3/24/11 - Denver, CO: w/ Guns n’ Rosa Parks, Lord Green, and Opt Out @ Old Curtis St.
Notes: This wound up being the second to last GnRP show, and probably the best set that band ever played, in my opinion. I miss GnRP already, but oh well. Alex played a solid set despite half his thumb nail being sheared off at work the week before and hitting himself on his owwie with his drumstick. What a trooper. CJ forgot a bunch of words and kept having to consult the lyric sheet by my feet, which was annoying, so I kicked him in an attempt to make him ad lib. It didn’t work. Nick Lucchesi got up and did vocals on the Negative Approach cover since he was supposed to be our singer initially, but no such luck with that. He still done a fine job, yessiree.
4/30/11 – Ft. Collins, CO: w/ Gnarce, Misanthropy, Dead Dogs, Dick Widler, and The Nervous @ Monster House
Notes: Tons of underage kids drinking heavily and crowd going nuts for every single song. This was on the heels of me getting awful food poisoning, which resulted in me being barely able to play a bass, let alone remember the songs. I seriously felt brain damaged, which led to frustration, which in turn led to me lashing out weakly with my bass at people who slammed into my turned back. Yoda was right about anger leading to hate and so on, I guess. Mike from Gnarce got choke slammed by me during the last third of “Hopeless”, which Michelle got on tape. Had to collect our own door money as all money collected by the house went to buying kegs for aforementioned under-agers. Later, Meister got into a fight over a girl and got one of his teeth broken out. He ain’t pretty no more.
5/17/11 – Denver, CO: w/ Nazi Dust, Volcanic Slut, Damaru, and Ego Complex @ Bar Bar
Notes: No one knew Volcanic Slut was playing this show, but they were a welcome surprise. This show also marked the appearance of the ND “Denver Wolfpack” version of the demo cassette, featuring artwork and truly awful dubbing by Toby of Bleak Environment Records. The tape was limited to 25 copies and intended as a locals-only release, but copies were sent to both Florida and Wyoming by the end of the night. This is the only show we ever played with Ego Complex under that name.
6/08/11 – Denver, CO: w/ Death Crisis and Dick Widler @ Bar Bar
Notes: A last minute show that we set up for Death Crisis after hanging out with them at Chaos in Tejas a few days prior. Zach from Ego Complex interviewed my twice that night, once as a member of Death Crisis and once for ND. Both interviews were lost for some reason, along with the comedic gold within them. Our set was mediocre, but Death Crisis were legitimately impressed, which was nice. Show was small, but pretty well attended for a last minute joint on a Wednesday and Death Crisis were able to get $120 off the door, which probably almost covered their long detour to Denver.
6/26/11 – Denver, CO: w/ Mothercountry Motherfuckers, Crisco Thunder, and Echo Beds @ Yellowfeather Coffee
Notes: Probably the weirdest show we’ve played to date, and quite possibly the weirdest show I’ve played in Colorado. I showed up late, having come from Mike and Lauren Carpenter’s bon voyage BBQ in the Highlands. We played last, after an assortment of electronic and noisy hardcore acts. And a mentalist. Crisco Thunder had a dude doing heavy political lyrics over dance music, while two members of MCMF danced in sleestack outfits behind him. The mentalist did his thing in the adjacent room after their set, while MCMF was setting up. Dude was entertaining and older than Johnny, which was probably weird for Johnny to not be the oldest punk at the show. MCMF was awesome. They played in masks and white get-ups and had electric drums, which they didn’t use too heavily. High energy despite the lack-luster crowd. We played next to folded arms, which made sense because we were pretty lousy and it was 120 degrees in the coffee shop. The whole show was done before 7 pm, while the summer sun was still well above us. We cleared out fast because Yellowfeather had some other bands playing, one being from Australia. I’d be bummed if I came from two hemispheres away to only to arrive at that place, but whatever. At least it was fucking summer here, not that winter-in-June bullshit they have down under. After the show we loaded up Alex’s drums and my bass rig in my mom’s car, along with me, CJ, Mike Kenneally, and some dude from Oroku and went back to the BBQ to finish up Mike’s vocal tracks on the last Guns n’ Rosa Parks recording, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
