Tuesday, September 26, 2006

9/13/06 Good Hurt (LA, Ca)

Don't get me wrong I love LA. The Dodgers, Lakers, the weather, food excitement etc. But there is a strong undercurrent of 80s hair metal, back alley Hollywood and jaded individuals. People here need to be told something is dope before they believe it. Most clubs rent out their venues for bands to "pay to play" because promoters can't put a night of music together that makes sense. Metal band followed by a folk singer opening for a ganster rapper. Good Hurt is a great club, we enjoy playing there, and we met some cool people. But it is a rare occasion that bands have a successful night playing in LA. By successful I mean not having to pay for a soundcheck and not having to sell 100 tix at $6 a pop etc. We're really looking forward to playing the Temple Bar in October......

Friday, September 22, 2006

9/12/06 Las Vegas NV

We hit the road after the Boise set. We took the most country road I have ever driven on. Straight down from Idaho through rural Nevada, on the late night. This is where the Art Bell Coast to Coast stories go down. Finally we arrived to Sin City. The next day we hit the strip for a 12+ hour mission of debouchery. While at the Wynn sports book, awall, Ricky, Sean and JD placed some bets. Awall and Ricky took to the long shots, one in particular. The horse was Homeland Security #11, they placed $2 wager for him to win, odds were 60-1. As the horses check into the gates, the odds change to 100-1. Homeland Security pops out of the gate and never looks back,wins the race by a horse length. A $2 bet turned into a $210 payday!! We caroused the strip stopping at Bally's, Excalibar and Luxor to throw dice. JD had the hot hand and made everyone a good chunk of $$.

9/11/06 Boise State University (Boise ID)


bsu
Originally uploaded by awall.
It was good to be back in Boise ID. It was our first gig there but it feels like a second home since we cut the album at Baked Spud Studios there in Boise. We roll up to the outdoor stage, and as soon as awall opens the back door of the van he is greeted by a student. The guy wants to know if we need any singers for the gig, then proceeded to sing Desperado acapella. After singing Desperado, he then lifted up his shirt sleeve and revealed to huge scars. Then he went on to explain the he had gotten wasted the night before and woke up to find out that he got branded......His friends took a bungy cord, got it hot and branded his arm with it. Then he lifted his other sleeve to reveal a cigarette burn on it. Remember this all happened within 30 seconds of meeting this cat. I know better than to stereotype, but just for the record he was from Mississippi and attended Boise State.........Producer Art Hodge and his family came out to see the show, we've spent many late nights at his house so I'm sure they know all the words whether they want to or not. The students were really cool, we got to eat lunch with a few of them and chop it up. Lesson learned folks, don't hang out with people that brand you after you get wasted.

9/9/06 Cactus Records/Zebra Lounge (Bozeman, MT)


CactusRecords
Originally uploaded by awall.
After Virginia City we were just glad to get to civilization. We loaded into Cactus Records in Bozeman, MT while Ernie Rhodes was in the middle of his set. Very cool little record shop, I highly recomend it. We were in the corner of the store behind some displays, awall and vagabond had soar voices from the night before, but it all worked out. Lots of people stopped in from the street to check it out. After our in store set we drove down the street to the Zebra Cocktail Lounge. The Zebra is the basement of the historic Bozeman Hotel. A couple bars and clubs intermixed between levels. The Zebra is a dope underground spot, similair to Blake's in Berkeley, Ca. Ernie Rhodes(a really cool cat from Minneapolis MN) opened up the night with a tight energetic set. By the time we hit the place was starting to fill up. We really like this spot. The staff was cool and there were a lot of music lovers there. We're going back Oct 27th 06 and looking forward to it.

