The Caravan, San Jose [w/ Compton SF, Vacant Churches]

I got to the show late and missed most of Compton SF's set, but what I heard ROCKED. Really catchy songs, tight song structures. I've gotta see if Charles bummed a CD from 'em. We hadn't played the Caravan in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was a bit more room for my gear/junk.

Show notes: Our first time playing a new tune: "False Positive Must Be Destroyed"

--mike c

Phil's Shady Acres, San Jose [w/ Vacant Churches]

We hadn't played Phil's for about a year and a half, so we were due. This was a "going away" bash of sorts for Simon and Cheyanne, who were re-locating to Seattle in the very near future. It was a grey, overcast night, with lots of mud and water added to the normal ambiance of cigarette smoke and assorted murmurings.

Vacant Churches played a strong set chock-full of killer/catchy tunes before a packed [and soggy] house. The place got a little wild a few times during the set, so much so that Cheyanne took the mic more than once in order to promise bodily harm to a few of the rowdier elements in the crowd. After VC's set, we dutifully schlepped our gear through the mud, sidetracking puddles along theway [unless we were carrying Rich's drum gear of course--that stuff was made to hydroplane].

Once inside the cozy confines of the Shady Acres stage area [ie, "that side of the floor"], we hooked our gear up and busted out "Zodiac" a new tune. Alas, a few seconds into that first song, and, coincidentally, at precisely the same instant Krog banged his first bass note--the electricity went out. Curse those safety-conscious electrical fuse/switch box-thingies! Luckily, Phil was able to flip a switch to get us going again [and for some reason I felt proud when Phil said that the electrical outage "had never happened before" during all of his other shows.] YEAH! F+ RULE AT WREAKING HAVOC ON $.25 FUSE DEALS! HELL YEAH!

Anyway...

We got through Zodiac and had played 3-4 tunes all together, and were actually getting a good response from the crowd when we got word that the SJPD had received a few complaints about noise and that the show had to come to a premature end.

Show notes: our second shortest set ever--Cherry Lounge's set is still #1. My first live gig playing the Ernie Ball Sub1 [alas, my beloved Greco Faux Paul has a new owner via EBay]; first time playing "Zodiac."

--mike c

The Blank Club, San Jose [w/ Whiskey Sunday, INQ, Vacant Churches]

Our first time playing at the Blank Club. Neat place--nice and dark with a really open feel. We actually got a sound check, which was a bit of a new experience for us. Once we sound checked, we headed over to a pizza place down the street to eat a bit and kill some time before heading back for our opening slot.

It was my second show using my Crate Powerblock guitar head. I'm really digging this thing so far. At 5 lbs., I can carry it around in a manly murse [also known as a 'man-purse' in some circles.] If I could find a way to miniaturize my Greco Faux Paul, I'd be all set! Then again, with a tiny guitar/amp combo, my cat may be able to run off w/ it, so maybe I shouldn't go too small just yet.

Though the crowd wasn't "Day on the Green" big [the life of an opening band, eh?] during our set, they were very receptive, so it was fun. Chuck and I took turns stepping on each other's feet while spazzing about here and there on stage. No string breakage, no inadvertent stomp box issues, etc., so all in all an OK show. The other bands on the bill were way cool, very friendly.

It's funny, whenever we play an old Naked Raygun cover, it's like an icebreaker, 'cuz more often than not, other bands will come up after the show saying, "I love Naked Raygun!" I left fairly early after our set for a BDay celebration, but the rest of the guys stayed, buying "Whiskey Sunday" CD's and shirts.

Later, Mike G said that one of the bands played a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" and it brought back fond childhood memories of listening to my one Thin Lizzy "Jailbreak" album [w/ the Neal Adams cover] while reading comics like "Marvel Two-In-One" and "What If?" and chowing down on Ruffles.

--mike c

Johnny V's, San Jose [w/ Vacant Churches]

Floosh! Ptoink! Ungh!
Yep, it was a night of music [and sound effects] at Johnny V's, but let's start from the beginning: the night was special: Simon [the guy w/ the mutton chops] and Cheyanne [the girlie in the pirate gear] got hitched earlier in the day. Their post-wedding bash at Johhny V's demanded musical entertainment, but we thought we'd pack the van with gear and head their way anyway.

