The Hand That Bleeds (Tour Blog 2008)

08/07/2008
August 7th - Seattle

First day off to Seattle...
U Joint pops off the drive line in Longview.
We have to leave the van at the Auto shop, rent a van and head to Seattle.
Our load in was suppose to be at 5:00 P.M.
and we were suppose to be at Bop Street Records at 2:00 P.M. we didn't get in of course till like 6:30 P.M. MSM wasn't playing Chop Suey so we took them to BOp Street and they a busted a quick 20 Minute set on this really cool stage surrounded by tapes and records. It was a little hectic so we forgoed our set there and Headed to Chop Suey. They were actually pretty cool considering we rolled in at 8:10, go time was 8:30.
It was sweet, the crowd though maybe a touch over 20 people we're really cool.
We played with Denliean who are now a three piece with no keys, and they're are becoming Noisier and popier somehow at the same time. Then came We Wrote The Book ON Connecters, who were a lot of fun kinda like Devo but a little harder and it was cool cause the bassist is also in H Is For Hellgate, who've we played with when Brainstains was still around. Panther Attack, the last band was intrumental with two drummers one of the drummers also played guitar, depending on the song. They were badass and really cool guys too check em out if you get a chance.
oh we got our first Invoice from a venue! We made $18.89, and they even rounded it off and gave us a full $19.00, it came in an envelope with the invoice itemizing all kinds of shit. we'll get it into a computer or something so you guys can check it out.
So after all the show stuff we went back down to longview slept at the Auto shop, in the two vans cause our one that was being fixed was still on the lot.

08/08/2008
August 8th - Spokane

So we get up before the auto shop opens and go to a rest stop down the freeway and most everyone slept in the grass for a couple more hours.
Then we basically waited around the Auto shop, cool thing there just happened to be some sort of free barbeque across the street put on by the paint store and the whole town was out kicking it and eating burgers. There was a raffle and we gave them some cds to raffle off and we had burgers and pasta salad for breakfast.
This was around noon or so, there was a WiFi cafe with pretty good coffee next to the Auto shop and we just sat around and waited. We finally get the van and on the road around 3:00 P.M.
we head to Spokane. We get there around
10:15 P.M. and find one of the bands we were suppose to play with are having some sort of differences and the guitarist who I guess had told his bandmates he would be out of town was actually down the steet all drunk in some bar. The other band had cancelled the day before and the sound man was let go earlier that night, Yay. Well needless to say we didn't get to play but the guys at The Zombie Room we're really cool and offered to make it up to us in the future.Rob from Hellicopter Kill was super nice considering all the shit and just had a great spirit about things. He took us to his house and bought beer, and actually we got to play music most of the night with his crazy roomates, one who had made a stand up bass out of a wash tub, some rebar and a string. It was cool there was a mandolin, and a piano, lots of guitars and we partied till way after the sun came up

08/09/2008
August 9th - Missoula

We leave Spokane around 11:00 A.M.
Beautiful drive, we blow through Idaho pretty quickly, and enter Montana.
75 minutes from Missoula the van starts shaking a little bit so we pull over.
we're thing shit it must be the U joint again so we call AAA, and before they we get there we notice the front tire is missing all it's lugs but one and one of the studs was completely broken off.
Yay. The tow us to Missoula. We end up at Firestone,which is where our van is now. Dane this really cool guy from here who set up our show comes to pick us up and take our shit to the Venue, it takes two trips, but it's all good, and we at least get there in plenty of time.
MSM goes on first and it's like you can tell they're super stoked and they're actually some turnout and MSM let's em have it. Emily jumps offthe stage at one point and and the crowd it's it up.
We go next and it feel so good. Missoula
people are awesome and peple are dancing and jumping around, and the place fills up a little more, YAY! We're getting ready to play our last song and Dane yells out we're not getting out of there without playing Peace. So we go for it and Hannah from MSM joins us on vocals and it ends with a bang.
Oh yeah so we have a lot video for stuff already so were dumping it into laptops and we'll get it out to you.
Tomorrow if all goes well we'll be in SLC!
stay tuned...

