Shaun's Blog

FRAT WARNING!

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:36:18 -0400

Today a video from our recent show in Glasgow surfaced where Adam had what could loosely be called an “altercation” while out in the crowd. Usually we refrain from discussing stupid things and taking the higher road, well to hell with that. The incident was brief, all parties unharmed, though I don’t condone any of the weirdness seen in the clip. What I also can’t condone is the rampant shit talking and wild speculation going on over at absolutepunk.net. Here’s a little insight on the last few months of our lives, and more specifically Adam’s to give you some perspective.

February 29^th we flew to Ohio for a college show. The show was amazing and we all had a blast. We scheduled some studio time with our friends in rural Michigan right after.

March 1 we began working on piecing together new songs.

March 2 was more of the same, creative juices were flowing (SEXY!). Sometime around 11PM Mark goes up to bed. The rest of us are in the kitchen talking and laughing. Eddie and Adam step out on the porch for a smoke. Minutes later, I hear a tremendously loud crack and a smash on the roof of the house. I hear Adam screaming at the top of his lungs “EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE!!!!!!!”. I rush outside and to my horror see a giant tree has fallen pinning Adam against the wall of the house. His foot is wedged underneath a ledge. He cannot stand. Eddie rushes in, throwing Adam’s arm over his shoulder and holds him upright. I try to find the piece of branch that will dislodge my friend and lead singer. The tree was so massive I realize that a hundred human hands won’t budge it. Still Mark, John and Ray our trusty engineer/tech try to figure out what to do. My mind is racing. I see his leg up close. I’m afraid they will have to amputate. It looks BAD. The bone was basically bent at a 90 degree angle. Paramedics arrive quickly. Probably the 15 minutes of the longest minutes of our lives. They have a chainsaw! Two quick cuts and Adam is free.

They race to the hospital. John takes the ride, the rest of us sit up and stir waiting for updates. Around 3AM John lets us know that Adam won’t need surgery. They will cast him and he will be home tonight. Phew… They finally get back to the house around 7:30AM. Adam is in a cast from toes to hip. He also has a quarter sized puncture wound on his “good” calf which goes about a half inch deep into the muscle.

March 5 we fly home. Adam can finally rest.

April 2 – Fly 24 hours straight to Australia for a tour with New Found Glory, The Maine, and This Time Next Year. Anyone who has ever done this flight knows how much it sucks. Try doing it with 1 broken leg, and an open wound in the other. Also all that swelling that occurs in the feet and legs at 40,000 feet doesn’t really promote healing that well. Did I mention that Australia is so big you have to fly EVERY OTHER DAY? We then flew up to The Philippines for an amazing show in Manila. After a short 18 hour flight we are home again. Ahhh rest.

April 18 – Fly to Europe for shows for the US Military. LOTS of flying, sometimes in VERY small planes. One of the most amazing and rewarding tours we have ever done. We could not be more grateful for this experience.

May 2 – Arrive home. Right to work on more demos in NY away from falling trees.

May 9 – College show in Boston.

May 10 – HOME

May 24 – Leave for Slam Dunk Fest in the UK. Or so we think. Massive flight delays. Mark and I get stuck in Philly and have to fly to Manchester 24 hours later. Adam and John make their connection after being delayed for over 3 hours, sit on the plane for two and a half hours more and are told to deboard and fly out the next day.

May 26 – Arrive in Manchester after a 7+ hour flight, no time to acclimate with the time change. Hour drive to Leeds. Immediately start meet and greet, then press less than an hour of getting to the venue. 9:10 hit the stage for an hour and 15 minutes. Get on the bus and sleep.

May 30 – Finally home

Know I am not complaining about any of this. I absolutely love my job, and I love my bandmates. I am so lucky to get to have such a crazy schedule and see so many amazing places while playing music with my friends. Adam has had a rough go of it the last couple months and I felt it needed to be addressed. He is a proud man, and doesn’t want pity. This is why he doesn’t talk about it in detail. He went through all this because he didn’t want to let people down. We (the band) have to pay the bills. You (the fans) paid your hard earned money for that ticket. I am well aware we have some less than stellar shows, but we also have some pretty great ones too. We’re only human, and sometimes extenuating circumstances prevent us from performing at our very best. I promise you that over the last 2 years, none of us have ever once phoned it in.

We’re coming out swinging on the Warped Tour. Can’t wait to see everyone this summer.

Sincerely,

Shaun

Dusting this thing off...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:30:38 -0500

I’ve been hanging around at home for the last couple days a little under the weather. About once a year for the last 5 years I get sick for about two days towards the end of February. Nothing too bad, I just feel mildly feverish, lethargic and have a little baby cough.

With this free time on my hands I began thinking that I’ve been touring for over ten years, but have documented none of it. I figured that in the interest of documentation, and a little indulgence of my own narcissism I’d dust the old blog off.

Since TBS is on a small break, I don’t have much to report personally. However, last night I got to watch two of my friends from very different worlds grace my television set.

First up was Tommy Helm (http://www.empirestatestudios.com/) on Ink Masters on Spike TV. Tommy has been tattooing my friends and me since high school (I sadly only have 1). One night years ago, Mark O’Connell and I were hanging out and I may have had a little too much to drink. We were in Tommy’s neighborhood and decided to pay him a visit. He lived by the beach then, and on the walk there I decided it would be a great idea to do flips off the lifeguard stands onto the sand. Despite the late hour and drunkenness Tommy was a very gracious host. After about an hour of weirding out his friends I noticed that sand had accumulated in the back pockets of my jeans and was spilling out all over Tommy’s couch. We apologized and made a quick exit. Tommy has been kicking ass on the show and in my very biased opinion deserves to win the whole thing. I’ll be watching over the next couple weeks to see how the competition unfolds.

Next was my old buddy Will Noon playing with Fun (http://ournameisfun.com/) on Conan. Not many people know this, but Will and I first met around 1993. We played in a little band with my friend Nicky “Knuckles” Lamagna in Will’s basement. We played mostly Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots covers and were really terrible. When Straylight Run started about a decade later I once again found myself back in Will’s basement. Anyway, Will and Fun looked and sounded great last night. When I heard their song “We Are Young” on a freaking SUPER BOWL commercial I knew they were going to be in for a helluva year. I couldn’t be happier for them. Go buy their record Some Nights now.

Ok, time for some more Linsanity!

-Shaun

okay for the new dates that went up, it says that there will be VIP tickets available for the dates 6/22-6/29.. chicago is the 27th but there's no ticket link for VIP? any ideas what's going on?

Tue, 04 May 2010 17:23:52 -0400

No, there should be something soon though

Shaun's Blog

FRAT WARNING!

Dusting this thing off...

okay for the new dates that went up, it says that there will be VIP tickets available for the dates 6/22-6/29.. chicago is the 27th but there's no ticket link for VIP? any ideas what's going on?

are you going to be playing any songs from WYWTB, Louder Now, or New Again when you come to starland?

do you know if ya'll will be playing some of the old rare songs for the upcoming shows like "your own disaster" or "the ballad of sal villanueva"?

so excited about the album btw after hearing the clip of that song to the level that i try not to think about it cos i cant hear the whole thing NOW and it kills me.

I have a doctorate in Beardology from Galifianakis University. Are you a beard enthusiast?

Do u ever see doing Warped tour ever again?!

what do you think of alkaline trio's new music?

what are you 3 favorite types of beer? my are corona, kasteel cherry, and pbr. (in that order)

By the way man, I really appreciate you taking so much time to answer all our questions. Its so cool having this kinda of communication. At least to me it is.

It's the UK general election on Thursday...will you run for Prime Minister so I can vote without feeling guilty for dooming my country? I'm sure you'd do a wonderful job!

do you think you'll be playing TAYF in its entirety on the upcoming tour? i'll probably cry. anyway, see you in nyc! i'm unbelievably stoked. thank you for making such amazing music.

do you normally write the lyrics first or do the other parts first

Beers bad mkay

who is your favorite beatle?

do you believe gingers dont have souls?

what song are you most excited to play live? (new ones?)

"I don't wanna talk, I just wanna... 'taste you' or 'text you'?

What's your favorite quality about each of the guys in TBS?