It was our first show at V's [maybe our last? someone said that V's may be changing locations] and the place was pretty cool. Like Kimo's in SF, bands play upstairs, so maneuvering PA equipment, guitar amps, and Rich's Neil Peart- like drum kit up a narrow staircase all add up to lots o' fun. Speaking of Rich's drum stuff: whatta nightmare! Every time I look at all the stuff ol' Rich carts from show to show I give myself a pat on the back for never getting past 2B drumsticks and practice pads back at Morrill Middle School.

Anyway...we got to see Greg's new band, Vacant Churches. They were muy bueno-- Siouxsie Sioux style vocals wafting over a raucous beat. It was cool seeing a band playing tunes at more than one tempo [ie, more than just fast and faster!] They got a great reception and played 2-3 encores. Side note that only I would care about: the guitarist's backup was an N1. Dude, Nuno RAWKS! Sorry--where was I...

I didn't catch the name of the second act, but thought the guy was pretty brave for basically playing as a one-man band. One dude, a drum machine, fender 2-12, and a Yamaha guitar. He also provided the first sound effect of the night, when...

FLOOSH!

the hat/hair combo he wore took a hike during one of his tunes. That was pretty cool! The guy went from looking like one of the Sea Hags [remember them?] to Commander Picard in about half a second. Oh yeah, it was on! Kinda funny: how Krog becomes the "House Sound Guy" wherever we play. Where would we be if ol' Krog didn't provide this invaluable service? I don't even wanna think about it.

We played last. Mike G started our set off by playing about two or three seconds of our first song, when...

PTOINK! [r.i.p., Don Martin]

--he broke a string. Nice start for a set, huh? Luckily, the rest of us were able to blow through the old Agent Orange classic, "Bloodstains" while G got his string-winding on. From there, the set went pretty well. Like always, I split my attention between trying to see what I was playing in the near dark/ trying to stay upright as I wobbled here and there over cables/ trying not to bump into Chuck too much, the usual stuff. We did a couple of Turbonegro covers. I thought it'd be cool to do a Judas Priest-like twin guitar attack shtick w/ Krog or G during "Pamparius", but they looked a little too busy [actually concentrating on playing their instruments...whatever!] to comply. I ended up wobbling back to my end of the stage; there would be no Glen Tipton-isms on this night. We played a long set, probably 12-15 tunes. All in all, a successful outing, except for...

UNGH!

Packing and loading ol' Peel Nert's [Rich] drum stuff! See ya.

--mike c

The Caravan, San Jose

Weird nights at the Caravan.

Last Friday's gig turned out to be pretty damn good. Maybe a little elaboration is needed. The tough part comes when ya find out that one of the bands on the bill cancelled (broke up, according to rumor). Three days before the gig! Definitely precipitated that all-too-familiar "Oh shit!" reaction. Then, as if in an instance of your-worst-fears-come-true, we get there ('bout quarter to ten) and the place is D-E-A-D dead. Mausoleum. But I think we pretty much fixed the mindset: Fuck it, let's rock!

Keith (the first act) made some noise for about an hour or so. Honestly, I didn't get much out of it other than 45 minutes about a dog that died and he was very upset about it. I think this was just a little too 'performance art' for me, including him smashing up his stuff at the end.

Saving grace: Actually, about the time we were setting up (11:15-11:30 or so) people started wandering in and by our second song the place was filling up. What was cool is all the people that were yelling along and generally going berserk. This typically gets us playing faster, tighter & much more frenetic. Total positive reinforcement. Griff even noticed that "we had girls dancing up front". Yeah, weird, but we're digging it when people seem to be getting into it, grabbing a mic & singing along, and screaming for us to play more. Oh yeah, and meeting new people who appreciate what we're doing (whatever the fuck that is...).

Obvious: thanks out to everybody for hanging out. We'll have to do it again soon, eh?

So here's what we played (regularly scheduled set-wise):
Scoring Machine
Forty Times
Radical Chic
Body Bag
Super Zombie Speed
Young Derelicts
Taco Bravo
Holiday in Cambodia
Killing You
Ace of Spades
Self-Destructo Bust
Soldier's Requiem

And we also played, in some order (if I remember rightly):
Everything Turns Gray
I Found That Essence Rare
We Are The One
The Age of Pamparius

Disclaimer: Views expressed herein are the disorganized blatherings of Chuck, and do not necessarily reflect those of his bandmates!

