Holyoker hits the road with Warped Tour

Sept. 1, 2016 | Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.com

Mickey Lebiedz spent two months driving for the band Cruel Hand as part of the Warped Tour this summer.
Reminder Publications submitted photos

HOLYOKE – The road trip is a staple of the American vacationing experience. But few can say they’ve had the kind of summer excursion as Mickey Lebiedz.

The 24-year-old Holyoke native spent the summer riding with rock stars.

Lebiedz spent the better part of two months from June to August as the driver for the band Cruel Hand as part of this year’s Vans Warped Tour, arriving at 41 shows in 35 state during a 51-day stretch.

“I actually did end up adding it up and it was a couple miles shy of 15,000 miles for the entire trip,” he said.

The tour started in Dallas, TX, and ended in Portland, OR, and during the 51 days it zig-zagged from Texas to Florida, up the East Coast, off to the Midwest, and then on to the West Coast, Lebiedz explained.

“Then we drove home straight from Portland,” he added.

Lebiedz is no stranger to touring – he had been part of eight previous musical excursions – which created the opportunity for him. Having embarked on six U.S. tours with his band MAKER since he graduated from Holyoke High School in 2010, he had the opportunity to meet and become friendly with the members of Portland, ME-based Cruel Hand in 2011. Eventually Lebiedz’s childhood friend joined Cruel Hand as a drummer.

“I had an early heads up that they were going to be playing the Warped Tour this year and Warped_0892.jpgtalked to them about it and asked them who would be driving for them because they’ve never had to hire a driver before for any tour in the states. I told them, ‘What the hell? Why not?’” Lebiedz said. "I’ve driven on tour before, but usually you’re trading off between a couple of guys who like to drive. I knew it would definitely be different, but with my experience doing it, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take.”

Spending 51 days in a passenger van towing a trailer on a winding trip through the country would seem like a daunting proposition to most, but Lebiedz said he and the band found a way to make it as smooth a trip as possible.

“Most people on the Warped Tour do it on a bus or in a bandwagon, so doing it in the van was definitely interesting,” he said. “We got along great. I think we definitely made that connection you need to make to be on tour with someone that long. We definitely learned there are a lot of people who can handle touring and there are a lot that can’t, but we had a good, solid crew.”

For Lebiedz, the schedule was grueling. The band would have to be at the next venue and ready to go by 8 a.m. every day, which meant driving through the night.

“I would scoot out and get a hotel every night, so I would leave at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, go to the hotel and get some sleep while these guys would hang out, play the show, and stay until it ends at about 8 or 9 p.m.,” he said. “We would start driving around midnight or 1 a.m., depending on how far the drive was and the goal was to be there by 8 a.m. It was wild, but being able to go to a hotel and be by myself for a little while definitely helped me keep my sanity.”

From both a musical and non-musical standpoint, the trip offered a plethora of sights and sounds.

"It was cool to be on tour with a band like Sum 41 who was a childhood favorite and who I would watch on MTV in middle school. There were a lot of cool bands that I didn’t know what to expect from that I ended up being pretty impressed by,” Lebiedz said. “There were a lot of cool venues. There was one in Florida, I think it was West Palm Beach, where the show was right on the waterfront of the ocean, so I spent the whole day just swimming in the ocean next to the show. That was one of my favorite days.”

He added, “When we were in Milwaukee, we went to a Milwaukee Brewers game. That’s something we always like to try to do on tour – try to catch games at different stadiums. We actually had two and a half days in Vegas, one being an off day. That was a fun time. The show was at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, so there was a big party before with all sorts of people hanging out. I ended up hanging out with Coolio, brushed shoulders with Vinnie Paul, the drummer from Pantera, and had a good time.”

But with all of the man-made attractions, it was the beauty of nature Lebiedz said he found most striking.Warped_1023.jpg

“Honestly, one of the coolest things of my experience driving was I drove through the sunrise every day,” he said. “Especially in the middle of the desert, miles away from any big cities, it was a very positive thing for your day. It definitely does something for you. I don’t think enough people have experienced that.”

The Warped Tour also brought Lebiedz close to home with dates in Hartford, CT, on July 10 and Mansfield on July 13.

“That was smack dab in the middle of the tour. We had an off day before Boston, so we did go home for one night and that sucked,” he said with a laugh. “We had been out for a month, so going home for five hours and leaving again was kind of a kick in the ass because as soon as you get home, you think about all the things you want to do and how you just want to relax. Knowing that I still had another month of touring to do and we would have to leave immediately, it made it a little rough to get back into the swing of things.

“But the Boston date was also one of my favorites because so many friends came out,” he added. “I saw a lot of friends from home that I don’t get to see that often anymore. That definitely makes up for anything bad about it I would have to say.”

When asked if he would consider doing a tour like the Warped Tour again, Lebiedz said, “I think I would. I don’t know if I would do it again next year; it would be nice to spend a summer home and maybe do it again the year after that. I plan on touring for a while. I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon. There’s just something about it. It’s a lifestyle you have to adapt to and you have to live it because if not, it will take its toll on you and you won’t make it through a whole tour. The good outweighs the bad by far. Everyone says the road is tough, but the traveling makes it all worth it.”

He added there reaches a point upon returning from a tour, after a period of rest, relaxation and enjoyment of home, that the road starts calling again.

“You definitely start itching for it,” he said.

Lebiedz admitted he eventually wants to get back on tour as a musician, but in the meantime, he’s found great value in watching from backstage.

“It’s a very satisfying feeling watching your friends’ bands succeed and grow. Watching more people have a positive reaction to seeing them play is a very cool thing to see that the normal person wouldn’t get to watch unless you’re on tour with them,” he said.

He also pointed out that being on tour the way he was is another way people can be involved in the world of music even when they aren’t making music themselves.

“That’s the cool thing about music – nobody is excluded, “ he said. “You should take advantage of that."

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