Our tour sendoff show! With a lineup of other friends, and a massive crowd, we couldn’t have asked for a better tour launch. Although, things got a bit out of hand when numerous family members were introduced to Sparks, which eventually flowed like water. As usual. A heavy snowstorm started right after the show ended, lets hope its not a terrible omen….
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Our second time at the venue. Fairly decent as before, although the area in general has a growing sense of apathy, we’re told. No snow yet!
Huge kudos to “Bruce aka Gypsy Scumbag”, Morgan (who did the artwork for our new album), DJ, and Punk Rock Pat… who drove all the way from Philly to Pitts to arrive in the middle of the night to meet us… because we had forgotten our projector (which is crucial, since Mark of Evolution Control Committee is relying on us having one).
This was a great show. Not only the “tour sendoff” for The Evolution Control Committee, but also the “farewell show” for them. TradeMark and Christy Brand will be locating to San Fransisco after touring with us (we’re literally dropping them off at their new house).
Very nice crowd and venue. We’ve been having a decent amount of misc video and pics taken, but havent been able to get them/upload them for various reasons. So sorry!
Here’s the exception to the good luck streak thus far. We surmized the poor attendance was due to the venue closing a day after our show, as well as the self-professed apathy of the staff and promoters.
In any case, we made the best of the situation, and post show did some video and audio recordings of the dual collaboration of Chromelodeon/Evolution Control Committee…. for both ECC’s “Lunch” and “Jesus Carp, Son of Cod”. We swear we’ll get all the goods up by mid-tour!
One of our few days off. We’ve spent it trying to catch up on the misc errands (ECC is packing for their final move), as well as healing the very ill.
Thus far, the weather and roads have been amazingly receptive to our mega tourvan (seating 11 people), plus a trailer that is absolutely full… tetris style.
Holy crap and happy new year. An ok event all around.
Some highlights:
1. An old christmas tree was launched off a 3rd story balcony, followed by bottles of champagne.
2. Several “Flaming Moe’s” were made. They were made wrong and tasted terrible. They were also thrown off the balcony.
3. We ran out of materials to make “Pissers”, our new drink for the tour we invented (1 can grapefruit soda + 2 shots of gold tequila)
4. Backflips onto tables (why are there footprints on the walls?)
5. Mark (from ECC) scaring people in the kitchen trying to get drunk off of Stohls beer.
We now are accompanied by one of Kentucky’s oddest gentlemen, Pearce himself. That makes 11 in the tourvan… complete maximum occupancy.
This turned out to be a surprisingly ok show. Although we were on time, we had to wait quite a while for the venue to open, in the freezing streets of Michigan. Everyone was ready for the worst, but for New Years Day, a fair amount of people came out.
The LSDudes shared the bill with us, and we must say… were totally rad. Very well done video collages of odd and rare movie clips as well as old video games, all scored by 3 adept …dudes… on a variety of instruments (mostly doing electro dancey stuff). The whole trippy-gimmicky thing turned out to be tounge in cheek and was hilarious as well as visually entrancing. We definitely plan on returning to this venue, and doing more shows with that band as well.
Kudos to the Ohio and Detroit people who came out to this show, as well as a few from The Shizz! We hope to meet most of you from coast to coast this month.
Today we stopped in chicago, had to drop Christy Brand (of the ECC) off at the airport… Mark of ECC will be performing solo on the tour with us from here on out. We’ve flyered the streets a bit for our show in this city on Jan 4th @ Buddyspace.
Happy birthday Dino!!!!!!
WARNING! Our show in Milwaukee @ Bucketworks has been cancelled… to be honest however, it wasn’t cancelled so much as flubbed by the people at the venue/artspace, as much as we love the place. They never set the date down for a show even though we were in touch since early novemeber, and didnt promote it whatsoever, so in lieu of not wasting 3 hours of gas money (our van is a friggin tank), we’ve decided to stay here in Chicago.
We’re spending the day further promoting our show in Chicago which takes place tomorrow (tuesday)….
UPDATE!
Both groups will be performing and promoting our tour live on 88.3 WZRD Chicago tonight! Roughly from 930pm-midnight.
Tour Journal:
Definitely the best show on the tour so far! Our last minute legwork and radio appearance (which went well) must have helped. Was good to see and get some last minute help from Edmar (of Lumpen). Thanks to all our new friends we stayed with…
Hopefully soon we’ll upload the ridiculous photos of us post-show…. doing “MadDog” shots (thank you tradeMark G of ECC, who brought the formula back from Poland), and another christmas tree incident with Pearce!
The next couple of days promise possibly the best shows, and definitely the worst drives. Wish us luck…
We awoke to a snowstorm covering the entire midwest… we spent 9 hours driving in complete and constant downpour of snow and rain to get to the show… the crowd was hindered by the bad weather stretching all these hundreds of miles. Apparently The Faint and Bright Eyes and other acts have come through this same spot (there is even a sauna).
We finally have both our new albums. Its been a mess, and its not over, but at least we’re finally selling what we are touring in support of…
We have to leave soon (around 4am) to make it to Denver in time. With no sleep, but fresh laundry. Gas money is getting a bit tight in lieu of the next 2 days of driving we’ve got to tackle.
Definitely the best show on the tour so far! Our last minute legwork and radio appearance (which went well) must have helped. Was good to see and get some last minute help from Edmar (of Lumpen). Thanks to all our new friends we stayed with…
Hopefully soon we’ll upload the ridiculous photos of us post-show…. doing “MadDog” shots (thank you tradeMark G of ECC, who brought the formula back from Poland), and another christmas tree incident with Pearce!
The next couple of days promise possibly the best shows, and definitely the worst drives. Wish us luck…
Tour Journal:
we finally have some pictures up! these are from our insane time at Buddy (Chicago)
check out the link for the pics, plus some vague descriptions:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Here’s our favorites so far….
Mark, Pearce, and some of Chromelodeon sharing Mark’s Poland-imported shot “The Maddog” to celebrate Dino’s birthday
Denny got flyered post show. Sparks did him in.
Pearce shows the sparks christmas tree a good time.
Audio:
- Chaosium Sword + The Parasprinter + One [8:24] – MP3 – 12 MB
- Jesus Carp, Son of Cod + Lunch (featuring the Evolution Control Committee) [9:27] – MP3 – 14 MB
- Lunch (featuring the Evolution Control Committee) [1:13] – MP3 – 1.1 MB
Video:
- Jesus Carp, Son of Cod + Lunch (featuring the Evolution Control Committee) [6:50] – MP4 – 98 MB – Youtube
Youtube:
Tour Journal:
Denver pulls through again! This is the new best show of the tour thus far… we are always pretty impressed (surprized!) by the community in this city. Josh and his girlfriend are some of the nicest people we’ve encountered on the road (sweeeeeet!). Amazing turnout, and we enjoyed the bill (which was pretty filled). By now between Dino’s cellphone and Mark (ECC)’s PDA we have random clips of bands we liked as well as bizzare loses of sanity in the tourvan, and other strange ambience. We’ll try to load those somehow by the end of the tour. Ah, and we met the semi-famous “cuss kid”.
We stocked up at a local all-night taco joint (15 people in the drive thru on foot), in the freezing cold. We’ve got an extremely long drive to Phoenix, and we’ve got to leave in the middle of the night without sleep… or clean laundry… or showers… or sparks…
Tour Journal:
Ok, here’s the story many of you probally have heard already about our accident….
We almost made it to Phoenix, but about 2 1/2 hours away (right outside of Flagstaff AZ) heading west on route 40 we got into a terrible accident. Apparently, with all the bad weather our country is currently getting, AZ is getting the worst of it…. we hit a 20 mile stretch of black ice that dozens other of accidents were on. We were one of them, eventually to wait forever on a virtual “emergency aid” list of police and tow trucks.
We started slipping on the highway somewhere in the mid evening (not going more than 45 or 50 mph), and were unable to control the car because the trailer was twisting unpredictably, and drifted offroad off a ditch and into the snowy dessert. Most of us were half asleep and braced for explosion or worse (particularly because we’re all sitting in every corner of the tourvan, having almost a dozen people in it, and cant see out of any window). Fortunately, our van careened safely in the dirt with no damage. Unfortunately, our trailer ripped off the hitch and flipped all over in the brush. The trailer was rendered completely useless… tires, axles, rims, siding, door…. pretty much everything. Some of our equipment had spilled out, but as fate would have it, our tetris-to-the-door ultra filled packing saved the day and 95% of our equipment. We actually ended up starting a bonfire with the busted pieces (bum style with the bass drum), on a police officer’s suggestion (he said make a fire to keep warm, not to burn the equipment that is). We used tumbleweeds and comic books for kindling.
So we were stranded in the pitch black freezing cold AZ wilderness, having originally waiting to reach this state with sunny and warm expectations. Almost immediately, the other accidents started happening. A couple of sedans just spun out on the side of the road and were ok, an 18 wheeler sailed across the opposite lane and into the far end of the ditch, and right before our eyes only a hundred or so feet away a truck totally flew through the desert wildly and was totaled as it smashed into a billboard sign. Thankfully, as far as we know, no one else was hurt. However, as some of us rushed to try to aid the truck, we ran into a hidden barb wire fence in the dark, and got caught (Mark from ECC looked like a scared calf). That was when the absurdity of the situation began to set it. We really couldn’t believe the carnage surrounding us (it seriously was carnage, as much as we’ve experienced at least).
Thanks in advance to everyone we called (there was a lot of you). Your potential help and support was appreciated, even if we were rushed and glib over the phone. We ended up staying with Phil from the band I Hate You When You’re Pregnant, in Flagstaff. We had to get a flatbed utility truck to haul our trailer (hastily rigged shut with our equipment back in it). That smashed trailer is now sitting in an abandoned parking lot near his house, its junkyard fate to be determined still (thats a whole different story).
Below are some pictures of the whole ordeal. Note that the damage looked a LOT worse in person, and if we are smiling, its probally because we are freezing cold/delerious.
OUR NEW PRESS PHOTO
TRYING TO KEEP DELERIOUSLY WARM (there are comic books as kindling in there)
TRAILER = DESTROYED
There are lots more pics of the accident on the following link:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Wish us luck and support if you can. We’ve shelled out a bunch of money, and also picked up a Uhaul, and having missed only the Phoenix show, our US tour with The Evolution Control Committee continues!
Tour Journal:
This show was something of a victory for us… the last show we played on our 1st national tour was at this venue, and we couldn’t wait to return. After the accident in Arizona, there was doubt about making it to the Smell, or even making it to the rest of the tour. The turnout was pretty good (except for that handful of over-excited acid heads during Mark’s set). Jim at the Smell has always been a decent fellow in all aspects, so we feel pretty confident in continuing our tour from this point on!
*Also, this show marked the departure of our friend and roadie Pearce “I look like a 5 day coke binge” Combest, who traveled from Louisville with us. He is seeing friends in the area and flying back on his own…
Audio:
- Jesus Carp, Son of Cod (featuring the Evolution Control Committee) [3:53] – MP3 – 5.3 MB
- No End Darkness [3:57] – MP3 – 5.4 MB
Tour Journal:
We spent today recording a “semi live” set at KXLU Los Angeles… most all of the day in fact.
The set will be aired at 5pm tomorrow (monday). Tune in if you’re in the broadcast radius. We’ll get a copy and maybe get it streamed for our website.
CHROMELODEON PUSH UP CHALLENGE RESULTS
First Place: Mike Patek, 40+
Second Place: Chris Singer, 33 crunches
Honorable Mention: Denny Barron, 1 (one)
Tour Journal:
Apparently the sunny San Diego gets only two days of rain per year, and following the trend with the tour so far, we hit one of those days of heavy rain! Thankfully, the show turned out pretty well, and Jess took care of us with tons of food from the kitchen of the co-op. Too bad we couldn’t stay longer. We’re spending the rest of the week in the Northern CA area….
Tour Journal:
We spent today getting to the Bay area, and then donating several hundred dollars to the warehouse-sized store known as Amoeba Records. Staying with some relatives in Petaluma, eating some real food for once…
Tour Journal:
warehouse rave parties + Chromelodeon + open bar = disaster
Tour Journal:
This was our last show for our tour with THE EVOLUTION CONTROL COMMITTEE… Mark now officially lives in the Bay area, and is staying behind as we play around CA more and head back east. For the last show, it definitely could have gone better, but it was nice to see WAVE THEORY coming around for the second time. We’ll definitely meet up with ECC on our next tour, its been weird getting to know him, and he admitted to enjoying himself in spite of the few downers we’ve had. Such is life on the road for DIY touring. He still reminds us of Doc Brown from Back To The Future, though.
Tour Journal:
This was a decent waypoint for traveling from the Bay Area to the upper west coast (to Seattle, perhaps). Kids came out thanks to some word of mouth from the positive kids running the place, although for a friday night it could have been better… however, there was problems with the bill up until 2 days before the show. We really liked the area (it was on a penninsula, and near a killer late night sandwich shop), and unfortunately couldnt stay longer to see the nearby strange geological formations and that drive-thru tree trunk deal.
Tour Journal:
We ended up not playing the convention, it was never really solid to begin with… Dino attended it as originally planned, and the rest of us tried to rest and get better (a second wave of sickness has spread in the van). Fell asleep at the movies and the like.
Tour Journal:
Not much more to say than a long overnight driving trip from San Jose CA to Salt Lake City UT. We stopped in Sacramento to visit an old friend, and drove endless hours in the dark fog.
Tour Journal:
Despite the friendly vibes, this show coughed up zero funds for us… which is of special concern, since we have a steady gas leak in the van that we neither have time nor money to fix, and a 20 hour drive to Missouri tomorrow. We’re trying to get back to Philadelphia in time for a new hometown tour return show on friday. If you ever wanted to donate via paypal, now’s the time! NOTE= our paypal account is soloby(at)temple.edu, not chromelodeon(at)hotmail.com!
Our destroyed trailer is still sitting in Arizona somewhere rotting away.
Stayed with our friends at the BOING house… awesome collective to check out if you’re ever going through this oddly calming city.
http://boing.vegcrew.net
Tour Journal:
Again in our typical tour fashion, we run short of time to return home, and have to drive long stretches between shows… wouldn’t be as bad if 5 of us weren’t so sick. Winter weather has proven to take its toll, although we’ve been lucky to dodge some storms in the last week since we reached the northern CA area.
Here’s some upcoming show info to keep you entertained in the meantime..
Jan 21st
@ Williamstown VFW
w/ The Early November
NOTE: home area tour return show!
Feb 10th
@ Northstar Bar
Philadelphia PA
Feb 21st
@ TBA
w/ Need New Body
April 1st
@ MACROCK FESTIVAL (www.macrock.org)
Harrisonburg VA
April 9th
@ SlutFest (www.madisonslutfest.com)
Madison WI
Tour Journal:
All things considered, this was a fantastic final touch to the tour. Mig50 of the Shizz really came through in the end, when we were pretty broke and beaten down. Show had a good crowd, and we earned a good chunk to provide return-trip gas money (although our tank is still leaking). Buffet and bar-hopping as well. Thankfully Cameron lived only 2 blocks away…. and took a billion awesome pictures (trying to get them soon)…
Tour Journal:
Left Missouri around 3pm after a fair amount of sleep… we’ll need it, because we have a good 24hr drive back to Philly. Just worked out that way, with timing and when everyone needed to be back.
A long, terrible drive awaits us…
Tour Journal:
Late this evening we returned to our city, with everything and everyone pretty much intact. Those who are sick have pretty much recovered, and other localized vices have been satiated. The biohazard (tourvan) is a filthy wreck inside and out and deserves a rest.
Extra special thanks to everyone who helped out nightly in the last month. Staying with friends (new and old) has always been better than being isolated in some random motel (to quote one clerk that we had to bribe… “you have too many people in your room!”). The first 3/4 of the month opening for The Evolution Control Committee was very weird and fun (strange sitting in the car with “tradeMark G” all the time, who we formerly looked up to). All our fans and friends from the Shizz really surprized us across the country, and Aaron of the Minibosses and Phil from I Hate You When You’re Pregnant came through during the whole trailer accident. That alone kept us going.
We’ve got random people sending us pictures, and disposable cameras being developed, so check in next week for some final updates and thoughts.
Setlist:
- The Parasprinter
- Finale
- One
- Five
- Six
Tour Journal:
Our tour launch show! Our new material/video has been unveiled with great response… started off shaky, but we’re getting used to it. Was great as usual to see our hometown friends/fans/family before we go.
See you all on the road….
Setlist:
- Polygon Sun [4:38]
- Aluminum [5:53]
- Triangular [10:01]
- One [5:12]
- Five [5:47]
- Six [3:46]
- The Parasprinter [3:03]
Audio:
Flyers:
Tour Journal:
Whoops… we barely made it out of Philadelphia…we had to get the van inspected (it passed!), and had to drive really far to pick up the trailer. After stocking up on supplies at Scam Ash we hit the road with the usual late start (thanks for the hookup Tom!).
The show tonight went very well for our first out of town date on this tour. Our new set has come together nicely already, and we’ve found new friends with Karmella’s Game. Also, we ended up completely sparked thanks to the bartender Liz dishing out way too many free “Long Island Spark Teas”. Seriously sparked. Check the pictures at this link for proof:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Setlist:
- Polygon Sun [3:54]
- Aluminum [5:54]
- Triangular (aborted) [1:50]
- The Parasprinter [4:28]
- One [4:41]
Audio:
Tour Journal:
Our second show in the city with Temp Sound Solutions… the space was this strange half-warehouse run by old head punks. Had potential, but it was an off night and an overpacked bill of touring acts.
Had an optimistic last supper with Shawn Phase before leaving for TN that night, the real tour has fully begun…
Pictures!!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Monday night in a small town= dead zone. Once again we get the shaft from being on a bill entirely filled with touring acts… its a shame that even though most promoters realize this is a mistake, it still happens regardless. We kept up good spirits with relaxing all day in the hotel with none other than LITTLE CEASAR and his royal pizza. Fine pizza that we conned out of him.
Pictures!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Today’s show was also a video shoot… the venue is well known for its “on the fly” live video editing setup. We walked away with all around fair dvd copies of our performance, which we’re still deciding what we want to do with.
Otherwise, the show was dead…and the hotel adjacent to the venue refused to give us the “band discount” the venue promised they’d offer (we couldn’t crash with anyone, because there was hardly even anyone to ask). The 8 of us slept sitting up in the van, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Southern hospitality once again fails us.
At least we figured out how to scam free food from Chick-Fil-A.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Things may be picking up, but ever so slightly. Tonights venue was a rad combination of bar, book & record store, and small performance space. Despite yet another weekday southern show bombing in our face, we walked with enough funds to possibly make it to Atlanta. Depends on gas prices down there. At least we got to see some friends in the area (Country Bears).
Our new material is getting much more tight by now, and The Junkdog (Joeseph Theodore Idell III) is fitting in great.
Pictures!!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
This show turned out a lot better than we expected… of all the southern places we’ve hit, we really enjoyed Atlanta. Got to see some friends and fans and all that. Overall decent show.
Friends of ours JET BY DAY have this amazing side project called RUMP POSSE… we’ve been screaming its cheesiness for hundreds of miles now.
Kudos to Gavin, who runs Stick Figure Distro, which our new album is on… we stayed in his large warehouse and managed not to ruin anything.
Pictures!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Another surprize…. the area of Knoxville we hit was impressively alive and a decent part of town. Seems the majority of venues are in dead zones.
Show bombed for the most part, except for the few awesome fans we have (a national following… spread thinly out!). The south has been a little rough for us money wise, barely scraping by but with great receptions.
Had to leave right after the show to drive all night….
pictures!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Originally we would warn all to stay away from Arkansas at all costs, but in retrospect, we may return one day…. again the same story of the south for us on this tour… disappointing show, particularly for a saturday night. Although this time apparently it was due to the fact that Hank Williams Jr was playing across town. And we were in Arkansas. So this sort of makes sense.
“I though ya’ll fags wur gonna suck, but yah ROCKED!!!”
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
A totally rad venue. We had no idea what to expect, but the show and venue turned out to provide ok enough in the end.
The show actually ended up being a “Dirty South Shizz Event”… all acts being members of The Shizz community. Much thanks to Slacker for setting up the show and playing. We enjoyed Texas for the time we were there.
Had to drive a thousand miles to get to Phoenix by tuesday! Long haul desert style.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Unfortunately, this show didnt turn out as well as it could have, with two area acts on the bill. Had to spend the night in the venue with no other compensation (medium sized warehouse). The two things we needed badly we had to wait even longer for…. a shower and a kitchen. At least we wont need gas money for tomorrow, since we have a two day stint in the city.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Also, yesterday we were driving all day and came across the gem of the southwest… if you ever are driving on rt 10 in the New Mexico/Arizona area, stop by THE THING. You won’t regret it. We swear. We swear so much, we won’t tell you why. Unless you paypal us the dollar we paid for entry fee.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
For all the hype we’ve heard on this venue for a good while, it came up to par. Really nice space, with decent folk running it. Show once again could have been better, but we had a small number of friends and fans come out. Seeing the Minibosses in their own hometown was a bit of a personal accomplishment, since on our last tour we crash and never actually made it to our Phoenix show. We really impressed by the New Mexico Group The Coma Recovery.
We’ve been discouraged by the number of times on this tour we’ve found ourselves on a bill with all out-of-town supporting acts. Hopefully the west coast and our return trip through the midwest-to-new england will provide as they have before…. breaking even is becoming tough with these west coast gas prices.
Had a great time later in the night, staying with our friend Aaron of the Minibosses…. got to shower and cook real food for the first time since Texas (and for some of us, Arkansas). Copious amounts of video game and tv show theme songs were screamed until late at night. Also, most of the lizards in Aaron’s backyard no longer have tails.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
video of the pushup contest coming soon…
Tour Journal:
Our last ditch effort to pull up anything for San Diego after getting a healthy number of requests has fallen through… the very last promoter never called us back with a confirmation. Apologies, because we enjoyed playing there before at Che Cafe (during one of the two days the city ever gets rain, even).
We actually got stuck in Bakersfield CA… we put our van in for simple brake repair, and they BROKE our drive shaft on the lift and had to keep the van overnight to do repairs (all paid for by them, of course). Ridiculous to say the least. Much thanks to relative Will Tarng for helping us out so much during this sudden tough time.
Tour Journal:
Unfortunately another downer…. our show was competing with others and didnt turn out so well. We still really like the venue and the area, and will return hopefully to more luck in the future. Keep your eyes to KXLU in the area, as they still keep us in decent rotation. Thanks to Ryan Faust for the housing for the night.
pictures!?!?
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
Yikes… our 3rd time back at Kilby Court, and yet again it was scheduled for a monday night. And it did ok attendance wise. And a 3rd time in a row the venue couldn’t offer a buck for gas. When things like this happen, it seems obvious that others would take up some punk rock ethics and shell out at least $20 for the depraved touring act from far away (with all our EIGHT members needing food, and ridiculous gas hog tourvan with trailer). We ourselves have done so in the past when on the opposite side of the show. Its absolutely brutal on us. But we have higher expectations for the latter half of this tour…
We’ve sunk into major gas debt from having to drive to SLC, and then having to drive to Denver the next day. Thanks to Jacob at Boing House for still being around to house us.
Pictures:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Here’s some pics from yesterday… we had a day off in Vegas… thanks to Joie for putting up with us yet again, we generally behaved.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chro
Tour Journal:
We went into this show blindly, and it turned out to be fantastic. Got to see a slew of fans and friends from the general area, and were impressed with the space. Bucky’s “helmet cam” is working out perfect (see Mr Magfest’s pictures in previous post). Got some amazing new band photos on top of a heavily egyptian themed night club that used to be a weird cult gathering space. Again, will get these up sometime later.
Have a long drive all day tomorrow, must make it to dallas early on friday!
Tour Journal:
Holy crap was this show rad. As usual, Josh and Monkeymania (and Denver itself) come through. We got to spend some time in the city itself, which impressed us beyond what we had seen previously. The show was pretty decent, and Mr Pacman followed with a killer half karoke set. Too bad no one caught video of the 8 of us drunkenly screaming along/posing to Europe’s The Final Countdown.
We had to leave late that night post-show to get to Missouri in time….
Tour Journal:
Mig of The Shizz greets us as we enter the college town. The show was same as before… medium fare overall, but with one killer opener and one embarassingly terrible supporting act. Names aside, Denny choked Cameron several times, and everyone spit on the Urkel doll for good luck (its been tied to the front grill of the tourvan).
Tour Journal:
An odd location for us to stop at for sure, but turned out great. Jeb, a friend of a friend (Barker, through none other than Walt the Gypsy Scumbag himself), was a stand up dude who provided a decent show to keep us going and a glimpse of the Missisippi nightlife.
However, this is where the bad weather begins…. hurricane “arlene” and its aftereffects on the climate of the general midwest will haunt us for days to come…
Tour Journal:
….. and here lies the dud date of the tour. No show. In fact, no venue. The space was shut down almost two months ago, and the promoters moved to Montana. We found this out after an hour of walking around the area. We (and all other bands/shows) were supposed to be cancelled and notified of the events. We got to sleep in a parking lot instead of the housing/food/money previously promised. The only reason we were so sure of the show otherwise not to check up was based on a great experience last time and false trust… a lesson learned?
Tomorrow we take the day off to do laundry and gather fresh supplies and such.
Tour Journal:
Today we finally reached our favorite break point… the Kings Island Amusement Park (completed with a Paul Hogan themed waterpark). All we can say is… Dave rode The Beast 13 times, we should have used suntan lotion, and Paul Hogan prerecorded ride warning voiceovers are extremely mind numbing.
Worth a weekend trip to anyone interested. High quality times.
We got lucky… went on a monday and it was rainy in the morning…. NO LINES AT ALL!!!!!!!!
Tour Journal:
We weren’t sure what to expect of this show, but it turned out to be a well received ok time. The venue was accomodating, the show provided enough gas wise, and the surrounding city was entertaining enough. Thats more to say than some of the other dates early on in the tour. We’ll definitely return to this area after this first time around…
Special thanks to Carl and his movie theater basement!
Today we finally reached our favorite break point… the Kings Island Amusement Park (completed with a Paul Hogan themed waterpark). All we can say is… Dave rode The Beast 13 times, we should have used suntan lotion, and Paul Hogan prerecorded ride warning voiceovers are extremely mind numbing.
Worth a weekend trip to anyone interested. High quality times.
We got lucky… went on a monday and it was rainy in the morning…. NO LINES AT ALL!!!!!!!!
Tour Journal:
Once again, Grand Rapids welcomes us with open arms! Another city that way-back-when we didnt expect anything from. The area, the fans, and the venue all are rad beyond belief. Also, we finally got to play with CAPTURED BY ROBOTS (after coincidentally not being able to jump on the bill with them 3 times in the last couple years). Hilarious and well developed stage act… one man fronting a band of robots actually playing instruments and interacting on stage! Special thanks to Kirk of The Shizz for the food relief (we’re out of money for gas stations to rape of fruit and chips), and all the other fans who drove distances for this one.
Tommorrow we take the day off to see BATMAN BEGINS and party with our friends the LSDudes and Cat Time!
Tour Journal:
Unfortunately, this is one of the last events at our favorite venue/artspace in the city. Fortunately, it was unbelievably good, as usual. Plenty of people, some good fans, some crazy partying. Edmar who runs the whole deal and the publication Lumpen (very rad magazine) is one of the funniest people we know in the midwest, and a highlight of meeting on our tours.
We were all geared up to play a second set at 230am, and not 15 minutes beforehand, a squad of police invaded and kicked the whole lot out, attempting to stamp any fine possible. Goes to show why the venue is shutting down, too much pressure from the surrounding community. Humourously, one cop got causually pulled aside and asked “Hey man, did you used to break(dance)?”… to which he gruntingly admitted to. The other (smashed) partygoer was stoked to see an old friend.
Tour Journal:
This was day two of the “Estefest”. We were not sure what to expect, but it turned out surprizingly cool. We were blown away by “Sword Heaven”, and stayed with a new friend who was of equally comparable video game nerdery. No sleep was had thanks to a full Mrs Pacman cabinet set on free play.
Also, if you can find it in Columbus, you must eat at the TACO NINJA. A small ninja themed mexican food stand inside a bar. Even the chips are shaped like throwing stars.
Tour Journal:
This was actually mislisted as being in Cincinnati, which it definitely was not…. more of a segueway between OH and PA. Thankfully we had picked up some steam from the midwestern part of the tour, because the show turned out to be a dud. Not much else to say. More sleeping in the van. Didn’t want to waste any more money on a hotel room (or have to literally sneak people in through the hotel room window).
Tour Journal:
Another coincidental monday night in Pittsburgh…. this time around, things are starting to pick up. We seem to accidentally hit this city on off days, but after enough struggles, we manage to fare ok. Hopefully we can schedule a weekend date next time around. Show was good, and then we realized how close to home we really were… and so….
…Sometime earllllly tuesday morning we rolled into Philadelphia, almost completely delerious. We broke into our own house, screaming and smashing random things within our grasp (the war of 1812 rages on) as the non-band occupants living there awoke with confusion and excitement. Then the landlord came by and told us he wished we never made it back home.
Video:
- Triangular [0:54] – MP4 – 2.5 MB – Youtube
Youtube:
Tour Journal:
After what seems forever, we finally return to upper New England to all our friends, fans, and the best guys that ever put up with us…. HARRIS. Show went very well, and we’re happy to have broke into one of the best venues in the city. A live recording was done also.
Special thanks to Barker, who is part of the -Seven Degrees of the Gypsy Scumbag- (Walt) that we encountered on tour. Seems like we were hanging out with Jeb in Missouri only days ago. Or was it weeks….?
Tour Journal:
Before all the positive things roll out… let us just say…. WHY THE HELL DOES CONNETICUT HAVE SUCH HORRIBLE, NONSTOP TRAFFIC?!?!??! (and gas prices). This fact killed us to and from boston.
In any case, the show turned out to be a FANTASTIC “end of the road” part of the tour. Great to have played with The Parasprinter, members of which we’ve spoken to for some time. Nice folk, and good group. Trying to get them on the bill for Magfest 4 (www.magfest.org). The venue and show itself reminded us of the Ashland Church shows in south jersey we used to attend nearly every friday night growing up, even before we had any sort of band to play in….. Can’t believe that was almost a decade ago.
Tour Journal:
At last, we are home (for real)….. so much needed sleep, laundry, and showers were in order. The van (and our Urkel hoodpiece) may rest easy for a few days. No more sleeping in the van/begging for food. For now.
However, our homecoming show is THIS SUNDAY, JULY 3rd! We’re hitting arguably the best venue our city has to offer once again, the Unitarian Church… with our friends and supreme video game band THE MINIBOSSES! And to top it off, when we met up in Phoenix weeks ago, we worked out some secret nintendo material which we’re going to unveil AS ONE BAND, FOR A DUAL ENCORE!!!
A 12 piece video game orchestra awaits you. Preordering tickets might be wise, or at least showing up early (doors at 730). Ever since we got back, we caught heavy word of how fast the 500 capacity room is filling up. Do so at: www.r5productions.com
Setlist:
- The Parasprinter [3:39]
- Polygon Sun [3:48]
- Aluminum [5:55]
- Triangular [8:20]
- One [5:23]
- Five [5:52]
- Zelda Medley (with Minibosses) [6:50]
Audio:
Video:
- Polygon Sun [3:27] – MPEG – 4.5 MB
- Triangular [0:29] – MPEG – 644 KB
- Triangular [0:39] – MPEG – 875 KB
- Zelda Medley (with Minibosses) [6:12] – MPEG – 8.1 MB
- Zelda Medley (with Minibosses) [6:52] – FLV – 13 MB – Youtube
Youtube:
Tour Journal:
Wow…. this was the best welcome home reception we could have ever hoped for. We headlined to over 350 sweaty insane persons… and did a secret dual encore with THE MINIBOSSES…. couldn’t have gone any better… just check out the pictures and video below to catch a glimpse of what went down!
http://good-evil.net/temporaryfiles/min
(the last video in particular is amazing…. listen for the overmodulated crowd noises when they recognize the tune we’re playing)
Videos:
- Higgeldy Piggeldy [0:21] – MPEG – 7.3 MB
- Higgeldy Piggeldy [2:49] – MPEG – 3.7 MB
- Wackadelly [2:49] – MPEG – 3.7 MB
- G. A. H. [3:05] – MPEG – 4.0 MB
- Triangular [0:54] – MPEG – 1.2 MB
- Triangular [0:11] – FLV – 112 KB – Myspace
- Triangular [0:12] – FLV – 124 KB – Myspace
- Triangular [0:13] – FLV – 136 KB – Myspace
- V.S. [2:15] – MPEG – 2.9 MB
Tour Journal:
PHILLY TOUR LAUNCH SHOW!
Thanks to everyone who came out and our friend bands that played… the turnout was really good despite the heavy rain. Apologies that the visuals weren’t up and running yet, but hope the new material was well enjoyed… we will be taking it on the road the whole month and on!
Our tour-temp drummer Pat (aka Bucky) has officially been initiated by fire! Pun intended.
Tour Journal:
It was great to go back to Alan’s (aka the 1619 House)… we haven’t played there in something like 2 years. Felt like old stomping grounds. Thanks to everyone who has supported our shows and departure this weekend (especially those who brought food… so rad, so rad). Too bad the rain followed us. Lets hope we can escape by heading south (where a mouth’s a mouth).
CHROMELODEON!
4th US TOUR
ALL NEW SET (INCLUDING REDMAX: LIVE)
Special tour highlight: featured guests at this year’s A-KON 17 anime convention!
June 2, Philadelphia, PA
OUR 4th U.S. TOUR LAUNCH SHOW!!!
w/ High Council, Tsunami Rising, The Private Sea, This Place is Haunted
@ The Fire
9pm
21+
$8
www.iourecords.com/thefire
June 4, Williamstown, NJ
Special all-video-game-music performance! (Megaman to Ninja Gaiden to Sprite Slowdown era)
@ The 1619 House
(1619 herbert blvd, williamstown nj)
6pm
all ages
$5-7 donation for tour fund
http://www.myspace.com/1619house
June 6, Richmond, VA
4th US TOUR
@ The Boulevard House (“The Bonezone”)
231 S Laurel St.
http://www.myspace.com/rvahouseshows
June 7, Athens, GA
4th US TOUR
@ The Secret Squirrel
8pm, $5
all ages
http://www.myspace.com/thesecretsquirrel
June 9, Dallas, TX
America’s oldest anime convention!