--chuck

The Caravan, San Jose [w/ Medicated Motherfuckers, The Curbs]
(Special thanks to Murray Bowles for the pics.)

Was a blast.
First band was the Medicated Motherfuckers - an amalgam of the Invisible Enemies and our one-time temporary (and always welcome) ex-Miscreant bassist Greg. As I think Duane stated, this was like their fifth practice. But seriously, you couldn't tell. Very fun to see, and you can only imagine the extent of their lyrical genius / content. Vocals split - Chachi & Duane. Still gotta hear the CD, maybe after practice tonight!

We were second - which is usually a good spot to play at the Caravan, cuz all the Blank defectors haven't yet split for the headliners over there. It was cool to have a huge bunch of support there - the crowd was way into it - and the desired effect of having a bunch of songs (see the set list) that people could yell along to worked to perfection. Special thanks to Simon, Cheyanne, Greg, Jessica, Cory (and anybody else I'm forgetting here) for yelling out the words when I stuck the mic in their faces! Looking forward to the pictures by Murray - should be some good ones. We did have a first! MC's first broken string live! Ever! It was cool - Griff covered nicely & I think it went rather seamlessly - Mike's claim of pre-show kit-bag OCD paid off. If the success of the show can be measured in sweat - then we kicked ass!

The Curbs followed. It was their show, and damn if they didn't rock! I'd never seen them, though I'd heard of them as long-time local stalwarts. Great full energetic sound. At times touches of Turbonegro, or maybe the tinnitis was kicking in and that was Rich singing the TN stuff. I understand they'd not played any shows recently, but no rust was evident. One of the advanteges of being around for a long time. But at any rate, they'd be a blast to play with again, or even get my lazy ass out to see the next show they do.

Set played:
scoring machine
super zombie speed
body bag
for you
40 times
soldier's requiem
essence
we are the one
radical chic
ace of spades
police truck
taco bravo

--chuck

The Caravan, San Jose [w/ Everyday Hero, Invisible Enemies]

Our twentieth show. A bit of a milestone, actually. Unfortunately, aside from this rather meager footnote, there wasn't really anything else [anything positive, that is] that I could look at as something that'd catapult this show into the "semi-memorable" category.

Why the general lack of fun? A few culprits, some of which go beyond a simple bar gig:

- a lack of new material
- a general dissatisfaction w/ our live sound
- murky [on a good day!] goals
- a penchant for procrastination
- dissimilar tastes in music/direction.
- etc.

We plan on taking some time off from playing shows, using it to concentrate on the CD we've put off for over a year. Hopefully, the time off will allow us to address some of the above issues.

Details: first live performance of Manic Hispanic's cover of TSOL's "Code Blue", "Code Brown".

--mike c

The Cherry Lounge, San Francisco

Our earliest, shortest set ever--less than twenty minutes 'cuz of time restraints. Yep, the set was so short that we didn't even have time to get any live pics! However, we did get some shots of the the post-set grub-down and miscellaneous fits of goofing off.

The first band had more stomp boxes in one place than I'd ever seen before. They must have had 12-15 boxes between 'em! I thought I was at Guitar Center! Actually, their longish set was a big reason why ours was so truncated. However, in their defense, at least they brought a few friends in to watch 'em play. Also, their drummer was nice enough to let Rich use his kit, allowing us to start making noise that much quicker once they finished their set.

The Cherry Lounge is a way cool place, kinda like the Stork Club in Oakland, 'cept sideways, if that makes any sense. It's nice and dark, with a pool table, and a Happy Hour where the drinks are way cheap. It also has convenient parking, a rarity in SF. Our set had to be be finished by 8:45 pm sharp in order to coincide w/ the end of the night's Happy Hour. That's also when the real crowds start filtering into the place. Though we didn't get to play to many people, it was great playing in a different venue. Krog, Chuck, and I didn't spend much time on the stage during our set. We just stomped around the floor, thoroughly appreciating the extra room that allowed us to really stretch out and make fools of ourselves.

Details: first live performance of The Avengers' "We Are the One".

