Half way through the drive to the East Coast, we stopped off at a gas station and supermarket in some tiny town called Snow Shoe in Pennsylvania. Population 1,000. It had a crazy shop that was like a time warp…
The interior design from the 1970s that has probably never changed. No decent food, all prepackaged and processed. Nothing but sugar. The magazine rack took my fancy… the only reading material available was about guns, hunting and wrestling. End of story. Lucky for me, these are all my favorite subjects. My pick of the bunch being Shotgun News, Predator Nation and Primitive Archer …. STRONG!
After days of driving we finally made it to the first show in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. An out of season holiday resort turned ghost town, but a really great venue right on the beach front. The show was awesome. Played well and the crowd was crazy. Met and watched Chuck Ragan for the first time — he was awesome! I was a fan of Hot Water Music when I was younger, so I punished him for a bit about the time I saw them and Leatherface in a small club in Leeds, U.K. He was pretty into it. Haha. Social D killed it, as always. Tristen Reynes (an East Coast Hurley rep) made it out to see us too, good hanging out with ya Tristen!
A few days in I Managed to find a great independent record shop in Stroudsburg called Mainstreet Jukebox, just around the corner from the venue. I don’t have many things I like to do besides writing, playing and recording music. I suppose shopping for music is a get-away from everything else for me. I have never felt vinyl or any physical format of music to be obsolete in my eyes. I still especially love to take the time to play and appreciate a record. I have worked in a record shop before and have always loved just being in them, surrounded by music and like-minded music nerds. There’s an unspoken kinship between you and the person by your side flicking through the same second-hand selection, much the same as being at a live show.
I managed to find some gems, One being an original 45 of the Nu Wave- Power- Pop classic ‘My Sharona’ by The Knack from Get The Knack, a record I have loved for years. I also was really stoked to find Alkaline Trio’s Damnesia on vinyl, this is an album that was recorded at The Hurley Studios that I had the pleasure of working on, alongside producer Cameron Webb. The album is a really strong collection of greatest hits, re-worked acoustically.
Anyways, we got to speaking with the owner and loaded him up with Suedehead vinyl, Hurley stickers and a few free spots on our guest list for the night. (Tom, if you’re reading this, cheers for the free CDs for the van!)
— Davey Warsop
The Alkaline Trio album at Hurley Studios!
Korey Kingston and Mike Ness chillin' after the show in Buffalo, NY.
Korey and Chris talking Hurley and Suedehead with the peeps at Main Street Jukebox, Stroudsburg, PA.
A strong 45!
I now have a subscription to all these mags!
Social Distortion sound checking in Atlantic City, NJ.
