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Science Faction (2006)
10 days of madness promoting our latest release in the NW and California. Partially documented by Damon Ristau.
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PORTLAND
Let me begin by trying to recall all of the Missoula expatriates that
were at the show last night. Chris Lamb, Sammy J Adams, Kelly
"Gator" Gately, Dan Engler, Dennis O'Brian, Matt Hall, Forrest (from
Fuq Ninja), Dave Daniels, John Richter, Grady Gadbow, Shane and Haili
Graff, Tim Graham, Chad Hanson, Lewis Gobeo, Satya Byock, Crystal,
Buzzy Sullivan, Charles Johnson, Tyler Bradford, Brian (Volumen X) and
Chris Dunn. Whew. That is why we call Portland "West
Missoula". All of this made our reception really warm. It
was even more so when we saw Devan, Kelsey and Tish from Spokane.
The venue was rad in some ways and curiously less rad in others.
The layout was awesome and the staff was super friendly. The
sound guy, Bill, bought bunches of merch and said many kind things even
after we made some cracks about "white belts" over the
microphone. (Bill was proudly wearing a white belt). The
food was good and the drink prices fair. The other bands were
pretty great. Sleepyhead was a one-man laptop hip hop
project. Book of Maps featured Chris Bauman's math rock leanings
with the "Machine Head" influences of Chris Pickolick. In short,
they were awesome. The third band, The Punk Group, was a duo made
up of the members of Reload and Arcrot. They were like a goofier
Devo, or as, Volumen^2 remarked, "They are like a new wave Wesley
Willis".
So... with all that said, how was the Tonic Lounge not rad? Well,
for one thing, you don't pay a cover unless you go into the back room
where the stage is. So, you can hang out and drink without
supporting the bands, which is probably a good thing if you are broke
and a bad thing if you are in a band. What's worse is that
when/if you do enter the back room, you need to tell the door person
who you are paying to see, and that band gets the lion's share of your
door money. So, if you are the big draw or local band, that's
great news, and in every other case, it blows. I think this is
contrary to how a viable rock scene should operate. The local
bands should always try and help out touring bands if they can (and if
the touring bands aren't dicks). Thankfully, we did really well
at the door so I don't really have anything to bitch about. Also,
Book of Maps generously gave their share of the door to us.
Ahh... Missoula. Did we mention that we love those guys?
Once again, we sold buckets of merch and had a freakin' blast! We
went to Troy, Shelly and Be Be Wharling's house after the show for some
human jukebox action courtesy of Troy "I can friggin' play any song in
the world" Wharling. I remember drifting off to sleep during Puff
the Magic Dragon with a smile on my face.
-Volumen-1
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