The Tour Begins ....

Hello Kelly!
We're in Lincoln, Nebraska, setting up for the 5th show of the tour and I've managed to sneak away to write a little journal entry.
It's only a matter of time before I'm discovered and forced to set up again ... let's see how far we get this journal though, deal?

Let's see...
We crossed the border on Tuesday and met up with Heath McNease in Valparaiso, Indiana -- that's where our label, 7Spin Music, in based out of. We grabbed some food and slept on the floor of the apartment of Sevenglory, another band on 7Spin. The Red Umbrella guys were also hanging around a bit.
Seriously ... that place could be a reality show.
The next morning we get the phone call from Attaboy saying they've blown a tire. "Well, we all slept in, so you're still a step ahead," we told them.

Attaboy is a 4-piece band ... Amos sings and play piano, Chris plays bass and is also the sound guy for the tour, Jeff plays guitar and Micah plays bass. They've got a friend and a wife on tour with them ... Daniel and Molly ... respectively. :)

So, fast forward to the next night. Green Bay, Wisconsin. Josh and Chris went tanning and we played better than the first night. The crowd was also pretty intense, which made us feel pretty good about ourselves. Ben (our new guitarist) and Pierre (filling in for James) played REALLY well, and the whole set felt really good. It's always a little weird breaking in new guys -- and anyone who's known Hello Kelly for a while knows that we've had our share of new guys. Rest assured - this line-up feels REALLY solid. Everybody fits in great, the chemistry off the stage is amazing and the energy on stage might be the most intense we've ever had ....... and I like to think that says a lot. Heh heh.

The next day saw us in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. While unloading the trailer, a dude stopped me on the street. I wasn't 100% positive whether he was just homely or actually homeLESS, but he opened our interesting little dialogue with: "So LaCrosse is a pretty cool place, but I think a television series would really bring some life to this place. Just think of all the television series based in New York City! Marvel should develop the She-Hulk to take place in LaCrosse ... I could picture her jumping from building to building, couldn't you? But, obviously, she'd have to be really muscular and sexy."

Half of me couldn't believe what I was hearing, and the other half was fascinated by how excited he was about it. I mean, he had a point didn't he? If I was to watch a TV show based in LaCrosse, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be a show about a hulking female green montrosity with raging sex appeal. Am I wrong? Oh goodness.
The show in LaCrosse was great, though. The sound system was HUGE so I'm pretty sure we were at least very loud. The venue was called Crossfire ... if you live in that area, you definitely need to check it out. They're doing some VERY cool things.
We went out to Perkins that night with some people from the city.

I had a glass of water.

That, my friends, is the life of a rock band.

Yesterday we were in Willmar, Minnesota, playing at the local YFC youth drop-in center. This one was pretty interesting, to be honest. The place was full of the kind of people you don't USUALLY see at Hello Kelly shows: lots of chains, spikes and eye-liner ... let's put it that way. We started our first song - I thought we sounded pretty good - but they all immediately left the room. Everybody left!
Turns out a fight broke out outside and everybody was rushing out to watch the fight! Then everybody came back inside and - much to our surprise - they REALLY got into our show. Some bands would call it a weird night cause there weren't a ton of people - but I think it was an important show to play so early in the tour. I was reminded that God has a purpose for everybody - no matter what they look like, how much they've screwed up, or how much people might hate them. It also reminded me that that's the whole mission of the band. Go figure, eh?
I even talked to this one girl about her book: "The Zombie Survival Guide". Apparently the best weapon to use against zombies is the sword cause it's quiet, it doesn't jam and you don't have to reload it. I gave her an EP and wrote "Use this against the zombies" on it. It seemed to make sense at the time.

We loaded out, started driving at midnight and got to a hotel at 2am. We got up 7am and I drove for another 4 hours to the venue we're at now. Rock and roll, baby. Sound check is happening very soon, so I should go do that.
I hope you're all excited about WrestleMania on Sunday. I know we are!!

We'll write again soon!

francy