Show Journal 2008-07-26
Ok, so that was a fun show. Two killer bands, lots of friends and most importantly for me is we finally got to play a batch of new songs. Nine of them in fact. Man, it felt good to finally bust out some more new material. Playing old songs is fun, but playing these new songs that we’re so stoked on is a feeling that’s a bit hard to describe. Accidental Gun Death was pretty great tonight. It was their usual blend of amusing stage banter coupled with raw aggression delivered in 30-90 second bursts. I think their whole set took less than 15 minutes. The risk of on stage defecation added to the excitement, but thankfully there was none. As mentioned previously our set was pretty fun. It was hard to move around on such a small stage but it didn’t really matter too much. The Crawlers were up last. We had heard great things about them and the descriptions were dead on. They totally rocked. I only watched the first few songs from the main room, but listened to most of their set from the bar while catching up with some friends and holy smokes those dudes can rock it. Fast, aggressive, and just totally raw. I would gladly play with either of these two bands again. What else can I say? It was a good night. Thanks to Kelly’s, AGD and The Crawlers.
Live in Portland? Want to hear new songs?
This Saturday we’re playing at Kelly’s Olympian w/ Accidental Gun Death and The Crawlers. We’re going to be playing a few songs from our upcoming album live for the very first time. Could be magic. Could be awful. Either way if you are of age check it out. Even if we crash and burn, the other bands are fantastic and can pick up the slack. The second show of note is on the 31st at Rock N Roll Pizza w/ Wednesday 13, Still Dead and Regiment 26. In our half-ass attempt at borderline bribery we’re making CD-R’s with some new songs from the upcoming album on it. First 50 people who ask for the disc will get one. Come to a show, get free music that literally no-one outside of the band has ever heard before and will hear for about 2 more months. The last Wed 13 show in Portland sold out, so get your advance tickets at TicketsWest.
Damn, now that’s a commitment
I think we’re done with zombie makeup because this guy puts everyone to shame!
Drop a few, gain a few, it’s all good
Despite our two cancellations last week we just added two pretty cool shows in July and August. The first is in Portland on July 31 w/ Wednesday 13. If you aren’t familiar with Wed. 13 it’s part of the Murderdolls doing punk style tunes with a B-movie flair. Word on the streets is that their shows are pretty awesome. In fact their last Portland show sold out which seems to be rare these days. The August show we added is in Salem w/ Viva Hate, which contains members of Tiger Army and Swingin’ Utters. Should be some good summer fun so check them out if you can. Lastly, if you know Dave send him an e-mail or MySpace message. He’s stuck in the Philippines for a month and we can only imagine he’s bored to tears. Last time there he saw a guy get shot. Thug life.
One more strike and we’re out
Sadly we have to cancel our upcoming Roseburg and Astoria shows. What really sucks is that both of these shows were reschedules from last year and now we have to “re-cancel” them. For those of you who might have discovered us recently this whole cancelling thing is actually kind of new to us. In our first 13 years as a band we had a total of three cancellations. In the past three weeks we’ve doubled that number. Awesome. Apologies to the promoters, other bands and people who might have wanted to see us. I’d say we’ll be back soon but I can’t imagine a 2nd shot to redeem ourselves will come too quickly.
Show Journal 2008-06-20
Tonight’s show was sort of a whirlwind. Since our van is still DOA Justin and I had to drive out to Dave’s house to load up his truck. I don’t know why but I always feel so amateur loading out of a pick up truck. Might as well be mom’s station wagon. At some point on the trip Justin uttered what I found to be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. The discussion leading up to this is a bit too long to describe, but at some point Justin said the following: “I think Pele died of cancer. Or did he got shot? Wait, was that Bob Marley? I don’t know, I always get Pele and Bob Marley mixed up.” I literally had to write that one down so I could remember to mention it here. Justin, I’m sorry. Everyone else, you’re welcome. It took forever to get to the venue and when we arrived we were informed we were not only first but furthermore we were supposed to start 15 minutes ago. Oops. We setup fast and were playing within 15 minutes. Despite the quick turnaround the set was pretty fun. We tried a bunch of new songs for the first time ever, so if you were at the show consider yourself lucky to have seen 6 song debuts. It’s always fun to play new stuff and they all went pretty well. 3 Inch Max was next and I gotta say they were pretty awesome. Very catchy, very tight and very loud. We were all impressed. Since Neversleep cancelled The Altarboys were up last and they through us all for a curve by playing acoustic. It was pretty stripped down and raw and for the most part pretty entertaining. It was a little strange because when I think of them, I imagine rock, but all in all given the laid back feel of the night it was pretty cool. Thanks to all who arrived early and were nice enough to stand up front.
