News & Updates

I'm becoming increasingly amazed and interested in the scenery around me while we drive. For a good hour and a half yesterday, I laid on the back bench just peering out the side back window from the nose up, like you would see a little kid in the back of his family's Ford Explorer on their first road trip. We passed wineries, and I couldn't help but wonder if next to a highway was really the ideal place for a winery. We passed farms that had more than corn (though they had their share...), and I speculated on what the low dark green leaves were compared to the taller light greens. I stared forever into the endless amounts of forests just to see a slight glimpse of a house laying hidden deep within, and when I'd try to get a better look, it would be gone. I look out at the hills and mountains in the distance, covered with trees, and wonder how tall those trees are and if anyone has ever walked the ground beneath it. Do people live up there?

My favorite thing, however, is the bridges and the rivers. It's such a simple thing, a river. Water flows from the highest points, to the lowest points, and eventually out to sea. In Florida though, we don't have high points. We're generally at sea level throughout the entire state. This means a severe lack of rivers, and therefore bridges. The bridges we do have will just be across a lake or canal. And there's the bridges in the Tampa Bay area that span large parts of the bay, but those don't really count. There are barely a few respectable looking rivers in North Florida. So with every bridge we pass, I perk up and stare out at the water below. How fast is it running? How deep is it? What kinds of fish live in it? Where does it lead? Are there rapids? Is it alright to swim in? To drink?

Let's not forget the architecture of the bridges themselves. Some of them just put me in awe when we drive over them. Then the science and logic side of my brain kicks in and starts asking questions. Water causes erosion. The rivers exist because the water has eroded that path towards the ocean. Are these bridges prepared for the eventual growth of the river? Yes, erosion takes a lot of time, but in 50 years, could a river widen by a foot? It sounds plausible to me. The Colorado River dug the Grand Canyon, did it not? I wonder about the future, whether architects and city planners have thought of this problem. Are there measures already in place for such events or will we just demolish and rebuild?

Enough about nature, I suppose. Soon enough I'll be a regular Henry David Thoreau, and really...there's a time and a place for Thoreau. This is neither.

A handful more shows have come and gone. Tonight is the end of the Gig Afterlife tour, unfortunately. It really was way too short. I love every single person on this tour and want to keep hanging out with them every day. Last night in Erie was A Loss For Words's last night, because they're heading to Japan today. Color me completely jealous. If you ever get a chance to see them, do it, and make sure you pick up some merch or a cd or something, because those guys do it all by themselves with no label helping them out.

Hey speaking of merch, would anyone out there be interested in designing Crime in Stereo shirts/hoodies/tanktops/etc? If you're interested or have any ideas, by all means, we want to hear and see all of it. Send me an e-mail at jbspickler@gmail.com.

Lawrence, KS was a pretty good show. Our friend Aimee came to hang out and we convinced her to come to the show the next night in Sauget, IL. Eric had to head home for a family emergency after the show, so starting in Sauget, Kyle from Fireworks has been kind enough to fill in on bass, while Gary jumped back over to guitar. Eric's back in Philly today, though. Thanks Kyle! Sauget was weird. Is it pronounced SAW-GET or SAW-JAY? What up, Greg. Hope you got your keys out of your car painlessly.

Covington, KY is a small city bordering Cincinnati, OH. Can you call it a suburb? I'm not sure. Regardless, it was the best show of Gig Afterlife so far. There were easily over 500 people at the show, and it must have been about 100 degrees inside. Just standing at the merch table, I was drenched in sweat. The humidity was worse than Florida's. Of course, Four Year Strong has been covering Ashcroft the past few nights, so I HAD to go up and jump on kids. This resulted in my being even more sweaty and worn out. After that, I got the bartender to let me stand in the walk-in fridge for a minute, so that was nice.

Erie last night was a great show. Torti put on another great show. Sad to see A Loss For Words go, but we'll see them again at Great American Hardcore Fest in a couple weeks. Crime in Stereo plays Friday night at the ICC Church. I've heard some whisperings as to who the unannounced headliners are, and I'm pretty blown away. If you have any possibility of going at all, you're going to need to. AL4W and Four Year Strong play Saturday I believe.

Had some weird dreams last night. One of which is this semi-recurring dream I have where I dream that I'm dreaming. But the dream within the dream feels like real life. There's much more to it, but it's complicated. Regardless, it leaves me questioning reality when I actually wake up. I don't know what dream was really a dream or what was real life or whether or not I'm actually awake yet. The other weird dream I had was that Bob Saget came to dinner. I don't know why. Though, when I think about it, that would probably be pretty awesome.

