We left dear Canada in the early afternoon headed towards Olympia for our final show. Anticipating, once more, a horrible border experience, we waited an hour to cross back into the states. To our surprise all that happened was this:
Border Patrol Officer: "You guys bringing anything back with you?"
ME: "Uhhh... we've got some chips...."
BPO: "Ketchup chips?"
ME: "Yeah"
BPO: "Haha have a nice day."
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
"Fuck this shit I'm moving to Canada!"
Vancouver, BC, CA Day 1 - 8/22/09
Our first day off! We expected hell trying to get into Canada. We imagined long hours waiting while the van was stripped apart, endless questions, and bossy authority figures who eventually tell us NO CANADA FOR YOU and not let us in. But our entry to Canada was pretty smooth! We were told to park and go in for more questions, but we were well prepared with paperwork and stuff and they let us in.
Vancouver is HUGE and full of life. We met up with Matt (From Battlesnakes and Brigadoom) and his friend Mark, and went out for breakfast. We (I) geeked out on Canadian money for a while....
Then we explored downtown, went to some touristy shops, and then to the Sea Wall. That thing is awesome! So many people rollerblade!
We found our way to a liquor store, because, um, WE CAN. Got lost/stuck in traffic downtown on the way back to Matt's house, but got there eventually. Experienced Ketchup Chips. Hung out, then went to a bar that was reccommended to us and ordered some Canadian French Fry dish with gravy and cheese. Rounded out the night by walking 1/2 hour to a venue (The Rickshaw) to catch the headliner of a punk show. Walked back, made Kraft Dinner (Canadian Mac n Cheese), crashed 'round 3am.
CANADA DAY 2 8/23/09
Woah. Woke up, made breakfast, Calum played Grand Theft Auto 4. Went to an Indian church for lunch, they serve free food to anyone on Sundays. It was DELECIOUS! So amazing that they can do that! Went to Main St. which was blocked off for a street fair.
Made our way to the venue, played a set that was ok. The guy working that night was really effing nice. Well, nice isn't the best word... let's see... really... spectacurlally... awesome. That's the best I can do. A really great guy.
I accidentally slept on a remote control that night, but couldn't figure out why I was so uncomfortable until the morning.
Back to Olympia! (Oh man I don't wannaaaaa goooooooo!)
-Emily
MSM
Our first day off! We expected hell trying to get into Canada. We imagined long hours waiting while the van was stripped apart, endless questions, and bossy authority figures who eventually tell us NO CANADA FOR YOU and not let us in. But our entry to Canada was pretty smooth! We were told to park and go in for more questions, but we were well prepared with paperwork and stuff and they let us in.
Vancouver is HUGE and full of life. We met up with Matt (From Battlesnakes and Brigadoom) and his friend Mark, and went out for breakfast. We (I) geeked out on Canadian money for a while....
Then we explored downtown, went to some touristy shops, and then to the Sea Wall. That thing is awesome! So many people rollerblade!
We found our way to a liquor store, because, um, WE CAN. Got lost/stuck in traffic downtown on the way back to Matt's house, but got there eventually. Experienced Ketchup Chips. Hung out, then went to a bar that was reccommended to us and ordered some Canadian French Fry dish with gravy and cheese. Rounded out the night by walking 1/2 hour to a venue (The Rickshaw) to catch the headliner of a punk show. Walked back, made Kraft Dinner (Canadian Mac n Cheese), crashed 'round 3am.
CANADA DAY 2 8/23/09
Woah. Woke up, made breakfast, Calum played Grand Theft Auto 4. Went to an Indian church for lunch, they serve free food to anyone on Sundays. It was DELECIOUS! So amazing that they can do that! Went to Main St. which was blocked off for a street fair.
Made our way to the venue, played a set that was ok. The guy working that night was really effing nice. Well, nice isn't the best word... let's see... really... spectacurlally... awesome. That's the best I can do. A really great guy.
I accidentally slept on a remote control that night, but couldn't figure out why I was so uncomfortable until the morning.
Back to Olympia! (Oh man I don't wannaaaaa goooooooo!)
