December 20th 2004 @ Magoo's Pizza Banquet Room (364 S. Livermore Ave, Livermore, CA.) With Love Songs, Trancendents, Kramers, Altamont Union, and Of The Slaying Sort.
The Kramers rule. Now if they could just turn old enough to drive…
December 12th 2004 @ Glama-Rama (417 S. Van Ness between 15th & 16th St, San Francisco, CA - MAP) For Heather Luque art show.
This was an art show at a beauty salon in the Mission District of San Francisco. That said, Heather and Joe (brad, add joe’s website link here if he still has one) should hook up and make beautiful vagina-head/butthole-mouth art together. Heather’s art was quite provocative and it seemed only fitting we somehow ended up playing in front of the picture of four penises playing in a band. Also noteworthy was the man sitting in the barber chair directly in front of us. After our set he approached us and we began talking about rock music. Turns out he was the guitar player for Boston. I excitedly blurted out, “You’re the guy who invented all the—” “No, the other guy.” In retrospect I bet he’s had to say “No, the other guy” hundreds of times and now I feel bad for having confused him with Tom Schultz. Hey, at least he still had a good head of rock hair!
December 11th 2004 @ Sound and Fury Records (271 Wonder Street, Reno, NV - MAP.) With Love Songs and Crucial Attack. Grand Opening Party.
Promise us you’ll visit this record store if you’re ever in the Reno area. Besides Mac and Joe undertaking this rad venture the only thing you need to know is this.
December 4th 2004 @ Unity Skate (2188 Railroad Ave. Livermore, CA 94550, (925) 371-8181.) With Love Songs, This is my Fist!, Angry For Life, Throat Oyster, Invisible Enemies.
It was 34 degrees and we played outside! Ouch!!!
November 28th 2004 @ Chapman St Warehouse (2846 Chapman St. in Oakland, CA - MAP.) With Kung Fu USA, Love Songs, SHAT, Trainwreck Riders, Dirty Dirty, and Hiker/Biker.
This place sells beer from a vending machine and there’s no monkey inside the 
coin return slot checking IDs. Just thought I’d let all you under-agers in on that. Now that I live in the East Bay it’s so much easier to get home from shows. For instance, I need only make two turns from this place to get home. And I got a cat!
November 6th 2004 @ 924 Gilman St. (Berkeley, CA) With Signal Lost, Look Back And Laugh, Desolation, Love Songs, and Paxane.
With his long, greasy, A-framed hair and uber-sexy VIVA LA ROCK hump-me shirt Jack would seem out of place at Gilman St but look just how damned crusty Jack's "grey" hoodie is next to these straight-edge kids. Oh, I might add - Look Back And Laugh is FUCKING AWESOME.
November 1st 2004 @ Santa Cruz.
POUTING ALERT - I left work in the Tri-Valley at 4:30 and after going home, getting the van and packing it I ended up at Bradley's practice space at 6:30pm. We set out to put air in the tires but the compressor actually let air out of the tire. Four gas stations later we found another air compressor that worked but when we were ready to start the 2.5 hour drive through traffic to Santa Cruz it was almost 8pm. We called the promoter and asked what the situation was. The other two out-of-town bands canceled, Unti Breed (Joe's band) being one of them. Demoralized and defeated we promised we'd set up a Saturday show where we'd have no excuses for not showing up. At least we got 4 tires with good air pressure!
October 16th 2004 @ Temple of Glam (1422 Warner St., Chico, CA 95926) With Love Songs and This Is My Fist!
During the set I took a poll to see how many people had not drunk alcohol. Four people rose their hands, far more than I figured.
Friday, October 15th 2004 @ The Proxy House (249 Ryland St. in Reno, NV) With Arabella, Pink Black, This Is My Fist! and Love Songs.
A roadtrip with This Is My Fist sharing the vehicle proved great for us and the gas compensation but terrible for them when they realized their Weird Al polka threshold was far below ours. Sucks for them! It seems Seth's poor little iPod was just stuck in the Weird Al polka folder...
The show was awesome except that I locked the keys in the van and the AAA guy came in the middle of Pink Black's set and I had to duck out for a few songs. When I snuck back into the show I somehow managed to creep right into Caroline's cello bow. It probably looked funny but I couldn't see straight for a few minutes. Dude, RENO...
September 18th 2004 @ 6th St. Books (144 6th St, San Francisco - MAP) With Love Songs, Best Pals, Midnight Serenade. $5. 7:30pm to 10pm
SO. MUCH. FUN. It was Vinnie's birthday held at an anarchist book shop in the worst part of SF. Everybody either knew everybody else or at least knew Vinnie and everyone was in a social spirit. Before we played I peed in a water bottle because I was too lazy to go upstairs. After the show a guy (we'll call him Randy) came up to me, saw the bottle, picked it up, and asked what it was. "A lot of vitamins and minerals," I said looking at the almost neon yellow liquid. I looked at a gentleman standing a couple feet back and without words asked, "What does this guy think this is?!" Randy then unscrewed the lid and brought it to his nose. The onlooker, in full knowledge of the liquid, shot back a "What's he thinking?!" look. I blurted out, "You don't smell that!?" and looked over incredulously at the onlooker to back me up. I turned back just in time to see Randy take a swig of my wee-wee. I, I, I...didn't know what to say... He asked again what it was and I was speechless. The onlooker was speechless. Eventually the guy deduced what it was and appeared somewhat angered but embarrassed. He ask why I let him drink it. I was speechless. The onlooker was speechless. I took the bottle from his hand and took a swig out of commiseration. The I gave him a CD and a book. Then I ate a bunch of Reeces Cups to get the oily acrid taste from my mouth. It was a great show!
