San Antonio’s burliest NYHC-influenced face-stompers Bitter End will be on tour pretty much the entire winter. The boys will intermittently grace the Deciblog with sordid stories about the hawd koa kids today, workin’ out and opening/playing for living legends.
December 9, 2010
Miami, FL
Transcribed by Jacob Henderson
About three winters ago, Bitter End slid off the highway into a road sign while on the way to Syracuse because of ice and snow. Ever since we got in that wreck, we vowed to never tour anywhere in the north during the winter again. Currently I am writing this entry in a venue in Syracuse in the dead of winter with about a foot of snow outside.
The reason we broke our vow to never tour in the snow again is simple enough—we love Madball. The tour started in the tropical paradise of Miami. We left San Antonio the day before the show and 26 hours later of straight driving, we were pulled up to the venue called the Vagabond. This place is usually a nightclub for Miami hipsters and had never had a hardcore show there before. I was nervous ’cause our singer Daniel had to fly into Miami due to taking a communications final for college, and if there’s one thing I know about Bitter End it’s that something usually goes wrong. He made it without incident and we were all geared up to destroy Miami.
The turnout was real good. It was a mixture of people that wanted to see Madball and people that just went to that club to party. On this tour we are playing a lot of new songs off our record Guilty as Charged and Miami “opened the bitch up” during our set. There was a backstage area, and every time we entered it there was a staff member from the Vagabond that moved a velvet rope for one of us to get in. It was true baller status. Madball came on stage and opened with “Set It Off.” Everyone was losing it.
The next day we stayed with our friend Jordan Lyon and ate at Pollo Tropical. Have you ever had Pollo Tropical? The yellow rice is the shit.
December 10, 2010
Tampa, FL
Transcribed by Daniel Rosen
We had an extremely hard time finding the venue tonight, but as soon as we did it was straight to the gym. I’ve been to my fair share of gyms in Europe and the United States, but Tampa’s Powerhouse gym in takes the cake. They had everything you could ever want in a fitness facility. When we got back to the show, I was psyched to see members of Obituary and Cannibal Corpse in attendance. We had an awesome set—afterwards I struck up a quick conversation with John Tardy and he offered to buy me a drink. I stuck with the straight-edge, though. Slowly We Rot.
December 12, 2010
Raleigh, NC
Transcribed by Jacob Henderson
First of all, the Brewery is one of the better venues in North America. We played there over the summer with Donnybrook, and it was great then, too. I was told Cro-Mags and Corrosion of Conformity used to play there back in the day. CBGBs of the South. I fell asleep in the van before the show and walked into the venue to see that it was fucking packed with people. During our set, someone stage-dived and broke my microphone stand I was using for backup vocals. It wouldn’t stay up without falling down, so a guy in the crowd held that stand for me for our entire set. He was getting stage dived on, but never dropped the microphone stand so I could still use it. Thanks, guy, for helping me out.
Every set of this tour so far keeps getting better and better. The only thing that let me down is I made an update on the Bitter End Twitter for someone to bring us (mainly me) some true North Carolina BBQ. We tried to go to a world-renowned BBQ joint called the Pit over the summer in Raleigh, but the wait was too long. Those fuckers roast whole hogs.
December 14, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA
Transcribed by Ely Castillo
In Pittsburgh listening to Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” (funny, huh?), playing at what used to be a church called the Altar Bar. Right across the street, ICP is playing the same night, too (fuck that group, not my shit). Anyway, the fuckin’ venue is the shit! Very rockstar feel, if you know what I’m sayin’. I had a great feeling we were gonna rock this shit.
Hanging out with Madball backstage chilling and shooting the shit for a while before I go and do my thing. We go onstage, do our thing. Everything sounded awesome and I was feeling it! Great reaction from the crowd. Pittsburgh knows how to set it off.
After the show our boy Ethan from Pittsburgh’s very own Steel Nation took us out to grub. Hanging out with him is always a blast ’cause that dude has some stories that blow my mind and amaze me. Shout-outs to my dude Ethan. Just like any other band that knows what’s up about touring, gotta keep this train rolling and head on out to another city. Much love, Pittsburgh. Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow!!!
