Evanescence

I have recently started working for Troy McLawhorn of the band Evanescence. This is a very fun camp and all the band members are great! We started tour in South America and are currently touring the US. 

Evanescence's new album has also just become the #1 album in the US!

My wife and I are expecting our second child (a baby girl this time) in December and I should definitely be home just in time for her birth which is amazing!!!!

11 shows into this tour...day off today in Detroit Motor City!

Guitar World Magazine and Back On Tour...

So...

I have been in Burbank the past few days getting all the gear prepped for a South America, US and Canadian tour that will last roughly the next 3 months!

In March, Guitar World Magazine featured Stephen Carpenter's guitar rig in their magazine. 

I worked very closely with the magazine in great length to capture every detail of Stef's guitar rig from the Deftones. You can follow the exact signal flow from guitar to the speakers! This is what I built, set up every show and maintain out here on the road...Enjoy! :-)

I leave in the morning for Santiago, Chile! We will be in South America for 2 weeks and then start immediately in the US in Seattle. Catch you on the road...

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Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Lots of stuff going on right now... Moved to a new location, spending time with my 10 month old son, and just trying to relax a little bit. I'm home until the end of March and repairing guitars/amps while I'm here! :-) More to follow soon...

Manila Philippines...rough little stint...

Arrived in the Philippines from Japan which was a nice little 4 hour or so long flight. Slept most of the way, which was great! When we got off the plane, we collected all our bags and all our gear (about 50 pieces in total) and this little midget of a van pulled up. It was funny to see this van completely lowered to the ground from the weight of everything inside. The next day morning we came in early to the venue to check everything out. We played at the World Trade Center building in Manila which was just a huge square room, kind of like Walmart but with nothing in it!! Haha Had some serious power issues going on there. Their power is 240v and our gear runs at 120v. Problem being that the step down transformer that converts 240v to 120v was not functioning properly. We were getting extreme voltage through the ground leg of their power which would have blown up our gear at 70v through ground. Had to help them sort this out because after 4 hours of waiting for any type of power before I could plug anything it...enough was enough. Found the issue on the 240v distro box...i had them move the step down transformer connection to a different source and it dropped the volts on ground to 20v. Better, but not acceptable for our gear! They called in an electrician to re-wire their cables at the generator and this brought the volts on ground to under 1v which was good enough to do the show! Once I finally got power for everything, all my gear was working perfectly fine, except for the rental 4x12 Marshall cabinets. We had ordered 9 4x12 cabs and only 2 of them worked. I had to re-wire 2 cabinets just to have a rig that worked. Not sure how rental companies always get away with sending out crap that doesn't work, but it happens all the time! There was one more major problem as well before we could start sound check... Every single XLR (microphone) cable for every cabinet, D.I. Box and mic had some sort of issue with them. Some crackled, some popped, some just didn't even work at all!! We went through over 20 different XLR cables before we got everything working...just for Stef's guitar rig. After all of this, I was so frustrated and grumpy about all I had to fix just to do the show, but that is just part of my job sometimes!! The show ended up being great, so all the hard work definitely paid off in the end!

I think I'm turning Japanese...

Show day in Tokyo yesterday...

The show was great! The kids were absolutely crazy for a Japanese crowd. I think it had something to do with the 4 American guys in the middle of the audience who were screaming and yelling all freaking night. One of them screamed for Chino to spit in his mouth...only in America (via Japan!) haha. It was a super small venue and got hot inside very fast! 

It can be fun to do the smaller clubs in Japan because everything runs smoothly 99.9% of the time out here. The people who at the venue and our promoters were great! I found the tape on the wall from last time I was here...roughly 6 years ago with The Used. Who knew tape would stay on the wall that long without someone ripping it down! :-)

The shows out here usually start really early and everything has to be finished by 10pm. We were all packed up and started heading back to the hotel by 9:30pm. After the show, a few of us walked down to the Hard Rock to grab some dinner. All I can say is that I ate so much food that I nearly burst. I had the spring rolls, onion rings and was craving some ice cream, so I also got the hot fudge brownie sundae! Sounds like all junk food, and it is...price to pay for being a vegetarian in Japan late at night! haha. Your options are seriously limited under those circumstances. 

