Check 1, 2.
Yes, we are still alive. No, we haven’t run off to join the circus. One must admit that the life of a carnie does sound entertaining though. Anyway, we’ve got a few shows booked for the end of the month that we’re getting stoked for. That is just about all there is to report for now.
Show Journal 2009-08-07
Originally tonight was supposed to be a bar show at Players. A few weeks back the promoter called and asked if we wanted to play an all ages show as well before the bar show. Thinking it would be an interesting challenge we agreed. The plan was to go to the show play, then pack up and head over to the other venue and play there as well. I started to get pretty nervous when a few weeks prior to the show I noticed the all ages lineup was 7 bands and cost 11 bucks. This violated show rules #1 and #2. The bar show was scheduled for 5 bands which violated show rule #3. We were stoked for a few of the bands (Kill The Kids + Hands On Throat) but no matter how you cut it that’s just a lot of music. As is often the case karma seemed to sort out this situation for us. Here’s the scoop. We left Portland at 5:30, hit up Del Taco, gassed up and hauled balls to Bend. About the time we reached Gresham the promoter called and said “there is barely anyone here, we’re thinking about just cancelling the show and sending everyone to Players”. Show rule violation #4. We pressed on and made up time over the mountain. About 20 minutes outside of Bend we hear from the promoter that they did in fact cancel the show and were sending everyone to the bar. Show violation #5. We arrived to the bar where we were greeting by a few friends along with a myriad of bands all unclear if they would be performing at the show. In fact, it turned out due to some mix up the venue didn’t know there would be any bands. Show violation #6. Initially they agreed to put 3 of us up, which rubbed a few of the out of town bands the wrong way, but later allowed 4 bands to play. The whole thing was a little sketchy and I think everyone got a different version of the same story. Our goal of two rad shows had be downgraded to one ok show. In fact it was pretty much a repeat of our last show in Bend only a few weeks ago with 3 of the bands being the same, which of course is show violation #7. That being said, despite all the nonsense the show was pretty fun. The Cradle Robbers were up first, and then Majority Lost who really sort of stole the show. They were on tour from LA, and despite getting shafted on the all ages show sounded pretty good. We wound up playing 3rd and I think I need to go on public record and apologize to Hands On Throat for this. Earlier in the evening we were told that we’d start around 1:00 am. Yeah, uhmmm, no. Dave basically said there is no way we’re starting at 1:00, since we had to drive back to Portland after the show (show violation #8). They wound up switching us with Hands On Throat, and I really must thank them for this. It does suck having your spot switched on you, and it sucks more being stuck last. We really do appreciate it because as is we got home after 5:00am. Our set was ok. Not many people, but I think we played pretty well. Hands on Throat were last and they sounded pretty great. I definitely wish more people had seen them. We wound up leaving about half way through their set (show violation #9) but they seemed to be rocking it. On the way out we got handed our payout which was $40. We really don’t do this for the money, but when you drive so far for a show and all you get paid is a half tank of gas it’s almost insulting (show violation #10). We are more than happy to play for free and we usually do, but 7 hours in the van with $3 per gallon gas to play for 30 minutes and $40 really kind of rubbed us all the wrong way tonight. Of course we heard two of the other bands didn’t get paid at all (show violation #11) so I guess I shouldn’t complain (violation #12). Hanging out in the van was fun, playing was fun, seeing our friends is always fun, but the rest it retrospect the rest of the evening really kind of sucked. Thanks to Hands On Throat, Stephanie, PJ and Kaylin.
A “double header” is not a deviant act
We’re playing not one, but two shows tonight in Bend. The first is an all-ages show at Detail Kings, the second is a bar show at Players. We’re hoping to make the two sets consist of totally different material so choose wisely. If you are in the area come say hi.
Show Journal 2009-08-01
I wound up driving myself to the show tonight and managed to park a few blocks away the club. I had both of my guitars with me. I always feel like a douche carrying guitars through downtown because usually people who carry or play guitars downtown are, in fact, douches. I made it without incident past the usual assortment of homeless and street kids as well as the sea of uselessness gathering outside the Greek Cuisina without a look or comment. I turned to enter the club and a bigger guy with spiky hair, sandals and a flipped up collar asks “do you play both at those at once?” He removed the phone from his ear and confidently looked around as if expecting a high five from someone who thought that was funny. The high five never came. Why? Because I’m fairly certain it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. It wasn’t quite sarcasm, it wasn’t really a joke but it really wasn’t a genuine question either. Keep in mind he felt compelled to pull the phone from his ear to ask this. I responded “no” because I genuinely had no idea how else to respond. This was about 8:45. Little did I know at 8:50 the dumbest question I’ve been asked would be trumped by the strangest question I’ve been asked. I was attempting to talk to Dave out front of the club when we were interrupted by this woman we appeared to be part school teacher, part gypsy and all sorts of crazy. She walked up, paused, and asked “am I too skinny to be a belly dancer?” She was dead serious. So much so that she asked. Dave responded with a joke about glittery clothing and castanets and we didn’t even get the slightest crack of a smile. The details regarding the rest of the conversation are long and tedious but it ended with Dave and I getting a lecture from this lady that we shouldn’t put the word Octane in the name of our band if we don’t know what it means. We had presented the proper dictionary definition but she wanted to know about “the essence of the word” and “what it really means”. She eventually strolled away. I quickly went in the club, vowing never to leave its cozy confines again. Although the attendance was a little lackluster, this show was a fresh of breath air. Well the air in Kelly’s is never exactly “fresh” but you know what I mean. When we were approached about the show they asked “what bands do you want to play with?” I responded “how about 48 Thrills and The Anxieties?” Done and done. Both write good songs, both are entertaining to watch and both are cool to spend an evening with. It turns out this was Glenn’s last shows with The Anxieties. We first met him forever and a day ago when he was playing bass for Compact 56 in Eugene. It was nice because most of the C56 dudes came out to the show, well, except for Adam who is apparently sheep farming in Australia or some nonsense. They played well and as always Glenn makes shredding on any instrument look way too easy. They did a Naked Raygun cover which pleased me very much. 48 Thrills was up next and were entertaining as always. I figured out what I like about them. They try just a little harder than many other bands. Not in a rock star sort of way, but in a sing it a little harder, play it a little better and challenge ourselves a little sort of way. It’s corny but I like to see that the band playing in front of me is working and not just phoning it in. We were up last and it was pretty good. We snuck in a few older songs that aren’t often played (Brand New Faces and Apology To You) and I thought we did alright. Nothing else real noteworthy happened. We just made a lot of noisy racket to our friends and friends of friends until late in the evening. All in all a very good night. Thanks to Nalin for setting up the show and all who stuck around.
KO at KO
Tonight we’re playing at Kelly’s Olympian with 48 Thrills and The Anxieties. It’s Glenn’s last show with the Anxieties some come pay your respects!
$250 Citations Suck
Next time anyone sees Joel out and about be sure to buy him a drink or a lapdance. He earned it last night.
Show Journal 2009-07-14
We’ve wound up playing unintentional house shows in the past and it’s usually bad news. In this case it worked well for us. Very well. I’d dare say it was the most fun I’ve had playing in Longview since our Halloween show of Rise Again fame. The story is a bit fuzzy, but about a week ago we discovered that Reid’s Pit Stop wasn’t ready for our show so we put the word out that we were looking for a venue. Our main motivation was getting long time friends The Secretions and their tour mates The Bugs a show since both were far from home wanting to avoid a night off. A few hours later our friend Joel (former guitar player for BXF and the owner of the second 800 Octane tattoo ever) offered to put us up in his garage/bar/party pad known simply as “Thunderdome”. Mission accomplished. The show got off to a late start but wound up being pretty fantastic. The Bugs sounded solid and won me over with a song called “e-mail from a she-male”. There weren’t a ton of people for their set, but by the time The Secretions started people really started to roll in. We’ve seen them play many, many times and I gotta say they rocked the hell out of the garage. The guitar players jumped on tables, couches, the bar, people and anything else available to walk on, stand on or jump from. I never thought I’d see someone dislodge a mirror ball from a ceiling with their head, but only a band like The Secretions could accomplish this task. Unfortunately the night took a brief turn for the worse. As we started to load in and tune up I heard the phrase we had been dreading, “dude, the cops are outside”. Right on queue two cops came in with flashlights looking for the owner of the house. Initially we were pretty bummed that we drove up there, setup and wouldn’t get to play. However, it had been a fun night and the other bands got to play for people, which really was our main goal. We loitered around for a bit and debated unloading and then Joel decided the plan would be to wait 20 minutes and then we’d bust through a 20 min set. His thinking was that the cops would leave, we’d play and by the time they returned we’d be done. Looking back the logic was a bit flawed, but it sounded like a good idea at the time so that’s what we did. We closed up the doors, packed people in and played a quick, fast, loud and sweaty set. The thing that made it really cool is that we knew pretty much everyone in there. Most of the people have been coming to see us for years, so it was definitely a different vibe that usual, more like a kick ass party than a show. I don’t know what it was like for the people watching but for me it was amazing. Looking out seeing familiar faces crammed in singing along is still sticking with me a day later. If you were there you most likely saw a version of ‘Day Of The Dead’ with Justin on bass and Dave sans instrument. My favorite moment however, was being egged ino a version of ‘Astro Zombies’ with Danny Secretion and pretty much the whole room singing. I can’t even express what a good time I had playing. There was one small spoiler to the evening though. Literally half way through unloading the cops returned. Joel wound up getting a $250 ticket which pretty much sucks. If you see him around buy him a drink and thank him for taking one for the team. Many thanks to The Bugs, The Secretions and all the familiar faces who stuck around late. Sorry again Joel, we owe you one. Perhaps even 250 of them.
Behold… Thunderdome!
The July 14th show has been relocated to Thunderdome in Longview. Never heard of it? Don’t know where it is? To get that that information you’ll need to talk to Joel from the rock powerhouse formerly known as BXF. If you’ve been deemed worthy of this knowledge you must know that the first rule of Thunderdome is don’t talk about Thunderdome. The second rule of Thunderdome is don’t talk about Thunderdome. Get it? Got it? Good.
Show Journal 2009-06-27
We tried to play in Roseburg 2 years ago and we had to cancel due to the van breaking down. We tried last year as well, but had to cancel due to an unexpected trip out of the country for Dave. The third time was a charm as we actually made it to the show and even got to play. So was it worth the wait? Well … uhhh … errr … uhmmm … kind of. We showed up way late, which given our recent track record was no surprise. We were however, very surprised to find the show was running almost 90 minutes late. This was good because we weren’t rushed on stage but at the same time trying to take in 10 band bill is damn near impossible when people play too long or take too long to setup. I would dare say the people in the crowd just looked worn out. We caught the tail end of an acoustic set by someone who’s name I didn’t catch and most of It Prevails before we took the stage, or rather the floor. I think we played well but after seeing hours and hours of bands before us the energy level was definitely a little low for the remaining spectators. Of course, you could argue that people went nutty for the band before us and the band after us, so perhaps we weren’t that impressive after all? Either way it did feel good to play even if only a handful of people really appreciated it. Predictably there were some challenges, most notably the smell of burning plastic and smoke pouring out of the right PA main at the midway point of our set. We’ve wrecked some gear before but I’ve never seen a smoldering speaker before. I will say the experience is a whole lot cooler when it’s not your own stuff. The dead main did mean our last few songs only had half vocal volume but we muddled through it. American Me was up last and played a pretty bad ass mix of hardcore and got everyone moving. I will say I’ve spotted a new trend in the world of hardcore and its athletic shorts cut above the knees. I haven’t been to many hardcore shows as of late so this may be old news, but I think it’s safe to say there were so many white kneecaps bouncing up and down that it felt like we were watching the 1977 Celtics. Anyway, those guys seemed awfully cool, got the crowd moving and ended the show strong. Thanks to Erik for hooking up the show, the few familiar faces that had seen us before and to all the new bands who we met tonight.
Take 3?
We’ve got a show in Roseburg this weekend. We had a show booked there two years ago and had to cancel just before the show. We had another show booked last year and had to cancel before the show as well. We’ve also got a show there this Saturday. Third time is a charm?
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