It must be a nasty surprise to come from the sunny warmth of Orange County, CA into the dead of Canadian winter. But that’s exactly what Story Of The Year did when they arrived in Canada onboard the Meteora World Tour in support of Linkin Park, P.O.D. and Hoobastank.
But not only did the band brave the Canadian winter, they did it without the aid of heating. Upon crossing the border, the heating system on their tour bus failed, which made things interesting for their driver.
“He had to drive with a blanket and two coats on, ’cause the heat on our bus was totally gone and it’s like negative 80 degrees or whatever it is up here,” says Story Of The Year singer Dan Marsala. “It’s the coldest weather I’ve ever felt in my life and it’s the night that our heat doesn’t work.”
When they’re not busy freezing their arses off or complaining about the obviously non-Californian weather, Story Of The Year enjoy playing video games and shooting each other for fun.
“We just bought a bunch of paintball guns,” says Marsala. “Every day off we find a little wooded area and shoot each other. It’s probably not very safe. We just found out Linkin Park has paintball guns as well so when we all have a day off, we’re gonna battle.”
Of course, touring with Linkin Park has its advantages. Two that immediately come to drummer Josh Wills’ mind are “catering and showers.”
“These shows are exciting because there’s eight to ten thousand people every night,” adds Marsala. “We’re used to playing 500-capacity clubs where you don’t have a bathroom at all to even do anything. Now we have a dressing room every day, a shower usually – today we didn’t have a shower, but we could find one.”
OK, so Story Of The Year may – or may not – be freshly scrubbed every night, but how does that help them face an army of angry nu metal fans night after night?
“Usually I can pick out 10 people who know who we are and I just kinda look to them the whole time,” says Marsala. “It’s been awesome lately because people are actually showing up and singing along and it’s really cool. We’re really happy.”