out and about aye?

This Canadian tour has finally wrapped up. It's been a descent little run. The shows have been so so. Some went really well, some not so much. A lot of booking problems arose as far as shows getting moved or cancelled last minute. The people in the other bands have been fun to hang out with so that made up for it. It was awesome finding veggie friends in The Agonist to help hunt down some yummy food. The Cities have definitely been cool. Here's a few shots of where we've been. 

Toronto skyline

train tracks in Hamilton

Crappy downtown load in in London

Old port Montreal

After two weeks of long drives, funny accents, loonies and toonies, and all kinds of problems with shows getting moves and cancelled we finally made it back into US soil. (again!) It's crazy how long it's been since we've done a US tour. After Montreal we had a day off and ended up staying in Buffalo, NY. Lucky for us it was a short twenty minute drive from Niagra Falls. It is seriously breathtaking. The wind had so much force that every so often it would blow the mist on you like it was raining. There's still a long month and a half left on this tour but I am very happy to be back in the US and have all the comforts that come along with that. One more week until Tara visits and we get to check out DC!

Fallen Soldier

Sorry little friend, better luck in your next life.

Speaking of fallen soldiers, tour mates Execute the Sinner, have been forced to drop off the tour after only being on for two days. Yesterday morning they were struck by a police car. The cop apparently paying attention to her little computer in her car rather than the road, ran a red light, and then t-boned them as they were pulling out of a driveway. Their van was totaled and now they have to take a rental car home to get their pick up truck and drive all the way back to get their trailer back home. Luckily the cops are giving them money but it is still complete bull shit. Fuck the police.

Crossing Borders

Thursday we finally made our way over into Canada. After getting held up at the border for about and hour waiting on work permits to get faxed over, we got to Winnipeg for the first show. Once we got into town I was really surprised as to how few people were out and about around town. I always imagined it to be a fairly big city but it seemed totally empty. 

Above the venue was an old hotel which I apparently became a whore/drug house. A couple of years ago one of the biggest murders in Manitoba happened in one of the rooms. The promoted offered to show us where it happened. Apparently a guy was there completely fucked up and managed to dismember another man in the bathroom and stack his extremities on top of his torso in the bath tub. The next day he walked into the police station and said "I think I killed someone." Incredibly disturbing and unbelievable. 
After the show we drove overnight to Thunder Bay. Once we crossed the province border into Ontario, the sun revealed some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen, full of thick forests and glass like lakes. We even saw a giant moose on the side of the road!
The next day was in Thunder Bay. It's always overwhelming looking out onto one of the great lakes. The just go on and on forever. There was a street festival going on and the show was fairly descent.  

Backline in Thunder Bay

Today we had a day off and got a hotel in Salut Saint Marie on our way to Sudbury. The town is completely boring but we lucked out and found the best hotel. It has a huge built in water slide that goes in and out of the hotel to an indoor pool. It was a good way to kill some time and relax after some ridiculously long drives.
Tomorrow we continue on and play in Sudbury. We meet up with a couple more bands so things should get more interesting. We are told that it is supposed to be a good show so our heads are up!

Heading North

  Sunday night we started our trek out to our Canadian tour. Driving through the norther mid west is like driving through a time warp. All that exists is a lot of nothing, more nothing, and then every five hours you  might pass a little town that looks like people should be riding horses and be ready for a gang of bandits to stick them up. 

somewhere in Nevada

Wyoming

South Dakota

North Dakota

Also, don't believe the myths. There's no pot of gold at the end of rainbows. 

Two weeks is too short

After finally returning from Europe and Russia, I was forced to jam an entire summer in San Francisco into a short two weeks. I can't believe that's all I got to be home for before having to pack up and leave again. This time to Canada and all over the US. My time home has been the best time I've ever had and I don't want to go. 

The day after coming home I was put straight to work. June 1st was moving day! Tara and I moved into a completely amazing new house with ten of our friends. Three floors, ten bed rooms, a living room, dinning room, awesome kitchen, two decks, and a back yard. Tara and I even get our own bathroom! This is probably the nicest house I will ever get to live in. 