September 16th, 2004 @ A Warehouse (3405 Piedmont Ave. & Grand in Oakland) With Siberia (OR) and Love Songs.
August 28th, 2004 @ Molotov's (582 Haight St. San Francisco - MAP.) With This is My Fist, Love Songs, Pirx the Pilot and Abi Yoyos.
Not bad for a 21+ venue. It probably helped that a good percentage of the patrons were still under 21. After the show Vinnie invited us to his house for a big vegan feast. We feasted and left big. If memory serves Jackie was drunk and loud.
August 27th, 2004 @ Balazo (2811 Mission St. @ 24th St., San Francisco - MAP) With Fleshies, Ed Mudshi (France), Black Tiger and Love Songs (Acoustic no-drummer show - just guitar/bass/vocals.)
With no drummer, drums, or amps we all piled into Jackie's car and drove into the Mission. We played and nary a tomato was thrown our way.
Black Tiger (featuring Rick and James from Betty's Love Child - heh heh, Rick James) played and nary a sweeping arpeggio was left behind. Ed Mudshi from France were one part Victim's Family and one part Plaid Retina. Halfway through their set both John Geek and Alex turned to me and welcomed me back to 1994. The Fleshies rocked as usual and a fun and decidedly 'throwback' evening was had by many. Jackie's car refused to start and it took till 2am before we were able to pop-start it in reverse, a sight that must have been pretty entertaining seeing as how we were all still wearing slacks, collared shirts and vests or a tie.
August 24th, 2004 @ iMusicast (5429 Telegraph Ave Oakland, CA 94609 - MAP) With Volante, Pigeon, The Empty and Love Songs.
Despite showing up and finding out we weren’t on the bill, and all the frustration it caused us and the staff, we had a pretty good time playing only 4 songs. Proving again that less is more all the kids seemed to really like us and since the place is entirely run by kids I bet we’ll be playing there again. For those not in-the-know, all imusicast shows are streamed live on the internet while high school kids run all the cameras, soundboards, and stage duties. Pretty interesting setup, and probably a cheap labor force. And I have to say it was good being broadcast on the internet wearing clothes for a change.
August 21st, 2004 @ 924 Gilman St. With This Is My Fist!, Modern Machines (WI), Period Three (WI), Love Songs, and Max Fischer.
Damn, them Modern Machines are a great band! I would even go so far as calling them ‘essential.’ Also kicking ass were Period 3 and of course, This Is My Fist. Ladies and Gentlemen, genuine melodic punk rock is back in full force now that all the Blink 182’s and Good Charlottes have left the building. Hallelujah!
August 20th, 2004 @ The Caravan (98 South Almaden Ave., San Jose, CA) Angry For Life, Modern Machines (WI), Period 3 (WI), Love Songs.
Of all the times playing in San Jose (with any bands we’ve been in) it’s rare to ever sell any merchandise. It’s even rarer to sell things while playing at a bar. So why is it that we sold tons of stuff while playing a hole-in-the-wall bar in San Jose?! It was a really cool show, we got free drinks, the bands totally rocked, and only one fight happened. And I walked out of La Vic’s with a bunch of extra orange sauce containers.
August 5th, 2004 @ Proxy House (249 Ryland St. Reno, NV) for BASEMENTPALOOZA featuring: Love Songs, the november group (seattle political hardcore), the spotlight syndicate (return from tour!), disconnect (return fron tour!), bafabegiya (tour kick off and record release show!), the juvinals (tour kick off show), tricycle (tour kick-off show), secet weapon eight (lake tahoe ska punk friends) burning at both ends (reno thrashers). Also vegan pot-luck and bbq at 5pm (bring something delicious to share) music will start at 6pm SHARP! $5.00, All Ages
Dude, RENO.
A fest of some of the best Reno bands (including the return of Crucial Attack and Spotlight Syndicate) and we got to play. GOT DAMN we love you, Reno!
July 27th, 2004 @ 12 Galaxies (2565 Mission Street @ 22nd, San Francisco, CA . 94110 - MAP). Pidgeon (CD Release Party), Love Songs, Empty Rooms, Gangway.
For a club in the Mission 12 Galaxies seemed a little chic-chic with their velvet ropes and their hardwood floors and their modern angular design schemes, but it turned out being a really cool space with really good sound and a nice staff (unlike most ‘clubs’ who tend to have jerky door people, mean sound guys, and ornery bartenders). And for a show on a Tuesday night it was pretty packed, at least by our standards. Pidgeon kicks ass, by the way.
July 19th, 2004 @ Oakland Coliseum Parking Lot. Bands playing in the parking lot before the A's game. Put on by Asian Man Records. Love Songs, someone, and Mike Park.
