So the first part of this tour up the west coast with Sleeping People and Geronimo. On Halloween night we played Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco which was great but unfortunately we had to drive right after the show in order to make it Portland the next night. I guess in the Castro district last year there was chaos in the streets and some people actually died. This year the city made in known that they were not going to provide the portopoddies for the drunken / drug infested festivities this time around, but in the last minute they decided to provide them anyway. I think it was in the city's best interest as its sometimes hard to get rid of that deep urine scent or that thin layer of vomit smell after a city wide freak out, especially the freak sauce from San Francisco.
This is Mike, AKA Manchild, who runs the Three One G message board and redesigned The Locust web site. This is his 'patriotic mummy' Halloween costume which he wore the next day in Portland. He rode with us up the coast.
Canada (11-3-07)-(11-16-07) Vancouver, Calgery, Edmonton, Winnipeg, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa
So the Canadian stretch of our tour is apparently called the 'Aggressive Tendencies' tour. It is admittedly quite a silly name and it is actually a yearly tour that is named after a section of a nation wide, newspaper print, sub-culture monthly named Exclaim. We were unable to get our touring buddies on the tour as the promoter had other ideas as to what bands posses aggressive tendencies and what bands do not. This year its us headlining, a metal core band named Despised Icon, a french Canadian band named The Discord of a Forgotten Sketch, and Child Abuse, who drive a short bus powered by vegetable oil. Child Abuse actually missed the first two shows as one of pistons on their diabolical hell school bus had some issues. Apparently it cost them only thirty dollars to get form New York to Seattle in fuel!
Due to a previous criminal history regarding a single incident ten years ago i had to undergo a tedious process in order to obtain a Temporary Residence Permit allowing me to enter Canada before the normal ten more years im supposed to wait till im deemed 'rehabilitated' by the Canadian Government. The process included getting over thirty documents from several institutions including the FBI. Its not every day i contact the FBI and send them my finger prints to check my 'rap sheet'. All of the time and effort paid off as i had no problems at the border, however as a band we did have issues. The promoter did not get us work permits and instead gave us a letter that was supposed to suffice. Well it didn't and we were refused initial entry into Canada. After over three hours at the border the Canadian Customs agent granted us entry for one day, as she was able to get a hold of the first show's venue, the University of British Columbia. We barely made the show due to the delay and after the show we had to return back to the US and attempt another entry into Canada with more paperwork. This second time we were unsuccessful, so we had to drive through the US towards the next Canadian show in Calgary, which added several hours to our commute, so by the time we arrived we had enough info from every show faxed over making it possible to get through the border. Its funny that we never had trouble in Japan, Mexico or Europe, yet its such a hassle to enter our neighbors to the north. Although the Canadian border is strict, it still pails in comparison to scrutiny and downright rudeness US Customs agents welcome visitors with. "Welcome to America, fuck you". And although we had issues at the Canadian border one can only imagine the red flags raised when the other band responded with 'Child Abuse' when asked their band name, and they always ask. The agent would gather these facts: Child Abuse, driving a decrepit modified school bus in order to join up on the Aggressive Tendencies tour wants to enter Canada and add to the arts. Brilliant!
Vancouver
There is a scene in the Surrealist film Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie, made by Bunuel, which consists of a family gathering at a dinner table but instead of eating together the politely proper family and their respectful guests are all sitting on toilets. A guest who is unfamiliar with the house asks discretely where they can relive themselves. Once the guest makes thier way to the little room a tray of food comes out of the wall and the person eats quickly, almost embarrassingly: doing such a disgusting act at a friends house during communal shitting of all times. I love this scene, and indeed why do we humans perform such a savage act like eating together but when that same food comes out the other end we must take care of it in private, with family not present. I was thinking about this as we ate at the amazing vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver named Namm, which is open 24 hours a day. Man, i wish it was in San Diego, but at least we have Ranchos, Vegan Zone, Pokez, and Jyoti Bihanga. In any case i was unable to remember the name of the movie and it was driving me a little nuts. So when i got a chance i gave my girlfriend, Maria Bambil, a call to find out as she is a film/art historian of sorts. The conversation with Maria lead to a mostly playful disagreement on the word 'bouchzy', (taken from the french word Bourgeoisie), which i firmly believe is a crappie word that doesnt exist. Its taking a french word and turning it into a sort of moronic american display of ignorance. Her position is that language evolves and we should embrace all slang. I agree that language does and should evolve, but that particular word bugs the shit out of me.
In this the third Canadian Customs waiting room we've seen thus far they have a display case of forbidden animal products they have confiscated. I believe tiger cock was included.
11-10-07
So in order to save a few hours on our two days off (driving) we decided to veer away from the great cold north of Canada and drive through a little country know as u-es-a, or something like that. It was my turn to drive today as i felt the unspoken pressures which could very well be all in my head, so it was nice to stop in Minneapolis for a bite and a drink at the venue / bar known as Triple Rock after ten hours of driving, marking the end of my shift. Some band with the word 'mother' or 'your mother' in the name played but we stayed in the bar/restaurant room separate from the stage room and ate our veggie burritos. I guess the talents of Your Mother or whatever will have to wait for another day to touch me. I called my friend Jason Wade from the band Faggot to hang out but he was unavailable.
Durring our shortcut through america we had enough time for to stop here and urinate. What a country!
The other day i was able to catch The Colbert Report where his real candidacy for president ended as the democratic party did not allow him on their ballot. His overly cheesy usage of doritos sponsoring the coverage on his show of his candidacy was brilliant, as direct corporate sponsorship is officially not allowed. It speaks volumes about campaign funding and the ridiculous loop holes which exist. Its such a masterful way of using comedy from a surrealistic approach, commenting on the almost unreal American political system. Amazing!
