We had some awesome times on tour. Some shows were great, some sucked, but at the end of the day we made some awesome friends and good memories. Major <3’s to Guli, Aaron, Mike, Jesse, and Caroline.
We’re celebrating our homecoming with a show at East Islip Lanes this Friday. I expect to see you there! Hopefully our new EP will be finished by then, too.
Up next: finish up some new songs we worked on while we were on the road, possibly record them? Who knows!
-Vizzi
I will always go out of my way to be nice to you. I will always watch at least some (if not all) of your set unless I absolutely cannot for some reason. I will always do everything within my power to foster the bonds of comradery and community that I know are possible through music. I will always show you respect.
I expect the same in return.
Up the motherfucking punx.
-Vizzi
So we’re finally home. No Rights Reserved has one more show tomorrow, in Cambridge (if you’re in the area you should go check it out!), but we’re taking the day off tomorrow before our trio of New York shows finishes up the tour.
So, the past two days we played in New Jersey with the Waffle Stompers, who I haven’t seen since we played with them last year at Bard College, and constantly revive my faith in ska-punk, so that was a lot of fun. The Flemington show had some technical issues but the Asbury Park show was awesome. Asbury Lanes is my new favorite venue. They have an awesome setup, a great sound guy, and most importantly treated us (the bands) really well, which I appreciate a lot. Jesse even held my hand as we walked through the most scary alleyway in the whole world (we made it about halfway through before we turned tail). I’m a little shocked by the fact that I love Jersey now. Actually, today I was surprised at how much I appreciate Hot Topic. I know, I know, “BUT WHAT OF THE PUNX?!”, but just take this in: they let us promote our show, and one of the workers came to the show, brought people, and took a bunch of our demos to help promote us in his store in the future. Frankly, they can sell as many Justin Bieber shirts as they want, I wish we had more people like Ian in the scene, because that’s the kind of shit that builds a community. If that’s not punk, I don’t know what is.
These two weeks have been a really weird experience. I mean that in a good way. We’ve made some great friends and we’ve learned a ton. Things did not go perfectly, and we will do things differently in the future accordingly. But it was fucking fun. I could get all mushy about how I love my bandmates and tourmates, but I’ll spare you the cringing.
In other news, I won the Eli Whitney tour beard-off. Mike won the overall tour beard competition though, which this morning he shaved into a most righteous handlebar mustache, and while I begged and pleaded for him to keep it, he cut it down to a normal stache before the show. He is now the long-lost Mario brother.
We’ve got a few shows left on this tour though! Friday in Rockville Centre with the Supervillains (hit us up if you want tickets!), Saturday in Manhattan at ABC No Rio, and Brooklyn Sunday night. Come out and see some awesome bands for really good prices!
Psst…our new EP is almost done.
-Vizzi
Skate High was pretty fun. I would most certainly play there again. We had dinner at a place called the Jewish Mother (where, interestingly enough, The Supervillains are playing tomorrow), and Guli ordered the all-you-can-eat spaghetti and ate most of the pasta in Virginia. I’m pretty sure our waitress was on coke. This isn’t a joke.
Tomorrow we’re playing with The Waffle Stompers in Jersey, and I am stoked. Best live band. Seriously.
In other news, my bandmates are all talking to their girlfriends. Fags.
-Vizzi
“If you’re attracted to a snowman, are you gay or snowgay?”
-Craig
Alright, so it’s been a few days since I’ve posted a legitimate update. Let’s see…
After WonderRoot, we spent the next day in Atlanta at the “World of Coca Cola”, which was the most hysterically corporate place I’ve ever been in my life. I was pretty entertained throughout…Craig, not so much (Coke…it’s THE REAL THING!). We tried 45 different Coke beverages from around the world, almost all of which were terrible, the worst offender of which was the Italian “Beverley” (leave it to my people to fuck up something as simple as soda).
Anyway, after that we played two Florida dates. At both shows the local bands dropped off the bill without telling us, so we ended up playing to barely anyone, although the people who did show up turned out to be pretty cool. We even hung out with Craig’s best friend from middle school (you know, before he moved to Florida and Craig upgraded to me), and ate in what I assume must be some kind of secret IHOP, since it has no big friendly blue roof. But, more importantly, we tried gator tacos at Boca Fiesta, which is the awesome Mexican restaurant owned by former Against Me! drummer Warren Oakes, and the food was damn good. Sadly, Warren wasn’t there, and my beard shed a single tear.
