sugar and his name is Large. Get in a line inside the truck and recieve a piece of gear to wheel/carry out as he unpacks it. I am the only girl that does this. But no one treats me badly. I talk to the Pierce the Veil guys every morning. Vic is the sweetest ever and likes to hug me and the bass player with the hair always teases me about my accent but always does it English. I have told him I am not English but he now does it as English as possible to tease me even more. So we unload the truck, while this is happening at some point we recieve the running order so we know where to place the gear - everyone has a tent along the back of the stage. Stack the gear neatly, if we play early-ish set up the guitar boat and get out all the guitars. Once this is done, if we play early I go and carry the giant sign around, if not I go chill out/wash, and I go to production to get our daily allowance of beer and case of water. Catering is 12-2. I usually send Jeff our merch guy to lunch at midday and when he gets back I go get lunch for Matt and sometimes the others - Matt pretty much never comes out of the van and he's diabetic so I'm super super fussy about making him eat. When it's time to play, I go to the stage - get there when the previous band is still playing. They get their gear off, we get ours on. I always do mic stands first, plug in the mics - we use our own white mic stands, and Matt uses his own mic as well, so I have to change that all over.. get the drums up, Matt and Raf's fans, and put water out. Get Raf's guitar that he plays with and hold his spare. They play... Matt talks so fast I can never understand what he is saying onstage. Ben is a complete laugh, messing around, strutting around in circles and doing completely over the top moves and jumps. Raf always plays a little bit of a different Ben Folds song every day when the sound guy is checking his keyboard amp. Joe makes faces at me throughout the whole set and tries to make me laugh. I always get scared of Matt falling off the stage or off the drums because he seems unsteady on his feet all the time. They finish, I grab Raf and Ben's guitars, put them on the boat, get back onstage and take the gear off. Start packing it all up, once it is done, we load it back into the truck straight away with Large. During the day we do a signing too... before or after they play, depending on set time. I'm usually around for that, I get them dinner if they want me to and cover Jeff for dinner. I hang out in merch, sometimes I help break down or babysit the stuff while Jeff takes a load back to the van. Sometimes they leave early if they play early, to start driving, and I do merch for the afternoon, break down myself and put the gear on the big Cinderblock merch truck. That's... about it.
Anyway so they played last, we packed the gear back into their own van as they were leaving, hung around the stage crew for a while before I convinced them to come to the barbeque, as it was Sumo Sunday (yes, that is how it sounds... we have an ongoing sumo suit tournament) and Matt wanted me to introduce him to Andrew. So off we went and they were all THIS IS THE GREATEST EVER WE SHOULD HAVE COME EVERY NIGHT. Sigh. Anyway I introduced them to various people and Matt gave Andrew a bottle of Jager and the burnt copy of the newly completed new Pink Spiders record, as he really wants to support Jacks on their fall tour. He came away from the conversation being like 'that is the nicest dude i have ever met in my life' and babbling about how they had been on the same label at some point and hand mutual friends and im like YES THIS IS WHY YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE VAN. Well, at least they did on their last night. Eventually they left me, and then a couple hours later Andrew and Casper left me, which was fucking painful. and then Tori and I went and sat on her bus and talked and giggled about things. Then back to the USA - this was border control - 'NAT GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUNK THEY NEED TO SEE YOUR FACE' *sticks head out* 'okay go back to sleep' - lol.
Well I have been writing this blog approximately all day and my hands hurt from typing. I am in Manchester, New Hampshire. I am very clean from my 90 minute shower. I am now very tired as it is 2am. Read this. I shall try post shorter, more frequent blogs from now on. We have another day off tomorrow, yippee. And then... a new era of Warped Tour. An Andrew-less, Spider-less, Farewell-less, Four Year Strong-filled era. It's half-way over now. Wow.
So long time no blog. I am currently eating my way through my newly-acquired stash of four Twix bars, a 100g block of Lindt 70% Intense Dark Chocolate, a 400g bag of M&Ms, Busy Bee Honey in a bear-shaped bottle, and a large packet of Wasabi Peas. Thank you very much Dan Lipski, for palming off Cobra's fan gifts on a hungry Australian. They seriously have a whole crate of candy under the bus that NO ONE is eating because of that stupid blog Gabe made about giving out his phone number. Anyway.
Today is the first off day we have had since Atlanta - that's a run of 12 days straight. Hence the no blogging... my brain has just been mushed up. I've checked emails etc, but I have not been able to actually sit down and think... however I have made notes about each day, and we'll have a bit of a photo post tomorrow.
Last time I wrote I was waiting to go to the TAI show at New Orleans House of Blues. We were 2nd row and it was pretty incredible, as a matter of fact it felt like the first time I had seen them all summer, despite watching their set sidestage every day. My little heart was about to explode and being there with my girls was just... perfect. Cobra and Gym Class were both great too. Amusing event of the day: Ziggy was unpacking the trailer and I asked if I could ride his bike around, as I often do at Warped, and he said yes and when I took it these girls in the line were like 'HEY SHE'S TAKEN YOUR BIKE' and he's all 'lol it's okay.' Oh deary me.
After the show, my girls drove through the night to get me back to the next Warped date - Atlanta. My girls, for the record, are: one of my best friends from England, Amy, a girl that Amy and I met over in the states last year called Lacey who is now also one of our best friends, and Megan.. Megan is someone I used to be super-close with, from England, Amy and her met through me and are now also very close. Megan and I were no longer close, you may call it the opposite. I thought it was going to either be awkward or bad having to spend time with her. Turns out we've remembered why we used to be best friends. No one expected it to happen but we're having a great time together and that's all that will be said about that - so I have 3 great friends over who are road-tripping along with Warped until Chicago. Amy and Lacey, however, have sunken down in the ranks as they have become obsessed with the Jonas Brothers. All that gets played in the car is Jonas Brothers, Camp Rock and Miley Cyrus... and they have a Jonas Brothers shrine on the dashboard of the car, ripped out of magazines. I think it's only half a joke. Megan and I just cringe in fear together. The only hilarious part is when Amy is pissy at Lacey, she calls her PaulKevin. Which is allegedly the proper name of the oldest one, like George Ryan Ross? "PaulKevin, what ARE you doing?"
Atlanta: Significant things were a Jack's Mannequin acoustic set where they played the Everley Brothers 'Dream', spending $40 on a cab to go get a pizza only to have the bus driver throw out the leftovers that I wanted to eat later so badly, and the arrival to the tour of two more friends!!! Both whom I met in the same place actually... when I was out on the Get A Life tour with The Used in April. Brian, who was doing merch for Army of Me and is ridiculously adorable, a complete affection whore, and the only straight guy I know who is as obsessed with Wentz as I am... he's here doing some sort of beer promotion til the 30th.. and the other is Will Noon, the drummer for Straylight Run who is just riding with The Color Fred for like 6 days to hang out. Will is the first person I have met in a really long time who challenges me... talking to him makes me think really, really hard. He's probably the smartest and most jaded person I know.
Orlando - Fran and Nettie, more English friends, are at the tour to go to the Florida/Canada dates. The Orlando venue was so lovely.. nothing special, just a field, but it was by a lake that had an old dock, a gazebo and a weird little cottage.. like a tiny picket fence with a rose garden and stuff.. but the little house was only about 5 feet by 5 feet. Bizarre. Hung out with Bill for a little while and Lacey was having this very emotional conversation with him and I was feeling so awkward because I was wearing only a bikini top and all I could think was I WISH I WAS WEARING A SHIRT RIGHT NOW. Some time in Florida I just gave up on actual clothes and all I wear every day is running shorts, bikini top and sometimes a teeshirt that I cut the sides out of. You would not believe how much cooler it keeps you when your under-arms are bare. Bus Call was realllllly late so I went and showered in the girls hotel and we got pizza and drove around.
