It’s an early start today and the bus is already rolling when I stir from my slumber and I’m told we have been on the road for well over an hour. We are just pulling into a big gas station to grab supplies. Billy slept on the bus last night and seems to have a pretty bad cold, as does Scott who is actually starting to recover – but as a singer I need to take precautions so I decide to travel with Rob for today’s journey. I get myself the biggest coffee I can find and we’re off. Unfortunately it’s a false start cause Rob takes the wrong road out of the gas station meaning that we have a 30 mile round journey to get back on the other side of the road. It’s frustrating but there is no alternative and it is well over an hour before we see the sun reflecting off of the big turquoise silver eagle tour bus – it is actually an awesome sight to see it rolling through the desert with nothing else around except for the occasional big-rig.
Today is one of the most picturesque drives so far and the rolling desert and huge mountains are amazing – it just had to be the day that my camera battery is dead! Rob does have a little battery left so I lean out of the window to take some pictures….. and watch my sun glasses take an 80mph flight down the road. I am mad! They cost me £5 but that aint the point.
The road is carved out of the mountains at some points and it truly is an amazing sight and at times it leaves you breathless with it’s beauty. That is possibly the gayest I have ever sounded but I just want you people to appreciate it a little. Scott says that the scenery is nothing compared to the rolling fields of Warminster, but I’m not so sure. Every time I drive down the M4 I am quite impressed with the sight of the wind turbine thingy that you see somewhere between Reading and London. Today there is a cluster of them stretching for miles and I lose count at 100ish – there are at least 10 times that amount, and they look strangely serene and natural and certainly don’t ruin the landscape at all.
6 hours have flown by and we find an RV park in the middle of the desert. This has to be the most remote place you can ever imagine, but the place is packed full of these huge RV’s and mostly post-retirement couples who have spent half their money on one of these things and now travel around the US for six months of the year, or maybe even live on the road. We have the chance to do laundry for the first time in over a week and Freddie has his first shower in over a week to celebrate. Rob decides that he is treating us to an evening meal. This seems strange. Who in their right mind volunteers to feed himself and 11 others……….. if anyone reading this knows Rob you won’t be surprised to learn that we have a BBQ next to our ‘plot’ and Rob likes a BBQ like Scott likes beer. So it’s burgers all round and we crack open a couple of beers and enjoy the desert sunshine…… until the sun goes down and the desert cold sets in!!! It gets really dark in a matter of minutes and then if you aren’t in a bar somewhere ready to play a gig it is hard not to just go to bed – so that’s what us Riot:Noise blokes do. I think it was around 8pm. I wake up to the sound of Johnny telling stories of his dreams of pet elephants and other random rubbish and assume it is morning and time to leave. Nope! It’s 11:15pm and I am wide awake. Within 10 minutes I am joined at the front by the other Riots and Johnny. It’s now 12:20am and I am sat up front with Scott and Dan writing this blog entry. Kevin and Nick are still up too. We have another early start tomorrow and a drive of around 5 hours. I am now officially getting addicted to Mountain Dew and my can has just run out – and the shop is closed. I hope you are proud Tim.
Marty:Riot
Tuesday 29 January 2008
January 28th - a strange and eventful day
The original plan today was to set off early and start the journey to El Paso. Some of us are awake around 8am including Johnny who is in a strange mood, which I would say was reflective but that would give too much credit to it because it was more moody school boy if I’m honest. This kind of mood swing is extremely common but today it seems like it’s gonna be a problem because nobody can get any answers from him. After around 2 hours of waiting for some movement we decide to bugger off to find food. A short walk later and we find a Wendy’s where we can get a breakfast meal and coffee etc and then head back to the bus. When we arrive there is still absolutely no plan in action and nobody can tell us who is making the plans. This is a very weird situation to be in cause there is nothing to keep us here. Skee is trying to find somewhere that can replace our two front tires but is getting as much sense as us out of the TM guys.
Next move is for us to go and find showers. The whole Riot:Noise mob including Rob, Bill and Skee jump in the van and go on the hunt. We find an RV park and ask them if we can pay a little cash to use the showers – they wont have any of it and tell us to come on in and use them for free. Result! They are boiling hot and powerful and each in individual lockable cubicles with a toilet too. My hair at this point is in the worse state it has ever been in, with knots aplenty and within about 2 minutes the handle has snapped off whilst battling with my dreadlocks. 2 washes, 2 loads of conditioner and a wigs worth of lost hair later and my hair is not sorted, but acceptable enough to get by.
