Let's begin by looking back at my blog from last year:
2013 will by no means be a cleansing of my past, but rather a rediscovering, rebuilding, and restructuring of myself. I have some ideas on what I might be doing in the coming year and I’m really hoping for the best. We’ll see where I end up 12 months from now.
Spoiler alert: the ideas of what I thought I'd be doing didn't work out. Not even close. The only accurate part of that text is that 2013 was not a cleansing of my past. That's about it. That being said, now let's dive into 2013.
January
I had about a week at home until the first tour of the year. I flew out to Knoxville and we began the Brothers of Brutality Tour with Whitechapel, Emmure, Unearth, Obey The Brave, and The Plot In You. Whoever decided to book a tour in Western Canada in January is out of their mind. I don't think it was warmer than -10F the entire time we were there and it got as low as -40F in Regina on a day off. It was one of the most miserable weeks of my life. I can't even imagine doing it in a van like three of the bands on the package did. Hats off to them.
February
The BOB Tour continued through the first week and a half of the month, ending in NYC after a couple dates getting canceled because of a giant snow storm. We avoided the storm by sitting in a bus parking lot in Philadelphia for two days. Our FOH Nate and I spent some time walking around to all of the historical sites in Philadelphia one day, so that made it much more bearable. At Alex's house the night we got home I trimmed the beard after having let it go for a personal record of 12 weeks.
I had one week in between getting home from this tour before starting the next. I was contacted by Nick Hipa of As I Lay Dying a few days before the end of the year and was hired to be their guitar tech for their co-headliner with The Devil Wears Prada. For Today, The Color Morale, and The Chariot rounded out the bill. I was devastatingly nervous; starting a whole new job with people I barely knew on a six-week tour was a daunting task for me.
March
The first couple of weeks of the tour I stumbled around feeling like an idiot with every step I took. I wanted to do a great job but I felt like I wasn't quite at their level yet. It was the most labor-intensive tour I had ever done. Load in began at 11am and we rarely shut the trailer door before 1am each night. This is no ordinary trailer, either; it's as tall as the bus and when attached to the bus it's actually one foot longer than what's technically legal. It was filled top to bottom, front to back. I slowly became more comfortable with the job and the people, but I was not in a good place mentally. I had a couple of days where I encountered loaders that were people I knew from previous tours. I didn't want to put off a crabby mood to them, so on those days I faked being excited and happy. Then one day I sat and thought about how interesting it was that on the days that I faked being happy, I was actually happier by the end of it. I started waking up and literally saying to myself "I have nothing to be upset about today." From then on I was a totally different person. I had a completely different attitude towards touring as a whole and I think I worked better, I was happier to be around people, and I just felt better. Unfortunately that occurred with 3/4 of the tour done, but I didn't let that stop the last couple of weeks to be the best two weeks.
April
The tour continued. Starting in February and ending in April seems totally crazy thinking back on it now. To say I was extremely exhausted by the end of it is an understatement.
The end-of-tour fly out date to Penn State from Colorado Springs was one of the quickest and strangest trips I've ever experienced. The last two dates of the tour were two shows over two nights at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs. This was the second of two back-to-back shows on the tour and they were awesome: load in and load out once for two shows. After the second show in Colorado Springs we had to change the pack of the trailer since it was going back to San Diego with the bus and we were getting on a plane with everything we needed for a one-off show in Pennsylvania. There was no way I was going to get sleep on the two hour drive to Denver, so I just laid in my bunk until we got there around 5am. With 9 people, checking in all the gear, and us arriving way too late anyway, there was no way we were going to make the flight. We rushed as much as we could and somehow I got on the plane with Phil. The plane took off without our drum tech Mat, Jordan, Josh, and our TM/FOH John.
Upon arriving in Philadelphia, myself, Tim, Nick, Phil, and our LD Brian somehow managed to squeeze all of us, our luggage, and every piece of equipment we brought into a minivan. Poor Phil was crammed in the back by himself surrounded by gear as we drove another three hours to Penn State. On one hand it was miserable. We were all crammed into this tiny little box on little to no sleep. On the other hand, it was extremely fun because it was like a van tour all over again; we were excited to stop at gas stations and get terrible gas station food. We listened to the radio and chatted about things we saw. You don't get to do that stuff in a bus so it was actually quite fun for once.
Once we got to Penn State we set up as much as we could while waiting for the others to arrive. They showed up right around the time they were supposed to be on stage, so the show got pushed back. It went pretty flawlessly after everything that happened, so it was a nice little end to the tour. We stayed the night then drove back to Philadelphia in the morning and flew home from there. On a completely random coincidence, I got to see my best friend Jake in the airport while we were both waiting for our flights. Totally weird how that worked out.
