hooters fuckin' rules.

holy shit. some insane shit went down in crestview, florida last night. ill get to the details in a minute but lets just say we rode upside-down stools rodeo-style in the back patio of hooters with a bunch of locals. shit. i gave away the story.

but first, an update on the show the night before. we played at a venue called Will's Pub in Orlando, FL. earlier that day we went to a different pub to watch the world cup final match. i was rooting for france but i didnt know what to think after zidane headbutted that guy. apparently he called zidane a dirty terrorist but that could have easily been made up. anyways, i just cant believe how athletes can lose their cool in such important times. anyways... the show that night was pretty good. there was about 80 people there, which was pretty good considering the venue totally dropped the ball on the show. when we showed up the guy scotty who works there was like "hey what are you guys doing here, i thought torche was playing." cause we had played their last summer so i guess he remembered us, and apparently we werent even listed on the website for the venue blah blah blah. and only two bands played. us and yip yip, who as usual tore shit up (thats a good thing.)

the crowd was weird though in certain ways. it reminded me a little of playing in new york where often the crowd stands really still and just kind of stares at you... not really getting into the music. but then afterwords everyone is says they were really into it. same thing in orlando. we sold the must shirts we've sold yet on tour and everyone said they were all about it, but while i was on stage i felt so uncomfortable cause everyone was so still while we were playing our songs. it was quite a contrast from the night before when kids were seriously spazzing out an albatross style. all in all though it was a good show given the circumstance, and it is always nice to stay at brian and jason from yipyip's house.

the next day (monday) we had off to drive towards hattiesburg, MS, which is where we are playing tonight. in fact, im currently in the car en route. we drove a ton yesterday, and ended up in crestview, florida, about 40 miles out of pensacola. if you havent been to the panhandle of florida, it really is something else entirely. i swear to god, i feel less comfortable in these panhandle cities than i do in alabama and mississippi. we checked into a regency motel. after that we had to decide where we wanted to eat. having never been to one, we decided to eat at hooters, or at the very least grab a beer and you know... soak in the atmosphere.

since we had eaten a late lunch we didnt get over there until about 10 pm, and the place was completely dead. we ordered some beer and curly fries. at about that point a macho man sat RIGHT next to us (despite the completely empty room) with his girlfriend who had a massive pair of bodacious tatas. i was confused because she wasnt working at hooters. i very quickly found out that she just wasnt working at this particular hooters, but in fact was employed by the hooters in destin, FL. this guy was definitely trying to pull some macho local shit (asking us if we'd ever heard of tallahassee, etc) but as he had a few beers he lightened up and it was all good. meanwhile, i befriended one of the chefs who looked kind of "punk." turns out he plays in an old style fast melodic hardcore band!! then later on.. he swings by the table and is like "order whatever you want from the menu ill hook it up." but all there was to eat was a cheese quesadilla and more curly fries. nasty! but it was free!!! by this point we were all a bit tipsy on that hooter's love, or maybe it was just the beer i couldnt really be sure. as were finishing up, chris (the local guy with his hooters girlfriend) starts begging us to come out to the patio. when we finally do we realize that we've walked into perhaps the most surreal experience we had had on tour up to this point, and probably will have this summer (maybe not.) there are all these people sitting on upside down stools spinning in circles. everyone is wasted! the hooters girl is trying to get us to do it, so finally i do it, and its really fun! apparently its a trick hooter's girls do to get extra tips from pervy old men. i was too drunk at the time to realize the absolute insanity of the situation, but there we were, 100% down with both the hooter's chefs and the local hooters-associated bar trash, chilling on the patio spinning on upside stools with a hooters girl from destin FL. three cheers for crazy tour stories!!! having written all this down it seems a bit less crazy than it felt at the time, but still, it was awesome!

the real truth

im actually not in georgia at all anymore. it just took me a few days to get that last post up. so really it was misleading. since then we have played two totally kick ass fuckin shows. the show in charleston was at this place called the village tavern which when we arrived was full of drunk 30 somethings. as the night progressed they cleared out and the room filled up with scores of 15 year olds. our fans are so young its just insane! but im not complaining. there was 80 people through the door but it was a small place so it felt pretty packed. eric-john our merch man also got a 30 something bimbo to buy a shirt cause she was so drunk. nothing like taking advantage of the wasted.

