Shock/Neff in Huntington WV - DAY 3

Rolled out of Crayola House pretty nice and early and started the drive into West Virginia, where I’ve never played before. Short stop at a Waffle House and into the mountains.

So, some more info about this tour van. Lance bought it a while ago for $900, put some new wheels on, got some other new parts, but there are still a few things that are a work in progress. For one, the gas gauge doesn’t work, so we’ve been doing some math to figure the mileage and trying to play it safe with fillups. Much figuring has gone into how much gas will be consumed, how much it will cost, and if there’s any chance of breaking even on the trip.

About 30 miles from our destination of Huntington WV, the engine suddenly starts sounding really weird. Just really erratic. Slowing down, we make a quick decision to pull into the rest area that’s right there instead of trying to get the extra mile to an exit. The engine sounds like it’s hopping around, sputtering and acting crazy. Then it dies out. Lance starts it again and while idling we open the hood and the engine is actually, physically jumping around erratically. Lance and I just look at each other and decide that is NOT RIGHT. Neither of us is an expert, but it seems something is seriously wrong. After a minute of this, the engine can be started but sputters out each time after a few seconds. It’s not going anywhere.

Lance calls Zack Kouns, who set up that night’s show and lives roughly in the area. We may need a rescue and a tow and then who knows. At this point I develop a theory. Maybe there’s something wrong with the engine, but MAYBE the reason it won’t run is that we’re out of gas! Lance is leaning toward the theory that the engine is totally fragged, but after thinking about how hard the van was working going up all those steep hills, we agree that it’s possible it’s out of gas. Zack says he can meet us in 2 hours. We can see a gas station just down the highway at that next exit and estimate it would take an hour to walk and return with gas, so we decide to do that.

I wrap a neon yellow shirt over my shoulders (for visibility) and we head down the highway, making contingency plans as we go. What to do if the van is dead: rent a U-Haul straight back to Philly or try to rent a van to complete the tour? If the van needs repairs but they’re expensive: abandon it or cough up the money? Meanwhile a few cars yell something at us out the windows, and I’m not sure what but I think one of them said “WEIRD!” Anyway, the lady at the gas station was friendly, we filled our gas can and hiked it back.

Moment of truth, gas goes in, and after a few tries the van starts running! Open that hood and the engine is purring and looking happy as can be. Just out of gas! No engine troubles at all! Best case scenario.

Call Zack with the good news and roll to the venue, Funky Towne, which is a house that holds lots of shows. They’re the one with the rainbow flag, and inside despite being a carpeted house-house, it’s partly set up to be like an art/community/liberal-anarcho-commune center with gender politics zines and a book & clothing swap near the door. Brandon, the soundman/resident explains that they’ve been doing lots and lots of shows and the scene has been pretty good. Apparently Huntington is a strangely DIY show friendly place, and even gives out noise permits to punk houses! There’s a flyer for my friends’ band Curse on the door. He also helps set up their totally pro P.A. – also odd for a house show. West Virginia is feeling really friendly.

Show time, I play first. Third show of tour is when things start to gel. I’ve debugged the issues with 3 pieces of gear, and put in a pretty good show I think. There aren’t too many people out, and we’re told there’s some competition from some kind of football event and I think another show? Always odd to me when sports are considered competition for a punk/noise show, but I guess even weirds love sports. Zack Kouns plays second, and does a KILLER set. I’ve only seen him do more abstract vocals and sax sets, but this one has electronics and songs. His cover of PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love” was amazing! Dick Neff goes last and everyone is impressed.

Some resident of Funky Towne even baked a small pizza for us! I don’t even know who and didn’t get to thank them, but it was delicious. Thanks! People were still hanging and chatting, but I was still pretty tired so climbed into my sleeping bag on the couch and the resident cat, Prancy, promptly settled on my chest to sleep. Survived my first tour breakdown/not-really-a-breakdown.

