Sweet Blog O' Mine

Just getting started on this 8 week stretch of the Summer Blackout Tour. The tour bus picked me up in Chicago on Thursday and I threw my suitcase in the storage bay and stepped up onto the bus. The tour bus driver, "Bones", greeted me at the door and said "You Ready?" I replied with "as I'll ever be." As a kid I always imagined the tour bus picking you up from your house and then you set-off on tour. I keep feeling like "Is all of this really happening?"

I checked out our home on wheels and went to the back to select a bunk for sleeping. I chose the drivers side – middle bunk. I jumped in and checked out the sleeping quarters. There's a flatscreen with a dvd player, fan and a reading light. I brought my own blanket and also got an amazing pillow as a gift. Didn't wanna think about who was in this bus prior to us. I imagine many a band over the past 5 years have been calling this bus home and clean digs are important.

There is a large lounge in the front of the bus with a TV, a few couches, a dining room table, a kitchen and a bathroom. The bathroom has the feel of an airplane bathroom with a bit more space. The middle section of the bus has bunks and then there is a rear lounge with leather couches for 9 or 10 people and the new guitar hero game. It's a comfortable set-up for the tour. The band had bought me a cold water humidifier and set it up in the rear lounge so I could keep my voice hydrated cause they know the tour schedule is so intense. I appreciated them looking out for me.

We took off and I sat in the front of the bus and watched as we rolled thru my neighborhood (Wicker Park) down Division Street. It was a beautiful day in Chicago, and I was sad that I was leaving at the very beginning of summer. I had struggled thru the brutal winter and now I was leaving when the weather in the city finally pays off. A real sense of nervousness ripped thru me and my heart started racing.

Everything is happening so fast and I haven't had a single moment to let it sink in. I thought I was headed to Canada for a week to complete some songwriting, and it ended up manifesting into a 3-month globe-trotting escapade. It takes sincere thought to get your feet underneath you and feel grounded. I latched my belt onto a 747 airliner and I'm trying so hard to not lose my grip. It's tough to leave with a new crue of people. I have been traveling with Bob, Dino and Billy for years and this new adventure is unknown. The first week is figuring out how you exist together as a new group. Feels a bit like rock-n-roll boot camp. The interesting thing is that when you have existed with a group of friends you have known nearly your whole life there is absolute understanding of a person's actions, motives and moods. You know what makes your friends tick. When you enter a new group you get an understanding of who you are, who you are perceived to be. More questions are asked, and there can be moments of awkwardness as you decipher the differences in personalities. You get an understanding of how new friends define who you are and it gives you a clearer picture of your own person. I don't know what anyone thinks of me yet. I have a feeling they think I'm a bit weird. I'm passionately quiet and then all the sudden I open up and put it all on the table. I need to loosen up a bit and breath easier.

We arrived in Green Bay and I took a long walk around town listening to the LA Guns tunes and memorizing memorizing memorizing. Felt like I had a good handle on the tunes. We had two hotels provided by the promoter that evening. Not one of us slept in the room. We all stayed on the bus cause I think we just feel so comforatable there and that's where we wanna be. We are all excited to get this tour rolling.

We headed over to the venue and Tracii received his shipment of 12 new Dr. Z amps. He jammed on them for about an hour and seemed like a little kid that just got a "Knock Em Sock Em Robot" for Christmas. He also bought a theramin and worked with the settings of the machine and got it sounding very Zeppelin. We were set to have a really long sound check because we had yet to rehearse the songs for the tour. This is a crazy place to be. We had to perform an hour and a half set with NO REHEARSALS. This was going to be our dress rehearsal. My nerves were wracked! We did about 5 songs at soundcheck and then had to let the opening bands get ready so it was going to be a fly by the seat of our pants scenario. We worked on the album for every moment of the month while in Canada and rehearsing was not the priority. Steve Thompson (producer) kept saying "The record will last a lifetime so focus every moment of that" and we did.

It was an amazing feeling to see all of the familiar faces arriving at the venue. We got a chance to hang out before the show. It was an overwhelming feeling of support, and it blows me away that some flew all the way across the country to see this first show. After hanging out for awhile, I worked for a few hours listening to the LA Guns tunes and was still trying to memorize all the lyrics. It reminded me of being on Rockstar and having to get a new song down every week. This time around I was trying to get about 10 songs memorized, and it was quite a difficult task.

When the show started up we launched in "No Mercy" and it felt good. The nervousness I felt prior to the gig quickly settled away, and I just focused on handling the vocals and finding the energy in the music. The interesting part of this new experience is figuring out how to perform the songs. I get inspired by different parts of the songs and you realize how to describe that emotion to the crowd with movement and energy. A full set of new tunes gives me a lot of work to do in figuring out how to perform each song. I realized at one point in the show that the sound at the club was not sufficient. The club had never had as big a crowd and their sound system wasn't going to be able to handle the capacity. We powered thru the set and I was amazed that I had the songs down and didn't botch many parts. There were some really hard core LA Guns fans that knew every lyric hanging out in the front row so it made me more determined to get every lyric right. I knew the Guns fans were critiquing as the show went on. I work hard in a effort to win them over. The stage was a decent size but I was surprised that the four of us jamming up front didn't crash into each other all night. We had a good flow working between us and I could see that our interaction on stage was going to come alive as we progressed thru the tour.

I really enjoyed Tracii's theramin solo during the song "Rip and Tear". He never mentioned that he was going to include this as part of the show, and it really excited the crowd. I was also psyched that we fit in a short drum solo. I always wanted to experience watching a drum solo up close and Chad is pretty amazing. The unique thing about the LA Guns show is that the focus shifts from band member to band member at different points throughout the night. A bit of a drum solo, a guitar solo or theramin solo, Jeremy sings a tune, Alec jams during "This Town" and I get a moment with my solo acoustic performance. It feels like the old blues band mentality where everyone gets a few moments to shine.

I realized that there is a lot of potential for the band. I also realized that we have a lot of work to do to get there. I am a bit of a perfectionist and know we need some time to lock in the show. I will work to figure out the best set list, highlighting the performances, getting us tighter and working as a unit so the music feels massive at some points and emotive at other times. I got an understanding of how to get it to be great and have the determination to work to get it there. With over 50 shows to go I think we will be able to create some inspiring moments this summer.

Now we are off to Puerto Rice. I have never been there. I'll snap a few pictures and let you know how it goes. Have a great 4th of July holiday and dodge all those bottle rockets that the neighbors are shooting at ya!!!

Marty Casey