Mic Mucus came down from Davis and we spent the better part of the afternoon playing pinball in my basement (yeah, that’s right, I got pinball in my basement!!!). By the time we got to the show I had a headache from laughing so much, that bastard. Between him and Mike Park they pretty much embody all that I look for in friends: kick ass sense of humor, right-on politics, appreciation for underground art/music, and a total commitment to being rad.
Speaking of being rad, Devon showed up too and he said we were so loud he could hear us from the parking lot.
July 9th, 2004 @ 1246 20th Ave. in Oakland - MAP. For Dave's going away party with Ttakaru, The Great clearing Off (PA), Hissy Fit (PA), Because Silence is a Dangerous Sound, and Love Songs.
In a rare turn of events the entire Your Mother team was present and urged by Dave (whose going away party it was) to play a song. It wasn’t exactly Love Songs best performance but compared to the one song Your Mother played (our first in 4 ½ years) suddenly the Love Songs set seemed much better.
July 4th, 2004 @ Mic Mucus's house (527 G st in Davis) With The Bananas, Sexy Prision, Gift of Goats and Love Songs.
Fairly uneventful considering we were at Mic’s and it was the 4th of July. No excessive fire damage, no broken windows, no feces-flinging. And neither the Bananas nor Gifts of Goats played BUT the Magicool Dudes did. To quote the Magicool Dudes:
Let’s make out with some dudes
‘ Little brother
’ sEnglish teacher
After she’s passed out
Some snacks.
F’n brilliant!
June 19th, 2004 @ Pine St (875 Rincon Ave, Livermore, CA. 94550 - MAP) With Angry for Life, Surf, Dead Vanity, Mad at Sam and Love Songs.
We got paid $2. That’s like leaving the waitress a penny. The only reason you play bars is because you actually get paid. Sadly, the $2 wasn’t even enough for the van’s gas - and it was only a 15 mile trip.
Got pulled over for having a broken headlight but were let off, again, because the officer thought the Manville Youth Group sticker was “funny.”
June 5th, 2004 @ Joe's House (1151 South 7th St. San Jose) With Bafabagia (NV), Disconnect (NV), Manville (Boise), Love Songs, Black Tiger, Unit Breed Sparkle Pony And The Fluffy Clouds.
A transformer down the street blew and the power for most of San Jose was out for a couple hours. Manville (the real one, from Idaho) made the most of the situation by getting loaded, naked, rubbing body butter on themselves and jumping off things. When the power returned all the bands played and then Joe closed things out by starting a throw-dangerous-objects game. Among the items forcefully heaved around the yard and at people and from off the roof were chairs, ice chests, broken bottles, etc. A lot of blood and bruises followed and that may be the last thing people remember about Joe’s place. Seems appropriate.
June 4th, 2004 @ Chapman St Warehouse (2846 Chapman St. in Oakland, CA). With Bafabagia (NV), Disconnect (NV), Manville (ID) and Love Songs.
Message left by the promoter on my answering machine the day of the show: “Hey Craig, was your CD release show with you and the two Reno bands and the Idaho band today? Sorry, I forgot.”
We showed up anyway after sending out last minute emails and making pleading phone calls/text messages (we were out of town and unable to fully promote the show beforehand).
While looking for the bathroom at the venue Joe Reno overheard the promoter yelling to the people in the warehouse “I’m letting you all know there’s a show tonight, but don’t worry – nobody’s gonna be here.”
May 29th, 2004 @ Cafe "Espresso" Roma (231 E St., Davis, CA) With High Speed Scene, Love Songs and Zim Zim.
We pulled into Mic Mucus’ house about 2 in the morning and fell asleep to the Weird AL Collection DVD. We woke up a few hours later and watched it again before making flyers and plastering them around town. We ate at Woodstocks compliments of Mic Mucus. Within an hour I had a fecal blast maintaining the my tradition of eating at Woodstocks and having an ‘episode’ within 90 minutes. After the show a woman gave me a key to her heart. It looked an awful lot like a door key but she insisted it was not her house so what did it matter?
End of tour numbers:
# of days 10
# of states 6
Total door money $208
Total merch money $265
Total money taken in $473
Total spent on gas $480
Total miles 2300
Average mpg 11.1
# of showers Jack took 0
May 28th, 2004 @ The Space (Redding, CA). With History Invades, Askeleton, High Speed Scene, and Love Songs.
Met some dudes who fully, completely ‘got it.’ They were total dorks and I think that’s what it takes to ‘get’ us. You don’t see the cool kids dancing to Love Songs.
I’m starting to lose my voice and as a result we’re starting to sound like a Gainesville band. It’s funny – people say Love Songs is a glossy, softer, more professional version of anything I’ve ever been a part of, but put us against HSS and we are anything but slick and professional. They play flawlessly every night and they don’t go out of tune or lose their voices or forget parts of songs. By contrast we look like a sloven gaggle of amateurs.
May 27th, 2004 @ The Lorax (Eugene, OR) With High Speed Scene, Love Songs and World After April.
We drank champagne off Jack’s unshaved nuts.
May 26th, 2004 @ Grand Central Bowl (Portland, OR). With High Speed Scene, Your Fucking Fired.
