Celebrating 10 years

Embarrassed

Last night I was in Omaha and I told the story of the first time I remember being embarrassed. I was born in Kearney, Nebraska, a small town 3 hours west of Omaha some of you may or may not have heard of. I lived there until I was 5 years old then the Stephens family packed up and hit the road to Omaha. While in Kearney I really got into the power rangers. I attended a Catholic Pre School and I only went a few times a week. I remember my mom picking me up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and taking me to McDonald's so I could get a happy meal. Then we'd go home and I'd eat said happy meal while watching my favorite show in the world...The Power Rangers. The ORIGINAL Power Rangers. Not this Power Rangers Nitro Force or whatever bullshit.

I of course like most young kids took Karate lessons. Mostly because I wanted to be able to fight like the Power Rangers. So one summer day I woke up early, threw on my uniform and went out into the backyard to fight imaginary people who were most likely working for the evil Rita Reuplsa . I LOVED Tommy who was the infamous and most bad ass Green Ranger / White Ranger. He was obviously the coolest when he became the White Ranger, ftw. For my 5th birthday my mom purchased me a cheap plastic version of the White Rangers incredible Saber Sword. I absolutely loved it and I'm pretty sure I carried it around with me and even wanted to take it to Karate class.

So naturally when I was in the backyard to fight Rita Repulsa's goons I was not only armed with my ninja outfit but also with my Saber Sword. Our duplex sat right behind an alley that lead you to a gas station called the C-Store where all of the local riff raff would hang out. I was in my backyard slaying imaginary monsters when this jeep full of teenagers pulls up. I remember it was a super windy day and I was standing on top of my moms car. I had just defeated Bulk and Skull and in a triumphant gesture I held the sword up with both hands and screamed into the air, wind blowing back my over sized karate outfit and bowl cut. The teenagers in the jeep stopped, laughed uncontrollably and the girl in the passengers seat yelled "LOSER!" as they drove off. I ran inside and hid in my room. For the first time in my life I was embarrassed.

Birthday Weekend

Hanging out in my bed at 3:00am after taking a 2 hour nap from 10:45-12:45. I turned 22 years old today. It really wasn't a big deal at all. I feel like I did less today than on my usual Thursdays off. Today made me realize that after your 21st birthday it's all down hill from there. Birthday wise. I realize that from now until I die my birthdays will only matter every decade. Still have two more birthday celebrations to hit up before I can hang up my bday cap n gowned.

Kailey's birthday is Sunday then I'm going to slam down some Valentino's Grand Italian Buffet on Monday with my family. After that mess of a dinner I'm gonna have to sober up (from the pizza) and try to play some Koizumi songs acoustic at Ghost House. I think I may throw in a Blink 182 and a Weezer cover. How original and fresh of me, right? If you haven't heard there is a last minute show Monday night at Ghost House...

Monday, April 12th @ Ghost House
2430 P ST Lincoln, NE

- CRIME IN STEREO (Long Island heart breakers)
- ROBBERS (Jessie Lacey's little brother hahaha)
- HOLLOW BOMB (Aurora boys bein stoked)
- BROCK (me crying my eyes out)

8:00pm. $5. You know the drill.

I'm pumped because after work tomorrow I'm gonna hop in the Pontiac and hit I-80 West to go stay at The Butt in Omaha. Real excited to be hanging with the Omaha boys and girls Friday and Saturday. If any of you are reading this then hit me up and let's get wild. I'm really interested in crashing a lame hipster party and going to Alvarados after.

That's all I got for now. I'm going to try and update the corner while I'm home as well. Maybe day to day bullshit, show reviews, random weird things, whatever. Join the life of Big Cool. Can anyone else believe that nickname stuck? Mind you I gave it to myself 3 years ago.

Time to throw on an episode of Degrassi and crank those VOLS a little to block out the sound of the loud snoring girl next to me. OMAHA, see you soon. LINCOLN, better be seeing you Monday night.

22 years old

My old ass in turning 22 tomorrow, April 8th, 2010 @ 8:32am

Home From Tour

We had our last show 2 days ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota @ The Rathole. We left Cedar Falls pretty late after some hard hanging out and eating a great Chinese buffet with our buddy Thomas. We rolled into Minneapolis around 7:30pm and hung out until the show finally got poppin around 10:30pm. In that time we had to make a stop at Tyler's favorite restaurant, White Castle for his 22nd birthday. He slammed down a # 1 plus 2 more sliders (one fish, one classic). After that we loaded into the Winnie and headed back to The Rathole.

While eating at White Castle we sadly missed Bring That Shit's set which really bummed me out. There were a ton of punks out at the show and that was really sweet. I guessed around 100 but I was told probably only 60 or so. With people going in and out and all wearing the same clothes it was hard to tell for real. Never the less there were a lot of people there. It was a 6 band show that got started at 10:30 and we were scheduled to play last. We planned on driving home that night so we knew it was going to be a late one.

Some really awesome bands played. Bring That Shit, Much Worse, Lord Green, Animals and Beasts and Dios Mio. During Much Worse I was standing at the top of the stairs when the door to the show room suddenly swings open and a man flies out at hits the stairs. Apparently (according to the dude who threw him out) the dude was a "new york asshole hate mosher." It was pretty nuts. The crowd was a wild mix of Minneapolis punks and I loved it. Saw a dude there who I straight up thought was the lead singer of The Casualties. Walked by another punk who was sobbing like a child saying "I love my dad, why doesn't he love me? I wish he would just kill me." People got problems n shit.

By the time Dios Mio took the room people were real wasted and looking for a fight. Saw two dudes completely fucked up go from hating each other and almost fighting to hugging to eventually pushing each other and yelling "FUCK YOU MAN! GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Finally at around 1:45am it was our turn to play. It was an alright time. I jumped up and smashed my head into the ceiling, leaving a nice dent. When my head collided with the ceiling I heard a loud CRUNCH on the inside of my neck and it's hurt pretty bad ever since. These dudes kept grabbing Danny's cymbals so I kicked one of them square in the chest. He was so fucked up he didn't care though. At the end of the show Chino got revenge by throwing his bass right into the two dudes, it was great.

After that we loaded up the Winnie for one last time and finally got on the road back to Omaha at 4:00am. I passed out in the back in a lot of pain and finally after 5 and a half hours we pulled back home at 9:30am. I wasn't into going to bed so I headed to my parents house for a day filled with laundry, internet, television and a nice shower. I met up with my girls later in the day, ate Valentinos Grand Italian Buffet then hit the road to Lincoln. Not much sleep here at the Farm, I was woken up at 8:00am and I realized I really am back at home. I'm spending today with my favorite girl Dani watching Monsters Inc, going to the park, getting ice cream then hopefully taking a nap.

Tour fucking ruled. I can't wait to hit the road once again. Thanks so much to our pals in Battle for making tour such a great time, we'll see you dick bags in October. Thanks to everyone we met (even the bums...especially the bums) and everyone who helped us out with a show, a place to stay or anything. Thanks to Bailey for getting us into Canada and booking us some cool ass shows. Check out Voices from Calgary, Alberta. We'll be back to Canada as soon as we can.

Hercules isn't slowing down too much. We're playing a show in April and a show or 2 in may then a short tour in June up to Midwest Fest and home. Playing with Bastard Noise in July then I'm sure we'll be booking up the rest of the summer soon. Another big tour in October. Possible split being worked out soon. Whammy.

Upcoming shows:

April 25th Lincoln, NE @ Ghost House w. Former Thieves, Bone Dance, Agress & Discourse

May 23rd Omaha, NE @ The Commons w. Foundation, Rotting Out, Backtrack, Harms Way & Feral Hands

June 2nd Sioux City, IA @ Legion Hall w. Life Won't Wait, Crooked Ways & more

June 3rd Minneapolis, MN @ The Beat w. Life Won't Wait, Crooked Ways, Nothing To Nothing, Everything Went Black & Arms Aloft

June 3rd Minneapolis, MN @ TBA *LATE SHOW* w. TBA

June 4th Minneapolis, MN @ MIDWEST FEST

June 5th Minneapolis, MN @ MIDWEST FEST

June 6th - 8th TBA w. AGRESS

June 9th Omaha, NE @ The Hole w. In Defence, Agress & High Dive

July 10th Lincoln, NE @ The Bourbon w. Bastard Noise & more!

www.myspace.com/herculesne for all dat info n shit

Waterloo, IA

We had a day off yesterday so we went to Lawrence, Kansas and checked out a really sweet show @ The Replay Lounge w/ Former Thieves, Everything Went Black, Canyons & Battlefields. We met an awesome bum named PM who taught us a lot about picking up girls. He suggested licking them and telling them "girlllllllllll you taste like vanilla." He was probably the smoothest bum on a three wheel bike that I've ever met. The show was really awesome. Former Thieves is such a tight band. Not tight like slang, they legitly play their music great and they are TIGHT in that sense. Get it? Good. I don't know if I mentioned Matt left tour in Wichita. Give him shit about it 605-759-6235

After the show us, Former Thieves and Battlefields all crashed at our new buddies Will and Sam's house. Their in a band called Jabber Josh, check em out. Da Big Man and I crashed in the van due our cat allergies going fucking crazy after mere minutes of being in that house. I was having a real hard time breathing and went to sleep honestly wondering if I was going to wake up. We slept hard and woke up way too late so we had to get the boys goin and hit the road to Waterloo, Iowa. I don't have much to say about the drive because I slept the entire god damn time. Only things I remember is almost getting into a car wreck with a cop who slammed on his breaks to make a u turn and passing World's Of Fun.

The show in Waterloo tonight was so fucking sweet. Our good buddy Thomas from the incredible band Agress put it on for us at Amvets Post 19. We played with such a good band full of 16 year old kids called Build No System. They played heavy, fast hardcore and it made me bummed I was in White Collar Mercy when I was 16 and not in a good band. Our friends Lord Green played and they were fucking killer as always. Found out they're playing with us in Minneapolis tomorrow and I can't wait. We're actually all hanging out right now jamming Sabbath as some partake in the dope plant. A lot of good Iowa friends came out to the show tonight and it was so great seeing everyone. Midwest is the fest, fuck the world.

Tomorrow we play our last show of tour in Minneapolis. This tour has been so fucking awesome and it took us great places where we met the coolest people. We have a lot of shows coming up still. We're playing MIDWEST FEST this June and plan on playing some shows up to it and back home. Plus a ton of local shows and a big big tour in the fall that we'll know more about as the time get's closer. I'll do a nice tour wrap up when I get home on Sunday night. I'm excited to get back and see my girls. Not excited to go back to work but it's whatever. My 22nd birthday is on April 8th so throw me a party or something.

Speaking of birthday's...Tyler turned 22 about 2 hours ago. Everyone wish him happy birthday. 402-515-3847

Upcoming Hercules shows:

March 27th MINNEAPOLIS, MN @ The Rathole w. Lord Green, Dios Mio, Bring That Shit, and more!

April 25th LINCOLN, NE @ Ghost House w. Former Thieves, Agress, Bone Dance & Discourse

May 23rd OMAHA, NE @ The Commons w. Foundation, Rotting Out, Backtrack, Harms Way & Feral Hands

June 4th - 5th MILWAUKEE, WI *MIDWEST FEST*

June 9th OMAHA, NE @ The Hole w. In Defence, High Dive & more

July 10th LINCOLN, NE @ The Bourbon w. Bastard Noise

adding more shows up to Midwest Fest and back home to that In Defence show. Keep checking www.myspace.com/herculesne for all of that info. See you punks at home next week!

Wichita, KS

After Reno we headed to play a gig in Ogden, UT. We were a little nervous because we've never had a good show in Utah and before this show had only actually played 1 out of the 3 times we'd gone. We rolled up to the venue The Basement and the show ended up being really cool. We played with One Clean Life, A Better Hope Foundation and Battle! It was a really fun time. After the show the owner took us to the basement and told us some creepy suicide shit that went down there years ago. He freaked me the fuck out. He told the stories like it was his god damn job or like he was a scary old timer in a horror movie. Was not into it.

After the show we were told we'd be staying with a pregnant lady. We got here number and shit got wild. Tyler couldn't understand a word she was saying and said it sounded like she was talking with her face in a pillow. After 15 minutes I decided to take over the phone and see what the fuck was up. I was on the phone with this girl and she was giving me North / South / East / West directions like I knew where the fuck I was. She finally says hold on and yells at someone in the background "CAN YOU GET OFF THE FUCKING PHONE AND TALK TO ME!?! TELL THESE GUYS HOW TO FUCKING GET HERE!" Cue the new guy. "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND TAKE CARE OF MOM! Hello? Hey dude it's probably not a good idea if you guys stay here." I replied "Alright man." He then started giving me directions . . .

I pulled up to a street I had to be on. I asked him what way to turn and he told me "just follow it." Then he started yelling at his sister or girlfriend or wife or whatever the fuck again. "So just follow that until you hit a 5 way stop and there will be a wal mart so just hit that up..." There was then a 15 second pause . . . "Yeah just hit up that Walmart. Well you can go straight there or not. Actually those directions suck. Just like follow that street until you see a Mexican restaurant then turn left on 85 or 89 or some shit, I donno. Hey you guys can stay here, people are trying to fucking sleep (after SCREAMING just seconds before?) alright? So yeah, just like left on 85 or 89 or some shit then like there will be train tracks maybe? Then just call me."

All of those directions took him around 10 minutes to explain to me. There were good pauses between all of those sentences. It was one of the hardest conversations I've ever had to deal with. We told the girl thanks but no thanks and we'd stay somewhere else. She told us her place was calm now and she was just pregnant. It was weird ass time. We ended up getting a single bed hotel room and crashing out. We had to wake up the next morning at 8:00am so we could get on the road to make the 9 hour trek to Denver, Colorado.

We had heard reports of some snow in Denver but were told by the promoter that things were looking good there. About 3 hours into the drive Battle told us (who had left the night before) that I-70 was closed and they were stuck at a gas station somewhere. Luckily we were taking a southern route and thought we'd be alright. At 5:30 I took over the wheel and we had 100 miles left to Denver. I'll tell you why we didn't make it to Denver until 11:00pm. We hit the mountains and the snow started getting hectic. There were points where I couldn't even see the road. To top it off it was windy as hell and icy as hell. There were 2 points where I actually thought we were sliding off of the mountain. After a hellish hour up there the real shit started.

After going into a tunnel we saw a dead stop traffic jam ahead of us. We ended up sitting in essentially one spot for 45 minutes and that wasn't the bad part. At this point we had only 30 miles left to go. By this point it was already 8:00pm and the show had already been called off due to the blizzard and unexpected foot of snow that hit Denver a day after it was 60 and sunny there. It took us 3 more hours to get to Denver. 2 and a half of those hours were us going between 8 and 12 mph down US-6. It took 2 and a half hours to drive 15 miles and that's without stopping. We were just driving that slow. Finally the traffic broke and we drove the last 15 miles to Denver. We stopped at saved the night by eating the best vegan buffalo wings in the world at City O City, then met up with our buddy Dave and fell asleep in preparation for another 8 hour drive.

Today we had an easy time getting to Wichita, Kansas where we played an awesome fucking show. So pumped to be back in Wichita and back in the Midwest. Our bud Phil @ 5nakeFork Records gave us a ton of copies of our new live tape "Skin Tight" and they look fucking great. Pick one up! After the show was some good burritos and good hanging at a party. Matt bid us farewell today and headed back up to Sioux Falls. Today is also our last day with Battle and we couldn't be more fucking bummed out. So we will finish the last 3 days of tour alone.

3.25 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge *tba*

w. Everything Went Black, Former Thieves & Canyons

3.26 Cedar Falls, IA @ Amvets Post 19

w. Lord Green & Build No System

3.27 Minneapolis, MN @ The Rathole

w. Dios Mio, Bring That Shit & Animals and Beasts

The final day of tour is Tyler's birthday so we will be partying hard. Already making our plans for summer and fall tours. Hopefully leaving the country again on both of them. I found out I am going to Colombia with my girlfriend and her family for a week in August for free. I'm real excited to be leaving the country possibly 4 times this year. Tour life rules. Change your life and start a band, get a van and hit the road. There's nothing better. Hopefully there will be more updates before I'm home to do the tour wrap up post.

We'll be playing shows every month for probably the rest of the year so come out to them. Check the myspace for updates www.myspace.com/herculesne and be looking out for news on our new full length BOOK OF SPELLS that we hope to have released by years end.

Thanks for reading.