Cross country tour

2005-08-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

In summary.............
Well, after three days of intense driving, lots of dehydrated food and The Alkaline Trio we are back in the bay area. We are most happy to be back and happy to be getting back into the "real world." First off, thanks so much to all the bands and bookers who were really cool to us, we really appreciate it. One thing that was very suprising was the overwhelming level of generosity and hospitality that people showed us, it was way over the top. People overall were so cool to us and went out of there way to help us out and show us a good time, it really meant a lot to us and touched us very deeply.
First off, we regret to announce that August 13th will be our last show with Casey on bass, as we had known for awhile, he will be going to Yale law school in the fall. We are really happy for him and wish him the best of luck in the future. No bass player is lined up right now, but we have a few people we like. We'll be taking our time finding the right person and until then will have a good friend filling in for some really great upcoming shows in September and October. Casey has been great in the past year and a half and we'll have to find the right person to fill the spot.
We return here in SF with a sharper focus on making more/better music and an appreciation for what's out there in the US right now and how that relates to us as a band. We are also really excited to move forward as a band and really make some great music, the response we recieved on tour was overwhelmingly positive and we are so stoked to make new/better music. Nova has been writing at an intense clip and we've got some good ideas for some new stuff/concepts that both of us are really excited about trying out in the upcoming months. Having the time on tour to think about our music and the band has been invaluable to us and will serve us greatly in the future. Some cool things are planned for the rest of this year and there are some big ideas we'd like to tackle this year.
Nova and I are both learned a lot on this tour and are appreciative of all of the lessons we've been taught, it's really hard to sum it all up in a cute package other than to say that you can expect some really cool shit coming out of our camp in the future that we really believe in and are intensly devoted to. So, stay tuned and keep supporting us because we're listening and growing as a band in what a way that we think is a very great way. Thanks so much for all the support and love and have a rad day,

Matt

2005-08-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Boston is a cool town, I've always had a negative association with it, but last night changed all of that for me. Even though there's too many white people, if you make one wrong turn, the next thing you know is you're thirty miles away from where you need to be and have no idea how you got there or to get back, and "roundabouts" suck ass, it's a very beautiful city and I rarely, if ever, meet someone from Boston who isn't a cool person, in fact I can't think of one yet.
Before leaving NYC though I had to settle a bet that I lossed with Casey. I didn't think two people would get the Avengers cover all tour and two people got it in Philly, so I owed him two bagels. After a short drive, we made it to Boston without a hitch, scoped out the club and parked it to walk around a little bit. The club, The Paradise Lounge, is located next to Boston College, near Harvard and down the street from Fenway Park. We geeked around a little bit, me looking for an internet cafe or a Kinkos, which I have single handedly put a down payment on a house at on this tour, Nova looking for a cafe to sit down and Casey just geeking around. After some extensive walking we found a place on Newbury Street and I plopped down to do some "band business." We met up with Nova's Aunt and Uncle a little later, as well as three friends of Nova's friends, two of them we were staying with that night. We all went for dinner down the street at a "Mexican" place and Nova's Aunt totally paid for everybody's meal. They were super cool and had a lot of good questions, really sweet people.
When we finished our meal we saw people were loading their stuff into the club so we followed suit and said hello to people. All of the bands at this point seemed really cool and friendly and I could tell it would be a real good night, I had a good feeling about it. We chatted outside with Dave from Shanghai Valentine, who put the show on, until the show started.
As it turned out, all of the bands on the bill were amazing and it was the best put together show we had all tour. Dave, was willing to slide us around the bill however it would work out best for us, limited the other bands guest list so we could get more at the door and postponed the start of the show so more people would be there to see us. He was overall an amazing guy.
The first band was called Birth Rites and they describe themselves as Black Metal, Latin, Industrial, I thought they were more punk rock/industrial with keyboards, what the fuck ever they were they were amazing, but my only complaint is that there set was only 15 minutes, we all wanted more. We went on next to a very good crowd and gave it all we had, it wasn't our best performance on tour, but we gave EVERY last ounce we had left in our tired bodies and put on a great show, a very spirited performance if I do say so myself. People seemed to like it and people were enthusiastic about us and wanted us to come back soon. The next band was Dave's band Shanghai Valentine and they fucking killed. They play late 80's/early 90's melodic hardcore/punk and do a bang up job of it, lots of "whaoooooo's"! We highly enjoyed their set and can't wait to play with them again. The last band was having their CD release party, they were called The Red Invasion. Dave called them the Dead Boys of Boston and that's pretty accurate, I would say through in some New York Dolls and you've got it, lots of rock and roll swagger and good tunes, I highly enjoyed their set.
This was a very good last show for our tour and we had an awesome time and are highly in debt to Dave for being the raddest guy in the universe. It was inspiring to talk to him about punk rock, scene/community building, and his ideas for punk rock in the future. He's got a good heart, is really smart and we hope he succeds with his vision and that we can be a part of it. Thanks also to Kelly and Weston for being so cool and letting us crash at their house, they're sweet people.
Tomorrow we part ways with Casey who's flying back to SF to take care of some last moving things before he leaves the bay area. Nova and I have a long haul back with some stops in between and I'll check in one more time. Have a rad day,

Matt

2005-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it must be a bitch to be in a band in NYC, it's a disaster to drive anywhere so no one has a car, which makes it diffucult when you're in a band. So, everyone here shares equipment and just takes their essentials to a gig, which is a little weird. The show was at a new club in the East Village called The Scenic and the show was set up by a guy named DJ Mojo. I liked the East Village a lot, lots of cool stores and it just had a cool feel to it.
We woke up around 1PM at Sasha's place in Chelsea and geeked around there for awhile, getting Bagels and hanging out, being severly unproductive, which we needed. We went to pick up the van from a garage we parked the van at and found out that even though we were told that it would cost $27 to park it overnight, that it was really $37 because of an "oversized vehicle fee," which the guy last night told us was included in the $27 price, which was more than the sign said in the first place. So, evidently it's okay to make up prices on the spot and completly lie like a bastard because, oh yeah, they have California liscense plates. At least lube me up next time before doing that.
We rolled out to the gig a little early to get some food before the show and oh man did we get some fucking grub. We found this place called Mama's, with a coffee shop across the street called Step Mama's!! This place was classic, you walk in and there's like six tables, five two seaters and a big picnic style table. You go to the left and there's all this food layed out and you pick a meat and two sides for $10, which I thought was a little pricey until they put it all on my plate. They filled one half of the plate with Mac and Cheese, the other half with brocolli and put a huge slab of salmon on top, it was an insane portion. Now I'm quite the eater, so it didn't bother me one bit!!
After leaving Mama's feeling like the Goodyear Blimp, we headed down to the club and checked in with Mojo, who is a cool guy and who I found out used to be a chef and won some James Beard awards, which if you don't work in the food industry, is a big deal. I'm bummed I didn't get much of a chance to chat with him about it though. We found out that they put a curfew on the show and it had to be over by 12:30 because of a Brian Jonestown Massacre afterparty going on there. We were to go on third and hoped that our friends could make it in time for the show.
The first band was called The Soviets, not the Soviettes on Fat Wreck. They were supposed to be a three piece, but their drummer was late, so the bass player jumped in on drums and did a great job, we really liked them. Their drummer showed up for the last two songs. The next band was awesome, called Twitch Stutter, a keyboard rock/punk band with a cool female singer, we enjoyed them a lot. We went on next to a half empty room, but if there is one thing Riot-A-Go-Go is good at, it's playing to an empty room and rocking it!! So, we did and by the time we finished the room was full and people were digging it. Casey and Nova were rocking out and being there overly energetic selves. I was playing this house drum kit that was not so great for me, but I made the best of it. I'm not a fan of using other people kits because of a really bad experience at a show we had in Tijuana. I was SO close to breaking the snare drum head, two songs and it would have been mine!! I definatly knocked it way out of tune. The bass drum head was busted by the end of the night, hopefully I contributed. Our friends missed the show by five minutes, but they came the night before so it was okay.
It was a blast to play the Scenic and we really enjoyed the bands and people. Thanks to Mojo for setting up the show, we really appreciate it. People in NYC are cool and hopefully we can come back up here soon. Tonight we're playing in Boston and I'm really looking forward to this show. Have a rad day,

Matt

2005-07-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

People in NY just don't give a shit about anything when they are behind the wheel, I don't know why they bothered painting lines in the streets or putting turn signals in the vehicles because no one cares. Here, traffic laws are merly "suggestions." Cabs dart in and out of lanes like it's a fucking video game, the worst is the pedestrians because even though you have a green light, weigh 3 tons and are going 40MPH they always walk out in front of you like there's nothing wrong. I don't know about you, but I think it's a little diffucult to stop a van full of equipment on a dime, fuck even a silver dollar for fucks sake!! Jesus, it was driving me crazy, I felt like I was running with the bulls or some shit.
Anyways enough of that, the show for the evening was in Brooklyn at a bar called Rock Star Bar, or Rocky's, down by the Hudson. It was a total dive bar, rather big and a totally DIY space. We were stoked because Nova and Casey had a bunch of friends who were coming out to the show and some people visiting from San Francisco that we know. We got there early, after nearly being killed in Manhattan and walked around Bedford Ave and got some food and put up stickers. When we got to the club we found out that the show was to have 7 bands!!!! Nova and I were also astonished at the number of girls with short shorts, really long legs and high heels in the bar, I'm happily married so I was just looking!!!. The first band didn't go on until 9:30 so I knew it would be a brutal evening. We went on third and fucking killed, we rocked the shit out of that space, it was great, Nova was a total rock star and people loved her. The Assualt, who set up the whole thing, went up next and they were awesome, an all female band that played kind of metal, punk, folky music, really cool band and awesome people!!!
After the show we headed back to Sashas to crash and tried to find a garage to park the van in because we didn't trust it on the street. We found out that the price listed is not always what they will charge you. One garage, even though the fucking HUGE white sign out front said it was $10.13 to enter at 4AM and out by 6PM, exactly when we were coming and going, it was really $30. He referenced a small sign made out of copy paper, written in a sharpie pen, on the office door, I guess that was the tourist price. We ended up finding a place that looked good and hopefully all our stuff is still there in the afternoon.
We found out that people in NY are cheapos and don't buy merch, even if you work your ass off to provide some entertainment for them, so we didn't get much for the show, but we had a fucking blast, the bands were cool and their was a good crowd full of cool people. It was great to see so many cool people out for us like Virginia, Colin (who gave me the best compliment ever!!), and Sasha. The night dragged on for a very long time until at 4AM we had to bail, we were exhausted and there were two more bands left. We went to a friends place (Sasha) to crash who, along with his girlfriend (Belinda), are amazing people and were so cool to us. Overall it was an awesome night and we want to thank The Assualt for hooking the whole thing, you guys rock!! Tonight, we're playing a place called Scenic in Manhattan, it should be a rad show,

