best new artist vs. gold riot! (and the award goes to ... )
December 10, 2007
hi everyone!
well, it's been a ridiculous month or so. pretty much anything we've ever dreamed of happening has happened to us this year, but mostly in the past few weeks. first of all, the "RIOT! Tour" ruled. we had a blast and you guys were amazing every night!!! we finished off the tour in NYC (as you all know... The Roseland Ballroom). FBR and Atlantic threw us a crazy "gold party" and our families and friends flew up for the occasion. as if that wasn't enough, mr. john mayer was trying his hardest to get down to the show but when he couldn't make it he asked if he could just take us to dinner afterwards, instead. we met him at a restaurant called tao and even though it was really good i somehow forgot how to use chopsticks while we were sitting there talking with him so i just gave up and thought it was probably a good thing considering my appetite was hardly existent, anyways. we had a blast with john. the dude is so funny and really easy to talk to. i couldn't stop thinkin about how crazy it was that less than a year ago we saw him at madison square garden and the whole thing just seemed untouchable. yet, there we were... just hangin out and talkin about music. pop music to be more specific.
fast forward about 5 days. we're playing a radio show in Tampa, FL and for the first time we come face to face with the band that made music possible for us... Jimmy Eat World. i chased Tom, their guitar player, with a pen and their set list from the night. i'm a fan girl, woo! when Jim came out to sign for me, we talked for a little while about music and i asked about the tour they did with Mineral back in the day. it was cool talking about that time in music because a lot of what we do as a band really began during that time. before i left he asked me if he could give me a bit of homework... i said sure and he asked me to learn the chorus to "Always Be" and to come out and sing with them at the next show. i told him i was so stoked that he asked and told him proudly that i already knew the part! haha. singing with those guys was a dream come true. i'm hoping it will happen again at the last two radio shows!
after the show with jimmy in norfolk, the guys and i headed home for a night before going out to california for more radio shows. i get a call the next morning from john janick. "hello?" "hayley, it's janick, did you hear the news?" "no, did we get a tour with jimmy?!" "well, that would be awesome but no..." "oh okay, haha, what's goin' on?" "you're up for best new artist at the grammys" (pause....) all i remember after this was screaming and jumping and calling everyone i knew. i called zac and josh first, woke them up... they sounded like zombies on the other end of the line. happy dancing zombies. somehow jerms already knew but we kept going back and forth listening to each other's disbelief. this doesn't happen! this sort of thing doesn't happen to hardly ANY bands. how is this happening to us?! we are so freakin grateful for this chance. not only is it amazing to get this honor but it's the only time in our career we would ever be eligible for this honor, so it makes it even more special. i dunno how e
thank you guys for being there with us and rooting for us since it all began. we're gonna be sitting there, in the middle of all the madness and things that really can't matter in the grand scheme of all things and we are going to know that the greatest part of all of it is that you guys are there with us. not to mention, we will look awesome. (that is, if i don't get one of my "great outfit" ideas in the meantime). seriously, thank you guys. we love ya'll and you've made 2007 the best year of our bands' life.Â
goodnight and goodmorning!
love
every last one of us.