From Within Newsletter #2
DESPIZE WEST COAST TOUR DIARY
Welcome back true believers…I’m back home in Florida and fresh off the Despize West Coast tour. To say it was fun would be an understatement. On this tour I had two big takeaways -
The Glasgow squad is goated, and I’m truly thankful that starting From Within led to forming a lifelong friendship with them
Metallic hardcore kids can not believe a fully zipped up black Arcteryx jacket (regardless of the weather) and some form of salomons.
I wrote down a nice little recap of each show and brought along my tried and true $18 Nikon 1 touch 100 to take pictures along the way. Most of the pictures are from me but a few are from Ben/Juri’s camera. Let’s get into it.
4/7 Pensacola, Florida
The squad arrived at my house around 4:30 AM after driving through what they described as the worst rain they’ve ever seen. I’m not saying it wasn’t raining hard, but it was just a classic southern thunderstorm that almost brought them to their knees…I pray they never see a category 3 hurricane, but thankfully, they made it to my house. After letting them sleep in for a bit, we rounded everyone up and went to my favorite food spot in town called Basil and Sprout (really epic Vietnamese food). After that, we hit a cornerstone of touring. The Mall. Nothing quite like sitting in a car all day and then hitting a mall on tour, but that’s for another newsletter. Shortly after that, it was time to go to the venue, the CBGB’s of Pensacola, The Handlebar. Overall, I think the show did well for a Monday night in Pensacola, with around 100 paid. I wish it were on a Friday/Saturday because it would have been double that probably, but you gotta work with what you got. The show had good vibes (minus one weird deathcore asshole who I have never seen once before this), a lot of dancing, and all of the touring bands got a great reaction. I’ve been going to shows in Pensacola for over 15 years, and I’ve seen a lot of ups and downs, but right now we are definitely on an upswing, and it gives me immense joy. If your band wants to play here, hit me up! Not to be too corny, but I put out the Despize demo the day it came out, and to have them make it to Pensacola, Florida, somehow 5 years later is something I will always look back on fondly.
4/8 Houston, Texas
Started the day off bright and early from my house and had a 7.5-hour drive to Houston. We stopped in Lafayette, Louisiana for lunch and hit the Chipotle/Whole Foods combo—which was dope for them, since they don’t have either in the UK. We saw a few alligators on the way, which everyone was shocked by. Growing up in the South, I don’t think twice about them, but it is kinda insane that dinosaurs are just out here chilling all around us. We made it to Houston and hit up one of the worst-named vegan restaurants with the best food ever—KORNY VIBES. Don’t let the name fool you, the food is god-tier (Shaun will back me up). Shoutout to my brotha Jason from War-Lord for putting me on. Shaun was telling me about this theory that the U.S. is more Euro than Europe now, and honestly, I think he’s right. Shitty beatdown runs the land when it comes to a lot of local bands in America and at this show, we saw shirts from Statement, Length of Time, Dyingrace, and Congress. I’ll keep collecting data on this hypothesis throughout the year…Other than that, the show was sick. All the touring bands crushed it. I’ve yet to play or go to a bad show in Texas—people here just show up and put in WORK on the dance floor.
4/9 Fort Worth, Texas
We arrived in Fort Worth at a cursed 3:30 AM—shoutout to Christian from Empty Shell Casing for letting us crash at his place. After everyone woke up, we had a chill day of drinking coffee and tea outside. At their request, I took Shaun, Owen, and Ben to Olive Garden. These mf’s could not believe the breadsticks. Between the table, they easily housed 50 of them and took a comical amount to-go. My friends from the Northeast swear Olive Garden is worse than pushing your mother into an oncoming train, but honestly? The food is just good. From there, we hit another coffee shop and chilled for a bit before heading to maybe the most disorganized record store I’ve ever seen—BORN LATE. The guy running it was dope and had actually been to Glasgow a few times, so shoutout to him. I’ve said this to a lot of people, but I really do think Dallas/Fort Worth has one of the best scenes in the country. There was probably close to 300 people at this show on a weeknight. I’ve played here four times or so in the last three-ish years, and it’s always insanely sick. If your band is touring around Texas, I HIGHLY recommend playing here. The highlight of this show was easily SKOURGE. This was my first time finally seeing them, and they covered Floorpunch, Hatebreed, and Iron Age. I also got to see them play their OSU song live, finally. I don’t know how it gets better than that.
4/10 Albuquerque, New Mexico
If you look on Google Maps you’ll notice that Dallas to Albuquerque is CLOSEEEEEEEEEE for sure. I was told this was originally supposed to be on off date but got turned into a show, I’m told to blame Alex Casey….all joking aside the overnight drive wasn’t as bad as I thought, we hit New Mexico around 6 am and the guys could not fathom that it was just a big field essentially. They hopped out of the whip, taking pictures like they just saw the 8th wonder of the world; it was very wholesome. We made it to Roswell, which I’ve actually never seen before, so that was really dope. We hit an alien/UFO museum at like 9 am on basically no sleep, and everyone was having so much fun it didn’t really matter. After that we made it to Albuquerque and got to our hotel, which had a hot tub. I swear to god, I think I levitated once I hit the water. It was magical. After everyone was showered, we got back in the van to get food and hit the Breaking Bad tour. We made it to Walter White’s house, and I wish the woman who owned it now came outside to yell at us so I could tell her to get a f*cking life. We tried to go through the car wash from the show, but unfortunately, the van was too tall. Major L. This was unfortunately the only “bad” show of the tour. Stick to your guns, and NASTY were playing legit 2 blocks away, and apparently like 600 people were there, which is insane. Regardless, the vibe at the show was still good, and we all had a great day.
