Section: On the Road with Stretch Fuck'n Jeans

Yeah, we’ve taken a little break in the action On the Road, but we’re screaming back with a fucking vengeance! We’ve followed around a few bad boy rockers, guitarist for hot goth band Crüxshadows, funky Green Day opener Prima Donna, even a rock violinist, but not really anyone outside the field of music. So we though it was about fucking time we did. Mind you, we’re still all about blazing, rocking music and the people who create it, but it was time to play on a different stage … or shall I say park?

 

Our next victim … *erm* blogger … is Greg Harbour, who you may well already know and love if you dig some killer skating. If you know Greg, kick ass! Enjoy the next few weeks riding along with him as he does his badass thing. If you don’t yet know Greg, here’s a little taste to get you in the mood for the madness we’ll be bringing your way as Greg takes over this little corner of the ‘zine and goes On the Road With Stretch Fuck’n Jeans. We are expecting some crazy-ass shit going on guaranteed … you’re not gonna want to miss it.

 

 

First, a little video eye candy … Greg’s part in Null Skateboard’s “Null and Void”

Greg’s part in The Denver Shop’s “In Full Color” – You also get some brief footage at the start of when the tricks don’t go so smoothly before checking out how Greg really rips it up.

We had the chance to ask Greg a few questions and this is what he had to say for himself …

LS: I read that you just graduated college. How hard was that to do with touring? And … so we’ll be cliché here … what’s your major?

GH: The hardest part of touring and going to school is actually going back to school and getting the semister started again, i enjoy learning but being on a skate trip is one of the best things ever so getting motivated to settle down and do school work was the hardest thing to do.  And I majored in Political Science with a minor in Native American Studies; i figured i’m a pissed off punk rock kid and i just wanted to know more about why i’m so mad!

LS: Please tell everyone dreaming about touring, what it’s like being able to travel and skate? What has been the greatest moment of realization that it rocks to be you?

GH: Being able to travel and skate is bloody amazing! Basically we wake up, drive to a demo, skate and repeat, or when were on street skating missions we just wake up and skate, I love it.  The craziest trip i’ve been on was when we went to the Caymen Islands last year to skate the black pearl, that is one of the best parks ever and when you’re not skating you can go swimming in the ocean!!!

LS: What is your favorite trick? What’s the holy grail trick, the one you dream of doing?

GH:Double miller flip front disaster to back smith revert kickflip to fakie

LS: You have some totally badass taste in music. Which one band of your favorites is the one that makes you want to strap everyone down and make them listen? What song of theirs would you play first?

GH: That is such a hard question, there are so many… Prolly “I’ve Had It,” by Black Flag.  I know its typical but that band is so good, but heres a few bands everyone should listen to

-Negative Approach
-Tear it up
-Void
-The Rites
-Knife Fight

There are so many bands that are overlooked

LS:  What do you think is the most important or interesting thing to know about you?

GH: I really have no clue… basically i skate, go to shows, listen to records, hang out with my lady, hang out with our dog, drink a ton of coffee, and eat waaaaaaaaaay too much candy!!!

Greg had a chance to send us an initial shout out from the road, with the subject “It’s bloody cold out!!”
“Soooooooooo… We just started our winter tour for 1031 skateboards, its wicked fun and wicked cold! So far we’ve only had 3 demos and all of them have ripped! Were on tour with a legendary punk rocker Bill Danforth who rules, he’s been talkin a bunch about how he grew up with the guys in Negative Approach! He’s got a bunch of rad stories, Were gettin ready to skate another demo in like 10 minuites so i gotta go but i promise the next update i’ll send a bunch of photos in so you can see me sucking in full color!”
~666

Join us each Wednesday as we join Greg On the Road! In the meanwhile, here’s some more eye-candy!

I’m kind of amazed at the fact that somehow my last tour entry and Prima Donna’s last tour entry are from the same amazing city.

Zurich is awesome, and completely beautiful. Being from Florida I’m definitely not a huge fan of cold weather but when it started snowing little flurries today I couldn’t help but clap my hands and dance around like a fool.

Not that it’s any different than how I usually behave… J

This week has been one big drive and one big adventure, I’m glad that I could share it with all of Lip Service before the holidays!

