Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Riding in Vans with Boys

Action sports channel Fuel TV has supplanted MTV as the best way for signed and unsigned bands to get international TV exposure. The Daily Habit airs four times a day on Fuel and features interviews with pro skaters and surfers and live sets by signed and unsigned bands. Locals the Night Marchers, the Locust, and Grand Ole Party have appeared on the channel, which is delivered to 25 million U.S. homes and airs in Portugal and Australia.

The show’s crew includes Cardiff’s Chris Cote, the editor of North County-based Transworld Surf magazine. He’s one of Fuel’s fill-in hosts.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“It’s like the Conan O’Brien for the action sports world.” Cote has done work for Fuel for the past two years. He says his connection with the channel has allowed him to get music by local bands Drowning Men, Hot Snakes, and his own band Years Around the Sun used for surf, skate, and ski videos that air on Fuel throughout the day.

Bassist/singer Cote admits his first band, Kut U Up, broke up just as it became world famous, blowing what he says was an opportunity of a lifetime. “We all saw the brass ring, but we were too fucked up to reach out and grab it.”

Because of Cote’s friendship with blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge, Kut U Up was invited to be the opening band for the 2002 Green Day/blink tour that played stadiums and large outdoor venues in 52 U.S. cities. “It was one of the biggest tours of the year,” says Cote. The pay was negligible. “Each member got a per diem for expenses, which we pretty much spent on party supplies,” says Cote. “Nearly every show was sold out.” Locally the tour played to a packed house at Coors Amphitheatre. Resting Bird, a video production company co-owned by DeLonge and blink bassist Mark Hoppus, paid for a video crew to follow Kut U Up. That footage led to the release of a full-length feature, Riding in Vans with Boys. When the DVD was released in 2002, MTV2 featured it in heavy rotation.

“We were playing stadium shows with blink and Green Day. There were chicks backstage. It was rock and roll fantasy camp.… We think about it every day,” says Cote about the band’s failure to capitalize on their big break. “Sometimes it’s painful to go see a good show. There will always be the underlying feeling of regret that that could have been us.”

Part of the problem, admits Cote, was that Kut U Up was supposed to appear in the video as four young guys who liked to party and weren’t supposed to take things too seriously. According to Cote, they followed the script too well.

The video documented their rock star excess, “Like the time we caused $5000 damage to a hotel room. We threw up a lot. And then there was the time I got third-degree burns on my ass when Billy Joe from Green Day branded my ass.

“We were fucked up before the tour, but I would say the tour definitely enabled us.… We developed a fucked-up reputation so that after the tour people didn’t want to work with us. No one was taking us seriously. I think our music was good enough, but we just didn’t take the business side seriously. Right after that tour, we should have set up our own tour.”

Kut U Up played a reunion show at the Belly Up in July. “I think it was the first time we all played together sober.” He says that other reunion shows are in the works.

Cote tapes his next Daily Habit shows December 16. They’ll air on December 30 and 31.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches

Action sports channel Fuel TV has supplanted MTV as the best way for signed and unsigned bands to get international TV exposure. The Daily Habit airs four times a day on Fuel and features interviews with pro skaters and surfers and live sets by signed and unsigned bands. Locals the Night Marchers, the Locust, and Grand Ole Party have appeared on the channel, which is delivered to 25 million U.S. homes and airs in Portugal and Australia.

The show’s crew includes Cardiff’s Chris Cote, the editor of North County-based Transworld Surf magazine. He’s one of Fuel’s fill-in hosts.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“It’s like the Conan O’Brien for the action sports world.” Cote has done work for Fuel for the past two years. He says his connection with the channel has allowed him to get music by local bands Drowning Men, Hot Snakes, and his own band Years Around the Sun used for surf, skate, and ski videos that air on Fuel throughout the day.

Bassist/singer Cote admits his first band, Kut U Up, broke up just as it became world famous, blowing what he says was an opportunity of a lifetime. “We all saw the brass ring, but we were too fucked up to reach out and grab it.”

Because of Cote’s friendship with blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge, Kut U Up was invited to be the opening band for the 2002 Green Day/blink tour that played stadiums and large outdoor venues in 52 U.S. cities. “It was one of the biggest tours of the year,” says Cote. The pay was negligible. “Each member got a per diem for expenses, which we pretty much spent on party supplies,” says Cote. “Nearly every show was sold out.” Locally the tour played to a packed house at Coors Amphitheatre. Resting Bird, a video production company co-owned by DeLonge and blink bassist Mark Hoppus, paid for a video crew to follow Kut U Up. That footage led to the release of a full-length feature, Riding in Vans with Boys. When the DVD was released in 2002, MTV2 featured it in heavy rotation.

“We were playing stadium shows with blink and Green Day. There were chicks backstage. It was rock and roll fantasy camp.… We think about it every day,” says Cote about the band’s failure to capitalize on their big break. “Sometimes it’s painful to go see a good show. There will always be the underlying feeling of regret that that could have been us.”

Part of the problem, admits Cote, was that Kut U Up was supposed to appear in the video as four young guys who liked to party and weren’t supposed to take things too seriously. According to Cote, they followed the script too well.

The video documented their rock star excess, “Like the time we caused $5000 damage to a hotel room. We threw up a lot. And then there was the time I got third-degree burns on my ass when Billy Joe from Green Day branded my ass.

“We were fucked up before the tour, but I would say the tour definitely enabled us.… We developed a fucked-up reputation so that after the tour people didn’t want to work with us. No one was taking us seriously. I think our music was good enough, but we just didn’t take the business side seriously. Right after that tour, we should have set up our own tour.”

Kut U Up played a reunion show at the Belly Up in July. “I think it was the first time we all played together sober.” He says that other reunion shows are in the works.

Cote tapes his next Daily Habit shows December 16. They’ll air on December 30 and 31.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Centennial Salute to San Diego’s Military, East Village Block Party, Birding Basics Class

Events March 29-March 30, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.