GK Center, Berryville, VA 1/19/08
Yesterday started off as a real lazy day. After waking up early and writing the previous blog, I went back to bed and slept 'till 12:30. From there it was watching the end of "Terror of MecaGodzilla" that Andy brought on DVD and then watching him play some classic games including Mike Tyson's Punchout on Nintendo 8 bit that Will & Kelley have in excellent condition. Kelley made us a delicious venison roast for an early dinner. They left before us to go see a friend's band in Maryland. Matt had stopped by and rode with us in the van. A decision he probably later regretted! They left us the key, as they wouldn't be returning until the following morning. Again I can't thank them enough for letting us stay here.
When we pulled up to the GK Center Dead Brain Cells and various members of other bands and fans were milling around. After saying our hellos we unloaded the stuff. I would be using Kill The Car's drums again. The place used to be an old skating rink that they converted into various rooms and such. The room we'd be playing in was pretty nice sized. The PA there was amazing. The drummers would be on a small stage with the guitarists out front.
Dead Brain Cells opened up the show. They're almost like a junior southern version of us right down to 2 fatties and a skinny bassist. They play more straight ahead punk with a touch of ska at times. We missed their first ever show last May when we were stuck in the hellacious Memorial Day weekend traffic. I'm glad I finally got to see them play.
A horror punk band called The Buried followed them and played a nice set. Us dopes had the third slot. It was pretty funny, Andy was going into his whole intro spiel and I wasn't even ready yet. Next time turn around and check fatty! So after that slight delay, we were off. Man, I couldn't see shit up there thanks to the blinding stage lights. I really couldn't tell if people were getting into or not, but Andy later assured me they indeed were. It was another fun loving VA/WV crowd. We had pits breaking out and a friggin' crowd surfer. We were right in the middle of the set when Penny had some bass trouble, so I suggested Andy kill the time by doing his accapella version of the Sanford & Son Theme to the delight of the crowd. We then finished things up including the ever-popular Andy mooning during "Sorry So Psycho". Afterwards there was a rush of kids buying merch. I friggin' love playing down here, the kids are way into it and always give their full support.
Kill The Car followed us and played another great set of music. I still love all the changes they got going on during their songs. Adventures Of Felix followed them. I dug what I heard but was kinda turned off by a comment they made saying how different they were compared to the other bands including "Ramones sounding" ones. Maybe it was just me, but I thought it was rude, which just happened to be the catch phrase of the night in our best Shane Problem impersonation.
The Mattress Police closed things up with a fun but loose set. After saying all our goodbyes we were friggin' starving and looking for a place to eat. We found an Italian place still open and chowed down. From there it was back to Will & Kelley's where I passed out to the sounds of Andy playing Nintendo.
Thanks again go out to Will & Kelley for letting us crash. Matt for setting everything up and hanging with us. All the bands especially Kill The Car, Sin City Gamblers, Dead Brain Cells, & The Hellgrammites. And of course all the kids and fans who gave their support. It was 2 days of fun! We fucking love this area and can't wait to return!
Set list
1) Girls With Boyfriends
2) She Needs A Psychotherapist
3) Radio Off
4) Cut Marks
5) Never Feel Alone
6) I Don't Wanna Smile
7) I Wish Sheena Was A Punk Rocker
8) Sumpin's Wrong With My Brain
9) Knucklehead
10) Better Than Star Wars
11) Shit Happens
12) Not Gonna Miss You
13) Sanford & Son Theme
14) Janie
15) No Cranium
16) Sorry So Psycho
17) Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio (Ramones cover)
Cookies Lounge, Martinsburg, WV 1/18/08
(written 1/19)
Fun show last night at Cookies. We're staying at our new pals Will & Kelley's condo apartment in Winchester, VA. Yes, it's supposedly haunted, but so far so good! The trip down was pretty uneventful. We got stuck in traffic a couple times, but it didn't last long. We stopped at a Mickey D's in Hagerstown, MD for dinner and got to Cookies around 8PM.
You had to get let in the door with a buzzer, pretty kooky. I met the guys from Kill The Car whose drums I'd be using as well. First time I'd have to switch around a kit from a lefty. We set up the merch and sat around for a bit. Sin City Gamblers showed up to greetings all around. Those fellers are some good people. I had a PBR in my hand in no time thanks to Erik the guitarist. Matt who set this all up showed up not much longer after them. And then our humble hosts Will & Kelley not much longer after that.
