Our friend Sarah came out tonight who hung with us for a while on warped, and then various other tours around the world. She made vegan cookies, which made me happy! Hi Sarah!
Looks like the previous luck we had with busses has been passed on to Alexisonfire on this tour. For the second time, they found themselves stranded on the side of the highway last night, stalled out. They finally showed up around 4pm today in a tourist bus after what looked like a very long night. Our bus works fine though (knock on wood), and our bus driver, Richard, is awesome.
Yesterday was exciting! We went to the BBC studios in London to record a few songs for a radio show being broadcast on Friday. Check out the Punk Show with Mike Davis on Radio 1 some time on Friday for a few hot tracks and some commentary from the band! I even got to play drums on one of the tracks! I was stoked just to be there, though, at such a legendary studio where Billy Bragg, Joy Division, and The Beatles have all been recorded, among many others. I thought to myself, while sitting in the BBC WC, "How many legends have crapped on this john before me? Paul effing Mccartney may have squeezed one out here long ago."
Anyway, bad joking aside, it was truly an amazing experience. I took real pictures while I was there as well as Blackberry ones, perhaps I'll put them up one day.
Besides that, this tour has been a whirlwind of working, driving, tuning, and nutella. In short, it's been a blast! Here's a quick recap of our adventure so far-
Oct 5-
Flew to Pittsburgh to prep gear. Slept on Neil's couch, and actually slept a full night for the first and last time in a long time.
Oct 6-
Flew to London. Airplanes don't do much for me.
Oct 7-
Cambridge, UK. Met 4 Years Strong and the new Alexis crew for the first time. All amazing dudes, was instantly stoked to be on this tour! Hell yeah! Show went really well. I sat in awe of Alexisonfire's set for the first and by no means the last time on this tour.
Oct 8-
Norwich, UK. UEA was a good time. I remember running through the entire backstage multiple times just to get from stage left to stage right. I also saw Steele naked this night, and I hadn't even talked to him yet.
Oct 9-
Oxford, UK. I think this is the first English town I've been to, looked around, and instantly gone "Damn, this is beautiful". It was a great city, BUT- funny story;
I woke up and went around to the trailer to unload, and wouldn't you know it a big white van had parked right behind us, preventing me from loading in. Richard went in to a few stores around, and after having no luck finding out who it belonged to, was finally told it was owned by some guy who had gone in to London for the day, and wouldn't be back for hours. Oh no!
He came to me and said "Well, we could try to push it out of the way..."
I laughed, and responded "There is no way we could push this huge van out of the way by ourselves..."
As I said that, I placed my hand on the hood and gave it a playful shove, to display just how heavy it was. I pushed down on it, and the thing rolled back. I laid into it a little bit, and pushed it back a couple feet on my own.
Marc and Neil came out to meet me and we opened up the trailer, me being pretty satisfied with myself for having just resolved to situation. I noticed we needed just a couple more inches behind us, so I gave the van one last shove to clear the ramp. Seconds later, a huge cell phone salesman came bounding towards me saying "What are you doing touching my property?!". He got in my face, chest puffed out, getting on me for moving his car out of my way. I told him we were told it belonged to someone in London, and I asked him to move it. He said he didn't have his keys. He said "I wouldn't touch your property!" I said if it's in your way, you probably should move it. He said our bus was blocking his store. "Push it outta the way then..." I thought meekly. Either way, this guy's story wasn't really adding up.
At this point, I just gave up and started loading in, ignoring him. I don't have anything to prove, and I wasn't about to take a beating from this guy over such a stupid argument. Anyway, he was trying to start a fight, he's probably just pissed about owning a store next to a club and having busses block his store front all the time. It's not my fault though, there's no need to be a meat head about it.
Oct 10-
Nottingham, UK. I got up early for the first time here! I walked downtown to the visitors center, went to some farmers market, got panphlets on Robin Hood, and saw some old shit. Churches, theaters, etc. Didn't make it to the castle though, maybe next time! We got the whole downstairs of this club to relax in, and they made us delicious food in their kitchen. Partied briefly afterward with Sean (AF's Euro booking agent) at an Irish pub his family owns. I was swarmed by middle aged women, bought beers in rapid succession, and laughed at for my accent. I'm glad I don't have the Texas accent so many who move there seem to pick up, these Brits would rip me to shreds!
Oct 11-
Bristol, UK. Went for a jog that morning and got very lost. I kept jogging around looking for the university we were playing at, and by some stroke of luck made it there before load in. I was getting worried, I kept asking people I saw if there was a club around, and everyone just said "There's no club in this town, maybe the next town over..." I then just had to load in in my short shorts and catch shit from everyone for it. Yeah, I jog, so what?
Oct 12-
Brighton, UK. Day off, sorta. Met a guy named Pedro who put a new bridge on 2's bass. A Badass Bass 2 bridge, if you're curious, which I know you are. I got to buy cables here too, and experience the youth culture clubbing on a Monday night. Can someone explain that to me? I coulda sworn I saw 16 year olds going out to the clubs along the beach at like 1am. Isn't it a school night? Either way, isn't it a Monday night? What's the deal with Brighton, and why is it so awesome?
Oct 13-
Show in Brighton. After Alexis' set a huge security guy stormed up to the dressing room and got in George's face. Apparently the guy was letting kids fall over the barricade, not catching them as they surfed over, just watching as they fell and hurt themselves. George gave him a little shove with his foot, not a kick mind you, a shove and said "hey, what the fuck man?". They dude was pissed so he tried to start a fight with George after the set. Neltie got in front of the guy, and with a lot of shouting and arguing going on, Neltie was trying to push him towards the door as I was screaming "Get the fuck out of the room right now!" also pushing my way in front of him. It got quiet for a second, and he raised his finger right to my nose and said "don't you fucking yell at me". I shat my pants a little bit. The guy was enormous. I said "Then get the fuck out" as somebody came and grabbed him and dragged him out. It all got resolved, but I certainly hope that guy is no longer employed for that security company. Tense moments.
Oct 14-
London, UK. Good show. Big club. Lotta kids.
Oct 15-
BBC Day! Later on we did a gig at an Easpak store, the guys played an all clash cover set. It was a great time!
Oct 16-
This brings us to Glasgow. Here we are! I'm gonna go enjoy the after party before it gets too late. I will keep you all up to date soon with more exciting stories from Eastpak! I'm sooo busy though! Check out the other project I've been working on that's been sucking up every free moment! Fun Fun Fun Fest.
Peace!
Max