4/11 Phoenix, Arizona
The drive to Phoenix was BEAST MODE. It went from desert to forest to just insane mountains for hours. The Scottish folks were in disbelief at everything. I tried to explain to them crazier shit exists 4 hours out of Glasgow but they weren’t having it…regardless it was sick to experience that with them. We got to Phoenix around 4 pm and it was a nice 105 degrees, which made me contemplate suicide. I don’t care what anyone says, dry heat is far worse than humidity to me. Aside from the heat, Phoenix was a really cool city. Got some INSANELY good food at a spot called Great New American, check it out if you’re in the area. The show was in a boxing gym, which as a fan of mma/combat sports, I thought was the coolest thing ever. In like 2013 I saw H20 and Cruel Hand in a boxing ring in Louisiana, so I’m kinda an expert at this point. Kids showed up to the gig and danced the night away. Good vibes in Phoenix.
4/11 Los Angeles, California
My personal favorite day/show of the tour. We woke up bright and early to hit Joshua Tree on the way. I’ve wanted to go there for a very long time but just never have so it was great to see it finally. We got to hike around for about an hour before heading out and it was beyond dope even in that short amount of time. All of these drives have been a great experience for all of us. I’ve been out this way a few times before on tour, but you forget how epic all the mountains look compared to flat Florida. We arrived in LA and the squad received their $13 cold brews from Day Glow (could never be me), and we got some food before the show and enjoyed the amazing weather. I also picked up the UNDEFEATED Spiridons in store, which was beast. Pensacola doesn’t have crazy stores like that, so it’s always a good experience to get something in person and not off stock x or whatever other online site. The venue was legitimately the coolest venue I have seen in I don’t know how long. It legitimately was down a small alleyway in Hollywood, and then you walk down a set of stairs into what is essentially a concrete hallway. It was ungodly OS. Shaun described it as looking like something out of Saw 1, and that is a perfect description. LA makes no sense to me, there were 5 different hardcore related shows all the same night, and somehow this one was still packed out. As I said at the beginning, this was my favorite show of the tour, and every band got a great reaction. Shout out to the LA scene for putting on. I hope this venue sticks around for a long time. Thank you to my FL brotha Alexis for letting us stay with him after the show!
4/12 San Francisco, California
Another early start so we could have the family breakfast on the last day. We went to this spot off sunset called Milly’s, which was absolutely insane. The service was great and the staff was insanely nice and then I noticed their work shirts said “MILLY’S: SERVICE WITH A FUCK YOU”…don’t be weird man that’s just uncalled for. After breakfast, we got in the whip once more for the 6 hour drive. I don’t know why but this drive in particular was brutal. Time just didn’t move. I know I’m not old, but I also can tell I’m not touring as a 21 year old anymore, and I think the lack of sleep/eating out daily finally caught up to me. But the fun must go on. We arrived at the venue, unloaded and hit the Golden Gate Bridge for the squadron pic. It’s truly insane to me people just live here with perfect weather and views. If you live in California and think your life sucks think again my good bitch, you got it good in more ways than most. After that, we kinda just chilled around the venue till the show. This was definitely the BEST show of the tour, although LA was still my personal favorite vibe. But it was very packed out and the bay was dancing hard. The first band had a song called “Deep Fried Fetus” which had me and Shaun laughing. I don’t think I’ve toured California since 2016 with MATP and Bind, but nothing changed really. The shows were crazy then, and they were crazy this time around. Shout out to Cali HXC
4/13 THE FINAL HANG
The dreaded time had come. The tour was over and everyone was going their separate ways late in the afternoon. Thankfully, we had a great day exploring San Francisco and saw like 400 sea lions, hit an arcade, and ate some great food together one last time. Always depressing to say goodbye to people after a tour, but reality has to kick back in eventually. I wanna give a huge shoutout to the guys in Age of Apocalypse and Cross of Disbelief, and a big shoutout to Juri, Robbie 141, Mo, and Josh Tec for vibe farming on the tour with us. As someone who has been a fan of AOA since the demo was released, it was a true treat to get to watch them 7 nights in a row. I started this label at a very dark time in my life, and it has brought me happiness in more ways than I can count, but if there’s one thing I am most thankful for, it is the friendships I’ve formed over the last 6 years. Hardcore is something that could never be explained to someone who doesn’t get it, and the fact that I’ve made lifelong friends with people all over the world is amazing beyond words and is what it’s all about to me at this point. Thank you to Despize for letting me tag along with them again, and thank you to everyone who has supported From Within at any point. We got some releases cooking up, and the Lead Spirit 7 inches will finally be arriving soon and will be shipped out asap. Thanks everyone!
HARDCORE: IT COMES FROM WITHIN!
So fire