TIE DYE FLY BY EAST COAST TRIP

10/5/2007

Volcom Stone's Tie-Dye Fly-By East Coast Trip has come to a close. Our last event was a VQS event in Kill Devil Hills, NC.
Click here ----> VQS Cooterfish to see a happening all on its own. For all we've done and seen since August 17th, we can honestly say it's been one of our favorite tours ever! Thank you to all who came out!

blog by:
-mikeGuarino _Jack Morrissey

10/1/2007

Our 2nd to last scheduled event was a Bowl Shop Battle to take place in Nags Head, NC. We love the Outer Banks, and since we've been there over the past 2 weeks, the night was a perfect ender to our tour. All the shops cruised into the well equipped bowling establishment around 8pm and began practicing. Some of the shops to show up were WRV, Whalebone, Outer Banks Board Company, Natural Art, Cavalier, and 17th St. They games begun and pins were getting knocked everywhere! There were strikes, high fives, random screams of celebration, and beer. The tally from the two games came in with Natural Art in 3rd place, Whalebone in second, and taking all the bragging rights was Outer Banks Board Company! Immediately after the awards Freedom Hawk took the stage and ruled it! It was an awesome night! Thank you to all the shops involved and to Nags Head Lanes...until the next Battle!


-mikeG

9/24/2007

We awoke at 5:00 am and headed north to Kill Devil Hills to where our VQS was supposed to be held. There were waves in front of our Pea Island house, so we figured we were golden for the contest to go at 1st street. No go. The sandbars there were non existent, just a big hole. So we stared at a flat ocean and greeted those who came from far and wide to surf in the event. Anyway, the event is postponed until next weekend. The meeting place will be at 1st street, but we will be checking the breaks around KDH for the best spots to run it. Cool.



After that we prepared for a big night at The Brew Station in Nags Head. The lineup was stacked with bands to make for an awesome night...Aloke, Freedom Hawk, and ASG! Yeah, Frick yeah!

It was such a good one...The drinks flowed like the salmon of Capistrano and the sounds were tasty treats to the ears. Man, Aloke is so good! So much energy and so tight! Freedom Hawk is absolutely the shit as well! They ruled it! ASG were their ordinary selfs, and rocked the frick out of that place. The Brew Station is such a rad joint, we're headin' back there now! Here's some photos of the night.


Thanks to Aloke from NYC, Freedom Hawk from VB, and ASG! You guys ripped it up!



-mikeG

9/22/2007

Yesterday was one of the coolest days of the tour. We all woke up early and got a quick surf out in front of the house. We jammed to get ready to drive up to First Flight Middle School to sit down with 700 kids for lunch. First, the 7th graders came out for their 11:30am lunch break. What a trip! There were kids everywhere! We gave out all kinds of stuff, including Tie-Dye Fly-By East Coast Trip custom promo.
"After hearing all those kids yells and scream with all that excitement made the hair on my arms stick up, it was rad!" - Ian Parnell, moments after the 7th graders left back to class.
The kids got so loud, it disrupted the other classes around the halls. We went outside onto the fields and awaited the next lunch class to come out, so we could run around and throw things everywhere and not worry about the teachers tripping out. Within the next hour, it was our turn to chill with the 6th and 8th graders. Piles of kids came sprinting out of the doors towards us. Nate set up an obstacle course and the kids flew through it to get their free stuff. We couldn't keep up with all the requests, "...can you sign my shoe?" ..." Can I have a bandana?" ..."Can you sign my forehead?" It was amazing and we met so many cool kids and gave everything we had until there was no more. It was certainly a highlight of the tour and we gratefully thank the principal and all the staff for letting us cruise with kids. Until next year!



We left the school totally wiped out and headed back to our home base on the beach at Pea Island. There was some fun little waves so we headed out for a quick surf before the sun set. Man, what a good day!



-mikeG

9/21/2007

We took off from Myrtle Beach and jetted north to one of our favorite places on the coast, Wrightsville Beach, NC. We got a quick surf in, and nearly drifted back to Myrtle Beach in the northeast choppy windswells. We hustled back up the beach to our sweet suite with a quick jog across the intracoastal bridge. Man, we had a BOWL SHOP BATTLE in a few hours.

The teams, composed of local NC surf/skate shops, filtered in and were anxious to shoe up and warm their rolling arms. There were 12 to 15 surf/skate shop teams from NC participating. It was a wonderful night of food, drink, music, and above all, BOWLING! Kudos to Double Wide who placed 1st, Hot Wax who came in 2nd, and Surf City who finished 3rd! After the awards, ASG friggin' rocked harder than a mad dash by Godzilla. They are unbelievable, simply said. Also thanks to Ten-Pin-Alley for the hospitality and very cool aura you provided.


