Tour Journal:
All things considered, this was a fantastic final touch to the tour. Mig50 of the Shizz really came through in the end, when we were pretty broke and beaten down. Show had a good crowd, and we earned a good chunk to provide return-trip gas money (although our tank is still leaking). Buffet and bar-hopping as well. Thankfully Cameron lived only 2 blocks away…. and took a billion awesome pictures (trying to get them soon)…
Videos:
Youtube:
Photos:
Tour Journal:
Left Missouri around 3pm after a fair amount of sleep… we’ll need it, because we have a good 24hr drive back to Philly. Just worked out that way, with timing and when everyone needed to be back.
A long, terrible drive awaits us…
Tour Journal:
Late this evening we returned to our city, with everything and everyone pretty much intact. Those who are sick have pretty much recovered, and other localized vices have been satiated. The biohazard (tourvan) is a filthy wreck inside and out and deserves a rest.
Extra special thanks to everyone who helped out nightly in the last month. Staying with friends (new and old) has always been better than being isolated in some random motel (to quote one clerk that we had to bribe… “you have too many people in your room!”). The first 3/4 of the month opening for The Evolution Control Committee was very weird and fun (strange sitting in the car with “tradeMark G” all the time, who we formerly looked up to). All our fans and friends from the Shizz really surprized us across the country, and Aaron of the Minibosses and Phil from I Hate You When You’re Pregnant came through during the whole trailer accident. That alone kept us going.
We’ve got random people sending us pictures, and disposable cameras being developed, so check in next week for some final updates and thoughts.
Tour Journal:
Our tour launch show! Our new material/video has been unveiled with great response… started off shaky, but we’re getting used to it. Was great as usual to see our hometown friends/fans/family before we go.
See you all on the road….
Setlist:
Audio:
Flyers:
Tour Journal:
Whoops… we barely made it out of Philadelphia…we had to get the van inspected (it passed!), and had to drive really far to pick up the trailer. After stocking up on supplies at Scam Ash we hit the road with the usual late start (thanks for the hookup Tom!).
The show tonight went very well for our first out of town date on this tour. Our new set has come together nicely already, and we’ve found new friends with Karmella’s Game. Also, we ended up completely sparked thanks to the bartender Liz dishing out way too many free “Long Island Spark Teas”. Seriously sparked. Check the pictures at this link for proof:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Photos:
Setlist:
Audio:
Tour Journal:
Our second show in the city with Temp Sound Solutions… the space was this strange half-warehouse run by old head punks. Had potential, but it was an off night and an overpacked bill of touring acts.
Had an optimistic last supper with Shawn Phase before leaving for TN that night, the real tour has fully begun…
Pictures!!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Photos:
Setlist:
Audio:
Tour Journal:
Monday night in a small town= dead zone. Once again we get the shaft from being on a bill entirely filled with touring acts… its a shame that even though most promoters realize this is a mistake, it still happens regardless. We kept up good spirits with relaxing all day in the hotel with none other than LITTLE CEASAR and his royal pizza. Fine pizza that we conned out of him.
Pictures!!
Photos:
Setlist:
Audio:
YouTube:
Tour Journal:
Today’s show was also a video shoot… the venue is well known for its “on the fly” live video editing setup. We walked away with all around fair dvd copies of our performance, which we’re still deciding what we want to do with.
Otherwise, the show was dead…and the hotel adjacent to the venue refused to give us the “band discount” the venue promised they’d offer (we couldn’t crash with anyone, because there was hardly even anyone to ask). The 8 of us slept sitting up in the van, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Southern hospitality once again fails us.
At least we figured out how to scam free food from Chick-Fil-A.
Tour Journal:
Things may be picking up, but ever so slightly. Tonights venue was a rad combination of bar, book & record store, and small performance space. Despite yet another weekday southern show bombing in our face, we walked with enough funds to possibly make it to Atlanta. Depends on gas prices down there. At least we got to see some friends in the area (Country Bears).
