FW ROCK -N- RULE!!!

This girl is AWESOME!

We're coming!!!!!

So, you think "Dear Hot Chick" is awesome? Well, it is, and it surely is 2FN HOT, but wait till you HEAR 2FN HOT! It's SO 2FN HOT!

Just ask these dear hot chicks:

In an ideal world for a touring band, the earth would be flat. That way, whenever you travel REALLY far, you wouldn’t have to deal with jet lag. The sun would come up for everybody right at the same time, and life on the road would be SO much easier!!!


New Jersey from the plane


Flying to London

We arrived in London and met up with Peter Hill, our photographer and tour manger extraordinaire. We might be dead (or worse) if we never found him. We surely wouldn’t have gotten through the tour with our sanity intact if he wasn’t with us. Do yourself a HUGE favor and check out www.peterhill.net
…AWESOME photos!!! Peter took some AMAZING photos on the tour…and I’ll be posting some of them later.


Peter Hill!!! (Ha ha! His steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car!!!)

We loaded out of the airport, and Peter took us to get some breakfast. We then drove to Exeter to play our first show…we’d been awake for over 36 hours…it was HECTIC…but it was awesome!


FW GOGGLES!

We got to hang out with Rachel Donovan, who we’d end up seeing several more times…she’s an excellent Weiner Warrior, and such a pleasure to hang out with!


Rachel


Signing in Exeter


Phil (Tokyo Dragons drummer) and Tidy (TD tour manager)

After the show, we drove to a hotel to try and get a little sleep. We had to take our gear inside the hotel because of the gypsies outside. It’s so strange…they just set up camp in random parking lots…and cause trouble (apparently)…until they move on to their next camp…STRANGE!


Gypsies!!!!

Day 2 – Cardiff


Driving to Cardiff

We woke up and drove to Cardiff, Wales. When we got there, we went to eat lunch at a place called Weatherspoons…it was decent food! We also walked around the city for a bit.


A little mouse in Cardiff…it ruled…it hopped around like a little bunny.


Cardiff Castle

We then went to the venue where we were playing that night, and were greeted by the great Weiner Warriors Amanda and Kayley from Bristol. There were a few others there to meet us, too.


Waiting for The Weiner!


Kayley and Amanda’s Weiner shirts!


Weiner finger nails!


This was too funny to not share!

We loaded our gear in, and waited for our soundcheck.

Terrible terrible news…the show was 18+, so most of the people that got there SO early to meet us weren’t able to get in! We arranged it so that they could come inside for our soundcheck (it was hard to convince the venue!)…and we ended up playing 3 songs for them as our soundcheck. We were just happy to be able to play for them.

We hung out, then played our set. We had to leave shortly after so we could go to the hotel and Peter could take a train to Brighton to get a bigger van…a van that included our soon-to-be-driver: the infamous Kriss Lee. Peter also went to go and pick up a drum kit for me to use (I’d had to borrow Tokyo Dragon’s drum kit for the first two shows.)

We went to the hotel, watched a bit of a French soap opera (they’re a LOT different than back home!) …and then we went to sleep.

Day 3 - Birmingham

We woke up and met and we had a note from the hotel…it was this:


We’d much rather have a tour bus!

So, we met up with Peter, Kriss, and our van! The new van was much more comfortable, and we had a little bit more room. We could tell from the moment that we saw Kriss that he’d be fun to have on tour!


Driving into Birmingham

We drove to Birminham, where we met up with Meesh (one of the heads of The Weiner Warriors.) She had pot noodles and Stella Artois waiting for me! We ate pot noodles together and drank our Stella Artois. YUMMY!


Meesh

I set up my drumkit (the one that Peter picked up in London the night before, Tommy from Do Me Bad Things was SO gracious to let me use it!) The show went on, and it was AWESOME.




DMBT’s


WYLD FOR THE WEINER!






Birmingham Crowd


Nic (DMBT’s)


Andrew and Nic (DMBT’s) backstage

After the show, we loaded out and came back to the venue – the venue became a dance club after the show…so awesome I suppose, but I ended up just hanging out backstage with Do Me Bad Things (DMBT’s).

We left the venue, went to a hotel, and crashed. Meesh stayed with us.

Day 4 - Leeds

We woke up, and made our way to Leeds…we stopped at services to get some food and jump online for a little bit. We ate at Wimpy’s…it wasn’t so good!

When we got to Leeds, there were several people waiting outside the venue for us.


…waiting for us outside…

SO great! We loaded in, and then I went outside to talk with everybody waiting outside. I ended up taking a walk with several awesome people from Leeds. We went to a place called “Corn Exchange”…it was this big dome with tons of shops in it…really awesome. It was a pleasure to hang out with them!


Corn Exchange

I went back to the venue for soundcheck…finally on the 4th day we had our own gear to play on…so great!

The show was SO much fun…we got Jemma (awesome Weiner Warrior) up on stage to sing with Atom…then she got a side-stage view of the rest of the set. It was awesome.

After the show, we got to hang out with some most excellent fans…we had way too much fun!


Hanging out after the Leeds show

The employees at the club ended up kicking everybody from the show out of the venue, so that they could turn it into a dance party! A dance party that plays ROCK music…so great! In America, if you go to a dance club, you DON’T hear rock music…you hear Jay Z or something like that. We got to hang out with DMBT’s and TD’s for the first time where we could REALLY bro down. We had an AMAZING time.