-Emily
MSM
Sunday, August 23, 2009
"That earring in your nose makes you look GAY!"
Bellingham 8/21/09
This easy to navigate city was refreshing and interesting. Went to the Horseshoe cafe because the guy we stayed with in Tacoma recommended it. The food was great! The people were nice. I (Emily) went for a run in a beautiful park.
The venue, Hot Shotz, was very well set up. Great stage and lighting rig, decent sound. The sound guy was super nice, the bouncer was an ass. The bands were really nice. Somehow we played to a total redneck crowd who shook their heads when they found out us GIRLS (Hannah and I) were playing, and made fun of Calum because of his nose ring.
We spent the night in a rest stop ten minutes from the Canadian Border.
This easy to navigate city was refreshing and interesting. Went to the Horseshoe cafe because the guy we stayed with in Tacoma recommended it. The food was great! The people were nice. I (Emily) went for a run in a beautiful park.
The venue, Hot Shotz, was very well set up. Great stage and lighting rig, decent sound. The sound guy was super nice, the bouncer was an ass. The bands were really nice. Somehow we played to a total redneck crowd who shook their heads when they found out us GIRLS (Hannah and I) were playing, and made fun of Calum because of his nose ring.
We spent the night in a rest stop ten minutes from the Canadian Border.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Two shows in one day
Tacoma, WA 8/20/09
Stayed with a very hospitable guy from the couchsurfing website. Played at Rocket Records to no crowd. Oh well. A guy who worked there, Rhino, talked to us a bunch about playing at Hell's Kitchen, which is THE spot to play in Tacoma, and also about distro up in Tacoma. Next time for sure!
Went and drove go-kards, and went to a park.
Played at Bob's Java Jive, a bar shaped like a teapot. This place was AWESOME. The bands were nice, and good, too!
Woke up to rain, and coffee, and breakfast!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Getting used to the road
Seattle 8/19/09
The routine is setting in. The late nights, the 2pm breakfasts, the unpredictability of food from restaurants when you don't know what's good in the city. Seattle, besides the hideous traffic, is A-OK in my book. We played at the Morgue, a total punk rock venue hidden in plain sight. Full sound and lighting but nearly invisible to avoid unwanted attention. We played well, the other bands were fun, and were were generally well received.
Stayed with a girl named Victoria in downtown Seattle. Met her on Couchsurfing website also. We got locked out of her place, so some stranger dude hoisted me up one story to grab onto the fire escape latter, where I climbed up another story, pushed in the screen on the window, and climbed in. It was a rush for sure.
The next day when we left, Hannah left her phone charger and phone inside, and once more we had no way to get in. This time (since it was light out) I tried a different method of getting in, the ol' credit card trick you see in the movies. Well, it worked. Took me about ten seconds to get in. Yikes!
The routine is setting in. The late nights, the 2pm breakfasts, the unpredictability of food from restaurants when you don't know what's good in the city. Seattle, besides the hideous traffic, is A-OK in my book. We played at the Morgue, a total punk rock venue hidden in plain sight. Full sound and lighting but nearly invisible to avoid unwanted attention. We played well, the other bands were fun, and were were generally well received.
Stayed with a girl named Victoria in downtown Seattle. Met her on Couchsurfing website also. We got locked out of her place, so some stranger dude hoisted me up one story to grab onto the fire escape latter, where I climbed up another story, pushed in the screen on the window, and climbed in. It was a rush for sure.
The next day when we left, Hannah left her phone charger and phone inside, and once more we had no way to get in. This time (since it was light out) I tried a different method of getting in, the ol' credit card trick you see in the movies. Well, it worked. Took me about ten seconds to get in. Yikes!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The City of Apathy
Olympia 8/18/09
Downtown is cute. Music and record shops are everywhere. Everyone is hip and cool and twenty-something. The girls we stayed with were super nice. Le Voyeur was a good venue but poorly operated regarding music. The crowd was indifferent, apathetic. Beautiful but smelly town. Went to Sleater-Kinney Rd. for Hannah to geek out on.
