Tour Diary - Artist Blog - Tour Story

Departure date: August 12
Return Date: September 2

So, we were asked to do a tour with Hilary Duff through the end of August and into early September. Originally we were a little skeptical of this offer because the average age of Hilary Duff Fans is pretty young -- but then again, we have a pretty young fanbase too (maybe about 4-6 years older than hers). But after listening to her new record and seeing her in all the magazines talking about "growing up and moving on,” I figured it wasn't a bad idea and was actually very psyched to get out on the road and start playing shows opening for her.

Average show size was about 2,500 with a couple shows much larger, and a few were under 2,000.

First show: San Diego. We were touring in 2 vans to start, so you can imagine the close quarters, and smells and peeing in bottles on long trips because you can't stop. You know... band stuff. Later we got our bus, which was fittingly tagged "The Marlin" by our own Joe Guese. It was BRIGHT teal on top, and chrome on the bottom. Very intimidating. The inside was like a cabin house. Very cozy and dark. The best feature of the Marlin, aside from it's amazing outer appearance, was the Millennium Falcon-styled doors. Every time you wanted to open a door, you pressed a button and... psssssssssssssss it slid right open. Yeaaaaah.

There are lots of unwritten rules on the bus, and the most prevelent one is: NO POOPING. This is always a surprise to our friends and family who come on the bus, and promptly go #2. It's a good laugh until you catch a stinker, which you usually do.

The show was great, despite the time crunch of it being the first show, Ben losing multiple keyboards, and no stage space because of Hilary's Stage Ramp Thingy. But we rocked it anyways.... it was a blast. The music took over and the night was great. Things are underway!

Being the new guy, everything seems brand new to me, and I'm loving everything we're doing. I really feel that I was made to travel and perform for people. I love making connections with the crowd. The New Guy factor also makes me the butt of all interview mishaps. A few times on the road we've done on-air interviews and the interviewer has "done their research" and asked us things like "So!!! You found your new singer on Myspace!!!????" Or "So your fans picked your new singer!!???" I always love that. Sometimes we just go along with it for the playful aspect of interviews. Being on the road never fails to deliver in the day-to-day mishaps.


Aug 23. TONIGHT IS RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL!!! HOLY SH*T!!!

I'm freaking at this point. We've done amazing shows on this tour and made some great fans and friends, but I'm peeing myself right now. I'm definitely going to have a major chubby tonight.

I'll write after the show...


So crazy. That's all I have to say. The main thing I noticed about Radio City Music Hall is that you can hear EVERYTHING that's going on in the crowd. You can hear screams and chatter alike. It's amazing. That made it so comfortable for me, when I said something to the crowd the response was beautifully loud.

At the end of the show there was a bit of trouble though. My microphone went out at the end of the show when I sometimes do a call and response with the crowd. I'll yell.. "EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!!!" -- and usually the whole place is screaming at that point --but tonight... SILENCE. That was hilarious. I had in-ear monitors so I had no idea. I just kept going looking like an idiot. But hey... that's all part of it right?

Overall, a great and memorable night in NY!! And I met a lady-friend, so I'm looking forward to seeing that unfold. Oooooohhhh.


August 27th... Joey's girlfriend is on the bus now for a few days. She's great. It's always nice to have some female presence on the bus. Keeps us in line. We have to stay a bit cleaner, and of course, put the toilet seat down. AND she braided a rat-tail into Ben's Mullet!!!! WITH some of Ethan's hair in there. I think my lovely locks are next to be added to the trashy tail. It's so Awesome though. Now he just needs a dangly earring and he'll be rocking with John Mellancamp circa 1987. OUT.


We played at the Allentown fair in Pennsylvania today. It was very Carnie (lots of carnival stuff and people with small hands that smell like cabbage). The show turned out to be great anyways, but man was it weird seeing people living in a stationary train. Joey Zehr is our resident Carnie, so he was right at home. As soon as we got there he was nowhere to be found. He came back with fried dough, a carmel apple, and some kind of stuffed animal that Ben made friends with that night.

I forgot to mention our Vegas experience... which I'm still recovering from. We played at the Pearl Concert Theater inside the Palms hotel. Oddly enough on the same night as the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Playboy party. We were invited to make an appearance that night and couldn't pass it up. Obviously. So we went, drank some drinks, hung out, then I made-out with one of the fairy goddesses. Awesome. Great night in Vegas.

Throughout the tour, we did didn’t hang with Hilary or the band, just the crew a bit. However, at the end of the tour, Ben, or "LAZER," as we started calling him for no apparent reason, did manage to ride off into the sunset with one of Hilary's dancers. He didn't have many details, so I'm sure it was nice.