2005 was a big year for me. Irom was doing pretty good, Aaron had decided that he was going to pursue a new path in life. This meant that he wasn't going to be in irom anymore. It wasn't really a huge bummer, we all saw it coming. He was going to school 5 hours away. These things happen. We went to birmingham to record our new 3 song demo. It was a blast, we were really impressed with the outcome. We knew that we needed either a 2nd guitar player, or a bassist we looked at our options and decided to move rog to guitar and get a new bass player. We practiced with Jon weems. I really wish we would have had him in the band. We chose Mean Dean Kennedy. He was a nice kid, but he had alot of his own things going on. Needless to say, he was a super nice kid tho. I liked being in a band with him for a while. At this point, the hardcore scene in johnson city was developing. We suddenly weren't the only band playing shows. We had other locals to play with. Big Rig were a band by this time, Without Cause from elizabethton, Twisted Logic from kingsport, if looks could kill and probably a few other bands that I don't remember, or didn't know of. I guess by standards of what "hardcore" is none of us were really HC bands. Whatever. Tim and dave were bringing alot of good Metal and hardcore bands to the tri cities. We were kind of in a falling out with the hideaway for a little while, so we played alot of shows at what used to be 7th street pub in bristol. They brought in through the eyes of the dead, Job for a Cowboy, Hoods, and alot of other really good bands. Shows for us were awesome too. We were out of town just about every week it seemed like. I wanted irom to get signed and get huge (as do alot of guys in bands). It kind of hurt my home life, it was like I was a part of this thing, and she was just there. She's an amazing girl for sticking it out with me, when we were making less than liveable income, and ate ramen noodles and did all of that shit that you do when you live alone, and are constantly strapped for cash. We had a few people talk to us.
I got a call from lifeforce records one time, they said that they were interested in us, So did Eulogy/handofhope. Jason Facedown liked our demos, 5point records were into us, but at the time none of these labels would commit. In the long run, Life force would have kicked a handfull of asses. But i'm glad that we didn't get signed to any of those other labels. We aren't in Debt over this band now, so thats a good thing.
Around march i got a phone call that my grandmother had died. I had to go to Iowa with my mother and father for her funeral. It was kind of surreal. I got to see all of my family that i hadn't seen in about 4 or 5 years. They were all doing about the same. I love them dearly. My little cousin leland is probably the wildest assed guy out. He's into lamb of god and he jams guitars nonstop. I wish he lived down here and i could take him to shows with me, and i could say, this is my cousin leland and he kicks ass. I digress. My grandmother was this 4'11 petite little lady. She was the biggest sweetheart i've ever met. She was probably the only reason that i would have ever went back to iowa. I'm not really close with anyone else up there. Don't get me wrong, i love my family, but i don't really ahve a bond with all of them the way i did with her.
that night, to ease the tension, My uncle randy (kicks so much ass), my dad, and I went to the Riverboat casino in davenport IA. To my surprise, A crown and coke was $1. I'm not even fucking joking. I put 5 dollars in the quarter slot and won $250 immediately, so i moved to the dollar slots. I was up then down. I drank probably 10 crowns and coke in a span of 2 hours, so i wasn't on my a-game. I still walked away with 200 bucks. Dad comes and gets me and is like, how much money did you lose pussy? I replied, I made $200 and started laughing hysterically. He apparently had lost about that much on blackjack. We're walking out, and he says. "snif snif", your drunk off your ass aren't you? I kind of laughed, then was like, at least my shirt is tucked in. We went back to the hotel. the next morning there was a cardinal on the windowseal. It was singing untill i woke up and looked at it. It sang a little more and then flew away. It was so weird. My grandmother was obsessed with cardnals. It was on the window seal just long enough to see it, and then think about that. then it flew away.
The next day we took the 13 hour drive back home. Dean's old band Afternoon at the Autopsey were playing, and Dan erb was singing for them. I got to my car, drove to Ireson's in bristol and watched them play. imosh'd.
When april rolled around. Dean, Dan Erb, and myself decided to (spur of the moment) go to Macrock. These were the worst 2 days of dan erbs life up untill this point. We decided to sleep in dan's car. it was a sports car. Both Dean and I were big guys. it was kind of hard. Whatever, we didn't have cash for a hotel. the first night, it was a bunch of shitty, metalcore bands a'la bury your dead, fassw, etc. Dan stomp moshed so hard that he slipped and busted his chin wide open on the floor. I tried to make him feel better and tell him it didn't look that bad. He had a butterfly bandaid on it, adn it was just oozing blood. Poor guy, he had to go to the hospital. i stayed and watched some band that sucked. I'm such a shitty friend that i watched a band over going to the hospital with dan. one day i'll make up for it. Aside from paint it black, and municipal waste, the show was a bust.
Instead of staying there that night i convinced dan that i was alert enough to drive home. About 4 hours into the drive, i fell asleep and ran his car into a guard rail. It was just a side swipe. It could have been buffed out.. I felt like a TOTAL tool. What an idiot.
I was glad to get home.
That may, steve quit Across 5 Aprils. We drove to chattanooga to play his last show with them at the fathom. It was such a fun show. Caldwell from florida played too. This would be one of the funnest shows that year. "i wan't 2 free frosties, God damnit" Just sayin.
After the show there was a party at Jarrod's house. We got so absolutly oblitterated drunk. Rog's wallet chain got stuck to the carpet, and he proglaimed that he was bound by the X. I greco roman wrestled randy in the living room. Then danced to James brown in my socks with jarrod's mom. Wes did a handstand and just leaned up against the wall. It was insane. We were to be in Spruce Pine North Carolina the next day at 6 p.m. We left Jarrod's house at about 2.pm the next day, still drunk. I had to get joey who was straight edge at the time, to drive. He made me so nervous that i just fell back asleep. We made it over the mountain and to spruce pine by 7. We were all hungover and ashamed/stoked of how much we drank. Either way, we smelled/felt like shit. When we got into downtown, I was like who's that black girl in Spruce pine? It was Khia, Then i was like.. oh... It was all of our wives and girlfriends. It was cool, but the last thing i expected to see in spruce pine NC. Good day.
Josh from Soceitey's finest decided we needed a manager, so he was trying to get us signed. We did a weekend in June of 05 to go play with society's finest on one of their 15 regroupings/tours. We drove from here to birmingham alabama to play the first show, we blew both back tires on the way and set ourselves back about 350 bucks at pep boys. Nice. We finally made it to the show, it was pretty cool i guess. Not very memorable. We stayed the night in a church and had to leave at 8:am. That 8 a.m. it was about 90* outside. it was so muggy i almost died. I couldn't wait to get back to chattanooga. We pulled into town around i would say noon. We took our sweet time driving north. When we got into chattanooga, we had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no money for a hotel. Our friend Jen was going to let us stay with her, but we had to wait untill she got out of class around 2. It was HOT. I'm talking blistering hot. I noticed that down by the bridge there was a fountain/water park looking deal that some kids were playing in. We all were wearing mesh shorts anyway (it was 2005 fuck you!) So we went and played in the water for a hour or so. We got dried off and went to eat at amigo. It was cool. I gave dean $5 of band money to get food with and told him that i didn't have any other money to give him. His meal ended up being like 6.50 I fronted him the 2 bucks, i didn't mind, but i broke his balls for it.
maybe i'm kind of a jerk, i dunno. We went and hung out at jen's house, I slept on her hardwood floor for the majority of the afternoon. We watched a danzig video. and then went and pet her horse. When we were driving back into town we almost ran over a turtle. That was cool. I'm glad we didnt' hit it. Of all the animals out, i think turtles are the most chill and laid back. They don't bother anybody, why fuck withem?
We played at a place called the green martian in East Ridge. It was killer, I saw robby from Rifles at Recess, i hadn't seen him in like 3 or 4 years, he had lost so much weight and seemed to be doing good. Ruiner played that show. It was the first time i had seen them. They were fucking awesome. And killer nice guys. Day of The Dead from portugal were out with them on this tour. They were super nice guys as well.
That summer there were alot of parties at my friend brandon's house in blountville. He had a pool, we likesed to party, so it was the spot. I power chugged a good portion of a handle of svedka vodka at his house on July 3rd I got incredibly drunk, dove through a child size life saver in the pool, didn't make a splash. Rode down the slide with the bottle of vodka in my hands.
Joey kept sayin, "are you thirsty kenney, why yes i am kenney!!" and i kept drinking it like it was a big slam of mountain dew. I got so drunk that i seriously could not walk. I fell down the stairs and in an effort to not fall i grabbed a rope hanging from the steps and rang this bell really loud. Then i ran in circles trying to gain my wits, then i fell face first and puked all over the ground, myself, my brand new white tall tee, and mybrand new white flat bill. Being a 320lb man has its disadvantages, like when you are passed out in someone's back yard and you can't get up. I rolled to dans car, got in and passed out. The next day i had a slip and slide party at my crib. It was amazing. 75 feet of painters tarp, so many beers, so many dudes, so awesome. I have had at least 1 per year since then. They just keep getting better.
