Show Review
Let me just start by saying these guys kicked my ass. I should have not waited so long to go see them play. They play with pure passion and extreme energy. If you haven’t seen them yet you are as dumb as I am. Wait that didn’t sound good
Show Journal 2000-07-12
Those of you who came out to the show tonight know that we dedicated our set to our friend Myong who passed away recently. Dave said some nice words about him at the show and rather than repeat it all, I just wanted to remind everyone that you should always make the time to stop and just enjoy the time you spend with your friends, family and the people you love. Friendships and families can’t always last forever, but your memories can. Later Myong, we all miss you. Thanks for listening … ok, here’s the show review. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to play a really good show. We’ve played some big shows in the past for some ok sized crowds, but I mean a big show with a national touring band who you actually look up to. Well, after almost 7 years of watching and wishing we finally scored the incredibly rare and elusive “really good show.” We got to open for All! If you don’t know All maybe you’ve heard of the Descendents? If you don’t know them just stop reading now. (What’s funny is that I actually remember Dave and I listening to All for the first time back in ’91 with Bryan … too bad he couldn’t be here for this!!!). So here we are all these years later playing with (and I apologize for having to use this phrase) one of our musical influences. Needless to say I think we were all a little nervous before the show. In fact at one point Justin was actually shaking. I think it was excitement more than anything. Case in point — when we walked in with our stuff to set up the bass player for All was sitting in the back of the club. I’m trying to act all cool and pretending like it’s no big deal and continue to unload our stuff. As soon as he leaves I find that I have somehow turned into a 12 year old girl who just saw N’Sync for the first time. I’m running down the hallway towards the others saying “Oh my god it’s Karl Alvarez” … “Oh my god it’s Bill Stevenson.” … “Oh my god look at their guitar amps” … “Oh my god did you see the drum set” …. “omigod omigod omigod.” I was by far the worst off but I did get a few glimpses of the others being star struck as well. I caught Jim staring at the All drum set a few times. At one point Justin had to move one of Stephen’s guitar amps and he looked like he could have been handling the Mona Lisa while he was moving it. Dave held out on the cool guy routine the longest, but the brother was hungry, so you got to be cool when you got burgers on the mind. The show went great. I thought we played well. Everyone seemed to like us, we got a lot of compliments and even got to sign a few things! A bunch of people bought our CD which was even better! The highlight though was when two of the guys from All told us we “rocked.” Amen. The crowd liked us, the other bands liked us, and at least half of All said something positive about us. From there on out the rest of the evening was as perfect. Special thanks to Zack for helping with shirts, Thrasher for the show and the sound guy for finally deciding not to kick us off the show!
Show Journal 2000-06-30
This was the last of our three shows with the Kansas City Stars and The Secretions and probably the worst. Ashland is 300 miles away and 4th of July weekend traffic shoots the drive time up to almost 7 hours. Daddy O’s is a cool club and the owners rock so the long drive wasn’t really a problem for us. Besides, the drive was a good opportunity to watch Justin cringe in pain as we played the first Danzig album over and over again. On to the show … the Secretions had a lot of people around to watch them, probably 30 or so, which is pretty decent for Ashland. I would have been happy with that turnout but after the Kansas City Stars got done there was less than 10 people in the whole place. After another slow equipment breakdown (shouldn’t they move their own drums?) we ended up starting at 1:15 in the morning. By this point there was 3 people watching us play. That is not a typo … 3 people. Every now and again someone new would wander in for a song and then leave but 3 was in fact the magic number. Ironically, we actually played one of our best shows yet. If we had played like that anywhere else people would have loved it. Don’t get me wrong the 3 people seemed to dig it, but come on … 3 people? By the way, we only got paid 10 dollars tonight. That’s pretty weak considering the distance, but at least Daddy O’s pays which is more than I can say for the bend you over and ream you type dealings of the Paris Theater. Anyhow, we ended up driving all the way back to p-town that night. This all sounds like a pretty miserable evening but we actually had a pretty fun time with the whole trip. Complaining really just doesn’t get you anywhere, especially when you are in close quarters with 3 other people for hours on end, so we just laughed it all off. However, since this is an appropriate forum for complaining check this out … between our 3 shows this week we made 10 dollars. We sold nothing, we spent about 12 hours in the van and we spent just under 10 hours sitting in the various clubs and watching other bands play. The worst statistic is that between the 3 shows we played to an average of 8 people per show … a new low for 800 Octane. You could argue we are still paying our dues but it seems we’ve been paying our dues for several years now and I would like it to end.
