(updated version)
The History for Sale tour (at the tail end, it was known as the “History Has Sold” tour) ended on October 24, 2004 at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas.
329 days later, and with Matt back in the band and their new album in the bag, Blue October played the first show of what would become a more than two-year long endeavor to promote and support their new album and share their music with their fans.
I remember that day clearly. Canvas had just played what would be their last show ever in Dallas at the Curtain Club the night before. I ended up hanging out with Joseph King, Chad Pavlovich and Matt and Troy from Spoonfed Tribe all night. We watched the sunrise from the rooftop of Joseph’s friend Daniel’s house in Fort Worth. After catching a few hours of sleep in the morning, Chad and I headed back to Deep Ellum for the Storm Aid benefit concert, which would include many of our favorite local bands such as SouthFM, Zayra Alvarez, The Burden Brothers, and Blue October.
We arrived at the Gypsy Tea Room where we hooked up with Swin who showed us the new Foiled promo posters. They listed October 11 as the release date. We headed over to Deep Sushi where the band was having lunch with their manager Paul Nugent and their producer David Castell. When Justin saw us through the window of the restaurant he came outside and gave us bear hugs. Seeing Matt seated with the rest of the band made me swell with joy. I also met Meridith for the first time after hearing about her from Jeremy for several years.
Justin was very nervous. I asked him if he was going to play any new songs, and he said he had a new song called Hate Me that the band would be debuting that night. There was something else new that night, it was the first of many shows to come in which Justin donned a suit.
Blue October’s set that night was short but beautiful and acoustic. They played Calling You in a new way, and the new song - Hate Me. Wow. It was good. The kind of brilliance I had come to expect from Justin. It was the first time I had ever heard the song, and it would be the last time I would ever hear it at a show without the audience singing along.
Five days later Blue played the ACL festival in Austin, and news came from the higher ups that the album release would be delayed until after the new year. The band had already booked a 20-date tour of their home turf: Texas and the Midwest, to promote the album’s release. The fans would not be disappointed, the tour would go on, and Blue October wouldn’t be obligated to only play their new songs. Their first album, The Answers, was finally available through the band’s website and at their shows, and this tour would serve to promote The Answers and the entire Blue October catalog. Hate Me was going to be the first single from Foiled, and would be played at the shows. You Make Me Smile, the song that Justin and Matt had written together but never released, would also be included, showing the fans that Matt’s back. Even though Foiled had been foiled, there was plenty to celebrate and show off.
The tour began with 11-straight shows in Texas: San Angelo, Abilene, Lubbock, Odessa, College Station, Beaumont, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth.
From DFW, they headed north to Tulsa, Little Rock, Lawrence, Saint Louis, South Bend, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Ames and finally their second home: Omaha. Without the new album, and with most radio stations still ignoring them, the band still managed to sell out most of the shows, which were mostly at bars and small music clubs, with a few theaters mixed in.
About a month after the tour ended, Justin and Matt played a 3-date 5591 tour through San Marcos, Austin, and Houston. The latter date fell just a few days early of Justin’s birthday, and served as a de facto birthday party, complete with gifts and a 5591 cake.
After a holiday break, the band boarded their tour bus for a cross-country blitz of a radio tour. The new album would be hitting stores soon, and Hate Me was now available for radio adds. On the 14-day tour, which started in San Diego and ended up in Saint Petersburg, the band played private shows for radio station staffers in 12 cities including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Denver, Mission Kansas, Saint Louis, Memphis, Birmingham, and Atlanta. The strategy proved successful, and along with the support of fans who called stations to request the song, Hate Me quickly rose to be the most added song in alternative rock and soared to #1 most requested in several cities. Their radio show from Altlanta would later be released as a promotional EP entitled “Foiled Again.”
Hate Me was remixed for the album, and was rising up the charts.
The band played one concert in February - a Mardi Gras party in Galveston, which would have coincided with the release of Foiled, but the album’s release was again delayed to March.
On March 22 Blue October set out on another string of tour dates starting with a set at the SXSW festival in Austin, but yet again their album wasn’t available. They decided to start playing their new songs anyway, adding Sound of Pulling Heaven Down, Everlasting Friend, Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek, Into the Ocean, and Overweight to their setlist.
Foiled’s final release date was set for April 4, 2006, and after shuffeling around some tour dates, the band was able to come back to Texas to play some in-store acoustic shows and autograph sessions to promote the CD’s release.
After the Texas in-stores, the guys headed to California to play at the famous Roxy Night Club in Los Angeles.
In it’s first week, Foiled sold over 30,000 copies.