END DAY THREE

Shock/Neff tour diary DAY TWO Harrisonburg VA

Friday, first day of REAL tour, is still a work day for me see, but I figure since it’s my last day ever I can have some leeway and spend the second half of the day working from the van passenger seat via 3G-wi-fi hookup. Noontime departure, takes longer than planned, some stops to deposit a final check that arrived by FedEx that morning, get gas, try to make this boombox work. The van has only AM radio and a busted speaker, which sounds pretty gnarly and cool actually (sounds kind of like Newton). Boombox won’t run on batteries and the van’s cigarette lighter power won’t work. No tunes!

On the drive to Harrisonburg, VA I’m trying to do some more work, send some files, update things. Lance’s van, known as the Crimson Juggernaut (and some other names) is huge. A Ford Econoline extended cab, there’s space for another whole rock band, even with all our stuff, including the Dick Neff drum kit and a couple big amps. It’s also pretty old and loud, and I find that the hot air blowing out of gaps around the engine is circulating and distributing a layer of rust grit on me. When we stop at a gas station with a shop vac, I’ll try to clear some of that out.

A combination of late start and several traffic slowdowns conspire to make us arrive in Harrisonburg pretty late. The show was set up by Billy of Buck Gooter, who are a pretty weird band. That’s what everyone says about them, and I guess it varies person to person whether that’s a compliment or an insult, but being a weird band is a good thing in my mind.

It’s a house show at a place called Crayola House and we pull up about 9:40. First familiar face inside the door is Terry Turtle, the elder member of Buck Gooter. He tells us that the show has been moved! We talk to some of the Crayola residents and Billy, and find out that the concept is that another house nearby was having a party and they have a fire pit, so the show is going to be held there. Billy seems a little bummed and opposed to the idea, but the Crayolites have the final word so we help Buck Gooter load their gear back into their van and head to this other house. Once there, all is really quiet and Lance, Billy, Terry and I all kind of try to peer in the windows and get some idea if we have the address right. It’s about 10:30 now.

Eventually some familiar people show up and it’s the place and lead us down to the basement. Despite the weird beginnings and late start, when each of us plays a little crowd of people come down to watch, so things turn out pretty good. The new Dick Neff sounds and songs are great! Radio Shock plays second, pretty much the same set as last night in Brooklyn, but with everything working a little better. Billy Gooter complains that I just played 3 songs, but each one has an improv intro and/or outro, so it’s really like 6 songs. Buck Gooter plays last, doing their heavy industrial protest rock thing.

We get some money, way more than expected from a house party donations scenario (I guess there were a couple of generous donators) and ride back to the Crayola House to sleep. Couch and pull-out sofa bed. My first good night of sleep in a week. END DAY TWO!

Shock/Neff TOUR DIARY: pre-tour day 1

Tour diary time. I know I started a recap of my west coast tour and didn’t get far into it, but now I’m launching into a realish-time account of this little trip to the Midwest and back. This time Radio Shock is travelling with Dick Neff, so since we’re splitting drive time, I’ve got some writing time.

Unofficial night one of tour was a show at Death by Audio in Brooklyn, a place that feels pretty much like home, since I’m there about once or twice a week on average. Life is pretty weird now. But that’s good. It just turned fall and I had this week tripped planned and a break planned from this real job. Then the company writing me checks decided to reorganize, please make new versions of all our website, logo, promo materials, etc. in time for this big event in a couple weeks – oh, and by the way when you’re done with that, you’re fired.

Seems like a pretty dumb way to go about things, but hey I’m not a corporate decision-maker. Just a coincidence this synchronized with start of a tour, but it’s made the last week crazy. Little sleep, didn’t even have time to practice or decide what I’ll be playing, barely got a handful of T-shirts made, and a show the night  before packing and getting out of Brooklyn.