Once again it was time for tour. Here's what the tour looked like for this summer
I don't know the dates, so here are the places
London KY- Some rec center at a state park
Chatanooga- Fathom/w secret lives
Nashville- Rockettown
West Virginia- Logan State park
Asheville, NC- Some church
Lincolnton NC- VFW
Savanna GA- Starland CCA
This was one of my favorite tours that we did. It was the only one that dean went on. The first date was in London KY at this rec center. It was pretty cool. We played with some good bands, and afterwards went to Trish's house to spend the night. It was a small house, and there were like 25 people in the house. It was wild. Wes and joey slept in the van, i slept in her brother's bedroom floor. It was one of those situations where its almost surreal that you are there. We slept for a few hours andthen got up to pack and leave. We were making our oatmeal and assorted foods that we had packed for ourselves. I had this Mix pack with cheese its, rice crispy treats and mounds or somethign liek that in it. I had it hidden away so nobody would munch on my grindeage. That will come into play later in the story. Trish's mom asked if we liked cream of wheat. When we said yes, she gave us like 5 boxes. It was cool. We called it Gruel. In a very gilbert Godfree voice i would say Dean come get ya greuel!
The kid from a suburban blood drive was asleep on the couch, and the girl that lived there put a dildo in his mouth. that was enough, i was ready to go. I went to shake dean and wake him. He was sacked out with Trish the dish in the same sleeping bag. Knowing that he showered like probably a week before we left made me cringe at the thought of how bad that sleeping bag must smell. But then i noticed that her hair was perfect. So in wanting to inspect a little further, I pulled a strand of her hair up and the entire motherfucekr came with it. Her hairs were so plastered with hair spray that it just didn't move. Nice. She was a nice enough girl.
I later learned that he "fingerbanged her" Classy.
That day we drove to chattanooga. it was cool. We played with secret lives at the fathom, we drank beers at Buck wild saloon, Jim flirted with heather (the girl that worked there). It was all good. We played and parted ways. We staeyd with Josh a5a that night. I had bought myself (with money i didn't really have extra) a pint bottle of Crown royal and a big slam pepsi. Dean didn't have any money and he wanted to drink a little, so i bougth him a half pint of canadian club for like 2.50 or something cheap like that. i had made my drink, and was about to sip on it, when dean slung the minifridge door open slinging my bottle of crown out and shattering it on the floor. He kind of looked at me with a blank stare, i threw a shirt at him and said. Dean sop at shit up!. We gave him an immense amount of shit. But i don't think anyone else had. We all came from a long line of shit givers, thats what we do. Dean was too stubborn to admit that he fucked up some times, so he would try to white lie his way out of it, unfortunately he usually fell into a mountain of shit by doing so. Who cares. We got about halfway to nashville, and dean was like, i left my backpack at the venue last night. Some bum is probably walking around in my hatebreed shirt. I digress.
That night we played in nashville. It was a super fun show, the venue was nice. We all ate 2 packs of ramen noodles adn were stoked. John weems and Ben farmer just drove down and watched the show. I love those guys. Jamie randall said we could stay with her for the 2 days we had off. She lived in this house with a married couple that i didn't really know about. She was super cool tho. I woke up early the next day and went and got into her pool with a case of budweisers. I just floated and drank. it was heaven. One of the people that lived there came out and asked who i was, and i said. I'm jake whats up? they knew who we were a little later. The people were super nice. Dean told them what happened to him and they (without dean sweet talking them) gave him a carton of cigs and like $70. It helped him out alot. He was able to buy a new gold tip cable and get some food. One thing i never took into consideration when breaking his stones was that he was barely 18, and probably hadn't had to budget money for himself before. It wasn't his fault. But he would do things to bring attention to himself. And that mixed in with the boredom of driving 5 hours a day made him a prime target for all of our ridicule.
The next day we drove to Logan west virginia, USA. It was in the middle of nowhere. We played in a pavillion outside with some band that had a keytar player. He was dead serious too. Everyone was kind of on pins and needles and it was only day 5 haha. When we played we got 3 songs into our set, and a forest ranger shut us down. We then drove into town and paid $70 for a hotel room that was like 8x12. It was like a hallway with a bed. I never called bed, but today i called the fuck out of it. We all showered slept, and watched TV. It was nice. The next day as we were getting ready to leave we watched a national geographic documentary about some native tribe who wore cock guords. They were trying to foce a pig to walk across a bamboo bridge. and thier guoards kept crossing and getting in the way. It was hillarious. We then began our drive to asheville, nc. about 1.5 hours into the trip we were in lovely wise va eating at Wendys. We all are paying for our food. Dean looks at wes and says. hey man, can i borrow 2 bucks. 1 day after that family gave him all that money. He had to buy a bunch of shit for his bass tho, so i can't fault him too much. Wes says why? and he says, cause i only have money for a single combo, and i want a double. Wes had a $.99 jr cheeseburger and a kids drink. hahahaha. I 'll never forget the look on his face. I loved it. Then, the quote of the Decade hits. These two shit ass kids sitting with their still under 21 mom at a table beside us are talking to each other and one says to another, Auye!, Do you love French fries better than Bacon?. I had to take a walk. It was hillarious to me for some reason. We then stopped in big stone gap. one of the most beautiful drives in the tri state area to get gas. Someone in the van takes the chordless telephone. and is making a call to some chick. It was funny. We played with hide the runnaways that night in asheville at this killer church parsonage. it was cool. We came home for the night Dean didn't really have anywhere to go, he couldn't stay with me and crystal because i had other things on my mind. pretty much, everyone did. We dropped him off at seminole ridge to crash a party at one of our friend's apartments. It was a wierd time in our friend's life, he had alot of stuff he had to work out, and so did we. Its a perfect example of how close quarters can brig out the worst in people.
he was at joey's for us to leave again the next day and go to Charlotte. we had a new song called tweeter will take the snaps. it was about our friend dan, who booked our first show in charlotte, he had passed away that year in a motorcycle accident. I was really excited, and nervous to play this song for those dudes. All of our friends were there. TJ, Loy, Luke, drew, cagle, Skippy, Aaron, keenan, all of the spruce pine crew. When we played that song everyone was dancing and going nuts, it made me feel like a million dollars. I wanted to hug everyone there. Funny/assholish thing that i did. When we were driving to the show, we drove by a funeral percession(sp?) and i leaned out the window and screamed "Hell yeah! don't fear the reaper!"
I want to say that we got a hotel room that night too. I don't remember tho. I think we had a hotel room. The next day we drove to Savanna. We had never played there, so we didn't really know what to expect. This place was in the ghetto. But it was cool. The kids were really responsive. We sold some merch, most importantly we had fun and met some new friends. We drove back over the boarder to SC and stayed at their drummers house. We all had 32 oz hurricane's since they didn't have 40 oz. wierd. We chilled in the pool. Rogers got butt assed nude. Totally ruined this kids makeout session in teh kitchen. We woke up a little later than we meant to. the kid that lives there was cool enough to let us sleep in when he left for work. We left the house neat and tidy. Then we Came home.
That night Bigrig was playing at the hideaway. Dean quit the band that night. He went in for one last dance to bigrig and nicole pulled his pants down. he got his shit and left.
When i look back there are things i would have done differently.
It goes to show you never can tell.
2005 was a big year. We played over 100 shows. I'll finish later.
I have work to do.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Take it in
I'm not going to start on 2005 this week. I want to give you this instead. When you go from memory and start re-living the bad, good, and otherwise insignificant moments in life, remember parts of that memory that didn't really make a difference, but could put you back in the situation.
I big part of my memory is smell and sound. Today I was reading the lyric sheet for the new test dream e.p. Ryan and Brian are working on. One of the songs "excitement gang" gives reference of our old practice space 2000-2001 called the Underground. It was FIB's practice space, then when brian and wes joined Sevenate9, we started practicing there.
I hadn't really thought about this place in a long time. I immediately remembered the old carpet/mildew smell that place had. It was so hot in there, the walls were covered in styrofoam to soundproof it. They had sharpie drawings all over them. It was perfect. Remembering this reminded me of when we played our first out of town show. My dad took us because we were all still kind of young, and he was excited for us. This girl that i was into came with us, and rode in the floor board, hahaha. Joey had bought a set of premier drums, It was our first show where he used them. He was so excited about them. They were Maroon, and he tightened the high tom so tight that he stripped the bolt first things first. He was kind of bummed.
I remember how my van had a knock in the caliber, and how i had to get my breaks fixed after this trip. I remember doing a guitar sling for the first time at that show, and freaking out so hard that i pulled it off, that fell down and just floor jammed.
The mention of the underground reminded me of the smell. Which reminded me of all of this.
On september 11th. 2001. Nick barnes and I were in elizabethton hanging out at Daniel and Josh's house. We were gung ho on america, and ready to kick some terrorists asses. We were young, whatever. I remember driving home and nick was like, Dude, i lost my keys will you come back and get me? So i drove 30 minutes back to elizabethton, To get him, and his car was gone. So i call his house in erwin, and he had already found his keys and drove home. He left me a note at the underground. but it blew away because he didn't put a rock on top of it on the step. I was almost out of gas, so i had to stop and get gas in elizabethton, on elk ave, the day of the 911 when every hillbilly in the world was getting gas on elk ave because we were getting ready to go to war with the arabs. I was so pissed off at him i could have fought him.
Nick is a stand up guy. If not for him i would probably be alot more uptight. He broke my balls about my uptightness untill i dropped my guard a little bit. I love him. He's one guy that no matter who you are, or where you are, If you had one day earlier took a shit on his entire life, If you asked him for anything he would find a way to get it for you.
So Nick barnes..
This one's for you.
