Yesterday we drove 10 straight hours to Seattle. It was a long drive, but we had a lot of time to hang out in Seattle. We expected a lot of snow along the way through Oregon. We had to stop once in Oregon for gas, there was snow along the road and around the gas station. Nothing too eventful happened on the drive up...except for the Separation dudes putting sour cream on our van wich was kind of disgusting, but whatever...we put shit on theirs. So we get to Seattle and we are not spared in this big city. We drove around for a long time looking for parking, I mean it was hard to find a parking for a 15 passanger van and a trailer. Then we got ourselves into the worst situation ever. We found a parking garage and decided to finally suck it up and pay for it...little did we know that the van wouldn't fit in the parking garage. So we had to back out of the garage...onto a busy city street, keep in mind none of us knew how to back up a van. It took 30 minutes to back that van out. During the process I told an old lady to go fuck herself because she was telling us to hurry up. She deserved it and was being snotty towards me. So we finally find a parking in an empty lot to park in. Finally after all that trouble, we reach cyber dogs. This is a staple of Seattle vegan eats for me. They have the biggest, and best chili cheese dogs ever. They also serve vegan tuna melts. I got a "California" which was a hot dog wrapped in bacon with cheese and onions. I also got a chili cheese dog.
Cyber dogs was a success. When we were done we headed to camp no where. Let me just say that driving in big citys with a van is horrible. Especially one way roads. We get to camp nowhere and it was the same old crusty place, just a collective of kids living together. The show started and the garage was way smaller than I remember. I broke another string, like I did the night before in Redding. The set was no fun at all. I really didn't enjoy it. I think I stoked myself out so much for Seattle that not even if we had an amazing show it would'ntve met my expectations. We did get a grip of free vegan donuts though. Last night I just went to sleep after we played. I wasn't feeling too good. I was annoyed with everything and everyone.
This morning I woke up to shit smeared all over our van windows. So we peed all over their handles and people contributed shit to smear. I'm done writing.
Life is a pigsty.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Day 4.
Lastnight I didn't update my blog cause I was too busy watching the Indecision dvd with everyone and eating awesome food.
Yesterday started off slow, everyone woke up at noon-1ish. I woke up at 9, freezing inside the van because I was way too tired to get up with all my stuff at 4 in the morning (when we arrived to redding after the show at harjits). So me and Kevan slept in the van and woke up at 9...which is considerably late for me. We walked into the house, where bodies were lying all over the floor and we just looked around. It was a punk house, so I wasn't expecting the nicest house in the world, but it definitely worked. I got in the shower and I could barely stand how hot the water was, the north definitely has their water down. We sat around for a good half an hour talking about random stuff, such as how cold it was (20 degrees) and I looked outside and it started snowing, it was a nice thing to see once again.
Anyway, we all got ready and we headed to a thai food place, it was pretty good, I would have rather eaten a burrito, but it was good. I didn't mind. At lunch I started talking to their one guitarist, Joey who is a smiths/morrissey fan as well. He does his hair and dresses very greaseresque. I enjoy him and his funny antics. I can see myself liking him a lot more in the future. It also helped that he complimented my song writing abilities with the new 7 generations songs. He said that the first time he heard apostasy that he got chills down his spine...that is very flattering.