The Death by Audio show was GREAT. Set up by Weasel Walter and featuring mostly bands that are amazing and famous-in-my-mind. I played promptly at 9 (:07) and still at the end of the short set there was a full room. Not packed, but enough people that I couldn’t see the far wall, which is where my standard for a “good crowd” is at. It was definitely a no-practice show, lots of punching buttons randomly, that device just makes a buzzing noise so can't play that song, let’s see how this song goes... but admittedly that’s kind of how it works even when I am really in practice.

Greg Fox and G. Lucas Crane Duo set was crazy and fun. Lance/Dick Neff commented that they should call this collab Fox and Crane, since that sounds like a kung fu movie. Lucas did his super-garbled/scrambled tape loops (plus extras) thing, and Greg did super-fast but loose as needed drums. The styles merged really well.

Xaddax are killer, Nick Sakes of Dazzling Killmen fame and Chryssie of My Name is Rar-Rar fame (-in-my-mind). Hard mathy punk/noise rock. Cellular Chaos, which is the noise-glam band where Weasel plays guitar. It was the last show for them with their current bassist Ceci, so maybe some of the crowd came out to see her off. And up last was Microwaves from Pittsburgh, legendary dudes who are super-skilled and play hard.

Actually, everyone else on the bill was a skilled musician, which is still a little intimidating to me. I don’t even know any chords. But aesthetically, all the bands were kind of on the same page, so it was cool.

There was a really cool contingent of kids at the show who were visiting from South Australia! (I forget the town name) and they were dancing for every band, which is AWESOME. They told me about how Lightning Bolt played in their town and it was the best thing ever and they were going to see Lightning Bolt play the All Tomorrow’s Parties fest later that week. I am SO glad they found our show. It totally made everything that much more awesome. They told me to check out a band called McDonald Duck Éclair, which I can just tell is killer from the name alone.

Lance/Dick Neff showed up for Microwaves’ last song in his enormous van, which is our tour vehicle: The Crimson Juggernaut. Dick Neff wasn’t playing because I just got myself added as the one-too-many-bands late addition myself.  We went back to sleep at my apartment, me for just a few hours, doing more work for my ex-job (why?) into the night and starting the next morning!

END DAY ONE.

Stay tuned for further adventures in which we find out where the Harrisonburg show was moved to and why, and whether Lance's tour van is totally busted or just out of gas! TO BE CONTINUED...

Radio Shock and others at Cake-Shop on May 7th

Video flyer for this show I'm playing on Thursday. It will be fun!

Richmond VA at CHURCH OF CRYSTAL LIGHT Sept.15

Wake up in Asheville, NC. After collecting ourselves in the morning we get up and hit a nice greasy spoon diner just a block from Ted’s place. Eggs and pancakes and all that good stuff. It’s a long drive this day to Richmond for the last show of our 3-band touring. This time I ride with Brian and Emo in Wendy’s car and she rides in the van. Again, really scenic coming down out of the mountains of North Carolina.

The Richmond show is at this new space which Narwhalz and the Adult Moan boys are renting. It’s a really nice space, plenty of room for shows, first floor storefront in a really great location, and they have the second floor for living space. There’s some cool art up on the walls and the front window has the name of the space: The Church of Crystal Light. Of course, there are some drawbacks, like the lack of any working shower and the condition of the existing bathroom. But still, for a living/show space, it’s a great spot.

We roll in a little before 8 and the Pom Kiki crew is all there. The Head Molt kids even came up for the show! Load stuff in and chat, then we all head out to try and find food, which kind of turns into a big confusing debacle involving much hungry frustration. In the end I do manage to get some pizza, and finally everyone is back at the space and it’s starting to fill up. Of course, this big food quest took us all about an hour and a half or so, so it’s getting kind of late, especially for a Monday show. The first band takes a little while getting set up too, so things get off to a pretty late start.

First band is pretty fun, 2 guys who do a dissonant noisy song, then almost a straight up pop-punk song, then a more noisy song and they’re done. RADIO SHOCK’s on next and I set up as fast as possible. The place is really full and it’s a pretty awesome scene. There seem to be lots of college kid types who have never seen anything like these bands before. As I set up, Davey tells me that there are cops hanging around outside, so maybe I want to wait to start being loud. So I give it a couple minutes, then start.