We finally got a chance to hang out with HSS today. It hardly felt like we’re traveling together since we had yet to spend the day together and we haven’t been sleeping in the same places. It was nice finally getting to know the two guys who aren’t Max. Can’t say they felt the same about us…
We played in a bowling alley and it was the best sound so far on this trip. Go figure.
Received a slip of paper from an audience member that read: “You will be HUGE. Let me do your video.” She left before I could warn her that to catch Bradley on film she’d need a wide-angle lens.
May 25th, 2004 @ Sabalas (Portland, OR) With High Speed Scene, Love Songs, and Evening At The Black House.
Between songs, while their singer stood naked and drunk with his microphone in his crotch, the drummer for Evening At The Black House announced that “Love Songs was the best album for peeing in [his] girlfriend’s butt to.” True dat, man
May 24th, 2004 driving in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
After about 5 or 10 minutes of sleep in the van I went back into the Berkey house and found a couple puppies suckling at Seth and Jack’s faces while they lay passed out. High Speed Scene and us decided to skip out on a sketchy show in Olympia and instead drive to Portland where many friends awaited us. Over the course of the drive we hit four states and took many naps.
Once we got to PDX we picked up Alan and went straight to the vegan-friendly Vita Café and then to the Avalon for a movie. Contrary to what Mikey says, Hellboy was not “awesome.”
May 23rd, 2004 @ Long Ear Records (Cour D'arlene, ID.) With High Speed Scene and Love Songs.
We left at 8am to get to the show by 5. We pulled up to Long Ear Records right at 5 and walked in needing urgently to use a restroom. I heard HSS playing over the store PA and went outside to look for them. Not seeing them I went back in and realized they were actually playing live in the far back corner of the store. The store employees looked unhappy, as did Adam from HSS who apparently caught the runs from a falafel in Boise. They played 5 songs and were told to stop. We were then told to share their equipment and be done in 20 minutes. We played 4 songs. Between both bands we played a total of nine songs – that’s roughly two for every person watching. The whole show was over and done in 30 minutes.
The Berkey’s (who set up the show and, contrary to the turnout, did a formidable job of promoting the show) invited us back to their one-horse town of Wallace for a “post-show rager.” Seth and Jack picked up a case of Schmidt’s. Judging by the pictures on the box Schmidt’s was a beer for the bear-hunting, fly-fishing Northern Idaho outdoorsman. It tasted horrible and gave both Seth and Jack diarrhea, thereby earning it the new name Shits. In kind, everything that tastes like shit now tastes like Schmidt.
It was a long and entertaining night but for me to share what went on without giving the unabbreviated blow-by-blow would only make us look tawdry and sleazy. For example, Jack threatening “Don’t make me fuck your mom” would paint a very inappropriate picture of the evening if not made within context. Come to think of it, even in context that was pretty inappropriate. Anyway, I still won’t bore you with the details of the evening mainly because I don’t really remember them.
May 22nd, 2004 @ Bug's House (Boise, Idaho.) With High Speed Scene, Love Songs and Art of Colonoscopy.
As we were leaving Winnemuca we got pulled over for speeding. We were clocked at 47 in a 35 zone but there’s no way that was possible. We were even stuck behind a slow-moving trailer-truck that spit an endless cloud of diesel death at us. They didn’t get pulled over for speeding. Or for gross polluting. It was my opinion that the officer, coming from the other direction, saw a blue-haired kid (Seth) driving a van and that was all the probable cause he needed. He let us off with a warning because he thought the Manville Youth Group sticker was “funny.”
We passed through Jordan Valley, ID which Jack described as Home of the Ever-Shrinking Gene Pool. The people were pretty nice and apparently bands stop there all the time. Go figure. Probably had more culture than Pleasanton. Bradley ate a whole bunch of nuts and said he pooped a Payday.
The show was in Bug’s bedroom. I was worried people would fuck up his house but as the night went on it was Bug who was causing the biggest ruckus by spraying beer all over, jumping off the roof, etc. He passed out three separate times before finally being stuffed into his bed between two women and a dude.
May 21st, 2004 @ Spacement (Reno, NV.) With Love Songs, High Speed Scene, and Pink Black (Reno).
Renotians have a habit of embellishing things. Joe Reno once told some moms they had to stop loitering in front of the venue because of complaints. Within a couple days it was said that Joe Reno was telling moms to Fuck Off or he’d call the cops. Similarly, harmless, gentle drummer Jawsh Reno walked up to some cops at a show and talked with them about what was going on. A week later it was said that he charged the cops and beat them up. The truth in Reno travels a long and distorted road. Today I overheard someone saying they saw Your Mother play here “with [our] tuba and everything.” With the exception of Dean’s wedding Your Mother never brought that monstrosity to a show, much less on the road with us.
Somehow, though, I think Reno’s ebullience for making history greater than is was also makes them take the here-and-now and make it better as well. Just watch their enthusiasm for out of town bands – everyone dances, everyone cheers, everyone talks to you afterward and as far as I can tell everyone has a good time…even if you’ve played Reno twice and sucked both times (ahem…like us). What’s better is that bands from Reno tend to TOTALLY KICK ASS. Pink Black was a prime example (I came home with their CD and it’s one of my most-listened-to CDs this year). Three cheers for Reno!
May 19th, 2004 @ Stork Club (2330 Telegraph, Oakland, CA) with Love Songs, High Speed Scene, Pirx the Pilot, and a French rap group.
Whoa…all I need to say about Lacoste is: Belgian guy, Asian girl, French rap. They only did a few songs which was not nearly enough time for me to wrap my head around the anomaly of it all.
Pirx is Ernst’s band. Ernst released ½ of the first Love Songs CD then subsequently released ½ of our new CD as well. Despite this, Ernst is a pretty sharp fella. It’s possible he’s too smart for his own good but we’ll let the powers-that-be decide that. I key example of his intellectual prowess is the fact that he somehow managed to transport his band through time and space and land his early 80’s LA post-punk rock ensemble in San Francisco’s new millenium. Check out their music/download a video and see what I mean.
This was our first of 10 shows with the High Speed Scene and we were all very excited about it. Seth and I especially since we listen to them regularly and know just about every word to their songs. They started cold but tight – a sign of professionalism not often seen in our circle – but eventually started warming up something fierce. Not an easy act to follow…
I may have abused Lance’s bands-drink-free opportunity but for a first show in 6 weeks we played pretty well, even with Mikey in the audience!
Sold 1 (one) CD to the bartender and made $15 from the door.
April 11th, 2004 @ Club Milk 1840 Haight St. @ Stanyan (across from Amoeba Records). With Aquamarines, The Sore Thumbs, My Revolver, The Fuzz, and Love Songs.
A free show where we were paid in sushi and beer. A lot of friends came out solely for this reason and since it was free we were not too concerned with the fact that we weren't too 'on.' No door price = no refund = no guilt. At the risk of sounding ungrateful the beer was Fosters (which Australians are rather livid towards since it claims to be "Australian for beer" despite being Budweiser's equally bland overseas cousin) and the four of us had to share six slices of avocado rolls (but I think I'm just bitter because by the time I went to go get my own plate they were no longer serving it), but we pulled through like the pampered prima donnas I'm making us out to be. The best part though was that the club provided the equipment so "loading in and out" was little more than "loading" Seth up with alcohol till he was "loaded" like a penny-operated washing machine.
April 6th, 2004 @ The Stork Club (2330 Telegraph in Oakland, CA.) With Love Songs, Apocalipstick, Midnightmare.
Pretty good time for a Monday night in Oakland. Midnightmare were punk rock how I remembered it (which is good), only I have been inadvertently punched in the face by flailing singers enough to know to stand to the side once they started. Apocalipstick's singer recently won some North American jiu-jitsu championship but her intimidation factor was completely blown by her goofy and entertaining stage antics. The real highlight, though, was their guitar player who looked like a cross between Twisted Sister's A.J. Pero and Mark Mendoza, two of the ugliest guys heavy metal's ugliest band. Here, look.
March 20th, 2004 @ Unity Skate (2188 Railroad Ave. Livermore, CA 94550, (925) 371-8181) With Hep, Sporatix, Altamont Union, Love Songs, Kramers, Trancendents, Runaway Tim.
Bar show last night = played horrible, no one cared, bartender tells us to turn down, learned the names of maybe 2 people. Made $40 from the door/bar but only after bartender was kinda loaded. All-ages show 2 blocks away the following night = played awesome, had a shitloads of fun, made tons of new friends. Made no door money but sold 10 cds to people who actually wanted them. Dude, all-ages all the way.
March 19th, 2004 @ Pine St Bar & Grill (875 Rincon Avenue, Livermore, CA. 94550 - MAP) The Fuzz, Drill, Evergreen and Love Songs.
The band Evergreen, two of whom Bradley and I went to high school with, were an excellent groove band. Very tight, musically competent, and super nice guys to boot! While they played the dance floor was comprised entirely of ladies with the moving and the bumping and the grinding and uh-uh and ooo-ooo. There were two guys bookending the floor with beers in their hand and leers in their eyes but other than them it was ALL WOMEN up front. That sort of thing obviously never interested me personally or I would have adapted my musical style thusly, but it is still interesting to note that that will NEVER happen at a Love Songs show. It would be more likely (and preferable) that monkeys show up riding the ghost of the Black Stallion and flinging their own feces at us.
March 14th, 2004 @ 804 Bennet Valley Rd, Santa Rosa, California. With Black Box, Ashtray, Life In Braille, Love Songs.
Everyone’s cell phone went off at 6am, like planned, and we packed up for our 11-hour drive to Santa Rosa. A used condom wrapper was found in the hallway leaving us Love Songs boys proud that we had spread the love and helped someone, somewhere git sum. Heck, it was probably two someones!
The ride south was long and boring. The only exciting part was stopping at a farmers market that turned out to be a market selling farm supplies. We pulled into Santa Rosa just in time to scrape the resin from the Food Not Bombs pots and pans and field questions about our matching Manville shirts.
