Focusing On Fall Festivals

  I don't attend concerts as often as I did a few years ago. That's just the way it is. Whether it's time constraints, further drives from venues, or simply a lack of motivation, it just doesn't happen. Most of the time, I'm okay with it because other activities satisfy me. 

There are some times when I'm not as okay with it, however. In those cases, it helps to buy a ticket to a festival or two to have something to look forward to music-wise. A massive festival instead of several monthly or sometimes weekly shows is still a great way for me to scratch the itch of hearing live music. I came to this conclusion after attending the last three editions of Riot Fest in Chicago.

On those three trips to the Windy City, I had some of the best experiences of my life. The festival setup is nice because it is all about music and travel. Knowing you must go home at the night's end and go to work the next day can be a bummer sometimes. Even if you're still riding an emotional high as you're in the car. 

With Riot Fest's reputation as a Punk festival, I've seen bands that I had previously not had a chance to see. Bikini Kill, Fear, Cock Sparrer, and even Yellowcard all come to mind. 

Punk Rock legends Fear put on a great show at Riot Fest last year

Is It Time For a New Festival?

I am at a crossroads if I should switch it up by going to a different Punk Rock Festival like Furnace Fest in Birmingham, AL. Rather than head back to riot fest. 

Furnace Fest's lineup has already been announced, with "MXPX," "Turnstile," "Bane," and "Pennywise" as the headliners. I would be lying if I said that only having to drive 2.5 hours from my current home in West Georgia sounds very appealing. There would have to be some time to figure out other logistics, but those two factors sound good. 

Even if their lineup has yet to be announced, returning to Riot Fest is advantageous because it's familiar territory. I've got friends that also go, I have basic knowledge of their public transportation system (despite getting lost from Midway Airport to my Airbnb last year), and I know enough about the City of Chicago to know where I like to stay. 

Furnace Fest's lineup is already confirmed and very enticing

Someone will likely read this and ask why I can't do both. The most straightforward answer is that they'll be on back-to-back weekends. With my current schedule and finances, it's not feasible. If something changes between now and then, I will! I could throw Louder than Life in Louisville, Ky, or some other festival like that into the mix. Just to be ambitious.

In all likelihood, I will probably return to Riot Fest because one of my friends in Chicago already joked about kidnapping me if I didn't go last year, and I'd rather not draw their ire. Regardless of the conclusion I come to, I can't go wrong. In the words of Rancid (a band I've now seen twice thanks to festival trips, by the way), "when I got the music. I've got a place to go." 

And Now, Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

 Well, I made it. I'm fully vaccinated, travel opportunities are presenting themselves again, and all of the events I enjoy attending are back. 

I passed up a few opportunities while I was waiting for my shots; it's true. But I still managed to make it out to five College Football games last fall, and a NASCAR race of course, so I guess I've still done quite a bit, but there's still a lot that I've missed. So I'm definitely ready to get back to everything I did in the "before times."

NASCAR helped satisfied my need for speed... and events in early March.

I've already been to my first Baseball game since 2019, a College game between my school, Georgia State, and in-state foe Mercer. It ended up being a 7-4 defeat for my beloved Panthers, but it felt so amazing to just be back at the park. The whole time I was standing behind the fence on the third-base side watching the action unfold, I just couldn't stop thinking about how right it felt to be there. "This is it," I told myself. "I'm finally back in my element."

The Georgia State Baseball Complex. It's not much, but it's home.

It's a shame that the College season is starting to wind down, but I'm sure there will be a chance for me to see plenty more Baseball games soon enough. Thankfully, my two favorite day trips, Greenville and Chattanooga, both managed to survive the reduction of Minor League Baseball teams, so I know I'll at least make it to those two parks. 

There are other places I'd like to go, but as usual, it all comes down to whether or not I have the time and money to be able to do so. Maybe my next blog post will have something to do with that? We'll see. 

Which parks will join Chattanooga and Greenville on my list for this summer?

Now that going to Baseball games is back in my routine, Concerts will soon come in time. I have already booked my flight and hotel for Riot Fest in September, which is an absolutely amazing feeling.

 When I went to Riot Fest in 2019, it was an absolutely sensational weekend, and I'm looking forward to finally be able to get that feeling back. In addition, I've also bought a ticket to see Soccer Mommy the night before I'm set to leave for Chicago. As a result, I've set myself up for 5 consecutive nights of live music. This by itself already feels like a great way to make up for lost time, but I'm sure there will be countless other shows that pop up for me.

One thing I definitely feel like I missed over the past year was discovering new bands by watching them open for headliners that I was there to see, or buying a ticket to a show in a small room because I checked their schedule online, and noticed a particular band with a cool name, so it'll be nice to have that back for the second half of 2021.

It's been a long road back to some resemblance of normalcy. Especially when I think about all of the negative stuff I've had to deal with because of my grocery store job and never truly getting comfortable with online College. But now here we are again, and I'm pretty stoked, not gonna lie. 

Vince Mazzola Discusses new Cosmic Balance Machine Single: Blackout

Cosmic Balance Machine, a project by Vince Mazzola, released its debut single entitled "Blackout" on October 23. The song length is 3:19 and Vince lists Rollins Band, Corrosion of Conformity, Motorhead, Royal Blood, Metallica, the Grunge movent, and Queens of the Stone Age as the main influences for this particular song. 

The idea for the song came on a night out in Blacksburg, Va while still attending Virginia Tech. "I was at a bar in Blacksburg called Top Of The Stairs," he says as he recalls seeing tons of people packed together in a courtyard inside of the bar. "I could make a cool song about this," he thought to himself.

Getting the song completed and released has been a long time coming for Vince, as he said he first had the idea for the song in 2018. "The recording process was very stop and start, very... weeks between things happening. In some cases months," he revealed.  

Vince continued to persist because he knew that the song could still be something he could be proud of. So in order to help elevate the song to the level that Vince knew it could reach, he enlisted the help of his friend Eirik Iversen to play on the song, and help produce it as well. The two met in college and played together in a band called sleep.year, which released a demo in October of 2018. Vince said he enjoyed getting the chance to work with Eirik again. 

