Bloggin down a dream

less than one week till tom petty...............!

Camp Electric

Right now in Nashville there is a really cool thing going on for young musicians. Its called Camp Electric and its a 5 day camp for musicians from junior high and high school. I am stoked to be an instructor at the camp and yesterday was my first class. I was so nervous. I am totally not a teacher and had to stand up there for two hours in front of my class of 30 kids and somehow give them amazing advice on being a musician and playing in a band. Its was a lot of fun though, and I got to teach the class a few Sanctus Real riffs on guitar. If you are a young musicians you should really check this out for next year because it a ton of fun. I'll try and post some pictures in the next couple of days. well...I'm off to my class now.

Being in a band isn't always that Glamorous.

Well I just got back home from a couple shows this weekend. We played at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom last night and the day before that we were at Atlanta fest which was at Stone Mountain, Georgia this year. As you can see from the photo, loading our gear in to Stone Mountain was not very easy, but we always do our best to get to our shows and don't give up very easily. We're probably the hardest working band in christian music. haha.

expensive gas, sweet bikes

So I cleaned up my Green Schwinn Speedster and got it ready for the summer. My roommate just got a sweet new Electra bike that rides like a dream.
I decided to do a little bike photo shoot. haha. I'm really excited about riding my bike. The weather is pretty good right now so I think I go for a ride....
...who knows maybe I'll see Robert Plant.

Goodbye Colorado for now...

How freaking beautiful is this state?! I took this photo right before we closed out our week long run in Colorado. We had a great time out here making new friends and eating lots of doubletree hotel chocolate chip cookies. This is seriously a great state and I love coming out here.

I lose my touch..........did you ever have a touch to lose?

I'm pretty much not good at bowling anymore. 7 years ago I used to average 150+, and sometimes I even broke 200. Now after not practicing for years, my spin is inconsistent and I just bowled a 48! I've never bowled that bad...ever. So sad. Just trying to be honest and open here. Maybe its the altitude. Let's hope.

a blast from the past...

So as some of you may or may not know I had a band in California for six years called johnnycomelately (not to be confused with the new band on america's got talent called jonnycomelately). Actually, the way I ended up in sanctus real was through knowing the bleach guys and touring a lot with them. Anyways, many years ago we got booked to do a week of shows in California with Bleach and this new signed band called Sanctus Real. I had listened to some of their independent record online and was looking forward to the shows. Unfortunately the day before the shows Mark got sick and they had to turn around and head home to Toledo. So fast forward to the present, and I'm home in Bakersfield visiting last week and my brother finds this old poster....
Pretty cool huh?
Another fun fact. I've played in all of these bands at some point. johnnycomelately(1999-2005), marco(2004-2005), bleach(3 shows in 2005), sanctus real(2005-present)

Colorado Springs and Delish Fish!

We are in Colorado Springs today playing at Mr. Biggs family fun center. I've decided that we need to do a whole tour of places like this because all day before the show you can do a numerous amount of activities including: bowling, go-carts, batting cages, laser tag, and video games. Keith, the promoter of todays show, heard us on total axxcess saying that our band loved fish tacos. So he had a buffet line of fish taco ingredients for us in catering! Not only that, but they were mahi mahi fish tacos on top of that. Pretty awesome. Also our friend Dale came out to hang out. He works for Westone In-ears. If you ever need In-ears you have to try Westone cause they are amazing.

claustraphobic in colorado

so its really difficult to type because i'm super cramped in the back seat of a ford excursion next to chris right now. We just landed in denver for some shows and the runner picked us up in this huge suv. you would think that would be big enough right? wrong. not for six guys, a bunch of luggage, gear, and one huge dan gartley bass case. so needless to say its pretty miserable right now and will be for the next two hours or so. We should be ok as long a we can keep our propped up legs from falling asleep for good and gear from sliding onto our heads. bye for now, hopefully we survive this ok.

Good Times Bad Times

So the rumor is that Robert Plant is living in East Nashville(my neighborhood). It's my mission to find him and shake his hand. That would be so legendary. Besides the fact that he is a rock legend, his new project with Alison Krauss is really really good. Check it out. A friend of mine saw him at Bongo Java here on Sunday. I don't like Bongo that much, I'm a Portland Brew guy, but I found myself there buying coffee today just because I thought I might see Robert Plant. This is sad, but I'm going to meet him someday and its going to be awesome. Everyone has said he is really friendly. We'll see...

I love my car.

This one goes out to my freakin' awesome 1990 Volvo 240 Wagon. Its a really great car and I love it. That's all.

Going back home to the west coast.

...Well I actually already went there but that is still a good line from a Coconut Records song. So I took my girlfriend out to California to meet the family and hang out for a few days. It was great to see everyone out there, and the weather was fantastic. Here are a few pics from the trip:

She's happy because she got to try some In-N-Out burger! I don't really own shorts so this is the best I could do.
Pedro's has great fish tacos and burritos! It in San Clemente, Ca.
I took her to see Hollywood and figured since I was there I might as well get a picture of the TP's star on the walk of fame. Which in case you didn't know in less than a month Chris, Dan, myself, and our ladies are going to see him play in Cinncinati! I can't wait.

sorry I don't blog enough.

NEW GUITAR!

So I just got an endorsement with PRS guitars(Paul Reed Smith) which I am really excited about! They are an incredible guitar company and I'm very honored to be played such great guitars. The great news is that I got my first one yesterday(I would have posted this then but I couldn't put the guitar down till today). Its a vintage cherry SE one, and it plays and sounds amazing! Plus, it looks freaking cool! If you play guitar or want to buy one thats great and really affordable, I suggest you check out the SE line. http://www.prsguitars.com

Make sure your clock is set to the correct time

Yesterday we missed a show in Syracuse, NY to play a show in Sacremento, CA at Aquire the Fire. I was very excited to come to my home state and get some In-n-out burger (which I did two times yesterday by the way). We flew at 6am, and after stopping for a little bit in Chicago, we arrived in California, and ate In-n-out (yes!).
The show went ok. The crowd was great, but because we were so rushed to soundcheck we had a pretty sloppy show. After the show I persuaded our runner to swing me by for another burger. There was a Taco Bell across the street that I saw some of the Kutless guys leaving from, but of course I denied the Bell and went for the Double-double w/ grilled onions.
This morning we had to get up at 3:30am to get a ride to the airport....puke! So since Dan and I have a reputation of sleeping in, I set the clock alarm, wake up call, and phone alarms for 3:30 just to be safe. Sure enough when that time came the desk alarm went off and I got in the shower. When I got out and woke up Dan, he looked at his phone clock and said what time is it. It was 2:39!!!!!! The desk clock was an hour ahead! no!!! Depressing......
Now I'm about to board a plane at the Sacremento airport getting ready to head to Ohio for the last show of the Third Day tour.
Talk to you soon.

Internet in our Van!

Chris just bought a wireless at&t modem for our van. I'm blogging from our van on the ohio turnpike right now. van and trailer just got a whole lot better.
ps...sorry i haven't blogged for almost a month. I promise to do some make-up blogs.

pete