It is the present.

Lots of updating to do.

Oklahoma City-  This was my birthday.  We ran out of gas about an hour from the venue, and Andy and I got to walk the two miles up the highway to the gas station.  Fortunately, Living Sacrifice weren’t far behind, and they graciously spared us the walk back.  Thanks again, boys.  The name of the venue was a bit misleading.  I think we all had delusions of grandeur at the mention of “The Diamond Ballroom.”  The place turned out to be a kind of old-school country music dance hall.  It looked more like a converted roller skating rink to me.  The show itself was actually really cool.  My best friend and his girlfriend came out to the show, and we had a great time.  After the show, the Demon Hunter crew cooked out on a ten dollar grill they had bought.  We put Pantera on our van stereo, opened the doors,  and turned it up as loud as it could possibly go.  Then we partied like it was 1999.  We went to the dive bar in the parking lot and made some new friends.  I was even able to have some long conversations with some close ones back home.  It was a memorable night, and it ended up being a pretty good birthday.

Joplin-  We woke up at the hotel and a few of the guys went to the IHOP in the hotel parking lot.  When they returned, they found that someone had broken out the driver’s side window of our new rental van, and had stolen our GPS.  SUPER big bummer.  We really hope that whoever did it uses the money to buy food for their kids.  Anyway, we bought a new GPS and fashioned a window out of some plexiglass.  Mark emblazoned it with “The Famine Destroys…This Window” and we were off to Joplin.  We arrived to a venue with no power, which was a little more than concerning.  It wasn’t long before the situation was rectified, and we were able to discover that the venue, called “The Foundry”, is actually a really awesome all-ages venue.  They have a soda bar where the bands can create their own drinks.  I created The Famine, which is mountain dew, orange, cherry, kiwi, and vanilla mixed together.  If you are ever in Joplin, stop by and have one.  The show itself was cool, but I think we were all a little out of it, due to the events of the day.

Kansas City-  We woke up early and went to have a new window put in the van.  After that, it was off to KC.  My last tour experience with Kansas City was mediocre, so I was determined to have a blast.  KC did not disappoint.  As we pulled up, Shaun from Coalesce was unloading some special show posters.  I did a great job of hiding my fanboy-ness.  Just for the record, I love Coalesce…but I digress.  The venue was amazing.  Two sand volleyball courts (?) in the back, a mechanical bull (!) by the bar.  The green room was in a portion of a vast basement network beneath the venue.  Anyway, cool place.  The show and the kids were better than okay.  There was a dude about four feet in front of me who watched our entire set with a look of mild disgust on his face.  That guy is my favorite.  After we played, we went to the bar where Brent, who used to be in Salt the Earth, works.  We got to hang out, and a pretty rad KC death metal band was playing.  Missed their name, but good times.

The battery on this computer is about to die, so I’ll be back with all of the gory details of the past few days sometime soon!

Love,

-Nick

Alrighty, here we go.

The San Antonio show ended up being slightly underattended and more than slightly hot, but the kids at the show made up for it by being kind and extremely enthusiastic.  We definitely made some new friends, and the crowd was definitely uplifting.

The venue in Houston was enormous and very swank.  The Rza from the Wu-Tang clan played there the day after us.  I spent thirty minutes trying to find the green room they were going to give to him.  No luck, but back to the point.  I have a very special place in my heart for Houston, and Houston did not disappoint.  Several of the guys from the Lion of Wall Street came out to the show, as well a few of the guys from Spoken.  There was a really cool Irish pub next to the venue, and several of the bands were able to secure highly valuable brodown time with each other.  All in all, two thumbs up for Houston.

Dallas.  Best show ever.  If you weren’t there, you don’t deserve to know.

I’m inside of the venue in Little Rock right now.  The venue is a huge dome with stadium chair seating, which should provide for an interesting night.  All of the bands are really looking forward to seeing Living Sacrifice destroy in their home town.

That’s all for now.  I turn 23 tomorrow, wish me luck.

Love,

-Nick

Boy, do I have an update.  I’m going to tackle this one chronologically.  The Tempe show was probably the smallest of the tour, but they had the biggest pit of the tour so far, so it goes down as a gnarly show.  Plus, I got to see my friends Jacob and Ashleigh from back home, which was comforting.

After the Tempe show, we crashed in Phoenix with a friend of the band, and we drove to Albequerque the next day.  All of the bands hung out at the same hotel in Albequerque, and it was really cool to kick it with the dudes on our night off.

Next day was Denver.  We got a late start because we miscalculated the drive out, which caused us to arrive late.  It was super muggy and raining off and on outside, and we had to hustle to get loaded in and set up before the doors opened.  As a side note, let me point out here that Denver has the largest population of derelict and mostly insane homeless that I have ever seen, and they are ruthless.  I had to call people on my phone and pretend to be in the middle of an important conversation every time one approached.  Anyway, the show was sold out, and ended up being tons of fun.

