Tour Video!

Hey Kids! While we were on our awesome tour with Yo Gabba Gabba, BONES was able to take some behind the scenes video footage with his little digital camera and edit it all together. Hope you enjoy a little sneak peek into one of our most magical journeys on the road yet!

St. Louis!

Hey Kids! We have been so busy working on our new record since we got home that we almost forgot to write about our final stop on the tour...the gateway to the west...and hometown of DJ Lance Rock...ST LOUIS! So we arrived at the amazing FOX Theatre just an hour before showtime.

When we got a chance to wander around backstage we saw signatures and artwork from some of the amazing shows and bands that have passed through this historic theatre...like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera....Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, and 38 Special!

After rocking the first Yo Gabba Gabba set, Ricky, Jimmy and Bones went and ate some great burgers across the street at "The Best Steak House". That was its real name, and it lived up to it! During the second performance, emotions ran high, as everone was sad this was our last show of the tour. DJ Lance Rock even expressed his love for St. Louis and some of the amazing talent it has produced (like Michael McDonald ). After rocking our final Yo Gabba Gabba performance that afternoon, Jimmy and Bones fell into a food coma backstage. Eventually we made our way over to the Firebird for our last club show with Mustard Plug...so sad. We were cheered up when we saw the club was packed and the kids were going crazy. Three young fans did their first stage dives ever that night when we broke into spurts of old punk classics from Minor Threat and Black Flag.

The best part is we finally made Tim Shaw laugh. He made good on his promise and before we knew what was happening, he did a New York Hardcore style front flip stage dive into the crowd during the song "Pool Party". The crowd seemed to take this as a cue to go even crazier! Bodies were flying everywhere and before we knew it kids were all over the stage. We went straight into our final song "Awesome Forces" with what looked like a mini-riot happening onstage! Wow...Hardcore! What a great end to an amazing tour. Thanks St. Louis! (Read a review here )We said a long and sad farewell to our good friends in Mustard Plug and three short hours later were on a flight home.

Cincinnati/Covington!

Late last night we pulled into a parking lot down the street from the venue for the Yo Gabba live show. Yo Gabba Gabba was going on at the ARONOFF theatre in downtown Cincinnati. We all slept but the MCBC had to get up at 6am to do an interview on a local news station about the Yo Gabba shows and the fact that he was a creator of the show. He stumbled back into the bus at 9am and crashed until it was time to get up for the first show. The first show was at 2pm and went off as usual but there were a few technical problems.. DJ LANCE's mic wasn't working at first and Crash's mic somehow wound up in his hands while he was trying to play the bass! Weird!

After the first show it was great to meet some fans of the Aquabats and the YGG thing! Ricky went off to find some drum sticks at guitar center and Eagle Bones and Jimmy the Robot went to a museum downtown that had some 'art' in it. Some guy who does photo shop treatments of other peoples' photos and art...some guy named Sheppard Fairy. He is starting some kind of revolution or something.

ANYWAY!! We got back to the Aronoff center for the second show and did our thing.. then the tour manager for YGG, Mike pulled us into the hall and said, "keep those costumes on boys, I want you to meet someone." He took us to a little room and there before our eyes in all of his funkadelic majesty was the rock and roll hall of fame legend...
BOOTSY COLLINS!!

I guess Bootsy had asked to come down and check out the show because his grandson was a fan and then Tour Manager Mike asked him if he would do the Dancey Dance segment in the live show!! WOW!! Maybe some of you don't understand how AMAZING Bootsy Collins is but check out his Wikipedia page.. it will blow you away. This man played bass and came up with Bass lines for James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic and so much more! The man is a living legend. DJ LANCE ROCK came in and was blown away. I guess DJ LANCE's first concert was going to see Bootsy's Rubber Band as a boy and being blown away. DJ LANCE is a huge fan and it's safe to say without BOOTSY there would be no DJ LANCE ROCK! We all took pics together and slapped high fives.. BOOTSY was so kind and gracious to a bunch of music nerds geeking out all over him!
THe BIZ showed up for some pics too! DJ LANCE, BIZ MARKIE, BOOTSY COLLINS and DJ COOL V.. and the Aquabats.. ?? NOW THAT"S FUNKY! It was an amazing moment in the history of music! HA!

Anyway, BOOTSY came out and taught the kids how to do the peanut butter stomp! The best part was when he said to the kids, "NOW! Squish it baayybee!" It was amazing!

We met some Aquabat fans at the show too! Some friends that had come without kids and some with! We chatted and told them we would see them later on that night at the MAD HATTER club across the river in KENTUCKY!!

Later we drove over to the Mad Hatter club not too far away.. but technically in Kentucky. We met up with MUSTARD PLUG and we had a show!! We also had a contest where if you made a shirt with stage manager Tim Shaw on it you could get into the show for free! One of the girls that was at the Yo Gabba show earlier in the day had a home made "DEMOLITION ...TIM SHAW" Shirt on!