When I woke up this morning it was snowing outside in Tokyo. Not such a great thing to see when you don't really have any warm clothes! Every singe place we have been/going to (except for Japan) is hot and humid. I didn't pack many warm clothes! ;-)

Meeting up with my buddy to go out in the snow here in a little bit. We are going to take the subway somewhere in the 4 hours we have before we have to leave for the airport! This is definitely the shortest trip to Japan I've ever had. Flew in late at night, next day had a show and then flying out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

There is always so much to see and do out here that it is impossible to really enjoy it unless you are here for a few days. Gotta run downstairs, more to come later...

Jakarta to Tokyo and everything in between!

Everything has been completely non-stop since leaving Australia!

This was the view from my hotel room in Jakarta. I've also included some pictures showing how they searched each vehicle that was coming into the hotel with dogs and mirrors. It was definitely an experience to say the least!

The Jakarta show was great! Couldn't believe how loud the crowd was singing along to the songs. Almost 2 hours of people going crazy!

After the show we packed everything up and headed back to the hotel! When we arrived at the hotel it was a little after midnight. We had to be up at 4:30am for lobby call...which meant only getting 4 hours of sleep! The ride to the airport was a completely different experience with the absence of traffic and only took about 30 minutes instead of 4 hours. haha.

This is what the traffic looks like in the day. There were literally thousands of motorcycles who owned the roads and the lines on the street were basically ignored by everyone all the time!

Leaving Jakarta, we flew to Hong Kong before arriving in Tokyo Japan! The first flight was completely full, but the second flight was empty. In rows 40-70 there were only 6 people total. It was an amazing flight because I had 3 seats to myself and the flight crew were like waitresses at a restaurant...they would check on you every so often to fill up your drinks and bring you more food! It was great!

After 14 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Japan! We are only here for one and a half days, so I have to make the most of it I guess! Arrived late last night, show today and then we are gone tomorrow. :-(

Pacific Rim Tour - Jakarta Indonesia

Yesterday we flew from Perth Australia to Singapore to Jakarta. Basically had to fly hours past Jakarta, just to come back on ourselves. haha.


Probably one of the smoothest check-ins I've experienced with an airline when traveling with lots of gear. Singapore Airlines had us in and out within an hour for check in and reduced the excessive bag/weight fees by $5,000 which was very nice of them! ;-)


I had to put fragile stickers on everything that we flew with and since my good friend Phil was close by, I had to tag him with a sticker as well! He's a good sport and a great guy to tour with! 

Once we arrived in Jakarta, it was supposed to be about an hour drive to the hotel. Well, it took almost 4 hours to travel 18 miles with traffic. I have never seen anything like the traffic they have out here. I thought India was bad with having no rules on the road, but out here, there are literally NO rules to how people drive. Next time I have to sit in rush hour, I will definitely remember Jakarta and how horrible traffic was here. Scooters and motorcycles would drive on the pedestrian walkways/bridges that go over the freeways as well. Not like one or two, but there were hundreds of them doing it...pretty amazing to watch.

Some of the areas here are pretty run down...but every place in the world has its nice and not so nice areas. Perspective really is a state of mind. Every time I travel, I am so thankful for where I live and the simple luxuries that we all take for granted without even thinking about it...like water, sewers and electricity.

Our show is later today. We came in last night to do some prep work and to see what the situation was going to hold. Everyone has been very nice and things are going as they should, which is always nice! 


Back to work...

Perth Australia - Last Big Day Out show...off to Jakarta!

Yesterday was the final show out here on the Big Day Out. It seems like I've been in Australia for months now, but its only been two and half weeks. I was surprised that I wasn't more excited to see any of the bands on this tour. Tool and Ramstein were the headliners...there wasn't one single band I just had to stay and watch this year. Quite the let down really.

One of the most entertaining bands on the bill was Airbourne. Although they are a complete AC/DC rip off band in every way possible, they are all completely out of their minds and crazy! haha. Here are some pictures of the singer when he climbed up the stage trussing to the very top and played some killer guitar solos. 