Alex (DMBT’s) after the show


Hanging out after the show


Meesh bought us some drinks!


Paul (TD’s tour manager)…also known as Tidy


I was asked to design a tattoo…so I thought I’d be creative like usual!


Kriss STUFFED the van…he’s a master packer…errrr…loader…errr…he’s awesome at figuring out how to make all of our band gear fit into the van!

At somepoint during the night, there was a gay pride parade that traveled through…it was a sight!


Gay Pride parade coming…


Gay Pride parade…


Gay Pride parade leaving…

After the dance party…we went back to the hotel…Atom and I hung out for a bit in the downstairs lobby, everybody else went to sleep. We ran into a bachellorette party…VERY interesting!

I can’t begin to explain how awesome DMBT’s are. They are some of the most amazing people that I’ve ever met. We got along so well with them…I knew at the Leeds show that it was going to be an amazing tour!

Day 5 - Glasgow

We woke up and drove a bit…we stopped at services...a place called Cumbria…it was beautiful!


We have these ugly dandelions on the ground everywhere back home…but they have these!


Ducks!


Cumbria

So, pictures don’t do it justice, but Cumbria is a beautiful area. It’s so terrible to think that they’re thinking about covering the whole area with huge fans to generate electricity…there’s gotta be a better place!

ANYWAY…we drove to Glasgow to get our hotel sorted out…


Atom at the hotel


Interesting…

We went to hang out with DMBT’s and TD’s for a bit at a club called “Nice N’ Sleazy”…no it wasn’t a “dirty” club!

Today was a day off, so when we got back to the hotel we were able to stay up pretty late…I ended up staying online way too late – trying to catch up on some work.

Day 6 - Glasgow

We got up, geeked out on the internet for a little longer, and then went to the show in Glasgow.


Atom and Josh in Glasgow


King Tuts…where we played!

The show was AWESOME…saw some familiar faces…but the stage was WAY TOO HOT! The lights were so bright…and so close…the bass amp was smoking…literally…because the lights were so hot on it! I got so overheated while playing drums that I got quite ill after the show…


Alex after the show

After the show, we went back to hang out with TD and DMBT’s at the hotel…SO much fun…

We decided that Mark from DMBT’s looks like Joe Cocker…see for yourself!


Day 7 - Edinburgh

We woke up and drove to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is such a beautiful city! We walked around for a bit…


Josh


Sir Walter Scott Monument


Walking around Edinburgh


Edinburgh castle


Edinburgh


The venue that we played was right underneath the castle



After walking around the city, Andrew and I went back to nap at the hotel, all the other guys hung out at the venue and unloaded…we met back up with them about 1.5 hours later.

Steve (DMBT’s soundguy) bought this tank game…it’s these little remote controlled tanks that fight each other…if your tank gets shot, YOU get SHOCKED…it was terrible…but awesome!


Tank game!

The show was amazing…we rocked it SO hard…and after it was over…we celebrated…it was DMBT’s 100th show ever…so we had cake and “little fireworks” and threw a surprise party for them.


Clare (DMBT’s)


PARTY!

After the mini party, we went to a few different bars to hang out…then back to the hotel room.

Andrew and Peter stuck together, and on their way back to the hotel, they asked for directions…some kid that was giving them directions kicked a soccer ball through a window, and then took off. SO FUNNY!

So here’s something interesting to me…a difference in hotel rooms in the UK and in America.

In the UK, there is a kettle in every room for making tea, coffee, or pot noodles…never kettles in hotel rooms in America. Also, you have to use your key card in this little slot right as you enter the room for the electricity to work…AND – the lightswitch for the bathroom is OUTSIDE the bathroom door…that can make for some very cruel jokes! Also, there’s only like 5 channels on the UK tv’s in the hotel rooms…strangeness!! A lot of the rooms don’t even have phones!

Peter slept that night on a little little cushion…couldn’t have been comfortable. I asked how he felt in the morning…he said “seasick!”

Day 8 - Sheffield

We woke up and made our way to Sheffield…on our way, we stopped at the Plough bed and breakfast for a bite to eat…just so happened that the lady that was behind the bar taking our orders was AWESOME…and LOVED us…probably because of her kids.

:::::::VIDEO:::::::
Plough Bed and Breakfast LOVES FW!
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After we got back on the road, Andrew decided that he had to pee….lucky for him – we were able to stop on the side of the road and he could legally pee on the front left tire of the car. Seems there’s a law that carried over from a long time ago. Back when everybody rode around with horses carrying a buggy, the girls used to face the back of the coach, and the guys would face forward to look out for any trouble…so it was legal for the guys to pee on the front left tire…that way the ladies in the coach couldn’t see them, and neither could oncoming girls in coaches.

So yeah…Andrew pee’d on the front left tire on the side of the road.



About 3 minutes after we started driving again, we blew a tire on the interstate…we almost flipped the van…it was very scary. We almost died, but hey, we didn’t!!! …we got outside to change the tire…I’ve never experienced wind so strong…maybe we were in a hurricane? It was so cold and windy, then it started to rain…it ruled! …it took about an hour to change the tire, because the bolts on the replacement tire were different from the original…I could elaborate on it, but I’ll leave it at this: it was VERY NOT FUN!

I did get a good video of it though…Josh screaming through a traffic cone that “we’re American…we need your help!!!”

