We started our ShipRocked day 3 at sea with a Hairy Chest contest hosted by Christina Chriss of Kaleido and Cookie. Fans bared it all and danced onstage to compete for who had the most hair on their chest. Shaun Lichtenstein from the band Lansdowne came out on top as the winner.
Most of our morning was filled with meet and greets with amazing bands like Parkway Drive, Nothing More, Glorious Sons, and Des Rocks in the Northern Lights Dining Room. Each band had a blast meeting with their fans, taking some fun photos, and getting to talk about everything music.
A surprise rainstorm rolled in right at noon when SpiritWorld was about to take the stage but the show went on, just a little late. SpiritWorld emerged as a musical outlet for frontman Stu Folsom’s love of punk, outlaw country, and metal. The band’s first sounds resembled outlaw punk, but soon transformed into true metal which gained the group the recognition it has today.
Girl-band Plush took the deck stage in the afternoon playing “Athena” and “Hate” and an energetic cover of Heart’s “Barracuda.” We’ve really enjoyed seeing their performances over the past few days and being a part of their rise to fame. The girls looked like they were having the time of their lives performing as we sailed through the wide open ocean.
Afternoon meet and greets started from 1:30 to 3:00. Artists Atreyu, Nothing More, 10 years, and Big Jay Olkerson mingled with hundreds of fans in the Northern Lights dining room. These are photo-only meet and greets that ShipRocked’s photographers will upload onto their Facebook and Flickr pages following the cruise for fans to have for free as part of their special onboard experience.
Over in the Music Experience area on Deck 5, Goodbye June greeted fans. The band made of three cousins: Landon Milbourn, Brandon Qualkenbush, and Tyler Baker have created their own form of music that combines hard rock, gospel, and blues.
Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D. introduced ShipRockers to his new memoir “Son of Southtown” with stories and reading excerpts from the book. Just South of San Diego, Sandoval grew up close to the U.S.-Mexico border. The memoir tells his story of growing up in Southern California, his early musical influences, early gigs, and the many struggles he had to face along the way. Book passages talked about everything from the early days playing the Whiskey A Go Go opening for Rob Halford to his spiritual journey when he was asking God for signs in his life. Sandoval was emotional and vulnerable as he read the book out loud to the packed crowd in the alt lounge.
The beer pong competition took place in the atrium with so many teams competing. The event was hosted by The Native Howl, a unique band from Michigan whose music is a blend of bluegrass and thrash metal. Guests and musicians alike had a ton of fun taking it back to their college days playing beer pong and jamming out to some rock tunes.
Prom was the theme of day three with everyone dressing up in their best 80’s prom attire and taking those traditional cheesy prom pics. Classic 80’s hits blasted on the speakers as ShipRockers did their best popping and locking. One of the unexpected cruise highlights for was catching Rubix’s Groove on the main deck singing the most amazing throwback 80’s covers. The band was a departure from the rock and metal on the boat but was so much fun for the whole crowd.
Guitarist and former Five Finger Death Punch member Jason Hook and his new band Flat Back played out on the deck. The band is composed of lead singer Wes Horton, bassist Nick Diltz, and drummer Rob Pierce. They played songs from their albums A BIT OF LIGHTNING and DARK SIDE OF THE BRAIN as well as an intense FFDP cover of “Burn MF.”
Landsdowne took over the Ocean Plaza at 7:15 p.m. and performed. The Boston based band contains members Jon Ricci on vocals, Shaun Lichtenstein on guitar, Glenn Mungo on drums, Josh Waterman on guitar, and Mike LaRoche on bass. They sang out some of their songs like “One Shot”, “Oxygen,” and “Up All Night.”
Nothing More closed out our night in the theater with an incredible set list full of surprise guests. Their opening song was the powerful “House of Sand” joined by Eric Vanlerberghe from I Prevail. For “Angel Song” the group was joined by Brandon Saller, lead singer from Atreyu. Their performance of “Don’t Stop” featured Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D.. Their last feature song was a run through of “Stuck” with Heidi Shepherd of Butcher Babies.
For their second to last song “Fadein/Fadeout,” guitarist Mark Vollelunga explained how the song is about the bond between a son and his father. Nothing More’s entire performance was high-energy and kept the crowd head banging until the very last second.
The piano was hopping after midnight when Luke Spiller from British glam-rock band The Struts showed up to do an Elvis cover of “Burning Love.” Brandon Saller and Diamonte also showed up during some of the late night piano sessions to sing a few with the crowds who gathered.
Come back tomorrow for another look into day four of ShipRocked 2025!
Words by Emily Cigan @emily.cigan and Amy Harris @thetraveladdictig