9/8/06 Bandito's (Virginia City MT)


VirginiaCity
Originally uploaded by awall.
Wow...where to start. First of all I challenge any one to find Virginia City on the Montana map, its like where's Waldo. I guess I'll start from the beginning. We follow the map to Virginia City. When you roll into town it looks like the backlot of a western at Universal Studios....its a ghost town...straight up. We parked the van infront of the venue and stepped onto the wooden sidewalks where we saw stalls for horses to be tied to. We stepped into the place and were greated by a man with a dirty apron wiping off his hands. Think Dust til Dawn meets Blair Witch. The man made us some bomb fajitas with homemade salsa(which was suprisingly good) as the sound crew set up the stage and sound. We checked into our rooms (which turns out to be the bookers mother-in-laws house). When we got back to Bandito's we took a tour of the place(Art Bell heaven, very creepy). In the basement below the stage is where they would keep the dead bodies(goldrush era) in the winter because the ground was too hard to bury them. It was heavy, not to mention one of the patrons there told us she saw a ghost in the main room a while back. It was a woman in a victorian dress, she started singing too. We didn't know what to expect, but when the sun went down and the stage lights came up, the people came out of the woodwork. It ended up being a great night(eventhough Sean got a migrain half way through and somehow managed to pull it out). After the set we got the stories from the staff of hangings shootings etc that went on there, talk about the real wild west. The cool thing about the town was that there were no rules. No cops, no grocery store, no bank, no cell phone reception, no wi fi hotspots. We played as late as we wanted as loud as we wanted, you can drink outside. Nobody was on there cell phone which was refreshing, its defenitely a lifestyle to say the least. When we woke up in the morning there were horses wondering around in front of the porch, we had to watch for them as we backed out. It was by far the most.....interesting show of the trip.

9/7/06 Top Hat (Missoula, MT)


Missoula
Originally uploaded by awall.
The Top Hat is an old venue in Missoula, MT. You can tell right when you step in the door it has a lot of history. Even though this particular night it was slow, it seems like a place that could go off. The night before the bar had an all you can drink $6 special. I guess no one wanted to return to the scene of their drunken crimes. That, plus the college football team lost a big game, so essencially the whole town was slow. We still had a blast and awall had a chance to play an authentic B3(w/ Leslie speaker) for On&On. We met 2 really cool people, Gabe and his friend who made the night more bearable. I don't know about Missoula, everyone was saying how its a great place........it potential, but we didn't see it when we were there. Maybe next time.

9/6/06 Johns Alley pt 2(Moscow ID)


JohnsAlley2
Originally uploaded by awall.
Second night at Johns Alley was better than the first. All the crazy drunk people dancing came back, but this time with their crazy drunk dancing friends. Vertical Dave was at the boards and gave us copies of the live performance from both nights(if any one is interested let me know). After we played and were loading up, a fight almost broke out between two guys that seemed like good friends earlier in the night. All I kept hearing from one guy was "I know Karate, i swear!" He looks just like the guy with the afro on PBS that painted happy trees, but with a rural Idaho twist. Then we got hit with what felt like a karate chop when a girl flashed us as we were packing the van. One of those images you wish to forget, but stays etched in your memory. We're looking forward to coming back to Moscow soon, its a really cool town.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

9/5/06 Johns Alley (Moscow, ID)


John's Alley, Moscow ID
Originally uploaded by awall.
Johns Alley is the best live music venue in the cool little college town of Moscow ID. An odd mix of hippies, skin heads, christian conservatives, country cousins and college students. We first walked in to find the tallest bartender we have ever seen. Vertical Dave is 7 feet plus and towers over the bar. We played all night, old material and the songs from the new album. It was probably the best we have sounded on the road yet. The crowd was really cool, met lots of new friends. However our crowning achievment for the night and possible the entire tour, is to have earned the only sound complaint in the 20 year history of Johns Alley..... and we're not even a rock band. Matt the bartender(who has horns tattoed on his shaved head, as well as side burns tattoed on his fice, told us to crank it louder after the police left. We followed orders and turned it up to 11. The picture is from the stage during our second set.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

40 Watt Hype #28 on the CMJ Hip-Hop Charts!

In its second week out 40 Watt Hype has come in at #28 on the CMJ hip-hop charts. In its first week the album was the #3 most added hip-hop for CMJ. Call you local college or specialty station to make request and keep it moving!