After our Ten Pin Alley bowling battle, and the wild night that followed, we awoke in a fuzzy cloud in the sweet suite. It might have been the farts-a-plenty combined with a couple late night ciggy smokers (kids don't ever smoke, it kills, but not like Nihilist kills!) The night before was all in the past, but not as far back in time as medieval times, although it seemed pretty close. "How was Nate's spotlight pool jump?," called out a voice in the suite as we layed in the daze. To paint the picture, we were jumping off our balcony into the pool (which was a very safe height and water depth - safety check 101). Nate watched on and as soon as he decided to pirch himself onto the ledge, just as a cop drove by. He stuck his head out of his window and pierced his eyes backwards right at Nate. He spun around on the bridge, all the while, Nate was frozen and in a mist of bafflement. The cop then brightly shined his spotlight right on Nate. He spoke over his intercom, "Are you even staying there (at the hotel)?"
Nate, could only remain still but he simply nodded yes. The cop spoke again, "Well, don't be an idiot," and he drove away. We all laughed cause it was random as hell and the cop was cool as shit. Nate then jumped and broke his leg....Just kidding.

We're outta there...and onto a long drive up to the Outer Banks. We have a team house right on the beach for 2 weeks. We have a few upcoming events, including eating lunch with First Flight Middle School, a VQS contest, a show at The Brew Station with ASG and Freedom Hawk, and one more Bowl Shop Battle. Aside from that, September is the best month of the year on the east side, so we'll try to get a piece of that Atlantic goodness. I foresee many psychedelic rides in the future. Aboard the tour as of right now is Nate Tyler, Aron Gieger, Billy Hume, Ian Parnell, Jason Griffith. A few more Volcom pros will be coming in randomly so we'll be shooting photos and videos for the blog...Stay cool, man!

-mikeG

9/20/2007

This....is MEDIEVAL TIMES!!!
Wait, let's back up one sec. We were in Myrtle Beach, and the waves were somewhat breaking, so we decided to head out for a dip.

Whatever man, we were just stoked to be surfing in Myrtle Beach!
On to the good stuff. We rolled back to the RV and got prepped for the event that we've been looking forward to since this tour began. We were going to Medieval Times! We did this back in 2004, and it was the greatest dinner and tournament experience of our lives! We picked up two accounts on the way, and we all had our faces painted and our battle gear ready. Our knight was of course, the Black and White knight, and we were ready to cheer him on until the death! Our seating was prime, front row across the entire section, and in total there was 25 of us! We made signs in support of our B&W knight and he ruled it!


GO BLACK & WHITE KNIGHT

Nate Tyler was ready, but the flamingo stayed back to guard the bus.

Ok, just check this collage and try to cop a feel of the dark joy we endulged in. This is MEDIEVAL TIMES!!!!



-mikeG

9/19/2007

Not too sure really. We've somehow been in a maze of driving patterns, crazy weather, a whirlwind of a tradeshow, and a true time warping night at Medieval times. Our satellite signal atop our big rig has failed due to horrific cloud cover and saturating storms. Excuses aside, let's catch up.

First to comment on, is Surf Expo. We stored the peace signs and tie-dye gear in the RV, because we went on a crazy trip into the world of rock 'n roll. There was the most rocking skate contest on a 'Team Pain' 100-something foot wide mini ramp. Dudes came and destroyed it. Check these links if you havent already done so. Very nice.

VOLCOM STONE'S BIG GIG MINI RAMP CONTEST

ASG rocks at EXPO

-mikeG

9/13/2007

It was time to head back to the east side of the place called Florida. Surf World in Pompano Beach to be exact which is just a bit north of Miami. We were a little worried about the weather for the day because on the way to the shop we drove through the craziest thunder storm i have ever seen. It was a complete white out with rain, hail, thunder and lightning. We drove through it and it was clear sailing on the other side but it was still headed our way so we weren't sure. When we got there and started setting up it looked like we were going to be engulfed in the storm but luckily we stayed right at the edge of the storm as it passed by. This was great because it would have been a lot harder for everyone to have as good of time as they did at the Surf World Fly-By. The parking lot was pure madness at this event. Kids were going nuts for free stuff as Inbred played on stage and by the time ASG got on the place looked like that storm did hit with hurricane force.



After the Surf World Fly-By, we all got some much needed rest from the last few days of non-stop travel and fun filled evenings. When we woke up we knew that we were going to head up to Orlando for the Surf Expo but we had a few hours to kill so we knew that we had to make a stop at the Lone Cabbage. The Lone Cabbage is the coolest bar and restaurant just inland of Cocoa Beach. They have all types of great things going on there including airboat rides. We got there just in time to catch the last boat leaving and had the coolest ride out on the water. We saw some gators, bald eagles, osprey, egrets, turtles and even a huge cow that had some birds riding on its back. There were also a bunch of other poeple out there fishin' and cruisin' around. It was the perfect stop for a little fun on our way to a long weekend.