"It's a huge relief that I can put this one and be able to fully focus on some of the other ones. ." Vince said about releasing the song. "As opposed to having so many pots on the stove. Now I can finally take this one off."

When asked about when he will release other songs, Vince replied by saying that he has "a long term plan in mind" but is still debating as to when and how he will release future material. 

A big part of his plan is a concept in which Blackout is a part. "A big theme of the overall project is growth," he told me. Writing songs that other people can recognize is important to Vince. Some of the references in his song are drawn from his autobiographical events, and things he saw while in Blacksburg, but it doesn't necessarily mean that one has to have gone to Virginia Tech as he did.

"There's not a bar called The Cellar, or PK's (here), but they could say 'hey, this is that bar I go to.' It's about portraying my experiences and trying to see what people can relate to... if they do." Anything that is considered relatable in his music would be a huge honor, but the most important thing for him is to continue to enjoy making music. "Blackout" is a good song within itself, as well as a good beginning to what Vince is trying to build under the moniker of Cosmic Balance Machine. 

I'm Actually Having Fun At Home

The name "In Town And On Tour" originated from Hashtags I typically used on most of my Instagram posts. I would use "#TaylorInTown" if I was doing something cool in Atlanta, or pretty much anywhere else 2 hours away. If I ever went out of state or to a completely different part of Georgia, I would use "#TaylorOnTour."

This blog was meant to be an expansion of that, and I think I've done well in that regard. Sometimes I'm hard on myself because I know I should be writing more often, but I'm still proud of concert reviews, road trip recaps, and interviews that I've done on this blog.

Because of this Pandemic, Concerts and sports are both canceled, and traveling is very ill-advised. There's also that matter than I'm a grocery store worker, which is a challenging job to have right now, as much as I am happy to still have a job.

When I do get to spend any amount of time at home, whether it be a whole day off or whatever amount of time there is between getting home from work and going work the next day, I do find it enjoyable to just be home. However, I really want to get back to writing regularly. And I want to do it for fun, not just for school assignments.

One of the many "drafts" that I ended up deleting rather than posting was the story about how much fun I had when I took some paid time off from work for a "Staycation" at the end of December 2019. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun week. But I feel like there's an art to writing a successful blog post about just sitting around watching Netflix, or playing Video games for two weeks, and I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet.

I did promise one of my gaming friends that I would talk about our group's effort in the "Pro Clubs" mode on FIFA 20. For those that aren't familiar with the game, it's basically a co-op mode where each person creates their own player and locks into a position.  We've been winning a lot of games, which of course, adds to the fun, but I'm just happy to be playing with them regardless.

Since I'm the lone American on a team where the other 3 (sometimes 4) members are English, there are a lot of back and forth jokes, or "banter" as they like to call it about some of the cultural differences, and of course the usual jokes about each other's skills. They enjoy making fun of how Americans call it "Soccer," and I like to make fun of them when they miss an easy goal after I deliver a perfect pass to them. I choose to believe it all evens out in the end.

Maybe the key to writing about what I'm watching on Netflix is to dedicate a whole post to one show, instead of just creating a list, or just forcing it into a story that has a few different topics, such as this one.

I finished my Associate's Degree Program last December, and I've been binge-watching the show "Community" lately. Part of me feels like it might be fun to compare what I see on the show, and what I experienced during my time at Community College.

As I mentioned before the with the "staycation" piece that I decided to scrap, I don't see all of my story ideas as worth posting, as fun as they may be. I do think it's time for me to loosen my own restrictions on my creativity, so hopefully, I can do a better of posting more often and having a wider variety of subjects to post about

After all, this is my personal blog, and I enjoy writing, so it doesn't do me any good to continually overthink to the point where I just have no motivation to write for anything other than school assignments.

When I started this blog two years ago, I figured I'd have more than nine entries by now, but I don't. The only thing I can do is try to write more right now. In addition to wanting to entertain myself, I want to be able to make my writing routine enough so that when I am allowed to go back to attending events and taking road trips, I can start writing about the vast majority of them like I originally intended.

I might be a long way off from completing either objective, but I'm still pretty proud of myself for following through on this idea, especially since I came up with the idea on my break earlier today. I hope everyone who read this enjoyed it and stays safe as well. 

Fairshake's New EP: A "Sitcom" Worth Tuning Into

Following the release of their 2018 Self-titled Debut Album, Atlanta Pop Rock band Fairshake will release their new EP entitled “Sitcom”  on Friday, April 17, and I personally could not be more excited. Since I discovered Fairshake last summer, I’ve been impressed with good their songs are, and how cool they are with their fans, myself included.

When I finally got to see them live for the first time last November at The Masquerade, it was a pretty great experience. They put on a great set, and their singer/guitarist Shayne Goss took the time to chat with me for a little bit afterward because she noticed I was upfront jamming out to songs such as “Sun Kissed,” “Save Me,” as well as “Valium,”  that I had become so familiar with.

"Sitcom" will be released on Friday, April 17

Fast forward a few months later, “Sitcom” is ready to be released, and fans were given a taste of what to expect with their newest single “25 Bucks,” which is possibly their most exceptional song yet. It came at a time where everyone is trying to adjust to unprecedented circumstances in life. A lot of people aren't sure what to do with a lot of things they enjoy doing being canceled, and places they enjoy going being closed. For music fans who are really missing going to concerts, discovering new artists, or listening to new material from artists they already enjoy can be very uplifting despite everything else going on. I know the latter was the case for me when "25 Bucks" was released, and if maybe if you take a moment to listen to Fairshake's material, both new, as well as from years past, the former can be the case for you.

Shayne was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions I had about the EP and Fairshake in general. So without further ado, here is my interview with Shayne Goss of Fairshake. Please enjoy it, and be sure to check out “Sitcom” on your preferred streaming Platforms on April 17. 

Q: What has the feedback been like for the new single, 25 bucks? 

A: The single is taking very well without a shift in sound from the manic, happy-go-lucky-i-wanna-die sound we have always had to something a little darker. I think I speak for all of us when I say it is probably one of our top favorite songs of the collection, especially for it being a song about our experiences and creating mental health awareness (which we are all about) and the opioid crisis in the U.S.

Q: In the 25 bucks music video, there was footage used from the show that you did with The Dangerous Summer. How much fun was it to do that show?

A: We had a blast. Sold Out Show! How could you not? We love performing and interacting with folks, so it was like heaven to us. Music is the language of the spirit! This is what we live for. Plus, Ben Cato (percussion for TDS) is our producer, so the fact it worked out that we could be their local support was awesome. Ben has become one of my good friends over the past couple of years. Working with him and Jeremy at Cocoa Break Studios feels like home. We are very excited to release the new EP "Sitcom" on April 17, and once the quarantine is over, we are right back in the studio to record a new record!

Q: What else can we expect from this EP? Are the other songs of a similar nature? 

A: Yes. I would say that "Sitcom" is a good transition and representation of the sounds we have been before but a little more polished to the sound we are transitioning to. Don't worry. We are not completely abandoning the Power Pop/Pop Punky sound, but have just matured. The way writing used to work is that it was just me (Shayne Goss), but inducting Chase Sammons and Tucker Harding into the band a few years ago has made it a group think method with ideas we bring to the table. I know 2020 has been a tough year for all of us, and I have a lot to say about it. You will definitely find that the new material will be more in the vein of Valium (Rx Refill) and 25 Bucks.

Q: Where did the idea to name the EP “Sitcom” come from?

A: The name "Sitcom" was actually an idea Tucker had. I was trying to find a word for an experience that gave you hope that everything would be just fine in the end. Just like a TV show where there is an issue, you learn the lesson, and everything is good by the end of the 20-minute episode. That being said, the way the EP ends leaves you off in a key of irony, rather than one of hope. Not everything is like Full House, sometimes you are stuck in purgatory with a bad situation or emotions. 

Q: Obviously, everyone is pretty down without any concerts happening right now. But I think it’s still a great time for artists to release new music so fans can still have something to look forward to. Do you take a lot of pride in being able to help lift people’s spirits in times like these?

A: The key to success is staying confident in yourself but humble, so there is no pride involved with what we do to help the community. Though, I would say we are proud of ourselves as individuals for what we have done to take care of ourselves and the work that has been done to be our best selves. You and I both know this is a never-ending journey. We are all out here trying to be our best selves. It doesn't matter who you were yesterday and what you have been through, you still have the choice to make today, and your dreams come true. This is what Fairshake means.

I know It's Only Chicago... But I Like It!

From June 25-27 my mom and I took a trip to see Chicago. We had many big things planned and we had to make sure we had a way to get everywhere. Upon realizing that we can fly into O'hare and take a train pretty much everywhere in the city, including our Air BnB, we decided to get ourselves 3 day passes instead of renting a car

As weird as it might sound, Chicago's Rail system was a big highlight of the trip for me. The O'Hare station was on the Blue Line, which also happened to be where our Air Bnb was, so that was very convenient. 

Our Air Bnb was in a neighboorhood called Bucktown. Our first stop was at Margie's Candy for lunch. My mom and I had Corned Beef Sandwiches, as well as what we both agreed, was one of the best Milkshakes we'd each had. If memory serves me correctly I had the Peanut Butter Milkshake and she had the Chocolate milkshake.

Bucktown itself was just a really interesting neighboorhood. If you ever find yourself I would definitely recommend Margie's, as well as a bar called O's Tap, a coffee house called Ipsento's Coffee, and also an amazing Hot Dog / Burger place called Redhot Ranch. There was also a really cool Art Mural that I couldn't help but take a picture of. 

While in Margie's my mom and I decided on where we were going to go for Dinner. She shot down my first few suggestions but eventually, I landed on a restaurant called Spectrum Bar and Grill. Unbeknownst to me, until my mom pointed it out, Spectrum was a Greek Restaurant, in a neighborhood that is literally called "Greektown." My mom claimed she hadn't had good Greek food in so long and I was willing to give it a try. So after a little bit of relaxation in the Air Bnb, off we went!

While at Spectrum, my mom and I split a Souvlaki Pita Sandwich, and also each had a Greek beer called "Mythos" to go along with our respective halves of the sandwich. The food was very good, and I also liked some of the decorations they had on the walls. It was mainly Cubs decor but you would also see the odd Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls item.

From there it was time to head to Soldier Field to see The Rolling Stones concert. Our seats were way up high so we had to take a rest somewhere in the middle of the climb because it was just too much for us. Eventually, we got situated and were ready for some music

Opening for The Stones was Whiskey Myers, a Southern Rock band from Tyler, Tx. Not many in the crowd were familiar with them, myself included, but I found myself getting pretty into them. Songs such as "Stone" and "Gasoline" helped proved to me that they were a pretty good band who weren't too out of place after all. Plus I feel like very few Southern Rock Bands make it big nowadays so kudos to them for flying the flag.

The Rolling Stones took the stage and kicked off the show with "Jumpin' Jack Flash." I figured that song would have to be included in the setlist but I never would have guessed it would be the opener! The same could be said about "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) being the second song.  It was a sign of things to come because the setlist was consistently good throughout the night.

Some absolute gems outside of the smash hits (You Can't Always Get What You Want, Sympathy for the Devil, Honky Tonk Women) in the middle of the setlists were acoustic performances of "Play With Fire" and "Sweet Virginia." Then they played "Slipping Away" and "Before They Make Me Run" which are two songs that feature Keith Richards on vocals.

Then to close out the night, they played all of the hits that the crowd had been anticipating all night. Once Keith handed the singing Duties back over to Mick, they jumped into "Miss You." After that song, my mom leaned over to make a remark to me saying that she was loving the setlist, and all she really needed was "Paint It Black" to truly be happy. Apparently, there was a mistake in reading the Setlist, because after the first few notes of "Midnight Rambler," Mick stopped the song and asked if they were in the wrong key. He then went over to Keith, put his arm around him and said to the crowd "it's only the second night, and it's only one f*** up. I think we're supposed to be doing 'Paint It Black!'"

After that confusion, they jumped right into Paint It Black, giving my mom her wish, and THEN they finally played Midnight Rambler," in the correct key this time. The last 4 songs were "Start Me Up," "Brown Sugar," "Gimme Shelter," and of course, "(I Can't Get No Satisfaction)."