Philly today. I'm writing this in the van on the way there, so I'll post it when we get there. We've been driving next to this river for a little while. I'm into it. Then we have two days off, in which I swear I will post a bunch of random pictures I've taken. Nothing too exciting really, but whatever. Then we go to Richmond, then Charleston, then meet up with the Have Heart tour in Jacksonville, and then we're back up the east coast with them. I'd better see some of my friends in Jacksonville. It'll be the closest to home I'll have been and will be until the end of October.

So, Sioux Falls was weird. It was a Friday night but there were still barely any kids there. I guess it is the middle of nowhere though...

Fargo has come and gone. I suppose it ended up living up to the expectations the band had set for it. Matty from A Loss For Words decided he wanted to party with us, so he jumped in our van after the show. At the show, I met a dude named Scott who had an ooooold CIS shirt on. He ended up taking us out to a toga party after the show. Everyone there ruled. Across the street from this party, however, was another party. Where I'm from, if there's a party going on by your party, you can go say hey and see what's up. So I go over there with a couple other people, and a minute into it, some guy is in my face. He's yelling all kinds of things at me and shoving me through his party. He was bigger than me, as most peole are, so him shoving me was working. He ends up pushing me through his glass front door/window. I go through it hand first, and cut the hell out of my fingers. This all spills outside. A scuffle ensues. End result: my fingers are sliced up and I have a black eye. That's enough details on that. Kristian said I look like one of the dudes from Trainspotting. "Not one of the smack heads." After I bandaged myself, we went out and drank more.

Anyway, Scott and Emily and their friends were awesome. They came to see us in Minneapolis too. Good people.

Minneapolis was a fun time. This band The Dares opened up, and they're super talented and catchy. Every band is impressing me every night. More people need to be into A Loss For Words. Matty and I introduced Gary to his first Bloody Mary. He's hooked. Another satisfied customer.

Nobody has been bringing me any books. I'm almost done with "Me Talk Pretty One Day." David Sedaris is a funny man. I loved his "Holidays on Ice." The first story in that one makes me laugh every single time.

I'm excited for the Philly date in a few days. Some great friends of mine live in the area and it'll be good to see them. But seriously, I swear on everything ever, that if Ryan Mac doesn't come to the show, he and I are not friends anymore, and I'm getting my "Mownies" tattoo covered up. Do you hear that, Ryan?! Scott and Ray, see you soon.

Let me say a little something more about corn right now. Alex posed this hypothetical question earlier. What if all of the corn rose up, like zombies, and started attacking humans. Do you think we could take it all? How many stalks do you think you could personally take on before you were overrun with corn? Think about it. There is a LOT of corn out there...

I now have a complaint to Nestle. Your water sucks. It tastes like the shower at a public swimming pool. Why are you making water? Stick to chocolate.

I look at every van/trailer combo on the road to see if it's another band.

I'm getting increasingly stoked on the Strike Anywhere tour. Full US! The other day, driving North in Nebraska, I looked West towards the horizon. I could see the mountains in the distance. That's not something I've ever really seen before. We don't have mountains in Florida. We don't even have hills, really. So I'm looking forward to crossing the Rockies. Hopefully I can get some pics. We also hit Houston on that tour, and I hope my sister and her boyfriend come to the show, at least for a little.

It was very difficult typing this with 6 fingers, so I'm sorry if it came out jumbled or quick or just not up to normal quality.

We're in St. Louis. See you tonight, Sauget.

Photo dump soon. I swear.

It's been a little bit, but not too much has been going on. We had a week or so off, so all I really did was sleep on Gary's couch. Not very exciting. I'm really happy to be back on the road now, though. I'm loving life on the road. Being in a new town every night. Meeting new people. Hearing great music. I can't help but think about what it's going to be like come December and January when we're off. I'll go home to Orlando for a couple months and feel out of place. It's like letting a friend borrow a shirt for a long time, and when you finally get it back, it never fits quite right again. Maybe that's just me though...

We've hit Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Springfield, and Omaha so far.

Pittsburgh: We are truly sorry we were so late and had to play such a short set. Please come see us in Erie next week? Mike Torti, you rule.

Indianapolis was amazing. Kids were having so much fun. They'd stage dive into just 2 of their friends and nobody ever really got hurt. I know that if i were to stage dive into 2 of my friends they'd move out of the way and let me hit the floor. I have scars on my back to prove this.