--mike c

The Caravan, San Jose [w/ Splitting Seconds, Cova]

The Friday before Halloween. The crowd was festive and colorful. There were some nifty Halloween get-ups to be seen: the Hamburglar, Flava Flav, nuns, etc., all showed up to rawk the house. Krog, having just flown back from Japan, performed some roadie/video work for us.

Our second and last [at least for the moment] show w/ ex-Miscreant Greg on bass. Not our tightest set--I had to look back at Rich a couple o' times 'cuz he was screwin' up royally. True, some spectators may have mistakenly thought that I was the culprit re: some of the dissonant tones spewing forth on this night, but take it from me--all fault lay squarely at the [slow] feet of our drummer, Richard.

The first two bands were a little more familiar w/ the whole "harmony" concept and were pretty tight and clean. Luckily, the crowd was still pretty receptive to our not so tight, not so clean, "escapees from the neighborhood garage" aural assault. Thanks goodness for cheap beer and lowered expectations!

--mike c

Phil's Shady Acres, San Jose [w/ Alter Me, Asphyxiated]

We snagged Greg, from the Miscreants, to bang on the bass while Krog goofed off in Japan. Krog and Aderyn in Japan. The thought conjures visions of Godzilla and Minya stomping around Tokyo in matching Vans sneakers. Cameras dangling from their scaley necks, they shout "FLEE, PUNY HUMANS!" in mock anger as the locals scatter in every direction. The two flash each other knowing winks as they plunder, snap pics, perform assorted tourist-like deeds...and bond.

Anyway...

It was cool seeing Phil, Carter, etc. We were the "sandwich" act, playing second in the three band bill. It was strange not seeing big ol' Krog there, but it was also pretty cool playing w/ Greg [now if he could only get his bass amp to behave!]

Lately, my guitar has been losing faith in its shaky alliance with the whole "staying in tune" concept, so I might have to bite the bullet and actually change its 2 year old strings in hopes of rectifying the matter. Yep, I absolutely hate changing strings [it touches on a whole laziness factor I don't want to get into], but the ol' Central-American strat just ain't staying in tune the way it once did, and the light bulb in my head gave a dim flicker when I stumbled upon the radical theory that perhaps the old, crusty, beer and sweat-soaked strings bound to its neck may be the culprit. I'll get to it...eventually.

Anyway...

As a band, we can't say "Thanks" enough to Greg for helping us out so much. The guy had a very limited amount of time to learn a whole set of tunes, and really came through as our Lemmy temp [what can I say, we have a good benefit plan, including dental.] Special [in a good way] thanks to Mike G for "tabbin' stuff out" so that Greg's learning curve was made that much smoother.

Details: first live performance of The Effigies' "Body Bag". Thanks to Jessica for taking pics.

--mike c

Phil's Shady Acres, San Jose [w/ Happy Bastards, Human Certainty]

As always, Shady Acres is one of the most fun places to play. We went on last after two bands from Portland. In typical F+ fashion, the night was started with some noodles at the TK Noodle across the street. Those people must hate us cuz we always seem to get in there like five minutes before closing. Then a quick trip to the liquor store for a little fuel-up. Hrrm. Beer & chow fun is a wonderful thing.

Human Certainty went up first with a powerful sound. They had the crowd into it, and were doing some pretty interesting stuff, musically. And loud. The only knock for me personally, is I don't really care for the gravelly "death metal" style vox. How the fuck do you sing along to that? After that, The Happy Bastards went up. Another cool thrashalong kind of set. If I remember correctly, they alternated who was singing. Gotta admit, by this point I'd gone outside & had a couple more beers. They seemed pretty cool, touring together for five weeks, I think it was. There was a passing of the hat and they had a merch table set up outside. It looked like people were cool kicking in gas & food money. The night before this, these two bands had played the Caravan. Murray snapped some cool photos of these guys before heading downtown, so check his site if you wanna see...

Then us. I think some people were disappointed that we were touring from, uh, Milpitas or something. The first 2/3 of the set rocked. I thought it was weird to see a pit for 'Forty Times', but it was sandwiched in the fastest part of the set. I remember that Phil's mic stand kept unscrewing from the base so I kinda had to keep fucking with it or Mike (C) couldn't keep doing backing vocals. He was having a tough time of it as it was with people slamming into him, and I think at one point I had a split lip from a mic bash. Tell ya, beer, chow fun and blood is NOT a wonderful thing! This show saw the debut of 'Forty Times' and 'Radical Chic' (that's pronounced "sheek", you heathens!), but was disappointed that 'Another Chance' flopped. Oh well. For the last couple of songs, people were heading outside to get liquored up & start fights (or so I heard). Fortunately, nothing too out of hand. That shit is really retarded anyway.