What amazed my mom and I is that despite his health problems as of late, Mick Jagger hadn't lost a step at all and was still his energetic, iconic self up on stage. He was dancing, moving his hands around, moving all across the stage, and displaying all sorts of energy that you probably wouldn't even expect from a 40-year-old man, nevermind a 75-year-old man. It kinda made me feel bad about myself because at times I felt like I was going to die while taking the mile walk back to Roosevelt Station after the show, which didn't take nearly as much effort. 

All in all, the Rolling Stones put on as fun of a show as I could ask for. After I missed their 2015 show in Atlanta, I wasn't sure I would get the chance to see them in my life. When the opportunity arose to travel to see them this summer, I knew I couldn't pass it up, and I knew it had to be Chicago.

As I touched on before, my mom and I were completely worn out after the show and the walk back to the train station. Which was a little bit unfortunate because down in the station, there was a guy with a guitar-playing Rolling Stones songs to all of the people on the platform. He was actually really good and he had quite a crowd of people around him. So kudos to Guitar Guy if he ever reads this blog.


The next morning, my mom and I both agreed there was very little chance that either of us was going to approach day 2 in Chicago with our usual energy, considering how tired we still were after night. That being said, it was still a great day.

After heading downtown and getting off the train we decided to get breakfast at this place called "Goddess and the BAKER." The highlights of Breakfast were the delicious Bagels, as well as the decor.  In honor of Chicago's Pride Parade that weekend, the ceiling was decorated in with Balloons in order by the colors of the rainbow.

Following our delicious breakfast, we then went over to the riverwalk to admire its beauty. Literally called the "Chicago River," it flows for a little over 150 miles and empties into Lake Michigan. It is the same river that is dyed Green for Chicago's St. Patrick's Day Parade (Chicago really loves to throw Parades don't they?)

From there we did some sightseeing on The Magnificent Mile before stopping in at Water Tower Place Mall to check out the Chicago Sports Museum, Harry Caray's Restaurant, and The Lego Store they had there.

Throughout the trip, I used Google Maps walking directions to get around the city, and there were sometimes where my mom and I were sent in some weird directions. This was one of those times because we ended up going around the entire block before fiding the mall. I suppose it wasn't the worst thing because some of the architecture was absolutely breathtaking and well worth the extra steps.

The Sports Museum had many interesting exhibits in it. There was a room that involved trying on Shaq's shoes, a replica of William "Refrigerator" Perry's Superbowl ring, as well as seeing how your wingspan compared to Scottie Pippen's.

There were lots of assorted artifacts and photo ops celebrating all of Chicago's sports teams, even though ones like the Chicago Sting who won the 1981 and 1984 Soccer Bowls, one of which was on Display. I suppose my two favorite parts of the Museum were the celebration of the Cubs 2016 World Series win, as well as a whole wall telling the story of various Curses and Superstitions, the latter of which was not just specific to Chicago, or even specific to America. There were even superstitions of English Soccer teams that were given nods by the exhibit.

After the Museum we decided to take a break and visit Harry Caray's restaurant that was connected to the Museum,. For those that don't know Harry Caray was a legendary broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs and was also portrayed by Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live back in the '90s.  I decided to take a picture with his bust while trying my best to match his facial expression. Maybe if my glasses were slightly bigger I felt like you wouldn't have been able to tell us apart.

Speaking of the Cubs, I also went to a game at Wrigley Field when I was in Chicago. How's that for a transition?

After strolling the outside of the Wrigley, my mom and I decided on a pre-game meal at Maddon's Post across the street. We even had one of my friends who moved to Chicago from Atlanta a few years ago. While there I decided to eat the "City Chicken" (which was actually pork, some pretty amazing pork to be fair), and also had a beer called "Try Not To Suck" which apparently drew inspiration from a quote that Cubs manager Joe Maddon made in a press conference one time.

Being in a place like Wrigley Field, which has been around since 1914 was surreal to me because up until that point the oldest Baseball park I had been to (if you want to call it that) was RFK Stadium, which was only built in 1961.

On that particular night, the Cubs were playing the Atlanta Braves in a matchup between 2 first place Baseball teams, and you could tell by the size of the crowd. The game itself got off to a thrilling start as Braves leadoff hitter Ronald Acuna Jr was walked, and then managed to score during the next at-bat due to a throwing error by catcher Wilson Contreras, and then a low pitch that got right by Contreras to the backstop. I know every player has a bad day but I was expecting to see a little bit more when seeing an All-Star Catcher like that in person

Things went from bad to worse for the Cubs as Brian McCann hit a solo home run in the 2nd Inning, and then Nick Markakis, who is still my favorite player in MLB after all of his time with the Baltimore Orioles, hit a three-run homer in the third Inning.

In the 4th inning, a somewhat lengthy rain delay happened. Eventually, the game re-started and my mom and I stayed for an extra-inning or so but then decided that we had both seen enough and returned to the Air Bnb. I took it upon myself to try to experience the nightlife that Bucktown had to offer, and then eventually went to bed.

This trip had just about all I could ask for and more. Chicago is an amazing city and I'm glad I got to experience it as much as I did. I will be returning in September for Riot Fest, so maybe this won't be the last time I blog about Chicago.

An Interview With Youngdriver: One Of My New Favorite Bands

A few months ago, I had the privilege of being granted an Interview with Khenidi Pippin, the singer/frontwoman of Atlanta Pop Punk band Youngdriver for a class assignment. Said assignment was writing a news story about the Atlanta Music Scene, and what it can offer to students.






Youngdriver are fairly big players in Atlanta's music scene so I knew someone from the band, whether it be Khenidi, or one of their two guitarists, Luke Crawford, or Donovan Lloyd would be able to provide great insight. As you will see below, Khenidi did a great job of answering my questions, which was a big part of me getting an A on the assignment.





I encourage you to follow them on Social Media (@youngdriverga on Facebook and Instagram) and check out their next show at Smith's Olde Bar on July 27. After all, who WOULDN'T want to see a band that plays good music, and helps their fans get good grades on College Assignments?






Q: What do you think Atlanta’s music scene offers to students?






A: Atlanta's music scene offers something for all different kinds of musical interests. Most of our shows have been in ATL and for a good reason. There are more opportunities to grow in the local music scene here! Not only from a band's perspective but from a student's perspective; especially, a student highly interested in music, Atlanta provides a large variety of different genres, unlike other cities. We've been a part of shows here performing alongside with pretty much every single genre except country. Also, the venues here are awesome. We love playing at The Masquerade, Center Stage, Smith's Olde Bar, you name it. For students interested in the music scene here, there's a ton of access to recording studios, venues, music lessons/classes, clubs, SO MANY TALENTED & AWESOME local artists/bands, etc. We have made so many friends being a part of the ATL music scene. You meet so many awesome people. There is something to offer for all students!






Q: Do you feel like the lyrics you write are something that students can relate to?






A: Absolutely. We write our lyrics in a way that expresses how we are & what we go through (& have gone through). When performing these songs, my ultimate goal is to let all the listeners know that we've been through a lot emotionally & physically. I want that person that might be going through the same situation know they're not alone. With lyrics, the goal is to be real & to have enough guts to tell the world about what's on your mind, in hopes of helping someone who may not want to live tomorrow. Basically, writing these lyrics is our way of releasing something negative & turning it into something positive. Deep stuff, I know. But then we have songs like "Bullet" where we're just like "WOW YOU SUCK" to an ex or some person you hate & I think everyone has had that 1 person in their life that has done you wrong. ESPECIALLY in college!






Q: I couldn’t help but notice the on-stage rock paper scissors when I saw Youngdriver live and I feel like it added to the experience for me personally. How important is it to do things like that to make it more fun for both you as well as the audience?






A: It's so funny because people bring that up all the time & I literally NEVER notice it when I'm performing!!! I watch a video from a show & I laugh way too hard every time. It's awesome, & I love performers who aren't afraid to let loose! It's important to let that humor out, because life is short, and doesn't need to be taken so seriously all the time. We perform & play music because it's our passion & it's fun. Not for the money or the stardom. We would tour for free. But ANYWAY yes rock paper scissors is a fun past time on stage.

Epic Baseball Week (Part 3) - A Grand Ol' Greenville Time

Before I go any further I would just like to apologize for how long it has taken me to write this piece and finish this Baseball Road Trip Series. Part of it has been being very busy between school, work, and other obligations that currently take priority over this, as well as sometimes lacking motivation. But I am back, and I am hoping that I can still write about all my adventures that happened in the span of me not writing. Without further ado, here is the final piece of my family's Epic Baseball Week.


I have been to Greenville, South Carolina many times over the last few years. All of them have been to see some kind of sporting event because that's usually my main reason for traveling, but I'm a huge fan of the city in general, and it's somewhere I could see myself moving after college.


Whenever I make a trip to Greenville, it usually starts with me getting a Slurpee from 7-11 as we approach downtown, since we don't have any in Georgia. Unfortunately this time I accidentally directed my mom to a 7-11 that inadvertently took us a little bit out of our way. It wasn't a huge deal but even as I sipped on my Cap'n Crunch Berry flavored Slurpee (I was skeptical too but it tasted amazing) I still felt a little bit bad about it. This did not deter us in any way, shape, or form in the long term because we still made it to Greenville with plenty of exploring time.


When going to see a Baseball game in Greenville on a Saturday, your best bet for free parking is to park in at the Tax Collector building. I don't know how it works on weekdays but it hasn't failed us yet on a Saturday. The West End district of Greenville has a lot to offer in terms of shops and restaurants. A personal favorite of mine is "The Vault" a store that specializes in Retro Sports Appearal. On this particular day, I decided to buy a teal colored Florida Marlins hat (which is much better than their current logo but that's a story for another day), and a Furman University T-shirt. Why the Furman T-shirt you ask? Simple, the shirt had the Institution's initials on it, which would, of course, be "FU." It has since become one of my favorite shirts and has drawn the laughs of many of my friends and acquaintances. The Vault well and truly has someone for everyone, and is a must visit for any sports fan.


For lunch, we went to Kilpatrick's Public House, an Irish Bar/Restaurant that is attached to a Comedy Club. Considering it was the middle of the afternoon, there wasn't any comedy going on but a still decent selection of food and drink that made it a worthwhile choice.


After lunch, we made our way to Fluor Field. Unbeknownst to me, that night's Drive game against the Asheville Tourists was one of four “Copa de la Diversión” games, a celebration of Greenville's Hispanic community. With this special promotion, included alternate uniforms and also going by the name "Greenville Energia." 


With Greenville being a Red Sox affiliate, Fluor Field has a handful of nods to Fenway Park. The most prominent one, being a replica of The Green Monster in Left Field. One of the highlights of this game was a player hitting a homerun over the Green Monster, a feat that my brother and I pondered being possible for a Single-A player. We never said it couldn't be done. So technically, we weren't wrong.


It's not often that going to a Baseball game teaches me a valuable lesson, but this was one of those rare times it did. The dessert stand at Fluor Field is called Sweet Caroline's, a nod to the song "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond which is sung by Red Sox fans every game at Fenway Park in Boston, as well as Drive fans in Greenville


While looking at the menu, I couldn't help but notice that the larger sized Ice cream was only $1 more more expensive than its smaller counterpart, so I decided to take advantage of that. This turned out to be a poor decision because it ended with me getting an upset stomach. Eventually, I decided I needed I needed to leave the confines of my seat in favor of the grassy knoll on the third base side, which in all fairness, was a great place to watch the game. 

So even if it did end up going well in the long run, I still think I will refrain from upsetting my stomach by eating too much Ice Cream, in general, but especially at Baseball games.


This was another tight contests which would also end up going to extra innings. This was the night after the crazy extra innings game in Atlanta that we couldn't even stay until the end for,  so we decided we'd had enough and made our way home.


A few days later my brother flew back to Virginia,  and my mom and I took quite a bit of recovery time following our amazing, but very busy, week.


I had never done anything like this before, but I honestly couldn't have asked for better places to have visited, or better company in my mother as brother. Well, maybe my sister and brother in-law in addition to them, but maybe that can happen next time.


I definitely don't think it'll be my last "ballpark tour" and when it does happen again, I will be sure to document it the best I can on here. Thank you for reading.

