Atom's Road Journals: 07/27/05 - Buffalo, NY Cincinnati was an early show followed by us hanging out in our t-shirt booth for over an hour to sign stuff….We have been doing these randomly as scheduling permits. Other than that the day was over. Waking up late and an earlier set time led to a big meal and then…...beer. I know, lets go to Chicago! Chi-town, or the windy city (Noodles calls it the the “windy apple”) was really nowhere near where we played and I was surprised and stoked to see so many people there, they said it was like 25K or something….....right on! We went on kinda late again, with a signing in our tent a little bit before. The chants before we go on are always cool to hear, you guys were pretty amped up from the sound of it, and I was pretty excited today too…...Maybe that‘s why I broke so many damn sticks!!!!! Seriously out of control today…...I think 4 sticks before the first three songs (All I want, Come Out And Play, Can‘t Repeat) were over, then we played Genocide, Bad Habit (two more) and Head Around You (two more then too) before heading into the final three: Kids, Staring at The Sun (one here) and then Self Esteem( two more!!!!) Jeez…So as usual I toss out the broken bits to the crowd. Fun Show. Minneapolis was next and we played kind of late at 7:30 in the PM. No signing today and we played right after Billy Idol….I guess he went kind of long and played extra songs (today was his last day) so we were playing at the same time….Nobody in the crowd seemed to mind though…....you guys were stoked from what I could tell! We played Session and Gotta Get Away and I really like both of those….I get to start ‘em! We took off really quick after we finished and headed to Buffalo. DAY OFF!!!!!!! I went to Niagara falls and then to a casino with my man Dan where we lost some cash. Fun though. Show day was much luckier….We played at about 4:30 and it started raining at about 6:00…Oh did I say raining? I mean POURING down tons of buckets of water…...There was lightning, there was thunder, there were flash floods…...Insane. The fact that we played Have you Ever and Head Around You was pretty much forgotten since tents and sound equipment were being blown over and struck by lightning!!!!! yikes. I guess we‘ll go to Canada. 07/21/05 - Cleveland, OH Denver was a HUGE show….Really though it was probably the biggest one so far! We played in the late afternoon (can‘t remember exactly when we hit the stage) and there were people as far as I could see…AND the stage was completely packed. Like 3–4 rows deep behind me and all around the sides. Needless to say we had a great time and the crowd/mob was way into it. We played Head Around You and Gotta Get Away. Oh yeah, then it rained after we finished. Two days off….....Let‘s go to Chicago….fun city, but seriously hot this time of year. Off to Indiana today and it looks like we are in a field of some kind, it took me a while to find our stage ( I never ask directions to keep it interesting) in the back corner and then figured I could ride the motorcycle all the way around the back way. Today we played…............Beheaded! It was another first for me and it was fun. 2nd song was Gone Away. Fun show! Cleveland is next and it looks like we don‘t play till like six or something so I got to spend some time with my friends Brendan and Eileen and they showed me where to eat…...OK there are these sandwiches here that are called panini or whatever and holy crap are they good. After an evening of Jaegermeister can you think of a better combo than: 2“ thick bread, bacon, ham, french fries, coleslaw (weird but totally works), and egg???!!! This has got to be the best “I‘m drunk and hungry” dish…....EVER. Look into it. Oh the show was good too…..Played Smash and The Noose. 07/16/05 - Salt Lake City, UT On to Portland, Oregon…..we are actually in Deer Valley which is a good ways outside of Portland…....A little rain today and that‘s kinda nice for a change ( I‘m sure everyone setting stuff up didn‘t think so…) The out of town thing was good for a bunch of motorcycle riding in the dirt and trails around the concert area. I had to go into town to pick up my passport (that I forgot at home, it‘s only Canada!) so I was gone for a good part of the day, getting back in time to get to the MySpace tent for another scribble-fest. The set was pretty rad, the rain held off for a long time but when it started the sun was shining through it…..with everybody jumping up and down at once in the rain it looked killer! Songs were Genocide and Want You Bad. Cross the border, go to hotel in Vancouver, enjoy day off. For the show in Vancouver we played