Show Journal 2007-02-01
I actually had a long show review typed up but after fouling up an upgrade to Windows Vista I managed to lose it during the restore process. Anyway, the quick version is that The Bullies were entertaining to watch. Our set was very fun but not earth-shattering by any means. New Mexican Disaster Squad was fast and good. Only Crime was utterly humbling and awesome to watch. Heavier than we all expected but they still had some terribly catchy moments as well. Seeing all those influential musicians in one band was cool. Thanks to the Hawthorne. No thanks to my computer.
Was anyone in here around in 98?
Kind of a busy month. We have lots of shows coming up, including one with Only Crime tonight and a trip to Seattle next weekend. The biggest show for us is getting to play with Bomf! on Feb 10th at the Tonic Lounge. For those who haven’t know us for very long Bomf! was probably our favorite band to play with between ’97 and ’99. Great band, great guys and great memories. This is their reunion show and to cap it off Lopez will be playing as well. Total trip down memory lane. Can’t wait to throw beer at Brent and reminisce about monster burger at EJ’s. On another topic what you probably don’t know is that we actually did some recording this month. We went down to Eugene for two days to record demos with our friend Sam at Take92 studios. We actually did tracks for 18 new songs. We haven’t really done the demo thing before so hopefully it’ll help us get a solid album. We’re hoping to book the studio time for the “real” recording at some point during the month so stay tuned.
Show Journal 2007-01-27
If you asked me to sit down and make a list of all the things I don’t want to do while enduring a migraine, playing a show now tops my list. Every step, shuffle and head movement was uncomfortable at best, downright painful at worst. The 100w amplifier right behind me didn’t help matters. I just kept telling myself “25 minutes, I only gotta make it 25 minutes”. Out of instinct I’d find myself forgetting about my ailment and go for the head band only to see stars each time. It’s definitely easier when you pretend those stars are camera flashes from thousands of adoring fans, rather than jolts of discomfort given to oneself while trying to entertain a few dozen people in various states of intoxication. Thankfully all three other bands were very good (definitely a rare occurrence) and the turnout was better than we expected. Despite the headache, it was a pretty good night. Thanks to everyone who stayed up late to support four local bands.
Show Journal 2007-01-19
Slight bummer on the show tonight. Much The Same (aka – the band from Chicago on Nitro Records that we wanted to open for) got in a bad van accident two night ago and had to cancel this show and several others. They are all ok but we were a little bummed as we were excited to see them play. The show must go on and it did. As usual with trips to Longview we arrived inexcusably late and only caught a song or two of the first two bands. I got to see a little more of the Scurvies set who are also on tour but from Alaska. Talk about a drive. Damn. They were pretty cool guys and fun to watch. As for our set, it was pretty good. Since tonight wound up doubling as Brady’s birthday party we let him write the setlist and he hit us with some old ones. Can’t recall the last time we played ‘Get In The Van’ or ‘Roads Less Traveled’ at a show. Pretty fun to bust out some less frequently played material. Highlights included lots of stage diving, Justin’s incoherent rambling and the mystery gasser who must have been situated near the front of the stage. Seriously, how can anyone smell worse that Reid’s? Anyway, thanks so much to all who attended on short notice, thanks to Reid’s and best of luck to Much The Same.
Show Journal 2007-01-06
Kind of a strange evening as we were the lone punk rock band in a sea of metal and hard rock. Everyone was nice enough and the bands were plenty entertaining, but I’m really not sure we presented enough headbanging opportunities for anyone to really enjoy us. A couple of people moved around and we learned some interesting new dances but definitely not the same reaction we saw in Sandy last time. In retrospect I now realize we never turned down from practice volume which would explain why the middle cleared out and people covered their ears and moved to the side of the stage. Anything else note worthy to write about? Not really. I think Del Taco and my long awaited reunion with the del beef burrito was the highlight of the evening for me but then again I’m easy to impress. All in all a good show though and thanks to Nate for having us. It’s still amazing you can still get a better turnout in Sandy with two weeks notice than you can in Portland with two months warning.
Everything must go
We’re just about sold out of almost all of our merch. What do we have on hand? Copies of Rise Again and some devil girl posters. Everything else is offically gone even including ‘The Return’. Good news is that means it’s time for some new merchandise which is long overdue. That should be coming a few months into 2007 so stay tuned. Since it’s the end of the year thanks again for everyone who stuck with us in 2006. We wouldn’t still be doing this if it wasn’t for you. Well, ok maybe we would. Everyone have a good holiday!
Show Journal 2006-12-15
Now that was an awesome show. So many friends we haven’t seen in a while came out of the woodwork that it was impossible not to have a good time. Every corner we’d see someone and think “holy crap I haven’t seen you in years”. Very cool. The show itself was great. Our homies The Civies kicked it off with fast sing along street punk. We played second to a pretty awake crowd. We played ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers tonight. The consensus afterwards was that the song was a hit for the folks in the bar but a little odd for the all ages portion who might not be familiar with the song or the chain of fast food chicken stores. Fortunately we chose not to play our alternate version called The Nambler or Dateline NBC would have shut us down. The Briggs were awesome. Solid and catchy punk rock songs. They seemed like super nice dudes too which is always a plus. The main reason of course was The Living End and I gotta say they were amazing. I had seen them last time in 99 at The Warped Tour at wasn’t that impressed. In a small theater it was a whole different story. They were incredibly tight, totally entertaining and they just controlled the crowd. It’s nice to see a band used to playing arenas rock a smaller club with even more intensity. Totally impressed. Didn’t get to talk to them at all, but they had a full tour bus and a line of fans waiting to meet them it’s all good. Thanks to Thrasher Presents and all who took the time to watch us!
Show Journal 2006-12-02
Back to Olympia for our second time this year and in fact our second time ever. We arrived fashionably late as usual and missed the first band (sorry!) and caught the latter half of Aces Over Kings who was actually a pretty damn good band. We loaded in the cold (29 degrees), setup and rocked as hard as we could. We definitely got a better response than our last trip to the Manium. I think the show in Chehalis the prior week as a few people came out to this show too. Plus, if you didn’t move around a little your legs would most likely freeze and shatter in the unheated warehouse. GGTS was up last and sounded great. Definitely a lot more crowd participation which is always fun to watch. The trip home was uninteresting at best with the thickest fog I’ve seen in ages. All in all a pretty good night. Thanks to GGTS and Kevin for the show hookup.
The Living End
If you are planning on going to The Living End show you might get a move on buying tickets in advance. With the addition of The Briggs to the bill this is turning out to be a killer show!
Show Journal 2006-11-25
Just when we thought we had played every small town in the Northwest Chehalis, WA comes along. We had heard really good things about the Matrix from quite a few bands and you know what, they were all right. The place was great. Nice owners, cool kids and a pretty nice community vibe to it. Due to a late arrival we missed The Wobblies. We had actually met and played with them before in Eugene or Corvallis and one can only assume they rocked. Desensitized Youth was second and sounded pretty good. Kind of street punk, and still pretty catchy. Go Get The Scissors was up third and I really like these guys. They sound solid, play well and are very energetic on stage. They always seem a few steps ahead of other bands their age. Very cool and always fun to watch. We had to play last which is always interesting in a place you’ve never played before (especially following “locals”). A few people up front knew all the words so that made it cool right from the get go. I’m not sure if it was the excessive volume or the spectacle of the jumping guitar player but people stuck and sang along where they could. Props to Taylor for the vocals and picking up the tab for dinner. More props to Michelle for the merch help, camera blinding and overall level of sass. Last but not least thanks to the Matrix and GGTS for the show hookup!
Random Photos