From Josh Eppard:

Ah, the final week of Vans Warped Tour. We just finished a 13 show in a row run and, boy, are my arms tired….no literally, my arms and legs and everything is beaten down. Warped Tour will put you to the test. It’ll test you in ways that you just can’t prepare for. It really all comes down to how much you believe in the music you make.  

No project that I’m involved in will win any popularity contests any time soon, but that’s not a bad thing. You have to remind yourself out here that you don’t have to compete with A Day To Remember or Gym Class Heroes in crowd size or merch sales to be taking full advantage of the Warped opportunity. I gotta say I have learned so much from MC Lars about what it means to build something on your own and be proud of the people you did turn on to your art, even if it isn’t thousands of people a day. I can honestly say I have never worked so hard in my life but I also have never felt such a reward. Every new Weerd Science fan to me is another person who can relate to not only my art but my life as they go hand-in-hand. There isn’t a price I could put on that. 

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From Josh Eppard:

Another week (or so) down on the Vans Warped Tour! We made our way through Canada and left our collective mark on our good neighbours from the North. I must say, it was the smoothest border crossing I’ve ever been a part of. The credit has to go to the awesome tour manager trifecta that is Mike Russo, Alex Lane, CJ Vallely. Thanks guys!!! The fellas in the Terrible Things crew didn’t make out as well. They were stuck behind someone at the border that took 6hrs! Bummer. Anyway, one of the coolest things that happened this week was I did a photo shoot for Weerd Science with Jeremy Saffer who is one of my absolute favorite people/photographers. I saw a bunch of bands I probably wouldn’t of had the opportunity too if not for Warped.”Oh what bands you ask”? Ok here it is. Weerd Science’s official list of bands that are dope on the Warped Tour so far….(not in any order) Bad Rabbits, Grieves and Budo, The Devil Wears Prada, Passafire, Less than Jake, Paramore’s new drummer, and Blood on the Dance Floor. Alright that last one I’m  still figuring out but I can’t stop singing the songs. That’s what Warped Tour is all about. Meeting and mixing with people and bands who are totally different than you and finding out you actually have a lot in common. Where else can BOTDF and Weerd Science have lunch with August Burns Red and Paramore? Whoops, that’s right Paramore. Would never be in the lunch line. Well, maybe the new drummer would. I’d ask em to sit next to me.

From Josh Eppard:

What a day yesterday was folks. It all started innocently enough with yours truly hanging up Sick Kids posters before doors as per my morning routine. I put some posters on a stage barricade ( Kevin Says stage) and after spending a good 40 minutes Making sure they were perfect( hey OCD), I got told to take them down. If that was the worst thing that happened I coulda lived with that. It wasn’t. I guess the stage manager was having a bad day or just really pissed that I Hung the posters there because he got in my face and dared me to ” raise my voice again” and that “He would have me thrown of the tour”! This happened after I told him I would take them down and I  was sorry. Man I knew Warped Tour had changed since my Coheed days but I didn’t know it turned into my High School in NY! So I guess I have matured because instead of letting it escalate into a fight and actually getting kicked off the tour I said “Your right, there’s nothing I can do. I don’t want to get kicked off the tour”. Tail between my legs and sick with anger I walked off. Ahhhhh fun. So as I walked away I realized during the spat someone had stolen my shoulder bag that I use to poster and what not….Ahhhhh fun. I know the people that work on the tour really bust there ass to make it happen so after an hour or two I finally stopped plotting my revenge and decided if we’d met under different circumstances we’d most likely be friends. So as the hours and the heat added up to make suck I got a strange phone call. Sparing the gory details, the call proved to be one of the oddest coincidences of my life and strangel yforeshadowed what was to come. It’s no secret that my friend Mic Todd allegedly robbed a pharmacy for drugs yesterday and I say allegedly because that’s what the papers say. He fucking robbed a pharmacy. The perfect end to a day that was already kind of shitty. Shock. What the hell man. I talked to him what I guess was an hour before he did it and he said he was gonna straighten up. It’s kind of hard to elaborate on how much this hurts. Mic and I have had a weird friendship and I’ve spent the last few days hearing from people that he would often say how I was still using drugs. That hurt. Anger. But I know that thats a junkie 101 move but he of all people should know how hard it is to rebuild your life. Pity. I just can’t wrap my head around what he did. Was it that bad? Did he do this on purpose, like, fuck it I’m gonna get busted soon anyway, might as well go out with a bang type of thing? Confused. I feel lucky to know in my heart I am done with drugs. And warped tour to me is like the universe bringing me back to where it all started for me and giving me a second chance. I’m glad I didn’t get kicked off the tour.

Josh Eppard is pulling double duty this year on Warped tour performing with both Terrible Things and Weerd Science. Josh has been kind enough to offer to do a new PropertyOfZack Warped Blog for Weerd Science, so check out the first update and make sure to check for more every week!

From Josh Eppard:

Ahhhhh, one week down on the Vans Warped Tour and so far so good. I must say this year’s routing is awfully ambitious, so hats off to all the bands in a van driving themselves (Terrible Things, Vonnegut, etc…)!

So, in this first week I’ve seen some great shows from The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red, Grieves w/ Budo, and a lot more that I can’t remember. Those are the ones that stick out at this juncture.

Ya know, as I sit here at a diner in Flagstaff AZ in the middle of a 1600 mile drive en route to Bonner Springs KS, I do feel lucky to be part of Warped Tour for the fourth time in my career. Each time, it’s different and I can’t wait to see what unfolds in the weeks to come.

This is my first American tour as Weerd Science and every day I can’t believe that I get to play in front of so many people.

Basically, it rules no big deal!!! Anyway, not that much to report. One week down. Survived.

Report back in a week y’all!!!!