Show Journal 1995-02-10
(Added Oct. 2001) – I always loved Dock 1002. The guy who ran it was awesome. The place was huge and had a light up disco tile floor. So bad ass to play at! If I recall the drummer of the other band had a really expensive drum set that Bryan made fun of.
Show Journal 1995-01-25
(Added Oct. 2001) – Oh man … this was our first (and last) battle of the bands showcase. We paid $40 to play because the winner was promised a record contract. We know now that this is a scam, but at the time we thought for sure we would win and get signed. Nope. I remember being really impressed by Punchin’ Judy. We still have some of their stickers on our equipment and in our van.
Show Journal 1995-01-14
(Added Oct. 2001) – There was a big storm on the way to this show and we were forced to drive 2 cars. Not too many people came out because of the crazy mountain weather. The show was so-so but the drive home was nuts! Dave had a Jeep Cherokee with all the gear and I was driving a little Honda Prelude with 5 (!) people in it. The aforementioned storm dropped something like 2 feet of rain an hour for the entire time we played. We came to find out the road on our way home was closed by the police and there was a curfew in effect. We were left to find another way home and to make a long story short we drove an additional 3 hours across downed power lines, over trees, through rock and mud slides, and drove through streams and puddles so high that it seeped through my car doors! The whole time we were avoiding the police so we wouldn’t get ticketed! That meant stopping and turning the lights off at the sight of any oncoming traffic. We ended up staying with our friend Sam on Sugar Mountain and arrived there just before dawn. It was such a crazy drive because everything was so messed up due to the flooding and storms. Downtown Banner Elk was flooded like I’ve never seen before. Another amusing story about this trip is that the next morning was the day that Bryan’s hair was so big when he awoke that we all laughed ourselves to tears. Literally it was like a 3 foot tall bushy afro. He ended up shaving it the next day.
Show Journal 1994-12-09
(Added Oct. 2001) – I always thought Smartbomb kicked ass and I was so impressed they asked us to play. I don’t remember much other than it being really cold outside.
Show Journal 1994-11-18
(Added Oct. 2001) – This was a real messed up night. We ended up having to bring the PA which took 3 cars to accomplish. The show was at an all-ages teen club. If I recall only 4 kids came out. 2 were a pair of 14 year olds that kept hitting on our friend Tim and at one point flashed him. Yuck. I recall the stage being on 4 very tall ‘blocks’ of different heights. Very 70’s looking. It’s weird playing with band members above and below you. I vividly recall Dave observing the disco ball and announcing that “Hoss refuses to play until the disco light spins”. We were amused but I can’t imagine anyone else was. The agitated door person slowly wandered off to make the lights go so Dave would shut up. The lights made me sick and I thought I was going to fall off the 8 foot high “block.” I do remember being impressed with Load. They were from Miami and had played with L7 at one time. We thought they were the shit because they were on tour. Another fond memory was the drive … downtown Bristol has a huge light up sign which reads ‘Bristol’ in 50 foot letters. We were driving under and Bryan rolls down his window (remember we are in 3 cars) and yells to us “are we in Bristol yet?” That’s why we love Bryan.
Show Journal 1994-11-09
(Added Mar. 2002) – This was a weird one. We played in the afternoon for a humanities class at ASU. Strange, strange, strange.
Show Journal 1994-10-28
(Added Mar. 2002) – This was a cool one because it was the first time a bigger band had asked us to play out of town with them. It made us feel important. Also, it was our first out of state show!
Show Journal 1994-10-11
(Added Mar. 2002) – What I remember most about this show is playing two Misfits covers and these two big dudes that I had never seen before came up, took the mic and sang it for us. Those dudes ended up being Kevin Freeman (of the Karloffs) and Rob (a.k.a. – Rob The Stalker) who both later became good friends of ours. Our payment for this show wasn’t cash but a $75 beer tab which Bryan and his friends almost single handedly consumed.
Show Journal 1994-10-07
(Added Mar. 2002) – This show was crazy. We got to Asheville late and were told we only had 15 minutes to play. It was the first time I played while I was pissed off and it was the greatest thing in the world. We all played hard and fast and there really is nothing quite like it.
Show Journal 1994-10-05
(Added Oct. 2001) – I am writing this 7 years after the original show and currently this show is still the most money we have ever made at a show. We ended up making $475! I remember it distinctly because I thought to myself “we can make a living from this.” As I write this in 2001 our last show after paying for gas we grossed $11. Ahhh the good old days. (*** Update Oct 2004 – We finally eclipsed the $475 mark when we got a $500 guarantee to play a show for Camel cigarettes. This is definitive proof that the only way to make money in music is to sell out ***)
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