After lunch we went back home and watched super bad. I couldn't sit through more than half of that movie, I've seen it too many times. So we waited for Nate to come back with the jumper cables because our van battery died (the people who drove last didn't unplug the tom tom and ipod charger) so we waited around until he came. After Nate came with the jumper cables we set out on a mission to buy chains for our van, do to the snow in Oregon. We searched all over, target, k mart (they aren't extinct, but they're dead), sports authority, and then finally we decided it was do or die at walmart. Walking out with 50 pound chains is a lot easier than it seems, and a lot scarier than anything I have ever done, but it had to be done, we were limited with money and I was also not going to support some shitty company like walmart. After that we headed to the local health food store to store up for the drive we had the next day. I got some almonds and dried mango and some fruit strips. While I was buying my snapple the girl who was working the cash register asked me if I was from around the town...and I asked what gave it away, she said "no one around here is that cultured"? I asked if she was into going to shows and tht she should come and she said shed be there. After that we headed back to the house because it was close to showtime. We all got packed up and dressed and were on our way. We got to the garage that the show was being held at it was very D.I.Y. and very muddy as well. After scoping it out we decided to pull the van around from the abandoned video store that we parked in front of, to unload. There was red mud everywhere do to the rain, I almost slipped a couple of times. We loaded in and watched the first band, they were liked a punk band that practices in their garage, they weren't bad. It was freezing inside the garage, you could see your breath inside of it, even with all those people inside. I was layered with gloves and a jacket and worried I wouldn't be able to play well do to my hands being so cold. After the first band, we were up. Setting up is tedious this tour, do to the excessive amount of equipment we have...but it's worth it. Last night was the first night we decided to use the red light as a backlight with all the other lights off. It was hard to see at first but my eyes got used to it. I was very not stoked about the set, for myself. I broke a string during the second to last song...so I decided against restringing and playing and sat the rest of the set out. After us went the separation, they just get better and better each day...I'm really starting to like those guys as a band and as people (I've known their singer Ben for quite sometime), but I meant the rest of the band. After the separation Bens brothers metal band played...it was alright, not really my thing, but it wasn't unbearable. After the show we headed back to the house and sat around watching the indecision dvd. The girls (who's names escape me at the moment) cooked awesome carrots and walnuts, and awesome chicken style seitan. Then nate came home and made his signature mac&chreese. It was good. After being fed and was full me and Ben decided to hit the sack, cause we had to wake up at 5 today. And now here I am, in the van writing this at 6 a.m. In the van on the way to seattle. I said my goodbyes to people I wasn't going to see again and got in the van. We got situated and headed for the gas station...at the gas station, thomas, bryan, eric and I took apart oreos and smeared them all over the separations van...I made sure to get the drivers side window.
I think that's a decent wrap up of the day. I'm assuming no one will read this tour journal...but whatever. I'm going to try and fall asleep listening to new order.
Alone forever,
xadrianx
Yesterday started off slow, everyone woke up at noon-1ish. I woke up at 9, freezing inside the van because I was way too tired to get up with all my stuff at 4 in the morning (when we arrived to redding after the show at harjits). So me and Kevan slept in the van and woke up at 9...which is considerably late for me. We walked into the house, where bodies were lying all over the floor and we just looked around. It was a punk house, so I wasn't expecting the nicest house in the world, but it definitely worked. I got in the shower and I could barely stand how hot the water was, the north definitely has their water down. We sat around for a good half an hour talking about random stuff, such as how cold it was (20 degrees) and I looked outside and it started snowing, it was a nice thing to see once again.
Anyway, we all got ready and we headed to a thai food place, it was pretty good, I would have rather eaten a burrito, but it was good. I didn't mind. At lunch I started talking to their one guitarist, Joey who is a smiths/morrissey fan as well. He does his hair and dresses very greaseresque. I enjoy him and his funny antics. I can see myself liking him a lot more in the future. It also helped that he complimented my song writing abilities with the new 7 generations songs. He said that the first time he heard apostasy that he got chills down his spine...that is very flattering.
