Tour Journals
March 2007

3/13/07
Montreal, Quebec

Bonjour. We played on a funny little street in Montreal today. When Hoopes walked off of the bus he said "I think we took a wrong turn and ended up in war torn Yugoslavia". The alley behind the venue was crusty. However, the venue was rad, and the kids that came to see us were AWESOME. We'd only played in Montreal once before (Warped Tour '05), so we didn't know if anybody would know us well enough to come out to the show. The best part was that not only did they show up, but they sang along to every song (even the new stuff). That meant a lot, considering English is not the predominant language. Sebastian from Simple Plan came and hung out with us (which was nice considering we hadn't seen him since Warped Tour '05 either). After the show, in an attempt to spend our silly Canadian per-diem, we went out for some delicious pizza. John ordered some FRENCH fries, with a side of FRENCH toast, drowned in FRENCH dressing, and two loaves of FRENCH bread. He sat down to eat next to a FRENCH couple FRENCH kissing while a FRENCH horn solo was playing in the background. Okay, I lied. He didn't put any dressing on the toast.
Merci beaucoup to all that came to the show. We had a great time.
Matthew T.

3/14/07
Toronto, Ontario

Playing in Canada always makes me feel wanted. I guess because I'm a citizen of the country, we always seem to get a lot of interviews and fun stuff to do when we venture north. We went to my favorite Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge. Bookie gave us a really fun interview as always. From there we went to Much Music (that's Canadian for MTV), and they were having "March Break" (that's Canadian for spring break). They had a bunch of kids riding a mechanical bull, and answering easy questions. One of 'em was like "What's Ryan Seacrest's last name?". The girl on the bull was like "I don't know!!!". Funny stuff.

Before we play, I always try to suck down a sugar free Red Bull. It represents the drugs portion of Relient K's famous "Schnecks, Drugs, and Rock and Roll". Unfortunately, I had no red bull, so I ran across the street to purchase one from a convenient store. Unfortunately, convenient was an imprecise description for the store, because they did not have Red Bull. Instead I got some Canadian energy drink with a crazy looking beaver on the can. The beaver was also inaccurate when he described the drink as "dam good!" (that was actually printed on the can). It was not. I did avoid throwing up, however, so that was nice.

The show was a really good time. It was one of the "Casual Friday" shows of the tour. It wasn't Friday, but it basically means that I tell 60% more bad jokes. After the set, I got to hang out with some family... Always a good time. Well, thats aboooooot it, eh? Later
Matthew T.

3/16/07
Detroit, MI

Sorry for the delay. We've been blog tied. I've been waiting to post some tour journals, cause we've been trying to change some things on the site. We're still waiting, but I figured we should start getting March's up before we start playing the April show(er)s.

The last three times we've played Detroit, we've played the wonderful State Theater. All three shows were great times, but today's definitely thieves the pie.... I mean... steals the flan... I mean takes the cake.... no... I actually did mean thieves the pie. However... speaking of taking cake, today was my gf'sm'sbday. That's sexy lingo for "my girlfriend's mom's birthday". Mamma J (as she's been dubbed by her daughters and their boyfriends) turned 38 (boyfriend lingo for 51) today. My girl flew in from Indy and we had a widdle birfday pawdy at Hockeytown. (wow, that word looks like potty). By the way, I'm the mayor of Hockeytown. I won the election because my platform had so many obtainable "goals". The "icing" on the cake was the way I "faced off" my opponent with my "left and right wing" perspective on the debate. Ouch. Hockey jokes are hard. I should go to the "penalty box" for high "schticking".

Well, thanks for reading the worst tour blog I've ever written
I'll try to do worse, but It'll be tough.
Matthew Thiessen
Mayor of Hockeytown

3/17/07
Columbus, OH

Since I thought I might be good with gardening I decided to enter an environmentally safe contest for newbies held in one of those glass houses they use to grow things in. It wasn't for money but rather to make my peers envious. My first attempt failed as I produced some unripe limes. The second proved more successful as I won with my prized salad plants. I felt as happy as Kermit the frog. To celebrate I decided to ski down the easiest runs on a nearby mountain. On the way I accelerated through the traffic lights, passing some guys on a golf course on the part closest to the hole.

