2002
I received a scholarship to play percussion at Waynesburg College. This was the deciding factor to attend Waynesburg vs. WVU
July Almost Cool won the Jacktown Fair Battle of the Bands
July I was working the opening shift at the Waynesburg McDonalds and I didn’t want to be late so I would drive down to the Long John Silvers parking lot across the street, where the staff would go meet before opening. (for safety reasons) I went down to the parking lot much earlier than 4am and put a sleeping bag out and slept on pavement. Some point after I fell asleep I woke up the police surrounding me telling me to put my hands where they could see them. I had a cell phone in my sleeping bag and they were weird about me reaching for it. They sked what I was doing so I told them the truth and they told me I was going to get ran over and to never do it again.
July 29th Almost Cool played at the Rainday Festival Battle of bands in Waynesburg and took first place! Jarod Edgreen and Tim Hill also played with us on a couple songs.
August 13th I went to the Vans Warped Tour for 4th year in a row. Once again with Jimi and Josh. This time at The Post gazette Pavilion since the tour had grown a lot in popularity. I watched the sets of New Found Glory, Something Corporate, Simple Plan, Allister, Bad Religion, Punchline, Reel Big Fish, Alkaline Trio, Thursday, and Finch.
December 8th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV with Punchline, All Jokes Aside, and After Curfew. Derek played with both bands. There was a snow storm this night and After Curfew stayed in Morgantown.
2003
February 1st Almost Cool was recording “Nothing to Say” at Silent Wing Audio with Dan Festog in Bobtown, PA.
February 9th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with Short Arm Trick and My Wasted Luck
March 2nd Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with All Jokes Aside and After Curfew.
March 9th Almost Cool opened Wakefield at Club Laga it was originally suppose to be Home Grown.
March 30th Almost Cool played at the Waynesburg VFW with Punchline and Despite Best Intentions.
May 4th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with Shindig, Cryptorchid Chipmunk, Spencer, and Nivlem.
May Almost Cool went to Nada Studios in New York and recorded “XOXO” and “Miss You”
June 1st Almost Cool played the first Playr’ Productions show at the Charleroi VFW with SF Firehydrant, Nothing Unexpected, Honin, Michael Faryna, and special guests, The dirty garbage men (punchline.)
The first week of June I decided to go to Ocean City, Maryland with Jimi, Jen, Leah, Natalie Monas, Amy Zimmerman, and Kristen Cario. They offered and I declined because I had work, but decided McDonalds was stupid and it was a better idea to have fun. Josh agreed to go, we both called McDonalds to tell them the news and we left immediately without any maps. I drove east and figured we would find our way. I remember stopping in Baltimore, not knowing where we were at so we stopped at a gas station and it was closed. After realizing it was closed I saw this is bullshit out loud. Out of no where a bum appeared and said “this is double bullshit”
June 21st I went to see Thursday at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. They played with Murder by Death, This Day Forward, and Rival Schools. It was insanely packed and hot. I could barely breathe and almost passed out. A kid crowd surfed by running on top of the closely tight people and then jumped off the wall into the ceiling and then back down. It was crazy!
June 23rd Almost Cool opened for The RX Bandits and No Motiv at Club Laga.
July 6th Almost Cool played our 2nd Playr Production show at the Charleroi VFW, but this time headlining. The Spacepimps, Distant Future, and Every Second Sunday also played. (shopping cart)
July 20th The Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote an article on Almost Cool about release our EP and playing warped tour.
July 22nd Almost Cool played our 3rd Playr Production show at the Charleroi VFW with The Victory Year, Wings of Azrael, Cobra High, Clearview, and Running from Romance.
July 30th was the Almost Cool / Second Before the Crash CD Release show at Club Laga. This was the only show we headlined at Club Laga. SF Firehydrant, Nothing Unexpected, and Thought Deposit were also on the bill.
August 6th was a dream come true, Almost Cool played at the Post gazette Pavilion for the Vans Warped Tour through the Ernie Ball Contest. Besides playing I got to watch the sets of The Spacepimps, Punchline, Motion City Soundtrack, Brand New, The All American Rejects, The Ataris, Rancid, and The Starting Line.
October 4rth Almost Cool and Playr Productions held had a show at the Waynesburg VFW. Punchline, A Week in July, Ritter, and Punchbox also played.
October 18th Almost Cool headlined the Uptown Theatre in Washington, PA. The Spacepimps, Three Sided Circle, and Sick of Solitude also played.
November 16th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with All Jokes Aside, The Spacepimps, Thought Deposit, and Stolen Element. It was this show Derek gave Rishi a talk and Jarod and Mike D from Thought Deposit almost got in a fight.