State Debate finalist Nicole B from Alternative Collective led us to the show space where we met up with Ben and BlackBox and Jake and Fall Is Here. Both bands were awesome. The 3rd band, however, were a scene unto themselves. A collection of people came just to watch them and left as soon as they were finished. They all had their own fashion going on and even though they played Dio riffs while they set up it was obvious by their pointy shoes and mod haircuts and corduroy sport jackets that they were not going to be indulging our metal cravings. [To disclaim: up to this point I had slept all of 4 hours since Boise. I have eaten little more than truck stop snacks since we left California and have sat on at least 15 different toilets in the last 72 hours. My throat felt like 400 grain sandpaper and my hair hurt.] I wasn’t in a bad mood, per se, but as the 3rd band was gearing up my patience started to wear thin. Someone in their band was still at work when the band before them finished so there was a huge lull before they started. I was worried the cops might show up. I worried more people would start to leave. When the final member finally did show up they spent 20 minutes trying to set up their gear and blew out the PA in the process. So we get no PA. The same person then left all their cases in the middle of the floor taking up most of the ‘good seats.’ They played well and rocked hard but the longer they went on the more agitated I got and eventually went outside to hang out with the other bands.
As soon as the band finished we moved our stuff in and set up as quickly as possible. The band guy who was late to the show and who left all his cases in the middle of the floor spent 10 minutes outside smoking a cigarette with his girlfriend while we tried setting up around his massive collection of gear and cases. That’s when it hit why I immediately turn off when I see hipster bands, regardless of how good they might be: almost always they behave in a very self-centered way. They spend all that time looking sharp and presentable and then do things like hold up shows, burn out equipment and leave their stuff in everybody’s way. I’m not saying it’s always that way but I’ve witnessed it enough to be conditioned to expect it. No offense to them or their friends – I truly appreciate being allowed to play with them in their city, and I was probably just tired and cranky – but they left bad taste in my mouth.
Ben Blackbox tried getting his PA going again but no go. We made do with extra amps and a mic adapter and by the time we played I was in good spirits again. It helped that all the Santa Rosans were all very friendly and sociable and most smiled a lot. I don’t know what got me to notice at first but once I did I couldn’t help but recognize it for the rest of the night. For the last show of the trip we were synched enough with each other that we goofed around quite a bit without compromising the music. That was nice to feel like we had reached a new level as a band, however emo or pretentious that sounds.
We said good-bye to some new friends and rolled out of Santa Rosa by 10pm, bound for home. I was showered and in bed by 1:30am. I was wrecked and exhausted and I truly felt like I had earned my sleep. I also felt like I had wholly sacrificed my physical and mental health for a cause I was truly passionate about and I had made it home with half the life-force but twice the enthusiasm as when I left. I’ve gone on tours as long as 3 months before but these last four days left me as tired as I’ve ever felt. I’m probably just feeling the effects of getting old. Whatever, it feels awesome.
March 13th 2004 @ 7058 NE 7th Ave, Portland, Oregon. With Risk, Love Songs, Me and my Ego, and You're Fucking Fired.
I was awake and wandering about town just after sun-up. Our caravan, which now included Bug’s band Me and My Ego, motored towards Portland which would be our third state in as many days. Along the way we stopped in Baker City where we were asked if we were a youth group. Yeah, a youth group for troubled 20-30 year olds. We also stopped at the famously haunted Union Station Hotel. We parked and hiked towards the dilapidated structure and stood at the gate which angrily displayed a No Trespassing sign. Peaking out from between the ruined building and the steaming hot spring lake was a trailer and a man walking around. We contemplated trespassing but assumed any man with a trailer care-taking for a widely-documented haunted house probably also has a firearm. Our gang may not be afraid of the paranormal, but we are certainly skeptical about the normal. We left and made it to Alan’s house in Portland just in time to make fun of his hair.
Four people from Cor d’Alene, Idaho drove six hours without driver’s licenses to see the show. Three under-aged girls had one of their moms drive them the 2 ½ hours from Eugene also to see the show. The first band rolled up with their equipment in shopping carts. Alan’s new band, RISK, were fucking phenomenal. Those who knew Your Mother in the latter years may not have known it but Alan is an awesome bass player. His hair and stage presence actually took a back seat to his musicianship.
Over the years the city of Portland has become more punk than not. It’s like the majority of people you see on the street are punks or hipsters or some hybrid of the two and as a result everyone’s really jaded and un-enthused. Max HSS says Portland is nothing but “white belts and crossed arms.” But Bradley explains tonight’s fantastic-ness on the fact that Alan has had time to weed out the losers and crap-faces leaving only totally rad people to come to his show. Whatever the reason, the show was awesome!
After the bands finished all the crusty kids started a Green Day dance party which killed the street cred of many a young mohican and old scenester alike. All sorts of dancing and frolicking and spilling beer right up until we went to bed at 3am. Offering Lucia my sleeping mat I slept on bubble wrap Alan keeps for his eBay empire. It wasn’t so bad except that every time I moved it sounded like a muffled gunshot and woke everybody up.
March 12th 2004 @ 9th and 10th and Myrtle and Miller in the alleyway in Boise, Idaho. Love Songs, Me and My Ego, and Trauma-Tron.
On roughly 3 hours sleep we parted ways with our Reno sisters and brothers under the unanimous sentiment that RENO TOTALLY RULED. We and our entourage (Jeff, Rachael, Nate and Jackie, traveling in a separate vehicle) sped towards Boise which – according to our AAA map – is south of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. Boise has long stood as Your Mother’s favorite place to play outside of the Bay Area. Much to our delight the Boise radness was not spared on Love Songs and we can’t wait to come back. Even if it means playing outside in 45-degree cold again.
