New Found Glory

Tour started a few weeks ago.
Set Your Goals came and went,it was great seeing them every night as always.
I turned 21 in Orlando. there were so many baked treats for me. all the homies came out to the south florida shows.
in baltimore, i got a root beer keg as a belated bday gift. best present ever.
somewhere between there and here we played some shows. it's been awesome so far.

Atlantic City is terrible

Sept 14, 2007

wow, i've really let this thing go.
totally skipped out on Warped Tour updates. it was a rather hectic tour and updating this thing wasn't on my list of priorities.
back out on club tours with a band called Within Temptation.

starting Oct 2, I leave with New Found Glory for their full US headliner with Senses Fail.

so far on this tour:

Boston - met up with Ian, went to Grasshopper and got some delicious vegan food.

NYC - went to Red Bamboo with Xin. ran into Keith.
went to Red Bamboo again and hung out with the usual NY crew till it was time to go.

MD - ran into fubu, across the street was Ruiner, Lion of Judah, War Hungry and Pulling Teeth. needless to say, i walked across the street to catch some of Ruiner's set. fubu is also banned for life from the recher theatre. fun fact.
the runner at the venue was awesome and took me to wawa. i pigged out.

Philly - walked up and down South Street. got some Gianna's.

Toronto - has been the best day of the tour so far. Jason came out and we went to eat and walk around downtown. Rob s4c came out later on and it was soon a gathering of my favorite canadians ever.
i got some cream soda and it just made my day.

Cleveland - our bus broke down in the morning so we took a van to the venue and out off fay plans were changed. House of Blues show aka: awesome catering.
fun fact: the loader at the venue is in Integrity.
At some point Mike AP came out to the show and hung out for a bit. I spent the off day with the Dear & Departed. Our off day was in Cleveland so we stopped by the AP office and hung out there for a while. got a bunch of back stock issues of AP, it was pretty cool. tried to go to the rock and roll hall of fame but it was closed.

more updates later


RIP DREX

Pre Game

Warped Tour is no joke.
after we got our laminates, i proceeded to pick out my free pair of vans and scope out the drop ship situation. what a mess. everyone had their merch shipped and dropped off. we had 37 boxes of merch. after we retrieved all our boxes, i started organizing everything for tomorrow. i was able to finish at right around 2am with everything looking the way i'd like it to look, but i doubt it'll stay that way. hopefully everything goes off well.

everyone we've met so far has been really awesome, except one guy. who talked about his band and himself more in 5 minutes than i've heard anyone speak of themselves in a year.

i'm about to pass out, another long day tomorrow.

pre-Warped Tour

I'm flying into LA later today. This will be my first time working Warped Tour and i've heard nothing but lovely things about the tour...
Orientation is on the 28th and the tour starts the 29th in Pomona, CA.
Seeing as how this is going to be a lot of work, we're going to trade in being comfortable in the van for extra working hands in the form of some good friends.
coming with us are:

Craig Monahan - agreed to do the tour managing duties. Craig is a seasoned veteran when it comes to the almighty Vans Warped Tour. He's been around the block with Over It and knows some people here and there. we picked him up via the Snacksidents Happen tour and we'll probably be playing catch every now and again, keep the arm loose.

Justin - he filled for Fireworks on the Snacksidents Happen tour. at some point on that tour he was asked if he'd be up for driving on warped tour. he will be sleeping most of the day and only coming out at night to rage.

Baloni - Baloni 4 Eva. Filling in the final spot is none other than Baloni, American Straight Edge. He agreed to come with us and sit shotgun. Apparently, that's his only job. He may or may not be helping me out with merch, promoting SYG, and taking pictures of us in our underwear sweating profusely.

should be a fun 2 weeks.

