From Rick Jimenez:

A trip to Spain and UK for just two shows in 3 days? No problem. The majority of the trip was spent traveling in cars, vans, shuttles and planes and involved close to no sleep. A trip from eastern Long Island to pick up each band member, head to the airport, do all the pre-flight airport stuff and about 5 hours later we’re about to clear security when we realize that we forgot to loosen our guitar strings. This is a hotly debated thing while flying with guitars… loosen your strings to avoid pressure snapping the neck on the flight or the whole “it’s a myth!” thing. We started stressing like crazy and went back to check in to try to locate our shit so we could fix it and it became a huge hassle where nothing was done and we almost missed our flight. Over the course of the next 6 hours on the plane my hair turned more gray and I was waiting to show up in the UK with a broken guitar. Fortunately, our shit was fine when we grabbed it from check out and we thanked the four winds for blowing in our direction.

Because we just sat on a plane for 6 hours, we crammed all our shit and the 4 of us into a tiny little car and drove an hour and a half with a friend to another airport so we could fly 2 hours to Spain. Thankfully my chair didn’t recline.

Upon arrival to Spain, we got into a shuttle bus and drove 2 hours to Resurrection Fest. It had just begun and was pretty empty which was kinda “oh shit, is this gonna suck?” We chilled out for a bit and headed over to the stage and by the time we were to play the tent was packed and the crowd was ready to go. The staff and stage crew were immensely helpful and our friends in Set Your Goals arrived to hang just as we were about to play. The show was totally rad… kids were ready to get nuts and there was lots of circle pitting and dirt kicking mosh and singing along and everything good about festivals. We were really happily surprised. I took a picture mid song while I had nothing to play on guitar for a few seconds which was a new thing for me and totally cool. The 30 minute set made the past 18 or so hours of traveling in tiny seats totally worth it. We wound up hanging out at the fest til 3am and got to hang out with lot of friends we don’t see often and see their bands etc. Converge, Set Your Goals, Agnostic Front, H20… all awesome and great to see everyone at all, let alone in Spain. Crazy lives we lead.

We were shuttled to the hotel and after waiting outside for about 20 minutes someone finally let us in. At this point everyone showered and went to sleep asap but I stayed up until 7am because I was working on a song and couldn’t sleep until it was finished. Might as well only sleep 3 hours at this point, why not?

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

I waited so long to write this one I’m pretty sure I have no idea what happened over the last few days of the North American run but here’s a shot…
 
We drove to Milwaukee and it was gross and essentially a shitty city. The Golds Gym was nice but confusing because it spanned 5 floors and it seemed like every door was locked. Upon arrival at the venue which was a house, we found some friends to bullshit about Def Leppard with, C-rod messed with my guitars being that he came from Rockford, Il and we played a set in what was just as much deepest darkest Africa as Akeem the African Dream’s hometown. No one will understand that… 80s WWF and it was hot. Whatever. Fun show. We planned to drive to Chicago and sleep for the night and eat a feast w/ the champ but we would up driving to Michigan instead. You figure that one out cause I still don’t get it. Hot night, shitty night, silent night, deadly night. DT for the win, ya know?
 
There was no Golds in Lansing, MI so a 110 degree parking lot workout it was. 110 degrees, 110 pound one arm rows. 110 times a day I think “fuck the police” too. Show was ac-ed and one of the opening bands Dozic was awesome and real rad dudes. The show had a nice little crossover crowd and we had fun thrashing with Lansing. It’s always awesome when you get to veer off to a smaller city like Lansing as opposed to hitting Detroit every Michigan visit. Rad show. Drove through the night to Cleveland to the Vanilla Gorillas house and watched Waw all dvred for us. What a sick dude VG is.
 
