Spring Break 2008 with 7 Generations

This was our very first tour. Our good friends, 7 Generations invited us to hit the road with them for 10 days.  We went up and down the west coast and had the time of our lives.  We had no idea what to expect. At least I didnt.  This was not only ABHF's first tour, but my first tour as well. I got a picture message at 4 am on March 14th from our drummer, Sina, showing me that he had just finished printing all of our t-shirts for the tour. I was was so excited, i couldnt go back to sleep after that.

3-14-2008 - Mainstage at Jensen Music

The first show of our first tour. After picking up all the dudes in ABHF and 7 Generations, we headed up to play our first show in Santa Barbara. Before the show, we made a pit stop at a place called The Pizza Guru for some vegan pizza. As you will read throughout this blog, you will see that FOOD was a big focus on this tour, haha. So, after we ate our pizza with non-melted vegan cheese and vegan sausage that tasted similar to doggie treats, we headed over to the venue. Turns out the venue was a music store. They had the main store-front, and then they had a storgae room that they converted into a venue. Totally awesome place. There was a pretty good sized stage (which we didnt even play on, we just set up on the floor) and there was curtains covering stacks upon stacks of guitar cabinets that were on lay away or just waiting to be sold. The owner was really siked about having a show there. He had a great sound system set up, and even had a sound booth set up in the back of the room where he announced all the bands from before they played (and made lots of bad jokes....weird). If my memory serves me correctly, we played 3rd in the line-up. It was akward to say the least. There was roughly 50 people at the show, all just staring at us while we played. We definitely werent used to that. At home, we at least have our friends singing along and dancing and having a good time. This show really felt like we were playing under a microscope. Yet, people seemed to enjoy our songs. We sold a few t-shirts, made some new friends, all in all, it was a successful first show. Next stop, Santa Cruz.

3-15-2008 - The Soundbox @ UC Santa Cruz

This show was quite similar to the first in akwardness, but was a much better night. Touche Amore and Dukes Up both played. Both bands were awesome. A lot of people came out for this show. At LEAST 125. The Soundbox is a classroom on campus at UC Santa Cruz so it got really packed. The windows were so fogged up you could barely see through them. We had pretty much the same reaction from the crowd as the night before. We sold quite a few more shirts, and had a great time. After the show, we ate at a place called Saturn Cafe. It was really cool because my sister came out for the show and ate with us at Saturn. I rode in her car, it was nice to have a little break from the van that had 11 dudes in it. This place ruled. I had Vegan Nacho Fries and a Vanilla Graham Cracker milkshake. 

3-16-2008 - The Caldwell Rec. Center in Redding, CA

At first, I was a little worried that this show might not be very great. I have some friends that used to live in Redding, and they told me that no one really comes out to shows, and it just isnt a good scene. We got there a little early and did some walking around. The place was awesome. They had a skatepark, basketball courts, and it was right by the river. By the time the show started, there must have been 200 kids there. You dont ever see that kind of turn out for small bands in Southern CA. We played 2nd in the line up, and it turned out to be not only the best show of the tour, but one of our best shows ever. The kids were amazing. There was such a wide variety of people there, ranging from typical hardcore kids, to crusty vegan non-shoe wearing kids, to mohawk punk kids, to type-o-negative goth kids, christians HC kids, the list goes on and on. We had an amazing crowd response, met tons of cool kids, and sold tons of shirts. This one guy in particular, wanted a t-shirt really bad, but had no money. So, he asked if he could have one in exchange form loading all of our equipment into the trailer. We agreed of course.  The Separation played after us. They were INTENSE. Definitely Redding's home town heroes. They played a great set and the kids lost their minds for them. After the show, we all went back to Ben's house. He sings in The Separation and booked the show for us. Just when we thought the night couldn't get any better, it did! They had SO MUCH food made for us. Enchiladas, home-made beans, vegan pot pie and apple pie. So much hospitality, we didnt want to leave. Oh yeah, and their cat had just given birth to kittens. Pretty much, the most adorable thing ever.