kind of early and Noodles told some funny jokes….I can‘t exactly remember what they were, I just remember cracking up! If any of you can remember let us know!! Songs were Nitro and Head Around You. Fun time again up there, everybody was so stoked during our set….that‘s fun. SLC was having an epic summer day and we got to pretty much close the show today since we played pretty late, but don‘t worry, we were still totally drenched by the time we finished playing. Songs today were Smash and Want You Bad. We had had a few days off at home so we were all ready to rock today and everybody had a good time. 07/09/05 - George, WA We woke up in a field of rocks somewhere just outside of Sacramento and yes, if you are wondering the sun was out…...and working. It was one of those days when you look out of the bus windows and it looks like you might need a jacket, and you think you might since the A.C. is working over time to keep it 68 degrees….well just step out side and you‘ll remember, no….no sweatshirts, no jacket, no jeans. It was a good day (since we play at 8:00 tonight) for a little motorcycle maintenance. Donnie Spada and I installed some skid-plates under all the bikes (to guard the crankcase/engine from bottoming out on curbs or rocks or whatever…) and had a pretty funny workstation made out of two coolers pushed together. Then we applied as many stickers as we could find to G.K.‘s bike. Oh yeah the show…...It was good! Since we went on so late the sun had already gone down and it was getting pretty dim out….It‘s kind of weird to play in the dark when there aren‘t any lights…I hope you guys could at least kind of see us! Fun show….You guys were great for staying through to the end! Woke up in Idaho the next day and went straight to the hotel….Shit shave and a shower had us feeling normal pretty quickly. Boise is a pretty cool little city with mountains all around and cool old brick buildings….And Starbucks…..Yes I like the Starbucks….I know there are a lot better coffee houses out there, but sometimes it‘s the ultra familiar that makes you feel less home sick. Our runner today had a 1970 Cadillac 2 door Deville…..cool to roll around in some u.s. iron for a minute. The show was great, but only after we put in our hour at the MySpace tent signing posters and t-shirts and shoes and hats and….what‘s the deal with having us sign your skin? It‘s fun to give bad tattoo looking signatures but it WILL wash off…you know that right? Today‘s random songs were I Choose and Have You Ever…. Today we play just out of Seattle at “the Gorge”...it‘s an awesome view of a mini grand canyon type of valley…...A river at the bottom looked like fun but was rumored to be over 4 hours of hiking away, so…....no thanks. We played earlier today and played Genocide and Burn it Up… These are fun songs to play since we don‘t play them often and people really sing along with them. After the set here‘s what went down: Noodles caught two fish, X-13 sang with the HorrorPops, Greg K won $$ at the poker game and I went adventuring on the motorcycle…..I got a little lost but had plenty of gas and was able to make it back. 07/06/05 - Pomona, CA Long Beach…..or the “LBC“ as it‘s known to it‘s friends, was another super-freak-out as far as our friends and family comming to the show…...we played at 4:00 and the weather was just what we had been missing…..nice. The songs of the day were L.A.P.D. and It‘ll Be Along Time…..Lot‘s of singing and jumping around. You guys were great out there, giving us a warm welcome home. Thanks! It was great having all our “peeps“ on stage with us even though it was so packed X-13 was having trouble maneuvering through the masses. San Francisco. What a crazy morning. We all started out in Southern California and found out at 9:30 we were to play at 12:50 in S.F. So we got moving. After landing at SFO at 11:45 we got in a car and then got lost. After many wrong turns and nervous watch checks we got on the right road and into traffic, and decided with 8 minutes left we should walk. So there we were …the Offspring walking up the street to get to the Warped Tour….We made it to the stage only one minute late (they are very prompt here at the Warped Tour..)