The boys returned to Texas to play their first full Foiled shows in Lubbock, Austin, Dallas, and then Austin again.
Only ten days after the release of Foiled, Blue October made their nation-wide television debut, playing Hate Me on the Tonight Show. The performance boosted the sales of Foiled and escalated Hate Me to even greater popularity, allowing the band to record a video for the song with director Kevin Kerslake who has previously directed videos for The Offspring, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, 311, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Cypress Hill, Depeche Mode, The Ramones, Faith No More, and Soundgarden.
Hate Me had been topping the charts in one city in particular outside of Texas: Tampa, Florida. 97x, Tampa’s radio station had fallen in love with Blue October and heavily promoted a headlining show for Blue October before 10,000 fans at Bright House Networks Park on April 29. By all accounts the show was spectacular, however after the concert, while running the bases in the park, Justin slipped and broke his leg. Justin wouldn’t be able to walk or play guitar, but he was determined to keep performing. Julian Mandrake, a long-time friend of the band, and the former lead guitarist from Canvas was called and invited to join Blue October as second guitarist. Julian agreed and immediately flew to Baltimore to meet the band the at their next show in Baltimore.
With only two days of preparation, Julian learned Blue October’s songs and joined the band on stage that night. Justin, with his leg in a cast, sang while seated in a wheelchair. The pain proving too much for Justin to bear, the rest of the tour was cancelled and the band drove 1,500 miles back to Austin.
46 days would pass before Blue October played another show. Even though the tour had been sidelined, Foiled continued to sell an average of 10,000 copies every week and Hate Me reached #2 on Billboard’s Alternative Rock chart. Matt Noveskey and his former (a+)machines bandmate Ryan Holley along with friends Jacob Trevino (of Five Dollar Friend) and Wesley Lunsford (both of which Matt has worked with in his capacity as record producer) as opening acts went on a tour of Texas in June.
Also that June, Jeremy and Meredith tied the knot.
On June 17 Blue October made their return to the live stage, playing at Buzz Fest in Houston. Julian was once again playing guitar with the band, and Justin, still recovering, gradually gained mobility over the next few months.
At the end of June, Blue October returned to L.A. where they co-hosted and performed on the nationally syndicated radio program “Loveline” with Dr. Drew and Striker. The next day the band again appeared on national television, performing on the outdoor stage at the Jimmy Kimmel Show. The performance proved to be symbolic, as Justin entered the stage hobbeling, then during Hate Me, he cast his crutches aside and performed two more songs on his own two feet.
In July Blue October played their first shows outside of the United States, playing in Toronto and Quebec, Canada. Canadian fans would follow their American counterparts in falling in love with Foiled, sending the album to platinum status there, and garnering the band a nomination for a MuchMusic award for the Hate Me video. Into the Ocean also was released as a single and was quickly in the charts.
In August Blue October played one of their biggest shows to date (if not their biggest ever) at Lollapalooza in Chicago. By the end of the summer tour, Foiled had been certified gold.
In September Blue October, still with Julian in the band, played even more shows outside the US. They visited Europe for the first time, playing in Amsterdam and London. Returning to North America, they played a special “bands in the sand” show in Cozumel, Mexico.
Barely a week after returning from Mexico, the band headed to San Francisco where they played at Golden Gate Park. They toured the west coast, and in October, Justin got married in Las Vegas.
After a two-week break from the road, and Justin nearly fully recovered, the band hit the road again, this time without Julian. The band’s guitar technician Bruce would cover for Justin. The band played 7 shows before Justin slipped on a wet bathroom floor and re-injured his leg. The remaining shows were canceled and the band again headed home.
That’s about the time that Blue October received a surprise phone call. They had been invited to open for another band. Who is it? You’ve probably never heard of them. Well, maybe you have. Do the words “The Rolling Stones” ring a bell?
Injured or not, Blue October accepted the invitation and opened for The Rolling Stones at the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho on November 14, 2006.
The day after Thanksgiving the group came out to perform again (with Julian joining them), first a two-day stint in Austin, then a show in Houston and another two-day stop in Dallas before taking a holiday break. These last shows of 2006 would be Julian’s last shows with Blue October.
The band had recorded a video for Into the Ocean with director Zach Merck.
During the final week of 2006 the video made its debut on VH1 in the #3 spot on the weekly countdown and would stay in the top 10 for several more weeks.
