Show Journal 2005-09-29
On paper this show should have sucked even more than the one last night. Smaller venue, worse sound, marginally friendly staff and amazingly even less people. Excluding bands and employees there were 5 people that stuck around for both bands. It should have ranked as the worst show ever, but it was actually kind of fun. Why? Because Fabulous Disaster is totally one of the nicest bands in the world. Despite having been on huge tours, releasing albums on Fat Wreck and pretty much having seen and done it all they still got up and totally rocked as if they were playing in front of 1000 people. It was almost inspiring to watch. Letting it all go on stage with less than 10 people in the room is difficult to do and the bands that can do it deserve their props. How was our set? Who cares. Most of the fun this evening was watching Fab D, hanging out, talking like Borat, and making use of the $60 food/drink tab. All in all a pretty good evening.
Show Journal 2005-09-28
Hands down the worst show of the year. Seriously. It’s not even worthy of my description. Thanks to the folks at Devils’s Point and Rainin’ Blood for trying though!
Show Journal 2005-09-24
Ahhhh sweet redemption for our less than spectacular last show in Longview. Super solid lineup tonight and it definitely added something special to the night. People were up and moving for the first band and didn’t stop until the last song of the night. It’s nice to see the Board Room with better sound, a better layout and better lights. It was exceedingly cool to get to play with The Secretions and The Independents, both of whom we’ve played with numerous time. Kevin from the Secretions even busted out his 800 windbreaker from 2000! The Trashies were up first and I’m not quite sure what to say. I just couldn’t keep my eyes off the stage. You just had to be there. We were up second and had a blast despite all the technical problems. What problems? First was Dustin’s broken kick pedal. Next was Dave’s “tuning problem” in Still The Same. (By tuning problem I mean he couldn’t remember how to play the tune.) Then towards the end Justin broke a string and my spare guitar was missing a string too. Again, Kevin Secretion saved the day. I guess it was payback for the time Dave helped him avoid getting his ass kicked by a bunch of meatheads at Reid’s. The stage was small and slippery and despite all the setbacks we did ok. We busted out a few songs we haven’t played in almost 1 year and a half (Kelvis, Still The Same, New Song #2). It seems Dustin can do no wrong and the amount of songs he’s learned is phenomenal. Fast forward to the Secretions. The quick synopsis? Asses were kicked. They sounded great and haven’t lost a step despite being at this for just about as long as we have. Great guys, great songs and a great show. I had forgotten how much I really like the Independents. They totally rocked it. It was cool to see their frantic energy in front of a worked up all ages crowd. They bring a smile to my face every time. The Queers were last and you can take away my punk rock credibility but I actually hadn’t heard them before. They were pretty good. The singer kind of rubbed us the wrong way by bitching about the sound system for the first few songs, but I guess if you are used to “real” venues it’s gotta be odd. Still respect is given and it was cool to see so many people singing every single word. Like I said before, great show tonight. Thanks to our Sacto homies The Secretions, props to the Independents for being one of the nicest bands ever, and a shot out to TJ for pulling off one of the best shows I’ve seen all year.
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Getting to play two shows with the Misfits last year was kind of a highlight for us. Getting to do it again this year at a smaller venue? To say we are thrilled would be a serious understatement!
Show Journal 2005-09-17
Tonight’s show was definitely a little humbling to say the least. Section 8 started off in a respectable manner even though most people didn’t know what to make of them. We played and although it wasn’t our finest hour it wasn’t too shabby either. Then I saw Bane and I felt puny. They were so energetic, so raw and so god damn heavy that I was amazed. The singer had so many intelligent things to say about music and the scene that it bordered on inspiring at times. They put me back in high school discovering a new band for the first time. I bought a CD and a shirt. I’m hooked. After having our ego’s reduced by Bane we then got/had to watch Strung Out. If you aren’t familiar with them Strung Out is sort of the ultimate musician’s band for punk rock. Some of the stuff they do with the guitars is just ridiculous. I can barely even follow it let alone play it. Dustin commented he was happy to see the drummer make a mistake just to prove he’s human. After witnessing the fury of Bane and the complexity of Strung Out I felt a little bit smaller. Actually a lot smaller. Definitely a great show and although it is was initially depressing it’s definitely cool to get to play with bands like these to see how great bands can be. Thanks to Thrasher Presents and the Loveland folks for being so nice to us.
Show Journal 2005-09-10
Holy crap, what an awesome show! Highlight of my life … we’re playing a song (I think it was Rise Again) and the PA cuts out. We finish the song minus vocals and are left fumbling around on stage killing time while the sound guy tries to fix the PA. Justin is about to break into the good old “anyone know any good jokes” routine and then some people start yelling for us to play a song. It’s quickly decided by some people up front that we should play ‘Ghosts Of Monochrome’ because they know the words and can sing along. We look at each other and decide we might as well. We start playing the song at full stage volume and quickly notice the whole front of the crowd knows all the words and are singing it so loud I can hear it over the music. Amazing. Absolutely, completely and totally fucking amazing. Thank you Richland for having the most supportive music fans ever. The rest of the show was pretty great but those 3 minutes just summed it all up for me. Thanks to Dustin and the folks at Ray’s, our Countdown homies, This Day’s End, all our friends in Richland and best wishes to Cryssi!
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Yes, even more video clips with our music. This time it’s an extreme snowmobiling video called ‘Thunderstruck 4’ courtesy of bigskyx.com. Can’t wait to see this one!
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We’ve had a good past few shows and have been meeting a lot of new people and bands. If it’s your first time here thanks for stopping by. For the old school we just added quite a few more scanned photos bringing our grand total up to 751 pictures. That’s commitment bitch. Maybe not a commitment to good music but definitely a commitment to looking at ourselves. Best addition? We finally located the lost pictures from the 2002 Halloween show with Gwar!
Show Journal 2005-09-03
We rarely get to play the Ash Street but when we do it’s always a blast. Tonight of course was no exception. Switch Hitter was first and they were a pretty rad band. The singer showed up wearing a Tiger Army shirt with a sticker of a tank on his guitar and the word ‘Hoss’ (his name) tattooed across his knuckles. Safe to say we were going to like this band. Awesome band, awesome songs, nice people and the nicest “switch bitch” ever. 48 Thrill was next and rocked the hizzouse. Rumor has it, it was their first show but you would have never known. The songs were instantly catchy and felt like you had known them for years. Very cool and I hope we get to play with them again. Valid Effort was third. We played with them a while ago at Devils Point and knew they were pretty tough. Through the Ash Street sound system they sounded huge. We played last and did alright. We tried a new song for the first time ever that was met with the sound of crickets. Other than that the set was good. Afterwards we were greeted by the Bratwurst truck which conveniently parked in front of the club. All in all a good night. Thanks to the other bands, J Crash for his work on the show and the fine folks of the Ash Street!
Show Journal 2005-08-27
Grants Pass rocked my world tonight. Cool people, cozy venue and good bands. Best part for us that we finally got to play with Virus Nine. We’ve been crossing paths with them for 4 or 5 years and never got to play the same show. We hang out with the same friends, play with the same bands, they’ve seen us, we’ve seen them … just never played the same show. They completely tore it up too. In fact they were so good it was almost depressing. Our set went really well. A few people seemed to know the words, which was cool since we’ve never actually played in Grants Pass before. People were moving despite it being incredibly hot which made it all the more fun. Thanks to V9, Tyler for setting up the show and the dude from Bend who knew all the choruses.
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