Tour Diary - Volume 1
SHOUT IT OUT! WE ARE TOGETHER NOW!!
Sorry, I am so friggen bored. Jebus. Anywho, how's everybody doing out there tonight? Let's take a look at what the hell has been happening in my life lately, shall we? First off, let's take you back to September 26th, 2004. Anywho, it was the culmination of our careers. Maybe not, but it seemed that way. Perfect Crime first big show and it meant a lot to be "on" that night. I was very calm up until 6:30, but that's getting ahead of things. I started the day off by going to everyone's favorite mall store, Hot Topic. The only reason I could lower myself by walking through there is if I came out with a cool shirt. Found an Aqua Teen Hunger Force "Da Moon Rulez" T-shirt, and I was on my way to Matawan. Football was on when I arrived at the Tucker household, and the band was all there. Fortunately for us, we had about 4 hours before we had to hit the rickety road. So instead of loafing around we decided to go practice our stuff one more time. One song in particular was questionable.
I had written a song in a matter of 3 hours on Thursday afternoon, which turned out to be already a song, but what the hell do I care? I wrote the riff while playing around and realized while writing the lyrics that it was indeed "Ball and Chain" by Social Distortion. I didn't really care, as it wasn't really the crowd that would know this kind of thing and the fact that Mike Ness is cool, so he wouldn't sue me. Even if he did, I have no money, so blah. Anyway, the song was about a couple who every one of us knows. They fight and piss each other off, break up and make up within a week. The first verse is the angry verse, the second is the "I'm sorry" verse, and the third is the "Let's do it" verse. I thought it was pretty funny, and it's not really the music that's the standout here, it should be the words. Unfortunately four days isn't a great amount of time to memorize lyrics. The riff is so fucking simple that Bird could play it all day and all night, and I don't think I've ever seen him with any musical instrument. The fact is it wasn't really enough time to make it good, but it would have to do.
Not like it was bad or anything horrendous, but Tucker couldn't have learned all that stuff (it's a long song) without missing anything, so there were parts where he just mumbled. I didn't even notice. Anyhoo we worked on it a few times, and it worked for the time so we decided to do it. I had another riff but no lyrics, so it's a lot harder to do that. We practiced for about an hour and a half, and decided to load the stuff up. As you may or may not know, I bought a new kit the week before so that I would sound good; It's a 5-piece Mapex kit (snare, 3 toms, kick) with a maple finish. I also bought 2 cymbal stands and a new Paiste crash. I'm still using my grandpa's snare stand and hi-hat, and occasionally I'll use his snare and pedal. I got this single-chain Tama pedal, but it's hard to keep tight if you use it a lot (which I do). I'm gonna stop because about four people know what I'm talking about. Just believe me it's a nice kit.
But since there's so much stuff there now, I have a lot more stuff to move. So it took me a little while to get everything in the car, but eventually it was good to go. Wow, I looked at the garage after we moved all our stuff out, and realized that the area is fucking huge! There's plenty of space to put more crap in there. We're going to eventually clean it out and put a couch in there with some tables for when we want to discuss set lists and write music. It should be cool when we're done. We had to be at Starland by 5:30 and we got there at five. I could sense a bit of nervousness by now, and I was still pretty calm. I just sat on my car listening to BOC waiting for everyone to get there. When we were all assembled, we went inside and asked the ticket girl who where the stage manager (Chris) was. He was at the bar talking to someone when we told him who we were, and he let us know to get the equipment into the floor section. Brought in all the stuff and the Cosmic Brotherhood of Ra showed up while we were unloading. They were pretty nice and the BOC/UFO roadies helped bring stuff in and out after we were done. Everyone was pretty cool actually.
Got all the stuff settled and watched UFO's drummer sound check. He was awesome. Talked with him on the way out during the post-set. Also talked briefly with one of the BOC guitarists who looked like Dave Murray. Good guys. After the sound check, I started to construct my kit again, and set it up on stage. Got it in a good position since the stage was PACKED with fucking equipment. Stands filled with guitars, keyboards, amps, mics, drums... you name it, it was there. Even the stage sides on the floor were filled with stuff. Everywhere was musical stuff and it was cool. It just made it hard to move. Did our sound check and played "Hybrid Moments" real quick. Didn't sound too bad. I think sound quality helps out tremendously.