The first Blue October show of 2007 was Ryan’s Birthday, and what better place to spend it than Honolulu, Hawaii. The band had originally planned to play in Hawaii four months earlier, but their plans were thwarted by an earthquake. <insert corny joke about how Blue October rocks more than an earthquake>
Several shows had to be cancelled in 2006, and the band tried to make it back to all the cities that they had cancelled on. Within the first two months of 2007 they were able to mostly complete this task, while simultaneously seeing the video for Into the Ocean reach the #1 spot on VH1.
In March 2007 Blue October planned to embark on an ambitious task: Their first European tour. It would last nearly the entire month of March and they would play 13 shows in 9 different countries. It was not to be however, and the tour was scrapped. During the 20 days on which the European tour would have happened, the band didn’t play a single show. They did however make a major announcement.
They would be recording one of their upcoming shows for a new live album. The “Teach Your Baby Well” tour was announced which was to include 30 shows and last through the end of April. The tour went off without a hitch, the band recorded the live album on March 24 in Austin.
In April they received word that Foiled had gone platinum, just in time for their third national tv appearance, performing She’s My Ride Home on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Justin’s daughter Blue was born in May, and the band took it’s longest break of the tour: 68 days without a show. That is unless you don’t count the tireless Matt Noveskey who went into the studio to record an album with Wesley Lunsford and played a show in Houston with Ryan Holley and Lanky.
The first two shows of the summer took place in New Braunfels, Texas at the newly constructed Whitewater Amphitheater on the Guadalupe River the weekend of Independence day. The remainder of summer tour would take place only on weekends. The band would fly to an area, play two or three shows, and then fly back home to spend the week with their families. The band again played Lollapalooza and Austin City limits.
More ambitious plans were in store for the Fall tour. Blue October would be playing with platinum artists Yellowcard and grammy nominees Shiny Toy Guns - and Blue was going to headline the tour. And this time around they were going to play Arenas and Amphitheaters rather than bars and clubs.
The “Sorry Boy Burns Bright” tour included 36 dates over three months, with no breaks and Blue October would be promoting their new live album “Foiled For the Last Time.” The tour came to a climactic finale in Austin. During Blue October’s encore, the band was joined by members of their crew, as well as Yellowcard and Shiny Toy Guns - all in costume no less, to end the tour on a festive note.
A few more concerts were added for December of ‘07, including a show opening for Lenny Kravitz in Sacramento, a show on Justin’s birthday in Portland, and the final show of the Foiled tour in Kansas City, which had to be postponed one week due to an ice storm.
Another holiday break, another Blue October baby, and still the boys are back Matt, Justin, and the whole band have shows planned already for 2008.
Persevering through substance addictions, broken relationships, broken legs, record contracts won and lost, album delays, earthquakes, and ice storms. Blue October has proven they are a band that won’t give up.
(old version)
The History for Sale tour (at the tail end, it was known as the “History Has Sold” tour) ended on October 24, 2004 at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas.
329 days later, and with Matt back in the band and their new album in the bag, Blue October played the first show of what would become a more than two-year long endeavor to promote and support their new album.
I remember that day clearly. Canvas had just played what would be their last show ever in Dallas at the Curtain Club the night before. I ended up hanging out with Joseph King, Chad Pavlovich and Matt and Troy from Spoonfed Tribe all night. We watched the sunrise from the rooftop of Joseph’s friend Daniel’s house in Fort Worth. After catching a few hours of sleep in the morning, Chad and I headed back to Deep Ellum for the Storm Aid benefit concert, which would include many of our favorite local bands such as SouthFM, Zayra Alvarez, The Burden Brothers, and Blue October.
We arrived at the Gypsy Tea Room where we hooked up with Swin who showed us the new Foiled promo posters. They listed October 11 as the release date. We headed over to Deep Sushi where the band was having lunch. When Justin saw us through the window of the restaurant he came outside and gave us bear hugs. Seeing Matt seated with the rest of the band made me swell with joy. I also met Meridith for the first time after hearing about her from Jeremy for several years.
Justin was very nervous. I asked him if he was going to play any new songs, and he said he had a new song called Hate Me that the band would be debuting that night. There was something else new that night, it was the first of many shows to come in which Justin donned a suit.
Blue October’s set that night was short but beautiful and acoustic. They played Calling You in a new way, and the new song - Hate Me. Wow. It was good. The kind of brilliance I had come to expect from Justin. It was the first time I had ever heard the song, and it would be the last time I would ever hear it at a show without the audience singing along.
