hamburger party '05

Hey everybody. So, after a few days of questionable shows, a touch of bad weather and some long drives, things are finally looking up for the tour. Last night in Tupelo was an awesome time, and being treated so well totally made up for any past unpleasantness.

After playing in Tallahassee, Mark the Machine and we thought it best to head out that night on the 8+ hour drive to Tupelo. Maguire totally owned and drove the whole night. The other guys started calling him "the machine", but I just can't hang with that. I prefer the old favorite, "flapjack". Anyhow, the nine of us finally rolled up to a motel in Tupelo at around 11 am, crashed for a few hours and then headed out to the show.

The show itself was a great time, and everyone there was super cool. We got treated to hamburgers, chips, and soda, and I can certainly say it was the most fun we've had yet on this tour. At present, we have a day off and we're visiting with our friend Amanda who lives in Birmingham. Tomorrow we'll play a show nearby, and then it's off to somewhere else. Oh, and we also need to get the van tuned up a bit, so we'll see how that goes.

are you gunna eat your tots?

so, we're in the south again. dang, we can't seem to get away from this place. i suppose sweet tea and grits are just too tempting. and waffle house, always with the waffle house.

so a quick recap of our tour so far:
-drove to south carolina and picked greg up after his flight from california.
-got to show in GA late, met mark the machine and idea of beauty guys.
-played to each others' bands only.
-we stayed with our friend aaron, the other two bands drove to myrtle beach.
-we drove to myrtle beach, met up with bands there.
-played to each others' bands and one girl.
-went to hotel the other bands had gotten that morning for the ever popular "drive all night, get hotel room to sleep that day and again that night" scam.
-hung out all night with idea of beauty guys and got to know them better, mark the machine went to sleep pretty early.
-split off with other bands and met up with guff guys in athens, ga. amazing time, greatest dudes ever. much needed good show and gas money after our crazy drives and no pay.
-met back up with other bands in tallahassee, fl. played a show where all three touring bands had to play first and share equipment. played to each other and a few random kids. next door there was a sold out rock show, and by the end of the night our place was packed. guess nobody cared we were playing.
-spirits a bit down, we raised them by talking to some locals, handing out samplers, making fun of each other and drinking free beer.
-drove all night to tupelo, ms. maguire did the whole drive. he's a machine. once that kid ate 10 slices of pizza. i sat up front, but blew a zed or two during the drive. lots of spider solitaire.
-got a hotel room with mark the machine (again with the 2 sleep scam--side note, it's not so much a scam, as us liking to pretend it's a scam) at the wonderful all american coliseaum motel. slept until the show.
-showed up at the hall, chris and the other guys from fourtoomany were there setting up. by the end of the show we had been hugged a ton of times, got to watch both bands play amazingly well, got fed a ton of really good food, play an awesome set, sell a bunch of merch and make great friends. it was such an incredibly positive vibe, and so much fun. completely amazing, and completely needed after a few questionable shows and long drives.

so, in all, it's been a very strange, disjunct trip, but a lot of fun. everyone from the other bands is awesome, all interesting in their own way. i foresee more crazy times ahead, and welcome them with open arms.

thank you all for being wonderful and constantly reminding me how great my life is, even after we're tired, sick, lonely and $500 in the hole. when reminded of a good life, none of those things matter. i hope you're all well and sleeping soundly. peace in the middle east.
panther

Tour

Hey all. If you can, please take a minute to check out the "shows" page of our new interim website. In just a few days, we'll leave for a 2 week trip with southern state favorites Ida of Beauty and Mark the Machine. I'm hoping for some warmer weather, southern hospitality, and a generally good time all around. We will also be armed with the new triple crown sampler, which, in addition to some killer songs by our labelmates, features two brand new songs from our new record. In the meatime, you can also download those same two songs on the website.