My Family's Epic Baseball Week (Part 2) - The Crazy Chattanooga Challenge + Raining Runs In Atlanta

After our unfortunate mistake the night before, it was back to Baseball on Thursday as we went to Chattanooga to see the Lookouts play the Biloxi Shuckers. My mom and I went to Chattanooga by ourselves and explored some of the scenery around the river that the city had to offer but didn't see much of downtown, so we made a point to do that this time. We managed to strike gold in a place called Community Pie, a place that specialized in New York Style Pizza, Gelato, and of course Beer. There were no board games to play this time, but there was a World Cup Soccer game on TV, so it was still a great way to kill time before the game.

We got to the ballpark probably a little bit too early because we were waiting in front of the gates for quite some time, but we were one of the first ones in so not all was lost. We managed to pass the Information both where they were trying to recruit people for some of the events that would occur in between innings. I walked up and asked if there was anything that wasn't for kids and they told me they still needed people for the dizzy bat, to which I agreed.

After I was all signed up for the dizzy bat, my mom and I wasted no time taking advantage of the "Thirsty Thursday" drink specials which were $1 Domestic Draughts and $2 for Craft Beer, we decided to take more advantage of the Crafts because quality is worth an extra dollar in our opinions.

Eventually, it was my turn to do the dizzy bat. My opponents were a woman in her 40s, a guy from Sweden, and also his friend, who funnily enough was from Alpharetta, GA, to which I responded: "it's like a battle of Northside vs. Southside." Seeing how I'm not very coordinated, to begin with, and I was starting to feel a little bit buzzed, I had no chance. I fell twice as a matter of fact. Once while I was spinning, and then again when I was trying to cross the finish line. The prize was a Tennessee Lottery ticket, which wouldn't have really done me any good because I don't even live in Tennessee.

 So really the only thing I lost in this dizzy bat debacle was a little bit of my pride. It wasn't all bad because when I got back to my seat, my mom informed me that she accidentally took a picture instead of a video, which is a blessing in disguise because would probably have taken away from the number of views this post is going to get, so thank you mom, I really appreciate it! Speaking my mom doing things I appreciate, the Lookouts have this thing where you can put a customized message up on the video board for only $2, so my mom decided to put "Taylor and Dylan, you go." This was probably an attempt to embarrass us slightly, but I saw the funny and kind side of it. I'm not sure I could say the same about my brother. 

The game itself was an absolute blowout as the Lookouts beat Biloxi 12-2. The show was stolen by Chris Paul, who went 3-5 with two doubles and 6 RBIs. By now you're probably thinking "wait, isn't that a Basketball player?" Rest assured this is a different Chris Paul, who wears a different number. This was CP5 of the Chattanooga Lookouts, not CP3 of the Houston Rockets. I also feel like I'd be doing my readers a disservice if I didn't include the interesting moment where a bat ended up getting lodged into a safety netting after a batter losing his grip while swinging. It was up there for the remainder of the game.

Friday was the day I had been waiting for since I moved to Georgia, a chance to see my beloved Baltimore Orioles play in Atlanta. Since we arrived early, we decide to spend pregame in what is known as "The Battery," a neighborhood of shops and restaurants just outside of Suntrust Park. We decided to check out one restaurant which was fun while it lasted, but eventually, we had to leave because my brother was under 21, but they did have some decent food and drinks, so maybe I'll go back if I can find the place again, that is. I'm still trying to get the hang of the battery because I don't go too often

 It became even more of a family affair when more of my family from Virginia came for the weekend with their 8-month-old son, who my mom and I got to meet for the very first time. It was pouring rain before the game, so we had to find cover wherever we could outside of the stadium until we worked up the courage to go in. Once we were in we decided to go to the Chophouse, which can best be described as the Braves' in-stadium Restaurant. While there we had some refreshments and some nice conversations. One of the staff members introduced himself to me as a Red Sox fan, inquired to me about what it might take to bring Manny Machado to Boston as the Orioles look to begin their rebuild. I told him what I had been hearing in the press, and he wasn't a fan so we went back and forth on proposals for quite some time.

Eventually, it became time to find our seats, so we made way up to the upper level, but since this was a special occasion my mom decided to buy our tickets one level lower than we usually do, but with a similar vantage point, which was actually pretty great. For those that don't know it's a longstanding tradition in Baltimore (and sometimes DC) to sing the "O" in the anthem. There have been times where I do it wherever I am, but this time I had a reason to so I gave it my all, and it was terrific to be able to do so again. The Orioles fans traveled well so that made it even better. 

The game itself was quite the thriller. It was 0-0 until Chris Davis, who has not had his best year by any means, hit a solo home run to make it 1-0 in the 5th inning. The Braves ended up tying the game in the 7th inning and then taking a 3-1 lead in the 8th inning.

I was on edge going into the 9th because I thought there was very little chance the Orioles could come back, I even told my brother I wouldn't be surprised if they went 3 up 3 down to end the game. I ended up being wrong about this because the bats came alive at the most opportune time as the Orioles went on top score six runs in the top of the 9th.

With the Orioles having a comfortable lead, and 2016 All-Star closer Zach Britton coming on to close out the game and up his trade value, I figured they had it in the bag. I once again, ended up being wrong about this as the bats came alive at the most opportune time for the Braves, as they went on to score four runs and force extra innings.

Had it not been under such upsetting circumstances, I wouldn't have minded extra innings at all. What I did end up taking issue with, was the bats going right back to being silent after both teams had huge 9th inning rallies. I believe we left the game after the 12th inning, seeing as how we had one more trip to do the next day, and somehow I ended up getting home in time to see the Orioles score 3 runs in the top of the 15th inning, and subsequently close the game out.

In the next post, I will be talking about our trip to Fluor Field and Greenville, SC to talk about our experience there. Greenville is one of my favorite places, which is why I'm glad we got to save that one for last. It will be released shortly after, so stay tuned because it's going to be another good one. 

