We arrive at LAX to be picked up by Dan and Grace from foot village. no visas... Customs ask me A LOT of questions. What am I doing here? What do I do for a living? Who am I staying with? What’s my favorite day of the week? It’s pretty brutal. I stand there thinking what would an innocent person look like right now? Just do that face!!! Just do the innocent’s persons face. I don’t think I did that face.
Dan and Grace drive us back to their house, where we drink tequila and whisky then go for some beers by the beach. big ones.
after a few drinks we return back to theirs to drink some more.
The next day me and matt go for a bike ride to pick up some guitar stuff. We get lost and end up cycling about 15 miles in the blazing heat. We finally make it back to dan and grace’s in time to go to our radio session at kxlu. My head and arms are seriously sunburnt.
For the next 4 days my head is really sore and peels. Plus I almost knock myself out on a shower rail, which leaves a big cut on my head. Fed ex have lost matt’s guitar with all of our pedals in, so we have to borrow pretty much everything. We don’t play that well at the radio session, but it’s not a bad introduction to the tour – apart from the sunburn and missing guitar / pedals….
please hammer, don't hurt him..
That night we go to the cha cha lounge to drink. It’s ok. La is big. John mae shi comes out for a few drinks to say hello before we start the tour. Nice guy. The taxi home takes about 4 hrs and costs a ton.
April 18 - California @ Spaceland’s with Michael (abe vigoda) / mae shi
The next day we go to stay with brian (footvillage) and his girlfriend eva who is also Kevin shields.
.matt tries on some over-sized ganster clothes, and I play with the cutest cat alive. We don’t really get to see much of LA as we haven’t got our van at this point. We spend a lot of time sitting on our laptops in brian’s Living room. That night we play spaceland’s with Michael from ade vigoda doing his solo thing (he’s great) and the mae shi.
It’s an ok show for us. Strangely serious venue. We play pool and drink margaritas!
I end up talking to this rich trust fund mexican kid that has just spent a year in prison for having a loading gun in his car. He keeps it there incase he gets robbed. It happens apparently. He’s got a nice car. He tells me all kind of harrowing stories about being in prison and the gun culture in la. He says he’s shot these dudes that tried to rape his then wife…. Nice guy though. Tries to buy me a drink, but we have to leave.
April 19th – san diego w / the muslims
The next day we get our van. It’s got wifi / playstation video screens. We drive to san diego with brian and eva along for the ride. The venue is called the tower bar, and is kinda like a sports bar. The show is actually really cool.
The show is really busy, and the kids are buying merch. We play with a band called the muslims who sound kinda like the strokes.
April 20th – the smell
Sunday – today we play the smell with david scott stone, ima gymnast, foot village, teenage moms (members of finally punk and mika miko) and health. We get up and drive to LA library to see no age and mika miko play a free show.
keep that head covered john.
We get there early and instead of going straight in we walk around for a bit. By the time we decide to go in the show is at capacity…, we go back to brian’s a little disappointed. go to wholefoods on the way and this cool art store called family where I buy some presents and then we go to frifffftttting. The great American past time. I buy a cap to cover my bright red, bruised, cut peeling head. After that we get a call inviting us to jesse’s mika mikos bbq. We go. It’s in her back yard. Michael abe vigoda is there, so are the rest of mika miko apart from jenna. Dean noage turns up too. It’s good to see him again. Jim who runs the smell comes and says hi to us.
The smell is the coolest venue ever. I had high hopes, but these are exceeded. It’s an amazing space. The walls are covered in cool paper rad-esque paintings plus local artwork. The djs are playing ALL the good songs. Eva is selling lental burgers. The show sells out. It’s amazing. Truly. The kids love it. They dance, shout out names of our songs which even I can’t remember and beg us for an encore. To top that off we get pad $500 and make another 250 on merch – it’s all about the $$$ right?. What is almost as cool as the smell though is the gay Mexican bar right next to it. After we play we go for some beers with jesse. I catch the end of health’s set. Its so good to see them again. I love those guys. Dean sprunt hugs us goodbye and we return back to brian’s for night beers. Best day ever.
