daniel tour journal

Good Times on The Fold's voicemail.

2007-04-02T21:15:00.000-05:00

INTERVIEW! 2.20.07

2007-02-20T10:37:00.000-06:00

Yo, I did an interview with New Band TV (once you get there, scroll down and you'll see it). Those guys rule, they picked me up from the airport when I had been traveling all day long to get to LA, and we had a blast doing this short interview. Check it out.

Shooting a Video!

2007-02-15T17:42:00.001-06:00

Just checking in real quick. We just got off of tour with Waking Ashland, Sound The Alarm, Graduate and Jonezetta. It was a blast. We are in the middle of mixing our record now. Well, we're just listening intently to the mixes each day, that's about as involved as we get. Anyway, once that's done we have to PICK A SINGLE and shoot the video on March 10th!!! Wow, that's soon. It's gonna be shot in NYC by Fashion Bleeds, so if you're out that way, look out for a message on here, we may need "extras".

End of story!

I've never gotten full from a continental breakfast...

2007-01-29T11:08:00.000-06:00

Today in the not-news... I decided in a spur of the moment at 1 AM this morning to sleep in the bun (not a bus, definitely not a van). We brought a merch person along on this tour, so there weren't enough beds in the hotel room, and it just seemed easier to crash out there. Anyway, it was pretty cold out there but no big deal as long as I had my trusty sleeping bag. I woke up around 9 AM and came into the hotel to eat, have some coffee, read, shower and stuff. When I finally made my way up to the room 2 hours later, my shaving cream was STILL FROZEN! I laughed to myself. Come to think of it, I better go make sure that Keith made it through the night...

1.21.07 Album done, home from vacation, tour tomorrow!

2007-01-21T17:26:00.000-06:00

I don't bout you, but where has '07 gone? It's been flying by! It's already been 3 weeks since the start of '07, can you believe it?

I was actually just on a vacation in Dominica, so I've actually been having nothing but fun so far this year. I saw some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my whole life, and it changed my perspective a bit on how much importance we place on the silliest things here in America. Here was a semi-third world country that lived off of the fat of the land, and they were SO happy about it! Life isn't about money there, it's about survival. It was good for me to see it.

Also, It's Lauren's birthday today, so I'm so glad I got to be with her before we start our tour. I fly out to meet the band in LA tomorrow to start the tour. See you on the road????

PS~ The album is done, and is being mixed next month. I can't WAIT for all of you to hear it in May!

11.11.06 BACK IN THE SADDLE!

2006-11-08T11:32:00.000-06:00

We just got home from tour today! I didn't realize it until it was over, but this is the first time out tour dates page has ever been completely naked. It's kinda scary to look at it to be honest. We are definitely not having any band problems, so don't jump to any conclusions. The real reason is that we are going into the studio in less than three weeks to make our new CD. The songs are coming along nicely, and we won't rest until they make your heart scream! So far we have 11 songs - the demos have been fun to make, but there's nothing like honing in on new songs when you have nothing else to focus on. With the year I've had, I could use the distraction.

PS~ I just did this fun little interview about the elusive animal that is "the song", read it if you've got a few.

Sorry I've been so scarce, then again I think phantoms are pretty cool...

PROMOTE!

2006-11-04T14:41:00.000-06:00

Hey guys! Tour has been great, we could really use your help promoting this:

The words I wish I didn't have to say...

2006-09-26T01:31:00.000-05:00

Just a few tearful moments ago, my Mother "lost" her battle with cancer. I say "lost" because it makes it sound like the cancer has won. Somehow, our family has been given a true sense of peace tonight because we know that the cancer has not won. We can smile because we know that the cancer no longer has dominion over her beautiful spirit. It did it's best to trample her while she was in her body; but now her spirit has been released from it's faulty shell, and is free and in Heaven for what will no doubt be an eternity of joy.

Less than 2 months it's been since her diagnosis was confirmed, I guess we're all in a mess of trying to understand what has happened, but I think I know. The words "it had to be her" keep running through my head. I believe that my Mom is a sacrifice for so many others to know the Lord. Her faith was so strong, so unmoveable, so genuine, that it just had to be her. Of all of our family and friends, she was the centerpiece. I know that God will continue to use her life to show others that time is short, that we shouldn't wait! The time is now, and that these bodies aren't meant to live forever.

Over these past few weeks, I've seen my Dad cling to Jesus, and trust His Will 100%. I've seen aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends and enemies alike pray for my Mother. God is watching, and He's listening. Our prayers were not in vain, I know that. He knows that this woman is special, and I have no doubt that she is already in His arms.

Here's to you Mom, we will NEVER forget you. We love you deeper than words can express.

Wake and Funeral Info

My Mom's Benefit Show!

