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Thursday, September 24, 2009
Day 13 (the last day)
w/ Christian Mistress & Spectral Tombs
Yesterday was a long day, but it was nice to wake up in the woods today, in a tent, and head out. Honestly, Silver Falls is not too far out of the way-- it's a convenient stop off of I-5, and for $16, five of us got our pick of sleeping arrangements, and access to showers (no one should underestimate the value of showers to a touring band).
Tyler slept on the wooden platform in the back of the van, which was hell on his sunburn... I still can't figure out why he chose to sleep there (or get a sunburn. I stay away from that stuff. Sun people start to look like leather, or crocodiles, by the time they're 50).Most of the day was spent in the park... I don't think we left until after 6:00 or so, and that was no problem-- my herculean feat of driving had gotten us so close to the next show, we had time to kill. The Sacramento -> Salem trip was intense, but I'd made up my mind that we're going home tonight after the show. I slept on the way to Plan B in Portland (which was such a quick ride, I put on The Minutemen Double Nickles on the Dime to sleep to, and we got there before the album was done) so that I'd be awake that night to get us back to Seattle.
Plan B is a nice bar, but it has a huge back patio. This is a bit of a problem when you're playing with a black metal band and an 80's-style power metal band... nothing against either group, but the audience knew exactly what to expect from both: the sound of their music was completely familiar to anyone who wanted to hear Power Metal or Black Metal. ubik.s a little stranger than that... and "strange" seemed to make people hang out on the patio and smoke.
We sold some CDs, though... a conversation or two revealed that a few members of the crowd really did want to hear something different. So we've got that going for us. Also, members of Order of the Gash and Anon Remora came to the show, and it was really good to see them there (and they gave us some sound notes from the crowd-- apparently, I needed to turn up. It's good to have other band people out in the crowd, because they're almost always the only ones that tell us mid-set if one instrument is too loud or too quiet. The sound guy [from Mongoloid Village-- how awesome is that?] didn't have anything to do with it, because Joel and I were just playing through our cabs. No mics on us.) We played well, though, and had a pretty good show.
(long parenthetical)
The setlists have been going more metal and screamier as the tour took its toll on Michelle's throat. Next time we do this, there is going to be more care taken with days off and rest, with no arbitrary Redding stops on scheduled days off.
The drive home was my idea-- after Plan B, I said we should just head north, do some night driving, and get home. The tour has gone well, and I can do more on the road, but if there are no more shows, I want to get to a real bed.
Seriously, I might have killed someone. All of us, maybe-- I nodded off somewhere near Tacoma, and it was scary enough that I caught some nap time on a freeway on-ramp before charging on. I'm a good night driver and I have excellent long-haul stamina, but that doesn't account for 13 hours of hiking, driving, and a show before hitting the road. It was scary.
That, and there was a lot of whiskey among some of the non-drivers. We had to stop a few times due to puke in the van. I'm not sure if this is the first time anyone's vomited in the van, but it's the first time since we've owned it.
...and for everything that we've done (I've been saving this until it was a confirmed fact) the van made it! Completely made the run. 32 years old, no idea how many times the odometer's rolled over, but she made it there and back again.
I didn't make it to my bed though: we got the van to Michelle's (our practice space), and I am crashing on the downstairs couch. Close enough.
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