Spent most of yesterday hanging out with Johnny Nobody and their friend Rob (who's also in a sweet band called Bearhunter that just put out an album). Saw a good 20 minutes of some movie called Summer Lover with Peter Gallagher and Darryl Hannah, way back from Year Zero of my existence (aka 1982). We watched it with the sound down and amused ourselves by saying rude things. That's never not funny.

Shows out here in Buffalo start late, so we didn't arrive at the club till 9:30pm or so. We hung out in the van for a little bit-- it was both empty and stationary-- and shot the shit. It's nice to be reminded that your bandmates aren't complete douchebags and may even be pretty cool people.

Chylde, the first band, was wild. They had a total Sabbath thing going for them and they pulled it off so well. And they were loud as fuck. I found out from John (I think he's the drummer... I wasn't wearing my glasses) that they're playing with fellow Bostonians Township pretty soon. Small world.

We had a few technical delays to deal with before our set started, but after much sweat we were able to sort them out (mostly). There was some confusion over whether my guitar was too loud or not loud enough (didn't matter to me, I couldn't hear shit anyway). At some point early in the set, the sound guy walked to the stage mid-song and turned (or tried to) my amp down, which I didn't appreciate; it took me a couple of songs to adjust accordingly. I've got three separate volume knobs on that, you see, and while my setup is far from complicated by most standards, it's not as easy as just turn a knob. I have no problems turning down, and as a group we encourage sound guys to tell us if we're too loud on stage. Just ask me next time and keep your hands off my baby.

Asides that, the set wasn't bad.

Johnny Nobody finished up the night and fucking wailed. There were a bunch of songs I hadn't heard before (and therefore must be new) that sounded so great. They're definitely one of my favorite bands. They rock it out. It's also fun to watch Jay play drums-- he's a lefty who plays with a righty setup.

Post-show was fun. We got to talking to an interesting dude named Greg, whose dad is apparently the mayor of St. Petersburg, FL. We must've talked to him for an entire hour about Family Guy, Howard Stern, The Jungle Book (and he sounded like Baloo, too), the "artwork" on the wall (thanks to that wall, we now know the location of the G-spot), and what a douchebag Scott Stapp is. Definitely in the list of cool random people you meet on tour. Back at the JN house, circa 3am, an impromptu party of sorts happened, which included Colin's (JN bassist) girlfriend bringing in bags of McDonald's. I had a moment of weakness and indulged. It was late, I hadn't eaten all day, and I paid for it in the morning.

Egads.

Off to Cleveland today. Let's see how Day 3 shapes up.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary