|
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Non-cancelled shows in Boise
Ash-Hole Studios in Boise, ID
with Nasalrod, Gernika, 1d, & Raid
So, nothing bad happened to anyone... Well, not until the next day. We didn't realize the next show started at 5:00PM. In Boise. Boise is about seven hours from Spokane, and we didn't leave until about 11:00. And then we remembered we had to cross over to Mountain Time, and would be an hour later than we thought.
We have a tendency to forget Mountain Time exists.
And then we blew a tire. It didn't seem like too huge a deal: we have a healthy, full-sized spare, and we fired up our commando tire changing skills just like last time.
Except last time it was a back tire. This time, it's driver's-side front, and we crank up the jack to find the tire still on the pavement. Damnit. We sent Nasalrod on ahead to Boise, and waited. Luckily, we went out with roadside assistance at our back... but when we got assistance, it was hard not to feel like chumps: it took less than five minutes to change that tire. We waited an hour for professionals to show up with a somewhat taller jack.
We lost more time getting to a Firestone to replace our spare. Last tour, we missed a show when we blew a tire and then blew another, and we refused to hit the road without a working spare. It ate time and money, and we still don't have a way to lift the van high enough to change a front tire, but we rolled into town before Nasalrod finished their set.
Today was my turn in the barrel. I drove pretty much all day... we showed up at the Boise show with my fretting hand suffering hours of constant vibration and my shoulder on fire. We played pretty well, actually, but a lot of the attendees of an all ages show have curfews that we were not meeting.
That, and ubik.s defining characteristic: we're not for everyone. Even our most rocking songs have atmospheric breaks; even our spaciest songs do something jarring. That's simply who we are, and, while we've accepted it, that acceptance hasn't spread to everyone, everywhere. It's also something that won't fly with a sixteen-year-old straight edge punk rocker. For a crowd that wants direct, unambiguous anthems and constant high tempos... we are not going to scratch that itch. Not ever.
Overhearing the conversation between Michelle and the kid who was “just trying to understand what it meant.” Ironically, there was more than a dash of Keanu Reeves "woah" in his voice, an awfully stoner trait for a straight edge punker to have. She related that she understood ubik better after her first acid experience, but she couldn't offer him a straight edge gateway to grasping what he was trying to understand.
I suggested a sweat lodge.
Kids too young to buy tobacco and alcohol calling themselves “straight edge” are hilarious... that's not so much a lifestyle choice as acting superious about obeying your mom. No judgement on the 21+ people I know that choose a clean lifestyle; they decide to live their lives a certain way and stick by it. It's awfully easy for children to swear off things they're not allowed to have. Those grapes are probably sour, anyway.
Nasalrod fared much better than we did. Their fast, raw energy really lit this crowd up. We arrived during their set, and could barely push into the crowd; no matter how odd and complex they are, Nasalrod can own a punk audience, and they brought the house down tonight.
Our hosts were incredibly gracious. We stayed up late, carousing and swapping stories. I quit somewhere around 3:00, but they say Joel was still upright when Justin was singing his solo pieces at the top of his lungs after daybreak (as Kat tells it). Michelle, Tyler, and I slept in the basement, away from anyone who might have disturbed our sleep.
Comments