2006-08-24T00:49:00.000-05:00

Last night was amazing! I couldn't possibly put it into words, so let me just link to what my sister wrote on my Mom's blog about it. She witnessed it. Check it out!

My Mother

2006-08-17T15:06:00.000-05:00

I've delayed on telling you this news, but lots of you have noticed that I haven't been myself lately. Ignoring e-mails, not answering my phone, escaping small talk at the shows; none of it is me. Two weeks ago, out of nowhere, my precious Mother was diagnosed with (what the doctors say is) an inoperable, incureable form of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She's so young, and full of life, it's hard to imagine how a disease like this could spring itself on such a beautiful person.

So, the real reason I'm writing, is to ask for your help. If you pray (or even if you don't) PLEASE pray for my Mom, Jeanette Castady. Pray that if it is in His will, that God would completely removie this cancer through a miracle of the Holy Spirit. No matter what, I know that God will be glorified through my Mother's life. She's loved the Lord since far before I was even born.

Thanks for your time, prayers, ears, shoulders and e-mails. If you feel led to read more, learn more, or help out further please visit my Mom's blog at jeanettecastady.blogspot.com. We are also holding a benefit concert with Plain White T's, The Fold, The Scissors and Michaelane this coming Tuesday in Willowbrook, IL.

With love,
Daniel

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

2006-07-20T22:48:00.000-05:00

Tonight was precious. Josh from Smoking Popes is doing a residency at Schuba's each Tuesday of this month, and on this particular night he had The Fold (acoustic) open up for him, along with Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio. I had never met Dan, but he was an awesome guy. I even struggled to accept a compliment he gave me on my voice, it was really cool and unexpected.

Something about the way the Popes songs sound acoustic were REALLY special, and nostalgic. These are the songs I grew up with, and dreamed I'd be able to write someday when I was starting out in my first high school bands. They played mostly songs from Destination Failure tonight. If you've never heard it, hopefully they will be re-issuing the album soon through Victory Records. I think I heard them say something about that on stage. Smoking Popes will ALWAYS be very close to my heart. Not just a band that I used to listen to, but a band that I will never grow out of. I realized that tonight. I wish them all the success in the world.

July 14-15, 2006

2006-07-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

The forces were against us this weekend... Truth will prevail.

Can't keep up!

2006-07-11T16:12:00.001-05:00

I'm way behind. I'm just going to write when I feel it's necessary from now on, cool? But to sum up some stuff that happened over the past two weeks... We played some Indiana shows with The Honour Recital in the last week of June. Those guys are super cool, I know good things are in store for them in the near future. Mark, Keith, Aaron and I (along with Elaine and Lauren) went to a BBQ at my brother's house before one of the Indiana shows. My bro Greg lives right over the border in IL. It was cool, I love stuff like that, and his kids are getting cuter every day, so I want to see them as much as possible before they start getting zits. Anyway, the second show with Honour Recital was AMAZING, those guys REALLY draw a crowd in their hometown of South Bend, IN. We were honored to be on the show, everyone was really nice to us and we sold a lot of CD's.

Next was Ribfest in Naperville, IL. This was a myspace effort because we had no idea what to expect playing a town fair like Ribfest, even though it is only one town over from where we live. It worked pretty well, and served as a PRE-Cornerstone party for a lot of the people there. I couldn't believe how many people were going to both, probably at least 30 of us, no joke! It was awesome. We had a huge crowd after the show too, and we signed a bunch and met a bunch of cool people. It was really fun. Afterwards, we all got some ribs and watched Reo Speedwagon. ha.

Cornerstone and Lifest were REALLY fun. We played to huge crowds at both. It really makes us happy when you all come out and show your support! We're still not used to having a record out, it just makes all the difference for us. The reports tell us that over 10,000 people have bought our record worldwide so far. Not bad for 4 months time! We're excited!

Saturday, June 24th, 2006

2006-07-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

North Lawrence, OH - This week we began a relationship with Andrew Buck at APA. He's an awesome guy with a lot to bring to the table, so we're BEYOND excited to be signing with him. This is definitely a landmark in our careers. It's like... you need to write great songs, then you need a killer label, then you need a smart agent. After that, who knows, but you need to take those steps to do this right. We're excited.

We played a festival today with Copeland, Relient K and Anberlin. It was fun, and we hung out all night afterwards with Anberlin and Relient K. It was cool to hang with Matt on his stomping grounds. The festival was about 20 minutes from his house, so afterwards he let us sleep over. SOLID guy, I tell you. Oh, and Anberlin are cooler than any other band I've ever met. Each one of them is totally genuine and mellow to talk to. Even if they're busy they pretend they're not just to put you at ease. We'll be seeing them all again next week at Cornerstone.