Woke up and watched Iron Sheik shoot interview. If you don’t follow Iron Sheik on Twitter you should follow principal Anderson as he walks his fat ass into oncoming traffic. Hit the gym and some girl was gym flirting with me. Yeah girl this is how I do skull crushes man! There was this giant beast next to me doing skull crushes with 275 lbs. Fucking crazy. I hate myself. Anyway, we went to “now that’s what I call class” the venue, hung out with our friends Kali and Shel, and finally met up w/ Hollow Earth for the last leg of the tour. They were awesome and do a Turmoil cover which is just as good as their own songs which are sick. Some dude moshed like a dick, looked around at people not being impressed with his tiny wiener, then said bye to a friend and left… Mid song… That he moshed for. 2012.  Our set was a disaster of tech problems due to fucked up stage power. Like a mature adult, I eventually snapped and threw a tantrum and smashed a microphone that was on the cabinet. Who cares at this point ya know? We left Cleveland and I was happy about that. Fuck the miz.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Edmonton, home of Chris Benoit, a million irritating bugs, mediocre sushi, a Golds Gym and one of the hottest pre-show venues ever… Also one of the boringest crowds ever, which was a bummer being that West Canada was rad up until that point. There was one whacked out big boobed blonde chick in front of me the whole time that was feeling it though, and I couldn’t tell if she was cool or sucked, even after the show at the bar. Her boyfriend was a complete punisher that wouldn’t stop telling us how, despite us telling the lighting guy to stop with the strobe lights or I would kill myself, that the strobe was awesome and we needed to close our eyes, lean back and just feel it. Thanks for the tip dickhead, but thanks for bringing you gf.
 
Travis got Jäger smashed with good pal JFK and we headed back to his house for the night where we forced Calvin from Xerxes to wash his clothes and I watched “I Love You Man” again w/ one of my pals before bed on a dirty floor covered in wood shards. All of that is true.
 
We didn’t see any weird animals on the way to Saskatoon, location of Bret Hart’s first WWF title victory, but we did get some good chicken sandwiches from the university restaurant to the right of the stage and a good back/bicep workout in the parking lot and Mike Waster fixed my guitar to ensure max whammy abuse. We had low expectations for the show but the crowd warmed up during Xerxes and Waster and were a blast by the time we played and was possibly the best show of all of Canada. Co-Ed mosh, headfirst stagedives, thrashing and whiplash etc. Complete surprise and awesome show. Went back to the place we were staying for the night and it was so nice an ac-ed that we immediately ditched the idea of hitting a bar and watched Metallica and Will Ferrel movies instead. Ate frosted mini wheats and slept in a bed=shit yeah!
 
Another boring prairie drive and we arrived in Regina at a German hall that smelled like pretzels. Hit the local Golds which was not so radical and returned in time to see the local, which in the venue we played, seemed like a talent show band but in the best possible way. I mean that in that they were kind of a regular rock band with some clean parts, some heavy parts, a bit of metal… Not underground sounding but totally awesome. If it were a talent show they would have won. The show turned out cool despite the kinda weird vibe prior to the set. We stayed at our friends apt and it was extremely hot and I half wanted to murder the group of snoring fools behind me.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

To get to Victoria, BC we needed to take a ferry so we drove overnight, crossed the border where the guard had an Irish accent, van slept for a bit, then hid three of us under pillows and shit so we could get the ferry cheaper. Met up with some dudes from the area that took us to a beach and we did this crazy type of rock hike that was pretty dangerous and would have been a “no fucking way” deal if we saw the terrain from afar instead if just doing it. An exercise in dexterity. Played a game of 3-on-3 basketball, got a workout in, dudes were skating all over the place and a Pantera/Slayer/Venom shuffle being blasted from some dudes souped up challenger the whole time… Solid preshow summer hangout.

Waster met up with the tour this day and we all became quick buds. The show finally got under way and they were rad and our set in the gymnasium type venue was a blast. Tons of banging, pitting and thrashing. Some broad in a nirvana tee got blasted and bloodied but was back in the pit before night’s end. Love heshers. Crossover crowds reign supreme.

