So the final entry in this, whirlwind, 10 day endeavor.
We woke up in San Rafael and ready to hit the road. Oddly not hitting a Denny's this particular morning. We knew we had a really long drive ahead of us. Some 380 miles to go.
We hit the strange back roads and opted not to stop to eat until he got to I-5. What I did find odd that there was a Six Flags out there in Vallejo. I had no idea this one even existed. We came around an odd hill and low and behold just on the other side was a hidden theme park. It looked like a lot of fun. But pressed for time, no roller coasters for us.
We ended up back on I-5 just south of Redding and we were all pretty hungry by this point. So the first thing we see. Jack In The Box. Lee and his sensitive stomach and odd eating habits, opted not to eat anything right then. With a quick bite in our bellies it was back on the road.
As we were a ways up the road I got a call from my wife who said she had checked Johnny B's calender and we weren't listed on it. Seemed weird but we weren't worried too much. Wes attempted to call the club, but there was no answer.
Doug, a bit road weary, I could tell, was a little nervous about us not being on the calender. Wes found another website that we were listed as playing. We had stopped in Weed for a quick break from driving and Doug told us that if the show wasn't going to happen he wouldn't mind driving all the way up to Portland that night. I thought this idea was total lunacy and told him as much. And onward we went toward Medford.
We rolled into Medford roughly around 5pm. We didn't make to bad of time. We located Johnny B's, which wasn't open yet. We parked off to the side of the road and proceed to argue as to what our next action should be. Actually more accurately, Doug and Wes started bickering back and forth. Lee smoothed the situation over quickly and calmly, which I found really impressive. The compromise was that we would leave around 9am the next morning and stay in Medford show or no show.
Medford is kind of a cool little small town. We easily found our way around and figured out the lay of the land very quickly. We back tracked toward the freeway and checked into the ever trusty Motel 6. Wes again tried to call the club to no avail. Still not open.
We hopped in the car and swing by yet again. It's only a mile from the hotel to the club, so it was a quick jaunt. We all decided we were hungry so we swung over to a place called Trophy's. The clientele was an interesting array of twitchy tweakers and bar regulars. We ordered up the standard bar fair; french dip, burgers and the like. We finished up eating and Wes tried yet again to call the club. Still nothing.
We swung by there one last time at around 7pm. The owner was rushing into to open up. Obviously running late he was frantic to get things open. We chatted with him and apparently I dropped the ball on this one. He was wanting a confirmation call a week before the show which I never made. He said we could do an opening slot if we still wanted to play. We took it.
After a short stop to visit Lee's niece and drop off a little care package of a WCG tshirt and CD we headed back over to the club to load in and set up. Everyone there was actually really nice. We met with the other bands; The Hollowbodys, Bloody Mess and The Harrington Saints. All of them really cool folks and had no problem with us being on the bill. The fellas from The Harrington Saints realized we played their home town (Oakland) the night before and wondered who we played with. We told them the stories of the guy who lit his junk on fire. They new of this gimmicky little band and said they had played with them not too long ago. They were equally disturbed by the spectacle of it all.
We got ourselves set up and chatted with some fella who was going to film the whole show. No idea where that video may be yet. Anyway, Johnny B's as a club is very cool little joint. Very rockabilly oriented in decor. We went on to play our set and knowing it was our last show of the tour we went all out and played one of our best of the entire tour. We made use of every inch of the small stage. We got a really great response from the crowd on hand, as well as from the other bands. Who all stated we probably shouldn't have opened.
We quickly tore down and the Hollowbodys got all set up. They were definitely more rockabilly driven. I got stuck outside babysitting our gear while I waited for Doug to get the trailer unlocked. But he was on the phone with his wife giving her a run down of how our set went. He finally got off and we loaded the trailer. I got back inside to watch the Hollowbodys last few songs. Then A Bloody Mess went on. Which oddly is the exact same band as the Hollowbodys just with a different singer and a slightly more glam rock style. The singer of a Bloody Mess proclaimed he was a "Dive Bar Rockstar." Both bands were very cool in 2 vastly different ways.