8/2/11 – Denver, CO w/ Ice Age, Hot White, Civilized, and Tollund Men @ Rhinoceropolis
Notes: Our first show in what felt like a very long time. July was dead in Denver for some reason. Oh well. Hung out at the Bleak Environment house before the show and watched Toby scramble to cobble together food and drink to accommodate Ice Age’s ludicrous rider. Helped Tiana spend twenty of Toby’s dollars on contractually obligated milkshakes at Lark Burger, which we later drank together after Ice Age decided that, while a nice gesture, milkshakes weren’t what they were in the mood for. The Danes were really funny because they were young and foreign, which made them easy to fuck with. I think their driver/tour manager kinda felt the same way, which meant I had a partner in crime to some degree. Anyway, those kids had funny accents and cuddled on the hide-a-bed and talked about hating the working class. Maybe I made that last part up, I can’t remember. Whatever. We had a crucial BBQ and drove to the show, which filled up quick. I carved out a corner for the ND merch table since this was doubling as our demo release show and I’d finally made shirts for us. I think we sold like $90 worth of bullshit, which is about $85 more than I expected. Another fun part of the night was waiting for CJ to get off work. We sent each other texts that degenerated into a short but tense yelling match when he finally arrived, which was just as Ice Age was setting up to play. Luckily, I’m handsome enough that I was able to convince them to put their gear aside and let us play real quick, which we did. And it was fun. Even though we fucked up two of the three new songs we were debuting. Punk rock, I guess. Ice Age was good and everyone danced hard. I saw people’s cars were getting towed outside so I caused a brief but warranted panic after the show was over. Whoops. Afterward I back to BE HQ and laughed at Ice Age some more. Man, those kids were drunk. I also tried carding them when they asked me for beer, but it didn’t work. Fucking Euros.
8/3/11 – Denver, CO w/ Adai, Small Bones, and Adobe Homes @ 1.21 Jiggawatts
Notes: This was the next night after the Ice Age show at Rhino, so no one wanted to come out. I’d call people wieners about that, but I’m usually the same way. Two of CJ’s bros’ bands were playing, so he insisted that we play, too, which is fair. Neither one of them was really up my alley exactly, but I enjoyed them regardless so I’m glad we were there. By the time Adai played,I was pretty much done. That band goes over my head. I like dumb-dumb music because I’m a dummy and my attention span wanes quickly. Sorry, Adai, just bein’ straight wit’ y’all. Playing Jiggawatts was sweet, though: rad dudes and a rad space in downtown. It’s been a long time since I played on a half-pipe, so this was a cool throwback in that regard. Nice party.
8/9/11 – Denver, CO w/ Organized Sports, Dick Widler, Damaru, and Drone Throne @ 1.21 Jiggawatts
Notes: We played last due to CJ getting out of work pretty late, which sucked because we had to follow Organized Sport, who were great. That band just rules, especially live. Good guys, too. Anyhoodles, I got a parking ticket right before we played despite Jackson’s best efforts to move my car, which introduced anger sharks into my veins. Fuck parking tickets, I should get to park wherever I feel like for however long I please. White Male Privilege: I’ve got it, you want it. Whatevz. Again, this show was ill attended because I don’t think Denver Dicks have figured out that this space rules yet and a lot of people don’t like to leave their comfort zone…which is one of the reasons why nothing happens in this town. That aside, all the bands were cool, even the doom band from Arizona, Drone Throne, who got added last minute. They only played for like 20 minutes, which is about 140 fewer minutes than I was expecting. Other doom bands should take a note of that and follow their example.
