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1. Travis remembers walking along Seneca Lake on a Saturday morning once, maybe when he was thirteen. It was a typical November day, bright, sunny, cold as fuck. He was fine in his layered short-sleeve and long-sleeve tees and hoodie but you could tell the college kids from the townies. Rich smart fucks came from all over and as soon as October hit would be wearing fucking parkas and those ugly fucking boots. It was a shame, too, because college chicks generally wore less than nothing when it was warm out. But today there was this one girl—really fucking hot, legs up to there, long dark hair—wearing nothing but a tiny shirt and a tinier skirt. Travis figured she was making her way home from the night before but she looked really fucking cold, but man, when he offered his hoodie to her, she smiled the sweetest little smile and kissed him on the cheek. He'll never forget that day. Or her.
2. Travis and Matt like to joke that they're from the hood, but really, Geneva was a decent enough place to grow up. Travis especially knew he had it good compared to his cousins downstate. No one other than his band was making the music they made in high school. It was cool, being a teenager there. Beat getting shot at, he knew. Upstate was in his blood, made him who is today. He's proud of it—they all are. He's just the one that has it tattooed across his collarbones.
3. Hometown crowds are the best crowds. Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse—they all claim them as theirs and they love it. The energy from those audiences is better than any high Travis ever got over the years. Kids from tiny little forgotten towns look to them and think yeah, they made it big, I can, too. Travis just hopes they remember to come back and give back, otherwise it won't keep happening.
4. Speaking of highs, it's a well-known fact that the Finger Lakes produce great wines. They produce really fucking good weed, too. It's the soil. Even Trohman asks for Upstate weed whenever the guys go back to visit their families.
5. Inside jokes about Upstate make for great lyrics. Jim "The Hammer" Shapiro especially.