Ogden UT
8:48PM
We're now on the home stretch of our Summer Kamikaze tour. We've been on the road for a month now. It's been a tough one! Lots of up and downs but we're stoked to be in Ogden again. Brewski's is always a good time. I think this is our third or fourth time playing here. We drove from Payette last night and didn't really get a lot of sleep on the way here. I managed to get a few small naps in during the day today but that's about it. I'm not feeling too tired right now. We play in about 2 ½ hours. There is already a fair amount of people here. I think this is going to be our best Ogden show yet. We get more and more people every time we play here. This is the second last show of the tour. It's going to feel really strange to be back in LA. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time I'm not. I know I'm going to miss the road. Being in a new place every day is a good way to live. Well, not much else to report now. Time to go mingle with some of the locals!
RD

Payette ID
8:32PM
We arrived in Payette about an hour ago. This is a pretty small town. There doesn't appear to be a lot of people around. The promoter for the club seems to be a really cool guy. It looks like they did a lot to promote the show. There is a local band playing before us. I have a feeling tonight is going to be a pretty good show. We've been staying in Kuna (near Boise) on a farm for a few days. We had a couple of days off and were fortunate enough to have a place to stay during that time. Last night we went into Boise to visit guitar center and run a few errands. That was at about 8:00PM. We decided to visit some of the local bars and ended up bar-hopping all over Boise with two local dudes and a few other people. It was nice to let loose for a night. Anyways, time to get ready for the show!
RD

Boise ID
7:09PM
We arrived in Boise at about 10:00PM last night. We’re on “mountain time” now which is an hour ahead of LA. We’ll be an hour ahead now until the end of the tour. I’m at the venue right now. It’s a pretty cool place. Good stage, nice sound system and it’s in a good part of town. It’s a Monday so I’m not sure how well it will go but I’m just happy to be playing again. That’s what it is all about at the end of the day – getting up on that stage and doing it. When you put everything else aside that is all that matters! This time next week we will be home. The tour will be over. Coming off tour is always a little hard for me. I’m most at home when I’m out here. I’m looking forward to the Utah shows. We always do well there. And it’ll be nice to see our Utah friends. We’ve been playing new places for the last few weeks and we’ve made a lot of new fans and friends. But it’s always nice to see some familiar faces out there. I’m definitely looking forward to that. We stayed at Skelton’s uncle’s house last night. We’ll be staying there for a few days. He has a farm/orchard. They harvest cherries, asparagus, snap peas and a bunch of other stuff. We all got to sleep in beds last night for the first time in a while. That was awesome! I slept for about 10 hours. It’s a beautiful thing! Well, I’m going to pack up my laptop and go walk around Boise for a little while. Later!
RD

Richland WA
6:13PM
The show last night in Seattle was pretty cool. We were competing with the Fourth of July fireworks, so the place wasn’t exactly packed. Still, we got a good response and had a good time nonetheless. We decided to leave right after the show and try to make it as far as we could. We made it about halfway to Richland before we were all too tired to drive further. We parked at a Pilot truck stop and got some rest. I think I woke up at 10:00AM. After not showering for three days, we decided it might be time to clean up. Thank fuck that truck stops have shower rooms! We paid our $20 and all got showered and cleaned up. The drive from there to Richland was about an hour and a half. We pulled in here a few hours ago and did some laundry at the local Laundromat before heading to the venue. Our name is on the marquee and people here seem to be pretty excited that we’re playing tonight. A local band is opening up the show and then it’s us. Not much else to report. Booker just kicked my ass in “Golden Tee” (arcade game). Bastard! It’s all good. I beat him earlier today at the Laundromat. Yeah! I’m hungry as a motherfucker. Time to see if the venue is going to feed us!
RD

Seattle WA
4:21PM
We pulled into Seattle at about 4:30AM this morning. The show in Everett was awesome. Polecat (the promoter) did a great job to set up what appeared to be a very successful night for a Thursday in Everett. We were stoked. The people in Everett are very friendly and they seemed to like our music. We sold a lot of merchandise and CDs which is always a good thing! We decided to roll to Seattle after the show so that we could get parking close to the venue. We'd been told by several people that parking at the Central Saloon was a bitch so we figured if we got here really early in the morning we would get a good spot. And we were right. There were a lot of homeless people walking the streets when we got here. It was pretty sad to see. Then again, I see it all the time in LA. So we'd all just put our heads down to sleep and I'd just started to doze off when I heard Booker jump out of the van in a hurry. I jumped up to see what the fuck was going on. I watched as Booker moved with lightning speed to stop a homeless dude's shopping cart from crashing into the side of the van. The guy had left his cart on a slope and Booker was watching it from the van as it started to roll down the sidewalk. Good save Booker! Needless to say, none of us really slept well because we were parked on one of the busiest streets in Seattle so it was pretty noisy all morning. Booker and I walked down to the waterfront where the piers are and checked out some of the sights. Seattle is a pretty cool place. Anyway, we're going to load our gear now. Later!
RD

Everett WA
5:29PM
We’re at the venue in Everett. We arrived here a few hours ago and enjoyed some free food. Pizza and fries! Normally I wouldn’t eat crap like that, but food has been a little scarce over the past week so I didn’t really have a choice. Bars never have healthy food. I’m just chilling out in the venue, thinking about re-stringing my guitar and starting to load the gear in. We play at 9:00PM. Everett is a pretty cool little town. We had two days off here. I went jogging on both days and managed to see a good portion of the town. I just uploaded some photos from the tour so far to myspace and our website. I also uploaded photos from our Romano’s show on the 6th June. We play in Seattle tomorrow night and Richland on Saturday night. We’ll be in Idaho by Sunday. The home stretch! I’m pretty tired today. Booker and John are sleeping in the van right now. I should probably try and sleep but that’d be a waste of time at this point. Not to worry. There will be plenty of time to sleep later tonight. I’m drinking a diet coke that tastes nothing like diet coke. Again, it was free so it’s better than nothing! I’m all about free beverages at this point in the tour! The world needs more free beverages. Well, time to re-string the guitar and get my gear organized.
RD

Everett WA
1:42AM
The show in Olympia last night was awesome. We had a long wait, but the show went well. There was a "battle of the bands" to open the night. Three bands played and then we played. We got a great crowd response and had a good time on stage. The band after us was a band from Walla Walla called Livevil. They were actually really fucking good. After the show we rolled back to the promoter's house and hung out for a little while with the Livevil guys. Nobody remembered to buy beer, so the party was beerless! A few hours later we left for Everett. We pulled into Everett at around 6:00AM this morning and parked Zeus at the local mall and slept until about 11:00AM. We checked into a hotel at around midday. We haven't had a hotel for a week so it's nice to have somewhere to chill for a few days. I slept until 3:00AM and woke up to John announcing that someone had backed into our van in the parking lot. We all flew outside to see what the fuck was going on. Hit and run! There is a Denny's in front of the hotel and one of the employees witnessed the incident. Apparently a white van was backing up, backed right into our van and then took off. Booker called the cops. They came and filled out a report, but without the license plate there isn't really anything they can do. The tour goes on. We have two days off and we play here in Everett on Thursday.
RD