I big part of my memory is smell and sound. Today I was reading the lyric sheet for the new test dream e.p. Ryan and Brian are working on. One of the songs "excitement gang" gives reference of our old practice space 2000-2001 called the Underground. It was FIB's practice space, then when brian and wes joined Sevenate9, we started practicing there.
I hadn't really thought about this place in a long time. I immediately remembered the old carpet/mildew smell that place had. It was so hot in there, the walls were covered in styrofoam to soundproof it. They had sharpie drawings all over them. It was perfect. Remembering this reminded me of when we played our first out of town show. My dad took us because we were all still kind of young, and he was excited for us. This girl that i was into came with us, and rode in the floor board, hahaha. Joey had bought a set of premier drums, It was our first show where he used them. He was so excited about them. They were Maroon, and he tightened the high tom so tight that he stripped the bolt first things first. He was kind of bummed.
I remember how my van had a knock in the caliber, and how i had to get my breaks fixed after this trip. I remember doing a guitar sling for the first time at that show, and freaking out so hard that i pulled it off, that fell down and just floor jammed.
The mention of the underground reminded me of the smell. Which reminded me of all of this.
On september 11th. 2001. Nick barnes and I were in elizabethton hanging out at Daniel and Josh's house. We were gung ho on america, and ready to kick some terrorists asses. We were young, whatever. I remember driving home and nick was like, Dude, i lost my keys will you come back and get me? So i drove 30 minutes back to elizabethton, To get him, and his car was gone. So i call his house in erwin, and he had already found his keys and drove home. He left me a note at the underground. but it blew away because he didn't put a rock on top of it on the step. I was almost out of gas, so i had to stop and get gas in elizabethton, on elk ave, the day of the 911 when every hillbilly in the world was getting gas on elk ave because we were getting ready to go to war with the arabs. I was so pissed off at him i could have fought him.
Nick is a stand up guy. If not for him i would probably be alot more uptight. He broke my balls about my uptightness untill i dropped my guard a little bit. I love him. He's one guy that no matter who you are, or where you are, If you had one day earlier took a shit on his entire life, If you asked him for anything he would find a way to get it for you.
So Nick barnes..
This one's for you.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
(two thousand) Four More Years!
It was 2004. I was set to get married in July. I was living with mike huff in a condo in north Johnson City. Life was good.
I had just started working at ACT in boones creek. That was a miserable place. I hated it more than mayonaise. I worked in Litton Loan Servicing, which wasn't bad. You just collected on past due mortgages. It was just being locked in a building with no sunlight, and surrounded by people who were miserable, I was miserable, IT was miserable. The only redeeming factor about the place was that Jon Weems lives close to the place. This began the years of EDS.
EDS was the Extreme Doom Squad. The origin of the name comes from a night at our practice space when i took colored tape and drew godzilla on our bass cab. Joey, then took the tape and wrote Extreem Doom. Then he Also put that on his bass drum. We then decided that Extreme doom squad kicked ass, so it was our new joke crew. Anyway, we hung out at jons house every single night, sometimes untill sun-up. It was fun. He is a killer guy, and one of my best friends to this day.
We played some shows at the hideaway, but mostly at the Rambis. It was probably the best DIY venue of my time as far as just being a venue is concerned. We had so many good bands play there. We used it as a practice space for a while too. We shared it with this bogus band called Tab10. They were like if pantera were horrible, and at the same time, had just as big of egos, and tried to sound like saliva.
I think the biggest show at the Rambis was As I lay Dying. We played that. This room that hand standing room only for maybe 20 people suddenly had like 100 poeple in it. It was sweet. Disciple played there one time. We let the showdown borrow our van to take thier stuff over there for that show. Then they decided to cover our windows in disciple stickers. I was super pissed off about it. They also broke our window trying to get something out, Replaced it with plexi-glass, and said "dude that windows like 80 bux!" like we were the assholes for wanting it fixed... We were all kids, i would have done the same thing back then. If they had done it now, they would have fixed it, but back then we were all broke, always borrowing and breaking each other's shit. No hard feelings. It wasn't really a big deal, the plexi glass is still in the window. No skin off of my ass.
Toward the end of march, My life sucked, and i had had enough. I had a one hour lunch break. I used it to go get a thick burger, and drive to the lake, at the boat ramp, and enjoy the afternoon for a minute. There were poeple out on jet skis and shit like that. Everyone was so stoked on life, like high fiving and shit. I was stuck in a prison on planet bullshit. Where everyone was on pills and the Floor Manager wore slacks, a preformance fleece, and an ear piece, and he chewed his gum with his mouth open really obnoxiously. The cool guy/dave grohl chew, only this guy was a douchebag. I called my old boss at Steak Out. He said i could come back and work there if I wanted to. I went back in to work, Gave bubba my name tag and told him that i quit. I felt vindicated.
The next few months were kind of a blur, nothing really exciting. I hung out with Crystal Every day since we were engaged. Nothing was particularly different. In June I got an apartment that we were going to move into in july. I was making pretty good moneys at steak out.
The big day, July 24 2004 came as i was at the end of a 4 day party. First My bachelor party was IROM, Secret lives, and Showdown. It kicekd ass. Tarvo dressed up as a woman named "baby momma thong" He danced out on stage after one the bands and was intent on wierding me out/ embarassing me. I was fine untill he put his foot on the chair and he was really wearing a woman's thong, and his dick was hanging out of one side, his balls the other. Fucking wierd.
It was killer. That night i went home and forgot to do laundry, and/or make my bed.
Hey, Fuck Me, I know. But, I didn't know this would be a huge deal. I should have, but didn't. Our wedding ceremony was beautiful. The most beautiful girl in the world agreed to a Better or Worse marriage with a slacker, drunk, band loser. The fever played, it was awesome. I also changed into mesh shorts after the ceremony since it was balls hot outside, also apparently a bad move. Our car was covered in a reproductive diagram, and shit like that which was kind of a bummer. We left and crystal wanted to go by the hotel that i told her i cancelled my reservation for since we were leaving for our honeymoon the next morning. Like i said, i should have thought about it, but I didn't. She had to get something from one of our in-laws. When she came back out to the car, she had this really dissapointed face. We got home, and i realized that I had not even made the bed. Needless to say it bummed her out even more. She didn't act like it tho.
Our honeymoon was cool tho. We went to massenuten mountain resort. It was nice. It was good to get away for a little bit. I was ready to come back home after a few days, but it was nice.
I had all intentions of not really playing out of town shows anymore. Just focusing on being married and working and shit like that. Then Crystal told me that she didnt' really have ambition in life, and that i should go for it. So, i did. We booked a winter tour that year. It was pretty cool. We played in brigeport, Al. This kid Brent that lives there, dropkicked a guy for shoving his grandmother. Then he bought us all a unbelievable amount of Krystal burgers. We played in myrtle beach on new years eve. It was pretty cool, other than the fact that nobody would let us stay in thier hotel, and AAron was soft talking to his girlfriend all night, and It was pissing me off to no end. He then said. "jake i'm really tired of being in this van" I was so pissed i would have punched him in the face had i been sitting beside him. We finally stayed in a pretty sweet hotel with 2 rooms for like 30 bucks. We also ordered 2 pizzas from papa johns, and they were there in like 10 minutes. No Joke.
That night eric rogers found out that his woman, who had beend dragging him along for a few weeks and making him lose his shit at least once an hour, was moving on. He drank like 10 miller high life's at the show. Once we were in the hotel room, Rog was wil'in out and decided that he was going to go out on the balcony, facing the road, drop his pants, and shake his dick and balls at traffic. Timid eric rogers died that night. That re-planted the seed for that eventually sprouted to Rogers, Then Rawg, and now more affectionately The Rawg.
More to Come next week.
I had just started working at ACT in boones creek. That was a miserable place. I hated it more than mayonaise. I worked in Litton Loan Servicing, which wasn't bad. You just collected on past due mortgages. It was just being locked in a building with no sunlight, and surrounded by people who were miserable, I was miserable, IT was miserable. The only redeeming factor about the place was that Jon Weems lives close to the place. This began the years of EDS.
EDS was the Extreme Doom Squad. The origin of the name comes from a night at our practice space when i took colored tape and drew godzilla on our bass cab. Joey, then took the tape and wrote Extreem Doom. Then he Also put that on his bass drum. We then decided that Extreme doom squad kicked ass, so it was our new joke crew. Anyway, we hung out at jons house every single night, sometimes untill sun-up. It was fun. He is a killer guy, and one of my best friends to this day.
We played some shows at the hideaway, but mostly at the Rambis. It was probably the best DIY venue of my time as far as just being a venue is concerned. We had so many good bands play there. We used it as a practice space for a while too. We shared it with this bogus band called Tab10. They were like if pantera were horrible, and at the same time, had just as big of egos, and tried to sound like saliva.
I think the biggest show at the Rambis was As I lay Dying. We played that. This room that hand standing room only for maybe 20 people suddenly had like 100 poeple in it. It was sweet. Disciple played there one time. We let the showdown borrow our van to take thier stuff over there for that show. Then they decided to cover our windows in disciple stickers. I was super pissed off about it. They also broke our window trying to get something out, Replaced it with plexi-glass, and said "dude that windows like 80 bux!" like we were the assholes for wanting it fixed... We were all kids, i would have done the same thing back then. If they had done it now, they would have fixed it, but back then we were all broke, always borrowing and breaking each other's shit. No hard feelings. It wasn't really a big deal, the plexi glass is still in the window. No skin off of my ass.
