...Triumphs Lie in Faith...

Weeeeeeeeeerd.

2007-04-26T08:59:49Z

yooooooo,
so right now I am in Dallas, Texas. We are hanging with our girl Melissa. She's actually going to be handling our gross clothes and do our laundry. What a sweetheart! but I feel really bad for her because Mike's clothes smell like a leprechaun's carcass that's been rotting for 237 years. Yea it's that bad!

Anyways, last night was Just Surrender's last show with the "Balls to the Wall Tour". We were in Corpus Christi, TX. And what a way to go out because the crowd showed tons of love. We couldn't let them just play their show and leave so instead we decided to get everyone on the tour to go on stage and do a choreographed Back Street-esq dance. Also we did the normal duct tape all the dudes together in a circle while taking the drum set a part piece by piece. hah.
You know it always sucks when you're just starting to get close to someone and then they have to leave:( But all is not lost - we will see those boys soon enough at Bamboozle. Please check them out. They are amazing and I'm not just saying that - they have great songs and I even got a chance to hear their new record that comes out this summer. It's gonna make fans out of everyone if you already aren't a fan already. Plus Dan has a common love for Slash. hah. check it. myspace.com/justsurrender.

also, their tour manager, John, and I have a common love for the Italian cuisine. Never a bad thing.

So the dudes are watching Smoking Aces right now. I am on my comp using a program called Reason. I'm working on this new song tentatively called "On The Wire". It's gonna be epic. Also I am listening to Young Love. it's freaking sweet. check it out.

it's starting to get hot out here. i hope we get our AC fixed before Florida.

.love.

~Stephen~

ps. here are some pics to check out on the last day with JS.

nips

2007-04-26T08:58:08Z

heyyyyoooo

2007-04-09T00:39:36Z

Just ate a slammin dinner with my brother and the dudes. Happy Easter or whatever you believe in. I just took the after dinner nap while watching some rediculous movie (Zathura) and now I am having coffee with home made pies!!! and Choclate covered strawberries!! howyadoin!!!!! We leave in a bit for San Fran. Cannot freakin wait for the Cali shows. Hope to see you all there. much love.

Enjoy your friends and Family.

~Italian Are I~

O Montana!!!!

2007-04-05T07:31:58Z

yo yo yo

Right now we are driving through Idaho, which by the way. Actually fuck, we are being pulled over by an officer right now. hahah. shit he just pulled over Andrew. hah o damn good our trailer lights were out. ok good the officer is being cool! Phheww haha I can hear ryan with the officer trying to fix the lights. Anyways, so we are on the side of the road in Idaho now being pulled over by an Officer and we are recovering from a fantastic evening in Helena, Montana. The show was sick! People flipping out and having a good time. Powerspace stage dove during "Between the Sheets" and we even pulled out a Bon Jovi Cover.
Also we got to play with some good friends of ours that everyone should check out - Goodnight Sunrise. These guys reaally hooked us up with a show and they are a great band so go listen!
In other news I haven't been getting good sleep lately. For some reason I can't fall alseep in hotels because I start just thinking about stuff. All kinds of stuff. And it keeps me awake. Andrew told me I should condition my body by listening to a sleep mix every night before I go to bed. But the problem is that I when I tried doing that I couldnt sleep so now when I listen to that music it conditions me to stay awake haha. It worked in reverse. But I think I'm gonna try to not go to bed at like 5 am. I need to get my sleep schedule back on track so I can be more productive during the day.
I also miss Rhode Island. I miss the beach! I miss Narragansett and Cranston. BUt its all good because being out here is sweet and for the first time I think I'm really taking it in and taking advantage of the situation. Im happy.

I'm gonna go work on some music! Maybe some epic shit, maybe some hip hip shit. who knows.

Love.

~Insomniac Are I~

Yo yo

2007-04-01T18:54:27Z

So I haven't written in this in a while. Crazy shite going on. Last night was the last night of our Couch Tour 2007 with Secondhand Serenade, Powerspace, and Phil Bensen. It was one of the most fun times I've had on the road yet. We hung out last night and got a little tippsy and could not stop quoting Borat. John does a great impression by the way. And I think me and him even took some photo booth pictures at the bar. they came out really homoerotic so that should be awesome. I'll post them on my myspace soon. (myspace.com/gnrstabb) John from Secondhand Serenade was such a cool dude and we got to have some sweet bro down time with him. And also, Powerspace and Phil were amazing. It was great to see so many different kinds of music on this tour and it seemed like evryone who came to the shows was accepting of the diversity which is always a great thing. So thanks to everyone who came out. We will be continuing on to the Amber Pacific tour Powerspace, Just Surrender, and Melee so make sure you all check it out. thanks again and see you all soon.

much love.
~Stephen~

myspace.com/secondhandserenade
myspace.com/powerspace
myspace.com/philbensen

New Year

2007-02-03T18:32:20Z

Happy New Year!!!! Hahah.
We are on tour right now with our buddies in the SUmmer Obsession and our friends in Over It. We have been having a blast and would to thank everyone for coming out to the shows. Also, we would love to thank the states of Texas and Louisiana for being so rad to our band in the past year. The shows have always been awesome. Last night was one of the sickest shows we have had in a while out in New Orleans. Those people know how to party hard. haha.

So the buzz around town ist hat our video will be done soon for "Between the Sheets" and it's coming out awesome! Can't wait for you guys to check it out. We will probably be having an officially internet release and possibbly something on tv. Cross your fingers. Also, (not sure if I'm supposed to tell anyone this but) we are releasing an electronic rock EP this summer which will include about 5 songs. 3 originals and 2 remixed (and by remixed I mean electronically and more bells and whistles) tracks from Wall of People. I think we will be doing Castlebound fo sho. So everyone can dance their ass off.

Well that's pretty much it for now. We have a day off in Baton Rougue, LA then head to Tallahassee, FL for some good times. Hope to see you all there.

Much Love.

~Steve~

p.s. I have noticed that when Bush is under extreme pressure from the American people (i.e. the opposition to sending in 20,000 more troops to Iraq) that gas prices go down and the terror alert goes up. Let me know if you have observed the same thing.

-LOVE-

Long Time no Talkie.

2006-12-05T20:53:06Z

Much has past since we last talked. bvsdfjhbfkdshbjkfsd

Then we came back to play Reno, which was fucking sweet. We saw some familiar faces from the RJA tour. The only thing that sucked was the buffet from across the street at the casino. I should have never done it.
The next night we played probably one of my favorite shows in a while. We played at a church venue in Sacramento, CA. I didn't really expect much from this show - it was only us, Greeley, and Anberlin. I was in for a big surprise. About an hour before the show I looked outside and saw about 300 -400 outside waiting down the block to get into the show - it was a great sight. We took the stage and insanity ensued. It was cool because the club was packed and we were close to the crowd. As soon as we kicked into "Legacy" the crowd flipped and it didn;t stop till the end. The crowd was awesome singing along - all my pedals and stuff were almost broken from the insane moshing - my monitor was turned upside down by the first 30 seconds of the song. It felt really good to play Sacramento and we can't wait to come back - it was the first indication where I said to myself, "Wow, touring is paying off and it's this is fucking awesome!". I was pretty stoked so a big thanks goes out to everyone for that!
That night of course was hell. i won;t get too into in, but in a matter of hours, I caught the stomach flu and was vomitting until 3 the next day. It was the worst experiences I've had with sickness in awhile. couldn't keep anything down, made Mike stop the van every 5 seconds, and the worst part was that I could not go any further in the van - I had to stop and eventually we had to cancel the Salt Lake City, Utah show. I am very sorry for anyone who came to see us. I honestly could not play the show - I couldn't even talk, move, or do anything and it was horrible. So, I am very sorry and I feel bad about it, but we will make it up to you guys very soon. Please be on standby for that! Can't wait to come and play for you all again.
After being out of commission for a while - we played a string of shows as I was making my recovery - Denver jfkljklfajsklfjklasjklfasjlk were all freakin sweet as hell.

