Show Journal 2002-01-18
A little over a year ago we were proudly shouting “Fuck the Paris Theater” to any and everyone who would listen. After tonight’s show I gotta say that my opinion is changing. Everything about tonight was really good. The sound was good, the staff was cool, the new sound guy was great, the lineup was good and most importantly the crowd was cool! This was our 8th show there and easily the most people I’ve ever seen in the Paris for a show of all local bands. The first two bands tonight were very energetic and pretty cool to watch. Spare Lead was good tonight as well and the crowd really seemed to dig them. The miniature drum contest was awesome! No Thanks To You was absolutely incredible tonight. I hadn’t seen them play in a while and they were amazing. They seemed so much heavier than I recall but still catchy at the same time. All members of 800 Octane were impressed. Even after four bands, there were still so many people at the Paris it would have been impossible for us not to have a good time. We played a bunch of new stuff and during mid set we played our Dramarama cover. Sadly I can count the number of people who knew it on one hand but it was still fun. Highlights of our set include Dave accidentally spitting on Justin, me playing bass at the end of Feeding Time when my guitar cord broke, and Dave unknowingly showering the sound guy and expensive PA equipment with bottled water! Thanks to all of our friends that showed up … too many to list … but you all know who you are! Thanks to NTTY for asking us to play and also thanks to The Paris for helping change our opinion about your club!
Show Journal 2002-01-16
Tonight we got to play live on the ‘Argy Bargy’ punk show on KPSU in Portland and damn it was a lot of fun! The most exciting part of this for me was that we got the rare opportunity to play the song ‘Radio’ on the radio. (What a sad world I live in when these are the moments which define my life.) Anyway, after that we played about 7 more songs, did a real short interview and then took some calls. The calls were in fact nothing more than a glorified opportunity to shout ‘whazzup’ over the radio airwaves at every caller and then to insult Justin in a public forum. At least we refrained from using the ‘F’ word like our irresponsible host! Thanks to Wookie for inviting us to play and thanks to all who tuned in on the web and in Portland!
Show Journal 2002-01-12
I’ll start off by saying, holy crap this show rocked. Ok, now to back track for a few moments. Last night we played in Helena so we had a bit of a drive to get to Richland today. It was wet, it was windy and the pass from Montana to Idaho was very, very snowy. We saw two cars spun out and listened to truckers on the CB talk about how crappy the roads were. By the time we got to Spokane (going 10 MPH over the snowy pass) the bad weather subsided and we ate at Dick’s hamburgers to celebrate. Ok, it wasn’t really a celebration, we just love Dick’s. You know what? That last sentence sounds awful. I’ll leave it as is but remember we want to clarify we love Dick’s Hamburger place … not anything else! We got to Richland really early and decided to go to a local movie theater to pass the time. Due to the poor selection we ended up seeing ‘How High’. It wasn’t that bad but as Justin said we have probably exceeded our yearly allowance of drug jokes. Ok, so back to my first statement … holy crap this show rocked! First off we saw lots of familiar faces from our last visits to Tri-Cities and always love to see people we know. Between that and the slightly renovated Atomic Records we knew this was going to be a good show and I can honestly say that this was probably one of the most fun sets we’ve ever played. There was a pit going from the second song until the end of our set and most of the people we could see from the stage we definitely into it. Guitars were broken, band members collided, Jim fell off his drums, drums were lit on fire, people sang, people cheered and pardon my French, but we had a fucking great time playing. Amazing. I don’t what else to say. We had a fantastic time playing and big thanks to Dustin for hooking it all up and another thanks to all the people who continually support us in Tri-Cities!
Show Journal 2002-01-11
I’m really starting to like playing in Montana. Our first experience there in 1998 was less than flattering … only 4 people at the show and all of them were really, really drunk. Our last two shows however have been tons of fun to play so we were really looking forward to this one. We decided to leave on Thursday night and ended up driving all the way to Idaho and slept in a truck stop. Not too bad but it was damn cold in the van. I think it was 18 degrees outside? We had good weather the next day (no rain or snow) and the drive was really quite nice. Dave really wanted to stop and eat some Rocky Mountain Oysters along the way and was willing to do it for the bargain price of $5. We entertained the idea briefly but came to the conclusion that if he were to vomit bull testicles on stage we would never be welcome in Montana again. We skipped the ball eating and ended up getting to Helena very early. Once there we met up with Megan (who was putting on the show) and several of her friends. Everyone was totally cool and did a good job of making us feel at home. Before the show we went over to the Country Harvest for some dinner. Dave ordered Iced Tea and quickly spotted a small spider in the dish with his lemon. The waiter remarked that Dave must be a good marksman for spotting the small arachnid so quickly. Weird. I missed the Shrimpers but Jim said they were cool so we’ll go with his commentary. The Bricks had an old school punk influence and not surprisingly were pretty cool to watch. Finally the mighty Switch Two 47 took the stage and we were all very impressed. We’ve played with them twice before and they are the coolest guys in the world. The best moment of the night however (maybe even this year) was when Derik from Switch said “this song goes out to 800 Octane” and they proceeded to play a cover of Shaken!!! It was so awesome! As Justin said covering one of our songs is probably the most flattering compliment possible. Those guys rule. Next up was Coldsnap 9 who we played with in Livingston last summer and oh my god they rocked. Do yourself a favor and check them out now … you won’t be disappointed. I use this phrase all the time, but seriously …. they rock. Everyone was pretty stoked after seeing CS9 so it was easy to play to the already amped crowd. Only a few people knew any of our songs but everyone seemed to like the music. We played Astro Zombies again and just about damn near everyone who knew the words came up and sang. After the show we met one kid who really wanted a sweatshirt but only had a few bucks on him. We told him if you wanted it he would have to undress and then run back into the main room in front of all the people to get his prize. He did. Amazing. Unfortunately that just ups the ante for the next person who wants something free. Perhaps we should start traveling with a donkey? After the show we went back to the Country Harvest with the other bands for more food. After being frightened by a certain person’s knowledge of 2 Live Crew songs (we are protecting his identity for the people in Rochester) we went to Nina’s house where she was kind enough to let us stay the night. All in all we had a great time in Helena. Happy birthday to Megan and thanks to everyone who made us feel welcome. Special thanks to the guys in Switch Two 47 and Coldsnap 9!
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27 days left until we start recording again. The last album came out in 1999 so this one is long overdue. A few web site updates … we’ve added a few new pictures from 2001, and most notably we have turned the FAQ page into a place where you can ask us whatever the hell you want to. Does it bring back memories of What Would Justin Do? Since there isn’t much else news worthy happening we’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been supporting our band. We wouldn’t be anywhere without you so take a moment and thank yourself. Rock over London, Rock on Chicago, Arby’s
Show Journal 2001-12-28
Oh how Redding rocks. The drive down was surprisingly quick and easy. The VCR is a travelers best friend. We watched Deuce Bigalow on the ride down and shout the phrase “god dammit white boy” at every opportunity. We got to Redding really early and 3/4 of the band slept in the van to kill time. The show was pretty cool, the first two bands were fun to watch and Spent sounded better than ever with a new guitar player and added backup vocals. Our set was cool because we played lots of requests. We also had a new backup singer and a few dancers on stage at a couple of points during the show. Craig’s Brother was last and despite the lackluster crowd reaction they rocked pretty hard. Every song of theirs was solid and good. We were all impressed. Nothing else too exciting to report, it was just a fun show to play and a good time. The only downer from the show was not getting paid. 840 miles round trip and we didn’t get a dollar. Was it worth it? Absolutely! We’ll play to all our friends in Redding any day. After the show we braved the monsoon like weather conditions and drove all the way back to Portland.
Show Journal 2001-12-27
Rad show tonight. I had never even heard of the Blackbird before but the place rocks. Good stage, nice PA, great food and a cool staff. As far as bar shows go this was one of the smoothest ever. Thirty 3 played first and sounded great as always. I like them even more now that I am learning their songs. Our set was good. We played a cover of ‘Anything, Anything’ by Dramarama and a few people even knew it. Apparently Beavis, I mean Jim, was feeling frisky tonight and decided to light his cymbals on fire during the set. Yes, it’s a move taken straight from the MCD handbook but it was pretty cool. Don’t ask Dave about it though because it turns out he didn’t even notice the 2 foot flames coming off the drum set. The last band (who’s name is escaping me) was pretty good as well. A great closer for the dwindling but appreciative late night crowd. Thanks to all who came out (you know who you are) and no thanks to my piece of shit, cheap ass, mother fucking AKG Wireless unit which failed again and was subsequently thrown into a wall, smashed on the sidewalk with a cinder block, and finally pitched onto I-84.
Show Journal 2001-12-21
Man, who knew this show was going to kick so much ass? We were all a little concerned about this show since it wasn’t our “usual” crowd but my god it was a blast. All the bands were really good tonight and the crowd tonight was fantastic. They were singing along and dancing to all the bands which was very cool (and quite unusual) around here. Our set was cool, we played more of our faster stuff (which surprised a few people) and it was kinda nice. We also pulled out Astro Zombies towards the end of our set and let me tell you, if you are going to cover the Misfits, a Defiance/Speds crowd is the place to do it! Seemed like damn near everyone was singing. Very cool. Also, the crowds knowledge of Clerks dialogue was pretty scary. I think the only thing that sucked tonight was loading up that god forsaken stairway. What would Jim and Justin know about that though! Actually Jim got the good end of the stick by not having to wheel everything through the streams of puke trailing from the guy passed out beside the door. Thank you’s for tonight go out to Mocephus for selling our stuff, Eric and Alex for coming out (to the show, not the closet), “Do Nothing” Dan for doing nothing, Doug from the Speds for setting up the show, and all our other friends who came out early for us!
Show Review
Thirty3, 800 Octane – Keeping up the numerical theme, let’s call this stylistic showcase Punk Rock 2K1. Today’s HC/punk bands, as evidenced by these two local music machines, are a mighty well-engineered breed–supertight superfast, and superclean, veritable Steve Austins compared to their ragged lo tech progenitors. Their riffs blaze by with practiced perfection, burning the asphalt with their speed. No detours here, just aim for the horizon and let it fly. It is impressive. No denying that. I do wonder, though–is punk rock really supposed to be this “good”? Something to ponder while racing along (Willamette Week)
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Thanks to everyone in L.A. who showed up early on the 15th to see us play with The Deviates. We had a great time! We’ve got quite a few shows in the NorthWest coming up so keep your eyes peeled for shows near you. Probably the biggest bit of news
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