To Elaborate
Manzanita, OR - 8/17/09
The weather at hte beach was postcard-perfect and the sky was full of kites. Pre-show baseball game across from the venue complete with knee injuries, hit cars from foul balls, and a weed whacker. Talked to the band Kites at Night about the Astoria scene. We should do a double header some weekend of Manzanita and Astoria.
The show honestly looked like a bust after the venue kicked out the under-agies even though they paid. So we brought the show to THEM by moving all our stuff. We played well, and were well received. After playing we were swarmed with people wanting to buy stuff. We sold half our merch that night.
Drove to Seaside after the show and stayed with George, a guy from the Couchsurfing website.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Thanks, Olympia, but No Thanks
Hello from the road! We are in Olympia, WA at the moment, getting ready to head to Seattle. Two Nights ago we played in Manzanita, OR. We will elaborate more when we have more time, but for now, suffice it to say Manzanita was a good show. This tour has been relatively smooth, which is good, but I must say I miss the fun of the unexpected.
Olympia has been... fine.... Honestly none of us have the slightest desire to return here for any reason, and I am personally not looking forward to our show here again on the 24th. There's just too many bands, too much apathy, too many egos, and nothing feels like it has any point to it. Totally uninspiring. But a town full of twenty-somethings who are all in bands sounds like a good time. Too bad it is not.
We are taking pictures and video, so maybe we can post that sometime.
-Emily
Monster-Sized Monsters
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Hey, ho, let's GO!
Alright, so you're not gonna believe this, but we're READY TO GO! We leave in the morn' as thee sun rises up 'bove the cloudless sky... or something like that.
Yeah.
So, below are the rest of the fliers for our shows (continued from previous post). Keep checking in for updates from the road!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Close enough to touch
Things are falling into place NINE DAYS to go!
8 Days
7 Cities
7 Shows
3 States
2 Countries
WWWWOOOOAHHHHHhh
So, I'm begining to get worried about crossing the Canadian border, because I've been doing some research and it looks like it's common for border patrol to detain and ban bands for no particular reason, thinking people from the US are going to try to sell their equipment in Canada illegally, or play shows and make LOADS of money and not pay Canadian taxes.
HAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAAAAaaaaa Idiots. If we make enough money to cover GAS we will be surprised. And there's NO FUCKING WAY I'd want to sell any equipment up there. We'll just have to see what happens. One of the bands we're playing with is letting us crash at a member's house for the nights we're in Canada. It'll be awesome.
And for sleeping arrangements, we've made a couchsurfing.org profile and have been contacting people in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Astoria, and have heard back from 3/4 of these places. As for Bellingham, that's the only date we couldn't find a show, so I think we're just going to go camping that night.
So, we've got some fliers for some shows on the tour (not including Manzanita or Olympia, which have incomplete line-ups.) We need to do some serious promotion with these!
OK TALK TO YOU LATER BLOGGGGGGGGGGGGG
-Emily
Monster-Sized Monsters
8 Days
7 Cities
7 Shows
3 States
2 Countries
WWWWOOOOAHHHHHhh
So, I'm begining to get worried about crossing the Canadian border, because I've been doing some research and it looks like it's common for border patrol to detain and ban bands for no particular reason, thinking people from the US are going to try to sell their equipment in Canada illegally, or play shows and make LOADS of money and not pay Canadian taxes.
HAHHHHHAHAHAHAHAAAAaaaaa Idiots. If we make enough money to cover GAS we will be surprised. And there's NO FUCKING WAY I'd want to sell any equipment up there. We'll just have to see what happens. One of the bands we're playing with is letting us crash at a member's house for the nights we're in Canada. It'll be awesome.
And for sleeping arrangements, we've made a couchsurfing.org profile and have been contacting people in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Astoria, and have heard back from 3/4 of these places. As for Bellingham, that's the only date we couldn't find a show, so I think we're just going to go camping that night.
So, we've got some fliers for some shows on the tour (not including Manzanita or Olympia, which have incomplete line-ups.) We need to do some serious promotion with these!
OK TALK TO YOU LATER BLOGGGGGGGGGGGGG
-Emily
Monster-Sized Monsters
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