We had sold out of pretty much everything at this point. We had a few tank tops and CDs left. That was it. Yet I was still sitting there at our merch table. I didn't want to sit there anymore so I got up to watch the show. Doug asked me if I wanted to pack it up so no one would steal anything. I told him screw it. We're on our last day and if people wanted that stuff bad enough to steal it, more power to them. At least they wanted more of us.
The Harrington Saints got all set up. These guys were big. I mean they were just big fellas. Shaking their hands, they baseball mitts for hands. They started in playing and we were all hooked. One of the best bands we played with all throughout the tour. They were sort of a hybrid of Sick Of It All meets Drop Kick Murphys. A chanty Oi punk vibe about them. It was awesome. We told them when they got done with their set anytime, anywhere they ever wanted to play together again we'd be down.
A great finale show to the tour. Awesome bands, awesome crowd. Just a good night in general. We had a few more beers at the bar and realizing it was close to last call we knew we had to get to a convenience store quickly. We got there just at the stroke of 2am. The guy at the counter was nice enough to let us know that he thinks his clock might be fast. We walked out and noticed another band that appeared to be on tour gassing up. Lee approached them as a kindred spirit. Come to find out these these guys, who couldn't have been over 20, were all complete douches. As we walked up to talk to them one of them held up his spiffy little backstage laminate in front of Lee's face. I can't really remember the name of their band, but it was something stupid and sounded like cheesy death metal. Either way they were dicks and thought awfully highly of themselves. Even now, as I write this, it's causing a visceral reaction in me and I want to comment further, but I'll refrain.
Anyway, we got back to the hotel and Wes and Lee decide they were going to walk to Jack In The Box and see if Wes couldn't accomplish what he had the night before of walking through the drive thru. I guess, however they didn't even get out of the parking lot when they heard someone holler. It was a couple of the guys from The Harrington Saints. They picked them up and gave a ride to Jack In The Box. Like I said, really cool guys. Wes and Lee got back with a myriad of J in the B food. Much of which we couldn't finish off.
After eating Doug was fading quickly. So Wes, Lee and I moved over to their room. We sat up and had a few more beers and watched Gnarls Barkley on PBS. Once again that rockstar life! I decide it was time for me to hit the hay too. So I went back to the other room and crashed while Wes and Lee stayed up hoping that we wouldn't wake up at 9am.
But we did get up at 9am. Surprisingly Wes and Lee were up too. Well, with a little prodding from Doug. We all got ready and hoped to be back in Seattle by around 5pm or so. At least that was the plan. We got up the road a bit and had our final Denny's round table. I realized at this point, at least in my opinion, we had really hit our stride and if the tour was longer we would have had no trouble going on. But alas it was not to be. We were heading home. We got to Portland and ran into traffic. All the way through Portland on across the Washington border. We kept hitting traffic jam after traffic jam. Through the Nisqually Basin. Then another 15 mile back up just north of there. Wes had apparently seen some guy with no teeth driving next to us and started working on his "No teeth face." He would look at me at random times with this weird look on his face like he was trying to eat his upper lip. We finally rolled into Seattle just short of 8pm. We got to the studio and unloaded our gear. We parted ways, sweaty, stinky and tired. But we had done it... We had played 7 shows in 10 days covering the span of over 2500 miles without killing each other. We brought our music to the masses up and down the I-5 corridor. And would I do it again? Oh hell yeah!
adam
wcg
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
The Full Account... Part 4.
Friday morning rolled around, Wes wanted to leave behind a tank top at the Super 8 check out desk for our new found buddies from Canada that were still staying there. This oddly became futile because they said they never got it. The front desk said they left it in their room. Lies from the Super 8 in Buttonwillow Junction.