November 28th Almost Cool played at the Charleroi VFW with Punchline, SF Firehydrant, A Week in July, and Greg Wood.
November 29th I went to see Fallout Boy at Club Laga. I met Pete Wence, the bass player outside the venue while talking to Chris Fafalios of Punchline.
December 12th Almost Cool headlined The Upstage. This was our first and only Playr Production show at this venue. SF Firehydrant, Thought Deposit, Runner Up, and Clearview also played. We closed the set with Sorry But You’re Not a Winner and I got off the drums and aggressively played a slide whistle. This was also the night that Big Eugene hustled me for some money by loading my equipment, even though I didn’t want help.
December 20thish Almost Cool played at a Roller Rink in the Tarentum area. Derek was very late to the show and had a cigarette hanging out of his lip when he walked in. This ended up being our last show with Derek.
Late December Derek had a party at his mom’s house and he got kicked out and had to move to Florida. We had a band meeting in my bedroom and I suggested that I move to guitar and singing and Pat would play drums. Playing drums was my favorite thing, but Pat had proven to be a good friend at that point and wasn’t bitter about Derek going to Almost Cool. It felt like the right thing to do. I remember Jimi asking me if I could even play. I picked my crappy acoustic guitar and strummed some chords pretty badly. Even though it wasn’t good, it was good enough to know it was going to work.
2004
Jan 20thish Almost Cool played at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, PA. We opened for Punchline and it was my first show on guitar. I remember PJ from punchline telling me afterwards, he liked me on guitar better. This was a little confusing, I was never sure if he was just being nice or if he didn’t like my drumming.
June 20th I met Jenny at a show Almost Cool played at Club Drifters in Nashua, NH
November 11th I went to see Jimmy Eat World at the Rock Club in station square with Shayna
December 3rd My 21st birthday Almost Cool opened for Chronic Future at Mr Smalls Theatre. Antoon stole a case of coors light from backstage. I drank a can on stage. The next night I rode with Nichelle to Antoon’s for a party in Oakland. I drank some whiskey and chased it with coke out of a santa clause cup Nichelle had.
2005
April 26th Victory Lane had a CD release show at the Waynesburg Armory. This was Josh’s last show. Fast Eddie also played.
May 7th I went to see Midtown, The Plain White t’s, Action Action, and Gatsby’s American Dream at Mr Smalls theatre. Gabe, the singer of Midtown gave me and Victory Lane a personal shoutout which was awesome.
May 15th I was walking with Nichelle outside of Josh’s house and we found Friend the cat. She was tiny and appeared to be pregnant. Friend followed us to my house and I fed her some pepperoni. We took friend to the Wal Mart in Washington where got it some food. Friend pooped all over the back of Nichelle’s car. I continued to feed Friend so she hung around our house. She would even sleep in my room with me. One day after class my mom warned me of a cat that has been hanging around so then I told her about Friend and she let me keep her.
June 7th Victory Lane Headlined at Mr Smalls Theatre as playr production show. This was split cd release show for Victory Lane and Clearview Kills. Also on the bill was Afterdrama, Five Feet Ahead, and Me Just Being Me. There was issues with Me Just Being Me, but I can’t even remember what they were.
June 19thish Victory Lane played a block party in Ohio to kickoff our tour. It was our best paying gig of the tour and it was because it was Ben’s Uncle.
June 29th We had the night off so we went to see Punchline and Reel Big Fish in Rhode Island.
I snuck onto the warped tour and played the hot topic stage
2006
February 6th Victory Lane opened for Mest and Scary Kids Scarring Kids at The Rock Club.
Mid March Victory Lane went to Black Lodge Studios in Eudora, Kansas. We recorded 5 tracks which were later known as the Kansas Sessions. This was my favorite recording experience to date. We had got a new speaker for the van and on the way to Kansas we broke down at Dallas Pike in Ohio. We spent what seemed like forever there until Jay and his neighbor came to help us. We took the Computer House Call Van instead. There wasn’t room for Josh so he had to go back with Jay. I drove the whole to Kansas, drinking energy drinks. I was exhausted, it was the next morning so someone else finished the remaining hour or so. When we got there we started recording immediately. David Chutka, was a new engineer who was going to be doing our project. He was awesome. and very easy to work with.
April 22nd Victory Lane played a Playr production show at California University. Gym Class Heroes were the headliner. Loko Phylum, Distorted Penguins, The Spacepimps, burning West, and Amy illy were also on the bill. We smoked weed with the guitar player of gym class heroes in our van after the show. I also was harassed for money at my friend Nichelle’s party.
May I graduated from Waynesburg College with a Bachelors Degree in Communication with a emphasis on Electronic Media and Advertising