Canadian Customs entry number four (11-11-07)
This time we had to get work permits but we had enough paper work to do so. It only took about an hour for the process to be completed. One of the customs agents took interest in 'the bass player' and wanted to know what kind of bass justin played. While in the waiting room he printed out the Wikipedia entry on Dan Armstrong instruments and pointed out that apparently Mr. T of the A Team plays a Dan Armstrong. And if Wikipedia says its so then it must be plausible. That, or more likely its an homage to the comedy gods.
London, Ontario (11-12-07)
We were done with our sound check and there happened to be a mall across the street from the venue Call the Office. Interestingly there was a public library inside the mall. I like this concept; options if kids are forced to go to the mall at a young age. But the reason i went to this intellectually elevated shopping monstrosity was the movie theatre. I had enough time to catch the movie Saw IV! It was great in all the ways the first three Saw movies were great, putting the good old hot button topic of torture in new light for the collective north american consciousness to consider. Is anyone truly deserving of purposefully inflicted pain / death, and is there anyone righteous enough to carry out such acts? This is especially timely with Abu Ghraib and other torture resorts fresh on everyones minds due to the political campaign charades of the day. Who shall judge who, and are we really this barbaric as a species still? And of course the message of 'cherish life' is ever present during the film. This movie series is of course part of a bigger resurgence of horror in american movies possibly playing a role in the desensitization of these newer generations to death, blood, and planned killings. America after all always seems to be in need of more voluntary army recruits.
One of the main owners, Tony, of Call the Office let us hang out and drink for quite a while after the show and we commenced with unsober pool championships. Usually we stay very sober all night as we cannot really drink before we play, if we want to play well that is, and by the time we are done playing and taking our stuff down the venue is usually ready to call it a night. So this was a delightful situation for a change.
Toronto, Ontario (11-14-07)
So after the show we went to the "Jägermeister after party" at a metal bar named Club Absinthe which was just down the street from the club The Reverb where we played. i guess there has been one of these after parties after every show on this, the Aggressive Tendencies Tour. They didnt seem to really give out that much, by the time we got there anyway. Then there was a juggling competition which Jason, who is traveling with The Discord of a Forgotten Sketch, seemed to be a sure win after his display including some juggling under his leg. The competition morphed a bit and it lead to a girl competing by walking on the knuckles of her feet on the bar. She won the kick drum head with the Jägermeister logo, which i dont think Jason minded losing. Interesting joey said during this time he was outside talking to Tim of Child Abuse, who was synchronistically talking about his being a juggler for two years. By the time they came in the whole thing was over, and he never knew it happened.
Club Absinthe, a heavy metal bar we went to after the show, in Toronto has tons of post apocalyptical scenery on the inside and out side. This is the outer layer.
Montreal and Ottawa (11-15-07)-(11-16-07)
These were the last two shows in Canada and since they were in bigger cities the turns outs were a lot larger and the shows went very smoothly. I feel i should mention here that at one point on the Aggressive Tendencies tour one of the two Despised Icon singers called the audience "faggots" for not moshing hard enough. This was the defining moment that epitomizes the hand over the face sort of disbelief that we were touring with this band. I guess even Exclaim heard of this and bluntly asked during an interview why. His response had something to do with him having a gay friend and that he uses that word to mean stupid not homosexual. It seems that he just kept putting more and more feet in his mouth.
Albany, Providence, Hoboken, New York (11-17-07)-(11-18-07)
This part of the tour's line up is Sleeping People, Zs, Yip Yip and us! Playing shows with Zs makes me feel like I better not mess up during our set. This is a very welcomed feeling which is in stark contrast to the defeated slow head shaking perpetuated by the most despised of icons. Apparently Howard Stern has been playing Zs on his satellite radio show in the past week, sort of mocking them and questioning them as music. He even set up some instruments with his riffraff team of cretins and attempted to play in the style of Zs. He wanted to play the Knitting Factory show in New York, but unfortunately that did not occur. The whole thing was pretty weird, hearing Zs on Howard Stern. Who knows what he would have thought if he had seen the Locust play. The one thing in common we have with him is a ban on Clear Channel.A link to some audio clips on Howard Stern. So while we were in Providence we got to hang out with all of the members of the late great Arab on Radar! We have been pushing them to do a reunion since they were arguably the best band ever! We toured with them, Lightning Bolt, Wolf Eyes among other greats on the Oops tour and every night i had to watch Arab On Radar. I was lucky enough to experience what must be the equivalent to the neuro-chemical brain response that devoted religious fanatics get during month long retreats. Watching them was my religion for that time period. They are currently working on a DVD which seems will turn out to be amazing! Cant wait for that one.
As a surprise gift to Joey on his birthday we went to a gun range. Hopefully this skill will not become a necessary one.
Oaklahoma City (11-27-07)
So many days have gone by and I have fallen victim to experiencing moments rather than writing about recent ones. The whole 'live in the moment' approach to life certainly has its benefits but living one fleeting moment to the next leaves very little time to reflect. In any case the tour has gone well and every night is now 'the night' that all the bands are supposed to hang out till dawn, although it seldom happens. Constantly foiled by logistics.
Our van was broken into the other night and a lot of personal items were stolen, including computers, passports, and toiletries. A very serious blow to the tour to say the least. Over the years we have known of several bands getting ripped off, i guess it was our turn and they hits us hard. At least no musical equipment was taken.
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