Despite some initial hesitation, the new record is now well on it's way to being ready, and we expect an April release. It just got mastered a few days ago, and I'm very excited to hear the final product. I'm sure it sounds great. In the meantime, please check out the new stuff and please come out and say 'hi' if we come by your way.

time for some photo updates

here are some photos:

here's the merry christmas card we never sent out. it's from last year in iowa. we decided it best to look tough, so as not to be mistaken for an emo band.


here is when we paid to have the bear spray-tanned. normally 2 tanner drops are used. we ended up using 50.




i suppose this is necessary.


here are some fun tour pics.




10 of us went to cici's pizza, which is all you can eat salad, pasta, pizza and dessert for $3.99. perfect for tour. we decided we'd eat 100 plates. we ate 101.



and just for good measure, an old fave of mine.

most righteous dudes

i must commend the gentleman of scream hello for staying the course in our most sportsmanlike and gentlemanly of contests. is gentlemanly a word? it is now.
i also must commend cici's for being the best value in the history of pizza. i will leave any further details for private showings.
this tour has been nothing but good times yet we have been a bit lax with the old tour journal. a few shows got cancelled, a few shows didn't, lots of offensive stories to tell. really all you can ask for from two weeks travelling in a posse of ten dudes.
i just mentioned to pj that i always try and write in this thing yet never really say anything. so if you've made it this far, you're a champ.
anyway heading to delaware, then back to virginia, then home to jersey over the next three days. the new brunswick show should be completely insane. haven't seen denver in dallas in a thousand years which is far too long seeing as they are one of my favorite bands/favorite dudes of all time. also a long list of people who have not been spotted in some time will hopefully be in attendance. thats all.
bye.
oh wait. phil's reading over my shoulder. hang up your purse phil.
and more pictures will be up soon hopefully if i don't get lazy again.

sorry to scare you

so, i almost killed everyone, and destroyed all of our equipment, but somehow, something was on our side. we're not terrible people, but we're not the greatest, so i guess i was a little suprised it happened and equally suprised we walked away basically unscathed.

too often in life i suppose we take things for granted. to be honest, even a day or two later we're probably doing so. but, for the surreal few minutes afterwards i was completely in the moment and in love with life. i am always thankful for my best friends, brian, brian, and greg. the bear and ross too. i miss amelia, kristin and my mom, dad and brothers. i love everyone who has ever smiled at me or given me a place to sleep, or perhaps purchased burrito for me. thank you and i love you.

on a lighter note, nobody has ever been able to keep up with us or out-gross us on tour, partially because we always take it too far, but scream! hello has done so. props to these guys for being both a grossfest and amazing guys at the same time. they're a ton of fun, please check them out. also, we'll both be playing with denver in dallas, one of our favorite bands, on the 16th in the brunz, so i hope to see ya'll there. that's right, i said ya'll, it's perfectly acceptable. screw off.

ok, we're all ok, i hope the same for you. be good and stay safe. love,
python peej

picture this...

it's a snowy night.. we're driving about 60 miles per hour down the highway in a caravan of sorts. the roads are medicore but moods are high, as the alli g dvd plays in the van... "my wife, she is a boooring!" out of nowhere the van sways hard left and the trailer starts to jack-knife... the mood suddenly changes and as all of us grasp for something to hold on to and instinctively bark non-sense instructions at pj who is behind the wheel. within second the van and trailer swing back across the road, narrowly missing a guardrail and jack-knifing even harder in the opposite direction. terrified, we hang on, and careen back across 3 lanes of highway to be suddenly awakened from the slow-motion drama by a crashing sound as the trailer snaps from the hitch and flips violently onto its side. as the van comes to a sliding halt, we watch as scream hello slide frantically only to hit the trailer. with traffic not far off in the distance, we pile out of our vehicles and watch as 18 wheeler after 18 wheeler narrowly miss our broken vehicles.

we were all okay, which is what counts, and managed to pile the battered equipment on the side of the road and right the trailer, which miraculously still travels. two nights later we have our equipment back-lined and are getting ready to play... you've gotta love the absurdity of tour...