01 February 2013

SOMERVILLE

In 1996 I went on a very stupid tour. In total we were on the road for 20+ weeks through the US, Canada and a short stint in Japan. The Canadian portion of our jaunt was filled with (mis)adventure and ill advised excursions including an off road drive through some dude's corn field and a visit with some weird ass heavy metal hillbillies in Sault St. Marie - but the subject of today's post was put together after we returned to the United States. It seems foolish to leave out the pants shitting in Maine, the PCP in Montreal, the almost but not quite visit to Newfoundland, the multi province pursuit from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the passing out in vomit in a phone booth in Toronto, the watching THE CURE play on Canadian Much Music, the meeting my future wife in Milwaukee, the getting told that the "headlining" band didn't want to stay in the same house with us after we all played the same Days Inn in Rapid City, South Dakota.......basically, there were a lot of adventures on that trip and it was one of my favorite tours ever. But here's where this tape came from...:
After three weeks in Canada we returned to the USA from Nova Scotia and found that we didn't exactly have many shows booked on our way home. We stayed at Matty's grandmother's house in Maine for a night or two (that's the pants shitting part - and yeah, it was me) and then we headed to Boston. We had a show in Boston (technically, it was in Somerville) and even though it wasn't for several days we figured that the kids at the house would host us until we sorted our shit out. We figured correctly, and even 15+ years later I cannot thank them enough. Imagine a band cruising up to your doorstep and saying "yeah....we are supposed to play here in a week. You think we can stay here until then?" That's what we did, and they said it was cool. So we were there for what seemed like an eternity....sorting out our tour back to the west coast, drinking excessively, smelling bad, listening to their records....just being a general nuisance. Every day, Arik came home, looked at the living room full of miscreants, and uttered some variation of: "I'm going to make some food...are you guys hungry?"  We said yes (because we were), and Arik made us food. Every day. Something involving a nightclub owned by a member of AEROSMITH and cocaine happened at some point, but I don't recall the details so let your imagination run wild since it's probably more accurate than my memory. But the living room at this house had killer records, and we taped a LOT of them. This tape is a part of that week (a week that also included our discovery of EARTH CRISIS and SWING KIDS). I still listen regularly, and most of this tape still crushes.


After we were there for a week, we played a fukkn incredible show in a basement on Wyatt Circle - absolutely one of the most fun shows I have ever played. When Doug handed me money that night he basically said that he hoped that we had enjoyed our stay and that he was glad we were leaving, which is completely fair since there's no way I would have put up with us for nearly that long. Did I mention that at this point our singer was completely covered in blue food coloring? Yeah, that happened.

11 comments:

Icky said...

I would SERIOUSLY LOVE to record your tour diaries.

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for always turning me on to some stellar jams...

yellow.eyes said...

What an introduction. Looking forward to hearing this.

the wizard said...

Record them. I have a lot. Some who have listened to them over and over (and over) might even say I have too many...

Harvester said...

This is great...the story that is. I will make a decision about the download later.

Anonymous said...

1. I seem to recall your singer was covered in GREEN food
coloring?

2. You guys discharged at least one actual stink bomb
inside Fat Day house - like an actual item that is lit on
fire and releases stinky smell. Not just your farts.
What was that all about? I always wondered about this -
but I feared that if I stared for too long into the mouth of
madness I too would succumb.

3. Didn't we play a weird game of basketball? Matt
remembers basketball being involved and that
seems correct. My recollection is that none of us
really knew how to play basketball and also most of
you were several heads taller than us so you won quite
handily.

4. You forgot to mention that you and your team set us
up shows and put us up on the West Coast and that
someone at your house gave me an awesome Fang
T-shirt while we were in SF. So Karmic balance was more
than restored.

5. That show and you guys were amazing and we miss
hanging with you guys.

Doug

the wizard said...

Dear Doug:
1) It was blue. The green was from our St. Patricks' Day show at your house with FAT DAY, PISSED OFFICERS and SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN. The blue food coloring was, I believe, a payback for Matt covering himself in green the previous year and then passing out in someone's bed (turning the entire bed green). 1996 was definitely blue, and Aesop and Matty referred to Matt as a gay smurf for the remainder of that tour.
2) It wasn't the kind you light, just the kind you step on. But yeah, the whole place smelled like an ass. Sorry about that.
3) Didn't remember the basketball until you brought it up, but it seems in may mind like Matty was the start of the game.
4) You have no idea how much that Karmic balance is still skewed in your favor....and I flew to SF for 20 hours just to play that show with you guys - and it was totally worth it. Also, a FANG shirt? Really? That's what you remember?
5) That feeling is mutual. Are we supposed to give each other public backrubs after this exchange?

The Boo said...

Dude - I totally forgot about that basketball game! That was a blast - who knew that Matty was good as basketball? He dominated that game!
What an epic week that was - also remember hearing CAN and PENTAGRAM for the first time over there. Stink Bomb!

Anonymous said...

PUBIC backrubs.

Matt poured beer on his breakfast cereal.

Anonymous said...

I recall also getting a FuckFace
shortsleeve button down shirt that
I accidentally wore to work thinking
it was a regular work shirt.

It had a dude with a dick for a nose on the back of it.

I had to go home and change when I
realized my "mistake"

I'm sorry that all I seem to
remember right now are shirt
stories.

I remember you took us out to an
awesome restaurant in Berkeley.

I remember you are obsessed with Willie Nelson.

I remember the pubic backrubs.

Doug

TheCrackwhore said...

What's pretty amazing is every one those stories is true. Yikes! What an amazing week! And you Fat Day fellas are still the most hospitable folks I've met!

Big Ash said...

Definitely blue, I was there. Can't believe we didn't die.