If that made no sense, click the links and think about what day it was today. I'll give you a hint: it starts with an S and ends with aint Patrick's Day. Last time we played in Columbus it was the first day of the Nintendo Fusion Tour which wowed us with the myriad Wii's they had set up. They were missing this time (which was a letdown), but the green, green crowd more than made up for it (which was a letup). Thanks Saint Patrick, the patron saint of FUN!
John Warne

3/18/07
Indianapolis, IN

I think I'm an honorary citizen of Indianapolis now. Oh wait... can you be a citizen of a city? You'd think... the word "citizenship" is derived from the latin expression "city son's ship", right? Sailing right along.... I spend a lot of time in this wonderful city. I have a lot of really great friends here, and a girlfriend with a washing machine and dryer. Sounds to me like a good place to be. Before our show, there was an afternoon event in the venue. It was a touring kid's show (something akin to the Television Tubbies, I guess). I think they're called the Doodlepatrol or the Dingleberries or something. I'll have to check. Anyway, our buddy Ethan snapped a photo of the marquee, and it looked like the Dufusdunders were OPENING for us! How awesome would that have been? Not a rhetorical question, by the way. Would it have been really awesome? Not awesome? An intermediate amount of awesomeness? Who knows. I bet the Dopplarbungles know. Anyway, we had a fun show. Super Phat Mikey from Radio Now 93.1 played tambourine on Surf Wax America with us tonight. He was bad. Not at the tambourine... just bad in general. Downright naughty. He played mischievous pranks and hid our car keys. Good thing I'M not driving to Milwaukee

So, I forgot to mention that in Toronto the other day, Will Kent (our lighting guy) and Dave decided to spar. They put on boxing gloves, mouth pieces, and headgear, and all of us headed out into the city streets to witness the fight of the century (at least the fight of the century between Will and Dave.....so far). Will got a bloody lip. We laughed at his misfortune. Tonight, they went at it again. This time, Will fared a bit better, but was penalized for an illegal blow to the back of Dave's head. Now Dave is convinced that he should go on a pilgrimage to tell the whole world about the beautiful marriage of Frank's hot sauce and kettle cooked potato chips. Good luck, Dave. We wish you all the best.
Matthew Thiessen
City's son of Indianapo

3/19/07
Milwaukee, WI

I just realized that we're playing a lot of the same venues on this tour that we played on the Mxpx tour AND the Nintendo Fusion shindig. Today's was another threepeat. Not too much went on today. A lot of chilling intertwined with hanging out and bro-ing down. The show was my favorite of the three previous at this place. Its actually one of the toughest stages on which to have a good show.... Thats all due to audio technobabbledeegook that I don't feel like explaining.

I've never explored anything using only a torch to light my way I want to. I think that is a reasonably obtainable goal that I can set for myself. Not tonight though. I have nothing to explore except for the vast worlds of my dreaming subconscious. Nighty night.
Matthew Thiessen

3/21/07
St. Paul, MN

Today's show was nearly a duplicate of the last show we played in St. Paul. It was kind of a hometown show for me. I say "kind of" because although I lived for 25 years in Minnesota I now actually live in Denver, and also I lived more in the western side of the "cities". Nonetheless it felt like a hometown show. And I say "duplicate" because the recipe for my day followed nearly the exact formula as the last time we played at The Myth

First you add a little family, then dash in some friends. Stir in a little Pei-Wei hangout, sprinkle on some great fans, and you've got yourself a nutritionally balanced day fortified with 12 essential family members and friends. Mmmmm. Delicious. The dessert I got that I didn't receive last time was being able to try out my affected Minnesotan accent on the crowd, dontchya know?!
John Warne