Ford = Total Crap
Are you supposed to give your van a tip when it bends you over and screws you so well? Thanks to a starter that broke 30 miles from the venue we missed our show in Olympia this weekend. It also led to the sketchiest tow truck ride ever as shown below. Apologies to anyone who attended or cared.
Show Journal 2008-06-07
We were pretty stoked for the show tonight as it was two bands we had played with before and liked as was taking place in a bar located in a town we like playing. Sounds like a good night, but our van had other plans for us this evening. We met up early (around 5:30) to run through some of the new songs. We were planning on playing mostly new songs which is always fun for us. We stopped in Longview for some Burger King and later decided to pull over in Chehalis to get some gas. We fueled up, got some junk food and when we tried to start the van we got nothing. When we turned the key all you’d hear is a loud click. We tried and tried with no avail. We called a mechanic friend for advice which didn’t help. We tried to get a jump from someone which did absolutely no good either. We took off the engine cover and Dave managed to make a giant spark fly off of the starter which in retrospect was not a good move at a gas station. Ryan from Stupid In Stereo offered to come pick us up but there were a few logistical issues. Namely, how do we get back to Chehalis at 1 AM and where does the van (with all our gear) wind up? Accepting defeat, we called for a tow and managed to find someone who could haul us back to Dave’s house. 90 minutes later they finally showed up. If you are watching a movie, 90 minutes isn’t too long. If you are at a Shell station in Chehalis it’s an eternity. They finally showed up with a small flat bed truck with a 2 person cab. That means two people had to ride in the van. Our van is big. In fact the truck towing us really wasn’t too much bigger than we were. The driver opted to back us onto the truck bed, which thanks to our extended length meant the front of the van was facing backwards and almost hanging over the back edge of the truck. The front tires had to have been within a foot of the edge of the bed. One small slip or one loose chain meant the van and at least two of our band members would go plummeting to their demise on I-5. Additionally our van is taller than normal and heavier than normal which was going to make for one terrifying ride for whoever wound up in the cab. It was totally sketchy but I was sure the van wasn’t really going to fall off. I was so sure in fact, that I was more than happy to take a seat in the cab with Dustin and let Justin and Dave ride in the back. They strapped into the driver seats facing backwards, driving 70 mph with the van one foot from sure death on any side of it. I think we made it about 60 seconds before the phone rang with Dave and Dave saying it was absolutely terrifying. Our driver found this amusing and kept chuckling every time we come to a rut in the road or a series of bumps. It was pretty funny but then I came to the realization that almost everyone and everything I care about was on that truck and we stopped encouraging the driver. Eventually we made it back in one piece. Overall the evening pretty much sucked. I got home at 2:00 AM and never even got to play a note. Fucking van. Many apologies to Sledgeback and Stupid In Stereo.
Undead pictures on arrival
We were looking up our Zombie Prom photos online and thought we’d share the whole link with everyone. Check out the photos here to see what you missed.
Your body starts to shiver…
It’s the morning after and we must say the zombie prom was a success. Never thought we would see 400 people in a room dressed as zombies dancing to ‘Thriller’. As for the recording we’re done and have final mixes in hand. Next week it’s off to mastering and then we start the artwork and production. We’re still shooting for a September release!
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