After the show the cops came to the back of the venue and started busting on everyone drinking. Apparently cops in Canada don’t have much power… At one point nick from Waster told the cop “you should be out fighting crime instead of pissing me off!” love this dude. Cops did nothing about it… And why should they? Telling some pig your opinion isn’t a crime; in America that wouldn’t fly though. The cops left with their tails between their legs about 20 minutes later issuing no tickets. Score one for the good guys. I still wished nothing but the worst for the boys and girls in blue. Fucking posing nerd powertrip pussies.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

To try to ease our minds, we made a trip to the Mesa factory to get our amps and cabs checked out and that began a long frustrating day of waiting around, unbearable heat, idiot oilchange places, unmarked one way roads, overpriced food, traffic etc. Typical preshow shit for this tour. Eventually we got to Stockton, the place where in 2009 an opening band stole one of my amps and then returned it when I said I may kill all of them. The show was actually rad. Tons of energy across the board and the first use of my LTD1000T. A good show makes the whole day of shit worthwhile… Until the promoter leaves without paying you. Lots of drama ensued and I yelled at the fat dweeb on the phone as he denied to be responsible. After we put him on blast everywhere, he conceded to Paypal us the money he left with. We haven’t gotten it yet. His names Evan, his number is (925) 577-7961.

We made a night drive to Boise and arrived in the am at our good friends parents’ house. Spent most of the day playing with Theo, our friend’s kid, went to get a sandwich and found a cannoli, got to the venue, had a mediocre parking lot workout and played a floor show at one of the best venues in America and it was another good show. Lots of energy and circle pitting and calisthenics throughout. 2 good shows in a row, that makes no sense on this tour. Tried to catch up on WWE at night but I fell asleep quickly. Tour’s really fucking up my shit. 

Next day was a scheduled off day as well as 4th of July and Mayhem Fest. After an amazing breakfast cooked by our friend Mindy and some Thor viewing with Theo, we headed to Mayhem to hang with our boys Thorns and Ry Ry (seeing friends from home is rad) and watched As I Lay Dying (pretty cool) and Asking Alexandria (worst shit on several levels, sound, songs, presence…unfortunately they didn’t fall off the stage or get food poisoning) for the first time.  Anthrax closed the one stage and were awesome as usual. They play the same shit almost all the time but it was still rad. Great time. We all migrated to the other stage and stood on a hill to watch Motorhead, Slayer and Slipknot with the Greenery and Xerxes and it was all a of fun. Slayer was so goddamn awesome and Slipknot was a lot of fun too. Tons of metal dudes and ugly metal chicks and families and old people and such… Real good vibe on the whole fest it seems and an awesome day off. Metal chicks should get hotter though and maybe hit the gym a bit. One broad had a house arrest ankle bracelet on. That was amusing. Night drive to Portland.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

New Mexico, the bane of our fucking existence. Leaf spring snap, check. $3300 transmission and 3 days missed, check. This summer…$4000 transmission. Why not? Roswell ass idiot mysterious state bullshit van ruiner. Instead of crying like females attending Magic Mike, we got the fucking thing fixed thanks to the credit business of Visa.  Watched Cliff Mm All and headed to the show. We broke the jack on the trailer too somehow so fuck it all fucking no regrets. It was 190 degrees outside and the show, although Jake Lang is the greatest promoter and friend, sucked a bag of dicks for the most part. Because we had to pick up the van the next morning, Pete and I got a cheap hotel near the shop and enjoyed the blasting ac while we discussed how much life sucks and watched more Metallica and ate a pizza. In hindsight it sounds like we shoulda been discussing how much life rules, ya feel me?

Picked up the van the next morning and ate at an Asian buffet which was surprisingly awesome. I ate so much goddamn food that I considered puking up some of Jaws’ boots and license plates. Eventually we made the 7 hour drive through the sweltering heat in a rush to Flagstaff as to not miss the show… Arrived, loaded up 40 stairs to the roof, watched Xerxes play, cops shut the show down, loaded downstairs, ate sonic, drove 3 hours to Phoenix. What a goddamn fucking waste of another day. What a great way to spend my 31st year of life.

In Phoenix it was 112 degrees out so while everyone stayed in the ac of our friends house I drank a dual Rebull and hit the local Golds before heading to the show. The local band did the “damn I haven’t seen y’all since the ep! It’s awesome you’re touring again!” My response of “cool man thanks” really meant “either you dropped out or were too cool to pay attention to the fact that we’ve played more than half the number of shows Metallica has in our 8 year career and being that everyone thinks like you is why there is only 20 people at this show that has 3 rad bands on it before you”. Fuck the police. The attendance was low but the energy was high and with our friends Jason and Lexi leading the way we had a great time. Always good catching up w old friends and trying to convince them to come to Europe w us. Drove to LA overnight with a dose of Californication on my computer and finally made it out of the desert and got some sleep in a wonderful bed. 