More photos from the show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acemcmanagan/sets/72157607968713302/show/

My show goes really well but in the middle of the last song Brian Narwhalz says into my ear “You have to stop right now. The cops are here.” So I make everyone start clapping along and then cut out the music, leaving them clapping to end the song. Then Brian Narwhalz and Jonathan from Adult Moan get on the mike and tell everyone to go home right now, sorry, but the show has to stop. The cops were cool, no tickets, but I guess it was too loud outside the place, or it was too late, or the neighbors complained, or some combination of the above.

After selling a couple of CDs and getting some email addresses I step away to phone home and return to the place to find a small group of people hanging around and I’m told that Adult Moan are going to do a performance for us! The best! Adult Moan are one of my favorite bands, and I can’t really do justice to their performance with a description, but I can tell you that it’s a little more like performance art than most musical bands and it’s sort of “infantile.” In fact, this show involved both band members stuffing themselves into a pink furry sac while shouting “Mommy!” “Go back in!” Ended with them both drenched in beer from head to toe and having smashed many of the keys off of one Casio SK-1 keyboard. All for the 10 friends watching. Truly an honor. We were also treated to a performance of Brian Narwhalz’s comedy act, “Just Kidding.” I’ve said it before: Stand-up comedy is the new noise.

Then we pull the mattresses, which have been serving as sound insulation, out of the front windows to sleep on and everyone claims a spot. Some people also order another pizza, which takes an hour to arrive. We hear stories of ghost sightings within the space, the second place we’ve stayed which we’ve been told is haunted. No ghosts appear however.

The next morning I take off to a nearby coffee shop to get online (and some coffee) and I also make a quick stop in the comic book shop on the same block. I get a call telling me that everyone is getting ready to go, and return shortly to the van being mostly packed up. Say goodbyes to the Pom Kiki Crew and score a new Narwhalz T-shirt, and it’s time to head home. Philadelphia for everyone else, and on to Brooklyn for me. Traffic is only a little bit crazy and after returning everyone to their residences, Brian gives me a lift to 30th St. Station and I catch the SEPTA train out of Philly around 9:45 or so. I’m back at my apartment by 1AM.

Asheville, NC - Sunday, Sept.14

So I’ll try to finish up this batch of tour stories. Sunday, September 14, it’s time to break down the tents and re-load the van. Do some last minute CD trades and say goodbyes to the Birmingham crew and Justin and others. Before leaving town we make one more visit to the Farmer’s Market for some food and a few more supplies.

We now have one more person and one dog (and another car, thankfully) in our crew because Wendy met us in Atlanta. Oh, I forgot to mention her performance at Freedumb as SUICIDE MAGNETS, which was really cool. It involved a couple of TV monitors showing her videos while she unraveled this long red fabric cloak, which everyone in the small room spread out over our heads. It felt like being in a tent with Wendy as the central pillar standing over a video podium. Like a surreal noise tent revival.

I go in the car with Wendy and her dog, Emo. It’s a bit of a drive, but not too bad, getting to Asheville, NC. Very scenic, up through the mountains. So the last time I played in Asheville it was weird but totally awesome. It was in a friendly coffee house and somehow it filled up with college kids (mostly, I think) who didn’t really break out and dance but were one of the most vocal and enthusiastic crowds I’ve ever played for. I also played with EAR PWR, who are a dance-power duo. So this time we also played with EAR PWR but everything else was totally different.

The show is at a place called the New French Bar, and when it was booked we were told up front that it’s a weird place but it’s the only place to play. And it is kind of weird and maybe kind of inappropriate for our bands. It feels like a “classy” bar, with a room full of art in the back and windows all the way around in front. Strangely, we’re playing in the front room. The place is definitely filled (well, one quarter filled maybe) with locals. Like, biker-rock-looking dudes and women in tube tops and make-up.

