Life Update

Well, we finally finished the ABR tour alive. I think we left White River on day four and drove some insane amount of time to pick up with the tour again at the Calgary date. Luckily the rest of the tour went swimmingly and all the shows on the way home were great. Got to hang with a ton of great friends as well: Jon from Grave Maker, Marshall from The Warriors, Greg from Amber Pacific...even super scene-celeb Timm from Trial/Wait In Vain/Panic Records came and hung out, ate some Po Dogs, and showed us around Panic HQ before the show in Seattle!

For the past three weeks we've all been hangin' at home and getting ready for our new record, "Burning at Both Ends" to drop. Scheduling press, photo shoots, and a video shoot for the first single which will be filmed in LA next week. If you're in the area, submit an email and come be a part of it! Here are the details:

Hey everyone, SYG is making a new video and we're asking YOU to come be a part of it! Here are the requirements of what we'll need for extras:

-Please have your own transportation to/from shoot (it will be in the LA area) on Wednesday, May 4th.

-Come dressed in "prom" attire: tux/suit or dress with alternate options, 80's looking clothes & accessories would be good to bring as well if you have them

-Send a picture of you in costume to sygcast@gmail.com. This will be how the director decides who he needs for the video and will also be how you receive info for the shoot.

-Please state whether you have any dancing skills or experience.

For example: "I am a skilled breakdancer and have performed in these videos/movies..." or "I am trained in salsa dancing. I took a class once." Any way for the director to learn more would be a huge help so please include a link to your portfolio or youtube video of you showing off said dance skills if possible. NOTE: dancing skills are NOT required, so don't feel like you need to do this if you don't have any! :)

-This will be an all day shoot so please plan on being available all day. Again, that's Wednesday, May 4th (subject to change)

...That's it, we'll see you there!

So that's what I've been up to. Dan, Jordan, Mikey and I leave Monday night to drive down to LA for the video, a photo shoot, and practice before we leave for our UK headliner with A Loss For Words & This Time Next Year, and a number of fests. Dates & tickets are available on our facebook page HERE (it takes a minute to load so please be patient!)

We so excited. We, we, we so excited.

Over and out.

XXX

August Burns Red Tour Update

Here's the situation:

Van broke down again = stuck in the middle of nowhere = more free time = blog update!

Unfortunately, this equation also applies:

Van broke down again = everyone loses $ = we're bummed we don't get to play = people are bummed they don't get to see us play

Cost of repairs on this tour alone (before this one): >$2,000

One tank of diesel: $150+

Placing the responsibility and cost on someone else's shoulders: Priceless.

...Yep, looks like getting rid of our vehicle and just renting from now on would be the smart thing to do. All we want to do now is finish this tour and get home.

But first, let's start from where we last left off...

Sudbury show was a lot of fun. Hottest show of the tour and the power kept cutting out on one side of the stage for every band, but the crowd was great and everyone had a blast.

Yesterday we had a day off to make the 20 hr. drive to Winnipeg. About halfway through the drive, Justin was driving and felt some strange rumbling. No sooner had he announced it to the rest of us when the back tire flew off and went rolling down the highway! At first glance, this seemed like the worst possible conditions to have road troubles. We're in a snowy mountain pass on a two-way road with very few cars on it. Our luck quickly turned around when, within minutes, a Greyhound bus passed by and pulled over to offer us a ride into the nearest town...which just happened to be White River, Ontario, hometown of Winnie-the-Pooh and self-proclaimed "Coldest Spot in Canada."

So we've been stuck here since yesterday afternoon surfing the internet in the hotel and eating snacks from the gas station and the overpriced diner next door. I just paid $19 for subpar fettuccine alfredo because it was the only place open past 9 PM. This town is TINY. Even during the day, the only other dining options are A&W and the donut shop across the street. It started snowing about ten minutes after the wheel fell off yesterday and hasn't stopped since.

Get me out of here, I am losing my mind! :(

XXX

August Burns Red Canadian Tour

Nothing too exciting to report here. Tonight is the 4th show on our tour with August Burns Red and Texas In July, which runs mostly through Canada. Born of Osiris was supposed to be on the tour too but they didn't get across the Canadian border so they cancelled their dates entirely.

The drive out to the first show was insane. We left California the 25th. Four days, one van repair, and one massive trailer repair later, we arrived at the first show of the tour, having missed both headlining shows we'd booked on the drive out :(
The tour kicked off for us in Williamsport, PA at a venue called The Hive. We'd never played The Hive (or Williamsport for that matter) before, but the show was great.
We had a day off the next day so we drove, ate some Angelo's pizza at the Russin house with the Title Fight boys, then drove some more.

We'd never been to Quebec City before so that was interesting. Before the show Mikey and I walked around town and shopped and found some good food.

Hung out with our buddy Pat Moore yesterday in London and he took us to a sweet poutine place called Smoke's that serves veggie poutine and we met a very drunk guy who decided to strike up a conversation with Justin and Jr. the entire time we ate haha.

Now we're in Ottawa. Last time we were here was years ago on the No Trigger, Daggermouth, Hostage Life tour, so I'm gonna go walk around and check out the city.

Peace!

XXX