{"id":38028,"date":"2022-10-07T08:16:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T15:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/?p=38028"},"modified":"2022-10-07T08:26:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T15:26:49","slug":"vinny-mauro-when-it-all-comes-full-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drumeo.com\/beat\/vinny-mauro-when-it-all-comes-full-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"When It All Comes Full Circle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The very first show I ever attended was The Backstreet Boys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was six years old and went with my family to a huge outdoor pavilion called Montage Mountain in Scranton Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up two hours away in a town called Jersey Shore (not the<\/em> Jersey shore) and it was the closest amphitheater to us. All the big tours came there, so we\u2019d have to drive out to see them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vinny
My first drum set. A Yamaha DP kit gifted to me by my parents for Christmas. I had just turned 7 years old and I couldn’t believe it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until I was around 12 years old that I discovered rock and metal. I was playing Guitar Hero and found the song \u201cSix\u201d by All That Remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was like, holy shit. I don\u2019t even know what I\u2019m hearing right now.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I quickly got into bands like Arch Enemy and As I Lay Dying. I started getting more into drumming and listening to scene and metalcore stuff like Bring Me The Horizon, Chiodos, August Burns Red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It changed my life entirely. It became a large part of my personality. And it made me want to get better at drums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a 12-year-old, I was mesmerized by Matt Greiner from August Burns Red and Aaron Gillespie from Underoath. I\u2019d completely copy their drum setups and look up to their musicianship. And I started going to Warped Tour at Montage Mountain to see my favorite bands, driving down every summer from age 12 until age 19 when I joined Motionless In White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right after high school, one of my bandmates, George, lived with a former member of Motionless: Josh Balz. I would go to their house and I became friends with Josh too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Motionless was parting ways with their drummer, Josh was like, \u201cI know you can play drums. I\u2019ve heard you on your other stuff with George. Would you want to try out for us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kinda brushed it off at the time. The band had two albums out and I\u2019d never even heard one song. I was thinking, man, I don\u2019t wanna play for a band I don\u2019t know.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

George was like, \u201cDude, you need to do this. I don\u2019t even care if you quit our band. You need to do this<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I sent them a video of me playing a couple of their songs. Immediately they were like, \u201cYo, let\u2019s do something!\u201d They invited me to come tour with them – my first tour ever – in Australia doing the Soundwave Festival circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was insane. I\u2019d only been out of the country one time before. I dropped out of college, and two weeks later I went to Australia. I haven\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vinny
A fresh faced, 20 year old me on Warped Tour 2014. I had just joined the band and this was my third tour altogether, but my first to cover the entire US. I had no idea what the future held but I was just ecstatic to be there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first time we played Warped Tour at Montage Mountain in 2014, it felt like a dream come true. I always viewed this place as hallowed ground where all the coolest bands played. There were so many familiar faces – friends, family, people I grew up with and went to elementary school with. I felt my life was made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We opened for Slipknot there in 2015 and played Warped Tour again in 2016 and 2018. Every time I got to play, it was a cooler experience. Going from watching from the crowd, to being friends with the bands, to getting to open on that stage\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never expected to headline it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"vinny
How every show starts for me. Coming out on stage first, seeing the crowd and feeling the energy will always be a favorite moment of the set.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While we were planning our recent tour, Chris [Cerulli, vocalist] was like, \u201cI\u2019m really pushing to try and get a set at Montage.\u201d It was up in the air for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when it was finally booked, I was extremely excited. It didn\u2019t hit me at first, but as it got closer I was like damn, I cannot believe that we\u2019re doing this. This is unreal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montage Mountain isn\u2019t just important to me – it\u2019s important to the band\u2019s history as well. Motionless In White was playing there during Warped Tour on one of the local band stages when they were discovered by the guy who ended up managing them. And that kickstarted everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got to see my family and all these hometown people at the show. It was one of the biggest crowds we\u2019ve ever headlined for and I knew so many people in the crowd. But I wasn\u2019t nervous or anxious – I was just so ready to do the thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went out there and I had such a good time. We have a song called \u201cMasterpiece\u201d – our biggest song right now – and Chris stopped singing and started shaking his head because the crowd was so loud while they sang the chorus. It was incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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