Show Journal 2001-07-07
Tualafest 2001. Sounds like a bad joke huh? Amazingly there was a pretty good cross section of the Portland punk and hardcore scene represented here today and all for free. Bands played on a makeshift stage in the middle of a basketball court while other people skated on the rather tiny but kind of cool Tualatin skatepark. It was very sunny, very hot and very un-shaded for bands and fans alike. Jack from Fistfull said it best when he commented about the stage “burning through the soles of his shoes.” Of course Dave had the wonderful commentary on stage of “it sucks when you’re fat and it’s hot outside.” Lovely. Despite the rather wimpy PA and nagging technical difficulties for almost every band it was still a pretty decent show.
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The booking for our 2001 Tour is well underway. Our tentative schedule is down below … dates are being added daily. If you want us to play in your town on a date we don’t have listed please don’t be afraid to e-mail us!
Show Journal 2001-06-30
I thought we had a really good show tonight for about an hour. During that hour a pretty big crowd rolled into the Pine Street, we set up, we played what I thought was a really good set, and had lots of people tell us we sounded great while we loaded off the stage. Everything was fine and I was feeling good about life … and then Tiger Army played. Those guys we so good I can’t even put it into words. I have never seen a band so genuinely excited to play a show and the crowd totally ate it up. They had everyone screaming for more after every song. They sound like a mix of super fast rockabilly mixed with the Misfits. This makes perfect sense when you see them using a stand up bass along with the drummer from Samhain. Easily the best show I’ve seen in over a year. I was glued to the floor and cheering with the every song as if I had never seen a band like this before. Then again I suppose I haven’t. I’d ramble on more about how great they played but it would only belittle our performance ever more. The Amazing Crowns played last and it was immediately obvious why they are consistently rated the best live band in the US. Super energetic, consistently funny and very entertaining. I figure if they can make me like rockabilly they must be doing something right. The energy and excitement level of the crowd was a little lower for them than Tiger Army, but they still put on an amazing set. Thanks to the Bend/Dead Even posse, Ben from Compact 56, Chris N. and everyone else who came out early.
Show Journal 2001-06-29
If you don’t live in Longview you missed a totally rad show tonight! All the other bands tonight played very well. The Daryls were amazing! We played with them in Seattle a while back and I thought they were ok then, but tonight they just rocked. I guess we had to see them in their element. Props to the Wannabes too! I think their song ‘Round and Round’ is the catchiest song I’ve heard in ages. I find myself singing the chorus for hours on end. And holy crap, the Groovie Ghoulies rocked tonight! I had heard them plenty of time before but never actually seen them live. They were so good, so energetic and so much fun to watch. I was totally impressed. The Longview crowd was amazing tonight as well. Energetic, active, singing along, everything … too bad they don’t live in Portland. I swear I even saw an 800 Octane guitar pick ear ring. It’s so cool to see so many familiar faces at the shows there. Amazingly they haven’t tired of Dave’s jokes yet … although the Octopus joke might have driven a few people across the line. One real cool surprise was an appearance by Marty from the 1997-1998 Marty’s Garage days! Thanks to Rick and Emily for coming along for the drive and selling our merchandise, a shot out to Attom and Mark from Dead Even for making the pilgrimage to Longview, and also huge thanks to Brady for kissing our asses.
Show Journal 2001-06-21
I think we decided tonight could be known as “the show that almost was.” Here’s the story. Traffic was pretty bad leaving Portland so we ended up getting to the show pretty late. We missed all of the Rhythm Pimps, EPD (who we really wanted to see again) and only caught the last part of Outreach’s set. Fortunately we did get to catch all of Dead Even’s set and let me tell you they rocked. The first time I saw them I was really impressed and now a half year later they are light years ahead of where there were back then. So tight, so good, and oh so many bad ass guitar parts. They rocked the house …literally. So the stage was set for a great 800 Octane show right? Rad opening bands, lots of excited people and a sweaty little basement. So we played the first song it went great. By the second song people were moving and singing. The third song people were moving, cheering, fists in the air and shouting along. The fourth song? There wasn’t one because we got shut down by the cops!!! 180 minutes of driving and only a dismal 9 minutes of playing. It was a totally weak ending to what could have/would have/should have been a great show. Strangely enough none of us were too upset by the outcome. There were a ton of familiar faces there to see us, so that kind of made the evening for us. Cool bands, cool people and hanging out … what more can you ask for? Hopefully we can make it up to everyone in August. Oh yeah, our apologies to the Animal House for being too loud and setting off the alarm next door!
Show Journal 2001-06-08
I’m still not quite sure what to think of this show. The first two bands played well and got a decent response from the fairly active and decent sized crowd. However when we played we drove most of the crowd as far away from the stage as possible or some even as far as outside the club. The weird thing is I’m not too sure why though. I thought we played pretty well. Were we too loud? Too old? Too rock? Too ugly? Too many broken strings? Too many of Dave’s jokes? Too many cowboy hats on stage? Maybe all of the above. We never really clicked with the audience … and it’s always a little strange when it happens. Of course our friends who had seen us before all thought things went ok. It definitely wasn’t bad … it was just … weird. Anyway, K Through 6 played after us and managed to wake the crowd back up and they did a really good job playing. I’m a little jealous because I wish I could play that well at that age! The thank you list for this evening includes Kelvis, Sam, Chris, Robert 2/3 of the Peel sisters, Braxton (!) and K Through 6 for hooking us up with the show.