Now, for the hard part, as Tom Petty says, the waiting. We had about a half hour before they opened the doors and an hour before we went on. So I wandered around looking for beer or something, and I don't know what everyone else did. After they opened the doors and we all converged at the stage left corridor. We had some folks come up to us and ask us if we were Hat Trick of Misery who was scheduled the play this show when it was supposed to be in May. They then delayed it to June, then August, and finally September. We told them they were in Holland or something stupid like that. We had a few other people ask us if we were playing (even though Cicchi had a guitar with him). This was the point where I was getting a little anxious, so I just played some guitar and calmed myself pretty easily. There was a lot more people there in the beginning than I thought there would be. Finally, it was showtime, and we were ready to go. Rob wasn't there so he couldn't do the intro. So we had to go for it. Opened up with Pefect Criminals, and this was my biggest fuck up of the night. Better to get it out of the way now than later. Rescued (fast version) and Forgotten Memories were next. The crowd really got into the slow song, as I do the least in that song so I got to take a good look at the crowd. Swaying back and forth, it was cool. We had almost everyone's attention. That's power.
The new song was next and Tucker misread the lyrics (sang the wrong verses) but it didn't really matter at this point. The crowd was into it since they got into the other songs. Unescapable would be next and at this point I lost vision of what I was supposed to do. I really wasn't using my head, but I knew what to do. We flipped the fuck out for this song, as you kinda have to, but I saw some people flipping out as well. It was awesome - I think the best of the night. Finished it off with Every Rose and I could sense at least a few people wouldn't like it. (Poison is a love/hate band. You'll either really like them or just despise them.) A majority of the crowd liked it though and we took a while to finish on the last riff. Afterwards, we all got on the mic and thanked everyone. It was cool. People wanted our stuff: picks, set-list, cd's, sticks, autographs, and anything else. Insane. The roadies helped us get stuff off stage and outside. Me and Cicchi chatted and talked about the set. Coolest feeling ever. We loaded our stuff into our cars, and wondered where everyone else was. The Cosmic Brotherhood of Ra was on in the meantime, and from what I heard they weren't that good. When they first showed up, they had all this stuff like soundboards and saxaphones, so it sounds like something I would like. Oh well.
Joe and Tucker finally showed up outside, and told us people wanted them to sign the stuff we gave out. That is the wierdest thing to me. People actually wanted our stuff, and wanted us to sign it. Very weird. Anywho, talked for a little bit and moved our cars back. Went back into the club and people noticed us, and knew who we were. Said hi to the folks and went to meet up with our friends. Pretty much everyone was there and everyone said we were kick ass. Hard to believe your friends, but it seemed like we did okay. The rest of the night was hard to compare after that. UFO were really good, but I was still running on adrenaline big time.
Here we are, a month later. Things are still going good, for a change. Usually the month of September is hell because school starts, less time to work, and whatever summer relationships I had will come to an untimely end. It's not that bad this year. Getting things started was easy, but keeping it going like this will be the test. We are staying in a lot closer to the group than we did last year, and we know how that turned out (bad). We've got a show in two days at Albright University in Reading, PA. Going to another state should be fun as we try to expand a fan base. We're going into this as a Halloween style show, and trying to keep it fun and loud. I don't know if Forgotten Memories and Rescued is really a good way to go about it, but whatever. And hopefully we hit up a party or two after we play. This is a Spirit Day rally and relatively small, about 200-300 people. Should be fun. In the meantime, I have kept writing and playing almost everyday.
Here's something cool: My sister moved out of the house about 4 months ago, but still kept some of her stuff in her room. When she finally got most of it out, I decided to clean out the rest and use it in some form. At first I was planning on buying a bigger TV, and a DVD soundsystem and just use it as an entertainment center. However, money is against me on that one, so instead, I decided to convert it into a music room. Here's the plan: During Winter, it makes it rather difficult to play in a garage that is unheated, uninsulated, and overall just a frozen tundra. That's pretty much the factor in us not practicing at all last year past August. Granted we all go to college so we could've only pracitced on the weekends only, but even so, we didn't. Now, there is a somewhat warm room with protection from the cold where we can write. Moved a computer, TV/VCR, Gamecube, and exercise bike in there for the off time. There are also six amps in there right now; four PA's, a bass and a guitar. They take up a lot of room, but they look cool. Also got Cicchi's little amp and my two guitars in there. However, there are some issues. The room is kind of small right now, because the sex futon is laid out as a bed. When it's converted back to the sofa there should be more space. And once I get the rest of the stuff that doesn't belong there out of the place there should be significantly much more space.
Right now, it's kinda empty. The drums are at the garage right now, and the rest of the amps are stacked on top of each other. I've got all the stuff that needs to go by the wall parralell to the one with the amps. The futon is inbetween as well as the TV and whatnot. It will look cool when it's done. I got some cool posters up there now, added the Velvet Revolver and Spin Doctors~! ones up there now. It is looking fine right now, but it will look better by the time the dust settles.
