5.  Metallica in Orlando, Florida, 2003, Summer Sanitarium Tour “This was my third time seeing them but my first meeting them. A huge lineup with a once in a lifetime experience. Inspiring.”

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

Dark New Day features Clint Lowery (guitarist from Sevendust), Will Hunt (drummer from Evanescence), Troy McLawhorn (guitarist from Evanescence), Brett Hestla (lead singer/guitarist from Virgos Merlot), and Corey Lowery (bassist from Stereomud and Eye Empire). Let us know what you think in the comments.

Dark New Day – “New Tradition” by RevolverMagazine