Show Journal 2007-12-15
So last night was the feel good show of the year. I kept hearing everyone call it the family reunion all night which seemed pretty accurate. I saw people I hadn’t seen in years last night and I must admit it was pretty fun. The reason for the reunion was a show by The Secludes, who stopped playing back in 2003. I recall first meeting them outside of EJ’s and were impressed because they had played with a bunch of really big bands like Strung Out and I think even Bad Religion. They were always a great live band and totally nice dudes so we were stoked when they asked if we’d play this show. We were up first and I think it was easily the most people we’ve ever played to at the Ash Street. I thought we played well but no one moved, no one really clapped and only a few people even registered a facial expression. No one left though and that is the ultimate sign you are sucking so I guess we were ok. Nothing too spectacular to report from our performance other than Dave’s voice sounding like he had rinsed with some sort of battery acid. The Secludes were up second and I was stoked to see them again. The songs all came back to me as they started them and I can’t even describe it other than to say it was such a good time. Adam is still an amazing drummer and I still wish I could play as well as Jason. It really was the feel good night of the year and whether we had played or not I would have enjoyed it. The last band of the night was Bitchin’ Summer. As much as I love The Secludes I’m pretty sure Bitchin’ Summer is my new favorite Portland band. They were amazing. I don’t even really know how to describe them. They took some rock, some punk, some metal and merged it one amazingly energetic and enticing package. They were seriously awesome live and I will definitely check them out again. Thanks to Heather, Bitchin’ Summer and super huge thanks to The Secludes for asking us to hang out and play this show.
Show Journal 2007-12-14
Wow, what a long night. We started off on the wrong foot with Dave arriving an hour and a half late. Thankfully the van is running again, however the smell that has accumulated during the months of limited use was practically unbearable. At every stop handfuls of trash were extracted. Some loads were in bags and some just fell out on their own. Had a homeless person discovered the van they could had lived for a year off all the cans and bottles. Dustin and I played a five minute round of “find the duke” as we thought for sure there must be feces somewhere in the vehicle. No excrement to be found though. The worst offender was the McFlurry cap and spoon that was stuck to the floor. Another mixed blessing of being in the van was it’s size. On the way to show the winds in the gorge were so strong I honestly thought the van would flip over. We got gas and food in The Dalles. I got a milkshake and corndog because I am disgusting. At this point it also started snowing which would come back to haunt us later. At some point during the drive we sat and listened to ‘The Return’. It was kind of charming hearing it again and thinking back about the record and release of the album and songs. However the moment was short lived as by the 5th song we had decided that making fart noises was the best way to accent the music. It’s hard to believe I am technically an adult when the most humorous part of my day was watching three of my friends make elementary school noises repeatedly. Sadly that flatulent accompaniment continued for well over 30 minutes. Due to Dave lateness we arrived at Ray’s just after 10:00. We were annoyed because we were so late but the first band had just started. They were good for such a young band. The drummer couldn’t have been out of middle school and was rocking a mohawk that would make Rancid envious. Cab was second and sounded pretty good. Dreadful Children was third and holy crap they rocked it. We had seem them once before but they killed it tonight. Serious props and admiration from our end. We were last and started at about 12:45 (remember this was an all ages show). The set was pretty good. Dustin and I liked it, Dave and Justin did not. Dave was just embarrassed because he forgot how to play Radio after practicing it weekly for nearly 8 years. Justin didn’t like it because he preferred the fart noise version we had created in the van mere hours before. In all seriousness the show was a very good time. We left at 2 and made good time until we hit The Dalles. In the course of those few hours the snow had accumulated to a few inches and we had a mildly treacherous drive for about an hour. The last 15 minutes was a freakish downpour and finally by 5:45 we arrived at Justin’s. Longest night ever. Thanks for Dustin and crew, Dreadful Children, Kiah and everyone who chose to stay up late with us!
Last weekend of shows for the year
Tonight a show in Richland and tomorrow the Ash Street. Two of our favorite places to play all in one weekend. Ray’s should be rad because it’s Ray’s and Ray’s is always good. The Ash Street will be cool because it’s a reunion show for The Secludes which is one of our favorite Portland bands ever. We play first at that one so please show up early. In the meantime this has been amusing us, as well as this.
