Show Journal 1998-12-19
The bad omen of the previous night’s show cast a black cloud over us again this evening. During the afternoon it started snowing in Seattle. By afternoon it turned to ice and by night time it was a genuine mess. The three other bands we were supposed to play with all cancelled and chose to stay at home. Not us though … we had to at least make an attempt to get to our waiting legions of fans in Fife, Washington. The deal was we agreed to try driving for 30 minutes … if it sucked we would turn around, if it was good we would keep going. Sounded good huh? Well, we made it about 5 blocks before we got snagged up in an a nasty mess of traffic, hills and ice. After sitting here and enduring all of the first Coolio album we chose to turn around and submit defeat to the weather gods. Turning around sounds simple enough but what you don’t know is that in an enormous van, filled with people, band equipment and 4 balding tires, turning around actually involves two hours of sliding, pushing, cursing and praying. In the end we ended up piling 8 people into a car which could take us back home. No show, no rock stardom and absolutely no fun for 800 Octane.
Show Journal 1998-12-18
The Rendezvous is a weird place. The restaurant is gross, the bar is seedy, the bathroom is raunchy and the stage is weird. Imagine a skinny theater with lounge seating and then attach a restaurant to the side of it. Very strange place. Anyway, a bad omen was in the air tonight. The band that was supposed the promote the show and put up flyers never showed. I won’t mention any names, but it wasn’t Ample and it wasn’t Section One, and because of their negligence hardly anyone showed up. If that wasn’t enough Section One’s bass player never showed up and they were forced to cancel as well. So it was just us and Ample playing in this weird little club. It still turned out to be pretty fun despite the low turnout. The show had it’s moments (the kitchen sink!), but the highlight of the whole night was the tale of Dave’s encounter with a homeless man in the bathroom who proclaimed “I only have to piss but once a week .. and when I do… there ain’t no stopping me.” After that he proceeded to urinate all over himself and the bathroom floor and walls.
Show Journal 1998-12-05
Emerald City Posse in da house! Back to Gibson’s again … home of sweating your ass off to a bunch of people sitting down at chairs and tables. Everyone politely sat around the whole night (through 4 bands) until about the last three songs of our set. Perhaps it was boredom or maybe it was Bryan’s heart-wrenching tale of how he wants to shoot old drivers “in the fucking head” but either way we played ‘Old People’ and people went nuts. A pit started smack dab in the middle of the typically lifeless club complete with stage diving. Sure it was only about 10 people, but after watching 4 other bands from your seat at a table it seemed like the most exciting thing to happen in years. Other highlights included Ward A’s vomiting bass player, Section One and their ability to make everyone look like wussies, “the Sheik”, and best of all the Kelvis singing his song back to us from the crowd.
Show Journal 1998-11-29
Finally our streak of lame shows at EJ’s ends. It was cool to play with Tenpin again and it was even cooler to get to open for the Real McKenzies. You might have seen them on the Warped Tour … they were the ones dressed in kilts with a bagpipe player. Imagine the movie Braveheart set to punk rock. Very cool.
Show Journal 1998-11-28
Once again Daddy O’s in Ashland proves to be one of the best places to play in Oregon. Well worth the drive. Did you know that Blaze and John are cooler than you? But not as cool as Brent for coming to see us … again.
Show Journal 1998-10-31
Halloween in Spokane was a good show. We actually dressed up in costumes! Bryan was an arab oil baron, Dave was a priest and I was a doctor covered in blood. I hadn’t dressed up for Hallow’s Eve since middle school so it pretty fun. The show went really well … a ton of people came out to see the local heroes Motherload. Also, keeping with the previous night’s theme there were two fights. Thanks to Motherload for bringing us along on these past couple of shows.
Show Journal 1998-10-30
The Tri-Cities show was cool. We played well, Motherload played well and there was a big fight. What more can you ask for?
Show Journal 1998-10-28
Another so-so show at EJ’s. The show was really up in the air and we didn’t know we were going to play until about 7:30 that night. It actually felt like we were playing out of town because we hardly knew anyone there. Tonight’s funny moment was when Scotty from Motherload asked the soundguy for more “kick ass” in the monitors. Well, at least I thought it was funny.
Show Journal 1998-10-09
Day 15, 16 – At last, after almost two weeks or driving we finally saw a piece of tumbleweed blowing across the road. We also claim to have unraveled the mystery of the elusive White Ryder. Later on we hit the largest bug I’ve ever seen in my life on the windshield. It was so big it woke me up from my sleep when it met its untimely demise. Today also marked the last MRE. Coincidentally, today was the day Nate unleashed the nastiest expulsion of gas any human has smelled and lived to talk about. People gagged and even a dog left the room. Tonight’s show was in Keith’s basement. It was a pretty fun show. A lot of people showed up and they seemed pretty enthusiastic. The first band was a pretty good hardcore band called SFL. I guess eveyone assumed we were going to be hardcore too. We started playing and it felt like the people there didn’t really know what to think of us. “Do we like them, they aren’t real heavy?” I didn’t really care though, it was the last show of our tour and I was stoked (yes, stoked). After the show we just got in the van and trucked on back to Portland (only a mere 8 hours). No one really said anything, I think we were all just going over the trip in our minds. Yeah the shows were cool, and the “touring band” thing was cool, but if you ever have the means, gather up your best friends, get in a car and go somewhere. When you look back later, it seems like such an amazing experience.
Show Journal 1998-10-08
Day 14 – Today’s drive ruled. Driving from Denver to Utah is one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever seen. City, mountains, canyons, desert … it was pretty amazing. After seeing corn for so many miles it just seemed extra cool. I’ve now heard “Fire it Up” well over 100 times and I still can’t understand more than 2 lines. You just can’t sing along with Busta. All you can do is just raise the roof over and over and over again. Tonight we are going to stay with my friend Aaron. I haven’t seem him in 3-4 years so that should be fun. The show tonight kinda sucked. There was only a handful of people there. The sound guy was really good and the other band were really nice guys. These are the only things that made this evening tolerable. We did get free pool though. If that weren’t enough now I’m losing my voice from this godforsaken cold.
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