8/17/11 – Denver, CO w/ The Men, Religious Girls, Civilized, and Hot White Lite @ Rhinoceropolis
Notes: This show was bloody as fuck. First, Toby used his head to knock out a dude’s front teefus during Civilized’s set because the dude flipped him off and punched his face. Street justice, yada yada yada. This woulda been fine and dandy had the dude’s teeth not chomped into Toby’s widow’s peak, so you had a toothless bleeding guy on one side of them room and another guy with blood pouring from the top of his face. Win/lose, I guess. We played after Civilized and as I was setting up my bass, the toothless dude spat blood on my shoes on his way out the front door. I don’t like blood, so being the macho jerk that I am, I got mad and followed him out to see why blood was being spat at me and maybe straighten this kid out a little. The dude’s friends talked me down pretty quickly which was good because I only like fighting when other people are doing it. I found out later that the guy also spat blood at James from Civilized, so James threw him across the hood of a car a slapped him hard across the face. Good job, James. The Men were awesome, but didn’t play long enough. Later, we were about to take them to get some burritos at Tacos Rapidos when a drunk car side-swiped their merch guy, Kyle, and made him be all bloody and convulse in the dirt. Everyone flipped their shit, because, well… a guy just got hit by a car, but cooler heads prevailed since we had a nurse on hand. Pretty quickly, a fire truck, ambulance, and ton of cop cars showed up to handle everything and take Kyle to the hospital, which was good because Rhinoceropolis has no triage unit or any sort of sterile environment in which to save someone’s life. I wound up hanging around for a long time with Ben from Detroit and Mark from The Men while detectives investigated the crime scene, then we fucked off to the hospital and waited around Denver Health for a few hours. The story has a happy(ish) ending because Kyle was released with a mild concussion and 18 stitches in his noggin and The Men were able to keep on a-rockin’ all the way to Missoula, MT for their next show. I was especially relieved because this world already has plenty of dead Kyles, so one more would’ve been bad news.
8/25/11 – Denver, CO w/ Punch, Loma Prieta, and Civilized @ Rhinoceropolis
Notes: This was a weird show. I guess there were a ton of Food Friends at this show, which the Wolfpack normally doesn’t jive with, but I’m so far removed from that scene that all I knew was that there were a bunch of new faces in DYS shirts who didn’t even react when Civilized played their DYS cover. I dunno if Civilized isn’t cool to dance to, or if it just went over their heads. Doesn’t matter. Anyway, CJ was late to this show again so we wound up playing last to a pretty diminished crowd of people, but it was still a fun time and we got to make some jokes about the heavy metal jocks who showed up to the show. Also, I assume that most of the DIY punk world has turned their backs on Punch since they decided to put out a record on Deathwish, but I still think they’re pretty good live. Kids went pretty bonkers for them, and I enjoyed myself. Loma Prieta were meh. Just not my cup of tea, but oh well. I talked to a few of the dudes in Punch because they bought a couple tapes, and they seemed like real sweethearts, although they seem slightly chagrined by their new audience being mainly made up of kids in high top shoes. Can’t blame them for that. Also, there was some minor controversy on the internet about James’ choice of venue for this show, since apparently Food Friends only like to see hardcore bands at Blastomat. Now, I love Blastomat, but I stand behind James’ choice because it was his to make. I suppose credit is due to the kids who overcame their fear of the unknown and allowed themselves a good time. Hats off, children!
9/2/11 – Kansas City, MO w/ Civilized, Sucked Dry, and Meat Mist @ The Studded Bird
Notes: The first night of our baby tour with Civilized. We drove overnight to KC and had to pick up Johnny from the airport since being a UPS man is prohibitive when it comes to getting days off, hence the long distance over Memorial Day Weekend. I did the last third of the drive with CJ riding shotgun. We watched the sun come up over the hills of eastern Kansas while listening to the title track of “New Day Rising.” It was one of those moments you only get on tour, and I was really glad that he was awake for it. Yay for friends. Anyway, we pulled into the Sucked Dry compound around 10 am and found everything we were hoping for: an unlocked door and a couple vacant couches. Good enough for me. I crashed out for about four hours and woke up only when everyone was getting restless about food. Why they had to bring me along to eat, I probably won’t ever understand, but I’m glad they did because the Middle Eastern buffet Nic brought us to was first class. We went and got Johnny from KC International and killed time at record stores and a Quick Trip until it was time for the show.
I was pretty happy that we were playing the Studded Bird because I’d heard a lot about it and I wasn’t disappointed. The place reminded me of Blastomat in a lot of ways and was pretty much the perfect size for a punk venue. Meat Mist played first, and were cool. They’d been described as playing slow, which I dreaded, but they wound up being pretty mid-tempo and likeable. I think Civilized played second and they were okay, but seemed to be having trouble finding their sea legs out on the road. Maybe it was feeling out of their element or maybe it was the thick Midwestern air. Either way, they picked it up after a few songs and had it down soon enough. Sucked Dry played third, which was sad for me and I’ll tell you why. It’s because one time in 2008 I filled in on bass with Civic Progress in Kansas City and Sucked Dry played the show when they were still a brand new baby band and they FUCKING RULED. Ever since then, I’ve known that it’s never a good idea to play after Sucked Dry, but I’ve had to do it three times now and it’s never a good idea. So, naturally, those guys had a great set and everyone went nuts for them. Then we played. I felt like we had a pretty good set…a little long maybe, but Johnny was insisting that we play more than 12 minutes since we’d driven a long ways to get here and we sorta conceded to him eventually. Toby said we were good, but I don’t trust that kid. No sir.