My Family's Epic Baseball Week (Part 1): Alabama All Stars + Mistaken In Macon

After a couple of months of planning, my younger brother arrived from Virginia on Monday, June 18th. My mom thought it would be fun to include him in some of the Minor League Baseball Road Trips that we started doing last year. However, seeing as how my brother was only going to be here for a week, we had to cram a little bit. When I say cram a little bit, I mean we went to four baseball games, in four different states, all in 5 days, and had it not been for a small hiccup it would have been five games in as many days

Our trip started in Birmingham, Alabama and the 2018 AA Southern League Homerun Derby and All-Star Game. Our first stop was a place called Good People Brewing that was right across the street from Regions Field. Now, I had been to places like this on the road before, but this was the first time the smell hit me so hard right after walking in. After I adjusted to the scent, I enjoyed a Mexican Lager called Muchcaho, and my mom enjoyed a flight of her choosing while we all sat down and I watched the Russia vs. Egpyt World Cup game. After that, the three of us decided to play Apples to Apples. Typically you need more people than we had to get the most out of Apples to Apples, but we made it work in a big way. Some of the exchanges we had were beyond hilarious, a good time was had by all, and we managed to finish the game just as the gates were about to open. I also won the game, just throwing that out there.

We managed to get into the park soon after the gates opened, so there was plenty of time to explore before the Homerun Derby started. Two of the things that stuck out to me was the fact that the apartment complex overlooking Regions Field had a pool that looked to had a view of the ballpark. Everybody loves a good pool party, but a pool party where you could watch Baseball while partying would just be in a different level. The other thing I really appreciated was the signs around the concourse with section numbers and pictures of various famous figures from Birmingham's Baseball history such as Bo Jackson, Dan Bankhead, Reggie Jackson, Piper Davis, and of course Michael Jordan.

Seeing as how Regions Field was completed in 2013, it wasn't the stadium where Michael Jordan played, but my brother and I still couldn't help but try to imagine what crowds were like at their old stadium in the suburbs of Hoover while he was playing. Tim Tebow has recently been a big attraction to people that wouldn't otherwise go to Minor League Baseball games, but there's no way he's brought in as many people, just because he's not as beloved or as big as Michael Jordan. I'm not the most prominent Basketball expert so I can't say for sure whether M.J. really is the best Basketball player of all time, but I think he's definitely the most famous Basketball player, if not Athlete as a whole, in all of America. I can only imagine how cool it must have been to witness his Baseball journey in person, even if he never made it to the Big Leagues.

Apart from the pedigree of an All Star Game, even if only at a Minor League level, the main attraction at this game was Baseball's No.2 Prospect Eloy Jimenez. A slugging outfielder who is in the Chicago White Sox farm system after being to traded to them by, funnily enough, the Chicago Cubs.

The home run derby got underway after we finished exploring, and the thing about Double-A Baseball is that Power is one of the things that's probably the hardest to develop. As a result, the home run totals weren't as high as the ones you see in the MLB home run derby, but I still found it entertaining all the same. Birmingham catcher Zack Collins ended up winning, a very popular victor with the local fans.

The Southern League is split into North and South Divisions, and seeing how the North Division is made up of teams like Chattanooga and Birmingham, who I have seen, and also teams like Montgomery, and the Tennessee Smokies, who I hope to see soon, I decided to pull for the North Division. At the beginning of the game, I started to feel like a good luck charm because not only did the North hold the lead for the first 6 innings, they had a combined perfect game going.

Part of what makes Minor League Baseball, so fun is the fun stuff that goes on between innings. This All-Star Game featured appearances by none other than the Zooperstars. Some of my personal favorite Zooperstars were Nolan Rhino, who made the whole crowd laugh by dancing on the dugout, then falling hard and waiting two full minutes to get back. Yao Flamingo, who had some really sick breakdancing moves. Then there's the most famous Zooperstar of all, Mackerel Jordan. If you've ever come across a fish swallowing a member of the grounds crew at a Minor League game, spitting out all of their clothes, and then seeing them force their way out of his mouth in only their underwear, then you've seen Mackerel Jordan before. It doesn't matter how many times you've seen the video before, seeing it in person is about a million times funnier. I was absolutely dying laughing the whole time.

Anyway, I think that's enough about the Zooperstars, back to the game! The South Division ended up scoring 5 unanswered runs through the 7th and 8th innings to take a 5-2 lead. The North would later tie it up in the bottom of the 8th.

I actually missed most of the South's rally because I managed to run into a former Negro League Player that had been recognized on the field before the game. Unfortunately, his name escapes me but I know he played for the Indianapolis Clowns, who I once read in a book would actually wear clown makeup while playing, and also do the most outlandish of tricks in the field either between outs or while fielding pop flies. I decided this would be the perfect time to see just how accurate these stories were, and he told that they were all true. He shared one specific story about how one of his infield partners would be dressed like a lady, and they would have to do some kind of dance act, the latter of which he wasn't too crazy about. "I just thank god that I'm still here today," he said to me, "playing the games was easy it was just all the traveling that was hard." He also recommended a book to me called "Barnstorming to Heaven" by Syd Pollock, which I will no doubt order it when I finally have some downtime.

Keep in mind, we drove 2.5 hours to get to Birmingham, and considering it's in the Central time zone, we would be losing an hour on the drive home, and there was still a firework show to be had, we did NOT want Extra Innings. So at that point, loyalties were out the window so it almost seemed like a godsend when the South had a 4 run top of the 9th, and then gave up nothing in the bottom half. The fireworks show itself was pretty cool. I'm not very good at describing firework shows so here's a picture of the fireworks

So Am I Still Waiting For My Ears To Stop Ringing? (Sum 41 Concert Review)

Whether it was the "I like the video game or movie I heard this song on, therefore I like this song" phase I went through in my Elementary years, the "I hate Middle School and everyone in it" phase I went through in my early teenage years, and even my current phase which is hard to describe, but heavily consists of self-deprecating jokes and Pop-Punk music, there have been a few bands that have been constant throughout my life. Sum 41 falls into that category, and I got a chance to see them live on May 10, 2018. You could say it was a childhood dream finally lived, and what makes it even better is that if all goes well, I will be able to see another band I also loved to the former "music from video game and movie" stage I mentioned earlier, Simple Plan. Now all I have to do is wait for Yellowcard to come to their senses and realized they retired way too soon, so I can see them in concert and complete the trifecta of dreams that 9-year-old Taylor had. I know I've gotten off subject so let's get back to your regularly scheduled concert review.