Our new material is getting much more tight by now, and The Junkdog (Joeseph Theodore Idell III) is fitting in great.
Pictures!!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
This show turned out a lot better than we expected… of all the southern places we’ve hit, we really enjoyed Atlanta. Got to see some friends and fans and all that. Overall decent show.
Friends of ours JET BY DAY have this amazing side project called RUMP POSSE… we’ve been screaming its cheesiness for hundreds of miles now.
Kudos to Gavin, who runs Stick Figure Distro, which our new album is on… we stayed in his large warehouse and managed not to ruin anything.
Pictures!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Another surprize…. the area of Knoxville we hit was impressively alive and a decent part of town. Seems the majority of venues are in dead zones.
Show bombed for the most part, except for the few awesome fans we have (a national following… spread thinly out!). The south has been a little rough for us money wise, barely scraping by but with great receptions.
Had to leave right after the show to drive all night….
pictures!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Originally we would warn all to stay away from Arkansas at all costs, but in retrospect, we may return one day…. again the same story of the south for us on this tour… disappointing show, particularly for a saturday night. Although this time apparently it was due to the fact that Hank Williams Jr was playing across town. And we were in Arkansas. So this sort of makes sense.
“I though ya’ll fags wur gonna suck, but yah ROCKED!!!”
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
A totally rad venue. We had no idea what to expect, but the show and venue turned out to provide ok enough in the end.
The show actually ended up being a “Dirty South Shizz Event”… all acts being members of The Shizz community. Much thanks to Slacker for setting up the show and playing. We enjoyed Texas for the time we were there.
Had to drive a thousand miles to get to Phoenix by tuesday! Long haul desert style.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Unfortunately, this show didnt turn out as well as it could have, with two area acts on the bill. Had to spend the night in the venue with no other compensation (medium sized warehouse). The two things we needed badly we had to wait even longer for…. a shower and a kitchen. At least we wont need gas money for tomorrow, since we have a two day stint in the city.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Also, yesterday we were driving all day and came across the gem of the southwest… if you ever are driving on rt 10 in the New Mexico/Arizona area, stop by THE THING. You won’t regret it. We swear. We swear so much, we won’t tell you why. Unless you paypal us the dollar we paid for entry fee.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
For all the hype we’ve heard on this venue for a good while, it came up to par. Really nice space, with decent folk running it. Show once again could have been better, but we had a small number of friends and fans come out. Seeing the Minibosses in their own hometown was a bit of a personal accomplishment, since on our last tour we crash and never actually made it to our Phoenix show. We really impressed by the New Mexico Group The Coma Recovery.
We’ve been discouraged by the number of times on this tour we’ve found ourselves on a bill with all out-of-town supporting acts. Hopefully the west coast and our return trip through the midwest-to-new england will provide as they have before…. breaking even is becoming tough with these west coast gas prices.
Had a great time later in the night, staying with our friend Aaron of the Minibosses…. got to shower and cook real food for the first time since Texas (and for some of us, Arkansas). Copious amounts of video game and tv show theme songs were screamed until late at night. Also, most of the lizards in Aaron’s backyard no longer have tails.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
video of the pushup contest coming soon…
Photos:
Tour Journal:
Our last ditch effort to pull up anything for San Diego after getting a healthy number of requests has fallen through… the very last promoter never called us back with a confirmation. Apologies, because we enjoyed playing there before at Che Cafe (during one of the two days the city ever gets rain, even).
We actually got stuck in Bakersfield CA… we put our van in for simple brake repair, and they BROKE our drive shaft on the lift and had to keep the van overnight to do repairs (all paid for by them, of course). Ridiculous to say the least. Much thanks to relative Will Tarng for helping us out so much during this sudden tough time.
Tour Journal:
Unfortunately another downer…. our show was competing with others and didnt turn out so well. We still really like the venue and the area, and will return hopefully to more luck in the future. Keep your eyes to KXLU in the area, as they still keep us in decent rotation. Thanks to Ryan Faust for the housing for the night.
pictures!?!?