We enjoyed yet another Build Your Own Slam at Denny's and headed back on the road toward Oakland. In the midst of our drive through the 100 degree temperatures there was one small incident. Cruising down the road at 70 mph I was following behind a a pick up with a small trailer. I had the intention of passing him. Doug was following close behind me. As I was just about to get over the truck in front of me moved over too. Right in the middle of the road was a semi tire. I had a small moment of panic and weaved into the left lane, however in the process I managed to hit the horn at the same time. Which brought hours of amusement for Wes who was riding with me on this leg. The panicked swerve and simultaneous beep.
The remainder of the drive was pretty uneventful outside of traffic once we hit Oakland around 5pm. We had got word that it might be an early show. Something like 6 or 7pm. We hustled over to Eli's Mile High Club and found that they were equally confused about start time as we were.
We realized that this is not the best part of Oakland. Eli's is located just outside of the downtown district on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. As we were walking in there was a crazy lady who was yelling about a lot of things just outside the front door of the club. As Wes and I approached she sort directed her yelling in our direction. I looked at Wes and said "I think she just called us faggots." Which she did. Wes replied, "She was yelling long before we got here and probably long after we leave. Chances are we won't be the only ones."
True enough. I saw her across the street later that night still commenting on the sexuality of others.
We talked to the bartender about a near by place to stay and he suggested a place called the Maya Motel. We headed over there to see if we could get a room. It was in what looked to be a decent neighborhood, but it was a motel with weekly rates and only single rooms. We opted to pass. We went down another road that seemed to have a lot of hotels on it. Passing by several who's parking lots weren't very well equipped for the truck and trailer. We stopped to get our bearings as Wes opted to try his phone for a nearby Motel 6. There were a couple pretty close by, but all were booked. While Wes was trying to figure this out Doug was chatting to some fella who happen to be waiting for his bus. The guy's input was that he wouldn't stay anywhere close to that area. By his figuring we would come out in the morning to a truck with no trailer. So that clinched it. 20 miles north in a town called San Rafael was a Motel 6 with plenty of rooms. That was it. Wes called and secured 2 rooms.
We headed back to the club and bellied up to the bar. Happy hour Hamms for a $1.50. Not to shabby. We all grabbed a bite. Some of us made better choices than other in our bar food selection. Wes and Lee opted for the chicken strip basket... Blackened (burnt). We loaded in and set up. At this point none of the other bands were there. The sound guy was and he said he was just filling in for the regular guy. We meandered about until we got an accurate start time. 9pm. The sound guy only had 1 operational mic, so once again we had to put ours to use.
Eli's is an interesting club. Definitely the crustiest of crusty punk clubs. Everyone was really nice though. We sat out on the back patio for awhile. A patio reminiscent of something out of Sanford and Son. Finally the 2 of the other bands showed up. Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings and Death Ray. Still no sign of Death Wish V and not entirely certain whether they were going to show. We had hit the road before I got final confirmation from them.
The original line up for the show was suppose to be Get Dead, Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings and us. Well, Get Dead had to cancel, they had gotten a show here in Seattle with the Cromags. They suggested Death Wish V. I didn't hear anything from them so contacted Tricky Monk to see if they had someone to fill the slot. They said they would get a band they knew called Death Ray. I contacted Death Wish V to see what had happened there and they had no idea what I was talking about. When we left that's what I knew. When we got down there and saw the list Tricky Monk, Death Ray and Death Wish V were all on the bill. I thought well cool. Everything worked out.
Well, we went on and the crowd seemed to like us, but they definitely weren't there for us. The sound guy, not being familiar with the system, struggled all throughout our set. Feedback, mics cutting out and so on. Death Ray went on next and this band was a very strange entity. A large bass cab in between 2 guys playing playing prerecorded drum and bass lines with some synth mixed in. The 2 guys had guitars. They played kind of a pop punk kind of music style. But it seemed more of a parody. I wasn't sure what to make of them. They had bizarre on stage antics, like one of the guys cutting off his clothes with scissors through the song. Then went through there set and they guy who had cut his clothes off was wearing speedos with some sort of apparatus built into it. He then proceed to light his junk on fire and it would act as a weird blowtorch. Not to mention it stank.
Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings went on next. They are very talented band that I guess had relocated to the Bay Area from somewhere back east. Again a relatively pop punk based band with a little more edge to them. They put on a great set. But unfortunately they played a little too long. The door man asked them to wrap things up with their last song and they rolled into 2 or 3 songs which had the door man pissed and yelling and kicking chairs. Made for a very uncomfortable room all of a sudden.
Death Wish V at this point was just showing up. It was roughly around 11pm. We chatted with them a little outside. Nice enough guys, but we just couldn't stick around any longer. We had to hit the road to secure our rooms at the Motel 6. Wish we could have stayed for their set.
We hit the road on our way to San Rafael. Wes was navigating via his phone. And he mentioned a partial toll. We had no idea what that meant. Either there was a toll or there wasn't. What's with the partial thing? Well, there was a toll. $5 for the car and $10 for the truck and trailer.
We finally got to the motel and check in. Of course we decide we needed to go get some beer and food. So we walked up the road to an AM/PM and got the beer part taken care of. Wes decided that Burger King sounded good. The dining room was closed. So Wes decided to try going through the drive through. So on foot he waited in line as Lee and I watched speculating that this would never work. But once again Wes' gift of gab won the day. He managed to get our full order walking up through the drive thru.
It was oddly cold that night as we walked back to the motel. We got back and let Doug, who had hit the hay already, know that we had got him a burger. He came over straight away. Once again as the glamorous rockstars we are sat in our Motel 6 room, eating Whoppers, drinking cheap beer and watching Married With Children. Yup this is the life...
Coming up... Johnny B's in Medford!
adam
WCG
We enjoyed yet another Build Your Own Slam at Denny's and headed back on the road toward Oakland. In the midst of our drive through the 100 degree temperatures there was one small incident. Cruising down the road at 70 mph I was following behind a a pick up with a small trailer. I had the intention of passing him. Doug was following close behind me. As I was just about to get over the truck in front of me moved over too. Right in the middle of the road was a semi tire. I had a small moment of panic and weaved into the left lane, however in the process I managed to hit the horn at the same time. Which brought hours of amusement for Wes who was riding with me on this leg. The panicked swerve and simultaneous beep.
The remainder of the drive was pretty uneventful outside of traffic once we hit Oakland around 5pm. We had got word that it might be an early show. Something like 6 or 7pm. We hustled over to Eli's Mile High Club and found that they were equally confused about start time as we were.
We realized that this is not the best part of Oakland. Eli's is located just outside of the downtown district on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. As we were walking in there was a crazy lady who was yelling about a lot of things just outside the front door of the club. As Wes and I approached she sort directed her yelling in our direction. I looked at Wes and said "I think she just called us faggots." Which she did. Wes replied, "She was yelling long before we got here and probably long after we leave. Chances are we won't be the only ones."
True enough. I saw her across the street later that night still commenting on the sexuality of others.
We talked to the bartender about a near by place to stay and he suggested a place called the Maya Motel. We headed over there to see if we could get a room. It was in what looked to be a decent neighborhood, but it was a motel with weekly rates and only single rooms. We opted to pass. We went down another road that seemed to have a lot of hotels on it. Passing by several who's parking lots weren't very well equipped for the truck and trailer. We stopped to get our bearings as Wes opted to try his phone for a nearby Motel 6. There were a couple pretty close by, but all were booked. While Wes was trying to figure this out Doug was chatting to some fella who happen to be waiting for his bus. The guy's input was that he wouldn't stay anywhere close to that area. By his figuring we would come out in the morning to a truck with no trailer. So that clinched it. 20 miles north in a town called San Rafael was a Motel 6 with plenty of rooms. That was it. Wes called and secured 2 rooms.
We headed back to the club and bellied up to the bar. Happy hour Hamms for a $1.50. Not to shabby. We all grabbed a bite. Some of us made better choices than other in our bar food selection. Wes and Lee opted for the chicken strip basket... Blackened (burnt). We loaded in and set up. At this point none of the other bands were there. The sound guy was and he said he was just filling in for the regular guy. We meandered about until we got an accurate start time. 9pm. The sound guy only had 1 operational mic, so once again we had to put ours to use.
Eli's is an interesting club. Definitely the crustiest of crusty punk clubs. Everyone was really nice though. We sat out on the back patio for awhile. A patio reminiscent of something out of Sanford and Son. Finally the 2 of the other bands showed up. Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings and Death Ray. Still no sign of Death Wish V and not entirely certain whether they were going to show. We had hit the road before I got final confirmation from them.
The original line up for the show was suppose to be Get Dead, Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings and us. Well, Get Dead had to cancel, they had gotten a show here in Seattle with the Cromags. They suggested Death Wish V. I didn't hear anything from them so contacted Tricky Monk to see if they had someone to fill the slot. They said they would get a band they knew called Death Ray. I contacted Death Wish V to see what had happened there and they had no idea what I was talking about. When we left that's what I knew. When we got down there and saw the list Tricky Monk, Death Ray and Death Wish V were all on the bill. I thought well cool. Everything worked out.
Well, we went on and the crowd seemed to like us, but they definitely weren't there for us. The sound guy, not being familiar with the system, struggled all throughout our set. Feedback, mics cutting out and so on. Death Ray went on next and this band was a very strange entity. A large bass cab in between 2 guys playing playing prerecorded drum and bass lines with some synth mixed in. The 2 guys had guitars. They played kind of a pop punk kind of music style. But it seemed more of a parody. I wasn't sure what to make of them. They had bizarre on stage antics, like one of the guys cutting off his clothes with scissors through the song. Then went through there set and they guy who had cut his clothes off was wearing speedos with some sort of apparatus built into it. He then proceed to light his junk on fire and it would act as a weird blowtorch. Not to mention it stank.
Tricky Monk and The Ding Dings went on next. They are very talented band that I guess had relocated to the Bay Area from somewhere back east. Again a relatively pop punk based band with a little more edge to them. They put on a great set. But unfortunately they played a little too long. The door man asked them to wrap things up with their last song and they rolled into 2 or 3 songs which had the door man pissed and yelling and kicking chairs. Made for a very uncomfortable room all of a sudden.
Death Wish V at this point was just showing up. It was roughly around 11pm. We chatted with them a little outside. Nice enough guys, but we just couldn't stick around any longer. We had to hit the road to secure our rooms at the Motel 6. Wish we could have stayed for their set.
We hit the road on our way to San Rafael. Wes was navigating via his phone. And he mentioned a partial toll. We had no idea what that meant. Either there was a toll or there wasn't. What's with the partial thing? Well, there was a toll. $5 for the car and $10 for the truck and trailer.
We finally got to the motel and check in. Of course we decide we needed to go get some beer and food. So we walked up the road to an AM/PM and got the beer part taken care of. Wes decided that Burger King sounded good. The dining room was closed. So Wes decided to try going through the drive through. So on foot he waited in line as Lee and I watched speculating that this would never work. But once again Wes' gift of gab won the day. He managed to get our full order walking up through the drive thru.
It was oddly cold that night as we walked back to the motel. We got back and let Doug, who had hit the hay already, know that we had got him a burger. He came over straight away. Once again as the glamorous rockstars we are sat in our Motel 6 room, eating Whoppers, drinking cheap beer and watching Married With Children. Yup this is the life...
Coming up... Johnny B's in Medford!
adam
WCG
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