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Best way to end a long night drive is to wind up at an air conditioned and clean house. We arrived at Scuzz’s aunt and uncle’s place in Plano, TX in the am, got some sleep and had an amazing homecooked breakfast. I hit the gym after using a few of the supplements I was given in Knoxville and despised them all. I had a decent workout and an asskicker of a smoothy afterwards. We went back to the fam’s and then sat by the pool before having a wonderful guinea dinner all prior to the show. We headed up to Denton eventually, met up with The Greenery dudes for the first time, Hawaiian shirts and all. Show sucked. That’s all there is to that one. Went back to the fam’s for some sleep and another amazing breakfast upon my return from the Plano Golds Gym again. Good, clean gym aside from the condom in the corner of the shower. A fucking condom. A big one too. Weird shit. 

A typical Metallica iPoded journey to Houston, an ab workout in the trailer, some real good back stage salad and a typically sparsely attended show but with a lot of energy, so it wound up being a good day. Wrote some evil Slayer type riff for a new TIH song that will probably never see the light of day because no one cares about our band. We stayed with a friend that was housesitting for his parents. World’s largest dog was present. Finally saw No Way Out…solid PPV.

Upon arrival to Corpus Christi we hit the beach which was adequate, ate at some hippy place where there was a painting of Yoda, lifted weights beyond nightfall and then had a shredfest in the venue. At one point there was a circle pit with 90% of the crowd while 3 people did pullups in the middle amidst a guitar solo. Coolest moment of 2012…with my guitar at least. We played sections of 2 Metallica songs and 3 Pantera songs. We should just become a cover band. Better schedule, more money, less stress, cooler songs. We stayed at a house with Xerxes and this dog named Padfoot. I, in fact, love Padfoot and hate myself for being absent from his life.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Well for as good as the last three shows with Unearth were, the first three shows of our summer North American “GREAT AMERCAN THRASH” tour were fucked up. I bet only 1 out of 100 people get where that tour name came from and can appreciate how and why it’s so radical… the others are missing out.

Anyway, first show in northern PA, you know what that means? That’s right, more goddamn traffic. Once we finally arrived at the venue, we met up with Xerxes and bullshitted for a little while like you do with new tourmates, lifted some weights like you do when you’re in This is Hell, and then played the show to a crowd that would have been fine in a small venue but not completely right for the medium/large size one. Those in attendance still had a good time and got down so it was still fun enough. Ever have one of those days where nothing seems comfortable and therefor prohibits you from performing a task properly? That’s how I felt while actually playing. My recently serviced guitar felt fucked, then my strap felt too small, then too big, then the amp sounded weird… whatever. Just a strange feeling. Taking advantage of location, we went to a Wawa and ate away our sorrows before crashing at Scuzz’ parents place in the woods.

The next day’s drive to Harrisonburg, VA was a stress filled one where I fixated on my messed up gear the entire time, so I tried to mess with it as soon as we got to the venue. Pete did a bit of work too to try to help and we thought shit would be cool so we got in a bench press day in the back of the venue of which finally made me realize that the bench I bring on tour is definitely better than nothing but starting to be closer to nothing than something. Follow that? No? The goddamn bench is a piece of shit and makes my back feel like Rocky Dennis’ face. The workout kinda sucked. To make the day radical, there were 3 bands added to the show a few hours prior. Helping out 2 other touring bands in a bind is a good thing. Making it so half the crowd there for the band playing last leaves because at 12am they have been at a show for 6 hours and sat through other bands they didn’t know were even playing, not a good thing. Suffice to say, we went on at 12:45 am to a tiny crowd that although we were extremely appreciative that they stuck around, it still sucked to play to a portion of who was there prior, knowing that timing had played at least some part in their departure. Or maybe they just think we suck. Either way, the set was a downer, the energy was low, my gear malfunctioned for a good 3 or 4 minutes just prior to us beginning and the fact that once we started playing, my guitar still felt like a 1995 $125 Hohner standard, the concrete 75% empty room sounded like a concrete 95% empty room, and we played like it was our second show ever. Xerxes was rad that night though. Small victory for the tour overall I guess? I hate small victories.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Nothing welcomes you back to shows in the United States like North East traffic. We had a warm welcome on the way to Providence, Rhode Island. It honestly was great to be back in the US though, and driving ourselves and listening to Metallica behind the wheel etc., even if it did take an extra few hours. because no one understands the concept of “drive 70 mph at all times no matter what so I can get to where I wanna be ASAP all the time.”