She won! And got into the show for free! Now, Tim didnt know we were doing this until we pulled the girl up on stage and announced her as the winner! HA! THIS IS TIM'S REACTION!!

HA! it was really funny!! ..mmm I guess you had to be there.

ANYWAY!!! The show was a sweaty, loud, raucous, crazy good time! We all had a fun time singing stupid songs and being sweaty nerds! The kids were great! We can't wait to come back...even if the club smelled like pee!

GOOD NIGHT!! Tomorrow St. LOUIS!!

Fort Wayne!

Last night we left DETROIT with spirits high and drove through the night to FORT WAYNE, INDIANA. It wasnt a very long drive but we were able to get some sleep before our 11 o'clock am show at the EMBASSY Theatre. Now, when we say show we really mean we go out on stage at one point in the show and play one song... That one song is Pool Party. So, there is a lot of hustle and hassle that goes into us just coming out for one song. It's a great opportunity though and we are really grateful that we have a chance to be there at all these shows. The Yo Gabba LIVE show is pretty amazing. To think it was just a dream a few few years ago and now its touching so many families lives across the world... is pretty amazing in itself.

Anyway we played the one song and then everyone split up to explore beautiful FORT WAYNE! Stage Manager TIM found a really cool antique store and said we should all go back after the second show. Chris Partida found a thrift store and came back with a nice flannel shirt... that smelled like old people...mmmm. Chad and Jimmy even found an awesome old burger shop called POWERS BURGERS!! The onion-burger smell sure was powerful..

Anyway, we played the second show where Nate and Tim talked the MCBC into doing a sketchy backflip off of the speaker cabinet.. The MCBC was a little freaked out about it and vowed to never do backflips again.. at the Yo Gabba shows...for now. HA. The show went good and fun was had all around. Later in the show BIZ Markie came out to do the Beat of the day. One little girl complained to biz.. 'you just spit on me!" There was laughter! ha! NOBODY BEATS THE BIZ!

Later, after the show and after we'd all changed etc. Tim Shaw led the expedition to the Antique store with many treasures... The MCBC found a really great FEZ for 10 bucks... he also found a 60's BATMAN mask, a Pillsbury Doughboy Doll and a Crackle toy from Rice Krispies! Chris Partida scored a strange bearded tiki man head from FIJI and a wolfman ring and Eagle Bones nabbed this set of vintage 50's tarot cards... SPOOKY! Tim Shaw decided not to buy any thing after all and we left with treasures in hand!!

Back at the bus Hurricane was getting the bus ready for the drive to Ohio. We all quickly took turns taking showers at the hotel and jumped back on the bus just in time! We saw a large woman on a vespa driving down the highway and then we stopped at a SUBWAY to use the toilet. No number two's on the bus. Its the law of Rock and Roll.

See you tomorrow.

Detroit!

After enduring a night of riots and revelry, we awoke on the curbside of the legendary club ... ST. ANDREWS! Seeing how last night was ST. PATRICK'S, we knew there may be a spiritual connection to tonight's show. It also made sense that our bus didnt get burned down during the night.. the Saints were hard at work protecting us from harm!

The day was rather uneventful other than dodging pan handlers and ducking from sketchy dudes. Jimmy the Robot has been reading the Walking Dead comic books (by Robert Kirkman) and felt like Detroit would be a great place to film the movie adaptation of the comic series. The MCBC went on a search for SUBWAY because he is on the Jared diet now... "whatever it takes"

As sound check finished and show time grew near.. we knew something special was going to happen...then as we all looked out the window we saw two parking attendants across the street start fighting with each other!! It was awesome! They were using the little orange parking flags to beat each other silly... We figured they had both been scheduled on the same day to work even though only one was supposed to be there.... there was blood.. over a parking job.. Hey at least they loved their jobs enough to fight for it!

The club explained there would be no 'hospitality' tonight because ticket sales were low... so we got no water and free chips... we couldn't understand it.. MUSTARD PLUG and THE AQUABATS in DETROIT... it seemed like there would be some thing special to that...but... as we prepared for the worst...

Then suddenly ... kids started to line up .. the line went around the block!! Hallelujah!! The Luck of the Irish held strong!! Hooray! the club swiftly filled up!! WOW! It was great!

Also! Miraculously! Some guy with an acoustic guitar was singing songs of praise and joy to the kids in line! It was so cute! I wanted to cuddle him and give him marshmellow peeps! He was so cute out there on the sidewalk singing ska anthems of positive joy!! Too bad he wasn't on the bill. He seemed like such a nice guy though, I'm sure he will make friends and get lots of shows in the future! Good luck buddy! Whoever you are!

