Show Journal 2004-10-02
Day 16 – The morning started with a trip to the tire store to replace the tire that Dave mangled the night before. We got fixed up and headed up I-5 to SLC. We got there early, check out “a magazine store” and got tacos from a cart on the street. Eventually some people showed at the club including the guys from Die Monster Die and Thunderfist. Erik from T-Fist told us they wouldn’t be able to play since the singer had hurt his hand. We were a little bummed because they are such a good band. Die Monster Die took Dave and Justin over to their practice space where they got ready for the show. Got ready you ask? Well, Die Monster Die is a horror punk band that always plays in costumes, makeup and blood. They looked like a mix of Slipknot, the Misfits and Gwar and it was cool as hell to see in such a small venue. We were a little embarrassed to play after them but oh well. We started off a little rough but eventually started to get some people moving. After the show we bolted back to PDX without sleeping. Looking back, Dan and my gane of turning off the headlights and driving by moonlight probably wans’t too bright. All in all the tour was a success. We played a bunch of new towns and returned to a few places we hadn’t played in years. Thanks to everyone who hooked us up with a show, gave us a place to stay and just hung out with us. Super thanks to Thirty3 for letting us tag along for the first week and reminding us what this is all about.
Show Journal 2004-10-01
Day 15 – We all woke up and agreed that was the worst night of sleep on the whole tour. This was surprising because it was one of the calm and quietest places we had stayed. Go figure. I was stoked about this morning because I had never seen the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. I walked up to the rim, camera in hand and realized pictures aren’t going to do it justice. Seriously, it was incredible. We tooled around for a bit and headed over to St. George. The drive totally sucked. It was a bumpy two-lane road with no shoulder, big hills, drop offs, lots of traffic and rainstorms. Definitely not a relaxing drive. We also got a cryptic text message that Mt. St. Helens had erupted and we were all bummed out that we missed it. (Later we found there might be more to go so all hope wasn’t lost!) We got to St. George where Dave accidentally ran the van into a burn while trying to “park”. It took a chunk of rubber the size of a soda can off the side of the tire. Whoops. We met up with two locals who took us over to some fast food place with the biggest shakes I’ve ever seen. We headed back over to the club and as soon as we could see the venue the sound guy comes running at as saying “you’re on now”. Shit. We booked it inside and had to play immediately. I was amazed to see how many people were at this show. I was told “it’ll probably be a small one” but there were well over 100 people there. At first I thought they hated us but later realized you weren’t allowed to mosh there. After our whirlwind set we hung outside with Jake and his friends in the Super Villians and just talked about whatever. I feel bad because I didn’t watch any of the other bands. I usually make a point to check each one out, but I didn’t watch one. Shame on me. After we headed over to Kyle’s house, made a run to Wal-Mart and Del Taco and hung out for a bit. I ended up crashing out early.
Show Journal 2004-09-30
Day 14 – Thursday was another unplanned day off. We tooled around Vegas some more and headed out towards the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Hoover Dam and took some pictures. Last time we were at the Hoover Dam it was two in the morning and two pickup trucks full of drunken skinheads pulled up in the spot next to us and we decided it was time to leave. It was nice to look around. We drove on and stopped at a KOA outside the Grand Canyon. It was damn cold outside.
Show Journal 2004-09-29
Day 13 – Our show tonight got cancelled so we opted to stay in Vegas another day. The morning started off right with a breakfast buffet and we wandered around the strip, checked e-mail, rode the Speed roller coaster and got our shop on. We took a few cabs that day. The first driver told us a story about how she saw someone get hit by a car and people came by and emptied out their wallet before the police arrived. The second driver asked if we “were here to party” and proceeded to give us the cards for some local prostitutes with his reference number on it. Later we hit up the Aladdin buffet and it was the best meal I’ve had in ages. At some point later in the evening Dave, Justin and Dan went out and Justin lost “a bunch of money” gambling but I am lame and slept through it.
