Day Twenty-Four - Seymour, CT

There were always a few problems I had with my writings. One being the fact that everything I hand in is always late, and also I always lacked quality in my conclusions. This blog is no exclusion from my writing styles. So it is no surprise that this conclusive blog entry will lack greatly. 

The last show was in Lake Grove, New York. There was a great turnout. We were all pretty worn out but I think we played a good set. The wiring in my guitar is all fucked up so it kept cutting out. Also I need to get my tuner checked out cause the input on that is fucked as well. Basically all my equipment is fucked and I'm far too broke to fix any of it. So fuck my life, right.

Anyways, I'm home right now. I'm not sure if I should be glad to be home though. I loved being on the road. I'll be back soon though. 

kbai

Day Eleven - Atlanta, Georgia

So right now, I sit locked inside a house in an Atlanta suburb at four in the morning with no interest at all in going back into that hot room and laying back down on that hard floor surrounded by sweaty dudes. I keep fearing that the clicking of this keyboard is going to wake someone in the family up and they are going to come down and see me sitting here in my underwear being a creep on their computer.

I've come to a realization that I really hate writing about shows, and I'm pretty sure no one wants to read about them either. I really had no plans on ever returning to the Hostage Blog but I am incredibly bored right now and these past few days have actually been mildly entertaining.

We hit a little slump for a few days while traveling through the southwest. I'm not sure if it was the heat or the lack of attendance at the shows we played but moral was down throughout the band. Texas was terrible. I'm sorry, but fuck that place. I can't stand the dry heat that we endured those couple of days. Once we got out of Texas things started turning around. We played a show in Mississippi and a lot of young kids came out and it was just good vibes. The show in Alabama was amazing. I fucking love that state. So many beautiful girls at that show (none of which I talked to of course). These southern girls have me smitten. Tonight we played in Georgia and again I was stunned by the amount of lovely ladies draped in sundresses.

I wish I was an interesting writer.

Day Thirteen - ?, California

I'm sitting in a motel room right now. I do not know what motel this is nor do I know where we are, and most importantly I do not know the password for the fucking internet. So I am going to type the longest update you'll never read and post it whenever Tom wakes up and tells me how to get online. 

The last time I updated I believe we were in Portland. Since then we played a couple shows that now seem blurred together. I'm trying to think where we played after Portland and I'm drawing a blank. I checked my calendar and that date is indeed left blank. I remember the show.. it was a VFW hall and it was our last show with the carrier before our three days off from each other. There wasn't a very good turnout and the atmosphere was just a bummer. We played decently but for some reason our tone sounded like garbage. I, however, went pretty crazy that night. It was definitely the most I have moved around on tour. So hopefully if the few kids that were there didn't think we sounded to great will at least think we put on a good live show. 

Our next show was in Reno at "The HQ" (a basement show). I wasn't sure what to expect when we got to this place, basement shows always seem to be a hit or miss type of thing. In this case I'd say this show qualified as a hit. The basement was big and from the moment I walked in I felt welcome. It seemed like the majority of those that filled the dingy basement were cute girls, and I was perfectly okay with that. The only bum out was that a good amount of people left after the two local bands played (including the two cute girls I talked to). I thought it was peculiar to see people leaving after two bands on a five band show, but hey I still had fun. 

After the show we went to Jeff from Old News's house to spend the night. We made an excessive amount of pasta and vegan garlic bread and ate until we all felt sick. We then watched a documentary on ICP that was fucking ridiculous. Then i passed out in the van.

On the twenty-ninth we played in Santa Cruz at some cafe. Real awkward vibes. The cafe itself was awesome, but the fact that we were playing a free show there and that people would be walking in and out the whole time (or just staying out) was kind of upsetting. Hollywood opened and they played fucking great. That band is real tight and those rock riffs are great.The highlight of the night definitely came as the show ended, which is usually the case. We hung outside with the dudes from Hollywood and I flirted with the coffee girl, Abigail. Good times. 