Show Journal 2007-12-07
Lots of surprises tonight. First was the start time and lineup. The web site said music at 11 and all we knew was that Drawback was the only other band playing. We show up to load in and there is already another band on stage setting up and ready to play. Waiting in the wings are The Royal Tees who are up second. So in a few minutes this went from a late two band bill to an early four band bill with one of our friend’s band opening. After unloading Dave and I went to park the van. If you’ve been to NW Portland on a weekend you know this is pretty much impossible. We drove around so long and parked so far away that when we returned the first band was on their last song. Never even caught their name either. The Tees took forever and a day to get setup. Not because they are slow but because the first band took forever (I hear it was their first show ever?) but more significantly there was no sound person or microphones. Turns out the first band were the only ones who had mics and stands. Fortunately they were nice enough to let the other bands share their equipment. Had they said no, we were fully prepared to “fix the glitch” and just go home. The Tees played well (as they always do) and ironically the PA sounded great thanks to the knob turning skills of the first band. Drawback was up third and they were damn entertaining. Don’t know if they’ll care for this comparison but they reminded me of a more technical Lawrence Arms. Fun to watch for sure and I definitely wouldn’t mind playing with them again. We started last (after midnight) and I guess it was ok. We played pretty well but there was lots of sitting. It’s hard to rock for people planted into their chairs. Eventually some friends of Drawback got up and got sort of rowdy almost knocking out Dave’s teeth at one point. Props to Jeff for checking out the show and forcing us to play ‘Still The Same’ for the first time in well over two years. We’d like to wish him luck in his move to Chi-town. Thanks to Drawback for hooking up the show, The Tees for being a pleasant surprise to our evening and the few friends that showed up and hung out.
Show Journal 2007-11-23
We arrived a little after 9 via pickup trick as the van is still dead. Watched the Peabodys, setup, played and were loaded out before 11. Dateless played last and the whole thing was wrapped up by midnight. I like late nights, but at the same time I also love a quick and timely show. The Peabodys were good and it amazingly was our first time seeing them despite having Dave’s roommate on bass. Our set was pretty good. It got a little rowdy there for a bit and I felt like a fight was going to break for a song or two. Cooler heads prevailed and thankfully there was no such incident. Dave said it best when he proclaimed “I don’t care if you fight or not, just don’t do it in front of my teeth.” My man gets enough microphones to the mouth when people are having a good time, an angry one would be far worse. It was all good and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Dateless was up third and despite listening from the back of the room they sounded pretty damn good. Kind of bubble gum pop punk, but a little too fast and a pretty raw. Very cool. Thanks to Eric and Jill for setting up the show. If you haven’t checked out their zine yet (called ‘Scene Not Herd’) it’s worth a look and listen.
No thanks to giving thanks
For those who don’t over eat this week or just want to escape family activities we’ll be playing a post-Thanksgiving show in Longview this Friday. It’s to support the Scene Not Herd ‘zine, but it can also be considered your excuse to drink your holiday blues away in a seedy bar filled with loud music.
Show Journal 2007-11-17
Pretty cool reason for a show tonight. Our friend Brandi has a brother named Arthur who just got back from Iraq literally this morning. His gift? A show just for him. Needless to say we were more than stoked to play this one. Our van is still not functioning so we had to move what gear we could in a pickup truck and VW Golf. Nice. To make our load in worse part of it was over and across a stream of urination courtesy of some nasty crack head perched in a doorway. Despite all the constructions, condos and cleanup it’s really amazing how little has changed for life on 6th avenue. Our first time at this venue back in 1997 we saw a pimp while loading in. Tonight, literally ten years later we see a woman pissing on the street. As for the show Super Kung Fu Masters were up first and I was stoked to finally see them after stumbling across their songs many moons ago on MySpace. Very energetic and very entertaining to watch. Dying Days was up next and sounded pretty solid. We’d really like to thank them for letting us borrow their guitar cabinets as ours wouldn’t fit in our makeshift ride. We were up third and had a good time. Whenever Brady is at a show you know it’s going to be good. There was a decent sized crowd there considering it was all local bands so we were pretty stoked with that as well. Better yet they all seemed entertained and happy to rock out and have some fun. Not a bad crowd reaction considering we hadn’t practiced since Olympia. The Royal Tees were up fourth and we’d like to thank them for taking the late shift and playing last so that I could more easily make a plane flight. I think the slot was well suited for them though as all their friends were there standing up front cheering and singing. I’m not sure we could given the closing spot it’s due justice, so all it all it went pretty well. Thanks again to Brandi, Arthur, Brady, Lucas, Bri, Shell-O and all at the Satyricon.
