On Hiatus
A detailed account of every single one of Chief Beef's 70 shows.
1) Thursday March 31st, 2005. Chief Beef first, Hail the Siren Reign second, Underliner third. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. Great response for our first show. We gave away all of our free CDs, 20 of them. Even some ditsy, Scottsdale-esque girls wanted them. We played pretty tight, made a few jittery errors in the songs, no biggies. Underliner were really good. They had a guy stand on the side of the stage in cheesy sunglasses holding a tambourine, and he never played it. He even took a cell phone call during the songs. Totally awesome stage idea.
2) Friday April 1st, 2005. CB 1st, XYZebra 2nd, Batter the Drag 3rd, Don’t Miss the Big 4th, and Before Braille 5th. Women’s Club of Mesa, Mesa, AZ. Benefit to replace Before Braille’s stolen gear. Once again, we were pretty tight, played well for a second show, gave away lots of free CDs. This show had two “stages” so we were able to fit in five bands in 2.5 hours from 8:00-10:30 pm.
3) Saturday April 9th, 2005. CB 1st, Vin Fiz 2nd, Budget Sinatra 3rd, Minibosses 4th. The Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. This show was a little rough. We were rusty in practice two nights before also. No major errors, but lots of tiny mistakes. This was the show we were trying to pimp up a little. I was uncomfortable on stage. The crowd reacted well and we gave away most of the 20 free CDs we brought. Also made some money and have a band fund now.
4) Friday April 29th, 2005. CB 1st, Hillbilly Devilspeak 2nd, NOMEANSNO 3rd. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. So, this is the show we had been working towards for months. We each had our share of mistakes onstage, but got a really good response from the crowd. John from Nomeansno said he liked our band. The Hillbilly Devilspeak guys all seemed to dig it as well. Christine, Stewart, Mike, and I all came down with severe colds after this show.
5) Sunday May 22nd, 2005. CB 1st, TRAINDODGE 2nd, Batter the Drag 3rd, Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. This was our best show so far. A little background… Minibosses had opened for QOTSA Wednesday night the 18th, and we had all been out way late and partied like crazy. Of course, the CB Thursday the 19th practice was rough, so we decided to do a Sunday afternoon practice. Then we all went to our house, made dinner, and went to the show. We played really well, with hardly any mistakes. The audience was really stoked about our set and Traindodge really liked us. The energy was right and for the first time I felt as comfortable on stage with Chief Beef as I did in the later days of AAA. Traindodge rocked it up and I wish they’d just bitten the bullet and played their entire catalog, even though it would have taken several hours. Batter the Drag were also really good. They played some new stuff which is incredible. T-Dodge stayed at our house and were model houseguests, those guys are really cool and I hope they make it out this way again soon.
6) Friday July 29th 2005. The Bodhi Tree 1st, Manifold 2nd, CB 3rd, the Bitterlife Typecast 4th, Batter the Drag 5th, Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. Cool show. We were in between two bands that were mellower than us, but it still sounded good. We had two new songs for this show. The first four were played right in a row, which was a full-on assault. We left our mellower stuff at home for this one. The crowd was mostly there for us. Strange indeed, only our sixth show and half the audience left after our set. We also had T-shirts at this show, and we broke $100 between merch sales and door.
7) Saturday August 13, 2005. The Bodhi Tree 1st, Sugar Frosted Lightbulbs 2nd, Vin Fiz 3rd, Riddle of Steel 4th, CB 5th, the Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. Good show overall and not bad attendance considering it was CB’s first headlining show. Sugar Frosted Lightbulbs were added last minute by the owner of PH, didn’t match with the show and with five bands, made the show too long. Riddle of Steel were amazing as were the Bodhi Tree. We played everything we knew this night. The show was okay, not our best but not our worst. I can’t seem to get comfortable onstage at the PH or standing in the middle of the stage in front of the drums. Scott, the owner of PH, apologized about the Sugar Frosted Lightbulbs to me later, and I appreciated that. We threw a party at our house afterward. RoS was staying with us, some of their fans came out and there were a good 25-30 people at one point. As bad as SFLBs were on stage, they were super nice guys and I felt bad for disliking them. The party had been going for a while when I said, “what the hell is that light outside?” It was the sun shining into our living room. Great night overall.
8) Saturday September 3rd, 2005. CB 1st, Penny Winblood 2nd, Minibosses 3rd, the Boardwalk, Flagstaff, AZ. We started early and there weren’t a lot of people there to see us. Even though it was cool and rainy outside, it was blistering hot onstage and Stew seemed like he was having heat-related stamina issues. Crowd response was positive, although with a new batch of shirts we sold zero and gave away very few CDs. JETOMI (Jewel Encrusted Titans of Modern Industry) was also scheduled but the show ran long and they didn’t get to play; there was a dance party DJ starting at the club.
9) Sunday September 4th, 2005. Hail the Siren Reign 1st, CB 2nd, Penny Winblood 3rd, Minibosses 4th. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. There were a lot of people there, which was awesome. We played really well, one of our best shows. We had some 30 CDs to give away – towards the end of our set I was encouraging people to grab one but they were already all taken! Crazy. We also sold 10 T-shirts – very nice. This weekend was very profitable for the Beef, and we now have a decent sized band fund.
10) Saturday October 22nd, 2005. The Pants 1st, Geronimo 2nd, Amps for Christ 3rd, CB 4th, Harasser 5th. The Smell, Los Angeles, CA. This was our first out of state road trip. We didn’t belong on this bill. The first three bands were noise bands. Then we played, and the fifth band was a hardcore death metal band. Were well received by the crowd of 20-30 people and sold 5 shirts. Our borrowed van broke down twice on the trip home, stranding us for a day; we abandoned it at Chiriaco Summit, CA. With the ensuing vehicle rentals/cab fares/hotel costs/gas expenses, we spent our entire decent sized band fund from the previous set of shows plus quite a bit out of our own pockets. In all the trip cost about $760, and we made about $120 at the show.
11) Tuesday October 25th, 2005. The Bodhi Tree 1st, Sleeping People 2nd, CB 3rd. The Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. We put this show together for Sleeping People who were on tour from San Diego. They were great. Bodhi Tree were also amazing. We played okay. I said “Hi, we’re Chief Beef” and people started to applaud. Weird! With a $3 cover, after the sound guy took his share, I had $2 to give to Sleeping People for their trip, which was embarrassing.
12) Saturday November 26th, 2005. Le Meu De Purr 1st, Victory Automatica 2nd, Junius 3rd, Chief Beef 4th. Big Fish Pub, Tempe, AZ. This show was somewhat disorganized with bands dropping off and being added, and ended up with us playing last. Not a big deal, we were on the stage by 11:35. The first couple of our songs were rough but then we seemed to calm down and rock out. We played a new song which was the best it has ever sounded. No door money, no merch sales, very few attendees. Typical, I’ve only played Big Fish Pub a few times but it has always sucked.
13) Friday December 30th, 2005. CB 1st, Necronauts 2nd, ?Diamonds? 3rd, Colorstore 4th. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. We played well. This was Aaron’s last show with us as he elected to move on to other things. We were well received and sold all but the last of our T-shirts in super small girly sizes. Necronauts were really good. The Diamonds? band was a replacement for Les Pain and I never really caught their name but it had something to do with Diamonds. Strange band, a piano and a singer. Colorstore were great with their new stuff.
14) Saturday January 28th 2006. Vin Fiz 1st, the Threads 2nd, Liar’s Handshake 3rd, Autorock 4th, CB 5th. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. We felt weird about headlining this one because it was our first show as a three piece. Vin Fiz were great as always, and at least three or four of their songs had vocals, which is cool. The Threads were great musicians and great guys to boot but the songs were some of the most generic I’ve ever heard. Liar’s Handshake was a country acoustic band complete with a stand up bass, made of punk guys so everything was a joke. Autorock were pretty cool, but played for way too long. Half the crowd left during their set. We took the stage about 1:00 am. Holy smokes! The reaction we got was insane. Everyone was going nuts, we couldn’t believe it. The general response was we are a better band as a three piece. We had no shirts to sell and no CDs to give away, so hopefully people will remember us.
15) Saturday, Feb 11th, 2006. Budget Sinatra 1st, Gymkata 2nd, Vin Fiz 3rd, CB 4th, Meatwhistle 5th. The Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. This was another Shizz Second Saturdays show, and the crowd was pretty receptive. Stew had issues with his kick moving around the stage and didn’t play well. I felt really comfortable but made some dumb mistakes. I never seem to have good shows at the PH, but I love the place anyway. This was the BS’s first show since we played with them back in April, they had cool new songs but sounded rough since their hiatus. Gymkata was loud as hell and good, will be even better with more shows under their belt. Vin Fiz was a little off at times. Meatwhistle were over the top as usual. Overall a fun show, made some money from the door, and now have enough money again to order T-shirts for the next show.
16) Monday Feb 27th, 2006. Microsoft Office 1st, CB 2nd, The Passenger 3rd, the Jenova Project 4th. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. The Jenova Project is a Minibosses offshoot, only playing once every year or two. The lineup is never the same, and this time was made off 11 members, including three guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, two trumpets, a clarinet, a baritone and a trombone. They were amazing and I can’t believe what they put together with about a month’s notice. MS Office were a screamo hardcore band who played for all of ten minutes. Why bother lugging around and setting up all your gear for a ten minute set? The Passenger was okay. We played okay, not great. New shirts at this show, we sold a few and made a few bucks off the door. Also, we played our first new song since Aaron left.
17) Saturday March 11th, 2006. Bands on Grand with 40 bands at eight venues. We played first (7:15 pm) at Fat Cats. It was really cold and raining this night. Fat Cats is a total dive bar and the room for the bands was very tiny. The place was packed for our set, though. We played pretty good, for some reason I kept screwing up the set list. Also, the PA was underpowered and kept feeding back, so the vocals were too low for people to hear us well. It was fun, and we were happy to be a part of an awesome night of music.
18) Tuesday May 2nd, 2006. Gymkata 1st, CB 2nd, Sirhan Sirhan 3rd. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. We spent two months working on new material and pimped up this show as much as we could, but the draw was less than enough to even cover the cost of the sound guy. Sirhan Sirhan is from San Diego and was their first stop on their first tour, they were really intense and had a Taurus with a U-Haul trailer as a tour vehicle. Gymkata was also really good. They’re also pretty new and are improving each time I see them. We played less than okay. Some new songs got a great reaction.
19) Saturday May 6th, 2006. Snow Songs 1st, the Threads 2nd, Secret Life of Painters 3rd, CB 4th. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. This was our 2nd Flagstaff show and it was as good as the first. The place was pretty full, which we were told is unusual for a Saturday at the Monte V. Playing last wasn’t bad. We played everything we had, 13 songs, and were onstage for about an hour. Crowd response was good, we sold six or seven shirts and made $100 from the bar. Christine and Stew played well, I played poorly and was thrown off all night because my microphone kept shocking me.
20) Friday May 19th 2006. the Stuttering C Cowboys 1st, Bodhi Tree 2nd, Gymkata 3rd, CB 4th, Pinky Tuscadero’s WKAF 5th. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. This show was cool, but largely uneventful. We played okay, a little fast on a lot of the stuff. The C Cowboys were pretty good, Bodhi Tree can’t seem to decide on a lineup but were pretty good (I like them better with four people) and played a little long. Gymkata were as tight as I’ve seen them. Pinky T was also good.
21) Friday June 9th, 2006. Silkwood 1st, Calling All Monsters 2nd, CB 3rd. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. Last show before starting in the studio on the full length. We were late additions on the bill, maybe a week and a half before the show. We made flyers, posted MySpace bulletins, promoted it the best we could, and four people showed up to see us. The last three local shows we have had very few fans in attendance. It’s very discouraging. What I’m told is there have been a shortage of people at most shows these days. We went to a really good show the next night and once again, very people attended. It makes me wonder, where have all the music fans gone? Anyway, those who saw us witnessed a tight set. We sounded great. This was the first show with my new redwood telecaster.
22) Friday June 30th, 2006. Seven Storey Mountain 1st, Horace Pinker 2nd, CB 3rd, Batter the Drag 4th. The Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ. This was a sad event as it was BTD’s last show, they sounded amazing. SSM were last minute additions, great as usual. Horace Pinker were good at what they did, flew in from Chicago just to play. We played okay, but it sounded funny to us because we were used to hearing ourselves in a studio environment and the stage at the Clubhouse is the biggest we’ve ever played. The venue holds 500 people or so, there were at least 100 people but it felt sort of empty because the club and stage were so big.
23) Saturday August 12, 2006. CB 1st, the Revenge 2nd, Necronauts 3rd, Sister Pants 4th. The Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. This was an interesting lineup with Sister Pants as the headliners. Necronauts were as good as they always are. The Revenge was old school punk as played by guys who grew up on it while it was happening, really in your face. Sister Pants were fun, but something was lost with Phil’s microphone technique – vocals were too hard to understand and the humor was lost.
24) Saturday September 24, 2006. Icy Core of Jupiter 1st, Pecan Sandies 2nd, Princess Ladyfriend 3rd, Tremulants 4th, CB last. Wide array of bands played this evening. ICJ was interesting, they had costumes – need I say more? Pecan Sandies were late high school/ early college kids, wide array of instruments onstage, but somehow the songs all kind of sounded alike. PL was pretty cool. Just Mike with a guitar, vocals, and an iPod. Better than I expected for not having a backing band. Tremulants needed some work, just my opinion – they sounded like they had the beginnings of something but didn’t quite pull it off. Finally I think we’re comfortable playing to a click onstage, the songs don’t feel slow any more.
25) September 29, 2006. Delinquent Cesar 1st, Dust Jacket 2nd, the Threads 3rd, CB last. We had received our CDs and had them for sale here for the first time. DC were having their first show, but had a good Tom Petty vibe going. DJ were a hit with the kids, but sounded pretty generic to my ears. The keyboard wasn’t working so the keyboardist stood on stage and just did occasional backing vocals! The Threads sounded really good. Apparently their drummer has been more of an influence for their new stuff, and I dig the new direction.
26) October 13th, 2006. CD release show. Dropsonic 1st, Traindodge 2nd, CB 3rd. The Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. Well, what can I say? Quite possibly the best lineup we’ve been a part of. Hadn’t seen Dropsonic before, but those guys were absolutely incredible. They were so good, in fact, they made Traindodge sound less impressive, and those guys are one of my favorite bands of all time. We played great! All the worrying, all the stress turned out to be for nothing. Our friend Shawn brought five cameras and multi-tracked the audio. Who knows, Chief Beef on DVD? We’ll see. Anyway, despite the fact that it was our CD release show, very few of our friends showed up - disappointing. Apparently there was some party going on that was more important. Well, can’t complain too much, the club was full, but mostly of people we didn’t know. Maybe the press we got in some of the newsweeklies helped with that. In any event, we made enough at the door to cover the sound guy, pay the touring bands decently and still have a little left over for ourselves.
27) October 20th, 2006. Slamdunk 1st, Fletch 2nd, Black Market 3rd, CB last. Havasu Underground, Lake Havasu City, AZ. Our first time in Havasu. The club was cool, the owner/manager was Frank who is the lead singer in Voodoo Glow Skulls. He liked us and wanted us to come back. The other three bands were all the same, all emo pop bands using basic emo pop riffs and chord progressions. Black Market “headlined” and had a few fans out, some of whom stuck around for us. It was a fun show. Christine’s bass amp had been acting badly the few practices before, and finally blew up while we were setting up to play. Luckily we brought a backup bass amp.
28) October 21st, 2006. Emperors of Japan 1st, Secret Life of Painters 2nd, CB 3rd. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. Good Monte V show, as always. The Emperors sounded great and rocked it. SLP were also good as always. We played well I thought. What else can I say? Nothing special happened, we played we partied, we went home the next day. The two show “tour” was excellent overall.
29) October 26th, 2006. CB 1st, Tin Cup Gypsy 2nd, Emperors of Japan 3rd. Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. This show was relatively dead. Not many people showed up. It was the Emperors’ CD release show. Not sure why nobody showed. We played okay, borderline poorly. It’s tough to get in to it when you’re playing to an empty club. TCG were supposed to play first, but we had to due to work constraints. They were quite a bit different, one guy playing fiddle & mandolin, one guy acoustic guitar and one girl on tambourine, but were really really good at what they did. Great singers. As good as the Emperors were in Flagstaff a few days before, they were equally bad this night. Not sure what happened there. I felt bad but had to leave before they were done.
30) December 8th, 2006. Soft Shoulder 1st, Bodhisattva 2nd, Robothouse LTD 3rd, CB 4th, Treasure Mammal 5th. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. This was a cool show. We were the most traditional of the bands on the bill. Soft Shoulder was noisy, that’s their thing. People seem to like them, and that’s cool I guess. But really bad tones plus half ass songwriting and bad stage presence plus a healthy dose of sloppiness, equal not quite my thing. Bodhisattva was pretty cool, a two piece band, really LOUD. Robothouse LTD was Ray, Owen, Owen and Bob from Flagstaff, a very cool band, three bassists and a drummer. We played okay, people liked it, but it wasn’t a superb show or anything. Treasure Mammal was fun as always, but the smoke machine was more than I could handle for the whole set, I had to go outside.
31) January 24th, 2007. Emperors of Japan 1st, Early Black 2nd, CB 3rd. Vaudeville Cabaret, Tucson, AZ. This was the first of our four show tour, went pretty well for a Wednesday night. EB took the best spot in the middle. We had a pretty good reaction from the folks who were there (not many, but okay for Wed). Met a woman recently departed from the Navy who talked our ears off and wrote a crazy manifesto on our email signup sheet – long story.
32) January 25th, 2007. Thieves and the Orchard 1st, Emperors of Japan 2nd, CB 3rd. The Bean, Mesilla, NM. This was a strange show. It had to be over by 9:00, but the promoter didn’t show up until 7:00 and there were three bands. I think EOJ played 5 songs, we played six. The Bean is a small coffee shop with concrete walls, so it was screaming loud in there, and the people who did show up listened outside. There were maybe 20 people there, not bad for an early Thursday show at a coffee shop, but we played to a mostly empty room. Still fun, though - I think the stress combined with caffeine made us play our asses off. We went to a bar across town to try to jump on their bill, play a second later show, but it was booked solid. So we went back to the hotel and drank heavily.
33) January 26th, 2007. Big Lips and the Skinny 1st, CB 2nd, Emperors of Japan 3rd, 3 Hole Punch 4th. Atomic Cantina, Albuquerque, NM. This show was really cool. Downtown Albuquerque actually has a night life (unlike Phoenix). Pretty decent turnout but not packed. We played really well, though I had taken a nap prior to the show and felt my voice was a little froggy. EOJ sounded especially amazing this night. The other bands were, um, fun, I guess. I met a big dude who was piss drunk and talked to me about how “our people are strong,” as if real life was like World of Warcraft. This guy was truly scary. I was terrified I’d say the wrong thing and the guy would kill me. We are meeting some weird people this trip.
34) January 27th, 2007. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. Great last show of the tour. We played to a very, very full room. People dug it, we moved some merch, and stayed at the Embassy suites, a $239 hotel room for $40 with free made to order breakfast. Way cool. Great way to end what has been our lonest tour to date. Post show blues set in hard after this one.
35) February 2nd, 2007. Page the Village Idiot 1st, Via Vengeance 2nd, CB 3rd, Sound of Birds 4th, Clayton Chronicles 5th. Casa Blanca, Phoenix, AZ. This was our first time ever playing this relatively new venue at 18th Ave and Van Buren in Phoenix. What a cool venue, and what a great show! Hadn’t ever seen Page before, he was pretty funny, I dug his act. Via Vengeance was amazing, this guy played drums and guitar and sang at the same time. He would play kick drum with his right foot, snare with his left foot, fret the guitar with his left hand and strum and play the ride cymbal at the same time with his right hand. He also had two stage dancer people waving various flags and stuff. We played well, although I was tipsy. Sound of Birds was really good but far too mellow for the bill. The last band added last minute, as the scheduled band cancelled. Clayton Chronicles, they were okay.
36) February 23rd, 2007. St. Rorscach 1st, Early Black 2nd, CB 3rd, Fatigo 4th. Casa Blanca, Phoenix, AZ. As cool as our first Casa Blanca show was, this one sucked just as much. St Rorscach was much better than Early Black. We played, there were a few folks there, not many. Some bikers, a few random people. Fatigo asked specifically to play 2nd instead of 4th, but didn’t show up to the venue until well after their start time, so EB played 2nd. I left before Fatigo, Isis was playing across town and I wanted to try to catch their set, no luck. After that we went to Worser’s CD release and caught a few of their songs. That was the best part of the night.
37) March 10th, 2007. Daryl Scairiot 1st, Princess Ladyfriend 2nd, Quarter Inch Crown 3rd, CB 4th. Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. Another lousy Phoenix show, although this one was better than the last. Daryl Scairiot was great, really good songwriting and vocal performance, although it was a solo acoustic set at a rock show. Princess Ladyfriend, good as usual. QIC brought the rock with lots of new stuff, they sounded good. Our set was okay, I thought. Stew wasn’t happy with it. Since the first act went on at 10, we didn’t start until 12:30 or so, and there was hardly anyone left by the time we finished.
38) March 16th, 2007. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd. Sundance’s Place, Prescott AZ. Our first gig in Prescott, first road gig with the new van. Sundance’s is a dive bar in a basement with low ceilings. Emperors started at 9:30 at the urging of the club, even though the club was empty. We took a look around and thought the show would be a bust and started drinking PBR and whiskey. EOJ played 12 songs, far fewer than we thought they would (they cut some because they thought their more experimental songs wouldn’t go over at all). We started playing and the audience grew. During the second set, people were dancing, and when we announced we’d finished, the crowd requested we play longer, so we played a few songs from the first set over again. We played 20 songs total counting the repeats twice. Despite the somewhat low turnout overall, we got a great reaction, had a great time, and each band made $150 from the bar. $40 on gas plus $32.50 hotel, 77 dollar profit for a one-off road show. Unheard of.
39) April 13th, 2007. Hell Rancho 1st, CB 2nd, 4 Star Alarm 3rd, Stereotyperider 4th. Yucca Tap Room, Tempe, AZ. Our first gig at the Yucca, this was a good one. Hell Rancho were okay, nothing special. We played really well. 4 Star were sort of generic indie rock, in the style of Jimmy Eat World, from Chicago. Cool guys, sounded okay, just sort of a one trick pony. Stereotyperider were really good, been a while since I’ve seen them. Good turnout, the touring band got $200 and us locals made $60, plus some sales, all around a successful night.
40) May 12th, 2007. Bands on Grand, we played the Phix. We had high hopes for this show but it turned out to be a complete bust. Bands on Grand in general didn’t seem to fare so well, there was very little press and very low turnout overall. Lots of conflicting shows as well this night. The Phix was totally empty. A few people came in and out during the set but there were several times we’d finish a song and look up to see the soundperson and Stewart’s girlfriend Nicki – that’s it. What a bummer. This will be our last Phoenix show for a while unless something really good comes up.
41) May 18th, 2007. Indian’s White Child 1st, Poor Kids without Cable 2nd, CB 3rd. Sundance’s Place, Prescott, AZ. This was our second time at Sundance’s, and we were louder, drunker, and made more money. It was nice. I’sWC were high school age kids, their band sounded like high school bands sound, but the guitarist was pretty good. PKWC were good, lots of interesting stuff, everyone sings. We played okay but Stew and I were too drunk. I don’t even remember playing our last few songs or loading the van afterward. I don’t know how that happened, either… didn’t think I had an excessive amount of alcohol or anything. Maybe someone roofied us.
42) June 2nd, 2007. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. We love playing the Monte V. This night we played everything we had except Grey, which we don’t play any more. Included were two covers, “Regular John” by QOTSA and “Baby Bird” by Riddle of Steel. It was over the course of two sets, and after we were done, we had pleas for an encore, so we played Pendulum and Reg John again. So, obviously the response was great. We sold some merch and made $$ from the bar. The first set we were mega tight. The second set we were a little looser, but in a fun way. I felt bad because EOJ didn’t play well, we’re getting any response from what little crowd there was during their set and consider it their worst show.
43) July 3rd, 2007. CB 1st, Poor Kids without Cable 2nd. Brian’s Irish Pub, Prescott, AZ. Brian’s was a pretty tiny place, the stage was by far the smallest we ever played on. Stew had to set up his drums all funky just to make it work. We played okay, not bad considering we had one practice leading up to the show after all of us being on vacation the two weeks prior. The crowd was strange. We would play some songs they didn’t like, and the bar would clear out. Don’t know where they went, but then we’d play something people liked like Quitting, and the bar would fill up again. With no cover charge, there’s no obligation to sit through any moment you don’t like, I guess. We were a bit late getting there and setting up and had to cut short our set, but got paid well, at least, with zero merch sales. PKWC had two new members since we played with them less than 2 months ago. The new people were more talented, but they clearly were new and the band wasn’t as tight as before.
44) July 18th, 2007. EOJ 1st, Gemini Project 2nd, CB 3rd. Vaudeville Cabaret, Tucson, AZ. Our second show at Vaudeville, more successful than the first. Stew tried to cancel the tour because he got in a car wreck and his back was sore. Christine and I were very upset with him, but we talked him into trying to play this gig only 2 hours from home and seeing how it went. It went fine, we did the whole tour. EOJ played mostly new stuff, most of it better than their old stuff. Gemini Project were younger kids, their guitarist and bassist were terrible but the drummer and singer definitely had potential. I played the show like it would be the last I’d ever play because I was seriously an inch from breaking up the band when Stew called to cancel. I figured if we went home, the band would be done. It ended up being one of the best sets we’d ever played, and out of eight people we sold about $40 in merch which is no small feat.
45) July 19th, 2007. CB 1st, EOJ 2nd, Worm-Hole 3rd. Q Time Lounge, Las Cruces, NM. This had great potential, packed house, big area to play, good PA, bowling alley. What can I say positive about this show? As Tony said (roughly) “We could have gone on stage naked, lit ourselves on fire and still gotten the same reaction from the crowd.” This is to say, total and complete indifference. The place was full, we played to the whole room, and only about five people watched us. No courtesy claps, no nothing from anyone but those five. We played our asses off as did EOJ, no response. Same thing happened for the last band, and they were the “local draw” (they were good at what they did, 80s bar rock). The club manager was a douche bag and was more interested in pimping up some band he was managing than anything else. Despite a very full house with a cover charge for everyone, each band got an insulting $21. The club took part of the door, and the soundman must have gotten a majority chunk, leaving very little for the bands. Fuck that place.
46) July 20th, 2007. CB1st, EOJ 2nd, Botnix 3rd. Atomic Cantina, Albuquerque, NM. Much better show. We got a great response. EOJ did as well, and these first three shows they played mostly new stuff. Botnix sucked. The guitar tones were bad, the drummer played the worst fills ever and the bass played looked like a douche with his bandana and sunglasses and foot propped on the monitor.
47) July 21st, 2007. EOJ 1st, CB 2nd. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. How can you go wrong with the Monte V? Somehow EOJ did, they were heckled by some greased and tattooed dickheads at the front table. They filled in their set of new stuff with some old stuff and the new stuff is much, much better (not that their old stuff was bad). Our set was well received as usual. During the second to last song, I broke a string. So we closed with a cover of Regular John and as we entered the last chorus my strap came undone, the guitar fell, and we finished with my guitar on the floor.
48) August 31st, 2007. EOJ 1st, CB 2nd. Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge, Flagstaff, AZ. Another fun show at the Monte Vista. Nothing really special happened this night, except we played to a pretty full house. We played Insulation Tape live for the first time. Good times. If I wasn’t writing this three months after the fact, I might remember more. I forgot to update this thing.
49) September 1st, 2007. theRipTorn 1st, CB 2nd, Indoor Living 3rd. the Tavern, Albuquerque, NM. Several things came together to make this a lousy show. First, it was the Fall Crawl downtown, which is a huge twice a year Albuquerque music festival we didn’t find out about until it was too late to be added. So, we played away from downtown at the Tavern, a new place with a new PA, no stage and a tile floor to play on. Also, it was thunder storming and raining so hard the streets were flooded. theRipTorn were awesome, Indoor Living were awful. Not many folks in attendance.
50) Sept 2nd, 2007. Volaticus 1st, CB 2nd. Kirby’s Beer Store, Wichita, KS. So, this day we drove for a little more than 11 hours to play this show. Volaticus were fun, but not very good players. Kirby’s is a cool little place. Though we played to about ten people, everyone was super friendly, we felt like we were part of a family just by being there. Played two sets after that hell drive, too.
51) Sept 3rd, 2007. The Waffle House Experience 1st, CB 2nd. The Outland, Springfield, MO. Monday night show, not many people. Springfield had people hanging around downtown but I think school was still out and there weren’t as many as we expected. The few who were there liked us a lot. We played two sets again. I broke a string but fortunately we were able to finish out the set with the C guitars so I could put another string on during set break. Next time, I’m bringing a backup on tour. Waffle House were high school kids and were pretty good for being that age.
52) Sept 4th, 2007. Rockesh 1st, Brilliant Geographers 2nd, CB 3rd. Record Bar, Kansas City, MO. We got screwed on this show by the second band, who totally sucked. We were supposed to play 2nd, but they loaded their shit on stage while the first band was still loading off. They played mellow folk music, the whole bar was empty by the end of their set. Rockesh was pretty good, once again high school kids, and damn good for their age. I restrung my whole guitar prior to taking the stage and broke a string during the second song. We had to stop the set. That killed the show. The rest of our set was going through the motions for the three people who were there. Record Bar is a very cool place but we just had a shitty night there.
53) Sept 5th, 2007. CB 1st, RTB2 2nd, Eaton Like Tonics 3rd. Mooch and Burn, Tulsa, OK. We didn’t think it could get worse than the last night, but it did. Tulsa is one of the deadest towns I have ever seen. Mooch and Burn holds 500 people. We played to the other bands, a total of six people, maybe? We got there at 9:00 and the only person there was the bartender. Low point of the tour, for sure. On a positive note, RTB2 was good! I enjoyed them very much. Nice guys to boot.
54) Sept 6th, 2007. Joey Kendall 1st, CB 2nd, Veloura 3rd. Andy’s Bar, Denton TX. This night helped turn things around for us. Joey Kendall is one man, one acoustic guitar, about as high energy as you can get with that setup, and great lyrics. We played, played well. Good response. Alex, aka the Wozz, was there and was awesome to us, gave us a place to stay, helped with merch sales. Veloura are a tight pop-punk group, good for what they do. I’m sick, my cold is getting bad at this point. It’s affecting my vocals.
55) Sept 7th, 2007. CB 1st, Shaolin Death Squad 2nd, Meyvin 3rd, Invincible Czars 4th. Emo’s, Austin TX. This is the show we did this tour for. We got on stage, and I was pretty sick, could barely sing anything. Popped a string the second to last song. How many friggin’ strings am I going to break!?!?! Christine and Stew played almost perfectly, though. The whole time we played, everyone in the bar watched us. We got a great response! All the other bands really dug us. What a night. Here are snippets from Stew’s blog entry: Shaolin Death Squad from Denton, TX. Let me just say that anyone who is a musician needs to check these guys out. 5 out of 6 of them studied music and it shows. They were incredible. They had some really cool vocal effects, keys and dark themes going on. I loved it. The best part was how each of them dressed in these Asian style masks, Japanese I believe, and they wore this garb resembling geisha-looking things.Then there was Mevyn from Austin. Identical harmonized finger-tapping 64th note solos?? Are you fucking kidding me?! Each one played a 7 string guitar and so did the bass player. There was one point when the finger-tapping harmonies were going on between guitars and the bass player joined them! Finally, the Invincible Czars hit the stage. Wow! Okay, let me try and break this down for you. There is an electric violin player, guitar/vocalist, bass/vocalist, trumpet/vocalist, sax player, keyboard/synth/moog player and a drummer who played so many amazing things all on a simple 4-piece kit with like 3 or 4 cymbals. This band was beyond anything I have ever seen a band do before. Their tempo and time changes along with having no genre boundaries made them an incredible ensemble to witness live. By the way the sax player was site reading on stage last night. I was simply blown by this band.
56) Sept 8th, 2007. Just CB on the bill. El Patio, La Mesilla, NM. As great as last night’s show was, this show was bad. Played to almost no one. What a waste, expect we made about $250 for playing. Big, empty room. No opener. Repeating songs during our third set after driving nine hours. I would like to forget this show. Las Cruces area, CB will not be playing you again.
57) Oct 11th, 2007. CB 1st, Invincible Czars 2nd, By The End of Tonight 3rd. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. This was our first local show in five months, and wouldn’t you know? People actually came to see us. We played pretty well. The Czars were as good as they were in Austin, even with a few members missing from the group. BTEOT are a mathy band on Temporary Residence, and despite their equipment problems were pretty tight. Crazy music indeed.
58) December 15th, 2007. North Row Renegades 1st, CB 2nd. Sundance’s Place, Prescott, AZ. Another night in Prescott that’s sort of okay all around. NRR were exceptionally nice guys, but totally sucked. They drove a lot of people from the bar. We played okay. Some people who were there made up their minds about us two minutes into our first song and left. They didn’t even wait to get hooked by the vocal harmony. Then there was a yuppie dude in his 40s who looked like a doctor or something, who was glued to us the last few songs of our second set. We were well compensated, and considering we blew 100% of our money recording, it is nice to have a few bucks in the band fund again. After the show we hung out in the bar until 4 am. It was really cold outside, below freezing. The bar let us leave our gear until morning so it didn’t freeze in the van, which was awesome of them.
59) December 29th 2007. Um… a whole bunch of comedians, dancers, spoken word artists, and poets… and then CB last. Paper Heart, Phoenix, AZ. This was the Paper Heart’s last show ever. Scott the owner decided to close up and move on. Despite the fact that this was a benefit show for him and his moving expenses, he paid us at the end of the night. What an awesome guy, that Scott Sanders. This show was pretty weird. All these acts came and went, each no more than a few minutes. Then we played. They said up next, chief beef. We said we need 15 minutes to set up, and the host kind of flipped out, and Leslie Barton got up and did some impromptu spoken word while we set up. My voice was dry and cracking because I had no warning when we were going on and didn’t have a chance to get water. Before the show I took a look around and said we’d clear the place out as soon as we started, and we did, mostly. Being the only loud rock band on a bill isn’t easy. Loud rock just isn’t popular I guess. But we can say we sent off that building to whatever it will become with one last good set, and closed with a new one tentatively called Face Melter.
60) January 18th, 2008. Bossk 1st, Roman Arms 2nd, the Dagnabbit Stubbs 3rd, CB 4th. Hollywood Alley, Mesa, AZ. We tried to hype up this show since it was a great lineup at a good venue, but sadly, not a lot of turnout this night, as is typical for Phoenix area shows. This was Bossk’s first show, they only had four songs and with an unexpected string change onstage, they only played for 15 minutes. They’ve got new band kinks to work out but were still pretty good, and the chemistry between Scott and Mig is great in the rhythm section. Roman Arms were great as always, and loud as hell. This was my first time seeing the Stubbs, and they delivered. Their shtick is they’re rednecks from Georgia, and it didn’t wear off like some novelty gags. Great playing, singing, and the drummer is especially good. CB played 13 songs, including a cover of Romp by Houston which the Houston fans in attendance (the Stubbs) freaked out about. By the time we finished the bar had cleared out. Each band made $35, pathetic.
61) January 19th, 2008. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd. Hotel Monte Vista, Flagstaff, AZ. Another good Flagstaff show at the Monte V. EoJ played the same set they played last time, said they felt tired as it was their third show in 26 hours. We played 18 songs over two sets, it was fun. New management there, lots of “do not (fill in the blank)” signs on stage and in the band hostel room. One of the guys working at the bar asked if we had stickers and if so, don’t give them out. I turned away not wanting to ask the guy with a pretty negative attitude what the fuck we brought stickers for, then. I guess bands have been cancelling or playing elsewhere and ours was the first show they had in several weeks. The Stubbs said they still hadn’t gotten paid for playing there a month before, but we had no problems getting our check the next day. Turnout was lighter than usual, but it was around 20 degrees outside and downtown was dead, so the crowd was pretty good considering.
62) February 3rd, 2008. Bossk 1st, Skinwalkers 2nd, CB 3rd, Roman Numerals 4th. Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ. This was a super bowl party/show and turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be. Bossk’s second show, and they were better than the first. This was the first time I had seen Skinwalkers, they were actually pretty bad and cleared out the room. I was concerned nobody would be left to see us or Roman Numerals. Thankfully, the show had started early, and by the time we took the stage it was only about 9:30ish. Probably 15 or 20 people had shown up by then for Roman Numerals, and we played to their fans, got a good reaction. Roman Numerals were great. Really dug the stage left guitar player’s tone, he was playing an inexpensive Epiphone Dot. Thinking about getting one of those.