@ A-KON 17
press/booth/panel etc. appearances
www.a-kon.org
June 10, Dallas, TX
America’s oldest anime convention!
@ A-KON 17
***PERFORMANCE DATE!***
www.a-kon.org
June 11, Dallas, TX
America’s oldest anime convention!
@ A-KON 17
press/booth/social mixer appearances
www.a-kon.org
June 12, Amarillo, TX
4th US TOUR
@ The Pod
7pm
all ages, $5
myspace.com/panhandlexpromotions
June 13, Denver, CO
4th US TOUR
@ The Climax Lounge
w/ Mr Pacman
8pm
http://www.myspace.com/theclimaxlounge
June 14, Denver CO
4th US TOUR
@ Monkey Mania
http://www.monkeymania.net/
June 16th, IL or IN
pending
June 18, Grand Rapids, MI
4th US TOUR
@ The Division Avenue Arts Co-Op
7pm
w/ The LSDudes
http://www.thedaac.org/
June 20, King’s Island, OH
4th US TOUR
@ Kings Island Amusement Park
all ages
June 21, Pittsburgh, PA
4th US TOUR
@ Garfield Artworks
8pm
all ages
http://www.garfieldartworks.com/
July 14th, Lancaster PA
pending
July 15th, Newtown CT
pending
Apologies, this time we’ll be skipping over the southwest & west coast. Scheduling with A-KON and the birthing of babies leading to our stand in drummer (BuckyOhare!) conflicted too much. Next time, we promise.
Tour Journal:
As everyone should be aware, today was 6-6-6 day… and not coincidentally enough, our van’s mileage literally rolled over to 66666 at a rest stop (we’ll have pictures up sometime, its been tricky to get online). This show turned out to be packed and roaringly drunk… which was a great equation. We ended up meeting none other than Chris Berdoz, creator of our new image and tour poster (the anime group shot). Good times, and the van is getting good mileage (thanks to an expensive pretour tuneup). Happy 666!
Check out some show pics that fan Mr Magfest took below!
http://clickass.org/pix/index.php?galle
Tour Journal:
We went into this show blindly, and it turned out to be fantastic. Got to see a slew of fans and friends from the general area, and were impressed with the space. Bucky’s “helmet cam” is working out perfect (see Mr Magfest’s pictures in previous post). Got some amazing new band photos on top of a heavily egyptian themed night club that used to be a weird cult gathering space. Again, will get these up sometime later.
Have a long drive all day tomorrow, must make it to dallas early on friday!
Tour Journal:
Holy crap… today was a whirlwind. As is with so many conventions, scheduling and operations were running all over the place trying to keep everything in order. 12,000+ con attendees equals a massive mess, with no specific person to blame. We ended up playing much later than originally scheduled, but the grand ballroom was totally loaded, and the reception equally great. Lots of videotaping was done, along with pictures… not sure if we’ll get time to load them while on the road, but they’ll be available soon. We’ve meet old friends, new ones, shizzers, and more by the time we went on.
So far, everyone has been overly enthusiastic for our new set, and our new tour poster/anime group shot (Chris, hope you’re reading this, hundreds of people have your artwork in their hands by now)!
Tour Journal:
Today we finally got to relax a bit more. This was the last day of the con, so a lot of stuff was getting wrapped up by late afternoon. Attended the breakfast buffet social-mixer, where a number of con attendees paid to get in and eat/talk with all the featured guests of the convention, including us. Also held a booth for more merch and autographs, although the vast majority of the people got this done right after our show last night.
Following this, we got special treatment, as the featured guests and con staff sort of claimed sunday night as their own. After the attendees have left the convention center/hotel, the guests and staff traditionally go out to eat, all expenses paid by A-KON (this time it was a swank kobe-beef japanese steakhouse, with all the trimmings and sake to spare). Then after being shuttled back on the merry drunken buses, all night was spent in a massive hotel suite with an open bar, where much griping and congratulations were due for everyone that participated and made the convention happen.
Everyone, attendees staff and guests altogether, were extremely nice and appreciative of our efforts as a touring group doing fringe music… one of the many reasons why we love playing conventions of all sorts. Lets hope the budding invitations to come back next year come into fruition!
We’ll miss you, A-KON….
Tour Journal:
After what seems like living forever and being treated so nice at A-KON, we’ve moved on to continue the road part of the tour. Amarillo is fairly sprawling considering the location (north texas, middle of nowhere?), but erieely has few cars or people on the streets and endless bail-bond stores. We were barely able to find the venue. Despite all this, the show came through in the end (considering the place and time, a monday night). Some of the people watching ended up being the most decent folk in the area, and were more than welcoming in taking care of us during and after the show. When all the smaller stops on tour turn out to be just good enough like these, touring seems feasible for us once again…
Tour Journal:
This venue was crazy…. an ex 70′s gay bar, turned into a punk rock cage match dive bar with an entire arcade to boot. The show itself was great (Mr Pacman was a fury of leather jumpsuits and nintendo punk rock, and Magic Cyclops was hilarious), and the attendance was again just enough to keep us going. Many thanks to the club and bands and fans, getting merch and making sure we got enough from the door to survive.
We love Denver, but we had to get a shower and some laundry done before the tour van becomes a biohazard. Fortunately Mr Pacman accomodated this. This is another reason why we love touring: such open welcoming friends (new and old alike). Spending months and months conversing online is nothing compared to finally enjoying a night or two while on tour with the people who make it happen for us.
Also, the best idea of tour thus far has been the fact that we all got Nintendo DS (gameboys) beforehand. With its wireless capacity (vulgar pictochat and Mariokart are current favorites) the long drives seriously have shrunk so much. 8 guys crammed into a van have now become a nonstop video game tournament featuring 8 guys crammed into a van.
