Tour Complete--The Aftermath

Well, as I said, I will explain....But first, here is the press release that went out on what was to be the final day of the tour...

Ibex Moon Records has announced that the last four dates of the "Campaign For Death Metal Purity Tour", featuring GRAVEHILL, CARDIAC ARREST and HOD, will not go on as planned.

Though HOD dropped off the bill after the July 7 date in Austin, Texas, other factors led to GRAVEHILL and CARDIAC ARREST canceling the final dates.

Commented CARDIAC ARREST drummer Jim "Grindhead" Deabenderfer: "We in CARDIAC ARREST and GRAVEHILL are disappointed to be in this position. Canceling shows is not something either of our camps are accustomed to. We are forced to drop these dates for purely logistic reasons, not financial. This should not reflect on any of the promoters for the dates in question — our plans simply had to change with the situation. Both CARDIAC ARREST and GRAVEHILL are committed to make up these four dates as soon as possible."

The affected dates are as follows:

July 15 - Buccaneer's - Memphis, TN
July 16 - Downtown Music - Little Rock, AR
July 17 - Walters - Houston, TX
July 18 - Ten Eleven - San Antonio, TX

The "Campaign For Death Metal Purity Tour" will conclude tonight in Indianapolis, Indiana at The Melody Inn, with GRAVEHILL and CARDIAC ARREST playing alongside Abyss Records acts MAAX and CHRIST BEHEADED.


So, what were the logistical problems...Well, I'll tell ya...


Ok, Hod is the one that secured the van. We had taken over said van. Hod provided a lot of the gear being used, so when they left, so did the gear...We scrambled to get ours to finish out the dates we could...

Now, Indianapolis is about a 4 hour drive from Chicago. Get where I'm going to with this? No? Keep reading then...

We also had to return the van. We were already getting hit for the different driver fee now.

We had two options at this point...

1--Finish the tour as planned

2--End the tour early for said logistical reasons

Option 1 sounds great, don't it...I thought so...Here is the problem with that...

We finish out the dates and play Memphis, Little Rock, Houston, and San Antonio...we return the van in San Antonio and we fly home from there (remember, we have plane tickets as this was the plan from the get-go) and everything is peachy, right?

Ok, how do we get our equipment home?

"Oh Tom, just ship it back home!" you say...

Yeah...2 4x12 cabinets, 1 Marshall Head, and Jim's monster drum kit...

"Just fly home with it!"

Yeah, right...

"Just rent a car and drive the stuff home!"

Won't fit...have to rent a van again...

"Gravehill has the trailer...they could take the gear back with them and work out shipping arrangements!"

Ain't gonna happen...room in the trailer was limited as it was and the van was being used for storing stuff as well...Now, no van with extra storage for their ride home...

"Go back to Chicago, dump your gear off and just use other bands stuff!"

Ok drive away from our next city, dump the gear off, and then do double the drive back to Memphis.

Believe me, I may sound like a smart ass, but we did try to examine every option to continue on with the tour...Nothing would work for us. We really did want to continue on, but ultimately decided to end it in Indianapolis since we were pretty close to home.

So that folks is what happened...No drama, no bullshit not getting along with Gravehill (or earlier, Hod)...We were just stuck and going home was the only way...

We knew we were beat...

It was all decided as a group (including Gravehill) that we would end in Indianapolis. We all put our heads together to try and make this thing work to no avail.

The plan was to go back home to Chicago, dump the gear at the practice space, return the van (which we also get a hit on for turning it in another city, but with turning it in 5 days early, it kind of offsets) and relax and party before Gravehill had to make their long trek back to Los Angeles...

Kind of anti-climatic, eh?