Make Do and Mend

West Coast is the Best Coast?

Hiiii, updating from my uncles house in Los Angeles California. The rest of Texas was awesome, thank you to all of the great people we met in Corpus Christi. Much fun was had from shooting tons of fireworks off in the open field, to jumping off buildings into pools, and finally pat attempting to eat 10 cheeseburgers at whataburger. Whataburger is amazing, just dont try and eat two 5 patty burgers. El paso was awesome after we had a disastrous time getting there. While driving on the hot desolate highways of texas, one of our tires blew out. Pat was driving and we swerved back and forth all over the highway and almost flipped. Big ups to Pat for keeping the van under control. But it turns out our spare tire was a bum, so we had to call triple A. It took them no less than 2 and a half hours to get to us, but luckily Mike had episodes of eastbound and down on his computer to keep us entertained. But finally we made it, and played Nay’s house, and it ruled. Thanks so much to him for letting us show up so late and still play.

Next we headed to Arizona, and got to meet and hang with the dudes from Run With the Hunted(check that band out right now, big things to come.) We went swimming with an ex convict and his two kids, and just kind of stayed inside the rest of the time because of the heat. I guess it is a known thing to not leave your air conditioned homes in AZ, it was 122 degrees outside. Thanks to all of the dudes and dudettes from Ready Resist for taking care of us and playing with us 2 days in a row. The show in AZ fucking ruled, thanks to everyone who came out.

The next night was in Tiajuana Mexico. Drop all pre conceived ideas you have of Tiajuana, it was so much fun. All of the people are super kind, and we had some of the best chinese food ever, in mexico… Prostitution is legal there, and I guess it is an accepted thing to get down in the streets. A little bit different, but hey, whatever.Thanks to Rene for escorting us around, and helping with the show.

After Tiajuana, we had a few days off in CA, so we have kind of just been running around seeing what the west coast has to offer. The coastline is beautiful, and is the one thing that the East Coast lacks. And good weather year round I guess. We got to check out San Diego, and have been seeing friends and family in LA for the past day and a half. These two days off have been much needed, but we are ready to get back in action tonight in Riverside. Alright, peace!

-MDAM-

Laundromat, Houston is hot

Supp, were in Houston Texas right now doing some laundry. Stoked on it because most of us have already run out of clothes. It is 103 degrees, get into it.

Since the last time we checked in, tour has still ruled. We got to hang out with our dude Zac Hobbs in Atlanta for a few days, and played 2 awesome shows at the PS wharehouse and then the wonderroot. We have been listening to a lot of DMX, and decided that we are going to break him out of jail while we are in Arizona and take him on the rest of the tour with us. But if that doesn’t work out we are still getting ride or die tattoos. Florida was cool, but we were sad to part with our homies in The Stereo State. They made the trek back to Mass after Gainesville, amazing dudes in that band, please check them out.

Thanks to Susannah for housing us in Gainesville. We went to a highly reccomended burrito spot in Gainesville called boca fiesta, and it did infact rule. Pat got gator tacos and it actually tasted awesome. After FL we headed North to Birmingham AL to play with Dolarhyde. The show was in a storage space and so fucking rad. Thanks to luke and andrew, and the rest of the dolarhyde crew for being such top notch dudes and taking us swimming in the dam and cooking us mac n cheese. We wanted to hang all night with those guys, but we had to make the 10 hour drive to Houston. James and Pat drove all night, and we got into Houston at about noon. Pat was craving a hardy meal, being the hardy man he is. So when outback steakhouse was closed, we settled for chilis. Bad or good idea, I’m not sure, but it tasted good.

Now we are just hanging and doing laundry. James, Mike and I just caught up on Entourage, I suggest you do the same if you haven’t yet. Alright, hope things are well with everyone. Mosh in your bedrooms while listening to trapped under ice’s new record. -MDAM-

Forgot the most important thing.

James bought a Hatebreed jersey off of a homeless dude on a bike for 4 dollars in South Carolina. Gotta love the south.

South Carolinyaaaaaa

Tour has been amazing so far. A big thank you to everyone who has been coming out to the shows and everyone who has put us up and hung out with us. Baltimore was incredible, thanks to phil for putting on the show and Claire and Janelle for housing us and going cliff jumping with us. We went cliff jumping at Lockraven in Baltimore, and it fucking ruled, and so does Trapped Under Ice, listen to them.