After lunch we went back home and watched super bad. I couldn't sit through more than half of that movie, I've seen it too many times. So we waited for Nate to come back with the jumper cables because our van battery died (the people who drove last didn't unplug the tom tom and ipod charger) so we waited around until he came. After Nate came with the jumper cables we set out on a mission to buy chains for our van, do to the snow in Oregon. We searched all over, target, k mart (they aren't extinct, but they're dead), sports authority, and then finally we decided it was do or die at walmart. Walking out with 50 pound chains is a lot easier than it seems, and a lot scarier than anything I have ever done, but it had to be done, we were limited with money and I was also not going to support some shitty company like walmart. After that we headed to the local health food store to store up for the drive we had the next day. I got some almonds and dried mango and some fruit strips. While I was buying my snapple the girl who was working the cash register asked me if I was from around the town...and I asked what gave it away, she said "no one around here is that cultured"? I asked if she was into going to shows and tht she should come and she said shed be there. After that we headed back to the house because it was close to showtime. We all got packed up and dressed and were on our way. We got to the garage that the show was being held at it was very D.I.Y. and very muddy as well. After scoping it out we decided to pull the van around from the abandoned video store that we parked in front of, to unload. There was red mud everywhere do to the rain, I almost slipped a couple of times. We loaded in and watched the first band, they were liked a punk band that practices in their garage, they weren't bad. It was freezing inside the garage, you could see your breath inside of it, even with all those people inside. I was layered with gloves and a jacket and worried I wouldn't be able to play well do to my hands being so cold. After the first band, we were up. Setting up is tedious this tour, do to the excessive amount of equipment we have...but it's worth it. Last night was the first night we decided to use the red light as a backlight with all the other lights off. It was hard to see at first but my eyes got used to it. I was very not stoked about the set, for myself. I broke a string during the second to last song...so I decided against restringing and playing and sat the rest of the set out. After us went the separation, they just get better and better each day...I'm really starting to like those guys as a band and as people (I've known their singer Ben for quite sometime), but I meant the rest of the band. After the separation Bens brothers metal band played...it was alright, not really my thing, but it wasn't unbearable. After the show we headed back to the house and sat around watching the indecision dvd. The girls (who's names escape me at the moment) cooked awesome carrots and walnuts, and awesome chicken style seitan. Then nate came home and made his signature mac&chreese. It was good. After being fed and was full me and Ben decided to hit the sack, cause we had to wake up at 5 today. And now here I am, in the van writing this at 6 a.m. In the van on the way to seattle. I said my goodbyes to people I wasn't going to see again and got in the van. We got situated and headed for the gas station...at the gas station, thomas, bryan, eric and I took apart oreos and smeared them all over the separations van...I made sure to get the drivers side window.
I think that's a decent wrap up of the day. I'm assuming no one will read this tour journal...but whatever. I'm going to try and fall asleep listening to new order.
Alone forever,
xadrianx
Friday, December 28, 2007
Day 3.
Right now I'm laying down in the loft of the van, listening to Isis. Today was a pretty good day. I woke up early and Kevan, Eric, and I went grocery shopping. It was a near humbling experience, but it was worth it. I got a call from my mom crying, telling me that they took my brother away to jail. I calmed her down though, I explained to her that we both knew it was going to happen eventually...and maybe that it might straighten him out. I don't believe in the social justice system at all....however in this case I do believe that it might humble my brother...if not just erase his warrents. Anyway, that was hard to deal with. Knowing my mom is so sad about the situation with my brother and me being far from home. But life must go on, unfortunately.
We got home and waited for everyone to get ready. The girl who's house we stayed at told us to come to her work so she can hook us up with food. On tour you have to eat every chance you get, you never know when you're going to eat next. Anyway, on our way over to San jose we decide to start a nice friendly van war. So I told Eric to go put Orange juice on their windshield, which he did. We knew very well what we were getting our selves into, but we decided to persue the mission anyway. They quickly retaliated with vitamin water on our windshield. That wasn't so bad. So on our way to san jose we were discussing our plans for future attacks, and immediately the idea of shitting on their van came up, I was all for it but we decided it was wayy to soon so we didn't attack them. So anway, we all pull into the parking lot and every thing is fine, then they decided to throw fire works at my feet, which I can take. I didn't mind it. So we all went into good karma, I didn't get anything. People just gave me their left overs..and that was satisfying enough. Then I decide to get revenge by leaving before everybody and going into our van and getting my day old eggless egg salad and flat bread and putting it on their windshield and smushing it around. It worked, smelled disgusting and looked gross. But we were stuck in the lot so they took the bread with the left over salad and put it all over our windshield. I immediately backfired with a coke all over their windshield. Then I declared it was time to take it to the next level. I told our roadie bryan to shit in a bag and throw it at their van. Everyone disagreed, but I strongly pushed for it. So he decided to do it. Everyone was gagging and eric was hanging out the window dry heaving as he was driving so he made me switch to the drivers seat. So we pull over next to them...and eric is in the passengers seat on the verge of vomiting..and their bassist harry comes up and asks what's wrong, we were all laughing and just said nothing. So he goes back to their van, I don't know why they were just sitting waiting there...but Bryan decided it was time. He ran out the van with shit in his hand and wiped it