9/4/06 Coeur D'Alene ID

Coeur D'Alene ID is beautiful little town in northern ID. We stayed with Sean's sister's family in lush spot. We were greated with bomb tritip, chicken, shrimp etc. We hit downtown with Sean's brother in law Dave who showed the around. Think Lake Tahoe without the Casinos, absolutely scenic. Yachts, a resort and lots of famous golf courses. We stopped by a bar to get a little taste which turned into 2,3 etc. Hopped to about 3 or 4 more spots, played pool before everything was closed and we went home. Bronson and JD had some unfinished business...italy vs brazil. Bronson pulled out a decisive win, JD was so crushed by the loss that he came down with the flu in the middle of the night.

9/3/06 Portland OR

We arrived in Portland after an 8 hr drive fill of World Cup Soccer and Madden games. Lots of complaining about PS2 glitches and luck involving the computer wanting one team to win. Aaron and JD are ready to set off the 2007 Madden season, Aaron(Rams) JD (Falcons). We stayed at a shady hotel outside of Portland where the towels were brown and yellow, the air was stale and the clientele we country cousins. We decided to head into town and hit up a great spot we highly recomend called Henry's. The food happy hour is amazing, pizzas, sushi, burgers etc for under $3. After sampling a few beers our table was approached by some attractive young ladies to inform Vagabond that he was "beatutiful", needless to say he was occupied for the rest of the evening so the rest of us sampled Moose Drool, Youngs Chocolate Stout(highly recomended), Rogue Shakespeare Stout. Ricky and Vagabond ended up driving around downtown Portland in a white Range Rover with the girls from Henry's bumping Damien Marley hitting some suspect clubs, and getting dropped off early in the morning. Late night World Cup sessions led to some heated exchanges, but there were some other exchanges going on that paled in comparison. Couldn't wait to get out of there in the morning to head to Coeur D'Alene ID.

9/2/06 Owl Club (Roseville, Ca.)


owl club group
Originally uploaded by awall.
The Owl Club is a cozy little spot in the historic area of Roseville about 15 minutes outside of Sac. The upstairs stage was closed because a bartender flaked on a shift, so the entire night was moved downstairs. Lost Prophets opened up the set, the our friends Supaphat came through a ripped it, before we hit at about 11:45pm. The little dance floor we had was packed, it was one of those shows that was just really fun. Hopefully we'll be back soon.

9/2/06 Dimple Records(Sacramento, Ca.)


dimple group
Originally uploaded by awall.
The Dimple Records stores are defenitely a must see destination for music lovers. A huge diverse store that reminds you of Amoeba, with an upstairs stage overlooking the entire floor. Had a nice little 60 min. set and kicked back with th staff in the wherehouse behind the store(I have never seen so many boxes in my life).We packed up and left for the hotel and got ready to head to Roseville.

9/1/06 Shattuck Down Low (Berkeley, Ca.)


shattuck group pic
Originally uploaded by awall.
Day 1 of the Strong Feet on the Concrete Tour, we set it off right. DJ Eda Boss set up the crowd with a head bobbing set, we went on at 10:30. We had some ex-Fresno friends that helped set it off, SDL is a dope spot with a great atmosphere, and the staff is cool as well(thanks Frank). By the time the Bayonics hit the stage the place was packed. They killed, great rhythm section(piano player was killing) great band, had the place jumpin, defenitely check them out in the Bay. Bronson had an interesting night, he some how ended up in Oakland faded on an apartment roof top. His friend had to send him the pictures so he could remember what he did the night before. He showed up to the hotel an hour late. Needless to say we had no sympathy, he was severely hazed by the entire band for the next 24 hrs. He drove the whole next day, including loading/unloading, thats how this band rolls. Something tells me that he won't be late again....