Show Journal 2004-09-28
Day 12 – Woke up early today to get breakfast with Tim and his sister. I realized I’ve had French Toast at least 7 times already on this trip and opted for the breakfast burrito. We said our goodbyes and took the long, long, long desert road to Vegas. I knew it would be dull, but it’s hard to appreciate unless you’ve seen it first hand. Drive 10 miles, turn slightly, drive 15 miles, turn slightly, drive 5 miles and maybe see a house. It was nuts. We did see an army depot and a few brothels both of which appealed to Dave. At one point we stopped to get gas and realized we were close to Area 51 and did the appropriate gift shopping. Also, at this stop we saw a guy’s dog get hit by a truck, which totally sucked. The poor guy was out there crying in the road pounding his first into the ground. Then he dragged the dog over to a ditch and buried it. It was seriously awful to watch and ruined the fun of buying alien toys. Eventually we got to Vegas, headed to Guitar Center to stock up on parts, and then headed to the show. The Cooler Lounge rocked. It’s kind of like the Twilight here in Portland just bigger. Everyone was super friendly and strangely enough we met a lot of people from Portland, one of whom was even sporting a PDX tattoo. The show tonight was definitely different. We were playing with the Babes In Sin Burlesque group. They came out and danced, we played some songs, they danced some more, we played some more, they did one last number and we finished with a few more songs. All I will say is that I much prefer watching the other bands when they are half naked females that are dancing and disrobing. Thanks again to the Babes In Sin as we had a great time. After we headed over to the Flamingo and crashed out.
Show Journal 2004-09-27
Day 11 – On to Reno and the chance to wipe clean the memory of our ill-fated acoustic mishap several years ago. The drive was long, tedious, and riddled with road construction. At one point we were in a traffic jam on a dirt road in a construction area. It easily added an hour to the trip. After the last mess of construction we pulled over to a rest area. We all get out and head to the bathroom. Dan is in front of me and I see him get to the door and he just turns around. I ask what’s wrong and he says “just go look”. I round the corner and there is a completely naked man bent over in front of the sink. Worse yet, he appears to be washing himself. Needless to say I turned around in fear that I was in the middle of an impending porn filming or I was on candid camera. Sure enough outside was a line of people walking in, turning around and leaving. After a few minutes I decided “screw it, I gotta go” so I headed back in to handle business with a naked man a few yards from me. Weird. We eventually got to Reno and did our best to locate the Proxy house. We ordered some pizza and hung out working on Dave’s bass amp. The first band was called Pink Black and they were awesome. Kind of like Pretty Girls Make Graves but with a little indie rock flair to it. Really, really good stuff. Tim’s band was second and also sounded good. Almost like Jawbreaker but a bit moodier and more aggressive. We played last and it went well. Not too many people but the ones that stayed seemed to dig it. Afterwards we crashed at Tim’s place with what proved to be the best night of sleep I’ve had al tour.
Show Journal 2004-09-26
Day 10 – Sunday we took the long drive up to Medford. Early on the drive Thirty3 got a flat tire on their trailer and wound up getting about 3 hours behind us. We got to Medford early and headed over to a chinese restaurant which was sketchy at best. Blueprint For Disaster was up first and rocked with a super aggressive blast of metal and punk. We stalled as long as we could until we heard Thirty3 was on the way. Our set was so-so. The flyer outside referred to us as the “legendary” 800 Octane. Our set was not very legendary. I think we need another show there to redeem ourselves. Thirty3 played last and we were sad to see them go back to Portland since we had so much watching them each night. We ended crashing with the drummer for Blueprint. They were up drinking late so we all just slept in the van.
Show Journal 2004-09-25
Day 9 – Today was awkward because we had to drive to Sacramento so Jim could fly home and Dan could fly in to play the final few shows. Jim didn’t have enough vacation time left at work so fortunately Dan came in to save our asses from canceling the second week of shows. After barely making it to the airport in time we headed back to San Francisco to meet up with Theo from the Teenage Harlets who was our tour guide, show promoter and provider of a place to crash for the night. He took us up on a tour of S.F. and up to a scenic view of the city. The show was in an art space called Space 49. It was actually more of a private party than a show and was populated by well dressed people who didn’t seem like they would appear to be into a band like ours. To my surprise they were as many totally seemed to get into the show. The space also had roof access, which led to a great sunset view of the city. Dan did an admirable job having only practiced us with us twice before we left. Guess who had another birthday? I’m really skeptical of any band now who claims someone is having a birthday. After the show a long 80’s dance party ensued and we all stayed up until at least 4 in the morning.
Show Journal 2004-09-24
Day 8 – Friday started off with an enormous breakfast from Lisa. I literally ate so much I thought I would vomit. Good thing we were headed to the shooting range. No really. Brian works with the San Jose SWAT team so he invited us to come out to the annual Best In The West SWAT Team competition. Yep, people in full cop gear running around shooting targets. They actually had a range that the public could fire on so we each shot handguns and a fully automatic MP5 assault rifle. Despite my dislike for guns, I do enjoy shooting them on someone else’s dime. After that we headed back to Brian’s where we went for a swim. I think I was too big for the slide though. At some point an impromptu metal jam occurred in the garage in the garage with Greg and the various members of the bands taking turns on guitar, bass and drums. After chilling for a bit we headed over to Luna’s Mufflers, which is literally a muffler shop where the bands play in the back room. I was a bit skeptical considering the environment, but the show rocked. Thirty3 absolutely killed it tonight and was easily the best I’ve ever seen them play. Mike had another birthday and Jon even smashed a dixie cup on his head. They were going nuts and the crowd was having a blast. Los Dryheavers was last and they sounded amazing. I was outside talking on the phone, heard two songs and thought “I gotta get in there and watch”. Very impressive set. Super thanks to Flo for the show. After the set we all headed back to Brian’s and went swimming and hung out in the hot tub. Impossible to believe it’s a tour.
Show Journal 2004-09-23
Day 7 – I barely slept with all the truck traffic going in and out of the truck stop. I had this irrational fear that a truck is going to run into us. Weird. I got up early and paid $7 for a shower in the truck stop. A bit much but there wasn’t anything else to do with everyone else asleep. Speaking of the shower thank god I remembered my flip flops. I headed over to Denny’s and everyone else followed in as they woke up. We headed over to 101 and got to Salinas really early. We decided to take a side trip to Monterey to see the ocean. We were originally all stoked on seeing the aquarium but since everyone was still in a rotten mood from the night before we split up and wandered for a while. I just took a long walk along the coast in the sun, made a few calls and sat in a park for a while. Back to the van and onto Salinas. We knew the show was a house show but I never suspected the show was a “farm house” show. We kept driving and driving further into the countryside and eventually plodded 1/4 mile down a dirt road to the house. I honestly thought Jim was going to blow a gasket when he realized this was the location. I knew it would be cool since we were playing with The Rivals and the house was owned by the singer of Bound to Break, both of which we had played with in Hillsboro last month. People started to filter in and everyone was super nice and friendly. The show freaking rocked and I had a blast. Mike had another birthday tonight – his third in 5 days. Chris from Thirty3 had to go and upstage our set by accidentally hitting his head on his guitar and splitting it open. He played one more song with blood running down his face and was later carted to the hospital where we got 8 stitches. It was gnarly. Apparently Dave got some pictures in the ER but I don’t ever want to see them. Thanks again to the kids that missed the show to drive Chris to the hospital. After The Rivals crazy set we headed on the Brian’s house in San Jose. On the way we stopped at In N Out Burger for the 3rd time this trip. This is also where Dave said one of the meanest things I’ve ever heard. We get our food and just past the window there is a homeless guy asking for food. Dave looks at him and says “Dude, there’s food in there” and points to the restaurant. I don’t think it was intentional but damn it was funny.
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