I hit up a place called Cuban Revolution to eat a sandwich with one of my friends after load in and witnessed our waiter purchase illegal powdered drugs during the meal. I don’t do drugs but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t afford that shit; but this waiter can… rock and roll just isn’t what it used to be I guess. The weekend of shows were with Unearth and Within The Ruins, but the first night, Thy Will Be Done opened so it was rad to see those wookies shred it out before we could. The 1000 cap venue was the opposite of full but we were able to get the crowd siked anyway and that’s all that really matters when you’re in This is Hell. It’s always rad to play to more first timers than repeat attendees but still get a lots of headbanging and circle pitting… that’s the reason why playing with all types of bands is fun instead of the “preaching to the choir” mentality, or what I like to call “playing it safe because your band is a bunch of fucking poseurs afraid to step out of your comfort zone” but you can pick either moniker.

Spent most of the night hanging with my friend from the area that I see very seldomly and watching the other bands. I was never a big Unearth fan, despite thinking the guys in the band are cool, but this show began to change my opinion. Band was really tight and interesting as well as funny. Ken is a character and a half. Real fun night overall.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Most people that have inside jokes either keep it between those involved or explain it to others to get them in on the fun. People that constantly reference inside jokes around people outside of the joke are pretty stupid and childish. When you take an inside joke that is based in complete nonsense to begin with and change 10% of the lyrics to that inside joke while on stage in a foreign country, you are just another idiot member of This is Hell in Switzerland. I spent a lot of time on stage that night turning around and laughing due to self-amusement as well as Travis’ catching on. Show was rad, venue was cool, kids were siked etc… one of the dudes in a local opener decided to spill soda all over my computer while we played. That’s pretty radical. He did apologize though and Sam Rhino cleaned up my shit and saved it from damage. No harm done. Swassssss!

We arrived somewhat early in Lyon, France and loaded onto the boat venue through the park with hundreds of French people hanging out and being happy French people. Docked boat…venue downstairs…regular. We had a little time to walk around the city and enjoy it, which is a rarity. We saw this French bulldog/Boston terrier mix so we were all “oh shit look at this cool dog!” and the owner was all “say hi dog talk dog talk etc” and then when I went to pet him he bit me. No bark, no growl, just a snap and a bite. Not sure why it was funny instead of “fuck that asshole just bit me!” but it was. I bled a bit and my thumb went numb for an hour and I probably have French rabies now but it’s OK.

Anyway, there were two bands before us and the crowd was enjoying it but it was a small crowd. It seemed as if our “let’s get the boat rocking like crazy so everyone in the park thinks some fucked up shit is going on” dream was dying. By the time we were about to start the boat was surprisingly full and kicked off as soon as we started making ungodly noise. First circle pit busted out once “Acid Rain” begun and the whole set was nuts… so yes the boat was shaking like an electrocuted cat from Kansas City. Remember that inside joke thing? We wound up doing an encore despite the securities attempts of stopping the show from lasting, and for the second night in a row, we indulged my Metallica Kirk Hammett fantasy by beginning it with a guitar solo. A fucking guitar solo… just me, my wah pedal and my ego. Show was probably the best of the tour. That turkey sandwich I had after the show, probably the best of the tour as well. Viva La France, right?

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

One of the few things weirder than mainland Europe is the eastern part of mainland Europe… Even the Westwrn part of Eastern Europe. With that said it was nice to get to Austria. We needed to get some supplies and allergy medicine and such before the show so we drove into the city of Vienna and searched for an hour until our UK friend Jamie that’s been filming for a new music video this tour remembered it was some Euro holiday and that’s why everything was closed. How helpful.

