June 2, 2004 - SLC, UT

The only reason I'm writing about this show, is because it was a disaster as far as we were concerened.

Terror used to be one of my favorite bands, and some of the nicest dudes I know, so I'd been trying to get on a Terror show for months. They'd come through a few times, but for some reason we never got on the show. Finally, we got on the MADE tour as the opening band. Figured it was going to be a good show all around. We show up at about 6:45 and there's nowhere out front to park, so we used the handicapped spot. We were just going to unload the van then find a parking spot. We got about 1/4 of the way unloaded and parking enforcement shows up. The asshole tells us that we had to move and he meant business. I try and talk him into letting us just unload everything and then we'll move. He says if the van isn't gone in ten seconds, he's giving us a $75 ticket. We shut the van, I drive around the block and park in front of a driveway. We recruit some kids in line and get everything out before he gets back. I park the van and run back to the venue. It's about 7pm at that time. Chris is at work and Bill is at school. They said they'd be ther by 7:30 or 7:45. I figured that was no problem since show usually start around 8.

Not tonight, though. The club has just come under new management and set a curfew for 11pm. They also hired a stage manager. We'd played in this club at least 5 times before and never had to deal with anyone except Blake, but that night, Blake wasn't able to do much because the new managers had some grand idea of getting everyone out for no reason other than they wanted to get home in time for MASH. So as Clint is setting up, the stage manager walks up on stage.

"Alright, we're on curfew tonight, so you guys get twenty minutes. Start at 7:15 and be done by 7:35."
I looked at Nick, then turned back.
"Are you joking me? Start at 7:15? There's 25 kids outside."
"I'm serious. Get this shit set up, man. We've got a schedule to keep."
"Well," I said, "I think we have a problem because out bass player and singer aren't going to be here until at least 7:30."
"Why?"
"We were told the show wasn't going to start until 8."
"Nope. Doors are at 7, show starts at 7:15."
"Well. Fuck."
"What do you wanna do?"
"Looks like we're not playing."
"Are you sure?"
"Can't play without a bass or vocals."
"Shit man. Sorry to hear that. Let's get this stuff out of the way then."

Then he helped us move all of our stuff off the stage. At 7:45 Chris and Bill roll in, and I break the news to them. Chris thought I was joking and Bill didn't really seem to care aside from the fact that he left school early for nothing.

It was a hell of a last show for Chris and Nick.

June 1, 2004 - Provo, UT

Chris, Nick and I met Clint at the Albertson's way out in the middle of fucking nowhere. (aka right by Clint's house, in Draper. I'm a downtown kid. Anything past 6300 S. is far away.) We hop in the van and drive out to the show. There is some wicked traffic, so it takes us longer than usual.

Now Provo shows can really go either way. If there is some kind of tech-metal band (which we aren't) on the bill, kids will come. Otherwise you're pretty much shit out of luck. With, of course, the exception of about 5 people. Those five people know who they are, and we love them. The rest of the Provo scene pretty much consists of dipshits. Dipshits that smoke because it makes them look hip. I guess it's their way of rebelling against all the mormon stuff that goes on there. Not really sure, and all I know is that I haven't been back there since this show.

Anyway, Rob from Bring it Down sets the show up with BID, Cherem, Gone Without Trace, Bound In Blood and the Hi Fi Massacre. HiFi is a Provo tech metal band, and like I said before, the type of band that draws kids. So, everything goes alright to start the show off with. We do our thing and there's about twenty five kids watching us and another thirty standing outside on the sidewalk smoking. It doesn't really bother me, because that's how some shows go, but as soon as HiFi starts setting up all the kids start piling in. The other bands borrowed my cabinet, so as I was getting it off the stage, I get sort of pushed out of the way so someone else can get up on it. It's the singer for HiFi, which until that night, I'd been told he was a real nice guy. I think whoever told me that was lying. I shrug it off, move my stuff out and go sit behind the counter with the merch. Halfway through HiFi's set, two girls come up to the table and ask to buy HiFi shirts. They start asking all kinds of questions about what colors and sizes I have. I politely tell them that I'm in Cherem, and don't have answers for them but if they wait until after the set someone in the band could probably help them out. They give me a couple dirty looks and walk away.

After the set is over, the singer walks over and takes his place next to me selling HiFi stuff. I tell him good set, and he ignores me. This kid was starting to piss me off acting like that. I brush it off and tell him about the girls that asked questions. I tried to turn it into a slightly humerous story to get a positive reaction out of him. He looks at me, looks away and mumbles, "Yeah, whatever." Now, at that point I'd had just about enough of this fucking guy. I pack our merch up and get the fuck out of there.
I'm not really sure what all happened, because we'd played Provo with those dudes before and everything, to my knowledge, was cool. I guess not anymore.

