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AP Exclusive: Cinematic Sunrise tour diary (part one)
Scott Heisel on 5/19/08 @ 3:43 PM
The amazingly awesome adventures of Cinematic Sunrise through the eyes of Bryan Beeler with adjectives by someone who knows how to use "Big Words."Cinematic Sunrise's remaining spring tourdates are below:
Pre-Tour. Our drummer Dave Shapiro and guest guitarist Vic Fuentes flew in from San Diego. As their plane landed, I was enjoying a hearty plethora of sushi with one of our merch girls, Brittany. Needless to say, I was an hour late picking them up from the airport and it was well worth it. Aside from that minor setback, Dave was shocked to find out that I had forgotten to pick up his drum kit from Chiodos' tour bus three weeks prior. Not a problem though, we wasted away Saturday afternoon picking it up in the desolate city of Flint. Before we picked it up though, Dave insisted we visit an ice cream stand for his daily cup of ice cream. Aside from tour managing the band, booking and drumming, Dave is on a personal quest to try ice cream from a different shop every day until the end of tour. He makes us set aside half an hour each day to find a new place and try it out. Marcus, Vic and I decided to enforce our own three hour cocktail hour since Dave gets ice cream time.
Anyway, we got back to my place and ran through a couple of songs with our bass player, Marcus Vankirk. Craig and Brad had prior engagements with Chiodos in the UK and would be joining us for a full band practice upon their arrival. We kicked it into gear and got the songs down by the time we left for Chicago to start the tour.
Speaking of starting the tour, we had no means of transportation to our first show in Chicago. Our bus wasn't scheduled to pick us up until Saturday morning. Fortunately for us, our friends pulled through and were able to get us a van to use for the day. I drove the entire way (five hours) to Chicago only to find out that the restrooms smelled of urine - who enjoys that? - especially since I was wearing sandals. Bathrooms are not allowed to smell like urine when I'm wearing sandals. Sound check went well, so we were off to a good start. Everyone was mildly to very intoxicated and considering those circumstances and the fact that we had only practiced once as a full band, we had a great show. The crowd was amazing and we couldn't stop smiling and cracking jokes the entire time. Craig, Brad and our guitar tech, Dakotah, stayed in Chicago so they could fly out to Tucson the next day. The rest of us drove home to Detroit for a day off. Somehow Dave was voted to drive home, and that was a mistake. Every single time any one of us woke up, we feared for our lives. We were back in my subdivision and I woke up to Dave saying, "Why are there stop signs here?" as he was going 70 miles an hour in a 35 zone with kids waiting for their bus to pick them up for school. Marcus' prayers for our survival worked as we all made it back in one piece.
We all enjoyed the day off at home and watched some friends play at a local venue. Early the next morning, our bus rolled in to pick us up. You know how parents take pictures of their children leaving for their first day of school? Well my mom did the same thing, except I'm 24 years old and I'm leaving for tour. She insisted on taking photos of Marcus and I standing outside and inside of the bus. After picture time, we were off for Cleveland.
Cleveland and I have a bad history. Last time I was there for Warped Tour, I passed out, fell in a huge puddle and there was a tornado. I angered the rock gods. I slept the entire ride down there. As I was waking up, I told Brittany that it would be amazing if I woke up next to a Chipotle. Well, I walked outside to check out the Grog Shop and lo and behold, there's a Chipotle right next to the venue! Forget the show, this is Christmas! I screamed and ran inside and enjoyed my tasty burrito. We started load-in and then I made a stop to the facilities. These restrooms were MUCH better than Mojoe's (sorry!), graffiti was carefully crafted and splattered amongst the walls and the stalls of the entire room. The best part of it was that it didn't smell like urine, therefore didn't feel like I was stepping in urine in my sandals. Sound check went well, although the sound guy looks like he could beat up my dad, he's as sweet as a teddy bear. After sound check, I visited a toy store called "Big Fun" and the name underestimates the store itself. It has everything you could ever imagine having as a kid - NES systems, beach balls, Barbies...
I returned to the bus to start writing a song tentatively titled "How To Tell Marcus He's Kicked Out of the Band" and it's about how to tell our bass player, Marcus, he's kicked out of the band. By the time I finished writing the song, the first band, Forever In A Day, was about to start their set. They were energetic as usual, pleasing the rock gods. My American Heart and Daphne Loves Derby finished their sets and we were on next. We had our usual pep talk circle huddle with the "Quack! Quack! Quack!" chant and we were off to please the rock gods! I couldn't stop smiling the entire time, the show was perfect and we all had entirely too much to drink. If there's one thing I've learned so far, it's that drinking before the show and drinking during the show are two entirely different things. Take that as you will.
The best part about this tour is that I'm with my best friends every day, having a good time. Everyone is the best of friends, and not to mention clean. The bus is clean and we intend on keeping it that way the entire time. We're here to have fun and that's the rule we enforce to the fans. None of us can be in the same room and not crack a joke and have everyone else laughing with us. This is what it's all about and I wouldn't have it any other way.
On a personal note, I'm trying to achieve the goal of 1,000,000 myspace friends by the end of this tour and as I'm writing this, I'm at 672. ADD ME!
Pictures here.
w/Daphne Loves Derby, My American Heart
May 19 2008 6:00P World Cafe Live Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 20 2008 6:30P Revolution Hall Troy, New York
May 21 2008 7:00P Blender Theatre at Gramercy New York, New York
May 23 2008 7:00P White Rabbit San Antonio, Texas
May 24 2008 6:30P The Door Dallas, Texas
May 26 2008 7:00P Launchpad Albuquerque, New Mexico
May 27 2008 6:00P The Clubhouse Tempe, Arizona
May 28 2008 6:30P Soma Sidestage San Diego, California
May 29 2008 7:00P Chain Reaction Anaheim, California
May 31 2008 7:00P The Troubadour West Hollywood, California