A couple of nights ago was the last night of the tour - boo hoo:( - it was sad but fun as hell. We got to play in front 2,000 hardcore Story of the Year fans which was awesome. The crowd was so sweet and now I know why SOTY loves their hometown - they are very generous. We even had some people come back to see us even though we missed the Columbia, MO show - thank you guys! And thanks to Amber for making my "One, Two Step" shirt - I love Ciara! That was pretty sweet. It was fun to play from the stage and see the SOTY guys watching and their families - it made me look back on this tour and realize how fortunate we were to be able to tour with such a great group of guys. All of the bands played great sets and I got to come out with Anberlin and sing some backup on "Love Song" by the Cure. SOTY dominated and the crowd loved it - it was great to watch them flip out.

At the end of the night we said our good bys to Greeley Estates and Anberlin - They both had shows the next day and us and SOTY were traveling to Michigan for a college show. It was sad to say by to everyone but once again it felt great to know that we had agreat time and a great relationship with both bands. No one was an asshole, no one was rude, or thought they were rock stars. It was just dudes wanting to play music for people and having a good time doing it. I'm gonna miss those dudes and I can't wait to meet up with them sometime soon down the line. Everyone check thier shit out. www.myspace.com/greeleyestates www.myspace.com/anberlin

We drove 13 hours to the next venue in Michigan where were met SOTY at Central Michigan University. What I thought would be not such a great show turned out to be awesome. It was a good time and we had some people come out to see us which was great. The crowd really supported us and it was fun playing for college students and yelling "Beer!" into the microphone and having them respond with a big roar. The end of the set was my favorite. of course this was the last day for us and SOTY and I knew they had something up their sleaves. Toward the end of "Between the Sheets" the guys came out with their shirts off and in weird outfits and started putting tables, chairs, sofas, street cones, all of their road cases - pretty much any big furniture they could find. It was awesome! We didn't know what to do so we jumped on the sofas and continued playing until the end of the song - when I turned around - it looked like my living room and Ryan from SOTY was playing their drum set - it was all very confusing but it was funny as hell and I got a nice big hug from Dan at the end of the song. it was a good mess and a good time had by all. Of cousre we didn't let them get away with it so we loaded a cartoon "boing" noise into Josh's sampler - switched their guitar pics with doritos, put a condom on phil's micorphone - i put on my snow princess outfit and played trombone with Andrew and Ryan on "Until the Day I Die" - it sounded hilarious. We also duct taped Dan and Adam together so they couldn't play - it was sweet!

At the end of the show I took my shirt off and fought their tour manager - he kicked my ass. Then we took some pictures, made some speaches, and now we are headed home after many months and after this glorious Taste The Poison Tour 2006. I just want to thank everyone out there who came to the shows, even if they didn't get to see us. It was a dream come true to tour with our good friends for the first time and everyone who came to the shows made it special for me and the rest of MAI. If you have never listened to the other bands or aren't too sure about them - go to their respective myspaces - they are all awesome. And aside from all that, they are all good people and that's what matters the most. If you ever get a chance to meet SOTY tickle their balls for us - we owe it to them.

Thanksgiving was awesome and now we are on our Winter Thunderland Tour with Droppping Daylight, The Summer Obsession, and Permanent Me. It's going awesome right now and we are totally stoked because all of the guys in the bands are awesome. We are playing longer sets this time and it's cool to be able to play songs like Only The Weak and Just In Time. p.s. if anyone comes to these shows and we don't play Just in Time live, just ask me and I will certainly play it acoustically for anyone outside. :) I just like the song. Anyways, everyone should come check out the shows - they are intimate and exciting. See you there.

hope you had a great Turkey Day - I will post soon.

Much Love.

~Stephen~

steve_are_i @ 2006-11-17T15:07:00

2006-11-17T20:07:15Z

i have been bogged down by aliens - i will post soon. life has been hectic i had the bubonic plague.

Crazy Weekend!

2006-11-02T21:59:49Z

Yo Yo Yo,

This past weekend was freakin sweet. We went to University of Central Florida and saw Story of the Year, Mae, Jack's Mannequin, and Anberlin on our day off. I even met Mr. UCF himself - if anyone goes to that school you should try to meet him because he speaks really clear and pronounces his "t"s very well. Anyways, the show was awesome. SOTY made the crowd flip out and I'm pretty sure a bunch of jocks showed up and jumped in the pit - excellent! We even got a chance to see our past touring buddies in Jack's Mannequin. Can I just say that I fucking love those guys. We walked on their bus to say hi and they just passed us beers and were really fucking cool. I mean we are just a bunch of dingleberries and those dudes didn't have to be that nice to us but they were and that means a lot. Especially in an atmosphere where there are so many asshole musicians and dudes who think they are the shit. Andrew McMahon has a lot to be cocky about but he isn't and it's just really refreshing - and he is awesome to his fans. It's feels good to be able to look up to someone like that. So it was awesome and now I will stop being gay.

SOTY wanted to have a dance party that night so we got to getting our beer grove on and invited some people on the bus and danced our asses off for long into the night. We listened to hip hop and 80's rock - it was great. And it was my favorite night on tour so far. We even met this girl Anna Banana who was dancing like an animal - she was funny.

The next day we set out to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to play at Club Revolution which we played before with Jack's. i love this area and I love this club. It was so much fun and the crowd was awesome - we saw a lot of familiar faces from the last show and we want to thank everyone for coming back out. it was good times. the stage was like 8 feet off the ground so jumping off of it was a lot of fun. Also, watching SOTY from the balcony of this show was rad - the crowd was flipping out. At the end of their set the guys in SOTY took their shirts off and told the dudes in the crowd to do the same. Me, Justin, Ryan, and Andrew were watching from the stage so we did the same and when they told me to come on stage to play Enter Sandman with them, I ran up the with my shirt off and me and Adam jumped on the drum riser - it was a combined 260 pounds of face melting. hahha. we are skinny dorks.

That night we went to Coyote Ugly, a bar, and I got my ass beat with a belt by one of the bartenders and a shot of Jager spit into my mouth-it was awesome and i ended up getting a little messy, crashing on the SOTY bus and riding with them to St. Petersburg where I woke up after 3 hours of sleep not feeling to good.

The next day I felt like hell and tried to get some food and water in me. By the way I love St. Pete because the buildings have a cool latin church feel. i like it. So the venue we were playing was Jannus Landing and we have some people come check us out again which was delicous. The show was a lot of fun, but the only thing that sucked was that I lost my Guns N Roses watch :( its all good, i'll figure something out - i'll just write slash a letter and ask him for a new one. hah. I ended up partying with Anberlin at a bar down the street - i love those guys and I'm sure anyone who has met them has though the same - they are sweet and genuine dudes and I think we are fortunate to be on tour with them.

