Firestarter – 2nd ROAD BLOG from “Firestarter & Friends Do America Tour”

The pop punk band, Firestarter, is currently out on their U.S. winter headline tour, called the “Firestarter & Friends Do America Tour” with Trophy Wives, Nominee and Such A Mess. During this tour, they will be doing an exclusive blog for our site. You can check out the second blog, with photos, after the break.

Firestarter here and it’s been a bit since you’ve last heard from us, but it has been interesting to say the least. It’s day 13 of 32 and New Orleans, LA is in the rear view mirror after a crazy night but we’ll get to that later. For now, here is how our week started.

We last left you in the van on our way into Richmond, VA but also another snow storm. Said snow storm was forecasted to drop ten inches of powder on a place that rarely gets one so the show was sadly called off. Rack up two shows cancelled because the snow, woof. With that knowledge, we made a quick pit-stop at our favorite east coast fast food establishment, Cook Out. If you haven’t experienced the ever so amazing Cook Out tray, you haven’t lived so keep an eye out for one if you are ever in the Carolina’s or Virginia. We continued our drive south through snowy and extremely icy North Carolina with temperatures so cold, water froze instantly on our windshield. We stuck it out as long as we could and pulled off for the night in Rocky Mount, NC. Next day was an already scheduled off day, so we packed up and finished our drive to beautiful Charleston, SC.

Charleston, SC to us is a home away from home. The city is absolutely beautiful; the weather is always great; the people are always welcoming and friendly; and the shows get better every time we pass through. This time was no exception. Spent a night out on the town the day before we had our show, got a little saucy, and crashed with our good friend PJ from Charleston Shows, the promoter of the show. Come showtime, we were back together with the Trophy Wives’ guys and ready to have a good time. Uncle Joe Pasta packed in nicely, went off for Trophy Wives and then came our turn. From the first note we struck until the end of our set, kids went off (Resulting in a bloody lip for me, Matt L., but it was worth it.) and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Afterwards we grabbed a few beers downtown, ate shitty McDonald’s, and went to sleep.

The time was upon us and we were in Florida. Much like Charleston, we always look forward to coming through the entire state of Florida as each stop is always a blast. The scene is alive and well there and it shows. We started off in St. Augustine which was still a very cold forty degrees which surprised us because of what we are used to coming through each time. The venue called Planet Sarbez had a great staff who fed us and Trophy Wives beer and their signature gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches (Yes, they were amazing.) and the end result was another great show and another great night. Following the show, we made the late night drive down that I most certainly slept through to Southern Florida.

We started our day in Sunrise by stopping by the Mills Custom shop. If you didn’t know already, Mills Custom is a custom guitar cabinet company and the driving force behind Firestarter’s guitar tones and live sound. We picked up our brand new backline featuring the newest Mills Custom look and we couldn’t be happier to show them off and play them. We loaded in to Anonymous Guitars and prepared for a show full of friends, pop-punk, and whatever else the cool kids are doing these days. Quick shoutout to our boy Marc and his band Stillframe who we played with and absolutely killed it, don’t sleep on them. Trophy Wives ripped it as always and then it was our turn to set up and play. Even though the show ran a little later than expected, we had a blast and couldn’t have asked for better sounding cabinets from Mills Custom. You can tell we love them a lot right?

Saturday February 21st began and it was the day we were looking forward to most in Florida, Orlando. Started it off with some pizza from the amazing Lazy Moon Cafe with some friends, picked up some needed things from Guitar Center, and headed over to Backbooth in downtown Orlando. This show in particular was stacked from start to finish with amazing bands including our 2013 split-mates and Orlando natives, Old Again; South Florida acoustic stunner, Northbound; and Hungover, who was releasing their new EP that day. With a line down the street before doors, we knew it was going to be a good time and we were definitely right. Everyone packed in and the energy level was wild from the start with awesome sets from Southbend and Trophy Wives. We quickly set up and started our set. Orlando brought it hard with constant circle pits, stage dives, and pile-ons throughout the set leaving us with smiles on our faces. After the show ended, we loaded out even though it took hours due to a Luke Bryan concert (Oh boy) in the area, but finally we made it to the infamous Capstan House where we stayed the night.

– Firestarter

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