Wow! What a great start to our tour! The kids in Cleveland sure know how to show a band a good time. Lewis and I started tour off with Mates of State a couple of days ago at Lollapalooza (which was pretty fun, although we had to leave before Radiohead) and Jon flew into Cleveland on a red-eye to meet us. Downtown Cleveland is kind of crazy because it was so empty. There was almost no one walking on the street and some of the skyscrapers looked abandoned. Our venue for the night, The Grog shop was in a more vibrant part of town called Cleveland heights, a neighborhood with a bunch of cool shops and restaurants.

The show was so awesome! I don’t think the anyone in audience expected a metal band to be opening up for their favorite ubber-happy husband and wife duo (Mates of State) but that’s what they got. My favorite comment that we got on the set was “I don’t even really understand what just happened but it was awesome!”

We played on the Mates of State set too, as usual, but it was cooler this time because it kind of felt like it was our two bands teaming up. The audience was great, dancing and singing along the whole time. If the rest of the shows on this tour are anywhere near as good Cleveland was, it’s going to be an amazing trip.

-anton