Olympia WA
5:42PM
We pulled into Olympia at around midday. We checked out the venue and everything looks pretty cool. Our posters are up on the walls and that is always a good sign. Booker and I went walkabout. A quick stop at Subway for some food and we made our way to the Capitol Building which was about 20 minutes walk from the venue. Booker and RD abruptly kick into TOURIST MODE! There were a few different war memorials around the building, one of which was for the soldiers from Olympia who died in Vietnam. You see all those names on a wall and it is hard to fathom that they all died over there. It's pretty intense. We did a bit of a tour of the inside of the Capitol Building itself and then walked down to Capitol Lake. We took a bunch of photos and some video. They'll end up on myspace and the website soon enough. Speaking of video, we still have to get Webisode 6 finished! I just didn't have enough time before the tour to get it done. Sorry! We're a busy bunch! It probably won't be out until the tour is over. Webisode 6 will cover all the touring from January to May and Webisode 7 will be all the footage from this tour. Well, I'm going to grab a Red Bull and chill out for a bit. Later!
RD

Portland OR
8:01PM
I'm sitting backstage at Rock N Roll Pizza in Portland Oregon. Tonight's show looks like it is going to be a good one. We are the first band playing and there is already a good amount of people here. The stage is awesome and the sound is very professional. It's nice to play a good venue like this. We sound checked and got everything dialed in about an hour ago. We've just been chillin' out since then. There are three bands playing tonight. I'm not too familiar with either of the other two bands. One is from Portland and the other is from Seattle. That is about all I know. There was supposed to be five bands on this show but I guess two of them dropped off at some point. That happens a lot more than you think. Last night in Eugene there was supposed to be three local bands and us. It ended up just being us and one other band. And our styles were radically different. Promoters are a strange bunch. Anyway, we have 15 minutes to show time so I'm going to get the pipes warmed up and stretch out.
RD

3:23AM
Tonight was a good night. We ended up playing first. The sound engineer (Rick) was really cool with us and absolutely killed it. We sold a bunch of shit and everyone seemed to like us. After we played, a new Melotia fan paid the bar $100 to have us play again at the end of the night. We ended up hanging out with him and he was really cool to us. We played another set at the end of the night. I think that's the first time we've ever opened AND closed a night! Some fans from Eureka CA had driven 7 hours to see us play. They offered us their hotel shower. We accepted. However, when we arrived at the hotel, the hotel reception dude came out and stopped us before we could get into the room. No showers for Melotia! But wait – Plan B kicks in! Skelton pulls out his 24 Hour Fitness membership. So we drive over to the closest 24 Hour Fitness and Skelton gently persuades the dude at the front desk to let the entire band use their facilities to shower. Sweet!!! So we all got showered and now we're about to crash in the van. We have a day off tomorrow so we're probably going to go to this river and get some sun and hopefully have a swim. We head to Washington on Monday.
RD

Coos Bay OR
7:04PM
This is easily the strangest venue we've ever played. The venue is an old department store that has been closed down and converted into an all ages venue of sorts. There are a descent amount of people here already. The show starts at 7:30PM. I think we play at 8:30PM. Originally we were supposed to be playing at a place called Broadway Rock Hall but it was changed yesterday to this place which I believe is called Sober's. The band that organized the show told me that the promoter for the other venue doesn't let bands play there if they have played at this place. I guess there is some sort of rivalry between the two venues. If you play one, you can't play the other. That's kind of stupid if you ask me, but I don't give a fuck. As long as we have a show I'm happy enough. We arrived here in Coos Bay at about 6:00AM this morning. We parked the rig in a Safeway parking lot and immediately passed out. I slept until about 2:30PM at which point we drove over here to the venue. No shower today! I cleaned up in the venue's bathroom. Brush the fangs, change clothes, put on some deodorant and we're good to go! The next stop is Eugene Oregon. It's only 2 hours drive from here so I think we're going to bounce tonight. We'll probably crash in the van again when we get there. At least the weather up here is nice and cool. That helps to reduce the "stink factor". Sleeping in the van is easy in this kind of weather. There is a reason we went North instead of South on this tour! I heard that it has been really fucking hot back in LA. I'm glad to be not there right now! The first band is sound checking right now. We're all pretty beat today but I'm sure we'll still pull it out for the show. We always do! Go hard or go home motherfucker! I walked around town for about an hour earlier today. There is not much here. I found a used books store that had some awesome history books on World War II. I love that shit. I sat and read for about half an hour at which point the store owner seemed to be getting rather irritated that I wasn't making a purchase. I promptly exited the store. I'm drinking some gnarly coffee right now. Super strong! I'm going to need it for the show tonight. Well, not much else to report at this point. Time to go talk to some people!
RD

Bend OR
5:40PM
I'm sitting in The Summit Saloon in Bend, Oregon. We pulled in here at about 11:30AM last night. The drive from Eureka was long but quite scenic. It looked like the venue wasn't open. We lingered out the front for a moment and one of the bartenders actually came out and opened the door for us. They were closed but he recognized us from the posters so we were invited in for a free drink. He was really cool. We checked out the stage. It's a nice place, one of the nicest we've seen on this tour so far. We hung out at the venue for about 30 minutes and then went hotel hunting. That's always fun! NOT! After a few stops we found a clean cheap place near the venue for $54.50. They were cool with us checking out late and they had laundry facilities so we got it. John and Booker crashed in the room. Clark and I crashed in the van. I slept pretty well but I'm still tired today. The hotel had a gym so I hit that shit this morning and got a good workout in. Working out on the road can be hard but I try to squeeze it in as often as I can. We came down to the venue again at around 1:00PM and enjoyed a half-price meal. We paid a total of $18.50 for our food. Nice! I got the veggie burger and it was fucking splendid! There hasn't been a lot of good food on this tour so it was nice to actually eat a real meal for a change. Bend is actually a really nice town. The people here are friendly and actually say hello to you when you pass them on the street. Crazy! If you did that in LA you'd probably get punched in the face! We walked around town for a while, got some coffee, checked out the local music store and met some locals. Now we're just hanging in the venue waiting to load-in. Down-time can be hard! We're actually all having a lot of fun on this tour. Touring can be tough and this one is definitely no walk in the park. But we're still all having an awesome time and enjoying just being able to do what we do without anything else getting in the way. Ok, time to buy an energy drink and load the gear!
RD

Redding CA
3:52PM
I'm in a hotel here in Redding CA. We're several shows into our tour now. It's going really fast. We played in San Francisco last night. After the show we decided to drive to Redding at night to beat the heat. Damn it's hot here. According to the weather forecast it's hot in most places in CA. Record temperatures in the San Fernando Valley. It's probably 109 in my hood. DAMN! Glad I'm in an air conditioned hotel. Courtesy of Club 151 here in Redding. Hopefully tonight goes well. Booker googled the club and told me there was a shooting there a couple of weeks ago. SWEET! Well that's all for now, talk to you sucka's later.
SKELTON

Ripon CA
1:51AM
"From Dusk Till Dawn" pretty much sums up my life for the next month. Keeping vampire hours definitly has it perks. When you drive a van and trailer on tour espicially on California highways just driving thru town is an adventure which prick will cut me off next? Can we fit thru there? All questions I ask myself a few times a day. But after around 12am thats my favorite time, most people are at home in bed, the freeways are clear, and we can roll the windows down in the van and enjoy the weather and the empitiness of the road. I have started driving at sundown and watched the sun come up from some of the most beatiful places in the nation. I love playing the shows on tour and meeting all the new people but with 3 other guys sharing all their time together sometimes you can find a complete sense of being alone when the sun starts to come out of the desert floor. If you've never seen it I recommend you do take a couple minutes out of the crazy work and party schedule and check it out. Well anyways tour is awesome we are all doing just fine and we will be in San Francisco tomorrow night and then Redding, thats all I can remember now but theres a long time to go.
BOOKER

