Tour Update - Vans Warped Tour August 6, 1998 Howdy Friends and Neighbors -     Things have been going pretty good. We've been meeting a lot of nice people. It seems that, in the ranks of the Warped tour musicians, there are more Rev fans than we thought. It's been fun to hang out with Fat Mike of NOFX. As well as Jay from Bad Religon. When I saw Bad Religon in Montreal, I think that that was one of the best Rock-n-Roll shows I've ever seen. I saw Nofx in Cleveland and that was truly inspiring.     One thing about all of the larger bands on this tour, they've all been around long enough to realize that the "rock star image" is just that, an image. It's not real. Therefore, what a lot of these guys look for when they inter-act with other people is just reality. For instance, the guys in Rancid have been through the ringer. They're rock stars, yet, it's funny that they're also very into just being good guys. I think that some young bands who are under the false impression that they have to have some kind of "attitude" even off-stage, are headed for a world of un-reality. The outcome is that they become a lot more famous in their own minds than they will ever be in reality. This is quite annoying to someone like me who has attained enough fame to know that it's very transparent. Be a good person. That's going to get you a lot farther than that poser attitude that some young bands think that they need.     So, anyway, we're having fun on the Warped tour. Here is a little re-cap of bands that I've got to see and enjoy. Kid Rock from Detroit might not seem like the kind of music that I would be into, but, it's rap/hip-hop done with an interesting new flair and I like it, I like it! Kid is also into old country as well as being an o.k. guy. Plus, they're a young band who leave their on-stage attitude on the stage where it belongs.     Hanging out with our pals in the Voodoo Glow Skulls was a blast! Plus, it's good to see them getting so big. This bands turns ska into a pile-drive that pleases. It's amazing to me how their fans sing those words with Frank-VGS lead singer. These guys are serious at rocking a crowd.     I got turned on to The Atomic Fireballs. They gave me a C.D. at Ozz-fest. They're a great little swing band who have a bright future, and, once again, they know how to leave their attitudes' on the stage. And, I like those sear-sucker suits.     Oh yeah, we played Ozz-fest! For one day in Minnesota, Ozz-fest and the Warped Tour were at the same site. Although we were busy doing the meet and greet, I still got to see Ozzy. It was pretty funny. I didn't really know all of his songs from his solo days as good as Scott Churilla and our tour manager Eric G.. So, they kind of provided a very funny play-by-play of Ozzys' set. Scott is a very funny person.     That reminds me of something. We've got some pretty funny people in this band. Yet, funny in different ways. Churilla is always singing his own srewed-up words to songs that make people laugh and just shake their heads. All of the other bands think that Scott is a true character. He is! He's always there with a quick wit or something that is so stupid it's funny. Scott keeps us entertained.     Jimbo is also extremely funny but with a different twist. Where Scott may be more of the clown, Jimbo is more the commentator. Jimbo doesn't go for the quick-wit clowning. But, he just makes a little commentary or describes a scenario that is uproarious. Jimbo says stuff that is not only funny, but, really makes you think. I feel that is one reason that Jimbo is so popular. Because he gives others the room to talk and clown, but, when he does make a comment, it is very meaningful. Jimbo is great at pointing out things that not many other people see.     Oh yeah, hopefully, we will have Jimbos' book club in a tour up-date very soon. Maybe the next one. I do know a couple of books he's reading. One is tales of African safaris back when hunting elephants was still something that people did. The other is about the murder of Jon Benet' Ramsey. You know Jimbo, always into those murder-mystery or serial-killer books. Well, hopefully we will see a new book list from Jimbo in the next tour update. A lot of people have been asking me about my suits and my shoes. They're made by Joes' Garb in Anaheim, CA. Maybe we will have a link to their web-site soon. I don't even know if they have a web-site yet.     Also, I still need to get off of my rear and do the list of bands we've opened up for. I think it will be pretty funny.     That reminds me. Every day, some young band asks if they could open up for us. I want to say a couple of things about this. First, when we got gigs to open for other bigger bands, it wasn't really just because they liked us. We had a following of people that might not come to their show without us on the bill. In other words, we already had a pretty good size following already. So, if you want to open for us, think about this. Does your band have a following that is almost as big as The Supersuckers, The Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Pie-Tasters, Big Sandy and The Fly-Rite Boys or The Amazing Royal Crowns? If not, you may be jumping the gun a little bit. Do your own tour of small clubs.     This brings me to my second point. A bit of advice for young bands. Every summer, we have done bigger tours where we opened up for Porno For Pyros, Smashing Pumkins, Soundgarden, White Zombie and others. Just about any young band would kill to get these opening slots. But, a funny thing happened on each and every one of those tours we did. About a week into those tours we noticed that our records sales dropped. Then they stayed lower than they had been all year. Then, when we went out on our own tour a few months later, our record sales jumped right back up to where they were before the summer began! Then they stayed real consistent until the next summer, or, when we toured with another bigger band in the winter or whenever.     Now, I'm not saying that those tours were bad for the band. In the very long haul, it does help with getting the band exposed. Also, I'm very grateful to all of the bands that have had us open up for them. However, my point is this. A lot of bands think that getting an opening slot for a big tour is a fast- track to stardom. These bands insult me and my crew because, for us, there has never been anything except the slow-track.     I had one person tell me that they wanted to open up for us because their AandR guy at some label they were hopeful to get signed to, told them that he didn't want them to play clubs. He felt that they should just do concerts to "get their name out". Then, they would sign to this "major" label and so on and so on. This is insulting to me for the reason that we had to play clubs for ten years before we started head-lining our own "concerts". When some young band like the one in this paragraph says something like that, it makes me ask, "What, you're so much better than everyone else that you have to by-pass that ten years of club work that silly old bands like us had to go through?" If you were like me, you'ld be as happy playing in a 100 capacity lounge as you'ld be in a 10,000 seat arena. It's all about making music. Not stardom, record deals and opening slots.     One more thing. When you go to see a big concert and the opening band is someone that nobody has ever heard of, just remember this - it is just that YOU haven't heard or them. If they didn't have a good draw somewhere, they wouldn't be there.     If you are a young band, it's o.k. to want a good record deal. It's o.k. to be ambitious. But, pretending to be bigger than you are will never help you, and, may hurt you. My advice is this - do your own tours. They will get you so much farther than the seemingly high-profile opening slots that all of the real amateurs in music think is what you have to do. Pay your dues and they will come back to you ten-fold!     So, anyway, back to the Warped Tour. Because of the early and short sets we play on this tour, we've had the opportunity to do extended meet and greets with our fans. And, like I was saying in the last tour update, this has been a revelation to us in R.H.H. We have some really nice and un-pretentious fans. Thanks again to all of them!     Remember, if you want information about R.H.H. dates, merchandise or anything else, call (214)320-4888. Hope to see you soon, Jim "Rev. Horton Heat" Heath p.s. Thanks to all of the nice fans in Canada who we've not seen in quite a while. Also, look for our new video for "Lie Detector". Call your radio station and request "Lie Detector" and call MTV and VH1 to request the video.