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.