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We’ve gathered up the last remaining copies of ‘Swank’ and a few old promotional VHS copies of our ‘Get In The Van’ video from this web site. They will be given away at upcoming shows to anyone who asks for them using the secret pass phrase. The phrase is “hook my ass up with that old crap that no one else wants yo”.
Show Journal 2003-11-08
This was our first trip to McMinnville and gathering from the words of the kids there this was one of the few punk shows recently as well. The turnout was pretty good including a few familiar faces who traveled from Portland, Newburg and even as far as Rainier. Marco Polio started off the evening with loud rock, a large afro and more televisions than I thought humanly possible. The almighty Iknowkungfu was next and honestly it was one of the best sets that I’ve seen them play. Coolest and nicest guys you’ll ever meet … even if they are intolerant to the local press. They joked on stage about being old but I’m pretty sure that if we compared our median ages sadly we are the older band. If you are one of the people who stuck around for our set then you are probably a little confused and hopefully a little surprised. Why you ask? Well, between the small crowd, the intimate vibe in the room and the general feeling of ‘what else is there to do’ we ended up taking requests and then inexplicably deciding to play a large chunk of our new songs for the next album. We played Rise Again and New Song #5 which is pretty much a given at our shows recently but we also played these yet unnamed selections too: the metal song, the jangly song, the quirky song, the hardcore song, the really fast song and the song abut Charles Bronson. At least 4 of those songs had never been attempted live and the other two had only been played once or twice for an audience. Basically it was a huge game of stump Briana and Taylor who thought they knew the words to every song! Anyway, consider yourselves blessed or cursed for being the first ones to hear all those new songs. The drive home was amusing as we discussed popping zits, Dave’s taste for himself and the finer points of the movie ‘Bum Fights’. Huge thanks to Brian from Blue Star Creeper for putting on this show as well as multiple props to Darin and the G Unit, Briana and her endless supply of Pixy Stix, Taylor and the family, the almighty sword of FU and Julie for not tolerating the consumption of “eye boogers”. I almost forgot — highlight of the night — about half way into Iknowkungfu’s set Justin walks right up to the front of the stage and sits down in a chair directly in front of Bill’s microphone and tries in vain to amuse him. Bill was either oblivious to Justin’s antics or more likely just ignoring him. After a few songs and no reaction Justin’s head starts to sway a little and he starts to nod off. I’d like to point out that he was falling asleep with a very loud rock band 5 FEET FROM HIM! Eventually he slides over to another chair directly in front of the PA speaker and proceeds to completely zone out. Mouth open, head back, probably drooling … the whole deal. The drummer for Iknowkungfu sees what’s going on and whips a drum stick (in mid song I might add) and knocks Justin in the leg. Justin stirs momentarily, looks over to see everyone laughing at him, smiles and within 30 seconds was back asleep on the chair mouth open and snoring … all with a live band right in front of him. Amazing. Absolutely amazing.
Show Journal 2003-11-07
I actually missed all of the bands play tonight except for Hollow Point and the Civies. Most of my time was spent in the back room Sopranos style eating pizza and discussing roller coasters, nuclear fallout and how we all want to be Dave when we grow up. It was actually a fun time I just wish we had played better.
Show Review
The headliner this evening was 800 Octane. If you have ever seen the Octane boys play, there is no reason to even read on. Of course the set was solid. Of course the songs were flawless. Of course Dave was golden throated. Of course Eric nailed each song. Of course Justin jumped approximately 875879458954 times at an average height of 78 feet in the air. Of course Jim amazed us once again with his double bass action even though he doesn’t have a double bass pedal. Great set, great way to end the evening.” (Alex Cook / portlandmusicians.com)
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Well it took four and a half years and about 200 shows but we finally sold all our copies of our second album ‘The Kelvis’. Amen.
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We can’t even begin to thank everyone who came to the Halloween show in Longview enough. It was easily one of the best times we’ve ever had playing! Now pat yourself on the back and say good job because you totally made our night.
Show Journal 2003-10-31
There’s just too much stuff to mention so I’m going stream of consciousness on this one. Huge crowd, great costumes, lots of slut costumes, lots of dead people, one person had a shattered 800 Octane CD embedded in their head, Anna Nicole was frightening and way too accurate, Dave got flashed numerous times while holding the video camera which makes me think I need to buy one, very long line in the freezing cold that everyone was stuck in … including myself, Robby Hellfire rocked, Angus ruled, duct tapes boxers did not, Sumara was fast and technical and despite being Mormon they got a huge pit going, helmets are always a safe bet for singers, Hauler was simultaneously the loudest and gnarliest band I’ve ever seen live, Hauler was also the scariest when wearing those creepy face masks, our sound check took forever because of all the audio and video equipment and we want to apologize for that, all those pints of fake blood tasted awful and made my eyes sting, opening with a cover of ‘Halloween’ by the Misfits on Halloween was the highlight of the show and perhaps my entire year, at one point my nose was running but I realized no one could tell with all the makeup so I just let it flow, stage divers by the dozen, equal numbers of guest vocals from the crowd, I messed up the intro to ‘Everybody’ so bad I had to stop the song and get a “do over”, Dave ended our set by dumping a bucket of literally almost 15 pounds of candy on the front row, Countdown rocked hard enough that even Dave got on stage to sing, Countdown also covered ‘Day Of The Dead’ and Justin and I took notes from the power of Ty, they were also the heaviest I’ve ever seen them. I can’t possibly find enough words to thank Countdown for setting up that awesome show and also to everyone who travelled long and far to make this one of our best shows ever. Huge thanks to all involved with the filming and audio recording … let’s hope it turns out well!
Show Review
800 Octane was just the band to provide that rock. I said earlier that 800 Octane never fails to entertain, and tonight’s show was no exception. If anything they put on their best live performance I’ve yet seen from these PDX cats. They came onstage decked out in skeleton shirts and zombie makeup, splattered in blood, and proceeded to start things off with a bad-ass cover of the Mistfits’ “Halloween”. Things didn’t slow down after that. Lead singer Dave continually spit blood into the crowd, who were going nuts, moshing, dancing, hopping onstage to sing along, and crowdsurfing throughout their entire set. One of the highlights of their set was the always crowd pleasing “Day of the Dead”, when several members from the crowd along with members from other bands playing took the stage to sing along with the band. The band is always great to it’s fans and tonight they had people flinging candy into the audience for the entire duration of their set. I’m talking probably 20 pounds of candy here. (note, do not stare at candy being thrown at your face, tootsie pop sticks hurt when they plunge into your face).” (PJ Crader / geekass.com)
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Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night, I remember Halloween. Dead cats hanging from poles, little dead are out in droves, I remember Halloween. Only one more day until the festvities so now’s your last chance to get a map and find your way to Longview.
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Ok, in case you were wondering our fans totally rule. We’ve been given not one but two photographs from people who made their own 800 Octane pumpkins. That is just too damn cool!