After playing, I guess Mike (G) and Richie were talking to Greg, and they somehow roped him into subbing for Krog for the upcoming Caravan show (Oct 29th, yo! Be there!) - should be fun as it lends a somewhat different sound. In retrospect, I guess we didn't stink the place up too bad, cuz we'll be back 10/23.

Details: first live performances of "40x" and "Radical Chic".

--chuck

Kimo's, San Francisco [w/ Miscreants, Autonomadic, Potty Mouth Society]

This was a very rare [for us, at least] Sunday night show. One cool thing about playing a Sunday night show in SF: easy parking! Yay! Anyway...I'd been sick all week w/ the flu, so I was sweaty and light-headed for much of the night. Luckily, these maladies had minimal effect on my main responsibilities for the evening, notably: hitting open 'E' chords every now and then and staggering around the stage like a dork.
Autonomadic and Potty Mouth Society, a couple of Seattle bands, played first. They both had big bass players [yes, bigger than Krog!], so the joke of the night centered on bands absolutely having to have gargantuan bass players in order to play the show...and yes, we are that easily amused. I spoke a bit to Justin, from Autonomadic, mostly about how their tour was going, the overall coolness of his red telecaster, and if he'd take Rich off our hands [yes, that last bit is the obligatory, totally untrue, [though not necessarily unwarranted], attack on our drummer!] Potty Mouth Society was really good; a tight band w/ some way cool tunes and a rockin' guitar player w/ an old-school SG. I wanted to grill the guitar player w/ some obligatory guitar-geek questions ["Dude, is that stock?", etc.], but by that time of the night I was too busy taking inventory of my flu-like systems.

"Runny nose?"
"Here, Sir!
"Great. Glad to have you aboard! Let me introduce you to the rest of our squad: The Phlegmsters!"

We went on third, before the Miscreants. Mike G played his new Les Paul live for the first time, so it was kinda strange not seeing his Explorer around as we set up on stage. I had fleeting thoughts re: a forlorn Gibson Explorer, sitting at home in a darkened room, blankly staring out a window, silently cursing 'that new axe' in between sighs--but I immediately thought to myself, 'that's just plain silly!', pledged to buy my strat a cupcake, and tuned up.

I honestly can't remember a whole lot about the show, but there was nary a broken a hip to spoil the occasion, so I guess it went ok. As always, the Miscreants played a rawkin' set, closing out their musical extravaganza in near dark with one of their newer tunes [at least to me.] These guys have got to put out a CD one of these days. All in all, a good night ['cept for the part where Justin wouldn't let me foist Rich on him!]

Details: first live performance of "Another Chance to Get It Right"; mike g's first show w/ Les Paul.

-- mike c

The Stork Club, Oakland [w/ Eskapo, Lost in Amerika, Secret Janet]

The Stork Club show in Oakland went pretty well. Really nice venue, w/ a great location--right next to a Korean market chock full of beer and candy and within walking distance of a Taco Bell [just in case!] Since we'd never been to the Stork Club before, we did a bit of driving around, no doubt looking like five lost dorks jammed into a van full of gear. We knew we'd found the right place when we spotted a few of the guys from Eskapo standing in front of the club. We got lucky, 'cuz one of the guys at the bar was nice enough to move his vehicle just so, allowing us to park the van directly in front of the club, making the whole gear unloading deal way less of a hassle than usual. From there I was able to meet most of the bands, along w/ Jesse, the guy who'd invited us to the show. The vibe was cool: kick-back, w/ not a 'tude in the place.

After our set, we had a blast, partaking in a few of the bar's offerings and totally geeking out to the other bands' sets. I was crackin' up most of the night, as Rich would do the lamest [ie, COOL!] "moves" in between slamming around w/ the crowd. A fun night.

-- mike c

Caravan, San Jose

We had a way fun time playing at Simon's Birthday party at the Caravan. A special thanks to Cheyanne for inviting us over. Since it was a party, we dusted off a bunch of covers for the occasion, playing stuff by a bunch of the old bands we grew up on [Buzzcocks, Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Agent Orange, the Dickies, etc.]

