It is Friday! And you know what that means! Yes, it was that time of the week where the Judd Hoos boys were going on the road again for the weekend to rock peoples faces off. You can feel Spring kind of creeping in on us and it was a beautiful Friday morning when we all met up at the Hornick mansion and loaded up the… wait, a new van! Yes, that is right, we were riding in style all weekend with a brand new van. It was dubbed, Ice Man. The ice man was loaded and we hit the road to go across the great state of South Dakota to a little town called Mitchell. Just when I was getting ready for another couple of hours in the van we were there and checking into our hotel called the Siesta! Rooms were actually pretty nice and we through our stuff in them before heading straight to the bar to get to work.
Another fantastic addition to the Judd Hoos traveling circus happened this weekend. We got a top carrier for the Ice Man band van. For those of you who know anything about how we have had to cram and load like a game of tetris, you would know how excited we were about this. It was dubbed the roof rocket (JH is all about nick names.) So after getting it hooked up on the van we finished set up and sound check. This stage was definitely one of the smaller ones we had played on so far. No back flips and spinning guitars tonight. We welcomed some time before the show to get a little dinner at the grocery store across the street and get some naps and down time in before the show. The sun went down and it was time to rock n roll! Judd Hoos got to Thirsty’s and started rocking. There was a great crowd already that were really enjoying what we were doing. It was a smooth first set. And the rest of the night proved to just get better. Everyone was really into the show, both the crowd and the band, and there was a lot of energy. Another great show with impressing old JH fans and making new fans as well. We had a smooth load out and we were all ready to get back to the Siesta to hang out for a little while. Judd Hoos had a little jam session/beer tasting. Great ending to a great night in Mitchell.
The morning came much too fast. Lucky for us we did not have too long of a drive so we took our time getting out of town and got some breakfast/lunch and worked on the roof rocket to fit a little better. We got on the road and headed to Aberdeen! Not a bad drive at all. The ice man and roof rocket were treating us well. Got into Aberdeen and finally found the right hotel we were staying in. A really nice Best Western. Headed to the bar to do our sound check thing. We used a little extra time on this afternoon to put some finishing touch’s on a new Judd Hoos original. By the time we played through it a few times and figured out what we had to do the song was ready to put into the set for the night.
We hung out at a little bar next door before heading back to the hotel. Not before getting some gas station dinner. yeaaahhhhhh. We all headed to our rooms to nap, eat, sleep, watch TV, and shower until it was time to load up and get to the show in time for Judd Hoos kick off. The first set was a little slow. This stage is the highest stage I have ever played on. So you are up above everyone in the bar at least 5 feet above them. Everyone was looking up at us the whole night. It makes it a pretty cool place in my opinion. The lights were looking good, we were looking good, and the crowd started looking better and better as the first set ended and the second one began. I think the rest of the show was probably the craziest crowd we have had since Columbus. It wasn’t as big but everyone was so into the show and giving us so much love. We opened the second set with our new original, House Party, and people were dancing and clapping through the whole thing. Such a great feeling to play a new song we all wrote together, AND for people to like it other than us.
By the time the lights came on after our last song everyone wanted another one so bad. We ended up not playing an encore. I have a feeling the staff had a lot on their hands to get so many very drunk people out of the bar. It was really cool that the crowd wanted an encore so bad though. The whole night was so fun. My parents even made it for our last set. They had driven all the way from Denver to get Joe Fornothin’s old band van and trailer up for Bob Z to sell. It was sad Devin and I were saying good bye to the old van and trailer but it was kind of a coincidence that we saying good bye to that one and got a new one this weekend. In with the new, out with the old. Anyways, it was an awesome night. We hung out again at the bar next door after load out. Just long enough for everyone’s eyes to get droopy and beers to get empty. Judd Hoos got back to the hotel safely and got to sleep.
We all met up in the lobby in the morning and got ice man loaded and before we knew it we were on the road again. All the way back to Rapid City. Sunday’s are always kind of sad because we have to go back home. And we spend half if not more of the day in the van. And then most of us spend the rest of the day with our band families eating, drinking, relaxing, and being grateful for what we get to do every weekend. So that was it. Another great rock n roll weekend in Judd Hoos history. Thank you thank you to all who came out. We love you guys. Seriously it would not be a show without the fans. We will be heading to Pierre, SD on Friday and then on Saturday we will be close to home and rocking the roof off the Loud American Roadhouse in Sturgis. Make sure you buy some tickets if you haven’t already. It is going to be one our best shows yet. Stay tuned for more on the road with Judd Hoos!
– T Bills
Highlights of the Weekend:
Chippy
Ice man and the roof rocket
“House Party”