Greetings from New Brunswick

Hey everyone. Well, I was all set to post a long blog relating the events of the past couple days, and then the web browser decided to refresh the page. That irritated me quite a bit. But, in an act of protest, I'm going to try my best to do it again. So here it goes.

Right now, I'm using a computer in the library of Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada. Yes, we've been making lots of "New Brunswick" jokes and yes, they are only funny to us. Yet, it keeps us amused and that's the important part.

So, we left at 7:30 pm on Saturday to head up to Pictou, Nova Scotia for our first show. By early morning, we were driving through the middle of nowhere, Maine, and the rising sun and dense white fog made it a pretty, yet slightly taxing drive. There were also plenty of moose crossing signs, which worried me a bit. We didn't see any moose, although I really would like to see one at some point. Then again, I'd much rather avoid hitting one above all else, so I'll gladly stick with not seeing on if that's what it takes.

By about 7:30 am, we were at the Canadian border. By some big coincidence, the We're all Broken dudes were right ahead of us going through customs. After showing our IDs, filling out some paperwork, and paying some taxes and duties, we were legally allowed in Canada. We have a plan for next time that involves Mountain Dew Pitch Black and a kayak, but that's for next time.

Regardless, we were in a new country. Since we were all pretty exhausted from the long drive, we treated ourselves to some food (A@W root bear and Quizno's) and then proceeded to drive to Pictou. If my memory serves me right, Pictou is a smaller fishing town, separated from the mainland by a 7 mile causeway. Maguire and I agreed that it reminded us a lot of a small New England fishing town. We all enjoyed some surprisingly decent Canadian pizza, and I made the first foray into one of the many new flavors of potato chips: Roast Chicken. We all agreed that they were pretty good and tasted a lot like stove top stuffing.

The show itself was good, and despite being very tired, I think we all pulled through and had fun. Afterwards, we went to our new friend Dylan's house to stay with him and his Mom. It turned out that they run a gravel business on their property. They also live in a trailer, and consequently, couldn't really fit us inside. So, most of us had to camp it up for the night. It was all well and good though. We were also so beat from the long drive and we at least got the chance to finally get some rest. In the morning, Dylan gave Greg and me a tour of the operation. He even ran some of the machines. It was like an episode of "Extreme Machines" but in real life.

From there, it was off on the road again. We stopped by the Tim Horton's for some breakfast and undersized coffees, and then proceeded to drive to Saint John. Saint John was more urban and more interesting than Pictou. As soon as we got to the show, Paul and his wife Karen had some pasta waiting for us. The show itself was a blast, and afterwards I got even more Canadian pizza. After the show, we wound up caravanning to the beach to hangout and crash. Wait, are we even aloud to sleep on the beach here? I'll admit, getting arrested in a foreign country is certainly something I wish to avoid. Well, it turned into us sleeping in the dirt parking lot, and, after PJ had a pleasant conversation with a police officer, everything seemed to be in order. As entertainment for the night, some of the dudes rode the ferry across the river and were even aloud into the "authorized personnel only" area. To top it off, I think the captain let PJ drive it. How does that happen? I don't know, but it did, and I'm sure it was awesome.

So the sleeping worked out pretty well, that is until it started pouring. PJ and Greg were outside and they got woken up, wet, and pretty pissed off. Well, I give them credit for toughing it out; it was a pretty bad deal. In an effort to do something other than be uncomfortable, we decided to start the drive and possibly get some food along the way. After a stop for gas and at a supermarket, we made it to Fredricton, New Brunswick. Of course, more "New Brunswick" jokes ensued and were generally silly. PJ decided to blow a few more Z's in the van, and other 3 of us started off to find some food. We eventually decided on a pretty cool place, and I got a breakfast the was somehow both English and French. It was a lot of food, and I was happy about that.

Then, with a little help from the friendly townspeople, we made it over to the library. The library was pretty serious, but then again, maybe that's were the 11% sales tax goes. I sure hope so, because it seems pretty worth it.

And the about does it for now. I'm glad I got to repost, even if it was bothersome. I'll try to post again if the opportunity presents itself. Until then.

dudes bein dudes...

so warped tour is sort of ridiculous. and i guess so are we? we played broadway joe's in buffalo, packed up and got on the road around 1am, drove all night, and got to northampton mass around 7am and checked in. we spent all morning trying to figure out where we were supposed to be, and then finally pulled in and settled down. i was about to go to try and get a few hours of sleep but then the first stage started about 100 feet from our van. fuuuuuuuck. so instead we stole two cases of energy drink and that got me through the day. while it was sort of intimidating to be part of this huge event where no one seemed to know what was going on, it was made much better by the fact that we got to play with several of our friends and labelmates. hit the lights from ohio went on pretty early and are apparently the newest triple crown bros. good band, really nice dudes. check them out if you get a chance. then we played and kids actually watched which always surprises me and i was a bit of a mess due to a lack of sleep but i think we pulled it off. anterabae was up after us and they were incredible. i've only seen them a few times and never really met them before but they blew my mind and were rad dudes. and yankee fans which is a plus. folly was up after them and let me just say i love them. i love them! incredible dudes, really really good set. kids went pretty nuts. i think we still owe john money for the beer run. sorry dude. then it was lux courageous who sound better and better every time i see them. they were dead on and their songs are dangerously catchy. we'll be playing with them in a few weeks in philly which i'm looking forward to.
okay so the last band on our stage was bane. and yeah this got me psyched. my apologies for sounding like a jaded old man but at a festival of 8 million bands i just wanted to see my friends and go to sleep. but they're one of those bands that i got in to five or six years ago and kept me psyched on punk/hardcore/indie whatever you want to call it and i haven't seen them in forever so i went nuts. the barrier was a bummer but maybe its better that way cause i'm too old to stage dive. they had a lot to say and played all the hits. good times.
so then we packed up, drove around forever and finally found a place to sleep. i can say with some certainty that i had never been so tired in my life. yeah yeah, i'm a big whiner. its cool.
so now we're in cortland new york hanging out. show tonight, then head to boston to see the lock and key dudes which i am very very excited for, then up to vermont and then hooooooome. tour has been incredible but i'm pretty eager to get home and sleep and have friends again. so i'll see all of you in jersey in a couple days. later!