Monday, June 19th, 2006

2006-06-28T16:47:00.000-05:00

Lacrosse, WI - There is a guy in Lacrosse named Steve Harm who runs The Warehouse. I met him in 1999 or so, which marked the time that Showoff actually started to have to work for things in our career. The major label novelty had worn off, and Steve was really the only promoter who saw us as a worthy band - out there trying to make something happen with our lives, and he truly valued us as such. He still gives me the same respect today, and as you can imagine we have a very strong bond because of it. I mean, come one, who else would give us a show on a Monday? This time around we had seen him the two days prior to this show at warped tour. He was driving all over WI and MN flyering for The Warehouse. Who does that? I'll go ahead and answer my own question... VERY FEW people in his position would do that.

We got to talking about how our lives are very similar, him as the venue promoter, me as the traveling musician. We've both given up a lot to live a life that satisfies us on a deeper level, something the 9-5'er could never fully understand. It was a good talk, and one I never thought I'd have with someone in his position, but that's just Steve. I love the guy!

Sunday, June 18th, 2006

2006-06-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

Minneapolis, MN - Still on Warped Tour. This marks our second time in Minne in one week. I'm excited to be back, we made lots of friends here at the Segue Cafe, and they all showed up today! We passed out fliers all morning once we found out our set time. We would be closing out the Hot Topic Stage tonight. 6:15 set time. This gives us plenty of time to promote!

The show went awesome. We played our first note as Saves The Day finished up their last song. This was probably one of the coolest moments for me on warped so far (besides the day before when Chris from STD assured me that the line for the shower would pass quickly) I grew up with Saves The Day, so to stand at a microphone opposite them was truly surreal. I just wanted to LISTEN! =) Tons of kids wandered over and we played to a full crowd once again.

BBQ was cancelled tonight, so we hung out a bit with our buddies before heading to LaCrosse around 10 PM. Plain White T's let me hear their first single from their new record. It just got mixed and mastered, and it sounds awesome. I'm just SO excited for them. New label, new team, and all of their ducks are in a row to do big things. Oh, so proud. I don't know if I've ever known anyone else who knew what he wanted as much as Tom does, and it's definitely happening for him.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

2006-06-23T02:45:00.000-05:00

Warped Tour! Okay, well we haven't slept since Bridgman. We had to pass through Chicago on the way from MI to WI, so we stopped at my house to take a quick shower, then jumped back in the ol' beast and headed to Warped Tour. We probably rolled into Milwaukee, WI around 4:30 AM, at which time Mark tried to catch a few Z's before the mad rush began. Herein lies the problem... When you do warped tour in a "not-bus" (more specifically without a driver who doesn't need to perform later that day), at least one guy has to drive all night and then spend the next day as a zombie. Because Mark's nature is to be a workaholic, he volunteers for the job regularly. He awoke promptly at 8 AM to make sure that we were checked in as soon as we could be with the warped people, and didn't shake one of us to help him (what a guy!?). He got us a tent to borrow for our merch, and got all of our catering tickets and band credentials. I thank him profusely, I always try to encourage such loyalty in my bandmates. =)

I wandered through the maze of stages and booths when I woke up at 9 AM. I saw lots of friends, and my anxiousness subsided a bit as I realized that we had safely arrived and things were going to be okay. We found out our set time at 10:30 AM or so, we play at 5:50 PM today. Relief. This is the fun part of warped tour, one lucky band won't even get to brush their teeth before they get picked to play FIRST that day, promply at 11 AM. It could happen to any of us, The Fold was blessed to not have this happen today. So we hurried up and got our tent situated and peddled our fliers all day long to innocent victims. These people were being bombarded by hundreds of bands and companies all day long trying to get them to support their respective causes. I thank ALL OF YOU who took our flier, really. We hand wrote each one with our set time and stage, so I hope people knew that we cared. =)

The actual performance portion of the day is only 1/2 hour long, no matter who you are. NOFX, Saves The Day, Underoath, The Fold... all of us get 1800 seconds up there. Our set went well, it was well attended and we had a blasty. That night I got to catch up with my buddy Chris Behm, who used to be in The Fold but is now tour manages Silverstein. After spending some time in the sweetest tour bus I've ever seen, we all went to the band BBQ which is usually held in the parking lot or some random place like that. I looked forward to it all day, because some of my fondest warped memories were from past BBQ's, standing next to Billy Joe, Fat Mike, Tim Armstrong or Travis Barker eating baked beans and talking about nothing.

Friday, April 16th, 2006

2006-06-19T01:04:00.000-05:00

Bridgman, MI - This show was booked to bridge the gap between some dates we had booked before heading out to Warped Tour. Either way, I'm glad this place was on the agenda. These people were awesome, the whole crowd stuck around and were genuinely excited to see us play. Lots of 'em singing along, and I'm just having a blast with these in-ear monitors. Such a new level of enjoyment for me! Thanks Shure! =) I know, I'm a BIG dork. Oh well, most guys in bands are, you'll find.