Two nights ago we played a show in New Orleans with Anberlin and Greeley Estates. I was really stoked to go there because when we played there last with Red Jumpsuit the crowd was insanely loud and this time was no different. It was really awesome to see some return people and it felt good to come to a city that is so full of life and seeing it get back on its feet. The people are really awesome too - we met this incredible dude, Lee, and his wife. They bought me and Ryan dinner which was really sweet of them and amazing - we appreciate it a lot - especially being on the road all of the time and eating like crap. We also met some people there who missed our show :( So I decided to play "Just In Time" acoustic outside for them because I thought they deserved something. It was fun and it was cool to have some people there singing a along. A big thanks to everyone who came to that show - it was one of the best on this tour for sure. DMX was playing next door that night too and the promoter told us he would escort us in to see him - unfortunately we couldn't stay to see him but i really wanted to see DMX and ask where his dogs were at. Damnit - next time.

Yesterday we took a trip to Houston to play the Scout Bar - Happy Halloween! I still hadn't gotten my Halloween costume yet, so we loaded up fast and sound checked, grabbed some SOTY dudes and headed to Target 1 hour before we played. We ran in and found what we needed and screwed out of there only to get back 30 minutes before we played. I headed into the dressing room and undressed, and put on my white panty hose that I bought. Then I slipped on my white Ice Princess dress that was made for a 12 year old - i looked amazing just to let you know. haha. I tied my red bandanna to my left leg, had Andrew write "Princess" on the dress, and was ready for action. Also, this dress had a hoop ring in the bottom to keep it flaired so I looked classy. Justin was Spiderman, Ryan was Robin, Andrew was Kriss Kross, and Mike was a transvestite - very fitting for him and his parents would be proud. He even had a bra stuffed with candy that he threw out to the crowd. We came out to "In this Legacy" and the crowd was prettty shocked and started taking pictures with their camera phones. Right in the break before the first chorus of "In this Legacy" I said , "Im wearing a dress" and started laughing my ass off - it set the night off and it was a lot of fun. During my solo for "Castlebound" I lifted my dres over some dudes head haha. Sorry dude. The show was fun and the crowd was incredible as always. We had a bunch of people come back. Sami and Melissa brought some cupcakes from Band Mom which was awesome! and a girl, Vreni drove 3 hours and paid 50 bucks to see us which was amazing. I also got some new bandannas from a girl who came to see us, Amber. Thank you guys so much - i love you and you saw me in a dress - awesome.

SOTY's set was incredible last night and I seriously laughed for about the first 15 minutes of the set. Adam was a ninja turtle with his package exposed, Dan was a gay aerobics instructor, Josh was a ganster, Ryan was Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, and Phil was part beer bottle, part Greg Luganus, part Scottish guy. It was pretty incredible. Everyone had a good night and good shows.

To wind down for the night a bunch of us went to IHOP where we ordered breakfast and lunch foods. Dan ordered mozarella sticks but found that a couple of the sticks were the fried part without cheese. So people started making jokes and calling them crispy hollows, fried oxygen, and "fried" - hey can i have some "fried" hah. well at least i thought it was funny.

Well, we are travleing right now to San Antonio to play the White Rabbit again and it should be fuckin rad. I hope too see you all more at the shows and I haven't had Starbucks in a couple of days so I'm in withdrawal - with me luck with that. much love.

Steve

ps if anyone has pictures from our halloween show please let me know.

Love
Steve

Home Town Boys and East Coast Syles!!!!

2006-10-27T20:54:36Z

So the last time I wrote was a long time ago! And I do apologize but much has happened since then - I will now talk about how good our times were on the East Coast and at home!

Well let's start off by saying the first bunch of shows with SOTY were awesome and we had a blast. But the most fun times happened when we hit our home area

1. Baltimore was great even though I started feeling like shit. We had some people drive a while to come see us and that felt really good. Thank you guys! Our friend Michelle also made us cookies that were the bomb - we heart Michelle.

2. Northhampton kicked ass and I actually got a bag of like 20 red bandanna's from Andrea - a girl who frequents our shows (you may see her in the Rhody/Mass shows). She read my plea with the bandanna bandits and she hooked it up. thank you!!!! We had a lot of fun that show and SOTY ended up inviting some dancers from the crowd on stage - they were incredible. By the end of the show the whole crowd was up on stage - that was the most fun I have had watching a band in while.

3. The Boston show at Avalon was probably one of the most fun shows we have had in a while. The crowd fucking ripped and I actually got to play "Enter Sandman" with SOTY on stage. It was awesome because Ryan from SOTY just wanted me to solo with him and we did in front of the crowd at the end of their set. I love those guys because all they care about is playing kickass music and having fun. This show was rad because we also got to hang with a bunch of our friends from Boston and from home. I think that also makes these show good too - seeing people from home. I miss you guys!

4. Providence was fucking incredible of course!!!! I love playing the home town and it just felt so good to be there and to represent. People were flipping out and chanting our name and stage diving and it was all so rad. I thanked SOTY that night on stage because I feel really grateful that we have come this far - even though on the big music industry scale it don't mean shit. But it definitely means something to me and the rest of the guys. We appreciate everything and never take anything for granted. And the best part of all - Monty, himself, was there. I was so fucking excited. He hasn't ever been to a real show of ours and to see him there was just amazing. He really liked the show and we actually got to talk a bit and bro down. It's cool to think what started as a joke made it this far and now the old man:) is coming to see us - it feels great. Also, like 30 of me and Mike's friends showed up which was awesome. Our friends have always supported us and I feel like a really lucky guy to have such great friends. One big group of them got together and came down to the show and it was like a blast from the past - these are friends that I have had since elementary school and we have been close ever since. Even though they won't read this I want to thank them for coming because it makes me feel good. I love them all so much and I would do anything for them.

5. New Haven was the shizzzz!!! Not only was the show kickin but we got into the dance party afterwards. See, some rock clubs convert into dance clubs late at night. We stayed after the show and were able to get our grove on. And it was cool because all of the bands were there hanging out. usually this never happens on tour until the last day haha. But everyone on this tour is cool and into having a good time. Nick, our infamous friend and merch guy, got wasted and danced pretty much by himself on a big stage for an hour - it was incredible and amazing. I ended up getting my grove on but a group of Asian girls would not let me into their dance circle - I was upset. Brian, the drummer from Greeley Estates, is a good dancer! He reminds me of Madonna and I love him for it.

The next day, Sunday, was our day off. I hung out with my Grandmother and my parents. We had a slammin Sunday dinner- macaroni, meatballs, proscuitto, fresh mozzarella, a nice loaf of bread, some chicken cutlets, etc... It was friggin amazing. I also visited some friends that night and carved some pumpkins and ate apple crisp. It was totally October and I am totally excited. PS. everyone should go get a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks - it will put you in the mood.

6. Philly was the bomb and so weren't the cheese steaks from Jim's.

7. NYC - what else can I say. It was sick and we got to see so many friends of ours. Like I said before - good food, good company, good times. Me and Ryan made a Guerilla video for Stolen Transmission. We hopped on a subway train in NYC and taped Between the Sheets acoustic for the people on the train. It came our pretty good and I think the New Yorkers liked it even though we were pretty hesitant at first - you know how New Yorkers can be. So, I think ST is actually going to put it up soon - everyone be on the lookout! But as i was saying, NYC was awesome and we got to hang with friends and we even met Damone - which by the way if you don't own their record, go and get it now!!!!!

8. Norfolk, VA- the Norva is a favorite venue of mine. Greeley Estates ended up missing the show, which sucked, but we got our groove on and it was a good time. That club is always fun and the back stage is even better - there are video games, fooseball, a basketball court, and a jacuzzi. After the show I tried relaxing for a bit and walked around the venue and met some people we have seen before - like the last time we played there with Red Jumpsuit. good times. I got to film SOTY's set which was cool - i think they are working on a new dvd so that's fantastic - maybe some of my footage will make it:) After the show, some of the SOTY guys and me and Ryan jumped into the hot tub and hung out hetero style. Then we headed to the steam room - hetero style. hahah:) After that, we headed out and got a hotel room.