At any rate! MUSTARD PLUG was awesome as always! They even do a cover of FUGAZI's classic WAITING ROOM! We really love playing shows with those guys.. they are super cool and really good guys.

THE SHOW WAS GREAT! The Detroit/Michigan fans were super great! Dancing, Singing along, Stage diving.. and pretty much going nuts.. They were even forgiving of a less than 100% MCBC who's voice was at the edge of disaster. The time sprinkler was even there and we destroyed him quickly!

The fans were great! And we even got to help some little fans do some stage dives...whoops!

After the show, we were able to meet a bunch of new fans and friends... give hugs and really had a 'spiritual' moment hangning with everyone. We even hung out with our old friends Rebekah and family! What a fun night! Things were so awesome.. St' Andrews even bought us two large pies from PIZZA PAPALIS! The best pizza ever (in Detroit)!! It was such a great night we were blessed for coming to Detroit! Bless you, Michigan, bless you.

There was a dance party on the bus to celebrate our blessings!

...ON TO FORT WAYNE!

Toronto! - St. Patrick's Day!

The next morning we awoke to the sounds of Canadian Leprechauns singing hymns and praising the shamrock shake. Yes, kids, it was St. Patricks Day in Toronto... ok well.. I guess it was St. Patrick's Day all over the world...

We hustled to get ready for a big day full of song and dance and green. We played the first Yo Gabba show with unusual flair. Nothing seemed to go wrong.. and the bass rig.. seemed to be working consistently ... Yes... the saints preserved us on this the lucky day for the irish. We walked around Toronto after the first show and realized that it was also SPRING BREAK!! What a great idea. To combine St Patrick's Day and SPRING BREAK!! There was going to be a lot of vomit to clean up after this day. Eagle Bones and the MCBC walked around the mall downtown close to the ELGIN theatre but the MCBC kept getting strange looks from people for his 'unique' mustache... He was crushed .. he could have sworn that Canada was way more open minded...

Anyway, after lunch we once again took the stage to the sell out crowd at the ELGIN for the second Yo Gabba Gabba show of the day! It was amazing.. the Yo Gabba Gabba live show is pretty incredible....just saying. Y'all should sneak in and check it out.

After the shows.. we didn't have a club show .. so we knew ... it was time to PARTY.. SPRING BREAK!!! ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! TORONTO!!! This was shaping up to be the mother of all party nights.. we even ordered a cake.... and then.. the roof caved in..
Our bus driver .. 'Hurricane" decided... we needed to leave early for Detroit.... WHAT?!?!
We left Toronto a 6pm!!! THE SUN HADNT EVEN SET!!! WHAT ?!!? WHY?!?!
We went through the border and were boarded by some customs officials who thought we were one of those bands that have contraband.. WRONG!!
We did have a half drunk Shamrock Shake from McDonalds.. but.. that doesn't really count...

We got through the border and headed into downtown DETROIT... it was 9pm... or 10 ish...
Most of the group was determined to celebrate the holidays but .. unfortunately we lost SPRING BREAK as we crossed the border....

Anyway, as most of the guys left to 'explore' the concrete jungles of Detroit... Stage Manager TIM and the MCBC hung back to chill out... WHEN.... not even 30 seconds later.. someone tried to jimmy his way onto the bus... to presumably .. jack stuff.... WOW!! WE WERE BACK IN DETROIT!!

It finally hit us.. we wouldn't want to be anywhere else than in the city of broken glass... ..DETROIT BABY!!

Toronto!

We awoke early on Tuesday Morning at 7am to be told we were transferring buses because our bus was broken. We jumped on a new bus and passed out only to wake up a VERY short time later in TORONTO! We only had 20 minutes to get ready for the YO GABBA GABBA performance. We hurried and prepared ourselves for an awesome rendition of POOL PARTY.. it seems to really go over well with the kids. We did our best to sing through the pain for two shows and then went back and passed out on the bus... for a an hour or so..

WE then headed straight to THE MOD CLUB in TORONTO which was a really awesome club! It sounded great and looked great. We stormed the stage... when it was our turn..

The club pretty much went nutzo as did we! It was pandemonium in the funnest sense of the word. Kids going nuts, dancin', kids flying off the stage, bodies flying everywhere! It was really fun! Dj Lance Rock made a surprise appearance as a vocal coach roadie. Our friends from CREEPSHOW showed up and hung out. Also some friends form the YO GABBA Live family showed up to the Aquabats Dance Party! Stage Manager Tim Shaw was still unbreakable tonight... couldnt get him to laugh ...but he made us laugh when he body checked a few stage crashers off the stage... priceless! What a gem!

We love the MOD Club and cant wait to come back.!! Thanks to all the kids that came out and made it a SUPER FUN SHOW!!

London!

