Do NOT get in the van!
Yesterday at practice it dawned on us that we haven’t used our van in 17 months. The engine doesn’t even think about starting and one could contract black lung within 3 minutes of entering it’s damp and moldy confines. No way we’re taking that thing to the next show unless it includes 4 hazmat suits and a canary.
All your gnome are belong to us.
The gnome liberation movement continues.
Driving straight into the sun
Last night our dear friend Nate LeQuieu passed suddenly in his home in Hawaii. Nate has been a part of our band since we met him back in early 1998. Dave and Bryan worked with Nate, thought he seemed like a cool dude and invited him out to a show. The next thing we knew we had an unofficial roadie who came to every late night, poorly attended, drive until dawn and sleep in the van show we had that year. In the fall of 1998 we all found ourselves crammed in a van heading out on our first tour together. Those few short weeks have left us all inextricably linked for the rest of our lives. For those of you who have ‘The Kelvis’ on CD, you can find Nate’s picture is printed in the liner notes. It’s hardly a fair representation of the impact he had on our lives. Gone too soon, but we’re all happy that we had some time with you. Raise your glass and give your thoughts to the original Nate Dogg, the one and only Doggfather and our friend, Nate.
Friday night was awesome.
Thanks so much to everyone who attended our show on Friday. Let’s see if we can get another one in before the end of the world in 2012!
Show Journal 2011-06-03
This show was a long time coming. The last time played was last September of 2010. Our intentions weren’t to take so much time off, but it just sort of worked out that way. We did practice a handful of times over the past few months, but between the ridiculously cold and wet past winter, one marriage, the beginnings of additional child rearing and the ever present fact we aren’t getting any younger, it’s just been slow going when it comes to getting shows. Aside from the lack of shows, the lack of practice had sort of worn all of us down. When you have spent over 10 years of your life practicing 2-3 times a week, slow periods like this can really get in your head. Why are we still doing this? Does anyone still care? For me this past nine months has felt like about three years. Well, was the wait and months of anticipation worth it? Absolutely. From the second we walked in the door we knew it was going to be a fun night. Before we even played I could clearly trace the history of our band through the folks in attendance. There were people from the EJ’s and Kelvis era, friends we met around the time of the Return, people we knew from the Rise Again years and some folks from much more recent years. Perhaps the best surprise for us was the reformation of what was once known as the Message Board Crew. Gad to see everyone is old enough to get into bars now! It may have been an average night for all those in attendance, but I think we all agreed that it meant a lot to us. The show itself was great. Dartgun and the Vignettes were fantastic. If you aren’t familiar with them, they are a rough and dirty rock band that is a perfect soundtrack to a hole in the wall bar. Their secret weapon? The Vignettes, a trio of female singers that has the moves and sounds of the Supremes but with the attitude of The Stooges. Very, very cool. 48 Thrills was up second and they never really disappoint. They played some of the newer stuff from Hand Claps and Ass Slaps, which was excellent. I’ve said it a dozen times before, but they are always fun to watch and have really built up quite the arsenal of great instant singalongs. We played last and in a very rare move we played for a long time. Last time we played for over an hour was our second year as a band. We swore we’d never do that again, but it seemed appropriate tonight. We played about 18 songs including some older ones we hadn’t played in years and we even worked out a Bad Religion cover for the evening. The response from the crowd was fantastic. Fists, shouting, clapping and even an improvised stage dive. We’ve certainly entertained the idea of packing it in and calling it quits, but nights like this sure makes it a challenge as it’s a reassurance why we do it in the first place. Many thanks to everyone who trekked out to the show and Katie O’Brien’s for having us!
“You guys still play?”
Yes, it really has been nine months since our last show. The laws governing band membership require a yearly show, so here we are. Can we expect anything new and exciting from this show? Not really. Same crap we’ve been playing for years now, only being projected from older and more weathered looking bodies. With a sales pitch like that, why wouldn’t you come to the show?
This one time at band camp…
We’ve just uploaded our last 4 albums to bandcamp.com, which offers album and song downloads in MP3 and a variety of other high quality and lossless digital formats. Songs are $0.89 each and since we get to set the price all of our albums are listed for the very low (and equally awesome price) of $6.66. It’s about time something like this came along since after all these years we’ve never seen a penny from iTunes or Amazon. If you are interested in downloading one of our albums check it out at 800octane.bandcamp.com.
Groove is in the shark.
Just got done uploading our last four albums to Grooveshark. The power of streaming music compels you.
Show Journal 2010-09-18
Sometimes we play shows and I think, “wow, there isn’t a familiar face in here.” Nights like tonight are quite the opposite. The Primitive Idols have members of 57 Split and The Secludes, both of whom we met back in 1999. The Stims have members of the Blackouts, whom we met in 1997 and Statch and the Rapes who we met in 1998. It’s wild to think here we all are, well over a decade later, still playing music for one another. From the outside it may seem a little pathetic, but being there with so many familiar faces is strangely comforting. It wasn’t just the bands either. Turns out the sound guy was from the band One Last Thing (’00), and crowd members featured Tenpin (’99) and Antiworld (’99) as well as some other friends we met through the band that go waaaaaaay back. Granted we’re all older and perhaps our attention span has faded some (is it physically possible to be over 35 and watch a full set?), but it was cool to see so many people you’ve known for so long in one place. So, how was the show? It was good. Big thanks to Nihilist Youth for filling in on short notice. They were interesting to watch and their guitar player was damn near amazing. Star power was activated on at least three occasions and Justin and I were reminded about the value of regular practice. The Primitive Idols were excellent tonight. They easily stole the show with their raucous garage tunes. Very energetic, very catchy and it did something we haven’t ever successfully done, which is attract women to the front of the stage. The Stims were up third and were as solid as can be. Old school punk done right. We went on right around midnight and our set was pretty decent. We played more songs than usual and there were no major catastrophes to speak of. It was definitely nice to play again, even if only to a few people. Thanks for Nalin and Kelly’s Olympian for having us.
In The Knife Shop, that’s where it’s at.
Two Live Crew anyone? It’s been a while but we’ve got a show next Saturday at The Knife Shop. Where is The Knife Shop? It’s the newly revamped music room at Kelly’s Olympian. Should be a good time. It’s Jeff from The Stims birthday. Hide your daughters.
Random Photos