3-17-2008 Sweet Pea Bakery in Portland, OR

This was another one of my favorites. We had a 10 hour drive from Redding to Portland. It was actually snowing through parts of the drive. We made it to Friendly Dave's house around 3pm and he had made us tons of good food. Vegan Mac n' Cheese with brocolli and mashed potatoes and biscuits. We hung out there for a while and watched part of the Leperchaun movie marathon. We left a little early for the show, so we could hit up the bakery and Food Fight, and vegan convieniance store. They had nachos like you would see at AM/PM, but they were all vegan

They also had lots of good chips and candy and jerky and basically everything else you would find at a conieniance store, short of a soda fountain. After junk food shopping, it was time to play. It was just us 2 bands, we played first, and it was such a great show. Of course, since it was in a store, no one really moved around, but in between songs, people really showed their enthusiasm for our songs. It was really awesome. All the people we met in Portland were extremely nice. Sweet Pea sent us off with 2 boxes of goodies. I can't wait to go back there!

3-18-2008 - West Seattle Legion Hall in Seattle, CA

Seattle for me was very bittersweet. I had visited Seattle once before and fell in love with the city, so i was very excited to play there. When we drove into the city, the weather was perfect. Clear skies, no rain, you could see all the huge buildings and trees and everything awesome that Seattle has to offer. We met up with Sarah (formerly of This Time Tomorrow, and currently manging Mighty O's Donuts) at her apartment and hung out for a while until it was time to head over to the show. We had quite a bit of time, so it was nice to get some rest in.  We headed over to the Legion Hall, and got set up. It was such a strange night. Chris Rousse wasnt feeling good, the opening bands were totally weird, and there were only around 25 kids who showed up. This is the only show we have ever played where it really felt like NOBODY liked us. Kids had this look on their faces like "are you done yet?" I was heart broken. I had built up the Seattle show so much in my mind because I love the city so much. We couldn't even give our cds out for FREE! What a night! After cutting our losses, we head over to Cyber Dogs. This was a pretty crazy experience. We rolled up to the place, 18 people deep, right at closing time (2am). We were ready to leave, as we saw the owner was closing up. She saw us outside, and told us she would stay open for us. STOKED!!! This lady was SO AWESOME. She moved to the states from Russia, and worked as accountant for 15 years. She got tired of corporate america, so she opened a vegetarian hot dog place. How do I know this? She basically told us her whole life story. There was 18 of us, and when each of us ordered our food, she told us a different story. When she finished making all our food, she invited us to stay and hang out for a while. We did, and she gave us a sales pitch on buying a Cyber Dogs franchise. Sorry lady........ The next morning, we hit up Mighty O's Donuts. So Awesome. 

After stuffing our faces with junk food, we parted into different groups and explored Seattle. Eric, Matt and I took off with Kevan from 7 Gen. and went to the Fish Market. It was really cool. Then we just hit up a few random stores, and headed back to Sarah's apartment. Some of us met up with John (This Time Tomorrow) and ate at an awesome Indian food place called, Tandoor. After we ate, we headed over to John's shop and he hooked me up with my first tour tattoo. Seattle was great, the show sucked. 

3-21-2008 - 924 Gilman ST. in Berekely, CA

The last show of our tour. This couldn't have been any more perfect. I have always dreamt of playing a show at Gilman. So many bands I love have played there. Not only was it the last show of the tour, but it was our 6 month anniversary show. My parents, sister, and cousin all came out for this show, and all my Bay Area friends. It was so cool to be playing this show that meant so much to me, and getting to see so many familiar faces. The show was great, i couldn't have asked for anything better. We had a great crowd response, met lots of cool kids, got some quality hang out time with friends and family. It was the perfect way to end this tour. We left right after the show for an 8 hour drive home. I slept for most of it.  We are so lucky to have 7 Generations as our friends. They booked the whole tour, asked nothing from us in return, and showed us an amazing time. Thanks guys!