Suffice to say, that 36 hours was completely insane. It blows my mind to think back on it now and think about everything that happened in such a short time period that felt like forever.
Continuing on with April, I had almost two weeks off before heading back out to Knoxville to start the next tour with Whitechapel. This was Asking Alexandria's headliner with Motionless in White, Chimaira, and I Killed The Prom Queen.
May
The Asking tour carried on into the first couple of weeks of May. We did a couple of radio festivals with totally random bands like Bush, Taproot, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Stone Sour, and a whole slew of other bands I'd never thought I'd be around.
I had a couple weeks off before flying back out again to Knoxville, only this time for a one-off show in Memphis for the yearly Scion Rock Fest. This was like the last day of the AILD tour in that we were all packed into a van and enjoying the good old days again. The show was rather bizarre, being billed with Testament, The Melvins, and many others, but we had a good time anyway.
June
After arriving home from Memphis, I finally had more than two weeks off at once. This time was spent mostly hanging out at home and enjoying the part of the summer that I haven't spent off tour in three years. I got to see my friend Cameron off on the first date of Warped Tour in Auburn.
July
I got to go see Mayhem in Auburn to meet up with our FOH from the Emmure tour, Nate, and check out Mastodon's set. I caught the first part of Rob Zombie's set as well and it totally blew me away.
On the 4th I woke up to a text from my sister with the exciting news that early 2014 I would become an uncle! It is her first child and I couldn't be more happy for her.
I spent a few days dog sitting one of my favorite puppies around, Miss Honey. She is my best friend's girlfriend's dachshund and an absolute sweetheart.
About a week later I flew out to Knoxville to start my first ever international tour, a festival run in Europe with Whitechapel.
August
We arrived in Germany early on the 1st and stayed in a hotel for the day/night to try to reset our schedules. Alex and I shared a tiny room and despite all of our efforts to stay up all day, we both crashed at around noon and slept a few hours before getting up and hanging out in the lobby the rest of the night.
Our first show was the next day at Wacken, the world's largest metal festival. It was one of the craziest days ever just because of the sheer size of the festival coupled with having to set up all the gear from scratch since we didn't get a production day before to sort everything out. We luckily had about an hour of changeover time and everything went off without a hitch.
We continued on in Belgium, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, and more Germany. Along the way we did a couple of club shows with Devildriver and ran into some friends/other killer bands at some of the other festivals, including Trivium, Slayer, Killswitch Engage, and Gojira.
It was a quick trip - less than three weeks - but I got to experience a lot I don't think I ever would have otherwise. While I was disappointed we didn't get to go to a lot of the "destination" cities/landmarks, doing all of the festivals is something a lot of people who tour Europe over and over never get to do.
I got home after traveling a full 24 hours. We got off the bus at 5:30am in Germany, flew to Newark where I split with the rest of the guys and went to Dallas, then Seattle. I arrived in Seattle at 8:30pm, which would be 5:30am in Germany. The next few days were spent recouping from jet lag. I've never been through something that strange in my life. It hurt to move for a good four days and I had the most sporadic sleeping schedule ever.
September
On September 1st, I went with my friend Jake to a pet shop in Renton. He picked up an 8 or 9 week old dachshund puppy. She was the cutest thing in the world and it hurts my heart to think about how I still can't have one of my own. Something must have stuck with her about that day because she goes into crazy freak-out mode when she sees me now. I like it that way.
A show came through El Corazon with an entire line up of people I knew or had tours with. It turned out to be a mini reunion of old IDW members and it was a lot of fun. It was nice seeing everyone and for the first time in a long time being on a level of positivity with everyone.
I spent another weekend with Miss Honey and new addition June Bug. I love those dogs so much. We all witnessed the finale of Breaking Bad together as well. It was a great ending to a powerful series and I'm glad they wrapped it up when they were on top.
The day after Breaking Bad ended I flew out to Knoxville once again to begin the final tour of the year, The Madness At The Core of Time Tour with GWAR headlining, WC direct support, with Iron Reagan and A Band Of Orcs opening. I've always thought a GWAR tour would be fun and now I got my chance to do it...7 whole weeks of it.
October
I learned quickly a GWAR tour isn't as easy as it sounds. They take up half of the stage and your clothes instantly get stained red no matter how hard you try to prevent it, but it started off as a really fun tour. They are super cool guys and seeing their set night after night is never not a spectacle. I had a lot of fun with an Instagram series titled Unimpressed GWAR Fan Of The Night, which can be found under the hash tag #UGFOTN.
I had my birthday in Chico at The Senator Theater. My mom came out and we went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery for dinner. It was a good time.