06/29 Pomona Fairgrounds Pomona, CA
06/30 Seaside Park Ventura, CA
07/01 Shoreline Amphitheatre Mountain View, CA
07/03 Thunderbird Stadium at UBC Vancouver, BC
07/05 Race City Speedway Calgary, AB
07/07 Utah State Fairpark Salt Lake City, UT
07/08 Invesco Field at Mile High Denver, CO
07/11 Cricket Pavilion Phoenix, AZ
07/12 NMSU Practice Field Las Cruces, NM
07/13 Amphitheater Lot San Antonio, TX
07/14 Smirnoff Centre Dallas, TX
07/15 Reliant Center Houston, TX

Denver, CO

tour has been over for almost 2 weeks now, but i never got around to updating.

we get to the venue and this band High 5 comes in, they are the opening act.
bass player starts talking to me and somehow brings up the fact that they cover Until the End - Theres Nothing Between Us.... (riiiiiiiiiiiight)
anyway, he also tells me that earlier in the day they had gotten killed by Maris the Great ( www.maristhegreat.com). i had no idea what he was talking about, but i was about to find out.
Maris is a gay vampire who "kills" bands. apparently he is never out of character and does a really good job being a total rager. closer to door time, he shows up to the show. needless to say, we were all looking at each other wondering if this was really happening. we asked him if he wanted to join us for our last conference of the tour in the men's room, he agreed. everyone made their way over and packed into the bathroom and upon his entrance, we all started to mosh. we were moshing furiously and circle pitting for a couple of minuted until he says "that wouldve been much cooler if you were in your underwear" (apparently thinking we wouldnt do it) so we dropped our pants and continued. eventually, Fireworks got in there and did some Malkavian business and he just got so creeped out he walked outside..
we followed and started a group chant of Godsmack's hit "Voodoo".
the show started and ended..
here is the Snacksidents Happen Tour..



after the show we headed over to the gothic theatre and hung out with MXPX. they were in town and invited us over for a post show bbq. kicked it over there for a bit and said our goodbyes. it was a great tour to be on for almost a month.

after the show, we drove straight to Walnut Creek and i came home for a 2 week break before Warped Tour.

We're going to have an interesting cast of characters with us for Warped Tour.
i'll update that once i'm out there.

Nebraska

is a pile.
nobody showed up to the show, but it was still one of the more fun shows on tour.
we went to eat at some extreme jesus freak america rules diner. pretty ridiculous.
drove overnight to denver.
at some point we decided we were bored at 5 am and pulled over at an isolated exit off the highway and lit off some fireworks. this didn't sit to well with one guy who got into his truck, backed out off his house and got to where we were in about 5 seconds.
Fireworks (the band) was behind trying to figure out who was driving next and actually had to feel this angry man's wrath. we watched from the side of the highway.
apparently, this guy was so mad, he followed us all the way up to the next exit? que?

we found some legit hotel for real cheap and it's making this 10000000 degree weather on Denver more bearable.
tonight is the last night of the tour.
i fly home the 13th and will be home until the 26th.

i shaved today

we got into Nebraska at around noon.
i slept the entire way from st.louis to nebraska. except when we were changing drivers and nobody wanted to get up so dave started honking the horn. apparently some truckkers got mad and started honking back. dave 'tude.

china joe is setting up a bbq in a bit for us. it's going to be a rager.
2 shows left on this tour. bummed.

tomorrow, Denver.

St.Louis, MO

last night, we went to some hotel and went swimming.
it was pretty out of control.
we lit off what looked like a mile of firecrackers and we sped out of the parking lot.
i drove the entire way to st.louis. i love this city.
bought some intimidator sandals today. #3 DALE. hopefully this will alleviate the foot odor problem. whatever, i dont wear socks sometimes, matt is a baby and cries about it all the time. oh waah

Covington, KY

the show was out of hand.
had general tso's tofu for the second night in a row and decided i can probably eat it everyday if i had to. so good.
after the show we ended up at taco bell. first time i've had TB on this entire tour. weird?
right now we are in Michigan. playing outside of Detroit tonight.

