(The journey continues and this week I am absolutely shocked that the morale is so good. You would think it would be torture to be in such close proximity for so long- but that must be the magic of being in a band with good chemistry. For whatever annoying quirks you may endure, in the end, you're a family. I'm glad to see The Moms are being taken in (I was getting a little grossed out on the hygiene thought) and seem to be in good spirits. I think a bit of homesickness is taking seeping in but its been a long time since New Jersey and the boys gotta keep moving. Please please if they're headed your way stop in and check them out, buy their merch and hell, let them sleep at your house (and make them shower). Love these kids… heres this weeks news–hb)
Day 16 – Welcome to Austin Texas
I spent the better half of the day wondering where the "Real World" house here was and I really wanted to go see it as well as go to that national park thing – "Hamilton Pool" but nevertheless we had a blast at a place called "Headhunters Club" a corner bar which I believe is a sxsw venue. Tons of tattoos running around and a constant flow of character on the streets. Very cool city that I would love to come back to. The Moms played a strong set tonight.
Want to give tonight's shout out to Residual Kid, the band we played with yesterday. Those dudes and their families came out to the show tonight and are helping us out with a crash spot. The word is countryside camper. Ball on ballers.
A funny thing about tour is how much the van starts to feel like home. It is the only constant in the ever evolving and constantly moving motion of traveling. And after all it is the most important part of your tour. So be wise – keep her running and treat her like a princess. Our van is named Betsy and goddamn the day she doesn't run. (She's a spoiled bitch though so no worries about that)
If you're still with me at this point, right on. Thank you. I hope you enjoy reading my antics as much as I enjoy having and writing them.
Ps some dude bought me a drink tonight.
HAH
Night kids.
Day 17 –
We had another off day today. So we rolled back up to the Dallas area to a town called McKinney Texas to visit some of Joe's family. It was actually pretty funny how close we felt to home being there. Joey's uncle is a spitting image of Joeys dad and Joeys cousin looks exactly like Joey. His name is Teddy and he showed us the town and had us cracking up all night. We ran into some of the townies and had a nice home cooked meal. Did some swimming and sleeping. Mostly watched an American pickers marathon. We are headed into uncharted territory tomorrow – Tulsa, OK . More to come sorry guys today was a little boring
Day 18 – Death.
So we played at Crystal Pistol saloon in Tulsa OK tonight. Down the street from the Brady Theater and little did we know, next door to the Death Cab for Cutie and Maps and Atlases tour at Cain's. Fuck man some real rock stars were in town. So we parked a few hundred yards from the buses and the line for D.C. Was wrapped past the bar we were playing so we pretended we were really important as usual and walked "tough". We had a few hours to kill as we were the only band on the bill so I asked the bartender where the closest tattoo shop was and took a walk downtown. Amazingly we met some really rad dudes and booked a show for tomorrow which ended up being cancelled as it were in AR, which we found out this morning. We got back to the venue waited for Death Cab to let out and opened the front door wide open to the 2500 people strolling out of the show. Most of them had enough liveness for the night but we met some really rad people and had a great fucking show. We watched the real bands load out from the lot and hung out till close at the Pistol. Tulsa is fucking rad. Unfortunately were stuck at Wal mart tonight, but with every up there is a down. Keep it real fools –
D
Day 19 –
We had a lovely American afternoon when we woke up incredibly hungover in the wal – mart parking lot this morning. I also had the good fortune of finding the second half of my chicken nuggets I had apparently boughten at three a.m. And enjoyed for breakfast. And we later picked up some burgers and found a nice sunny park with a charcoal grill for lunch. Here's a trick – grab that dollar bag of "Great Value" french fried onions and some A – 1 if you dare to be so bold and put that shit on everything. Its incredibly pleasant.
But todays occurrences allow me to talk about something I really love talking about – Gear
Joeys amp, well I should say one third of his amps, burnt out last night at the Pistol and started smoking through the outputs. We luckily found a Fender certified repair shop six minutes away from Wal – Mart and hopped over there so Joe could indulge himself in a three hundred dollar rush repair. #ballin. The phone call as I understand it went something like, "Everything is wrong with everything." Boom doggy.
What can you do? You're stuck without it and as a touring act you find yourself in these situations ALL the time.