literally all over the side of the van...the look of everyones face, in disgust was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They couldn't believe what was happening to their van. Bryan took it even futher and threw the reminants of the feces into their van. It hit their roadie jack in the face and he came out with fecal matter on his face. It was possibly one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed in my entire life. They ran out of the van with hummus in hand and threw it all over the van, we didn't care. We were too busy laughing, because anything they did was nothing compared to what we did. They drove off, and we followed. We stopped at a gas stationg where they cleaned up the shit on the side of their van...and we layed some ground rules down. As soon as they were set we parted ways and headed towards oakland for the show. We got to oakland in I'd say in 2 hours. We got to Harjits house and me and kevan wanted to go to AK press, so harjit took us. We got to the warehouse and I was overwhelmed by how many books were there...so many I wanted. But I didn't really want to buy any books. Anyway, we go back to the house and hang around until show time. Harjit showed us the guitar that Far used during "water & solutions", it was definitely a highlight of my hardcore career. Anyway, motherspeed started the show and dukes up played, I'm glad they do what they do. Luis and all those guys are very nice and I enjoy seeing them when I do. The separation played before us and what can I say? They're all good guys and nice dudes, and they are heavy as hell live. I'm glad I get to spend 6 more days with those guys. We headlined, and I thought it was a fun set, except I broke a string...but whatever. We were loud so I didn't care. So after the show we loaded up and now I'm here in the van writing this long, boring entry as everyones inside lane splitters, a pizza place that has vegan friendly pizza. I've been around people too much today. So I'm hanging in the van. Tonight we're driving to Redding, where the Separation is from. Its about a 3 hour drive, and I think I'm just going to sleep the whole way. Tomorrow should be filled with more fun. But then again, I'm involved...so I doubt it can be that much fun.
That's all, my hands hurt from typing.
Truly mine,
XadrianX
We got home and waited for everyone to get ready. The girl who's house we stayed at told us to come to her work so she can hook us up with food. On tour you have to eat every chance you get, you never know when you're going to eat next. Anyway, on our way over to San jose we decide to start a nice friendly van war. So I told Eric to go put Orange juice on their windshield, which he did. We knew very well what we were getting our selves into, but we decided to persue the mission anyway. They quickly retaliated with vitamin water on our windshield. That wasn't so bad. So on our way to san jose we were discussing our plans for future attacks, and immediately the idea of shitting on their van came up, I was all for it but we decided it was wayy to soon so we didn't attack them. So anway, we all pull into the parking lot and every thing is fine, then they decided to throw fire works at my feet, which I can take. I didn't mind it. So we all went into good karma, I didn't get anything. People just gave me their left overs..and that was satisfying enough. Then I decide to get revenge by leaving before everybody and going into our van and getting my day old eggless egg salad and flat bread and putting it on their windshield and smushing it around. It worked, smelled disgusting and looked gross. But we were stuck in the lot so they took the bread with the left over salad and put it all over our windshield. I immediately backfired with a coke all over their windshield. Then I declared it was time to take it to the next level. I told our roadie bryan to shit in a bag and throw it at their van. Everyone disagreed, but I strongly pushed for it. So he decided to do it. Everyone was gagging and eric was hanging out the window dry heaving as he was driving so he made me switch to the drivers seat. So we pull over next to them...and eric is in the passengers seat on the verge of vomiting..and their bassist harry comes up and asks what's wrong, we were all laughing and just said nothing. So he goes back to their van, I don't know why they were just sitting waiting there...but Bryan decided it was time. He ran out the van with shit in his hand and wiped it literally all over the side of the van...the look of everyones face, in disgust was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. They couldn't believe what was happening to their van. Bryan took it even futher and threw the reminants of the feces into their van. It hit their roadie jack in the face and he came out with fecal matter on his face. It was possibly one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed in my entire life. They ran out of the van with hummus in hand and threw it all over the van, we didn't care. We were too busy laughing, because anything they did was nothing compared to what we did. They drove off, and we followed. We stopped at a gas stationg where they cleaned up the shit on the side of their van...and we layed some ground rules down. As soon as they were set we parted ways and headed towards oakland for the show. We got to oakland in I'd say in 2 hours. We got to Harjits house and me and kevan wanted to go to AK press, so harjit took us. We got to the warehouse and I was overwhelmed by how many books were there...so many I wanted. But I didn't really want to buy any books. Anyway, we go back to the house and hang around until show time. Harjit showed us the guitar that Far used during "water & solutions", it was definitely a highlight of my hardcore career. Anyway, motherspeed started the show and dukes up played, I'm glad they do what they do. Luis and all those guys are very nice and I enjoy seeing them when I do. The separation played before us and what can I say? They're all good guys and nice dudes, and they are heavy as hell live. I'm glad I get to spend 6 more days with those guys. We headlined, and I thought it was a fun set, except I broke a string...but whatever. We were loud so I didn't care. So after the show we loaded up and now I'm here in the van writing this long, boring entry as everyones inside lane splitters, a pizza place that has vegan friendly pizza. I've been around people too much today. So I'm hanging in the van. Tonight we're driving to Redding, where the Separation is from. Its about a 3 hour drive, and I think I'm just going to sleep the whole way. Tomorrow should be filled with more fun. But then again, I'm involved...so I doubt it can be that much fun.