We woke up at the border... early in the morning as dogs and police raided our bus for drugs... they didnt find anything except a chocolate covered waffle in Chris Partida's bunk. We narrowly made it through. Actually, it was quite uneventful and I could tell the border guards were hoping for something more exciting then a bunch of squeaky clean super nerds. The lady behind the desk had never heard of the Aquabats but.. really perked up when our bus driver ."HURRICANE" mentioned YO GABBA GABBA! I guess we better get used to it.

A couple hours later, we were at the Club.. 'Call the Office'... In London.. Canada.. we haven't played here since.. 1998!! Twelve years ago.. crazy.. we all felt twelve years younger... for the first twelve minutes of the show...


We went on stage at 10:45 pm and we were all pretty tired.. of sitting around waiting all day so we had a lot of energy ...at first...

The show was really fun.. the crowd was great.. We threw Red Sweater into the set and dedicated it to a girl who was wearing a Red Sweater with a home made alligator... and we also played an all time classic "Since you been gone" by Kelly Clarkson....'s songwriters. It was really fun and still very cold for a band that just returned from summer in Australia. It was really hard to make Tim Shaw, our crew chief, laugh though.. we have a bet that if we catch him laughing during the set he has to come on stage and dance .. and then stage dive.. He was a pretty tough nut to crack tonight. We'll see tomorrow in TORONTO!!

Milwaukee!

Sunday we arrived in Milwaukee... during the night our bus broke down so we got to the Yo Gabba Show late. We were in a part of the city of Milwaukee that we have never seen before...we were in the nice part! The Yo Gabba Gabba show was at a really nice theatre called the Riverside Theatre... right on the side of a river... in 15 years of touring we have never seen the river in Milwaukee... i guess punk clubs dont like scenic areas... I get it.. sadly...

Anyway, we have Sundays off ... usually.. but we did appear at the Yo Gabba Gabba Live shows.. which were really awesome... the crowds in Wisconsin were really excited and awesome!! Full of energy they made it really easy to get up and dance to the hits.. Lots of little kids... like little babies and families.. It was really fun to see...


the only draw back was that our dressing room was on the 6th floor and the elevator was REALLY slow.. we had to run up and down stairs ...I am not kidding .. at least 12 or 13 times. Luckily we are really strong and in shape.. and... yeah.. our calf muscles burned like the sands of the Nairobi.

Anyway, we took off that night for CANADA!!

Minneapolis!

Friday night we did something we never do... hopped on a bus with bunks and drove somewhere for a long time! We drove through the night sleeping and waking up in intervals only to arrive all but refreshed in Minneapolis the next morning. We pulled up to the TARGET center downtown where basketball team the Timberwolves and touring bands like U2 play. We thought we were at the wrong place 'til we realized we had caught up with the Yo GABBA GABBA tour... and we realized we were actually playing there... We put all of our stuff in the visiting teams locker rooms and then all took showers.. like a visiting basketball team...that finished the game 10 hours ago...

We then prepared to get sweaty again and rock the pre-school crowds with one song... as the guests of the Super Music Friends Show segment in the show. How strange and ironic we are playing an arena...FINALLY... as an opening act....for a pre-school show... we help create... TOTALLY AWESOME!! We had fun at the 2 shows and Slug from Atmosphere was there doing a Dancey Dance!

After the two show we rushed over back to the sketchy side of town...the side of town we are usually playing on tour! We went over to a club called the Triple Rock and when we got there a band called KOO KOO KANGAROO was out there giving the crowd some silly fun with their brand of Kiddie Show Hip Hop Fun. Imagine Bad Credit meets Yo Gabba Gabba... somehow it really worked. They even put a parachute over the crowd and then filled it with air.. somehow...

We knew we had to turn up the juice... we were fresh out of parachutes... but when we hit the stage the crowd at the triple rock really went off!! It was a classic show-the kind where the energy from the crowd really feeds the band's energy and everyone wins... Unfortunately Cobra Man and The Tortilla came out to destroy the show and threw a little wrench in the works but we quickly dispatched them with extreme prejudice!!!

It was a hardcore show ... a hardcore nerdcore show!! Band and crowd united in Nerdness crashing together and sweating on each other... IT WAS AWESOME!! We loved the show! and were really spent after... we all crashed sweaty and gross in the bus...
and then... BIZ MARKIE showed up at 3am.. I guess we are sharing a bus with the BIZ!! BOO YA!

Chicago!

Tour has truly begun! Last night we touched down in the windy city. After a nice day of taking in the sights, procuring customized apparel and eating hot dogs, we packed The Metro full of kids, young and old, short and tall, sweaty and not! Everything went well, Plunket and Mustard Plug were great. Everyone had a really fun time, even despite the Time Sprinkler trying to shut down the show. I hope we don't see him again, though I've got a lingering suspicion that we might... Thousands of Chicagoans are now safer, all thanks to The Aquabats! Sleep tight, Chicago.

Tomorrow; Minneapolis! We'll see you there!