Richmond was awesome, we got to play with Just Die from NC, check them out.  After the show we stayed with our friend Carl in his new place after his old apartment burnt down(while he was in CT strangely enough.) The next day we went to the Hollywood cemetery in Richmond to see where Jefferson Davis and James Madison were buried. Such a huge cemetery, and the James river ran right next to it.

We then headed to Roanoke,VA, and literally played in a bamboo forest. The show got moved last minute to a backyard, and somehow they had bamboo lining a good part of their yard. The show was awesome, it was so cool to see kids come out in such a different environment and enjoy a show. This was also the first day we met up with our friends The Stereo State. Best people and band, please check them out if you have not already. Two bands called Downpresser and Creatures, both from California, played in Roanoke. Unfortunately Creatures set got cut short by the cops, but Downpresser was AMAZING. Such a good band, and both of those bands consist of awesome people.

The next night in North Carolina we played Lunchbox Records in Charlotte. Such a rad show. Thanks to all of the kids that came out, such a good vibe at that place. The Stereo State covered The Movielife, and we all spent money on records that we shouldnt have. Great night that ended with us eating a lot of food at this restaurant called Penguin. We had fried pickles for the first time ever, and suprisingly they were great.

And finally tonight we played in South Carolina at Weekend’s pub.  Of course we met up with our dudes Ian and Weston, and later on Patrick from Indifference. Before the show, we went and shot guns at a gun range. If you look past the sheer sillyness and ignorance of shooting guns, it is really fun to do. In the total spirit of America, we got Osama Bin Laden targets and shot the fuck out of him. MERICA BABY. We then made our way to the show, but not before stopping at a buy one get one free fireworks store, where we dropped a ton of money on fireworks, sooo worth it. The show was so awesome, and we got to share the stage with Downpresser and Creatures again, which was an honor. Creatures killed it, and I was glad to see a full set from them.

Now it is 5am and we are in an Econo Lodge in Goose Creek, SC. We’ll check in again soon.

-MDAM-

West Philadelphia Born and Raised

Yo, checking in from Philly right now. Were on day 3 and it has ruled so far. New Jersey was awesome, and we played with and discovered a great band called Carpenter out of Vancouver Canada, please go check them out. The show in New Brunswick was rad, shout out Dave #1 and Dave #2 who came from Connecticut! After the show we headed to stay at my aunts house , and went to the beach for some night swimming. It was lightening like crazy, but that didn’t stop James and Mike from diving right in. The water was also freezing. If you ever get the chance to go to the beach during a bad lightening storm, I highly reccomend it. The next morning my aunt made us pork roll sandwiches, which if you’ve never had, I suggest you do that right now. And then we headed out on our way to Philly. The show was cool, and we got to play with Balance and Composure and Static Radio, so we were stoked. We explored the city and found out philly is a great city, and the cheesesteaks are wonderful as well. We eventually crashed at our friend Coreys place, and are now headed to the Philadelphia ice cream festival. Stoked! Alright, well check in again soon. -MDAM-

FORT FUCK AWESOME.

Hey so I just wanted to take a minute out to say something.  The reason that we play in this band is because we love punk music.  Playing in a punk band has afforded us oportunities that many people never get to experience.  Personally my favorite part of playing in this band is meeting people from all over the country who understand and value the ethics and ideals of DIY and punk culture.  A shining example of such people live in a house fondly known to many as Fort Fuck Awesome in Allston Massachussets.  These guys have been doing shows in their basement for years.  They have helped out countless bands including ours and now they are in need of some help.

Over the past couple years of shows some structural damage has been done to the basement at FFA.  The Landlord is now threatening the tennants of the house with legal action if they do not repair the damage done to the basement.  On Friday we are playing a show in the basement to help raise money to help everyone at FFA repair their basement and avoid thousands of dollars in legal fees.  Here are the details:

Friday June 12th
@ Fort Fuck Awesome (52 Ashford Street, Allston, MA)
Make Do and Mend
Jettison
Kill Conrad
Sick Joke
Long Drop

6pm / $5

If you cant make it out to the show and would still like to support the cause please feel free to paypal a few dollars to mattshearer@hotmail.com any contribution goes a long long way.  Please help us repay some people who have done so much for us.  Thanks. - James