On January 2nd we drove 8 hours from Peoria straight to Tulsa, OK. Upon arriving we made a stop for coffee at Dwelling Spaces, which is a cool coffee and local art shop. We were the only band on the bill that night, but we got to run through all of our songs, and also met some really nice people.
Our show on the 3rd was cancelled or something, so we drove overnight to meet up with one of Blen's good friends, Cody, in Santa Fe. Chris changed the oil, and we took an awesome walk around town. On the 4th we played at the Underground, again by ourselves, but it was a great show! We also got a killer write up in the Santa Fe Reporter.
On the 5th we played in Albuquerque at the Small Engine Gallery with Fart House, Ass Dizazter, and Roo. All of the bands that played were awesome. We didn't play our best that night, but it was cool to finally watch other bands do their thing as well. There is a live recording of our set you can check out here:
We had the 6th off, and took the day to stop in Phoenix, AZ, and meet up with our ol' pal Gabe and his wife Diana, as well as our buddy John Menchaca of Crippled Sound.
On the 7th, we made our way to Hollywood, CA. As expected, Hollywood was quite an adventure. We had a good time checking out Amoeba records and handing out fliers on Sunset Blvd. That night, in lieu of going to a raging party at Danzig's bodyguard's house, we drove to our next destination: Davis, CA. We stopped at a rest area in the early morning to make some coffee for Blen that didn't taste like regurgitated sunflower seeds, and also took advantage of the dangling snacks left by disgruntled hungry travelers in the vending machines.
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| Loner |
We had a couple days off after our show in Davis, and used them to explore the town and venture to nearby San Francisco to see the ocean!
On the 11th, we went to Santa Rosa for our next show, which was originally set to be at a local bar. Due to some miscommunication, the show didn’t happen there, but instead at Atlas studios. A huge thanks goes out to our new friends N8 and Damien at Burning Token, who took amazing video & audio of our set that night. You can watch some video of that show on Youtube:
The 12th brought us to Medford, OR, home of Bloody Mess & The Hollowbodys. There’s a great all-ages scene in Medford, and we had a great time playing for everyone. Bloody and his roommates Stephen and Nick opened their home to us, and showed us a great time. The morning after the show, Bloody took us on a hike through Lithia Park in Ashland, which was absolutely breathtaking. Also, Stephen recorded our last song of the night on his shiny new video camera.
The 13th happened in Corvallis, OR, at a cool little coffee shop called Interzone. We played with fellow touring act Dear Rabbit (from CO), as well as locals Tirade and JTT. After the show was over, we made the drive to Olympia, WA, Blen’s final destination on our tour.
Our time in Olympia was bittersweet, as we knew we’d be leaving our tour buddy at his home, and venturing on back to ours soon. We played a very cool show at the Hot Tub House, and then had a snowball fight in the front yard. Snowballs were hurled at cars, a hick in a truck was angered, and cops were called, but ultimately we had a great time.
The next day, January 15th, we headed to Seattle, where unfortunately it had also snowed. This resulted in the cancellation of our all-ages show that was set to happen at the Fusion Café. We still played a show at the 2bit Saloon, which we can definitely call an experience. Thanks to Paul, who was not only our audience, but also put us up for the night, burned us cds, and got us coffee!
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| Lucky Stars |
On the 18th, we made it through some big country in WY to get to Denver, CO. We traveled through 50-60+mph winds, which overturned semis and threw our van around quite a bit. Ultimately, we made it past the giant wind-screaming mountains, and to CO. Mouth House was a really cool place, and we played with some sweet bands and very talented musicians. Our friend Holly and her boyfriend were kind enough to let us sleep at their place that night, and it was awesome getting to see some former Peorians in Denver.
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| Chutzpah |
On January 19th, we drove to Wichita, KS, the destination of our last show. We played to a small, but nice crowd. Kirby’s Beer Store is a cool little spot that you can tell had it’s heyday in the 90’s punk scene.
After our last show, we packed up and made the 10 hour drive through the night, back home to Peoria. It was a great tour, we learned a lot, unloaded a good majority of our merch, and had a ton of memorable experiences. That’s the way of the road.
Looking forward to this summer!