We played two shows in Italy this week, one in Rome and one in Florence, both were well played and we all had a lot of fun; and I had the privilege of visiting Venice on one of our days of, where of course I had to get a Venetian mask! We spent all day trekking around Florence and visited the Duomo, the Academia, and the Uffizi. The Academia houses the original of Michelangelo’s David as well as some other unfinished works of his.

The Uffizi is something completely different and totally awesome, filled to the top with Da Vinci, Botticelli, Caravaggio, and Rafael. You can tell that I paid attention in my humanities classes, yes?

In short, life dream come true. AND I ate REAL Italian food. Completely delicious!

The next set of dates are all in Germany and then on to a Happy Christmas with the Cruxshadows.

And so, with great love and faith, Happy Holidays to all the fashion addicts, and remember: If Santa’s beard doesn’t look real, you better check.

All the best,
Cassandra

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The holiday playlist has made it’s debut on the iPod in the van and most everyone has broken out their heavy coat and scarf.

First off, I think that London is probably my new favorite place on earth except for the driving on the wrong side of the road that I’m used to. Our show at the Academy was awesome, great crowd and staff.

My Lip Service jeans are definitely getting their wear on stage, I’m lucky that I’m not too clumsy because if I was, I’d be begging for another pair right about now.

We met up with our friends from Deviant UK in Liverpool and then continued our eight show streak into the Netherlands where we played the Winterborn festival with the Dreamside. Rogue made a special guest appearance with the band, performing “Open Your Eyes,” which he recorded with them in 2005.

There has been a collective cold circulating the group and I have definitely sneezed more in the last three days than I have in the past three weeks.

Our new video for the Quicksilver single has been released, many thanks to Marc Shahboz for producing it! It’s definitely awesome and was a lot of fun to film. I’m adding a photo from the video shoot so you can see what I had to dance on…:-)

After a lovely day off that we spent first travelling, and then on an outing to my first Kris Kringle market. It’s an open air market with lots of artisian crafts and knick-knacks that open all over Germany for the month of December. Note to self, Nutella crepes are the best treat ever.

Tonights show is in Nurnberg and I’m hearing the last beats of Ayria’s closing song, so it’s time to start throwing poses and taking names.

Until next time, all you fashion addicts!

-Cassandra

The last week has been a huge blur of rock out hard, pass out, lather, rinse, and repeat…

We made the trek from Germany to the UK and have actually received some pretty lovely weather. It’s only rained badly once so far. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed; we have a few more days here still.

Sunday was my 20th birthday and I’m still officially the youngest member of the Cruxshadows, and now in the awkward place where I am not a teenager anymore, but not a real adult yet either.

But the baby always gets spoiled, right?

Our first show in England was at Corporation in Sheffield, and that was a pretty wild show. What was even more amazing was what the venue looked like after the whole night was over. There were so many plastic cups on the floor that I couldn’t take a step without crushing one. But I got outside just in time to catch Pyro in the act of catching me in the act of escaping…

We rocked a show on the floor at Fibbers, taping off part of it for a makeshift stage and tearing up the hardwood. And I have now broken the first string of the tour on my guitar.

I had my first European hamburger last night, and I was a happy camper!

Tonight we’re playing at Independent in Sunderland, and I got to see the ocean. But for the most part, all that salty air makes it significantly colder outside…and this poor lil Florida girl can’t really handle it.

We have a few more shows in the UK, working our way down to London on Friday, and I’m definitely looking forward to that!

With Great Love and Faith,

Cassandra

By the way, big thanks to James Thompson and Hans Rock for their photos from Fibbers and Aschaffenburg!

“I want every girl in the world to pick up a guitar and start screaming.”
-Courtney Love

I don’t know anyone in the world who looks forward to a twenty-four hour drive in a fifteen-passenger van more than I did two weeks ago. The Crüxshadows are officially on the road again for the holidays in our home country away from home.

My suitcase is lighter this round, with a few pairs of Lip Service skinny jeans, and a few too many pairs of cowboy boots.

I definitely geeked out at our first show in Dresden, Germany; mostly because I have a badass new guitar to play, courtesy of Daisy Rock, but also because fans actually recognize me now! Last August was my first tour with the Crüxshadows and I hadn’t been around long enough to make a name for myself in the scene.

