Same Day Service

Hanging out at mom and dad's house in Oklahoma before we head off to Europe. Trying to get lots of stuff done before we leave, but I'm addicted to the Zuma game they have on their computer and I'm spending too much time playing it.
It's cold here and Christina has the chicken pox....but at least the Easter Bunny didn't forget us. Woke up to a basket full of chocolate and jellybeans outside my bedroom door.

Another sxsw has come and gone...I can't believe it's over already. Christina managed to get herself sick...a combination of sun poisoning, too much Jager and lack of sleep. So, she is relaxing and trying to get better, while Maggie and I scramble to get last minute stuff done before we head to Europe.

More about SXSW. I'm really proud of SDS this year...we met tons of people, did lots of self-promotion and stayed really busy. We had some great shows, got to do a photo shoot in the middle of downtown Austin with bunches of people walking by, had an interview for HDTV and and interview for Channel V, and managed to see some pretty cool bands. We got about 4 hours of sleep every night and somehow still got our stuff done....although, we definitely had to make some tough decisions about which party/show/event we wanted to be at. Hopefully, we made the right ones...if nothing else we had a good time.

Some Highlights:
- Our shows at The Vibe and The Hard Rock...I even kinda had a guitar tech at The Vibe...movin' on up!
- Seeing Bloc Party at The Ritz...made even cooler by cutting ahead to the front of the line and walking in like we owned the place. The benefits of being a local at a bar.
- The Aussie BBQ...even tho we missed Ben Lee. Hott guys everywhere, and waiting in line for 30 minutes for a custom-made hot dog was even fun. They kept passing back plates of shrimp straight off the bbq to keep us happy...plus there was chocolate with kangaroos on it. How stereotypical australian is that?! I never got to try the beer though.
- The Love Sacs at The Red Bull House
- Seeing all the bands that played at the Captiva showcases...they all rocked.

we're in austin. sxsw is going well. we're trying to smile alot, but the abundance of cute rocker boys is slightly intimidating. we've managed to find plenty of free shows, free food, free booze, internet, video games, and a jukebox with our CD in it. who needs an official SXSW badge... not us. we had a good show today...lots of people for 2 pm, and lots of other great bands. everyone seemed to have a good time. i busted my knuckle on a drum without realizing it and by the end of the set there was blood on the rack tom, my sticks, my face, and the leg of my jeans look like i got crafty with the splatter paint.... another show tomorrow at 12:30 pm, but 1st an interview at 10:30 am. arrggh, we'll be tired since it's now 1 am and no sign of going to bed soon.
some good bands we saw today:
bloc party, johnny panic, after the fall....check em.

Wow...two weeks of tour, and I only managed to write one blog. Either absolutely nothing exciting happened, or more realistically, I've just been too busy and tired to write. But now this part of tour is over...Shotgun goes home tomorrow(with the exception of Jonty), and we head back to Austin for the craziness that is SXSW.
The last few shows of tour were pretty cool. I think Christina left off with Emo's in Austin, so I'll start with Houston. The show was at this place called Super Happy Fun Land....whatever you are picturing in your head, is probably pretty accurate. We were alittle skeptical when we first pulled up, but it ended up being a lot of fun. The people that lived/worked there fed us food and beer, we rocked to a small yet energetic crowd(thanks to everyone that came), we played more Ouji with a drunken Champy, and slept at the venue. The next morning we got up early and headed back to Austin...where we took much needed showers, the boys got a hotel room and we went out on the town.
We also found out that our show in Laredo got canceled...it was so nice for them to let us know in advance(notice the sarcasm...a day before and no reason why!) So...we thought it would be a good idea to head to Corpus Christi and spend some time at the beach. The boys were stoked about spring break, and we were stoked about getting a tan. We pulled up to Padre Island, set up tents in the dark, built a campfire, ate some food, and were asleep by 11pm.
The next day we woke up to a beautiful morning. It was looking to be a good day...except for Jonty who was pissed that there were only old people in RVs on the beach and no "Girls Gone Wild". Turns out spring break is at S. Padre Island....about 3 hours from where we were. Nonetheless, we were going to have fun...until the wind came. We thought it might die down as it got later in the day, but we were wrong. So after being sand-blasted all day(we tried to hide out in the tents, but they were no protection from the wind), we finally gave in to the wind. We were hungry(can't build a fire in the wind), tired, sunburned and sick of the beach. So, we packed up the tents(it took all 7 of us to take them down...one at time...so they didn't fly away) and headed to my friend Sarah's fiance's sister's backyard. Compared to the beach, it was heaven. We set up the tents and passed out.
The next day was really cool. Our hosts bbqed for us, we hung out, Shotgun got to talk about guns and dip with a real Texan, and the show that night was alot of fun. We defo want to go back to corpus sometime.