Soon enough the call comes in from back at the bus and we are summonsed back to base. One thing that we forget to mention is that when you come on tour and you roll into amazing cities like Austin & Dallas etc, is that we never get any time to actually see what they have to offer. You arrive at a gig venue, try to find showers and food, then generally go on around midnight or later and then party until the bar closes and kicks us out. I’m not complaining about it – just don’t ask too many questions when we get back cause you could probably see more of the city centres if you watch the travel channel for a few minutes.
Anyway, we manage to get on the road some time in the afternoon and locate a place that can do the two front tires. It takes about 20 minutes and another $500 out of the TM’s budget. We all need to start working hard at gigs to raise money through merch or we are gonna be in trouble financially. We know we’ll get through it but it does get a bit concerning at times.
We get back on the road again to try and make up for lost time. At this point I retire to my bunk and most of Riot:Noise do the same or at least sit at the back of the bus in what we have renamed the ‘English Lounge’. I have my iPod on listening to a podcast when I hear a loud ‘bang’ and I assume that we have hit a very rough bit of road – that is until burnt rubber fumes pour in through the rear windows and Ash looks like he has seen a ghost. We’ve had a blow-out on a rear tire on the freeway at 60mph. Luckily it is on one of the double axel ones so it doesn’t kill us all. Skee manages to get us as far as the picnic area at the side of the freeway. Dan & Bill jump into crisis management mode and have the LED torches out and the fluorescent jackets on before I even have time to get out of my bunk. Bill has traffic cones set up and Dan is directing big-rigs around the danger zone. Okay that was an exaggeration but those two guys to come to life in these situations. Not long before Johnny has his breakdown recovery people on the phone and they will be about 45 minutes. We need to make ourselves scarce cause it’s insured as an RV and not a tour bus so it might be a bit dodgy if there’s 12 long haired guys milling around. After a brief tantrum from Rob, some of us jump in the van in search of food. After a treacherous journey of winding roads and other near-death experiences we find a gas station that has hot pizza slices and other delights, including a big pack of beer. We all get back there and the bus is almost fixed. Skee is really tired so we decide to stay the night here and set off early in the morning. I have no idea what time I went to bed. I left the others sat at the front drinking and listening to Johnny Jetson stories about the time he was recording for a week with Tommy Lee and Snoop Dogg. What I haven’t really gone into before is that Johnny is very well known on the local LA scene. It is no big deal that he regularly hangs at the Rainbow with Cypress Hill, that almost all the LA rockers that we all know and love wish him well whenever they pass and it seems a shame he is one of the ones that hasn’t yet ‘made it’. Maybe his time is still to come. Back in places like Vegas and Arizona TM’s are able to command fees anywhere from $500-$3000 to play and today they got confirmation of an opening slot for a private party in Vegas with a big payment and lots of press invited. We have already been told by Sarah at Covet (the people that put us on all that time ago in Vegas) that she could get us some very well paid gigs with no problem at all should we decide to visit again. I think it’s almost a given that most of us can see ourselves back here on the road again as soon and finances and logistical bullshit allow.
Marty:Riot
Next move is for us to go and find showers. The whole Riot:Noise mob including Rob, Bill and Skee jump in the van and go on the hunt. We find an RV park and ask them if we can pay a little cash to use the showers – they wont have any of it and tell us to come on in and use them for free. Result! They are boiling hot and powerful and each in individual lockable cubicles with a toilet too. My hair at this point is in the worse state it has ever been in, with knots aplenty and within about 2 minutes the handle has snapped off whilst battling with my dreadlocks. 2 washes, 2 loads of conditioner and a wigs worth of lost hair later and my hair is not sorted, but acceptable enough to get by.
Soon enough the call comes in from back at the bus and we are summonsed back to base. One thing that we forget to mention is that when you come on tour and you roll into amazing cities like Austin & Dallas etc, is that we never get any time to actually see what they have to offer. You arrive at a gig venue, try to find showers and food, then generally go on around midnight or later and then party until the bar closes and kicks us out. I’m not complaining about it – just don’t ask too many questions when we get back cause you could probably see more of the city centres if you watch the travel channel for a few minutes.