Toward the end of march, My life sucked, and i had had enough. I had a one hour lunch break. I used it to go get a thick burger, and drive to the lake, at the boat ramp, and enjoy the afternoon for a minute. There were poeple out on jet skis and shit like that. Everyone was so stoked on life, like high fiving and shit. I was stuck in a prison on planet bullshit. Where everyone was on pills and the Floor Manager wore slacks, a preformance fleece, and an ear piece, and he chewed his gum with his mouth open really obnoxiously. The cool guy/dave grohl chew, only this guy was a douchebag. I called my old boss at Steak Out. He said i could come back and work there if I wanted to. I went back in to work, Gave bubba my name tag and told him that i quit. I felt vindicated.
The next few months were kind of a blur, nothing really exciting. I hung out with Crystal Every day since we were engaged. Nothing was particularly different. In June I got an apartment that we were going to move into in july. I was making pretty good moneys at steak out.
The big day, July 24 2004 came as i was at the end of a 4 day party. First My bachelor party was IROM, Secret lives, and Showdown. It kicekd ass. Tarvo dressed up as a woman named "baby momma thong" He danced out on stage after one the bands and was intent on wierding me out/ embarassing me. I was fine untill he put his foot on the chair and he was really wearing a woman's thong, and his dick was hanging out of one side, his balls the other. Fucking wierd.
It was killer. That night i went home and forgot to do laundry, and/or make my bed.
Hey, Fuck Me, I know. But, I didn't know this would be a huge deal. I should have, but didn't. Our wedding ceremony was beautiful. The most beautiful girl in the world agreed to a Better or Worse marriage with a slacker, drunk, band loser. The fever played, it was awesome. I also changed into mesh shorts after the ceremony since it was balls hot outside, also apparently a bad move. Our car was covered in a reproductive diagram, and shit like that which was kind of a bummer. We left and crystal wanted to go by the hotel that i told her i cancelled my reservation for since we were leaving for our honeymoon the next morning. Like i said, i should have thought about it, but I didn't. She had to get something from one of our in-laws. When she came back out to the car, she had this really dissapointed face. We got home, and i realized that I had not even made the bed. Needless to say it bummed her out even more. She didn't act like it tho.
Our honeymoon was cool tho. We went to massenuten mountain resort. It was nice. It was good to get away for a little bit. I was ready to come back home after a few days, but it was nice.
I had all intentions of not really playing out of town shows anymore. Just focusing on being married and working and shit like that. Then Crystal told me that she didnt' really have ambition in life, and that i should go for it. So, i did. We booked a winter tour that year. It was pretty cool. We played in brigeport, Al. This kid Brent that lives there, dropkicked a guy for shoving his grandmother. Then he bought us all a unbelievable amount of Krystal burgers. We played in myrtle beach on new years eve. It was pretty cool, other than the fact that nobody would let us stay in thier hotel, and AAron was soft talking to his girlfriend all night, and It was pissing me off to no end. He then said. "jake i'm really tired of being in this van" I was so pissed i would have punched him in the face had i been sitting beside him. We finally stayed in a pretty sweet hotel with 2 rooms for like 30 bucks. We also ordered 2 pizzas from papa johns, and they were there in like 10 minutes. No Joke.
That night eric rogers found out that his woman, who had beend dragging him along for a few weeks and making him lose his shit at least once an hour, was moving on. He drank like 10 miller high life's at the show. Once we were in the hotel room, Rog was wil'in out and decided that he was going to go out on the balcony, facing the road, drop his pants, and shake his dick and balls at traffic. Timid eric rogers died that night. That re-planted the seed for that eventually sprouted to Rogers, Then Rawg, and now more affectionately The Rawg.
More to Come next week.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
2,000 Free the Three!
2003 was in full swing. By this point, the relationship with my girl was on the rocks, I was trying to grow a beard, IROM were gearing up and writing a new CD for the harvest earth split with foreknown, Chris and I still lived in our house in elizabethton, and I took a job at the highschool in erwin as a cafeteria Janitor. To me, this would be the last year as a careless kid. I was a 19year old debt free, no responsibility, JR college dropout My girl at the time wouldn't tell people that i was a cafeteria janitor, and would, from time to time say things like, "remember when you used to have that good job and we went and did things all the time?" haha. We were kids, we had different ambitions, and were prideful over different things, she was cool, but needless to say, that didn't last much longer. It was probably the worst i have ever felt over a breakup/letdown etc. I was sick at my stomach for a week. I told her that it didn't have to be that way, but i knew it did. I've probably spoke to her 4 or 5 times since then. When people want 2 different things, and its not working out, it needs to end. otherwise you lose friends, sleep, composure.
That was a cold as fuck winter. the school i worked for was closed for 3 weeks due to snow. I couldn't get unemployment so i would just be out of work for weeks at a time, with no way of recouping the moneys. The woman i worked for was about a 250 pounder with a flat top, who drove a pickup with Dale JR stickers on it. She hated my guts. She would be cussing me out before i even made it in the door. I could hear her screaming at me. It was alow point in life. We had no electricity, No water, I worked at a highschool cafeteria as the guy that in previous years i had gave shit on multiple occasions, and I had no chicka to hang out with. In march,chris and i both moved back in with out parents. I felt even shitter over that. The good thing was, that year, we played a ton of good NC shows because pete was friends with a few dudes that booked in nc. We got to play with Beloved, Bloodjinn, with honor, darkest hour, Galdriel, etc. that year, so that was cool. That april joey and i, at the spur of the moment, decided to pack our lunch, put a matress in my minivan, and go to MACROCK in harrisonburg VA. We got there just in time to see a killer lineup all in one show.
Spitfire, Scarlett, Beloved, Hopesfall, Give Up the Ghost, comeback Kid, Converge, Norma Jean(fuck you they put on a good show back then), Dillinger escape plan, Underoath, Paint it black, Black cross, The black widows, Soo many good bands, i can't even remember played. It was the perfect beginning to my spring. We got home, and we Finished Recording the album and got it sent off, and started planning our summer tour and working to save up. The Next couple of Months would not be that exciting. I was working at Steak out now. I was making great money again. I was fishing, playing music, and talking to this girl that i had met at cornerstone the following year. She was killer, she lived in rochester NY and was going to school for Graphic Design or something like that. I felt genuinely close to the girl. We talked on the phone like every day, Had she lived her we would have probably dated. I also started hanging out with the girl who i totally assholed out at her prom-thing. She had recently dropped her dude, and we were hanging out alot. I really enjoyed her company, and still really had a thing for her, and she knew it. A girl that i was friends with at the time told me i was an easy guy to get attatched to, and that i should watch it. Whatever. She also used the song "oh amy don't hate me" by the get up kids to pester me and every other dude she hung out with.
Oh Jakey, Don't hate me.. Kill me.
By this point we were in the latest stages of our tour planning, and It was looking good. We would embark on our tour June 14. Now all we needed was a van, and for harvest earth to get our cd's to us. In late may (i think) Pete called me and told me that the cds were in. I decided to drive to NC to get them. Part of the reason for my trip was this girl that pete used to date, that i knew from around, who i thought was cute. I went and got the cd's and then went to hang out with her. We watched magnum P.I. at her house, then went driving around town. She jokingly asked if i wnated to go to the parkway and "park and hang out" I was kind of nervous, and at the same time stoked, I didn't tho. We ended up sitting in the walmart parking lot listning to the radio, I had my arm around her, I almost made a move and i could see that she wanted me to, but i couldn't bring myself to. I dunno, Maybe i was a coward, maybe it was better off this way. She was a cool girl. I was shallow and needed completion.
So plans fell through, and we weren't able to leave for tour for the first week, due to no shows actually getting booked. Go figure. So I hear a rumor that johnny cash was going to be playing a show at carter fold. We pile up in pete's honda and drive that way. We get there and notice a mass exodus going toward the fold, so we knew that it was happening. when we parked on the side of the road. This sherrif informed us to watch out for the electric fence, that if we got tangled in it, i'd wear our ass out. Also that if the car wasn't further off the road, the happy hooker'd take it away. There was also a guy climbing the hill behind the fold wearing a full halo back straightner. He was giving 110%. Cash played, it was amazing, then he played "farside gates of jordan" the chorus of this song goes.
"I'll be waiting on the far side gates of jordan, I'll be waiting, drawing pictures in the sand, and when i see you coming i will rise up with a shout, and come running through the shallow water reaching for your hand"
This was 2 weeks after june had passed away.. kmaybe a month or so. It made me cry like a small baby. This guy who had lived a life that most authors work years to build for their charachters, who was the toughest of the tough, live at folsom prison, johnny cash. Was shaking, coughing, gray, and withered. And he was singing this beautiful song with his voice shaking as he finished each verse. It was the most moving thing i've ever witnessed.
It was worth not going out for a week to see that.
