Go on tour with these local bands

This week, Festiva is focusing on the summer tours embarked upon by local and regional bands --- such as Madore, below, as well as McAllen rockers They Mean Us and Girl In A Coma, the all-girl rock trio who kicked off their nationwide tour at Smokin' Aces in McAllen. Look for it in Friday's Monitor or for free at these locations.

A summer tour is what most bands dream about, but Joey Villescas, guitarist for pop band Madore, made it happen. He booked all of the dates for the locals’ two week tour, including one date out of state. Earlier in the year he took to MySpace and searched for a band who wanted to co-headline a small tour in Texas. Anavie answered the call.  If Madore kept a blog throughout their tour, this is how it may have read. 

MADORE
GENRE Pop/rock/indie
ONLINE www.myspace.com/madoremusic
THE BAND 

Jack Martinez, 22, Weslaco – Vocals
Joey Villescas, 19, McAllen – Guitar
Joe Lopez, 22, McAllen – Bass
JJ Juarez, 19, McAllen – Guitar
Ruben Gonzalez, 22, McAllen – Drums

* Click here to watch a video on Madore

BY THE NUMBERS

• STARTED WITH: $300
• RETURNED WITH: $170
• SPENT ON GAS: $582
• CDs SOLD: 85
• T-SHIRTS SOLD: 10
• MILES TRAVELED: 3,250
• VEHICLE: GMC Envoy
• TRAILER SIZE: 6 X 12
• EQUIPMENT: Orange Rockerverb 50, Orange 4 12, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG Standard, Fender Thinline, Rockerverb 100, Marshall 1960 Lead, Ampeg 450H, Ampeg 810 Cab, Gretch Drumset, and more.
• HOTELS: 4

TOUR DATES

• 7/28 – Brownsville – Galeria 409
• 7/29 – Austin – Headhunters
• 7/30 – New Braunfels – Harmony Sweet
• 7/31 – San Antonio – The White Rabbit
• 8/1 – Lubbock – Whiskey Dix
• 8/3 – College Station – The Stafford
• 8/4 – Houston – Java Junction
• 8/5 – Hammond, LA – Cate St. Pub
• 8/6 – Six Flags – Arlington
• 8/7 – Laredo – Le Modulor

THE TOUR DIARY

DAY 1

JOEY: Playing our tour kick off show in Brownsville today. Also meeting the band we'll be touring with. Should be fun.
———
JJ: Um, so this is kind of awkward. Just met Anavie. It's like, "Hi, nice to meet you. We're playing Austin tomorrow!"
———
JOEY: There were like, 30 kids here. Not bad. Good show. This was only our third time playing here and we saw like, 10 kids we've never seen before.
———
JJ: This other bass player won't talk. Like, at all. He must hate us. :(
———
JOEY: Leaving for San Marcos now. We're going to stay at Ruben's old apartment. On the floor.

DAY 2

JOEY: Slept in a bit today. Now we're headed to Austin. I'm like, dying with a fever and chills. Making a stop at Wal-Mart first for some meds.

JOEY: Just pulled in to Headhunters to load-in. Emos is packed. Texting some friends to find out who's playing. 
———
JJ: August Burns Red, iwrestledabearonce and a bunch of other huge bands are playing right across the street from us. Man, this sucks. We should just start unloading and say we're with their tour and play at Emos. Haha.
———
JOEY: Better crowd than we expected. Last time we played this bar we had like, 10 people watching us. I think there are about 25 kids here this time. Bars are great to play to sell merch, but you don't usually see many kids.

JACK: We're staying at my apartment. It's empty, but the lease isn't over yet. Anavie is staying with us. We all look like a bunch of squatters.
———
JOEY: Austin really broke the ice with Anavie. Having so much fun. They have crazy southern accents.

JOEY: At a Burger King to chill and use their wi-fi. Ruben's sleeping in the back of Anavie's tour bus. He's like, completely knocked out. Touring can get really boring. We just sit around waiting for the next show.
———
JJ: New Braunfels now. We've played here many times, but anytime we do San Antonio, we try to do New Braunfels. Again, about 25 or 30 people. Great turnout.

DAY 4

JJ: We have a big fan base in San Antonio, so we always have a great audience
———
JOEY: Promoter just told us that our tour package is playing the second stage. What the … we've played here so many times and traded shows with this guy. We're kinda bummed.
———
JOEY: It's 6:30 and the doors don't open until 7, but there's already a huge line outside. We're going to go talk to the kids and tell them to come see us on the second stage.

