Show Journal 2001-10-13
Usually when we drive 7 hours for just one show I start to complain about it but I gotta say this one was totally worth it! The show tonight was a benefit concert for the Red Cross and the NYC bombing. When it was all said and done the show pulled in well over $1000 to donate! For a punk rock show in a smaller town I think that’s incredible. The venue was a very large high school auditorium complete with balcony, spot lights, a big sound system and an enormous stage. We saw lots of familiar faces tonight which was really encouraging. Tons of people from the Chico show as well as our last appearances in Redding. Lots of 800 Octane stickers in the parking lot too! We missed most of All But Forgotten since we made a hamburger run to Bartel’s. I didn’t want to miss them but as Dave’s said “damn those burgers was good”. Spent was up second and I thought they sounded really good. After missing their set last time it was finally nice to hear them as a full band and not a three piece! Good job guys. Hand Over Fist. What can I say about Hand Over Fist? I think those guys absolutely rock live. They go from technical quiet parts to just balls out rock faster than you can blink. I think they are a great band and it will amaze me if they don’t go on to bigger and brighter things in music. Jimmirig was up next and they were just as impressive as last time. Catchy songs, great musicians … they are just a really solid band and nice as can be. We were up last and I think we played well. I figured everyone would be burnt out after watching 4 bands, but that was not the case. People moved, cheered and quite a few people actually knew the words which is always great to see. We played a brand new song tonight and it seemed to go over well. Heads kept bobbing the whole song but now that I think about it they could have just been hypnotized by Justin’s crotch. Anyway, I could go on and on but I’ll just say that it was just a really fun show to play. Mad props got out to Dave who became the first member of 800 Octane to get to sign a girl’s breast … and a fake one at that! Of course Stephanie got to touch them but if I elaborate more we could get arrested. Special thanks to Chad from Spent for putting this whole thing together … venue, lineup, staff, etc. People like him make me feel really lazy. Thanks again to everyone in Redding for another rad show.
Show Journal 2001-09-15
The Ash Street. The Ash Street has not been kind to us recently. Everyone says we sound good when we play there but we never get any sort of crowd response. Ever. It is a cool place to see shows and hang out so we will probably continue to subject ourself to it’s perils. The equipment carnage from tour continues. Justin’s guitar is on the fritz and Jim’s bass drum got messed up. Amazing. I can remember a time when I could proudly state that our equipment doesn’t break. Those days are now long gone. Anyway, despite the apathetic reaction to our music and the breakage the show was still pretty fun. Longshot absolutely tore up the stage and played an amazing set tonight. I thought they were good before but man they rocked tonight. The Secludes weren’t too shabby either. They suffered the same crowd reaction as us though. I would have hated to follow Longshot tonight but they did a good job. Their new material sounds really good. I guess you could say it’s a little more ‘mature’ sounding than their older stuff but it still rocks. Special mention to Greg and Dwight for checking out the show and also to the guy from Hickory!
Show Journal 2001-09-09
Day 17 – I bathed in a truck stop sink today. The water was cloudy but I didn’t care. Home is only 550 miles away which is still a very, very long drive home. We ate at Dick’s Burgers in Spokane which was a great detour for us. For the final home stretch Justin volunteered to drive. He hadn’t driven the van since California!!! I think something is coming over him. His hair isn’t spiked up, he’s willingly driving and at one point he actually requested to hear a Danzig album. Poor child. We arrived at home without incident and all in all I would consider the trip a success. The final reading on the Painometer was just over 8400 miles … our longest tour to date! Thanks to everyone who came to see us, helped us book shows and made this fun for us. Special thanks to Kevin for enduring us and this trip!!! I can’t remember laughing so much on a trip like this so thanks again for being fun to hang out with and for just being Kevin!
Show Journal 2001-09-08
Day 16 – Damn it’s cold today. I think the high was around 46. The fly swatters are working well and are giving the Nintendo a run for it’s money. Today’s drive was really long. Most other drives were between 500-600 miles. Today’s was 800 with another 800 miler tomorrow as well. At one point during the drive Justin was sleeping with his eyes open, snoring loudly and had 4 flies hovering around his crotch. The show tonight was great. Amazing turnout for such a small town. Special mention to the “loadie” which is slang for someone who is “mother fucking loaded”. I missed JM vs JM but Kevin said they rocked. Coldsnap 9 totally kicked ass and was very impressive. Switch Two 47 rocked hard as well. They have come a long way since our show last year and hopefully we can play with them again. During our set we had a guest vocalist wearing a gorilla mask and an 800 Octane girly t-shirt. We have no idea who it was. Too bad Kevin was in the bathroom and missed the masked one. Thanks to Switch Two 47 for hooking us up with the show!!! You guys rock!!! We drove until about 5:00 AM and stayed in another roadside rest stop.