April 21st – UCLA w/ HEALTH
Monday- today we play UCLA with health. It’s also brians and eva birthdays! To celebrate we go out for breakfast at some fancy healthy restaurant. It’s nice. When we get back we kill more time on the phone to fed-ex trying to find matt’s guitar. It’s my turn to drive… I hate driving cars. I really hate driving 15 seater vans with trailers. We get in the van with brian and eva plus this guy called Robert who plays digital hardcore under the name realicide. We actually played with him when we where out last October doing the east coast. He’s just moved to the west coast and is sleeping in his car. Super super Nice guy who eats nothing but pizza and candy.
UCLA is HUGE. Around 25,000 students, who each pay around $20,000 a year to learn and eat learn. The campus is vast, and pretty impressive. When we arrive we hang with health, do an interview and eat vegan food. The hall we are playing in is BIG. Stained glass windows, chandeliers, wooden floors. we are both more than aware that college shows are generally awful (we did weeks of them on the east coast). Really well paid, but pretty tuff. This one actually gets really busy, and is great. Health slay. It’s their 70 plus show straight. Just finished the crystal castle tour. It shows. They are amazing. I take 2 rolls of photos. We sell a bunch of stuff and end up making nearly $1,000. yay rich kids!
After we load the van we get a message from the mae shi inviting us to their house for a pre-tour dinner. We go back to brian’s instead with health. When we get back there is a little surprise party for him
I drink with jake and brian till maybe 4am then sleep for a 3 hrs. jake is always the last person that wants to stop drinking and start sleeping.
April 22 - Oakland, California @ 21 Grand w/ PRE, Robin Williams On Fire, Triangle
Tuesday – we meet mae shi at 8am to get the trailer for the van.
After that’s dealt with we go to their practice space to get their gear. It’s a huge warehouse where health, no age,melvins plus a load of other bands have rooms.
I can’t believe I’ve got to drive this thing…. It couldn’t actually be any longer.
Once we’ve loaded we start the 6 hr drive Oakland san fran. Im pretty hung over.
The drive is solid and we arrive at 21 grand on time. It’s a cool space.
we go get amazing burritos and then head back to set up. Vice cooler is there. We are all staying at his house. He’s super nice. Robin Williams on fire open.
Naked craziness. Slam dunking punks. Super nice guys. Then it’s triangle that are pretty cool. Hippness - not so free folk. We play – the kids kinda crowd surf. It’s cool. Not our best show. The mae shi play a great punky set. The kids go nuts.
We get the call we’ve been waiting for from eva - Matt’s guitar. It’s turned up. It’s a day behind us though. We won’t get it till we get back to LA to fly home. Nice.
After the show we hang and drink whisky and america’s finest beer – PBR. once we load up the van and trailer to drive to vice’s we realize that everyone is too drunk to drive. Not good. We forgot to allocate a driver before the show… I step up and tackle my first drive in he van with the trailer attached soaked in booze. I’m soaked, not the trailer. At the first set of lights we reach, the cops slowly over take us. I’m really scared at this point. We shake them off, only to pull up behind them at another set of lights. I’m really nervous now. SCAREY. Once we lose them again we get lost and end up driving around for about an hour. It’s pretty full on. In the depths of our lostness this car pulls up alongside me shouting and waving his arms around. I just think he’s pissed with me for my wavy driving. He doesn’t let up. Everyone get s a little freaked out. I open my window a tiny bit to hear him shouting ‘yr trailer’s open’… I pull over. Yup, he’s right on the money. Wide open. Thankfully nothing has fallen out. We have no idea how we didn’t lose our luggage. Amazing. We finally get to vice’s where he makes us beds and tea.
I sexually assaulted his penguin…
April 23 - Chico, California @ Crux Arts Collective w/ mae shi
Wednesday – we get up and stroll to this cool street called telegraph where there’s an ameba n coffee n stuff.
and food. Vice comes to hang with us once he’s finished his xbxrx rehearsal. We eat and then he takes us to get vegan donuts made by one of the dudes in flipper. Lemon poppy seed.
On our way out of Oakland Andy fuck buttons calls. We’ve just missed them. We wanted to hook up, but it just didn’t happen. Was nice to catch up with him – well, until we get cut off anyway.
Chico... We drunk cheap beer, even cheaper whisky, ate burritos with xxx hot sauce called “after death” and had marshmallows pelted at us all night by the 12 people in the audience. Chico is weird. Our butts hurt today.