_Jack Morrissey

9/12/2007

We all jumped in the bus and started our nine-hour ride from Pensacola down the West Coast of Florida until we ended up in the town of Indian Rocks Beach, which was late in the evening. The next day, we cruised over to Pete Lopez's Nekton Surf Shop for an afternoon of fun in the sun. It was a really hot day, by far the hottest stop of the Trip. Luckily we brought lots of water-balloons that we got in Pensacola. One thing that we did leave in Pensacola was ASG. Those guys were supposed to come meet up with us in Indian Rocks but ran into a few problems along the way and couldn't make it. Sometimes these things happen on these types of trippy trips but it was ok because luckily there was a bar located directly next door to Nekton Surf Shop and they said they would love to have ASG play later that evening. So we set it up for later and continued the Fly-By fun at the shop for the rest of the afternoon. There was a massive crowd that came out to hang out, eat some food, watch Inbred rock, get some free stuff and skate in the streets. It was a great day out in the blazing Florida sun. When it cooled off a little ASG took the stage next door and blew the place apart!

_Jack Morrissey

9/11/2007

Yesterday, we woke up in Jacksonville and hit the gas toward Sarah Hoffert's neck of the woods; Pensacola FL, which is located way over yonder in the Florida panhandle. We rolled into town and went straight over to Fly- By Waterboyz surf shop. This is a cool shop that has a nice little indoor skatepark in the back for all the kids to skate. It also happens to be amply air-conditioned which is definitely a necessity for the heat of the day out there. The park was full of kids skatin' when we rolled up and when we started throwin' free goods they started goin' wild. Once Inbred took the stage it was a madhouse and then ASG took over and the place went nuts. There was definitely a lot of cleaning up needed afterwards to restore the park back to normal.



After the Waterboyz Fly-By it was time to head to The Break, a local watering hole just down the way from where we were staying. Inbred and ASG were the entertainment once again and the rowdy crowd of The Break were all smiles. Enjoy the photos of the evening below.



_Jack Morrissey

9/10/2007

Today was a cool day of Fly-By's to a couple of Jacksonville Beach area shops; Aqua East and Sunrise Surf Shop. We cruised on by to hang out with the local kids and stoke them out with some free goodies, autographs, free pizza and games.



It was a super fun filled day and I ate a lot of pizza. After the shop fly-bys, we all jammed into the van and went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. It was our last day in Jacksonville so it was nice to enjoy the surroundings before heading out on the long drive to Pensacola, FL in the morning.



After hangin' on the beach for a while it was time to gear up and get ready for the show. What show? Oh yeah man, Slumpbuster, Inbred and ASG are playing at the Landshark cafe in Jacksonvile tonight! No way man, really? Totally! We're there dude!






_Jack Morrissey

9/9/2007

We rolled our way on down from our trip in North Carolina on the I-95 for a few hours until we found ourselves in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. We had reached what would be our home for the next couple of days and it was great to reunite the with the rest of the squad that had been in Florida with the big rig. Jax beach is a wild place with a lot of really nice folks that like to have a good ol' time. Early the next morning we hit the Jacksonville airport to pick up Mr. Randy Bonds who had flown in on a red-eye from Santa Cruz. It was good to see our West Coast brother and have a new face in the mix of the trip. After a little rest back at the van down by the river, we headed to St Augustine to Fly-By the Surf Station. It was a trip to see the old fort and historic buildings of the nations oldest city on the way. The Surf Station is a pretty far-out shop man, it used to be a gas station and actually sold gas for a while while it was a surf shop. What a trip! Another thing that the Surf Station still does sell that is totally amazing yet unusual for a surf shop is beer! Definitely a bonus! The afternoon started when we rolled up, set up the barbecue and let the good times roll. Kids were going nuts with games, getting autographs from Randy, Blake and Justin Jones, Sean Poynter, Daniel Shea and Sarah Hoffert and enjoying bizzare food concoctions prepared by RJ for prizes. All of the kids were getting fed up with RJ's tricks so it was decided that the winner of the hot dog eating contest would have the privilege of smashing a key lime pie into his face with devastating force.



After all of that fun ended, it was time to rock. Inbred then took the stage which was really just the parking lot and brought the noise. Next it was ASG's turn to play their first set of the Tie Dye Fly By East Coast Trip man! The boys from North Carolina rocked into the evening as the sun set.