Show Journal 2001-09-07
Day 15 – The drive to Aberdeen was a rainy one. Appropriate weather for the return of Worlds Most Boring Band to the town where we were given that title. The highlight of the trip happened today at Kevin’s expense. At a Wal-Mart in Aberdeen Kevin, Dave and Justin all went into a bathroom. Kevin walked into a stall while Dave and Justin did their business at some urinals. During that time someone else walked into the bathroom. Kevin had no idea and in an effort to amuse Dave and Justin he announced in a loud voice “Hello Aberdeen … are you ready to rock?” Dave and Justin busted out laughing while the outsider stood in fear from what was happening in the stall next to him. Classic. At the Wal-Mart we bought 2 fly swatters. We also bought some Febreeze and are threatening to give someone a “Febrath.” After that we headed over to the club. It was still closed so we ate a little cafe next door. The place looked pretty unassuming but was the home of the best Italian food I’ve had in years. After that we walked to the arcade where the show was happening. It was empty and Justin and I engaged in a wacky game of ‘horse’ on the basketball machine they had. After that was nap time for the band. The show tonight was amazing. The opening act was a local kid who sang funny songs on an acoustic guitar. The second band was absolutely incredible. I asked what they sounded like before they played and the bass played simply responded with “we’re … uhhmm … heavy”. They were beyond heavy, they were the heaviest. 2 guitars with full stacks, 2 bass players with ampeg cabinets, one insane drummer (who plays naked) and 4 of the 5 sing/scream. It was some of the most aggressive and violent music I’ve ever heard. Needless to say I liked it. Their set was only 20 minutes. During the last song the guitar player dived into the drums, the bass players were crashing into the crowd, the other guitar player was throwing stuff and the naked drummer was also smashing the drums. As if guided by destiny just as this climax of their set was unfolding the police showed up. After seeing about 5 seconds of this they threatened to break up the show. In the end they didn’t but I think some of the other band members got tickets and/or warnings. Everyone was totally amped after the pervious bands set and went nuts for us. I think we played an extra 30 minutes which was really cool for us. People jumped, shouted and even crowd surfed. One girl messed up her ankle pretty bad and had to go to the hospital so we wish her the best. Some kid after the show told us that he “heard we were assholes”. On the bright side at least he had heard of us? Big thanks to everyone who made this the best show of our tour and extra thanks to Matt for setting up the show. After the show we went out to eat with Tanya and Rob and had some late night greasy breakfast food. After dinner we slept at a rest stop somewhere in North Dakota.
Show Journal 2001-09-06
Day 14 – Another well needed truck stop shower today. Especially after waking up with flies on my face. The drive today was uneventful at best … at least until Jim drove and we had 3 or 4 near rear end collisions. We arrived early (and alive) and stopped at the Mall of Americas to kill some time. When we got to the 7th Street we were delighted to learn we were playing with The Gamits and The Fairlanes both of which we are fairly good acquaintances with. We were way early so Dave, Kevin and I took a cab over to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices. Pretty cool little museum with lots of neat and amusing stuff. I still can’t decide what the medical advantages of a rectal warmer is though. After that we went to a swanky Japanese restaurant and treated Dave to his birthday dinner. The show tonight was awesome. The Gamits and Fairlanes totally rocked and I can see why they are getting popular these days. Grotto also kicked plenty of ass on thier own. Jim had a particularly exciting night and proved it by drinking himself into a vomiting mess in the basement of the club. Thanks to Chuck and Casey for coming out to the show and hooking us up with a place to stay.