08/10/2008
August 10th - Missoula

We got pretty toasty the night before, and it was nice cause we slept in pretty late and just hung around Dane's place listening to music, and eating pizza for breakfast. Hannah and Emily went to Hannah's family's house for the night and the rest of us went down to this beautiful park down by this river. It was pretty amazing, on one end of it was pristine and manicured lawns and some sort of huge ass challenge course as they called it with boot camp style walls and ropes and stuff. A little further down there was a skate park with a bunch of kids, and then right beyond the skate park everything changed. Trees and bushes surrounded you and you were suddenly in a little forest with interocking bridges that took you over creeks and streams before getting you to the main river. We walked around awhile exploring and enjoying the beauty and finally rested at this spot with the rapids flowing nice and loud and watched the sun go down before heading back to Dane's. Oh we also skipped a lot of rocks , yay Montana!
Later we went to Miki's house which is actually a trailer but it's badass! Miki is in this band Not Knocked UP who ended the show at our show the night before. They're crazt is all there is too it. One plays the drums one sings, and one does stuff like bang on a metal tub hit the other side of the drums, throw chains around, rattle tin, and all sorts of other things. They are women and sing songs about taking boys virginity and periods, and a host of other stuff. Very cool people, they even have a groupie that dances with them and they call her cunt whore. So yeah we drank and hung out with them, and stayed at their place. They have a gold fish, a wiener dog and a cat, very fun. Missoula has been sweet.

08/11/2008
August 11th - Salt Lake City

Missoula as fun as it had been is still a small town, and the seemingly simple task of getting a new rim was endlessly problematic, componded by the fact that the manager at the Firestone was napolean complex full of shit prick who even according to one of the mechanics who was really cool went out of his way to slow things down.
Oh well we hit the road around 2:30 P.M. and plowed through Montana, Idaho and zoom into SLC around 9:45 P.M.
We had a show at this place called Artopia which is like pipe shop, art gallery, and downstairs is this awesome room with a stage. The owner Lee was really cool and it ended up being one of our coolest shows of all time. There were pillow fights and beer thrown everywhere not mentioned at one point Emily from MSM got pounded pretty good by a microphone and has the gashes on her nose to prove it.
We met this cool guy ryan who plays in Vile Blue Shades and he was super nuts but a lot of fun. Then this guy charlie who was awesome took us over to The Boing Collective where we crashed on thier floor. Yay SLC!

08/12/2008
August 12th - Grand Junction

Charlie who took us over to The Boing Collective told us to call him in the morning and he'd take us out for breakfast. So we gave him a ring a litle after nine and he came over and we followed him to this place called the Blue Plate Diner. Charlie is an actor and I guess been in a couple of films, and on the way there he got a call from his agent and had to go audition for this National Lampoons Flick but he got us settled in and he knew people that worked there and gave them his card and told them it was on him. Cool right? I didn't think people like that existed. It was one of the best meals so far and the place was really chill. Charlie came back right before we finished and we hung out a little more. He told us where a coffee shop/ internet spot was so we headed over there. SLC is pretty cool and relaxing, as we had nothing going on for the night we didn't leave until like 2:00P.M. or something.
we get to Colorado around 6:00 P.M. and decide to find a camp site, the closest one from where we were was in Delta. We get there and it's already dark, we spent a little time before leaving getting supplies which consisted mostly of booze. It was pretty sweet, we set our tents, we were right next to this pond, with a lot of loud frogs. We made a fire and cooked raman noodles and got really drunk and fell asleep peacefully.

08/13/2008
August 13th - Santa Fe

We leave the camp site and are the road around 9:00 A.M. The drive ends up being brutally long we took some weird way that didn't make any sense and went through the mountains that were not only winding and slow but also had long stretches of construction, even points that were stopped completely, it was painful. ut even with all that we get into Santa Fe reasonably early and have plenty of time before the show.It's at this little art space called The Humble.
There's a couple people there and it's cool cause my mom drives up from Albuquerque, and so do a couple of friends. It's a dry spot so we put down a couple of drinks discreetly in the van, and then play, we're first.

08/14/2008
Albuquerque

The Santa Fe Show went pretty late, and we drove down to Albuquerque following my brother to his place. It was cool his girlfriend had made a big batch of Posole and the fridge was full of beer, and we ate and drank and all had good spots to sleep.
In the morning I called my mom and she took us out to breakfast, this place called El Patio I got Huevos Rancheros smothered with both very hot red and green chili and a basket of sopapilias. It had been a while since I sweated over some breakfast and I was pretty stoked. The rest of the gang bummed around Central and the EDO district, and I went to some old haunts and was suprised to see really ugly condos where once there were cool shops and this one awesome Jordan resturaunt.Oh well, we all met back at my brother's place and he cooked out some chicken and there were a couple kinds of salad. We drank beer and chilled. We played that night at this place called The Agency a new All Ages spot that wasn't there last I was in town, and it was just four blocks from my brother's place.
It's a pretty cool spot with a real nice stage and lights, good sound, these really high cealings and art on the walls from local artists.
MSM went on first and and really tore it up, they played faster then I thought humanly possible and were really well recieved, people came in off the street once they started playing and it was over way too soon. Up next was this Hip Hop band Below the Mighty and they were sic! Three guys and a turntabilist, they played over an hour and were not only tight but really cool guys who were equally funny as they were hard, some good shit. We went on last and and by then we were all pretty amped. We just kept playing and playing and the owner came out of the sound booth and was like "What the Hell is going on?!" In a good way though, he hadn't expected anything like us and started filming us and calling people between songs to hurry up and get there,that was cool. I tried to start a riot or something cause there was a cop car outside but to no avail, it was fun though, and always worth a try. We went back to my brothers place with some of the audience and one of the Guys from Below The Mighty, and got really hammered. Emily and Hannah were especially trashed cause I forgot to mention the higher altitude effect on drinking and they were downing everything they could get thier hands on. The sun was up by the time we passed out, and there are details I have no ides about...