63) March 1st, 2008. Skinwalkers 1st, Quarter Inch Crown 2nd, CB 3rd, Emperors of Japan last. Club Mardi Gras, Scottsdale, AZ. EP release show for both us and Emperors of Japan. Many forced conspired to keep this show from happening, but we persevered, and it happened. It was originally scheduled for the Haunted Castle for Feb 23rd, but the owner of the bar had planned a shooting spree at the Super Bowl and ended up turning himself in to authorities instead. So, two weeks before the show, we find out the bar had closed. Luckily Club Mardi Gras stepped in and had it there. The Necronauts were supposed to play, but their bass player got kicked out of the band because he was strung out on heroin. So, QIC stepped in and played last minute. Anyway, Skinwalkers were much better than the previous show. They actually played songs that were organized and the guitar was in tune. QIC were good as always. We played well, I was happy. This was the first show with my Goldtop McCarty and it sounded really good and played well. EoJ were great. They had no keyboards this set, just bass, guitar, and drums. A few new ones as well. A good night, 85 people paid at the door which is good for a last minute show at a venue that doesn’t normally have bands like us, especially for Phoenix. We sold a bunch of merch, ended up with $150 or so at the end of the night.
64) March 6th, 2008. ? 1st, Thankful Birds 2nd, CB 3rd. Last Exit, Tempe, AZ. This show was our tour kick off, a few people showed up, but not many. Thankful Birds were good at what they did, with a Jazz Rock kind of thing. The opener I don’t remember his name, he was a one guy acoustic act who played along with pre-recorded tracks. We are thinking about playing to a drum machine now that Stew is leaving, but seeing this guy play left us wondering if we should pursue that.
65) March 7th, 2008. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd, Poor Kids Without Cable 3rd. Sundance’s Place, Prescott AZ. One of two shows on the tour worth playing. EoJ were great as usual. We rocked it. Got a great response. PKWC had their third lineup in the three shows we’ve played with them. New lineup is good, the best yet. I think the main guy, the singer Johnny, is now the weakest link.
66) March 8th, 2008. Emperors of Japan 1st, CB 2nd, ? 3rd, ? 4th. The Tavern, Albuquerque, NM. Once again, not too many people for an Albuquerque show. The third band acted as if they were too good for the show. They played very average punk. The fourth band had members of Ant Lion, but weren’t called Ant Lion any more, and sounded okay, but I was tipsy and don’t remember the details. Tony and I were upset about the turnout and started with the scotch at the bar. After the show, daylight savings caught all of us by surprise. We looked at our cell phones for the time and they said 3:00 instead of 2:00. We couldn’t seem to catch up for a couple days.
67) March 9th, 2008. CB 1st, Iceage Cobra 2nd. Three Kings Tavern, Denver, CO. Not a lot of folks at this one either, not surprising for a Sunday, I suppose. There was a group of hipster tattooed and pierced wannabes sitting at a table almost directly in front of the stage. None of the group was interested in either band. I don’t know why they sat right in front of the stage if they didn’t want to hear the music. I said “This is our last one” and one of them said “It’s about time.” I found out my dad has prostate cancer checking my email right before the show. What a bad time to be finding out, it was a depressing set. Iceage Cobra were a lot of fun. I wish more people had been there because this was a solid bill despite the fact that it was two touring bands on a weeknight with no local draw. The promoter really dropped the ball on that one.
68) March 11th, 2008. CB 1st, Shaolin Death Squad 2nd. The Boiler Room, Denton, TX. First, show 68 was supposed to be in Wichita KS. We got to Wichita and went straight to the club at 9:30. We were the only band on the bill and two people were there. We went to our hotel, checked in, got food and went back to the club around 10:30. Two different people there. The owner Steve said there was really no reason to play for free to two bar regulars. So, we bailed by 11:15. Now, the show in Denton was much better. SDS draw in Denton, their hometown. Crowd reaction was mixed for us due to the difference in styles between the two bands. But the Death Squad really helped us out, we played to an audience, and they paid us $125. We even had a few fans come see us from our last time playing Denton. SDS were as awesome as the last time we played with them. Those guys are awesome and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to repay them.
69) March 14th, 2008. CB 1st, Opposite Day 2nd, many bands followed we didn’t see. The Music Gym, Austin, Texas. This was an outdoor show at noon during the South By Southwest Music festival. The show was supposed to be at Hole in the Wall but got canceled with two weeks notice. Luckily, our friend Josh found us another show and a great band (Opposite Day) to share the stage with. However, the downside was we had to play at noon which is way early for the late night SXSW crowd. Josh was there, and Tommy, the drummer from the Czars. Other than that, pretty much nobody but those who worked the club saw us. I got sunburn on my forehead, Christine on her shoulders and arms. The patio we played to was right next to an elevated freeway and off ramp. The traffic was backed up almost the whole time so we played to people in their cars stuck in traffic. It was a warm and sunny beautiful day, this, the last day of our last tour, last show with Stew on drums, possibly the last CB show ever. Afterward we drove all the way to El Paso where we got a hotel, and finished the drive home the next morning.
70) May 27th, 2008. CB 1st, Bossk 2nd, Riddle of Steel 3rd, The Dagg Nabbit Stubbs 4th. Ruby Room, Phoenix, AZ. I didn’t realize until a year and a half later that I forgot to write about this show. This was the first and only show we played as a two piece. I spent quite a bit of time programming all of Stew’s great drumbeats into a drum machine. Christine spent quite a bit of time downloading videos of drummers playing and compiling them into a 35 minute long montage DVD. Instead of a drummer we brought the drum machine, a TV, and a DVD player. We played the montage behind us while we played the set. It went over well, people got the joke. Christine was about 6 months pregnant at this point and showing a lot so that made it all the more interesting. There were a surprising number of people in attendance for a Tuesday and many left after our set. Bossk was good. Riddle of Steel played well, lots of interesting new songs, but the bass player seemed totally out of it. They broke up after that tour was over. The Stubbs weren’t thrilled with going on last of four bands on a Tuesday, but plenty of people stuck around for their set and made it worth it for them.