Show Journal 2001-05-19
We were supposed to play three shows this weekend. One got cancelled, one never got booked and the third was in Salt Lake City which is 800 miles away. We opted not to cancel it and decided to drive that entire 800 miles for just one show. Smart huh? Things started off poorly when Dave’s entire bass amp nearly fell on the ground. I say nearly fell to the ground because the only things between the plummeting bass amp and the ground were my left foot and Dave’s right foot. Yep. The entire 140 pound metal speaker cabinet fell 4 feet to the ground only to land on our feet. We think Dave’s big toe is broken and my foot is so swollen it barely fits in my shoe. Shows always seem so exciting when only half of the band can walk. Injuries aside the drive to Utah was really fun. It went really fast for me and my side actually hurt from laughing so much. (Or was it the beef jerky?) We slept in a highway rest area somewhere in Idaho. The bad news was our sleep period only lasted about an hour because the sun came up and let’s face it, a van with 4 people is really uncomfortable. So in the wee hours of the morning we pressed on to Utah. We got there way early and hung around in Orem for a while. We did some cd shopping, got some lunch and later went to meet up with Aric, his roommates and the other guys from Final Notice. They were all super cool and we hung out with them for a while and then went over to the show. The show was in a really, really, really big skatepark/warehouse. The bands setup and play on top of a huge box ramp in the back corner of the park. It was really weird seeing bands 6 feet above you and 20 feet away divided by a slanted piece of wood. The Ruffians played first to a decent sized crowd and people seemed to like them. Final Notice was next. I thought they sounded great but the crowd didn’t seem to care much. An apathetic crowd is better than no crowd … which is exactly what we got. We had a real slow setup time due to power issues and also since the show was running late we were rushed for time because there was still another band to play after us. We were rushed and frustrated. If you are at a show and have been there for an hour it’s hard to be excited by a band that doesn’t look happy to be there. Also, as we stood on stage sound checking the realization that “we drove 800 miles for this” was setting in fast. We hadn’t played a chord yet and I think we were all totally bummed out. We had 14 songs on our set list and only ended up playing 9. Even a Misfits cover, which can usually jolt a sleepy audience to consciousness for at least 3 minutes fell upon deaf ears. We were done playing after only 20 minutes but it felt like an eternity. It was honestly the longest set I have ever endured playing. Endless Struggle was next and it turns out they had been hording all the fans for themselves. They had a following of about 50 people that were all hanging outside waiting for them to play. They came in followed by all their fans, setup and rocked everyone there. In fact by the end of their set everyone was on stage (the ramp) circled around the band and shouting along. It definitely was a cool sight to see. Their good set numbed the pain of ours enough for me to leave with a good overall feeling about the show. After a few failed attempts at skating the empty ramps we decided to hit the road back home. We had a tempting offer to hang with Aric and the Final Notice crew, but I think we were all just ready to start heading back. We slept about 5 hours somewhere in Idaho and pressed on to Portland. The drive was uneventful at best which is nice after a sketchy show. Watching the world pass by the windows kind of helps you keep things in perspective. Not too many people get to travel as much and see as much as you do when you are a band on the road. Sometimes it takes a bad show and a long drive to remind yourself of that. Crap. I’m getting sappy again. Anyway, thanks to the handful of people who watched us play and had nice things to say afterwards. Also a really big thanks to Aric for setting up the show and offering us a place to stay!
Show Journal 2001-05-06
Pretty rad show tonight. All of the bands tonight were really, really good which is a blessing when you have 6 bands playing. The crowd was really cool tonight too. They stayed late and were loud and energetic for all of the bands. The coolest part of the show for us was getting to play with Same Day Service again. They went on a few shows of our tour last year and it was really good getting to see them play again. Our set went really well as it usually does in Longview. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for him) most of the memorable moments tonight involved Justin falling. Highlights include 1) Justin tripping and falling on his guitar cord 2) Justin getting smacked in the head by Dave’s bass and then falling and 3) Justin stage diving and then falling. Thanks to everyone who stayed late and to TJ for hooking up the show.
Show Journal 2001-04-27
Oh my god what a rad show. If we are doing the scale of 1 to 10 thing again this was easily a 10. Loud, crowded, energetic, with great bands and all in the cozy confines of a basement. I can’t even put it into words, it was just beautiful. We thought we would be off to a rough start after wrestling with Dave’s bass amp. If you aren’t familiar with Dave’s bass amp it is huge. Tall as a grown man and as heavy as a grown man holding 200 pounds of concrete. It’s also 1600 Watts. My guitar amp could induce hearing loss in a large club and it’s only 100 Watts. Dave’s is 1600 Watts and in a basement. So anyway, he turns his amp on and the power went out. Oops. Flip the breaker, turns the amp on … same thing. Bummer. We ended up borrowing Compact 56’s bass amp and want to thank them for it. Speaking of which Compact 56 ruled. Despite their own technical difficulties they laid down the rock with the greatest of ease. Interesting fact you don’t know … we decided that next time we play together our singers are going to fight to see which one of us gets to play last. Kind of a like a coin toss, except in this case someone is bound to get sodomized. Here’s another good highlight to report … Atom and Mark from Dead Even were at our show … again! I’d like to give a shot out to Jamii and Melisa for driving down to see us, but Atom and Mark deserve the mad props. Bend, Eugene, Portland, Bend, Portland, Eugene. Those guys are just way too cool for words. Thanks to Tempting Fate and EPD, the Animal Farm for setting up another rad show and to everyone who stuck around and had fun. Also thanks to the guys who helped us sing Astro Zombies!
Show Review
I’ve eagerly awaited the chance to see 800 Octane again. These guys have been around for nearly a decade and they’ve toured all over the country, yet fame seems to elude them. It just goes to show that there’s no justice in the music business. How do candyass bands like Fenix TX and Good Charlotte receive so much hype, while excellent hard-hitting groups like 800 Octane wallow in relative obscurity?!? Damn it, I need to calm down
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