Show Journal 2006-02-17
Kind of an old school reunion tonight. We played with 8 Foot Tender for the first time since … drum roll please … October 1997. I didn’t recall their singer being so amusing but he made me laugh out loud a few times. The MRNB (aka the OCKNB) rocked it tonight. We’ve actually known them since … even longer drum roll … July 1997. In fact some of you might be interested to know that their singer J, who was in another band at the time, played at our very first show in Portland. Lyle and Brent were in another band called Bomf! That we played with numerous times from ’97 to ’99. Lyle actually played guitar for us for a bit before we got Justin and Brent helped facilitate the embalming tool photos from ‘Rise Again’ (yes, those were real). Their other guitar player Kelly actually did all the cover artwork for our album ‘The Kelvis’. Talk about knowing a band for a long time! They sounded really good tonight and as always were a pleasure to watch. We were up third and did ok. No highlights and no lowlights, just a fun and solid show. 48 Thrills headlined and sounded great. They are definitely worth checking out live if you are in the area. Catchy sing along punk rock. The only thing that was lame tonight (other than the 20 degree load out) was all the fights. Of course whenever you see a shirtless guy in the pit you just know something bad is going to go down. Thanks go to 48 Thrills for inviting us to play, the Hawthorne Theater for having us, Stephen Morgan and his Richland crew for the commute and everyone else who watched us play.
Show Journal 2006-02-11
Lord knows we’ve been real bad about playing Seattle. We’ve been averaging about one show there for every two years. Needless to say it’s nice when we get rewarded with a good show there because we might not deserve it. Big show and lineup so I’ll keep it quick. The venue was clean, real clean. When was the last time you saw a show where you shared a lobby with an art gallery opening? Punk rock and finger foods. Interesting mix. Speaking of food Kevin, Al and Todd took us out for burritos that were literally the size of a baby. It was a nice surprise to see Pornstore Janitor again as it’s been a long time. Got to see Hang again which was cool as well. We finally met Potty Mouth Society after being on a comp with them. Our set was pretty good, so no complaints here. Full Frontal Assault was “gnarly”, in a good way. Thanks to everyone new we met and the few people who arrived that had actually seen us before. That’s all.
Show Journal 2006-01-28
Musically tonight’s show was a little humbling. We played with two “experimental” bands which either means they are going to totally suck and make noise or they are just short of genius. Pretty sure it was the latter. The Freak Accident was all over the place from noisy jazz to heavy rock. Guitar, bass, drums, samples, keyboards and a trumpet. You do the math. Removal was insane and the definite hit of the night. I literally wanted to just pack up and go after seeing them play. At times it sounded thick and sludgy like Fu Manchu (or any other favorites stoner rock band you might know) and at other times kind of like technical rock with crazy breakdowns. If you play any sort of instrument you were probably as humbled as we were. Oh yeah, samples and a video show as well. I would so like to see them again. Our set was “pretty good”. It started really late (12:30 AM for an all ages show?) and we were still exhausted from last night. Dave’s speech to the crowd about not remembering the last time we played there was probably an indication of that. Of course the energy loss could also have been the effects of “The Chronic” that Dustin subjected us to in the van stereo. I’m not sure we played as well as we have in the past, but seeing so many of our friends faces there makes it impossible not to have fun. We always say Richland is our favorite place to play and it really is. It has been for years. A million thanks to Dustin, Chad and the Atomic crew. Hard to believe they have had our backs for over 8 years now. Also, thanks to EVERYONE who stayed late … Kiah, Matt, the Chief, Jared, Cryssi, Stephen, Rae Lynn and all the other names that are escaping me right now!
Show Journal 2006-01-27
Despite the allure of the show being all ages, this was actually a bar show. Kind of a dingy and smelly college bar at that. When they opened up the door to the upstairs part of the club for us to load in (ie – “the top of the cock”) it was as if someone had just unearthed a tomb with rotting corpses inside. The smell of last weeks show rolled down the two flights of stairs all the way to the street and made everyone gag as we loaded in. Speaking of gagging who takes the stall doors out of the restrooms? Seriously, three urinals and a toilet all lined up in a row with no dividers. Nice to get a small taste of prison life. We ended up riding down with the Clorox Girls since they were having van troubles. It was cool to hear so many of their crazy tour stories. The highlight was definitely “I was really wasted and left my jeans in a dryer somewhere in Canada so I only had one pair of jeans for the rest of the tour and they were way too tight”. Classic! They are out losing their pants somewhere in a foreign country and our wild night consists of drinking coke and discussing bowel movements. The Clorox Girls were pretty fun to watch and I’m glad they could play the show. I only wish more people were there to see them. PB Army was up second and they were having major microphone issues. Constant squealing = not good. Dave and I commandeered the PA and discovered the amp for the mains was unplugged. After fixing it (plugging it in) the volume and energy level started to pick up. PB Army sounded pretty good. A few too many encores, but I don’t know that I could resist 30 drunken friends insisting on more rock. Anyway, it’s always good to see them. We were up last and started playing to Darin and Tim because everyone else had wandered away. We started off strong. Justin broke two strings during the first 3 seconds of the song. I hate when that happens. If you stop the song after only 5 seconds you look lame. If you keep playing and have the other person walk across the stage, find a guitar and tune it, only to come back in at the last chorus you look lamer. Never get a second chance to make a first impression. Thankfully alcohol was flowing and I don’t think anyone other than us really cared. People eventually started to move and we played 6 new songs because no one knew the difference. Highlight of the night and possibly my year? Two guys in camouflage hunting attire came up and kept asking Dave to say “bullshit” into the microphone. “Hey Man. Say bullshit. Say bullshit into the mic. Do it. C’mon say bullshit”. So naturally Dave says “bullshit” and they both raise their arms in victory. So bizarre. The only other exciting moment was when on the way home we heard a loud “ping” noise and realized the vent on the roof of our van broke off exposing out loft to the elements. January weather in Oregon with a hole in your roof? Not good. Can’t wait to see how full of water the roof is tonight on the way to Richland. Thanks to PB Army and the Clorox Girls!
Show Journal 2006-01-18
Tonight’s show was in a clothing store. Amazingly this is not the first time we’ve played in a clothing store. Last time was about 10 years ago. Strange how many things have changed and how many haven’t over the course of a decade. Despite the bragging rights of saying we’ve played in not one, but two clothing stores, tonight did have a lot of firsts. Tonight was the first time I ate a fast food pita. Tonight was definitely the first time any of us were accosted by a homeless man offering to sell Duracell’s (not just batteries, but Duracell’s). Tonight was the first time we didn’t see the uber-nerds discussing science fiction at Pioneer Villa. Tonight was the first and last night Dustin will jump the van off a BMX jump. Anyway, the show was very small and very DIY which is always refreshing to see. The down side was that it took forever. Granted, part of that was due to our late PA arrival, but 4 bands in 5 hours makes it hard to keep the energy flowing. Despite the long breaks there were still people there at the end of the night that weren’t afraid to dance and that’s made it fun. Thanks to Ugly Litter for booking the show and to the Android staff for having us. Also, congrats to Susan!
Show Journal 2006-01-07
Salem? Are you ready to rock? The answer is hell yes. Salem is ready and very willing to rock. It’s possible this show has made it into my top 10 best shows list. When we pulled up we saw a somewhat empty and very well lit coffee shop that did not look ready for a show. Our last all ages show in Salem (way back in 1998) was also in a well lit restaurant in the downtown area so we expected the worst. They said we could load in downstairs and once we saw the cramped, dark and already warm basement we knew we’d be just fine. The Hornswogglers were up first and oddly enough we had met two of the members of their band before. The bass player had broken his arm at a show in McMinnville and the guitar player had seen up in Spokane once. Small world sometimes. They sounded pretty solid and we were impressed. Sister Ray was second. They weren’t really my thing so I won’t say anything. They seemed nice enough and the Beatles cover was pretty good. Kill The Kids ended up using our gear because they had a bunch of stuff ripped off the night before in San Francisco. While we were loading amps down the stairs we heard a guy talking to a group of girls headed out the door. Here’s the conversation as best as I can recall. “Where are you going?” “We’re leaving now” “You don’t want to see 800 Octane?” “No, we don’t like death metal.” Death Metal? How did they know we were playing all Morbid Angel covers tonight? Anyway, Kill The Kids tore it up. Their hometown fans are insane and go absolutely nuts. Very refreshing to see such a response for such a deserving bunch of guys. They can seriously rock and we’re looking forward to playing with them again in Bend. Our set was pretty damn good. We had one crummy moment where the PA cut out so we had no vocals at all. While waiting for them to fix it a couple people asked for ‘Day Of The Dead’ and said they’d sing along. So we played it and they did. Sometimes I don’t think we deserve the people that like our band because to play a song with no vocals and still have people go nuts is beyond cool. Big thanks to Kill The Kids, Andy, The Sip, Ritchie Von Dead and everyone else who stayed late.
Show Journal 2005-12-16
Always loud and always rowdy, Astoria shows always rock. We actually left on time tonight but got stuck in traffic and basically idled from downtown PDX all the way past Vancouver. That means we missed both Absence Of Grace and Buck 90. Apologies to both of those bands for missing your sets. We did get to see Accidental Gun Death and they were in rare form tonight. Between the inability of their gear to contain the rock and their physical encounters with the crowd I’m sure they have a bunch of new fans now. Our set felt pretty solid and everyone up front seemed to dig it. Dave still has all his teeth so that’s a plus. On the van ride home we run over a chicken carcass and learned that Justin’s burps smell like cheese, despite not eating any for days. Thanks to Chris for setting up another smoothly running show and thanks to the other bands.
