Days off are golden when you’re trying to keep your voice on the road. And for a guy that hasn’t been the lead singer and pushes himself maybe a lil’ too much, the day off seems magical.
I have a full-on new respect for singers who do this year round.
We make our way through some Ohio shows, Portsmouth, which is damn near West Virgina and start the very popular tour parking lot BBQs. These are amazing because it allows everyone on tour to pitch in five dollars and eat a bunch of food. Some people pitch in, some don’t. I try not making a big deal about it. Kinda like the honor system. Watermelon, cheeseburgers, hot dogs — the basics.
The vibe on this tour has been an absolute pleasure. 14 people on one bus, could have been a recipe for disaster. But our history with Nonpoint is long, and friendship is solid. It’s all about respecting boundaries and being positive. I’ve picked up the nickname “Mama Lowery” cause I clean buses. I picked up this habit after I got sober. It’s kinda like an OCD thing and kinda helps me relax. I wait until everyone’s off and spring clean it and take pride when the guys hop back on. I’m nuts.
Our show is finally starting to take shape. Everyday we have to dial in the monitors because we don’t travel with an engineer. This is a task. Some days you get a very capable engineer, some days not. Our team of guys always help fill in the blanks for the less talented ones. As a band, our confidence is growing and we’re getting comfortable. Each show we find a better flow, my rap to the crowd is sometimes funny, sometimes awkward and most of the time, brief. I simply try not to think about it and just say what comes off the top of my head.
Rek and Alan are both stellar musicians and by far some of the coolest guys I’ve ever toured with – real genuine people and perfectionists. Their enthusiasm is infectious and I enjoy my time with them. Morgan as always, makes playing an amazing experience.
Some of the crowds are smaller but very attentive. Louisville, for example, was one of the bigger crowds. The monitor guy at this place decides to take a break in our set for 3 songs, I can’t hear anything I sing and scream every word. Not too cool for the voice, or crowd. I get off stage mad and everyone seems to think it was a good show, so my perception of the shows could be off. I know that after each one I feel like we won a battle of some kind – that everyone there was a factor in helping me do something no one thought we could do. We have a day off after Louisville and spend our day off there. Gym beside the hotel, we do some laundry, Eye Empire host another parking lot BBQ…then we pile up and go see the movie Total Recall. Why we were excited to see this average remake, I have no idea. But it’s an escape.
On to Johnson City. I have memories of playing this place in my early twenties with my old band Still Rain. Not much has changed. Shows good, we hang with people at our merch booth every night. In hopes to sell merch and connect with fans. I really have enjoyed that part of this trek. Some people have really made me feel good about what we’ve done.
Day off in ATL with my family. My mother flies into town, my wife, son, and in laws. We spend a great day hanging out, connecting my son with his cuz Sloane, watching my mom watch her grandchildren was a pleasure beyond. Spending time with them was a much needed recharge. The ATL show was the show on the tour I really wanted to do well at performance-wise. It’s kinda like a home coming show. All the family is out, familiar faces, insane guest list, stress of making sure everyone is ok, it’s not exactly a relaxing show but the price you pay to have everyone there. My wife and son watch side of the stage. My son is amazing to watch, he points and says daddy and bangs his head. Something I’ve waited to see after watching all the kids in the 7D camp at shows. I wanted and yearned to have a child of my own be there and now that is my reality. My wife’s giving me the biggest gift a person can give. Life.
The show is a success, we gel well on stage and everyone seems to enjoy it. I enjoy my talks with fans afterwards too – really heart felt things they said. I feel honored and a small piece doesn’t think I deserve it, but small enough piece to ignore.
I’m grateful for this band, my life, and the future. CMNO will move forward, we have a taste for it now and it will be seen through. It’s too fun and too real. Sevendust will also move forward. Just has to make a lil’ room for this growing entity.
Few more shows and we’re done… Until the next tour.
God bless.
-Clint
Clint also put together a special tour playlist for fans that missed out on the band’s latest run of dates. Check it out on Spotify here.
