By Bryn Bennett, lead guitar player for Bang Camaro
(Editors' note: MTV News asked Bang Camaro to help us cover Lollapalooza and they were happy to oblige! The band's Bryn Bennett wrote this blog; Alex Necochea shot the video.)
"Load-in is at 8:15am?!" This is terrible news for a rock band. We travel around the country in stinky vans, make no money and don't take showers for many reasons. One of them is so that we don't have to wake up at 7 a.m. like the rest of corporate America. It was Lollapalooza though, and Radiohead was going to be sound-checking at the same time, so I guess this early wakeup was worth it.
We pulled into Chicago from Boston at about 1 a.m. on Friday, had a few cans of beer and some of us did our best to fall asleep. Others of us attack life with the same vigor as a cat attacks a mouse, sometimes with the same bloody results.
(Watch Bang Camaro "interview" the Black Lips, plus get medieval after the jump!)
Read more...
by Jared Piccone of innerpartysystem on Saturday, August 2nd
When you become a full fledged touring band, the things that used to move and excite you early on, like actually playing for a crowd, can unfortunately sometimes become a lower priority on the self-satisfaction scale. For instance, we've been on tour for quite some time now. Don't get me wrong, playing in front of a crowd that gives a s--t about your music is the ultimate rush, but when you start to do it day in and day out, you get numb to it sometimes. You need a refreshing experience. Something to remind you why you started doing this in the first place. That was Lollapalooza.
Read more...
by Jules & Katie of The Ting Tings
We arrived in Chicago on Friday the 1st un-fresh from a St. Louis over-heated gig. Chicago was boiling too, but in the excitement of being at Lolla we drank & stayed up too late. On Saturday morning, the weather sympathized & turned down the dial 10 degrees, still sunny but with a cooler breeze... thankfully. Us Mancs not used to these blistering heat waves. Our main stage time of 12.45 midday was probably the earliest we've ever played to an audience & being a new band in the USA, we thought no one would get up from their spin head beds to make it on site till later in the afternoon. Shocked & amazed to see around 8-10k people turn out for us & then sing along, wave 'n dance. Playing to that enthusiastic crowd made our day! With the city panorama propping them up, has to be one of the festival highlights this year, no doubt!
Read more...