We bought a van, Snake eyes, and soon after, departed on our first day of tour. We stopped at a truck stop in south carolina. I took a shower, not knowing you had to pay for one, and a woman walked in on me. Then when i came out, she was like, was that you that stole the shower. I replaied YEAHHHHHH! Still oblivious to the fact that I had to pay for it. I finally gave the clerk the money for the shower after a brief making fun of. That show was awesome, we were stoked. The next day was atlanta. It was pretty cool, The nutron bomb was in the middel of the ghetto, which made me alittle nervous, but fuck, i was a kid and had never really been to a big city. after altanta we drove to whitesburg ky for a show. It was alright, we met back up with a band that we played with a few nights prior. They were nice guys. The girl that was still head over heels for called and said she was driving to that show. When we got there, she was there, with Johnman............... I told her how i felt. She told me "i feel that way too, but i'm confused, and i don't want to wake up tomorrow and not feel the same way" Basically the same thing i had told her a few years prior. Funny how that stuff comes back to bite you in the ass.
That night, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. We left whitesburg and somehow got lostbetween there and lexington. We circumnavigated the entire state of kentucky untill finally showing up at Eddie's appartment. It was cool. The next day sheets and joey were at walmart when these chicks had adead battery. They used irom money to buy them jumper cables and jump them off. It was a nice gesture. They then asked if we wanted to come swimming. Of course we did. Sheets was so nervous. He had a girlfriend and just felt it was wrong to swim with these other chicks. He also hadn't showered in a week, in that van, with no ac, in july, in the southeast. He comes around the corner and says. Ok, i'll swiml but thise (swiping hand motion up and down his chest area) is not for sale. We went swimming, in the Eky pool. Sheets was so greasey that the water beaded off of his face and skin. After that we came home and found out that chick was John Lunceford ( eddie's roommate's) ex gf of like 4 days ago. on top of that he was really bummed, and we thought he was joking, so we just made fun of him. we spend the next few days watching terry tate videos and eating ramen doing laundry and hanging out. the next show was in Terre haute IN. This was our first show with foreknown. They were nice guys, kind of jerks, but still nice. Everyone gets a big head when they go out for the first time and sell alot of merch. Fun times. Jason from Dead of Winter got us a hotel room. It was sweet. The next day we had off before cornerstone so we drove from terre haute IN to bushnell, well actually Macomb for the night, anyway. We were driving north and the interstate splits and one way goes to chicago and the other to Peoria. (74 adn 55). We had been watching a storm front in our distance and talkinga bout how bad it would blow to drive through that. Well as soon as the interstate split we drove right into the most torrential downpour i've ever seen up untill that point. It gets so bad that we can't see out the windows, so we pulll over. We are on a bridge over troubled water hahaah. All at once a funnel cloud htis the water to our right, then to our left. Then it hovered, hailed on us, then hit the water again and almost flipped the van over with a gust of wind. We were all almost in tears praying that God spare us this time. I look in the back and Sheets us awake, eyes open smilig at total peace. He later told me he was excited that maybe god was taking him that day. Great for the faith, but fuck dying in a van full of assholes via tornado in Illinois. thats too many miserable things in one sentence. We finally get to our hotel and everyone is chilled out. Somehow during the corse of the conversation, pete shook his dick at someone and we made fun of his unshaven manliness. So while in the shower, he shaves everything except his balls. Then tells us about it. On here it sounds gay. In real life it was the funniest thing anyone has talked with me about. that was indeed funny as balls.
We then, proceded to bushnell to set up camp. We stopped at a ponderosa, They had a sign that said, (we have sweet tea!) so of course eveyone wanted to stop. Well Joey and I being total mommas boys knew that sweet tea was going to blow asses. I tried to explain it to pete and sheets, that It was the north. I was from the north, and they don't do sweet tea there. I said, and i quote, they dumped sugar in cold regular assed tea, its not going to be sweet, its going to be grainy and disgusting. They paid 1.75 for a 12 oz shitty sweet tea, and were all bummed out about it. We had to sit in line for hours waiting to get in the gate. Meanwhile, Retard green temporary hairsprayed mohawk Youth group church punks were running amok acting like crazy people. Synical as we were, we shittalked everyone around us for about 2 hours. Sheets got really mad and said. Huh, I'd much rather be on a church trip with them then to be sitting in a van full of guys Talking about Dirty Stuff! wow. That week we played a generator stage every single day, and had a pretty good following each day. It was cool. The impromptu stage wanted us to coem back for the drawing, and kind of winked at us, so that we could play for solid state. They said that we were going to get picked more than likely based on who voted for us. They just neededour cd to give to Solid state. Foreknown had the Top name on the cd it was thei
foreknown/IROM split
When they were calling bands out, they called Foreknown. The guy doing the drawing looked at me with a really puzzled face when sam and the guys in foreknown started freaking out and ran up to sign up. So life goes.
So, the girl i had met at cornerstone the prior year, who was cool as shit, cute, and from new york told me she wasn't going to be there. Suddenly i see this chick Running at our van screaming JAKE JAKE!!!! It was her, i was pretty stoked to see her. We said that we would meet once we got in. Suddenly i felt like i shouldn't be around that girl. I dont know if it was a deep seeded fear of getting head over heels for her and then living 15 hours away, or what it was, but i knew that i couldn't get attatched to her. Once again, for the second time in my life, I was a total asshole to a girl in an uncalled for manner. She really wanted to hang out, and I knew that hanging out with her coudl lead to bad news, so i hung out as much as possible, but not leaving any alone time situations. She came to the camp one time to see if i was there, I told the guys that i wasn't there and hid in my tent. She asked if they had seen me and everyone said no. Except for Sheets..... Motherfucker.... He said, Whatever guys he's right there in his tent. So, i had to get out of my tent, and go hang out with her. Alot of my friends from here were at cornerstone so we would go and chill out at their camps too alot. it was just fun. One of my old friends and I hung out the last night at cornerstone just sitting there chiling look at stars and shit like that. She was cool. Total grown up tho. Around 5:40 am the weather started turning to shit again, so we broke camp, picked up our trash, and headed back to JC as fast as ole snake eyes would go. We made it home in just under 11 hours.
I guess a day or so later, we had a show in asheville with a kiss before dying and throwing myself (who would combine and make a band called secret lives soon after) at this place called area 51. It was on 51 wall street, in an arcade eque room with blacked out walls. It was PACKED and all the kids seemed into us. Eric rogers and Courtney came to that show. (see. Oh jakey don't hate me) it was good to see him, it had been a while since we hand hung out before. He is a solid guy, and probably one of my closest friends. As soon as we got home from tour and had a few days off, God called Sheets and told him to quit the band. Sheets told me, Then tried to say that he didn't tell me, by that time we had Recurited Aaron Free. He had a full sleeve, and knew how to play guitar, and was in a band called In the Midst of Plenty. Good band. Aaron was a good fit, he was a wildass, carefree, and sweet. He's still that way. He also was lude and at times vulgar. Which fit our personalitites pretty well.
Wes had this other band called The Fever. My favorite band in history. Wes had this croony high pitched, dirty, crackling rock and roll voice that reminded me of angus young if only he was really southern, and had a higher voice. That guy can really do no wrong musically.
"City's the Jungle, he is the KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINNNG WOW!"
That summer we played alot of shows, most which i can't remember. But i do remember This one.
We played at viking hall in bristol outside on a battle of the bands. The winner got to open for Skillet. I didn't care about that shit, we had a box full of harvest earth records shirts we eneded to sell.
We played, and we won. Then I had to wait for 2 hours and we never got to play. They gave us a ticket for a free8 hour recording on a fostex 8 track and i got my picture taken with skillet, who then told me that i needed to follow my dream and some day i might get to play an out of town show, or do a little touring. Then they went and got on thier BUS. I got back in our van, that still smelled like a rolling nutsack and went home.
****note 9 months later i recieved a suspicious package at my parents, when i opened it, grey dust blew out in my face, i kind of freaked and threw it out my front door, Of course my mom Calls 911 immediately inspite of my distain for calling the cops. Its one of my parent's friends or whatever. He picks the package up looks in it, and says, its a picture of you with some real "funny" looking guys.... My dad takes it out, and says, its you and that band! Wow what a fag! Thanks dad.
My anthrax scare was a picture of me with my black/pink swoop hair and Skillet.
oh well, Win some/lose some.
The last big show of the summer was hearts at stake fest. The assembly sponsored it, it was a cool show. A lot of kids came. The only bummer was dylan seals doing sound and fucking with me via monitor while we played. Other than that, it was killer.
By this time i was dating Crystal. She had came to a few shows, i was driving to carson newman a few times a month to see her, all was well. I went back to school that following semester. I was now working at hot topic, and taking a few classes at northeast. That December I asked crystal to marry me. She laughed in my face. Then said yes. That was pretty cool.
We did another Tour that winter with A farewell to Arms (corey crowder) Pete had quit the band and now Eric rogers was playing bass. It was pretty cool, we played with dead to fall in nashvill and Arrogant Sons of bitches in atlanta. Nothing was really over the top impressive. Alot of our shows got cancelled. but nonetheless it was fun.
I rang in the new year with my wife. I haven't spent one new years with her since. Due to shows and work.
Thats 2003
free the three
www.wm3.org
That was a cold as fuck winter. the school i worked for was closed for 3 weeks due to snow. I couldn't get unemployment so i would just be out of work for weeks at a time, with no way of recouping the moneys. The woman i worked for was about a 250 pounder with a flat top, who drove a pickup with Dale JR stickers on it. She hated my guts. She would be cussing me out before i even made it in the door. I could hear her screaming at me. It was alow point in life. We had no electricity, No water, I worked at a highschool cafeteria as the guy that in previous years i had gave shit on multiple occasions, and I had no chicka to hang out with. In march,chris and i both moved back in with out parents. I felt even shitter over that. The good thing was, that year, we played a ton of good NC shows because pete was friends with a few dudes that booked in nc. We got to play with Beloved, Bloodjinn, with honor, darkest hour, Galdriel, etc. that year, so that was cool. That april joey and i, at the spur of the moment, decided to pack our lunch, put a matress in my minivan, and go to MACROCK in harrisonburg VA. We got there just in time to see a killer lineup all in one show.
