BLASTED CANYONS

i don’t even know where to start. 

SXSW was amazing. all 4 shows were just wonderful. i’m gonna spare the details as they are what you’d imagine “…aw yeah and then we played here and it was cool and we played here and it was cool and blah blah was super sick and we saw blah which was sick..”

we drove through texas (waco included) listened to most of an audiobook of 1984.

memphis show at hi-tone was a little strange.  some cool dudes from nashville drove out though which was rad.  a nice man gave us a nice bag of weed.

stayed in a motel 6 in west memphis and definitely had that west memphis 3 eeriness in the air.

got to Indianapolis where we played an amazing house show at mediumship (at least that’s what i’m told it’s called) but it had the best sound i’ve ever heard in a house venue. 

got into chicago a bit early so we spent most of the day in the suburbs at heather’s mom’s place.  i went skating with her 6 and 8 year old sister and brother around the neighborhood, we had bbq chicken, drank beers, you know…stuff of that nature before we played The Burlington in chicago with RUNNING!

my first time in chicago was unbelievable as the weather had record high’s and it was nearly 80 degrees at night.   we had a day off and got drunk at brunch with the dudes from heavy times/bad drugs/running at the handlebar.

from chicago we headed west to Omaha.  Johnny who plays bass in digital leather took us to a good bbq place and then to a taco/burger/fried fish n shit? Don and Millies it’s called? well we all pounded 99 cent margaritas!

finally got to O’Leavers in Omaha where we found out we were the only band playing that night and simultaneously got completely trashed thanks to the lovely friends and locals.  we played the sloppiest set ever.  took an intermission, covered(?) manson’s beautiful people with guest singers, i tried to pull off my solo crying by roy orbison cover again and it did NOT go over as well as it did at burger records.

sprained my ankle later that night just walking, got all mad at myself and slept in the van. apologized to everyone who was trying to be nice the night before when i was angry and difficult.

drove to Wyoming.  it was fairly boring driving through Iowa but it had it’s moments.  arrived at the 3rd Street Cowboy bar with questionable thoughts of the establishment.  it was a friday night and there were 4 bands…i do not remember any of their names…sorry…that one metal band was sick? anyway, i went out after the show to a couple “after parties” and got the “Larime experience” which was literally driving from one house to the other where the same people from the bar were there enjoying themselves.

we hung out in Larime for several hours the next day, taking some space from each other.  heather got some good cheap finds from a thrift store. 

we decided to break up the drive to boise so we reached Ogden, Utah and booked ourselves a stay in the holiday inn express.  it actually kicked ass. 2 twins and a pullout couch and a pool/spa that was open 24 hours!  and it had a kick-ass continental breakfast, i even did 20 minutes on the ‘ol stationary bike in the gym they had.

finally hit the road to Boise for the treefort music festival.  i guess it was there first time doing it but seemed like everyone was in great spirits. i really wished we had more time during the other 3 days to enjoy some more music. looked like they had some interesting acts from everywhere.

checked out Art Fad as friends of mine said they were a must see and holy shit, i totally dug it.  they’re local so the crowd of 30+ we’re all just ON the stage. i was impressed they could play through the mass of people trying to scream along to their last song. 

at this point we were all kind of beat, and the fact we had a killer hotel room a stones throw away from the venue kind of made us hermits until we actually had to load in.  the show was fun and hung out at someone else’s room and by that time i just remember screaming Eno’s needle in the camel’s eye.

i took first shift for the drive from Boise to Portland and HOLY FUCK that was the most beautiful drive i’ve ever done.  highway 84 on the west coast is unbelievable!

made great time too, hung out at the know. watched Hot Victory completely dominate and as a 2 piece this time with insane synth triggers so they could still both play drums the whole time and man…just check them out, watch a video or something they’re phenomenal.

Lozen was heavy as fuck and it’s one of those “how the fuck is this only 2 people” kind of bands.  can’t wait to play with them in their hometown of Tacoma later tonight.

we stayed at our good friend Matt Morgan’s girlfriend, Cat’s house.  it’s the cutest house and she built an incredible cabin in the backyard with an iron fireplace and we hung out until standing up was impossible.

that’s it so far.  3 more shows…and then we finally go home.  i’m really homesick and i know the other 2 are as they’re in relationships.  i’m also kind of brain dead and might have to add some shit later because i know i’m missing many “important” details.

okay smell ya later