Show Journal 2000-06-28
In all of EJ’s 10 year existence the lowest turnout ever was 3 paying customers. Tonight we almost broke the record with a total of 4 paying people. How embarrassing is that? No flyers, no press and we were listed on the marquee as “BOO OCTAIN.” But still, 4 paying people … ouch. There were a few more people at the show than that (maybe a dozen) but most were friends of or employees of EJ’s. In a real strange kind of was the show was actually pretty cool. Probably because no one was forced to gaze into the deep recesses of Kansas City Shawn’s anus again like last night. The Secretions were particularly entertaining this evening … even more so with the arrival of Scotty Potty from Witch Throttlegush. (Dave and I have always considered Scott to be the king of all hecklers … we’ve heard him talk smack about Canadians, Australians, Californians, punk rockers, teenagers and now people from Sacramento). Thanks to the few people who came out tonight and especially the 4 who paid which keeps us from being the worst show in EJ’s history.
Show Journal 2000-06-27
Tonight’s show was good … good and terrible. Too hot, bad sound and one too many naked people.
Show Journal 2000-06-21
Finally after 3 1/2 years in Portland we got to play at LaLuna. It’s called The Paradigm now and we played on the small stage but I’ll take it. The show was good … Wednesday turnouts are always low (go figure) but it went ok. Well that’s what Lyle said at least. The Commies were cool … they literally played to 9 people and we all liked it. Thanks to The Knockdowns and Brother Spud for rocking the weekday night away as well. Unfortunately Justin sustained a groin injury in the parking lot while running away from Jim, but despite the injury he managed to play well. By midway through our set it was obvious his joke telling ability was slightly impaired though. After a night on a horse shaped ice sculpture he’ll feel all better.
Show Journal 2000-06-16
Would it be wrong if I told you this show sucked? Well, it did. Broken strings, an unplugged cord, a broken tuner, an amp left on standby and two (yes, two) broken bass drum pedals. Added to the mix was a totally unreceptive crowd who left us with a deafening silence in between songs and pauses. I’ve really grown to like Witch Throttlegush these days but I just had to leave after our set and missed the other bands. In fact I think the show is still happening as I write this. Anyway, just to sum up, the show sucked. Thank you, good night.
Show Journal 2000-06-02
You know how long it had been since we played at EJ’s? 357 days!!! Almost a year. Amazing. Some faces have changed but it’s still the coolest club in Portland. I think just being back was there was the highlight for us. Tonight was Terry’s birthday (the booking guy) so a ton of people came out. The first band was ok, but their staged wrestling match was hysterical. Little Alien (the singer from the band) had a fight with The Million Dollar Dot Com man (Joe from the Silverkings). They hit each other with all kinds of stuff including crutches and plywood and finished off the match with a body slam through a table that was lit on fire. Pretty cool until the guy turned on the fire extinguisher and sprayed it everywhere. Everything in EJ’s was coated with a fine white powder. You could taste it and smell it. How awful. Anyway, that sucked pretty bad but our show went amazingly well. I think Justin is getting the hang of this rock star thing. Perhaps too much so judging from the fire lit on stage underneath him.. Naked Violence still rocks harder than you. I left before Scotty Kellogg and the Punk Ass Bitches, but I’m sure they were good. They have been every other time I’ve seen them.
Show Journal 2000-05-07
This was a big show with a lot of people. Everyone of them was more punk than me. Or does that make me the punkest one since I looked normal? Who cares. The Straightjackets were my favorite band this afternoon. It would have been Statch but their bass player got naked … again. The big news today was that this was our first show with Justin. In fact this was Justin’s first show with anyone. We warned him that it’s all downhill from here (read the previous review) but he doesn’t seem phased. My first show I was so nervous I couldn’t even stand it. Not Justin, damn fool is running across the stage and jumping off drum risers looking like a seasoned rock star. Thanks to Another State of Mind … see you in 6 more years!
Album Review
This is a well produced disc of revved-up poppy punk. The song-writing’s top-notch and the guys are great musicians. Dave naturally sings with confidence and Brian’s back-ups add even more harmony and sweetness to the mix. There’s some great songs about monsters, pimps and aliens, but the reminiscent “Radio” about friendship (and beer) and the emotional songs, like “Still the Same” and “Brand New Faces” are powerful and honest and really touch me. Beer Can Count: One. Kelly drew an amazing cover for the CD and penciled in a redneck clutching a beer can as he’s about to get hacked to pieces. (Beer Can Fanzine #3)
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