Show Journal 2002-12-31
Man, what a great night. Highlights included: all of the Runaway Boys set, Danny from CTL’s jokes and stage chatter, the mysterious dancing man, the unexpected circle pit in the fancy club, the 80′ DJ, the piñata boobs, the much anticipated but never seen potatos, the unnamed person who did ‘the worm’ on the floor … after the show (yuck!), our set of covers which included ‘I Ran’, ‘The Safety Dance’ and ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’, all of Thirty 3’s set and the ending multi band cover session which included a NOFX song, a Lifetime song and the best way to ring in the new year … an Andrew W.K. song! Dan said it best – “that was one of the best New Years I’ve ever had”. I agree. Super big thanks to all of our friends including Ashley, Sesha, Sarah, Angela, Jon, David, Crys, Larissa, Lee, Danny, Josh, Ty, Attom from C56, Tim from 3xR, Jesse, the other Jon and Sara. I’m sure there are more but seriously, thanks to everyone else who chose to spend the evening with us!
Show Journal 2002-12-26
Ugghh. Our set was such a disappointment tonight. The other bands played great, there was a ton of people, everyone we met was totally friendly, but we really kinda sucked. Drum parts broke, amps malfunctioned, cords failed, and we played sloppy. Definitely not the best of performances. Thankfully NLA turned the evening around and got everyone excited and moving again. Thanks to them for being totally cool to meet and hang out with. Good album too!
Show Journal 2002-12-20
Crap. I just typed out a really long review and accidentally erased it so here’s the abbreviated version. The snowy drive sucked. Arriving late and missing the first 2 bands sucked. All Out did not suck. PBN did not suck. We did not suck. The long drive home with 100 miles of snow did suck. Despite the long drives tonight did not not suck. Thanks go to all who deserve them.
Show Journal 2002-12-14
Holy crap … most intense show ever! This show also had the distinction of being the hottest show ever, the loudest crowd ever, our longest set ever (well, since the Hoss days), and a close run for the most fun show ever. Just an awesome, awesome night. Big thanks to everyone who came out to the show because you all are the reason why Richland is the most consistent and best crowd we play too! Bigger thanks to our street team peeps who busted their ass to help get some new people in the door! One more thank you is reserved to Compact 56 for playing these last 6 shows with us. I know you felt like the new guys on our little tour but you’ve totally got our respect. These last few shows were some of the best times we’ve ever had in the band and that is in large part due to you guys so thanks again. My only complaint … even after 6 shows we still don’t know any of your damn lyrics!
Show Journal 2002-12-13
If I had to rate it I’d give tonight’s show a 6 out of 10. Not the most thrilling show by any means but definitely a good time for everyone in attendance. BXF started off and sounded great. I wish more people were there to hear them but that’s the first slot at the Paris for you. (By the way thank you for coming down to play on short notice!) More people did show up in time for Monkee Torture but most were met with great confusion. The confusion was twofold … 1) what’s with the slow heavy metal dirges and 2) who is this masked man known as Baron Von Torture who is insulting us? You gotta see them live to understand what I’m referring to … highly recommended. Compact 56 was third and they sounded amazing. I feel that I am qualified to rate them as I have attended their last 5 shows. Brutal sounding tonight … just awesome. Chris owned the stage and we were humbled to follow them. Our set? I’ll just offer up the usual “we had fun playing” response. Nothing too earth shattering to report but we did play 3 new songs. Then there was that moment when Dave violated the Compact 56 banner. Thanks to those who drove long and far and thanks to those who come to see us regularly. Extra thanks to Ashley and her posse which consisted of roughly 12% of the crowd.
Show Journal 2002-12-11
Pretty fun and laid back show tonight. I was definitely surprised with the turnout on a Wednesday night, especially for some relatively unknown bands like us and Compact 56. Highlights of the show were Two The Front’s bongo player, Chris from Compact using the F word 20 times in one sentence, Justin falling off the stage (again), and the 800 Ball cookies. Thanks to Mike for setting up the show, PJ for getting us in touch with Mike, the staff at the BCC for being so friendly and everyone who hung out on a Wednesday evening with us.
Show Journal 2002-12-08
The quote of the trip came from Ben who woke this morning up and proclaimed to 9 other people “I can’t tell if I’m just really sweaty or if I pissed myself”. Priceless. We had another breakfast courtesy of Compact and this time we had more than enough to eat. Full of eggs and bacon we headed to Spokane. It was cold and windy but the views of the Montana mountains were awesome. We watched ‘Glory’ in the van which took up about half the drive. Upon arriving in Spokane we ate at Dick’s hamburgers and spent the better part of thirty minutes making lame jokes about all the way to eat dicks, consume dicks, and taste dicks. Not funny now but highly amusing after 6 hours in the van. Fat Tuesday’s was a weird place. It’s big and looks more like a themed restaurant than a venue. The sound on stage was terrible but the sound out front was huge. We played first to about 30 people including the other bands. Oddly enough it was still totally fun because the other bands were all there standing up front and making noise between songs. Sure most of the noise in question was insults and 4 letter words but that’s what friends are for. Before CS-9 played I asked Derik if they were going to do any more guitar spins for us and all he said was “Yeah, we’re going for the record tonight”. I didn’t know there was such a title to be had but I counted at least 9 spins. Too funny. OTTL was third and although our styles were totally different they were definitely fun to watch. Their singer was very charismatic and kept the small crowd at attention. (By the way thanks to those guys for hooking up this show!) Tonight’s headliner was determined by the size of their banner so by default Compact had the honor of going last. They were trying their hardest to rock but were all thwarted when Dave placed his 11 x 17 hand drawn interpretation of Chris being sodomized by the band members on the stage. The fine piece of artwork was titled “Cum-packed 56” and it was fun watching each member wander by it and totally lose their concentration. That set the mood for their set and we all had a good time watching them. At one point Ben (who has a wireless on his guitar) did a guitar solo from the back balcony of the club. This was extra funny because it’s this huge room and there were maybe 30 people there at most. Too funny. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed back home. Three more shows with these bands this week and we can’t wait.