Kill The Car opened things up. They got a pretty unique sound with a few intricate changes in their songs. I dug 'em a lot. We followed them after the quick switch around I mentioned earlier. I thought we fucking killed it. The crowd was really responsive and digging it. I was fucking loving the pop of the piccolo snare I was using. I'm really thinking of looking into one myself. We even played a brand new song "Janie" about our pal from The Slotcars. Andy threw a curveball at us with "Donna" as the last song. It was pretty rusty at first 'coz I think the last time we played it was at the WV show last May. We had lots of compliments and handshakes after our set. We moved quite a bit of merch too. Hey. We're all broke and really needed it for gas money.
The Hellgrammites followed us and played a smokin' set. I was really digging their sound a lot too. They're really cool dudes, I know Andy and Penny were talking shop with them. Next up was a Metal band called 2 Sides 2 Die. They kinda stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other bands, but I though they were alright. Even if they're the ones whose place we were supposed to play at Sunday canceled 'coz of football and the cold.
Sin City Gamblers got stuck as the "deadliner". Which fucking sucked 'coz most of the place cleared out during the last band. But at least we stuck around and were rewarded with a downright killer set of rockabilly inspired punk. They had a dude come up a couple times and switch off on guitar who really played some killer leads. Even Andy somehow wound up with the bass playing on a jam. We gotta get these fellers up to South Jersey!
After wrapping up and saying our goodbyes we followed Will & Kelley back to their place. We had to make a pit stop at a Sheetz store, which is kind of a southern version of Wawa. There was a ton of VA's finest in their Smokey Bear hats giving us the evil eye inside loading up on Krispy Kreme donuts and the like. Speaking of donuts, we couldn't stop laughing over a cup of glazed donut holes that we just had to get. I had to get a roast beef pretzel melt sammich. Why did Wawa stop making them?
Will & Kelley gave us a quick tour of the place then we settled down in the basement where we chowed down. They even had a pool table down there as well as plenty of beverages for us. Real good people they are! There were a few laughs and then it was off to sleep with thankfully no bumps in the night!
Set list
1) Girls With Boyfriends
2) Radio Off
3) Cut Marks
4) Stoopid Movie
5) Kelly
6) I Wish Sheena Was A Punk Rocker
7) Brandon Lee
8) Better Than Star Wars
9) Sorry So Psycho
10) I Don't Wanna Smile
11) Knucklehead
12) Sumpin's Wrong With My Brain
13) Shit Happens
14) No Cranium
15) Janie (1st time played)
16) Donna (Richie Valens cover)
Yesterday started off as a real lazy day. After waking up early and writing the previous blog, I went back to bed and slept 'till 12:30. From there it was watching the end of "Terror of MecaGodzilla" that Andy brought on DVD and then watching him play some classic games including Mike Tyson's Punchout on Nintendo 8 bit that Will & Kelley have in excellent condition. Kelley made us a delicious venison roast for an early dinner. They left before us to go see a friend's band in Maryland. Matt had stopped by and rode with us in the van. A decision he probably later regretted! They left us the key, as they wouldn't be returning until the following morning. Again I can't thank them enough for letting us stay here.
When we pulled up to the GK Center Dead Brain Cells and various members of other bands and fans were milling around. After saying our hellos we unloaded the stuff. I would be using Kill The Car's drums again. The place used to be an old skating rink that they converted into various rooms and such. The room we'd be playing in was pretty nice sized. The PA there was amazing. The drummers would be on a small stage with the guitarists out front.
Dead Brain Cells opened up the show. They're almost like a junior southern version of us right down to 2 fatties and a skinny bassist. They play more straight ahead punk with a touch of ska at times. We missed their first ever show last May when we were stuck in the hellacious Memorial Day weekend traffic. I'm glad I finally got to see them play.
A horror punk band called The Buried followed them and played a nice set. Us dopes had the third slot. It was pretty funny, Andy was going into his whole intro spiel and I wasn't even ready yet. Next time turn around and check fatty! So after that slight delay, we were off. Man, I couldn't see shit up there thanks to the blinding stage lights. I really couldn't tell if people were getting into or not, but Andy later assured me they indeed were. It was another fun loving VA/WV crowd. We had pits breaking out and a friggin' crowd surfer. We were right in the middle of the set when Penny had some bass trouble, so I suggested Andy kill the time by doing his accapella version of the Sanford & Son Theme to the delight of the crowd. We then finished things up including the ever-popular Andy mooning during "Sorry So Psycho". Afterwards there was a rush of kids buying merch. I friggin' love playing down here, the kids are way into it and always give their full support.
Kill The Car followed us and played another great set of music. I still love all the changes they got going on during their songs. Adventures Of Felix followed them. I dug what I heard but was kinda turned off by a comment they made saying how different they were compared to the other bands including "Ramones sounding" ones. Maybe it was just me, but I thought it was rude, which just happened to be the catch phrase of the night in our best Shane Problem impersonation.
