parallel things: The Tiny Texas "Tour"

The trip to Texas was long but not unbearable. We left on Tuesday around 2pm and made it all the way to Houston, TX. Trae came along for the ride and made it slightly more enjoyable than a normal Bridge's trip. On Wednesday we strolled into Austin at 4:30pm and immediately checked into our hotel. Thank God the hotel was downtown. At first we complained that the label insisted we stay at the Hilton, which was way too much money a night, but it ended up being the most convenient stay. Once we were settled in, everyone was starving and so our party of seven (by this time our friend Rob had joined us) set out to find food. We walked a block down from the hotel and found a BBQ restaurant that was not quite as good as I wanted it to be, but I did get the salad bar so I guess that makes it unfair judgement. While we were eating, the Modern Skirts walked in and plans were made to meet up later for a hotel party that eventually happened a few hours later. We all hung out for a while just taking pictures and listening to eachothers new albums (I'm super excited about their second album). Lots of pictures were taken, which I will post at the end. After they left, a few guys from Pico came over along with Hymns, both of which we are playing a show with tomorrow night in Nashville. Not much happened after that. It was kind of funny though because Isaaca and I decided at 4 AM that the night couldn't be over and left the hotel room to find Natalie and Trae. We got to the lobby just as the two of them walked in shortly followed by Brian and Bryan from Pico. We then realized that the night actually was over and returned to the room to go to bed. Both Brian and Bryan passed out on our floor (bless their hearts) and that concludes my first night in Austin. The next day we woke up rather late but it was appropriate considering the circumstances. By the time we were ready to head out it was a few hours before we had to load in at the Pure Volume stage. We went to 6th street in pursuit of the perfect restaurant and just so happened to find a place called "Paradise" which became a running joke of that moment. We ate, paid, and walked back to the hotel just to freshen up and then left to get ready for our show. Not much happened after that besides hanging out at Pure Volume with people from the label and our manager. We finally played our show and then left with Russell to get a drink at a place called The Driskol (or something?). At 11pm Stacey and I went to see Shirock and then hurried back to Pure Volume to see Band Marino at 12AM and then made it to The New Frontiers show at 1AM. It was lots of walking and somehow Stacey seperated herself from me and I somehow met back up with Band Marino and went to eat "dinner" with them. My phone had died at this point so I just had them drop me off at the hotel where I found Stacey just hanging out. It was 6AM by the time I finally went to bed and I slept wonderfully. The next day we had to leave by noon in order to get to Jackson, MS on time for our show at 8. The drive was forever and we didn't make too many stops so one can imagine the torture of sleep deprivation, cramped positions, and waiting through long intervals before a bathroom break. We made it to Jackson right on time and played to such an energetic crowd that I easily got out of my tired mood. Afterwards, we found a mexican restaurant that, believe it or not, did not have beans or rice and only grilled chicken not "shredded" chicken. It was quite the experience. I was so tired at this point, but we decided to drive back towards Birmingham for the Shamrock festival. The next day we all left the hotel by 11am and packed ourselves in the van only to find that Natalie had decorated it for Isaaca's 18th birthday (cute).

Here's a picture:

The Shamrock festival was fun, but we were all so tired that it was hard to enjoy. SXSW really wore me out. I'm not sure if I could have stayed much longer than the two days we were. I'll go back next year for sure...

Here's some pictures from the trip:

(Day 1)