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BLOWN TIRE!!!!
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Josh and Atom…so excited about a blown tire!


UGLY WHEEL!

So the process of blowing the tire also cut all of the electrical systems to the rear of the van…including the suspension…that led to pretty much all of us getting whiplash. So awesome!

We drove the rest of the way to Sheffield and met up with DMBT’s in the bar at the hotel. We had the night off…so we hung out for a while with them…I could go on for days about how well everybody on this tour gets along…but I’ll spare you!



Day 9 - Sheffield


Back home, it’s “No Pulp”

We woke up…went to get lunch and internet…came back to hotel…Kriss had new tires on the van…we went to the club…soundchecked…saw a lot of familiar and awesome faces…



The sound on stage sucked worse than any show I’ve played, I think. I’m sure it sounded great out front, but onstage I couldn’t hear anything.

After the hotel, we went to a pub to hang out, but it was closed…so went back to the hotel and bro’d down with DMBT’s in Alex and Kimberly’s room…quality time.

Day 10 - Leicester

We woke up and drove straight to Leicester – directly to the venue – “The Charlotte.” We were a bit early, so we walked around and found a nice café where we got some tea and soup. We got hot n’ sour soup…it’s not like the hot n’ sour soup back home…this was more like Russian or Greek or something crazy…but it was good!




This sign was upstairs at the café … TOO FUNNY!

So we went back to the venue, and met up with Samantha and Charlotte…AWESOME Weiner Warriors!



We didn’t get a sound check, but we did an interview with a Leicester radio station…it was a really intense interview…you know we take ourselves so seriously. We got so emotional that two of us cried.

The show was great…it started off kinda strange, but after a few songs we’d won the crowd over…it was incredible.

I got to finally meet my friend Shawna in person…we’d known each other for a long time, but never hung out in person…twas nice!


Me, Shawna, Gracie, Atom

After the show, we took the whole party to a pub right down the road…we hung out for about an hour. I still can’t put into words how well we get along with DMBT’s and TD’s. They’re such amazing people.

At some point in the evening, Andrew dropped some gear on his foot…EWWW it’s not pretty…unless you have a gangrene fetish or something…in which case, this one’s for you:


Day 11 - Nottingham


Nottingham – Rock City!

We woke up after not sleeping very much, and drove to Nottingham. We went to grab a bite to eat, and then went to a bar next door to the venue (Rock City) and hung out with Ian (Must Destroy,) DMBT’s, TD’s, and Nickola and Tara from Atlantic Records.

We also ran into Cory, an awesome fan that we met at the last show…totally sucked that he and his friends couldn’t get into the show because they weren’t old enough. I wish all shows were all ages.

Sam and Charlotte were hanging out again, too…that ruled!!! We’ve got Sam using the word “awesome”…apparently “awesome” is a very American word.

WE GOT TO MEET SCOTT! Scott is responsible for the Weiner Warriors (along with Meesh and Steffers.) Scott is truly and outrageously awesome.


FW loves Scott


Dinner!

SOUND CHECK!






(I played bass!)



The show was SO FUN…we got Tokyo Dragons onstage for our SHREDFEST…it was FUNNY! Stodi, Steve, and Malcolm went up behind Atom, Josh, and Andrew…and played their instruments for them (TD’s are true shredders, just like us.) It was a sight to behold, I tell you.



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SHREDFEST w/ TOKYO DRAGONS!!!!
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Alex gave Josh a kiss…awwww


Backstage




Merch!


Mark, Nic, Ian, and the Atlantic girls


Sam and Charlotte made this AWESOME sign!


Nic, Steve and Stodi (TD’s)

The bad news from the show – I split my finger wide open from rocking too hard. It was pretty gross…there was blood all over my jeans and all over my drum kit. It didn’t hurt, it was just messy!







So after the show was over, we found this MASSIVE JENGA game backstage…and we all played it…it was too much fun.


Setting up massive jenga






Peter lost it!


Game OVER!

Samantha and Charlotte had to stay at the venue until like 6 am or something, so before we left we took them as much food as we could…some fruit, bread, sandwich meat, and some drinks. We felt so bad for them having to stay so long…I think they had to stay because they had to wait on a train or something.

We left for our hotel room. We got there around 4 am.

Day 12 - Norwich

We woke up and hauled our hot tails to Norwich. This was a day off for us. When we got to the hotel (which was a STRANGE ONE) I immediately geeked out with Steve (DMBT’s soundguy) and set up a wireless network so we could all have internet.

After geeking out, I went up to our hotel room and gave myself a haircut. Don’t email me asking for haircut tips…they’re secret.

So the hotel was HUGE…it had indoor tennis courts…it had a water park:


…it had everything that you could ever desire, except cleanliness. Right next door to the hotel was an ASDA…ASDA is like a UK version of Wal-Mart.

CHECK THIS OUT!

POT NOODLE HEAVEN in ASDA!!!

There are these little machines that you can find in bars over in the UK…I’m not sure what they’re called…but they’re the American equivalent of slot machines…there was one in our hotel. Rich (DMBT’s) was on a ROLL…he won 90 pounds…so awesome!!!


Rich workin’ the machine….


…just a portion of his earnings!

We came back to the hotel, and I hung out with Alex and Kimberly again…I’m convinced that DMBT’s are some of the nicest people in rock n’ roll.

At the end of the night, I ended up geeking out again in the hotel lobby on the internet…answering emails until 7 am!

Good note…my finger looks better!



Day 13 - Norwich

We got to catch up on sleep…so EXCELLENT!

The show was TOO much fun…we got to hang out with Jess, Scott, Samantha, Charlotte, Ian, Alan, Atlantic girls Nickola and Tara…the crowd was singing along to the songs loud enough that I could hear them over my drums onstage…that’s amazing, considering that I usually have a hard time hearing Atom and Josh coming through my monitor onstage!!!

SO FUNNY! This one guy wanted us to sign our shirt…and Atom got CRAFTY with him…it was just a plane white t-shirt…we gave him this:



After the show, we went back to DMBT’s hotel…their CD came out today, and it was their official CD release party…SO MUCH FUN! We partied down…champagne for all!




Alan (Must Destroy) and Atom



After show, came back to hotel and PARTIED DOWN with DMBT’s and TD’s…DMBT’s CD out today…champaigne all around…great times!!!

Day 14 – Oxford

So we got up and made our way to Oxford. Oxford is a beautiful city!

We got to the venue, The Zodiac, and were pleasantly surprised by Amanda and Kayley…we thought that they could only come to the Cardiff show, the one where they ended up not even able to get in. Well they got into this one, and it was SO awesome that we would be able to play for them!!!



Our good friends from back home, The Features, had played there the night before, and they left a note for us.




Mal (Tokyo Dragons) ROCKING!

The show was absolutely amazing…we rocked extra hard that night for some reason…probably because I’m pretty sure that we’re really awesome!


Me backstage

After the show, we met some new and awesome friends, Chloe and Matt, and walked around to try to find some food…we found a Kebab shop, and ate kebabs. I’d describe kebabs as glorified soft tacos…they were pretty good!


Chloe and Matt


Pete’s Kebab

We drove around for HOURS trying to find a hotel room, and then we found one! It was a 7 year old Travelodge that was just now installing telephones…STRANGENESS!!!



Day 15 - Aldershot

We drove to Aldershot, which we had nicknamed Shoulderfoot. Why shoulderfoot? Not sure, but the people of Aldershot thought seemed to think that it was really funny!

We walked around the city for a little bit with Scott (Weiner Warriors), then came back to do soundcheck.



Sometime during the day, we noticed how awesome the currency is in the UK…they have Charles Darwin on the 10 pound note…



The show was tons of fun, but we had to get out of there in a hurry to make our way to London…we’d be staying with Alan (Must Destroy) that night, and we didn’t want to show up way too late.

Once we got to Alan’s house, I tried some Posh Noodles…they’re like Pot Noodles, but more expensive, and they’re supposed to be better. They were really good, but I still like the chicken and mushroom Pot Noodles better!

For the record, Alan’s cat is AWESOME



Day 16 – London

Andrew, Peter, and Kriss woke up early to get our new van…it was AWESOME.


Our new van…it was what we should have had the whole time! SO comfy!

Someone had bought the new version of Kerrang…it had the review of the Sally Be single…they love it!


Josh reading the Sally Be review in Kerrang

We drove to The Mean Fiddler…we hung out with Scott, Sam, Rachel, and German Goan (our friend Peter from Germany.)

Check out Rachel’s shirt!





We sound checked, then went to have a drink with Ian and Alan from Must Destroy, and German Goan.




Alan and Kirstine

We went back to the venue…check out the line to get in!



We hung out with DMBT’s, TD’s, Paul Bolton (our booking agent, and NOT the 80’s singer,) the Atlantic crew, Emma (our publicist,) Chris from Bowling For Soup’s wife, Steve Homer from ClearChannel, and tons of other really important people.


DMBT’s Sound Check

Everybody’s shows were awesome in London.


Tokyo Dragons


Us, slaying!


RISERFEST!!!


Alan and Ian (Must Destroy) backstage


Josh, German Goan, and Atom


Pardon the language, but the back of TD’s bass cabinet had this on it, and I thought it was too funny!

After the show there was a private party…it was big, but private. DMBT’s were dj’s for the party…playing awesome music.

I met Ed, the drummer for The Darkness, and we talked for most of the night about drum stuff, he’s a really good guy.


Ed (The Darkness,) me, and Clare (DMBT’s)

We drove to a hotel, checked in around 4 am…it was a LONG day!

Day 17 – Preston

We woke up and drove for a bit, then stopped for a bit to get internet, then drove the rest of the way to Preston.

We loaded in, then met up with Meesh. She had the most AWESOME cell phone EVER.


Chewbacca cell phone case


Anakin on the cell phone


Darth Vader on the phone

Oh that phone is awesome…beautiful, even!


Meesh and Kriss at the merch

We didn’t get a soundcheck, and when we started playing, the venue was pretty empty. We won over the little bit of crowd that was there, and before we were done with our set, we had won over a full room of people. It was completely amazing.

Josh did an awesome knee slide during the set…but the stage wasn’t very condusive to knee slides…


Here’s Josh’s skin on the stage…


…and here’s his knee after the show…grossness! I did take comfort in the fact that somebody else on tour knows what it’s like to have really bloody jeans, though.

We were very rushed to get out of Preston that night, because we had to be up EARLY to catch a flight to Dublin, Ireland. We’d never been to Dublin, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter, and we were excited to see a bit of it, and to try the Guinness!