Anyway, we manage to get on the road some time in the afternoon and locate a place that can do the two front tires. It takes about 20 minutes and another $500 out of the TM’s budget. We all need to start working hard at gigs to raise money through merch or we are gonna be in trouble financially. We know we’ll get through it but it does get a bit concerning at times.
We get back on the road again to try and make up for lost time. At this point I retire to my bunk and most of Riot:Noise do the same or at least sit at the back of the bus in what we have renamed the ‘English Lounge’. I have my iPod on listening to a podcast when I hear a loud ‘bang’ and I assume that we have hit a very rough bit of road – that is until burnt rubber fumes pour in through the rear windows and Ash looks like he has seen a ghost. We’ve had a blow-out on a rear tire on the freeway at 60mph. Luckily it is on one of the double axel ones so it doesn’t kill us all. Skee manages to get us as far as the picnic area at the side of the freeway. Dan & Bill jump into crisis management mode and have the LED torches out and the fluorescent jackets on before I even have time to get out of my bunk. Bill has traffic cones set up and Dan is directing big-rigs around the danger zone. Okay that was an exaggeration but those two guys to come to life in these situations. Not long before Johnny has his breakdown recovery people on the phone and they will be about 45 minutes. We need to make ourselves scarce cause it’s insured as an RV and not a tour bus so it might be a bit dodgy if there’s 12 long haired guys milling around. After a brief tantrum from Rob, some of us jump in the van in search of food. After a treacherous journey of winding roads and other near-death experiences we find a gas station that has hot pizza slices and other delights, including a big pack of beer. We all get back there and the bus is almost fixed. Skee is really tired so we decide to stay the night here and set off early in the morning. I have no idea what time I went to bed. I left the others sat at the front drinking and listening to Johnny Jetson stories about the time he was recording for a week with Tommy Lee and Snoop Dogg. What I haven’t really gone into before is that Johnny is very well known on the local LA scene. It is no big deal that he regularly hangs at the Rainbow with Cypress Hill, that almost all the LA rockers that we all know and love wish him well whenever they pass and it seems a shame he is one of the ones that hasn’t yet ‘made it’. Maybe his time is still to come. Back in places like Vegas and Arizona TM’s are able to command fees anywhere from $500-$3000 to play and today they got confirmation of an opening slot for a private party in Vegas with a big payment and lots of press invited. We have already been told by Sarah at Covet (the people that put us on all that time ago in Vegas) that she could get us some very well paid gigs with no problem at all should we decide to visit again. I think it’s almost a given that most of us can see ourselves back here on the road again as soon and finances and logistical bullshit allow.
Marty:Riot
Austin - January 27th
The guys at the venue in San Antonio let us come in to charge our laptops and phones in the morning and get something to drink. At 12pm they spark up the BBQ and cook some chicken which is well received by all. But it’s soon time to leave for the next venue – Red’s Scoot Inn, Austin, Tx.
Can’t remember much about the journey – we slept, we passed some more desert, saw a bit more tumble weed and then we were driving into Austin. As someone who has been to Austin before I was looking forward to everyone seeing the musical hub of 5th & 6th streets and hoping our venue wasn’t too far away….. unfortunately it was, and infact it was pretty much in the ghetto - not only that, the venue is not much more than a shed on an industrial estate with a tin roof and a beer garden. Think it can’t get any worse? Wrong! The barmaid at the venue isn’t expecting us and had no idea there were any bands tonight but was “happy for you guys to play anyway if you want?” – well we didn’t travel all this way not to play. So it’s Sunday night which is always gonna be quiet anyway, and there has been zero promotion, so what can we do? I decide a beer (or 3) is the only reasonable solution and shortly after I am pretty merry. Next time I pay any attention, the rest of Riot:Noise are up playing a blues jam that lasts for 30 minutes or so. It was pretty cool to sit back and watch the band play something unusual and Johnny jumps up to give a bit of harmonica accompaniment.
