Rain On The Stage

So this past week we played Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toronto, and Montreal.

Cleveland was a blast. My roommate from LA was back at home in Canton and drove out to the show with his cousin. We had a good time and managed to get lost in the city (even with a GPS), it reminded me of the old times when we first moved out to LA. 

Paramore played a surprise show, they were amazing. I put some pics up on my Facebook, we got so close. I got to meet Hayley (the singer) for a few mins and take a pic, which I look absolutely ridiculous in lol.

Toronto's show was alright. Some of the other bands told us the Canada shows are always a little smaller, and they were right. Montreal's show was interesting lol. It started raining hardcore about 15 mins before we were supposed to go on. The stage ended up being one huge puddle and the roof was leaking water. I went pedalboard less to prevent me getting electricuted for the second time in my life. 

We ended up playing our best set of the tour so far. We had a really great crowd, our energy was way up, and we sounded really tight. The only thing that sucked was when the wind came and blew the rain right in our face and taking all the gear back to the bus with the rain pouring down.

Today, we're in Hartford, CT. I have a feeling this will be a good one to, but I'm really looking forward to the day off tomorrow to chill out for a bit.

Sweatfest

So we're in Dallas today. We played at noon and the sun wasn't even out but I was completely soaked when I got off stage. I looked down at my guitar when I was taking a solo and just puddle of sweat went down on the stage. Today's show and Houston went really great, we're sounding really tight. New Mexico & San Antonio were pretty good, but we still had some problems to deal with. 

We stopped in Austin yesterday for the 4th. We spent most of the day hanging out at the hotel, doing laundry, showering, and I recorded some guitar tracks for a new song I've been working on. We went down to 6th street and grabbed dinner, walked around, and saw fireworks. It was really fun, and great to see some of the places I played with Mandi at SXSW this past March.

We supposedly got invited to hang out at the late Dimebag Darrel's house tonight, hopefully we'll end up going. Tomorrow is another day off and it looks like we'll be in Nashville! I'm pretty excited, I've always wanted to go there.

I'm pretty bummed I can't get the live broadcasts from Oasis cause our internet is too slow. The podcasts will have to do for now I guess.

Phoenix

Yesterday, we had a day off and we went to Rodondo Beach. The weather wasn't warm enough to hang out on the beach, but it was cool area and we did some shopping, eating, and got to shower/chill out at a really nice hotel.

Today, we played Phoenix. At the end of our first song, my amp went out. I actually have two backup plans if something goes out, i did both of them in 30 seconds and figured out it was my head, an EVH 5150 III. With the help of our tour manager and of course praying to God in my head, I managed to get the Mesa Boogie head they had plugged in with my rig by the middle of the second song. My tone wasn't even close as perfect without my amp, but i managed to make it through the rest of the set. I later figured out that my amp overheated because of being so hot out. I actually watched a little bit of the band after us' set and the same thing happen to them. Hopefully my amp will work tomorrow with no issues and that it'll be a little cooler out.

I really feel so blessed to be on this tour. Less than two weeks ago, I had been trying to find some new gigs to pay the bills and then this one came up at the last minute. I couldn't be happier and thankful to God. As I mentioned before, we're sharing the bus with the band Madina Lake which makes it 14 people on here but luckily everyone is really cool and we haven't had any problems.

I posted some new photos from today on my facebook if you want to check them out.

I also keep reading all the news about Michael Jackson's death last week. It's really sad, and my prayers go out to all his family, friends, and fans. He really was one of the best entertainers the world has ever had. I remember hearing about the 50 02 Arena shows in London this year, and thought that was so cool he was really making a comeback despite what he's gone through the last ten years. I actually had an audition at Center Staging a few months back and his band was there rehearsing for the tour, I had the privilege to hear a few songs. It was really killer.

Next stop is New Mexico, I'm sure it'll be another hot one!

