Where did the last few weeks go? The honest answer is California and little bit of Vegas and Ohio full of amazing surprises. Starting this tour with Butch Walker i was so excited because Im a huge fan of his music , his band, and his crew. This is the stuff that makes the best job ever even better! We got to California a few days before the tour started. We had to take care of some things and enjoy the fine Mexican food and weather. The 1st surprise was finding out that Hank Williams III was doing a show in Bakersfield about 100 miles from LA. I got Hanks newest record Straight To Hell and have been hooked ever since. Its funny because i heard it back in the spring waiting to sound check in Corpus Christi and i don't know why it took so long for me to buy it. Im glad i finally did. Me, Noelle and Blake took ride to see the show with a stop to In n' Out Burger. Hank walked past me to get on stage and i felt like such a fan boy to see him up close. We all had a good time seeing Hank.
Sometimes you get some free stuff when your in a band which brings me to the next surprise. Our manager assistant (the lovely Stacie) took us to Farmer Jeans to meet with the designer Paul and his crew to get some jeans. Paul and the crew at Farmer were super cool and kind enough to let us have some very badass jeans. They asked us to take some pictures a few days after that so naturally we accepted the invite. The day we took the photos was a good time! The singer from Morningwood came with me and Noelle early to get started. Paul told me he had model from the Ford agency to be with me in the photos. Im thinking at the that point "Im just a bass player. How did this happen?" Needless to say i enjoyed the experience.
On a Monday Mike and i decided we should go get some food and see Metal School. We both ate the same thing at the Rainbow and went to the show. Everything seems like its going to be cool. We have some drinks and watch Takota open who we played with a few months ago. Im so excited to see Metal School but i start feeling like shit. About 20 minutes before their set ends i feel like Im going to die so grab a cab and lay in my bed. A few hours later i gotta puke but unfortunately Mike is in the bathroom so i make a decision that Im going to puke in the hall. I proceed to puke in the hall and keep puking all damn night and never get to sleep. At this point Im guessing it was food poisoning or something Im allergic to but who knows. Mike was fine. The next day we were no longer welcome at the Holiday Inn. Apparently in addition to my puke Blake smashed some lights in the hallway but claims he knew nothing about it. With no sleep i rested myself for the show later that night in Anaheim. Im feeling kind of messed up but thats no excuse to put on the best show ever. The 1st song we play i end it by stepping up the front of the stage on to a head case and i slipped and fell. My bass stayed on it's side which broke the fall on my face. The band and audience all had a good laugh at my expense but thats how it goes sometimes. I hope that never goes on YouTube. After the show i realized i was bleeding above my eye and had a little bit of a black eye. I would have loved to go to bed but there was an after party at the Slide bar and everyone came out. I got see Butch do Bohemian Rhapsody with a hair metal cover band. We had so much fun and got in very late.
At the LA show we played at the Fonda Theatre which is biggest place we played in that area. Of course the show was followed by another after party and lots people came out from all kinds of bands. The biggest surprise was seeing Jerkky from the 69 Eyes. We haven't seen him since the tour we did with them and there he was all the way from Finland. His english was so much better since last time. After the party he had me and Mike go with him to Swingers to get some food. It was so good to talk to him about things and catch up. He was staying close by to us so we went up to go listen to some new 69 Eyes stuff at full volume around 5 AM. I don't know how he didn't get kicked out of the hotel!
The next day was kind of sad because it was the last day with Butch Walker and the Lets Go Out Tonights. The show was in Vegas and i was looking forward to finding some fried oreo cookies for .99 cents. If you never had fried oreos then you better try them. The show was really cool and then the after party was a few blocks down at the Beauty Bar. We got there and it kind of sucked and it way too loud with crappy music. So we decided to take a trip over to the after after part at the Hard Rock. I finally got there and Butch had a table for everyone. So i stayed up with everyone and begged them to take us out 3rd time. I got back when the sun was coming up and woke up real early to fly to Dayton Ohio for X-Fest. We got to Dayton after a few connecting flights and i slept for 12 hours. I was late for lobby call for the 1st time in i don't know how long. We got to the fair grounds and it was awesome to see the Buckcherry and Black Stone Cherry guys as soon as we got there. We had so much fun with both those bands last month so everyone was in a good mood. The crowd was insane and it felt amazing. I even got to drive a golf cart to catering. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to fly back home. Now here i am writing it all down or at least what i can remember.