Albany, NY/Buffalo, NY

Albany was a pretty cool show. small venue.
went to Bombers and they were out of soy chicken and tofu =(
major bummer.
we headed to Syracuse after the show and stayed with a friend of Fireworks.
she lived in an old funeral home turned apartment. i think her apt was bigger than my house.
we headed to Buffalo and got there late.
Dead Hearts played which was cool. good seeing them again.
after the show we moshed in a Denny's parking lot and drove to Kentucky.
on the way, we stopped at a gas station where i saw "cinnamon" sun chips.
of course we all had to get them seeing as this is the Snacksidents Happen tour.
i slept all the way to Kentucky.

last night after the PA show we were told that there was a swim spot or something of that nature around and that we should go check it out. we headed out there and after a sketchy walk through some woods we got there. it ended up being the ledge leading to a waterfall. on one side was deep lake water and the other was a straight death drop.
went swimming for a bit then went to Sheetz. WAWA IS STILL KING.

after the show we drove but i slept most of the way.
Fireworks lost a lot of their drum hardware and merch due to their trailer not being locked correctly.

today we are in Albany, NY. what a hole.
hopefully we'll go to bombers tonight.

Kingston, PA

went to the mall today (did not get arrested this time) to get passport pictures taken for our warped tour laminates.

had Fireworks pick up a vegan cheese steak from Giannas and it was so good.
the show has a really weird vibe. average age: 13.
tomorrow is Albany and Bombers.

here are some other random pictures i had on my phone...

Bronx, NY/Wilmington, DE

the show in the bronx was a weird setup. it was on the back porch of a VFW hall in some overly italian guido neighborhood. shady business.
a decent amount of kids showed up and once again, had to catch kids landing on the non existant stage.
xin, mike, and beck hung out and it was good seeing them again.
after the show, we went to the city and walked to mamouns. had some $2 falafel. amazing every time.

drove to jersey and stayed with Kurt.

on the way to the delaware show we stopped at Wawa. quite possibly one of my new favorite places ever.

made to order subs placed through a computer. cheap and really good tea. place is so good. i wish there were some in Miami.
in the van, we have a wall of wawa stickers from the tea we buy.


the show was pretty good tonight. mr. anton rough came out to the show.
nothing too exciting other than this weirdo girl who was making everyone laughing really hard on stage doing some weirdo dances and attempting to sing along.
went to wawa for dinner (yes, twice in a day) and got into an altercation with 3 drunk girls who loved my shirt but hated everyone else. it was pretty hillarious.


tomorrow is PA.

Allston, MA

we woke up today and headed to Salem to have breakfast with Pike.
headed to the venue after which was a church hall. set up and george came out to the show.
tonight was by far the most insane show of the tour. the place was unbearably hot and awesome. after the set they did a blink 182, movielife, and saves the day cover. it was out of control.

tomorrow we head to the bronx

Millford, NH

"how about i hook you up with a choke slam?"
i slept most of the day again. seemed like a nice place.
Ian came out to the show and gave me the new neon hookers record.
a lot of kids showed up. i ended up doubling as some sort of security person keeping kids off the stage and messing everything up. it was ridiculously hot.
we went to dennys after the show. i ordered the slamburger with a boca patty and it was almost the best thing i've ever had.
we then proceeded to mosh in the parking lot and drive to boston.
tomorrow is Allston, MA.

Richmond, VA/Hackensack, NJ

the show at Alley Katz was great. so far the shows have been really good.
after the show we hit up Wawa. it was my first time at wawa and it was pretty much the best thing ever. got myself a veggie sub and some lemonade tea. we headed to DC to stay with Driving East and this morning headed over to Jersey.

i slept most of the way to Jersey so anything eventful that happened, i was not witness to it. we got to the venue and almost immediately mike and the other staten island people showed up. good seeing mike and beck again.

so far, a lot of truck stop and parking lot moshing.
playlist...a lot of Alpha Omega. why? who knows.

tomorrow is New Hampshire.

Augusta, GA (day off)

we stayed at some girls house last night. it was in the middle of the nowhere and it was a log cabin. it was all night raging and ridiculous. we left sometime this afternoon and went to the mall. as we walked in we stopped into a hot topic and proceeded to circle pit to Blink 182. it was the funniest thing i've seen in a long time.
on our way up the stairs we got free smoothies because the kids that worked there love SYG and gave us and fireworks free smoothies. after that, things didn't go so well. more on that later.

tomorrow is Alley Katz in Richmond, VA.

