#travelkrew

[seancraigmay]

KREWLIFE

I’ve been dormant on tumblr for a while. Partially because my ability to express myself in words has been confined to a twitter or instagram post, but how much I want to say has been limited to a small word count and I’m ready to open up about my Krew journey so far. So lets begin.

2013

I was living in the dorms at Northern Arizona University. My friend Christhyna and I had transferred from the community college up to the 4 year university in Flagstaff, Az. I hadn’t known Tyna (short for Christhyna) long, but she was that friend that you just always wanted around. Made you laugh, smile and was definitely wild, but all around someone that could brighten the darkest skies. We met maybe like a year prior before deciding to move up to the college together and we even got dorms in the same hall. We lived in an Honor hall so we were able to do co-ed. It was nice because when it came to studying or staying focused, we were the ying and yang to each other. Anyways, I could go on about our friendship and all that, but this is about how I discovered Krewella. Living in the dorms, I had come to terms with that a good majority of the community was into EDM. Tyna for instance was a huge EDM fan and she actually was the one who discovered Krewella one day while youtube surfing. I remember her texting me and saying “hey check them out you’ll like them” and I was hesitant at first because EDM just wasn’t my thing, but I gave them a try. I remember telling myself, they are alright... YES I JUDGED AT FIRST.. DAMN I WAS HARSH LOL.... But it actually grew on me. I eventually downloaded the Play Hard EP for her and put a copy on my iPod. Listened to it everyday on the way to my 7 am class while riding the bus and it just stuck. I fell in love. I was dying to hear more and more of it. I found myself constantly watching youtube videos, searching the internet for unreleased songs and seeing if they were playing nearby. Tyna loved this because if it meant she could get me to go to a rave, by all means lets find where Krewella was playing so we could hop on the rave train. Months passed and finally Krewella was nearing towards Arizona for the Play Hard tour. The first show we found was 21+ and I wasn’t 21. Tyna almost went without me with another friend, but since it was during the week and we had a tough class schedule, it didn’t workout (MUAHAHHA). However, they announced another 18+ show at an event call Midway Music Festival in Touscon, AZ. It was on a Friday and fridays we were out of class early so the first thing we did was hop on buying tickets and it was bon voyage to Touscon we went. That night was a magical night. I remember the crowd, the community, the scene.. they were all so accepting. I think that was the moment I fell in love with the EDM community. I also remember trying really hard to win a M&G with Krewella, but some guy won and he proposed to Yasmine with a ring pop and I was SOOO sad because at the time I had the hugest crush on her. Forever salty to be honest, but hey I got over it because in the long run I got to know Yasmine and Jahan and I wouldn’t trade the rest of the stories I’m about to tell for anything! The rest of 2013 was patchy. I did see them actually a few more times. Once at the Wango Tango music festival here in Los Angeles, but they had such a short set and I almost got kicked out for getting too close to the stage. Also, another time on the get wet tour at the Hollywood Palladium which was amazingggg! Hearing them play Human live was EVERYTHING! Anywayssss, I think I’ll close there for 2013. Cheers to 2013 for kick starting my krew journey <3

2014

This year started off with a surprise pop up show on the Get Wet tour in Pomona. Me and some friends went to the show, but this is where I actually met Connor (@connorsimon6 <- Twitter Handle) who was interestingly enough a krew fan I become really good friends with later on down the road. I really didn’t talk to him much, maybe a few times here and there in line, but I was more focused on the show and I think I was drunk too so I honestly don’t remember much, but.... ANYWAYYSSSS lol, the show was awesome as always. I think I actually got to be closer to the stage this time and everything felt so perfect. I remember after the set, the girls said they would be at the merch table taking pictures, but the line was so long I honestly didn’t want to wait and I said to myself I would meet them eventually. So I left and held on to that dream. Fast forward some time into the year, and Krewella went dry. They were still playing Vegas shows, which I wasn’t 21 yet (December baby problems), but new music hadn’t really came out. I remember telling Tyna something is up and even she could feel a rift after seeing them at a Vegas show. Wasn’t much longer after that when they hit headlines about a law suit. I won’t go into much details because I feel like that’s not my story or business to tell, but all I know is that it put a crack in the krew. I remember seeing OG fans turn away from Krewella and the media start to spin stories. It was hard having to watch that happen to Jahan and Yasmine. Knowing them now, they are beyond the essence of goodness and they didn’t deserve the crafted stories and lies being spread. I remember a few weeks, or maybe months, after that “Say Goodbye” came out and then it kind of came full circle the direction the music was going. I remember talking to Tyna about the song and she was concerned their stepping away from EDM might break them. I was skeptic at first as well, but anything Krewella can be catchy if you let it. Plus, as artists, it was good for them to revamp and take a new initiative on what direction they felt was best for the group. They put their heart and soul into their music and if you know them or have ever met them, they are always proud of their bodies of work whether or not it’s loved by a few or thousands. I found that admirable that they never let the negativity or conformity of the scene get in the way of making music they loved. Kudos to them always. So to close 2014, that was pretty much it in a nutshell. I knew at the end of that year things were going to be different, but I was ready to ride the Krewella train to wherever it was going <3