In Indy we played with a band called Hercules out of Omaha. They ripped. Reminded me of Iron Age, which is never a bad thing. They're out on the road with a band called Battle! from Florida. Check them out if you get a chance.

The vibe in Springfield was a little weird, in my opinion. The kids mostly seemed to be there to see the local bands that they're friends with. That's completely alright, of course. It's great to see a scene supporting itself. Oddly enough, another Long Island band called Kills and Thrills jumped on that show last minute. They were very tight. The lead singer was playing guitar. It's not often you see hardcore bands without just a frontman these days. I couldn't help but wonder what they would be like if the singer just sung and they got another guitar player.

Omaha was the first show of the Gig Afterlife tour we're doing with Four Year Strong, Fireworks, and A Loss For Words. It was my first time meeting any of these guys, and they're already all awesome. This next week or so is going to be so much fun. Four Year Strong's trailer could EASILY fit Four Year Strong's van inside it. I'm going to try to convince them to attempt this by the time this is over.

Gary said Metallica sucks. I'm not sure how much longer he and I can be friends. I listen to Kill Em All at least once a week.

We're at a hotel in Omaha right now, and the shower has the shortest shower head I've ever encountered. I hit my head on it. It was difficult trying to wash my hair, as hotels generally have poor water pressure as it is, but having to crouch down as well was a pain in the ass.

Everybody keeps talking up Fargo, ND. I'm so curious as to what's there. When I think of North Dakota I think that there's nothing there. I think of the Badlands. And Buffalo. And cowboys, for some reason. I had a friend that lived in North Dakota, years ago, and she used to tell me that there are areas where you can just drive as fast as you want, because you won't be in danger of hurting anyone but yourself. Apparently bands do really well in Fargo, however. So this should be interesting.

Can I just take this moment to comment on the corn production in this country? Over the past month or so, we haven't really driven on the same road/highway more than once. In that time, I have seen so much corn growing that it is literally confusing the hell out of me. I mean I understand, it gets used in corn syrup, ethanol, chips, etc. and isn't just plain old corn. But for the past 3 days, I've seen nothing but corn fields as far as the eye can see. Both sides of the highway, for miles and miles: corn. It's intense. And the stalks form these amazing neat lines that if you're looking at the fields just right you can see roll by as you pass.

There's still another month and a half until I get to see the west coast for the first time in my life. I'm not sure what to think about that yet.

Other than that, I'm still reading books and comics, still drinking, still trying to stay up to date on True Blood, Entourage, Weeds, and Hung, and I'm still happy to see Crime in Stereo play every night.
 
So bring me more books and come buy a t-shirt. I still have a handful of CIS/JFS shirts left.

-Spickly

So we missed Canada. I'm actually pretty bummed about that. I've never been north of the border. But we'll be back there soon. Hopefully no snags this time.

Let's get this part out of the way right now. We'll be on tour with Brand New for most of November. I'll put up dates shortly, but it culminates in a show at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. The freaking New York Islanders play there. Surreal.

Wednesday was the Detroit 10 for 10 show. Detroit kids really love to mosh. REEEEALLY love to mosh. It's funny/interesting/different in many ways. For one, they mosh a little different than I'm used to in Florida. I couldn't help but think that people looked like 3 year olds throwing temper tantrums. Then I wondered if that's what all moshing looked like. Do I look like a 3 year old not getting his way when I flail my arms around and hit people? When I think about it, the answer I come up with is, "...probably."

There's also the fact that moshing in general is just so... weird. I am obviously not new to the concept. I've been going to shows for the past 12 or 13 years. But when you boil it right down to what it is, and you watch it happening, what do you really think about it? The people doing it just look absolutely ridiculous. And I guarantee you I will do it again tomorrow night, and the night after that, and the night after that. That's what's so interesting about it. I find it absolutely hilarious, the way everyone flails their arms in unison, but I'll keep doing it until we have a new alternative that catches on. So goes trends, I suppose. One day you're wearing blue jeans, the next you're wearing black. (There were some tonight that looked like they were on Ski-Masters. Is it funny to anybody else to see people acting like they're on ski-masters, yet being stationary, on the floor, no equiptment, etc? Maybe that's just me.)

Shout out to my man Jake Hicks of the band Lazarus Taxa. Team Ignorance may be in your future.

The Cleveland show was kind of weak. Not much of a turn out, and not much in the way of merch sales for pretty much every band. It's interesting how you can see how the economic problems the country has been having affects different areas. Take Chicago, for instance. Lots of pre-sale tickets. Tons of people. Tons of merch sold by all bands. Now Detroit and Cleveland... less people, less pre-sale tickets, less merch sales all around, less tips, etc. Two cities that have been hit pretty hard by this economy. So I suppose hardcore isn't recession proof.

