Hittin' The Road

[UTICA, FLINT & DETROIT]

To paraphrase Chuck in his upcoming magazine, 'when we're in it we miss home...when we're home we miss it. It's our bed, our living room, our solace, our garbage can, our wrestling ring... the van is our home.'

AAAHHHH! As we ventured 500 miles to Michigan I noticed the tension leaving my being after 8 months of being grounded. This is where we need to be; on the road showcasing Brand New Sin and visiting old friends. Michigan feels like home to us. Dave and Wendy once again invited us into their home to eat some home-cooked grubbin' and treat their house like it was our own (ironically, they live on Syracuse Street - coincidence?) They open their doors to us with a warm embrace just like mom would after a semester away at college. We weren't playing Detroit until tomorrow but they insisted that we swing by for a nice meal and some rest before heading north to Flint (about an hour and a half away).

We just debuted in Joe Sweet's home town the night before (Utica, NY) Kick ass! Stage sound wasn't that great - in fact it was terrible. Drums are too loud for that room plus the back wall is brick. Anyway, Joe did a terrific job of captivating the young ladies in the front and impressing our devoted fans who we're itching to see and hear the new sound. We hung out for a while, said our goodbyes and began our journey. We needed to stop back to Chuck's to drop off some gear and put a couple rows of seats back on the van before we picked up Chucky Luv - if he's available, all bands should consider taking Mr. Luv on the road. Invaluable entity that guy is.

Side note: Utica is rocking on Thursday nights!! Especially Varick Street right around the corner from The Saranac Brewery. Every Thursday they have a concert series at the brewery with a huge stage and all the streets and bars are packed!! If you live near Utica you should take a chance and check out a Thursday!

We arrived at The Machine Shop to an open buffet - all you can eat and drink! "Welcome back my friends"... even if you've never been there, it is so familiar and welcoming at The Machine Shop in Flint Michigan. The two owners (brothers Kevin and Craig Zink) and the staff that works there dress and comb their hair like The Outsiders: INSIDE AND OUT - they're greasers! James Dean and Buddy Holly would feel right at home here. The chicks are hot. The place is decked out in custom designed diamond plate metal, steel chains, motorcycle parts, hot chicks and rock & roll and metal.

We played "Know Yourself" during sound check and I noticed three or four rockers watching and grooving to us. It was DOPE! Afterword, Virus came up to our table and introduced himself. He said that he didn't even know we were playing and I explained that we got on the bill a couple weeks ago. He mentioned that he was from the Central New York area. I could tell that he didn't recognize me so I mentioned that I was in a band with a childhood friend of his and that I knew his old band members (including his brother) from the band "One" who became "Bully". That led to a cool conversation - then the singer and guitarist came up and introduced themselves to us. They didn't have to take the time to do that. Much respect to the Dope guys for that! They definitely left a great first impression on me.

This was the first time I saw Bobaflex...great band!! Really, I'm not kissing ass here - I was very impressed with their show and stage presence. I had a good long talk with the guitarist and then the drummer. Nice guys. They seem to have a great plan and good work ethic. They were very easy to talk to. Chucky befriended them on his last tour with Soil and Bobaflex. Hopefully we get to share the stage with them in the future.

Unfortunately, I did not get to see A New Revolution but I did hear them. I was outside breaking down my drums and repacking the van. They sounded great and Kenny said he thought they were an awesome band (he's very critical so I would take his word for it).

After our show we got some feedback from strangers and friends. Honest feedback. Most people absolutely love the new sound with Joe Sweet. One person asked permission to be frank and I said, "let me have it man". He just isn't used to anything other than Joe Altier. He wasn't bashing the new guy but he thinks that the old singer was a better fit and he doesn't think we should play the old tunes anymore. OK. He was honest and I thanked him. What are you going to do? Quit or find a replacement? Well, you obviously know our answer to that. Regardless of the difference of opinion, I respect him for sharing his honest opinion.

We got to spend some time with Mercedes, the drummer of Kittie. She told me that she loves the new singer! Nice. It's been a while since we've toured with Kittie. She introduced me to the two new girls in their band. I believe they are all from Canada. I have to hand it to them, her and her sister, Morgan, were just young teenagers when their first album, "Spit" came out. They have this knack for taking bands on the road who later explode! Seriously, they've given a lot of exposure to many up and coming bands who are now at the top of the industry. They are still young and do not seem jaded or sour from the music biz. Plus they still tour! Good for them.

"Alright, gentlemen, time to leave!!" - Chucky Luv. Poor guy. He's the responsible one since he doesn't drink anymore. Trying to round up a drunken Brand New Sin is like trying to catch a bunch of fruit flies with chopsticks.

Here are some photos: http://www.mintypics.com/BNS%207-25-08.html

A little over an hour later we show up at Dave and Wendy's house (who, incidentally, made sure to express their love for the new guy - which really means a lot to us). It's hard to sleep after you play your first show back on the road, especially if you're among friends who feel and treat you like members of their family! We had a blast.

What time is it? Whew! Back to sleep. My wife would have kicked my ass if I was rolling our of bed just to take a leak and crawl back in at 2 pm!! Don't get me wrong, my wife is awesome but at home I have some responsibility - my 2 year old son (yes of course I miss them but it's only been two days - they understand). She would have every right to kick me out of bed much earlier in the day.

Anyway, this was one of the most relaxing days I've had in a long time. It was nice to decompress.

The Token Lounge! Once again, this place feels like a home town bar. John, the owner, is also an independent film director. He specializes in drug-trafficking, gun-toting, 'violent for no apparent reason', action packed movies with plenty of explosions and corruption! Nice. I wrote a blog years ago about an incident regarding a van-breakdown turned into a van-funeral in which we ended up handing over the title to John so he could blow it up in his next movie! I can't wait to see the footage. The show: not a jam-packed show but the people there were either hard-core BNS fans or became such fans enough to stay interested. Most people stuck around for the entire show! That's a great experience when you can captivate strangers while you're playing - enough to actually meet them after the show. That was cool. We met almost everyone left in the bar at the end of the night. Everyone we met was easy to get a long with and again, I keep saying it, it feels so familiar here. Even Joe said it. You find yourself among a group of strangers getting along with them as if you'd known them for years. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Allen Beck from WRIF - a rock/metal station in Detroit. They are the first radio station to spin "Know Yourself". Here's a link to the interview:

http://brandnewsinmusic.com/wrifinterview.htm

Stay tuned for a link to another blog written by Dave (our Michigan Host), some photos and hopefully some video footage.

[edit] Well, that didn't take long. Here's Part 1 of Dave's recap: http://brandnewsin.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=3394

It is posted on the Brand New Sin forum - please don't complain...just make up a screen name and join us on the forum if you want to read it.

-Kevin