It is 3:43am right now and I am getting ready to head off to the airport to check in for my flight to Jakarta Indonesia. We will be playing around the Pacific Rim for the next two weeks. I'm sure I will have some interesting stories coming up in the next few days. Not sure what some of these countries are going to be like...

Big Day Out - Adelaide Australia

After the extremely hot weather in Melbourne, it was such a nice change to be in Adelaide. Still very warm, but no more extreme record breaking heat. I'm sure alot of this had to do with the Cyclone Yasi which was to the north of where we were.

Everything for the Big Day Out ran smoothly. A highlight of the day for me was that I got to pet a Koala  backstage by catering. I wish I had my camera with me at the time to take a picture. It was just a little baby about 18 months old but it's claws were like razors already!!! 

The crowd was great in Adelaide and they kept chanting "DEFTONES" while the band before was playing. Kind of funny, but I felt bad for them.

We flew to Perth the next morning...which is where I am now. Had a day off yesterday and today is the last day for the Big Day Out here in Perth. Lots of flying ahead, but I'll post as often as I can! 

-Drew-

5 Days in Melbourne (3 Shows/2 Days Off!!)

We had a headline show at the Palace here in Melbourne two days ago. It was completely sold out and there were 5 levels inside the building jam packed with people. I had no idea that the venue help that many people in the first place. It was a sauna inside with everyone jumping around and singing along. It was a really good show!

 

Yesterday, I did some sightseeing around China Town since it was right around the corner. Everything looked the same with Chinese architecture, restaurants and karaoke bars on every corner. The funniest thing was finding the Target Center, which had a 3 level Target inside right in the middle of China Town.

My time here in Melbourne is coming to an end as I am flying to Adelaide in the morning! I've walked around to almost every part of the city during my two days off! Today I had lunch at Taco Bill (Not Taco Bell) and it was pretty good considering this is Australia! haha

 

Big Day Out - Melbourne Australia!

Can you believe that Melbourne had an extreme heatwave for today's show! It was over 110º outside and over 125º on the stage surface. Tape melted to the ground and it was just plain hot! :-) There was a record set for heat today.

Show was great and the crowd was insane! Not much to say except it was night and day better that my experience in Sydney! Finished the day a little after 6pm and headed back to the hotel. We are going to be here in Melbourne for 5 days...tomorrow is another headline show, then two full days off!!! Goodnight! 

Big Day Out - Sydney (Day 2 of 2) and Headline show...

So, the second day at the Big Day Out in Sydney went very smooth! The sun was such a scorcher and, wouldn't you know it, the clouds came out minutes after we were off stage. I couldn't believe it...the weather cooled down about 10 degrees as soon as we were finished! haha

The next day we had a headline show in Sydney as well. This was first full set show we've done since we left home. It is always odd when you are playing festival shows all the time and are done by 6pm everyday, then have to go play a headline show. The band played from 9-10:50pm, which was when we were all used to being in bed! Such a strange thing to adapt to. 

Everything was going great during the show and everyone was having a great time. When we were all done, I was packing up all the gear and then I noticed something made me furious...

I was packing up my workbox and Stef's pedalboards, turned around to grab another case and when I turned back I noticed that someone had stolen all my notes from the lid of my workbox and took my miniature guitar decorations.

So, some punk ass drunk a-hole out there has every single note and setting I've made for Stef's guitar rig since I've been working for him in June. What is wrong with people...I just don't get it. Hope this kid gets what's coming to him for taking everything. 

After this I sort of had a melt down and yelled at the security that was supposed to be guarding the backstage area. There was no one there at all and people were walking wherever they wanted to. I just don't get it...if they wanted a set list, I would have given them one if they just asked. But to steal everything I need to do my job, thinking its a setlist, is just the worst thing someone could have done.

Moral of this story...don't turn your back, even if it is for 20 seconds because there are some crappy people out there who will take whatever they want when you aren't looking.

Goodbye Sydney...and good riddance! 

Off to Melbourne, which just so happens to be my favorite city in Australia!

Big Day Out - Sydney (Day 1 of 2)

What a HOT and SWEATY day Big Day Out was here in Sydney!! It is extremely hard to keep 8-string guitars in perfect tune when it is 100+ degrees on stage and 95% humid at the same time! haha. The guitars held tune quite well given the circumstances they endured yesterday! 