St Pete - This was one of my fave days of tour so far. The venue was directly on this bay... and walking along the edge of it during the day, we saw DOLPHINS playing. Seriously. Lacey and I also fed a bunch of birds... gulls or something but for some reason we started calling them penguins and then couldn't stop. Raf and I built a giant sign to display set times. I mean giant, it was taller than me. Kevin Farewell rocked a Clan shirt onstage without knowing its Wentz connotations. Win. I spied on Jac Vanek. Let me say something about her - I am no fan of the idea of scene queens. I resent that she is 'famous' for... no reason except some internet buzz and I don't think she should try make a living off that. However, she's not trying to live it up on this tour. She looks as rough as most of us girls... she doesn't try dress up or anything, and goes to the parties in no makeup and what she was wearing that day. So for that, I say, good on you, Jac Vanek. I may actually buy one of your Punk Rock Summer Camp Shirts, though I would be more inclined if it didn't have your name visible in the middle of it. We The Kings, who play on our stage, had a million billion fans there who all crowded round the fence etc. Travis from WTK is very very good to fans, he'll go over like... as he walks offstage, no time to himself, and hang out til everyone is satisfied. We had a good show too, though Matt broke his guitar strap and accidentally swore onstage while explaining why they're not allowed to swear onstage (florida has some weird law about it.) He's like 'so we have to change the fucking words...' and his face was just PRICELESS, like a little kid. It wasn't even an 'accident' - it was genuinley automatic. I almost cried laughing. That night, as we were just in the middle of taking merch back to the van, it started raining and then pouring. Worse than the storm the night Steve kicked me on the bus... well, heavier rain.. the Kansas City storm was COLD and WINDY, this was just thick, warm, wet rain. It was pretty amazing actually... running back to my bus I recieved probably the most romantic, movie-moment kiss of my life (no, not going into it... but it's no one you know so who cares!) and then later I came back out into the rain in my swimsuit and showered. No joke, others were doing it and I grabbed a squirt of body wash and showered in the warm rain. It was truly amazing and there were dudes doing it butt-naked. I saw penises.. lucky it was raining so hard that I couldn't match faces to penises. Once it stopped raining... finally.. I ventured back outside in my rain boots and went for a wander. Discussed the newly released TAI album cover picture with Jack, Buddy Farewell and I broke down a fence, and eventually Kiss in the Rain boy, his friend, and I went in a cab to a grocery store to get some supplies for the next 10 days of tour. We were served by the most amazing girl who was wide-eyed at how 'cool' we were for working on Warped and gave us huge discounts - like took $15 off my small bill and $40 off the boys massive one. She couldnt attend Warped because she had to work and had a baby at home (she looked 17, emo and pierced) and she loved TAI and I just... wow. I was so amazed that she thought we were so awesome when she was clearly the awesome one.
Miami - I hated this day. It was humid and hot and then it rained during the day on and off which was just annoying. Though the bands had HUGE crowds - TAI had a giant crowd, the Spiders had a good one too. Oh, let me tell you though... I did my first bit of crowd control that day, these super-excited dudes were side stage and like trying to grab picks off the stage while the set was going on. I repeatedly moved them back and told them I'd get them something after the set. At one point, I had to jump offstage and get more water for my keyboardist. I come back and the two boys are WRESTLING ON THE GROUND grabbing at a pick and almost tripping up my guy and unplugging gear. I pretty much drag them up by the hair and my stage manager throws ALL the sidestage watchers off. When the guys are done, we're packing up and this pack of kids keeps edging closer and eventually I go over and say hey, guys, its just me and the band, im all the crew they have so we have to just get packed up and then they'll come over. Can you wait by the fence? And they just kept creeping up. It was very odd, we have people come to the signings but there aren't usually that many people at the stage. It happened on the main stages too... Cobra and TAI both had huge mobs waiting for them. Apparently it was all the Music Saves Lives people.. the blood donation? They had a LOT of people that day so there were hundreds of kids backstage. I also saw the most ridiculous thing happen... alright on this tour I have witnessed a lot of stupidity, a lot of it comes from venue security. So this woman had been told that after a certain point no pink wristbands (that was the MSL bands) were allowed through. This girl is at the gate being all 'my car is back there. I was working today. I just had this one as well.' - and it was true, she was wearing 3 wristbands - a VIP, a Vendor, and an MSL. and like.. seriously. All this security guard could process was 'no pink' and so even though the girl was wearing two ALL ACCESS bands, because she had this other wristband on, she wasnt allowed through. To take the stupidity one step further, she says 'okay what if i take the pink one off?' and the guard is all 'then you'll be allowed through. i was told no pink.' really. really! do some people just not have brain function? I wont even go into the rest of the night.. all I wanna say is that it was shitty and I got into a terrible, awful mood which did improve just before bus call but I was like a wreck for about 4 hours.
Elkton - This is apparently near Jacksonville. It was a field. With a covered sand horse arena in it, which was actually nice to sit under. It was also Amy's 21st!! I got really sick early in the day... I was carrying the sign and I got nauseous and almost passed out, had to go sit on the floor of the bathroom for like an hour. No idea why. Had a shower that day but the water smelled weird like sulpher... Amy said when she drunk some from the tap that it tasted like blood. Bizarre. Will's last day and I hate when people leave this tour. Sigh. Another fucking weird night.
Charlotte - Everyone was so stoked to leave Florida. No offence. It's just the worst part of Warped Tour, so sweaty. I loved North Carolina instantly on principle... it wasn't Florida! Venue was a bit of a clusterfuck, especially carrying the sign and wheeling my cart.. I beasted a lot of people, and by the end I wasn't even making an effort not to. TAI had a really, really amazing show that day in case you care... it was Farewell's hometown show which was so cool, Tori and I stood in front of the barrier and were all proud. 'I was beaming, truly, like someone's mum!' Haha. These kids had a sign saying Welcome Home and I actually teared up at that. That night we had a tour outing to the movies... we saw The Rocker and they gave us all this free stuff like bandanas, obviously the movie was free too. It's so, so much like camp, with these like, organized events and things to keep us sane. The movie was okay but would have been better if it had more of the funny lines and less of the slapstick... but Americans seem to need that, rather than wit. Mara, Tori and I were all swooning over Teddy Geiger, who plays the lead teenager in the band. There was a lot of arm squeezing going on and a few big jokes missed cause we were too busy gossiping about how fine he had just looked. Sigh. We are 14.
Virginia Beach - again, a fave of the tour so far. TAI were first so I watched them from the barricade which was kind of awkward but cool purely for the sound quality. Love. The venue was so weirdly cool, had this artificial lake in the private VIP bar area, toilet seats shaped like guitars, and a strange forest path that I got 'lost' in when I wanted to go off by myself for a while. I lined up a new job that day, for after the Spiders leave on the 20th... doing merch and running about for Four Year Strong. Should be cool. They share a bus with Kiss in the Rain boy and the people he works for, who are now my friends.. and while I won't be riding there, I am sure I will be hanging out there a lot. I actually rode with them that night because my bus wanted to leave early and there was a HUGE party going on that night - Gabe was dj-ing and the dudes from 30H!3 had about 150 people in a circle watching them dance. The bunks on the Four Year Strong bus are so much more comfortable than my own, sigh, I will have to crash with them as much as possible.
Columbia, MD - I HATED this day really badly. The venue was like... all over a bunch of hills, and the venue security were the worst yet. I don't mind being stopped to show my pass. That's just normal. What pisses me off is when they stop you when you're already 6 feet past you. They're not paying attention, you're on your way and they YANK you back. It sounds like not such a big deal but when it's 15 times a day... it's just irritating. While I was holding the sign some girls came up and took a picture with it... alright then. Discovered there was a mall close by! Very exciting! Went there for lunch and sorted out my phone. I also saw Bill get MOBBED by kids as he went through the park from their stage to the other main stage to go on with Jacks. Like, walking along and 25 kids run up behind him, one of whom grabs him around the waist from behind and almost knocks him over. Me and Megan were both just staring in shock when he turned around and was just lovely, told them he had to go but hugged a bunch of them and just.. wow. When I am touched unexpectedly I tend to lash out and I guess he's kinda used to it but I have never seen people treat him like that at TAI shows and it was kind of painful to watch. When we were onstage for Jacks I asked if he was okay and that I'd seen, and he made a squiggly face and shrugged. After the Jacks set, we found Amy and Lacey and the four of us and Bill talked for a while behind the stage, one of those long, ridiculous conversations filled with the most stupid quotes and everyone is trying not to crack up. Loves it. I flailed over Andrew really badly to Bill as well, because when I went to Andrew to try say bye (they only had a few days left and I figured he'd be busy) he was all 'STFU, sweetheart, it's not time to say bye, come hang with us, any time, at the bus any night.' and I'm just dead right there. me: 'that mannn. makes me die. this is me dying.' bill: 'isnt that a band on this tour?' me: 'no you just invented that. you should make that band as a joke' bill: 'i should make an joke emo band?.... *long pause later* i already have an emo band' - at which i proceeded to re-arrange his hair into an emo fringe.