_Jack Morrissey

9/8/2007

We awoke the following morning and hit the old highway towards Shallotte, NC to make a quick stop at our favorite dentist, Dr Greg Rupp's office. The reason for our visit was to help out our mate RJ get his teeth glued back into his head. RJ lost a few of his front teeth a few years back when his sister hit him in the teeth with her flute. Ouch!
RJ's last tooth cementing was a few months back so it wore off and his teeth began falling out whenever he would try to eat a sandwich or a nice piece of corn on the cob. The super poly grip denture glue that he got from the drug store wasn't cuttin' it so we called up Dr. Rupp to get the real stuff. Dr Rupp welcomed us all into his office and his home which is located directly above his workplace while he went to work on getting RJ's teeth cemented in. After a short while, RJ's choppers were securely fastened and we were ready to roll. Thanks for the help Dr. Rupp. We then continued our journey south bound for Jacksonville for the next leg of The Tie-Dye Fly-By East Coast Trip. Stay tuned for updates man!!


_Jack Morrissey

9/7/2007

The next day, we met up with our friend Rob Brown from Wilmington. Rob took us out to his family's huge piece of hunting land just outside the city for afternoon of cruising the land, sitting in rocking chairs on the porch of the cabin and shooting some skeet with a twelve gauge shotgun. Even though we are all peaceful brothers and sisters on this trip, we still had the urge to kill some clay discs with a high-powered weapon. It was a terrific day of some North Carolina style fun. Thanks Rob!


_Jack Morrissey

9/6/2007

After the contest weekend in New Jersey, we dropped off Kilian Garland, Thomas Clarke, Nick Suhadolnik and Ryan Burch at the Philadelphia airport. We all had a killer time together on this wild trip but now it was time to say "check ya later!" Then we began headin' south towards Florida in the trippy van but made a detour and posted camp in Wilmington, North Carolina for a couple fun filled days. The crew consisted of Sean Poynter, Blake Jones, Daniel Shea RJ and Sarah Hoffert We pulled into town and met up with Mr. Billy Hume. Billy has an amazing new skatepark down the street from his house so we headed on down to skate for a while to have some fun and get our legs working again after being in the car for many hours, man. When we got to the park we were trippin on how cool the setup was. There was a giant wood bowl and a huge street course all indoors. It was far out! We skated for a few hours until we couldn't handle the 100 degree heat any longer.


_Jack Morrissey

9/5/2007

Our trippy trek is near half way through. These next few days are cruising days, man. The trippy van is now hanging is Wrightsville Beach, NC, and it's on its way to meet up with the big rig down in Florida. We have a jam packed schedule coming up, so be sure to keep checking us out. Allllriiiight!
-mikeG

9/4/2007

words by Daniel Terry
I fell asleep the night before and awoke to the AC blasting directly in my face at about 30 degrees. I stumbled out of my bunk to see that we had arrived at one of the south’s best-kept secrets. The Georgia Pig! This is by far the best BBQ restaurant on the planet. Sean Elg from Nihilist said that he had never tasted pulled pork like that in his entire life. We spent a couple hours hanging out at a truck stop next door while Sean got the RV prepped for the rest of the trip. We finally arrived in Cocoa Beach and settled in for the Holiday weekend.


I walked out of my hotel room to see a Small Plane fly over head with a sign reading (Volcom Party Tonight w/ Nihilist and Inbred @ The Sandbar!) I was apparent that the entire town of Cocoa Beach knew we had arrived. The night before we had pulled the bus onto the front lawn of Ron Jon surf shop, they were kind enough to let us park for the weekend. Around lunchtime we decided to get our crew together and set up in front of the store to help promote the party. Jake Kirschenbaum, Justin Jones, Billy Hume, Nihilist and Inbred all showed up and handed out Custom Tie-Dye Fly-By goods to the passers-by. We hung out for about two hours and then rested up for the night ahead.



In Florida you can almost set your watch and wait for the rain every afternoon. Right around 4:00 PM everyday you can look to the west and see a massive black cloud marching east. This one was fun to watch but made the start of the night a little wet. Expecting to walk into the Sandbar with no one in sight I pull up and to my surprise the place was packed before the party even started. We set up and downed a couple drinks while Inbred started their set. Inbred made a ton of fans in Florida, they rocked the stage and ended their set with a cover of The Who’s 'Teenage Wasteland.' That one got the crowd's interest and set the mood for the rest of the night. Next up was Nihilist. Cocoa Beach will never be the same! Everyone from the 20-year-old music lover to the 55-year-old cheeseburger in paradise was banging their heads, completely enjoying themselves. After the show we all said our farewells to Nihilist and wished that they didn’t have to go. Thanks dudes! My neck has a case of Bangitis from banging my head for the last week. Nihilist Kills!!!!