08/15/2008
Phoenix

Fuck!! We get up really late no one set a clock and Emily staggers in around 10:00 A.M. to wake me up. We're sleep deprived, still drunk, and scrambling to get the hell out of there. I'm thinking we're gonna be late getting into Phoenix and I didn't want to push the van too hard as we didn't know how it would do in the heat. The good thing was my brother had time to make us these Dank Ass Breakfast Burritos, which he bagged up for us to have later.
We get on the road around 11:00A.M and it's actually a pretty easy drive just a straight line and we gained an hour due to the time zone thing which we forgot about.
We roll in around 5:30P.M.
The Willow House isn't a house but an actual Venue with a cafe and coffee and stuff. This is where it gets good. We go around to the front gate and there is a sign that says: Due TO Unforseen Circumstances We Are Closed Untill Further Notice, that was typed, and then underneathe, written in marker it said we owe $6,000.00 in rent. Yay! Next to that was a yellow card from the city of Phoenix explaining why the water was shut off. Fucking great right, especially since no one told us and just earlier when we were on the road we got a bulletin from one of the bands about the show. We found out later on that all this shit happened like two hours before we got into town.So I proceed to get in touch with the bands , you know tell them we have a P.A. and we're down for anything. This is where the Angel shows up. This lanky, scrappy looking kid rides up on a bike and we tell him what's up and he offers to help. Cell phone in hand he starts calling people, leaving messages and, talking to a few. Come to find out this guy knows just about everybody in town. He tells us to follow him down a couple blocks to this place called The Trunk Space. It's a little Venue and the owner was nice enough and all but he wasn't going to go out of his way to help us out either. He already had a big show lined and didn't think we would fit. He gave us water though. Did you know that in the city of Phoenix if you ask someone for water they have to give it to you? It's the law. I still would rather be in a place that doesn't need such a law cause it's not life threating hot, and it was fucking hot. Not only that but Phoenix rarely has humidity but lucky us it rained the night before, so not only was it in the low hundreds but it was also combined with 20% humidity, Oh yeah! The owner of The Trunk Space told us that the landlords of The Willow House also owned a cafe down the street and they had music on the weekends and we should hit them up as they're the ones who kicked out The Willow House.Ian led us over there on his bike again and we were hoping they would feel sorry for us
but they didn't give a shit,and we were on the streets again. We passed by some club with a bunch of kids lined up and went in and I talked the promoter who was cool and all but had to have the show over by 10:45 P.M. and as it was almost already 7:00P.M. and there were five bands on the bill it wan't gonna happen. The Place was bumping a death metal wa playing and there were a lot of kids but we were still looking for a show so we left.
Ian decided we should go check this place called The Fire House. We get there and it didn't look too promising as it was little room with a couple paint cans on the floor. Ian goes in the back and comes out with a little smile. "This is it, this is going to work." He tells us that tonight they are having a open Mic poetry and music thing with a grand finish that consisted of a lot of fruit and a stripper. "Come on out back," he says leading us around the corner. The walkway takes us to this shed/soundroom, that also has a window on one side that serves as healthy snack and drink shop. Around that there is an amazing outside stage with lights, sound and art hanging from the rafters. The Fire House we find out is a collective of artists that work together and live together to try and offer the world a little more beauty, and work together as a community to do things for the community. The house itself is crazy big with all kinds of rooms, three fridges and even a water fountain in one of the hallways. There is acomputer room and just all kinds of stuff. Everyone is very welcomeing and kind and really into life. It felt good there. We still had to wait for the approval of this guy Ernesto who was running the actual event, but he wasn't there, so we waited. An hour or more drags by and the sun is down but it's still fucking hot, it's like even the moon can give you a sun burn in Phoenix.
Ian decides to go to Ernesto's place and see what's up as it' like a block away. We Wait. Emily and Hannah are getting a little annoyed cause they're thinking if we don't have a show, or a place to stay to we should just head towards L.A. and find a camping spot, like now. "If were wating around here for like two hours and we don't get to play I'm gonna be fucking pissed" Hannah says, heat not helping her mood.
I see Ian walking back and he's holding a thumbs up sign and we are all pretty relived. Fuck Yeah! Thanks Ian!!
Sarrah and I find out the closest place for beer is a circle K up the street so we head up. There must be a great art scene in Phoenix cause the five or six blocks we walked were lined with art galleries and full of people, drinking wine, talking, and admiring the art;it was pretty smooth. I didn't have enough for beer so Sarrah bought me a forty. I was really hungry and could only find $1.25 in my pocket, which means I could only afford a $1.19 Slim Jim. Shut Up Don't Say It, I Need Beer.That's when i realized I was on tour. I'm standing in a parking lot unwrapping a Slim Jim next to a trash can.I never eat Slim Jims but i'm happy, so happy to have one in my hands. It felt good, the whole realization thing. It was disgisting too, and hot, and it slid down my throat like pieces of shoe. I couldn't even finish the whole thing or i would have thrown up.
We get back to The Fire House and there is already a band playing and a good amount of people there. I open my beer and kick it, feels good to sit down. After thier last song Ernesto who also serves as MC gets on stage and reads some poem from a poet who is in the audience and that's the deal everybody is reading someone else poems and it's really cool, there are a lot of inside jokes, but the energy is really nice.

You see the thing about collectives and closely knit groups is there is still the potential for miscommunication. What happened was it was suppose to be open Mic but someone booked two bands, one from Tuscon, one from Phoenix, as an actual show date. The band from Tuscon goes on and plays like an hour set,(We were told to play 25 minutes or less which would have been cool).More poetry and fun them MSM played a set it was pretty cool and the audience loved them. The only problem was Emily broke a string right before they were to play, so she used her back up guitar that she only uses on one song. It sounded fine where we were at and they played a killer set. They tried to stop and the Audience wouldn't let them, they demanded more, but Emily was hating her tone, just couldn't stand the way things were sounding and didn't even finish thier trademark song which I thought was kind of funny. But the crowd was way stoked, and when i got onstage Emily was just pissed. I tried to tell her how good they sounded but she wouldn't listen. EMILY YOUR GUITAR SOUNDED FINE AND YOU ROCK, PLEASE DON'T DEPRIVE PEOPLE OF YOUR SHIT WHEN THEY'RE BEGGING FOR IT.