For my birthday Tara and my room mates threw me a big BBQ on our new front deck. Nothing says summer like veggie burgers and grilled corn! One of the coolest things about our porch is that there is a huge white wall that we can use to project videos on. While all the festivities were going on also had Fraggle Rock playing for us and all the bypasses on the street to enjoy. It was an great night with good friends. One of the best birthday's I've had.

I got another tattoo, this time on my shin. Once again Nick Rodin did an amazing job. I'm really excited about it and I can't wait to get it colored. 

Late that night we had to drive down to LA to shoot a music video to go with our new record coming out this summer. Twelve hours of filming and non stop head banging. Honestly it was probably one of the more unpleasant experiences I've had. It was super hot and I felt completely dead the whole day. I'm not really sure if I'm into how the video will turn out but oh well. At least I got to be in one. 

This has been an exhausting two weeks, but it's been totally amazing. Moving, more bike rides than my body was ready to handle, tattoos, trip to the board walk, a ton of great food. I am definitely not excited to be leaving so soon and for so long. Since coming home I've been completely amped on the new house, getting to be with Tara, hang out with my new room mates, ride my bikes and enjoy the seldom sunshine in San Francisco. This has probably been the best two weeks I've had and I don't want it to end. I'm not ready to go but once again, duty calls. I'm going to miss this. 

Mother Russia

So I'm finally back in America. Once Thrash and Burn Europe ended we got dropped off at the airport in Koln and prepared to make the journey to Moscow and spend the next two weeks playing twelve shows in Russia. Little did I know I was about to take on the most physically and emotionally demanding two weeks of my life.

One thing I had been really excited for was to see the Russian architecture. I've always wanted to see the crazy dome topped cathedrals. Apparently anytime one of the cathedrals was built, the Czar would blind the artist who designed them to ensure that they would not be built anywhere else. I've never seen anything with so much attention to detail and such ridiculous color schemes.  

When we got on the first train from Moscow to Yaroslovl, I was pretty excited to be riding a train in Russia. This first train ride was in one of the first class cars and was only a few short hours long. Had all the train rides been like this I think I would have enjoyed the trip a whole lot more. Much to our surprise, the rest of the rides were in economy cars where there are no rooms, doors, or privacy. Just your bunk in an big communal space among all the other bunks. Some rides we lucked out and had fairly pleasant company. Other rides we were stuck with loud crying babies, creepy old men eating sardines out of cans, or angry military guys who didn't seem too happy about sharing a train with americans. To make things worse, the rest of the train rides for the trip were anywhere from 15 to 21 hours long. In total, we spent about six and a half days riding on trains. Everyday was train-taxi to show - play - taxi to train. Had we been set up on a more efficient means of travel and actually had time to explore the country the trip may have been a lot more enjoyable. Instead, we just sat on trains. 

No lanes, no speed limits, no rules. Being in a cars in Russia were probably the most unsafe situations I've ever been in. The taxi drivers will speed in between cars with spaces so tight I'm surprised anyone still has mirrors attached. The one night we actually drove to the next show in a 12 passenger van stuffed with two bands and their luggage and equipment, we actually got side swiped by a drunk driver. I doubt there is even any kind of system to getting a drivers license there.

The one redeeming part of the the tour was the shows. No  matter how terrible travel, food or human interactions, the shows were always awesome. We expected maybe to see thirty to fifty people every night. The average turn out actually ended up being about 150 and one night we even played a Russian MTV sponsored venue with huge jumbo trons and drew over 400 people. It was pretty unbelievable and made all the downfalls of the trip somewhat worthwhile.  

I've never felt so relieved than to get to the airport in Moscow and begin the journey home. Twelve shows, eleven cities, countless hours in transit, a diet of nothing but water and potatoes, and all after just playing a months worth of shows in Europe, I'd never felt more ready to go home. Home to familiarity, to people who understand my language, to waking up in the same place more than two days in a row, and to waking up to the most beautiful girl in the world. 

As tough as it was I can't say it was totally not worth it. It turns out that we actually made history on this tour. Not only were we the first foreign band to play more than five consecutive shows in Russia, in over half of the cities we were the first foreign band ever to play there. I may have hated it, but nobody else can say that.