Now one thing we have learned over here is that you can build hardcore fans if you take time to interact with them. This is proven when two people that were at the Dallas show turn up with a bunch of friends to see us – and buy t-shirts AND bring us a bag full of sweets, chocolates, bread and other essentials. Awesome!
There is a small crowd by the time we kick into our first song, and we are on fire (even if I do say so myself) from start to finish. I would even go as far as to say that we play better than we have played all tour – something that Johnny reinforces later when he says “going on after Riot:Noise is like clearing up after a house party that you didn’t know was going to happen”. Myself and Freddie both join Johnny for some backing vocals and I think Ash might have popped up to sing too for a minute. When TM’s finish we get some shots in and meet and greet with the fans etc.
Next thing you know, Scott, Freddie and the TM guys are ready for a jam and start knocking out some classic Thin Lizzy covers. This leads to an hours worth of cover songs with all of us swapping around and having a blast. For an avid GNR fan I can openly admit that we were shit at It’s So Easy – but we had fun giving it a go.
Not sure what time the night came to an end, but when most people were climbing into their bunks Ash was climbing into a comfy motel bed with a young lady called Misty who had driven 400 miles to come see him (and the amazing Riot:Noise show) – and if that wasn’t enough to make everyone on the bus jealous, the fact that it meant he got a hot shower in the morning definitely was!
We have a couple of days until the next show in El Paso, but in the tour bus it is two days of driving. We are told to expect an early start and a busy day as we have needed new tires since Ft Worth. I wonder what tomorrow will bring…..
Marty:Riot
Can’t remember much about the journey – we slept, we passed some more desert, saw a bit more tumble weed and then we were driving into Austin. As someone who has been to Austin before I was looking forward to everyone seeing the musical hub of 5th & 6th streets and hoping our venue wasn’t too far away….. unfortunately it was, and infact it was pretty much in the ghetto - not only that, the venue is not much more than a shed on an industrial estate with a tin roof and a beer garden. Think it can’t get any worse? Wrong! The barmaid at the venue isn’t expecting us and had no idea there were any bands tonight but was “happy for you guys to play anyway if you want?” – well we didn’t travel all this way not to play. So it’s Sunday night which is always gonna be quiet anyway, and there has been zero promotion, so what can we do? I decide a beer (or 3) is the only reasonable solution and shortly after I am pretty merry. Next time I pay any attention, the rest of Riot:Noise are up playing a blues jam that lasts for 30 minutes or so. It was pretty cool to sit back and watch the band play something unusual and Johnny jumps up to give a bit of harmonica accompaniment.
Now one thing we have learned over here is that you can build hardcore fans if you take time to interact with them. This is proven when two people that were at the Dallas show turn up with a bunch of friends to see us – and buy t-shirts AND bring us a bag full of sweets, chocolates, bread and other essentials. Awesome!
There is a small crowd by the time we kick into our first song, and we are on fire (even if I do say so myself) from start to finish. I would even go as far as to say that we play better than we have played all tour – something that Johnny reinforces later when he says “going on after Riot:Noise is like clearing up after a house party that you didn’t know was going to happen”. Myself and Freddie both join Johnny for some backing vocals and I think Ash might have popped up to sing too for a minute. When TM’s finish we get some shots in and meet and greet with the fans etc.
Next thing you know, Scott, Freddie and the TM guys are ready for a jam and start knocking out some classic Thin Lizzy covers. This leads to an hours worth of cover songs with all of us swapping around and having a blast. For an avid GNR fan I can openly admit that we were shit at It’s So Easy – but we had fun giving it a go.
Not sure what time the night came to an end, but when most people were climbing into their bunks Ash was climbing into a comfy motel bed with a young lady called Misty who had driven 400 miles to come see him (and the amazing Riot:Noise show) – and if that wasn’t enough to make everyone on the bus jealous, the fact that it meant he got a hot shower in the morning definitely was!
We have a couple of days until the next show in El Paso, but in the tour bus it is two days of driving. We are told to expect an early start and a busy day as we have needed new tires since Ft Worth. I wonder what tomorrow will bring…..
Marty:Riot
Sunday 27 January 2008
January 26th 2008 - San Antonio
Time to get back on the road to San Antonio. It’s another short drive and we’ve been told it’s a cool little venue so we’re all looking forward to it…. all of us apart from Scott who has a pretty bad cold and has been sick a few times. The road takes it’s toll on everyone at some point, and the hard part is trying to contain it in one person. Vitamin supplements, honey and lemon, some Chinese medicine stuff and anything else we can get our hands on to keep us healthy is welcomed.