Spitfire, Scarlett, Beloved, Hopesfall, Give Up the Ghost, comeback Kid, Converge, Norma Jean(fuck you they put on a good show back then), Dillinger escape plan, Underoath, Paint it black, Black cross, The black widows, Soo many good bands, i can't even remember played. It was the perfect beginning to my spring. We got home, and we Finished Recording the album and got it sent off, and started planning our summer tour and working to save up. The Next couple of Months would not be that exciting. I was working at Steak out now. I was making great money again. I was fishing, playing music, and talking to this girl that i had met at cornerstone the following year. She was killer, she lived in rochester NY and was going to school for Graphic Design or something like that. I felt genuinely close to the girl. We talked on the phone like every day, Had she lived her we would have probably dated. I also started hanging out with the girl who i totally assholed out at her prom-thing. She had recently dropped her dude, and we were hanging out alot. I really enjoyed her company, and still really had a thing for her, and she knew it. A girl that i was friends with at the time told me i was an easy guy to get attatched to, and that i should watch it. Whatever. She also used the song "oh amy don't hate me" by the get up kids to pester me and every other dude she hung out with.
Oh Jakey, Don't hate me.. Kill me.
By this point we were in the latest stages of our tour planning, and It was looking good. We would embark on our tour June 14. Now all we needed was a van, and for harvest earth to get our cd's to us. In late may (i think) Pete called me and told me that the cds were in. I decided to drive to NC to get them. Part of the reason for my trip was this girl that pete used to date, that i knew from around, who i thought was cute. I went and got the cd's and then went to hang out with her. We watched magnum P.I. at her house, then went driving around town. She jokingly asked if i wnated to go to the parkway and "park and hang out" I was kind of nervous, and at the same time stoked, I didn't tho. We ended up sitting in the walmart parking lot listning to the radio, I had my arm around her, I almost made a move and i could see that she wanted me to, but i couldn't bring myself to. I dunno, Maybe i was a coward, maybe it was better off this way. She was a cool girl. I was shallow and needed completion.
So plans fell through, and we weren't able to leave for tour for the first week, due to no shows actually getting booked. Go figure. So I hear a rumor that johnny cash was going to be playing a show at carter fold. We pile up in pete's honda and drive that way. We get there and notice a mass exodus going toward the fold, so we knew that it was happening. when we parked on the side of the road. This sherrif informed us to watch out for the electric fence, that if we got tangled in it, i'd wear our ass out. Also that if the car wasn't further off the road, the happy hooker'd take it away. There was also a guy climbing the hill behind the fold wearing a full halo back straightner. He was giving 110%. Cash played, it was amazing, then he played "farside gates of jordan" the chorus of this song goes.
"I'll be waiting on the far side gates of jordan, I'll be waiting, drawing pictures in the sand, and when i see you coming i will rise up with a shout, and come running through the shallow water reaching for your hand"
This was 2 weeks after june had passed away.. kmaybe a month or so. It made me cry like a small baby. This guy who had lived a life that most authors work years to build for their charachters, who was the toughest of the tough, live at folsom prison, johnny cash. Was shaking, coughing, gray, and withered. And he was singing this beautiful song with his voice shaking as he finished each verse. It was the most moving thing i've ever witnessed.
It was worth not going out for a week to see that.
We bought a van, Snake eyes, and soon after, departed on our first day of tour. We stopped at a truck stop in south carolina. I took a shower, not knowing you had to pay for one, and a woman walked in on me. Then when i came out, she was like, was that you that stole the shower. I replaied YEAHHHHHH! Still oblivious to the fact that I had to pay for it. I finally gave the clerk the money for the shower after a brief making fun of. That show was awesome, we were stoked. The next day was atlanta. It was pretty cool, The nutron bomb was in the middel of the ghetto, which made me alittle nervous, but fuck, i was a kid and had never really been to a big city. after altanta we drove to whitesburg ky for a show. It was alright, we met back up with a band that we played with a few nights prior. They were nice guys. The girl that was still head over heels for called and said she was driving to that show. When we got there, she was there, with Johnman............... I told her how i felt. She told me "i feel that way too, but i'm confused, and i don't want to wake up tomorrow and not feel the same way" Basically the same thing i had told her a few years prior. Funny how that stuff comes back to bite you in the ass.
That night, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. We left whitesburg and somehow got lostbetween there and lexington. We circumnavigated the entire state of kentucky untill finally showing up at Eddie's appartment. It was cool. The next day sheets and joey were at walmart when these chicks had adead battery. They used irom money to buy them jumper cables and jump them off. It was a nice gesture. They then asked if we wanted to come swimming. Of course we did. Sheets was so nervous. He had a girlfriend and just felt it was wrong to swim with these other chicks. He also hadn't showered in a week, in that van, with no ac, in july, in the southeast. He comes around the corner and says. Ok, i'll swiml but thise (swiping hand motion up and down his chest area) is not for sale. We went swimming, in the Eky pool. Sheets was so greasey that the water beaded off of his face and skin. After that we came home and found out that chick was John Lunceford ( eddie's roommate's) ex gf of like 4 days ago. on top of that he was really bummed, and we thought he was joking, so we just made fun of him. we spend the next few days watching terry tate videos and eating ramen doing laundry and hanging out. the next show was in Terre haute IN. This was our first show with foreknown. They were nice guys, kind of jerks, but still nice. Everyone gets a big head when they go out for the first time and sell alot of merch. Fun times. Jason from Dead of Winter got us a hotel room. It was sweet. The next day we had off before cornerstone so we drove from terre haute IN to bushnell, well actually Macomb for the night, anyway. We were driving north and the interstate splits and one way goes to chicago and the other to Peoria. (74 adn 55). We had been watching a storm front in our distance and talkinga bout how bad it would blow to drive through that. Well as soon as the interstate split we drove right into the most torrential downpour i've ever seen up untill that point. It gets so bad that we can't see out the windows, so we pulll over. We are on a bridge over troubled water hahaah. All at once a funnel cloud htis the water to our right, then to our left. Then it hovered, hailed on us, then hit the water again and almost flipped the van over with a gust of wind. We were all almost in tears praying that God spare us this time. I look in the back and Sheets us awake, eyes open smilig at total peace. He later told me he was excited that maybe god was taking him that day. Great for the faith, but fuck dying in a van full of assholes via tornado in Illinois. thats too many miserable things in one sentence. We finally get to our hotel and everyone is chilled out. Somehow during the corse of the conversation, pete shook his dick at someone and we made fun of his unshaven manliness. So while in the shower, he shaves everything except his balls. Then tells us about it. On here it sounds gay. In real life it was the funniest thing anyone has talked with me about. that was indeed funny as balls.
We then, proceded to bushnell to set up camp. We stopped at a ponderosa, They had a sign that said, (we have sweet tea!) so of course eveyone wanted to stop. Well Joey and I being total mommas boys knew that sweet tea was going to blow asses. I tried to explain it to pete and sheets, that It was the north. I was from the north, and they don't do sweet tea there. I said, and i quote, they dumped sugar in cold regular assed tea, its not going to be sweet, its going to be grainy and disgusting. They paid 1.75 for a 12 oz shitty sweet tea, and were all bummed out about it. We had to sit in line for hours waiting to get in the gate. Meanwhile, Retard green temporary hairsprayed mohawk Youth group church punks were running amok acting like crazy people. Synical as we were, we shittalked everyone around us for about 2 hours. Sheets got really mad and said. Huh, I'd much rather be on a church trip with them then to be sitting in a van full of guys Talking about Dirty Stuff! wow. That week we played a generator stage every single day, and had a pretty good following each day. It was cool. The impromptu stage wanted us to coem back for the drawing, and kind of winked at us, so that we could play for solid state. They said that we were going to get picked more than likely based on who voted for us. They just neededour cd to give to Solid state. Foreknown had the Top name on the cd it was thei
foreknown/IROM split
When they were calling bands out, they called Foreknown. The guy doing the drawing looked at me with a really puzzled face when sam and the guys in foreknown started freaking out and ran up to sign up. So life goes.
So, the girl i had met at cornerstone the prior year, who was cool as shit, cute, and from new york told me she wasn't going to be there. Suddenly i see this chick Running at our van screaming JAKE JAKE!!!! It was her, i was pretty stoked to see her. We said that we would meet once we got in. Suddenly i felt like i shouldn't be around that girl. I dont know if it was a deep seeded fear of getting head over heels for her and then living 15 hours away, or what it was, but i knew that i couldn't get attatched to her. Once again, for the second time in my life, I was a total asshole to a girl in an uncalled for manner. She really wanted to hang out, and I knew that hanging out with her coudl lead to bad news, so i hung out as much as possible, but not leaving any alone time situations. She came to the camp one time to see if i was there, I told the guys that i wasn't there and hid in my tent. She asked if they had seen me and everyone said no. Except for Sheets..... Motherfucker.... He said, Whatever guys he's right there in his tent. So, i had to get out of my tent, and go hang out with her. Alot of my friends from here were at cornerstone so we would go and chill out at their camps too alot. it was just fun. One of my old friends and I hung out the last night at cornerstone just sitting there chiling look at stars and shit like that. She was cool. Total grown up tho. Around 5:40 am the weather started turning to shit again, so we broke camp, picked up our trash, and headed back to JC as fast as ole snake eyes would go. We made it home in just under 11 hours.