That's all, my hands hurt from typing.
Truly mine,
XadrianX
Day 2.
This morning I woke up at 5:30 and just stared outside the window until I finally got the courage to get up and go take a shower. I don't like bothering people when they sleep, or making noise, a lot of people flip out if you wake them up, I don't. I don't mind if people wake me up. If I'm really tired then I'll just sleep, if I'm not then I'll stay awake. Anyway, we all got our selves together. That took about an hour and a half. We left for a grocery store and hardware store so we can get a lock for the trailor. We went to home depot and I decided to get a lock. Then we realized the lights weren't working on the trailor, but we decided we didn't care. So we got driving for an hour and we stopped to get gas, luckily there was a hardware store next to the gas station so I went in and got wires for the trailor. We spent like 45 minutes fixing that whole thing. Then finally we were off to Santa Cruz. The drive to be way longer than I remembered, that was probably because the driver at the time was slow. We made it to santa cruz at 3:30. We went to the record store and everyone got some records. I decided against it. We went to saturn and got vegan shakes, I asked for a vanilla and they gave me Chocolate, I wasn't satisfied. We walked to the boardwalk that happened to be closed and then we walked to the lost boys bridge, which wasn't exciting either. Santa Cruz is dead during the winter, but I love it anyway. The show was small. We played with a band called deers or deer or whateverand they sounded like I hate myself. Ben from the separation is an amazing dude. I'm excited to be spending my week with him. Right now I'm laying in my little nook up in pryesh's room and its nice to be away from everybody although I can hear everything. Everyone took a group photo with their shirts off and in their underwear. I didn't feel comfortable doing it, so I didn't. Everyone called me a party pooper, I agree. I am the worst.
Sincerely mine,
XadrianX
Sincerely mine,
XadrianX
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Day 1.
I woke up this morning at 5:45 and started getting ready to leave on this "adventure" of 9 days. I met up with Nicholas at the storage place, my dad dropped me off. I wonder what he thinks about this, me leaving my job and all my responsibilites behind to play to a couple of kids in a small room and run myself into dept. It sounds terrible but I always look back on tour as times that I was glad to be out on the road and not in my house, or stuck in a redundent routine of work...and well, nothing else. I've side tracked too much...
Anyway, we ended up in Santa Barbara 30 minutes before the show started. There was a small turn out, but I expected it. The show was o.k. A few good friends, a few randoms. We played out of full stacks and it was destruction supreme on peoples ears. After the show we went to some 24 hour burrito place. I didn't get anything cause I didn't want to spend money till seattle. Tomorrow we go to Santa Cruz, we're playing a free show at a small cafe that's actually a house.
Anyway, we ended up in Santa Barbara 30 minutes before the show started. There was a small turn out, but I expected it. The show was o.k. A few good friends, a few randoms. We played out of full stacks and it was destruction supreme on peoples ears. After the show we went to some 24 hour burrito place. I didn't get anything cause I didn't want to spend money till seattle. Tomorrow we go to Santa Cruz, we're playing a free show at a small cafe that's actually a house.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
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