The venue of that night's show was Buckhead Theatre, named after the district of Atlanta that it's located in. Buckhead is mostly known for being the part of Atlanta where all of the wealthy families live, but it also has some pretty cool restaurants, shops, bars, as well as the concert venue. The heart of Buckhead is a very walkable area with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, banks, and a lot of other things that make the mile walk from the train station worth it.

After completing most of my walk it started to rain pretty hard, which I knew was going to happen, but despite the clouds, it was still too hot for me to start walking faster than I already was. Eventually, I decided I had no choice but to start jogging to get out of the rain, so I stumbled upon this place called Red Door Tavern. As you would imagine, the main feature was a red door. A cool bar in its own right, it was decorated with lots of random stickers all behind the bar, and even a little plush doll of Kenny from South Park. With time still to kill before the show, I decided to take advantage of the downtime and their reasonably priced Blue Moons by taking a load off and watching the sporting events they were showing on their television sets.

Eventually, I checked the time and realized I had better get going or I would miss part of the first band's set. I ended up being right about that because they started playing a little bit before the previously announced 8 pm start time, so if I had waited a minute later, I would never have been able to get as close to the stage as I was for the whole duration of the show.

The first band to take the stage was Super Whatever from Orange County, California. They weren't necessarily a super fast Pop Punk band like the other bands on the bill, but they were still an entertaining band to watch. The lead singer was very interactive with the crowd, and at one point even opened the floor to questions. I had listened to some Super Whatevr songs during my train ride into the city, and there was one song that I really enjoyed called "Kathrin With a K" so I decided to ask if they were going to play that song, to which the singer replied "no, not tonight. But we will on the next tour" to which I replied with a promise to come see them next time they were in Atlanta. The songs they did play though were pretty impressive in their own right.

Super Whatevr on stage

One moment that will always stick out for me was when the singer introduced a song called "Someone Somewhere Somehow" by talking about how it was about the suicide of someone that no one had ever suspected to be sad, and he reminded everyone that if they were struggling, there's always help out there. The whole thing was pretty moving to me, and I thought it was especially important since May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

There were other more upbeat songs played by the such as "Misquote" and "Benjamin Alphabet," the latter song featuring the words "holy fuck" in the chorus and if that doesn't make a song great, then I don't know what does. I also think I would be doing my readers a disservice if I failed to mention 1/2 of the band had long hair, while the other half had short hair, which is always an interesting combination.

Next up was Seaway. Like Sum 41, they are a Pop Punk band from Ontario, Canada. I wasn't too familiar with their work so I found myself thinking "I don't know the words to this song but it's a damn good song", up until they did a cover of "Get Free" by The Vines, then I found myself thinking "I  DO know the words to this song and it's a damn good song." The singer was very interactive in his own right as well. A personal favorite of mine was when pointed out a person he saw wearing a Toronto Blue Jays hat, and also commented that it's probably not a popular hat to wear in Atlanta, a likely reference to the 1992 World Series where the Blue Jays defeated the Braves in 6 games.

Even though I didn't know much about Seaway, they did have a very loyal legion of fans at the show that sang along to the words I didn't know, and did lots of crowd surfing that I didn't have the courage to do, including two girls who crowd surfed twice during the final song alone, which I got a kick out of.

Sum 41 was on tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of their album "Does This Look Infected," and they did, in fact, play every song on the album, but as opposed to the usual anniversary tour where the band will play the album from start to finish, Sum 41 switched it around a little bit so it would resemble that of a typical setlist from the tour where they were promoting the release of the album, according to Deryck Whibley. I personally was a fan of the way they switched things around because I've seen my fair share of album anniversary tours, and they're always a blast but sometimes you do find yourself wishing that track 3 or track 6 of the 10 track album came a little bit later in the show when your anticipation is through the roof, or you once saw a DVD of one of their concerts where the first song on the album was played at the very end of the show, and it fit perfectly, so it feels weird to hear it super early in the setlist. It's little things like that which make me appreciate that decision by the boys in the band.

The album itself is pretty solid from start to finish (hence the justification of an Anniversary Tour) with smash hits like "The Hell Song", "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)", and "Still Waiting", and I feel like it's worth mentioning that I think "Hooch" is an absolute gem of a song that is worthy of the same recognition those other songs get.  Apart from the songs off that album, the songs they played included Motivation, Fake My Own Death, No Reason, a Medley of Metallica covers, We Will Rock You, and of course their most iconic song Fat Lip.

Apart from still being able to sing very well, Deryck Whibley still tells some pretty good stories and is very good for comic relief in between songs. Some of the funniest instances were asking audience members if they had already thrown up tonight before playing "All Messed Up" as well as telling a story about how he struggled to find a reliable bassist before meeting longtime and current Bassist who goes by the stage name of Cone and then dedicating a song called "A.N.I.C." to all of the aforementioned unreliable Bass players. If you're not familiar with the band, then it might be worth your time to take a look at the lyrics of the song because it's a very amusing song.

Deryck Whibley alongside the only reliable bass player he's ever worked with, "Cone." 

Another story that I thought was interesting was while introducing a song released in 2016 entitled "Fake My Own Death" Whibley told the story about how he originally came up with the idea for the song back in 2002 but it was never recorded at any point because the band only spent two weeks making the album, largely due to that fact that touring was a higher priority for them than being in a studio was, which apparently is still true today because had someone not pointed out to them that it was the anniversary of "Does This Look Infected" they would have been in the studio that very night working on their upcoming album. That story really spoke to me because from middle school all the way to my current college days, I've always been the kind of student to do an entire assignment 36 hours before the due date because I had completely forgotten about it. So the fact that Sum 41 can wait 14 years to record a song that ends up becoming a fan favorite with a music video that has over 8.4 million views on Youtube should be an inspiration for procrastinators everywhere.

At the end of the day, it was a good night. If given the chance, I would definitely see all 3 bands again, and I would also definitely go back to Red Door Tavern if I was ever out and about in Buckhead, and when I do I will most definitely write about it. In the meantime feel free to bookmark this blog if you haven't yet because my next post SHOULD be my first "on tour" entry as I write about my recent road trip to Asheville, North Carolina.