We start plugging in our stuff and the poetry continues with lots of crazy banter and yelling with the audience. i must say this audience was really rowdy and and loving at the same time I couldn't wait to play. We were plugging shit in and discussing what songs to play when the sound man comes up to us and is like wait a minute you don't have time for more than three songs. I was like Oh.
"What Happened?"
"I'm really sorry but the performance artist needs to be on stage in 10 minutes or thier gonna cancel."
"Alright."
I could tell he was really stressed so I said, "Hey man we don't have to play, we'll live, it's alright you know, I don't want to fuck shit up for you or anything."
He looks at me and says,"Well how about just one song."
"Cool, no problem."
We play Turkish jade and it's fducking sweet people dance and come up to the stage, yelling and screaming, we only had one mic so Sarrah and I shared it and it added to the energy. It had been a long day and it felt so good to be doing our thing. We finished and told them that was it,and people started yelling for more, and I looked at the sound guy and could tell a lot more was going on than I knew about.
"It's up to him", I said pointing at the the sound guy.
"Sorry folks, there's nothing I can do! We have to move on!"
A resounding chorus of Boos.
But it was all good, the audience got over it, we didn't care, and we started packing our shit.
Then came drama.
We were loading our stuff out and another band started loading in, I knew what was gonna happen so i just stayed out of the way and didn't get involved.
They were told no more bands and they were a little miffed but understood, nice people too.
It was the band from Tuscon that started shit. They wanted to know who booked the show and what the fuck was going on and why no one told them there would be so many bands, and a bunch of other shit. It ended up cooling down but there were some tense moments.
Shit happens, what are you gonna do.
I met a guy from one of the bands who lives at The Fire House, he plays in this band called The Complaniacs, he showed me his room which also served as a practice space. We traded vinyl and talked for a bit. They invited us to stay the night, but we were paronoid of L.A. traffic so decided to hit the road get some miles behind us and make it to California by early afternoon. Sarrah drove and Hannah And Emily and I talked about our hopes and dreams over some beer which I was the only one drinking.

We slept at a rest stop somewhere in
Arizona.

08/16/2008
Los Angeles

I couldn't sleep for shit. It was hot I was covered in flies and ants, and eveytime i rolled over there was a new rock. i had been doing most of the driving so far but couln't hang all the way this time. Bout an hour outside L.A. Sarrah took over and I passed out.
L.A. has a lot of people and is really big. We got into downtown around 1:00 P.M. and immediately got lost. After about an hour and a half and a stop in some plaza in the middle of Hollywood with a bunch of stores and resturaunts who wouldn't let you use a bathroom even if you bought something, we figured out how to get where we were going. Annie who set things up at her friend Dan's house for us to play is really nice and I got her on the phone and told her we were almost there.
Dan's house was in the Valley and we had all these expectations of dirt and grime and filth and crime that we were a little surprised when we rolled into this neighborhood that was really pleasant an clean, with just a hint of a gentle breeze.

L.A. ended up being another oasis for us. Dan and Annie were the sweetest hosts you could imagine. They arrived a couple minutes after us and had a car full of food and party favors. It was pretty early so we had time to clean up a bit and chilll.
One of the things I forgot to mention was my amp got all screwed up in Phoenix. It had been coming loose slightly and undone most of the tour, and I had talked to Damon about getting some new screws and tightening it up, so he did. But, they were the wrong screws and and it ended up being unusable in Phoenix. I had brought a backup up which works fine, I just don't like it as much. Since we had time Callum, Damon and I worked on it for a awhile after a quick trip to Home Depot. Callum and Damon, I would say did most of it and I think even now it's in better condition than when I first got it.
Dan whose house we were at collects pinball machines. There were five pinball machines, one Whacka Gator, electronic darts, and an arcade game that had three games in one, pretty cool. In addition to the Bands we were playing with a local act, Cannonbll Fun,there was to be a Pinball tournament , amd a .99 raffle.
MSM went on first and the vocals were just right, Emily's guitar was back in check and they sounded sweet.I would actually say cause a lot of times the instruments can overpower thier vocals sometimes, that when the mix is right they sound closer to a pop band, great hooks, harmonies and an aggressive speed that is just a hair from being contained. The crowd was a lot of young executives and people who worked for Comedy Central and did editing for movie companies and of course pin ball fanatics. We didn't know this at the time but found out as the night progressed. We played and it was ouside on this patio and a lot of fun, not exactly as crazy as house parties can get in Portland, but people got down and there was a a good turnout.
Cannonball Fun played after us and they really got down. Sometimes they were really poppy and other times they were all over the place with strange tempo turns and sly hooks that would creep out feed back and noise to turn into a chorus that was really catchy.
They played for like an hour of high energy madness, before announcing it was to be thier final gig with the drummer as he was moving to Chicago, and that they were going to get a little self indulgent. For the next 30 minutes plus they played non stop not even stopping between songs, or aknowledging the audience. During thier set there was also this guy who had a projector going with all kinds of images and wierd shit that went well with the night. The moon was full and we were in the valley.