Rock
Vazquez
Sometimes you get some free stuff when your in a band which brings me to the next surprise. Our manager assistant (the lovely Stacie) took us to Farmer Jeans to meet with the designer Paul and his crew to get some jeans. Paul and the crew at Farmer were super cool and kind enough to let us have some very badass jeans. They asked us to take some pictures a few days after that so naturally we accepted the invite. The day we took the photos was a good time! The singer from Morningwood came with me and Noelle early to get started. Paul told me he had model from the Ford agency to be with me in the photos. Im thinking at the that point "Im just a bass player. How did this happen?" Needless to say i enjoyed the experience.
On a Monday Mike and i decided we should go get some food and see Metal School. We both ate the same thing at the Rainbow and went to the show. Everything seems like its going to be cool. We have some drinks and watch Takota open who we played with a few months ago. Im so excited to see Metal School but i start feeling like shit. About 20 minutes before their set ends i feel like Im going to die so grab a cab and lay in my bed. A few hours later i gotta puke but unfortunately Mike is in the bathroom so i make a decision that Im going to puke in the hall. I proceed to puke in the hall and keep puking all damn night and never get to sleep. At this point Im guessing it was food poisoning or something Im allergic to but who knows. Mike was fine. The next day we were no longer welcome at the Holiday Inn. Apparently in addition to my puke Blake smashed some lights in the hallway but claims he knew nothing about it. With no sleep i rested myself for the show later that night in Anaheim. Im feeling kind of messed up but thats no excuse to put on the best show ever. The 1st song we play i end it by stepping up the front of the stage on to a head case and i slipped and fell. My bass stayed on it's side which broke the fall on my face. The band and audience all had a good laugh at my expense but thats how it goes sometimes. I hope that never goes on YouTube. After the show i realized i was bleeding above my eye and had a little bit of a black eye. I would have loved to go to bed but there was an after party at the Slide bar and everyone came out. I got see Butch do Bohemian Rhapsody with a hair metal cover band. We had so much fun and got in very late.
At the LA show we played at the Fonda Theatre which is biggest place we played in that area. Of course the show was followed by another after party and lots people came out from all kinds of bands. The biggest surprise was seeing Jerkky from the 69 Eyes. We haven't seen him since the tour we did with them and there he was all the way from Finland. His english was so much better since last time. After the party he had me and Mike go with him to Swingers to get some food. It was so good to talk to him about things and catch up. He was staying close by to us so we went up to go listen to some new 69 Eyes stuff at full volume around 5 AM. I don't know how he didn't get kicked out of the hotel!
The next day was kind of sad because it was the last day with Butch Walker and the Lets Go Out Tonights. The show was in Vegas and i was looking forward to finding some fried oreo cookies for .99 cents. If you never had fried oreos then you better try them. The show was really cool and then the after party was a few blocks down at the Beauty Bar. We got there and it kind of sucked and it way too loud with crappy music. So we decided to take a trip over to the after after part at the Hard Rock. I finally got there and Butch had a table for everyone. So i stayed up with everyone and begged them to take us out 3rd time. I got back when the sun was coming up and woke up real early to fly to Dayton Ohio for X-Fest. We got to Dayton after a few connecting flights and i slept for 12 hours. I was late for lobby call for the 1st time in i don't know how long. We got to the fair grounds and it was awesome to see the Buckcherry and Black Stone Cherry guys as soon as we got there. We had so much fun with both those bands last month so everyone was in a good mood. The crowd was insane and it felt amazing. I even got to drive a golf cart to catering. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to fly back home. Now here i am writing it all down or at least what i can remember.
Rock
Vazquez