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We start the process off with Morgan and I riding a tour bus with Sevendust after the show, from Des Moines straight to Atlanta, arriving at 5:30ish, and dumping our gear into the Sevendust storage spot. The drum tech needs to switch out the drumset used for Sevendust to a new, more compact kit, special for Call Me No One. But when we arrive, the locks for the trailer are with our monitor guy Bruce. Only problem is…he’s in Boise, Idaho! So first thing we do is buy a saw and chop off the locks. Return saw, buy new locks. Repack trailer (Morgan Rose actually pushed cases!) and head over to rehearse at a venue called Wild Bills, which a very good friend lets us use. We load gear in, set up. Rek Mohr (bass) flies in, Alan Price (guitar) drives in from South Carolina. We hang a bit, dial gear up for an early morning rehearsal next day.
We wake up and start rehearsal at noon. At this point, we had never played together, so we have no idea what to expect. First run through was shaky. Second was better, and third is acceptable. Just enough to get through the songs without total derailment. No matter how long you rehearse the only way for songs to come to life is to play live. But four hours of rehearsal for a band that never played together is a bit crazy. We load the gear into a U-Haul and rent a compact car—five people in car, two in U-Haul. We’re off to Nashville to meet our tour bus we share with Nonpoint. Fourteen people on one bus…better than a van. We then ship off to Chicago to pick up Nonpoint where we stay the night and get to know each other a bit. Talking about the set and the future, in that very hopeful non-jaded way a band does when they’re starting out. For Morgan and me, it’s a breath of fresh air but we’re still a bit nervous stepping out of our comfort zone. Doing a rough budget, we see that we’re leaving with a budget that tells us we’re losing a good chunk of change but we’re banking on merch saving the day. Not a very safe bet but we have to bring this band to life with some live shows to let people realize this is a real band and not a pet project.
We start our tour off in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at a place we’ve been to a million times over the years with Sevendust (and were at a week prior with as well). The local stage hands greet us saying things like “Welcome back,” “Been awhile.” We have a good laugh, we like these guys at this venue. We’re a bundle of nerves all day and do the soundcheck. I sing a bit too hard and strain my throat and can already feel that I’m not gonna do that good. The strain accompanied with nerves, lack of rehearsals, and overall first-show potential disaster, it was gonna be a miracle if it came out good. We all just wanted the first show behind us. The intro rolls and we take the stage…well, I’m making it sound a bit dramatic for the effect, but the stage and the in-ear monitors sound completely different than soundcheck and we struggle a bit through the set, but finish. It came out OK, all things considering. People gave us a warm welcome, we hit the merch booth right after to greet the people, and it truly lifts the spirit when people tell you they’re with you and “It was good for a first show.” I’m new to the whole frontman thing so I make no bones about it being a lil’ odd addressing a crowd, but it was a real connection because I was speaking to them as if it was one person, and there were only a few go-to “Make some noise!” chants thrown out.
Second show was a big festival in lovely Madison, Wiscosin, called Bandcamp. Korn headlining. Big deal for a band on their first tour. It’s early and my voice is raw from night before so I’m nervous I won’t perform well. We take the stage shortly after my brother’s band Eye Empire does and they completely destroy the stage, which is fine with me. If I’m gonna get shown up it might as well be by big bro. We have a good set with minimal issues, which is a blessing. We hang the rest of the day and enjoy it completely.
Next day the show is in Joliet, Illinois. A relaxed show with a lot of issues. We stumble through it but somehow feel confident we’re getting better. This group of guys is in the honeymoon phase and everyone has endless patience, new jokes, and excitement in them. It feels good. The tour package consists of Nonpoint as a headliner, Eye Empire, and us. Family from top to bottom. We’ve known Nonpoint their whole career and all of the Eye Empire camp. The future is unsure and it’s totally fine. We are enjoying the development and getting progressively tighter and confident. I’m truly thankful for this chance and even though I miss my family dearly, I feel like a fear has been overcome. That myself and the others are proving to a lot of people who doubted us that we could pull this off. Still a ways to go but it looks good for Call Me No One for today.
…Oh, come buy some merch.
–C
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is 11th track “War Song.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is 10th track “Surprise Me.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is ninth track “Broken Record.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is eighth track “Pleased to Meet You.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is seventh track “Biggest Fan.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is sixth track “All’s Well.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
]]>Call Me No One, the new group featuring Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose of Sevendust, are releasing their debut full-length, Last Parade, on June 5. In anticipation of the record, they’re releasing videos of Lowery discussing and previewing each song from the album. Next up is fifth track “Soapbox.” Watch below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
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