It’s around 8pm when we arrive at the venue. It really is an old school punk bar (shit hole) and I for one can’t wait to tear it up. We are met by the promoter Richie who is the most glam looking man I have seen since the last poison video was released – leopard print spandex and pink gloves…… legend! He takes us back to his place ‘the glam cave’ for some food and drink that he has prepared. Where do you ever get that kind of treatment in the UK? Nowhere! Scott, Skee and I have time to get a quick shower and then it’s back to the venue. Not sure how much detail I should go into about the glam cave cause I don’t want parents and loved ones to worry about us – you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you we stayed away from the variety of substances on offer at this place and well away from the 17 year old girl who somehow tagged along and was so far out of it she may as well have been on another planet. This rock stuff is all becoming more clichéd that even we thought it could be. Brilliant.
Back at the venue we are introduced to more friends of Richie (who is still trying to get all of us including Dan to do shots with him) and soon it’s time to get on stage. It’s a small stage so it feels nice and intimate. We’re not sure how well we will be received as it is clearly a punk crowd – but this just makes us play more aggressively and get right up in their faces and it works because they all come to the front of the stage and rock out. It feels good and I think we play one of our best gigs of the tour. Scott lasts the whole set without puking which was good, and Freddie, who has been dead all day, comes to life as the music starts. It’s all over way to quickly. We get another chance to take the stage when Johnny invites us all up for an impromptu jam session – all except Dan who was hiding on the bus.
Time has flown by and it turns out we didn’t actually take the stage until after 12am – time is just never an issue here. We leave the bar around 3am and head straight to an Ihop pancake place to get some food. We all order full breakfasts and never stop to think that it is a bit strange to be eating breakfast before we go to bed….. I love this life!
Back to the bus and the bunks around 4:30am to get some sleep before we make the drive to Austin for our next gig. Today was another good gig in another great town on this string of Texas dates. Texas LOVES to rock. I have never experienced such positive feedback from people – even the venue owners are genuinely happy that we played for them – not the other way round like back in the UK where we are expected to be happy for being given the opportunity to play at someone’s venue. Here they appreciate that we are working musicians that are doing something for their venue – and that is very refreshing.
Marty:Riot
It’s around 8pm when we arrive at the venue. It really is an old school punk bar (shit hole) and I for one can’t wait to tear it up. We are met by the promoter Richie who is the most glam looking man I have seen since the last poison video was released – leopard print spandex and pink gloves…… legend! He takes us back to his place ‘the glam cave’ for some food and drink that he has prepared. Where do you ever get that kind of treatment in the UK? Nowhere! Scott, Skee and I have time to get a quick shower and then it’s back to the venue. Not sure how much detail I should go into about the glam cave cause I don’t want parents and loved ones to worry about us – you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you we stayed away from the variety of substances on offer at this place and well away from the 17 year old girl who somehow tagged along and was so far out of it she may as well have been on another planet. This rock stuff is all becoming more clichéd that even we thought it could be. Brilliant.
Back at the venue we are introduced to more friends of Richie (who is still trying to get all of us including Dan to do shots with him) and soon it’s time to get on stage. It’s a small stage so it feels nice and intimate. We’re not sure how well we will be received as it is clearly a punk crowd – but this just makes us play more aggressively and get right up in their faces and it works because they all come to the front of the stage and rock out. It feels good and I think we play one of our best gigs of the tour. Scott lasts the whole set without puking which was good, and Freddie, who has been dead all day, comes to life as the music starts. It’s all over way to quickly. We get another chance to take the stage when Johnny invites us all up for an impromptu jam session – all except Dan who was hiding on the bus.
Time has flown by and it turns out we didn’t actually take the stage until after 12am – time is just never an issue here. We leave the bar around 3am and head straight to an Ihop pancake place to get some food. We all order full breakfasts and never stop to think that it is a bit strange to be eating breakfast before we go to bed….. I love this life!