When the music was done people ate, drank, played pinball, and were pretty excited when they won something from the .99 store raffle.

Stayed up really late talking to Annie Dan, and just letting the night slip away...

08/17/2008
San Francisco

Got up at a decent time, and got into San Fran around 6:00 P.M. Found the Venue and headed over to Emily's cousin house which was pretty close. We only had an hour or so before we were back at Pissed Off Petes. It's an Irish Pub of sorts in the Excelsior District. They just put a stage and a P.A. and stuff a couple of months ago. Nice and laid back, it was pretty much a group of cool regulars ranging from old timers to young kids who knew the regulars, people came in right off the street, the doors were open and there was no cover. We played first and it was a lot of fun, i personally like drunk people in good spirits who are down for anything. They were very welcoming. Emily's family was there and a friend or two and it was nice. The other thing was since we entered San Fran there was this smooth mist over the entire city, a welcome change from the heat we had been dealing with, it was almost kinda chilly.
We actually sold more merch and Vinyl than in any other stop, people were stoked and it was a good drunken night. Becka the bartender hooked us up with free beer all night, MSM played a really loud set, but, there was a sound man and he was use to doing stuff for death meatal and the like so he handled it in stride and everything sounded great.
We went back to Emily's cousins' house. Sarrah and I slept in the van, and the rest of the gang got the apartment.

08/18/2008
Eugene

I don't know I guess i just didn't snap to how far away Eugene was from San Francisco. It was gonna be along drive, and it was but we got in to Eugene around 7:00 P.M.
Tiny Tavern, we pull in and it had like a porch with people just sitting around smoking cigarettes, and talking.
I figured we could kick it and walk around a bit maybe get the show started around 9:30P.M. or so. But, Hannah was like
"That's ridculous, why the fuck would we do that? Let's just get this over with and go home!"
It was our last night on the road and I wanted to make the most of it savor it if you will.
I didn't know that Hannah was sick and thinking she had strep and all this stuff I mean she mentioned something about it in L.A. but it didn't seem like a big deal and it's not like it prevented her rocking. I got all pissed and said "Fuck it why even play at all if you just want to get shit over with and puss out out on the last day of the tour let's go home now!" Other things of course, things calmed down, I personally think Hannah was just a little homesick and so close to home she couldn't wait to get to her pink room and comfy bed, and see her family and all that. Me on the other hand I was having so much fun I was almost bummed it was ending at all. Sarrah and I were talking later and realized we wouldn't mind, and in fact would love to be on the road more than not. You know, six months on the raod or more just sounds awesome... we're gonna try figure something out.

Anyway, once we got loaded in and all cool, everyone decided to make the most of it. THTB got free drinks all nigh,we got beer for MSM at the 7eleven. Callum doesn't drink but he made an exception, and Eugene was really nice. It was great to be back in Oregon. We played first and a couple people quickly left I hear them tell Alex, the bartender, it was too loud. Fuck 'em more came in than left and it was blistering fun untill Damon broke Callum's Bass head, so we stopped a little short, and as we were unplugging a good 10 people stroll in at once.
"We heard you guys from down the street and hurried over here, are you done?"
"Well we had to stop for a sec, but Monster-Sized Monsters are about to play, and maybe we'll play again."
" Yeah you should, right on!"
Callum got some tape and patched up the head and they went for it with a little drunken abandon. MSM plays really good with a couple of drinks in them and Hannah was cracking jokes between songs, singing really sweet, while Emily and Callum ripped into thier instruments like they would never play them again.
We ended up playing 3 songs and tried to stop but the good natured drunks that were still left yell for more. We ended our set with Fell in Love In A Mosh Pit, and that was it.
Tour over.
We drank for awhile, passed out buttons, left a vinyl for the bar cause they had a record player, gave awy our last four cds, loaded up and left.
damon drove home and i tried drinking a 40 on the way and passed out. don't know when we got in, or when we dropped off MSM.
It was late and I was really drunk and we unloaded eveything in the house, and that was it.