Show Journal 2001-09-05
Day 13 – Woke up this morning and took a shower. If you travel I would highly recommend TA truck stops. Their showers are the bomb. We made a detour to House on the Rock today … the indescribable tourist destination in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Since we slept late Dave, Justin and Kevin ran through the house in just under 52 minutes. Usually it takes 4 hours. Jim and I cleaned the van and located any clothes which were contaminated with “the funk of 40,000 years”. We saw a lot of Milwaukee today since we drove through at rush hour. We were running really late today and played Goldeneye to pass the time. The amount of smack talking that surrounds a game of Goldeneye in amazing. I find myself saying things I would never say if not for the empowering nintendo controller. We have lots of flies in the van which is very annoying. We try to kill them with Dave’s porn but he doesn’t care for that. Green bay was really small. I figured any city with a football team would be huge but not Green Bay. Unknown to us the show tonight was supposed to be cancelled. It’s too confusing to explain but in a nutshell the La-Donnas cancelled but our friends in the Shut-Ups kept the show happening and got other bands for us to play with. We owe them a huge favor now and can’t thank them enough for their help!!! Special thanks to Lugs for the help with a place to stay and just being cool as hell!!! The Shut-Ups have a new lineup and I thought they kicked ass. After them was Death and Taxes and they totally rocked. Their singer was an absolute maniac. I always love charismatic singers … even if they do almost hit you with a ladder. Despite the small turnout the show was lots of fun. Amazingly this 20 person show was more fun than the previous nights crowd of 200. After the show Dave was offered $50 for … shall we say … a sexual favor from a girl in town? We told him he was crazy for not taking the money. He probably couldn’t live with the shame of being a male prostitute. Dave the gigolo. Funny. Another truck stop evening.
Show Journal 2001-09-04
Day 12 – Iowa is great to drive in for about 30 minutes then it just sucks. So boring it’s almsot painful. We were almost killed today by a truck hauling an oversize boat doing about 85 mph on the shoulder. We got a message from the show promoter saying he was dropping us from the show tonight. It was a misunderstanding that got worked out but for about 2 hours it was a very quiet van ride. We saw Air Force One flying today. Dave is obsessed with his collection of porn story books that he bought and teaches us many new terms and phrases while on the road. Once again the show was kind of weird. There were about 200 people there but most were emo/indie rock fans. For us this crowd usually returns blank stares and scattered applause when we play. Tonight was no exception. I’m sure someone out there liked it but was afraid to admit it. My guitar jack broke in mid set tonight and is now rendered unplayable for the rest of the tour. Despite the poor reaction and equipment failures we played remarkably well and are all amazed Dave still has his voice. After us was Notaword and they were really cool to meet and watch play. After their set and enduring the lingering feeling of resentment from the crowd we opted to leave early and decided to head over to Gino’s East for some pizza. God I love that place. We stayed at a Wisconsin truck stop where Kevin bought a device known as the ‘hillbilly persuader’.
Show Journal 2001-09-03
Day 11 – Ahhh … the gloroius midwest. Why is “the heartland” so boring to drive through? We ate at a Country Kitchen for breakfast and it ruled. I played 1080 for hours on end to pass the time. Tonight we went to see The Gamits and The Fairlanes in Omaha but it turns out they had cancelled. Feeling disappointed with our detour we decided to stay in a hotel outside of Omaha. We all stayed up late doing laundry and watching TV. Our title of “the world’s most boring band” remains unchallenged.
Show Journal 2001-09-02
Day 10 – We woke up this morning practically on fire from the heat. Once we got rolling with the AC it was a really nice drive. We ate at a cool diner somewhere in Colorado for lunch. We got to the 15th Street Tavern at 8:00 and were scared for our lives. During the first 5 minutes there was a fight in the restroom while Kevin was stuck in a stall. Apparantly they started hitting each other while Kevin sat frozen hoping the walls would not collapse on him. A few minutes later the two were kicked out and came back in the bar for another round of fighting. One left, went to his car and returned. Kevin and Jim swear he went to get a weapon but they were both evicted before any more fighting ensued. I was scared but the heavy metal friendly jukebox quelled my fears. My knowledge of Iron Maiden lyrics has frightened Jim and Dave. Around 10:00 the bar population started to shift to a much cooler and much less intimidating crowd. The opening band tonight was called ‘Man’ and consisted of one guy who plays bass and a kick drum and sings some of the harshest and most angry songs I’ve ever heard. Man was awesome and we were all very impressed. Our set was so so. We played very aggressively and pretty well but only a handful of people really seemed to enjoy it. It’s frustrating to give so much and get so little. Oh well. That’s life. Another truck stop night.
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