Two more cities and venues later, I am in Osnabrück, Germany.

Most of the time me, and the rest of the band are scrambling for interwebs, which aren’t so common in the hotels here, and we’ve recently discovered that our best method of communication is, yes, the banana phone. Unfortunately we have to replace it every few days, and whenever I get a call it’s usually someone I don’t want to talk to.

The Christmas music has officially been played in the sound-check, and it’s only a matter of time before I start singing it.

Our opening act, Ayria, who is on their third tour with us, is awesome and they have been incredible to perform with!

We just came off stage here in Osnabrück, it was a great crowd and it’s always so cool to see people singing our lyrics and dancing to a single that hasn’t even been out for six months!

Some of our Danish fans came down to Germany for the show and brought with them homemade pumpkin pie…Guess I won’t miss having it after all!!

With Great Love and Faith,
Cassandra Luger

This coming month, we have a killer change of pace in our On the Road with Stertch Fuck’n Jeans feature. Not only are we segueing from rock ‘n’ roll to goth-wave dance … our weekly guitarist/correspondent is … yes … *GASP* … FEMALE! For the next four weeks, we’ll be following Cassandra Luger from Crüxshadows as the Florida band tours Europe.

A bit about Crüxshadows (from their website)
One of the most enduring acts of the entire Darkwave subculture is the Florida based group The Crüxshadows. Originally formed in 1992, The Crüxshadows have consistently delivered their positive message through the portal of synth pop hooks and dark electronics to a massive international fan base of followers. From their self-released debut, the 1993 album Night Crawls In, right through to the present, The Crüxshadows have formulated their success out of old fashioned hard work.  They have logged an impressive one thousand plus performances in over thirty countries via their many marathon-like tours.

With the release of the seminal Telemetry of a Fallen Angel (existing in a few incarnations prior to Dancing Ferret Discs’ version in 1997), The Crüxshadows enjoyed their first defining moment courtesy of the infinitely catchy dance floor anthem “Marilyn My Bitterness.” With additional strong releases including The Mystery of the Whisper (1999), Until the Voices Fade (1999) and Paradox Addendum (2000) backed by lengthy tours, The Crüxshadows were able to build a legion of diversified fans consisting of everything from jarheads to gamers to anime & role playing enthusiasts.

Although The Crüxshadows maintain a strong fan base in their native United States, their most perceptible success seems to be  focused in Europe.   It is not uncommon for the band to share stages with the likes of Ladytron, Prodigy, The Cure, or even Bjork. The 2002 Tears EP topped the Deutsche Alternative Charts for months, a practice that has continued with all subsequent releases soaring to the DAC’s Top 10. “I don’t think we’re actually more popular there (In Europe)” says Rogue, Crüxshadows’ forntman and mastermind, “It just seems like there is more access to our fans.  What we do has more acceptance by the powers that be.  In America it feels like all of our victories are covered up or are unacknowledged by the media.”  2002 also saw the release of their fifth full-length album Wishfire; a fan favorite that featured the Euro hit “Tears” and a number of other dark dance mainstays. Similarly the follow-up album Ethernaut (released in 2003) brought the band what has become one of its most notable tracks, the European club anthem entitled “Winterborn (This Sacrifice).”

In 2006 the band would seem to breakaway from their underground moniker.  The addictive single “Sophia” impressively debuted on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales Charts in September at position #1, replacing Beyoncé in the top spot while landing  #7 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.  “We couldn’t believe it, doors began to open.  It was as if we couldn’t be ignored anymore, after a decade and a half we seemed to be getting some respect.  The local news in Florida even put us on the nightly news to get our take on the whole thing”, the frontman recalls.  The following year was pivotal for The Crüxshadows; in May the band successfully toured China performing at the Midi Open-Air Festival in Beijing, in the presence of many thousands of new fans. Later that year the band released the highly anticipated Dreamcypher album that contained yet another Billboard #1 Dance Single with the song “Birthday.”  This time the band climbed into the #2 spot on the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.  With Dreamcypher, The Crüxshadows melded their fondness for 1980s Synth Pop/New Romantic sounds with modern Euro dance nuances into perfection.  Dreamcypher joins the aforementioned shimmering “Sophia” and “Birthday” with the guitar fronted “Defender” and the majestic sounding “Eye of the Storm.”  The infectious disc would become The Crüxshadows’ best selling album to date both in the United States and abroad.