That brings us to yesterday. Honestly I did nothing and was knocked out. I think someone was sick and I caught it in our "man" party back at the club. I slept for like 20 hours or something haha. So now I am on cough meds, antibiotics, and Tylenol day and night. Today i woke up in Orlando Florida hahah. We are staying with our friend Stichelle and we are going to see SOTY tonight at University of Central Florida. We also get to see our friends in Jack's Mannequin because they are playing with SOTY. So that should be a delicious time had by all. hope to see everyone soon.

Also go here and check this band out - they fucking rule. www.myspace.com/slikwilly

Much Love. Rock.
~Steve~

No more "WOW" :(

2006-10-16T17:14:33Z

Since we last met, much has happened in the world of Monty Are I. Let's start from the beginning. We were pretty stoked a couple of days ago - it was the first day of the Story of the Year tour and we got to see those dudes and hang out. We were driving from Eureka, MO to Columbia MO and things seemed to be going fine. Mike and Nick wanted food so we stopped off of an exit where there was a Hardee's fast food place. We had never eaten there and they wanted to try something different. I was asleep of course. As Mike put his blinker on to go into the right hand lane I heard a huge crash that woke me from my sleep. It was loud as hell and the van was jolted. Mike came to stop and of course yelled "Fuck" so we all ran out of the van only to see the shittiest thing ever - our infamous "WOW" trailer had been hit and toppled over on its side. The dude not only hit the trailer but also got the the back right side of our van. We were freaking out. Some dude t-boned us on the day of a really important day for us and it sucked. Luckily no one was hurt.

As we inspected the trailer closer, we noticed that the part where the trailer meets the hitch was all twisted - luckily our van hitch and rear end was not messed up. We hustled out of panic and took all of our equipment out of the trailer slowly as to not tip over the trailer even more. I freaked out and checked every guitar - most of the stuff was ok, but there were minor breaks and mess ups which sucks! Especially on my Fender Strat - the first guitar i ever bought! And my guitar cabs got messed up too! A police officer arrived and then minutes later, the Sargent pulled up and this is the first thing he says

"What are we gonna have to do to get this thing off the road".
this is minutes after the accident and this dude doesn't ask if anyone is ok - he really doesn't care. He just wants to get his shit done with. He kept pushing us and saying, "If you don't move tip this thing right side up and move it, I'm gonna call a flatbed and you will have to pay for it".

Awesome! i love people like this. Ryan started freaking out because of Sargent Dinglemaster and everyone was getting pissed. Two dudes nearby saw what was going on and helped us out. i rallied the troops and we tipped the trailer over and drove it slowly into a parking lot where the officers could inspect and talk to us about the accident.

At this point we still wanted to make the show so after some debating (rocks, paper, scissor) we decided that me and Mike would stay on the side of the road with all the equipment and the rest of the dudes would go and figure the trailer shit out. We called the dudes from SOTY and they knew a million people in the St. Louis area that could help us out. They let us borrow their old trailer but we had to buy bolt cutters and cut off the locks and then buy new ones so we could use them. And that's what the other dudes did. They also put 2 new tires on that trailer in the process. It took about 4 hours for them to do this and by the time they got back it was dark and me and Mike were freezing but we still wanted to make the show. They guys showed up and we screwed to the venue only to find out on the way that we were too late and we couldn't play. It sucked - our first day and some dingleberry messed it up. But it really wasn't that bad. We got there and rallied everyone at the show and told them we were playing an acoustic set outside. Adam from SOTY even mentioned it on stage - i love these guys!

After the show we saw a lot of people that came and watched us at Pop's in St. Lou on the RJA tour. I apologized and I want to say I'm sorry right now for not being able to play. We had some people say that they came for us and it sucked that we couldn't play for y'all - but thanks for understanding and we hoped you liked the acoustic set. The acoustic set actually turned out awesome and thanks for anyone who watched. We played In This Legacy, Castlebound, and Between the Sheets.

So the "WOW" trailer that some of you (and us) have come to love is completely destroyed and gone forever:(, Story of the Year saved our asses, and the good people of Missouri are fucking nice as hell and very patient. Thanks everyone.

The next day, we played in Cincinnati - our first show of the tour - and it was awesome. We had a great time and it was good seeing familiar faces coming out from the Basement shows with RJA and RX Bandits. Thanks to all those people who came out and sang along with us - you guys are there every time and that fucking rules. Also, we had a great day in Cinci because people brought us food! :) you know me and food! A big ups goes to Evan and Jon for bringing us subs! Thank you guys for adding extra mozzarella and parmesan on my chicken parm sub - you know how I do it!!!! And thanks to Nicole for making the bomb ass cookies - they were amazing! I will say it again - bring us food!!!! hahaha - I want to be a chef!

We traveled to Michigan yesterday after getting a nice complementary breakfast form the hotel - the best that I have ever had probably. We drove to the club which looked like an old church. And inside the stage was really small which was cool because the club was big. it was fun as hell and we had a pit going at the start of In This Legacy - the first song we played. This was probably the most fun show so far because we were so close to the crowd and everyone was flipping out. We met some cool people that night. The highlight was seeing Story of The Year on that small stage. It was really cool - they rip shit up they played a great show. During their set I snuck out and bought a 4.99 medium pizza down the street and had a great conversation with the owner about the perils of being a small business owner- he was a good dude. I went back in and dominated the pizza.

After the show we hung out a little with SOTY and ended up taking off to stay with our good friend, Mel, who is actually form the east coast. Which, by the way, I can't wait to play this week. Everyone must come out and rock that shit with us and show everyone what the east coast is all about. Can't wait to see you guys there.

Much Love.

~Steve~

The End of a Jumpsuit...The Beginning of a Story

2006-10-13T06:37:47Z

I am here sitting in a hotel room in Eureka, Mo - about 2 hours from our first show on the Story of the Year tour - which by the way is gonna rip faces. I am very excited right now and I'm also eating Rold Gold Pretzels.

So I wrote last about the show with Lorene Drive. The day after the show, us and Lorene headed to our last show with Red Jumpsuit (well, our last show but Lorene will be on the rest of the tour and you should go see them) but before we left Amarillo, we headed to the thing that feels most like home - The Olive Garden! Everyone but Chris from Lorene and our Justin got unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. It was a glorious time had by all. We shared a great time and it was fun not being at aclub with those dudes and just chilling with some good food - I love that shit.

We headed to Albuquerque for our last show and everything went fine and dandy. The show ripped and it was a lot of fun. A nice tight crowd and very loud - just like rock shows should be. The best part of the night, however, was what we planned for Red jumpsuits set. I mean, we couldn't just leave the tour and not pull some stupid prank on the them. AT first we were thinking of just duct taping their feet together but that wasn't fun enough. Plus, we wanted Lorene Drive to join in although I think they were hesitant because they would be continuing on the tour and didn't want to start a prank war! Anyways, here is how it went down.

Both bands gathered in the back stage area during RJA's last song. We all took our shirts off - some of us pants as well with only underwear showing. Some people were playing air guitar, some had trombones, some had masks, and most had silly string. We all rushed the stage and just flipped out. Most of us stage dove and the crwod went crazy. There was a silly string assault! Trombones were blaring and air guitar was being wailed on! Before the show Andrew loaded a cartoon "boing" sound into RJA's drum sampler so Andrew went up there and just kept hitting the sampler and all the crowd was hearing was a loud "boing" noise. it was fucking hilarious. I ended up stage diving into a bunch of girls. It was fun as hell and a great way to end the night. I had no idea what was going on on stage, but when i looked back at the video I had a good image of what was going on. It was pure chaos and the crowd must have been so confused - hah perfect. Our plan worked out great and Red Jumpsuit found it to be quit hilarious!

