Otherwise members mark tour moments

He calls it the rock 'n' roll hustle. It consists of 16 hour drives in a van, crisscrossing the country with little more than gas money in his pocket. But for Adrian Patrick and his brother Ryan, singer and guitarist for popular Vegas hard rockers Otherwise, it's a defining moment.

Together, the two are on the road this summer with the Mayhem Festival, the biggest metal package tour of the summer, headlined by heavyweights Korn and Rob Zombie, performing with female fronted rockers In This Moment.

We recently caught up with Adrian, his adrenaline still pumping right after a performance in Boston, to hear how things have been going so far:

July 10, Devore, Calif.: "That was the first show. It was very nerve-racking. My heart was just jumping out of my chest while I was onstage, and I was afraid people were going to see me shaking with adrenaline. It was intense, man. Maria Brink, the lead singer of In This Moment, is a lot of fun. That first day, I really focused on her and that definitely helped. We met Randy Johnson, the baseball pitcher. He's like 6-foot-10. He was joking around, telling people he was Bill Walton."

July 11, Mountain View, Calif.: "We drove eight hours, pulled into the parking lot of the Shoreline Amphitheater at like 3 a.m. and slept in the van. Basically, we're gypsy rock 'n' roll panhandlers. We get offstage, and we're making gas money by handing out our CD and then just walking around with a bucket that says 'gas fund' on it. We've made enough money every show to fill up our gas tank and get to the next venue."

July 16, Phoenix: "Insanely hot. It was a sacrifice that had to be made to the gods of rock."

July 17, Albuquerque: "That was a beautiful venue, up on a ridge overlooking Albuquerque. Most of the kids were Native American, and they were so into the music. That crowd went nuts. There was a guy in the audience wearing an Otherwise bandana. He'd come and seen us in Vegas at Feelgoods and with Korn at The Pearl."

July 20, Maryland Heights, Mo.: "It rained, and it was like a summer monsoon. The sky just exploded. All the money we got in our bucket was soaking wet."

July 23, Camden, N.J.: "We got to walk around on South Street in downtown Philadelphia and we saw Ben Franklin's grave. We went to, like, the second or third oldest bar in America, the Dark Horse. It's where George Washington and Ben Franklin used to go and have beers together. For us to be seeing these places, it gave us chills. It's rock 'n' roll, it's the Mayhem Fest, but for my brother and I, this has been like a spiritual journey."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.