Back to the bus and the bunks around 4:30am to get some sleep before we make the drive to Austin for our next gig. Today was another good gig in another great town on this string of Texas dates. Texas LOVES to rock. I have never experienced such positive feedback from people – even the venue owners are genuinely happy that we played for them – not the other way round like back in the UK where we are expected to be happy for being given the opportunity to play at someone’s venue. Here they appreciate that we are working musicians that are doing something for their venue – and that is very refreshing.
Marty:Riot
25th January 2008 - Dallas
It was a nice short journey to Dallas from Ft.Worth, although when I say short it’s still as long as it would take us to drive to London from Bristol. We’re all pretty hanging so it’s mellow and subdued on the bus. The last two nights were pretty hardcore drinking sessions so we discuss having a quiet night after tonight’s gig – but that option is quashed when the Tattooed Millionaires inform us that we are partying tonight………. oh go on then!
We arrive at the venue pretty early and it’s not open so we grab a bite to eat in the burger place next door and then head to guitar centre to pick up some supplies. On the way back we all chip in some cash for a motel room to get hot showers – a welcome relief.
Back at the venue an hour or so later and we discover that the capacity of the place has been restricted to 50 because somebody got stabbed there last week……. interesting.
People start to arrive and notably a myspace friend of mine called Dennis has driven with his buddy for 10 hours to come see us play! 10 HOURS!!! I love this country! On top of that there are some ladies from the Texas street teams turning up and they are ready to party. I’m trying to take things easy, as is Scott who is feeling particularly rough. Unfortunately the crowd of people have different ideas and we are being bought bottles and shots all the time – we wouldn’t wanna offend people by refusing, that would just be rude of us.
We played a great gig tonight. Everyone was in the zone and playing hard for the people that had made an effort to be there. One thing that I love here is that people actually like to stand at the front for the duration of the set and it really makes us step it up a notch.
TM’s also play a rocking set and before you know it we are jumping in the bus to go and party. This is where the interesting evening begins…..
Our destination is The Clubhouse – which is a fully nude strip joint owned by Vinnie Paul (those into music will know that’s pretty cool). This place isn’t some shady backstreet lap dancing venue, it’s full of gorgeous women……. Hello! When we arrive we have nowhere to sit and are stood around like average Joe’s – that is not how we roll!!! Two phonecalls later, one of them to Mr Vinnie Paul himself and we are escorted to Vinnies table which he has said is ours for the night. Rock N Roll enough for you?
The vodka is flowing heavily and there are already a couple of casualties, namely one of the young ladies that came with us (who is later thrown out) and Mr Freddie Riot who is close to the end!!! We are the last people to leave and then things get weird!!!!
Some people roll back onto the bus, some people go in search of a late night drinking spot. Ash ends up back at a strippers house and by all accounts had a very good time – and a hot shower in the morning. Freddie and I go to another bar to meet a couple of people we were hanging out with earlier. It’s actually a techno bar. It all seems a bit strange here, and the blokes in the place are a bit hostile towards us – especially when Freddie starts dancing in the middle of a group of 6 HUGE black guys in vests. At the same time I get on the dancefloor and get my groove on and every time I get near to a girl in there (JUST DANCING!) I get given verbal abuse from all the men. This is not my kind of place and clearly Freddie is bored cause he is passed out on his back in the middle of the floor and I have to punch him as hard as I can in the stomach just to get him alert for a second. Time to leave! We manage to score a lift from one of the security guys who wanted to help out some rockstars. What we find out in the morning is that we had been partying in a gay club and everything just slides into place.
We get back to the bus at 7am and after a feeble attempt to scavange food from somewhere, retire to our bunks.
Tomorrow we head to San Antonio.
Marty:Riot
We arrive at the venue pretty early and it’s not open so we grab a bite to eat in the burger place next door and then head to guitar centre to pick up some supplies. On the way back we all chip in some cash for a motel room to get hot showers – a welcome relief.
Back at the venue an hour or so later and we discover that the capacity of the place has been restricted to 50 because somebody got stabbed there last week……. interesting.
People start to arrive and notably a myspace friend of mine called Dennis has driven with his buddy for 10 hours to come see us play! 10 HOURS!!! I love this country! On top of that there are some ladies from the Texas street teams turning up and they are ready to party. I’m trying to take things easy, as is Scott who is feeling particularly rough. Unfortunately the crowd of people have different ideas and we are being bought bottles and shots all the time – we wouldn’t wanna offend people by refusing, that would just be rude of us.