We live probably 800 miles apart but I have seen Bug at least once a year for the last 11 years. With his help I have played in Boise with 5 different bands (incidentally, he has played in the Bay Area 24 times with 6 bands). We stayed at his new house which contained, among other things, two stacks of bright green t-shirts. I looked closer at the shirts and saw a pink and white screenprint of old men with the word MANVILLE beneath them. The shirt was all I needed to complete my Robert Bly-esque transformation into manimalism. The rest of our gang saw the shirt and immediately demanded their own shirts. Soon there were eight MANVILLE representatives trolling around Boise. (MANVILLE is Bug’s yet-to-exist next band, by the way.)
Our foul mouths and ridiculously tasteless phrase-turnings soon began rubbing off on our cohorts and we quietly cursed ourselves for letting the only-in-the-van speak leak out. In keeping with the slightly homoerotic undertones of Manville Seth was heard yelling “In the ass!” in his sleep and Bug woke up confused by a dream where he was fitting tools up his ass.
March 11th 2004 @ Spacement (351 E. Taylor in Reno, Nevada) With Bafabegiya, Arabella and Love Songs.
It was a Thursday morning and we left California with one simple mission: play 4 states in 4 days and be back Monday morning in time for work. The ride to Reno in Bradley’s mom’s bulldog-transporting mini-van went smoothly. As the air thinned so did our sensitive, compassionate, PC dispositions. I won’t pass along the incredibly jock-ish colloquialisms we shared but rest assured that Tesco Vee and Lee Ving would have felt upstaged. Jack, to his credit, did not participate much because he was totally engrossed in sewing a 1in by 3in patch to his jacket. In 4 hours he only completed ¾ of it. (The following day I sewed a patch 6x larger to his jacket in under 30 minutes because we’re men, and men compete. Especially the newly-jockified men that we became when we crossed the state border. Don’t focus on the fact that we were competing in a sewing contest, just focus on the fact that we were competing.)
We rolled up early to Tyler’s house on Taylor St. and walked around town eating vegan delicacies and gambling our hard-earned nickels. At least $7 richer we returned to the house to hang out with the awesomely cool clan that is the Reno scene. For the record, most of Reno is conveniently named either Josh or Justin or Joe. All the bands played to an incredibly enthusiastic and oppressively packed room, and despite our guitars staying miserably out of tune (we brought them 4000 feet up, and from the cold outside to the humid inside) the audience’s energy more than made up for our imperfections. They even went so far as to buy up every CD we had with us. One gentleman traded his skateboard for my book, which was super nice of him even though the skateboard ended up having WHN? stenciled on top of it.
For reason’s I still don’t fully understand I was reading an article about American Idol last week. It listed 10 things the reader probably didn’t know about the TV program including the fact that many singers downed a tablespoon of olive oil before their audition to help smooth out their throat. Seth and I gave it a shot and aside from the taste and the dog-smacking-on-peanut-butter reaction our mouths had to it I think it worked OK. However, selling our merch outside in the crisp 40-degree night air, soaking wet with sweat, probably did more harm than good as far as my body and throat were concerned.
Unfortunately not spotted was Mikey’s favorite casino which hosts the fabled Play Tic-Tac-Toe With A Chicken game.
March 8th 2004 @ Sweet Tooth's Basement (1316 Fitzgerald, Oakland) For Dave's birthday! With This Is My Fist and Love Songs.
Nate and Sweetooth's band played their first show after being together only a week, yet they still had a lot of songs and they were tight and good. Annie Fist played acoustically and beautifully. Defiance Ohio sang tons of songs about friends and had a standup bass and a violin.
They were all fantastic. We, on the other hand, were terrible. More to the point, by ourselves we were terrible but by contrast we were hideous. We were out of tune, sloppy, and Jacks' amp's lowest setting was still way too loud. Thankfully there were a lot of cool people there and most of them were supremely drunk so our ineptitude went largely unnoticed, or at least uncared for. The truly sad point of the evening though was when the neighborhood crackheads cornered Annie in the park after swiping the Defiance Ohio band fund (with $900) which she was holding for them. Nobody got injured but it was still a super bummer.
March 5th 2004 @ 924 Gilman St in Berkeley with Against Me! (Fl), Lucero (AK), Grabass Charlatans (Fl), Mike Parks, and Love Songs (in the store.)
We played first and the show sold out before we even started, with a line still stretching down the block. As much bad potential as that has (no ins and outs, lots of smokers, fights, etc) it was still a very smooth and fun night. Pleasantly uneventful, bordering comfortably enjoyable, but definitely relaxingly exciting.
February 14th, 2004 @ Time Out in Concord. With Nonfiction, Shakedown, Love Songs, Skribe.
We hot rodded Jack's amp so the amp's quietest setting was still too much for the bartender. When we finished she complained that she couldn't serve drinks because we were too loud. After the set I got cornered in the bathroom by a big guy with sleeve tattoos and a red shirt with SACRAMENTO printed across the chest in old english. He said, "You know your song about having sex on the phone and rubbing one out? Dude, I'm totally that guy! I'm totally 'just rub a quick one out,' ya know?"