Five days later Blue played the ACL festival in Austin, and news came from the higher ups that the album release would be delayed until after the new year. The band had already booked a 20-date tour of their home turf: Texas and the Midwest, to promote the album’s release. The fans would not be disappointed, the tour would go on, and Blue October wouldn’t be obligated to only play their new songs. Their first album, The Answers, was finally available through the band’s website and at their shows, and this tour would serve to promote The Answers and the entire Blue October catalog. Hate Me was going to be the first single from Foiled, and would played at the shows. You Make Me Smile the song that Justin and Matt had written together but never released, would also be included, showing the fans that Matt’s back. Even though Foiled had been foiled, there was plenty to celebrate and show off.
The tour began with 11-straight shows in Texas: San Angelo, Abilene, Lubbock, Odessa, College Station, Beaumont, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth.
From DFW, they headed north to Tulsa, Little Rock, Lawrence, Saint Louis, South Bend, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Ames and finally their second home: Omaha. Without the new album, and with most radio stations still ignoring them, the band still managed to sell out most of the shows, which were mostly at bars and small music clubs, with a few theaters.
About a month after the tour ended, Justin and Matt played a 3-date 5591 tour through San Marcos, Austin, and Houston. The latter date fell just a few days early of Justin’s birthday, and served as a de facto birthday party, complete with gifts and a 5591 cake.
After a holiday break, the band boarded their tour bus for a cross-country blitz of a radio tour. The new album would be hitting stores soon, and Hate Me was now available for radio adds. On the 14-day tour, which started in San Diego and ended up in Saint Petersburg, the band played private shows for radio stations staffers in 12 cities including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Denver, Mission Kansas, Saint Louis, Memphis, Birmingham, and Atlanta. The strategy proved successful, and along with the support of fans who called stations to request the song, Hate Me quickly rose to be the most added song in alternative rock and soared to #1 most requested in several cities.
Hate Me was remixed for the album, and was rising up the charts.
The band played one concert in February - a Mari Gras party in Galveston, which would have coincided with the release of Foiled, but the album’s release was again delayed to March.
On March 22 Blue October set out on another string of tour dates starting with a set at the SXSW festival in Austin, but yet again their album wasn’t available. They decided to play the new songs, adding Sound of Pulling Heaven Down, Everlasting Friend, Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek, Into the Ocean, and Overweight to their setlists.
Foiled’s final release date was set for April 4, 2006, and after shuffeling around some tour dates, the band was able to come back to Texas to play some in-store acoustic shows and autograph sessions to promote the CD’s release.
After the Texas in-stores, the guys immediately headed to California to play at the Roxy in Los Angeles.
In it’s first week, Foiled sold over 30,000 copies.
The boys returned to Texas to play their first full Foiled shows in Lubbock, Austin, Dallas, and then Austin again.
Only ten days after the release of Foiled, Blue October made their nation-wide television debut, playing Hate Me on the Tonight Show. The performance boosted the sales of Foiled sent Hate Me to even greater popularity, allowing the band to record a video for the song with director Kevin Kerslake who has previously directed videos for The Offspring, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, 311, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Cypress Hill, Depeche Mode, The Ramones, Faith No More, and Soundgarden.
Hate Me had been topping the charts in one city in particular outside of Texas: Tampa, Florida. 97x, Tampa’s radio station had fallen in love with Blue October and heavily promoted a headlining show for Blue October before 10,000 fans at Bright House Networks Park on April 29. By all accounts the show was spectacular, however after the concert, while running the bases in the park, Justin slipped and broke his leg. Justin wouldn’t be able to walk or play guitar, but he was determined to keep performing. Julian Mandrake, a long-time friend of the band, and the former lead guitarist from Canvas was called and invited to join Blue October as second guitarist. Julian agreed and immediately flew to Baltimore to meet the band the next day.
With less than a day’s preparation, Julian learned Blue October’s songs and joined the band on stage that night. Justin, with his leg in a cast, sang while seated in a wheelchair. The pain proving too much for Justin to bear, the rest of the tour was cancelled and the band drove 1,500 miles back to Austin.
46 days would pass before Blue October played another show. Even though the tour had been sidelined, Foiled continued to sell an average of 10,000 copies every week and Hate Me reached #2 on Billboard’s Alternative Rock chart. Matt Noveskey and his former (a+)machines bandmate Ryan Holley along with friends Jacob Trevino (of Five Dollar Friend) and Wesley Lunsford (both of which Matt has worked with in his capacity as record producer) as opening acts went on a tour of Texas in June.
Also that June, Jeremy and Meredith tied the knot.
On June 17 Blue October made their return to the live stage, playing at Buzz Fest in Houston. Julian was once again playing guitar with the band, and Justin, still recovering, slowly gained mobility over the next few months.