Anyway, we’re on day two of our three day mid-tour break, and while I’m going through NRR withdrawal, I am infinitely pleased that my voice is finally recovering from the horrible treatment I gave it during the first week. Up next we’re playing in Virginia Beach, followed by two Jersey dates with The Waffle Stompers (which I am superstoked for), Cambridge, then three homecoming dates. SEVEN SHOWS IN A ROW. BALLS TO THE WALL.
Oh, we posted some partially-finished tracks from our new EP to our myspace page. Check it out!
-Vizzi
“I AM THE GHOST OF DRUNKS PAST.”
-Craig
Gainesville. Beards full-throttle.
Major respect to Dakota and everyone else from Wonder Root. Absolute DIY. Last night’s show was pretty fun, we played with DDB, DSK, and TBH (really, they’re called “To Be Hated”, but I’m sticking with the acronym motif). My friend’s Ergs! cover band was supposed to play, but apparently their guitarist was eaten by a velociraptor yesterday afternoon. Shit happens.
We’ve got an extra day in Atlanta, so I think we’re gonna head to the Coca Cola factory and continue our quest for corporate sponsorship and mad bling. Hell, I already drink like two liters of that shit every day, I might as well be getting rich off of it.
Also, it’s Guli’s birthday. Happy birthday, Big Dawg!
-Vizzi
Penguin Drive-In. If you’re ever in Charlotte, check it out, damn good burger. And I’m not just saying that because of the lucrative sponsorship deal we just signed with them.
Samson is king of beating the system for the sake of my N64 enjoyment. That is all.
-Vizzi
Yesterday was a good day! Samson NEEDED to see the White House, so we bummed around DC for a while and didn’t do much because the lines for the Smithsonians (re: free things to do) were too long. We made our way up to Gettysburg and played in a cool coffeehouse (upstairs, because I thought it was going to rain and I AM NEVER WRONG), and played a song we’ve only ever practiced once. PUNK ROCK. CAPS LOCK.
Fun barbecue with Mike’s friends after. Good times with the NRR crew. This tour’s shaping up!
Today’s our first off-day from tour which is good because my voice feels like shit this morning.
Today is a driving and playing N64 day. Looking forward to having my ass kicked at F-Zero X later.
PATRIOTIC.
-Vizzi
The tour began for me at 5am the night before we left because I had a panic attack over the fact that our new EP was not finished.
We got to Mike from NRR’s house at 10:30am to finish loading up the trailer before we left. We got to DC two hours before NRR and just kind’ve hung around until it got close to load in time.
We ate at this Mexican place where the food was good and prices were cheap. I think it was called California Tortilla, they have vegan options as well if that’s something that’s important to you. We met up with Anthony Alvarez and his girlfriend. Anthony books shows in his backyard once a year on Long Island that we used to go to and now we play.
As we loaded in there was some sort of comedy open mic going on where everyone was generally unfunny. The last guy was good.
The first band to go on was Interstate Rivals, a band from Maryland who was apparently missing their lead singer but still played a good set. They reminded me of Less Than Jake. We played after them, and during our last song (Showtime) Vizzi pulled out his guitar cables while jumping around. I sang the first verse while he fixed it, there’s a video of it that we might post.
No Rights Reserved played one song when a very angry DJ and the bar owner came out and said they had to pack up because the DJ had booked the bar from 10pm-3am. The bar owner told us we had the bar from 9:30pm on and that each band could have a half hour set. He double booked. AWESOME, THAT WAS FUN. Don’t know why the bar owner immediately sided with the DJ, but after a minor confrontation No Rights Reserved was allowed to finish up their set and we got the fuck out of there.
Last night I was so stressed, but I’m feeling better after sleeping. I think we’re going to do some sightseeing in DC and then drive to Gettysburg, PA for a show at a cafe.
WOOOOO TOUR
-Craig
Craig, CJ, Samson, and myself are leaving for tour in less than two hours. CJ and I both shaved last night, we’ll be fighting for the title of “best tour beard” over the next few weeks. Craig doesn’t count because he is a cheater and started early.
See you soon!
-Vizzi
This summer we are joining our old friends No Rights Reserved on the L.I.fe Support Tour (details are listed on our “shows” tab). Two and a half weeks of balls-to-the-wall musical mayhem. And we leave in two days. Holy shit.
Keep your eyes on this page, we’ll be bringing you updates from the road! Also, within the next couple of days we should be finished with our new EP, Taste The Fame, which will of course be free for download as well as available at all our shows. Want our old demo? Want our acoustic set from LIMS Radio? Want a shitty live recording of the IC Benefit we played this winter? Click on the “Free Music” tab to download them! Or not!
A few more dates may be added along the way, so check back here for updates. See you on the road!
-Vizzi