Cleveland - I loved this day. Just a very good one. Got a visit from a long-time internet friend, good venue, got some free shirts, the TAI mainstage was actually inside a tent thing on a big permanent stage and Andrew came on with them, I had a really long shower during the day, and I ended up having a good night as well. There was an offsite party that I intended to go to and then I just got in this weird mood and didn't want to any more. I was talking to Tori on her bus as she was getting ready to go, we hung out in there for a while with Matt (one of Katy's band) and Suarez, and I was still being indecisive about the party. the Jacks bus was the next one along and a few people were hanging out beside it. Andrew spots me when I came out of the Katy Perry bus and waves his arms over his head, yelling come say hi! So, I did, and ended up staying there til midnight. He tried to get me stoned, ha, and it was just nice hanging out with good people and chatting. There was a beautiful moon rise which he rambled about and I nodded and said 'yeah' a lot as I was not stoned. Bill and Jack came around for a bit and, well, were Bill and Jack, except for Jack not wearing a shirt. I repeatedly told him to go put one on and my favorite quote of the night was Bill saying to him 'do it, man, she's not attracted to you.' Bill's such a bloody sweetheart, you may have noticed on this blog that I am the dude's biggest fan, but I don't care. He's the most sincere guy I've ever met and he's so awkward in social situations. Took my hand after this random stoned girl introduced herself to him, and whispered 'i dont like this..' and im like 'dont like what?' and he said 'random social.. things', asked why he'd come over and he said to smoke with Andrew but he didn't know there would be so many people around. Then.. 'YOU are always welcome wherever i am, in fact its quite refreshing to see you every day but i don't care for any of these other people.' Not going to lie, I died a little at that, but told him to leave if he felt uncomfortable. Eventually Andrew took him on the bus to smoke and he hung around a while longer, the group got smaller and we ended up inside the bus singing along to Fat-Bottomed Girls by Queen. My life, let me confusedly show you it.
Detroit: Was at a baseball stadium. Had many huge statues of growly cats. Met another internet friend, someone I adore who I've never met, and she brought me the most amazing brownies ever created. She's a fantastic cook. The Spiders played first but had a big crowd and while I was carrying the sign I had like so many people ask where they were at and so many people follow me over to the stage. It was probably the best show they'd done so far, even though it was 11:15am. They killed it. Afterwards, this fan who was backstage and knew them a bit gave them what I thought was bags of jellybeans and m and ms, all different pink and white sweets and I'm like awww cute. In cellophane bags wrapped up with ribbons. Ben and I finish packing up the guitars and we're like sweet, jellybeans and Matt is giggling like a child and says 'it's not jellybeans... it's Vicodin.' and sure enough, the sweets were just a cover for getting in drugs. There were pills mixed into the bags of sweets. I couldn't believe it, the girl was about 15 and no one in the band had asked her to do it. It was pretty smart, but seriously! I distributed brownies to my friends and favorites.. Ziggy, my fave tour security guard Chris, Wil and Buddy Farewell, Farewell's stage manager cause he got jealous, Casper, and a few others. The girls and I had a hilarious lunch at Johnny Rockets where the waiter flirted with me and I abused him. I got asked about 20 thousand times if the brownies had drugs in them... I'm not even going to write about what happened with Cobra that day except that I don't think I'm the only person on Warped who's not thrilled with Gabe.. whatever. That night I drove with Lacey and the girls into Canada and CAN I JUST SAY NO ONE TOLD ME THAT CANADA WAS LIKE, IN DETROIT? I thought that we'd have like... a 3 hour drive to the border. BUT NO. THE BORDER CROSSING WAS IN DETROIT. 10 MINS FROM THE VENUE. We were all extremely confused and a lot of people made fun of us.
CANADIA.
Toronto: woke up after sleeping in the car on the floor between the front and back seats. oh yes i travelled like this in a moving car. Toronto was just... horrible. Just awful. First of all the nearest business to the venue was a strip club that advertised '69 hot girls.. and one ugly one.' no joke. But it sucked mainly because it started insanely raining at about 5pm and all the stages got shut down. The only decent thing about the whole day was that Casper put me and mine in the 'special' part of the stage to watch Jacks - like the far side, usually all I can see is the back of Andrew's head as they don't spread people across the back for Jacks. It was lovely and we all cried including Megan who has never listened to Jacks, she's just been blown away by how people react to the music. Farewell, because they are brave, brave idiots, kept playing their acoustic set on a stage that was being flooded. Like they kept edging back til they were literally at the back of the stage and the whole stage floor was wet and the tent roof had loads of water building up and sporadically gushing off it. I thought they were going to be electrocuted and my dear Wil looked like he wanted to kill himself. I ended up bolting into the gear truck because the rain finally got too much, and finally they gave up on trying to play and cleared off too. Oh, not before Buddy, the idiot, who was still hopping around like he always does, slipped and fell flat on his back during the last song. I almost screamed, what with that and the cords all over the stage being soaked I thought someone would get hurt. All my lessons about Occupational Health and Safety at shows from when I was studying Music Business were going through my head. Another minor heart attack when they went back out to try take the stage down and Marshall was climbing up the thing in the pouring rain, balancing on a railing 8 feet in the air and not holding on to anything while dismantling their backdrop. Bloody idiots. We watched the Bouncing Souls from the back of the truck and then I ended up making a break for it back to the big hall where catering was and sitting there for hours. After I got changed and the rain died down a little, I went for a work, was given the aforementioned candy by Lipski, and went to see the art display that was going on in the Higher's trailer. It was really quite rad. I talked to Butcher for quite a while about one of his paintings that he's currently displaying at the TAI merch booth, and met a few new lovely people.
Montreal - was better than Toronto, another really good day despite rain at that one. It was quite a few people's last day on the tour though, which was so incredibly sad... my band for one, Jacks for another. Very close to saying bye to Farewell too. I ate two ice cream cones for lunch. Ha. Also the last day I was going to see my girl Fran, til god knows when. Last day hanging out with the Hurley stage guys, last day unloading the truck. They are carrying the Bouncing Souls gear on that truck right now and I unloaded all their guitars which was exciting for me. Watched TAI from barrier as they played first and afterwards William thanked me for doing it. Hearts. Watched Jacks from the crowd/photo pit. Photographed Farewell's set. Wandered to look at the weird-ass BioDome that was part of the park the venue was in. Tried to catch a ground hog for a pet... they were EVERYWHERE on the lawns near the buses, fat little things and I want to cuddle one. Was shocked at the kids who didn't speak english.. I know they speak French in Montreal but I assumed they all spoke english too. Clearly not. Matt was having fun as he actually speaks it. Learnt about the iPhone and I shall be getting one when I go home. Spiders played last. By the way, want to know what I actually did for a job? Right this is a day with the Pink Spiders:
Get up at 8. Go to catering. Go to the stage. All the gear is in a big truck. There is a truck manager, he's sweet as sugar and his name is Large. Get in a line inside the truck and recieve a piece of gear to wheel/carry out as he unpacks it. I am the only girl that does this. But no one treats me badly. I talk to the Pierce the Veil guys every morning. Vic is the sweetest ever and likes to hug me and the bass player with the hair always teases me about my accent but always does it English. I have told him I am not English but he now does it as English as possible to tease me even more. So we unload the truck, while this is happening at some point we recieve the running order so we know where to place the gear - everyone has a tent along the back of the stage. Stack the gear neatly, if we play early-ish set up the guitar boat and get out all the guitars. Once this is done, if we play early I go and carry the giant sign around, if not I go chill out/wash, and I go to production to get our daily allowance of beer and case of water. Catering is 12-2. I usually send Jeff our merch guy to lunch at midday and when he gets back I go get lunch for Matt and sometimes the others - Matt pretty much never comes out of the van and he's diabetic so I'm super super fussy about making him eat. When it's time to play, I go to the stage - get there when the previous band is still playing. They get their gear off, we get ours on. I always do mic stands first, plug in the mics - we use our own white mic stands, and Matt uses his own mic as well, so I have to change that all over.. get the drums up, Matt and Raf's fans, and put water out. Get Raf's guitar that he plays with and hold his spare. They play... Matt talks so fast I can never understand what he is saying onstage. Ben is a complete laugh, messing around, strutting around in circles and doing completely over the top moves and jumps. Raf always plays a little bit of a different Ben Folds song every day when the sound guy is checking his keyboard amp. Joe makes faces at me throughout the whole set and tries to make me laugh. I always get scared of Matt falling off the stage or off the drums because he seems unsteady on his feet all the time. They finish, I grab Raf and Ben's guitars, put them on the boat, get back onstage and take the gear off. Start packing it all up, once it is done, we load it back into the truck straight away with Large. During the day we do a signing too... before or after they play, depending on set time. I'm usually around for that, I get them dinner if they want me to and cover Jeff for dinner. I hang out in merch, sometimes I help break down or babysit the stuff while Jeff takes a load back to the van. Sometimes they leave early if they play early, to start driving, and I do merch for the afternoon, break down myself and put the gear on the big Cinderblock merch truck. That's... about it.