At the end of the night we partied until late night, went to Denny's and ate a nice breakfast, and headed back to the RJA bus where we gave both them and Lorene Drive pictures of us and them in some cute little girl frames that said, "Little Princess" and stupid shit like that. It was so much fun and I think we all really appreciated RJA taking us out on tour for a month. It was the best fucking tour we have done so far and they really helped us out. I love those dudes and we are gonna miss them and Lorene like mad. We grew very close to both bands and I feel like we could legitamitely hang out and be close friends some day in the near future. Damn I'm getting all teary eyed!

So after getting over a hangover, we headed to St. Louis for a 15 hour drive. There was much Pizza Hut Express and Starbucks consumed. On the ride here I found out that X96 in Salt Lake City Utah has been playing Castlebound on the radio. And I heard that it even beat out bigger bands every night for 4 nights when they had a request contest - we were beat by Muse which makes me even more excited. But I think this is pretty rad and I would like to give a big ups to them!!!! Even more of a big ups because I rip a face melter in that song and that gets me excited that it's on the air!!!! Fuck yea!!! :) STeve = happy.

We made it to the Holiday Inn hotel this morning at 11. And it is probably the best motel we have ever been to. It is really nice because there is a Six Flags down the street so in the busy season they have to make it nice. on the off season it still has the video games, indoor pool, pool tables, and bar but without the proce. It was only 35 bucks!!!! Fuck yea, right up our alley. So we have been chilling here and Nick showed us this rad video on YouTube that everyone should check out. It's freakin hilarious!!!!

watch it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6xcmwFU2w

let me know what you think.

So also, I checked my email today and I get updates when people post on the live journal. But I am still not sure how to 100% use this thing. Are people sending me personal messages through my email or is LJ just updating me on who posts. PLease someone let me know!!!!! I am confused and also do not hesitate to post. i love when people post so post ahead!!!!!

Well, I should be heading to sleep. The SOTY tour starts tomorrow and I am really and excited. COme to the shows if you get a chance and come say hi to me.

Much Love As always,

~Steve~

New York City?!!!! Pace Picante!

2006-10-10T05:32:01Z

Yo Yo,

So we traveled to the great town of Dallas, TX - the place we have played the most in the past 4 months. We have grown to love Dallas and after our last Red Jumpsuit/Lorene Drive show at the Gypsy Tea Room, we decided to come back and rock the fuck out! Good times were had by all. We had a ton of return people come out to The Door - the venue we played. It makes me feel really good to see the same faces and have them say that they brought a friend or 2. That's what it's all about - spreading the word and slowly infecting the world person by person. It was good to see these people come back and even more fun to talk to them after the show- especially the "me" look alike that scared the shit out of me as I walked by him because I thought it was me! (Just imagine a younger/less facial hair growing abilities, me). Anyways, the show was a lot of fun and there some good sing-alongs. After the show we had some kickass girls come, Sami and Melissa, and tell us we could stay with "Mom". (They made us fucking cookies! They were so good - Like I said before, to get to my heart you gotta get that ass in the kitchen.) Now "Mom" is a lady who lives in Texas and she houses touring bands and anyone else who wanted to come over and hang - she has had the likes of Bleed The Dream and 30 Seconds to Mars stay there. She fucking rips. We went there and there were like 20 kids from the show hanging out there. "Mom" welcomed us and she had some serious punk rock hair and she is like 40. She is also the nicest most bomb ass lady who made us pancakes and welcomed us into her house. She was damn nice and i want to personally thank her right here! Thanks Mom! So we hung out last night with everyone till like 3 and hung out. I even did acoustic performances of Just In Time and Castlebound for some people there. It was a good time had by all.

Today we woke up and it was a beautiful day out. We cleaned beer cans, pizza boxes, Taco Bell wrappers, and plain old crap out of our van. We traveled 5 hours to the next show in Amarillo Texas. On the way there I got a call and found out that I am getting officially sponsored by Seymour Duncan which makes pickups for guitars! This was some pretty fucking awesome news considering I have been using these pickups for years and one of my heroes, Slash, is one of their biggest endorsers. I am so stoked and I feel like one of my life goals in complete- so yah me!!!!! :)

We played tonight with Lorene Drive at a venue called The Refuge. It was a small crowd but like I said before that shit rips. It was fun except for the fact that I am losing my voice, which sucks! But I think tonight I am gonna nurse it back together and get some good rest. The show was fun and the crowd was good and Lorene Drive was so awesome. I love those guys and it's gonna be sad to leave them for sure. They are officially our bros! So I ate 2 peanuts butter and jelly sanGwhiches tonight, some chips and salsa, and now I have a hot pocket for later on. Tomorrow us and Lorene are heading to the Olive Garden to get unlimited soup, salad, and bread sticks - it's gonna be so badass! It's no home, but it's the closest thing we got. I mean when you're there, you're family....ya know?!!!!!! Anyways, I'm gonna go into Lorene Drives' hotel room now to watch Anchor Man - some of the best cinematography ever! Mwahahahah you ate the whole wheel of cheese?! I'm not even mad!

Much Love.

~Steve~

Arriba! Arriba!...

2006-10-08T06:56:29Z

Here I am 2 miles from Mexico and we can't go. Dammit. I heard there's 1$ beers and dudes who just throw bottles of tequila down your throat. Anyways, last time I wrote I was in a hotel in San Antonio and we actually headed back there now. Yesterday we played in Corpus Cristi, Texas with Red Jumpsuit and Lorene Drive. Twas a good time! there were a lot of people there and the show ripped. Although the only thing that sucked was that someone at the show took my red bandanna. See what had happened was that two days ago we played a show in San Antonio and someone took my bandanna - the red one I always wear in my back right pocket. It sucked! I went to Walmart the next day and bought a new one. Then, yesterday we played in Corpus and someone again took my bandanna. While we were playing these girls in the front row even tried to rip the one of my leg. It was pretty funny. hah. I felt like they would have killed me if they had to - just to get to that bandanna. I don't know why anyone would veen want it because it had my blood all over it. Anyways, today I went to Walmart again and bought a new bandanna. I think at this point, if this keeps happening I am gonna be poor. hah but it's all good. People at shows always ask if they can have my bandanna's but I fell bad saying "no" but I can't afford to keep getting new ones. The road is gonna make me broke off of bandanna's. :)

So as I was saying, tonight we played in Del Rio, Texas - 2 miles away from the great country of Mexico. As we were pulling up to the venue i felt like we were in a horror movie. The land was barren and the houses were few and far between. We pulled up to a bar like venue and Lorene Drive was already there. At shows like this sometimes you think that they aren't going to be as good as a club show. But sometimes, like tonight, you are proven wrong. 70 people ended up coming into a small room and it fucking ruled. We played a short set but it was a lot of fun and everyone there was really cool. We even played a cover called, "No Easy Way Out" by a band called Survivor. It was fun and they even had a light show. After the show I got to meet some of the show goers and it was really interesting. Many of them said, "Thanks for coming". Sometimes we experience this, but tonight I heard it a lot. I thought this was really cool and it's something that I think we, and all bands, take for granted sometimes. I think we forget that sometimes it's not that easy living in a small town. We know what it's like being from Rhode Island, but being on the road, we forget. A lot of the times, in these small towns, nothing is going on and I remember when I was a 15 year old kid going to shows was the coolest fucking thing. It was like the talk of the town because there was nothing else to do. I remember going to see Goldfinger and being inspired for the next two years just from one show. And that's the vibe I got from tonight. So, I definitely was to say a big thanks to everyone who came out tonight - even if they don't read this because honestly it's our pleasure to come and play for them. I want to thank them for even having us. As long as they are there to come to the shows, we will come back. So now I'm stoked and I even got a homemade chili dog that some mom brought to the show. They were freakin stellar and it just gets me more excited to come back to the east coast, get some good homemade eats, and play some killer shows. I guess that is all for now. O yea, our good friend Nick just flew out today to meet up with us. He will be our new official Merch Guy for the Story of The Year tour. If anyone happens to see him at a show do not be afraid to say hi. Nick is the shit and he will chill and talk to you forever. He is a big greek looking dude with short hair. Well, that's all for now. See everyone soon.

