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Ok, the videos are all back online! Thanks to New School Records for the extra bandwidth.
Show Journal 2003-08-01
So tonight was the first show at a new venue in Vancouver called the Vertigo Gallery. It’s actually a tattoo and piercing shop that has a stage and shows. The first band was an acoustic duo that made me realize how poorly I play the acoustic guitar because they were good at it. It was a little weird when they got done and one of the two announced she would give $20 piercings. Piercings aren’t weird … you just don’t usually hear them announced at a show. Compact was next and sounded tough as always. The highlight of their set for me was when Attom fell on the ground, Spinelli picked his up by his shirt and threw him down again onto the floor. Very rock and roll. No blood this time but that’s ok with me. We were last and I feel like I should apologize for our performance. There were some major technical difficulties with the vocals which really sucked the life out of us. You know it sounds like shit when Dave is talking between songs and all you hear is a sound similar to that of the bus driver from Charlie Brown. After every song we had to take a long pause which is hard because you lose your energy. You start a song, you’re playing well, people’s heads are bobbing, you’re getting into it and then you go to start another song and have to stop for 3 minutes to fix the squealing or worse yet the non working mic. Yeah, I know … boo hoo. Anyway, after we got done things picked up … we hung out for a bit, saw Dan for the last time before he moves to NYC, made jokes about having intercourse with Dave’s amp and I finally met my wife. Perhaps the highlight of the whole night was when Travis taught us how he survives on $40 a week which he makes exclusively from donating plasma. Amazing. Thanks to Attom and all the Vertigo Gallery … despite my ramblings about the sound it was still definitely a good night and we would like to play again for sure. Also, thanks to those who came from Longview as well as all the regulars from the message board!
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Like a bad rash the ‘Ask The Band’ section has returned but this time without the Mr T influence. Amazingly this is the 5th version of it. If you remember the ‘what would justin do’ section then consider yourself old school.
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Wow. We finally got accepted to play Music Fest NW. We won’t know the lineup for a few more days but after 6 years of applying for it (and NXNW), 6 years of application fees, and 6 subsequent rejection letters I’m glad they finally gave us one out of mercy.
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Best wishes go out to the friends, families and fans of The Exploding Hearts.
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Holy crap! We have pictures and a review on the Warped Tour web site. Speaking of Warped Tour did anyone who was hanging out in our tent accidentally (or purposely) end up with a bag containing an Avenged Sevenfold shirt, stickers and some CD’s? If so please drop us a line … that stuff was expensive!
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New patches, new stickers and new buttons have arrived. Check out our merchandise page for more info.
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The Warped Tour was a blast as were our shows in PDX, Bend and Richland. Thanks to everyone who saw us over this holiday weekend and extra special thanks to Same Day Service for the good times!
Show Review
Right next to the Girlz Garage was the Kevin Says stage where a local band, 800 Octane, was ripping it up. Definitely a Misfit/Danzig inspired rock band with a slight twist of Alkaline Trio. Coming from Portland, these guys do a really good job considering the crappy clubs and music environment that the Northwest has to offer, no offense of course. (Warped Tour Pit Report / warpedtour.com)
Show Journal 2003-07-06
I never thought I could have such a fun and fulfilling day on so little sleep. I swore that we’d check in, find out our slot and then I was going to sleep or just relax in the van until we played. No such luck. Let me describe what’s it’s like behind the scenes at the Warped Tour for a smaller band. It’s utterly and totally confusing. “You need to go to the promotions building”, “you aren’t on the list”, “we don’t have the schedule yet”, “we don’t know what stage you are on”, “we don’t have a set time yet”, “who are you again”, “you can’t park here”, “no more vehicles on the field”. That pretty much sums up the first two hours. Finally at about 11, Dave became so fed up he took matters into his own hands. With an determined look in his eyes he walked to the main building and 5 minutes later came back with our passes as well as our set time and stage information. I’m still just assuming he pulled some Obi Won Kenobi jedi tricks on the staff. We still had to figure out how to get our gear from one far corner of the parking lot to the opposite corner of the field where our stage was located. Again, Dave took matters into his own hands. We were standing around scratching our asses contemplating how difficult it would be to move 1000 pounds of gear across a 1/2 mile grassy field and then out of nowhere Dave rolls up in an ATV with a trailer. Amazing. That’s why Dave rules … he’s the kind of person that can just pull shit off. Anyway, we found a tent spot, unloaded and got settled in. By then it was almost noon and time for the music. Good lord there were a lot of good bands this year. The only act I was just dying to see was Andrew WK. In a cruel twist of fate we played at the exact same time he did so I didn’t even get to see one single minute. Not even a suggestion of partying for me. Sigh. Musical highlights for me were Less Than Jake, Suicide Machines, Thrice, Tsunami Bomb and the Dropkick Murphys. I also really enjoyed the Used until the singer spewed the following load of crap from his mouth “if you are in rock band keep playing music and stick with it because eventually great things can happen for you. We’ve been a band for two and a half years and …”. I can’t remember what was said after that because the collective groan of disgust from every small, unsigned and independent band there overpowered whatever else he was saying. Two and a half years? On behalf of every band who have busted their ass for far more than two and a half years we have four words for you … fuck you little man. So how did we do? We did great and I can’t thank everyone who watched us enough. There were so many 800 Octane shirts around it was amazing. We actually had the best turnout of the day on our particular stage. (Yes, it’s a small accomplishment but we were proud.) If you were one of the people who took the time to watch our set with all those other great bands playing we’d really like to thank you … it meant a lot to us to get so much support on this show. Extra special thanks to the people from other bands who watched us including EPD, Spare Lead, Virus 9, Countdown to Life and of course SDS. One more thing about SDS … we just wanted to say thanks for playing all the shows with us and we hope the rest of your tour goes well! Again, thanks to everyone who watched us play … it really meant a lot. Extra thanks to PJ for being our roadie/merch/slave for the day. Oh yeah, if you read last year’s Warped Tour review I’d like to point out I remembered sun block and a hat this time.