Anyway so they played last, we packed the gear back into their own van as they were leaving, hung around the stage crew for a while before I convinced them to come to the barbeque, as it was Sumo Sunday (yes, that is how it sounds... we have an ongoing sumo suit tournament) and Matt wanted me to introduce him to Andrew. So off we went and they were all THIS IS THE GREATEST EVER WE SHOULD HAVE COME EVERY NIGHT. Sigh. Anyway I introduced them to various people and Matt gave Andrew a bottle of Jager and the burnt copy of the newly completed new Pink Spiders record, as he really wants to support Jacks on their fall tour. He came away from the conversation being like 'that is the nicest dude i have ever met in my life' and babbling about how they had been on the same label at some point and hand mutual friends and im like YES THIS IS WHY YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE VAN. Well, at least they did on their last night. Eventually they left me, and then a couple hours later Andrew and Casper left me, which was fucking painful. and then Tori and I went and sat on her bus and talked and giggled about things. Then back to the USA - this was border control - 'NAT GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUNK THEY NEED TO SEE YOUR FACE' *sticks head out* 'okay go back to sleep' - lol.
Well I have been writing this blog approximately all day and my hands hurt from typing. I am in Manchester, New Hampshire. I am very clean from my 90 minute shower. I am now very tired as it is 2am. Read this. I shall try post shorter, more frequent blogs from now on. We have another day off tomorrow, yippee. And then... a new era of Warped Tour. An Andrew-less, Spider-less, Farewell-less, Four Year Strong-filled era. It's half-way over now. Wow.
Monday, July 7, 2008
they're like a skirt... with legs.
I'm in the lobby of a hotel in New Orleans right now, waiting for tomorrow and the Decaydance Off Warped show at the House of Blues. I've had a ticket booked for this since before I came to the States and I can't WAIT to line up and get on barricade and actually watch the show rather than the backs of people's heads.
I had to get a Greyhound at 4am from our last show in Houston to here. A lot of the buses were driving through New Orleans but ours wasn't and I couldn't find a ride to jump on... Ziggy tried to get me into his bus (GCH) but they were taking 4 extra people already plus a bunch of people's girlfriends so that was just way too tight.
I have a large blog saved on my laptop which I will post once I return to the bus in a couple of days - I didn't bring it with me. But here's the basics:
- Treaty left, which means Mike left, which means I was extremely sad.
- Jack's Mannequin arrived which is heavenly, expect a video with Andrew sometime soon. He is everyone's favorite, everyone just wants a piece of him all the time - not in an intrusive way, just a lot of the bands etc know him and he is just so beloved. He is everyone's friend. I see him get hugged about 8 times a day. He always says hi to everyone he even vaguely knows, and called me homeskillet yesterday in the catering line. The man is a gem and just a force of positive energy.
- Shit went down with the Boss in Missouri, who I will now name as Steve Steadham - he's a pro skater and was also performing on the Skate Ramp stage, reggae music. This is detailed heavily in the upcoming blog, but stuff got extremely shady - not the actual work, the work was fine - and we went and asked production a few questions. Kevin and Lisa (tour mom and dad) were not too happy with him and there was a meeting with everyone on our crew and Kevin encouraged us all to quit the job (not the tour) and we did.
- I'd actually already been offered another job by the Pink Spiders and was trying to find a way to break that to him so it came up in the meeting. So I'm with them now and I'm a stagehand/tech. Look for me running on and off the Hurley stage with guitars, amps, fans and mic stands - I'll be the only little girl. Took a few days for the guys who work the stage (not my band, but the others) to actually give me things to carry, but I think it's all good now. I also cover merch, carry a sign around, go to production for them, go to catering for them, etc. They're in a van but I have a bus spot with Music Saves Lives, which is lovely. TPS are only on til July 20 but I think I have another job lined up after that which would just be ridiculously good.
- The next day - Kansas- some serious shit went down. Came back from working for the Spiders, to Steve's bus. In the meeting it had been established that it was okay to stay there as I had paid for my spot and he was going to honor that. Anyway, got back there - SOAKING DRIPPING WET because it was a huge storm that shut down a few of the last bands. I got hit with hailstones taking my merch stuff to the truck. So I get on and he's all 'oh are you here to get your stuff?' and im like 'fuck no i'm not, what the hell are you talking about you insane douchebag' - well, not in those words. And basically he'd decided or established that we were all to leave the bus that day - despite paying. I just looked at him and was like 'whatever, no. i do not want to deal with this shit.' I saw Farewell's RV just pulling out and I jumped off the bus and RAN, almost got hit by a truck, slammed on their passenger window and was like 'he's kicked me off. please, tonight, please?' and they're all just like 'get the fuck in right now.' cause they know the progess of the entire Steve deal. I bolted back, - grabbed my pillow, laptop, and an armful of clothes and he's all 'what about your bags?' I just look at him and look outside and pretty much tell him he's a ridiculous idiot and it's a storm, my friends are holding up other buses in order to help me, and I'll get my bags off when he gives me the money back. (the agreement in the meeting was that he'd give back the remainder pro-rata if we decided to get another bus spot instead of staying on his) - so Farewell saved me, wouldn't take any money for gas so I bought them a new cooler, and after the shock and storm had worn off, I had an okay night. Next day I went straight to production, told Lisa and Kevin and they were beyond unhappy about it - they agreed with me that NOTHING had been established about leaving the bus that day and were as shocked as I were. I seriously doubt Steve will be asked back to do Warped again if he keeps pulling Steves.
- There was an excellent party after the Dallas show at a place called the Doublewide. There was much Jager bought for people by certain guys who used to be in a band called Something Corporate and much ridiculous affection from guys who used to be in a band called Remember Maine. Those fan boundaries I keep stating that I worry about crossing - kind of being dragged over them by the ones in question. Not going to lie, it's pretty fucking awesome, but I'm so happy just being here and my girls... V and Mara.. and my Farewell guys are pretty much all the party company I could want. Anything else is just a bonus but that night was filled with bonuses. Cuddly, cuddly bonuses.
- 4th July we were in Austin. Pink Spiders played one room at Emos, Andrew WK played the other and I was hopping back and forth all night.
- My band were in a van accident the other night, I woke up to a text saying 'can you go tell production we're in the ER and might be late.' They actually got there ok - albeit extremely woozy - played early, packed up early, sent them to the van to lie down, had WAFFLES ON A STICK for lunch - really, a waffle-sicle, Sundays on Warped, lunch is always a brunch meal - then they went to a hotel to rest and clean up and I did merch the rest of the day.
- a big one - I've heard the new TAI... album and fuck me, it was an incredibly awkward and wonderful experience being shut in their tiny back lounge listening to it on William's ipod, with running commentary from him and Jack. It makes me completely nervous thinking about it, like good and a bit sick, it's.. yeah. Don't ask me to be coherant on this. But I'm still in shock that they offered to play it for me, let alone the fact I've actually heard it and that I was the first fan they asked to listen to it - Adam and William both on separate occasions. They make me completely brain dead in the best possible way. I wanna hear it again SO bad... I have tiny bits stuck in my head and then forget them, you know? God. August 19th, people... I hope I can grab a copy from them on the last day of Warped so I have it to listen to on the plane.
I need to eat now, I am craving a mushroom pizza like nobody's business. GIVE ME.
I had to get a Greyhound at 4am from our last show in Houston to here. A lot of the buses were driving through New Orleans but ours wasn't and I couldn't find a ride to jump on... Ziggy tried to get me into his bus (GCH) but they were taking 4 extra people already plus a bunch of people's girlfriends so that was just way too tight.
I have a large blog saved on my laptop which I will post once I return to the bus in a couple of days - I didn't bring it with me. But here's the basics:
- Treaty left, which means Mike left, which means I was extremely sad.
- Jack's Mannequin arrived which is heavenly, expect a video with Andrew sometime soon. He is everyone's favorite, everyone just wants a piece of him all the time - not in an intrusive way, just a lot of the bands etc know him and he is just so beloved. He is everyone's friend. I see him get hugged about 8 times a day. He always says hi to everyone he even vaguely knows, and called me homeskillet yesterday in the catering line. The man is a gem and just a force of positive energy.
- Shit went down with the Boss in Missouri, who I will now name as Steve Steadham - he's a pro skater and was also performing on the Skate Ramp stage, reggae music. This is detailed heavily in the upcoming blog, but stuff got extremely shady - not the actual work, the work was fine - and we went and asked production a few questions. Kevin and Lisa (tour mom and dad) were not too happy with him and there was a meeting with everyone on our crew and Kevin encouraged us all to quit the job (not the tour) and we did.
- I'd actually already been offered another job by the Pink Spiders and was trying to find a way to break that to him so it came up in the meeting. So I'm with them now and I'm a stagehand/tech. Look for me running on and off the Hurley stage with guitars, amps, fans and mic stands - I'll be the only little girl. Took a few days for the guys who work the stage (not my band, but the others) to actually give me things to carry, but I think it's all good now. I also cover merch, carry a sign around, go to production for them, go to catering for them, etc. They're in a van but I have a bus spot with Music Saves Lives, which is lovely. TPS are only on til July 20 but I think I have another job lined up after that which would just be ridiculously good.