The following year witnessed another single marching up the Billboard charts.  “Immortal” continued the bands musical string of hits. While The Crüxshadows spent most of 2009 touring in Europe, the band still managed to release yet another successful Billboard charting single in America.   “Quicksilver” debuted just in time for their annual appearance at Atlanta’s famed Dragon*Con Convention before an impressive capacity crowd of several thousand of their most loyal fans. “I think the new single, and really the most recent releases in general, are our most polished and well written work” says Rogue, “but there are still those in the scene, and in the business in general, that just think the whole thing is just dumb luck.”  Seemingly too pop for many critics and too underground for the industry, the band has apparently found the perfect balance for the people who matter the most to them; their fans.

Get more info about the band at Crüxshadows official site
Check out some Crüxshadows videos

We had a chance to ask Cassandra a few questions before she set off on tour.

LS Webzine: How long have you been w/ Crüxshadows in it’s 17 years together?
Cassandra Luger: I’ve only been with the band since April of this year but it feels like a lot longer. Spending almost every day with your band makes you feel like you’ve been there forever

LS: There are currently 7 members in Crüxshadows – how well does that work while touring? Do you all get along, really?
CL: we actually have nine people on the road with us and I’d say that the hardest thing about being on the road in Europe would probably be the fact that we currently use a nine passenger van so we’re all packed pretty tightly. Some days are worse than others, but we get along really well. It’s just the right group of people in the right room.

LS: How long have you been a musician and was guitar your favorite? Have you been in other bands?
CL: I’ve been playing music since I was a whopping three years old when my grandmother would take me to piano classes and I’d sit under the keyboard for the entire lesson. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was in high school and taking it for a class but I fell in love with it. I’ve been active on the Tallahassee music scene for the past few years, making merch and all that but the Cruxshadows is the first band I’ve been in.

LS: The band’s motto is “Live, love, be, believe,” – do you have to tattoo that anywhere to be a band member? (Just kidding). Seriously, do you all contribute to the songs, musically and lyrically?
CL: We all do believe in the motto but no one has gotten it tattooed…yet. Rogue is definitely the primary song writer but we all are able to contribute musically, and make our parts our own.

LS: What’s your favorite place to play a live show? How was it performing for the 2009 Gothic Cruise?
CL: My favorite place to play this pas year was definitely M’Era Luna, I was looking out at a sea of people to the horizon line. It was my third show…ever. It kind of made an impact. I loved playing on the Gothic Cruise but it was hard to jump around like a maniac on a moving boat. Every time I’d leave the ground and land, the floor would be in a different place.

LS: What’s your number one must have fashion accessory (or accessories….!)?
CL: I would definitely say that the thing that I NEVER take off would be my rings, four on my left hand and five on my right. I’ve been collecting them since I was young and I wear them everywhere. Even when I play.

LS: How easy is it to stay looking great while on the road? Any insider secrets?
CL: Seeing as I didn’t start voluntarily wearing make-up or styling my hair until I was almost seventeen I’ve had to figure out a lot of things on the fly, but I’ve learned that eyeliner pretty much fixes everything. And if I’m too far gone, Jessica can usually fix those problems.

LS: Anything you want to say the Lip Service fans our there who have never heard of Crüxshadows ?
CL: I would say that you fashion addicts need to go and check out the website! Why haven’t you gone yet? What are you doing still reading this? The interview is over…Go! :-)

…..and then we woke up and brushed off the all the dirt. Zurich was killer. It turned out that we were staying in the same hotel as the Jonas Brothers. I was a little bummed to find out that the 100 girls waiting in the rain weren’t there for Prima D, but we signed autographs for them anyway.

Italy Italy Italy! What can I say? It’s heaven on earth. Pizza & Peroni all the way. I’d go back tomorrow if I could.

