Breath easy internet, I have returned to my blogging post. Over the last week and a half I’ve been journeying up the Pacific Coast with Bear Hunter . As it turns out, when I try and write on my laptop while in the van I start to puke all over my band mates — hence, my absence from Synthesis Blog. Over the next few days I will be recounting my harrowing journey (in between fascinating posts about pop stars getting busted for drugs, children with weird growths on their bodies and general paranoid-paranormal fodder). Get ready, dear readers. Get your asses ready.

So I just got through posting Synthesis Weekly Managing Editor Ryan Prado’s epic interview with one of his all-time favorite musicians, former ALL frontman Scott Reynolds, on the frontpage and man are my CTRL buttons tired! Check it out if you’re bored, and if you’re REALLY bored, you can also check out some of the other recently posted interview from all sorts of gangster ass motherfuckers, including The Matches, Mindless Self Indulgence and Mason Jennings, just to name a few. While you’re there why don’t you click on a few banners too, just to make us look good…I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’.

Apart from boasting a shithead college for shithead students and the world famous Sierra Nevada Brewery, Chico, California, has a thriving (if not nationally recognized) music scene. Many of the players in this scene contribute to a summer School of Rock-style band camp named The Collective Sound. Last year they decided to start putting together a documentary of the goings-on of the staff and the campers, aged 12-18. Watching it will give you that warm on the insides feeling. Please enjoy Episode 4.

Get out your moping shoes, Brit-rock sensations Coldplay have announced their North American touring plans for Summer and Fall of 2008. The tour, which shall kick off in Philadelphia at the end of June, will be in support of their upcoming fourth full length album, Viva La Vida (nee Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends), due out June 17th on Capitol Records. You can find ticket information here or here. The band will also play a few pre-tour dates, including London (June 16th, Brixton Academy) and New York (June 23rd, Madison Square Garden).

6/29 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center 5/16
7/2 Washington, DC Verizon Center 5/17
7/3 Hartford, CT XL Center 5/17
7/5 Detroit, MI The Palace of Auburn Hills 5/17
7/6 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena 5/17
7/8 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center 5/17
7/9 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center 5/17
7/10 Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center 5/16
7/12 Phoenix, AZ Jobing.com Arena 5/17
7/19 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena 5/17
7/21 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
7/24 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
7/27 Pemberton, BC Pemberton Festival
7/29 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
7/30 Calgary, AB Pengrowth Saddledome
8/1 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
8/3 Omaha, NE Qwest Center
8/4 Chicago, IL United Center
10/20 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
10/21 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
10/26 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
10/29 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
10/30 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
11/3 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
11/11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
11/18 Houston, TX Toyota Center
11/19 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
11/21 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
11/22 Salt Lake City, UT Energy Solutions Arena

Fort Collins-based punk legends ALL have just announced plans to reunite for this year’s Riot Festival in Chicago, IL, being held October 10-12.

News alone of an ALL reunion is enough to bring their seething fanbase to its collective knees, even without the added bonus that the reunion is with none other than former ALL frontman and current bandleader for the Steaming Beast, Scott Reynolds (whose new endeavors you can read about very soon on synthesis.net)!

Message from Scott Reynolds regarding the reunion:

Stephen is going to jump a motorcycle over 10 flaming school buses, then save all the children inside them before they burn up! Bill is going to levitate, then disappear, then reappear on Karl’s shoulders who will be riding a unicycle on a tightrope made from dental floss suspended 100 ft. above the stage. And I’m going to give one lucky audience member a makeover that will take 10 years off his/her appearance! So we better start practicing!! Everybody should come because it’s going to rock sooo hard.

Here’s why you should be stoked:

Since I was nothing but a wee boy, I’ve sat and worshiped at the altar of ALL. And more notably, their second singer Scott Reynolds has been one of my favorite vocalists of all time. So when I was tipped to a showcase on Friday at Headhunters featuring Reynolds and his new band The Steaming Beast, I pretty much dropped everything and walked myself in circles searching for the venue.

This turned out to be basically the best decision I’ve ever made (although upon typing that, I’m suddenly realizing that I’ve said that about a lot of SXSW-related shenanigans). Headhunters was a tiny little dive on 7th and Red River with a tiki ambiance and a small stage at the back. Reynolds stood playing guitar and crooning with his gruffy voice, with a simple ball cap and his trademark bulging biceps (an imposing physique that belies the tender nature of his songcraft).

I was just simply rocking out for a while, bouncing to and fro, one hand in back left pocket, one leg bending at knee to the beat. But then he had to go ahead and play “Traci Hardman’s Cheek” off his band’s new album Adventure Boy, and it all fell apart. Upon the first notes plucked, I felt a wash of heat ascend up from my heart organ to just below my eyeballs. When the first words were sung - “Patent leather shoes, rain that smells like dirt and driveways, how midday’s purple shadows haunt the hills…” - not gonna lie, started to well up. BUT, I was able to hold it back…barely. It’s pretty amazing when you realize that no matter how much music you listen to, a simple song of love or longing can still tug at your heart strings and transform your face into a geyser.

Full disclosure report, live from Austin, Texas. I’m gonna go try and figure out why the Four Seasons charged my bank card for shit I didn’t get… Oh and, try the veggie burger from room service…only 22 dollars. YUM!