I guess a day or so later, we had a show in asheville with a kiss before dying and throwing myself (who would combine and make a band called secret lives soon after) at this place called area 51. It was on 51 wall street, in an arcade eque room with blacked out walls. It was PACKED and all the kids seemed into us. Eric rogers and Courtney came to that show. (see. Oh jakey don't hate me) it was good to see him, it had been a while since we hand hung out before. He is a solid guy, and probably one of my closest friends. As soon as we got home from tour and had a few days off, God called Sheets and told him to quit the band. Sheets told me, Then tried to say that he didn't tell me, by that time we had Recurited Aaron Free. He had a full sleeve, and knew how to play guitar, and was in a band called In the Midst of Plenty. Good band. Aaron was a good fit, he was a wildass, carefree, and sweet. He's still that way. He also was lude and at times vulgar. Which fit our personalitites pretty well.
Wes had this other band called The Fever. My favorite band in history. Wes had this croony high pitched, dirty, crackling rock and roll voice that reminded me of angus young if only he was really southern, and had a higher voice. That guy can really do no wrong musically.
"City's the Jungle, he is the KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINNNG WOW!"
That summer we played alot of shows, most which i can't remember. But i do remember This one.
We played at viking hall in bristol outside on a battle of the bands. The winner got to open for Skillet. I didn't care about that shit, we had a box full of harvest earth records shirts we eneded to sell.
We played, and we won. Then I had to wait for 2 hours and we never got to play. They gave us a ticket for a free8 hour recording on a fostex 8 track and i got my picture taken with skillet, who then told me that i needed to follow my dream and some day i might get to play an out of town show, or do a little touring. Then they went and got on thier BUS. I got back in our van, that still smelled like a rolling nutsack and went home.
****note 9 months later i recieved a suspicious package at my parents, when i opened it, grey dust blew out in my face, i kind of freaked and threw it out my front door, Of course my mom Calls 911 immediately inspite of my distain for calling the cops. Its one of my parent's friends or whatever. He picks the package up looks in it, and says, its a picture of you with some real "funny" looking guys.... My dad takes it out, and says, its you and that band! Wow what a fag! Thanks dad.
My anthrax scare was a picture of me with my black/pink swoop hair and Skillet.
oh well, Win some/lose some.
The last big show of the summer was hearts at stake fest. The assembly sponsored it, it was a cool show. A lot of kids came. The only bummer was dylan seals doing sound and fucking with me via monitor while we played. Other than that, it was killer.
By this time i was dating Crystal. She had came to a few shows, i was driving to carson newman a few times a month to see her, all was well. I went back to school that following semester. I was now working at hot topic, and taking a few classes at northeast. That December I asked crystal to marry me. She laughed in my face. Then said yes. That was pretty cool.
We did another Tour that winter with A farewell to Arms (corey crowder) Pete had quit the band and now Eric rogers was playing bass. It was pretty cool, we played with dead to fall in nashvill and Arrogant Sons of bitches in atlanta. Nothing was really over the top impressive. Alot of our shows got cancelled. but nonetheless it was fun.
I rang in the new year with my wife. I haven't spent one new years with her since. Due to shows and work.
Thats 2003
free the three
www.wm3.org
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Two thousand Too much
It was late 2001, We didn't recognize it at the time, but there was an abundance of places we could play in johnson City, Kingsport, bristol, and elizabethton. We played alot with metal bands, and we played alot with hc bands. It was a fun time. I spent new years eve at Seth Neumans house that year with a girl that I adored. That was one of the first times i hung out with Ben Farmer. IROM had a changing sound. I had for the first time heard Hopesfall the previous year. That band changed my life. It was the year of the no wings to speak of ep. I couldn't comprehend how well they mixed melody and heavy. Up untill that point the only hardcore bands i had heard were bands like Stretch arm strong, Sick of it all, Ag Front, etc. And, where i loved these bands this band was something that was alot different. I was really into them. It sucked that by the time i got to see them, they had a new singer, who was horrible and most of the band couldn't play or harmonize as well as it was done on the album. End rant. the Heros Text played like 2 shows a week that year. It was very weird for me. I felt that since irom was the band that my heart was the most in that i couldn't commit to stuff with the heros text. I should have either made it work in two bands, or just quit tht and let them get another, probably better, bass player. But they were to sweet of guys to kick me out, and i was too stubborn since i was in that band from the beginning. Either way, it was fun. The best part was in most songs. Travis would write one set of lyrics, I would write another, and we didn't know each others lyrics, so it was like we were singing two songs at once. on purpose. It fit sometimes. Other times it didn't. I was really active in church back then. My faith has always played and important role in my life. At a time that i could have been the most self destructive in my life, that was what held precedence, and it helped me, and still does to this day. I feel like when i have had a horrible couple of weeks and i get down on myself, and want to just go get wasted and stay there, It is the voice thats telling me that this isn't going to work for more than a few hours. Almost all the local bands either had ties to the christian scene, or were christians. It was 50/50 for me. I didn't start out believing in god when i started playing music. I wanted to be punk as fuck, and that didn't involve following the rules of a higher power. So it was a bitter pill for me. I saw alot of bands who would draw a multitude of 16yr old girls and sell 600 bucks in merch a night to stand in the front and hold up thier hands, and whisper talk about feeling the lord inside tonight. These were the same dudes that gave in to their "temptations" and fucked the 16 year old that they got drunk the night before after younglife. This wasn't the majority, this was the 30% of dudes in that scene so don't think i'm talking about anyone you know. Either way, i used to have a hard time with that. In all honesty, it made me sick to the point that i didn't want to be physically involved with anyone that i wasn't in an actual relationship with. And in a way, made me want to withdraw from starting any relationships. This came to bite my ass hard in april of 2002. I had been hanging out with this girl for about 6 months. I was head over heels for this chick. Super intellegent, funny, beautiful, all of those were things i wanted. We went to her prom type thing for the christian school she went to. Afterwards she asked me how i felt about her, and i literally said, I am totally into you, but i'm scared that maybe its just infatuation, and i'll wake up tomorrow and not feel the same way, and that she was my best friend. Needless to say, It was an akward silent hour and a half ride home, when i got lost and we had to take backroads to johnson city from abingdon. We are still friends to this day. What an asshole. I wanted to play music, that was it. By spring we had played in kentucky a handfull of times and had made good friends with Eddie, Jr, and the other guys in Rapture of the Meek, SCIJ and a couple other bands. The appalshop was getting some pretty big shows, and we were getting to play up there alot. By this point we had a few new heavier songs, but we were still the same band i guess. We played in the theatre one night at the appalshop and it was absolutely nuts. it was the first time that we had played where kids went apeshit, Jumping off of speakers dancing like idiots, really making us feel like a huge band. Soon after, brian would quit the band due to other obligations, and never being allowed to go to the parts of town where shows were going on. Whatever. We now had Chris Mitchell playing bass for the time being and i went to vocals.
I moved in with chris and daniel swain in elizabethton around may of 2002. None of us were ever home, Chris was in the Dikkens, and irom. Daniel was in 2540. I was in the Heros Text and irom. We all had shows all the time. It was an awesome time to be alive. Steve Shell from Truth Be Known used to put on a show every year called AppalFest in whitesburg at the appashop. This was not to be confused with the applefestival held in erwin. This was the appalachian punk and hardcore festival. That particular year, both irom and the heros text played appalfest
It was first show irom played as a hardcore band and not a band that played one song of every genre of music we liked haha. We played a 4 song set, it was so much fun. The heros text played a little later. There were over a hundred kids i guess at this show, they all sang with us on 18 years. It was so awesome. The energy was great. Here are some Pics from Appalfest 02' Thanks Stevejustdie
the heros text-
Eastern Kentucky was always bittersweet for me. I have so much respect for the kids that put on shows up there. In 2002 it was the middle of nowhere place to play, that totally suprised you with over a hundred kids with most shows, No huge bands, a very family like scene, and they were very sincere. A "local" show for most of those bands/kids could involve them driving as far as 3-4 hours to play/hangout/smoke pot in thier cars. There was a band from pikeville called high hopes. They took off kind of. They were on Let It Burn records from germany(i think).