Columbia, SC / Augusta, GA

the SC show was the first really good show of this tour. a lot of kids showed up at this small venue and it was a good time.
we stayed at a hotel and just surrender's tour manager ended up in our room and he snores louder than anything ive ever heard.
jordan, matt, and i went on a late night adventure in SC. there is just nothing to do there. not so cool.

went to Augusta this morning and went fireworks shopping.
then we headed to the venue. Fireworks actually met up with us today. such a good show and they are out of their minds. this tour is going to be a lot of fun from now on.
todays show was actually really good also. hopefully more good shows to come.
tomorrow is another day off and then Richmond, VA on Sunday.

New Orleans

New Orleans was an alright show considering it was promoted for a week.
once again, funny looking kids doing funny looking dances.
after the show we headed down to Bourbon St. and it's still probably my least favorite place on this earth.
at the hotel, mikey decided it would be a good idea to wake joe up with his balls in hand and that didn't go over so well. there is a video and it's pretty much the best thing ever captured on camera.
we had a day off the next day and ended up going to see the Deftones at the House of Blues.

the drive to South Carolina was a long one, but possibly one of the most weird and hillarious journeys ever embarked on. see, we exist in the 3rd dimmension according to Dave and when you tap into anything after 3, things start getting warped in this vortex of time and you exist in a completely alternate universe.
last night, we were pushing the 6th dimmension.
at some point in Alabama, we experienced some (well, a lot of) southern pride. i've never seen so many confederate flags in one place in my entire life.
we ended up walking in and out about 3 times until we realized some of the people in there weren't so hot on the fact we were laughing at their "heritage".
the 6th dimmension ended somewhere between Montgomery and Atlants at a Waffle House.
it was my first experience at a Waffle House and it was awesome. once again, people were not speaking anything resembling English and doing things that just don't exist in real life.

South Carolina tonight.

Houston, TX

left Austin this morning. Ariel was quite the host.
got my haircut this morning and started the drive to Houston.
we are currently at the venue and well it's pretty terrible.
congratulations Houston, you have so far been the worst city and show....i also hate your baseball team.

heading to Louisiana tomorrow.

current van playlist is The Evolution of a Cro Magnon by John Joseph.
I got Dave and Matt hooked on it.
check it out if you havent yet.

Albuquerque, NM / Austin, TX

drove way too long from CA to NM to make it to a show.
apparently it was the venues birthday so they celebrated by having 19 bands play. what? so bad.
LARPING CHUDS roaming the streets of Albuquerque. jeez.
after the show, we went to some 24 hour mexican place that had security guards and had some sort of security check point at the door. weird.

Dave(quest) drove after the show and we went 4 hours in the wrong direction to get to Austin. well, it wasnt the WRONG direction, just the most non direct way.
matt and joe are still allergic to life and its pretty funny.

got to Austin..the show was pretty bad. not such a good turn out but it was the first day of the Snacksidents tour with Just Surrender and Driving East. everyone seems pretty cool and it's looking like it'll be a fun tour.
ate some more mexican food today and i finally got to shower.

Day 4

nothing happened today.
i spent my day on Mikey's front lawn organizing the merch and trailer.
tomorrow, well, later today we leave for Austin, TX to start the tour with Just Surrender, Fireworks, and Driving East. should be a good time.

Day 3

drove overnight from LA to San Fran.
Jordan got pulled over and somehow the bumps in the road shook up the engine and some belts got loose and the fan tore the belt up.
we got towed, now home. should have the van back in a couple of days for the start of the tour the 20th in Austin, TX.

matt wilson is allergic to life.
life comes from plants - pollen comes from plants - matt is allergic to pollen.
sad sad fact. but so true.

Day 2

got to the venue and spent most of the time organizing the merch and getting everything situated. show went well.
everyone went to go see Jeffree Star tonight.
We were invited to Ross Robinson's mansion but we didn't end up doing that.
Driving to San Francisco tonight.

Day 1

got into Long Beach earlier this morning.
hung out in LA until it was time to head over to the Chain Reaction to meet up with SYG.
most of my day was spent meeting and hanging out with internet celebrity and "queen of the internet" Jeffree Star. i'm not exactly sure what to think about today.
got to the venue and the merch situation was an absolute mess.
tomorrow is going to be another long day counting and getting everything sorted out.
made a lot in tips tonight, baller status. i'm such a charming young man.