brian.

Hamlet

Woah. So long since I've written on here. I tried in vain to post something when we were in NC, but the computer crashed and I got the infamous "blue screen of death." Nonetheless, we're hanging out in Columbus, OH right now, and I'm tempted to think this post will be successful.

In general, this tour has been pretty steady, and a whole lot of fun. We've hit all our favorite regional eateries: Cici's, Waffle House, and even the ever disgusting Chinese Buffet. Not to say that we haven't been roughing it. Meal's out are certainly the exception. As for snack food, our recent foray into the delicious realm of boiled peanuts has been an overwhelming success. How did we all go for so long without trying any? It's a southern thing, so we enjoyed them while we could. And to 'top' it off, the gang hit Cincinnati's own Skyline Chili this afternoon. Surprisingly I wasn't on board, but I totally support the dabbling in local cuisine.

Of course, there's at least a little more to tour than eating, and we've been doing our fair share of playing music as well. Lock and Key are sure to deliver the rock each night, and It's hard not to succumb to enthusiastic fist pumping and singing along.

Despite the fun, Lock and Key has had some bad luck on this trip. On the very day they were planning to leave Boston for good, they got word that their parked van had been hit. Actually, the police officer rolled up to their house and told me while I was sitting on the front porch. She was actually pretty unhelpful. In the end, it turned out that their van was totaled, and therefore unusable for the upcoming 5 week tour. Luckily, a buddy of theirs had a similar van which he offered to lend them for the trip. Well, it turned out that that van wasn't up to job, so for the past 4 weeks, Lock and Key has been touring in a Honda Civic. It's a cushy ride, but not always when filled with 4 smelly dudes. To help the dudes out, we've been hauling some of their gear and sharing the rest. Touring in a Honda is not easy, so props to Lock and Key for sticking it out.

Secondly, we also got word that Lock and Key will have to drop off several days of the tour to head home and take care of some family issues. We hate to see them go, but obviously they need to be there for people and take care of things. Tours are fun, but life goes on back home. So, everyone should totally support Lock and Key and help them out. They would totally appreciate it and they totally deserve it. It does look like we'll be able to meet up with them for a final show in Boston, which should be a great way to end tour.

OK. So I think we're heading out soon, so I'll have to condense things a little. A few days ago we found out we'll be playing the Triple Crown stage of the Boston Warped Tour. I'm especially looking forward to playing with our labelmates, and being part of such a huge event should be pretty cool. Unfortunately, we'll have to back out of our Rochester show for that day. I'm pretty bummed about that, especially since there are some great people that always come out to see us. So, I'd like to personally apologize for having to cancel. It sucks, but sometimes we just have to make tough decisions. The good thing is, Rochester isn't all that far from us, and we can come back soon to make up for it.

As for right now, it turned out that our purported show in Columbus didn't really happen after all. It's never good when shows fall through, but we at least got some good food and I do believe we have a place to stay. Tomorrow we play in Akron, which should be a good show.

Well, I guess that's about enough for now. I have been taking lots of photos along the way, so I'll try and get those up as soon as I dump them and edit them. Finally, thanks to everyone that has come out to see us, helped us out with shows and given us places to stay. We really appreciate it.

Sorry, but I almost forgot. Do you know how you can take 2 sleeping bags, unzip them, and then zip the 2 together to form one big double sleeping bag. Well, henceforth I will refer to such and creation as a "hamlet". The name comes from me misunderstanding PJ when I was half asleep. No one else in our group know of another name for such a thing, so I think this one will work. I know it doesn't come up all that often, but if you could try and use it when it does, I'd appreciate it. Well, that's it. Thanks everybody.

Tour Photos

Hey, I'm Nano. I've been sharing van-space with Outsmarting Simon for the past few weeks, and there's been plenty of photography of debauchery going on, so I thought I'd share some with y'all.


Here we have Gregarious Greg and Ryan (from Lock and Key) climbing the local ABC liquor in Lakeland, Florida


The South Carolina show was a sauna filled with dancing clapping kiddos


At Ry's trailer in North Carolina there was this incredible display of awesomeness near the entrance.


Ryan and Trash (from Lock and Key) saved a goat at Ry's house which was tangled up in it's leash. Go goat go!


Kelly is super rad when he's playing his fancy guitar. Taken at a sweet record shoppe called Relative Theory Records in Norfolk, VA. Go check that place out and buy some records or dvds.


PJ skanks while Greg shreds in Delaware at the Grange.

Enjoy the pictures. I'm off the tour tomorrow, but I'll be posting more pictures once I scan them. Make sure you go check out the Outsmarting Simons at your local venue when they pass through!