Up until two days go we were on tour with one of the heaviest bands in the world. A band called Advent. We traveled across the Southern United States with them, playing in states including Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and finally ending in the great state of Florida, where we would have beach parties by day and play hardcore by night. Here's how it went.
Last July after playing the world famous Cornerstone festival we met up with Advent and did a short tour through the north and the midwest. During this time we found we really like touring with each other. And not just a little bit. Like a lot! You couldn't really ask for more from a band to tour with. They all like good music, they're always down to hang out, and they all have really cool hair (seriously, it's perfectly quaffed.) We decided we needed to do it again. Fast forward to the end of August and we were driving to Birmingham to meet up again on part two of the ADV/CTP tour.
The month we had in between tours Advent had lost their old drummer Chris and found a fill in named Jordan. Pretty much right when they got to the first show Joe from Advent pulled me aside and told me that their new drummer was a little strange and socially awkward. He told me Jordan was homeschooled and was very sheltered, so he was almost frightened to go on tour. He was even paranoid he'd be beaten up by some rouge straight edge gang. Being the Gulla Bull that I am I believed him, and it seemed right to do so because that dude WAS super weird. He introduced himself to me about three times while never making eye contact. He grumbled to himself and always looked super paranoid and uncomfortable. It was like having Rain Man around. I even asked Joe later if he was autistic, which became super awkward when I saw Jordan peaking around and staring at me from behind the corner. As it turned out Jordan is not autistic. In fact he's pretty normal guy and I had believed one of many crazy untrue stories that Advent would tell me over the next couple weeks.
The tour started in Alabama and winded its way through Nashville, where we played with the ultra gritty and ultra heavy Mankind, and on to Oklahoma where we played with our buddies in Take it Back! Further into tour we made it to Mcallen Texas, a small border town that always has sick shows. Not only was the show amazing, but we spent some time exploring the roof of the local VFW hall, much to the dismay of the bartender at the VFW. Me and Mike and three of the guys from Advent are up on the roof for about a 30 minutes with no one noticing, just being goofballs and reenacting scenes from the Matrix. When we decide to get down a guy in his 60's and a security guard walk outside looking at us like we're crazy. At the same time a mafia looking guy drives up in Cadillac giving us the same look. It's like if there were two Robert Deniros and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson looking like they were ready to rough you up. Quickly Johnny makes up a story that we were goofing around and someone's wallet got thrown onto the roof and we came up to retrieve it. The mafia guy got real concerned. "Well did you find the wallet?" We assured him we found it and he seemed relieved and we all got off the roof without getting a beating from the Mcallen VFW mob.
After a grueling 16 hour drive into Florida, we played our next show in Freeport. A little rural town on the gulf coast. It's pretty much the last place you would think to have a hardcore show. We got to the show, which ended up being in someone's backyard in the middle of nowhere, thinking this was a big mistake and we're all going to get murdered. But kids literally came out of the woodwork and the backyard was packed out. It was a fun little show in a place that could've been the site of folk festival. Or a chainsaw massacre. Or both. The next day was followed by some down time hanging out in the gulf of Mexico. Jumping off channel markers. Swimming with sharks. You know, the usual.
Wednesday we played a sold out show in Jacksonville with a little band called Have Heart and our friends we met in Canada, Cruel Hand, along with some other amazing bands like Crime in Stereo and Foundation. We got to open and the place was nuts from our set up until the last note played by Have Heart. I don't know what else to say except it was seriously one of the best shows I've ever been to. I'll leave it at that.
The tour ended Saturday night in Lake City with kids going wild pretty much the whole night, and us ending the set with a pretty horrible American Nightmare cover. Still fun none the less and it was a great way to end the tour. It's been a couple days and we miss those Advent dudes. Already. They're great guys who have their heads in the right place and are one of the heaviest hitting bands out there. By the way, go check out their new album "Naked and Cold." It will blow your mind.
That's it for now. Check back for a bunch of videos. Later!
