Show Journal 2006-12-02
Back to Olympia for our second time this year and in fact our second time ever. We arrived fashionably late as usual and missed the first band (sorry!) and caught the latter half of Aces Over Kings who was actually a pretty damn good band. We loaded in the cold (29 degrees), setup and rocked as hard as we could. We definitely got a better response than our last trip to the Manium. I think the show in Chehalis the prior week as a few people came out to this show too. Plus, if you didn’t move around a little your legs would most likely freeze and shatter in the unheated warehouse. GGTS was up last and sounded great. Definitely a lot more crowd participation which is always fun to watch. The trip home was uninteresting at best with the thickest fog I’ve seen in ages. All in all a pretty good night. Thanks to GGTS and Kevin for the show hookup.
The Living End
If you are planning on going to The Living End show you might get a move on buying tickets in advance. With the addition of The Briggs to the bill this is turning out to be a killer show!
Show Journal 2006-11-25
Just when we thought we had played every small town in the Northwest Chehalis, WA comes along. We had heard really good things about the Matrix from quite a few bands and you know what, they were all right. The place was great. Nice owners, cool kids and a pretty nice community vibe to it. Due to a late arrival we missed The Wobblies. We had actually met and played with them before in Eugene or Corvallis and one can only assume they rocked. Desensitized Youth was second and sounded pretty good. Kind of street punk, and still pretty catchy. Go Get The Scissors was up third and I really like these guys. They sound solid, play well and are very energetic on stage. They always seem a few steps ahead of other bands their age. Very cool and always fun to watch. We had to play last which is always interesting in a place you’ve never played before (especially following “locals”). A few people up front knew all the words so that made it cool right from the get go. I’m not sure if it was the excessive volume or the spectacle of the jumping guitar player but people stuck and sang along where they could. Props to Taylor for the vocals and picking up the tab for dinner. More props to Michelle for the merch help, camera blinding and overall level of sass. Last but not least thanks to the Matrix and GGTS for the show hookup!
The Return is almost gone
So it seems we are down to the last twenty copies of ‘The Return’. If you want one directly from us you’ll want to order that soon. Check the merchandise page for details!
Show Journal 2006-10-30
Holy crap. Want to talk about a rowdy show? Things we saw tonight: drinking, smoking, vomiting, fights, a split open head, people passed out, hair pulling, people in bloody costumes, people making out, a projectile vomit attack, circle pits, a collapsed drum set, skinheads, crusty punks, hippies, a ten person pile on and this was all in the course of Left Alone’s set in a 20′ x 20′ garage. Good bands, good crowd and all in all a seriously fun night. Thanks to Jeff Litter for the show and also apologies to Jeff Litter as well for being so late! Huge props to Teren for the latest 800 Octane tattoo!
The Independents are rad dudes
Our three shows with The Independents were a blast. If you got to check one out then pat yourself on the back. In an unusual twist we actually don’t have a proper Halloween show lined up this year due to vacations. We will be playing in Eugene on Oct 30th w/ Left Alone. Still not sure if any blood will make an appearance for that show but it should be fun. To get in the spirit check out our MySpace page as we have a special song of the month available for your listening pleasure.
Show Journal 2006-10-07
Richland, Washington. Oh, how we love Richland. Although the last two shows were fun they definitely weren’t anything to write home about. This show was amazing. There were a ton of people lingering out front so we knew it was going to be good. The Ashamed opened up and rocked hard. They sounded like Zeke but a little heavier and more technical. Very good. The Independents actually played second and finally got their due reward … a crowd. I think they caught everyone off guard at first but by the end everyone seemed to dig them. The cover of ‘Mother’ was the clincher as I don’t think anyone saw it coming. Our set was amazing. We stuck to the old stuff and played our asses off. Broken foot tendon be damned, I was intent on jumping around again. Seriously one of the most satisfying shows we’ve ever played. Since we had to bail the last two night, we chose to stay in Richland and hang out with the Indy’s. We headed over to Denny’s and it was insane. Every 10 minutes or so a fit of clapping and cheering would breakout from everyone in the restaurant. I mean everyone. It was beyond nutty. We got to hear some good tour stories as well as the infamous “who threw a ham at me” tale. Totally fun. Afterwards those guys did the coolest thing ever and bought us a room at the hotel they were staying at. Knowing damn well how little money people make on the road I’ve got to say that was an incredibly nice gesture. We hung out for a bit and crashed until the morning where we were greeted by a call from Willy who asked if we wanted a Chinese buffet for breakfast. It sounded strangely appealing so we headed over and chowed down on some surprisingly good food. All in all a very cool weekend and we definitely hope to play with the Independents again. Cool guys, good band, it’s too bad all the bands can’t be like them. Thanks so much to all who attended the show, Dustin and the gang and especially the SC wrecking crew! Thanks for the great weekend!
Show Journal 2006-10-06
We’ve been late to shows before but I think this too the cake. We got to Bremerton at 11:20. Load in was 8:00. Doh! We were actually still in Longview waiting for Dustin to finish work at 8:00. Oh man. Amazingly when we arrived we still had a band to go before we played. Wow, this was going to be a late one. Potbelly played before us and totally shredded. Whenever you hear Slayer during tune up and it’s played well you are always in for a treat. Then finished, we loaded up and played on the Independents amps to about eight people. Sometimes it dipped into the 3 or 4 person range, but never exceeded the magic number of 8. In all honesty the show totally sucked ass. We were all pretty bummed after hauling ass to Bremerton only to play seven songs to so few people. After our set the Independents merch guy vomited all over the bar which sadly was the high point of the evening. I felt absolutely horrible for the Independents who are based out of South Carolina and were literally across the country and subjected to the same lackluster crowd. Here’s the amazing thing … they totally rocked and made it a totally fun evening. I can’t think of any other band that could have turned that show around. We’ve been playing a long time, but they’ve got the gift to turn the dismal show into a blast for everyone watching. The night turned out to be so much fun. The songs were great, everyone was smiling, the vibe was fun and I can’t even describe how fun it was seeing Justin being ushered from the room by Evil during every song. Every time he would creep back in he would get somehow violated by the big man. Totally amusing for all of us. The fun was short lived though as we had to drive home after the show. We got into Portland at around 5:30 AM just in time to prepare for work. Had the Independents not played I honestly think this would have been a contender for ‘worst show ever’. Thankfully it was not and we’ll have to save that title for another day.
Show Journal 2006-10-05
Never thought I’d get to say this again, but we actually played at the Satyricon tonight. It’s been a long damn time since anyone has but they recently reopened as an all ages venue. Definitely nice to be back. How have things changed? We used to play weeknights to a dozen people. Now almost 9 years later we play weeknights be to two dozen people. Actually all things considered the turnout wasn’t half bad. BXF opened the show which was a surprise. I think I gave poor Joel a heart attack with my greeting of “what the fuck are you doing here?” Hopefully he knows we mean well. They did well as did Eat Your Heart Out who gave us a new move called the skeleton dance. Very nice to see The Civies play again as they have always and will forever rock. The recently added second guitar was a nice touch. We played next and it was pretty good. Thankfully some of our Longview posse was in attendance so the response was pretty good. The Independents were up last and as always they rocked. We’re absolutely stoked to be playing two more shows with them this weekend as they are some of the coolest guys ever. Thanks to King Banana, Shell-O for the cookies, and the Longview crew.
Back from the NSR Mini-Tour
We’re home from the “tour” and despite being short it was a blast. Special props to Mourningstar and Top Of The Fair for being cool as hell. Got a few weeks and then we have three shows in the NW with The Independents. Check one out if you can!
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