Of course there were a few embarrassing parts. I couldn't hear the vocals that well throughout the show, so things weren't as tight as they could have been in spots ["that's an understatement!" someone's probably saying.] However, in the grand scheme of things, the screw-ups weren't that blatant ['cept for the 6 ft. screw-up behind the drum kit--rimshot!] The crowd was into it. Simon basically MC'd the show, sang backup, and even busted a few moves. The kind of night that makes you glad you're still making noise w/ your friends.

-- mike c

Kimo's, San Francisco [w/ The Cliftons, Eskapo, Invisible Enemies, Neon Maniacs]

Good crowd, though I had to leave fairly early after our set. After the show, we all discovered that our shoes had adopted the same red coloring. Though we were unsure from where the mysterious red shade came from, we suspect that the stage at Kimo's may have been the culprit. Maybe a few too many spilled beers on the stage that night?

This was the last of about ten shows straight where I used the wrong type of cable to connect my Randall 100W head to my old Jaguar cabinet. Krog noticed that I was using a regular ol' instrument cable to connect the two and set me straight on the differences between instrument cable and speaker cable. Alas, I've already forgotten all of the relevant details. However, I did remember enough to know that I'll be using a speaker cable from now on. Actually, my 1/2 stack has been thanking me for this new piece of hi-fidelity intelligence by providing a bit more high-end, something I'd long since thought had gone the way of the Dodo [or the drummer who didn't embarrass you in public.] Good job, Krog!

Quick note: I thought it kinda cool that the first band, Neon Maniacs, were named after a very cheesy 80's horror flick. I hadn't seen the movie in years, so I rented it from ol' Netflix. Yep, it was as bad as I'd remembered it.

-- mike c

Phil's Shady Acres, San Jose [w/ The Highway Murderers]
We played first to a handful of people, a few kind souls singing along to some of the old covers we raced through. After the show, while good ol' Krog ran the sound for the second band [whose name I didn't catch], the rest of us trekked over to a Mexican food joint on 10th Street for some serious face-stuffing. Actually, our endeavor here was helped out substantially by our waiter, who, though amiable enough, thoroughly botched our order by a factor of three. That is, he brought us out about three times the amount food we ordered. Hey, who were we to argue? One can do a lot worse than to encounter a never ending stream of good Mexican food on a beautiful night in downtown San Jose.

-- mike c

Jury Room, Santa Cruz [w/ Invisible Enemies, The Miscreants]
The Jury Room was way cool. It reminded me of a Bizarro world Caravan because though we had never been there, everything was a little familiar, but not really--if that makes any sense.

We played first and got a pretty good response--despite my total cluelessness early on. Within the first 2 or 3 tunes I did about everything I could do to make myself look even more dorky than usual. Let's see, where do I start...I hit the "SOLO" effect when I wanted to hit "RHYTHM' and vice versa a few times, I hit "BYPASS" a couple of times so that my guitar went DEAD SILENT at some very inopportune moments ["ladies and gentleman--on silent guitar and goofy facial expressions, Mike C!"]. I even got one of my slappy feet caught up in the rat's nest of cable that was everywhere we stepped, completely unplugging my pedal board in the middle of a song. [To make it even worse, it was so apparent that I was the one to blame for the unplugged board that I couldn't even do my "Turn around and glare at Rich so onlookers get the impression that the drummer is somehow at fault" routine. At a certain point I just said to myself in a little Cartman voice "screw this", left my board alone for the rest of the night, and hung out w/ Chuck on the floor, getting up close and personal and bothering actual paying customers with my foolishness.

-- mike c

Caravan, San Jose [w/ Invisible Enemies]

Not one of our better shows. Maybe it's because it's a Thursday night...or do we just suck that much? It's gotta be 'cuz it's a Thursday night we decide--YEAH, THAT'S IT!

Anyway, there's little reaction from the crowd in between our aural offerings. We make it through the set, pack our gear, then watch IE rip it up. They get a WAY better response and we start wondering about potential shortcomings in our "It must be 'cuz it's a Thursday night" theory. Maybe it was that "Please Ignore Us!" shirt Krog was wearing? Uhhh...

-- mike c