The Least And Most Of The Eastern Coast (And The Midwest Too)

Hey friends. Nothing much going on in my world except for the last two weeks of Warped Tour.

Florida was a hot and sweaty ordeal, but a lot of fun shows. The Miami crowd was a great highlight.

The North Carolina, VA Beach, and the DC area MD sets were all wonderful in their own right.

It felt marvelous to stroll around in my Browns T shirt in Cleveland, and Detroit was another highlight crowd (especially considering an earlier time slot).

Canada was interesting. Toronto had us singing High Of 75 in a hearty downpour, and Montreal made me wish I could transpose our lyrics into French. Both shows were a great time, but certainly not the easiest of the tour.

At this point we had played 12 shows in a row, so we all slept a little better the night we drove into Boston for two days off.
I continued supporting my new frisbee addiction, and I watched Hellboy, Hellboy II, and the new Batman installment (which I adored).

Despite impressive thunderstorms and tornado warnings, the show went on in Boston. The result was one that led to smiles on all of our faces. The New England ladies and lads did not disappoint. That morning, Zach from All Time Low and I went for a jog. In an act of spontaneity I steered our run onto a path that led through the woods. Zach got a bit off the path, and moments later said, "Dude, I think we should run faster, there's a swarm of bees following you." I looked back and confirmed the colony in flight. After getting stung twice, he soon realized that he had followers of his own, and we high-tailed it out of the woods into a trailer park. Even though we were out of the bees' natural environment, the bloodthirsty demons decided to pursue us without relent. We soon passed some kids walking towards Warped Tour and passed off our bee problem like a baton in a relay.
Start running kids.

Buffalo and Philadelphia area Jersey were another set of fine and dandy days.

This morning we played Long Island and enjoyed beautiful weather for the rest of the Saturday afternoon and evening. I love NY.

Matthew T.

We Heart You Too (and your oversized Rice Krispy treat)

The tour has been humming along nicely.

We spent the fourth of July in Austin, TX, 'Merica. It was wonderful. There were fireworks and scared bats everywhere.

We had a splendid day in San Antonio, and a nice morning-time sing along in Houston (we opened the stage that day).

After Texas we took a few days off and reconvened in Atlanta. I finally bought toothpaste for the first time since losing my personal supply on the second day of tour. Its nice to be back with my own brand.

Yesterday we began our descent into Florida with a show in Mickey's hood. I was loving me some Orlando until I blew out my voice in song. I didn't realize how bad it was until I woke up today and gathered that St. Pete was most likely going to hear me sound like St. Pete Brady for thirty minutes. Nonetheless, the show was another dose of fun in the sun.

As for tonight, I'm about to go cook up some throat coat, and stay out of the present rainstorm.
Later.
Matt "about to drink some" Tea, Son

Apple B Sides Served Medium Rarities

We released The Bird And The Bee Sides yesterday! We're so happy to have it out and available. A toothy smile and thanks to everyone who picked it up or who is planning on doing so.

The first twelve days of Warped Tour have been nothing short of fantastic. Every show has been so much fun, and I've made a ton of new friends so far (behind and in front of the scenes).

There's a ton of great bands on the tour that I've had a chance to meet and see on the tour. There's more than 80 bands on the tour, and I think there might be 50+ that I've never listened to before in my life. I've been chiseling away at my personal "go see" list, and I've realized that this Warped Tour is an even better value than I originally thought.

Some highlights include

Say Anything (my favorite show on the tour... it may have something to do with the fact that they've let me sing gang vocals on "Belt" a few times)

The Higher (they play a great new song, and Seth's vocal is pretty smooth on their cover of "Bye, Bye, Bye")

The Academy Is (rumor has it.... your foot will be tapping)

Reel Big Fish and Oreskaband (you can't beat a talented ska band on Warped)

Anberlin (I've seen them play a thousand times, but I still love watching my buddies tear it up)

Street Dogs (classic Warped punk rock)

The Maine (the day I saw them, they drove all night and played first on zero sleep... they still managed to pull off a superb set)

August Burns Red (I couldn't tear my eyes away from the drummer, Matt. At one point he pulled off a fill so crazy that I started laughing and yelled out "SICK!!!". I looked around, and everyone else watching was doing the same thing)

Beat Union (punk/ska/reggae from Birmingham, England. I could tell that they're really loving Warped Tour. So much fun to watch)

The Aggrolites (they play dirty reggae, and they're by far the tightest band on the tour. One of the best moments of the tour was when I watched the Aggrolites play the Warped BBQ in Las Cruces, NM)

We've also been working with a wonderful organization called Blood:Water Mission. They're providing wells and latrines for people in Africa whose lives depend on those things. A huge thanks to Paul Reed Smith (PRS) guitars for providing us with a guitar to raffle off for BWM at the end of Warped Tour.

In conclusion, I guess I'm just recommending that everyone come out and enjoy a day at Warped, and pick up our new EP/B sides record.

I'm having a lovely summer, and I hope the same applies to you.

Matty T.