Ah, and our van is getting really good gas mileage (because we sunk hundreds of dollars into pre-tour repairs, that we have yet to make back, but we’ll see). Maybe it’ll balance out in that respect. Having functional air conditioning this time around (with the new gameboys) just about keeps things bearable.
Tour Journal:
RIP Monkey Mania
Our friend and Denver celebrity of rock n roll best dudeness, Josh Taylor (of Friends Forever), moved a while ago, and despite this, we still wanted to give the “new” monkey mania a try. Long story short, after we literally got the show UN-cancelled (they tried to cancel it that day, fortunately we arrived early), cleaned the hell out of the venue (mysterious piles of shit? dog or human?), the show actually happened to a very small crowd. It felt very sad to us though, as if going through the motions of something good that was long past. One new guy living there was trying to give his honest help, however.
Ironically, Josh ended up moving to LA and working @ The Smell and Amoeba Records, both places we’ve hit and loved, so best of luck to him… hope to catch him there sometime in the future.
Thankfully Mr Pacman and co. saved our asses, and we had a good time later on. Much thanks to Avery.
Tour Journal:
This show was a last minute addition to fill in a gap. Unforunately, it was as disappointing as was Monkey Mania. We had done very well in Chicago on all previous tours, but this was a late addition on an ill-matched show, at a venue that wasn’t quite right for us (despite being booked all the time, The Blue Note is literally the Chicago version of Philly’s Grapestreet Pub, for those who know our area). The staff and other bands were friendly enough however, and once again we ducked out with a chunk of gas money. This tour is still proving to be the best ever, seeing as the very few “bad” shows still provide some fuel in the van.
Too bad the show wasnt up to expectations, because we drove 24 hrs (all day thursday into friday from denver) to get there! Agh. At least that was the only mega drive of tour, all the rest has been less excruitating.
Also, this entire tour we’ve seen some weird coincidences… such as the Power Rangers. Toys, puzzles, etc where ever we go, and we actually met and ate dinner with the creator of the Power Rangers @ A-KON last week (and the actor for Chewbacca as well!). The other coincidence being this really creepy painting of a cat playing with a unicorn at several venues, the very same picture as seen in the comedy central show STELLA (the episode where the guys flood the apartment below them, and the downstairs girls end up sleeping over).
Tour Journal:
This is in the top list of places we look forward to. Jeff @ The D.A.A.C. has always taken care of us, and the show was good enough for a sunday night (especially seeing all the shizzer fans coming out for us, and playing with The LSDudes was great as usual). All the guys from The LSDudes are some of the best around, and we partied two nights and three days with them when all was said and done. We baked a pornographic series of cakes featuring Pac-Man and friends at one point. We will miss the guys here, too bad Grand Rapids is a long drive from Philly.
Also forgot to mention earlier, on the way to driving to Chicago the other day, we were pulled over big time. Literally right before we got to the Mississippi river (the border of Iowa and IL), 4 cop cars and a narcotics squad surrounded us and pulled us over. After separating Dino and Denny (who were pilot and wingman at the time), and keeping the rest of us in the van, we went under some rigorous but silly questioning, and damn drug sniffing dogs went all over our van and in the trailer. Apparently they were looking for more big ticket arrests, and assumedly our ratty looking tourvan and trailer (and temp registration, long story) was suspicious looking. In any event, it was a long, tense pain in the ass, but we walked free. If anyone else remembers, this happened way back during our 1st US tour, in another middle-of-nowhere state (idaho), where the state trooper made us stand 50 feet away from the car (in a field, in the rain), while he combed our van hoping to bust us for something. Too bad he failed too!
Tour Journal:
We spent monday hiking through the woods to reach a secluded beach on lake michagan… it was incredibly serene. We ruined it by swimming in our clothing and making lewd sand sculptures (Pacman yet again, seeing as we baked a lewd Pacman cake the previous day).
Tuesday we once again hit Kings Island, our favorite theme park… we were tired as hell and ready to go home, but couldnt pass up one last chance to hit up SON OF BEAST and the rest.
Tour Journal:
Our final stop before heading home. Was able to see a handful of friends and get some all-you-can-eat-crummy-pizza and finally watch POINT BREAK, the brunt of inside jokes for almost 3 weeks now. The show went ok, definitely fell into the small disappointing catagory of the tour, but to give the people and the venue credit, we definitely were supported both live and gas wise.
Now we can finally go home…. once again, the miserable all night drive from Pittsburg to Philly lays ahead of us. We will see the sun rise in our own city.
Our final stop before heading home. Was able to see a handful of friends and get some all-you-can-eat-crummy-pizza and finally watch POINT BREAK, the brunt of inside jokes for almost 3 weeks now. The show went ok, definitely fell into the small disappointing catagory of the tour, but to give the people and the venue credit, we definitely were supported both live and gas wise.
Now we can finally go home…. once again, the miserable all night drive from Pittsburg to Philly lays ahead of us. We will see the sun rise in our own city.
Tour Journal:
Well… we’re home safe now, and very happy. This tour was by far the most successful one. Even during the very few rough times, we had enough to survive, and at best we saw so many friends and fans everywhere, new and old alike. Fortunately, these times were the majority of the trip, which made the drives so much more tolerable (although, having the wireless gameboy DS’s definitely helped).
So many thanks to all of you, we wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for your support. Extra thanks to Bucky (Pat) and Phil for coming along to help fill out the empty spaces in the music/performance.
We took 2 video cameras and 3 digital ones with us, thus far only one album has been posted (thanks Bucky!). Already one can see how big A-KON was (can’t believe we ate dinner with the creator of the Power Rangers and the actor for Chewbacca), the sexual Pacman cake we baked, day off at lake michagan, cooking in the tourvan, our rooftop trespassing on a closed down egyptian nightclub/cult center, and more. Explanations will come about when more albums are posted online.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v
Best of the best,
CHROMELODEON