Santa Cruz CA
4:47PM
I'm laying here in a hotel bed in Santa Cruz right now. RD, is passed out in a bed beside me. I'm glad he doesn't snore. We were lucky enough to check in earlier than our scheduled 15:00 check in time. When we were unloading our bags a woman came up to us and asked for change. She wasn't a bum. She just needed quarters for the vending machine. First thing that came to mind was, I thought I was out of LA. Where someone at every 7-11, or freeway off ramp is asking for money. She was cool though. I think she's staying here at the hotel. The people here are really friendly and laid back. Today is the first day of our Summer Kamikaze Tour. I'll be away from home for a month or so. Who knows, we possibly might have more dates booked. For now though the tour wraps up in UT July 12th. RD and I did a radio interview this morning with Santa Cruz's KSCO. Rosemary made us feel welcome. We performed a couple acoustic songs, and promoted our show tomorrow night at Bocci's Cellar here in Santa Cruz. We'll be here in the northern ca area for a little over a week. It worked out great for me because I'm from nor cal. So I'll get to see my family, and friends on this tour! Well that's all for now. Hit you up tomorrow.
SKELTON

Prescott AZ :: 6:13PM
We are currently on route to Prescott Arizona. We left Riverside a little before 2:00PM, so we’ve been going for over four hours now. I think there is another two hours left in the trip. I’ve been mostly oblivious to my surroundings since we left as I’ve been heavily immersed in the book I am currently reading – How My Heart Sings – a biography on Bill Evans, the legendary Jazz pianist. If you don’t think you’ve heard his music, you’re probably wrong as he was the pianist on Miles Davis’ 1959 Jazz epic Kind Of Blue. I’m nearing the end of the book so I decided to put it down and save the last few chapters for the trip home. Arizona is seemingly non-scenic to me today. I’ve been through Arizona plenty of times before, but never on this particular route. It looks the same as other more traveled routes – flat, burnt green plains framed by crude brownish mountains. Aside from the occasional cactus, the rigidity of this landscape remains stubbornly flat. I have no idea where we are. Wait – there is a sign coming up. Ok, I am apparently in Gladden. Welcome to Gladden people! What’s in Gladden? Nothing really! Here’s a photo of what I see right now.

Studio City CA

3:47AM - Usually we write blogs after shows or when we’re on tour. Not this time though. Here’s something new to chew on if you will. Right now I’m listening to some drum tracks from last nights recording session. The tracks are just demos right now. We have several new songs on board and we can’t wait to unleash them. RD has written another follow up ballad to everyones favorite " Broken Love ". I think it’s his best yet. I’m honored to play drums on it. I can’t wait to hear it on the next record! We had a GREAT rehearsal tonight. The vibe was strong, and you could feel the energy in the air. I get pumped to play even if it’s practice. It’s all the same to me. The next gig is in Los Feliz Monday at The Derby with our friends The Cavalry. Our good friend Bob Leggett is putting on the show. Check out his reviews in Music Connection. After that it’s off to AZ. I love AZ, especially when it’s before summer. I think I’m done rambling now. Time to get some shut eye ;)

SKELTON

Porterville CA :: 3:12PM
We're on route to Porterville right now. We have a show tonight at Charlie's. It looks like it's going to be a good one. We've been getting a lot of emails from people in Porterville saying they're coming to the show! We've never played there before, so it's always cool to play new places. This week just flew by! We've been coming and going so much over the past month. It barely feels like I've been home at all. I like that feeling. I'd rather be on the road than at home. We did the Forbidden Radio thing on Tuesday. That was cool. We played a few songs and had a good time with Christine and Lux. They think we're fucking crazy and they're probably right! I just restrung my guitar. Right now is the lull before the storm. The process of mental preparation for a show is in effect. When we show up to a venue, we are quiet and focused. We probably come across like we're really pissed off motherfuckers. Sometimes that is true, but most of the time we're just intensely focused before we play. It's how we do it. Everyone is thinking about the show and saving their energy for the stage. Tomorrow night we're in San Francisco, another first for us. I've never been there so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm thirsty... I hope we stop for gas soon. I need to get me some coffee! Ok, signing off for now. RD

San Francisco CA :: 7:22PM
We got into town a few hours ago, checked into the hotel, cleaned up and now we're on our way to the venue. I've never been here before. It looks pretty cool. But traffic is a motherfucker! I'd love to have some time to look around and check things out, but we're likely going to leave early in the AM. I'm looking forward to tonight's show. Last night was a lot of fun, but I think I was banging my head a little harder than usual because my neck is really sore today. Not to worry. I'll still go just as hard tonight. Pain doesn't exist on stage. You feel everything the next day. Well, we just pulled up at the venue. Time to load in! RD

North Hollywood CA :: 9:07PM
Last night was a great show. All the bands on the bill were really good and the promoter was really cool. Our first show in San Francisco was a success. We'll definitely be heading back there on our next tour. Thanks to everyone who came to see us and for all your kind words. We appreciate it! We left SF at about 8:30AM this morning and made it back to LA in good time. I'm extremely tired right now. It's nice to have another successful tour under our belt. I'm looking forward to our show next Saturday at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood. It's all ages so it should be a good one. That's all for now. Here are some pics from the road. Later! RD

North Hollywood CA :: 12:51AM
I got back from Modesto about an hour ago. That was a long drive. We had to make a few stops on the way back. First we stopped in Porterville to meet with a promoter who wanted to introduce us to the owners of two bars out there. She wants to get us a show there. We went to the two different places and they both looked pretty cool. Hopefully we get to play there soon. After that, we had to stop in at the venue in Bakersfield to pick up some equipment that we left there on Friday. Needless to say, I am finally home, showered and ready to crash out. The tour was awesome. The show last night in Modesto was amazing. The crowd was strong and people were really getting into it ... and that’s always a good thing! We ripped through our usual set and came back out for a short encore. We’ve had a really good run of shows over the past 4-5 weeks. The crowds have been so good! I don’t know how else to say it. It makes me happy to see people getting into our music and having a good time at our shows. We live for this and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Things just keep getting better for us. Next weekend we’re up north again, this time hitting San Francisco for the first time. We’re all really excited for that show. It should be a lot of fun. Anyway, my eyes are about to fall out of my head. Here are some photos from the tour. Goodnight! -- RD

Modesto CA :: 3:48PM
We’re 7 miles out of Modesto. Almost at the venue. We’re playing The Fat Cat tonight. It should be a pretty good show. There have been a lot of tickets sold already. That’s always a good thing! Everyone is pretty well rested and we’re pumped for the show. It’s fucking hot again today. We’ve been in all extremes of weather over the past few weeks. We were driving around in snow just three weeks ago. It’s an early show tonight. Soundcheck is at 5:00PM, so we’re about an hour early. I have to restring my guitar as usual. I restring before every show. I usually try to do it in the van during the drive, but I’ve been riding shotgun today and I knew we’d be there early, so I’m not worried about. Signing off for now ... RD

Bakersfield CA :: 4:21PM
We just got to Bakersfield. We’re really fucking early. The venue isn’t opened yet, so we’re just chilling in the parking lot right now. We’re going to head over to Guitar Center in a minute. I have a problem with one of my stage cables, so I need to buy a replacement connector to sort it out. It’s actually pretty fucking hot right now! Three weeks ago we were freezing our balls off in Utah and now we’re sweating our balls off in Bakersfield. Not much else to report right now! -- RD