Now about the last show…Green Day has a tradition of pranking the opening band. We got it pretty good! The details are a little blurry. Before we went on, they filled all of our water bottles with vodka, so I was already hammered before the 2nd song. Let’s just say that by the end of our set, the stage was covered (and I do mean COVERED) in toilet paper, vodka, shaving cream, tequila, confetti, feathers and Gold Bond powder. To get revenge, we ran up on stage in matching track suits during their set and flashed some mangina to the band. It was pretty nasty!

**note from the Webmistress … We have some evidence and photos coming soon. In the meanwhile, we have a taste of the Prima Donna and Green Day prank madness in this crazy bit of video**

Green Day is the absolute best band to go on tour with! I wish I could do it all again!
=Kevin Preston=

Both 02 shows were rad! We heard there were 20,000 people at each one. People were even fainting during our set. When we got to Sheffield, they were having a giant Halloween party. We didn’t dress up this year, so we just told everybody that we were the Jonas Brothers.

Manchester was insane. We checked out some of the nite spots on our day off and saw a couple of street fights. They were pretty gnarly. Those kids like to headbutt! The concerts in Manchester were some of the best for sure. I love all the rock & roll kids out there!

After Manchester we got on the road back to London. After our show at Wembley, I strapped on my guitar to play with Foxboro Hot Tubs for a small club gig at 2am. It was wild! Pure Lushotology! If you don’t know about the Tubs, look us up…stat! The drink of choice is usually Pabst Blue Ribbon, but since we couldn’t find any, we drank anything and everything we could find. The flight to Munich that night was a bonafide puke party…..and you know those are always the best!

We checked out the legendary Hofbrauhaus in Munich for some hair of the dog. We ran into some really drunk Aussie kids and ended up hanging with them until we passed the fuck out…

xoxoKevin Preston

Dear Readers,

Sorry for the late blog. My memory has been pretty cloudy lately. Since I last wrote, I’ve done 16 shows and a lot of other things…

Spain was an absolute blast. Those kids really know how to rage. In Paris, things got nuts. We celebrated Aaron’s birthday with a booze cruise around the city. I’m still amazed that nobody fell overboard. We drank as much Rebel Yell as there is water in that river.

Germany reunited us with our dear friend Texas Terri. We also got to hang with Campino from Die Toten Hosen, which was pretty bitchin as well!

Scandinavia is fucking gorgeous. In Sweden we ended up hanging with our buddies, Eagles of Death Metal, on our night off. After that we were drinking homemade moonshine in somebody’s basement. When we woke up, we barely made it to our interview with Rocket Radio, “The Rock Home of Stockholm.”

So, Amsterdam…yeah. Well, we had a great time. Somehow amidst all the debauchery, I still had time to feed the ducks.

We just finished up some crazy shows in Ireland and Scotland. They are some of the most genuine fun-loving people I have ever met. Right now I’m sitting backstage in what’s said to be the best entertainment venue on planet earth, the O2 Arena. This one’s for Michael!

Kiss Kiss,
Kevin Preston

First things first, a couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from Green Day & Co. It went a little something like this:

GD: Hey Chinatown (that’s the nickname Tre gave me…long story), we wanna bring Prima Donna on the Euro leg of this tour. What do you think?

KP: Bitchin! No way! Killer! Rad! For real?

Next thing I should have done was call the band, but no. I called up Lip Service and said, “Gimme some Stretch Fuck’n Jeans!!!” Now that I handled that business, we were on a plane to Lisbon, Portugal. It was one of those flights with the personal T.V.s and since I don’t sleep on planes, I think I watched about 9 movies.

When we got to the arena in Lisbon, it was really a trip to see how giant it was. We even have a 40 foot banner to play in front of. I think the banner itself is bigger than any stage we’ve played on previous to this tour. The show was sold out and the capacity was 12,500. By the time we hit the stage, it was about 90% full! During our set, Tre set off some pyrotechnics. It was a real killer! Thousands of kids bopping along to Soul Stripper? I can get used to this!

Watching Green Day after we played was fucking amazing! I have seen them close to 30 times now and they still blow me away every time! They are the best live band on the planet. I woke up the next day with one of the biggest hangovers I’ve ever had, but I was relieved that it wasn’t all a dream. Kisses to Portugal!

!

Wild Love,

Kevin Preston