Headed to “the arena” to load in, eat Euro rider stuff and get in a sufficient but not preferred workout. Preshow playlist was awesome. The set started off slow and wound up being insane. Best of the 4 times we’ve been to the arena. I think we did 3 encores because they wouldn’t let us off stage. Fuck it I’ll play for as long as people wanna hear shit any goddamn day, I’m not afraid to overdue it. Towards the end each of the rhino guys as well as Jamie the videographer and Dave the driver got caught in a mosh. Wrote some cool shit on the wall next to my bunk for the night and finally got a fucking shower.

Made a stop at Rattlesnake (a local merch store in Vienna) and got a sick Venom patch for €0. Fuck yes. The drive to Vincenza, Italy was way longer than we thought and there were 138 stairs to load in. The sound on stage had made as much sense as a George Bush in the White House. The power for the entire stage was run by a surge protector located logically right by the edge of the mosh, so twice during the set the power went off mid thrash. There were some us troops stationed in the area that came out and they pitted and had a good time. One of the best parts of playing music is the opportunity to bring some leisure ad enjoyment into soldiers lives, especially ones stationed abroad. That’s a rough life and any comfort/enjoyment we can give to them is unbelievably rewarding. Whether you’re pro or anti war, many troops join the service not because they wanna “Get I’m!” but because it’s their way of getting by and making their way for their family. Politics aside, I will always be honored to support a troop because they are a HUMAN in a difficult situation. We ended our set regular time even though the crowd wanted more because someone at the venue started crying about something besides my guitar… Which he cried about before we started playing. Wah Rick is too loud. Get with it, I’m almost always too loud.

Read More

From Rick Jimenez:

Jiminez… Who the fuck is that anyway? Well this is Rick JIMENEZ here with your intermittent dose of mediocre thrash life amongst unamericans…

What’s the best part about Germany? Thats right… Fucking leaving! Got to Prague and their uneven bricked roads with narrow roads and went to the city center ASAP. I can appreciate old architecture and the whole Euro touristy thing on occasion, but for the most part I don’t give a fuck about buildings from feudal times and inefficient infrastructure… Prague though is rad, and that old shit is cool to look at and explore.

The venue on the other hand was a cave-like dump if you were required to piss on that cave-like dumps floors and walls and then cover them with smoke. Show was sparsely attended but still fun as was catching up with Tomas, our driver friend from the area, and yelling “shuraag!” over and over in the mic… Which means dickhead in Czech. Well versed in Euro speak. Band viewing of ‘Metallica: Behind the Music’ before “bed.”

We spent about 1000 hours driving to Poland on weird roads and showed up with a little time to get our shit together and play. It was Fun or Die fest, lots of kids were there and they went fucking bonkers. Insane set, sweet rider, super hot girls… Poland rules. Stayed in town at a hostel and had the next day off for a million hour drive.

Ate at a pierogi place that looked like it was carved out of a tree and it was rad. Walked around Turon a bit and enjoyed it before making an all day pilgrimage to Kosice, Slovakia that included the full Live shit binge and Purge 3 disc set, making of “Death Magnetic” video, listening of “Death Magnetic,” then a viewing of all 3 Family Guy Star Wars movies.  Solid drive. Good thing too because the place we stayed upon arrival was a filthy dump that was such a filthy dump that some of us woke up sick. 

Read More

From Rick Jiminez: 

The past week in mainland Europe has been extremely European… Which means a handful of awesome shows, some shitty ones and tons of illogical inconvenience.

Jera on Air Fest in holland was awesome, as is the case with most Euro fests. Outdoors, under a tent, lots of friends random spots and arider that has tons of shit we request, but don’t actually deservelike three different bottles of liquor for the drunkards, case of Redbull for TR$, batteries, duct tape, tuna, etc. Oh yeah we played a show too and they pitted and thrashed around, and it was the sickest. Caught up w/ the Lost Prophets guys for the first time since we recorded “Black Mass” and then hit the road to get to Belgium for Burnout Fest later that night.