- The next day - Kansas- some serious shit went down. Came back from working for the Spiders, to Steve's bus. In the meeting it had been established that it was okay to stay there as I had paid for my spot and he was going to honor that. Anyway, got back there - SOAKING DRIPPING WET because it was a huge storm that shut down a few of the last bands. I got hit with hailstones taking my merch stuff to the truck. So I get on and he's all 'oh are you here to get your stuff?' and im like 'fuck no i'm not, what the hell are you talking about you insane douchebag' - well, not in those words. And basically he'd decided or established that we were all to leave the bus that day - despite paying. I just looked at him and was like 'whatever, no. i do not want to deal with this shit.' I saw Farewell's RV just pulling out and I jumped off the bus and RAN, almost got hit by a truck, slammed on their passenger window and was like 'he's kicked me off. please, tonight, please?' and they're all just like 'get the fuck in right now.' cause they know the progess of the entire Steve deal. I bolted back, - grabbed my pillow, laptop, and an armful of clothes and he's all 'what about your bags?' I just look at him and look outside and pretty much tell him he's a ridiculous idiot and it's a storm, my friends are holding up other buses in order to help me, and I'll get my bags off when he gives me the money back. (the agreement in the meeting was that he'd give back the remainder pro-rata if we decided to get another bus spot instead of staying on his) - so Farewell saved me, wouldn't take any money for gas so I bought them a new cooler, and after the shock and storm had worn off, I had an okay night. Next day I went straight to production, told Lisa and Kevin and they were beyond unhappy about it - they agreed with me that NOTHING had been established about leaving the bus that day and were as shocked as I were. I seriously doubt Steve will be asked back to do Warped again if he keeps pulling Steves.
- There was an excellent party after the Dallas show at a place called the Doublewide. There was much Jager bought for people by certain guys who used to be in a band called Something Corporate and much ridiculous affection from guys who used to be in a band called Remember Maine. Those fan boundaries I keep stating that I worry about crossing - kind of being dragged over them by the ones in question. Not going to lie, it's pretty fucking awesome, but I'm so happy just being here and my girls... V and Mara.. and my Farewell guys are pretty much all the party company I could want. Anything else is just a bonus but that night was filled with bonuses. Cuddly, cuddly bonuses.
- 4th July we were in Austin. Pink Spiders played one room at Emos, Andrew WK played the other and I was hopping back and forth all night.
- My band were in a van accident the other night, I woke up to a text saying 'can you go tell production we're in the ER and might be late.' They actually got there ok - albeit extremely woozy - played early, packed up early, sent them to the van to lie down, had WAFFLES ON A STICK for lunch - really, a waffle-sicle, Sundays on Warped, lunch is always a brunch meal - then they went to a hotel to rest and clean up and I did merch the rest of the day.
- a big one - I've heard the new TAI... album and fuck me, it was an incredibly awkward and wonderful experience being shut in their tiny back lounge listening to it on William's ipod, with running commentary from him and Jack. It makes me completely nervous thinking about it, like good and a bit sick, it's.. yeah. Don't ask me to be coherant on this. But I'm still in shock that they offered to play it for me, let alone the fact I've actually heard it and that I was the first fan they asked to listen to it - Adam and William both on separate occasions. They make me completely brain dead in the best possible way. I wanna hear it again SO bad... I have tiny bits stuck in my head and then forget them, you know? God. August 19th, people... I hope I can grab a copy from them on the last day of Warped so I have it to listen to on the plane.
I need to eat now, I am craving a mushroom pizza like nobody's business. GIVE ME.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
ghetto surgery.
salt lake city, utah.
i'm sitting in our booth right now, someone around here has a wireless connection. all i can see looking straight ahead is rolling green hills, which are alive with the sound of Broadway Calls.
there are a lot of full-on scenekids at this show.. also a lot of dust. it's a GREAT venue but the kids have kicked up a lot of dust from the grass and i'm in flipflops so i feel dirty. eh. that's what baby wipes are for, right.
earlier today S performed surgery on my foot with a box cutter, pocket knife scissors and a pair of tweezers while i sat on top of the cooler and screamed. here's the thing - i very rarely put on shoes when we stop at gas stations or whatever. you're lucky if i'm wearing a bra, also. so this morning i woke up in the super-8 and my foot was killing me, the whole ball of my foot and once i cleaned off the grime with baby wipes i found that the source of the intense pain was a tiny black dot embedded under my skin. i tried squeezing it out with fingers and tweezers but nothing and it hurt so damn bad. So I asked S to get it for me because I just can't hurt myself, my reflexes automatically stop one. So she cut into my foot with a box cutter - the thing was healed in - and eventually got it out - it was a 3mm thorn and the second she pulled it out, the pain was completely relieved. what is with that? then i shaved my legs sitting on the cooler also.
later on, V informed me that my panties were showing - my old faithful favorite shorts, old cotton plaid ones, hand me downs from my cousins, probably 15 years old - had worn out at the ass. so i had two massive rips. win. i am now wearing a pair of Treaty of Paris booty shorts that say SWEET DREAMS SUCKER courtesy of Mike when he came to visit me. I am so not into the idea of him leaving the tour tomorrow.
oh and we had this rad conversations with two dudes about growing up Mormon.
mmm, dust in my lungs. see you later.
i'm sitting in our booth right now, someone around here has a wireless connection. all i can see looking straight ahead is rolling green hills, which are alive with the sound of Broadway Calls.
there are a lot of full-on scenekids at this show.. also a lot of dust. it's a GREAT venue but the kids have kicked up a lot of dust from the grass and i'm in flipflops so i feel dirty. eh. that's what baby wipes are for, right.
earlier today S performed surgery on my foot with a box cutter, pocket knife scissors and a pair of tweezers while i sat on top of the cooler and screamed. here's the thing - i very rarely put on shoes when we stop at gas stations or whatever. you're lucky if i'm wearing a bra, also. so this morning i woke up in the super-8 and my foot was killing me, the whole ball of my foot and once i cleaned off the grime with baby wipes i found that the source of the intense pain was a tiny black dot embedded under my skin. i tried squeezing it out with fingers and tweezers but nothing and it hurt so damn bad. So I asked S to get it for me because I just can't hurt myself, my reflexes automatically stop one. So she cut into my foot with a box cutter - the thing was healed in - and eventually got it out - it was a 3mm thorn and the second she pulled it out, the pain was completely relieved. what is with that? then i shaved my legs sitting on the cooler also.
later on, V informed me that my panties were showing - my old faithful favorite shorts, old cotton plaid ones, hand me downs from my cousins, probably 15 years old - had worn out at the ass. so i had two massive rips. win. i am now wearing a pair of Treaty of Paris booty shorts that say SWEET DREAMS SUCKER courtesy of Mike when he came to visit me. I am so not into the idea of him leaving the tour tomorrow.
oh and we had this rad conversations with two dudes about growing up Mormon.
mmm, dust in my lungs. see you later.
all there is in utah is rocks it seems.
i am writing this from on top of a washing machine in a super-8 in Salt Lake City. Just driven from New Mexico. For 16 hours, all I saw was rocks. No joke. 16 hours of this:
it reminded me of the scenery in the cartoon film Cars.
anyway last night was the first HUGE tour bbq. mad fun. the aggrolites plugged in and played a bunch of awesome reggae and ska covers, people got up and sung with them... some fools were playing football with a water bottle they'd filled with dry ice, and when it finally exploded in their faces they all cheered... danny stevens (audition) tried to salsa with this girl and just couldn't get it together, so kevin lyman cut in and totally tore it up and danny was cracking up and telling him off for making him look bad... and my dear mike and i discussed pie.
it reminded me of the scenery in the cartoon film Cars.
anyway last night was the first HUGE tour bbq. mad fun. the aggrolites plugged in and played a bunch of awesome reggae and ska covers, people got up and sung with them... some fools were playing football with a water bottle they'd filled with dry ice, and when it finally exploded in their faces they all cheered... danny stevens (audition) tried to salsa with this girl and just couldn't get it together, so kevin lyman cut in and totally tore it up and danny was cracking up and telling him off for making him look bad... and my dear mike and i discussed pie.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
punishers.
First video blog of the tour - I spent last night with the Farewell dudes having a nice civilized sit-out.. we didn't even get told off by the very present police patrol for drinking in public, that's how rowdy we were not. So I grabbed a mini interview with Marshall mid conversation.
eta: oh lol. on the way to the net-cafe bus to post this, I totally almost broke the above dude's nose with the door when he was trying to get onto our bus.
