Last weekend was the best weekend I've had in a VERY long time. Thursday night I received a text from Ray from Full Blown Chaos.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Not sure, why?"
"Wanna do gang vox on the new record?"
"Sure! When? Where?"
"8pm, Milford CT."
I had just played a show earlier in the evening in Milford CT! DOH! In any event, I did have plans, but I canceled so I could make it up to Milford. I must say, the new Full Blown Chaos record is going to be a monster. Everything I've heard so far has been absolutely stellar. Easily their best effort yet. Very much looking forward to having the finished product in my hands. Ray played one particular song where Mark pulled out a Marty Friedman-esque solo that blew my mind. When it came time to do the gang vocals, it was Ray, his guitarist Mike, my bassist Joe had tagged along and myself. It was quickly apparent that the main voices were Ray's and myself, since we're both singers. We were LOUD! Joe lost his voice very quickly. After we were done with gang vocals, Ray asked me "what are you doing tomorrow?"
"I think just having lunch with my mom and my brother. Sup?"
"I may have a plus one for Warped Tour tomorrow. Wanna go?"
"Yes"
Katz Deli will have to wait for another day.
Picked up Ray on Saturday and off we went to Nassau Coliseum. As we approached the arena, I asked him who was hooking us up? He says "everyone" and then further explains that he was "on like 8 different lists." However, on this day, Andrew WK and his band were going to be the ones who would be the source of the day's hospitality. "Hey man, we gotta hit 7-11. Kenny (AWK's guitarist) says they get shit on this tour and want us to bring beer." A case of Keystone and Budweiser later and back to the arena we go. Kenny met up with us in the parking lot and handed us a pair of VIP passes to use during the day. From there, right to Andrew WK's tour bus.
Now, I have been a pretty big fan of Andrew WK pretty much since he first hit big. I Get Wet is still in heavy rotation on my ipod. To be imminently entering his tour bus, I must say, was pretty god damn sweet. First person I meet is AWK's wife, Cherie, who was very nice. Everyone in the band and crew were all super nice and welcoming, which is a refreshing change. Lot of bands these days think they're hot shit and have their heads up their ass. They usually get slapped repeatedly inside my head. So far, no one has been dick enough for me to slap them in reality. However, everyone in this crew were all super friendly. After a beer and some small talk, off we go to the stage that AWK is playing. We get to an area behind the stage where different bands have their gear waiting under tents, and face to face is on stage. I went out front, just inside the barrier, to catch the rest of their set. They were awesome, as always. At this point, I had noticed Adam had tweeted "face to face rules" and a picture of them performing. I texted him to tell him where i was (behind the stage, at that point.) A song or two after I started watching f2f, Adam finds me by the barrier. I join him on the "civilian" side of the barrier (haha) and we're watching some more f2f when our mutual friend Chuck Haile comes walking by. He's on tour with Dillinger Escape Plan. I think he's doing merch, but as is the case with Chuck, I'm never entirely sure what he does or who he tours with. After jawing for a few minutes, Chuck gives Adam a vendor wrist band that now allows Adam to join us backstage. After face to face ended, we did just that. Dillinger Escape Plan was up next. Adam & myself, due to our respective credentials, were able to watch from the side of the stage, which is always the best place to watch a show. It was even more amazing to do so on a stage of Warped Tour caliber.
I used to be a fan of Dillinger Escape Plan back when they first hit. Inhuman had put out one of our 7"s on DEP's old label, run by their former guitarist (before they were DEP) Matt Beckerman. We played a show with them back then and there was even talk of doing a tour with DEP & Candiria (where we would've stuck out like a sore thumb.) Back then, they were innovative and exciting. However, lately, it feels like instead of remaining innovative and exciting, they've blended into the sort of spastic tech-metal that they helped pioneer. They're not at the head of the pack anymore. To make matters worse, visually, they look like every other asshole that infests Williamsburg. I had seen them a couple of times recently and was completely bored by them. However, on Saturday, I actually enjoyed their performance. Am I starting to warm up to them enough to give them another chance? Maybe. We'll see.
After DEP's set, Ray, Adam, Kenny and myself went back to the tour bus. As we're approaching, who had just gotten off the bus, Andrew WK himself! We all introduce ourselves and he graciously invites us onto the bus and tells us to make ourselves comfortable. Ray then starts playing some songs from the new FBC record and everyone is instantly excited. Kenny starts punching the walls, literally, and says "dude, this makes me want to punch a hole in my wife!" He says that several times during the course of the day, much to our amusement. After some relaxation, we make our way back to the stage, with Adam, Ray & myself taking our positions on the side of the stage.
Andrew WK hit the stage and it was as energetic as amazing as always. It was such a treat to watch the show from the side of the stage, I loved every minute of it. Adam was never big on AWK (but didn't dislike him, either), but I looked over and he was thoroughly enjoying their set. New fan born, right there, possibly aided by the friendliness and hospitality we were shown throughout the day. As usual, the set comes to a close with their big hit "Party Hard", which has a bunch of people, who were also already watching the show from the side of the stage, run to the front and...well...party hard during the song. Ray & myself jump on a mic for the final chorus. Adam hastily grabs his phone and videos this event. My friend Marc later remarked that the video looked like it was filmed by Michael J. Fox (ouch, haha.) And just like that, the set was over. Adam and myself briefly talked to Cherie as she passed by, when we see Ray talking with Kenny and Andrew. I don't usually fanboy out, but I had to tell him what a great show he/they just played. Talked to Andrew briefly then asked to take a picture with him.
This was the resulting picture:
Awesome on so many levels!
After that, Adam & myself went wandering around and managed to catch most of Whitechapel's set. They were brutal as all hell, and the crowd were beating the shit out of each other. After their set, we opted to skip Suicide Silence and made our way back to AWK's bus. More chillaxin and beer drinking for pretty much the rest of the day. Wandered around and hung out with more people during the course of the late afternoon. Adam briefly went off on his own to watch Reel Big Fish before getting turned away for more backstage access for some reason. The show ended around 830pm. After all the kids were shooed away, Ray, Adam & myself made our way back to the tourbuses for the band/VIP bbq that takes place every night after the show is over. After several hours of beer drinkin and meat eatin, I finally made my way home (after dropping off Ray) around 1130. If I didn't need to get up early on Sunday to record at my drummer's house all day, I would've stayed much later.
On Monday, Adam and myself still reveled in the amazing day we had together on saturday (over emails.) By Tuesday, a search we had both started had finally bore fruit: video from the audience of Party Hard from Saturday! Ray, Adam & myself appear at 2:15 on the left side of the screen.
I need more days like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment