Show Journal 2004-07-30
Never thought I would visit Svensen, let alone play a show there. Due to some nasty traffic we ended up arriving late and showed up just as Malignant started. Turns out the whole show was running about an hour behind which is never a good sign. After watching for a bit Dave, Justin and myself decided to wander over and eat at the local restaurant which I’ve also added to my “things I never thought I’d do in Svensen” list. Sat around for a bit and came back over to catch the tail end of the Ted Dancin’ Machine set. Nice to finally see them play after crossing paths all this time. BXF was next and rocked. I’ve seen them about a dozen times over the past 6 months so I think I am qualified to comment on their performance. We were up last. We played three songs and were informed we only had time for 3 more. Hmmm. Drive two hours in traffic, watch other bands for 3 hours, play 20 minutes, then drive home. Swell. The promoter already got an earful from Dave so I’ll spare everyone from the rant about how annoying that shit is. Anyway, the abbreviated set was still fun and it was nice to see everyone rock out even if only for a few minutes. Thanks to the message board crew, our friends from Longview, people from Astoria who came to check us out again, the gnome dancers and Chris Miner. No thanks to the chicken strips or the lack of a door in the bathroom.
Show Journal 2004-07-22
This was our first show in Hillsboro, but amazingly not our first time playing in a bowling alley. We were able to get Bound To Break and The Rivals onto this show at the last minute as their show in Oregon had fallen through and it was a good move. Both were pretty entertaining to watch and seemed to be pretty cool guys. I will say that it was ironic that both had shirts for sale at their merch tables. (Sorry, had to go there) Paint By Numbers were third and despite the hour long set up time they did pretty well. It seems that as they get skinnier and skinnier they get better and better. It seems to be the reverse for us. Go figure. Lopez was fourth and I gotta say those 20 minutes were the most fun I’ve had watching a band in years. I think their punk/hardcore/rawk mixture fell on mostly deaf ears but we were all impressed with the music and stage antics. One highlight was the singer managing to knock the disco ball off the ceiling and catching it with one hand without missing a note. The funniest moment however was when he took it upon himself to blind everyone in the front of the audience (and later his band) with the incredibly bright stage light. Eventually they turned it off on him but the damage was done. It had been years since we played them and they can still rock like no one’s business. We played last and took requests. We wound up playing some songs we actually haven’t ever played live yet including ‘Roads Less Traveled’ and ‘Destination: Space’. It should be noted we saw the hand clapping and approved. Also as a request we busted out ‘ULS’ tonight, which we hadn’t played live since ’98. It was fun but now it will be retired for another 6 years. Thanks to everyone who showed up and more thanks to those who got lost and still showed up.
Show Journal 2004-07-11
I think this was my favorite Warped Tour I’ve seen to date. There was about a dozen bands during the day that I really wanted to see. Usually there’s just 3 or 4 that I’m excited about so today was definitely a good show. Getting in for free was a huge bonus as well. However, the law of averages has a cold reality check in store for us tonight. Through the luck of the draw we got scheduled to play from 8:40-9:00. The last headliner on the main stage finished at 9:00 so we were really only looking to play for people on their way out. That’s not too big a deal but the sound system and technical failures would plague our 20 minutes in the spotlight. First off we had to follow The Bled. Cool band but they thought they were the last band so they didn’t bother to move their stuff off the stage until we told them to. We got up there and all the monitors were moved and the microphones were nowhere to be found. We plugged in and the guy gave us the worst sound check ever. My monitor was not working. Jim’s monitor? Not working. Justin’s monitor worked, but it only played my guitar and at a volume loud enough to distort to an undecipherable buzz of noise. Justin said my guitar through his monitor was louder than his amp. From what I could hear of Dave’s vocals it was distorted and thin sounding onstage and out front. We finally started and a song into it the monitors started cutting out which makes everything go from loud to quiet. When things go from loud to quiet on stage your instinct says there’s a problem, which confused us all. Two songs into it Justin’s guitar breaks. Literally. The headstock physically broke. That’s an $1100 guitar too. He grabs another guitar and at some point the wireless becomes unplugged. Throughout it all the monitors keep turning on and off which makes us the think the power was going off. It was very disorienting to have everything running at full volume and then down to barely audible on stage. You expect that kind of stuff at a basement show or small venue, but it was a major letdown since we had such immaculate sound at previous Warped shows. I know I shouldn’t complain since there are dozens of bands that don’t even get the chance to play Warped but this show seriously sucked. Our friends said it was ok, but mostly I was bummed because I had such high expectations. The last two years went so well, so I just assumed it would be the same. There was one thing that made out set enjoyable and that was the large group of friends that stuck around to watch us play. When they told me we’d be playing at 8:40 I figured we’d be playing to 10 people. Amazingly there was a decent sized group of people that stuck around until the end of the night just to watch us play. That’s the one thing that saved the show for me and I seriously can’t thank each of you who stayed enough. I think we owe you all a better show next time!
Show Journal 2004-06-19
One night Richland, the next Seattle. One town we have a following, the other we definitely do not. Attendance wise the show tonight was totally weak. It was the 1year anniversary for Artsy-Noise, which is a NW based webzine and to celebrate they had back to back shows. Sadly both were sparsely attended as the headliners for each night bailed at the last minute. Speaking of bailing … as soon as the first band finished they packed up and then drove home without watching any of the other bands. When the second band finished, they packed up and drove home without watching a single song of the other bands as well. So on behalf us … fuck you both. (Note to any other bands/musicians reading this … unless you have a dire emergency you should watch at least some of the set of the other bands you play with. Seriously, even just one song, or having someone at least pretend like they care is always a good thing.) The band that did stick around was the Television Killers. Young, loud, fast and snotty would sum them up best. Judging from their song selection I hope they will consider that a compliment. Our set? 10 songs chosen by the Kelvis himself. We later determined 10 songs was almost exactly a one to one ratio with the people standing up. Thankfully Kevin, Robert, Al, Todd, Chris and the Artsy Noise folks did their best to remain enthusiastic and despite Jim’s efforts to dismantle the power grid, it was strangely enjoyable. There was supposed to be a headliner tonight but they decided not to play since “it would take too long to setup”. Nice. Thanks to Artsy Noise, Kevin and his posse, Fatburger, Beth’s and the crock pot. Also, Justin would like to invite anyone and everyone to “grab a slice”.
Show Journal 2004-06-18
I’ve stated that we love playing in Richland about a dozen times before but it still rings true. Toxie was the opener and we love Toxie because 1) they are named after the Toxic Avenger and 2) they cover ‘Kelvis’. They rocked it with a short, fast songs and a nice assortment of covers. Their drummer is crazy fast too. It’s kind of scary. Compact 56 was next and tore it up as they always do. The word on the streets is that they might be taking some time off to regroup and reorganize. Since that’s the case I’d like to take this small opportunity to say thanks to one of our favorite bands to play with and people to hang out with. Scary to think we’ve known them since the Animal Farm days. We played last and late and it ruled. I couldn’t believe how many people knew the words to all the new songs already. However in an effort to thwart the super fans knowledge of lyrics we threw everybody a curveball tonight. The past few times we’ve played in Richland someone suggested we play the song ‘Minnesota’ from Swank. We always politely refused, but as a surprise we practiced it for a few weeks and played it at this show for the first time since 1996. I hope they were in attendance because it probably won’t happen again! Good show. Thanks to the people that always make our trips there a blast … you know who you are!
Show Journal 2004-06-17
For years I had thought Conans was a little hole in the wall but it’s actually a pretty big venue with a huge stage and a big PA. It’s still a poorly attended bar with often mediocre shows but whatever. Before the show Dave, Justin and Adam (from C56) went to eat at a little Indian restaurant next door. When Dave returned I questioned him about the meal and he threatened to give us all a dutch indian oven. Compact was first and I’m glad they were able to claim redemption on this stage. Apparently at their last Conans show a monitor was thrown off the stage, the bass player was punched in the eye and only 5 people were there to witness it all. Kinda nice seeing them as a 4 piece again since that’s how we first saw them way back in the day. Everyday Victory was next and it seemed like it’s been forever since we actually played a show with them. In fact I think it has been. They rock. Plus they have nice guitars and they play them well. We played third and did i-ight. My wireless broke and I got a huge scrape on my leg from running into the drum riser. Can you tell I’m stretching for something else to write about? Thanks to Jeremy and crew for the show hookup.
Show Journal 2004-06-11
I think I took about 3 years off of my hearing last night. Seriously, I can barely hear out of my right ear except for a faint whining sound. Super fun show in Bend as all the bands were fairly entertaining. Countdown absolutely killed it live and had people falling into the drums and jumping off the monitors. Berzerk was rad to see as well since we hadn’t actually played with them in 6 years. They’ve gotten very, very, very good in that time too. We played well and people stuck around which is all it takes to please simpletons such as ourselves. Dave broke his bass, my guitar wouldn’t stay in tune, and at least 3 of us of had freely flowing snot for the duration of the set. Definitely a punk rock show. Thank you Matt.
Show Journal 2004-06-07
Crazy night. We arrived late as usual and unloaded in the cold and dreary rain. We set up our stuff, went to get some food and when we got back The Empty was already playing. They were ok, kind of a little mismatched given the lineup though. They knew Mooninites quotes and you just gotta respect that. We were second and depending on your state of mind you either saw something kind of cool or you saw something kind of lame. Three songs into our set Justin’s guitar amp died in mid song. He got it working for a minute or two and then it crapped out during the next song. With less than 15 minutes to go and no time to swap amps I suggested that Justin play bass. So that’s what we did. Me on guitar, Justin on bass and the best part … Dave singing without the luxury of an instrument to hide behind. Out of nowhere Dave turned into captain energy and was moving around stage like I’ve never seen him move before. I think we actually pulled it off well and it was kind of cool to be stripped down to such a raw sound for a change. Dave, Jim and myself had a total blast playing. Justin did not. He was busy trying to keep himself from turning his Marshall into a pile of rubble. Roger Miret and the Disasters were third and man I thought they sounded great. They had so many catchy tunes that it was almost scary. The Hunns were last and pretty entertaining to watch. Duane Peters is one of a kind on stage (“can we sound check the tambourine”) and their songs completely kick ass. In addition if you are male, the Hunns always have the ever present distraction of Corey’s breasts. I digress. Thanks to everyone who watched us and to the Wow Hall for having us.
Show Journal 2004-06-04
4 CD’s in 10 years. I guess that’s not too bad of an average. Definitely the best of the CD release shows though. Of course that’s not too big of a challenge. For our ‘Swank’ CD release show we didn’t even have the CD’s ready. In fact we missed the deadline by 3 months. Sadder still was that for ‘The Kelvis’ we didn’t even have a CD release show. Our average crowd at that point was 5-10 people so it wasn’t really an option. Tonight’s show however was a blast. We were lucky enough to get some of our best friend’s bands from the past few years to play. The Civies (not ‘The Civics’), started things off right. The quote of the night was from Billy. When someone yelled “play some Slayer” he responded “Son, if I play some Slayer you’ll be walking out of here with your ass for a hat.” Beautiful. I can only imagine how well the man plays Slayer to throw down that kind of a claim. Countdown tore it up as always. If you have read any other entries on this page you’ll know how much I love that band. Thirty3 was third and sounded great. We were a little bummed since Chris wasn’t in attendance (after all, he did take the morgue photos for the album) but the power of Ty compelled Tre Tre to rock adequately. I’m not sure if they crossed the 20 minute mark, but then again do they really need to? We played last and had a great time. The message board crew was in effect and most already knew the chants to Bloodline, which made all of us happy. After seeing that the rest of the show was a breeze. Thanks to the following: those who came out of the woodwork to see us play, those who traveled from very far away, Bryon for helping w/ the sound, the Kelvis for rocking the sounds between bands, the Nocturnal for tolerating us and to everyone else who came to the show. One last quick story, I spoke with Ben and Mayor from Compact 56 last week and they said they wouldn’t be attending the show because they were going to be in Las Vegas. In honor of our show they promised to make a bet on the number 8 at roulette. I had forgotten all about this until on the way home last night my phone rings, and I’m greeted by Ben who informs me they bet on 8 … and won big. I asked “how much” and he responded, “I don’t know I’m still counting it.” Amazing. Lastly, I hope Jack from Rhythm of ’84 is feeling better.
Show Journal 2004-05-22
Fifteen good bands tonight. I’ll skip the individual reviews but I will say that Countdown rocked harder then I’ve ever seen them. Our set was 20 minutes and lots of fun. Watching some kid back into our van was not fun. Watching the kid’s mom show up and mack on Dave was once again fun. Nate Allen should be thanked for everything he’s done for us. Thank you, goodnight.
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