THIS IS A REPOST OF CHRISTINA"S MYSPACE BLOG:
"It takes a lot out of you, being on the road and all, but it's so worth it. We're on our second week of our tour with SGD and it's been a blast the whole time. We played at Kirby's beer store in Wichita, KS and that's always fun. Johnny Switchblade frickin' rizzocks!! All the rockabilly folk showed up..and I met this one bad ass rockabilly chick that paints hotrods for a living. Her name is Whisky! HAHAHA! BAD ASS! I also had corn liquor for the first time ever. It's like moonshine, but legal. Now, I've had moonshine before (white lightning) and I'll tell you what..I did like the corn liquor better. After Wichita, we had The Conservatory in Oklahoma City. That show was pretty cool. Hanging out with some friends and rocking. I was pretty excited, I learned how to skank while playing. It's pretty hard to do actually, but YAY!! I did it.
Sunday, we had a day off. Maggie and Sarah's parents rented one of those big ass white church vans and took us out. It was so awesome. We went to the Wichita mountains. ha..they're in oklahoma. Anyways, we hung out and looked at buffalo and even hung out with some prairie dogs. I think they are soooo cute. We also went hiking..what an awesome day that was. After the hike, we headed over to this restaurant called Meer's where we proceeded to stuff our faces with longhorn beef. Yummy! We ended our meal with banana pudding and homemade peach cobbler with ice cream... :drool:
Then we headed out on the town. We first hit The Mont for some swirls..and then headed over to The Library. We drank LOTS and met some cool people. Then we headed back to Maggie and Sarah's house. The evil twins whipped out the ouija board...and had a conversation with Champ as the one who asked questions. Joe and I proceeded to drink the rest of the Crown Royal..and then moved on to drink 1/2 a bottle of old crow..that is just out of the bottle mind you. The next day...I was not feeling well. Too much to drink..thank you very much. HAHA!
We headed to Denton and to J&J's pizza. Thanks to all my friends who came. It was such a good time..and Josh just rules. He's one of my favorite promotors. Go PROMOHOMO!!! After the show, we headed to Andy's and we hung out with a couple guys from The Feds. They are awesome guys....later we headed over to their and Bowling For Soup's house. We ended up crashing over there. It was a blast. We played a dirty version of Jenga. You're gonna have to ask me personally about that.
The next day we headed out to Austin. We had a show at Emo's. WHOO!!! I love Emo's especially when I'm not passing out in the bathroom stall. HAHA!
First, I headed over to Flamingo Cantina and saw Virginia and my buddies from HolePunch perform. ROCK! Then headed back to see my bud Natchet Taylor. I don't know if you're ever seen them, but it's a must...they are sooo awesome. Love them!! I also am diggin on the fact that Natchet says I'm a pokemon sized version of Nikki Six. LOL! That's so awesome. Dustin from the Riddlin' Kids and I were bonding and chatting all night too. He's such a cool guy too. We were discussing decompression and the deprogramming that occurs when you are no longer working under that same rules as most people. Oh, so goes rockstar life. HAHAHA!
So now we are heading to Houston tonight. At a venue called Super Happy Fun Land. How's that for an awesome name?? I hope it's a rocking show. I'll leave another blog when I get a chance. 5 Alive My Punk Rock True Believers!!!"

Tour has been great so far...with the exception of Dallas, and the fact that I haven't had a full nights sleep in a week. Although we met some nice people in the Big D the show was pretty lame. The PA hardly worked, only one mic, lots of technical difficulties, forgotten songs and we got screwed on our guarantee.
But....to make up for it, the past couple of nights we've played 2 really fun shows. The first was at The Deli....our old stomping ground. SDS hadn't played there in a few years and it was great to be back. I saw a lot of faces that I'd hadn't seen in a long time. We took SGD over to the OU campus where ran around passing out fliers for the show....i think they won alot of ladies over with those accents.
Anyway, Bristol Park, a band from Edmond, opened the show. They rock....even without their bass player....he was MIA. In fact, I didn't even notice there was no bassist until Christina pointed it out. I heard a rumor that they might be breaking up, which is too bad, cuz I really like them.
Up next was Shotgun Democracy. It was awesome to see them play again(i'm not counting dallas!). They played a couple of old favorites, as well as some new stuff...I just wish these guys would get in the studio and get a record out! FYI...they do have an old CD for sale for $1(thanks Kristen for hooking us up with the CD burning). The crowd was really into them, and I think their favorite part of the night was the big red glasses full of free beer.
We played last. I had a great time. We played some new songs, and our old guitarist Kristen even joined us on-stage at the end. For some reason we felt the need to have a short jam session(what?!...SDS jamming?)...but I think we were just trying to make the set alittle longer. All in all it was alot of fun...thanks to all the people that came out and rocked.
Last night we played at Kirby's Beer Store in Wichita, KS. With a name like that, you know its gunna be fun. Kirby's is a tiny bar, with an even tinier stage, but somehow we managed to fit all the gear and all the people on it. SGD went first. They sounded awesome....I was amazed by how good the mix was in the tiny bar. We played second...good show, I was worried Christina was gunna rock herself right off the the stage. Finally a band from Kansas City called Johnny Switchblade closed out the night. They were alot fun...had people dancing and yellin' the whole time.
After the show we loaded back into the van and headed back to Norman, so we could sleep in beds. I have to say.....I hate being the driver! Where's the Chief when we need him.

The Shotgun boys actually got to Dallas 2 days ago, but I counting today as the first day of tour....because tonight is our first show. I'm excited, I know they're excited and we're all ready to start rockin'.
Yesterday was spent trying to get the trailer and van organized..I think we did a pretty good job of it. It's so weird having a backseat in the van...it actually pretty comfy in there now.
Christina took us all out last night, except Champ who was feeling ill(lets hope its not a repeat of last year), and showed us how people from Dallas party. We went to JR's, a bar in the "gayborhood" and actually had a pretty good time. Saw a couple amazing drag queens...quite a few had crushes on Sam.
Tonight we play July alley, then it's off to Oklahoma. I'm stoked to get there, cuz i'll have a bed. I haven't slept in a bed in a month...whoohoo.
now i'm gunna go take a nap before the show tonight.