TRANSMISSION 5.24.2016 - Dirty City Tour
5.13.2016 Philadelphia, PA 18:30 Tonight should be interesting. We’re the second of two shows happening at the same venue. Actually, there are three shows going on: one in the upstairs room and two in the main room. Kid Congo Powers is playing the early show; our show starts at 23:00. I’m stoked to check out Kid Congo. I’ve always been way into Gun Club and I’m a fan of all the work he did in the Cramps, the Bad Seeds and the other bands he’s been involved with. He’s a lifer, one of those guys that will be making music until the day he dies.
Getting down here was a multi-step process. These days, everything seems to take way more time that it should. Me and Charlie met up at our practice space at the Pfizer Building out in Bushwick, humped all the gear to the freight elevator and packed up my van. Evan is picking up the rental van in Philly so the plan was for me, Charlie and Fedya to drive the gear down in my van and transfer the gear into the rental. My van has way too many miles on it to be reliable for any tour that goes beyond the radius of New Jersey.
We made it out of New York and onto the Jersey Turnpike by 13:00. My van doesn’t have a hookup for an ipod so we had the radio on, some local classic rock station that played Bachman-Turner Overdrive into the Ramones. It’s kind of trippy to think that the Ramones are being played on classic rock stations. At this stage of the game, the Ramones are pretty much a classic rock band. Much to the chagrin of the punkers out there, I guess you can put Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks, Discharge and Crass into that category. They’re the Led Zeppelins of the new generation.
These next few days should be cool. I’m stoked that Hivelords are on this run with us. They are one of my favorite newer bands and I think stylistically, the bands go well together. Evan is a great player and a creative powerhouse and I love watching him express himself in the context of Hivelords.
5.14.2016 Pittsburgh, PA 16:45 Today was a long, uneventful drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. There wasn’t much to look at. We ran “Fear of the Dark” by Iron Maiden on the way out of Philly. My knowledge of Maiden ends after Powerslave. I’ve heard a few jams here and there, but I have no real familiarity of their subsequent records. It was pretty damn good, I think I need to spend some quality time with the deeper album tracks. Out of respect, I should check out those records.
Last night was cool. Despite the late hour, a decent amount of folks showed up. Apparently there was a Chelsea Wolfe show going on earlier. I was also told that we would playing many of the same cities on the same night as that tour. Whatever, it is what it is. I show up to play, I can’t be concerned about who is playing where and what shows compete with each other. So many people are hung up on that sort of thing.
One of the cooler aspects of the night was meeting Kid Congo outside of the venue. I’m a long-time Gun Club fan and The Kid was a founding member. He also played in The Cramps, the Bad Seeds and a little known band called Fur Bible. For the last several years he’s been playing in a band called the Pink Monkey Birds. Being the ultimate fanboy, I got a shot of us standing outside on the sidewalk. It was cool. He was all attitude and I was a little star-struck. They tore the room apart during their set. The did two Gun Club songs, “She’s Like Heroin to Me” and ”Sex Beat.” Iwant to check them out on a night when I don’t have to think about playing so I can really settle into the music and enjoy myself.
I don’t know how tonight is going to be. There are like 5 other shows going on tonight; we have Chelsea Wolfe, The Obsessed and some other local shows. I’m cool no matter what. I’m here to get down and play some shows. I know that we’re going to play hard and that’s the most important thing.
I’ve played Pittsburgh many times over the years. Most of the shows have been at the old Mr Roboto Project which was basically a store front that some punks took over and started having shows at. I think there was a feminist bookstore next to it. Tonight we’re at the new Mr Roboto. It’s a new location but it’s pretty much the same thing.
Pittsburgh has always been a hard luck town, but thing seem to be turning around a little. On the way in I saw some cafes, spots where the local cool people congregate and a few restaurants. It’s a lot different than the darkness that I remember.
5.15.2016 Detroit, MI 19:00 The show was small last night but I’ll take it anyway. It’s not about that. People showed up to see us play and we delivered what we promised. When we are booked to play your town, you always get the best of what we are capable of. There were some technical issues with power in the beginning of the set but we pushed forward. Once it’s go time, we don’t stop.
We stayed with one of Fedya’s friends. It was a big house close to the downtown area. Pittsburgh is a small city so everything is pretty close together. We hit a breakfast spot on the way out which unfortunately for me was all vegan. If it’s your thing, good for you, but I can’t eat tofu or any of the vegan fake meat. I eat the diet of a predator. I need the life essence of the animal.
The venue is cool. We’ve only played Detroit three times prior to this, one of those times was in Hamtramck, which is a suburb. Someone dropped a lot of cash into this place. There’s a great sound system, a comfortable green room with a shower. When we walked in the whole place smelled like incense. The show schedule looks pretty cool, a lot of decent bands coming through.
There were some last minute changes to tonight’s lineup. The local chapter of the Satanic Temple booked a show at another venue. Apparently, the venue was shut down or blew up or something so their show was off. The promoter contacted Ron about combining the shows. I know what it’s like to have something like this happen on tour, so I agreed to put the shows together There are 5 bands on the bill tonight. I don’t know much about the Detroit Satanic Temple. I’ve seen some things on youtube but I don’t follow any satanic ideologies or anything like that. When I was 16, I dug Slayer and their whole Satanic image, but as time went on, I learned that it was all theatrics.
5.16.2016 Chicago, IL 19:20 We’re playing this huge room tonight that will most likely be mostly empty. Lord Mantis is on the bill. There have been some lineup changes so I’m interested in checking their set out. It’s a nice room, high ceilings. It looks new. The backstage is nice and tidy with comfortable couches and a shower. I’m chilling out back here drinking coffee.
The show last night was cool, decent good turnout. I’m looking forward to going back. Detroit needed a place like that. I met Brian Sheehan, the guy that made the poster for this tour. The Detroit Satanic Temple trip wasn’t my kind of thing. It seemed like a lot of style and not much substance. I did a little reading about them online and they represent some sound concepts. There is a lot of talk about progressive ideas and feminism, stuff I can get behind, but the masquerade of the pentagrams and inverted crosses is a little confusing to me. It doesn’t appear that they are actually into Satan or Lucifer or any kind of dark gods.
The coolest thing about last night was catching Ritual Howls play. I’ve checked out a lot of their music online but seeing them in the context of a live show was amazing. They had a lot of atmosphere and emotion. I hope to do more shows with them.
5.18.2016 Somewhere 08:30 I don’t remember the name of the town or state that we are in. It’s a Red Roof Inn; that’s pretty much all I can remember. We drove all day. I got a great hangout in with Will; he gave me a copy of the Indian live record from Roadburn. Afterward we had lunch at Dante’s Pizza. Tim from the Double Murder Podcast owns the place. He mentioned something about needing to get sink installed.
5.19.2016 Brooklyn, NY 13:00 I got home about an hour ago. The apartment is quite and empty. I hate getting back into the city during the day after being on tour. It’s like getting sucked into the orbit of the Death Star. I hate this place. There is nothing here anymore. A lot of my friends have moved away and have been replaced by a bunch of jerk-offs sucking on vape pens and gazing into their mobile phones. It’s over and if I’m smart I should leave here as soon as I can.
I can’t remember much about the show last night. I remember the set feeling good. I think I turned a corner on my singing on “Last Days of Sunlight” I feel looser and more comfortable. I look forward getting deeper into that song.