Show Journal 2004-08-06
It’s nice to play shows where all the bands sound different but everyone is still appreciative of each others music and set. Hollowpoint kicked it off with a good mix of punk, metal and a little hip hop. They’ve come a long way since last time we saw them. SWIL was insane to watch. Probably one of the most entertaining sets I’ve watched in ages. What style of music do they play? Well .. uhmm … all of them. Their guitar player is insane. Not in a looney way but in a mad skills kind of way, complete with face melting solos. Too much fun. The Brewed lived up to their name by offering up a beer soaked punk rock set complete with the singer vomiting into a pitcher before the last song. Good times. Our set? A little weak but seeing the other bands still hanging out and enjoying themselves was a blast. Thanks to the Rat and everyone we met tonight.
Show Journal 2004-07-30
Never thought I would visit Svensen, let alone play a show there. Due to some nasty traffic we ended up arriving late and showed up just as Malignant started. Turns out the whole show was running about an hour behind which is never a good sign. After watching for a bit Dave, Justin and myself decided to wander over and eat at the local restaurant which I’ve also added to my “things I never thought I’d do in Svensen” list. Sat around for a bit and came back over to catch the tail end of the Ted Dancin’ Machine set. Nice to finally see them play after crossing paths all this time. BXF was next and rocked. I’ve seen them about a dozen times over the past 6 months so I think I am qualified to comment on their performance. We were up last. We played three songs and were informed we only had time for 3 more. Hmmm. Drive two hours in traffic, watch other bands for 3 hours, play 20 minutes, then drive home. Swell. The promoter already got an earful from Dave so I’ll spare everyone from the rant about how annoying that shit is. Anyway, the abbreviated set was still fun and it was nice to see everyone rock out even if only for a few minutes. Thanks to the message board crew, our friends from Longview, people from Astoria who came to check us out again, the gnome dancers and Chris Miner. No thanks to the chicken strips or the lack of a door in the bathroom.
Show Journal 2004-07-22
This was our first show in Hillsboro, but amazingly not our first time playing in a bowling alley. We were able to get Bound To Break and The Rivals onto this show at the last minute as their show in Oregon had fallen through and it was a good move. Both were pretty entertaining to watch and seemed to be pretty cool guys. I will say that it was ironic that both had shirts for sale at their merch tables. (Sorry, had to go there) Paint By Numbers were third and despite the hour long set up time they did pretty well. It seems that as they get skinnier and skinnier they get better and better. It seems to be the reverse for us. Go figure. Lopez was fourth and I gotta say those 20 minutes were the most fun I’ve had watching a band in years. I think their punk/hardcore/rawk mixture fell on mostly deaf ears but we were all impressed with the music and stage antics. One highlight was the singer managing to knock the disco ball off the ceiling and catching it with one hand without missing a note. The funniest moment however was when he took it upon himself to blind everyone in the front of the audience (and later his band) with the incredibly bright stage light. Eventually they turned it off on him but the damage was done. It had been years since we played them and they can still rock like no one’s business. We played last and took requests. We wound up playing some songs we actually haven’t ever played live yet including ‘Roads Less Traveled’ and ‘Destination: Space’. It should be noted we saw the hand clapping and approved. Also as a request we busted out ‘ULS’ tonight, which we hadn’t played live since ’98. It was fun but now it will be retired for another 6 years. Thanks to everyone who showed up and more thanks to those who got lost and still showed up.
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Curious to hear our new album? If so then tune into gimpradio.com this Sunday at 8:00 CST. They will be playing our new album “Rise Again” from start to finish. In addition they will also be playing stuff from some of our other favorite bands. Thanks in advance to Lucas and Erica for the effort!
Album Review
800 Octane is a local band straight out of Portland, OR. They’ve been together since 1994 and they’ve released four albums so far.
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Huge thanks to everyone to hung out late to watch us play at the Warped Tour. Now cross you fingers to see if Justin’s guitar can be repaired!
Show Journal 2004-07-11
I think this was my favorite Warped Tour I’ve seen to date. There was about a dozen bands during the day that I really wanted to see. Usually there’s just 3 or 4 that I’m excited about so today was definitely a good show. Getting in for free was a huge bonus as well. However, the law of averages has a cold reality check in store for us tonight. Through the luck of the draw we got scheduled to play from 8:40-9:00. The last headliner on the main stage finished at 9:00 so we were really only looking to play for people on their way out. That’s not too big a deal but the sound system and technical failures would plague our 20 minutes in the spotlight. First off we had to follow The Bled. Cool band but they thought they were the last band so they didn’t bother to move their stuff off the stage until we told them to. We got up there and all the monitors were moved and the microphones were nowhere to be found. We plugged in and the guy gave us the worst sound check ever. My monitor was not working. Jim’s monitor? Not working. Justin’s monitor worked, but it only played my guitar and at a volume loud enough to distort to an undecipherable buzz of noise. Justin said my guitar through his monitor was louder than his amp. From what I could hear of Dave’s vocals it was distorted and thin sounding onstage and out front. We finally started and a song into it the monitors started cutting out which makes everything go from loud to quiet. When things go from loud to quiet on stage your instinct says there’s a problem, which confused us all. Two songs into it Justin’s guitar breaks. Literally. The headstock physically broke. That’s an $1100 guitar too. He grabs another guitar and at some point the wireless becomes unplugged. Throughout it all the monitors keep turning on and off which makes us the think the power was going off. It was very disorienting to have everything running at full volume and then down to barely audible on stage. You expect that kind of stuff at a basement show or small venue, but it was a major letdown since we had such immaculate sound at previous Warped shows. I know I shouldn’t complain since there are dozens of bands that don’t even get the chance to play Warped but this show seriously sucked. Our friends said it was ok, but mostly I was bummed because I had such high expectations. The last two years went so well, so I just assumed it would be the same. There was one thing that made out set enjoyable and that was the large group of friends that stuck around to watch us play. When they told me we’d be playing at 8:40 I figured we’d be playing to 10 people. Amazingly there was a decent sized group of people that stuck around until the end of the night just to watch us play. That’s the one thing that saved the show for me and I seriously can’t thank each of you who stayed enough. I think we owe you all a better show next time!
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Warped Tour, bitches. Come find us at the New School Records tent to see when we play. Thankfully, Andrew WK will not be playing this year so no one will have to make that dreadful decision again.
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Got an album review at Artsy Noise. But then again you already knew our new album rocks?
Album Review
Easily one of the best bands I’ve had the opportunity to work with I got a copy of 800 Octane’s newest release Rise Again after our ill-fated show. The awesome 13 track disc is a flash back to some great early punk-goth-whaterver-kids-call-the-misfits-nowadays bands which may have something to do with the fact that the band has been around for about 10 plus years. The CD comes with a DVD from their Halloween show in Longview which is worth the buy alone because of some awesome covers. The CD is fast paced and diverse enough that I and Clem thoroughly enjoy it and no longer have to fight in the car over what CD to listen to. The longevity of the band alone should be enough to clue you in on their musical ability, the smart sing-along lyrics make for a good listen. I really like the title track
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