Still in Phoenix. It is HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT. Hotter than I've ever been probably. Everyone says this is the worst day of the tour.
eta: oh lol. on the way to the net-cafe bus to post this, I totally almost broke the above dude's nose with the door when he was trying to get onto our bus.
Still in Phoenix. It is HOT, HOT, HOT, HOT. Hotter than I've ever been probably. Everyone says this is the worst day of the tour.
who the fuck puts pepper on fries?
this is fucking long, apologies. a lot to say, no internet connection to update frequently with.
this blog was started 21st June: So I'm writing this on a highway somewhere in California and I'll post it when I get somewhere with internet access. We are meant to be in San Fransisco right now and we are most definitley NOT. One day in and we've already missed a show. There are a few people I'd like to punch right now, most predominantly our bus driver who is falling apart. More on that later. The others are playing a game called Apples to Apples but a couple of rounds in, I dropped out because they were not playing logically. For those who don't know, it's a game where you're dealt red cards with phrases, nouns, on them, and then another descriptive green card is dealt and everyone puts down one of their cards that they think most relates to the word, the winner of the previous round makes the judgment. And they weren't being logical about who won - I don't care about winning or losing, I am NOT competitive at all, but someone picked Mr Spock over Vladimir Lenin for the term 'successful' and someone else picked as the winner for effervescent 'corn dog' cause he thought it was funny. I just can't do that, call me stiff but it's not LOGICAL and I can't fucking stand it, so I dropped out of the game before I started getting angry. They all think I am fucking weird because of this but whatever.
So why are we not in San Fran, working? Well.
Last time I left you. I was waiting in the hotel for everyone to arrive. They did, a couple of hours later. I went down to the venue and met up with everyone. Beside the girl (V) and dude (D) that I've talked about, the Boss took on another girl, S, and also on our bus are two guys, Pablo and Josh, who are selling a clothing line, and also Mara, who is doing merch for Charlotte Sometimes AND... Clandestine. (flail, I know.) She's the one you have to report to for the FOE-to hunt that people are talking about. It's her first tour as well and she's awesome.
On the first night, our bus was parked 3 along from Cobra and therefore 4 along from TAI... so that was kind of weird and fun as I got to say hey to a lot of folks hanging outside their buses under their tents. There was a good vibe that first night, everyone putting up their tents and hanging out. Walked straight into Ryland's super tall chest right outside my bus and we were wearing the same damn plaid Urban Outfitters shirt in different shades, so that was a bit lol. And allegedly Alex can skateboard, which I never would have believed had I not seen in myself. So many people have bikes and boards and I wish there was room and money for me to have a bike - just a one speed cruiser like the ones I was riding at the beach in LA. I love them. I also made a bit of a dick of myself re: my camera.. for the last week the flash had not been working at all when the light was low. Even when it was on automatic, you could hold down the button and it just didn't take, it tried and blinked and nothing. I spent $40 on a cab to a repair shop in LA and they couldn't even look at it on the spot, their technician had gone home. So when I saw Jack TCG, (some of you already know what I think about Jack) I just thought 'oh fuck it, whatever, I'll ask him, what else am I gonna do?' and the second I put it in his hands and he tried it, IT WORKED AGAIN. And I'm just like '.... yeah, it was fucked for a week, how did you do that?' and he's all 'lol, show me when its broken again.' Facepalm.
So after we pack up the bus, cause the stuff was all over the parking lot D, V and I went back up to the hotel to shower, order food and sleep til 6am. We got pizza and met this dude in the lobby, Chris Brooklyn. He's done 6 years of Warped, he's a stage manager this year and, get this, he was the creator of Punk Rock Holocaust. If you've seen it, he shot and directed all of the daytime footage and was the one that got all the bands signed up. He bought us ice-cream sandwiches and hung in our hotel room for a few hours and told some mad stories and gave some mad advice about dealing with production - he thinks that I need to tell production the deal I've got with the Boss, and they will 'adjust' it because he thinks I'm getting screwed and that they have re-assigned crew to other people for much less shitty treatment. The production office are great at taking care of the crew, apparently. I kind of think I am being screwed, because of the terrible organization and naivety of the Boss, and also cause he's stingy bastard. Basically if he is charging me for a bus spot, he's obligated to pay me, and if I am to work for free, he should refund my bus money. He originally tried to make me pay over $1000 for catering, and I said flat out that I couldn't do that, and we've ALL ended up with catering anyway and I don't think that it was something that Boss is going to be charged with.. So it seems that money would have just gone into his pocket. Anyway, Brooklyn reckons it has to go one way or the other - get paid or get my bus money back - and if the Boss says no, I won't, Production will say, 'well, we have these jobs open, would you like to do one of those, N?' S is in the same boat and we're trying to work out how to approach it.
Anyway. After 4 hours sleeps, I woke up, completely awake in the mind, and we head down to start setting up. We were actually a little too early... I kind of imagined that we had to be all pitched by around 8, and it's really more like 10am, so I snagged some fruit from catering even though I didn't have my proper pass yet. The venue was in the middle of a race track and so we had to cross a big, soft dirt road, which is fun to wheel things through with only a broken, upright dolly - by the time the kids came in, it was covered with a nice board and plastic cover. Setting up was easier than I expected.. despite me having to create a table out of two garbage boxes that I found and a spare wire rack, covered with my bedsheet. I now have new sheets. The day went kind of fast. V kept saying 'oh, I have to go back, I don't feel like I've been sat in the booth long enough' cause it genuinely felt like not much time between breaks. It felt like I spent more time in the catering line than I did on the booth.il
points of the day:
+ the booth actually looking decent despite us not having ANYTHING like the kind of preparation a lot of the other stands had (not our fault, the Boss didn't know what was actually needed and we had no time to make him get it before the tour.)
- only selling two shirts the whole day, despite a lot of interest in the boards
+ seeing TAI... and Cobra side of stage
- the sound being AWFUL - was told later by about 4 different members of The Academy Of Cobra Starship Is... A Fucking Animal With Its Fangs Up about how shitty it was and how in-ears failed and no one had any levels correct. They were all so salty.
+ new TAI songs - well, Carden's guitar parts sounded good, that's about all I could hear
+ Alex playing keyboards, why did no one tell me about this in advance? waaahh, radness in solid form.
+ walking back from Cobra and totally having forgotten the Audiz were playing on this tour until I heard Don't Be So Hard and running over and seeing them playing out of the back of a truck.
- seeing fucking Jeffree Star EVERYWHERE I turned
+ seeing Mike from Treaty everywhere - I hung out with him randomly in Chicago and NYC this month and now he's here til Denver.
+ Boss's friend, Magic Mike, taking pity on the situation and trying to help us out and buy us things and make the Boss get organized.
+ lots of excited hellos, hugs and high fives from people who I was slightly worried would question me being there. I'm a huge fan of a few bands on this tour - I think everyone here, all 600, is a fan of at least one other band unless they're a jaded asshole - but a couple of these bands, they know me from shows, as a full on, line-up-for-shows, get-a-setlist-signed FAN. For the record, I started trying to work Warped 08, looking at sponsors and non-profits, before the lineup was even announced. They're not why I'm here. I just have to make that clear, because I will probably talk about them a lot here, but I was worried that they/others would be all 'um, are you just here to follow us around?. Anyway. They don't seem to think that. Ace.
+ meeting Travis McCoy and finally getting to say how proud I am of him for his recent treatment. Cause seriously. Go read his blog.
+ Fucking fruit sorbets at catering - SERVED IN THE FRUIT AS A BOWL. Pineapple inside half a pineapple. Orange inside a scooped out orange. ETC. What the hell.
- hands feeling and being constantly dirtier than ever before
- being salty with sweat
+ not actually giving a shit or feeling like I was gross
-/+ catering lines - fucking long and tedious but you talk to everyone so much.
-/+ Chris Crocker being in catering. I actually thought 'fuck, that girl looks like Chris Crocker.' but it was actually him.
