Alex mentioned at one point how he actually wrote in a journal about tour exploits. I felt all inspired to do this very thing on my own blog site. Soooo… blat, here I am with an attempt to make touring FUN again! It wasn’t fun for a while, I admit, but now I’m enjoying it once more and we’re starting to make some progress.

So, here’s today recap of interesting interests. Photos will be part of these updates eventually, but don’t count on consistency. Hey, I’ll admit that first hand. Psshaw.

Woke up at about 10:30 AM to get my shower in before our checkout at Super 8. This was in Charlotte, NC after our show at Fremont Music Hall. Turns out that these Motels like to freak out if you’ve got more than a certain amount of people in your room. Josh slept in the van to watch our stuff, and the lady at the front counter asked, “Do you have more than four in the room?”

“Nay,” I say, “But we have a fifth sleeping in the van to watch our stuff!”

“Oh, well… if I see him, I’ll have to charge you $10.”

Yeah. So if you have someone just sleeping in a vehicle you’re just plain screwed if they catch you. Motel Nazis!

Once we were rounded up we headed over to Wendy’s with Eric and his wife, both of which are huge fans. Good eats; I had myself a bacon cheeseburger. I vowed to attempt to eat healthier on the road, but I get really hungry and impulsive when it’s time to eat in the morning. Yay me.

After that I hopped behind the wheel and we started off towards Greenville, SC. Rain, rain, rain. Alex opted to drive the van and trailer for the first time, and he did alright. He’s not quite used to the width of the trailer so he would drift the side of the trailer into the dirt here and there, or on the side rumble strip. He did get the hang of it, and now everyone in the van can drive the van. Exciting, no? (YES)

We stopped at Starbucks for some beverages; I obtained a green tea frappuccino for my eager face. Once this was done, we headed into Wal-mart to pick up a few supplies. I ended up getting a more club-friendly wallet. At this point it’s about 3 PM and we didn’t have a load-in time handy, so we decided to make towards the venue.

We arrive and Green Jelly is there already with their massive tour bus. We spot Bill (Green Jelly’s vocalist) walking around. This guy is awesome; he really likes to talk about his experiences with the very long and detailed history of his band, and has no problems dishing out advice and details on how to keep on going in the industy. I ended up talking to him later about tour bus costs and pros/cons. a bout 800 bucks a day for a tour bus. Yup. Might be doable in a year or two, but ’till then… van + trailawr!

At this point we start loading in. Gottrocks is a rather small venue for this tour; I think the capacity was maybe 200? Not sure.

After we loaded, some of the venue staff decided to grill it up. We went and got some burger patties and they grilled us some delicious burgers. I put some of my S’riacha sauce on it (awesome hot sauce that I carry with me; we call it “Cocksauce” because it has a rooster on the front. Was AWESOME DELICOUS EXPLOSIVE GOODNESS

Then it began to hail. A lot.

The show went off well; the crowd was a tough one that night. Mostly older; they didn’t have the energy of an all ages show, but I THINK they enjoyed it.

All done? Almost. Green Jelly borrowed our guitar and bass rigs for their show to shave off load times and whatnot. Anthony was up there dancing in a giant bunny outfit, and I believe Matt got to sing a song for ‘em too. Those fellers are so crazy, we love ‘em. Hope to tour with them again and again and again.

The show wrapped up alright; didn’t quite fill up but it was a Sunday and 21+; those two factors usually don’t go well together. That and it’s Greenville, right? Maybe.

Now we’re driving towards Nashville. It’s about 12:30 AM (EARLY NIGHT) and we’ll see where we end up sleeping. Maybe we can mooch off of Look What I Did?

Things I learned: Alex can drive alright, money can (and will) bring out the worst in some folks, cool sound guys are always a bonus, and HAIL HAIL HAIL fell from the sky!