We decided to drive throughout the night to LA. I kicked off the drive running on a coffee buzz and text messages from the one who supplied me with that buzz. We stopped at a Denny's at some point in the night to use the bathroom and an enormous fight broke out between all the people in the "cocktail lounge". Luc was so siked on it. Straight mayhem. The rest of the drive was pretty shot. I didn't sleep until morning. 

Yesterday we played a show in Irvine, which I'm pretty sure is a part of LA. The show was in a screen printing shop in some office park. A good amount of people ended up coming out. The sound in that place was terrible though. The PA was straight fuzz and made it incredibly hard to decipher anything that was happening. Other than that I think we played well. 

To sum it all up.. 

lots of cute girls on the west coast I'll never talk to

fuck LA and every car being a Mercedes or BMW. 

kbai

 

Day Eight - Portland Oregon/Rainfest Recap

So this weekend was rainfest. We went there for Saturday and played Sunday. We ended up getting there a lot later than we thought we would on Saturday and missed the Carrier's set. That drive sucked so bad. The only memorable part of that night was during Trash Talk when I went to go jump off this wood railing and somehow snagged my finger on something and ripped it open rather badly. I was bleeding like a mother fucker and freaking out. Somehow I ended up getting outrageously light headed and almost passed out on the curb. It was pretty scary shit. Thank god everyone around seemed to know first aid. Tim from the Carrier, Brett, Chris, and Tim helped me out so much. 

After the show we went to a really shitty motel.. I don't really even want to talk about it. 

Sunday, however, was an amazing day. I think we played the best we did all tour and there was a decent reaction from the crowd. After we played the party started. Tim and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant and had an excellent feast of tofu and fried banana ice cream. From then on out was pretty much just a parking lot party outside out van. Lots of cheap beer, piss puddles, and boston accents floating about. 

I'm not sure what time we left Rainfest but we drove to this girl Jess's house in Portland to crash. We got there around three-thirty or so. She was so nice to wake up and bring us up to her apartment even though she had to wake up in a few hours for work.

I slept in her extra bed with Luc. I managed to sleep pretty well. 

In the morning (noon) Tim and I decided to walk around the city to look for a Starbucks. We never ended up finding one but we did walk by a huge record store and an American Apparel before we got to this lovely little coffee shop. Their coffee was so much better than Starbucks, I hate Starbucks coffee. Anywho, after we had our coffee fix we went to AA to see what goodies we could manage to lift. I got a pair of jeans, tank top, and undies. Tim got a pair of acid wash jeans (fuck yes). 

After our adventure we went back to Jess's apartment to shower and make poo with our butts. We hung around Jess's for a while playing with her amazing pitbull Punisher (<3).>

But yeah, we're at this show in Portland right now. We opened which is kind of a bummer but whatever. I'm not really in the mood for a show right now so I'm just hanging out. The Carrier goes on next so I'll bang my head for them. KBYE

Day Six - Boise Idaho/Tacoma Washington

So I haven't updated this in mad long. To be honest I'm kind of already getting sick of it, which isn't surprising if you know of my slacker behavior. 

Let's see.. what happened? 

The other day, in Denver we got to the venue real early so we could check out the city. We pulled up to the venue first just to see what it was like and to take a piss and stretch or whatever. After a couple minutes of hanging out there a security guard pulled up to the building next to us (that Tim and I previously pissed on) and hits the door bell to get buzzed in. As he is getting buzzed in a voice comes over the loudspeaker "keep an eye on that van to the left of you." We were close enough so that we heard this and i just started laughing. At this moment I was standing outside the van in the door talking to Tim and Luc and I started to laugh. Next thing I know Luc is saying "he's got a gun". I imagine that he just has his hand on his holster or something but when I turned around this guy actually has a gun out in his hand pointing it in our general direction. Insane.

On a lighter note, after we left that spot we went looking for food and a record store Luc wanted to check out. As we pulled onto the main road we drove by this "tattoo school" so we had to stop to see if we could get free shitty tattoos. Luc and I go in and talk to this guy and tell him our deal. He sent us over to the "shop" aka house and told us the guy there would hook us up. So to make a long story short Luc, Tom, Brett, and I all got tattoos of our van on us. I assure you they are very shitty and awesome. Brett got his on his ass and the rest of us went for the ankle. 