Well, that's it for right now. I've ranted long enough. I shall return eventually.
Sorry, I am so friggen bored. Jebus. Anywho, how's everybody doing out there tonight? Let's take a look at what the hell has been happening in my life lately, shall we? First off, let's take you back to September 26th, 2004. Anywho, it was the culmination of our careers. Maybe not, but it seemed that way. Perfect Crime first big show and it meant a lot to be "on" that night. I was very calm up until 6:30, but that's getting ahead of things. I started the day off by going to everyone's favorite mall store, Hot Topic. The only reason I could lower myself by walking through there is if I came out with a cool shirt. Found an Aqua Teen Hunger Force "Da Moon Rulez" T-shirt, and I was on my way to Matawan. Football was on when I arrived at the Tucker household, and the band was all there. Fortunately for us, we had about 4 hours before we had to hit the rickety road. So instead of loafing around we decided to go practice our stuff one more time. One song in particular was questionable.
I had written a song in a matter of 3 hours on Thursday afternoon, which turned out to be already a song, but what the hell do I care? I wrote the riff while playing around and realized while writing the lyrics that it was indeed "Ball and Chain" by Social Distortion. I didn't really care, as it wasn't really the crowd that would know this kind of thing and the fact that Mike Ness is cool, so he wouldn't sue me. Even if he did, I have no money, so blah. Anyway, the song was about a couple who every one of us knows. They fight and piss each other off, break up and make up within a week. The first verse is the angry verse, the second is the "I'm sorry" verse, and the third is the "Let's do it" verse. I thought it was pretty funny, and it's not really the music that's the standout here, it should be the words. Unfortunately four days isn't a great amount of time to memorize lyrics. The riff is so fucking simple that Bird could play it all day and all night, and I don't think I've ever seen him with any musical instrument. The fact is it wasn't really enough time to make it good, but it would have to do.
Not like it was bad or anything horrendous, but Tucker couldn't have learned all that stuff (it's a long song) without missing anything, so there were parts where he just mumbled. I didn't even notice. Anyhoo we worked on it a few times, and it worked for the time so we decided to do it. I had another riff but no lyrics, so it's a lot harder to do that. We practiced for about an hour and a half, and decided to load the stuff up. As you may or may not know, I bought a new kit the week before so that I would sound good; It's a 5-piece Mapex kit (snare, 3 toms, kick) with a maple finish. I also bought 2 cymbal stands and a new Paiste crash. I'm still using my grandpa's snare stand and hi-hat, and occasionally I'll use his snare and pedal. I got this single-chain Tama pedal, but it's hard to keep tight if you use it a lot (which I do). I'm gonna stop because about four people know what I'm talking about. Just believe me it's a nice kit.
But since there's so much stuff there now, I have a lot more stuff to move. So it took me a little while to get everything in the car, but eventually it was good to go. Wow, I looked at the garage after we moved all our stuff out, and realized that the area is fucking huge! There's plenty of space to put more crap in there. We're going to eventually clean it out and put a couch in there with some tables for when we want to discuss set lists and write music. It should be cool when we're done. We had to be at Starland by 5:30 and we got there at five. I could sense a bit of nervousness by now, and I was still pretty calm. I just sat on my car listening to BOC waiting for everyone to get there. When we were all assembled, we went inside and asked the ticket girl who where the stage manager (Chris) was. He was at the bar talking to someone when we told him who we were, and he let us know to get the equipment into the floor section. Brought in all the stuff and the Cosmic Brotherhood of Ra showed up while we were unloading. They were pretty nice and the BOC/UFO roadies helped bring stuff in and out after we were done. Everyone was pretty cool actually.
Got all the stuff settled and watched UFO's drummer sound check. He was awesome. Talked with him on the way out during the post-set. Also talked briefly with one of the BOC guitarists who looked like Dave Murray. Good guys. After the sound check, I started to construct my kit again, and set it up on stage. Got it in a good position since the stage was PACKED with fucking equipment. Stands filled with guitars, keyboards, amps, mics, drums... you name it, it was there. Even the stage sides on the floor were filled with stuff. Everywhere was musical stuff and it was cool. It just made it hard to move. Did our sound check and played "Hybrid Moments" real quick. Didn't sound too bad. I think sound quality helps out tremendously.