2015

This year was definitely an exciting year. I was finally 21 and Krewella had announced their residency at a new nightclub called Omnia inside Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I couldn’t even count how many Vegas trips I made that year. If they weren’t playing at Omnia, then I was watching them at the Wet Republic dayclub. I dragged so many friends to these shows. Tyna, Corbin, and Ashley (who wasn’t even 21 yet) to name a few. However, 2015 was a big step for me because not only was I traveling to Vegas all the time to see Krewella, but I was traveling to see my new family Vegas Krew. Vegas Krew is krew fan base in Las Vegas ran by our very own boss man Jenno (@spiderjenno8). His face had become more and more familiar each show I had gone to and I remember Jahan shouting him out one time at Wet Republic. I was like “who is this guy?!”. Later on down the line, I remember finally getting to meet the girls for the first time ever. I ran into them outside of the club and I still remember to this day Yasmine running up to me and hugging me saying “i love your shirt man”, which was the Krewella gas mask tee. After fan girling and getting to know them and taking pictures, I posted the picture and Jenno had actually commented on it from a hash tag. From there we exchanged info, he introduced me to his group of friends that are what we call “core krew” in Vegas and the rest is history. I was adopted into their family. Jenno was like a liaison for us to help us meet the girls and kept us in the loop for any shows, hook ups for guest list to the club or even cool events. Which speaking of cool events, this was also the year I won the opportunity to pre-game with Jahan for her birthday on the Vegas High Roller. That was nuts! We got to go into that glass ball, ferris wheel thing and do an open bar with her and Yasmine to celebrate. I actually remember someone named Jeremy Kim commenting on Facebook saying “you won, go to your messages and accept my message request for more info”. I really thought I was being trolled and so did everyone else that he was choosing. People were so scared to think they won and so was I but I said fuck it and messaged him back. I’m glad I did because it was legit and J-Remy is actually a pretty cool dude, who turned into Krewella’s manager later on! Woooo!!! Ahhh shoot forgot to add EDC Las Vegas in here. This was the first time I got to see Krewella use the live band and I remember how fucking hot it was front row in circuit grounds. I dragged Tyna with me and I thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion, but hey it was worth it! The girls played a bad ass set. Also, Ooo heres another fun story! So that week they played a night time pool party at wet republic. Of course me and Tyna took our time and lost track of time getting drunk so we were late to the club. We get there and it being EDC week, the line was super long! We weren’t going to get in. However, Tyna had a plan and I could kill her and love her at the same time for this. That night she found a manager and told them my friend that was working was going to let us cut the line. The guy seemed confused and a little upset, but he took us to my friend that was letting people in. We claimed I was her cousin and he was starting to argue with her before he got a security call and then he disappeared which my friend basically said then just go in. I felt soooo bad cuz I didn’t want her to get in trouble, but we did get in so shoutout to you boo boo! You know who you are! Also, she didn’t get in trouble thank god, but she said never do that again. Okay, so I think that is everything that made 2015 super fucking exciting. In the end, this year was such a crucial year to being part of the Krew. I also started expanding and learning about all this different “cliques” I guess you could call it. Vegas Krew was just one core fanbase, but in the twitter world I soon learned about a shit ton of others (Philly Krew, German Krew, Texas Krew, etc). The Krewella community is honestly so huge and it’s such an honor to be a part of it. Oooh, before I close, this was also the year I actually came across Connor again. I had seen him in the “suggested friends to add” on twitter and made the connection that I had met him before in 2014. I added him and I had seen he had a pic with Jahan from Ultra which was super dope! We ended up actually becoming good friends after that and I knew it wasn’t long before I would continue to keep adding to my list of Krew friends :) 

2016

This year is lengthy. I don’t even know where to start. Hmmm... Yasmine’s birthday party in February. As always, Jenno was the boss man on this. He got us hook ups into the meet and greet before the birthday DJ set and Yasmine was super excited to see everyone (and a little tipsy 0.0)! The night was great, got to mingle with the girls, hangout with Vegas Krew and yeah. The girls teased beggars that night, surrender the throne and superstar which hadn’t been released yet. Leaving that night was rough. I had to drive home 2 hours and I ended up getting home at like 3 am and worked at 7 (R.I.P me). I honestly can’t piece much after that except maybe a few more Vegas shows before the Beggars music video.  Yes, I won a slot to be in the music video. You can’t really see me to be honest, but hey I was there and it was dope. Of course my boy Jenno was there, so it was good knowing at least one person. That night was fun, tiring and overall sweaty. Making the video required a lot of energy, sweat and chalk. We also met Thomas that night (@thomas3184) and Jenno invited him to our Vegas krew page. He fit right in and we love our Thomas to this day. From then on the Ammunition EP was to be released and then the Sweatbox tour was to start, but before then was the MTV music awards show. I remember going to that show with my coworker and riding with Connor and his girlfriend. Connor was in communication with the two girls who got Married at LA Pride, Paola (@pala_sun) and Jojo (@jojoistheshizzz).  I didn’t get to go to the LA pride event because I had a graduation to go to but at least I was finally able to meet the girls who got married. As soon as I met them, I remember hugging them and just feeling this instant connection. I remember wanting a drink to in that moment, but our hug was definitely magical lol. After that show, we got to see Jahan and Yasmine for a little bit and I kept in touch with Paola and Jojo. We met up again actually in Vegas for Jahan’s birthday celebration at Hakkasan which was the first time we shared a hotel together and then later down the line at Sweatbox LA and hung out there. They were super cool and I loved their vibes so I remember saying “hey I am going to Sweatbox Phoenix to meet up with my friend Tyna, you guys wanna roll through?”. I had never really brought other friends with me on road trips besides Ashley or let alone to meet my Arizona friends, but I knew they had good vibes so I invited them. They came along and I think this is where the idea of Travel Krew was born. We instantly clicked. All of us. Sweatbox Phoenix was the birth of a long lasting friendship and it was just so much love and sweat! I adored how all of us interacted and seeing us together in a room full of die hard Krewella fans was life. Also, that night we met two girls named Deanna (@lizzymacgyver) and Bree (@breerhoden) who we welcomed into our cluster. The Travel Krew just continued to grow and grow. From there, we just kept waiting for shows to pop up. We did as many Vegas shows as we could together and traveled together whenever possible. After meeting all these people, I also introduced them to my Vegas Krew cuz that will always be home and the family just intertwined and we just became this bigger family all around. It really is amazing how much Krewella has changed our lives. I can’t imagine my life without either any of them.  Shoutout to Gordon (@striderboi) btw cuz I love you too and you know I’m a basic bitch with my pumpkin spice and our love for stitch is amazing. Thank you for sharing Jenno with me. I never said that, but thank you!  

So as 2016 progressed, we just kept planning and planning. We ended planning a group trip (we meaning me, Paola , Jojo, Corbin, his wife Britannie, Deanna, Bree, Ashley and Tyna) to Cabo San Lucas followed by a spontaneous trip to New Orleans. Fun fact, we drove from California to New Orleans and then drove back home to catch our flight to Cabo. That was a long two weeks, but wouldn’t trade it for the world. Also, yes all these trips were because of Krewella. Travel Krew was fully born and ready to take 2017 since most of these trips were planned for 2017. The end of 2016 was basically one last show we did which landed on my birthday at Jingle Balls in Sacramento. That show was magical and I got a special birthday shoutout from Yasmine during their set and I fell in love. God, what I wouldn’t give to go back to that moment.... ANYWAYSSS, 2016 was overall a great year. I made more krew friends and got to help start a little movement known as Travel Krew. I’ll tell you more about that in my 2017 section though because the full development comes later. Hope you enjoyed reading it thus far! It keeps getting better and I have enjoyed the ride ;)

2017

Ahhh and so it begins. This year.... I think I am going to pause here. This year isn’t quite over and honestly this year has been FUCKING NUTS. I have so many people to name drop that I love (Karen, Cheech, Herbie, Jeremy, Emily, Alex, etc). The list goes on and on and it all stemmed from an idea that my group of friends came up with to step outside of our comfort zone and just travel. Now yes, we do see Krewella, but we love to travel as well to meet our Krew fam. We came together as people solo in the crowd and now were strongly bonded as a family. We mob in numbers, we roll deep as friends, and we rage as diehards. The New World tour isn’t quite over and there is still so much that can happen. I’ll “to be continued” this post for now, but know this journey has been amazing with you all by my side. I love you regardless of whether we met online, in person, or over a social media platform. Each of you hold a place so dear in my heart and I can’t wait to meet those I haven’t met yet. You may not know it, but you have changed my life and we are all one big piece of a global community that continues to grow, carrying the notions of love and acceptance. See you soon Krew! There is so much more to come.

Seancraig (@sciskillinit)

[briecheese-krew]

The Clems in their natural habitat! Friends that Clem together stay together. #travelkrew #springawakening #clemming #notevendrunk (at Spring Awakening Music Festival)

[thesegypsysouls]

Thanks moms for making sure I don’t end up drunk and in a ditch 💚💛💜 (at Bourbon Street / French Quarter)

[mermaiddpartyy]

I fell in love and it wasn’t with my wife..

 Ok ok before things get crazy, I didn’t actually fall in love with someone else rather I fell in love with a new city. Sorry OC! But you’re really going to have to step up your game. I’m not really sure how to start this and to be quite honest, I’ve been procrastinating on actually writing this. Mainly because I know it’s going to be long and I’m not even sure if anyone is going to read this but also because I’m actually really sad that it’s all over. I feel like it went by too fast. But let’s just start from the beginning.

WEDNESDAY 6|7|17 - THURSDAY 6|8|17 The drive there. Yes, we DROVE from California to Arizona (to carpool with Deanna and Brie) and then all the way to Chicago. That’s roughly about 2,150 miles. On the way there it took us about 36 hours. We stopped a lot to rest and pee and let out all our pent up energy on random jungle gyms. We drove through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and finally Illinois. The drive wasn’t... horrible. We got caught is some crazy rain and lightening. There were tornado warnings coming from all around us. But don’t trip, I drove us straight through. We saw hundreds of cows and horses and dandelions the size of my fist! I really wish that I took a picture of them. They were seriously huge. I just might go back to Kansas just to find them. There were a toooon of deer crossing signs and if you have heard any of the stories from our drive to New Orleans you’ll know that we are a little traumatized of deer crossing haha. But again, I got us through. I’m the overnight driver. I’m the insomniac so staying awake until like 6am isn’t a big deal to me. But I also love driving when everyone is asleep and I’m jamming to my own music and there’s hardly any cars out. The best part of it all though is watching the sun rise. Even though I’m awake at the crack of dawn on my worst days when I can’t sleep, it’s not very often that I’m actually outside to watch the sun rise. I’ve seen a million sunsets but there’s something different about a sunrise. And to be so lucky as to see the sun set in one state and then see the sun rise in another state all within 24hrs is actually really fucking awesome. We may all see the same sun and the same moon but I promise you, not all sunrises and sunsets are the same. Around maybe 7am we finally have enough service to buy the New World EP. Guys it’s truly what got me through the last stretch of that car ride. At first it was just Paola and I awake and listening to it. We kept turning it up louder and louder to try and wake up Deanna and Brie but it wasn’t really working. Finally a couple hours later Brie wakes and and we listen to it again. And then a couple hours after that Deanna wakes up and we all JAM THE FUCK OUT!! I’m pretty sure the mixture of no sleep and just pure excitement between the four of us would have scared anyone that passed by us. But we clearly didn’t have a care in the world.. we were in a.. New World. I’m sorry. I just had to. By the time we actually got to Chicago we were delirious and excited and hangry. We picked up our friend Brooke from the airport and then finally made our way to the hotel. When we got into our room it hadn’t been cleaned yet.. haha that’s actually never happened to me. But luckily they had another room just a couple doors down so we didn’t have to move our stuff too far. The room was huge which for our group is a big deal. We have a habit of cramming like 8-10 people into one small hotel room rather than spending money on more rooms. That my friends is how you save money! We all got settled in, took showers and knocked the fuck out because in the morning things were going to get fucking crazy.

FRIDAY 6|9|17 It’s EP Release Party Day! We all get up and get ready. We have the EP blasting through our portable speaker. We are all still a little bit delirious but who cares? WE GET TO SEE THE GIRLS TODAY!! Paola and I get in the car and head to the airport to pick up Seancraig and Emily (Phillykrew)!! Of course we get there too early so we are waiting impatiently in a nearby parking lot waiting for the go ahead to head to the gate to pick them up. FIIIIIIIINALLY it happens. We are driving up and spot them waiting outside and how do we greet them? By blasting Calm Down of course!! We all get in the car and head back to the hotel to get ready for the EP party! This was all our first time meeting precious little Emily. She’s like a little firecracker. Once we are done getting ready we get in our uber and head to the venue.  Our uber had no AC... I’m not sure how many of you know just how hot and humid it was in Chicago but let me just tell you, we were melting. We told our uber driver and he was no help. He said that we had our own controls in the back and when we told him that it was locked he just responded with “oh, well someone must have messed with it”... um ok sir that’s great but can you fix it orrrr not? He didn’t fix it. Longest 30min drive of my life. He dropped us off down the street.. I’m not really sure why. I honestly don’t think he really knew where he was going. Luckily it wasn’t too far. We find the rest of our group in line and now it’s just time to wait.. in the sun.. in the very hot sun. A few of us went across the street to a local coffee shop to get some drinks and a snack and go back to the line. We all start mingling and connecting with people that we’ve only seen on twitter but finally get to meet in real life. And then finally it’s time to go inside. First let me explain that space for you. You walk in and you see the New World shirts on your right and it’s seriously really fucking small. I would say it was like a extra large hallway. We pass by Nathan and say hello and exchange hugs. We hadn’t seen him in a while so it was really nice to see him. Then all of a sudden you turn to your left and go up about four steps and there they are! Yasmine and Jahan just being the precious humans that they are. They are literally taking time to say hello to every single person that walks in. Who fucking does that?! I’ve thrown parties at my own place and don’t even say hi to everyone that walks in hahah. I can’t say that I’ve ever been to a release party but I don’t know of any other dj’s or artist that would do something like that. They seriously love every single one of their fans and would do anything they could to show that. So we walk up the stairs and Jahan is in line first. I gave her one of our exclusive Travel Krew shirts and she fucking loves it.  SIDE NOTE: I’m so sorry that I use the work fuck a lot. I can’t help it. I’ve never actually designed something like that so for her to tell me how much she likes it just melted my heart. And if I ever see them actually wear the shirt I might actually faint. Anyways, I gave her a hug and she tells me that she loves me hair and then I move along to Yasmine. She gives me a huge hug and I give her her Travel Krew shirt and loves it and runs to the back to put everything away so it doesn’t get lost. I didn’t get to talk to her much but it’s all good, she knows I love her. I see their mom over by the dj booth but she was talking to someone else so I didn’t get a chance to go say hi. Maybe next time! We all start piling up into this tiny little loft area. Like seriously tiny. If anyone reading this went to any of the sweatbox shows think of that but even smaller. Like 3x smaller. The show hadn’t even started and everyone was sweating hahaha. The girls eventually make their way to the little stage. They talk a little bit about how excited they are for this EP and how thankful the are for us, the fans. I’m not even really sure how to describe their actual show. It was amazing, full of energy and sweat and actual tears. Yasmine cried when they brought out the baby wolves. Like actual tears came out. And honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some tears from some of us watching. Their set was something else. I’ve seen them more times then I can count on my hands and this set was different. Maybe it was intimacy or the fact that there was so much fog that at some points I just had my eyes closed and everything just felt perfect like a dream. Perhaps it was the constant smiles on their faces and the glances to eachother that said “dude, we’re fucking doing it.” These two humans are some of the most humble people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. And you see that in their sets. Have you ever gone to a show or a concert of any really huge artist and you can see it in their performance that they think they are just the shit? Like nothing and no one can top them. They almost seem as though if there weren’t actually any fans around they wouldn’t even notice because they are just so into themselves. Those are the kind of people that don’t see themselves as someone that can still grow. They think there’s no where else to go because they are so far on top of everyone else that it’s going to years for anyone to get close enough to touch them. (sorry that was a really long and unnecessary rant that might not even be that accurate because let’s be real, I don’t know anyone that’s that famous and I shouldn’t judge people from what I see only. But... ugh some people just make me what to kick their shins) Anyways, the girls aren’t like that. When you see them during their sets they are having fun. They don’t care if they are at the top or the bottom. They are truly doing what they love. They interact with their fans during their sets. They mess up and make jokes about it. They always feel like there’s room to learn and get better. I think I remember during an interview a while ago they were asked at what point did they ever feel like they have truly made it. I don’t know their response exactly but I think it was somewhere along the lines that they haven’t ever felt like they’ve made it because once you’ve made it where else is there to go? That shit sat with me for a long time. Like how fucking true though. If you’re at the top, where else are going to do? There’s always room for improvement. There’s always time to learn something new.  (again, sorry for my unnecessary rant. I just can’t tell you guys just how humble these girls are and how much I appreciate that.) I’m never going to get through this post. *face-palm* But back to their set. They were throwing out water bottles to everyone because it was so hot haha. Jahan attempted to get people wet with a water bottle but then dropped the water bottle haha. Yasmine shut everything off for a split second and told everyone “that’s what we call a dj fail but it’s not my fault! I am the victim here!” Most precious human award goes tooooooo.. Yasmine Yousaf for making every awkward situation just a little more awkward. Yasmine also told the story of when her dad picked her and Nathan after playing tennis (just take a moment to imagine baby Nathan playing tennis. So cute.) and asking Nathan “what are you going to do if this doesn’t work out?” Nathan’s response, “I promise I’ll pay for your daughter’s college education?” Nathan clearly got lucky. Once their set was over they give eachother a hug and I swear the whole crowd cheered as if we just saw two baby otters hug eachother. But to be fair it was cute as fuck. Jahan then licked Yasmine’s sweaty hand and told everyone that her sweat tasted great. Lmao literally only Jahan would do something like that. Once they go off stage we all go back downstairs and everyone is just hanging out meeting new krew, buying the exclusive shirts that were literally being printed as you bought it. And then the girls grace us with their presence once again. WHO DOES THAT?! I feel like if they could, they would spend hours with their fans just talking to them and getting to know them. Guys, they love us. They are slowly making their way through the crowd making sure they don’t miss anyone. They are hugging everyone and taking pictures and signing every little thing that we shove at them. Yasmine even helped make some of the shirts. Like how cool is it to be wearing a shirt that you literally watched Yasmine help make with your own two eyes? My conversations with the girls were short and sweet. Mainly just talking about how stoked we are for Spring Awakening the next day. We talked about our 36 hour drive up there. And of course a million hugs. After being there for at least 45mins just talking and hanging out with everyone I finally got everyone rounded up to leave. This was nooooot an easy task. None of us have a very strong will to just leave the girls when we aren’t actually being told that we have to leave but we had places to go. Spring Awakening day 1 started about 3 hours ago and we needed to get back to our hotel and get ready and go! We get a group picture with the travel krew and the girls (and some randoms.. yes, I’m bitter) and head out. Luckily we had our friends Myra and Kate help us get to the subway and tell us where to go because I swear it would have taken us at least another 2 hours to figure it out hahaha. They literally walked with us to where we needed to go like concerned parents dropping off their kids at the bus stop. We decided to go to this mall type thing to get some food because none of us had had any substantial food and no one needs to be around any of us while we are tired and hungry. We finish up our food and head back to the subway and head to the hotel. Our hotel couldn’t have been any closer to the train stop. It seriously made everything so fucking easy. We didn’t have to take an Uber anywhere. We bought a 3-day pass and just took the train everywhere. There was no one that had to drive and be DD or weird uber drivers with no A/C. 

Finally we all get ready, say bye to Sean and Emily (Em couldn’t go and Sean only had tickets for day 2 and 3) and head to the show! We got there at like 5 or so and went through the VIP entrance and didn’t even notice or get stopped. As soon as we walked in I felt an overwhelming joy of excitement. Festivals are something else. There’s thousands of people walking around in little to no clothes, barely sober but just loving life. Everyone is there because of their love for the EDM community. You look to your left and there’s a crowd of head bangers. You look to your right and there’s a couple making out like they just realized that they are actually madly in love. You look behind you and there’s a circle of people shuffling. Everyone is in glitter and bright colors. Like it’s really hard to be sad when there’s so much positivity around you. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll probably see a fight or two but they end fairly quickly and everyone just moves on. We decide to walk around and find a spot where we want to have our krew meet up the next day before the show. We walked around nearly the whole festival just getting a feel for the place and familiarizing ourselves with where everything is. This is actually really important and something I like to do at any festival that I’m at whether it’s a one day or three day festival. Have you ever been at a random tent and have to pee so you go all the way to the front where you saw the bathroom only to be walking back and find out that there were bathrooms right next to you the whole time? Yea, it sucks. It’s best for you and everyone else in your group to just take like 20 mins to walk around and find everything. If someone gets lost from your group and can confidently say to meet up at a certain spot and know that everyone will make it to the same spot. So anyways, we decide on a meet-up place and then it’s time to raaaaaage. I honestly can’t tell you who we were watching that night. They were selling these premade cocktails with either vodka or tequila and these fuckers were strong! I mean I didn’t black out or anything but I couldn’t even give you a clue as to who we were watching and where we were watching them at. I just knew that I had the flag flying high so if I got lost everyone would come to me hahaha. The first night is over and we start making our way to the train. We end up playing “the floor is lava” and of course I’m the one that tries to jump on top of a newpaper stand and it just falls over... Thankfully Paola was there to pick it up for me. Bless her soul. We get into the crowded train that’s filled with people from Spring Awakening. Everyone is hot and sweaty and dirty but no one cares because we all just had an awesome fucking time. We make it back to our hotel, shower and head to bed. Tomorrow is about to be fucking lit. ...I don’t ever use that would.. “lit” someone punch me.

SATURDAY 6|10|17 First and foremost today is the one year anniversary of when Yasmine married Paola and I on stage at LA pride. Yes, everything was/is legal. Yes, Yasmine is a legit ordained minister. And yes, it was really fucking awesome. How many people can say that they married their best friend by their favorite fucking dj? I’m seriously so fucking lucky and do not take any of it for granted. Also let’s just point out how perfect the timing was of this. We get married in their new hometown of LA and then exactly one year later we get to celebrate in their old hometown all together. I swear if this happens again next year, I might actually have a heart attack. 

We all wake up and start getting ready. At this point we have Thomas and Jenno there and we are all just super pumped and can’t wait for the show. Half of the group left a little early and got everyone pizza while the rest of us finished getting ready. I was one of the people that stayed behind. And of course we were the group that almost got lost trying to get to the venue. This is why you should never split up. But we did find some fellow krew fans on the way! So that’s always fun. We finally make it to the venue and find everyone. We get yelled at for sitting outside of the venue eating our pizza. Why? I’m not 100% sure why. But whatever. We move across the street and finish our food and give the rest of the pizza to random people. Bless them for trusting us haha. We really didn’t want to waste some delicious, Chicago deep dish! We say bye to Emily (Phillykrew) and all pretend like we don’t want to cry because we want her to come with us. We get inside the venue and fill up our camelbacks and water bottles because it’s fucking hot and Yasmine told us to stay hydrated. Do as mother tells you ok! We head to our meet up spot and wait for the rest of the fam to meet up!  We ended up with a group of like 13 people so that was awesome! We took a big group picture and then start walking around together. We head to some shade to chill before we start making our way to the front of the Equinox stage to see our favorite girls throw down. Once 3 o’clock hits it’s time to goooooo. We do our last water fill up and bathroom stop and head to the stage. At this point Mija is on stage. I actually really enjoyed Mija. After Mija we were already about 5 rows away from the front. I have never been at the front at a big festival like this. I honestly just never even tried because I don’t really care for crowds and I was always scared that I was going to get stuck in the middle and not be able to get out. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. After Mija it was Malaa. I’ve never seen him live and I was fully entertained. I would definitely be down to see him again. Malaa fans are kinda crazy though. They go hard and I love it. After Malaa guess who??

                                  KREWFUCKINGELLA!!

Right as they are setting up for them to come out the wind gets fucking crazy. It was like really fucking windy. They had to adjust a bunch of shit which in turn made their set shorter. Am I bitter. Yes, yes I am. But that’s besides the point. We are at this point all the way at the front. Right up against the gate. Flags flying high and surrounded by my fellow crew. Travel krew to my left, Vegas krew to my right and Chi/OG krew behind me. You could feel the love. We all hear their intro started and lose our fucking minds. I won’t go into too much detail about their set because it’s honestly hard to put it into words. Their shows are amazing. Their visuals were fucking awesome so high five to whomever was in charge of that. Their vocals were on point. Their dance moves were A+ and their smiles never left their face. At the end Jahan jumped into the crowd and crowd surfed around. She somehow ended up right above us. I grabbed her shoulder and helped pull her over all while her body was rolling over our flagpole and breaking it in half... Yep, Jahan broke our flag pole while crowd surfing haha. I’m not even mad about it. She gave me and huge high five and then ran off like badass that she is. Seriously, crowd surfing at a Krewella show is high up on my bucket list. It’s gonna happen one day and it’s gonna be fucking awesome. After this set the crowd starts to get fucking craaaaazy. Everyone is pushing towards the front for Excision and we are all just trying to get the fuck ouuuuuut! We finally make our way to safety and rush across to watch YELLOW MUTHAFUCKIN CLAW!! I’m fucking stoked. Give me life! We end getting some more of those drinks that almost killed us the night before and go back to raging our little hearts out to some Yellowclaw. Or well mainly me. I went ham. Sorry not sorry for anyone that was walking past me and got whipped by my hair. I know that shit probably hurt. Yellowclaw just takes me to another world ok. After Yellowclaw I have no idea who we were watching but I was feeling some type of way after a couple of those tequila drinks. When we were walking back to the train station Sean and I were on a whole different level. We had the derp face of Yasmine. I was trying to take pictures with it while walking. That was impossible. At one point Sean and I had our arms linked together and we look to our left and see this luscious patch of grass and say “I bet that grass would be great to lay on” and without hesitation we fall to the ground on to the grass and just start laughing. I really wish someone caught that on video. Good times. Good times. Again, someone in the group yells out “THE FLOOR IS LAVA” but don’t worry, I didn’t knock down any newspaper stands this time. We make it back to the train and Paola and I fall asleep on the way back to the hotel. Krewella legitimately takes all of my energy and the seeing Yellowclaw right after and drinking. Goodbye. I’m too old for this hahaha. We get back to the hotel and everyone showers and knocks out. Overall the entire day was perfect. The girls did amazing. I got to spend the whole day with the people that I love most and understand me the most. And I got to spend my 1 year wedding anniversary with my wife doing something that we love. Next year we are getting our own room though.. I’m just gonna leave it at that.

SUNDAY 6|11|17 So you know how my title says I fell in love and not with my wife. Well today’s the day that I fell in love.. with Chicago. We took our trusty green line to maybe like a blue line or pink.. I’m not really sure. I obviously wasn’t the one in charge of directions and that’s for everyone’s sake. We missed our stop to actually go into the city and had to get back on and go back. We literally all just laughed. We were all too busy looking out the windows at all the buildings that we didn’t pay attention until we were 3 stops too far. Whoops. So we make it to our original stop and start to explore this beautiful city. First stop, the bean! I mean you can’t go to Chicago and not go to the bean. We kinda took the long way around and found this brand new outdoor rock climbing that Paola and I so badly wanted to go to but 1. My shoulder is still too fucked up to climb. 2. It was waaaaay too fucking hot. I’m pretty sure my hands would’ve melted on the rocks. 3. It was unnecessarily expensive. They wanted to charge you for every little thing. So we will save that for our next visit there because honestly it was beautiful as fuck. We end up on the BP Bridge that overlooks the city and despite melting in the heat, I didn’t want to leave. We go over the bridge into Millennium Park and there’s a Blues Festival going on! So there’s food and drinks and music playing. I was a happy child. Blues isn’t my favorite genre but music is music and I love it all in its own way. We get to the bean and take our touristy pictures like everyone else. Dude the center of the bean is actually really trippy and I kinda want to have a light show in it. Don’t judge me ok. I also just really wanted to clean the whole bean. Like why does everyone have to touch it? Look with your eyes people not your hands. We start walking around some more and literally just soak it all in. You can see the history in the buildings. In all honesty, I didn’t run into any rude people. Which was really surprising considering how hot it was. Like I can’t express to you all enough just how hot it was. The humidity fucked me all the way up. I can do 100 degrees of dry heat but once you add in even the slightest bit of humidity then I feel like I’m just a walking puddle of sweat. You can literally feel sweat rolling down your body in the most unnecessary places. Places that you didn’t even know could sweat like that. We find an awesome wing spot and we all enjoy the fuck out of our food. Chicago has bomb food guys. Every thing that I ate while I was there was straight fire and I LOVE food so that’s a big deal for me. After we eat we make our way back to the hotel to get ready for our last day of the festival.

Today was bittersweet. I felt like I never really got the full experience of SAMF. One reason being I didn’t meet as many people as I usually do during a festival. But I think that was because our group was already so big that I was never alone. During other festivals it would usually just be me and couple other people and I’m that person that says I’m going to walk around and I end up finding other groups of people and make friends and then find my friends a couple hours later while on top of someone’s shoulders hahaha. But it could also be that we could never get there on time. We didn’t want to necessarily be there right as it opens but we also weren’t planning on always getting there at least a couple hours late. I also feel like SAMF is really short. It was only from 1pm to 10pm. Honestly around like 8pm is when I was really getting into my gro0o0oove. I personally thought they should’ve started the festival around 3pm and ended around 1am. It would’ve meant less time in the burning sun and more time at night with the amazing visuals that all the artists had. Let’s be real, music festivals are just 100% better in the dark. We finally get to venue and rush over to the corona dome to watch Antics. If you haven’t heard of them, please do yourself a favor and check them out. They threw down! And they were in the only area that had vans and cool air so that was awesome. Today we didn’t have the flag pole (because it was broken) so I just had the travel krew flag around my neck like a cape. That meant that we could not lose any one today and everyone needed to stay together. We met up with Myra and Kate and watched a couple sets and then we went to the main stage and watched another set. I literally don’t remember the order of who we were watching but I will say that everyone that I watched was amazing. We sat on the grass for quite a while just chillin and enjoying the music. We got up and met up with people and then some time after that we got some food (almost everything was sold out) and went to the silent disco. Silent discos are hilarious but so fun. Unfortunately that was the only dj that I didn’t really enjoy. He was just very repetitive and I got bored pretty quickly. After the silent disco we walked around in search of some more food and then spent the rest of our time near the main stage. The crowd leaving that night was crazy. You could see the exhaustion in everyone’s faces. 3-day festivals are no joke, especially in the heat. I love them but you definitely have to be prepared. The water stations were a joke and the food running out the last day was kind of a drag but all in all, I’d do it again. I really like that I could rent a locker for all 3 days and was able to leave my stuff in there over night. So I left my sweater and things like chapstick and sunblock that you can only bring in if it’s sealed so I didn’t have to bring a new one in every day. Although I didn’t use it, the lockers also came with chargers. You could either give them your phone and they would charge it for free or you could give them a $10 deposit and they would give you a portable charger that you could take with you during the day/night. When we got back to our hotel we all shower, change and knock out.

MONDAY 6|12|17 Today is our day to explore! We all start to get ready. Brooke is packing because she has a flight at 3pm. Sean isn’t feeling well so he decides to stay back and rest because he has EDC to go to the next weekend and doesn’t want to be sick. So Paola, Brooke, Brie, Deanna and I head out to the city. Our first stop was the Nutella Cafe. My wife (Paola) is obsessed with Nutella so this was a big deal to her. Monica met up with us and after standing in line for maybe about 20 mins we get let inside and like me just tell you, it was not all I thought it would be. They don’t have any merch which I’m really surprised about. They are the first Nutella Cafe and they don’t have anything that you can bring home with you. That was kind of a bummer. They didn’t have anything special food-wise. They had all the kinds of things that you can get elsewhere or even make at home. Paola got the Nutella gelato which was actually really good but again, nothing too special. So if anyone is wondering if they want to go or not, see how long the line is first. If it’s going to take more than like 15 mins to get inside I would suggest doing something else. After that we went to Dylan’s Candy Bar. This place was candy heaven! And all their none candy souvenirs were great. I didn’t end up buy anything but I probably would if I went back. We ate a little bit at their cafe and we got a huge drink that was supposed to be for Brooke, Brie and I but Brooke ended up having to leave so it was just Brie and I drinking this giant fishbowl of some raspberry alcoholic drink at like 11:30 in the morning. Deanna ended up helping us but lets just say, I didn’t walk out of that building completely sober. After the candy store we made our way to the Navy Pier. Walking around Chicago made me happy. I mean I was a little tipsy buuuut coming from Orange Country where there’s hardly any tall buildings, I was just amazed by the architecture. I loved the way the sun would peak out from behind the buildings and the reflections on the windows of the buildings. I don’t really know how to describe it without sounding weird for falling in love with a bunch of tall buildings haha. We were clearly a very touristy spot but coming from living down the street to one of the most touristy spots in California, everywhere that we went was clean. And it wasn’t super crowded everywhere. Everyone was nice. Locals weren’t rude or annoyed when you asked them for directions or recommendations. We get to the Navy Pier and there’s a huge fountain thing that a bunch of kids were playing with because it’s a million degrees outside. Deanna, Monica and Paola end up running through it. Meanwhile I’m texting Alex to try and find them to meet up with her and Emma only to find out that they were sitting on a bench literally right next to us hahaha. We all meet up around the bench and Alex gives us some yummy donuts that she got for free. We are all sitting around and just talking about the shows and the krew and how excited we are about the EP and what not. After a while we all get up and decide to walk about the pier and find a small gift shop and a restroom and just spend some more time with eachother before we all have to split up again. We end up on this little trolley that takes you back into the city. We get off before Alex and Emma and try to say bye as fast as possible so we don’t miss our stop. Monica had to leave before hand to check out a couple other things before she went home. So at this point it’s just Brie, Dee, Paola and I. We found a local sports shop and building that was covered with LGBTQ pride. There was soooo much pride in Chicago. I think Chicago pride was going on the weekend after we left. I wish we could’ve stayed. Yasmine told us that they get doooowwwnnn. We will definitely have to try and make it out next year. We end up passing Eataly Chicago and the adult in me was in heaven. There were tons of kitchen gadgets and fresh jams and CHEEEEEEEEESE. I am a lover of cheese and I watched someone making mozzarella balls for a good 15mins straight. Brie and Paola end up getting some more gelato and then we made our way to a brewery and end up on this cool rooftop bar. Paola is all about brewery’s right now so I had to let her get it fix. Unfortunately a lot of them didn’t open until 4 and they didn’t have merch. I guess Paola and I just love getting some kind of merch from all the local spots rather than the souvenir shops.. which we never found and I’m kind of sad about it. After the bar we go to a pizza spot called Lou Malnati’s that one of the bartenders recommended and it was soooooo good. It’s a small little place that’s constantly packed. I was literally falling asleep at the table because I was soooo tired but also so stoked for the pizza. After we had pizza we made our way back to our hotel to try and get an early night sleep because we were leaving the next morning to make our drive back home.

TUESDAY 6|13|17 - WEDNESDAY 6|14|17 Today is the day we leave Chicago. It’s honestly bittersweet. I woke up with my allergies going crazy from all the wind and dust from the past week but I honestly didn’t want to go. There was still so much that I wanted to see but that was good! That just means that we HAVE to come back. We all pile our things into the car and Paola starts the drive home. The first stop we make is the Arch in St. Louis! It was still hot as fuck and we are all tired but we get out of the car and soak in some history! We also needed to stretch our legs as much/often as possible because it’s gonna be a looooong drive. We walk up to the Arch and take some photos and just stare at it for a while. I think at some point someone in the group yelled out “the floor is lava”... we all died haha. We get a recommendation for a small little restaurant that’s famous for their giant BLT’s and chocolate that they make in the store. Ok I loooooove BLT’s and this ish was huge. There’s no other way to explain this sandwich other than just showing you a picture. Needless to say, I could only eat half. SO. MUCH. BACON.

After our meal it’s time to get back on the road. The trip home wasn’t anything too crazy. I wish that we had more time to actually get out and visit all kinds of cool places but we couldn’t take that much time off of work so we will just have to save it for another road trip. One interesting that happened though.. I got pulled over. I was apparently going 46mph in a 30mph zone. But let me just explain the speed limits that were going on before that. If you’ve ever gone a long road trip you’re more than likely going to hit that part of the trip when you’re on a 2 way highway in the middle of nowhere and a few little towns in between. So the speed limit on the highway was usually 65-75 and then speed limit in the towns were usually 35-45. The tricky part is that for a few miles from the highway to the little town the speed limit would go from 75-30. It’s late at night and there’s barely any cars out so as soon as I see that the speed limit is decreasing I just take my foot off the gas and slowly start coasting through. Unfortunately I didn’t slow down fast enough and a cop that was clearly hiding ends up behind me. It was a huge SUV so I pull over thinking that it was an ambulance until I realized that it was following me lol. At this point I’m so confused because I obviously wasn’t going that fast but this little town in particular was a crazy slow speed limit. The cop was nice and let me go with a warning. I definitely lucked out on that one! We eventually make it back to Arizona where we meet up with our fellow travel krew member, Corbin, for lunch. We get a nice meal in us before our next 4-5 hour drive home. We pick up our car and say goodbye to Brie and Dee and start heading home. Paola and I are delirious and excited to be going home but also sad to be leaving our friends. After about 5 hours of driving we finally make it home. The first thing I did was squeeze the shit out of my cats and then lay in my bed.

Overall the trip was amazing. If I could do it again and again, I would. I absolutely loved meeting people from the krew that I’ve only met online. It was awesome to see the krew in that tiny little space for the EP party and just fill it up love and sweat and laughs and a million great memories. Chicago, I’ll be back for you whether it’s for another krew show or just to explore. Thank you Yasmine and Jahan for always making every moment with you a great one. I could be a foot away in a tiny venue or a few hundred feet away at a huge festival and your performance will hit me right in the feels. And can I just say that your vocals lately are just on fucking point! Like I don’t know what y’all been doing but you are stepping it the fuck up and I couldn’t be more proud. It was an absolute honor to watch you guys perform not just once but twice in your hometown. Your LA shows are amazing but there’s something different in you when you’re home in Chicago and I loved being able to witness that. Thank you so anyone that actually read the whole thing. I hope that I get to meet all of you along our travels. The travel krew has a ton of plans and I can’t wait to share them all with you. xoxo Jojo

[seancraigmay]

Family Photo ❤️

[seancraigmay]

Have you guys checked out our merch site? Read the about on the website for more info ❤️ travelkrew.bigcartel.com

[briecheese-krew]

Tbt to a couple weeks ago. Chicago thank you for all the new memories, new experiences, and especially the new friends. An extra large thank you and hug to my girls @krewellayasmine and @krewellajahan along with their management team @jeetkunejenny and @jeremy_kim_kardashian for putting on one hell of a release party and spring awakening set! Chicago will forever hold a special place in my heart because of you guys and the travelkrew. Chicago, I will be back again. #travelkrew #chitown #springawakening (at Chicago, Illinois)

[briecheese-krew]

Going hard at The New World Tour LA with my girl gang!! Love and miss you all so much. @mermaid_party @krewella @travelkrew @pala_sun @mudymes @nursekate1er @bruktography @ashleyy_esther @kaypea_daily @tizzyfox_ (at The Hollywood Palladium)

[mermaiddpartyy]

This sunset was like an orgasm for my eyes 😍. . . . . . #sunset #kansas #flintandsamadventures #roadtrippin #travelkrew (at Kansas)

[mermaiddpartyy]

The Arch. St. Louis, you pretty cute. Let's go on a date sometime soon. . . . . . . #StLouis #missouri #thearch #gatewayarch #roadtrippin #travelkrew #flintandsamadventures (at Gateway Arch)

[mermaiddpartyy]

What is the Travel Krew?

I feel like writing a little about what we are and what we do would help a lot of people understand us more. So first off, we are a group of friends that share the love for Krewella and traveling. So why not do both things at once? We travel around to go to their shows and see places we've never been before. Paola and I met Sean via twitter. We saw that we were going to the same show and decided to meet up. One of the first things Sean said was "I need a drink" ... I instantly fell in love. Since then we have been to 11 shows together and I wouldn't trade it for the world. In between those shows he introduced us to Ashley, Tyna, Corbin and Britannie. We all met up for the Arizona sweatbox show. That's when we met Dee and Brie cheese. They were up front to the left of us. Brie was standing next to Paola and was afraid that she was going to elbow her in the head haha. Once Party Monster came on (my favorite song) Paola turned to them and was like hey this is my wife's favorite song so we are going to switch spots and then we literally all head banged the night away. Dee took our photo with her phone because her camera was the best one lol. After that night we all again kept in touch via twitter and texting and since then have been to 6 shows together. They were the ones that completed our Travel Krew... for now. I say "for now" because we get a lot of people asking if they can join the Travel Krew and here's your answer. Yes, you can join but it won't be right away. Because we are such a close group of friends we aren't just a group of people that go to shows together. We spend time together outside of shows more than we are actually at shows. We spend hours on end together in cramped cars and tiny hotel rooms. We visit eachother in our hometowns and celebrate our birthdays together. We call eachother and FaceTime eachother when we are bored, need a helpful ear, or find something funny that reminds us of eachother . What I'm trying to say is that if you want to be a part of our group you honestly just have to be our friend first. Get to know us. If we come to a show near you, come hang out with us! If we all click together and get along chances are we will start inviting you to more shows with us! We have absolutely no problem letting people into our group. We are all friendly people (despite the resting bitch face Brie and I constantly have 😄) so don't ever be afraid to come say hi to us! The plans that we have for this Travel Krew are ridiculous and I can't wait to share it all with everyone!

[mermaiddpartyy]

Spring Awakening day 1! 📷: @phillykrew #travelkrew #samf #springawakening2017

[mermaiddpartyy]

I love this crazy little family of mine ☺️ #krewfam #krewella #krewlife #travelkrew (at Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall)

[mermaiddpartyy]

So many amazing memories have been because of these beautiful souls. I've met some of the best friends I could ask for. I've been on a million crazy adventures just to go watch them play. I will be forever grateful for all the things you guys do for us wether is it's as small as sweaty hug after a crazy show. Or helping us not have to sleep in an airport over night. This week is cabo will never be forgotten. I'm so glad I've been able to get to know you ladies more and more every time I see you. You two are truly the most genuine women I know. Thank you for being you ❤️❤️ #krewfam #krewlife #travelkrew #djrazorburn #undercheddar #baewatchcabo #wildcanyon (at WILD CANYON)

[mermaiddpartyy]

I can sit and write for hours of why I love these two but I'll spare you all. I can't wait to see you ladies in Cabo! Safe travels and see you soooooon! 🤗❤️✈️ #travelkrew #krewlife #krewfam #krewella (at The Metropolitan Nightclub)