"Not Without A Fight" Tour Update: Day 11

I am sitting in a hotel room in Rock Springs, WY instead of playing a show in Denver tonight because early this morning the entire tour had to pull off the freeway due to snow hazards. So, we spent the day in a Walmart parking lot in Evanston, WY, lighting fireworks and eating crappy food. We just got dinner and split a hotel room with NFG to chill in until we get news of the road conditions and determine which route to take to Dallas. Even though it sucks nobody got to play tonight, we made the best of a bummer situation and ended up having some fun today. What is there to do at a Walmart in Wyoming, you ask? Why, take one of these, of course! (Bigger pic coming soon)

On the brighter side, up until today this tour has been great! We're on the "Not Without A Fight" Tour with New Found Glory, Bayside, and Shai Hulud, and all the shows have been sold out and the crowds have been awesome. The unique thing about this tour is that everyone bonded instantly the first day. With most tours it takes a couple weeks for people to start warming up to each other and hanging out but everyone on this tour is really cool and down to earth. Here's a recap of our trip thus far:

- Played a secret show at the Gnarwhal house in Tucson, AZ the day before the tour started. Trash Talk hit us up as they were on their way back from SXSW and got added to the show last minute and it was a blast! Way too many kids + way too small of a space = awesome show :) The girl who lived there said I could swing from the chandelier when we played so of course I did, and it ended up kind of breaking but not getting torn out. However, there were wires exposed and it started shocking people who touched it, myself included. Sketch! All in all a great show and it was fun hangin' with the TT doodz again.

- The First day of the NWAF tour was fun, My Uncle Dennis and his kids came and hung out and they were stoked. My little cousin Maddi has been calling every radio station in her area requesting our songs every day since hahaha. After the show everyone on the tour gathered in the parking lot and lit off an M-80 that Chad somehow acquired. It was LOUD. A cop came up and asked us if we knew anything and we told him it was a black '83 Honda Civic. I don't think he bought it but he left us alone regardless haha

- The CA shows were kinda stressful worrying about guest list but we had a lot of fun times with friends too. My Dad came out to the San Diego HOB show, always fun hanging out with him and watching him drink and tell stories with my band and tour mates. Shai Hulud wasn't allowed to play the Anaheim HOB show because Disney didn't approve of their misanthropic lyrics. Kinda funny/ridiculous, considering Slayer has played there. Good thing we're "family safe" so I could get my churro fix in Downtown Disney. SF was amazing. Possibly the best reaction we've had there, we even plugged the Daily Donalds blog during the set. I wore my shirt and we even brought him onstage. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here. The entire tour, along with Trash Talk and Silverstein were all in town and all ended up meeting up at the Hemlock afterwards so I got to hang with a lot of people I don't get to see enough of these days.

- Portland was our best show there to date, and surprisingly, turned out to be a really fun show for all the bands. Stayed with our buddy Kent, he's the man. Check out his band.

- Seattle was fun (minus the weather), paid way too much for a cab/bus and got incredible vegan food with Joe and Jordan P. at some place called Hillside Quickies. Hung out with some old friends, made some new ones, and the set was great. All in all a good show.

- Boise, ID was cool. Best crowd we've had there I think. Great backstage catering. Backed hard.

- The drive to SLC sucked. Hung out with my 2nd cousin Ryan, his wife Heather, and their kid neighbor at the show, and afterwards began the long drive through snowy mountains that landed us where we are now. Womp womp.

Catch y'all on the flip side.
XXX

Dunzo

The past week has been somewhat eventful. I'm pretty sure nobody reads this because I've only told a handful of people that it even exists but I'll preface the recap of my week with an explanation of the current state of my life regardless: SYG did 4 shows with Four Year Strong on the East Coast starting the day after Christmas. I found out right before going over for those that we had to move out of the apartment I was sharing with Morgan & Monica a month sooner than expected, so when I got back I had like 2 days to move everything out. I hadn't figured out where I was going to stay for the month of January so I asked my Brother and he said I could stay at his place. He also offered me a job working with the catering company he works for so for the past 2 and a half weeks I've been staying with jason and waking up at 5 AM Monday-Friday to work this catering sales job. This job sucks. I've been averaging $40-50/day for 7 hours of work and it's just not worth it for me. Jason hates it too I don't know how he works there and then goes straight to another job for 6 hours. Anyway last week I told the boss I'm quitting so tomorrow will be my last day. I must say, I'm stoked to be done! The only thing I'll miss will be the convenience of buying $1 menu items at the end of my shift. Well, that and talking to all the hot secretaries in all the business offices on my route haha

My birthday ended up being a lot of fun. Went to P.F. Chang's and got to spend time with people I don't get to see enough of anymore so that was nice. After that some of us went bowling and I gave out my Christmas presents I had made for everyone who contributes and/or enjoys the "Daily Donalds" blog. Check 'em out, 

we even got the star himself to pose in the photo! If you are reading this and you have no idea what I'm talking about, head over to http://dailydonalds.blogspot.com and check it out. It may not be as funny if you don't know Donald, but it's still pretty good.

After bowling we went to Artie's in P. Hill and at first we thought they were closed because the door wasn't open and there were no cars out front but after Noah knocked on the door the guy came and let us in and said we could come and hang until close so we had the bar all to ourselves. We listened to Pantera and R. Kelly and played pool for an hour or so before everyone headed home for the night. Duncan and I saw "Benjamin Button" and "Defiance" this week, both good movies. For my birthday Morgan bought tickets to go see Tim & Eric live in SF which was hilarious. They came out in yellow spandex suits singing "Diarrhea!" ...Definitely the best birthday present I received this year. 

In other news, I got these little devils as my birthday present to myself: 

Today I went to my Uncle John's house and hung out with him and my Cousins Ben and Nick for a few hours which is always fun. They're 5 & 7 so they were super stoked to have someone to play with for the day. We shot the BB gun and played wiffle ball and Wii then got pizza. Not much else to report so I guess that's all for now. Time to get some rest, gotta wake up in 6 hours!

XXX