that night we didnt end up getting to sleep until 4 cause kids were partying where we were staying. this was a bit of a bummer because we had a super long drive the next day all the way to tampa florida. all in all it took us a bit over 9 hours, having got up at 9 and left at 10 (after a delicious breakfast at this totally sweet co-op type bagel place in downtown charleston.) the show in tampa was also totally kick ass. it was held in the warehouse own by a skatepark.. totally community run style, no bouncers or bullshit. plus there was a wicked skate park which i found enjoyable, cause kids were doing crazy tricks. also, hamilton and mookie each got a pair of shoes from the skateshop at discount rate! this was the first show we played where kids start moshing and rocking out like crazy. they were all about getting crazy in fact and i found the show incredibly enjoyable to play. 97 people were through the door, by far our biggest crowd yet on the tour. after the show we drove to orlando with yip yip who we played the show with. we are playing with them again tonight in orlando. and thats the update! im sitting on a lawn in winter park florida suburbs right now stealing someone's wireless. fuck yeah.

beetos

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i am currently in augusta, GA. we just stopped for gas and pee breaks. we are en route to charleston, south carolina, where we will play a show tonight. the last time we played there, we did a nutzo house party that was rawkus to the max -- including squirt guns filled with beer and/or piss (courtesy of the crusty punks), firecracker displays (courtesy of the crusty punks), and nude moshing (courtesy of the crusty punks)-- so all in all it was quite the show. we shall see if tonight lives up, since its in a real venue this time and not a partay.

i've spent the last two hours messing around with music shit on my new laptop in the car! it makes me so happy because this is the exact reason why i got this infernal machine in the first place... to be productive musically while in transit.. too bad didnt come up with any non-wack beats. they were hands down all whack.

last night we played in atlanta, GA. we've played there 5 times at this point, and the crowd seems to remain low in numbers but strong in love for us. as in... everyone who comes to the show is there to see us, not cause they happen to be at the venue or to see an opening band. 45 people came last night, which was lower than we had hoped, but it was a very enthusiastic crowd and we performed very well. yet another dude picked up on my love for skinny puppy as demonstrated through my abrasive keyboard sounds and 80s synth pop leanings. this makes me really happy because the references to SP are by no means intentional or even that direct, but it seems that at nearly every single show we play, some older dude with wicked facial hair and regrettable tattoos will come up to me and ask "so who in the band fuckin listens to skinny puppy?" the answer is me. i could go on about my love for this band, but i believe it is irrelevant to the task at hand.

a much more important issue is the following: now that we have left the greater atlanta area for good, we no longer have access to willy's -- the best burrito joint this side of the rio grande. although i have a sneaking suspicion willy's may offer the best burrito (or "beetos" as we have come to call them) on the face of the planet, or quite possibly the universe. making the perfect beeto is not an easy task. a beeto is first and foremost delicious as a result of the secret spices and herbs involved in the preparation of the main "meat," which in my case is always the delectable marinated tofu. but any jackass can fry up some tofu. the true mark of a beeto lies in its delicate construction, which of course begins with sanitary and well disciplined preparation of the ingredients (after all, a beeto is only as strong as its weakest link). Other important factors include access to a high quality industrial strength tortilla steamer, an eye for issuing reasonable and balanced proportions, a slotted spoon for draining black beans, and last but certainly not least, the ability to harness the entire amalgamation of deliciousness inside a single twelve in tortilla without spillage or tearing. needless to say, willy's of atlanta far exceeds par for the course when it comes to each and every aspect of this criteria. i will miss willy's. a lot. so will mookie.

goodbye paradise

so we had our first show last night in athens, georgia. a quintessential "college town." bands are supposed to do well in college towns, but the truth of the matter is that i dont think genghis tron was meant for these places. because everyone in these towns listens to modest mouse. there are no angsty 16 year olds with retarded haircuts. but in any event.. there was probably about 30-40 people there, and the response was pretty positive. unfortunately, even though we had had been practicing at hamilton's house for several days straight in atlanta, during our first song hamilton was struck with some remarkably disruptive guitar technical difficulties, which was a foreboding way to start the tour. but we managed to recover pretty quickly and we rocked out. the show was at this dude mercer's warehouse/venue/apartment/sell your stuff on ebay storefront (read: mercer is unemployed.) the place was fuckin' cool if you ask me.