Day 18 – Dublin, Ireland



We got about 2 hours of sleep, the went to the airport to catch a flight to Dublin. We had to pack VERY LIGHTLY, and we still ended up going over the allowed baggage, which sucked.

Tokyo Dragons weren’t able to come to the Dublin show, so I wore a Tokyo Dragons t-shirt in their honor (honour for those of you from the UK!)

It was a very short flight, but I still fell asleep…I was so deeply asleep that our landing, I woke up and thought that we had just hit some rough turbulence! In fact, I don’t remember taking off in the plane – I was already asleep!

Once we landed in Dublin, we met up with DMBT’s in the airport and got on a private bus to heat to the hotel where we’d all be staying.


…On the way to the hotel…

We all took naps at the hotel, except for Peter, who was busy editing photos and taking care of “tour manager” stuff…because he RULES at that.

At about 4 in the afternoon, we got up and walked to the venue. The DMBT’s bus took our gear to the venue for us, and we wanted to walk so we could see the city. Dublin sure is a crowded city! We walked through a park on the way…it was nice! We also saw some kids getting busted by some cops on horses for smoking pot, and a guy and girl making out…I almost got pictures of both, but I just wasn’t feeling it!









The venue was very nice…they gave us some free Guinness. It’s true…Guinness in Ireland is totally different than it is anywhere else. It was great!



I went to get some food with Andrew, Peter, and Atom. Andrew and I ended up splitting a pizza. He wanted cheese, I wanted pepperoni, so we got a half cheese / half pepperoni pizza. It was hilarious. The pepperonis were about one centimeter in diameter, and they sliced the pizza with no regard to the toppings. We had to rearrange the pepperoni so that it was a true half and half pizza. I’m not sure why I got so much of a kick out of this.

The show was great…it was so great that the people in Ireland were singing along to our songs!

After the show, everybody went out to hang out in the city, and I went back to the hotel with Peter and Kimberly, where we all bro’d down for a bit, then I went back to our room to work on taking some notes for this journal!

Interestingness…the toilet in our room had TWO flushers…one for if you had to go #1, and another if yo had to go #2! I think it’s to save water!


Dual Flush!

At some point in the evening, I walked downstairs for a breath of fresh air, and I tried to talk to an elderly lady. She was German…she spoke no English. I remembered how to say “good night” in German – my father taught me when I was a kid…she appreciated it!

I still can’t put into words how awesome the people of DMBT’s are.



Day 19 – Dublin, Ireland – DAY OFF

We had the day off today…we caught up on sleep, and I got a lot of work done on the computer…it was awesome to have a day to relax!!!!

Day 20 – Manchester

We got up early to catch an early flight to Manchester. Kriss picked us up at the airport, and we went to a hotel to take a nap.

When we went to the venue, we were greeted by Clare from DMBT’s, who had just bought our single for Sally Be!



We saw Gemma (Weiner Warrior!) outside of the venue. The show was sold out and she didn’t have a ticket, so we put her on the guest list…her and her friend Rebecca…such great girls!


Gemma!

I went to walk to find a grocery store, and was stopped by some awesome fans that had banners and all kinds of stuff…GREATNESS!!!







We played the show…SO MUCH FUN…the crowd was phenomenal!



After our show we went to the merch stand and hung out with people and had some pictures taken.








Atom signing a cell phone

When the whole show was over, we all went to a bar called Big Hands to hang out with TD’s and DMBT’s. We had SUCH a great time…there were some other people there…”Badly Drawn Boy” and some other band…we chose to hang out with our friends instead!

Day 21 – Liverpool

We woke up and drove to Liverpool. We all kinda went our own ways after eating lunch…my way was to our dressing room to take a nap!

The show was amazing…we got “Best Hair Awards”…so awesome…


Best Hair!!!

After the show everybody went to a bar to hang out, but I went to the hotel because I was TIRED.

The hotel we stayed in was a Formule 1 hotel. They are SO STRANGE! The showers and bathrooms are outside of the hotel rooms. You gotta walk down the hall to get to them. The showers and bathrooms are also SELF CLEANING! Apparently, at certain times in the day, they just spray themselves down with some kind of cleaning fluid and then dry themselves. Funny story…Stodi from Tokyo Dragons got stuck in one of them while it was in the cleaning cycle. He got covered with this green cleaning stuff…that surely sucked for him!

For some reason, I didn’t only took one good pic in Liverpool.

Day 22 – Stoke On Trent

We woke up and cleaned ourselves in the self-cleaning showers. Andrew noticed that they had “body dryers” in them. They were kinda like the hand dryers in bathrooms that blow warm air, but just a lot bigger.

We drove to Stoke On Trent, dropped our bags off at the hotel, then went to the venue and unloaded. We walked around the city to see what there was to see, there really wasn’t much to see there. We did manage to give Stoke On Trent a funny nickname! We were told that we’d hate Stoke On Trent, but it was really a neat city.

We met up with two friends from back home that had moved to the UK – Sara and Cari. It was really great to see them. We also met up with Emma and Carl again…this was their third show of the tour.


Me, Atom, Sara, Cari, Andrew


Emma, me, Carl

Before the show we went next door from the venue to hang out at a pub with TD’s, Sara, Cari, Carl, and Emma.

The show was AMAZING…what’s new?