Show Journal 2007-11-03
When we arrived at the 4th Ave our first thoughts were “ok, this is going to be the worst show we’ve ever played”. We walked in and it was a sports bar. No cover charge, no flyers, ESPN on the televisions and the place was populated by a mix of jocks, thugs, skanky looking girls and some pool playing cowboys. We soon noticed the back room which did have a very large stage with a band playing. The sight of real stage was encouraging but the vibe was not. The band was ok, sort of an alternative/indie/rock thing, but the “crowd” consisted of 20-30 bored looking people sitting at tables drinking heavily. I don’t mean to sound jaded but when we go to a show we expect other similar bands. These people had no idea what they were in for and from the looks of the patrons they would be not be enjoying their evening with 800 Octane. I had a quick meeting with Justin and confessed I was totally cool with turning around and just going home. He agreed. We went out to run our idea by the others but it was too late as they already met the promoter. He was well aware of what we sounded like and had actually requested us so we were finally a little encouraged. Additionally we met a couple that drove down from Seattle jut to see us. Game on. The promoter said we’d play second which was cool since the first band was just finishing their set. The third band was not stoked by this decision and one of them broke off into a cursing fit and started bitching at everyone for changing the order. I wanted to offer up a “we only play 30 minutes” explanation, but in the end decided I really didn’t care that much. Let him be angry. They probably wouldn’t like us anyway. We set up and tried our best to dodge the looks of the country and western fans a few steps away whose pool games we would soon interrupt. We’re getting ready to start and an amazing thing happens, a steady stream of folks in black band shirts shows up and stands up front. This is good. People are standing and they might actually be there to see us. Amen. We started and thank god for the folks up front as they made the show amazing. They shouted, cheered, sang along and were a fricking riot to play to. There were only a dozen of them but we quickly forgot about everything else there and played what I even thought was a pretty badass set. In my head we could have been playing the Rose Garden. It’s amazing how easy it is to forget your surroundings when you’ve got people that are genuinely entertained in front of you. We can’t thank the group of folks that showed up enough. The last band (who was still irritated they were playing last) did admirably. I’m thankful we didn’t have to follow them because as I predicted they were on stage for over an hour. They do get the prize for owning one of the oddest band vehicles ever which appeared to be an airport shuttle bus. Funniest moment was while we were loading up the truck (the van is still immobilized) when Dustin, who has a few drinks in him, gets accosted from across the parking lot by a girl who is inexplicably looking for a cheeseburger. Girl: “Do you have a cheeseburger?”. Dustin – “Yeah I got a cheeseburger”. Girl – “You have a cheeseburger?”. Dustin – “Yeah I have your cheeseburger”. The girl then turns to her friends and begins to walk away. Dustin proceeds to shout “Come get your meat baby”. Quite possibly the strangest interaction I’ve heard in ages. Anyway, thanks to the manager and sound guy at the club as well as those who stood up front and had a good time with us.
All your gnome are belong to us
We saw this story on the news yesterday and it fills our hearts with pride. Read it here.
So long Astoria, or rather so long to Astoria.
Sorry to anyone who ventured out to see us in Astoria show last night. The whole trip was doomed from the get go. The van crapped out in the morning so we tried to improvise by cramming gear into two cars. When you combine that with Dave’s delayed plane flight, Friday afternoon traffic and the worst GPS routing ever we wound up screwing ourselves badly. By the end of the night we were in 4 cars, all 4 of us driving alone and all of us dreadfully late. Justin and I were already an hour late when we made it to Clatskinie and when we found out Dave and Dustin were each anywhere from 1-2 hours behind us we just threw in the towel. Best case senario we would have kept everyone waiting for an hour, worst case they would have shut down the show without us ever getting to play. We chose to cut our losses and spare each of us (in 4 cars) the additional 2 hours there and back for a show we might or might not get to play. Easily the worst trip ever. Serious apologies to Level 2, Krush Klamath (especially since you were supposed to borrow our gear!!!), Piercing Truth and anyone who came out to see us. We hope to reschedule for Nov/Dec and are trying to figure out the logistics of a van relacement as this thing has cost us two shows this year. -Eric
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