Corie's favorite part of the show was "Jack's improv section when he headbanged so hard he fell of the stage, but didn't actually drop to the floor - that was smooth."
It was hard to figure out which sort of show was weirder - the ones where we play with totally hardcore bands and come across as a super wussy band, or the ones where we play with a funk band, an acoustic band, a dance hall band, and an alt-rock band (like this night) and come across as the hardcore band. Either way, bars are definately not our scene. (It should also be noted that we played bar shows two nights in a row and got stiffed on both of them.)
February 13th, 2004 @ The Stork Club in Oakland with Little Army, This Is My Fist! and Love Songs.
Even in the 21+ setting playing shows with the TIMFist gang is tons of fun. The bands and the audience all have a good attitude, they all have fun, they 'get it' and they're not there solely out to beat someone up or get loaded or laid. As much as we're all for all-ages shows this was still a really good time. Good company. And hey, they had pinball in the back!
February 4th, 2004 @ Sweet Tooth's House in Oakland. With Abi Yo Yos (last show for months), This is My Fist, Tommy Lasorda, and Love Songs.
Aside from the great bands (Abi Yoyos = my new favorite local band) it was a night rife with Mikey. He showed around his new spider bites (located, among other places, on his nards and his eyelid) and made many off-color jokes about just about everything. So far as I could tell most folks were well entertained by this but it helped me to gain new perspective on our recently realized obnoxiousness. Don't get me wrong, I always knew we were obnoxious, I just thought we had grown up a little bit and that our methods for mischief had matured. In the last couple show reviews I alluded to how off the mark I had been about that. But after hanging out with Mikey last night I realized we could be WAY more obnoxious and destructive and belligerent. We won't, but we could be. Besides, Mikey's so good at it why bother competing?
Quote of the night: I squeezed the spider bite and coffee grounds came out.
January 30th 2004 @ Kimo's (1351 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA. 94109 - MAP) with Secret Janet and Pidgeon.
A man on the street rather adamantly offered to be the bun for Jack's hot dog, but Jack was unable to get him to come into the show. Inside the show a friend pointed out a short man in the front of the crowd and said, "Hey, I know him! I was at a poety reading and he showed up in Spider Man underoos. He waited his turn, got up on stage and then said 'Fat chicks know how to fuck.' Then he left." So as you can tell, love was definitely in the air. Secret Janet were as good as before and Pidgeon totally surpised me. Three guitar players but they actually play 3 different things. Good vocal harmonies. Interesting song structures. I can't speak for everyone but the night was definitely better than a stick in the eye.
January 23rd 2004 @ Grange Hall (743 Diablo Rd, Danville, CA 94526.) With Empathy, Fed Up, Four Days Late, Ashcase (featuring Carlos Santana's nephew) (Fucking no shit!) (Not a high school teacher or mailman, but his FUCKING NEPHEW!!!) and Love Songs (we're playing last.)
I told the promoter to 'shut her face' after she laughed - after I told her to laugh. I told some young girls to sit down and be quiet and then I told their friends the next song was for them and they were to spend it laughing at the ones sitting down. I told some long-haired shirtless bros that we fully appreciated their homo-eroticism to which they approached the stage - presumably to take a swing at me, according to members of the audience like my mom and dad - and then proceeded to lick each other's nipples. And where did all this taunting and condescension get us? Oddly, a lot of new friends. Go figure.
Choice quote of the night:
"I've never thought I'd say this but I actually wish that was a keyboard on stage." - Erin, referring to what turned out to be a turntable coffin.
January 2nd 2004 @ 314 11th Street at Folsom in San Francisco. This is the information we have on this event: "Live performances by: Kid Beyond and Love Songs. DJ Sets: Forest Green, Tamim, Monty Luke and DJ Pone. Plus "fluff wrestling with the faeries", a naughty craft corner, contests and prizes. 21+ 8pm til 3am $10 at the door (advanced tix available at ticketweb)
In the last show review I mentioned how residual adrenaline from playing first might sometimes lead us to random forms of mischief. As it turns out we're just naturally prone to such behavior. For instance, at this show we played smack dab in the middle of some DJs and some flower-petal wrestling and a beatboxer who did "YYZ" from Rush. Yet, we still conducted ourselves - both before and after our performance - with the same irreverence and obnoxiousness as we did at Gilman a couple weeks ago.
In my mind I had convinced myself I was on a irreverible path of maturation. I was even convinced I wanted it that way. But what I feel like when I'm alone and what I feel like when I'm hanging out at a show are about as parallel as crosshairs. Totally divergent personalities. Whoa whoa whoa... if I were to use another analogy I could also say my sense of self when I'm alone and my sense of self when I'm at a show never cross paths, like two parallel lines. Now how can two analogies say the same thing while using fundamentally opposite phrasing? Does that make both statements false? Or does that make my logic absolute since it can be arranged any which way?
...well that bothered me for about 3 or 4 seconds. If it bothers you feel free to consult your Chabot Community College English Department and get back to me. In the meantime I'm gonna go practice along with my Darrin's Dance Grooves DVD.
Want to read more? Check out the 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 show archives.
LOOKING
FORWARD: