Viola! Cameron's tour diary from the second west coast tour in Sept/Oct of 2002. There's some serious rambling in this one but he tried to make it at least entertaining ramble. Not tons of pictures, but some good ones. Here y'are:
9/23/02
Haven't written in here for a while, it'll take some getting used to. A problem I had last time was letting the knowledge that whatever I wrote would be up for everyone to read go and just
writing. I can kind of feel that happening again already. Well, to commence...
Last night: Seattle. Silly excuse for a show. I don't know why I even booked it as I knew it would suck. The industrial cafe
is just such a shitty
place to play (not to mention that we're an unknown band and last night was Sunday). But it's completely isolated, so far out of the way from anything else, and I don't think they put much
effort into the booking end of things. The owner, Mike, is really cool but it's a shitty place to play and I don't think I'll book a show there again, unless I know people will come out to see
us.
So this band, The Guitar Defamation League, played first. Bass, drums and singing. Pretty terrible. They wanted SO badly to be The Minutemen. It
was sad, and their girlfriends were trying to dance to them but they couldn't quite let go. You know when people keep on pushing their hair behind their ears and patting the sides of their
legs that they're uncomfortable dancing in front of people. I'd probably do that too if I were to try to dance in a public place, that's why I don't try. It sucks to be doing something that is
supposedly enhancing your fun factor but to be so freaked out about how stupid you look that you just want to crawl into a hole. Anyway, it was sad and embarrassing and the band, I
think, were under the impression that they were impressing the hell out of all 8 people (that's including us and our girlfriends) there. No fun.
We set up, played like 4 songs back to back, collected and divided our $5, and came home. The highlights of the evening were 1) eating a mozzarella,
basil, and tomato sandwich from the place next door, and seeing an Aphex Twin video while we were setting up. That was some good stuff there.
Eugene tonight, free pizza. I don't give a shit if no one's there tonight (maybe I do a little), it's in the direction of everywhere else, we get free pizza,
and we know the other band, so it should be fun. Plus Courtney's coming down for this show too so that's good. Only makes it 9 days of not seeing her. Mushy mushy.
Oh well about last night, we needed a practice anyway.
9/23/02(night)
Eugene. Staying with Lindsay, I forgot she even lived here. Tonight was okay, nobody there but we got free pizza, as I expected, so all was fine. We had to play really quietly because
of neighbors. It was kind of interesting and fun to play quietly. It limited the number of songs we could play and I think somewhat reduced the energy, but who cares, nobody was there
anyway. Just was fun to switch something. I could actually hear my singing and I didn't even have to strain, which was nice.
9/24/02
Chico tonight. Things keep being disappointing. Tonight we played to about 5 or 6 people, first band included. Boytiger opened, Bethany's such a nice girl. Very enthusiastic. Her new
addition, Skip (I think), seemed the same. Great, now my fucking pen is leaking all over my fingers as I write this. I hope my mom dies or something tomorrow, that would make this the
perfect tour. Jesus fucking christ, where is all this ink coming from?? Ahhh! Fuck.
Anyway, tonight was a disappointment. Much less people than last time. Really the only hope I had for this tour was for it to be a little better than
the first one, and so far it's not working out that way. Bummer. I mean, if you play to five people who don't really understand what you're doing in the first place, how can you expect there
to be more people next time you're in town? Seems like a catch 22. Nobody comes and hears you because nobody knows who you are. Nobody knows who you are because nobody's
ever heard you. Solution? Well in a town like Chico, I feel like maybe MTV is your only hope. Same thing in Seattle though. I guess having a cd with good reviews would help you get better
shows. Then more people would see you and come back to see you next time. Let's hope.
Tomorrow's a day off. I don't even feel like the tour's started yet. I might not ever feel like that. I think maybe I was expecting absolute shit the first
time around, so anything that didn't completely suck was a pleasant surprise. This time it's harder because I expect a little more but am getting even less than before.
Still 5 more shows to go though, so maybe it'll get better. And if it doesn't, at least I got to take time off work and make Derek's (the scheduler prick) life a little more difficult. And I get
to be at Brent's wedding, AND we get to sit in during the mastering. My head's pretty much in album mode right now anyway. This tour's almost just an irritation, a distraction from getting
the cd done. But it's still part of the process since we're mastering it in LA.
9/25/02
Day off today. Drove from Chico to Guerneville. Parents' house. Ridiculously hot. Took about 3 1/2 hours. Gonna write this whole entry without the use of "I" or "we". Just kidding.
Mixerman is handing over the reigns to Lance now, should be interesting. I wonder at this point if it's even real. It's so outrageous. If you don't know
what I'm talking about, go to prosoundweb.com and read the whole thing. One of the most entertaining reads
ever, even if his writing style is a bit annoying.
Other than that piece of entertainment, pretty uneventful day. It's pretty awesome, my work left a message wondering why I wasn't there on Monday
morning. Considering the fact that I was three or four days away from my last day there when they talked me into staying by telling me I could have the time off that I needed in order to
go on this tour, and Derek's been bitching about it evidently in the manager meetings, I find it surprising that he went ahead and scheduled me for this week. And still Scott didn't know
that I wasn't coming in even after I talked to Brian and Darren about it the day before and Brian said he'd talk to Derek. I wonder if they've figured it out yet and if I'm going to be in trouble
when I get back. That would be fucking ridiculous. I'm starting to doubt myself though. Did I really write my name in every day of the calendar that I needed off or did I just assume he knew
because of that note I wrote a couple months ago? If I didn't go the calendar route, I might in fact be in trouble. I thought I did though. Hope so.
9/26/02
It's kind of gross, I'll be in the car eating trail mix and pickle chips after a show, and then I'll get home and wash my hands and realize they're really dirty. hmm.
I thought it was a pretty good show tonight. Santa Rosa. We're pretty much guaranteed at least a few people here because
of Ryan's friends. I wish some of my old friends from here were still in contact with me and would come see me when I played. But there were some (maybe about 20) people there tonight.
Not good, but
at least better than the first 3 shows. Even got a couple names for the email list.
It was just a more-fun-than-usual performance. I'm singing better lately. I think I just needed to relax and sing; stop overthinking it so damn much. I
feel it and people said my voice sounded really good tonight. Hopefully they meant it.
Got some shoes for Brent's wedding. Non-leather brown ones from Payless! Woo-hoo for Payless. Seriously though, that place is the only shoe store
I know of that carries a decent selection of non-leather dress shoes. They're shitty shoes, but how often am I going to wear them anyway? I think I just might look pretty spiffy for the
wedding, in my "earth tone" outfit, just like Brent requested. I feel nauseaus. How do you spell that word? nauseus? nawshuss? Yes, I think that's it.
9/27/02
Had a dream that I went to a gourmet granola bar. I ordered some cucumber thing and the girl made it like a cocktail, but then she said something about making it wrong and that she
had to remake it. So Laura, from work, came over and made this other thing and I took it and starting eating, expecting to add my own soy yogurt and soy milk, but it was so good I didn't
want to ruin it. Then my family started saying I took the wrong thing and I couldn't remember what the thing I ordered had in it but I was pretty sure they were right, and I felt bad.
Had another dream before that that I died, and as I was reading all the notes people wrote about me and left at the little alter thing where it happened,
I was very underwhelmed.
My dad put salt in his beer last night, for real! Gross.
9/27/02(night)
Terrible, terrible show tonight. We played fine, but, as expected, "metal night" wasn't really our bag. We got to Kimo's @ around 8 and loaded in. My ears are ringing like a motherfucker
right now and it's hard to concentrate on writing this. Anyway, we were first so we set up and got ready to go right at 9, since I figured the best strategy for tonight would be to get in, start as
early as possible, play a short set, and leave.
They had these boards that were approximately 4'x 4' hanging from chains and Ryan told me that Matt, the booker, had told him to put the amps
on the boards. This made me very nervous as the ceiling at Kimo's isn't so sturdy looking or feeling and I was afraid that my cabinets would tip over or roll off the platforms if the chains
didn't come crashing down first. So, assuming that it was just some stupid metal aesthetic that they were trying to achieve with amps hanging from chains, I opted for the "fuck that" route
and set up my amps on the floor right in front of the platforms. But then Matt came over and told that the amps needed to go on the platforms.
"That makes me really nervous"
"Then you cannot play here"
"Are you serious?" I'm about ready to agree to that proposition right about now, as nobody's there anyway and I'm thinking it's pretty stupid to enforce
the "metal aesthetic" rule so strictly. The only thing I'd be losing is, most likely, any future opportunity to play at Kimo's which, based on my experiences up to now, doesn't seem necessarily
like a bad thing. But still, I don't want to burn any bridges, so the conversation continues.
"Yeah, totally. Look.", Matt says as he demonstrates their sturdiness by jumping up and down on them.
"That's not really what I'm worried about. I'm afraid they'll tip over."
"They won't."
I'm coming into this situation a bit pissed off already because what the fuck reason do I have to want to open up a little metal show at Kimo's? I know
it's not really justifiable to be angry at Matt for this because it's not his fault the previous plans fell through, but I'm still pissed. I don't understand, why the fuck is he so concerned about
having the amps swing from metal fucking chains?!
Finally, after what seemed to be like 3 or 4 minutes of absolute confusion but was probably more like 20 seconds, I realize he's telling me that the
platforms are to reduce the soundwaves travelling through the floor because there have been complaints and they're about to get shut down. Oh!! So Matt explains politely that he doesn't
care if we play or not, but if we play, we have to use the platforms, and we have ten minutes to decide.
So we do it and it turns out to be fine. Much ado about nothing. I greet the 5 people there and explain that we'll be playing a short, metallish set and
will then leave the stage to the other bands. After our third song, there's no applause. Not even from Cory or Jean. "Fuck, this place really does suck", I'm thinking. As we start playing the
4th one, Ryan gives kind of a "what the fuck?" laugh that I chalk up to the fact that there seems to be an extremely loud conversation taking place right in front of the stage. A few seconds
into the song, I turn around and notice that the loud conversation is actually an altercation between what I later found out was a kid who refused to pay the cover and Matt the booker, and
everybody's attention is completely focused on them--not us. We might as well not even be playing a song at this point. I didn't bother to sing into the mic for that song, just kinda sang
toward Ryan in case he needed vocal cues. That was our fourth and final song of the evening.
As we were packing up, Matt came up and said, "that's it?" And I said, "that's it".
Awesome, you guys were really cool!"
I found that statement sort of funny seeing as how he spent most of our set fighting with some asshole. But it was nice of him to say, nonetheless.
We were in such a hurry to get out of there I forgot to talk to Matt about the $. But whatever, there was no way I was going to stay there through three
metal bands just to collect our $20 or whatever it would have been.
So! Can't wait for what the rest of the tour has to offer! I sound (read?) like Rob right now, the ultimate pessimist, but jesus-fucking-christ! How shitty
can this fucking tour be? It's amazing to me.
I also got the news that I'm getting written up and possibly fired when I get back to work because my managers are the two stupidest fucks to ever
walk the planet. According to them, I just up and left, no word to anybody. Nevermind the fact that I almost quit a month or so ago, only to be talked into staying by Scott,who promised
me it'd be okay for me to take this time off. Or the fact that I wrote a note to Derek and wrote it in his stupid little calendar that hasn't even been available for anyone to post
requests in for the past couple weeks. What the fuck??? How do people this stupid become managers? I was talking to Courtney about this earlier and she had a good theory about
these types of people. They take their jobs so seriously because they're such limited human beings that they know that being a manager at a restaurant is pretty much all they've got
going for them in life. In turn, they make people who are actually intelligent and who have shit going on outside of the restaurant's lives miserable. Can you tell I'm pissed off? PLEASE
let SLO be good tomorrow!!
9/29/02
SLO was good. Zpie turned out to be a "gourmet pot pie" place and we got free food and beer. The show was lots of fun too. Treluna
opened again and a band called Plus/Minus played last. Weird, same name as my old band. But they were cool, especially the drummer. Turns out that The Dropscience just played
with them a couple days ago too. funny.
Today was Brent's wedding. I have a serious fucking headache right now. I drank too much
champagne. Lots o' fun there too though. I was sitting there, hanging out before the wedding and Brent came over to me and said, "So you
ready to be in a wedding?" I was nervous because everybody had rehearsed it yesterday except for me. And I didn't match the other guys at all. They were all,
except for one, wearing brown suits. I had green plaid pants and a green shirt on. Felt like a weirdo, no tie or anything. I would've put more effort into finding a suit if I had known I was going
to be in the wedding. But it's okay, Brent didn't care, he said it was fine. The reception was fun. Got to hang out with the SD folk. Even saw
Connie & Francesco from the Living Room and that was really cool. Talked to Mia a bunch. Antonio was there with his 6 month old baby. It was fun.
At Jeff's now. He's still in SD, but we needed to stay in LA because we have to be at John
Golden's to master at 11am tomorrow and he's in Ventura. Gonna be tired tomorrow. Oh well, Monday night show, no biggy. It'll be cool to see the mastering process.
10/1/02
I didn't know rats could jump this high. I'm at Matt and Annie's in Redding and her rats can jump all the way to the top of the tank they're in. One of them can at least. Poor rats, they don't
seem to be too happy to be confined like that.
San Diego was last night. It was pretty empty, but at least my friends came. Soul Junk was good as usual. Brent seems so much happier now
that he's married. Maybe it's just my imagination. He was happy last time we were down there too I guess. It's good to be around him though and be able to notice that he's happy.
Anyway, the show was okay. We played well I guess. Rob went on a whole tirade about how inspiring and great it was, so that counts for something.
It's good to get those kind of compliments from him, knowing how strict his taste is. I almost said, "take us on tour with you". Imagine that, going on tour with Pinback. That'd be crazy.
Maybe when and if we get some kind of following, but it wouldn't happen now. I've been wondering, do bands have to be with the same booking agency to tour with each other? Probably
not big famous ones, but I don't know about indie bands.
Two Guys
Recorded
Out Now
Animal Trainers
Beach House Hangover
Another Chance to Fuck Up (live)
