Show Journal 2004-09-20
Day 4 – We got up early and left for Fresno. Thirty3 left early to pick up some cd’s, so we took our sweet time on the road. The drive was uninteresting at best but thankfully it was warm and sunny. We actually arrived early and wound up at an internet café where Dave and I checked e-mail and played mundane video games. Jim purchased a wireless card for his laptop and we have dubbed him “the wifi hunter”. At some point Thirty3 informed us that our host from the night before didn’t like our band because we “played punk rock”. The more I think about that statement the more it annoys me. It just seems so shallow to like one kind of music (hardcore) and not another (punk) when they are so similar and share so many of the same origins and influences. This is more annoying when Thirty3 isn’t a typical hardcore band and we aren’t a typical punk band. Of course, the more I think about it I guess there was a period where I refused to listen to heavy metal just because it was heavy metal. A few years ago became zen with it again. Maybe everyone really into music goes through that phase. I’m rambling. The show tonight was interesting. There ended up being 5 bands playing in an standalone garage behind the house. Kinda cool atmosphere for a show. Plus it was across from a place called The Peach Pit which send Justin and Mike into nerd paradise. About 2 bands into the show a neighbor (named Bud) strolls over and lays into Dave about the volume. We knew it was going to be a rough night since the first two bands were relatively quiet and there were still 3 to go and two of which we knew would be very loud. The third band took forever to setup and play. Bless them for being young but I don’t think they realized we had driven 4 hours and were on tour where as they cam from down the street. But then again can you really get mad at a band of teenage girls? After the long set from band #3 we came dangerously close to playing an acoustic set but later decided us and Tre Tre should share gear and rip through 4 songs each. It took all of 20 minutes and we were done before Bud could hobble his old ass over again to bitch. Since we got done early we headed to Mike’s house in LA. Jon provided us with walkie talkies for van to van communication for our commute across “the grapevine”. Along the way a ghetto bird flew by and ran his spot light on Thirty3’s van for about 10 seconds. Weird.
Show Journal 2004-09-19
Day 3 – Sunday morning we hung out briefly with Kaylin and talked guitars with her dad. Next was a stop to Jake’s for breakfast. It took almost an hour to get our food but man it was good. We took the back road from Bend to Shasta, which was a nice detour from the normal I-5 commute. Somewhere along the way Jim repaired the headlight and Justin coined the hit song “llama said knock you out”. It has been a long time since we played Redding and it was nice to see there were at least a handful of people who remembered us. The show was small but fun. During the show we found out it was Mike’s birthday so happy birthday Mike. After the show we stayed at a friend of Thirty3’s. Her roommate (who was unaware we were coming) nearly passed out as two bands walked in with sleeping bags and pillows. I couldn’t imagine sitting at home watching TV by myself and being invaded by 10 smelly people who had come to crash.
Show Journal 2004-09-18
Day 2 – Pretty dismal start to the tour as we ended up leaving Portland late and arrived to the show in Bend 10 minutes after Thirty3 finished. This was not good because we were supposed to be playing second. Oops. Somehow during the set I knocked the living hell out of my hand and thought I had broken it. It instantly swelled up and it hurt to even strum the guitar. Rock and roll. The show went well. If we hadn’t been so rushed I would say it was one of the most fun shows we’d hand in Bend in sometime. Thanks to Kaylin and PJ for hooking that up. No thanks to the vandals who insisted on spray painting the venue during the show. Afterwards we went to Sharis to hang out. This was the first time in almost 3 years we didn’t have to drive home from Bend after the show so we were stoked on that. After food and gossip we followed Kaylin to her Dad’s house. I’m amazed we could follow her since her headlight points 90 degrees left and illuminates the side of the road. We were also warned “don’t hang your genitalia on the couch.” This wasn’t really going to be an issue but we found it odd that someone actually made a rule about it. To create a rule probably means it happened more than once. Needless to say I slept with my sleeping bag zipped up as not to touch the couch fabric.
Show Journal 2004-09-17
Day 1 – Cool show tonight. The Silence sounded cool and had the best selection of t-shirts I’ve seen in many years. The Physical Challenge totally kicked my ass with their rock and roll/hardcore sound. Our set was short but fun. Thirty3 was very loud and very energetic. Their greatness was further magnified by their mustaches. Can’t wait to hit the road with these guys. Thanks again for everyone’s support on our tour kick off show.
Show Journal 2004-09-10
When I think of MusicfestNW I think of a cozy, loud, smoky, beer drenched night of rock and roll. My vision of rock does not include the spacious interior and sparsely populated confines of the Paris Theater. It’s a good place for an all ages show but the jury is still out on it’s status as a rock bar. So yeah, this was our MusicfestNW showcase. Not the most ideal time slot but we were still glad to be a part of it. Quite a few people wandered in and watched which is really all that you can hope for at such an event. Anyway, thanks to the Willamette Week people for letting us be part of it and Michelle for the cookies.
Show Journal 2004-09-07
Wow, I never thought I’d actually get to say we played with TSOL but we did. Too cool. I’ll keep this brief but must say that the show was really fun. It was nice to play with the Statch boys again as we’ve been friends for many years but rarely get to play shows together. TSOL sounded great, were really funny and were really cool to talk to. Thanks to Blood Alley for the show hookup and to everyone at Sabala’s for making this little dream come true for us!
Show Journal 2004-08-19
Sure is nice to see a sold out show in Portland again. So what if we aren’t the musical flavor of the evening? Are we ever? Lola Ray cancelled (again) and local band Low Tolerance got added to the show to open. Cool guys and a pretty solid band. We played second and I couldn’t believe my ears when Dave opened the show by commenting on the number of “lovely ladies” in attendance. Sure the cleavage and short skirts ratio was considerably higher than we expected but he was dangerously close to sounding like a perv. With the exception of our botched beginning to ‘Go For Broke’ we played pretty well. Probably not the average Pepper fans cup of tea but I guess that’s not really my problem. Speaking of Pepper, I really don’t know what to say about Pepper. They seemed pretty sincere about what they do, they were solid musicians and they managed to work a crowd for nearly two hours. The downside? It’s just not the style of music I’m into. Not even close. If I had a nickel for every time they mentioned smoking pot, drinking and having sex I’d be a very rich man. Also I’d like to point out that I found it very ironic when they mentioned they were glad there were “no meatheads in the audience”. I beg to differ. Now I sound snobby. They’re the ones on tour and with the fans so who am I to criticize? Thanks to Thrasher Presents, The Nocturnal, the MBC, and Dre for checking in on us!
Show Journal 2004-08-14
Another late night and strangely action packed evening at Reid’s. Malignant was up first and sounded pretty good with the full volume of Reid’s at their disposal. Much heavier sounding than the Astoria show last month. I missed the second band because I went for food at Wendy’s and 10 minutes later paid the price in the Safeway bathroom. During this time I got a call from This Day’s End who’s van had broken down a few miles from Longview with most of their gear in it. Jim wound up having to drive our van over to them, pick up all their stuff and haul it back over to Reid’s. Because of the vehicle mishap BXF ended up having to play 3rd. It was Kellee’s last show singing for them and we were all admittedly a little sad to see her go as we’ve played a lot of shows with them over the past year or two. It was a pretty solid send off and definitely the best show I’ve seen them play yet. This Day’s End set up next and played a pretty frantic and energetic set of screamy hardcore. It’s gotta be tough concentrating on playing when you have no idea how you are going to get home. We were up next and I think this could have quite possibly been the most fun I’ve had playing this year. Not the biggest show we’ve ever had in Longview but definitely one of the most enthusiastic. There were people all over the stage, moving around in and out of the crowd and it seemed like a ton of people knew the words. It was hot, loud, a little rowdy and totally fun. Thank you Longview. Eyekon was up last and surprised me. Why? Normally if you asked me to watch white rappers from Longview I’d just smile and say “no thanks”. I took a chance and seriously I thought they were pretty damn entertaining. Who knew? Thanks to TJ for the show hookup and all who stayed late.
Show Journal 2004-08-13
I’ll try to keep it brief … Checkpoint Charlie was first and although they were good musicians they were musically a little out of place with the lineup. Streetlight Cardiacs were second and I thought they rocked. If only I could have played that well 10 years ago. We were third and nothing too spectacular to report from our set. White Hot Odyssey was last and is now one of my new favorite bands. During their first song I thought “what the hell is this?” and almost left. The second song I’m thinking “ok, this is kind of amusing” and ventured closer to the stage. By the third song my opinion was that “oh my god this rules”. What did they sound like? Imagine MC5, Turbo Negro and T-Rex being performed by a band in matching skin tight white shirts (with white sweatbands) being fronted by what was quite possibly the stereotype of the words greatest and simultaneously most androgynous front man ever. Tight pants, medallions, jewelry, puffy white shirt, powdered white makeup and a powedered white curly magistrate style wig. Crazy, crazy, stuff. The lyrics were straight out of the 80’s hair band genre with songs about sex, rock and roll and more sex. If you don’t appreciate music before 1980 you won’t get it. Fortunately 3/4 of our band is old and we were highly amused. Thanks to the WOW Hall for the hookup!
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.
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