We played a great gig tonight. Everyone was in the zone and playing hard for the people that had made an effort to be there. One thing that I love here is that people actually like to stand at the front for the duration of the set and it really makes us step it up a notch.
TM’s also play a rocking set and before you know it we are jumping in the bus to go and party. This is where the interesting evening begins…..
Our destination is The Clubhouse – which is a fully nude strip joint owned by Vinnie Paul (those into music will know that’s pretty cool). This place isn’t some shady backstreet lap dancing venue, it’s full of gorgeous women……. Hello! When we arrive we have nowhere to sit and are stood around like average Joe’s – that is not how we roll!!! Two phonecalls later, one of them to Mr Vinnie Paul himself and we are escorted to Vinnies table which he has said is ours for the night. Rock N Roll enough for you?
The vodka is flowing heavily and there are already a couple of casualties, namely one of the young ladies that came with us (who is later thrown out) and Mr Freddie Riot who is close to the end!!! We are the last people to leave and then things get weird!!!!
Some people roll back onto the bus, some people go in search of a late night drinking spot. Ash ends up back at a strippers house and by all accounts had a very good time – and a hot shower in the morning. Freddie and I go to another bar to meet a couple of people we were hanging out with earlier. It’s actually a techno bar. It all seems a bit strange here, and the blokes in the place are a bit hostile towards us – especially when Freddie starts dancing in the middle of a group of 6 HUGE black guys in vests. At the same time I get on the dancefloor and get my groove on and every time I get near to a girl in there (JUST DANCING!) I get given verbal abuse from all the men. This is not my kind of place and clearly Freddie is bored cause he is passed out on his back in the middle of the floor and I have to punch him as hard as I can in the stomach just to get him alert for a second. Time to leave! We manage to score a lift from one of the security guys who wanted to help out some rockstars. What we find out in the morning is that we had been partying in a gay club and everything just slides into place.
We get back to the bus at 7am and after a feeble attempt to scavange food from somewhere, retire to our bunks.
Tomorrow we head to San Antonio.
Marty:Riot
Friday 25 January 2008
January 24th - Rockstar Bar Ft.Worth
Not much time so can't do you a full blog. We were already acquainted with the venue after last night so it felt like home. 4 bands on the bill - the two local acts were...... well we're not ones to slag off another band - but when the second band said they'd only been playing together a month, it explained a few things.
We take the stage at around 11:30pm and we rock hard. It's a small but enthusiastic crowd and the Texans just love live rock music. Their enthusiasm makes us pick up the performance a notch and Johnny is wandering around winding the crowd up. We throw out the Sex Pistols cover again and they love it - one guy even jumps on stage to join Johnny and I for the chorus and we have one of the young 'dancers' up on stage for Never Wrong too. Nice.
We take the stage at around 11:30pm and we rock hard. It's a small but enthusiastic crowd and the Texans just love live rock music. Their enthusiasm makes us pick up the performance a notch and Johnny is wandering around winding the crowd up. We throw out the Sex Pistols cover again and they love it - one guy even jumps on stage to join Johnny and I for the chorus and we have one of the young 'dancers' up on stage for Never Wrong too. Nice.
TM's start like an angry mob at a football game. He performs better when he's pissed off and as the set moves on he comes alive and is like Iggy Pop in his hey day. The set is a success for all. Now it's time to party.
The party ends at 4am and I head to the bunk. I wont go into graphic details about what happened back at the bus - but the casbah was rocked by some. It's a hard life this life of music.
So here's some pics from the night.
Thursday 24 January 2008
January 23rd - THIS IS SPINAL TAP!!!!
Following on from yesterday we hit the road from Amarillo for our next 6 hour journey. It's still very cold and the I wish I could put into words just how cold it gets at the front of the bus - put it this way, when we arrived in Amarillo Skeet's feet were so cold that when he put them infront of the heater there was steam coming off of them. It is THAT cold!
So we roll on for a few hours. When you get to this point in tour you really do have no concept of time or day. Everyone sleeps at different times so we are rarely all at the front of the bus. We also take turns to go down and sit with Skeet so that he doesn't die of boredom.