Today is our day off. We're in Boise right now at Boise Mike's house where we stayed last night. We should be leaving soon to go to Rain Fest and hopefully catch The Carrier's set. 

Life is great. 

Night Three (recap) - St. Louis Missouri

The place last night was pretty  cool. We played alright. We did a short set and it kind of felt weird but i think we did alright. The Carrier and Trash Talk were really good. Trash Talk is insane live. After the show we drove by the St. Louis arch and decided to stop and get a closer look. That thing is fucking huge. We tried to see who could run the farthest up it.. I think Luc won, mad ups. 

I slept in the van again tonight. Some of us slept in this guys apartment with the Carrier. I'm next in line to shower. S'gunna be good.

Free tattoos? ..maybe

Day Three - St. Louis Missouri

Fuck Yes. Headphones.

We're on our way to St. Louis and we just stopped at a Pilot/Subway. I got  a six inch veggie on honey wheat.. delicious. As I was waiting in line I noticed they had those Gummy headphones. I grabbed a pair on my way out. Didn't pocket it or anything.. just walked out with it in the same hand as my sandwich. I should probably be more cautious after yesterday's mishap but ehh.. 

Also while waiting in line there was a man in front of Tim who was ordering a foot-long steak and cheese. When asked what kind of cheese the man wanted on his sub he responded "'Merican". I lauged. Not out loud.. but none the less.

Anyways, I'm listening to Some Girls right now. I wish i had more of their material. Hope Con plays in between each song.

I've been reading Deathbeds in rather large chunks every so often. I hope I won't have to sell it, it's a very good read.

Oh and I forgot but we stopped at Walgreens before we got to Pilot for a bathroom break. I bought a red pullover hoodie for five dollars and I'm siked on it. I've been wanting a pullover hoodie for so long. No one makes them anymore. Everything is zip. I miss my yellow zip hoodie.. and my Righteous Jams pullover. Fuck ex girlfriends.. 

I never liked the color red so there isn't any of it in my wardrobe. I don't know why I've been so open to change lately. I hope I don't lose myself. 

I have a feeling we're running late to this show. I have no evidence of this but I know we should have left the house earlier today. This isn't actually the original show we were supposed to play. That one was cancelled so we hopped on the Trash Talk/Carrier show that is also in St. Louis. Which explains why the original show was cancelled. I'm so glad we're doing all these shows with Trash Talk and The Carrier. They're great dudes and both are amazing live. 

Night Two (recap) - Indianapolis Indiana

Got damn I'm feeling good. Just took a shower and I'm sitting in the sun on the front porch of some dude's house. Let me recap last night for you. The show we played was a basement show. There were most definitely awkward vibes at first because we were the first ones to arrive. After we played things started to get better though. The only downside being I felt like complete shit right after our set and had to lay down in the van and miss The Carrier's set. I did manage to get myself in there for Trash Talks set though. I couldn't even see them because the basement was so packed but they were insane. I have never seen people moshing in such a packed area.

After the show the guys that live at the house told us we could stay there for the night. They are such nice people. And we were stoked on having a place to shower and get use the interenets. 

As Tim and I were heading to the van to sleep/cuddle we were abducted by Tom and Brett who insisted we go get food. This was probably due to that fact that not long before this they smoked with the dudes from Trash Talk, who are awesome guys by the way. 

So i get elected to drive the van (my first time) to find some 24 hour super market. The first place we stopped at was closed. I forget what it was called.. something 88, but thanks to the good ol' GPS we found another place called Marsh. So we go into this place, its like any old supermarket except its dead because it's like one in the morning. I was walking around pretty aimlessly cause I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to spend the money on, but everyone else seemed to have a game plan. 

I ended buying a loaf of bread, cause that's all i really need to survive in life. I was being a couple in line, who was behind Luc, who was also buying a loaf of bread. Out of seemingly nowhere Luc exclaims he'll be right back, I figured he just forgot something. As I am checking out I see Tom walking towards the door and he gets intercepted by the store security guard and manager. 