Much Love.

~Steve~

Sneaking into Hotels and Getting Caught!

2006-10-05T20:32:17Z

hey hey

So we played Slim's in San Fran the other night and may I just say that I love that club - the people that work there, the sound, the food, and the crowds are all fucking great. The show ripped too - we even had some return show-goers and it was awesome. i think every band appreciates when people come back to see them - it shows them that they are doing something remotely right! And it's something we really apreciate so a big thank you goes out to all of those people that came back and checked us out - we will be back soon.

So after the show we went back to our hotel room and got about 6 hours of sleep. We got up at 8 AM and headed to Rialto, CA 8 hours away to play a hall show with Lorene Drive. We haven't played a hall show in a while and it was really refreshing. there is something special about playing a hallshow- the sound may not be the best and the crowds may not be huge but it's the energy that the band shares with the crowd and the intensity in playing a small place where everyone is sweating and having fun. needless to say it was a lot of fun and we got to hang with Lorene Drive and their friends all night. LEGIT!!!! At the end of the night Lorene started lighting off some fireworks and that was the shit. I had one that was like a bottle rocket thingy - it ripped. Justin had one too except he shot it at abuilding and it shot back at us - not a good idea, but fun either way. We ended up going to Denny's that night and then heading to a hotel back towards Los Angeles for our day off.

The next day we went to UBW's house - Uncle Blue Whale. This is Justin and Ryan's uncle. I don't really need to say much except this dude is the shit. He is like a little piece of home dropped right in Cali. We chilled there for a bit and then headed to make our rounds visiting friends. That night we met up with a producer that worked on our record. We met up and got some good LA eats and then headed to the Rainbow Room - a notorious night club where the likes of Motley Crue and Guns N Roses used to hang. Obviously I was totally into it and we had a good time getting down with our drinks and watching old 40 year olds walk by in leather. I think B-Real from Cypress Hill was there too. I wanted to go up to him and start jumping because Cypress Hill used to have a song called Jump Around. That would have been so dumb and I probably would have gotten shot but it's all good beause I would have met B-Real. hah.

The next day we met up with some friends all day and at night we went out to eat to a Wing's place. I should have gotten wings, but instead I ordered Manicotti w/ what they called garlic bread and a meatball. New rule for the road: Never Eat Manicotti unless it is from Federal Hill, one of my friends' parents make it, my mom, grandmother, or aunts make it, or if I go to a really expensive restaurant. I was dissappointed.

After last night we headed to a hotel. We got there and Mike got one room for us and one for him and his girlfriend. Well, Andrew, Ryan, Justin, and Myself started to walk to the room but we saw the hotel dude chilling outside. So Justin happened to sneak his ass in the room while me, ryan, and andrew walked around to try and avoid the dude. he finally saw us and said, "how many people? you need to pay more". of course we ignored him and headed back to the vand. We decided to play rocks, paper, scissor and whoever won would go into the room and the other two would figure out how to sneak in with the help of the two in the room. Ryan ended up winning and going in. Me and Andrew had a figure out a plan. So, we drove the van around the back of the hotel so the guy would think we left. We gathered our backpacks and Andrew convinced me that we would sneak in. We hopped a wall that lead into the hotel grounds and hid behind a wall - we were going recon on this dudes ass! It was like I was a kid all over again and it was so much fun.

We hid behind the wall and used finger and eye signals to get to the stair case. Usually where there is a stair case at a hotel, you case see through the railing, but this hotel had plaster up all around the railing so you couldn't see through the railing. We snuck up the stairs and got close to the ground of the second floor. We started crawling on the ground like we just entered a battle field. I had my computer bag in my other hand and we were making our way across the hotel. At this point I was running on adrenaline and breathing heavily like I was going on the biggest mission of my life. We finally got to a safe spot - so close to our room - all we had to do was head back down a set of stairs and get into our room - ryan and justin left the door unlocked. As we were about to go down the stairs the hotel dude was coming up the stairs - Andrew quickly pulled oput a magazine and I pulled out my computer acting as if we were just hanging out on the freakin floor of a hotel second floor. "What are you doing?", he asked.

"Just hanging out. Is that ok?" Andrew replied.
hahah. wow that's all we could come up with.
"If you don't leave now I am going to call the police. that's it."

I think he was more dissappointed in us because we were two 23 year olds on the floor trying to sneak into a hotel like 15 year olds. But it was awesome and a ton of fun. Andrew went to shake his hand and the guy turned away so I laughed and we ended up walking out. I didn;t ffeel guilty - I was more pissed and confused as to how this dude saw us. man, it would have been the accomplishment of my week if I was able to pull this off, but sadly we were caught.

I went into Denny's then pulled into a parking lot and me and andrew slept in the van since the band is trying to save any moeny we can while being on the road. It was still a good time because I watched some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and feel asleep. I love Larry David!!!!!!

Right now we are on our way to Texas to play only 3 more shows on the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus tour. We have had so much fun and it will be sad to leave those dudes. But it's all good because we are meeting up with some bros of ours in Story of the Year and that should be a balst too. Well, hope to see everyone soon and I can;t wait to get back to the east coast and play some shows and eat some damn good food!!!!! Much Love.

~STeve~

Rhythm 4 Life!!!!

2006-10-01T02:12:25Z

So,

2 days ago we played at the Boardwalk in Sacramento, California. We have played there once before with the Rx Bandits and it glorious. have a bandanna that I wear on my left leg. Last time we played there I bought the bandanna that day and then we played the show. I didn't notice until right after we got off stage but my hand was bleeding so much - there was even blood all over my guitar and my pedal board. I thought this was pretty cool and the only thing I had on me that I could use to stop the bleeding was a bandanna. The damn cut on my finger was where the problem was but it was so small. Sometimes that happens - you have such a small injury and it barly hurts but you end up bleeding a lot. haha Maybe that only happens to me. So I ended up washing this bandanna and keeping it around my leg. Everytime we play a show someone asks for it - I tell them they wouldn;t want it cuz it's got my blood - there has only been one or two people who think this is cool - the other 99 percent are grossed out. fantastic! Anyways we had a blast at the show and the sound guy even let me have Fergie's new record - which I'm diggin right now.

