As I sit here in my hotel room on what feels like the first real day we’ve had off since late March, I have a lot to look back on and think about. I say it’s our first “real” day off because any other day off we’ve had has usually meant a 7 to 10 hour drive day. But today, there is no time schedule to keep and nowhere to be, and it feels pretty good.
As I take a look at where I last left off, we just had an amazing time in Dallas and Houston was next. Texas has always been very good to Dommin. Houston was great just like Dallas. It was unfortunate that we had to skip Austin and San Antonio this time. But I hope we’re back soon. Just before we had played these shows, I was told there are plans for us to return in early August. I hope we see a lot of the same faces there again. We met so many fine people in Texas. Orlando left me wanting more. No, not from the show. The people were cool and the show was great, but how could I be so close to DisneyWorld and the new Harry Potter land in Universal and NOT visit?? Unfortunately, it’s the common case on tour. There is never much time to do anything but be at the venue. Somehow, we MUST schedule the next tour to give us a day off after the next gig in Orlando. Not that we could do everything in a day, but at least we could feel like we made the most of the time there, even if it’s only just a small taste of the fun.
At the show in Myrtle Beach, we were told that our good friends and former tour-mates, Lacuna Coil were playing a show the very next night. It was really cool because upon leaving Myrtle Beach for Atlantic City, we were able to stop by the House Of Blues hoping that their tour bus would already be there. Sure enough, as we pull up, most of the guys are hanging outside the bus. It was really nice to be able to pay a brief visit and just say hello to those guys (and girl). I certainly miss them. They are such good people to be around. It’s interesting what a small world this music industry can be. From Lacuna Coil to HIM to We Are The Fallen and all their crew, we’ll be seeing them all this summer during festival season and no doubt will be crossing paths many times in the near future.
For now, we had a 10 hour drive day to Atlantic City and then the last 4 shows of the HIM tour. It was almost unbelievable how fast this tour was wrapping up. There was a time back in February when it was hard to imagine the end of the tour. It seemed like so many days and so many shows ahead of us. Now, we couldn’t believe it was almost all over. We played Atlantic City and then made our way to spend 3 days in New York City. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. When I get there, all I want to do is eat. It’s one of the places you can go where you can pretty much rely on the fact that any restaurant you visit will have decent if not the most amazing food you’ve ever tasted. Unfortunately, with schedules the way they are on tour, I don’t think I ever ate more than one meal a day while we were there. But the shows were great. It was nice to be able to not have to load up our equipment because were going to be playing the same place the next night. So fortunately, we were able to make our way out to our merch area pretty quickly. However, I was pretty bummed about the last night. I consider myself a man of my word. And when I say that we will be at merch until the last person leaves, I mean it. However, on the last night of the show, security, who apparently had complained and had issues with us being at our merch the two nights prior, finally told us we were not allowed to do what we were doing. So on the last night in New York, we were forced to leave the area before HIM played their last song of their set. I felt really bad. I understand the security issues. The Fillmore certainly isn’t built in a way that makes it easy for people to move in and out of the venue. The merch area is simply a big road block. And I’m sure our presence there doesn’t help either. I hope that people who were expecting to meet us understand that it was a situation out of our control.
The HIM tour has been great for us. We started with them in Europe and finished with them in the US. From about the 2nd or 3rd day on the tour, the crew for HIM and the band themselves were so very gracious and really took us under their wing. We are so grateful to have been given the opportunity to play for their fans. I think HIM fans certainly understand the type of music that Dommin is doing. The reactions we have been getting on our Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Official Website have been more than we could ever have hoped for. I certainly think it has boosted the band’s profile and there are a lot more people out there who know the name Dommin and more people who have truly connected with the music. I can’t explain the feeling of having connected with so many people on that level. I only hope they continue to walk with us on this journey that is only just beginning.
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