Basically. The day finishes, Magic Mike makes a list of all the gear we need (crates, a 4-wheel dolly, tables, pens, cashbox, tape, erasable board, everything) and makes a plan to get us to Walmart or Home Depot. We walk around a bit, and finally end up back on our shag-wagon. I lie down and try go to sleep and pretty soon I realise we're not going anywhere. Bus call was 10pm. It was a 9 hour drive to San Francisco. AND THE FUCKING, FUCKING BUS WAS OUT OF GAS. Here's where the rage starts. WE HAD BEEN THERE FOR OVER 24 HOURS AND THE DRIVER KNEW WE WERE OUT OF GAS AND DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ANYONE. HE ALSO SLEPT ALL DAY WITH THE AIR CON ON WHICH ATE THE LAST FEW DROPS SO WE COULD NOT EVEN GET TO A GAS STATION. Magic Mike drove to get some in a can, came back, but because the bus had been empty so long, everything was DEAD. I don't drive but I think they had to change filters and all this stuff, and then the battery died? I'm not exactly sure of the technical difficulties but basically at about 1am I accepted that we were not going to the next show and fell asleep inside the sauna of a bus. Woke up and went to take a shower, and there was a mechanic just finishing up. The bus driver, who is this old, falling apart guy with a weird-ass Southern accent. (seen TAITV? 'Beelll!! Git yur dawwggg!!' - like that but worse) and I think he may be blind or mentally retarded. He called S out of bed the other day cause he couldnt plug his phone charger into his phone. Anyway as I was going back on, he was like 'we maght hev to stay heer til toosday' and 5 minutes later the mechanic actually fixes the bus. Boss then asks if I could put it on my credit card and he'll pay me back later and let me just say the answer to that is HELL NO. I've been told by someone else that he doesn't even have a bank account, let alone a card of his own. Anyway I just said I didn't have enough on my card, which is true, but still.
So. So. The bus works. We roll out of there and about 5 minutes down the highway, it stops again. Purely from overheating. As I said, this thing was not meant to tour, and yeah, it just stopped. It started again and we rolled into this parking lot by a Target and Chilis where Boss made the decision to call and get his old bus brought and use that until we get the repaired Prevost next week. So we all just fuck off to get lunch and shop at Target. When I get in a bad mood or stressed I tend to be a bitch to service people, and at lunch they brought my food and I was like 'uh, is there pepper on these fries?' they say yes, and I thrust them back at him and just say 'no. can't eat that. get me fresh ones.' and as he walks off I'm just like 'who the fuck puts pepper on fries?' I still agree with that sentiment - like, sure you can put pepper if you want, but who serves fries already with pepper on them? Why would you do that? The other bus arrives and we transfer all the gear, which took a while and it was FUCKING hot. Finally we leave in the new bus - an old, gutted coach with a few sets of seats, two fold out couches and a mattress. Pretty ghetto but a lot more space. We drive straight on to Ventura, CA and arrive at about sunset. Park in the outside lot of the venue where Magic Mike is waiting for us - his son lives right across on the beach so we go to his house, swim in the pool, do laundry, and go out and get the most fantastic pizza in existance. In the boot of his car, it was like... merch girl Christmas. Tables, crates, dollies, signs, pens, it was insane. S almost started to cry in gratitude - it was what we KNEW we needed but what Boss had not organized at all.
Written right now: Ventura show the next day was completely amazing. Sold a lot, the band sets I saw were incredible... fucking KATY PERRY, this girl rocks my world right now. Oreska Band - Japanese ska band, all girls, also fucking amazing... I saw my Bel who is over here visiting and we watched The Academy together... I shot Cobra from the photo pit and then went into the crowd - they brought out water guns and Alex spotted me at one point, I flipped him off and he shot me straight in the face. Oh lol. I met Joe Trohman from Fall Out Boy, he was there watching the TAI set and we talked when we were kicked off the side of stage during the last song. Also got another boost of confidence re: them not minding me being a huge fangirl - waved hi at Adam as I was running off after their set to break down my tent, I was all 'see you later that was awesome i have to go yeah' and he's like 'of course, come talk any time!!!' so yes. Discussed the new album and the Aussie PATD tour with Michael before their set, which is just exciting, and all in all it was a very good day, re: the job, re: the bands and re: hanging out with Bel. After the show bus call was 1am so there were a lot of gatherings in the parking lot and Bel came found my bus and we snuggled, chatted and snuggled with a few others including a very drunk and sweet Gabriel - call me a complete fangirl but I love the way he calls people 'girl' and 'baby' in a totally non-sleazy way. Guy's got charisma oozing out his ears, he was born to be famous. I'm not even starstruck by him, there's just something about him that people pay attention to.
Anyway, I'm in Phoenix now. We had two off days which could have been more enjoyable than they were, but whatever. It is so hot here that I think I am going to die. I'm in the net centre that GuitarLab has provided for us, on a break... mmm, air conditioning. Last night we parked in the driveway of the venue cause we couldnt get in til 6am, and had a sit-out with Farewell and Tat. Fucking best and funniest conversation I have had in a long time, with Marshall and Will from Farewell, about 'punishers.' I'm not even going to try explain it here, but oh man. Will knew Awkward Turtle as well and so we loled, and Tat's merch girl put pink dye in a bunch of people's hair.
First video interview soon, a short one with Marshall from last night. Also will post some pics ASAP. Let me see what I got for you right now...
this blog was started 21st June: So I'm writing this on a highway somewhere in California and I'll post it when I get somewhere with internet access. We are meant to be in San Fransisco right now and we are most definitley NOT. One day in and we've already missed a show. There are a few people I'd like to punch right now, most predominantly our bus driver who is falling apart. More on that later. The others are playing a game called Apples to Apples but a couple of rounds in, I dropped out because they were not playing logically. For those who don't know, it's a game where you're dealt red cards with phrases, nouns, on them, and then another descriptive green card is dealt and everyone puts down one of their cards that they think most relates to the word, the winner of the previous round makes the judgment. And they weren't being logical about who won - I don't care about winning or losing, I am NOT competitive at all, but someone picked Mr Spock over Vladimir Lenin for the term 'successful' and someone else picked as the winner for effervescent 'corn dog' cause he thought it was funny. I just can't do that, call me stiff but it's not LOGICAL and I can't fucking stand it, so I dropped out of the game before I started getting angry. They all think I am fucking weird because of this but whatever.
So why are we not in San Fran, working? Well.
Last time I left you. I was waiting in the hotel for everyone to arrive. They did, a couple of hours later. I went down to the venue and met up with everyone. Beside the girl (V) and dude (D) that I've talked about, the Boss took on another girl, S, and also on our bus are two guys, Pablo and Josh, who are selling a clothing line, and also Mara, who is doing merch for Charlotte Sometimes AND... Clandestine. (flail, I know.) She's the one you have to report to for the FOE-to hunt that people are talking about. It's her first tour as well and she's awesome.
On the first night, our bus was parked 3 along from Cobra and therefore 4 along from TAI... so that was kind of weird and fun as I got to say hey to a lot of folks hanging outside their buses under their tents. There was a good vibe that first night, everyone putting up their tents and hanging out. Walked straight into Ryland's super tall chest right outside my bus and we were wearing the same damn plaid Urban Outfitters shirt in different shades, so that was a bit lol. And allegedly Alex can skateboard, which I never would have believed had I not seen in myself. So many people have bikes and boards and I wish there was room and money for me to have a bike - just a one speed cruiser like the ones I was riding at the beach in LA. I love them. I also made a bit of a dick of myself re: my camera.. for the last week the flash had not been working at all when the light was low. Even when it was on automatic, you could hold down the button and it just didn't take, it tried and blinked and nothing. I spent $40 on a cab to a repair shop in LA and they couldn't even look at it on the spot, their technician had gone home. So when I saw Jack TCG, (some of you already know what I think about Jack) I just thought 'oh fuck it, whatever, I'll ask him, what else am I gonna do?' and the second I put it in his hands and he tried it, IT WORKED AGAIN. And I'm just like '.... yeah, it was fucked for a week, how did you do that?' and he's all 'lol, show me when its broken again.' Facepalm.
So after we pack up the bus, cause the stuff was all over the parking lot D, V and I went back up to the hotel to shower, order food and sleep til 6am. We got pizza and met this dude in the lobby, Chris Brooklyn. He's done 6 years of Warped, he's a stage manager this year and, get this, he was the creator of Punk Rock Holocaust. If you've seen it, he shot and directed all of the daytime footage and was the one that got all the bands signed up. He bought us ice-cream sandwiches and hung in our hotel room for a few hours and told some mad stories and gave some mad advice about dealing with production - he thinks that I need to tell production the deal I've got with the Boss, and they will 'adjust' it because he thinks I'm getting screwed and that they have re-assigned crew to other people for much less shitty treatment. The production office are great at taking care of the crew, apparently. I kind of think I am being screwed, because of the terrible organization and naivety of the Boss, and also cause he's stingy bastard. Basically if he is charging me for a bus spot, he's obligated to pay me, and if I am to work for free, he should refund my bus money. He originally tried to make me pay over $1000 for catering, and I said flat out that I couldn't do that, and we've ALL ended up with catering anyway and I don't think that it was something that Boss is going to be charged with.. So it seems that money would have just gone into his pocket. Anyway, Brooklyn reckons it has to go one way or the other - get paid or get my bus money back - and if the Boss says no, I won't, Production will say, 'well, we have these jobs open, would you like to do one of those, N?' S is in the same boat and we're trying to work out how to approach it.