9/2/2007

Jersey was a blast. The conditions for the Pro Jr. were extremely hard to ride, and even though it was 1 to 2 foot, the boys were ripping. All of the Volcom youth was surfing well, but floating through to the finals was Kilian Garland and Blake Jones. They were grabbing the best waves and slamming the weak sections with groovy flow and ease. In the finals, Kilian secured 2nd place and $1,500, and Blake was just behind him falling in 3rd and bringing home $1,100. Those kids rip, man. The event ran on local news channel 40, so we posted up at the TV for a minute and shot these pics of the boys slashing up New Jersey.


Kilian stands 6'2" above the ground, so it's a trip he can shred the little waves so well.


Sequence off the TV rips, Blake was really shredding!

While we were anxiously watching the final, Jack Morrissey felt a tap on his shoulder. It was not a tap from a human, but a drop of love from a seagull's butt. Yes, Jack was shat upon...good luck indeed!


We feel Jack getting shat upon is good luck for the rest of the tour. So now, the trippy van is on its way to Florida to meet back up with the big rig in Cocoa Beach, FL. We'll be in Florida for the next 2 weeks, stay tuned.
-mikeG

8/31/2007

Some people just don't know simple fun. During the Sea Isle City Pro Jr., two mad-at-the-world ladies at the hotel we were at caused a big stink while we were jumping in the pool. What's wrong with jumping in the pool? It was plenty deep, there was no one around, and we were having a blast. They just weren't havin' it...whatever, man, we brought the fun elsewhere, and we didn't invite the mad ladies to come along. Read the following photo story to follow our journey to Funland!


Big thanks to Wiz, he was our operator on our first ride, the Gravitron. He hooked us up with all the contacts to get freebies for the rest of the night. Wiz is the man, man! This is us in front of Funland's best ride...the XTREME CYCLONE!


-mikeG

8/30/2007

We awoke after chillin' with Ron and the crew at Spellbinders with the morning off and some time for a quick swing by the beach. We headed to Northend in Long Branch. We skated the park there and then jumped in the water for a quick surf, even Joe and Loren from Nihilist grabbed some boards and shredded. We cruised to see Adam Holloway at Bare Wires for a quick fly-by. There is always so many kids lurking around there, so we unloaded custom tour promo into their arms. We took off around 5pm to Ocean Lanes in Lakewood for our Bowl Shop Battle. These bowling battles are events for Volcom retailers to get together, display their bowling skills, and gain bragging rights among the area. All kinds of shops showed up ready for competition at this debut Bowl Shop Battle in New Jersey. Surf/skate shop Wild Ocean, from Wildwood came early and blew us away with their team attire, those guys rule! The shops signed in their 5-man teams, laced up their bowling shoes and began their practice throws. Soon after, the games began, and the combination of two game scores would be tallied and a champion would be crowned...


Good times indeed!



Just as the bowling was finishing Inbred took the stage and jammed a cool set followed by the awards presentation. After the tally, Ocean Hut took the victory, and their name was etched in the custom engraved bowling ball trophy. Nihilist jumped on next and destroyed it! The bartenders were baffled at the pissed metal erupting 10 feet away as they tried to listen to drink orders. They were still the coolest lady bartenders ever! Nihilist continued to play, even after a short break to clear out some drink saturated party crashers. They then jammed some amazing Slayer, Motorhead, and Metallica. Loren even backed off the mic for a song and both Blake Jones and Daniel Terry hopped on to freestyle some metal words as the band spontaneously rocked along. Everyone soon bid farewell, so after helping the awesome Ocean Lanes staff clean up, we took the party elsewhere. Thank you to the bartenders, Mike and the staff at Ocean Lanes, all the shops who participated, and congrats to Ocean Hut. They hold the crown until the next Bowl Shop Battle.
-mikeG

8/29/2007

After a strong day of driving, we pulled up to the Farias home on the water in Ship Bottom, Long Beach Island, NJ. They welcomed us and it was so nice, cause we haven't had a home environment since we started this crazy trip. We went out with Brian Farias to a rockin' bar. It was weird cause it was a Monday night, and the people in there must've been trippin' cause they were partying like it was Saturday night. We got some good rest and awoke ready for our Hartland Golf Putt Putt promo. We couldn't believe our eyes when we rolled up to this place, cause we saw Cabby Bart floored with enthusiasm as he stared into the eyes of who he thought was his separated twin, Ernie, who was randomly passing by.



We parked the big rig right across the street on the main road in front of Farias surf shop. We set up the BBQ, started grilling and the kids poured in. From noon to 2pm, grommets were going wild; it was like watching 'Lord of the Flies.' There were kids stuffing burgers and dogs, hucking water balloons, throwing darts for promo, and getting blasted in the face with cream pies on the last hole. It was awesome! Here's how it looked...