Showed up just in time to load on stage and play and the crowd was even better than Jera. More pitting, thrashing and headbanging… And the Marilyn Manson type at the front of the barrier losing his mind right next to the definitive 2012 hardcore kid also losing his mind…Totally Swiss. We left the fest after Rise and Fall headlined and headed back to Jera with two cases of Monster Energy Drink and more beers. Only in Europe. There was a dubstep afterparty at Jera. Goddamn, THAT shit needs to fucking go away. Corporate. Met back up with the Feed the Rhino guys in our shared campsite flat and had a weird party. Too good of a first mainland day.

Haarlem in Holland the next day had a coffee shop visit with the dudes, a workout, a viewing of Monday Night Raw and lying to the crowd that we were covering Slayer when we played “Death Of World Class” (our own song). Typical Sxe 31 and three quarter year olds day. The set ended with pouring a full beer in a dudes mouth from the stage during “Enter Sandman,” the Metallica song.

Read More

From Rick Jiminez: 

Three flights of stairs for a load in? No problem. Everything on stage being powered off of one circuit so everything buzzes, hums and squeals? Not afraid. Three cable unpluggings, a singer with a fucked up throat, bass player with an injured back and a drummer that falls off his stool… Add a few circle pits, a smashed beer or four and a trip to Wagamamas and you have our Birmingham experience.

We made a trip to Dropdead clothing and picked up some gear from the bros over there. Some new stuff they’re doing is pretty rad. Then we headed over to Bedford guitars, a company our friend Dean just started making pedals and repairing guitars and amps etc. Dude has never seen a guitar he couldn’t find an ass on and then beat severely. He cleaned up my filthy axe and set it up real nice. He did shine it up real nice but he did not turn it sideways and etc etc. Bedfordguitars.co.uk. Totally swissed up.

For the show we headed to Manchester, the WCW home of Davey Boy Smith, as opposed to WWF’s Billing of Leeds. You know what happens when you get to a venue early for load on right? You find out load in is 3-5 hours later that day. Spent most of the day in the city with my friend Georgia and popped her burrito cherry. Imagine living your whole life without ever having a burrito? Fuckshitass right? She loved it even though it was twice the size of her. She sings for a band called Next Stop Atlanta, so check them out or you’re a poseur in my book or blog. 

Read More

From Rick Jiminez:

You know you’re on a European/UK tour when you’re sleeping from 5:30am-9am everyday. And not from partying, but from the combination of jetlag and filthy floors with the hardest of woods. Fortunately that’s been the worst of our troubles so far. Our flight over had us two to a row, which allowed for a three hour sleep after a viewing of ”Moneyball.” Cool movie. My roommate Bill could have done it too.

No holdup at customs and we were off to Bath, UK for our first show. I forgot what overseas riders were like… Filled with shit you asked for. Who’d ever think? On top of that, a good dinner. Met up and hung out with the Feed The Rhino dudes and played our Hogan set for the first time overseas to an amped up crowd of sweaty pitters. In typical overseas fashion, they demanded an encore an we wound up with an 18 song set. That’s ridiculous and fucking cool, man, let me tell you. Hung out with James and TK of More Than Life and enjoyed their weirdness to max capac, ate more hospitality and finally called it a night. Upon waking the promoter and bar owner bought us all traditional English breakfast. Shove an egg and ham and beans and toast down my throat anytime, thank you very much.

On route to London we begun the “everyone pick a song from the xbox harddrive in the van and play it, then pass it along” game which quickly turned into a joke. It was an early show so we got right to soundcheck where my rental and borrowed gear began to sound like the raging $ound we all know and fear. A Big Cheese interview about contemporary tattoo culture and a Bring The Noise interview about the band, life and poseurs later and the show began. Caught up on life with former drummer and brother in defiance, Benny Mead as well as This is Hell’s own Pushead, Will Blood. Beez and Charlie made their way in as well and we discussed wrestlemania. Awesome night even before the show began. First song in and the crowd was amped so I figured I’d kill all momentum by breaking a string. Some NY and VA soldiers were in attendance with the London crowd and they made sure the floor kept moving. Decent show overall. Packed up and chatted with some more friends before taking off to Manchester to cut the next day drive in half. The choose a song game got real ugly once people began choosing Creed just to piss off the others.

Read More