I play the drums, duh obvi, and currently I have two sets of hi – hats two rides and one crash. The one crach I have is the only thing that's NOT broken. All my bronze looks like a shark got a little silver hungry. I get made fun of almost every night.
Let's not forget the hundreds of string replacements, the hundred dollars of drumheads I bought which already need to be replaced again.(I purchased freshies before tour) and the constant struggle of where do we put our money?
I need a whole new set of cymbals, but the van needs a whole new everything. So much for playing? But we are in a band? And playing is most important? But a band can't play without gear? But a band can't tour without a van? But It costs three grand in gas? Have I asked enough questions yet? Have I proved my point? Holler at your boy?
Also. That news I was talking about! – The Moms are officially releasing our e.p. "Viva!" On vinyl. Stay tuned kids
Day 20 – keep a clear head
Somehow Scooter managed to get us a late checkout of 3 pm at the Holiday in this morning so us sleepy heads rose around two pm and hit Sonic for happy hour before riding to Russellville AR for the BEST night of tour so far.
We got set up to play Half Raptor's hometown show here and those dudes are fucking phenomenal live. I can say that because I am watching them right now. We had a great show and these dudes are killing it.
The point of me mentioning how I am writing and watching is this –
No matter how much fun and how far away from home you are and how loud it is in the club, you can't keep certain things from popping into your head. Its like a gut bomb. Just being in the moment and having so much fun thinking of all the dives in all the nothing cities in this huge piece of land they call the U.S. Can't keep you from remember how nice it'd be to be sleeping in your own bed tonight, in you're room that your gorgeous girl re -arranged for you. Seeing your folks and your friends. Laying on the couch and bitching about how miserable it is with a certain someone under your arm.
And yet! You snap back – this is what I want, this is what I need.
Keep a clear head kids.
Big ups to Braden for hooking it all up – check out his band – "Half Raptor"
Day 21 – more flags
We hit the six flags park in St. Louis today to play in the park. I always have fun at theme parks which is more than I can say for some of the other girls, but in their defense we had a little bit more work today than usual. In addition to the normal rig, we also had to bring a sound system, two fronts, one wedge, two mics mic stands mic cables, speaker cables speaker stands bla bla bla AND we are all officially sick. We did do a pretty good job of keeping the van clean and our bodies healthy, but its inevitable. Four weeks in a van across the country sweating here there , eating here and there and especially – sleeping – here or there (floor, couch etc.) So were all looking forward to some rest tonight – hopefully get some showers in –
I wish I had some funny stories to tell yall.
We stopped at the "largest candy store" which also had gas . – I was the only one who bought anything, and hell yea it was those dots on the strip of paper shits.
St. Louis again tomorrow. We'll talk about it.
Day 22 –
I woke up sweating with an insane cough on the floor this morning. First thoughts – head for the shower. Unfortunately the house we were at had a monoxide leak in the basement therefore they shut the hot water off. Now I don't know about you, but I find it relatively impossible to enjoy a cold shower. When you're sick. Fuck.
Its all good though stay posi –
Jon is also sick and sounds pretty much like a whooping cough patient. He normally does anyway, but this time its excessive and gnarly. So we've been experimenting with supplements and vitamins etc. Etc. Which leads me to today's topic –
If you hear our band live or recorded you might notice Joey and/or Jon's "bark" or yelling but not screaming constantly. You, like I, must wonder how in the world they can keep this conditioned everyday for a month on the road.
We learned some tricks in GA and this is what joey takes/drinks everyday for his voice –
1 water bottle filled with
A shot apple cider vinegar
Honey packets
Marshmallow root
1 to 2 cups of throat coating tea
With honey
1 or 2 "slippery elm lozenges"
And he uses two different throat sprays
One with alcohol one without
Zinc and vitamin c tabs
We played in St. Louis at "The Heavy Anchor" last night with some very cool bands. Awesome place to hang out, I highly recommend it if you're in the area. There's an awesome octopus painted on the wall and the staff is amazingly friendly. Everyone we met last night was awesome actually.
Check out the video and review for Bedtime on youtube and currently on www.rocknycliveandrecorded.com
Continue to buy merch on Big Cartel please and support the tour anyway you can. Every single penny helps.
Tell your friends about The Moms