Tour continued on and a virus sneakily spread through the bus. Our drum tech Mathis first got it and it nearly took him out of commission. He never really showed it, however, so none of us knew how bad it really was for him. Phil then got it and almost had to sit out a few nights - he toughed it out though. He didn't seem to be nearly as affected as Mathis was. Then the day came where I got it. Albuquerque, New Mexico. After prepping everything and moving our gear to the stage, Ben Savage and I walked over to Java Jungle, the location of Tuco's hideout from Breaking Bad. Upon walking back I suddenly became extremely ill. I laid down in my bunk to try to rest before the set, but ended up sprinting out of what felt like a spinning bus and vomiting all over the sidewalk minutes before we needed to be in the venue. I was in no condition do the show, so the guys had to do it without me. Luckily the next day was off, so I spent it in much misery trying to recoup. Towards the end of the day I finally managed to eat some rice and suddenly felt like a million bucks. I thought I was out of the woods, but that night my sinuses were so stuffed up and pressurized that I literally didn't sleep the entire way to Austin. Once we got there I walked across the street to a perfectly located Walgreen's and got some sinus medication. It worked unbelievably well and I was able to function as a human being again.
A few days later I flew back out to Washington to be a groomsman in my dear friend Chris Fugate's wedding. Unfortunately I missed the Halloween show with GWAR, but apparently nothing was out of the ordinary and Whitechapel didn't dress up either, so it wasn't a big loss after all.
November
The Fugate wedding was on the 2nd in Everett and it was the most fun I've ever had at a wedding. It was great reconnecting with some people I hadn't seen in a while.
On the way home I was driving my friend's car and a semi had apparently swerved off the road, running into the guard rail. It attached to the truck and ripped it apart along with a bunch of the wooden posts holding it up, dragging it out onto the road. In the darkness and rain, I couldn't see it as we were the only car on the road. We hit it and I lost total control of the car, but I somehow managed to keep us straight and safe. We got out of the car to survey the damage and instantly heard a few other cars hit it. At this point I was worried we would be hit by a car, but luckily we were far enough away to be safe. It totaled my friend's car and we had to be towed home. Luckily with his insurance it only cost $4 because it was slightly out of the coverage area - and by slightly, I mean about 0.2 miles or something ridiculous.
I flew back to Florida the next day to reconnect with the tour. Things went as usual for the rest of the tour. I got to see one of my good friends from Maine on the last day.
Instead of flying back to Seattle, I got my flight to Reno so I could spend Thanksgiving with my family. I spent a few relaxing weeks at home seeing my friends, family, and nearly 7 month pregnant sister.
December
Of course, the only day that snowed in Minden was the day I was flying out. Some poor decision making on my part led to me missing my flight because of the snow. Fearing the worst for how costly my mistake would be, it turned out to only cost me $30 to change my flight. What a relief.
Upon arriving home I began searching for a job since I would be home for a while before the next tour in February. After about a week of not hearing anything from any of the jobs I applied for, I got a call one night from Top Pot Doughnuts. I went in twice during the following week for interviews and was hired after the second interview. Finally, some income and something to occupy my time during this down time, not to mention they are totally cool with working around the Australia trip in February/March too. The job is going well so far, despite the fact that my first few shifts of the new year will be opening - 5am start time.
During the time off before the GWAR tour I noticed my car was acting a little funny and came to the conclusion that the transmission is on its way out. Driving it around when I got home made it even more apparent that was the case - it slips out of gear every once in a while now. I began searching for cars and found exactly what I was looking for, a 2009 VW Rabbit. I'm currently in the process of securing the money for the loan. I'm very excited to start off the new year with a new car. My Corolla has served me very well for nearly 10 years and is currently approaching the 210,000 mile mark. Hopefully I can sell it soon and get a little more cash to put towards the VW.
in a sort of poignant moment, I sold my Peavey 6505+ head, one of my guitars, and have a prospective buyer for my Mesa Boogie cab that all served me well on the road with IDW for a few years. Parting with them was easier than I thought, but it still seems a bit strange to me that those things are no longer a part of my life. The dream is dead.
I spent New Year's Eve with my friends at a quiet party. Quiet times with good friends are the best these days.
Looking onward to 2014...
I'm not going to make any predictions/claims/resolutions/etc. because well, life is crazy and while it is a positive thing to set goals and work towards something, at this point in my life I don't know what I want to work to get. I've been trying to figure that out for years.
All I know is the same thing I've written for year after year, I want to get a dog. Will it happen this year? Hard to say. I don't know if I'll be touring through the year, I don't know where I'll be living, and I don't know what my financial situation will be like; all variables that I'll just have to take as they come.
Thanks for reading this monster if you made it all the way through. A lot of the time I write just to get things off my chest and whether or not anyone reads what I write all the way through I rarely ever know, but if you did, thank you.
Until next year...