After the show wrapped up, we headed back to the house and everyone passed out almost straight away it seemed like. I talked Nic into giving us a ride over to the Sunfresh market in Westport to drink the fabled root beer milk he’d told me about the last time SD was in Denver. I don’t even like milk, but that shit is delicious. I also broke one of my cardinal rules about getting Mexican food in towns without large Mexican populations by getting a bean burrito at El Rancho. It was pretty mediocre, but Nic met a lady while we were there and it blew Toby’s mind, so I guess that it was a good thing I wanted burritos after all.
9/3/11 – St. Louis, MO w/ Civilized, Cardiac Arrest, Much Worse, and Brain Tumors @ El Lenador
Notes: Well, I woke up with the intention of hating this day because I stayed up late hanging with the KC dudes and petting their cat, and knew that Johnny (the guy who didn’t drive 10 hours overnight in a cramped van) wanted us to get up early to get breakfast and that even though St. Louis is only a 3 and a half hour drive, people were doing what he wanted. Fucking buttheads. However, I woke up surprisingly easy and wasn’t too angry about being drug back to Sunfresh to eat prison-grade eggs and their shitty bagels. Ugh, someone open up a goddamn Schnuck’s in this town already. Anyway, we hit the road around 10 I think and stopped for gas somewhere in the middle of Missouri and someone was washing a horse with a hose at the truck stop. It was great. It was totally how I imagine idiots from the coasts expect Colorado to be, but it’s actually Missouri that’s backwards as fuck. Which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone really, but there ya go. I also tried to get everyone to spend all the tour cash from the previous night in Kansas City on scratch tickets, but only CJ and Alex were down. Why are Mexicans the only cool people on this planet? Speaking of which, white people also got us lost as soon as we got back on the highway. Why wouldn’t anyone believe me that you just follow I-70 east to downtown St. Louis? I don’t know, but it probably made us an hour late, which was another hour we didn’t get to spend at the City Museum and that sucks butts.
So what happened? Well, the show was at a Mexican restaurant (which I like) in the middle of a Mexican neighborhood, or “barrio” (which I also like) and was with two good bands from Minneapolis and a good band from St. Louis (again, do like these things) so I was pretty happy when we got to the show. Brain Tumors and Much Worse played first, which was unfortunate because they were much better than us, but Rob Ruz is a harsh mistress and the king of the jungle around those parts so what he says goes. I remember talking to Brain Tumors’ singer in the bathroom about how much pooping at our elementary schools used to suck, so I think there was a pretty instant rapport there. Good dude. Also, their bass player had a bunch of quasi-expensive records for sale that he offered me my choice of for free because he was goof-trooping on some wacky pills. I didn’t accept his generous offer (which Johnny frowned on me for later), but did allow him to sell me the first Crudos 7” on colored wax for 50% of his original asking price. Thanks pal, wherever you are. But, like I was sayin’, Brain Tumors kicked things off with an awesome set of not playing their instruments (well, except for the drummer) and wrecking into each other. Good thing they were really high on painkillers because some of the things they were doing to each other looked really painful and fun. Much Worse weren’t as fun to watch, but they had it together musically, which is important, too. Both were real good, so I won’t waste time comparing them. Civilized had some problems with their gear, and I think that kinda ruined their set for them. I say this because at one point James tore off his kick pedal and spiked it on the ground. Sucks, because I thought they were good, just need their shit to work properly is all. ND had a good set, I thought. People had a nice circle pit and everyone seemed very happy. Cardiac Arrest finished it out. I’ve never seen that band have a bad set, so they were true to form. Wait…yes I have. They played a bad set on the bridge at Chaos in Tejas one year, but that was at 4 am after seeing Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, so I don’t hold that against them.
Rob paid us handsomely for playing stupid music and sent us to an apartment a half block away to wind down for the rest of the evening. The twin cities bands were supposed to come too, but were too high on drugs and got lost, so Rob had to rescue them. Luckily for us, this meant we had carte blanche to eat as much of the two giant pizzas (and one mini vegan pizza) that he’d bought for us as we wanted, which turned out to be a lot of pizza. Sadly, someone ruined a large portion of the last pizza by putting dish soap on it. I won’t say who it was, but why this person thought dish soap would taste good on pizza is well beyond me. Sorry, Brain Tumors and Much Worse, it wasn’t me who made your pizza suck.
9/4/11 – Chicago, IL w/ Civilized, Intifada, Raw Nerve, and Lechuza @ Albion House
Notes: For some reason, the drive to Chicago seemed a lot shorter than the drive to St. Louis. Probably because I actually managed to sleep a tiny bit and we didn’t get lost. We also stopped at the same gas station in Springfield that I always stop at when driving from St. Louis to Chicago. You know, the one with the Dairy Queen by it. That shit is like Groundhog Day.
We arrived in Chicago pretty early, and made a beeline to El Faro on 31st & Pulaski for some delicious veggie tacos and everyone got really fat, which was great. I wish that place lived in Denver, I’d eat there all the time. We’ll be back, Mexicans.
After that, Zach took a wrong turn on the 90/94, and we got to see U.S. Cellular Field and the place where the Robert Taylor Homes used to be, completely by accident. So I guess we did get lost, kind of, but only because no one will let me give directions in towns I know. Wieners. Luckily, we made it to Wigger Park and saw Greg skateboarding outside of Reckless, so we found awesome parking and went record shopping. See, the story had a happy ending.
Shows in Chicago start early as balls for some reason, so we drove to Albion House and managed to get there too early, even though I didn’t think that was possible. I guess that’s good since we were greeted warmly by the natives and again found nice parking. We also got the primo merch area, which was great because we sold a bunch of tapes and other bullshit, much to my surprise. I felt like I was in some sort of alternate reality because I knew a ton of people at the show, which definitely solidifies my notion of Chicago being like a second home. Plus I met a lot of nice folks too, so I say that the Second City is First Class all the way.
Raw Nerve had a ripping set, as always, but this was probably the best I’ve ever seen them play. Apparently it was probably the last time I’ll have ever seen them play, too, so that’s sad. Good night, sweet princesses. Lechuza wasn’t really my bag, but people seemed to like them okay. We played somewhere in the middle and people watched us with folded arms. Probably because they couldn’t hear the bass, and that’s what people want to hear out of us. Civilized had a great set from what I’m told, although I was manning the merch again. Apparently Zach manhandled some skinhead, probably residual anger from me berating him for going the wrong way on 90/94 earlier that day. Let go of your hatred, young padawan. Of course, Intifada was great, and it being their last show ever, everyone went bonkers. I’m really gonna miss that band, they were always incredible and down for anything. Exactly how a punk band should be.
The whole thing was done by, like, 10:30 at night, which is when most shows usually get rolling in Denver, so we were kind of beside ourselves in terms of what we should do. Alberto paid us extremely well and hugged us all goodbye and sent us on our way with Ryan from Raw Nerve, who wisely suggested we invest some of our newfound riches in pizza. Sold. We went back to his nice house, chowed down, and then I paced around because it was still too early to go to bed. Sadly, everyone else had to drive at 6 am the next day, so no one else felt that way and I took a bunch of melatonin and passed out with Johnny. The next morning I woke up in Eric Frankel’s disgusting poop bed and everyone was gone. Typical males.
9/19/11 – Denver, CO w/ Boilerman, Chase Ambler, and O.S.I. @ 1.21 Jiggawatts
Notes: This was the last show we got to do at Jiggawatts, which is a terrible tragedy. An awesome spot in a great locale run by solid people. What more do you want in a DIY spot? Unfortunately, we really blew it this time around. Worst ND set ever, for my money. On the plus side, the pop-punk bands were stellar. Well, I didn’t see Chase Ambler because we were outside getting interviewed by Mike Kenneally for Shit Sheet #3 (on newsstands now), but they sounded great from the Jiggawatts parking lot. O.S.I. played nardcore, but their drummer just couldn’t keep it together. Sucks, because I woulda really liked them otherwise I think. Boilerman was fucking rad. I’m not much of a pop-punk fan, but hardcore kids just do it better. I even bought a record from them. No regrets.
10/26/11 – Ft. Collins, CO w/ In Defence, Los Pinches, Dick Widler, Nose Bled, and Slobber @ The Terminal
Notes: I flew directly back in to Colorado from Death Crisis tour for this. Coming back from a sunny beach paradise to drive an hour north in a shitty blizzard wasn’t really my idea of a very good time, but sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches. To make matters worse, there were too many bands on the bill. I mean, they were bands I wanted to see, but still. Maybe it was just the combination of lousy weather and having spent the previous two weeks seeing bands, but I wasn’t as up to it as I should’ve been. Oh well. Everyone was good, and it was cool to see all my FoCo peoplez and In Defence are perennially nice dudes, so I’m pretty sure my bad attitude is unfounded. The Terminal is a weird but cool spot, too. Just a weird building by the airport run by a guy who almost got his leg broken when Ben Crew fell on it. Luckily, there were nurses on staff, so his needs were attended to free of charge. Whadda country!
12/16/11 – Denver, CO w/ Speedwolf, No Thought, Weaponizer, and MF Ruckus @ Marquis Theatre
Notes: Well, this one was weird. First off, I was working with Johnny at UPS during the holiday season and we had an insane amount of deliveries to make, so the possibility of getting to the Marquis by the 5:00 pm load-in time was a laughable joke. Reed from Speedwolf set the show up and was already being really fucking cool dealing with the constraints of our jobs, so we tried to get there on time for our 8:45 set and made it with about a half hour to spare. Hooray. Of course, the dude who was watching the back door had to bust our balls about not being loaded in three hours previous, but at least we were able to get Logan in for free.
Eventually we found ourselves on a big stage with a big PA and a sound guy who was unamused by our lack of professionalism. I suppose I can’t fault him, but we had no idea what the fuck we were doing there. Sorry, pal. As a result, the set suffered. We couldn’t hear one another and had no idea what the hell to do. Luckily, James showed up on a break from work to mosh hard, which made everyone else either dance or get uncomfortable. Hats off to James, our saving grace.
Afterward, Reed gave us our drink tickets, which everyone else had been waiting for with baited breath. Yay! Alcohols! I spent mine on pizza. The show was a lot of fun after that, mainly because people went buck wild for Speedwolf and were stage diving and going crazy. I watched from the side of the stage because I had VIP credentials and it was awesome. They played for an hour and I never got bored, which almost never happens. Speed with the wolf, my dameys.
1/22/12 – Denver, CO w/ Speedwolf, Nose Bled, Chase Ambler, Cadaver Dog, and Reproacher @ Mouth House
Notes: I set this show up on a whim because my girl Liz from Chicago was gonna be in town hanging out and there’s nothing to do in Denver in the winter. The answer? Throw a raging house show. By the time Negative Degree played, I think there were almost 200 people hanging around and everyone was drunk as shit, so hopes were high. Cadaver Dog played a surprise set before us using Chase Amblers’ gear and were sloppy but a lot of fun. That band is gonna be great, just wait and see. By the time we got around to playing, the living room was so packed that we could barely maneuver our gear to set up. This is always a good sign. People went nuts immediately, to the point where shit was getting turned off and unplugged. That didn’t phase the audience though, so who cares? James was again clutch in this situation because the drums kept knocked around, so he held them steady and mule kicked anyone who got too close. Oh yeah, some girl with a ton of make-up on kept copping feels on me while we played, too. That’s the first time that’s ever happened, and I hope she got a healthy handful of weird man-teat.
Speedwolf brought it all home with a short but raging set. There were a couple minor skirmishes during their few songs, but nothing major. I gotta give it to the Mouth House dudes: they let their entire house get taken over by a bunch of drunk dinguses and rolled with it with smiles on their faces the whole time. Denver, nay, the world needs more dudes and houses like that.
2/4/12 – Denver, CO w/ Civilized, Cadaver Dog, Nose Bled, Apex, and Conjugal Visits @ Old Curtis St.
Notes: Dark Ages and No Class from Kansas City were supposed to play this show, but Colorado and western Kansas got like 20 inches of snow the day before, so they were forced to cancel. Everyone got sad, but rather than cancel the entire show, Civilized and Nose Bled stepped up to take their place.
This show got off to a little bit of a tense and shaky start because although someone at Old Curtis had promised Kenneally that the show was to be 18+, apparently the lummoxes working the door didn’t get the memo and were turning away anyone under 21. Now, I already had reservations about the 18+ thing, but 21+ was a deal breaker. To our good fortune, Mike got it all sorted out and the kids were admitted without further hassle and went back to the kitchen…where he belongs. This was a great boon to me, because I got to play the show without much guilt and ate two grilled cheese sandwiches and a veggie dog. Well fed fuck.
This show was also our demo 7” release show, and we managed to get rid of 25 copies within an hour and were turning people down after they sold out. Never have I known people in Denver to really give a fuck about local releases, so this was kind of a surprise. Johnny, Meister, and myself were all selling records at the show, too, so it was a great triumph for all of our capitalist endeavors.
Nose Bled kicked it all off and were probably the best I’ve ever seen them. They also covered the same Infest song that everyone covers. That’s not a problem, I like Infest so I was into it. Apex were a little rough and not really my thing. It sounded like they weren’t quite in tune the whole time and the songs were a bit long for my taste. Still, it’s cool to see those guys playing and I like it when bands sing about local issues, which they did. I’m confident they’ll get better, and every band has tough nights. Conjugal Visits was awesome even though Toby hates them, although I had the same problem with them that I always do: they play twice as long as they should. NO MORE! Cadaver Dog was raging in their official debut, and even though they fucked up their second song they redeemed themselves by nailing my favorite YDI song. In a few months, this band will eat other bands for breakfast. Civilized…well, I filled in on bass for Civilized this night after learning five songs and a Negative Approach cover earlier in the afternoon. I think I did okay all things considered, but I wish I couldn’t had a little bit more time to get my parts down. Either way, I had a blast and people seemed to enjoy it. Plus it was these dudes’ first show back since we played with them in Chicago, so I was glad to help facilitate that.
Negative Degree played last, and Johnny recycled the set list from the Mouth House show a couple weeks previous, much to my chagrin and annoyance. But seeing as how I didn’t have time to come up with a new one, I chopped one song off to make it shorter and we went with it. Guess what…the set was still too long and the crowd ran out of steam mid-way through. This was in stark contrast to my law of “Leave-Them-Wanting-More-Not-Wanting-Less,” so I wasn’t very happy about that. Twelve minute sets in the future, fuck everything else. We also got suckered into playing a cover song, during which Lucchesi did a dive into nobody and broke the rotator cuff in his left shoulder, so that was a bummer even though Nick is alright.
2/24/12 – Denver, CO w/ Leather Sky, Cadaver Dog, Cannons, and Glass Hits @ Rhinoceropolis
Notes: I got to this show too early and wound up being bored for an hour before anything happened. Rhino is always hard to socialize at for some reason. Too much smoke, too loud music on the PA, and the lights seem really bright. I still love the place, just those things bum me out sometimes. Ah well.
Leather Sky played first since it was their first show and were cool even though I couldn’t hear Mike’s vocals, Tiana was having a tough time with my bass rig, and their guitarist’s tone sounded like the guitar from the Snuff Box guitar lesson skit. Cadaver Dog had a raging set in the back room, and Toby’s shitty guitar tone was a lot cooler than I expected it to be with that band. James was mean looking and kept the intensity on high even though people weren’t moving very much. Don’t worry boys, they’ll figure it out sooner or later.
We followed Cadaver Dog’s lead and played in the back room since you could actually hear the PA there and it was a blast. Not wanting to relive the folly of our previous show, I made sure to write a set-list that was four songs shorter and guess what…people went nuts until the very end, throwing trash cans and jumping off counter tops and shit. Lesson learned.
Cannons played a cool, but long set. Sorta reminded me of a heavier Nomeansno, and I suppose the length of their set can be forgiven since it was their last show ever. Buen viaje, boys. Glass Hits was awesome, and had brought their own PA to their vocals could be heard. Unfortunately, their singer Keith was picked up during their second to last song and dropped on his head and had to go to the hospital. Now, allow me to pontificate for a moment, if you will, but this is a note to all audiences everywhere: If you grab someone and lift them up for whatever reason, you have an expressed responsibility to put them back down safely. This isn’t an optional thing. You’re not allowed to get bored halfway through and just drop some poor sap on his face. That’s not how it works. Anyway, once again we had a nurse on hand, which is one thing I’ve grown very appreciative about in the last six months, and Keith was well taken care of until the meat wagon whisked him away. The story has a happy ending though: he’s fine, aside from some very hefty medical bills which, in my opinion, should be paid by the individuals who lifted him up and let him fall.