Here is where the fun begins.  We hop in the van to drive through the night back to Albequerque, where our next show is.  As we begin our drive, we hear a sound that I can only compare to a coffee pot full of steel percolating beneath the back bench in our van.  Andy thinks something is up with the rear end of the van.  We find a 24 hour auto zone, do our best to check out the van, and fail to diagnose the problem.  Understanding that something is wrong, we continue our drive, and consult a mechanic immediately upon our morning arrival to Albequerque.  Turns out the axle is busted.  Keep in mind that this is a Thursday, and the shop is closed on Saturday and Sunday.  This means that if we don’t get the problem fixed within 24 hours, we are stuck through the weekend.  The guys in Living Sacrifice drop their trailer at the venue and come pick our trailer up, which was awesome of them.  All hail the mighty LS.  Anyway, the show was exactly what we needed.  The venue was cool, and the kids were extremely positive.  It would be accurate to say that our Albequerque show served as a form of musical exorcism.  As we are loading out our gear, we blow a tire on the trailer, which has been wearing tires unevenly.

Friday morning, the Advent guys decide to stay behind with us to hang out, since they are going to crash at my house in Denton because the El Paso show is cancelled because of shady dealings.  All hail the mighty Advent.  Long story short, the axle we need is in Denver, and we can’t get it until next week, which won’t do.  The mechanic puts a self-described “patch” on the axle, which is more costly than it sounds, but it gets us back to Dallas at about five in the morning.  We crash out for a few, then we make the decision to rent a van for the rest of the tour, since we can’t count on our axle patch to make it.  Without going into detail, I’ll say that renting a van is a bit of a financial bummer, but we will prevail.

We take a look at the trailer.  The axle doesn’t appear to be misaligned or bent, so we surmise that it may be a bearing problem, which is expensive, so we are going to stick our heads in the sand on this one and power through.  I get back home and get to spend some quality time with my close ones while Mark and Andy get to see their wives and kids and Chris hangs out with his little sister.  We really needed that, and all is well.

Now I’m sitting in the van outside of the venue in San Antonio, and I am ready to destroy the state of Texas, in a good way.

Love,

Nick

Like Jawbreaker said…well, kinda.

This update will be a long one, so prepare yourselves for the textual onslaught!  I am consulting my laminate as I type in order to ascertain the number of shows we have played since the last update.  This means a few things: I have a terrible memory, and tour has officially set in.  Our day to day routines are now relegated to the confines of the specific tour structure…drive, wait, play, wait, sleep, repeat.  The general overview?  We are having the times of our lives.  Our sanity is maintained by the amazing people we meet every night at the shows, the truly gallant individuals in the bands on this tour, and nonstop late night conversations from the ones at home who care about us enough to put up with our absence, not to mention our beards.  To all of these people, our collective hats are off.  Thank you times one million.  Now, onto the shows, itemized by date.

Seattle-Sold out home crowd for Demon Hunter, and the first official date of the Stronger than Hell Tour.  We meet up with the DH and Sleeper guys, and hang out like nobody’s business.  Spirits are high, as the line rounds the block.  The crowd was amazing, and we played our hearts out.  Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better kickoff, there isn’t much more to say.

Portland-With an awesome show and a good night’s sleep behind us, we don’t mind driving through the rain to arrive at the venue.  I had never been to portland before, and I have to say that I enjoyed my time there.  I love places in America with personality, and Portland seemed to be soaked in an easygoing, pseudo-hippie demeanor that really appealed to me for some reason.  The show itself was again, sold out, and really rad.  I managed to destroy my right hand while we were playing.  I went to shake the first of many hands after we stepped off stage and I thought I was going to pass out.  My fist is still bruised and swollen, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t broken.  So kids, come out to a Famine show, and watch their idiot bassist punch his instrument with a clear disdain for his own personal safety!

Orangevale-The capacity at Club Retro was about half of what we had originally thought it would be, but the show was completely packed.  Demon Hunter brought a copy of rock band on their bus with them, and they set it up in the green room at the club.  All of the bands played several rounds of Rock Band, the highlight being Mark getting a 91 percent on expert drums on “Creep” the first time he sat down to play.  Also, Micah from Oh, Sleeper and I are starting an all star rock band band with Jeremiah, the sound guy from Living Sacrifice, and Patrick, the guitar tech from Demon Hunter.  Watch out, America…we are all nerdy and bored!

Pomona-We had a night off before the Pomona show.  That night we met up with Jason Lindquist, the long time bassist from Embodyment, who is now living in Yorba Linda.  We partied at the hotel and watched a downloaded version of “Ghost Watch.”  Odds are you haven’t heard of it, look it up on Wikipedia, it rules.  The culmination of the night came in the form of me terrifying Chris, but that’s another post.  The next day we went out to the Glasshouse, which is an awesome venue.  The architecture and physical layout of the building are very impressive and well thought out, with an amazing record store next door.  Seriously, I found an original pressing of the Hot Water Music/Leatherface split, and the Jawbreaker live record!  Lots of celebrities in attendance at this show.  Members of As I Lay Dying, Throwdown, and Bleeding Through were in the house.  This show ended up being the best of the tour so far, hands down.  The crowd was great and the songs were translating well.  Several of the kids actually knew the words to some of the songs, which is always great to see.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’m going to do my best to post consistently, so check back for updates!  I’m holding out on the great stories for now…

Love,

Nick