The Mattress Police closed things up with a fun but loose set. After saying all our goodbyes we were friggin' starving and looking for a place to eat. We found an Italian place still open and chowed down. From there it was back to Will & Kelley's where I passed out to the sounds of Andy playing Nintendo.
Thanks again go out to Will & Kelley for letting us crash. Matt for setting everything up and hanging with us. All the bands especially Kill The Car, Sin City Gamblers, Dead Brain Cells, & The Hellgrammites. And of course all the kids and fans who gave their support. It was 2 days of fun! We fucking love this area and can't wait to return!
Set list
1) Girls With Boyfriends
2) She Needs A Psychotherapist
3) Radio Off
4) Cut Marks
5) Never Feel Alone
6) I Don't Wanna Smile
7) I Wish Sheena Was A Punk Rocker
8) Sumpin's Wrong With My Brain
9) Knucklehead
10) Better Than Star Wars
11) Shit Happens
12) Not Gonna Miss You
13) Sanford & Son Theme
14) Janie
15) No Cranium
16) Sorry So Psycho
17) Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio (Ramones cover)
Cookies Lounge, Martinsburg, WV 1/18/08
(written 1/19)
Fun show last night at Cookies. We're staying at our new pals Will & Kelley's condo apartment in Winchester, VA. Yes, it's supposedly haunted, but so far so good! The trip down was pretty uneventful. We got stuck in traffic a couple times, but it didn't last long. We stopped at a Mickey D's in Hagerstown, MD for dinner and got to Cookies around 8PM.
You had to get let in the door with a buzzer, pretty kooky. I met the guys from Kill The Car whose drums I'd be using as well. First time I'd have to switch around a kit from a lefty. We set up the merch and sat around for a bit. Sin City Gamblers showed up to greetings all around. Those fellers are some good people. I had a PBR in my hand in no time thanks to Erik the guitarist. Matt who set this all up showed up not much longer after them. And then our humble hosts Will & Kelley not much longer after that.
Kill The Car opened things up. They got a pretty unique sound with a few intricate changes in their songs. I dug 'em a lot. We followed them after the quick switch around I mentioned earlier. I thought we fucking killed it. The crowd was really responsive and digging it. I was fucking loving the pop of the piccolo snare I was using. I'm really thinking of looking into one myself. We even played a brand new song "Janie" about our pal from The Slotcars. Andy threw a curveball at us with "Donna" as the last song. It was pretty rusty at first 'coz I think the last time we played it was at the WV show last May. We had lots of compliments and handshakes after our set. We moved quite a bit of merch too. Hey. We're all broke and really needed it for gas money.
The Hellgrammites followed us and played a smokin' set. I was really digging their sound a lot too. They're really cool dudes, I know Andy and Penny were talking shop with them. Next up was a Metal band called 2 Sides 2 Die. They kinda stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other bands, but I though they were alright. Even if they're the ones whose place we were supposed to play at Sunday canceled 'coz of football and the cold.
Sin City Gamblers got stuck as the "deadliner". Which fucking sucked 'coz most of the place cleared out during the last band. But at least we stuck around and were rewarded with a downright killer set of rockabilly inspired punk. They had a dude come up a couple times and switch off on guitar who really played some killer leads. Even Andy somehow wound up with the bass playing on a jam. We gotta get these fellers up to South Jersey!
After wrapping up and saying our goodbyes we followed Will & Kelley back to their place. We had to make a pit stop at a Sheetz store, which is kind of a southern version of Wawa. There was a ton of VA's finest in their Smokey Bear hats giving us the evil eye inside loading up on Krispy Kreme donuts and the like. Speaking of donuts, we couldn't stop laughing over a cup of glazed donut holes that we just had to get. I had to get a roast beef pretzel melt sammich. Why did Wawa stop making them?
Will & Kelley gave us a quick tour of the place then we settled down in the basement where we chowed down. They even had a pool table down there as well as plenty of beverages for us. Real good people they are! There were a few laughs and then it was off to sleep with thankfully no bumps in the night!
Set list
1) Girls With Boyfriends
2) Radio Off
3) Cut Marks
4) Stoopid Movie
5) Kelly
6) I Wish Sheena Was A Punk Rocker
7) Brandon Lee
8) Better Than Star Wars
9) Sorry So Psycho
10) I Don't Wanna Smile
11) Knucklehead
12) Sumpin's Wrong With My Brain
13) Shit Happens
14) No Cranium
15) Janie (1st time played)
16) Donna (Richie Valens cover)
If you want to go back and write more than "I loved it!" we'd appreciate it! We are always looking for more detailed feedback.
You sound busy!