DMBT’s playing in Stoke On Trent

We also got to meet Jen…FW fan extraordinaire…her and her boyfriend were awesome…they are die hard!


Jen and her bf

After the show everybody went out to hang out with some fans…I wanted to go out…but went to the hotel to get some work done one this journal!

Day 23 – Portsmouth

This was the last show of the tour…so sad!

When we got there, we were surprised to see Meesh and Sam again! Scott, Rachel, and SO MANY other friends were able to make it out, too. It was awesomeness.


Sam’s shirt…amazing!

We were given our personalized FW underwear…Andrew wore his onstage!



Apparently, cover bands are really big in the UK

The show was a RIOT…we all got onstage for the last DMBT’s song so we could show that crowd what was up…it ruled.




Alex and Kimberly (DMBT’s)


Homemade FW shirts! (The print is too small…but they’re cool)

DMBT’s got us going away gifts…SO NICE of them!!! We love them SO MUCH!!!!


Gifts!


More gifts!


The whole tour – ONSTAGE!

After the show, we went to DMBT’s hotel for a goodbye party. We thought it would be a great idea to go “bush surfing”…basically, jumping into bushes. Twas fun at the time!



Bush Surfing!!!!

We drove to London to get a room…we’d have to be up EARLY the next day to leave for Paris. We’d be lucky to get 2 hrs of sleep before we had to leave for the airport…and we had a huge radio show to do first thing when we got to Paris.

Day 24 – Paris

We woke up early after two hours of sleep. We hung around in the airport for a bit, then boarded the plane to Paris. We met up with JP (the owner of Martingale, the French record label that we’re signed to.) JP took us to Europe 2, one of the biggest radio stations in France.


Meeting JP at the airport



We were to play live on air to 300,000 people. They let bands play cover songs on air, and if they like the cover, then they ask you to play an original song. We had decided the day before the show that we’d cover a song called “Ma Benz” by a French hardcore rap group called NTM. We’d never played it until about 30 minutes before we were supposed to go on air. We quickly learned it, Weinerized it, and made it AWESOME.


Here’s a picture of the NTM cd liner!


Rewriting “Ma Benz”


…still working on “Ma Benz”

We played it…it RULED…the whole studio audience was clapping along! They asked us to play one of our own songs…we played “Handjabs.” Again, the whole studio audience was clapping along and smiling like crazy. It went over superbly!

After the radio show was over, JP let us know that we were really playing to 1.5 million people, and he told us it was 300,000 so he wouldn’t freak us out!

We then proceded to Oui FM, another radio station, where we’d be playing 3 songs. We were greeted at the radio station by Tana, Tavy, and Nagwa – 3 of our most AWESOME French fans!


Walking to Oui FM


Oui FM!


Nagwa, Tana, and Tavy!

We played our 3 songs (they were taped to be aired later, as all of the bands do at that station.) The DJ LOVED our songs…he also informed us that we recorded our 3 songs in record fast time for them…not because our songs are any shorter than most bands, but because we played them well and didn’t have to re-record them like most bands…is that surprising?


Playing at Oui FM


Driving…Arch De Triumph

After the Oui FM performance, we went to get a drink with JP, Tana, Tayve, and Nagwa. We’d be doing our next interview at the bar that we went to. That interview was FUNNY! The girl asked what people had to do to get hair like ours…Josh answered with: “It’s pretty much impossible, cause you’d have to be born us.”



We went to our hotel to take a 40 minute nap, then went out to eat with JP, Tana, and friends. The meal was great…everybody seems so nice in France!


The girls drew a mustache on Andrew, and gave him a beret, so he’d look French


Andrew wiped off the mustache, then asked if he’d gotten it all off

After dinner, Josh and Andrew went back to the hotel to crash, and Atom and I walked around for a bit…we walked up to Mont Matre, the highest point in Paris, I believe. The view was great, but we were tired, so we walked back to the hotel and bailed. We had to be up early to go see the Louvre and then board a flight back to London.


Eiffel Tower from Mont Matre

Day 25 – Paris/London

We woke up and went to JP’s house for breakfast…we hung out with JP and Celine (JP’s lady.) We did a small acoustic set for them, then hopped on the subway to go see the Louvre . It was pretty pretty!


JP’s house…headquarters of Martingale Music








Walking in Paris, we saw some poop

We hauled it to the airport in the midst of terrible traffic and SO MANY PEOPLE just standing in the streets, and flew back to London.

We landed at Heathrow airport, then went to a hotel close to the Gatwick airport where we’d be flying home from the next day. We hung out for a bit, then I went downstairs to the hotel lobby to work on this journal once again.

There was a girl in the lobby that was from Wales…she recognized me, had me sign her arm a few times, her leg a few times, then freaked out for a bit, and then she went back to her hotel room.

I went back to our room, and slept.

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Random pictures
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English Countryside


Alex (DMBT’s)






A banner that was made for us…something about loving our hair!


Lamb and mint flavored chips?


Nic (DMBT’s))


Peter, Andrew, Atom


Peter, Me, Meesh

Okay...I didn't have a lot of time on tour to really work on the tour journal...so give me a little bit of time on this one...when it's posted it will be awesome...but it's gonna take me a while! Life is so busy and hectic right now!!!

I have what is quite possibly my largest tour journal update coming up soon...but it's taking TONS of time to sort through this one...I have over 2,000 pictures, and 3,000 words of NOTES for this journal entry...so until it's done and posted...you should watch this video...it just lets you know how awesome we can be!