Show Journal 2002-12-07
Woke up quick at about noon just felt that I had to be in Billings soon. Compact 56 made us all breakfast today but by the time Dave and I got there we only had enough for 1 egg each. Chris sold out Dan and told us that he ate our share of the food. He’s unemployed so I am willing to forgive his sins. The tiny breakfast was a good excuse to go to Perkins and get some real food. Afterwards we went back to the house, watched a Pantera DVD for inspiration and headed out to Billings. We were a little sad that the air hockey table was gone but aside from that the Billings show was insane. The crowd was at least three times bigger than our last show there and a lot of people from the Bozeman show came all the way to Billings to see the bands again. Compact was first and sounded huge. The Front was second and although I liked them before, they sounded even better when you can hear the vocals. Derik and I particularly enjoyed their set. For our show tonight we played almost an entirely different set which made it cool for us. Coldsnap was last and this was hands down the best I’ve ever seen them play. Why? Two words … guitar spins. Derik and Eric has mastered the art of spinning their guitars around their bodies in mid song. Sometimes forwards, sometimes backwards and the highlight of them all … “the double spin”. Justin, Dave and I were completely humbled by this display of rock and roll showmanship. CS-9 is from a town just outside of Billings so this was more or less their home town. To the dismay of many people they announced that this would probably be their last show in Billings. We didn’t realize it when we booked these shows but apparently they are breaking up after this. It was kind of bittersweet to see because they are such a great band. For better or worse I’ve seen quite a few “last shows” but this one was one of the best. No one left early and everyone sang along. They got the treatment that a loved hometown band deserved and it was cool to be a part of it. Afterwards us and Compact headed back to Bozeman to the person’s house who’s name I still can’t recall.
Show Journal 2002-12-06
No sleep till … Bozeman. We actually left for this show on Thursday night. We drove a little past Spokane and slept at a truck stop we have stayed at 4 times before. I was actually able to fall asleep in the roof of the van tonight which was a first. Usually I just lie awake listening to Dave and his window rattling snoring until I can’t take it anymore and begin driving. Day 2 of the drive was uneventful at best. We watched movies and several hundred miles of snowy Montana mountains pass by the window. We got to the club early and met up with Compact 56 who’s drive had not been nearly as peaceful. Apparently Ben drove 99% of the trip without ever stopping to sleep. He said at one point he was so tired he thought he heard an explosion in the engine. There is tired and then there is “I think the van blew up” tired. Amazing. We were all pretty stoked to meet up with CS-9 again because we had played with them quite a few times before over the past 2 years. In fact they recently added a new guitar player who happens to be none other than Derik from STFS who we did our summer tour with. Even more surprising still was when Adam from STFS walked into the show carrying his bass! Apparently he would be playing these shows as CS-9’s new bass player. It totally caught us all off guard and we were all stoked to see him again. Dave started in on the ‘dirty hippie’ jokes almost immediately but we all realize that is Dave’s twisted sign of affection. To make the STFS reunion complete Damon even came out to the show. I don’t think I got a chance to say more than 5 words to him but it was totally appreciated and good to see him again. One question though … where was Bill? The show itself was cool. STD opened up and oddly enough I actually recognized them as they had attended out last two Montana shows. Pretty solid set from a fairly new band. The Front was next and although you couldn’t hear their vocals they were fun to watch. Compact was 3rd and dropped their full contact rock bomb on the unprepared Montana crowd. Adam and Spinelli they took the whole “crowd interaction” thing a bit too far and played most of their set in the midst of pretty tough looking circle pit. I kind of enjoyed seeing them play to a crowd that had no idea who they were and watch them slowly win them over. We played 4th and it was damn cool to see people signing along to our songs so far from home. Definitely as good as … perhaps even better than our last show in Bozeman. Coldsnap was last and I was glad we didn’t have to follow them. They ruled plain and simple. After the show we all went out to eat but I had such a raging headache I ended up sleeping in the van while everyone dined on greasy breakfast foods. Apparently some dude was staring Justin down in the restaurant. I guess they didn’t like his kind in those parts. Afterwards we went to crash at a friend of Chris’s who’s name is escaping me.
Show Journal 2002-11-30
How was Redding you ask? Dave lost his voice within 10 minutes of starting the set. I cut my hand open. Justin fell off the stage. Dan’s drum stool broke during the last song and he fell to the ground. Definitely one of the more fun shows we’ve had there! Thanks to Chad and Brad for having us play. Even more thanks to all who bailed on their families to come see us play!
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