9:57PM
I’m sitting in the venue right now. We don’t play for a little while, so I’m just hanging out drinking a Rockstar and listening to some music. The first band hasn’t started yet. I’m not sure what time we play. I thought it was 10:30PM, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. We’ve had a pretty uneventful day. After we play tonight we’ll probably make the drive from here to Modesto. We like to get the driving done at night when there is less traffic. And we’re usually more awake at the early hours of the morning. I’m bored off my ass right now! Downtime sucks. I hate waiting around to play. We got here a lot earlier than we needed to be here. But I’d rather be early than late. The DJ is cranking some Madonna right now. I don’t know if you know this or not – but Madonna rocks! I know the words to pretty much every Madonna song because that is all my sister listened to while I was growing up. Here’s Skelton! -- RD

10:09PM
Just walked into the venue, and I’m feeling pretty good! Thanks to my friend: THE CAPTAIN! This place is called The Element Lounge in Bako. I’ve never been to Bakersfield. Except to get gas on the way home to LA. It should be pretty cool though. We’ll definitely make some new fans. We’re going to kill it though, I can feel it. The other band is about to start up. They’re called Three Chord Whore. Pretty funny huh, they’re an all girl local band. Well I’m going to to go mingle now. Talk to you tomorrow!
Skelton

Fresno CA :: 4:45PM
We’re on our way to Fresno right now. We’ve got a show at Crossroads tonight and then we’re playing Redding tomorrow night with our friends Man Automatic. We just spoke to the good people at 106x in Redding and we’re heading in there tomorrow afternoon to be interviewed on air. That should be fun. Last weekend we toured in Utah. It was a crazy weekend, so we didn’t get a lot of time to write. We played Ogden and Richfield. Both shows were off the hook and we’re always looking forward to going back there. We’ll definitely be hitting Utah on the summer tour. Things are pretty busy for us right now. We’re touring pretty consistently from now until early April. We’ve been trying to get things organized to shoot a music video, but we haven’t been in LA long enough to get it started. I’m sure we’ll get that done soon enough. We’ve also been writing a lot, so we’re starting to think about the next album. I’m not sure when we’ll get in the studio to record, but we’re definitely very excited about the new material. Still, right now the priority for us is touring. We’ve got a lot of places to hit before we record the next record. We’re working on putting together the Burning Skies Summer Tour 2008. We’re going to try to make it all the way east on this one. We’re looking at going out for two months. Should be fun! We’re always pumped to play new places. This weekend we’re hitting Redding for the first time and next weekend we’re hitting Bakersfield for the first time, along with a show in Modesto. Touring touring touring! There is nothing better. Life is good. Well, that’s all I have to report right now. We’re getting close to Fresno so I’m gonna sign off for now. Later! -- RD

Redding CA :: 11:35AM
We're on our way home from Redding right now. Yesterday, we got into town at about 3:00PM and drove directly to 106X to do a radio interview. That was alot of fun. Then we went to eat and after that we went to a piercing place where Booker and Skelton got their ears pierced. You'll see some footage of that in the next webisode. After that, we checked into a hotel, showered and headed to the venue. The show was amazing! Thanks so much to Man Automatic for having us out for our first time in Redding. We had an awesome time and the people were really cool to us. We can't wait to come back there. I'm sure Redding will be included on our Summer Tour in June/July. Looking forward to it! Well, I haven't slept for shit so I'm going to pass out for a few hours. Another great tour under our belt! Can't wait to hit Bakersfield and Modesto next weekend. Here are some photos from the road. Later! -- RD

Ripon CA :: 7:42AM
We didn’t leave LA until really late last night, around midnight. Booker and I took first drive and made it to Fresno before we ran out of juice. Skelton and John took over at that point. I tried to sleep, but couldn’t pass out. So I listened to Disc 2 of Miles Davis Bitches Brew album on my iPod. You can hear so much more in that record when you listen to it with headphones. It’s amazing how talented those musicians were. Their improvisations were truly creative. After I finished listening to that I managed to sleep, but I’m not sure for how long. Possibly an hour, but probably less! We just had some breakfast and I’m getting ready to pass out. I’m not sure if I’m sleeping in the van or not. I’ll work that out now.
RD

12-JAN-2008

Ripon CA :: 4:26AM
We just got done with the Ripon show. Fucking awesome! The crowd was great, we sold a shitload of CDs and merchandise and had a great show. The response is always good there! We love playing at Main Street Inn. Thanks Joan! Overall, a really fun night! Tomorrow, we’re off to Fresno to play with our friends Six Ounce Gloves at the Starline. We can’t wait for that. Just drinking some tea right now and getting ready to put my head down and listen to some music and hopefully sleep. Here are some photos from the night!
RD

Ripon CA :: 4:47AM
It's almost 5AM, and I'm wide awake. We played another show in my hometown tonight. The place was packed and we did really well. The crowd was a totally different crowd from the last time we played here. We ripped through the set, which seemed like 15 mins. Then we took a short break and played another set. John fell down three times in front of my drums, my highlight of the show! All I know is we were pouring our hearts out to people who have never heard us before. In the end they wanted more. We have another show tonight in Fresno. Booker, John, and myself were pretty intoxicated. Still feeling it, but I don't give a f@%$. That's how I do it, can't sleep so I'll write. To my left as I write this, RD is putting the pics from tonight up on the site. He is a madman just like me, SKELTON LIKES IT! I'm in a weird mood tonight, I want to break something! I should save it for tonight, going to go read Naked Lunch now and hopefully pass out! PEACE.....
SKELTON

Fresno CA

On route to Fresno right now. Riding shotgun while Skelton drives. We’re cranking an all 80’s mix on the way to the show. Between mine and Booker’s iPods we’ve got it covered – Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Cinderella, Motley Crue, Guns N Roses – you name it, we’ve got it! The tour is going really well. We’re far from new to this, so we slide back into the “tour routine” quite easily. And I’m sure I speak on behalf of the entire band when I say it’s the only routine we care to live by. The only bad thing about touring is going home. I’m so far removed from my home that, at this point, it’s difficult for me to think of any place as “home”. I feel most at home out here with the boys. This is family to me. And our home is “Zeus” (the van) and this road we’re driving down. The dysfunctional mess of life in LA pales in comparison. I’m really looking forward to the show tonight. We’ve played Fresno before so I’m sure our crowd will be even bigger this time. Can’t wait to get on stage and fucking kill it!

RD

PS: Here are some photos from the road

Sacramento CA

It's almost 4AM and we have just left Denny's. We're staying at my out of town uncles house here in Elk Grove, CA. John and I are relaxing inside, while RD and Booker are in the van holding the fort down. All of us ate a late dinner except for RD. He was writing in his journal the whole way to Denny's. He stayed in the van to write while we grinded down some chow. The Roadhouse show tonight was interesting. We weren't expecting much draw wise. It was the last show booked on the tour and all the bands on the bill were from out of town. We didn't care about that as we still played like the place was packed. The Cavalry supported us, and we returned the favor! It was a great time. I even jumped onstage with Bookers guitar and played a little guitar hero as if I was in The Cavalry. We didn't give a fuck tonight, as it easily could've turned into one of those gigs you'd like to forget. We are looking forward to tonight in Fresno. We're playing with a great local band called Six Ounce Gloves at a place called Crossroads. I've heard great things about this band, and it should be dope! Well I'm getting pretty tired now and I'm going to turn in. Goodnight.........

SKELTON

PS: More tour photos!

Ripon CA

Here we are, still on a high after last nights amazing show! Most of the time you don't think much of a small town show. It's always the same stereotype - dive bar, with no scene, or why are you playing here when your base is the hyped up LA. Let us be the first to tell you that's BS! We rolled into town around 5AM and crashed at our good friends Buddy, and Nikki's beautiful new house! Woke up around 11AM, and headed off to Cal St. Stanislaus for a college radio interview with Rachel at 91.9. After killing some time our friends The Cavalry rolled into town. We headed down to the venue, and set up our arsenal. The Cavalry performed around 10PM and set the tone for us and played an amazing set! This band puts on an amazing show and people at the bar really dug it. By the time we were ready to play the place was packed! When the intro started to roll the peoples attention span was deadlocked on the band from front to back. Going into Not Ready To Die the place just went ballistic. That was enough to keep us full throttle for the whole show! Then again that's how it is every show, 120% all the time. That's what the fans deserve. At the end of the night we met alot of cool new people, and I was able to see alot of really great friends again. It meant alot to me to show my hometown Melotia. I'm really proud to be in this band, and glad everyone could share what we were feeling onstage last night. You've all supported me with my music for many years and it means alot to me. Thank you for supporting! Also a big thank you to my parents for all their hospitality. Also too Joan and Ryan at The Main St. Inn for having us. Thank you to all our new fans from Ripon for coming out last night.........we hope to see you Sunday in Modesto at Sidelines!

SKELTON

PS: Here are some photos from the road

Richfield UT

3:54PM – Back on the road again! The tour is over and yes – we survived! Last night’s show was unbelievable. People went crazy! Towards the end of our set, some dude flew onto the stage and knocked my mic stand over. There was spilled water and broken glass all over the place! Rock N Roll!! It was a great way to end the tour. We stayed in town for the night and hung out with as many people as we could. We had some people come from Salt Lake City and Cedar City to see us play, so I’d like to say THANKS to them! You’re crazy for driving that far, but we fucking love you for it! And a big thanks goes out to Steve for helping us out and for being an awesome friend to Melotia. Aaaand ... thanks to Laurie for all her help and for cooking us lunch! Ok, I’m going to go and be depressed that the tour is over. We are all feeling pretty down right now. The end of tour is always hard. And this tour was so great, it is hard to say goodbye to the road. But we’ll be back soon enough! Signing off for now...

RD

Richfield UT

2:46PM – We pulled into Richfield a little over an hour ago. Right now we are at our friend Steve’s house. It is raining and gloomy in Richfield today, but Steve has convinced us that the weather will not affect the turnout at our show tonight. There are posters all around town advertising our show. We have Steve to thank for that! He’s the man! We are seriously fucking pumped for the show tonight. Booker is walking around in circles going out of his mind!! I have to try and get a few hours sleep right now. This is going to be really hard, but I have to try

RD

Albuquerque NM

1:44PM – We’re at a hotel in Albuquerque. The room is about the size of a shoe box. It smells like a shoebox too! The drive from Dallas yesterday was long and boring. The scenery consisted of vast green plains followed by more vast green plains. Booker and I took Zeus (the van) past the halfway point before team 2 (Jason and John) took over. I climbed up back and passed out immediately. I think I slept on and off for the rest of the drive – hard to tell. We got to Albuquerque at about 2:00AM and hit up a Waffle House for a feed. After that, it was time to bribe the hotel guy to let us check in early and basically get 2 nights for the price of one. Giving him a few free cigarettes got us $10 off the room, so we’re happy with that. We’re playing a place called Heroes & Legends Bar tonight. Before we came to the hotel last night, we swung by the venue to check it out and it looks like a pretty cool place. This will be the second last show of the tour. After the show tonight, we drive directly to Richfield Utah for the last show of the tour. That is definitely going to be a finale!

RD

2:04AM – We just left the venue and are now on route to Richfield Utah. We have the last show of the tour there tomorrow night so we have to make the drive right now. Sleep is for the weak! Ok, so tonight’s show was amazing. We played with some amazing bands and met a lot of really cool people (and signed some equally cool boobies!) It was a really fun night and Albuquerque is definitely a place we’ll be hitting on our next tour. I want to send out a big thanks to Tim and Chris for working so hard to promote the show. Kudos! It’s hard to believe that the tour is coming to and end. Tomorrow night’s show is going to be HUGE, so I’m going to get some sleep right now while team 2 (Jason and John) take the wheel for the first half of the drive. Night night!

RD

Dallas TX

2:12AM – After our Houston show last night, we left for Dallas immediately. We arrived at the venue at about 1:00AM. To my surprise, some old friends of mine were actually playing! As I walked up to the front of the venue, I knew I recognized the sound of the band on stage. They’re an Australian band called Porcelain. When I first moved to LA, I did some shows with them in Hollywood. I hadn’t seen them for a while, so it was nice to see them out on the road. We played that same venue the following night (tonight). The crowd was amazing and we met a lot of people after the show. Dallas was a great time and we’re definitely planning to head back there! Back at the hotel right now, but it’s my turn to sleep in the van, so I’m sitting outside right now. We’re leaving for Albuquerque in the morning, so I better try to get some sleep – van sleep, here we come!

RD

Austin TX

12:45PM – We just left the hotel in Austin. The show last night was cool. A smaller crowd, but we still had a lot of people coming up to us after we played. Thanks to everyone for checking us out and buying our album! Austin is a great place! I’ve never been here before and I have to say I’m quite the fan. The main strip seems to be 6th street and it has bar after bar after bar. The night before last (when we arrived here) we walked up and down 6th street and I counted 8 bands playing in bars. And that was a Sunday night! We also went to Coyote Ugly where John and I made bets with the bar girls and won! So they sported the Melotia stickers on their shirts (and asses!) for us. See the Fans & Friends photos section for those photos. They’re not there yet, but I’ll get them up there when we’re done with the tour. Right now we’re heading to Houston for a show tonight. More from me later!

RD

Fort Stockton TX

1:47PM – We’re in Fort Stockton Texas, on route to Austin. I am currently cranking Stevie Ray Vaughan on my iPod at mind blistering volume. When I first started getting guitar lessons at age 8, my guitar teacher introduced me to the world of blues music. Up until then I was all about Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Kiss. But when I first heard Stevie Ray Vaughan, it made me realize that there is so much more to life than rock music. He opened the door for me to get into everything from Johnny Cash to John Coltrane. For the most part, Stevie Ray Vaughan was native to Austin Texas. So naturally I am very excited to get there for that reason alone. As an added bonus, we are playing an all ages show tomorrow night! We’ve been out on the road for two weeks now and the shows have been so amazing. We’ve met so many cool people and played so many awesome venues, it’s overwhelming. I’m really looking forward to the remaining Texas shows – Austin, Houston and Dallas. Booker and I slept in the van last night and ended up talking until 6:00AM. Jason came to wake us up at 8:30AM so we could shower and hit the road. So I’m on 2 ½ hours sleep right now. Iceman (Booker) and Slider (me) are not flying the plane today. If you’ve never seen the movie Top Gun then that would mean nothing to you. But to explain, Booker and Jason do all the driving (because they have insurance!). So when Booker drives, he is Iceman. And as his co-pilot, I am Slider! These are the sorts of things that you come up with on 10 hour drives from Utah to Arizona! What are we going to do when we have a tour bus and a driver? I’m guessing we’ll get a lot more sleep that’s for sure! Speaking of sleep, I’m going to try to get some right now.

RD

El Paso TX

6:26PM – We played El Paso last night – our first show in Texas! After the show, we floated around town for a little while and ended up at a venue called House Of Sin (Rock Bar). From what we were hearing, it is one of the best venues in El Paso. So we decided to go down there and meet the promoter. One thing lead to another and Jason ended up giving him a copy of our CD. Right there and then, he went into his office and listened to the CD. A few minutes later he came out and offered us a show - tonight! So, we’re getting ready right now to head down to the venue and play another El Paso show! Who would have thought! After we left House Of Sin last night, we hit up a Denny’s for some food and then drove around looking for a hotel. A few wrong turns later and we ended up on a one-way road to Juarez Mexico! Woops!!! That was a little scary! Driving into Mexico is easy, but getting back into the US is not so easy. Luckily we managed to turn around before crossing the border. Our hotel room is about ½ a mile from the border. When you stand on the balcony outside, you can see Mexico. Anyway, time to get ready for the show.

4:09AM - Wow, tonight was amazing!!! All the bands on the bill were awesome and the crowd was strong. We played last and it was so fucking cool. We turned a lot of people onto our music and had so much positive feedback after we played. Who would have a thought – a show we weren’t even supposed to be playing and it turned out so well. I’d like to say a big thanks to Big E (the promoter) for hooking us up with the show. His entire crew were amazing and we had a great night! El Paso has been very good to Melotia! We’ll be back in October/November to play House Of Sin again! Ok, time to get some sleep. We have to drive to Austin!

RD

Phoenix AZ

2:31PM – We’re still in Phoenix, getting ready to leave for Texas today. The show last night was cool. A smaller crowd, but still a lot of fun! We caught up with our buddies Herman and Diana and made some new fans, which is always a good thing. The heat in Phoenix is intense! Every time you walk outside it’s like walking into a brick wall of HEAT! I’m not sure that Texas is going to be much better. In all likelihood, it’ll be even worse. Still, we’ve never played Texas, so we’re all really amped to get down there and play some shows. It’s always interesting to play new places and meet new people.

12:01AM - We decided to stay in Phoenix again tonight. We have a show tomorrow night in El Paso, but we decided to just stay here tonight and make the drive early tomorrow. We just watched the Killswitch Engage DVD. I’ve seen it a few times before. It always pumps me up to watch documentaries on bands. Anyway, time to get some sleep!

RD

Salt Lake City UT

11:14AM – Today my thoughts are with the 9/11 victims and their families. They shall not be forgotten. When we got to Salt Lake the day before yesterday, it was about 11:00PM. We parked at the hotel and slept in the van so we could check in the next day. That was fun (not!). Yesterday, I jogged 2.5 miles to and from a 24 Hour Fitness and got a free workout in! It’s hard to workout on the road, but I do my best! Right now we’re on our way out of Salt Lake City. Last night’s show was really cool. A big thanks goes out to Tracy and Zjana for helping to promote our show and introducing our music to a bunch of new fans! We appreciate it guys! The crew at Bar Deluxe in Salt Lake were awesome. I can’t wait to get back there again. We hung out before the show and played some pool. Let the record reflect that John and I kicked Booker and Jason’s ass. Booker and I are now officially pool competitors. I’ll enjoy kicking his ass again whenever we come across pool tables on this tour. Booker – if you’re reading this, PREPARE YOURSELF! So today is a drive day. We’ve got a show tomorrow night in Phoenix, so we’re covering a lot of miles today. We all got about 3-4 hours sleep last night, but surprisingly we are pretty energized right now. We’re cranking some HIM on the stereo and driving through mountains in Utah.

Phoenix AZ

11:14AM - We just arrived in Phoenix. It’s a little after midnight. We’re parked in a Walmart parking lot right by John’s sister’s house. We’re going to stay there tomorrow, but for tonight we’ll just crash in the van right here. We’ve all been reciting lines from the movie Top Gun to relieve the boredom on our long drive from Salt Lake to Phoenix. So we lashed out and spent $7.50 on the Top Gun DVD and we’re gearing up to watch it in the van right now. It’s hot as hell and we can’t run the air conditioner while the van is stationary.

5:43AM - We watched the movie and sweated our asses off the whole way through it. John and I just sat on a bench in the freezer section of Wal-mart for about 2 hours!!! It’s too hot in the van to sleep. The Wal-mart workers were giving us some interesting looks, but no-one told us to leave, so we just sat there and talked for a couple of hours. This sort of downtime is hard. Days off suck!

RD

Fort Collins CO

11:37AM – What’s up motherfuckers! We’re just getting ready now to leave Fort Collins and head to Salt Lake City. We played last night at The Aggie Theatre and it was off the hook! Awesome crowd, great bands and just an all-round good time! Fort Collins fucking rocks! After the show, we were loading our gear out the back when a Fort Collins cop decided to hassle us for putting our gear in the alley (like there was anywhere else to put it!). Apparently we were blocking the alley. We were ordered to move it immediately. Unbeknownst to the cop, his car now has a plethora of Melotia stickers on the back. I have no idea how they got there! Either way, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank Johnny Policeman for helping to promote our band! Apart from the cop, Fort Collins was great and we’ll be coming back there for sure! So today we’ve got a “drive day”. Booker loves those days (not!). I think we’ll be driving through parts of Wyoming, so that’s pretty cool. We’ve never been there before, so it’s always cool to see new places. What else! There’s been a lot of sleeping in the van on this tour – by that I mean NO HOTEL ROOM! It’d be nice to be sponsored by Best Western or Super 8. Last night, however, we did have a hotel room, so everyone is somewhat well-rested today. The hotel had a spa, so John, Booker and I spent a solid hour sitting in that yesterday. You’ll see some of that in Webisode #6. Speaking of webisodes if you haven’t watched Webisode #4 yet you should be ashamed of yourself. You are ordered to watch it immediately. Our buddies Cromwell are in it. I just read their tour diary and heard they had trouble with a tire on their trailer. Get a real trailer fellas!!! Just kidding – let the record reflect that Cromwell lugged our gear on our tour in July and for that, we are thankful. Ok, signing off for now!

RD

Colorado Springs CO

2:43PM – We just left Colorado Springs. Driving north on the 25 headed to Fort Collins. It’s probably going to be about another hour before we get there. Last night’s show was awesome. The band after us had a pretty good following. Apparently they broke up and reunited for that particular show. We had a pretty good crowd there to see us. I had plenty of people coming up to me after we played and they all had very positive things to say about our performance. Most of the time, even if people aren’t into our music, they are impressed by our live show! Last night was no exception to that. We definitely pulled out the big guns and hit it as hard as we could. My right hand (my picking hand) is in bad shape right now. I’ve got cuts all over my fingers and the outside of my hand (the part I use to “mute” the strings) has a deep cut that is aching right now. Time to bust out the Hydrogen Peroxide and heal that shit up! Everyone is pretty happy to have a day off today. We weren’t very well rested before we left LA and it’s been pretty non-stop since we got here. We just did 3 shows in a row. Booker is in the back sleeping right now while Wilcox drives. The first night out, I slept in the van with John. The night after that I slept on the floor in someone’s house. Last night I slept in the van with John. We are all roughing it pretty hard. When you get “van sleep”, it’s not really sleep. You tend to toss and turn most of the night. Like I said, I don’t care about that. We’re stuck in traffic right now. It’s going to make it take twice as long to get to Fort Collins. I’m not really sure what the plan is tonight. I think we’re going to hit up a few bars in the area and try and meet some locals. I’d like to get a good rest tonight if I can. Who knows – we might end up getting a hotel room. Anyway, I’ll check back in later!

RD

Lakewood CO

5:22AM – I really shouldn't be awake this late, but there was work to be done!!! We left LA on Monday at around 4:00PM. I'm on about 4 hours sleep right now!!! We kicked off the tour tonight at Ecks Saloon in Lakewood. As always, we met alot of really cool people and had an awesome show. Thanks to everyone who came out!!! We're playing in Denver tomorrow night at Herman's Hideaway, so if you're in town come check us out! We just put Melotia In motion :: Webisode #4 online, so click the VIDEOS button to watch that. The footage for that webisode was shot in July on the Northern Lights Tour that we did with Cromwell. What a great time! While we're out on the road we're working on putting Webisode #5 together, so stay tuned for that. I'd love to write more, but I am brain dead right now. Time to go sleep in the van next to John! Later...!!!

RD

Richfield UT

2:34AM – We just left The Detour in Richfield. Tonight's show was unbelievable! The crowd was awesome and everyone was 100% into it. What a show to end the tour on! We were so stoked. We played for an hour and then did two encores at the insistence of a very eager fan who actually walked around the entire venue with a jug collecting gas money for us! We met practically everyone there and signed everything from drumsticks to t-shirts. It was definitely the best show of the tour. Thank you Richfield – you guys fucking rock and we'll be back in September to do it all over again! Riding shotgun right now, keeping Booker company as he drives the Melotia Mobile back to LA. We've got a 12 day break before we hit the road again. The next leg starts off in Colorado on the 4th of September. Can't wait for that! We've got about 8 hours of driving ahead of us right now, so we're ingesting ridiculous quantities of coffee and red bull! Time to sign off and crank the iPod!

RD

Clearfield UT

1:14PM – I didn't sleep that well. Booker was out like a light! I tossed and turned, but probably got about 5 hours sleep, so I'm all good. I'm sitting in the living room of a girl's house. I don't remember her name, but she is really cool and so is her friend. Sorry girls - I'm terrible with names! Everyone is piling through the shower right now. Booker and I woke up first, so we got showered before the others even woke up. We're going to get our shit together and head out of here as soon as everyone is ready. We've got a 4 hour drive to Richfield ahead of us. This is the last show of the tour. I hate this feeling – the feeling of going back to LA sucks! At least it's only for 2 weeks. Then we're back out on the road for another 3 weeks, depending on how many shows we get booked. As it stands, we should be good to go from the 4th through to the 12th, but hopefully I'll take it all the way through to the 21st. Next week I am going to have to spend a lot of time booking shows. We'll see how that goes. It's hard to book shows while you're on the road. I might actually try to make some calls now.

RD

Ogden UT

7:44PM – Hello from the road! Sitting shotgun in the van right now, just left the hotel and on our way to the venue! I'm really looking forward to the show tonight. Everyone is well rested. Last night, we finally got to Ogden at around 6:30pm, I think. We checked into a Motel for $50. Jason and John went out to promote and hang out, while I crashed in the hotel room. Booker slept in the van, which was parked right by the hotel room. I think I went to sleep at around 10:30PM and didn't wake up until 10:30AM. I got a good sleep. We just hung out at the mall in Ogden for a few hours. We walked around and promoted and actually sold 3 CDs just from walking around and meeting people. That was pretty cool. Anyway, we're about to pull into the venue so I'm going to get my shit together.

3:05AM – The show tonight was fucking awesome. We had a good most pit going. The crowd was totally into it. We played for almost an hour and sold a bunch of stuff afterwards – CDs, shirts and hoodies! We were autographing posters, shirts and CD's and had a lot of people wanting to get photos with us. That was definitely the best show of the tour so far. It was even better than our "home turf" show in Riverside, and that's saying something! We met two girls at the show who offered to put us up for the night. They live in Clearfield, which is about 10-15 miles south of Ogden. We just pulled up here now. John and Jason are sleeping in the house – Booker and I are crashing in the van. Time to get my head down and rest!

RD

Page AZ

5:58AM – Hello from the road! Sitting shotgun in the van right now, just passing through Page Arizona. Not much here really. It's amazing that, given the terrain and relative vastness of this area, they still managed to build a Walmart Supercenter here! We're in the middle of the fucking desert and there is a Walmart. For all you Aussies out there, Walmart is basically K-Mart on steroids! The show last night in Phoenix was awesome! We got a lot of great feedback from the audience and had a good chance to meet everyone. Thanks to all those who came out to the show. We'll be back in September, so keep an eye on our tour dates page for the date!

RD

Phoenix AZ

6:28PM – We arrived in Phoenix a few hours ago. We're staying at John's sister's house for the night. We might end up staying here again tomorrow night as well. They just cooked a BBQ dinner for us. It was nice to eat some real food. They even went out of their way to buy me some vegetarian stuff. Very nice of them! We're going to head into Tempe tonight to visit some of the venues in attempt to make some connections for future shows here.

2:36AM – We just got back to John's sister's house. I am sitting on the footpath out the front of their house. It is so fucking hot in Phoenix. It's 2 in the morning and I am sweating my ass off. We went out at about 10:30PM and headed to Tempe. We went to a place called The Clubhouse and made friends with the door guy. He hooked us up with the manager and we gave him a CD. Hopefully that will get us a show there. They seemed pretty cool. After that, we went to a place called The Sets, another venue that I've been emailing and trying to get a show at. Again, the door guy was really cool and we gave him a CD and got some more information on how to book a show there. Those two venues seem to be the best in Tempe. We checked out a place called Hollywood Alley, which we are booked to play on the 12th of September, a little over a month from now. After that, we headed to downtown Phoenix and checked out a place called The Brickhouse. It was closed, but I left some stickers at their ticket window. From there we came home. It's late and I should get some sleep, as we have a show tomorrow night at The Paper Heart.

RD

Hesperia NV

3:41PM - Sitting in the van, on route to Vegas! We don't have to load-in until 9:30PM. The show is at 10:30PM. We should sell some merchandise and CDs tonight. We just stopped at a gnarly truck stop. We're only an hour out of Riverside and its redneck central! It's a pretty simple day today – we've got plenty of time to get there and get sorted. We haven't really arranged anywhere to stay tonight, so we might end up hooking up a Motel 6 or something cheap, just to shower and get cleaned up after the show. We are going to be in Vegas until Tuesday, so there will be some major time-suckage going on!

RD

Las Vegas NV

10:17PM – Backstage at the venue now. All of our gear is loaded in and we're now playing the "waiting game". We were supposed to be playing at 10:30PM, but it looks like we're playing at 12:45PM now. It's all good. From what I can see, we are the headliner. The venue is actually pretty good. They're playing some good music through the PA – Rise Against and Alkaline Trio. This makes Booker very happy. Spirits are good all around. My voice seems a little scratchy after last night, but I'm sure I'll be fine. When I suck, I seem to be the only one who notices. The promoter actually made a flyer for the show! Let the record reflect that this is a good thing. It's a sign that the show may have actually been promoted. Right now the venue is pretty empty. There is probably about 30-40 people here. Hopefully it picks up a bit later. Two of my friends are actually here. I'm sitting backstage so I can get some writing done. People don't usually talk to me until after we play. That is how it is for now, since most people here have probably never seen us play before. Well, we've never played in Las Vegas before, so that makes perfect sense. I'm looking forward to breaking heads. We're going to be in Vegas until late Monday night, early Tuesday morning. I'm not sure if we're going to start the drive to Phoenix after Monday's show, or if we're going to just do it on Tuesday. Probably Tuesday, given that we don't play in Phoenix until Wednesday. It's exciting to be on the road. The first band just started playing, so I'm going to get my stuff together. Hopefully we don't play too late!

RD

It's been a crazy month. We kicked it off with the Northern Lights tour with Cromwell, taking us to Fresno, Sacramento and Reno. It was our first time playing in all those places and we had a great time. A big thanks to everyone who came out to the shows! We will definitely be returning in the near future. Our last show in Riverside was at Romano's on the 21st. And that was amazing! It just gets better and better in Riverside. We see a lot of the same faces every time, along with a lot of new faces! The support is overwhelming! Thank you!!!

Our next Riverside show is on Friday the 10th of August at The Vibe. This will be our last show in Riverside for a while, as we’re heading out on tour and expect to be on the road for most of September and October. We’ve been working really hard on booking the dates and the response has been awesome. So much to do – so little time! We’ll be hitting a lot of new places again – Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Can’t wait!

What else – well, I just spent about 4 hours going through all the video footage from our last tour and there is a heap of good stuff there. We’re working on Melotia In Motion:: Webisode #4 right now and we’ll have that online before the 10th (famous last words!). What can I say – those videos are a lot of work! Thanks to Ryan Kelley as always for helping out in that department. Anyway, it is 3:41am and I should probably sleep. Later!

RD

Any normal human being would be in bed at 3:16AM. Not me! So what's new - It's been another crazy month in Melotia Land. We launched our CD on the 15th of June at The Vibe in Riverside. That was an amazing night! Thank you so much to everyone who came out to that show. We sold a heap of CDs and merchandise, so we were stoked about that! Speaking of Riverside, we are kicking off the Northern Lights Tour with Cromwell at Tremors in Riverside this SUNDAY! We play at 5:00PM. This show is a benefit show for cancer, so please come along and support. There are 8 bands playing, so it should be a pretty fun day/night! From there we head to Fresno (Thu 5th), Sacramento (Fri 6th) and Reno (Sat 6th). If you're in any of those areas, come along and check us out! We seriously can't wait to hit the road. We are planning a more extensive tour for August, so keep an eye on our Tour Dates page for the dates.

For the past 4-5 days (i think?) we've been working away on Melotia In Motion :: Webisode #3. That's always a fun time!!! Thanks to Ryan Kelley our resident video guru for all his hard work. We appreciate the long hours mate! Life would be a lot easier if we didn't have 8 BILLION HOURS of footage to go through! So anyway, Webisode #3 is done and I'd really love to upload it to MySpace right now, but MySpace is being a MySpaz and it won't let me upload video - something about "an unexpected error has occurred". Well of course it was f-cking unexpected!!! How often do you click on a link and say to yourself "I'm expecting there to be an error right now!" ... Three cheers for whoever wrote that error message! Well anyway, hopefully by the time you read this Webisode #3 will be online. Check the front of our page or the videos section. Ok, time for bed. Can't wait for the tour!!!

RD

Ok, so it's been a crazy 3 ½ weeks! Where to begin! After our May 28 show in Riverside we set our album release date for June 15th and then decided that we wanted to record two more songs for the album - those songs being Burning Skies and Broken Love. The timeframe was short and the schedule was tight, but we were convinced we could get it done. We literally headed into the studio that week and laid down the drums in one day. We then proceeded to record all of the music over the course of a week and all the vocals the following week. Everyone performed amazing! Tracking was a breeze. Then came the mixing stage – what a stress! A lot of sleep was lost that's for sure! During the mixing phase last week, we had to stop to switch our focus to the design of the album artwork, as the deadline for that was rapidly approaching. We had a lot of ideas and some really amazing photos to work with, thanks to Ryan Kelley (the 5th member of Melotia). We all sat down last Thursday night and spent a few hours throwing around ideas and came up with a cover design and booklet that we’re really happy with.

Wait, back up a second – did I mention the photo shoot? No! We decided to do a photo shoot the Sunday before that so we could have some exclusive band shots for the album sleeve. We headed to LA96C, the ex Cold War Nike Missile Site on Mulholland Drive, along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains. Ironically, that photo shoot yielded a whole bunch of other photos that guided the entire theme of the album cover. The barren, abandoned landscape of LA96C paralleled well with the theme of our album. Who would have known? So anyway, the artwork for the album was completed last Friday and then it was back to more mixing. The final mixes of Burning Skies and Broken Love were done on Monday (Memorial Day – sure will be a memory for us!) and our album was officially DONE. It’s been an absolutely crazy, hectic, intense and stressful 3 ½ weeks but the work is done and we’re ready to get back on stage. We’re launching the album at The Vibe in Riverside on Friday 15th of June. The album will be available for sale on the night. Keep an eye on our tour dates page, as we’ll be hittin’ the road in July/August and in all likelihood, we’ll be coming to your town! Thanks for all your support. See you in the pit!

RD

I'm writing this at 12:20AM. I just got home from practice and I'm damn tired. I have a bad habit of falling asleep when I drive so I get worried that I might not make it sometimes. I guess when you're this committed to something you'll just about do anything to get it. This is a dream I've chased for 13 years and it has never left my side. I've ran towards it and away from it and no matter what its still there. It's an honor to share this same focus with RD, Skelton and Booker. If you have ever played in a band or really counted on someone to be there it's really hard to find that.

John

Hey people.... RD here checking in with you from "The Cabin" in beautiful Valley Village, California! So, we got Webisode #1 of Melotia In Motion online tonight. If you haven't watched it yet, watch it now !! Ryan (aka Kelley, our resident photo/video guru) worked hard all night last night and tonight to get it happening. He did an awesome job. Thanks mate! Much appreciated! Can't wait to put together Webisode #2!!! Of course, as we were uploading it to the website, the DSL in our house decided to die ... FRUSTRATING!! So tonight is the big night... we're playing at The Viper Room in Hollywood and I can tell you right now, we are pumped...!!! It's been a looooong road to get to this point. We've worked really hard as a band. There is no way in the world I could possibly explain how much we've been through to get to this point. But I can say this - we're all truly looking forward to showing everyone what we're all about. And I hope to see you all there!

RD

John and I are on our way to rehearsal now and for once the 60 freeway is moving normally. I can't help but wonder how many miles I've travelled in the past year and a half... no doubt a lot. The good news is that the Viper Room show is exactly a week away. I know the other guys are as excited as I am to have the warm up shows out of the way. I look forward to seeing all our friends there and to be able to show everyone what has taken so long. It will be great to get on stage with all of your support. The wierdest thing for me though will be when I look over and don't see Kevin on stage with me (singer from last band Shatter). That band played so many shows that there's no way I can remember them all. It will take some getting used to. Melotia has great stage chemistry too so it shouldn't take long for me to not know any other way. The warm-up show went great. The Good Hurt in Venice was an awesome place to play. The staff and owner were good to us. Hopefully we can get out to the Inland Empire to play some shows. If you know of any good venues to play, let us know and tell the promoter that you want to see Melotia. We will hopefully play The Vibe soon, but I've had trouble getting a hold of Jared, since we rehearse on the night he promotes. Well, I'm gonna sign off now. I hope to see everyone at The Viper Room!

Booker