INTERNET IS HARD TO COME BY IN AUSTRALIA :(

So far everything has been brilliant. We have loved (almost) every last minute of this trip so far. The flight was probably the only uncomfortable/unenjoyable part thus far. The flight was packed with all the bands and it was a good time, but it just sucks to sit in a seat for 15 hours and have the blood pool in your ankles and swelling feet. We transferred in New Zealand and landed in Brisbane 18 hours in the future. I can’t tell you what happens in those 18 hours, but, trust me you don’t want to know. I was determined to stay awake until midnight so I didn’t get jet lag. We didn’t have any internet, so I couldn’t do much at the hotel. Hodge, George and I walked around for hours just seeing what Brisbane was all about. We walked down to this little known shop called ‘STARBUCKS’. It is a really sweet little coffee shop indigenous to Brisbane. If you’re ever hear, come check it out! Even though the dollar is worth less than the American dollar it is still very expensive. We decided to stop spending money and head to this little hole-in-the-wall Australian shop called ‘TARGET’. It was a cool little place and we picked up some swim suits so we could take advantage of our rooftop pool. We ended up heading to the pool and enjoying the summer heat of February by swimming and then falling asleep by the pool to get some sweet tank top tans. The view was insane from up there and I took a ton of pictures that I hope to upload and show you when I finally get better internet. The first night was fun because everyone was just acquainting and reacquainting themselves with each other. We were just hanging with old friends and meeting new ones. It was great to see Bayside, as always, they were doing “regular”. Its crazy how many bands we know on these festivals and we’re stoked to meet some new people too. We are doing our side shows with Goldfinger so we met those guys who were very nice and we’re stoked to do those shows with them. I’ll have to ask John about his vegan recommendations in Australia. It’s pretty rough here as far as vegan food goes. At least ‘vegemite’ is vegan. Another great quality that vegemite has is that it’s DISGUISTING. I guess I haven’t tried it in the right sense (apparently you’re supposed to eat it with butter, which I can’t eat) but still. It was not unlike eating a handful of salt. Pretty gross. The other food has been aright except for the surprise mayonnaise in my sushi that I had to throw out after one bite.

Other members of Valencia dropped off and went to sleep at like 3 or 4 in the afternoon and definitely messed up their sleep schedule pretty bad. However, I made it until about 10:30 and I am really glad I did. I woke up at 9, a really good night’s sleep , and I think I’m on schedule. We headed to the show and watched some bands. We saw Mke Hererra, Saves The Day, Houston Calls, Say Anything, Inner Party System, Alkaline Trio, Underoath, Bayside, etc. etc. There are so many good bands on this festival. We’ve excited to be a part of it. We played around 5 o’clock and it was so much more than I could have expected. There was a ton of people that I NEVER thought would have known who we were. We are in freakin Australia. Our cd isn’t even out here and all thse people knew the words and were having a great time. It was really a lot of fun.

After the show George and I took a shuttle back to the hotel with Face to Face and Chiodos. On the way, a drunk man jumped in front of the van and wouldn’t move. Immediately, Face to Face’s TM jumped out an started screaming at the guy and telling his ‘mate’ to get him out of the way. He was ready to fight him. Finally he got out of the way and told us that that happens a lot and that’s just all a part of Australia’s wildlife.

Right now I am in the airport terminal waiting to head to Sydney. We get to the show at around 2 o’clock and play at 5. It was so crazy to fly and play all in the same day, but it seems like we’re going to be doing a lot of that over the next 2 weeks, so hopefully we’ll get used to it.

Oh and one more thing before I go. In the hotel room, you had to put your hotel key in a slot by the door in order to use the power of the room. I thought it was a pretty genius idea to save power and make sure that people don’t leave their tvs and lights and whatever else on in the room while they’re not there. So, it really had nothing else to do with anything except that I applaud your effort ‘random Australian hotel!’

Time to fly. More updates to come.... tons of pictures and video when we get home!

-Brendan