..Big props to our man Dan for keeping his cool while we barely made it. Oh yeah, the show was rad too, it seemed like there were tons more people today on the grounds and we were right on the water too which made for nice nice nice! So thanks. Ventura: today we play at 6 or so and for all the “hot as the sun” days this one was freezing! We played right after the Dropkick Murphys…and that‘s a tough act to follow! Those guys are so great and get the crowd so fired up, and a great bunch of guys too. So we came, we played, and then got on the bus to Fresno…..I know it‘s exciting, just try and contain yourselves….. Fresno on the 4th of July. All right! It was blazing hot today and everybody on the stage and in front of it was feeling the sun‘s power as we played at 2:30…Another fun show with a stage dive in the set….then we all went home for a day off….first one in a while! Pomona today and it‘s also the first day of the Myspace signings…...These are cool because we get to say hey to a few hundred people in a day and then go do the show….We played Elders today which I don‘t think has been played live in a very long time….It was pretty rad and the people who knew it were stoked! Said goodbye again to friends and family and headed north to Sacremento… 06/30/05 - San Diego, CA HOLY CRAP I am way behind. But I do believe I will take a “bye“ or a “get out of jail“ or a “free pass“ or a “we‘ll allow it“ this week. I was home. Sort of…well I was near home and the like. This means I was kinda busy so shut up and we‘ll catch up! Last you knew we were in Las Cruces N.M. waiting (day off) to play there…well we did. AND it was KILLER! The punkers in this part of the country are (from what I can tell) starved for shows, because when one comes to town they go off! Seriously this was one energetic group of singing jumping freaking out freaks. We played kinda late in the day so it was pretty nice out compared to earlier…..And that gave everybody a bit of extra somethin‘ to go off with…really though awesome show. We then packed it up and rolled out to the face of the sun…..oh I mean Peoria, AZ. Ok, I have been bitching and moaning about “oh it was so hot and gosh I was sweating and wow the sun is out…“ Well I was in for it here…...one word for AZ…..115degreesistoofuckinghot. We played at 2:30 in a baseball field type of scene so at least there was grass for you guys to jump around on….we had a great time anyway and were stoked on all the energy coming off of the crowd…now this is where you can get bummed at me for not keeping up on these journal entries…..I can‘t remember the set list. Sorry, maybe someone that was at the show will remember the two “vault“ songs we played on this day. Dexter and I went out to the t-shirt tent and hung out with our man Drew and a few hundred punkers looking for a picture or a signature from either Dexter or myself…...fun. SAN DIEGO…...hey I‘m from here! That‘s right I grew up in the San Diego land of sun, surf and sand and now also traffic. I spent about 4 hours trying to get to Chula Vista and barely made it on time. We had an amazing show though, starting at 6:30 in the evening. We played “Get It Right“ and I think “Gotta Get Away”.....again, if anyone out there remembers otherwise…...you‘re probably right. Anyway, tons of fun packed into a tight little 30 minute set. And hey, I get to sleep in my own bed tonight! 06/27/05 - Las Cruces, NM It already happened…I fell behind. So I write about the last three days from a hotel in las cruces New Mexico. But don‘t worry ..I have an excellent memory…...Dallas was great. It was hot. Actually really hot but fun. The stage was almost a 1/4 mile from where we parked so I got in some serious seat time on the motorcycle…I also found the time to alter the exhaust system and now you can hear me comming from a good ways off. Today we played it‘ll be a long time and walla walla…..to those of you keeping track we‘re trying to play a couple of different songs every day with few or no repeats….Of course there are some songs that we will play every day, that‘s only fair to those of you who haven‘t seen the offspring in a while or ever for that matter…..Can you imagine a set without TKAA or COAP? no way! Any way, fun hot day. OK now we‘re mad. Seriously, this is bullshit! Somebody stole one of our motorcycles yesterday! Come on! We would let you borrow it if you wanted, just ask! Whoever is out there in Dallas thinking they are hot shit riding around on their “new“ bike…..you stink. But we are in houston now so it is fun to say “houston, we have a problem“ all day. ok maybe it was just me saying that….Today‘s set was drum heavy with two spots for me to get silly in Long Way Home and Session. Fun! Another great crowd and we again felt like we were just getting started when, oh last song. It goes by really quickly! Caught part of this band “From first to last..