Around 4 hours into the journey we stop in a small town called Clarendon. It's real cowboy town. The buildings are old and worn down and look like a wild west film set. We are all amazed that this kind of place exists. There is a small steakhouse where we go to get some food - we all need a good meal after the last couple of days.
Towns like this rarely see people dressed like us. Rarer still is a bunch of guys like us rolling into town in a 40ft turquoise tour bus!!! Heads turn on the street and as we enter the steak house. I'll keep this short. We get a good meal inside us and the waitresses want our autographs and signed posters and pictures taken - and this is not a one off, it happens every time we go to an RV park or a gas station. It feels good. We are rockstars. We have a good bit of banter with the owner and Johnny tries to get a set of the cattle horns but the owner wants one of our leather jackets in return - that aint gonna happen. But we leave them CD's, posters and photos. Unfortunately we can't convince the waitress to "have a look at our bus" - but you win some you lose some.
Heres a pic from the steak house
and a posed one cause we think it's cool!
Back on the road again and we only have a couple of hours until we get to Ft.Worth so we call ahead to the venue and tell them we are a day early and to expect us. What is so great about touring in the US is that people are actually NICE! They are genuinely excited that we will be there to have a few 'quiet' drinks. When we arrive they let us plug the bus in so that we have power. Before we can even check the venue out, Scott gets the drinking underway with a relaxing bottle of beer. What comes next could be disturbing for some..... but entertaining for sure!!!
We shoot some pool and play arcade games for a while. Scott takes pride in telling the whole bar how proud he is to wear the British Bulldog on his chest as us Brits beat the Americans 5-0 at pool. At the same time the drinks are flowing steadily and are followed every time with shots of sambucca and jaegermeister. It is a bad combo and soon Scott is wobbling around. I'm not saying that we weren't all a bit pissed - but we are on the verge of a problem. Add this to the fact that this place is full of big metal head Texans and you never know what might happen.
A side note....... throughout the evening we are all amused at the vertically challenged lady that is shooting pool. Okay she wasn't just vertically challenged, she is a midget and can't even see over the pool table. Brilliant.
A side note....... throughout the evening we are all amused at the vertically challenged lady that is shooting pool. Okay she wasn't just vertically challenged, she is a midget and can't even see over the pool table. Brilliant.
Anyway, back to the fun. Scott has now been missing for about an hour and we think he is in the bus asleep - WRONG! He is in the toilet unconscious surronded by his own vomit and sh*t. On top of that he is wearing my t-shirt that I let him borrow and it is saturated!!!! We take some video footage of him trying to stand whilst Freddie pours beer and soap on his head - Scott is oblivious. We leave him there for a while.
Back out in the bar, our 3.5ft friend is now up on the tables poledancing. It is a very bizarre sight - even more so when Freddie jumps onboard and gyrates with her. I'm not sure whether it's funny, scary or a dream - but what Freddie thought would be a laugh clearly isn't when her ass lands on his face! Her friends eventually drag her away and get her dressed again.
So far we've had drunken tomfoolery, a midget and a rock band...... could there be more? You'd better believe it!
Skeet gets Scott into his bunk somehow. I wouldn't have touched him myself cause he was covered in his own mess. Fair play to the man, he is not only a bus driver, but a nanny.
The bar closes at 2am but then it's time for a lock in. The curtains are drawn, the doors shut and the pitchers of beer put on the table. A mexican 'lady' called Theresa is now joining the party and wants some fun. Now how the conversation turned to spanking with studded belts I have no idea - but it does and before you know it we are taking it in turns to drop our jeans and underwear (those that have any on) and take a beating on the ass with a studded belt. It hurts like hell! Freddie LOVES it. In fact, Freddie volunteers himself for several more lashings. I am shocked - deeply shocked at how this young man has taken to the submissive slave role so quickly and enthusiasticly.... you learn a lot of new things about you friends when you are tour. I'm not sure I want to learn much more.
I have no idea what time I hit my bunk, but others stayed up. I think the Tattooed Millionaires are starting to find out just what they let themselves in for when they invited 4 English guys and a Scott on tour with them. Fun times ahead.
The video footage will be appearing soon, but for now here are some piccies...
Marty:Riot
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