Now, for the hard part, as Tom Petty says, the waiting. We had about a half hour before they opened the doors and an hour before we went on. So I wandered around looking for beer or something, and I don't know what everyone else did. After they opened the doors and we all converged at the stage left corridor. We had some folks come up to us and ask us if we were Hat Trick of Misery who was scheduled the play this show when it was supposed to be in May. They then delayed it to June, then August, and finally September. We told them they were in Holland or something stupid like that. We had a few other people ask us if we were playing (even though Cicchi had a guitar with him). This was the point where I was getting a little anxious, so I just played some guitar and calmed myself pretty easily. There was a lot more people there in the beginning than I thought there would be. Finally, it was showtime, and we were ready to go. Rob wasn't there so he couldn't do the intro. So we had to go for it. Opened up with Pefect Criminals, and this was my biggest fuck up of the night. Better to get it out of the way now than later. Rescued (fast version) and Forgotten Memories were next. The crowd really got into the slow song, as I do the least in that song so I got to take a good look at the crowd. Swaying back and forth, it was cool. We had almost everyone's attention. That's power.
The new song was next and Tucker misread the lyrics (sang the wrong verses) but it didn't really matter at this point. The crowd was into it since they got into the other songs. Unescapable would be next and at this point I lost vision of what I was supposed to do. I really wasn't using my head, but I knew what to do. We flipped the fuck out for this song, as you kinda have to, but I saw some people flipping out as well. It was awesome - I think the best of the night. Finished it off with Every Rose and I could sense at least a few people wouldn't like it. (Poison is a love/hate band. You'll either really like them or just despise them.) A majority of the crowd liked it though and we took a while to finish on the last riff. Afterwards, we all got on the mic and thanked everyone. It was cool. People wanted our stuff: picks, set-list, cd's, sticks, autographs, and anything else. Insane. The roadies helped us get stuff off stage and outside. Me and Cicchi chatted and talked about the set. Coolest feeling ever. We loaded our stuff into our cars, and wondered where everyone else was. The Cosmic Brotherhood of Ra was on in the meantime, and from what I heard they weren't that good. When they first showed up, they had all this stuff like soundboards and saxaphones, so it sounds like something I would like. Oh well.
Joe and Tucker finally showed up outside, and told us people wanted them to sign the stuff we gave out. That is the wierdest thing to me. People actually wanted our stuff, and wanted us to sign it. Very weird. Anywho, talked for a little bit and moved our cars back. Went back into the club and people noticed us, and knew who we were. Said hi to the folks and went to meet up with our friends. Pretty much everyone was there and everyone said we were kick ass. Hard to believe your friends, but it seemed like we did okay. The rest of the night was hard to compare after that. UFO were really good, but I was still running on adrenaline big time.
Here we are, a month later. Things are still going good, for a change. Usually the month of September is hell because school starts, less time to work, and whatever summer relationships I had will come to an untimely end. It's not that bad this year. Getting things started was easy, but keeping it going like this will be the test. We are staying in a lot closer to the group than we did last year, and we know how that turned out (bad). We've got a show in two days at Albright University in Reading, PA. Going to another state should be fun as we try to expand a fan base. We're going into this as a Halloween style show, and trying to keep it fun and loud. I don't know if Forgotten Memories and Rescued is really a good way to go about it, but whatever. And hopefully we hit up a party or two after we play. This is a Spirit Day rally and relatively small, about 200-300 people. Should be fun. In the meantime, I have kept writing and playing almost everyday.
Here's something cool: My sister moved out of the house about 4 months ago, but still kept some of her stuff in her room. When she finally got most of it out, I decided to clean out the rest and use it in some form. At first I was planning on buying a bigger TV, and a DVD soundsystem and just use it as an entertainment center. However, money is against me on that one, so instead, I decided to convert it into a music room. Here's the plan: During Winter, it makes it rather difficult to play in a garage that is unheated, uninsulated, and overall just a frozen tundra. That's pretty much the factor in us not practicing at all last year past August. Granted we all go to college so we could've only pracitced on the weekends only, but even so, we didn't. Now, there is a somewhat warm room with protection from the cold where we can write. Moved a computer, TV/VCR, Gamecube, and exercise bike in there for the off time. There are also six amps in there right now; four PA's, a bass and a guitar. They take up a lot of room, but they look cool. Also got Cicchi's little amp and my two guitars in there. However, there are some issues. The room is kind of small right now, because the sex futon is laid out as a bed. When it's converted back to the sofa there should be more space. And once I get the rest of the stuff that doesn't belong there out of the place there should be significantly much more space.
Right now, it's kinda empty. The drums are at the garage right now, and the rest of the amps are stacked on top of each other. I've got all the stuff that needs to go by the wall parralell to the one with the amps. The futon is inbetween as well as the TV and whatnot. It will look cool when it's done. I got some cool posters up there now, added the Velvet Revolver and Spin Doctors~! ones up there now. It is looking fine right now, but it will look better by the time the dust settles.
Well, that's it for right now. I've ranted long enough. I shall return eventually.