Here I am sittin in the middle of a theatre on the campus of Ball State writin a tour update. Ah the beauty of wireless networking. Day two of the Hightimes and Hangovers pt. Deaux (from here on out to be known as HH2). Today we've got a few people sufferin the hangover from the hightime. Not to name any names, but Randy and Grady are movin pretty slow today. Of course, that happens when you try to stay up til dawn in the front lounge. Being put to bed by Ed and Bert both leads to a painful morning too. It's a good start to the tour though. Weird thing last night was the volume of the show. We were in Charlottesville, VA at a beautiful pavilion that had a ridiculous decibel limit of 95. When Randy's cymbals and Cody's guitar are over a hundred without any amplification at all, it leads to a tough day for me. I'm hoping this tour is in like a lamb and out like a lion. I don't know how many more shows I can handle where it sounds like I'm listening to a cd in the next room. The crowd was great though, lotsa people somewhere we had never been before which is a great thing about being out with Dierks, we get to steal his fans. Expect more updates from HH2, I'll come up with some good stories for you guys. Today, I don't have the will to write more, so there.
Hey everyone, I know I haven't written in a while, but I've had a lot going on. After getting used to the motherhood lifestyle, I made a trip early this week to Nashville. Being away from the little one for 3 days was hard, but we had a great time.
The guys have been working their tails off for release week and to top it all off they shot a video for “Fightin For” through the night Sunday. They got started around 7:00pm and finished up near 4:00am. The shoot was amazing. The director is Trey Fanjoy who does a ton of videos in Nashville and she is top notch. Here are a few pictures from the shoot to get your interest perked. Both CMT and GAC came by to check things out and do short interviews – hopefully they'll use them. Start bugging both channels around the end of this month.
Monday was my birthday and in true Cody fashion he had something up his sleeve. We had a little surprise get together at Enzo's place. It was great to see everybody and get to hang out without being on baby duty. Scott, our booking agent from William Morris, Tracy Arnold, an old friend from Austin, Bruce and Lynn, Karin and Jace, Dierks and his girl Cassidy. The Lost Trailers dropped by late night – it was just like old times. Tuesday we hit the mall and had sushi with a few friends. Then rolled over to the Tin Roof for a couple drinks. Jason Sellers was playing bass with the band there and it was nice to see him again. Ran in to Joe Nichols, our label mate who we NEVER see anymore. Showed off Little Dierks' picture to everyone I possibly could and probably annoyed a few.
Back home now, trying to get things caught up in the office and at the house. The boys have a show tonight in Charlottesville, VA – first on the “High Times and Hangovers” tour with Dierks Bentley.
Long time no update, sorry bout that. First of all, I wanna give a big shout out to all the fans that came out to the 2nd annual family jam in OKC. We owe it all to you guys for making sure it wasn’t a first and only annual event. While I’d like to believe that everyone was there to get their asses rocked by Ragweed, I understand at least a few of ya came to see one of the other bands there. Dierks, Gary, Randy, Stoney, Rangers, etc. etc. Anyway, just in case you’ve had your head up your ass for awhile, the new Garage CD is now available for legal purchase. Help out a starving musician today and pick up a couple if you haven’t already. I’ve been with the band full time long enough to have seen three major album releases, Purple, Soul Gravy, and now Garage. I’ve even been around long enough to remember CD release parties at the Wormy Dog for Live and Loud, and 377. In the past, we’ve referred to release week as Hell Week and this time around is no different. It’s these moments when the guys have it made perfectly clear to them that their time is valuable. Brian and I want them on stage to do sound checks and load ins. Enzo wants the guys to be in one of two places, either in a van on their way to or from a radio or television station, or in a radio or television station. Brandy, our publicist wants the guys to have a cell phone attached to their heads at all times doing phone interviews. Bert wants the guys at the show early enough that the meet and greet doesn’t get into scheduled showtime. If it does get into scheduled showtime, it screws Brian and I because we have to bust our asses in order to get everything off the stage and packed as fast as possible because we’re already late to leave for the next town so that we can start all over again. But above all that, some of these shows are close to home and all of us want to see the babies. What’s it worth if you can’t stop to pick up your newborn and show your wife some love? Anyway, so far Hell Week has been tough but manageable. I think it’s mainly due to the fact that this year the guys aren’t doing any instore performances. Kinda sucks for you fans to not be able to see the guys play acoustic in your favorite CD store, but way easier on me and that’s all that matters. One really big deal this week was the temporary addition of a new drummer at Billy Bobs. The rumors are true if you’ve heard that Vinnie Paul sat in and played drums on the new song “Dimebag”. You might remember Vinnie Paul from such bands as Pantera or Damageplan. Yep that’s right THE VINNIE PAUL. One word, BADASS. Very cool to see him anxious to play and the way our crowd went wild before and after he played. I’m curious to know who scored the drumsticks he threw into the crowd. He’s got an open invitation to sit in with us anytime so be on the lookout for a cowboy from hell to grace our stage again. Speaking of “Dimebag,” I heard that The Bone in DFW had good response for “Dimebag” after they played it. That’s rock radio kids and cool place to be. It’s amazing how versatile country-fried southern rock is. Maybe in the markets where we still don’t get love from country radio we can back door them with a rock single. Oh well, as long as the fans keep coming out to the shows, that’s all I care about. I mean come on, I’m the sound guy…without a live show I’m worthless. Speaking of me, I’m recording shows again, just like in the old Wormy Dog days. That means that sometime soon we might be seeing some old school bootleg action for all you faithful followers.
Think this diary update is getting long enough if you’ve even made it this far. Tonight we’re in Tulsa with Dierks which I always a good time. In fact it’s a High Time…..and err a Hangover. Get it? High Times and Hangovers tour is right around the corner. Hope you guys are as excited as we are about the second annual helping of little white tank tops and boys from Oklahoma.
