Show Journal 1997-07-01
Man I thought this show was gonna suck. There was hardly anyone there, it was a tuesday night, and the headlining band bumped us to play last just so they could get back home early. This was all after we agreed to give them all of the door money. Thankfully, people stuck around through their whole set, so by the time we started there were between 30-40 really bored looking people. But once we started everyone seemed to wake back up. After a few songs and a bunch of Macho Man jokes things started to rock. It got pretty wacky, people throwing chairs, dancing on other people’s backs, pile-on’s and the occasional “clear out a circle and lets breakdance” session. It was the most fun I’ve had playing in a long time. A couple of people thanked us after the show, saying how glad they were that someone from Portland was finally into playing all ages shows. Oh by the way, Phill Wanted still rocks.
Show Journal 1997-06-29
Another pretty cool show in Portland. It was an all ages show with 3 other bands. Short Round from Eugene was awesome. It was Phill Wanted’s first show and they rocked hard. One of these days they are going to rule this town. We play again with them in 2 days which should be fun. We unveiled the Volvo song at this show and it went over well. The sound guy said we were the loudest band he’s heard in a while. There were girls in the front covering their ears which left us with an oddly enjoyable feeling. Someone said we were good musicians … that was pretty cool. Wrong, but pretty cool. One crappy thing happened that I’m dying to mention. Two of Dave’s friends showed up to see us and were told that they couldn’t come in because “dressed appropriately to see a show here.” If someone is willing to show up on a Sunday afternoon and pay 5 bucks to see some local bands, should it matter what they are wearing? I guess I didn’t realize there was a fashion show going on.
Show Journal 1997-06-15
Hello Portland. This was our first show as a 3 piece and it rocked. The people there really seemed to get into all of the bands, which was nice. A welcome change from days past in a different time zone. Usually with 6 bands for a buck everyone just drinks beer and works the bar, but people actually paid attention. Most of the other bands were pretty good. Some worth a mention were Super Villain, Beer Gut, Ladies Speed Stik and Witch Throttlegush. I think we won the crowd over when Bryan shared his tale of meeting Dio in a record store.
Show Journal 1996-12-10
(Added Oct. 2001) – This was the last 800 Octane show in Boone before we all headed off to Portland. I didn’t get to play this one and gladly relinquished the honor to Greg who had been filling in for me at practices and shows throughout the year. Since it was a somewhat special occasion for our band everyone dressed in costumes. Dave dressed up as Elvis, Greg was an Insane Clown, and Bryan in typical Bryan fashion opted to dress up a Bruce Jenner. I can’t recall what Paul dressed up as. Does anyone remember? Looking back this was the end of a lot of things. This was Paul’s last show in the band and well as the end of Greg’s filling in on guitar. We didn’t know it at the time it was the end of our old sound. The following month we moved to Portland as a 3 piece and have never sounded the same since. What’s really funny is that we had about 30-40 good solid songs and I think we currently only play 2 or 3 those any more. Amazing how quickly things can change.
Show Journal 1996-09-27
(Added Oct. 2001) – I recall this show being kind of lame. Probably because I had commuted from Chicago to play it. Go figure. The ASU Pub was always good, but never great. I do remember Paul playing his new guitar at this show.
Show Journal 1996-08-29
(Added Oct. 2001) – What’s interesting about this show is that The Drapes were from Portland and eventually became the Blue Ribbon Boys who Jim played drums for! Small world sometimes.
Show Journal 1996-08-16
(Added Oct. 2001) – This was another show that Greg played for me. I do remember Dave telling me that it was really hot when they played.
Show Journal 1996-06-07
(Added Mar. 2002) – Greg played this show so I couldn’t tell you the first thing about it. I do recall Ghetto Blaster having a funny album where every member of the band was pictured behind the drum set.
Show Journal 1996-05-26
(Added Mar. 2002) – This is classic. The WE Festival was (maybe still is?) a big showcase with tons of bands, films, art, etc. We were offered a slot playing at a house that was supposedly going to have a big draw. Tons of unscheduled bands showed up and bullied there way onto the show and to we finally began to set up around 5 in the morning. 5 in the morning!!! So we are plugging in amps, setting up drums, and out of nowhere these kinda strung out looking tattooed dudes come over and ask if we can play with our equipment when we are done. It’s 5 in the morning, we still haven’t played yet, there are about 20 people left in the place and these guys want to play a set after us with our stuff? No fucking way. Bryan ended up telling them no and they wandered off upstairs. A friend comes over and informs us that the people we said no to were some of the guys from the band Buzzoven and that they are pissed. Great. The heaviest freaking band from NC is pissed at us. So we start to play and guess who comes back downstairs? The guys from Buzzoven sat in the back while we played and threw cans, pizza boxes and other crap at us for most of our set. Eventually they went upstairs and waited for us by our van. We finally finished playing and began to pack up all the while realizing we are a few short minutes away from getting our ass kicked by Buzzoven. Long story short, they didn’t actually do anything. They just mumbled under their breath and stared us down. Still it was a pretty tense load out with them right there. We were all a little bummed too because Buzzoven was a pretty big band and not only did they not like us … but they wanted to kick or asses too. Oh yeah, we loaded out in the daylight.
Show Journal 1996-04-27
(Added Oct. 2001) – This wasn’t really a show but more of an open mic night at a dorm. I recall lots of blank stares from a sitting audience mostly consisting of my friends.
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