SEAN

Sometimes, every once in a while, you step out of yourself just long enough to see a situation in a different way. That happened to me on the last night of the first leg of this tour.

We were in the middle of corn country at the local bar. Amidst tales of unrequited trailer love and local gossip, I gazed out from the stage, feeling like I was actually in one of those movies where the protagonist unknowingly winds up in the wrong place to accidentally start a bar brawl. I looked at Matt and said, "Ummm, there are people in cowboy hats here. Not because it's trendy, because they're actually cowboys!" We started playing and people went wild. I guess as long as you give people a great show, they'll respond no matter what you (or they) dress like.

I think my favorite part of touring so far is just being able to meet so many different people. I've been told that I can come off as a little aloof sometimes, but I really do enjoy talking with people after our sets and when we go out to wherever the local kids hang to do our promotion. We've always said that no matter how successful we end up becoming, we'd still like to be able to get out and meet the fans. I hope we're able to keep that promise.

MATT

Milwaukee rocks. So hard. We played Summerfest last July with Story Of The Year and The Academy Is. Unfortunately we didn't make it back to Milwaukee until this March but it was amazinggg to see how many people remembered us.

We played at the University of Wisconsin. Was really weird to be so far from home and see all these people singing along with the songs. It was one of the first times we ever experienced anything like that so it was pretty sick. Can't wait to get back there.

If you readers haven't figured it out already, Bandcamp is realllly into food. From now on I'm going to have a new section in my blog titled the "The Venue Menu!" It was between that, "yummy tummy!" or "club grub!" I like "The Venue Menu." Sounds professional... So... every week I'm going to post my favorite food stop.

This week, in Chicago, it was at the Chinese food place across the street from the Nite Cap Lounge called Chef Wong. It was sooo good. Me and Steve eat Chinese a lot so we have a pretty good idea of where the eatz are at. Anyways. I give it an 8.5, just because I want to leave room so when I post a 10 you know its serious. But you definitely gotta check them out if you're in/from/traveling to/dreaming about Chicago. The show was really good too!

We ended our first leg at the coooolest place ever. Apparently what we thought was a college town, was a rodeo town. (Oooooopsssss). We buckled our boots, adjusted our belts, got some straw hats, and we rocked 'em!!!

Seriously though, it was so different from the other shows we played and it was so much fun. Everyone there was so psyched that a band from New York came to play their town. It's weird to think about those things because being in N.Y. gives you access to everything. I never thought about the smaller places that have a bit less going on. Pretty awesome.

We drove back to the "en why see" for a few days home. Been rocking it at our booking agent's office getting our tour for May and June together. We leave Wednesday for our southeast tour that eventually takes us back to Quincyyyy. Hell yeah. Can't wait...

Long entry. I'll stop writing. Stay tuned for the next edition of...THE VENUE
MENU!

XXXmatthewXXX

ST3VE

When we pulled up to the venue, I felt like I was Donald Duck Dunn, bass player of the Blues Brothers Band. Ichabod's was basically Bob's Country Bunker Bar! OK, so maybe there was no chicken wire around the stage to protect the band from flying beer bottles, and maybe there was no whip hanging on the wall, but I definitely felt like we should cover the theme from Rawhide. The clientele was a rough and tumble type, all there to wet there whistles at the local watering hole.

My first reaction was to wonder how we would do. Would we get booed off the stage? Would we get into a bar fight? Then a wave of calm came over me. We have been winning over an eclectic mix of people on this tour. These people clearly love rock and roll... we are a good band... they will love us.

I guess I was right because we were very well received. People were rocking out with us. We had a very successful night with merchandise... watched a lady old enough to be Matt's mom try to pick him up... saw Sean blindly start couple trouble by simply talking to a girl at our merch booth... and I got to sign some more cleavage! Lol.

--st3ve

KRIS

I can't believe that the last week of this leg came so quickly. The past three weeks have flown by. I have actually gotten used to sleeping on hotel beds and having my clothes in a backpack.

This week we were lucky enough to play a club in Detroit called the I-Rock. This club had memorabilia from almost every 80's hair band that ever existed. They had guitars, drum heads and picks from everyone you can possibly think of. It was a Hard Rock Cafe that went '80s wild. One of my favorite parts of the club was the men's bathroom. The walls were covered in posters of '80s girls in bikinis... everyone from Samantha Fox to Lita Ford.

Our show the next night turned out to be one of the best shows on the tour. We played a coffee house on the campus of Wisconsin University. It was so amazing to have all these kids come out to see us play and know the words to "Someone", "Get to You" and "Celebrity." It's so strange to be so far away from home and get that type of response. I can't wait to hit the road again on the next leg of this tour.