so the next morning we drove back to atlanta where we will play tonight. im going to miss hamilton's castle in the woods. its so relaxing here. we went for a nice swim earlier, and played with a little froggy that we found in the pool. but then i think it got sick from the chlorine and went into hibernation mode. we also watched some strangers with candy, which is so fucking funny.

ok its time to roll out. i leave you with two pictures. apparently mookie already took a picture of this last year, but in case anyone missed it, andy warhol did an amazing portrait of hamilton. decide for yourself if its a fake or not.

this second picture is me hanging out under the kitchen table. featured is my pill reminder which i picked up at the local general store. its a real life saver. you can also see the beautiful trees in the backyard reflected on the glass. i guess that about sums up this picture.

these things.. they happen

i am now in atlanta on sunday at hamilton's house. its so very nice here and i really enjoy staying here. his parents and siblings left for a trip yesterday so we only got to see them briefly. but let me backtrack. on friday night i went to see the boredoms in philly with emily karina and mookie. it was so awesome! they had three drummers going nuts and the main dude was creating all sorts of trippiness with his gadgets and voice. lightning bolt opened which was also enjoyable since i hadnt seen them in a couple years. they are still doing their thang.

the next day saturday i flew with mookie to atlanta. it was quite hellish because we had like 300 genghis tron tshirts that we were trying to check in addition to my keyboard and our clothing and a bunch of random electronic equipment. so first thing we find out we can only check two bags each, so we start shifting shit around. but this makes the bags too heavy, which would require a $25 service fee aka bullshit. then i weigh my keyboard... which is exactly 51 pounds... 1 pound heavier than the limit. so im about ready to pay the fuckin' 25 dollars when the woman is like.. "you know what? im not gonna do this.. its just a big hassle.. but lemme ask you something... maybe you could just gimme 5 bucks so i could get something nice for lunch." so i bribed her. and it felt great. i cant wait to travel through central asia so i can bribe ex-soviet bureaucrats until the cows come home. then i slept like a little baby on the plane.

which brings us to the present. here i am in atlanta. me and the boys have a lot of practicing to do and a lot of tshirts to roll up, and a lot of mindless errands to run. i aso have this fantasy of building really cool shelves into the trunk of our automobile. they would rotate and having flashing lights and shit.

oh my goodness i almost forgot about the most important thing of all. my toe is like super fucking infected and now im on antibiotics!!! as some of you may or may not know.. i jacked up my feet at stina's party a couple of weeks ago during some glass + alcohol related incidents. my wounds were healing just fine until something went very, very wrong. like an irresponsible child who keeps postponing that phonecall to grandma, i did nothing. "it'll get better michael." thats what i kept saying. fast foward to the present. hamilton's mom, a registered nurse, takes a look at it. "hospital time," she says. so now im on "bactrum" or some shit.

so thats about it. a very long post was it not? until next time, i leave you with a fucking nasty picture of my jacked up toe. be warned:

Daddy Mars

greetings all:

my name is michael sochynsky. i am 23 years old. this is my first "blog" post. i never thought the day would come, but i now have the desire to record my adventures while on tour this summer and what better way to do it than through the internet, so my friends and loved ones can revel in my unprecedented wittiness. cause lets be honest.. thats all blogs and online mailing lists and groups really are: a forum for being witty and clever. i am currently in philadelphia at the house of emily/ryan/karina/steve/john/mary. so many people live here! we are watching veronica mars, which everyone here is obsessed with, and perhaps with some good reason. that veronica is one bad ass babee. i have officially left home, which is why i am starting the blog, even though im technically not on tour yet.

just a word though, for anyone who will choose to read this... my posts may often be quite un-witty and actually quite boring. this is because i intend to use this as something of a journal. i plan to write down the things that i do each day, some of which will be very boring. but the idea is that if i write it down, i can revisit the things i did. because usually i forget them. it all becomes a blur like everything else in my life. if you add the letter b to the end of blur, you get blurb. chew on that.

also, i know html. so i might put in some crazy ass shit in my posts. like im talking about stuff beyond pictures. im talking about tables, forms, frames. i guess thats about it. so get excited. also, here is a picture of me saying "fuck you world." end first post. over and out.