Show Journal 2005-12-08
When did the Ash Street become the most consistent bar in town to play? Always people, always rowdy, always fun. Accidental Gun Death opened the show and was terribly amusing as well as terribly rocking. The singer Jamie tends to move around a lot. Standing near the front of the stage I was worried that he would fall off in the piles of drums and equipment. I asked myself “how would I react if someone fell off the stage and nearly killed themselves?” Would I help? Would I have to call 911? About two minutes into their set I learned the answer to this question is stand motionless and just smile. Jamie did land on his feet but took about half of Scratch’s drums out with them. Too funny. Scratch was pretty cool but primarily because they covered DFL and for some reason DFL amuses me. Plus who knew Jed had a band? We played six new songs tonight. Despite Dave’s claims that “we might fuck this up” they all went off without a hitch and we were relieved. My Goldfish Ned played last and it was a little bittersweet because it was their last show and 11th anniversary. I couldn’t help but wonder what our last show would be like. When will it be? Where will it be? Who will show up? We’ll be pushing 12 years real soon so it was cool to see another band that started about the same time we did and was right here in the exact same place at the same show. (Stranger still is that two of AGD’s members have been playing over 10 years as well.) Very, very solid set by the Ned tonight and I kind of wished we had gotten to play with them more often. Turns out they will still be making music, just under a different name and different songs so maybe that’ll happen. Thanks to Heather and the Ash Street. Apologies to Dustin for the speeding ticket and parking ticket.
Show Journal 2005-11-11
North Bend rocked our world last night. After a few so-so shows in a row it was nice to have ‘a little kick ass’ in our world again. We had never been to North Bend/Coos Bay before and it had the following: a big venue, nice staff, pretty good sound, real good lights, a good promoter and most importantly a large crowd that completely embraced a band they had probably never heard of. I’m hoping the positive reaction was because we played well, but I suspect everyone was amped up enough on their own that Justin could have held a microphone to his ass and someone would have started a pit. Well I guess any one of us could have been holding the mic to their asses, but Justin would be the one most likely to actually do it. Unfortunately because of some traffic in Portland we missed Core 13 and about half of Vern’s set. The ones we did meet from those bands seemed cool enough and that goes a long way with us. We loaded up and played about 15 minutes after arriving. I was still shaking from the cold since Justin somehow managed to mess up the van window. How you ask? I have no idea. He rolled it down and then announced that it wouldn’t roll back up. Dave eventually fixed it but we had to drive 4 of the 5 hours with the front window down which led to near hypothermia in myself and Dustin who we sitting in the back seat. Thankfully the show was awesome. People tried to sing along with every song they could figure out and had a pit going for most of the show. I couldn’t have asked for anything better so thanks to everyone who listened to us with an open mind and enjoyed themselves. I didn’t see too much of Words Fall Short since we were meeting so many people but they sounded pretty damn tough. Lunaractive was the band of the night and they tore the place a new one. They had everyone singing and moving the entire set which was pretty impressive because that was a lot of people to keep moving. I’m admittedly a little jealous since they have their stuff together so well and a relatively young age. Props to them for sure. Also, I’ve got to say they are definitely one of the nicest bands we’ve ever run across. It’s refreshing to see a younger band with so many fans that doesn’t have an ego about themselves. I know we were grateful of the large crowd and it seems they were too. All in all a good night. Well until the Jalapeno Potato Chips and the toxic fluids of Rockstar soda met in my stomach somewhere between Eugene and Wilsonville, but that’s another story. Thanks so much to everyone at the Port Events Center, Ethan and Lunaractive, and the other bands who we met and didn’t meet, and extra thanks to Patrick for putting on one of the smoothest running shows we’ve played all year.
Show Journal 2005-10-29
364 days later and I once again find myself standing in the cold as Dave throws large handfuls of fake blood at my face. Justin looks on making obscene jokes about unspoken Japanese sexual practices. It’s about 45 degrees out. The blood is sticky, it tastes bad, it’s in my eyes and it’s starting to run down my shirt. I start to look back at my life and wonder exactly which choices have led me to this moment. Maybe I should have listened to my guidance counselor? Maybe I should have tried harder in school? Inexplicably the words “pour some on my head” come out of my mouth and in saying this I confirm that sitting at home discussing politics isn’t anywhere in my immediate future. Doing the kids homework? No thanks. Dressing up as a bloody skeleton and making people cover their ears? Now you’re talking. We kind of took a chance this year playing some place new for Halloween. You never know what to expect with a new town and a new crowd for a show. There was a crowd though and that’s a step up from the last two shows. Aside from a very small handful of people (PJ, Stephanie, Reid and the LAHF guys) I don’t think anyone had heard us, or had any idea what to expect from our set. When we walked up ready to play you could just see the “what the hell is this” expressions. People seemed to respond ok and despite the lengthy show times most everyone stayed awake and alert for the evening which we are thankful for. It’s also worth noting that Larry and His Flash rocked it hard this evening and it’s unfortunate we had to wait two hours until our set. Our set was pretty cool. Nothing earth shattering but definitely better than average. Thanks to Reid, Ang, The Meat Market, Larry And His Flask and the other bands.
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