After the Putt Putt promo, we jetted north to Spellbinders surfshop in Allenhurst. This is a quite little town that soon would be rocked! Upon our arrival, we found that the totally radical officers of law from Allenhurst actually shut down the street for our promo. It was about to get crazy! We were cruisin' with Ron, the owner of Spellbinders. The dude rules! He wanted the event to go off, and his support was endless to make the promo as good as it could be. This was our first time rolling through his shop, but it's familiar ground for Volcom pro Mike Gleason. This is where he grew up and the shop that's supported him for years. We fired the BBQ, tossed some free things, and INBRED began rockin'. I don't really think anyone knew what was goin' on. People old and young came through as passers-by, and looked on in bewilderment. The sun started dippin' and all the Volcom athletes including Mike Gleason, Billy Hume, Jake Kirschenbaum, Blake Jones, Nick Suhadolnik, Sarah Hoffert, Daniel Shea, Thomas Clarke, Sean Poynter, Nick Rupp and Ryan Burch signed some autographs and continued to give all the promo we had. The kids at this point were overloaded with joy. Nihilist soon came on and nearly collapsed the surrounding buildings. They friggin' rocked it. The sun was nearly retired for the day but Nihilist was burning bright. At the end of their set, and just when we were boiling with intensity, we easily coaxed one of the cops to drive up his car with lights flashing, and beam his spotlight on Sean Elg, the drummer, as he destroyed an encore drum solo. It was friggin' ridiculous! Our faces were melted and it was by far, the best shop promo we've ever seen. An extra large thanks to Ron from Spellbinders, you rock, man! Also, kudos to the Allenhurst police officers; I never knew cops were that cool. To those who were there, thanks for coming out! Here's some images from this crazed promo.


Good time at Spellbinders!


Nihilist killing as the sun drops.

Sean Elg plays an encore drum solo while spotlighted by an Allenhurst, NJ cop car.
-mikeG

8/28/2007

We find ourselves back on the road. Virginia Beach is through, and there's still many places to go on this wacky trip. We didn't make it far though, most of us were snoozing when we heard some sirens. "Woop woop," said the police sirens. Man, what's going on? Two Virginia state troopers in low pro SUV's had nailed us.
But what are we doin' wrong, man?" said big rig driver Sean Slater.
They just pulled us over to say what's up, we were stoked...not quite. Forty-five minutes and a long list of fix-it warnings later we got back on track on route 13 north to Maryland.




We pulled up at K-Coast surfshop in Ocean City. Within minutes, our BBQ was fired up, tents were popped and kids were hungry for food and free things. This is how it looked.



It was great man, what else can I say? Back on the road shortly after and we made a quick stop in Dewey Beach, Delaware. Hi, I'm in Delaware. It's actually cooler of a place the what Wayne's World made out to be. I mean, we've been coming here for years and hanging with the Dewey crew, they rule it, man.

While parked in front of Dewey Beach Surf and Sport, another officer of the law was drawn to our Tie-Dye world. Only this time, he was cool. We shot the shit and gave him free things. We were running late so he offered to escort us to the Cape May Ferry. We arrived just in time and snuck our trippy wheels onto this massive transporter of vehicles. Off to Jersey it is. First stop, Farias in Long Beach Island for a BBQ and putt putt tournament, then Spellbinders for a serious Nihilist rocking. Oh my, good times.






-mikeG

8/26/2007

The ECSC event has come to close. All week long waves rolled in and provided ripping conditions. Volcom team motivator RJ made sure all the boys had their game faces on, cause he doesn't settle for anything less than 110%. Standing out among the crowd of WQS competitors was Jake Kirschenbaum. He was slashing waves into the semi's but then was nudged out and overtaken, he was slotted in for an =5th place. He walked with $1200, not bad, man! Young Blake Jones was a people's favorite through his WQS Jr run. Blake took his board and ripped along his path to the finals. After winning one particular heat, Blake was interviewed for the WQS website, and did a classic impersonation of Ricky Bobby. Blake came up shy in the final of a win, but got a bronze and $600 cash for his week long run.

An absolute eye-opener? Quincy Davis. 12-year-old Quincy made the women's pro final! This Volcom gal rips it, man. Her stylistic surfing had to go head to head with gals a decade older. Quincy certainly stamped her name into the world of the WQS womens. Good job Quincy!



In the amateur world, it was Nick Rupp who took the cake. Actually there was no cake as an actual prize...man, where'd that saying come from anyways? Just on Nick's heels was younf Evan Barton. This young kid from Wrightsville Beach, NC came by storm. Volcom's number one and number two, Rupp and Barton, kudos boys!!!


-mikeG

8/25/2007

Last night was our party at The Jewish Mother. Drawing first blood was ALOKE from Brooklyn, New York. These guys friggin' ruled it! Loud as hell and sounding great. Below is a photo from the show and under that is Daniel Terry's favorite ALOKE song.


ALOKE


Next up it was Virginia Beach local favorite Freedom Hawk. Dang man, another great band that knocks your ears off. It's definitely just better that you listen to a song and hear for yourself. It's just really great shit, man!


FREEDOM HAWK


Nihilist soon came on with most people on the floor totally not knowing what to expect. The three man group is Loren on bass and vocals, Joe on guitar, and Sean on drums. The double bass from Sean's kit rumbled the building. Their songs are fast and as pissed off as it gets. They even played Slayer, Metallica, and an AC/DC song in memory of Shane Cross. After the set, Sean jumped back on the drums and did a solo like we've never heard before. Absolutely amazing! NIHILIST KILLS!

NIHILIST

Get more familiar with these three bands by checking out their myspace page, ya jerk!

www.myspace.com/nihilistmetalcom
www.myspace.com/freedomhawk
www.myspace.com/ aloke
-mikeG

8/24/2007

Last night was totally awesome! Every year, Volcom sales reps Tony and Cathy Lincoln throw a wonderful BBQ for us all. They opened up their house for us hippies and fed us delicious foods and beverages. Friends and family was welcome to come along too, so there was about 30 of us at the Lincoln home. It was a party, man. We played pool and ping pong and got roudy. It was great.

                                    There was a gang of us. Thank you Tony and Cathy Lincoln for the food and fun!

After the BBQ, we met up with Nihilist. They just got off their flight and arrived at the Schooner Inn where our rig is stationed. These 3 dudes friggin' rule! We all hopped on the trolley to go into town and catch them up to speed on what's been happenin' on this crazy tour. Nick Rupp's dad, Dr. Greg Rupp, also hopped in with us. 'The Doctor' ran these funny shades and kicked it with us until closing, he rules it! We had some drinks at the bar, and shouted the words of "live wire," by Motley Crue, as it blasted from the speakers.
                                                    The Doctor with Nihilist and Sean Slater.

So tonight is our party at THE JEWISH MOTHER. It's going to go off! Stay tuned.
-mikeG

8/23/2007

We must be trippin'...we're sitting here in Va Beach watching some of our brothers surf their heats at the ECSC contest. Fighter jets launch directly over head cutting the sky in half. A few screeching seconds turned into a 30 second flashback of images from our first leg of the trip up in Rhode Island. Here it is.


-mikeG

8/22/2007

So its an overcast day here in Va Beach. Jake Kirschenbaum and Justin Jones had heats at the contest, but other than that, there ain't much else happenin'. We're getting ready for our party on Friday at The Jewish Mother. Nihilist is flyin' out from the west to tear faces off. This band is ridiculous! Check this shit out real quick. This is Nihilist.



And this is their sound.

So along with Nihilist, it will be Freedom Hawk and Aloke. Some of you may be familiar with these bands as well. Volcom East marketing manager Daniel Terry does nothing but claim the heck out of these 2 bands, it's pretty much on repeat the entire time on his iPod. Point is, the show is going to friggin' rock! See you there!
-mikeG

8/21/2007

Upon our arrival last night, we were immediately awaited by Volcom sales rep Granger Clark. We were hustling to VB because we didn't want to miss The Volcom Tour, which is Volcom Entertainment's music tour which is destroying the nation for the next month. You should certainly check out their blog by clicking the following link when you got a minute. The Volcom Tour
Anyway, it was cool that both our tours united for a quick moment, so we rocked out with Totimoshi, ASG, and Valient Thorr. It was great!


-mikeG

8/20/2007

Early this morning, we grabbed Volcom's MVP tour brethren, RJ Dunzelman. RJ is Mike Gleason's long-time friend and powerhouse. He's a brute figure and one of the funniest cats we've ever met. He was with us up in Rhode Island, and with just a few hours sleep back at his home in Monmouth Beach, NJ, we rang him and invited him to Virginia...he hopped right on in. We then began our drive. The Big Rig with Captain Sean Slater powered the trip from New England straight to VB with Jake, Blake, and Sarah yesterday. We took a short stop in Jersey for the night and departed this morning.

A quick stop to pick up RJ and we were off to VB in the trippy van.

It's inevitable on road trips...You always see weird $#*t. Here's some photos of our trip.

Man we mighta been were trippin', but we nearly grabbed our skateboards to skate this perfect banked bush.


The Delaware Memorial Bridge on an overcast drive south, and some nudey magazines on the dash, hehe.


Ok, this was real bizarre. An old school bus with all the windows blown out and it stacked up not with kids, but with watermelons. What?
-mikeG

8/19/2007

Even though we found some fun surf, the VQS contest was cancelled because there was no surf at Second Beach. We grabbed a sweet meal at a sushi joint, and Jake and Barney coaxed our 2 waitresses to come along for our night out in the town of Newport. Before getting on the road to head south today, we dropped Barney off at Providence airport for him to head home. He wanted to get on the first leg of the tour, because he's a real fan of New England and Sid "the package" Abruzzi. We're on our way to Jersey for the night before we head to Virginia Beach. Allllriiiight!


Barney departs, we are sad to see him go this early in the tour, but he'll be back, he loves the east!
-mikeG

8/18/2007

It has begun...Our 6 week trippy trek starts in Rhode Island. Daniel Terry and the hippy van drove up from Florida with Blake Jones and the collaboration of humans began. Mike Gleason hopped on board in Jersey along with Volcom gal Sarah Hoffert. We headed up to New York for a few pizza pies at Chickie Pig's (New York's best pizza joint), and then we jumped on I-95 North and headed up to Rhode Island. We grabbed Shawn Barney Barron and Jake Kirschenbaum at the Providence airport and awaited the arrival of Sean Slater in the Volcom Big Rig. Apparently, it was towed to an impound somewhere outside of JFK, so a few 4:30am phone calls and faxes later, and Sean was on track as well. We headed out to Point Judith for a quick surf before our first event at Warm Winds surf shop.



We had a sweet BBQ with good music and tons of free things to all who were there. Blake Jones gave away one of his boards to the fastest eater in the all girl watermelon eating contest. Volcom rep Paul Danchak and Barney manned the grill and Gleason, Kirschenbaum, Blake, and Sarah gave out free things to everyone. T'was good times. Stay tuned for daily updates as this freaky tour unwinds.
-mikeG






Below are all the dates:

August 17th @ Warm Winds Surf Shop, Narragansett, Rhode Island - 5:00 PM

August 18th - VQS Jellyfish - 2nd Beach, Middletown, Rhode Island - 7:00 AM

August 24th - Club Show @ The Jewish Mother - Virginia Beach, Virginia ( w/ Nihilist, Freedom Hawk, Aloke ) - 9:00 PM

August 27th - Shop Fly-By @ K-Coast Surfshop - Ocean City, Maryland - 12pm

August 28th - @ Heartland Mini Golf - Brant Beach, New Jersey - 11:00 AM

August 28th - @ Spellbinders Surf Shop - Allenhurst, New Jersey - 5:00 PM (Nihilist, Inbred)

August 29th - Bowl Shop Battle - Lakewood, New Jersey - 8:00 PM (Private Party)

September 1st - Shop Fly-By @ Ron Jon's, Cocoa Beach, FL

September 1st - Club Show @ The SandBar, Cocoa Beach, Florida ( w/ Nihilist, Inbred )- 8:00 PM

September 7th @ The Surf Station Surf Shop - St. Augustine, Florida - 5:00 PM (ASG, Inbred)

September 8th @ Aqua East Surf Shop - Neptune Beach, Florida - 12:00 PM

September 8th @ Sunrise Surf Shop - Jacksonville Beach, Florida - 2:00 PM

September 8th - Club Show @ The LandShark Cafe - Atlantic Beach, Florida (w/ ASG, Inbred )- 8:00 PM

September 9th @ Waterboyz Surf Shop - Pensacola Beach, Florida - 5:00 PM (ASG, Inbred, It Starts Today)

September 9th - Club Show @ The Break - Pensacola Beach, Florida ( w/ ASG,Inbred, It Starts Today) - 9:00 PM

September 11th @ Nekton Surf Shop - Indian Rocks Beach, Florida - 5:00 PM (ASG, Inbred)

September 12th @ Surf World Surf Shop - Pompano Beach, Florida - 5:00 Pm (ASG, Inbred)

September 19th - Bowl Shop Battle - Wilmington, North Carolina (Private Party)

September 21st - Lunch with First Flight Middle School - Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina 11:00 AM

September 22nd - VQS Cooterfish - 1st Street, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina - 7:00 AM

September 22nd - Club Show VQS After Party - The Brew Station, Nags Head, North Carolina (ASG, Freedom Hawk) 8:00 PM

September 28th - Bowl Shop Battle/ Bowling Party - Nags Head Bowling Centre, Nags Head, North Carolina

These are the bands that will be playing on the trip man, check out their myspace page.

www.myspace.com/nihilistmetalcom
www.myspace.com/freedomhawk
www.myspace.com/inbredinbred
www.myspace.com/asgmusic
www.myspace.com/ aloke