Yesterday we played a show in Bakersfield, California. It was one of my favorite shows we have ever played. This wasn't a normal Monty Are I show - this was an R 4 L show - Rhythm 4 Life. Basically, Andrew and Ryan had prior engagements so Me, Mike, and Justin stepped up (as the important members hahah:) ) and still carried on without them. We added some extra sound effects - horse winnies, elephant trunk blairs, "boing" noises and other such samples. We had such a blast! It was a ton of fun - Mike even wore really short shorts that showed off his nice and white and delicious inner thighs. We also played a cover- "Breed" by Nirvana. it was the first time we ever attempted it and was a good time. The crowd really helped us out and I would like to give them a personal shout out for being so cool and supporting us and making us feel comfortable. It was the first time I wore a sleeveless shirt so I was even more juiced. Expect more R 4 L shows in the future - ya know just for the hell of it! and of course to see Mike in those amazing short shorts!

Right now we are in San Fran at Slim's - one of the best clubs we have ever played at. The catering fucking rules. There is this dude Jose in the kitchen who is the clubs Chef. He is the man and makes the bomb ass food. I just ate grilled zucchinni and some BBQ Mexican chicken. Me likey! Anyways, this tour is almost over and I will be sad to leave it, but hopefully we will see you all on the Story of the Year tour! Anyways, time to go slap Andrew's ass.

Much Love,
~Steve~

Going To California...

2006-09-28T21:38:00Z

Yo yo,
So 2 days ago we traveled up to the great country of CANADA!!!! The people there are awesome - they let us in and out of the country with ease and they were pleasant doing so. What can I say, we are charmers! We played at the Croatian Cultural Center to about 250 excited and pumped Canadians. The show ripped and I probably had the most fun at that show than any other in a while. All I could think of was mounties, canadian bacon, and the word "ehh". Good times! Some girl even called me "Birdman" because of my hair. And Taylor from Lorene Drive called me a Zebra that night. So not only am I conquering the bird kingdom, but also the horse family - I'm excited. Leaving Canada, I drove the AM shift - we ended up staying back at my brothers place and getting there at 5 AM. Of course I drank coffee that morning so I couldn't sleep until 6 AM, woke up at 1, and exhausted all day yesterday and today.

We had a nice day yesterday hanging out with my brother, going to guitar center, getting some dinner. I had a great meal at a restaurant who's menus were old records cover art - I had Van Halen - hell yea! I ordered chicken wrapped in proscuitto and marscapone and ricotta cheese filled ravioli all in an alfredo sauce. Now I know this sounds fancy but this place Applebee's decour at best. But the food was fantastic and i was deliciously surprised. Again - Good times.

We ended up leaving around 8 at night and we just got in to our hotel about 15 minutes ago in Sacramento, California. We have a show tonight at the Boardwalk - we played there with the Rx Bandits and I bled from my hand during the show from hitting my guitar hard - needless to say it was a good show.

Tomorrow will be a great day - an event that not all will be able to see. The first show ever played by R 4 L - Rhythm 4 Life. You see, due to some unforeseen situations, Me, Mike, and Justin are playing a one time only show taking the time slot of Monty Are I. We will be playing all of the Monty Are I songs with the addition of a Nirvana cover - "Breed". This show will be different for the viewers - in fact we are adding a bunch more samples and weird random shit to fill the musical space where Ryan and Andrew played. SO, a special treat for everyone at Bakersfield and for us 3. It's gonna be epic and insane - I can't wait!

Hope to see a bunch of you there. Well, off to get some chile and head to the show. See you in a day.

Much Love,
~Steve~

Rockin the North West!!!!

2006-09-26T08:15:40Z

Yo everyone!

So the past two days have been really rad. We got a chance to switch things up a bit. Two days ago we played in Portland, Oregon and yesterday we played in Spokane, Washington. The Spokane show was sick - people rockin out and passing out. I really liked the club, The Big Easy. It reminded me of the House of Blues - even with the good food catering. It was awesome - grilled chicken, vegatables, and rice. What's better! So anyways we had some people come back to see our show in Spokane and that felt really good - it was awesome! The crowd rocked and it was an all around great night. After the show we ended up partying on the Red Jumpsuit's bus. Good times were had by all and Mike even claimed that his face was melting! haha. We even got to play a little football.

After Spokane we took the drive back to Seattle, Washington, which by the way is absolutely beautiful. I love the scenary of the Northwest. It's like nothing you see in Rhode Island or even the East coast for that matter. On the way we stopped by a Subway - note; worst Subway ever. I asked for a chicken parmesan sandwich and the lady forgot to put red sauce on it!!!! what is the deal? Come to Rhode Island to get a lesson in making food. While the sandwich was sub-par, the trip was more than amazing. In fact, it was on this trip where I had an epiphany - I prefer Quiznos over Subway. Just throwing that out there. (Let me know what you think.)

So tonight's show was at El Corozon in Seattle and it fucking ripper hard. The crowd was great again and the sound was aweosme. We also got the chance to combine two tours. Us, Lorene Drive and Red Jumpsuit and Vaux and I Am Ghost. It was awesome and i really like Vaux and I Am Ghost!!!!! They are such nice people and really professional dudes. If you have never heard of them make sure you check out their myspace stuff - it rips.

Well, right now we are staying at my brother's apartment in Tacoma and it is a good time. He fed us with pizza and some kickass sandwiches. My brother is a more buff and diesel version of me so he knows how to throw down and have a good time while adding some good food to the situation. Let's just say I am full and happy. Well, that is all for now. i will keep you updated soon. much love and see you at the shows.

~Steve!~

Some Beer, Some Randomness, and a 24 hour Drive.

2006-09-24T02:50:14Z

Hey Everyone,
Well right now we are in the great city of Portland, Oregon. We played here about a month ago and I discovered a secret - my very own Italian eatery called Pastaworks - if you are from Rhode Island it is straight up like Federal Hill ( a place where the food is like no other). For my first sandwhich I got Proscuitto di Parma, fresh mozzarella, some red roasted peppers on a nice roll. For my second - thinly sliced turkey breast, fresh mozzarella, eggplant on foccacia bread. Anyways, it has been the highlight of my day so I wanted to throw that out there.

So we ended up being stranded in Ft. Collins, Colorado for a couple of days because of some unforseen van troubles. Let's just say I am glad we got stranded there. Thursday we woke up, got some eats and called for a cab to pick us up and drive us to the Budweiser Factory about 2 miles away from our hotel. We were so excited - our very first beer factory tour - just like the Willy Wonka/Family Guy episode - except minus the Oompa Loompa midgets, which sucks! So we got there and found out the tour was free - another plus!!!! The tour was awesome and we ended up learning a lot about Budweiser. One little fact - Bud is the only beer in the US that is naturally carbonated using beechwood chips and yeast! Woweee kazowee! We started out seeing the famous Budweiser Clydesdale horses - one of them shit right in front of us - a good start to a great day:) We took the tour learning more and more and just getting excited to get our free samples. Once the tour concluded, we went to the Hospitality Room and we volunteered to taste 2 different beers. All of us did the test and we later found out that one beer had been put in the sun for long hours and the other was kept cold and fresh. Of course, I was a dumbass and in front of the people on the tour I said i preferred the first beer which was the skunky one. I guess I just don't drink enough to be a conneseaur yet! I ended up eating pretzels and drinking the Wheat Barley and Pumpkin Spice beer. They were freakin amazing! I love you Budweiser!

So obviously after 2 drinks i was already buzzed and acting like a dingleberry. It was at this point that we met a dude behind the bar that asked what tour we were on. After some heterosexual conversation, we learned that he was the merch guy for Greeley Estates and his roommate was the tour manager!!! I mean honestly how friggin random is that because we are going on tour with them in less than a month!!!!! It's crazy - what a small world. We exchanged numbers and told the guys we would call them that night...