Oh well. Fuck Provo anyway.

May 31, 2004 - Boise, ID

So we get a call from a kid up in Boise asking us to come play a show. He says it will be a good turn out, so we decide to do it. He gives us a date and we agree. We talk with Bring it Down and they're playing the show, too. A couple of the bands from that show are going to be in Provo the day after, and they ask us if we want to play and we say yes. We have a show two days before this in SLC with Love is Red and we get them on the Idaho show, so basically we make a mini-tour out of three shows.

We were asked to play the MADE tour that comes through with Terror the day after Provo. It sounds a little ridiculous, I know but we made a mini-tour out of four shows in 5 days. 2 in SLC and one 45 minutes away. Whatever, we'll do as we please.

Back on track... Chris and Nick had decided these were going to be their last shows. Nick was starting a new job and couldn't commit to touring and Chris had a family to support, so he couldn't tour either. So that's the main reason we made kind of a big deal about it, as a little send off for them. The Love is Red show went well and we were excited about playing up in Boise, so we planned on meeting at Bill's house Monday morning at about 10.

Monday morning rolls around and we all start to arrive. We took Foek with us, because it's fun and he's good company on long rides and Dan (our new future bass player) decided to come along because he really didn't have much else to do. Plus we had a little extra room in the van, because Chris decided he was taking his own car. So Chris rolls up to the house and comes inside.

He looks at me and says, "I've got a surprise for you in the car." I head over to the window and take a look, but all I can see is Candace.
"Um," I say, "all I can see is your wife. That's not a very good surprise."
"No," says Chris, "in the back seat."
I head outside and take a look as to what kind of surprise he's talking about, and sure enough, he brought along my friend Andrea. It was a pretty good surprise, I'll give him that.

We all pile in our respective rides and start on our way. Clint put his cd player in the van this time, so we had something else to listen to while we drove. Instead of me singing and gangster rap. I brought the rap, just in case though. When we all got to Boise, Chris told us a story of how there was an accident on the freeway and he had to pull some Bad Boys II shit. He said that a car flipped over and was flying at them, so he had to swerve and drive under it at like 70mph. I didn't believe him then, and I still don't to this very day.

While we're waiting on a few of the other bands, Andrea got a headache, so she and I take off to find a store. I didn't feel like driving the van, so Chris offered to let me take his car. I jusmped at the chance, because it sort of looks like a race car and would probably be fun to drive. Fun wasn't exactly the word I would use now, though. It's difficult and loud. That's what it was. I felt so stupid rolling up the Albertson's with a car that made more noise than a poorly functioning lawnmower. Either way, we get some Tylenol and head back to the venue.

When we get back, the promoter comes up to us and tells us that they made food for all the bands. We usually don't pay much attention to this because when it happens, they usually forget that we're a vegan band and we don't really want pepperoni pizza. This was different though, because he tells us that he went out and got vegan hot dogs for us and they're all ready to go in the snack bar area. We all head over and grab a hot dog or two and go back to hanging out. As we're all sitting around bullshitting, I notice that Candace, Chris' wife, hasn't eaten any of her food. There's a small chunk sitting on the side of the plate and that's it. Chris asks her why she isn't eating and she says she doesn't think hers is vegan. Chris tells her that it is, because they cooked all the regular dogs on one side and the vegan ones on the other, and he got hers from the vegan side. She still didn't believe that it was vegan. Chris was very adamant that it was, and to prove it, he'd take a bite. So he grabs it from her plate and takes a big bite. He chews it for a second, then looks at us in horror and spits it out. "Fuck, that's a real hot dog!"
"I told you." said Candace quietly.

That kind of bummed the rest of us out and we didn't go back for seconds.

The show was pretty good after that. We couldn't hear a damn thing on stage, so we were convinced that everything sounded like complete shit and got really bummed. But after we got back to our merch table, everyone told us that we sounded really good, and the sounds sucks while you're on stage but everything sounds good from the floor. That made us feel a little better.

After the show was over we packed everything back into the van and started on our way home. I got first shift driving on the way home, but could only make it about two and a half hours before I got too tired. I tried to entertain myself and stay awake by texting with Andrea who had already left, but that proved to be a bad idea because I think I almost crashed several times. Fianlly Little Nick took over, then Dan and when they were both done I took over for the rest of the way into SLC. I dropped everyone off and went home to catch a nap before heading down to Provo.