Anyway. After 4 hours sleeps, I woke up, completely awake in the mind, and we head down to start setting up. We were actually a little too early... I kind of imagined that we had to be all pitched by around 8, and it's really more like 10am, so I snagged some fruit from catering even though I didn't have my proper pass yet. The venue was in the middle of a race track and so we had to cross a big, soft dirt road, which is fun to wheel things through with only a broken, upright dolly - by the time the kids came in, it was covered with a nice board and plastic cover. Setting up was easier than I expected.. despite me having to create a table out of two garbage boxes that I found and a spare wire rack, covered with my bedsheet. I now have new sheets. The day went kind of fast. V kept saying 'oh, I have to go back, I don't feel like I've been sat in the booth long enough' cause it genuinely felt like not much time between breaks. It felt like I spent more time in the catering line than I did on the booth.il
points of the day:
+ the booth actually looking decent despite us not having ANYTHING like the kind of preparation a lot of the other stands had (not our fault, the Boss didn't know what was actually needed and we had no time to make him get it before the tour.)
- only selling two shirts the whole day, despite a lot of interest in the boards
+ seeing TAI... and Cobra side of stage
- the sound being AWFUL - was told later by about 4 different members of The Academy Of Cobra Starship Is... A Fucking Animal With Its Fangs Up about how shitty it was and how in-ears failed and no one had any levels correct. They were all so salty.
+ new TAI songs - well, Carden's guitar parts sounded good, that's about all I could hear
+ Alex playing keyboards, why did no one tell me about this in advance? waaahh, radness in solid form.
+ walking back from Cobra and totally having forgotten the Audiz were playing on this tour until I heard Don't Be So Hard and running over and seeing them playing out of the back of a truck.
- seeing fucking Jeffree Star EVERYWHERE I turned
+ seeing Mike from Treaty everywhere - I hung out with him randomly in Chicago and NYC this month and now he's here til Denver.
+ Boss's friend, Magic Mike, taking pity on the situation and trying to help us out and buy us things and make the Boss get organized.
+ lots of excited hellos, hugs and high fives from people who I was slightly worried would question me being there. I'm a huge fan of a few bands on this tour - I think everyone here, all 600, is a fan of at least one other band unless they're a jaded asshole - but a couple of these bands, they know me from shows, as a full on, line-up-for-shows, get-a-setlist-signed FAN. For the record, I started trying to work Warped 08, looking at sponsors and non-profits, before the lineup was even announced. They're not why I'm here. I just have to make that clear, because I will probably talk about them a lot here, but I was worried that they/others would be all 'um, are you just here to follow us around?. Anyway. They don't seem to think that. Ace.
+ meeting Travis McCoy and finally getting to say how proud I am of him for his recent treatment. Cause seriously. Go read his blog.
+ Fucking fruit sorbets at catering - SERVED IN THE FRUIT AS A BOWL. Pineapple inside half a pineapple. Orange inside a scooped out orange. ETC. What the hell.
- hands feeling and being constantly dirtier than ever before
- being salty with sweat
+ not actually giving a shit or feeling like I was gross
-/+ catering lines - fucking long and tedious but you talk to everyone so much.
-/+ Chris Crocker being in catering. I actually thought 'fuck, that girl looks like Chris Crocker.' but it was actually him.
Basically. The day finishes, Magic Mike makes a list of all the gear we need (crates, a 4-wheel dolly, tables, pens, cashbox, tape, erasable board, everything) and makes a plan to get us to Walmart or Home Depot. We walk around a bit, and finally end up back on our shag-wagon. I lie down and try go to sleep and pretty soon I realise we're not going anywhere. Bus call was 10pm. It was a 9 hour drive to San Francisco. AND THE FUCKING, FUCKING BUS WAS OUT OF GAS. Here's where the rage starts. WE HAD BEEN THERE FOR OVER 24 HOURS AND THE DRIVER KNEW WE WERE OUT OF GAS AND DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ANYONE. HE ALSO SLEPT ALL DAY WITH THE AIR CON ON WHICH ATE THE LAST FEW DROPS SO WE COULD NOT EVEN GET TO A GAS STATION. Magic Mike drove to get some in a can, came back, but because the bus had been empty so long, everything was DEAD. I don't drive but I think they had to change filters and all this stuff, and then the battery died? I'm not exactly sure of the technical difficulties but basically at about 1am I accepted that we were not going to the next show and fell asleep inside the sauna of a bus. Woke up and went to take a shower, and there was a mechanic just finishing up. The bus driver, who is this old, falling apart guy with a weird-ass Southern accent. (seen TAITV? 'Beelll!! Git yur dawwggg!!' - like that but worse) and I think he may be blind or mentally retarded. He called S out of bed the other day cause he couldnt plug his phone charger into his phone. Anyway as I was going back on, he was like 'we maght hev to stay heer til toosday' and 5 minutes later the mechanic actually fixes the bus. Boss then asks if I could put it on my credit card and he'll pay me back later and let me just say the answer to that is HELL NO. I've been told by someone else that he doesn't even have a bank account, let alone a card of his own. Anyway I just said I didn't have enough on my card, which is true, but still.
So. So. The bus works. We roll out of there and about 5 minutes down the highway, it stops again. Purely from overheating. As I said, this thing was not meant to tour, and yeah, it just stopped. It started again and we rolled into this parking lot by a Target and Chilis where Boss made the decision to call and get his old bus brought and use that until we get the repaired Prevost next week. So we all just fuck off to get lunch and shop at Target. When I get in a bad mood or stressed I tend to be a bitch to service people, and at lunch they brought my food and I was like 'uh, is there pepper on these fries?' they say yes, and I thrust them back at him and just say 'no. can't eat that. get me fresh ones.' and as he walks off I'm just like 'who the fuck puts pepper on fries?' I still agree with that sentiment - like, sure you can put pepper if you want, but who serves fries already with pepper on them? Why would you do that? The other bus arrives and we transfer all the gear, which took a while and it was FUCKING hot. Finally we leave in the new bus - an old, gutted coach with a few sets of seats, two fold out couches and a mattress. Pretty ghetto but a lot more space. We drive straight on to Ventura, CA and arrive at about sunset. Park in the outside lot of the venue where Magic Mike is waiting for us - his son lives right across on the beach so we go to his house, swim in the pool, do laundry, and go out and get the most fantastic pizza in existance. In the boot of his car, it was like... merch girl Christmas. Tables, crates, dollies, signs, pens, it was insane. S almost started to cry in gratitude - it was what we KNEW we needed but what Boss had not organized at all.
Written right now: Ventura show the next day was completely amazing. Sold a lot, the band sets I saw were incredible... fucking KATY PERRY, this girl rocks my world right now. Oreska Band - Japanese ska band, all girls, also fucking amazing... I saw my Bel who is over here visiting and we watched The Academy together... I shot Cobra from the photo pit and then went into the crowd - they brought out water guns and Alex spotted me at one point, I flipped him off and he shot me straight in the face. Oh lol. I met Joe Trohman from Fall Out Boy, he was there watching the TAI set and we talked when we were kicked off the side of stage during the last song. Also got another boost of confidence re: them not minding me being a huge fangirl - waved hi at Adam as I was running off after their set to break down my tent, I was all 'see you later that was awesome i have to go yeah' and he's like 'of course, come talk any time!!!' so yes. Discussed the new album and the Aussie PATD tour with Michael before their set, which is just exciting, and all in all it was a very good day, re: the job, re: the bands and re: hanging out with Bel. After the show bus call was 1am so there were a lot of gatherings in the parking lot and Bel came found my bus and we snuggled, chatted and snuggled with a few others including a very drunk and sweet Gabriel - call me a complete fangirl but I love the way he calls people 'girl' and 'baby' in a totally non-sleazy way. Guy's got charisma oozing out his ears, he was born to be famous. I'm not even starstruck by him, there's just something about him that people pay attention to.
Anyway, I'm in Phoenix now. We had two off days which could have been more enjoyable than they were, but whatever. It is so hot here that I think I am going to die. I'm in the net centre that GuitarLab has provided for us, on a break... mmm, air conditioning. Last night we parked in the driveway of the venue cause we couldnt get in til 6am, and had a sit-out with Farewell and Tat. Fucking best and funniest conversation I have had in a long time, with Marshall and Will from Farewell, about 'punishers.' I'm not even going to try explain it here, but oh man. Will knew Awkward Turtle as well and so we loled, and Tat's merch girl put pink dye in a bunch of people's hair.
First video interview soon, a short one with Marshall from last night. Also will post some pics ASAP. Let me see what I got for you right now...
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