April 24 - Olympia, Washington @ Voyeur w/ mae shi, TWIN, Midwife
– the drive from chicco to Olympia is beautiful.
Olympia is TINY. Can’t quite believe it. On route we drive past Aberdeen - home of one k kobain. I remember all the nirvana books I’ve read. wish we had time to stop by and look under all the bridges. It’s pretty surreal. It fills my body with a warm rush.
La voyeur is a vegan restraunt with a tiny venue out back. You could probably get 35 people in there at the most. Tonight’s a door split. Urrggghhh. We’ll be lucky to scrape together enough money for gas tomorrow. Oh well, it’s well worth it to be here in this legendary town. The first band, midwife, are great. Really fast, yet heavy. Like some of those trucks we’ve been sharing road space with. Before we play I eat noodles and tofu and peanut sauce, with garlic fries. It’s a lot of food to consume. I manage. The show is rad. Lots of people dancing and moving. Something that NEVER happens in London. It seems to happen a lot on the west coast – way more than on the east coast. Playing shows here can be really rewarding. The shi are great once again. They play a PUNX set tonight.
After drinking whisky and PBR (Olympia beer is actually worse that PBR) and agreeing to be part of a split 7” on ick ick records (which still isn’t out), we stay at joey casio’s house. On the way back I jokingly ask him if he lives in a punk house. He says, ‘yes I do’. Not only is it a punk house, but it’s the red house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gBcxR8NPUw.
It’s odd cos the week before we left for tour I bought my flat mate robin a book called punk house for his birthday. The red house is featured in it. There is a photo of joey in his bedroom in it. I actually stopped on that page and thought at the time that he looked like a kool guy. Now I’m staying in his house, and here he is in the cap.
Morning comes. By the time I get out of the shower everyone has gone for breakfast. I go solo and get to have a little stroll around Olympia. I take photos of k records hq, then we get in the van and head for Seattle.
April 25 - Seattle, Washington @ Vera Project w/ mae shi, Past Lives, Midwife
– we get to seattle pretty early as the mae shi have a radio session. They tried to get pre involved but the station don’t want us, so we go for a diner breakfast 2 eggs nyc style, and take a pretty soul destroying walk around a weird area of seattle. We see the crocodile café (g.r.u.n.g.e.)
and go to a cool PUNK record store where I get a screamers patch and silver daggers / shearing pinx split 7”.
We go back to the radio station to meet the mae shi. They have picked up a kid whose was doing work experience at the station who comes along with us for the rest the day. He looks like Thurston moore which is cool I guess. Me and kev are supper jazzed as we get to play with Talbot tagora tonight.
The venue is this weird all ages cultural center funded by bill gates. Aboue the venue (which has a kinda rich boy youth club feel to it) people are screen printing cd’s sleeve. It’s cool, but something isn’t quite right – loads of pro rioting graffiti everywhere.
They buy us a vast amount of donuts
and a small amount of bread and hummus. We play with midwife again tonight plus past lives, which is Jordan and some other blood brothers new band. They are kinda bluesy in a blood bros way. It’s cool. He comes over and says hi. He’s Hannah ex-shoplifting-current-goxxip’s twin bro. She’s has told him about us. He’s really nice. While the mae shi soundcheck everyone eats their share of the rider which is pretty ruff.
The promoter comes over to explain the score. Strictly no alcohol. She’s got our card marked and looks pretty nervous about it too. As soon as she’s through lecturing us rick sits bolt upright in his chair and asks where the nearest bar is. He’s serious, and now she is even more nervous. We and the shi go for a couple of drinks in this awful sports bar where the barman won’t let kev pay with any change under a quarter. He’s a serious jerk.
Me and the Hendrix head back to watch Talbot targora. They are the best band i‘ve seen in so long. Something magical is going on here. I’m transfixed. They are the first release on mine and kevs tape label. It’s a split with nyc’s handjobs. www.myspace.com/paradisevendorsinc
The mae his have a great show. We don’t.
After the show we head back to Talbot targora’s hq for a “dance party”. Me, kev, matt and bill-she dance badly to purple rain. I get “PBR 4 Li$e” tattooed on my liver. The party is SO much fun. These kids are the coolest I’ve ever met.
Us, the shi and a bunch of the dance party collective go for breakfast eats togeths in the morning.