Thursday, June 15th

2006-06-18T23:48:00.000-05:00

We took a day off yesterday and we all teamed up on getting the bus conversion in order. We have a lot of ideas, and NO time/motivation to finish them up in a timely manner. Oh well, slowly but surely. It seems like between each tour we get one or two big things accomplished. Lately, Mark's been kicking butt; we now have power and lights in all of the bunks, and cabinets along the right side of the living area.

The show tonight was okay. It was the final commitment we had to our nightmare of a booking agent. Thank GOD that is over.

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

2006-06-15T16:43:00.000-05:00

Madison, WI... Tonight, this happened (thanks for the picture Katy). The show was SWEET. We packed out a small room in Madison for our friends Ice Cap Fortune's CD release. I produced their new CD, "Taking A New Shape", so it was extra special for me. They go on their first tour ever tomorrow, and I just pray that they have a good time. It's a rude awakening sometimes the way the road can be. Other times it's the best. Some bands never have to go through the hard part, but then they take the good stuff for granted.

We had the pleasure of playing with an AWESOME band from MN called Epic Hero. You should check em out!

Monday, June 12th, 2006

2006-06-13T11:38:00.001-05:00

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but it rules. Tonight was a first for me: I used IN EAR MONITORS. SO many people have told me about 'the wonder of the in-ear', but I never took myself seriously enough to spend $800 on something that (in my mind) only I would benefit from. Well, I take it all back, it's just a matter of peace of mind... Now, I can really learn my voice because I actually HEAR IT, EVERY NIGHT! And that, in turn, makes it better for the crowd because I know I'm not beating myself up in vain, I hear what they hear. I enjoyed every minute of our set tonight.

On a side note, THANK YOU MAPLE GROVE! We've had a rough few weeks so far this month, and we needed you guys last night, you delivered 10 fold. Thanks for dancing, singing along and SMILING at us. No thanks to bad booking agents, budget cuts and false promises. That is all.

Sunday, May 21st, 2006

2006-05-29T19:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the closest thing to a proper hometown show we've had since our record came out. We have only opened for bigger bands (Tooth & Nail tour & The Smoking Popes, both at Metro) since our record came out... So, it felt REALLY nice to play this show. Our friends came out, which is always nice (thanks for the picture Sara!) It was actually our first time playing an Arlington Heights show as far as I can remember, so that was cool too. It felt like the start of a cool thing, and we have already made plans to go back in a couple months with This Is Me Smiling! We hope you can come.

April 25th-28th

2006-05-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

April 25th was in St. Petersburg, FL at Janus Landing. This was a cool night because the last time I was at Janus was with Showoff and we were on tour with Lucky Boys Confusion at the time. It was a full circle kinda feeling to be back there with The Fold, I'm in awe of how far this thing has come. We're incredibly blessed! Janus is an outdoor venue, so it was different to play as the sun went down; in FL, by the beach. Come to think of it, it was pretty awesome actually. =)

April 26th was the last show of the Tooth and Nail tour. The show was at a small club in Fort Lauderdale. Emery and Anberlin took us out for dinner beforehand, and let us order whatever we wanted! WOW! These bands are SO cool to us, we're definitely going to miss their great attitudes. We've made some awesome friends, and we hope to tour with all of them again soon.

Monday, April 24th, 2006

2006-04-28T00:56:00.000-05:00

I was a big brat tonight. It was House Of Blues, Orlando. The show went GREAT, and we played really well; I think I'm just bummed out because I know this tour is almost over. It's been so great, and I fear that we won't be on another tour that is this exciting again. Highlights were probably seeing a HUGE display in the Disneyworld Virgin Records with THE FOLD on it, and dinner with Lauren at House Of Blues. We went all out and got the most expensive meal we've had in a while. Yum.

Sunday, April 23rd, 2006

2006-04-27T23:48:00.000-05:00

Tonight we played in Jacksonville, FL. It was our second time at Murray Hill Theater, and the people there are officially "super cool". They took us to Panera during the day, and Lauren and I got to eat a REAL meal for once. We were excited to play to a sold out crowd, I even walked one lucky boy in through the front door. He looked really bummed out that he couldn't buy a ticket, and so he asked me if I could help. First I thought he was trying to break into our vehicle, because he was lurking around pretending to talk on his cell phone; then he spilled his cause, and I realized why he was there. I was glad I helped him, because he was a cool kid, and it felt really good to help him out. What's it to me, right?

The show was awesome, the crowd was ruthless, and I even saw a CIRCLE PIT during our set. That always cracks us up, because we are NOT that type of band. We're more of a "sing along as loud as you can so that I don't have to" type of band, but we haven't exactly reached that status either.