In July Blue October played their first shows outside of the United States, playing in Toronto and Quebec, Canada. Canadian fans would follow their American counterparts in falling in love with Foiled, sending the album to platinum status there, and garnering the band a nomination for a MuchMusic award for the Hate Me video. Into the Ocean also was released as a single and was quickly in the charts.
In August Blue October played one of their biggest shows to date (if not their biggest ever) at Lollapalooza in Chicago. By the end of the summer tour, Foiled had been certified gold.
In September Blue October, still with Julian in the band, played even more shows outside the US. They visited Europe for the first time, playing in Amsterdam and London. Returning to North America, they played a special “bands in the sand” show in Cozumel, Mexico.
Barely a week after returning from Mexico, the band headed to San Francisco where they played at Golden Gate Park. They toured the west coast, and in October, Justin and Lisa were married in Las Vegas.
After a two-week break from the road, and Justin nearly fully recovered, the band hit the road again, this time without Julian. The band’s guitar technician Bruce would cover for Justin. The band played 7 shows before Justin slipped on a wet bathroom floor and re-injured his leg. The remaining shows were canceled and the band again headed home.
That’s about the time that Blue October got a surprise phone call. They had been invited to open for another band. Who is it? You’ve probably never heard of them. Well, maybe you have. Do the words “The Rolling Stones” ring a bell?
Injured or not, Blue October accepted the invitation and opened for The Rolling Stones at the Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho on November 14, 2006.
The day after Thanksgiving the group came out to perform again, first a two-day stint in Austin, then a show Houston and another two-day stop in Dallas before taking a holiday break. These last shows of 2006 would be Julian’s last shows with Blue October.
The band had recorded a video for Into the Ocean with director Zach Merck.
During the final week of 2006 the video made its debut on VH1 in the #3 spot on the weekly countdown and would stay in the top 10 for several more weeks.
The first Blue October show of 2007 was Ryan’s Birthday, and what better place to spend it than Honolulu, Hawaii. The band had originally planned to play in Hawaii four months earlier, but their plans were thwarted by an earthquake. <insert corny joke about how Blue October rocks more than an earthquake>
Several shows had to be cancelled in 2006, and the band tried to make it back to all the cities that they had cancelled on. Within the first two months of 2007 they were able to mostly complete this task, while simultaneously seeing the video for Into the Ocean reach the #1 spot on VH1.
In March 2007 Blue October planned to embark on an ambitious task: Their first European tour. It would last nearly the entire month of March and they would play 13 shows in 9 different countries. It was not to be however, and the tour was scrapped. During the 20 days on which the European tour would have happened, the band didn’t play a single show. They however make a major announcement.
They would be recording one of their upcoming shows for a new live album. The “Teach Your Baby Well” tour was announced which was to include 30 shows and last through the end of April. The tour went off without a hitch, the band recorded the live album on March 24 in Austin, and in April they received word that Foiled had gone platinum.
In May Justin’s daughter Blue was born and the band took it’s longest break of the tour: 68 days without a show. That is unless you don’t count the tireless Matt Noveskey who went into the studio to record an album with Wesley Lunsford and played a show in Houston with Ryan Holley and Lanky.
The first two shows of the summer took place in New Braunfels, Texas at the newly constructed Whitewater Amphitheater on the Guadalupe River the weekend of Independence day. The remainder of summer tour would take place only on weekends. The band would fly to an area, play two or three shows, and then fly back home to spend the week with their families. The band again played Lollapalooza and Austin City limits.
More ambitious plans were in store for the Fall tour. Blue October would be playing with platinum artists Yellowcard and grammy nominees Shiny Toy Guns - and Blue was going to headline the tour. And this time around they were going to play Arenas and Amphitheaters rather than bars and clubs.
The “Sorry Boy Burns Bright” tour included 36 dates over three months, with no breaks and Blue October would be promoting their new live album “Foiled For the Last Time.” The tour came to a climactic finale in Austin. During Blue October’s encore, the band was joined by members of their crew, as well as Yellowcard and Shiny Toy Guns - all in costume no less, to end the Foiled tour on a festive note.
A few more concerts were added for December of ‘07, including a show opening for Lenny Kravitz in Sacramento, a show on Justin’s birthday in Portland, and the final show of the Foiled tour in Kansas City, which had to be postponed one week due to an ice storm.
Another holiday break, another Blue October baby, and still the boys are back Matt, Justin, and the whole band have shows planned.
Persevering through substance addictions, broken relationships, broken legs, record contracts won and lost, earthquakes, and ice storms. Blue October has proven they are a band that won’t give up.