FUCK

So when me and Luc go back to the van we tell the rest of the guys what happened and Luc tells us how Tom was eating from a bag of chips that he put back on the shelf and didn't pay for. So we all sort of laughed at how dumb he is but at the same time were kind of freaking out hoping nothing too serious was going to happen to him. We waited what seemed like a lifetime for him to come out of the store. He told us that he had been banned from Marsh yada yada and we all laughed. 

We then went to Walgreens across the street because Chris still needed cold medicine. Him and Luc were inside forever while the rest of were still talking about how Tom got "caught in the Marsh". When they finally came back in they told us they were caught stealing too. They had us going for a little while but then told us all they did was talk to one of the managers about politics and other various things.

When we got back to the house we cooked pasta and checked our myspaces and whatever then we went to sleep. Tim, Brett, and I slept in the van and Tom, Chris, and Luc slept in the house. 

Big thanks to the people that live in this house for letting us stay and putting up with us. Also shouts to The Carrier and Trash Talk, and of course Jarsh Marsh! 

Day Two - Indianapolis Indiana

Fuck not having headphones. I just tried to steal some from office depot but i pussied out. Tom and I were in the bathroom together and we were talking about stealing when someone walked in. So yeah, that was a big turn off. So when I left the bathroom I put the headphones back and walked out. I'm so pissed because even though someone heard us talking about stealing I could have definitely still gotten away with it. fuck.

On the good side, we just ate at Moe's. It was my first time eating there and it was fucking delicious and cheap too. I'm siked on more trips to Moe's.

Right now we're just sitting in the plaza parking lot because we have so much free time and nothing to do. Tim and Luc are passed out in the loft because they were up all night driving. I'll come back to this when something cool happens.

Tonight is our first show out of many with Trash Talk and The Carrier, it's another house show. I'm siked to see Trash Talk. I'm listening to them right now, so good.

Day one - York PA (the spine)

Oh fuck yes. This will be good. That pretty much sums up todays whole experience, but I feel obligated to write more on the subject. So yeah..

It was about a four hour drive to the show. I'd say the highlight of the ride was when I woke up from a quick snooze to see a car of three girls and a guy along the side of us laughing. Obvious indication of fun. We decided to make a sign saying "I'd drink your bathwater" and put it in the window for them to see. They thought it was the greatest/funniest thing ever and made a sign for us saying "If only you knew what I did in that tub." Not only was that a great comeback, but the fact that they actually had a pad of paper and sharpie in the car amazed me. Of course we could not let them have the last word so we all got together and racked our brains for something good to say back. We said the first thing that came up.. "I like the taste of shit". I forget who said it, but it was pure genius. 

The show itself is not important at this moment.

It's all about the vibes. 

We're vibin'

Let me tell you a good story of what just happened at the little rest stop/gas station we stopped at to "bang a grit". So we go into the gas station to steal some snacks (I got cashews, mambas, and gum) and the guy that is working is playing the bouncing souls over the loudspeakers. So Tom starts talking to him and he seems cool. Luc decides to grab a demo to give to him and he was real stoked on it. We got back in the van and were enjoying our free snacks when the guy comes out and knocks on the door. We open it for him and he asks us if we smoke. It was only Luc, Tim, Chris, and I in the van at this point (Tom and Brett were checking the tire pressure) so we just laughed and told him the two smokers were outside the van. They then proceeded to talk and the guy brought Tom and Brett inside the gas station garage to smoke while we stayed in the van laughing at how amazing this guy is. Brett didn't smoke because he is driving SO this fuckin guy gives Brett weed to smoke later. haha 

Which brings me back to my initial point... day one. ohfuckyes.

So this is the Hostage Blog

Let me set this up a little for you. I am playing guitar on tour with Hostage Calm (myspace.com/hostagecalmct). Also with us is are good friends Luc. Basically in this blog I'm just going to write down random shit that comes to my mind whenever i have time to get on the computer. Sometimes it will be a recap of the shows we play, sometimes it's funny shit that happened, and sometimes it's going to be random thoughts that run through my head. Pretty much if you are reading this you are reading a one sided conversation with myself. Welcome to the inside of my head. This is the Hostage Blog.