———
JOEY: So Anavie and us played the second stage and we had a huge crowd. Main stage had like, no one there. So glad that went good. Merch did well, too. 
———
JJ: We had both of our EPs for sale, and one was new, but this one girl wanted our old EP. I was like, “We have a new one.” And she said, “Oh, I know. I already had it, but my sister took it with her to Germany, so I want to buy it again.” So she bought both! 
———
JJ: Driving straight to Lubbock. 

DAY 5
JJ: This drive to Lubbock is so intense. It's like, eight hours. We're all taking turns driving. We're going through these little towns that are like, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or something. 
———
JOEY: Yeah, I think we're the only humans alive out here. 
———
JACK: Stopping at a Wal-Mart to get some stuff in Sweetwater. 
———
JOEY: I was sleeping in the back of the car while some of the guys get some stuff at Wal-Mart. I think JJ is back here, too. Ruben just turned off the car. I can't sleep without air conditioning. Told Ruben to turn it back on before they go to the store. 
———
JOEY: So me, Joe and Ruben were in Wal-Mart for like, 30 minutes or something, just looking around, stretching our legs. We get back to the car and it won't start. The battery was drained. Ruben didn't turn the car on all the way and we had like, two cell phones charging, a GPS plugged in and a converter that turns the cigarette lighter into an outlet. Man. 
———
JJ: It's 6:30 in the morning in the middle of nowhere in Texas and the car won't start. We asked three people, well, Jack did … and none of them would help us. Jack scared them all off. All of them were apparently “late to work.” At 6:30 in the morning. Finally we saw a kid with a Pierce the Veil T-shirt come out of Wal-Mart and we were like, “Him!” And he helped us get the car going. 
———
JJ: Just woke up. We're in Lubbock. I think. I had this weird dream and I'm covered in sweat and we're parked in front of a Starbucks. I thought I was going to wake up in my bed at home, but instead I wake up in a car with four other smelly guys and I get out of the car and I'm like, “Where am I?”
———
JOEY: Show was good. Staying at a friend's apartment tonight. Sort of. There's an apartment next door to hers that's empty. Hmm. 
———
JACK: Lubbock was … amazing. I can't tell you why though. I LOVE YOU, LUBBOCK! 

DAY 7
JJ: Showered today! We all took turns showering in the apartment next door. Not sure how legal this is. We'll leave the apartment exactly was we found it.

DAY 8 ... OR IS IT 9?
JOEY: In Houston today. Not many kids. We are trying to keep our heads held high. Next stop: Lousiana. 

DAY 9
JOEY: So we're on our way to Hammond and for a boy like me who's never really been out of the Valley, this is incredible! It's like we're in San Francisco or something with the bridge and stuff. Waking everyone up to make them see this. 
———
JJ: My turn to drive. It's 4 in the morning and we need gas. Does everything in Lousiana close at like, 1 a.m. or something?
———
JACK: So JJ just filled up and we're about 20 minutes away from where we're headed. “Don't forget you have the trailer” didn't help. 
———
JJ: Oh crap. I forgot the trailer was behind me. I guess I turned too sharply and now the trailer's fender is stuck between those things that guard the gas pump so you can't hit the gas pump.
———
JOEY: We all just kinda stood there staring at the bumper or fender or whatever it is that's stuck. I tried to pull it free, but it didn't work. A couple of guys from Anavie just got out of their bus and are headed over here … laughing. Really hard. 
———
JOEY: Got it unstuck. Now it's just hanging by one bolt. The guys from Anavie helped us pull it off the trailer. Have to get that fixed soon. 
———
JJ: Just played a great show in Hammond. Did really well with merch here.
———
JOEY: We have to leave for Dallas now. We have an early load-in at Six Flags.

DAY 10
JJ: It's 2:30 and we're having to take a zig zag route to Dallas (Arlington). It'll take less time overall. Still, we have to get there by noon, at the latest.
———
JJ: So we saw the new Cowboys stadium. Joey asks, “Do you think the Cowboys are in there right now?” I just looked at him and told him yes.
———
JOEY: Drove up to load-in. 11:45. Fifteen more minutes and they would've taken us off the bill. 
———
JOEY: We're exhausted, but at least we don't have to carry our equipment to the stage. It's a mile's walk to the stage! And now we have to perform. 
———
JJ: Playing three sets on no sleep sucks. But we have a nice VIP room for naps. Ruben and Joe aren't napping though. They're riding every ride in the park. And posing with Six Flags mascots. Haha.

DAY 11
Headed home finally. Finally no more ramen or canned food. And showers. We can shower! Touring is a lot of waiting around and doing nothing and being bored, but it's worth it when we get up on stage. When we get home we're going to plan a winter tour on the east coast.

Amy Nichol Smith covers local music for Festiva. You can reach her at (956) 683-4420 or at asmith@themonitor.com.