I think some others in the crew are a little weirded out and/or bummed out by the scene, but I’m into it. This is the kind of show I’m more used to playing, for a bunch of unsuspecting and possibly antagonistic people in an inappropriate setting. I like a challenge. So we decide that I will play last of our touring group since RADIO SHOCK can kind of bridge the gap between the noisier stuff and EAR PWR’s poppy stuff. HYLAND HOLOGRAM plays first, and it seems like there is no one there who wants to hear it. And it’s LOUD and sounds HARSH. It actually sounds great, but I’m ready for the regulars to revolt or evacuate to the back room. Instead they show astounding determination to stay right at the bar and completely ignore the deafening sound.

One serious Harley Davidson looking dude with long dreadlocks takes to heckling, shouting “turn it up!” and “rock and roll!” between songs. While DRUMS LIKE MACHINE GUNS are setting up he’s shouting “This better rock!” And DLMG is even louder. All the locals stay put. There appear to be a few people there for the show now, but they’re mostly lurking. As DLMG are packing up, Dreadlocks is going “Hey long-hair, hey long-hair!” Without paying attention to who is talking Brian announces “Call me long-hair one more time… I’ll make you bleed your own blood!” and before he can finish this statement of course: “Hey long-hair!” from Dreadlocks. Everyone looks a little nervous about this situation, but Brian goes over to the guy and pals around with him a bit, smooths it over. Dreadlocks is just a loud drunk, no real threat, probably…

I’m ready to do the RADIO SHOCK show and the guy is at it again: “This had better rock!” So I’m accustomed to hecklers, first thing I say is “Okay, here’s what were going to do! After every song I want Captain Dreadlocks to tell me if it rocked, on a scale of one to ten!” No response from Dreadlocks so I play the first song and as soon as I’m done I point right at him. Nothing. He’s just looking at his beer. Everyone who’s watching me looks a little nervous. Someone says “seven point five” (or something like that) so I play the next song. After that one I point to the guy again. Again, just silence. He looks like he’s not even paying attention so I say “Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have accomplished something which I’ll bet no other band ever has. I have left Captain Dreadlocks speechless.” Nothing. Nervous looks. “In fact, you all owe me a fee for this service.” He’s still just staring at his beer and at this point I take a moment to wonder if I’ve misjudged the situation and now he’s actually really mad. Play the next song, finish the set. It sounded pretty good I thought. A couple of people started dancing a bit.

When I’m done, Dreadlocks is gone, so I figure he probably just finally got drunk enough to make him happy and went home. EAR PWR go on next and suddenly the place transforms. Several people who I mistook for bar regulars jump up and start dancing and cheering. In fact, these 2 guys who I seriously thought were Lynyrd-Skynyrd-listening locals suddenly become the most enthusiastic, openly gay, bumping and grinding EAR PWR fans. There’s some guy who appears to be a real, professional breakdancer busting out real moves. Very weird. EAR PWR never fails to turn a place into a dance party.

After the show we actually get paid rather well, which is a cool surprise, and Asheville noise-guy Ted says he can put us up at his house, all of us and Emo the dog even. Once at the house, Ted tells us about a 24-hour coffee house nearby which is inhabited by nerds and gamers at all hours. The Hyland Holograms and I have to check it out so we walk off into the misty Asheville night and do in fact find the place. They’ve got a collection of old video game systems and role-playing type board games too. Davey and Lance are checking out some kind of Star Wars board game I think? I get a cappuccino. We all agree that we should have tried to play there.

Back at the house everyone else is watching old videos of AC/DC on Youtube, which are kind of amazing. Ted’s got some Yamaha keyboards which are different model versions of the one I use, so I have to check those out. Then it’s sleeping time. It’s pretty late. Just floor space, but I sleep pretty well regardless.

* added correction: I meant the 14th.