7 Horns 7 Eyes / Stealing Axion – 3rd ROAD BLOG from their “The Dual Destruction Tour”

7 Horns 7 Eyes and Stealing Axion are on their “The Dual Destruction Tour” with Awaiting The Apocalypse. While on tour they will be writing periodic blogs for us. The third one can be read after the break.

Blog written by Josh DeShazo of Stealing Axion

Sacramento, CA – Wed. May 23rd

Another night in Sacramento.  This one was a bit windier than the last and made Frisbee nearly impossible.  The BBQ was a huge success and everyone slept pretty well it seemed.  We all kind of had our designated sleeping spots that we’d gotten used to– except Dan, who ended up going into Walmart early this morning to buy a lawn chair that lays all the way down.  He discovered that he sleeps better laying on that than in the van, so he would be trying to sleep there from now on.  We woke up and went out to find wireless, which seemed to be a pretty humorous endeavor driving until the signal was strongest.  I had uploaded tour diary number one to our label to send out to you guys.  After taking care of that, we headed back to Walmart where 7 Horns was getting ready to head out to a coffee shop.  We headed over to the venue to check it out because we planned on parking and walking around, but found that there wasn’t much to do around the venue so we headed over to the coffee shop where 7 Horns was.  This proved to be a good idea because we had full wireless and took care of a lot of business online.  The place was awesome and very cool inside, so we spent most of our day there until it was load in time.  At the venue we hauled our stuff inside and set up our merch booth again…our home away from home.  As we set up onstage, we quickly saw that the sound was going to take a very…very…very long time. After setting up to play, we started our set and during “47 Days Later”, our sound went out not once, but TWICE.  We kept playing with Blake, who for some reason had no issue with sound going out and we were able to come back in perfectly as if nothing had happened.  The crowd seemed amused that we kept perfect time in complete silence albeit the drums, but it all turned out okay.  This was definitely not our best show due to a lack of monitors period.  We played our best and everyone in the crowd loved the show and the music.  Tonight was full of little things going wrong that were out of our control…Funny that it all happens at once at one show it seems.  Everyone has those nights I guess.

Oakland, CA – Thurs. May 24th

Woke up today in a little town called Dixon, CA and were all very well rested for the first time since starting the tour.  Our bodies were accustomed to the strange sleeping arrangements and we were feeling better than ever!  We hit the road around noon to head to Oakland.  Blake had been on the phone most of the morning trying to rally his Bay-area troops to come out to the show tonight to support us.  Apparently Tenacious D was playing that same night in Oakland, which we were really excited to hear and bummed at the same time.  Hopefully that didn’t steal too many people from coming to our show, but at the same time it was kinda awesome being in the same town as the D.  Wish we could see them. Anyway, the drive in was awesome.  Rolling hills of green with groves of trees everywhere. Streams, farms, and little houses out in the middle of nowhere.  It somewhat reminded me of Eastern Washington, but with different species of plant for the most part.  I’ve been living off of Claritin, which has really really helped with my allergies so far this tour.  We’ve been waking up with nasty stuff in our eyes the entire tour haha.  I dunno why, but I expected California to be…different.  I don’t know exactly what I expected, but it really isn’t too different than Washington for the most part, besides the weather. The architecture in some places is really unique and interesting and the freeways are more elaborate.  Drivers here are ridiculous also haha, but overall it doesn’t feel very far from home and Blake was right; travelling makes the world seem smaller.

San Diego, CA – Friday May 25th

We drove all night after the venue and took shifts sleeping.  It was a 9-hour drive and we broke it up a bit, but Blake took most of it on himself.  We arrived in San Diego and went to Wee Man’s Chronic Taco.  Good food and it was reasonably priced!  We then headed over to the venue where I was greeted by an interviewer and proceeded to do the interview.  After the interview, we loaded the gear in and set up the booth again.  Shiv (7 Horns) and I had to keep repositioning the merch booth because the space we had was so damn tiny.  Eventually I brought in a few of our lawn chairs and we finally were able to relax.  The venue we played in was called “Eleven” and the promoter Justin was very accommodating, which came as a relief as the last two shows were kind of bad in terms of promotion.  Oh yeah, we swam in the Pacific Ocean!  It was an amazing experience as the waves washed over us.  They weren’t even cold…There was little sun out and the water was warmer than the air. This was my favorite experience so far on this tour.

Los Angeles, CA – Saturday May 26th

This was the most awesome day ever.  We met so many cool people at the LA show!  Some of the Century Media staff came out and watched the show as well as some of our friends from the area.  Both 7 Horns and us played very well and enjoyed the experience of The Roxy.  After the show we all went over to The Rainbow next door and got food and drinks.  We all sat at this huge table and basically played musical chairs so that everyone got to talk to everyone.  What a great night!  We then went to an after party with some friends and stayed up way too late.  The next day was sure to be a rough one for us.  7 Horns was smart and headed out after the bar closed haha. Seeing Sunset Blvd was incredible as well.  Seeing our name on the marquee right next to 7 Horns’ name was a very cool thing to see.  Definitely one of the highlights of the tour!

Tempe, AZ – Sunday May 27th

We showed up in Tempe a little late for a sound check.  We loaded in and settled in as Dan and Blake did an interview.  Time went by and no one showed up.  We were beginning to get a little worried that we’d be playing only to the other local bands this night, but during the first band’s set, people gradually trickled in.  Right before we played, an amazing local band called “Storm Perception” hopped on the stage.  They were incredible.  Their music resembled Symphony X mixed with Amon Amarth, and they were completely entertaining.  After they played, we got on stage and much to our surprise the house light show started, which was pretty amazing.  We played a really great set and afterwards we got to meet a lot of the local fans.  We sold more merch at this show somehow than any other show.  After the show we headed over to Phil’s uncle’s house to spend our next day off.  We arrived late and just headed straight to bed.  The AZ heat made it tough to fall asleep right away, but with enough fans on and windows open, it proved to be cooler than we’d anticipated.

Surprise, AZ – Monday May 28th

It was Memorial Day.  Nothing was planned for this day except an eventual barbeque at Phil’s Uncle’s house.  We woke up and shortly after, Phil’s cousin Jackie came over to the house and gave Phil a free tattoo.  She is an aspiring tattoo artist and needed some practice on some willing people…a.k.a. us.  Phil got an awesome Frank Zappa tattoo on his left shoulder and Ben got a really neat Pink Floyd tattoo on his left arm.  She headed out after that and we went to the store to get some cooking supplies.  Upon our return, we barbequed and Phil’s uncle cooked some amazing stuff in the house simultaneously.  Our entire visit, Phil’s Uncle was making amazing meals and snacks for us.  Truly a talented amateur chef!  After we ate, Jackie came back and gave me a tattoo.  I had never had one before and for some reason my body reacts to needles very strangely.  A few years ago I had to get a shot and for some reason, it made me feel very light-headed and my vision became splotchy. Eventually I had to lay down and shortly after I was okay.  This occurred again right after she started doing it.  I laid down for a few minutes and then all was well and she continued.  It turned out pretty awesome!  I got a Devin Townsend Band logo on my right forearm.  After this, I hung out with Phil’s cousin Irish for a bit playing some Portal 2 as everyone turned in.  Overall a great day off!