It was 9 PM and Mike called the Greeley Estates dudes - they showed up five minutes later, we jumped in the back of thier pickup truck, and rode right into town. We got to a party and started to get our "party" on. Me and Ryan played beer pong. Let me preface this by saying that me and Ryan are the worst beer pong players in the world, but for some reason we have the best luck. There is absolutely no skill involved when we play. It's pure luck and on a good day, we could beat Louie Anderson with a pong-ball launching super scope assault rifle. But sadly we lost ...horribly. We resumed partying and even took off to a bar downtown where the hippies ran loose like wild animals. One girl, who used a burlap sack for a skirt, even flipped off Ryan because he tried to pee in the ladies room. "Excuse me sir, that is not right. Blah blah blah". She really needed to chill out, but it was funny so I laughed and bellowed and really wanted to play Big Buck Hunter. Sadly there was none so we left.

We had a great time with the Greeley guys and can't wait to play with that band! After arriving home we watched one of the best Conan episdoes I had ever seen and passed out. Friday into Saturday was a day like many others. 24 hours of freaking driving to get to our destination. I worked on some new dance music, read a book, and listened to Pink Floyd. OOo and I also drank the Pumkin Spice Latte from Starbucks which was awesome. I'm so glad fall is here. Well I'm gonna go get ready for the show.

Happy Fall everyone and hope to see everyone at the shows.

Much Love,
~Steve~

Children of Corn!!!!

2006-09-20T18:29:06Z

Hey Hey,

Sorry if this post lacks any sense - I'm going on 5 hours of sleep and feeling jittery after the "High Octane" coffee I drank for the late night driving shift. So our day off, two days ago, was slightly uneventful but very relaxing. The highlight was going to a barbecue restaurant inside of a gas station called "Oklahoma Joe's". It was incredible and I had a half chicken dinner. The onions rings were amazing! At night we hung out at our friend, Ryan's, apartment and watched "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". I'm sorry but Hermione is going to be hot. I'm gonna stop there.

Yesterday we gathered our things and after a kickass 3.25$ buffet meal at Cici's Pizza, we headed for the next show in Lincoln, Nebraska. Now every time we enter Nebraska weird stuff happens. First time, we blew a tire at 3 AM and that always keep everyone shaking for at least the next couple of hours. The second time our merch guy, Nick, was arrested. I'll never forget those amazing words in the van as he got pulled over for a busted headlight - "Guys, I think I might get arrested". Sure enough one hour later we were in some ghost town bailing him out of jail for 180$ - hahah what a dingleberry. So of course, yesterday was no different. We were about an hour and a half away when Andrew needed to pull over to get gas. This was not an ordinary gas station exit. There was a dirt road that came off the exit for about half a mile. As my eyes adjusted to the light from a nap I had taken, I looked up to see a hill in the distance with an old cemetery. I think shit like this is cool so I was excited to see what else was there. Well, as we pulled up we noticed gas was 1.65$ - Damn that's cheap! Yea that's because the damn thing was abandoned and had not been open since the late 70's. As we pulled up there was nothing around us but corn fields, we were low on gas, there was a cemetery, and an abandoned gas station. Ummm can we say friggin scary as hell!!! I was ready for Children of the Corn to roll up and introduce themselves. I will never forget the sign on the gas station "This business is successful because of our return customers". It should have read - "This business was successful because of our return customers, but unfortunately they were all killed by the Children of the Corn". Anyways, Andrew turned the van off and tried to restart it - nothing - no turn over - nothing. So after an hour of hanging out there, AAA finally came and gave us some juice to the battery. We screwed to the show and ended getting there exactly as Lorene Drive was coming off. We were rushing to get our equipment up on stage. This has never happened to us before. Just roll up, unload, and play. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan. I like time to hang out and say hi to people and get myself situated.

Nevertheless, the show was a blast. The room was filled with 400 people and it was like a sauna in there! The girls in front were good sports but I think some of them were getting their ass kicked by some moshers. I guess what could have turned out to be a disaster show for us was a great time had by us and the great crowd of Lincoln, Nebraska. I told the crowd about our weird Nebraska stories from stage and after the show some showgoers shared some of their freaky stories of haunted places and murders that they had heard of that took place in their towns. Normally, this would freak me out, but by now I know that Nebraska is unpredictable and something interesting is always going to happen when we're there. I can't wait to come back! Who knows, we might find ourselves in a situation where Mike gets a sex change and Justin no long plays the drums, but instead, uses an eggbeater and a fan to make percussive beats. I don't know. That's why I love Nebraska and can't wait to come back and play a show for all its beautiful people.

P.S. I had amazing wings last night with Garlic Parmesan wing sauce. Amazing!

Well, until next time.
Much Love,
~Steve~

Toto, Dorothy, and (a) Journey in Kansas

2006-09-18T20:39:43Z

Hello Hello,

So right now I am at an internet cafe in Lawrence, Kansas on our day off. It's a beautiful fall day and the sun is out. If only a barbecue was going on! Anyways, last nights show at the Bottleneck was pretty amazing. Sugarcult was playing the same night so I think the crowds were split among the 2 shows. It didn't matter though because a bunch of people showed up and it was pretty epic. We came here about a month ago with the Rx Bandits and it was one of my favorite shows that tour. The crowds are always freakin amazing and last night was no different - everyone was flipping out. I definetely gotta give a shout out to everyone who came back and checked us out - it means a lot. And another shout out to Cheyenne and her mom who drove forever to see the show. And of course the two nice young ladies who baked us cookies! If you want to know how to get into the hearts of Monty Are I, make us food:) Or buy us Doctor Mario for Nintendo 64 mwahahah!

After the show the door man told me that Karaoke was going on. I'm a huge fan of Karaoke and after a couple of beers I usually take the stage singing Journey, Bon Jovi, pretty much anything eighties. But I also like to jump on the bar and get crazy. Last night was a little different because there were about 4 people there. After sitting at the bar for a bit I started feeling a little crazy so I got up on stage and sang "Faithfully" by Journey - download this song if you have never heard it - Steve Perry's voice can make a grown man cry! I dedicated the song to Ronnie (lead singer of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) and his wife who wer standing in front of the stage. Goods times were had by all after I squeezed my balls and hit the ending high notes - the perfect end to a great night. After a trip to Taco Bell, we headed to our hotel and crashed.

Now with our day off we are just relaxing. Maybe go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but I'm not sure. I don't know if we'll have enough time. Time for me to bail - off to the mall.

Much Love,
~Steve~

Welcome to Steve's LiveJournal!!!!

2006-09-18T09:10:58Z

Hello and Welcome all!

After much contemplating, I've decided to make a LiveJournal to chronicle the day to day experiences while on the road with Monty Are I. Hopefully, you find crazy, funny, stupid, and ridiculous stories here with the occasional picture. I plan on updating the journal about every couple of days so make sure you check back regularly (before and after you check your Myspace and twice more after "viewing more pics" of that hottie that you have been stalking) - who knows, by then I may have a new post up.

Right now we are on the road with Lorene Drive and the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and things couldn't be going any better. This is probably the best tour we've done to date. We have been having some good times hanging with these guys although so far the highlight was going to a bar, Mike trying to pee on me, me slapping him in the face, and us getting into a fight. Which was more hilarious than a real "fight" because we were slightly under the influence. Anways, right now I am writing this from some back roads in Kansas while we travel to our next show tonight. We have only been to Kansas a couple of times and one of the last times we were in this area, our merch guy got arrested so obviously I'm looking forward to tonight. Well, I'll keep this short but come on back every couple of days and check on how things are going and even post a little comment if you'd like. This journal is open for everyone and anyone - so spread the word. I'll see you at the shows.
Love,
~Steve~