Photos:
Tour Journal:
Yikes… our 3rd time back at Kilby Court, and yet again it was scheduled for a monday night. And it did ok attendance wise. And a 3rd time in a row the venue couldn’t offer a buck for gas. When things like this happen, it seems obvious that others would take up some punk rock ethics and shell out at least $20 for the depraved touring act from far away (with all our EIGHT members needing food, and ridiculous gas hog tourvan with trailer). We ourselves have done so in the past when on the opposite side of the show. Its absolutely brutal on us. But we have higher expectations for the latter half of this tour…
We’ve sunk into major gas debt from having to drive to SLC, and then having to drive to Denver the next day. Thanks to Jacob at Boing House for still being around to house us.
Pictures:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Here’s some pics from yesterday… we had a day off in Vegas… thanks to Joie for putting up with us yet again, we generally behaved.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Photos:
Tour Journal:
Holy crap was this show rad. As usual, Josh and Monkeymania (and Denver itself) come through. We got to spend some time in the city itself, which impressed us beyond what we had seen previously. The show was pretty decent, and Mr Pacman followed with a killer half karoke set. Too bad no one caught video of the 8 of us drunkenly screaming along/posing to Europe’s The Final Countdown.
We had to leave late that night post-show to get to Missouri in time….
Tour Journal:
Mig of The Shizz greets us as we enter the college town. The show was same as before… medium fare overall, but with one killer opener and one embarassingly terrible supporting act. Names aside, Denny choked Cameron several times, and everyone spit on the Urkel doll for good luck (its been tied to the front grill of the tourvan).
Photos:
Tour Journal:
An odd location for us to stop at for sure, but turned out great. Jeb, a friend of a friend (Barker, through none other than Walt the Gypsy Scumbag himself), was a stand up dude who provided a decent show to keep us going and a glimpse of the Missisippi nightlife.
However, this is where the bad weather begins…. hurricane “arlene” and its aftereffects on the climate of the general midwest will haunt us for days to come…
Tour Journal:
….. and here lies the dud date of the tour. No show. In fact, no venue. The space was shut down almost two months ago, and the promoters moved to Montana. We found this out after an hour of walking around the area. We (and all other bands/shows) were supposed to be cancelled and notified of the events. We got to sleep in a parking lot instead of the housing/food/money previously promised. The only reason we were so sure of the show otherwise not to check up was based on a great experience last time and false trust… a lesson learned?
Tomorrow we take the day off to do laundry and gather fresh supplies and such.
Tour Journal:
Today we finally reached our favorite break point… the Kings Island Amusement Park (completed with a Paul Hogan themed waterpark). All we can say is… Dave rode The Beast 13 times, we should have used suntan lotion, and Paul Hogan prerecorded ride warning voiceovers are extremely mind numbing.
Worth a weekend trip to anyone interested. High quality times.
We got lucky… went on a monday and it was rainy in the morning…. NO LINES AT ALL!!!!!!!!
Tour Journal:
We weren’t sure what to expect of this show, but it turned out to be a well received ok time. The venue was accomodating, the show provided enough gas wise, and the surrounding city was entertaining enough. Thats more to say than some of the other dates early on in the tour. We’ll definitely return to this area after this first time around…
Special thanks to Carl and his movie theater basement!
Tour Journal:
Once again, Grand Rapids welcomes us with open arms! Another city that way-back-when we didnt expect anything from. The area, the fans, and the venue all are rad beyond belief. Also, we finally got to play with CAPTURED BY ROBOTS (after coincidentally not being able to jump on the bill with them 3 times in the last couple years). Hilarious and well developed stage act… one man fronting a band of robots actually playing instruments and interacting on stage! Special thanks to Kirk of The Shizz for the food relief (we’re out of money for gas stations to rape of fruit and chips), and all the other fans who drove distances for this one.
Tommorrow we take the day off to see BATMAN BEGINS and party with our friends the LSDudes and Cat Time!
Video:
YouTube:
