For those of you who don't know, Side One Dummy Records has a podcast/YouTube channel that's called Story Tellers, where they invite artists, comedians, etc. to tell stories of past funny experiences once a month. They allow a very limited audience to attend the shows and watch the performers tell their stories live at the Side One Dummy headquarters in Hollywood. It's a really laid back event where people can socialize with like—minded punk rock fans. The label even provided free beer before the show started.

Every Story Tellers installment has a different theme. July 23, 2014's theme was Tales From the Road where each storyteller told a funny story that happened to them while being on tour. (Just a quick note: There are some light spoilers coming up, but I won't go into too much detail of what each story was about). The first storyteller was David Ross, who is a comedian, and he told a story about what almost could have been a very unfortunate time ordering fried chicken at a Ghetto Mart in Pensacola, Florida after performing stand—up in a very gross venue. Then Tanner Jones of You Blew It! told a story where he and his band mates got in trouble with the cops after playing a SXSW show because a couple of the band members were drunk and shooting off fire works in a residential area at four in the morning. Up next was punk celebrity Chris Farren of Fake Problems. In my opinion, he had the most outrageous story of the night. Let's just say that his story involved smoking pot at a house the band was staying the night at while on tour and a toilet that got clogged at the worst possible time. I don't think I need to go any further than that, but take my word for it; I was nearly in tears from laughing so hard. After Chris, Joe Sib, co—owner of Side One Dummy Records and the emcee of the show, told his story about being on tour with his band Wax back in the day. The band was struggling through their tour and it seemed like they were going to call it quits in Arkansas after having to burn a couch for warmth at the house they performed and slept in. It was a great story for two reasons. The first one being that it was really funny. The other being that it really hit home for me. Listening to a story of a now—successful guy where he was struggling to find that success and beating the odds when he was younger really spoke to me. It was inspiring. Finally, Kate Nash told her story about how she broke one of her front teeth and stealing a teddy bear while on tour.

What made going to Story Tellers such a cool and unique experience was that though there were musicians there, no live music was played, yet it was just as entertaining, if not more so than a concert. I think we tend to put artists on a pedestal, but after going to this you realize that they are people who have funny things happen to them, too. All of the storytellers told their stories very well and in great detail. If you are ever in the Los Angeles area, try and grab a spot for the Story Tellers show.