The show was completely sold out and most people were already there when the Deftones took the stage in the middle of the day! 

Here is a little idea of the gear I have been building as of lately...I have re-wired and all the pedalboards, racks and made all new cable looms as well. Everything in this system has been re-done since I came in to work for Stef. 

I have a total of 36 guitars I look after, depending on what rig we are using. These are the A Rig guitars, the B Rig guitars are currently in Jakarta waiting for us and the C Rig guitars are in Los Angeles waiting for me to set them all up and do some fret work! 

4 Days in Sydney!

We arrived in Sydney yesterday around 5pm, which was smack in the middle of rush hour in downtown Sydney! The ride from the airport was supposed to be about 30 minutes, but ended up taking over an hour and our driver was seriously a maniac on the road! haha

Got to the hotel and immediately went out to catch the last few hours of sunlight left in the day. Walked down to the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. Always a fun little spot each time I'm here for sure!

Today we are playing the Big Day Out here in Sydney. It is going to be a hot and humid day out here! More pictures to come tonight from the show!~ 

Day Off...

Had a nice and relaxing day off in the Gold Coast (Surfer's Paradise) Australia yesterday.

In the morning i went to eat at a little café near the ocean with my buddy Side-Phil. Later on I went down to the beach and put my feet in the water and walked in the sand just for kicks. Today we are flying to Sydney where we will be at for the next few days. I remember when the Australian dollar was worth about half of the US dollar...now they are nearly 1 to 1. Crazy how things have changed over the years.

Big Day Out - Gold Coast, Australia

I have been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days and there is nothing worse than running a fever when you are doing an outdoor festival in the Australian summer heat! My plan is to sweat out whatever funk is going on inside my body! :-)

Flew in from New Zealand on Saturday with 25 pieces of gear, plus all our luggage! It is crazy how much stuff it takes to actually do a show when you are flying with guitars, pedalboards and also have to rent amps/cabinets. 

The Gold Coast was our second show on this run. Things went much smoother than the first show...due mostly to the fact that we had our own monitor boards and our own gear which was very nice to see once again! 

Big Day Out - New Zealand!

Made it through the first Big Day Out show in New Zealand with a few minor technical difficulties due to the stage patching not being wired correctly and the monitor board channels acting up. All in all, ended up being a good show and the crowd loved it which is all that matters in the end anyway! ;-)

Heading off to Brisbane, Australia this morning. Excited to get my main workbox back in my possession to try and make a few electronic miracles happen, even though on paper they are scientifically and mathematically impossible. That is the world I live in as a guitar tech...always trying to be innovative and trying to conquer the realm of mathematics, voltages and theories! haha.

Auckland New Zealand

Made it safely out to the land where the air is clean and people are called Kiwi's! :-)
Slept for most of the long journey, however, I woke up just in time to see the sunrise on top of the clouds.

Its not everyday that you get to wake up to something like this, so I had to take a picture. I'm missing home already and everything is just starting out here now. Going down to the Big Day Out site in a bit to take a look at what rental gear I am going to have to use and see if I will need to fix anything for tomorrow's show. Good to see the rest of the crew/band guys and now it is time to go work!

Goodbye Sky Harbor!

So, I am sitting here at the airport in AZ waiting to get on my plane to Los Angeles. I'm meeting up with everyone there before we hop on another plane to Auckland New Zealand! It's roughly a 13 hour flight so I'm glad I have my iPod fully charged! It was very hard leaving my family at home today. Probably the hardest it has ever been since becoming a dad! My son is getting so big and he has his own personality that makes me smile every time I look at him. Lots of flying ahead so I am hoping to get some sleep and land completely rested!

In the year 2011...

Just gearing up to start back up with the Deftones in this new year.

First stop is New Zealand, Australia, then all around the Pacific Rim. Should be a busy trip, but I am ready to get back to work and fix some guitars! :-)

I will try my best to post updates as often as I can while traveling around. Hope to include pictures and funny stories as they come. 

Happy New Year y'all~