“ these guys are awsome….. San Antonio – Went out of the hotel looking for coffee, ran into the Alamo…..pretty cool. Not too cool was the line to get in..got to the Warp site at about 1:30 and immediately pulled the bikes out and started ripping around the grounds (we didn‘t ride at all yesterday) . Caught part of Hawthorne Heights‘ set and the tail end of MXPX,both did great with lots of singalong fun. Last show in Texas and Noodles did it right : “the stars at night, are big and bright, (clapclapclapclap) Deep in the heart of Texas!” Ahh yes…..peewee lives. The Song today was smash. I was the only one in the shade on stage….and It was hot (weird right?) I don‘t know how Dexter and the guys can sing and run around and all that…...hats off! After show events: Jager shots. Barbeque party, jager shots. motorcycle gang (a whopping 8 of us) tearing around the venue in the dark…Have I mentioned these things are addictive? 06/23/05 - Dallas, TX Ok day off in Dallas…...on the bus ride here GregK gave up trying to teach me how to play poker and we played “pass the trash“ for drinks…Noodles was on a winning streak for a while and X-13 and I seemed to be losing (read drinking) the most….but then things seemed to even out and both G.K. and “Mr. Six String” caught up by doing some serious chugging. So let‘s talk abou those motor cycles…..we have some. Five to be exact. they are just big enough to hold us as we buzz around the grounds, and small enough that they fit under the bus…..lots of fun, not that safe, but lots of fun. 06/22/05 - Kansas City, KS Today we are in Kansas City, Kansas. In case there was any doubt this is summer, and it‘s f-bomb HOT! Earliest set time yet with a 2:30. Barely made it in time to get warmed up (seems unnecessary in this heat, no?) and get up there. Another anxious crowd awaiting us and we did our best not to disappoint. Today‘s song from the “vault“ was “burn it up“ from Ignition. Pretty rad if I do say so myself, everyone was going nuts today (it was a few hours earlier and maybe there was a little more energy out on the pavement) Noodles had some amazingly funny moments on the mic….maybe someone will post on the boards about it….I was dyeing though. I also got to check out some other shit today, watched some of the band “underoath”....awsome. Some of Fallout Boy, which was cool too….I‘ve been trying to catch the Transplants and did so again today, they had a great set despite the blazing conditions….. --A T O M 06/21/05 - St. Louis, MO So after a day off we rolled into the St. Louis UMB thing ready to rock. We did a signing at the Slackers record store booth because..WhWHWHAT?!?The Greatest hits record is out TODAY!!!!!!! There were about 200 people in line and we tried to get everybody through, they had waited in the blazing sun so we figured it was the least we could do! That done we messed around on the motor cycles (more on those later) and got ready for our 6PM set. Today was another first for me..“the meaning of life“ and it went off pretty well! Dexter said he thought this was our best set yet on this tour…..All of you out there in the land of the “arch”.....nice going!!Thanks for making us feel welcome in your town. -A T O M 06/19/05 - Milwaukee, WI We went on to MIlwaulkee next after Columbus and Noodles spent much of the drive beating all comers at PS2. We were told we would be playing at 7:00 tonight….This left all day to hang out and check out other bands and walk around. The warped tour is ONE CRAZY PLACE. For real. every type of anything you could want to buy is available in a tent. Every type of person you could hope to see is here. All kinds of music is happening in all corners of that day‘s parking lot. It‘s intense. Even though it was 7 PM the sun was out…..right in our faces to be exact…This made it tough to see what was going on in the crowd but I got the idea people were pretty much going off! We played Get It Right (first for me) and that went over pretty great. Thanks to all of you clapping on cue and singing along…......Super fun (sunlit) show. 06/18/05 - Columbus, OH Ok here we go….the Warp tour 2005! This will the spot to come to find what we‘re doing, what we‘ve been doing and how we did it. I plan on doing an entry a day and you can hold me to it. Day 1) Travel day. We had to get ourselves to columbus ohio for a run-through and check in. Dexter wanted to take his ride so we got there really quick. A quick re-fuel in Salina KS and on to Ohio. We did our thing at the Newport music hall and ate some Chipotle tacos and went to the hotel. Day 2) First show. We got there at 1:30 and had already missed a few of the bands…..Kind of a drag since I think some bands will only be playing one or two shows. Trying to iron out all the gear and quick change overs kept me from checking any body out while we were there…..maybe tomorrow (that is one good thing, multiple chances to check out the other bands). We were set to play at 4:15 and we did. the show was great with all of you guys out there going crazy for us from start to finish (I know it was only 30 minutes) We played Genocide (first time for me) and Can‘t Repeat (second time for all of us). Thanks again for having fun, that makes it fun for us. We did a meet and greet and then stood in line for dinner. Everybody has been talking about the dinner line and they weren‘t kidding, good food though. After there was a high stakes game of poker with tea bags doubling as currency. -A T O M 06/12/05 - Louisville, KY So we haven‘t played a show since November of 2004, but once we got rolling it seemed like last week! Getting to Louisville, KY is an event in itself, planes trains and automobiles. We finally make it there and decide to go eat, it‘s only 10PM our time, so we go to the extra “happening“ 4th street where everything is open, but NO FOOD! so we drank. We went to sound check the next day and find a bunch of kids hanging out waiting to see….to watch…..well I don‘t really know WHAT they were doing there but we (Noodles and I ) decided to make them participate in our sound check. After requests for someone to sing Elders went un-answered we played Take it like a Man. Then we got this guy to sing LAPD. He knew EVERY word to the first verse and chorus…..and that was it. Super funny to watch him looking around (for a teleprompter maybe?) until the chorus came around again and he‘d kick it into gear…“ EL AY PEE DEE!!!” Nice work dude, that was fun. The show was also fun. That really sums it up, we had a good time playing the new song for the first time and just powered through the set. It did stop raining while we played which was pretty great. By the way KY is frickin HOT, even at night. After show activities included: After show beer, first look at the Greatest Hits D.D., 4 pieces of pizza, signing a prosthetic leg, bowling alley hijinks (several Jager shots and miss fired bowling balls, sorry to the people bowling near us) and then some authentic white castle burgers…....... So thanks for coming out and standing in the rain and waiting for us and having a good time….we did! 10/28/04 - Caracas, Venezuela HELLO CARACAS!!!!!!!! That was one hell of a show! Between the rain/lightning going on all day along with the power and gear getting all messed up by the rain and the lightning ….it was lucky that we got to play at all, let alone to have it be EPIC! We started with neocon and could tell right away these people were STOKED! Thanks to all of you who stood out in the rain all day to get to the front of the stage, you are committed! We had to split the scene super quick so we wouldn‘t get stuck in the INSANE traffic that plagues Caracas. Off to Colombia. More soon 10/24/04 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil So now we‘re in the Rio de Janeiro airport waiting to fly to Recife where we will play a show tonight. Friday‘s show in Rio was another great one, with the crowd being WAY into it and going crazy the whole time. On a personal note, my attempts to lure Greg K. over to my drum riser again failed, but I will not give up!!! We had the day off yesterday, we spent alot of it recovering from the night before, and did some sight seeing. We went up to Corcovado, where there is a huge statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture, on top of a pretty tall mountain. You can‘t drive all the way up so you take a tram thing that just barely gets the job done, a little sketchy but par for the course. Majestic view and sheer cliffs always make me hungry, so we went to a traditional Brazilian BBQ. These things are great with a nonstop procession of various meats and a killer salad bar. Thanks to all for making this trip so fun! 10/22/04 - Sao Paulo, Brazil So here we are in Sao Paolo! That‘s in Brazil for all the non-knowing. We just had an awesome show here at Creditcard Hall. On our way to Rio. All the shows on this trip have been great….Argentina was huge with 18,000 people and stuff like 80 foot inflatable dragons and super smoky road flares people were waving around, this was after we drove through a rally/march/demonstration to get to the show…exciting…........ scary, but exciting. Porto Alegre was equally fun with tons of people in this old sports complex. I made the mistake of going out side before the show to try and get some fan of the day shots and I got mobbed! Timmah was there and I was super glad about that, and he helped me get back to safety. Won‘t be doing too much more of that. So all is well…we are loving it!