If you like lifetime/fairweather/Saves the Day, you'd like them.
http://www.letitburnrecords.com/
That summer I saved my pennies and went to Cornerstone (with everyone in my house). I made the sweet move of getting my lip pierced a day before going camping for a week in 100" weather. Whatever. We played a show at the Refuge in boones creek the day before i left. Then we took off. I was so tired that we stopped and slept a few times in the car before we made it up there. My grandmother lived in Le Claire, Iowa, about an hour from Bushnell IL. We drove on into iowa to hang out with her for the night and let my cousins listen to my band's demo we had just recorded at Musik alley. My family is awesome, they are quorky, wierd, silly, and super nice/lovable. Thats where i get my goofy side from. We hung out with my grandma and talked about mom and dad/ all that crap. She gave me $50 bucks for gas or something. I tried to give it back, but you know how that goes. This would be the last time I saw my grandmother alive. I loved her very much. We hadn't been extremely close, since i moved to TN when i was 5. I miss her when i think about her. Anyway, Chris and I finished our Journey to cornerstone the next day and put our tent up and set up camp. Soon after we met up with my friend pete phillips. He was from NC and was going to join IROM as bass player so chris could move to 2nd guitar. Over the course of the week, we got to know him better, and know his mannerisms. He is one of my favorite people that i have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Anyway. My week at cornerstone started with me doing merch for the Combat Junkies when they played some stage that their record label put up. I got the worst sunburn i've ever had from sitting out there for 2 hours. I felt bad because kevin thought i was mad at him. I was just tired. So i returned to my tent and had some water and lunch. I drank about 2 gallons of water a day while i was there. It was so hot. It was a killer fest. I saw all the bands i was into at the time. By the 4th day i decided i had enough. Wes Baughman and i came home. We dove through the night and were back the next day. After i took a good 2 hour shower and unmatted my hair, i went and got my chest tattooed with the money I had left over. While I was in the chair, a girl that i was friends with came in becasue she saw my car, and was unusually excited to see me. So after i was done i drove to her house to hang out. Her stepdad was on the front porch and he told me that it was a good idea for me to come home early. We fooled around that night, and that started a 9 month relationship. It was cool. Pete was now in the band, and he slept on our couch alot. I was cool with it, I wanted him to move down, but he never did.
Throughout the summer we played alot of shows. With pete in the band we now had contacts in nc too which was cool. All of my friends' bands at this time were super busy, and everyone was having a blast. Rapture of the Meek were putting out a split on Blood and Ink, Truth Be Known Were putting out a full length, and now IROM were putting out a split with Foreknown on Harvest Earth Records.
That Fall we planned for a winter Tour going from December 26-Jan 1. With Rapture of th Meek and Showdown. It would pick up like this
Dec. 26- Johnson City, TN
Dec. 27- Hazard, KY
Dec. 28- Myrtle Beach, SC
Dec 29- Augusta, GA
Dec 30- Atlanta GA
Dec 31- Memphis TN
Jan 1- Knoxville, TN
About 3 days before we were to leave for this tour Chris came to me and told me that he wanted to quit the band. Yoko was taking john away. At first i was really pissed off by this, but then I realized in that situation i may have done the same thing. But probably not.. This didn't stop us. We just went as a 4 piece. It was great. The third day in when we were coming through Erwin on the way to Myrtle Beach. We were barracaded in on the off ramp by police cruisers and highway patrol men. They drug rapture of the meek out of the van, busted anthony's head, and put them on the concrete, shotguns drawn.
The cops thought that they had robbed a little ceasars in Elizabethton. Their van didn't even match the description. What an ass.
The whole tour was amazing. This kid named bradley booked us in memphis. He used to be a huge dude, but lost a fuckton of weight. He gave me A shai hulud windbreaker and a takehold records shirt. I still have the shirt. Over the next few years i would find that he and a few other people that i had met along the way had died. I wasn't great freinds with him, but still, he was a killer guy. It seems everyone that passes on young does so, after they burn the bridge between who they were and who they were to become, always after they put aside childish things.
So this one is for Dan, bradley, benjaman b, matt, and Dub. In the smallest ways you guys all impacted my life for the better.
Ben- you gave me my first pennywise tape
Bradley- You booked the funnest show of my bands first tour
matt- you and i used to listen to danzig, and firebomb the dumpster at pizza plus
Dub- you traded me my first pair of skates, Always used to kick my ass when we were in boy scouts, Ultimately watched out for me and were a true friend when i needed it.
A.D. Two Thousand Too Much
I moved in with chris and daniel swain in elizabethton around may of 2002. None of us were ever home, Chris was in the Dikkens, and irom. Daniel was in 2540. I was in the Heros Text and irom. We all had shows all the time. It was an awesome time to be alive. Steve Shell from Truth Be Known used to put on a show every year called AppalFest in whitesburg at the appashop. This was not to be confused with the applefestival held in erwin. This was the appalachian punk and hardcore festival. That particular year, both irom and the heros text played appalfest
It was first show irom played as a hardcore band and not a band that played one song of every genre of music we liked haha. We played a 4 song set, it was so much fun. The heros text played a little later. There were over a hundred kids i guess at this show, they all sang with us on 18 years. It was so awesome. The energy was great. Here are some Pics from Appalfest 02' Thanks Stevejustdie
the heros text-
Eastern Kentucky was always bittersweet for me. I have so much respect for the kids that put on shows up there. In 2002 it was the middle of nowhere place to play, that totally suprised you with over a hundred kids with most shows, No huge bands, a very family like scene, and they were very sincere. A "local" show for most of those bands/kids could involve them driving as far as 3-4 hours to play/hangout/smoke pot in thier cars. There was a band from pikeville called high hopes. They took off kind of. They were on Let It Burn records from germany(i think).
If you like lifetime/fairweather/Saves the Day, you'd like them.
http://www.letitburnrecords.com/
That summer I saved my pennies and went to Cornerstone (with everyone in my house). I made the sweet move of getting my lip pierced a day before going camping for a week in 100" weather. Whatever. We played a show at the Refuge in boones creek the day before i left. Then we took off. I was so tired that we stopped and slept a few times in the car before we made it up there. My grandmother lived in Le Claire, Iowa, about an hour from Bushnell IL. We drove on into iowa to hang out with her for the night and let my cousins listen to my band's demo we had just recorded at Musik alley. My family is awesome, they are quorky, wierd, silly, and super nice/lovable. Thats where i get my goofy side from. We hung out with my grandma and talked about mom and dad/ all that crap. She gave me $50 bucks for gas or something. I tried to give it back, but you know how that goes. This would be the last time I saw my grandmother alive. I loved her very much. We hadn't been extremely close, since i moved to TN when i was 5. I miss her when i think about her. Anyway, Chris and I finished our Journey to cornerstone the next day and put our tent up and set up camp. Soon after we met up with my friend pete phillips. He was from NC and was going to join IROM as bass player so chris could move to 2nd guitar. Over the course of the week, we got to know him better, and know his mannerisms. He is one of my favorite people that i have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Anyway. My week at cornerstone started with me doing merch for the Combat Junkies when they played some stage that their record label put up. I got the worst sunburn i've ever had from sitting out there for 2 hours. I felt bad because kevin thought i was mad at him. I was just tired. So i returned to my tent and had some water and lunch. I drank about 2 gallons of water a day while i was there. It was so hot. It was a killer fest. I saw all the bands i was into at the time. By the 4th day i decided i had enough. Wes Baughman and i came home. We dove through the night and were back the next day. After i took a good 2 hour shower and unmatted my hair, i went and got my chest tattooed with the money I had left over. While I was in the chair, a girl that i was friends with came in becasue she saw my car, and was unusually excited to see me. So after i was done i drove to her house to hang out. Her stepdad was on the front porch and he told me that it was a good idea for me to come home early. We fooled around that night, and that started a 9 month relationship. It was cool. Pete was now in the band, and he slept on our couch alot. I was cool with it, I wanted him to move down, but he never did.
Throughout the summer we played alot of shows. With pete in the band we now had contacts in nc too which was cool. All of my friends' bands at this time were super busy, and everyone was having a blast. Rapture of the Meek were putting out a split on Blood and Ink, Truth Be Known Were putting out a full length, and now IROM were putting out a split with Foreknown on Harvest Earth Records.
That Fall we planned for a winter Tour going from December 26-Jan 1. With Rapture of th Meek and Showdown. It would pick up like this
Dec. 26- Johnson City, TN
Dec. 27- Hazard, KY
Dec. 28- Myrtle Beach, SC
Dec 29- Augusta, GA
Dec 30- Atlanta GA
Dec 31- Memphis TN
Jan 1- Knoxville, TN
About 3 days before we were to leave for this tour Chris came to me and told me that he wanted to quit the band. Yoko was taking john away. At first i was really pissed off by this, but then I realized in that situation i may have done the same thing. But probably not.. This didn't stop us. We just went as a 4 piece. It was great. The third day in when we were coming through Erwin on the way to Myrtle Beach. We were barracaded in on the off ramp by police cruisers and highway patrol men. They drug rapture of the meek out of the van, busted anthony's head, and put them on the concrete, shotguns drawn.
The cops thought that they had robbed a little ceasars in Elizabethton. Their van didn't even match the description. What an ass.
The whole tour was amazing. This kid named bradley booked us in memphis. He used to be a huge dude, but lost a fuckton of weight. He gave me A shai hulud windbreaker and a takehold records shirt. I still have the shirt. Over the next few years i would find that he and a few other people that i had met along the way had died. I wasn't great freinds with him, but still, he was a killer guy. It seems everyone that passes on young does so, after they burn the bridge between who they were and who they were to become, always after they put aside childish things.
So this one is for Dan, bradley, benjaman b, matt, and Dub. In the smallest ways you guys all impacted my life for the better.
Ben- you gave me my first pennywise tape
Bradley- You booked the funnest show of my bands first tour
matt- you and i used to listen to danzig, and firebomb the dumpster at pizza plus
Dub- you traded me my first pair of skates, Always used to kick my ass when we were in boy scouts, Ultimately watched out for me and were a true friend when i needed it.
A.D. Two Thousand Too Much
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