3/22/07
Chicago, IL

Today is day one of our double header in Chicago. We're quite glad that the tour drummed up enough interest to warrant two shows at Chicago's House Of Blues. The dressing room was 1000 flights of stairs away from where we parked. I'm not in terrible shape. I like to run for recreation. I've been known to log 6 or 7 miles in an outing. For some reason, 1000 flights of stairs was too much for me. Every time I had to go up or down them, I felt as if my heart had a short, lit fuse, and it was about to explode in my chest. That would've be bad..... I'd look silly, and I'd probably ruin a shirt. The show was fantastic. It was funny, because the stage would bounce when the audience bounced. It was as if we were on a trampoline, and someone was catapulting us. If you've never been on a trampoline, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. Also, you've probably never had a day of fun in your entire life. During the set, I kept getting my own hair in my mouth. It was gross and hard to sing. We finished our set, but there was a resounding request for us to play more songs... I was backstage with John Warne, with my hand in my mouth, trying to pull a hair out of the back of my throat so I could sing more. I almost threw up three times. John was not pleased about witnessing the event. Maybe I should've let him try to reach down my throat. He probably felt excluded. Sorry John.

Ohio State played Tennessee tonight, and I bet some random guy twenty bucks that Ohio State would win (despite them presently being behind by 14 points). The guy took my bet, but then disappeared. I won the bet, but he was ultimately the winner. He should've bet me fifty bucks that he could disappear. I would've taken that in a second.
Matthew Thiessen

3/23/07
Chicago, IL

Two of us, two of you... It's kind of like when Marty goes back to 1955, and he wears that silly leather coat... Well, actually it wasnt like that at all, but I'd like to think it was. We played the second of the two Chicago shows, and it was very cool. I am told that the second show was the original show, so the people attending were the patrons who bought tickets early, so they were well ready for the show. We had a real good time playing in Chicago. The coolest thing about playing two nights in a row at a venue is being able to leave all of your stuff in the dressing room and when you wake up the second day, not having to haul your suitcase up four flights of stairs. Very nice. We always have a great time playing in Chicago, and this was no different. Thanks for everyone that came out, and I hope that we will see you all again next time. Peace, Love, and Harmoniums

3/24/07
St. Louis, MO

Cowabunga K fans! This is totally like Randy and Todd from the totally awesome world of skateboarding! We are dynamic dudes. Don't believe us? Check the photo.DYNAMIC! Todd totally surprised me and bought me a bodacious ticket to the totally tubular RK show tonight! It was AWESOME!!! They played like the Pageant in St. Louis. Its totally in this way rad area of St. Louis called The Loop. WHOA YEAH!!! The Loop! Also totally the name of a gnarly skateboarding trick Todd invented!!!! Anyway, The Loop has like everything. Record stores, food stores, clothes stores, and like two mega-tastic SKATEBOARDING stores!! I saw Matt Thiessen hanging out at some rice bowl store with Zach and Jacob from Mae. They looked like they were having a totally deep and like mind blowing conversation. The weather was like AWESOME today! Todd and I got to skateboard all over town, work on our radical tans, and totally make the hottest of chicks go ga.

Okay, we gotta go get our pizza on! Keep skating, and don't forget to tie your shirts in a knot in the front... Oh yeah... and also like totally don't forget to like wear huge knee pads and stuff!
Later sk8ers!
Randy and Todd

3/25/07
Nashville, TN

Crosby, Stills, and Nashville... 
The first leg of our spring tour has led us to an end in the city that never sleeps, before 10 pm anyways.  We played the venue/skatepark/coffee bar Rocketown, and we had a very good time.  I dont know if any of you know this, but Hoopes and I both reside in Nashville, so it was kind of like a hometown show for me.  We played the show, and it was cool.  The venue was sold to capacity, and everyone seemed ready to have a grand time.  After the show, Hoopes challenged me to a skate-off of who could get the most air off of the 12 ft vert wall.  The rules were THERE ARE NO RULES!!!!  Hoopes started off the contest, falling on the first two of his best of three attempts.  On the third try, he scored a massive 17 feet  of vert off of the ramp.  He almost hit the roof.  Just as it was my turn to challenge him with my mad skillz, his baby started crying and he had to go home, so he forfeited the contest, and gave me ALL seven of his nachos.  What is the lesson learned?  Wait until you get all of your skate competitions out of your system, before you take a stab at fatherhood.  Skate or die?  More like Skate or Cry... Sorry you werent included in my title, Mr. Neil Young...  But you just wouldn't fly with my sly.  Keep on rockin' in a free world. js

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