Cleveland will always remind me of 30 Rock, forever. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and have lunch with Little Richard though.

Jordan and I finally tackled the venison jerky. It was actually really good, though oily. More tender than beef jerky though. Some spice, though that was probably added. I enjoyed it. Eating this jerky may have been what prompted me to buy my first Slim Jim in close to 8 years. It was alright. I may buy another one sometime soon. Snap into it.

Onto the books I'm reading:

"The World According to Garp," by John Irving. Given to me by Aimee from Kansas City. This book is great so far. It's actually really reinvigorated me to write more.

"The Testament," by Eric Van Lustbader. Equal parts "The DaVinci Code" and the Jason Bourne series. Interesting so far.

My tour playlist so far:

Alkaline Trio - "Maybe I'll Catch Fire." I think this is my favorite Alk3 album. Let's walk home.
The Feral Dog Band - For fans of bluegrassy stuff. Hey hey hey, it'll be okay.
Trapped Under Ice - "Secrets of the World." Probably hardcore album of the year. This shit kills.
Pardon The Interuption podcasts. Gotta get my sports news somehow.
Cave In - "Planets of Old." New Cave In EP. Combining everything old and new about Cave In. I love it.

Here's some people for you to follow on Twitter:
@Spickler - That's me :)
@JordanDNC - My main man from back home.
@EagerSails - Benny from Dead Swans/This is Hell. Good dude. We party.
@BennyBRoll - Funny man from Death Before Dishonor.
@ScrawnyYanni - Poison the Well's awesome road dog.

Mike Vick signed to the Philadelphia Eagles. It looks like I'm in for another agonizing football season. Got some fantasy drafts coming up soon. Who likes football? Let's chat.

We're in Buffalo and the show's about to start. Last day of 10 for 10. I'll post some pics soon.
 
Here's some plugs for my roommates back at home in Orlando:
 
BarNapkinfessions. A concept that had people writing things on bar napkins at our favorite watering hole, BackBooth, before being served their drink.
 
Meta Bags. Some crazy, tough, huge, and awesome hand-made messenger bags. I personally know the hands that make these bags. They're big hands. And pretty messed up.

So. Driving through Nebraska absolutely sucks. They call that area of the United States the Great Plains, but really...they're not so fucking great all. It all looks the same. It all smells like cow shit. It all is completely desolate. What I found kind of weird and interesting is cow piles. The cows just huddle together and kind of lay on each other. They pile up a bit. Very weird. I tried to get a picture, but it's very hard to get a picture of something while you're driving by at 70 miles per hour.

Eli Manning just got a $97 Million, 6 year contract extension. I hate the Giants. I forsee Alex and I butting heads this football season. Hail to the Redskins.

So now we've got Chicago and Grand Rapids in the books. Speaking of books, thank you to Aimee for bringing me her favorite book, and to Kristian's Mom and Aunt for the bag of books. Those will all really come in handy in the next couple weeks.

Chicago was fucking awesome. I love that city. One of my best friends, Billy, came out to see me and hang out for a while too. Also got to see Carlos from South Florida and Rita from Orlando. Good hanging out with them. My man Jordan Lyon is on tour with the Mongoloids, so I get to hang out with him every day now too. I love stage diving.

After the show, we did some partying at this place called Delilah's where Scott Vogel DJ'd for some reason. $5 for a highlife and a whiskey and coke? Perfect. The Eric and I went out with some friends of mine from the area. I stepped in a giant mud puddle. Now one of my brand new slip on vans is pretty much grey. So it goes...

Grand Rapids was kind of boring... Very tame show. Not a whole lot of people there, actually. Though I did meet two awesome dudes, Jesse and Ryan. Thanks for hanging out with me at the merch table, dudes. Thanks for buying JFS shirts, too :D

We left after Grand Rapids to get a jump on the long ass drive to Albany. Decided to stop about an hour and a half outside of Albany and get a hotel for the day. It was nice to have the entire day off just to chill and watch tv. I got to catch up on so much of my internetting. If it wasn't before, that is now a word. Caught up on True Blood and Entourage, now I just need to see Hung and Weeds and I'll be good for another week.
 
For some reason, at a truck stop the other night, I decided to buy some venison jerky. I haven't opened it yet and am starting to get a little bit afraid of it. But if anyone wants to try and brave this with me at any of the upcoming shows, please, feel free to come up to the merch table and say, "LET'S DO THIS!"

Crime in Stereo goes on first in Albany today. So come out early if you're trying to catch them. Tomorrow: NEW JERSEY!

(This was written on August 2nd. Being posted now because I only just now have internet. We're actually almost at the Chicago show.)

First 10 For 10 show in the books for me. At the second one in Englewood, CO right now, which is just outside of Denver I guess. From here we have a day off to get to our show at The Metro in Chicago. It is god awful hot outside and I've seen more open spaces and farmland than I knew existed. I find myself thinking about all of the crazy shit that could be built on this land, new homes, new high rises, new shopping centers, factories. Homes and jobs for all. But then where would we get the goods that would have been grown there? It reminds me of terrace farming. I forget what civilization started this, but they had no land for traditional farms, so they put steps in the side of mountains and farmed on them. Pretty inventive of them.

I wish I had some more time for sight seeing and picture taking. Kansas City had some nice architecture. Haven't seen much of Englewood yet, though, but apparently there's a Jamba Juice here.

CIS just played and it sounded great. Good setlist too. Explosives, The Contract, Stateside, and Is Dead all got touched. A sweet mix of everything. Kids here seemed to be really into it too. Thanks for the support, Denver. Now tell me why a bunch of you are wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Alex leant me the book he was reading. It's called "A Dirty Job," by Christopher Moore. I'm about 3 chapters in and it's already pretty damn good. Nobody's brought me any other books though, but I suppose it IS only the 2nd day on this tour for me.

Hey, I know it's not on the site yet, but if you didn't know, Crime in Stereo is participating in the first ever official Bridge 9 Tour. It's the entire month of October with Strike Anywhere, Polar Bear Club, and Ruiner. We'll be alllllllll over the country. I'll post those dates and locations up soon.
 
See you in Chicago.

Last night we played a house show in Punxsutawney, PA. I've never in my life been to such an area. I saw Amish people riding horse-and-buggies. That's not something you see, EVER, in Florida. I saw legit farms, with corn and wheat growing as tall as a man. There are orange groves in Florida. That's the closest thing we've got. Culture shock is amazing.

The house show went over real well.

Sidenote: We're at the show in Dayton, OH right this second. Crime in Stereo is actually on the stage performing while I write this. Kristian just called a girl a, "handsome young lady." For some reason, I find that to be such a funny thing to say to a girl.

Back to the house show. Very awesome people in Punxsutawney. Nice little mini-ramp and trampoline. Shout out's go to Chad who put us up for the night, let us eat his waffles and pizzas, and let us take all of his hot water. He likes comic books too. Chad, if you're reading this, don't forget to pick up Identity Crisis.

Another shout out goes to Adam, who was the only person to buy the limited edition JFS/CIS shirt at the show. That's completely ok that only one person bought one. I want to spread them around the country. He also bought us some drinks. I'm always ok with that.

The Dayton show is going over really well right now. A bunch of people are here and seem to be really enjoying themselves. There was a band called The Pledge that played earlier, and they were really fucking awesome. The singer is a really nice guy, too. He bought a JFS/CIS shirt, and let us shower in his house. His fiance made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's pretty tight. Good people.

Off to Kansas City, tonight. Looooooong drive. I think it's about 10 hours? We're back on the 10 for 10 Tour starting tomorrow. So if you're gonna be at any of the 10 for 10 shows, come up and say hi to me.

Also, if anyone wants to be nice, I'd really love it if people brought me some books. I made the mistake of only bringing one book, that I was almost done with already, ("Slapstick," by Kurt Vonnegut. It ended disappointingly) and I've already finished it on the second day out. So, whatever you think is an awesome book, I want to read it.

Finally, if you're coming to the Englewood, CO 10 for 10 show from the Denver area, and you bring us Illegal Pete's Burritos, (one of which must be veggie), we will give you free shit. Seriously.

Pics coming soon...

JFS OUT!

Hello!
 
I'm Josh Spickler, Crime in Stereo's new road dog. You'll be able to find me at the merch table (and on some completely awesome limited edition CIS shirts) for much of the future. I'm gonna be giving updates from the road every so often, so check back here for tour news, pictures, changes, updates, and maybe some random other things here and there.
 
We leave first thing in the morning for Punxsutawney, PA where we'll be playing a house show. I love house shows. It's at 51 Oak St., Punxsutawney, PA.
 
Also, I wanna see the groundhog. Is that cheesey? Who cares. 
 
See you on the road.