Broken Vans and Broken Hearts - Excerpts From The Rod Fall 2001 Tour Diary
By Mark McMillon

The following segments were pulled from the Rod fall 2001 tour diary. Be sure to check in with the Daily Scoop at www.rod-music.com for current and archived journal entries from the road and at home.

Chicago, IL - Early departures and rock and roll were never intended to be mixed, but due to a tightly scheduled first day of ruckus, everyone was up by 5:00am to pack, load the van, and be on the road by 6:30am. The day's events called for being in Chicago at noon to load in for sound check for a live WZRD FM radio show that would air at 2:00pm. We needed to be out by 4:00pm to meet up with Susanne and the fine folks at Flower booking for food. From there, we would head over to the Fireside Bowl for the 5:30pm load in and try to slip in a nap before the show got underway. Things always seem to take unexpected little twists as of late. In this case, it was our van. Somewhere between Indy and Chicago, Mike was driving and the rest of us were awakened to him announcing "Wake up, the van's on Fire!" It seems a small exhaust tube under the van towards the front had broken in two.

Carbondale, IL - Sleeping in felt good, really good. We didn't have to be in Carbondale till late, so most of the morning and afternoon were spent relaxing and watching Jayro play Max Payne at Fred's. Time was also well spent at some area thrift and record stores. Affordable purchases included a couple shirts and a ten inch picture disc single for Faith No More's Small Victory. Chicago traffic was horrible and seemed extra long on the drive out because everyone was still fried from the previous days events in the van. Carbondale represented with a large crowd in good spirits. A local punk band opened up the show followed by a great set by Sparechange00. We closed out the night with a lengthy fifty minute set that included two new songs. We spent a good deal of time at the bar catching up with the Sparechange guys after our set.

Springfield, IL - The trip to Springfield went quick. All of us were curious to check out the night's club called the Rise because we had heard it was in the same building that Asylum was in. We had played the Asylum numerous times over the last couple of years and it had always been one of our favorites. We were curious to see what changes they had made. Upon arriving for load in, we found that the stage had been moved into a different room and that most of the furniture was gone. The club was still in the infant stage of getting going, but it looked like it's going to be great. The show line up for the night was incredible. Every band put on a great show. The night started with a tight set from Detroit's Rescue. This was my first time checking this band out and I was floored. I encourage everyone to pick up their new EP on Dead Droid Records. Sparechange00 came up next and had everyone singing along. We followed.

Ames, IA - Somewhere between Springfield and Ames, we stopped at a station claiming to be "the World's largest truckstop". This place had the most amazing virtual reallity games. Jayro and Ben got a workout on the insanely active boxing game. Mike and I played and assortment of games that involved blowing stuff up. Chris spent some time on the flight simulator game purposely repeatedly nosediving the plane into things over and over, much to the dismay of the group of truckers that had gathered around. We arrived that afternoon at the club amid a pretty violent hail storm. We dabbled around at soundcheck with some other new stuff and spent a little time reworking a drum and bass arrangement on "New Years". Everyone at the venue, the M-shop, was way cool. The place packed out and was a lot of fun. Locals Eight Miles Out opened things up with a fun and poppy set. We came on stage next to some requested Bon Jovi walk on music.

Tulsa, OK - The drive to Tulsa was long, the venue was shitty, and the promoter really wasn't much of a promoter of anything at all. Rock and roll, however, prevailed. Thanks mostly to the help of Detroit rockers Rescue, reunited with us again, a good time was still had. The highlight of the evening was the high pressure shower head at the hotel.

Lubbock, TX - Lubbock, Texas still and always will kick ass. We spent the early part of the day walking around Texas Tech University. Tonight's show was an instore w/ two other bands at Campus CD's. Luis did a great job promoting the show and the place was full by the time we went on. We played a lengthy set that included three new songs. The area the bands play in is entirely enclosed with posters on the walls and ceiling. The giant sized Axle poster got attacked midway through our set. Afterwards, we headed over with some friendly locals to Denny's. After ordering and waiting a short while for our food, our tour manager Ben Parker recognizes old school WWF manager Jimmy Heart eating dinner with a very expensive looking prostitute. We went over and said hey, discussed "Hulkamania" for a bit, and then got a couple of pictures taken.

Santa Fe, NM - After some debate, we ended up skipping viewing Roswell on our way to Santa Fe. It was slightly out of the way and most of the Texas locals said it wasn't worth the trip. Santa Fe is way high up. The elevation and dust made just about all of us sick with some sort of throat and nasal infection. The show was uneventfulbut everyone was extremely nice and the dinner they had prepared was great. The shower head at the hotel we stayed in Gallop, NM had so much pressure that soap was hardly needed.

Phoenix, AZ - The Valentines Day show in Phoenix was awesome. It was our first time playing the area, so the large crowd was a happy site. Lots of candy was exchanged during the entire show. Nice people in the area and the two opening bands were a lot of fun. We spent the after show time relaxing and eating lasagna at Jayro's Dad's place just north of the city. I got the best nights sleep I have had in years. We awoke the next morning and made a lazy drive into California. We all bonded by stopping at a flea market on the Arizona/California border and purchasing switchblades.

Anaheim, CA - Definitely one of the highlights of the tour. This was my fourth time playing the Chain Reaction and each time has been nothing short of amazing. The presale was enough to create a line out front before the 7:30pm doors. The show sold out of remaining tickets by the middle of the opening band Hot Potty's set. Hot Potty featured the Bad Religion drummer on guitar and vocals. We came up next with the most energetic set of the tour. The crowd was very receptive and loud. Everyone in our band is their own worst critic when it comes to our performance, but I think it's safe to say that we all walked off stage pretty proud of our performance tonight. Indie punk legends Gameface followed up with an amazing set of mostly new material. Codename Rocky closed out the night with a tight set. Their hometown crowd went crazy for them. After the show, we spent a lot of time talking with everyone and making a lot of new friends.

Los Angelas, CA - Today was scheduled pretty tight. We woke up early and headed to Disneyland. The actress that plays Snow White there is a fan of the band and arranged for free passes for all of us. It was a holiday weekend, so the place was packed. It was also way hot and most of us Ohio boys made the mistake of wearing all black. We spent most of the first part of the day trying to squeeze in as many rides as we could. The Indiana Jones ride was probably my favorite. After leaving the theme park, we headed up for the show at Pitzer College. We arrived to a bit of chaos. Two of the four bands had cancelled at the last minute. After a lot of waiting around, things got underway. We played a short set of half new material and half from the Story album. The other band was called Division Day and they were absolutely amazing. They played a strong set of pop stuff sort of in the vein of Death Cab for Cutie.

Hollywood, CA - After running around endlessly the previous day, today's plan was to spend the early part being lazy and resting up in Long Beach. In the late afternoon, we departed to get the oil changed in the megavan. The time waiting on the van was well spent eating greasy tacos and scoping out the record store from the Snoop Dog video. From there, we headed over to Amoeba records. This place was freaking huge. Easily the size of Best Buy back home. While shopping, Jayro recognized and met Amy from Upright Citizens Brigade and Saturday Night Live. Everyone met back up and we headed over to West Hollywood to the Troubadour for load in and sound check. Absolutely amazing club and sound. This was Rod's second time playing here. Last time was with the Anniversary and Love Light Shine. Tonight's show was with Gameface and Limbeck. Chris was pretty sick with the stomach flu and I had a pretty gruesome sore throat and swollen glands.

Long Beach, CA - Today was originally scheduled to go to a small studio and demo a couple of new songs for Glue Factory, but due to exhaustion and half the band being sick, everyone involved agreed the best thing would be to take the day off and rest up. We were a goodway into the tour and this was our first day off. It pretty much consisted of sleeping, eating, sleeping, and then eating again before crashing out for the night.

Oakland, CA - The drive out of LA was long and morning traffic made things a little sluggish. Tonight's show was at the Stork Club in downtown Oakland. The local openers on the bill were an odd pairing with us. The bar and club were great and the staff was a lot of fun.

Chico, CA - We got into Chico early and checked into the hotel. Upon bringing his bags in, Chris declared he felt like he was finally over flu and felt better. Less than a minute later, he quickly disproved the theory by puking all over the carpet. Pizza was ate, showers were taken, and the rest of the afternoon was pretty much spent catching up on sleep. The show started around 9:00pm at a venue called Catacombes. We played second to a decent weeknight crowd. Jayro's amp blew a fuse a few songs into the set and we had to pause to get things squared away. A local duo called the Americas closed out the show and were awesome.

Atwater, CA - We've met a lot of cool people in this area, so it's always good time and we're treated very well. Due to the quick and untimely break up of our friends Join'r, the original scheduled show was cancelled and we were added to another bill. The new show was some kind of music showcase sponsored by the area fitness center. We didn't really know what to think going into it, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and a great show. Our good buddy and Ohio native Paul Feltz was on hand to make sure we were taken care of. The main organizer of the event was a Mexican league pro wrestler that took a liking to us. He had a million interesting stories and flooded us with a ton of free stuff like shirts and free food coupons that I think were supposed to be prizes for the people in attendance. After the show, we spent the evening winding down at Paul's place with some old friends from the area.

Los Gatos, CA - The drive to Los Gatos was quick and easy. The entire area up there is amazing and extremely relaxing to drive through on the highway. Tonight's show was with some really good bands and we've always done well up this way, so we were really excited going into it. The show was a stacked bill at the Outhouse that got underway early. We played a pretty strong set and had a blast. There were some many good bands that I don't even know where to start. The two that stick out for me were Audio Crush and Fairview. Both rocked the house.

Paulo Alto, CA - Another short drive got the day off to a very enjoyable start. We went to a great area record store early in the afternoon to check out an acoustic in store from Audio Crush and shop around a little. Everybody had a good time gawking at the pretty amazing selection. We headed to dinner a little later with the area promoter and friend Eric and spent a good hour and a half catching up. The show was a lot of fun. A new Asian Man records band called Short Round put on a really good set and were really nice guys. We played a solid short set that was up there with the most energetic of the tour. The venue had an arcade type room in the back, so we had a good time goofing around and relaxing in there. A really fun and solid Canadian band called Operation Makeout closed out the night with a great set.