(Just make sure that you turn your computer screen on it's left side while watching, or turn your head to the right.) If I would have taken this video, you could leave your head and computer screen in their normal respective positions while watching.

Still...it's awesome.

::::MOVIE::::
Atom Dancing
::::MOVIE::::

So we were making our way to South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. For those of you that don’t know, South By Southwest is a huge music festival. They close down an entire street in downtown Austin, and TONS of bands play. It’s pretty much the most fun that can be had at a music festival in America…granted if you attend, you’re sure to not sleep much, and be VERY busy the whole time!

We were playing 2 shows at South By Southwest (SXSW), and playing one show in Pensacola, FL on our way to Texas.

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Day 1


Saturn 1b Rocket…it’s on the way from Nashville, TN to Pensacola, FL.

So, we made our way to Pensacola, FL to play a show at The Gutter Lounge. We got there a bit early (in the POURING RAIN) and it just so happened that there was a bowling alley attached to the venue…so we bowled for free!







Opening the show was a local Pensacola band, American Suicide.

After them, The Hotel Lights played…totally awesome…their singer is Darren Jesse…the drummer from Ben Folds Five. AMAZING!


Hotel Lights

We saw so many familiar faces…here’s one!


Stacy!

We also saw Sylvia from Pensacola, be she had to leave before we played…she had school early the next day…so sad!

So, after the show, we packed up and headed towards Texas. We weren’t feeling top notch, so we decided to drive about 30 minutes west, and try to find a hotel near the Mobile, AL area. Well, there were NO HOTELS that had vacancy. I called at least 15 hotels in the area…no vacancy.

I called the last hotel on our list, (last because we had a coupon that made it really cheap, so it surely couldn’t offer the best of accommodations!) Well, they had vacancy, so we drove to it. WOW it was a great hotel…and cheap!

We got a little sleep, and then woke up for the humungous trek to Austin, TX.

Day 2

On the way to Austin, we crossed the Colorado River…so pretty…it looked like this:

Colorado River (yeah…it was night time)


Houston, TX (on the way to Austin)

The drive took FOREVER! We got to Austin around 10:30 pm. We went directly to Stella’s house (the singer for Cruiserweight…that’s who we were staying with throughout South By Southwest.) We dropped off some luggage, and went to SXSW registration…it ended at midnight, so we had to hurry!

After we got registered, we found Yogi from Cruiserweight…and hung out with him and his girl for a little bit.


Yogi and his GF

Check out this awesome flyer from Fuse TV…


GREATNESS!

After hanging out with Yogi, I went to meet up with a longtime friend of mine, Reese. She was with a friend from England and another from Georgia.


Me, Reese, and her two friends

I went to see Murder By Death, and on the way I ran into the Doghouse Records crew, some of the Lumberjack Distribution crew, and ¾ of the Limbeck guys. SO GREAT. Murder By Death put on a pretty good show, too.


Me with Limbeck


Zach from Lumberjack Distribution (Limbeck guys in the background)


Murder By Death

After the show, I wet to meet up with the other FW guys, and Ian and Allen (the owners of our UK record label, Must Destroy)


FW and Must Destroy

On a side note, all of the Aquateen Hunger Force characters were hanging out…



PRETTY FUNNY!!!

We went to eat pizza…most of us went to some random pizza place, but I remembered from last year where the best pizza at SXSW was…it’s this little place that just blasts death metal music, and all of the employees are really mean, but their pizza is the BEST ever!!


Hoeks Pizza…Ian, Allen, and I got to immediately just referring to it as “Death Metal Pizza”…SO good…

After Ian, Allen, and I got done with our Death Metal Pizza, we went to find everybody else at the other pizza place.


Matt from Limbeck


Sheffield (label manager of Doghouse) eating pizza!

After eating, all of the shows were over for the night, so we went back to Stella’s house to crash.

Stella’s roommate, Amy, has the third most amazing dog in the world. Her name is Pickle.


Pickle

Day 3

On our way downtown, we saw Jim Testa from Jersey Beat Magazine (a highly respected magazine in the New England area, who just happens to like us a lot!) We told him about our show later on that day, and he said he’d come to the show…and he did!

We played at about 4 in the afternoon, and Cruiserweight played after us. A lot of our friends and industry contacts came out…it was completely awesome.


Atom backstage, changing guitar strings


Sean from Dynamite Boy hung out for a bit

We got to hang out with Steve from Atlantic Records UK, Steve Homer from Clearchannel UK, the Must Destroy guys, and the Doghouse crew.


Sheffield hanging out backstage before our first SXSW 2005 show

After the show, I went to get some more Death Metal Pizza…and ran into SO MANY PEOPLE from Tennessee…I felt like I was back home again for a little bit.


Joel and Chuck…just two of the Tennessee people that I saw!

So, I walked the streets a bit, seeing what there was to see, and ended up at a restaurant called Habana (it’s Cuban.) Atom, Stella, Amy, Josh, Andrew, and I ate dinner there. It was really good….but more importantly, we ran into Andy Gessner, the owner of the video promotion company that promotes our videos…SO AWESOME…we love Andy!


FW and Andy Gessner

After dinner, Andrew, Josh, and I met up with Ian and Allen from Must Destroy, and went to the Guided By Voices tribute show…it was basically tons of bands playing Guided By Voices songs (including Jason Falkner….love him!)