Ventura show

The Ventura show went really well yesterday. We played great and the crowd kept growing. The sun was shining so bright that I could barely see the lights on my pedals, so after each song I had to kneel down and make sure each pedal was on the right bank haha.

Fernando's (the drummer) girlfriend came and took me, him, and Bryan (the bass player) back to Hollywood for a few hours. I ended up surprising Donald Barjas at his CD release show for his band Your Very Own, and had the pleasure to jump on stage and sing his song "Jubilee" with him.  It was really great to see a lot of my friends again to before August. 

Your Very Own's EP "Do I Have Your Attention?" will be out on iTunes soon (I actually engineered the EP). You can check out his music at www.myspace.com/yourveryownmusic.

Today's our day off, I woke up and we were still in Ventura. I thought we were heading to Phoenix last night, but I guess not lol. There's talk of going to the beach for a few hours today, I really hope we do. I've been writing so much this trip, I have so many song ideas. I did bring some recording gear, so I'm hoping to go in the back later today and demo a few things.

Show #2

We played the second show today in San Francisco. It was 100 times better than yesterday's show, we played a lot tighter, had very few sound issues, and most of all started actually playing like a band. I'm pretty excited for tomorrow's show.

I woke up and helped load some of the merch stuff to our booth, then tried to figure out how/where i could take a shower. It turned out no one knew (not even the tour manager), so I wondered around and snuck into the Marriot hotel and did a quick shampoo and face wash, and wipe down in the lobby restroom haha. I felt like a homeless person wondering around, I definitely am blessed I don't have to do that everyday.

After the show, we found out they were taking shuttles of people every hour to take showers at the Marriot so I got to finally take a real one. I ended up meeting 2 guys from the White Tie Affair, who were really cool. Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to check out their set.

We're on our way to Ventura, CA for the show tomorrow, then have the day off in Phoenix on Monday and play their Tuesday. I really love touring. I'm able to suck up the close corners, hot sun, and everything but not being able to take a shower everyday lol. I seriously do not know how normal people can actually go days without showering. I'm sure by next week I'll be used to the every other day thing.

Day 1 part 2

So the first show was pretty good. We had some sound issues and a few other things that we resolved after, but every band always has to get that first show out of the way. I'm sure tomorrow's will be a lot better!

Unfortunately I found at 8:15 that the showers now close at 8:15. So that sucked, but i'll just take one in the morning. It was way fricken hot today, but had a nice cool breeze around 6 (and thank God for air conditioning in the bus). I didn't actually watch any bands today, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow in San Francisco.

I'm really loving my new Gibson ES-335, ever since I first saw Oasis play in 2005 and saw Noel Gallagher with one I've always wanted one!

Warped Tour Day 1!

So we got to Pomona for the first date of the tour yesterday morning. The bus is really cool, we're sharing the bus with the band Madina Lake so I think there's around 12 people with us. It's working out great, and everyone's really cool.

I was lucky enough to be hooked up with a black ES335 and Les Paul BFG from Gibson, a new Tine Factor Delay pedal and Pitch Factor pedal from Eventide, and strings,cables, and accessories from D'Addario!

I woke up yesterday morning to Tim's (Alana's other guitarist) alarm going off and I wacked my head on the top of my bunk. It hurt. We stood in line for a few hours to get our passes and stuff, then pretty much just hung out for the rest of the day. The showers at the venue don't have curtains, which is kinda awkward lol.

We're about to go on the Kevin Says stage in a few hours. The stage is so killer. It's actually solar powered (I wonder what will happen if the sun isn't out one day), and a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. I'm pretty excited to get up there finally, I just joined the band 6 days ago and we only ended up having 3 rehearsals, but I'm confident we're good to go.

I lost my camera charger so when I get a new one I'll throw some pics up at www.facebook.com/jonketchum.

If you haven't gotten it already, my EP is now available on iTunes or you can go to www.myspace.com/JonKetchum and get a physical copy via PayPal.