Sleep When You're Dead

The past two days have been epic. We had a blast playing for a bunch of music students in the Powerchord Academy at Lynn University in Boca Raton, FL. They were all between 12 - 18 years old and total prodigies. They performed after our set and were just incredible. We were as pumped to talk with them and see them perform as they were with us.



Then we packed up and drove 40 minutes south to Miami to jump back on the Warped Tour. We got a good night's sleep and showed up ready to rock. As soon as we pulled into the parking area downtown just near the water, we got the phone call saying that we wouldn't be playing today. Turns out that our East Coast Independent Stage got wet the day before and wasn't going to be used so we had nowhere to perform. It was a total bummer at first - but we made the best of it. We ended up meeting a TON of new fans and some old fans - including some kids from Powerchord the night before. We had a blast.




After Miami we ended up having to drive through the night in order to make it up to Elkton in time for Warped Tour today. We slept in a motel for about 4 hours tops with an air conditioner that had to be gerry-rigged with a binder jammed against the plug to keep it pumping the cold air through the night. All four hours of it.

But we made a ton more fans. Look for the footage to be uploaded in the next week. It's been tough to get everything out there for you to see since we've been spending our time either at a fairgrounds with no power nearby or in the van with no ability to actually capture the footage, etc.

Our Time Is Now

We survived our first day of Warped Tour. It was over 90 degrees out with the humidity level nearly breaking the barometer. It was both exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. We pushed ourselves physically and mentally further than any of us had gone before.

With only an hour of sleep or so, we played a rocking set and talked to tons of fans, which was one of the best parts of the day. So many great fans out there. We saw familiar faces and met tons of new ones. Here's Spencer and Christian to talk about how it went:

WARPED TOUR!!

440 miles from Atlanta to Orlando.
Departure time: 2:00am
Arrival Time: 8:45am
Sleep time: 1 hour (maybe)

AMP is ready to rock. Come check us out on the East Coast Independent Stage.

No More Darryl

After 10 trial days of being our main blogger, we've decided to relinquish the media duties from Darryl. We think he did a great job (well, most of us, at least) but he just didn't take the job seriously enough. Also, those blogging and picture duties cut into his roadie time, which left more work for the rest of us.

Darryl wanted to say a few things before he left so here he goes:

"Thank you so much for the opportunity to handle your Internets for the past week and a half. It's been amazing. I feel like I've been able to connect with so many new fans and hopefully I've left an impression and some of my wisdom has stuck with you all. Hopefully you've learned to appreciation Nelson for the great band and human beings that they are. And hopefully I'll be back again sometime soon. Always remember to party like it's 1991."

Darryl will remain on tour as our roadie, so please don't worry. You haven't seen the last of him yet.

In the meantime, today we were extremely productive. Life on the road takes its toll on everyone's bodies, brains, and brawn. So we had to take care of a bunch of life business: laundry, buying new bins for our merch, getting this new awesome video camera, and of course eating. We had to move quickly to get everything sorted out in this Target parking lot before the security guard came back and gave us a ticket.




Tonight we're playing at The Masquerade Theater in Atlanta, GA. It's this really old wooden building that was once an old mill built in 1890. Jason found out some disturbing information about the place:




We'll be joining Warped Tour for four more dates on top of the original three that we had scheduled. Keep checking back here for more information on those changes.

A Moment of Levity

In order to boost morale after the demoralizing fender bender, the AMP guys follow my advice and pump some iron for a rockin endorphin rush. Whether in a gym, in your house, on a freeway onramp in Louisiana, or in a parking lot in front of a cop, it's ALWAYS time for pushups.

Fender Bender in Tallahassee

It was bound to happen. Luckily for the guys, I was there to take care of business. Moving at a steady clip of about 1.3 miles per hour, TJ accidentally backed the trailer into a car. The damage is pretty minimal - I could pound it out with a rubber mallet and some elbow grease in about 14 seconds.

The owner of the car didn't take me up on the offer. Instead, Tallahassee's finest showed up to write up a report and dish out a ticket. The U-Haul suffered very little if at all. No visible damage on that beast. And, no one was hurt so it's all good. Welcome to life on the road. We're only a week and a day into the tour so there's going to be a lot more adventure to come. I'm ready for whatever comes at me.

Technology Bites It

Well, after a day of little to no connection with the Internet and the outside world, we're back online and in action. So, check out the band's adventure in and around New Orleans, LA.