Pre beat mae shi at pool American rules whilst neil young floats from the junkbox. My veggie sausages are not veggie. I’m not a veggie so it’s not a massive deal, but it could have been. For desert me jeff, matt and Jacob eat American apparel.
April 26 - Portland, Oregon @ East End w/ mae shi, Panther, Fist Fite
Panther are amazing. Hannah and brace pain come to say hi.
The last time we saw them was when they asked us to support them at the shepherds bush empire in London. They have never seen us play to less ten 1000 people. God, that’s weird… Maggie vail (krs) is here too. Exciting.
It’s a great show. We play HARD. Pitchfork take photos.
Afterwards we all drive back to hannah’s (whilst watching PUPPY PALS!!!
at hannah's, her doggy toby dances all over our laps...
We sleep for about an hr before we get up at 6am to start the 14 hr drive
to:
April 27 - San Francisco, California @ Bottom of The Hill w/ mae shi, XBXRX, Tempo No Tempo
All ages show. There seems to be a 16th birthday party taking place under our noses. I get torn into by the promoter for drinking a beer that I found in the fridge in the dressing room. He though I brought into the venue. He really goes off. “what are you doing????” “you can’t drink this in here!” “we’re a bar – you can’t bring your own!!!!” he’s mad. He looks stupid when I tell him it was in the fridge in our dressing room. He mumbles an apology and says something inaudible about how…mistake… that beer isn’t meant…mistake… to be there…mistake.
Goon…
Tempo no tempo are bad. I’m sorry, but they are. Xbxrx are awesome although they would tell you otherwise. Technical problems. We are ok. It’s the mae shis night tonight, which is ace as it’s the first time john shi’s mom and pops have seen him play.
We were meant to stay at vice’s pad again. He even cooked us hot banana’s and stuff, but decide to stay at Jeff’s friends flat as it’s closer and means we won’ have to cross the toll bridge again tomo.
Jeffs friend place is amazing. big open planned flat with pool table and lots of liquor. We dash around the corner to a local bar for last orders then party down back at the flat. Rick gets really drunk and keeps touching everyone.
John shi dances like no one I’ve seen dance to ‘since yr been gone’ it’s on film somewhere. here...
After what once again seems like 5 minutes sleep we get up for what is our last day of this west coast tour. Before we leave we go for a diner breakfast which turns rick from a pale 90 year old back to himself.
April 28 (Day) - 89.7 FM, California @ KFJC (live radio session) w/ PRE
April 28 - Sacramento, California @ Witchdome w/ mae shi
The radio session was filmed for a live podcast – here:
So the witchdome is actually the basement of some kids house, and it sturns out to be the most amazing setting for our final fling. Hot girls cool guys new band open. This is of significant for us as without hot girls, pre would not be pre. That band where / are amazing. their new band, SUCKS, are realty good too. Total improv noise effort. I’m guessing its improv. It might not be. Just before they play Brandon takes 4 BIG hits from his hash pipe. It sends him into a wind milling frenzy. Good solid stuff. We play next. Its seriously hot down there, there are no mic stands so we hang mine and kevs mics from the water pipes. This is the funniest show ever. The kids are RIGHT up in our faces, its fucking ace. Once again they dance and jive and we realize that this has been an amazing time for us. The perfect closing show.
We sell lots of merch out of the back of our trailer whilst the mae shi start playing. I’m so hot that I hold off going down to see them up I’vekooled down a little. Whilst I’m chilling the police turn up to stop the party! The mae shi get 2 songs in before the shows over…. Copwave.
Some dude hooks up a venue for them to play a couple of blocks up, so we load up and head over there quick. They finish their set to a room of about 15 people which is kinda a shame really. Cos the venue is strictly over 21s hardly any of the kids can come over to see them.
After the show we load up and kev starts the drive back to la, which will take us through the night.i sit up front with him and we chew the fat and listen to an ipod comp I’ve made. I take over at the wheel around 3pm and drive till the sun comes up. It’s tuff. I nearly nod off a few times.
Once we’ve unloaded into the mae shi’s mansion on the hill
and played a little basket ball we go for one last breakfast together before the shi’s take us back to LAX where we will return home to pick up where we left off and play with health.
No comments:
Post a Comment