Friday 28th August 2009 Mexicala, Mexico

Say hi to Luke bastard everyone, luke looks after the merch.


Spot us lot amongst the hippes, if you get the lot Scruff will buy you a beer!



Note our last chips stacked on 27 as usual, having lost all our money we had no choice but resort to accusing the Victor (the croupier) of being a cheating bastard!



Outside the front of the hotel.



118 degress through the desert, I never felt heat like it!


We drove all the way to the border of Mexico for the Mexicali gig & the promoter did not have our paperwork done so we could cross the border. Which pissed everyone right off so the gig was off. Gathering our thoughts We headed straight off for the Vegas Show, Eleven hours in total driving through the desert & terrain which was like something out of a Sci Fi movie, It was so incredibly hot & at times surreal. The boys had a game of cards, which lasted about five hours Shahen was skinning everyone who played, Luke bastard lost a fortune, I think after about five hours Kid began to understand the game a bit. Some of us just tried to sleep. Pete was suffering badly with the heat & threw up at a gas station. We had good sounds on all the way except for when a Blast of Tom Petty came on Kid would go off & Shout turn this shit off. Funny he calls him the Albino, but we all Like Good old Tom so kid had to endure it all. How can anything live out here, well People for one thing, No wonder they are always seeing aliens. Five minutes out in the Dessert was torture the temperature was well into the 118-degree mark. Insanity.
We arrived in Vegas around 9pm gasping for a pint & we checked into the Palms in old down town Vegas, right at the end of Freemont Street it was spectacular. First thing we all did was take a shower then go & eat. They would not let kid in the restaurant because he had no sleeves on his shirt so they gave him a Green & Yellow jacket, which he put on back to front & resembled a Phsyco ward patient it was hilarious. Jimmy & randy bastard chose to hit the Hotel room instead. The waiter was funny guy who never wrote down a single order & remembered everyone’s order except for Hoggy’s, I blame that on Pete for being a bugger & confusing the bloke. Then off to the the Roulette table where we all lost & got into a bit of a row with Victor, Pete said the table was rigged & would prove it, We did four bets on 27 & Pete said as soon as we finish Guaranteed 27 would hit. & Guess what it did. So Pete called him a Cheating C*nt & we took a photo of it.

Wednesday 24th August 2009 Visit to Schecter

Day off today so we visited Schecter guitars, they sponsor the Adicts and supply all the guitars to the band.



Hoggy soon made himself at home!




Outside Schecter



Scruff with some of his purchases!



Scruff with Dee Dee's acoustic.



Me having a go with Prince's guitar!




Pete signed some of his signature guitars whilst we were here, Pete has difficulty being serious and sometimes reminds me of Freddy Starr!

Sunday 23rd August 2009 HOME DEPOT CENTRE LOS ANGELES

Scruff n Pete at the Lennon bus.




Nick from the subs stopped by the RV for a jam.



And Charlie ended up eating burgers and dancin' with Pete, (neither could dance!)



Some people have unkindly accused Kid of being dsylexic and unable to read.
To finally dispell these unkind, untrue rumours I thought I'd post this pic of Kid reading his Clash book on the bus.



Best gig of the Warped tour for me and I think for others too, they organisers were operating 2 stages so as one band ended the next started (non stop music) anyway we were preparing the stage for the Adicts and I looked out into a massive sea of heads infront of the Adicts stage, unfortunatley for the band on the other stage their audience was small in comparison and then the fans in front of the Adicts stage started singing "Adicts, Adicts, Adicts" and it was so loud the band on the other stage was getting drowned out! It was a great atmosphere!
The band hit the stage and played really well, no problems and the crowd went wild, they were great!
Straight home and to bed after the gig, I was knackered!
Now have 3 days off before the Mexico, Las Vegas and Ventura!

Saturday 22nd August 2009 CRICKET AMPITHEATRE SAN DIEGO

At the airport for our flight to San Diego.
We were surrounded by noisy kids on the flight and the lad sat behind Pete was quite a character. Pete told them to be quiet or he punch him in the face, perhaps not politically correct but very funny, we got talking to the kids and they were quite friendly, we talked to them and the subject got onto the band and they asked for autographs, Pete agreed to the autographs provided the whole group of them screamed just as the plane lifted off and shouted "were all gonna die". They willingly agreed! their execution was perfect, the whole plane turned round and looked. I laughed so much I thought I was gonna wet myself.
As we left the plane the lad sat behind Pete carried out his final task which was to ask the air hostess what you have to do to join the mile high club!






The band did signings after the warped tour gigs, this would take up to an hour, the queues were huge!








Jim was with us on this one, it's like the missing component from the bastard crew has been installed!




The bastards return with the merch.

Friday 21st August 2009 SLEEPTRAIN AMPITHEATRE SACREMENTO

Randy, tour manager and sound engineer



Gerald, driver, fixer and Iron man



At the hotel




Pete and Dan



Scruff and Hoggy



Pete



Late night dip, Bloody hell Scruff, thats one hell of a bifta!



Bloody Pete (we call him the Fuhrer behind his back) woke everyone up early as punishment for someone being late yesterday, bastard! (love ya Pete!) Little did we know the temperature was gonna be mega hot today, Luke got a good pitch for the merch. tent and we got all the guitars/gear etc. sorted and stored back stage, after yesterdays fiasco we were determined to be on our game today. Dunno what the temperture was but I think the only time I have known anything like it was on the Gazza strip.
Rehydration is really important and we were having to drink continuously, unfortunately we only had alcohol so as the day wore on we started to get pissed.
Hoggy got bit on the ankle by a bloody brown recluse spider which ran and hid under the seats in the RV and we can’t find it. His foot swelled up till he could hardly walk. The medics came and took him away in a wheel chair. We all stood outside the RV and clapped as they pushed him away. We were happy to see hog go as it meant more beer for us!
The band were headlining so we were last on at 18:45. At gigs lately we haven’t been happy with the sound on stage but tonight we had Pete’s Bognor guitar rig back and Scruff was nice and loud, also the monitor setup had been stored at the previous gig so it was good from the start.
It sounded great and the band went for it in their usual full on attack, it was so frikkin hot on stage it was indescribable; I looked out into a sea of sweaty cleavage.
We were worried about the crowd in the heat and a thoughtful Shahen threw a water out, unfortunately it was in a can and nearly took some ones bloody head off!
People had been passing out all day with heat stroke. Hoggy was in his element in the medical tent as he was surrounded by unconscious heat stroked girls. He loved it, sick bugger!
After the show the band did an autograph session, which lasted ages, meanwhile we bastards were breaking down the stage and getting the trailer packed. This was quite a task as the trailer park was some distance from the stage, we had to do several trips with the trolleys in blazing heat, it was a killer.
It was a great show today, crowd were great, band were on it and so were the Bastards, we left the veue with everyone on a high.
Finally we pulled out onto the freeway and headed toward San Diego, the bus had to to stop to drop Scruff, Pete and me off at the hotel as we were flying down in the morning.
There was a choice wether to fly or take the bus over night, only three of us had opted for flying. So we checked back into the hotel and the tour bus departed. We were hot and sweaty and spotted a pool out the back, it was 22:00 and I asked if the pool was still open, unfortunately it had closed for the night. I surveyed the pool area, it was well fenced with gates that could be opened by your room key but only till 21:00.
We went up to the room and ordered a pizza to be delivered. We had no swimming gear and anyway our underwear was in need of a rinse so we headed out wearing just pants and carrying towels and beers, hoping not to meet anyone on the way.
In no time we had breached the pools defences and I jumped straight into the deep end, the cool water washed over my body, it was fantastic after the heat we had endured that day. We all swam for a while (well Scruff didn't he sank!) and then we lay back in the Jaccuzi, our thoughts turned to the rest of the guys, cooped up with Hoggy's feet for the 11 hour run down to San Diego, We toasted them and settled back into the water.
It was then I remembered the Pizza, shit! I jumped out of the water and climbed out of the pool area and spotted the Pizza delivery guy walking around in reception, I went to the edge of the reception area and stood in my y front's dripping water everywhere peering around cautiously for any sign of staff, it looked all clear so I called softly to him, "over here mate"! I was now stood in the huge puddle of water, in my y fronts, he advanced toward me looking a little nervous, I gave him the dollars and took the pizza and pushed the door open to go back outside only to walk straight into the bloody hotel receptionist, she did a double take and looked me up and down, I am sure she thought I was wetting myself, "hello" I said cheerily, She stared at me strangley and then said dryly "good night sir" and walked off. Phew!
I rejoined the others at the pool and we tucked into our pizza n lager supper before more swimming during which we discovered it's definately dangerous to make a diving board from a sun lounger, and also that the sun loungers don't float and therefore are unsuitable for in pool use, Nowhere on the beds was any safety warning explaining either of these facts. Disgraceful!
We hit the sack at 01:30 and I slept like a baby.

Thursday 20th August 2009 SHORELINE PAVILLION SAN FRANCISCO

Randy, Scruff, Hoggy, Kid and Pete arriving at the venue



Great view of Catalina as we flew up from LA to San Fransisco



Shahen seemed in a bit of trouble with the streamers.






Same to you mate and get your hair cut

Early start to catch 10:40 flight To San Fransisco.
Then caught a shuttle to the Venue and met up with the others

Got the gear unloaded and ready, checking/tuning guitars etc. Couple of hours before the show we moved it all backstage and thought we were ready.
When it got to setup time the band before has bloody heaps of gear and took ages to get off, then I couldn't get any radio's working on the guitars bloody hell!
It turned into a panic and both guitars ended up running on lines.
Show over we all realised we were gonna have to up our game if we are gonna get the stage changed over in time at the next gigs.

Wednesday 19th August 2009 Travel to LA

Sid the manager (Taxi) turned up with kid as planned and we then collected Hog and Scruff and made good time to the airport.

Had a good session in the bar so by the time we were up in the air I was unconscious.
Uneventful flight, very smooth.

We got picked us up from the airport and an hour later we arrived at home, or at least home for tonight.

I have just got to bed and it 07:15 UK time.

Fly to San fransisco in the morning.

Tuesday 18th August 2009. Packing again!

All packed up and ready for the next phase of the tour, taxi is picking me up tomorrow at 05:15 for the flight from Heathrow to LA.

Gigs during this phase.

Aug 20 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ SHORELINE PAVILLION SAN FRANCISCO, California
Aug 21 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ SLEEPTRAIN AMPITHEATER SACRAMENTO, California
Aug 22 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ CRICKET AMPITHEATER SAN DIEGO, California
Aug 23 2009 1:00P
VANS WARPED TOUR ~ HOME DEPOT CENTER LOS ANGELES, California
Aug 28 2009 7:00P
MEXICALI ~ MEXICO MEXICALI
Aug 29 2009 7:00P
PREMIERE ~VEGAS ROCKS 5th ANNIVERSARY PARTY LAS VEGAS ~ 21 + LAS VEGAS, Nevada
Aug 30 2009 7:00P
~ VENTURA THEATRE ~ VENTURA ~ VENTURA ~, California

Sunday 16th August 2009. Travel

Saturday 15th August 2009 Switzerland Verscio

Mel got searched at customs and for some reason he had a boiled egg in his trouser pocket!

The bastards and Kid cool off, it was so hot!


Bastard waiter



REAL MCKENZIES 14:00 – 15:00
SOULLINE 15:30 – 16:30
VAD VUC 17:15 – 18:30
VOMITORS 19:00 – 20:00
ADICTS 20:45 – 21:45
NO FUN AT ALL 22:15 – 23:15
RIGHEIRA 23:45 – 00:45
QUIREBOYS 01:15 – 02:15

Thursday 13th August 2009. Ipswich.

Keef ermmm I mean Scruff




Pete giving it some




Monk




Me n the Pete Dee sig moved too fast for the camera ha ha


Suspect devices Johnny, had to play a bit of guitar.


Suspect Device minus Andy, Pete loved us and said some really nice stuff to me after the show, we love Pete!

Busy day today, we loaded the backline and PA system at Universal and took it over to the Regent, unfortunately the venue had a daytime hire which meant we couldn’t get in till 17:15. With sound check at 1900 it was gonna be tight.
Sound check over ran and we couldn’t find Mel so I played bass although couldn’t remember any songs except Steamroller, we ended up with doors opening at 20:00.
First band dangers close (who also played rebellion) played a blinding set, and then Suspect Device played although we missed Andy who was sunning himself in Turkey, I had to work much harder than usual on guitar and Jonny played on some songs which helped a lot.
Then about 22:00 the Adicts took to the stage, the atmosphere was great, I think people felt a bit special seeing the band in a small intimate venue. As always the band gave it 100%, it didn’t matter the small venue they went for it which you have to admire.
Great gig review in the evening Star.

Saturday 8th August Rebellion Blackpool UK

Pete bumped into a bunch of Maryln's and guest listed them as Maryln Monroe x 20


Along the sea front


Pete doing a 'Michael Jackson' with his guitar



Sat morning and the girls wanted to go shopping and I was still tired from my late night so they left me sleeping, I finally woke up to a beautiful Lancashire day and looked out of my window to a stunning view across the sea. The sun was shining, it’s gonna be a great day.
I had brought an amp with me for Pete so I headed off to the bands hotel with the idea of putting it in the van so I didn’t have to drive to the gig later. Hoggy came out and we chatted outside until we suddenly heard some one shout “restring my f*!king guitar” we looked up to see Pete hanging out of his bedroom window swinging his Schecter signature guitar, t’was just like Jacko’s baby all over again except it was Pete with his baby! Passerbys looked up in bewilderment.
Mel and Scruff bumped into Ade Edmunson who was staying in the hotel, his band having performed on the Friday night. They stalked Ade around Blackpool for the rest of the day.
Mel appeared and we got the amp into the van and I headed off to meet the girls.
We then had a lovely breakfast and then spent the day wandering around. We went for a meal at Wetherspoons in the evening.
At about 21:00 Pol and Harry went back to the hotel and Charlotte and I went to the venue, we found the dressing room and set about restringing the guitars.
Charotte and I then went and caught some of the Subs we looked down from the balcony, the venue looked about 95% full and the subs were on great form, mr Harper is a legend, my band (Suspect Device) have supported the subs a couple of times and Charlie is always lovely, no bullshit as with some ‘famous’ people.
We then moved all the Adicts gear backstage ready.
I had wondered with it being so late wether some people would bugger off but no, the venue was rammed.
The band played a great set, it was great so have Mel back (although it has to be said that Shawhen has been doing an awesome job) Mel seemed to be loving it after his break.
Charlotte and I finally got back to the hotel at 04:00 knackered!

Friday 7th August 2009 Rebellion Blackpool UK

The cap'n in action!


The Damned headline the Friday.

Bit of a strange gig for me this in that I am not travelling with the band. They have travelled up earlier in the day by minibus whereas I am In the car with Pol and the kids. The Adicts are Headlining tomorrow night so chilling today.
Pol and the kids went to bed about 11 so I got a cab to the Wintergarden and went for a beer only to bump into Hog and Kid. We had a couple of ales and then I went off to watch the Damned. Old sensible's a bloody good guitarist y'no, only it kep't breaking and he was giving all kinds of shit to his guitar tech! hmmm. Got a feeling of DeJa Vous ha, ha!
Sound was shit but it wasn't really any ones fault, t'was the building.