So, the Guided By Voices dudes where there, and Ian from Must Destroy is good friends with them…Ian introduced me to the guys, and told them that I am an amazing drummer (haha!) I talked with Bob Pollard (the singer) about our mutual friends in Tennessee (John Davis and Sam Powers from Superdrag)…among other things.


Me with some of Guided By Voices

The Donnas were also hanging out with us…pretty awesome.

After the GBV tribute show, I went over to check out MXPX. I’m not really a fan, but I wanted to see if they were any good live. I ran into Reese again, and the guys from River City Rebels.


River City Rebels and Reese

After MXPX, I went to see a band called Pity Sing from New York…I had heard their song on the radio about a week earlier, and thought that it was okay. They weren’t so good live.


Pity Sing

After Pity Sing, I got to see Tegan And Sara…I thought they were pretty good!
(I think Andrew is in love with them now.)


Tegan And Sara

After that show, it was about time to meet back up at the Man’s Van, and head back to Stella’s house to sleep again.

Day 4

We woke up and went to a private party that we were invited to…sponsored by Smirnoff and Jane Magazine. It was fun…but most importantly, we got to hang out with awesome people and eat free food!

We met up with our great friend Delmar, our hometown band friends Laws Rushing, and tons of friends from the UK.


Allen (Must Destroy), Steve (Atlantic), Steve (Atlantic), and Ian (Must Destroy) at the Jane Magazine party


Evening view of the Jane party…a lot of people had already left


James Iha (guitar player for The Smashing Pumpkins) at the Jane party


Night view from the Jane party…we were on our way out

After the party, everybody went to eat Mexican food, but I wanted to go meet up and see my friends in Jamison Parker…so I did.


Jamison Parker

At the Jamison Parker show, I ran into a lot of the Limbeck guys, and Sheffield and Rubin from Doghouse…we hung out for a bit…then I went to meet a new but great friend of mine.


Forrest from Hellogoodbye, and me

I went to dinner with the Hellogoodbye guys, (great guys, and a great band in my opinion) and then saw them off to their show.

Then I went over to see Ash - one my all-time favorite bands. While I was waiting to see them play, I talked to a writer from Spin Magazine…it was an interesting conversation.

I also got to have a great conversation with the drummer from Ash, Rick.


Me and Rick (from Ash)

Atom got into the show a little late (it was sold out), and Andrew snuck into the show with Ben Kweller. So awesome.


Tim (Ash)


Charlotte (Ash)


Ash

After the Ash show, I went to meet up with Forrest from Hellogoodbye again…they were filming The Real World (for Mtv) at their show, and one of the girls from The Real World came up and talked to us…can’t wait to see if that shows up on the next season…she was trying to get our phone numbers and stuff, all lit up with the stupid Real World lights and caught on their cameras.

I went to see Anberlin…they were okay. I didn’t stay long.

After Anberlin, I went to see Har Mar Superstar, and met up with Dirk (Doghouse Records and Lumberjack Distribution owner) and Emily (his wife.) I saw Jim Testa from Jersey Beat Magazine, and one of the guys from The Queers.


Jim Testa and one of the guys from The Queers

After hanging out with them, I went to see Goldie Looking Chain for a little bit…it was entertaining…then I went to see Pedro The Lion, but it was sold out, so I went to see The New York Dolls instead…so funny to think that their singer went on to sing that “Hot Hot Hot” song in the early 80’s….TOO funny.

After the New York Dolls, I went to grab a slice of Death Metal Pizza, then met the dudes back at the van to go “home” and sleep.

Day 5

We woke up, walked around downtown, saw what there was to see, and then ducked into The Hilton for a bit to wait out a quick thunderstorm.


Waiting out the rain…

After it stopped raining, we went to the venue where we’d be playing later than night.

When we got there, our manager was there, along with Howie Abrahms from Jive Records. Howie took us out to eat dinner, where we saw our friends from The Feds.


The Feds

We went back to our sold out show (with a huge line of people still trying to get in…so great) and we ROCKED it so hard!

We got to hang out with Atlantic Records again, Paul Bolton (our UK booking agent), Doghouse Records, Must Destroy Records, The Hip Video crew, Dave from Puntmedia, Andrew Seward from Against Me!, and two of the guys from The Getup Kids. We hung out with so many people that it’s hard to keep it all together!

After our show, I met up with Sarah and Reese, and got Sarah into the Doghouse showcase.


Sarah and Reese


Cruiserweight SXSW show


Koufax SXSW show


Limbeck playing an acoustic show outside after their SXSW show


Our manager, Ffroe, and Steve Homer from Clearchannel UK


Me and Dave from Puntmedia


FW with the Hip Video Promo girls


Josh talking to The Honorary Title guys after our show

Some of the Doghouse crew:


Day 6

We woke up, and drove home. Oh how exciting. We got back home at about 6:00 am…after a 16+ hour drive…SO FUN!

One interesting thing DID happen on the way there…we saw this little put-put golf place called Starship Pegasus. It was awesome, and we decided to get some pictures.


Starship Pegasus


Andrew decided to go shirtless with the little green men

More on Starship Pegasus here:
http://www.starshippegasus.com

If you look at the webpage, you'll see that the little Starship Pegasus really has high goals...