Show Journal 2002-07-05
Yet another good Longview show for the books. We finally got to hear The Laxatives which was cool since those guys ALWAYS come to our shows! The Amazombies were up next and they were awesome. Jim and I listened to their CD on the way home and determined that it is also awesome. The Daryls were up third. Fast, funny, catchy and clever, you just gotta love those guys. Last was Dirt Bike Annie and holy mother of rock … they were awesome! They have elevated the art of synchronized rock star moves and poses to the greatest of heights. They sounded huge too. Our set was fun as usual. Guest vocals, crowd singing, what more could we ask for? The quote of the night was overheard outside the club and goes like this “my love for you is like diarrhea … I just can’t stop it.” Thanks to all the Longview regulars, Darin and crew, TJ, and the guys from Shoot For Friday and Countdown to Life.
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Happy 4th of July. We aren’t doing anything particularly special but we do have piles of new 2002 Tour pictures posted. Most have little or nothing to do with music but that’s half the fun. Check them out and then remind yourself that Kevin is the man.
Show Journal 2002-06-29
Well the Widmer Dock Rock actually kind of rocked! It was a big show sponsored by KNRK featuring 5 local bands who had previously appeared on the morning show. The venue was interesting … the stage was actually on the loading dock of a brewery! Pretty cool setup, nice weather, what more can you ask for? All the bands were very good today and it was a nice change of pace to see some different styles of music. Plus all of the bands were all really cool. We didn’t see any rock star attitudes that you might expect to find at an event like this and everyone was totally friendly. As for the performances most of my props are reserved for Longshot who absolutely tore through their set and left people begging for more. They are so good they make me want to quit. The show had to be wrapped up by 9:00 and since everyone was running late we were only allowed to play 15 minutes. We managed to squeeze in 6 songs and I think everyone seemed to have fun. Big thanks to the KNRK for finally taking notice of the bands in their back yard. There are plenty more good ones out there to choose from so they’ve got their work cut out for them. Thanks to all out friends who came out!
Show Journal 2002-06-26
Today was our second time on the morning show and it was much more laid back since we knew what to expect! Daria and Gustav were on vacation so Nik and Dan were the hosts of the show today. We watched ‘Fast Times At Ridgemont High’ on a huge projection screen to pass the time between music segments. It worked out that every time there was nudity on the screen someone on the NRK staff would walk by, do a double take and then stare at us disapprovingly. I’ll be surprised if Josh isn’t sued for sexual harassment by creating a hostile work environment.
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Big thanks to everyone who voted for us in the KNRK / Widmer’s Dock Rock showcase! Because of your votes we get to play this cool sounding show. Too bad it was determined by voting … it would have been cool to see all of the bands play.
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We came back from tour to discover we are playing on the San Francisco stop of the Warped Tour! We are on the Ernie Ball stage which should be kind of fun. Oh yeah, we should have some pictures from our Midwest tour with STFS up in the next week or so.
Show Journal 2002-06-15
Day 9 – Today started with a round of sink showers (aka – whore baths) and then we pressed onwards. As expected the drive today was pretty uneventful … lots of movies, hamburgers at Dick’s and more movies. We did a little over 1000 miles today (a new record) and got into Portland around 2:00. All in all it was a pretty fun trip. I wish we had more shows but oh well. Thanks to everyone who helped us out, came to the shows and made this fun for us. Super big thanks to Derik, Damon and Adam … seriously you guys are one of the coolest bands we have ever played and hung out with!
Show Journal 2002-06-14
Day 8 – The morning started with a freezing cold shower but I got my money back, so it was cold but free shower. During the day we watched a few movies, listened to some new music, took lots of naps and pulled about 900 miles in the van. There were lots of cool storms and lots of movies to be seen so the time went by quickly. We did stop at the Space Aliens cafe in Bismarck but it was pretty gross this time and I don’t think I want to return again. At some point after dinner we drove through a swarm of moths and were hitting one on the windshield every few seconds. When you turned on the high beams it was like driving in snow. It lasted about 5 minutes and was so absolutely disgusting to scrape off. We crashed out in a rest stop outside of Billings.
Show Journal 2002-06-13
Day 7 – Today we started off with our trip to Six Flags which was totally what we needed for a day off and last day with STFS. The cool thing was that it was overcast and a little cold so there was hardly anyone there. On some of the older rides they actually told us if there is no one in line you can just stay on it! That’s almost unheard of at Six Flags. Usually you wait 30 minutes for even the crappiest of rides. We rode so many rides it was amazing, some we even went on 3 or 4 times. Awesome, awesome day. The only thing that kinda sucked was Derik getting sick. After the second ride he turned ghost white, started sweating and puked every time he stood up. He ended up sleeping in the infirmary for most of the day. Later he told us he was sweating for two hours and puked a few more times. God I really felt awful. By late afternoon he met back up with us and we all felt a little better once we saw he was doing ok. It was so much fun and I really can’t imagine having a better day to hang out with everyone. After the roller coaster extravaganza we went out for one final dinner with STFS. It was pretty cool reminiscing about the trip and the other stuff that happened. I’m a little jealous they still have two more weeks of shows but that’s how the cards fell. We had a great time with them and after so many truck stops, late night meals and conversations I almost felt like we were all in the same band. Huge thanks to them for the shows, the fun and just being cool as hell. We said goodbyes, wished them good luck and managed to get one last food projectile at their van. The unfortunate thing is that we now have to drive straight back to Portland from there which was a very, very long way. 2200 miles to be exact! After nearly 30 roller coaster rides and 300 miles of driving that night when the van finally stopped we all slept like babies.
Show Journal 2002-06-12
Day 6 – Woke up today, scraped the food off our van and got some breakfast. Before leaving Jim decided to buy some eggs to throw at our touring rivals. We all decided eggs were too messy and probably crossed the line of good humor. In a strange twist of fate about thirty seconds after saying that we hear the distinctive thumping sound of food products on our van windows. Those damn STFS bastards were bombarding our van with donuts and creamers! Throwing our morals out the window (sorry) we immediately retaliated with an attack of eggs on their windshield. Later they confessed that when it got hotter the eggs started to cook and smelled really bad. The drive today was really kind of boring. At some point Justin and I were throwing some kind of snack cake at each other. Trying to be funny I whipped it in the back seat and managed to smack Kevin in the eye. I couldn’t imagine feeling like any more of an asshole and can’t apologize enough. At another point during the drive we were sitting at a traffic light and Damon sneaks up beside our van and squirted a Capri Sun all over our windshield. At first we felt defeated and humbled but then remembered they were the ones driving around with a big dick on their roof. Finally we got to the venue (a house), met the owner and went out of dinner at some bar in downtown Milwaukee. After eating we headed back to the show to find that the first band had already played and they were waiting on us. Whoops! STFS set up real quick and rocked the small but vocal crowd. Meanwhile we got to see Lugs and Eric from the Shut-Ups and thank them for setting up the show. When we played there were a few more people and they all seemed to like us. During the set we decided to play a Misfits cover and out of nowhere comes the guy who owns the house, grabs the mic and sings the whole damn song. Amazing. It was the best I’ve ever heard anyone sing that song. Later he showed us his collection of Misfits tattoos which explains his amazing skills. Last up was the Shut-Ups. To this day I still swear that the first time I saw them play was the best set by an unsigned band I have ever seen. I think they were almost better this time. They are so loud and so bad ass and sound like a mix of Zeke and AC/DC. I was so stoked they played the show because they are so good. This was technically our last show of the tour which was a little depressing because we had really just started to get in the swing of things. However we still had one more day planned. We coiuldn’t get a show in Chicago so we had been planning on going to Six Flags for a little amusement park fun before heading home. After loading we pulled STFS aside and told them we wanted to treat them to Six Flags on us. They had been so cool to travel with and had hooked us up with two rad Montana shows it was the least we could do! They gladly accepted our offer and we headed out to a truck stop just outside of Illinois. After breathing all that smoke and being in that loud ass basement I was feeling like crap once we stopped. I bought some dinner but had two bites to eat and went back to the van to sleep.
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