Matt

2005-07-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

I've never felt like an old fart in my life before going to Richmond yesterday. After the shortest drive of tour, we made it down to Richmond on time to load in to the club, Nanci Raygun, a cool all ages venue that has a bar and food as well. It's a real cool space that has two shows, one early one at 5PM and a later one at 10PM, we were the former. The show kind of got bothced last week by the band that was supposed to set the whole thing up about two months ago, so another band picked up the show and set up some bands last minute. I think that we were the oldest ones in a band that day, out of four bands and were only around 24, it made trying to coverse very diffucult because they were very awkward.
The weird thing was the first two bands were good, but were like all averaged out about 14 years old and their parents were there, selling merch for them and being VERY business like. It was like those cheerleader moms who push their kids way too hard because they wanted to be cheerleaders when they were kids. We went on third and played really well and people seemed to like it. The band that set the whole thing up was a cool ska/punk band called Neirborhood Friendly who were a little older, maybe 17-ish, but really cool people and were a good band with tons of energy and a good sense of humor. We stayed and chatted with some folks in a local band called "I live with Zombies" that were really cool guys. The show ended around 10 and we had to get out of the way for a DJ dance party thing happening that night, which was good because we were all dragging ass and have a long drive to NYC tomorrow. We're stoked to go up to New York and rock out,

Matt

2005-07-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

"Welcome to the murder capitol of the country," should be the motto in D.C., I think it would look cool on liscense plates. Better than that Taxation without Representation crap.
Anyways, we had a day off on Tuesday and each went our seperate ways to hang out various friends and I went to my brother's house in Virginia for the day. After Philly we were all totally exhausted, my body was in revolt mode and was threatining my very existence so I did nothing, but hang out on the couch, continue to eat poorly, and watch various dating shows like elimidate and blind date, which made feel much better about myself and having such an amazing wife!!
So, Wednesday's show was at The Velvet Lounge in NW DC, a cool neirborhood, lots of Africans and Jamaicans which equals great food. The Velvet Lounge has a very tiny downstairs bar and a "venue" up a flight of deadly stairs. There was three bands on the bill that night and I guess they keep a rigid schedule at the club because usually when a club says that the show starts at 9, it means that the show starts at "9" which is code for 10:30, but not this place, the show was going at 9:10. We traded spots with the second band because we had a bunch of friends coming later and we didn't want them to miss us, so we went last, at 11:00!!! We had a great crowd out for us and we played really well and were even asked to do an encore. It was a great show and there were some cool people there. Thanks to Micheal from The Loved Ones/Kid Dynamite for coming to the show, Nova's cousin Mike and my bro as well and all the people who made it a fun ass show. Have a rad day, tomorrow down to Richmond,

Matt

2005-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

The city of brotherly love should be called "The city of heat and narrow streets with no dividing lines," I think it has a ring to it, no? Well, I love Philly and I love the heat and all it's sweaty, stinky glory and we were both sweaty and stinky again yesterday!! Philly really is a great city, very historic and beautiful, great landscapes with a city built around that that is georguos.
Yesterday's entertainment would be provided at Club 218 on South Street, kind of like if the Haight wasn't so dirty, had more trees and wasn't so expensive it would be South Street. Oh, and was on a very narrow one way road, as most streets are in Philly. Upon arriving at the club very early, we unloaded our stuff from a reasonably close parking spot, upstairs of the bar where the bands play. A cool area up there, I really dug the space, pretty small and intimate. We walked around, chatted with people, bought some cool shirts. I got one that says "I'm from Philly, dont fuck with me," I'm a huge fan of it!!!
The first band was "Anger & Addiction," a cool bunch of guys who played straight forward punk/early hardcore kind of material. We went on to about 15 people and rocked out to the best of our tired abilities, not our best show on tour, but some people liked it and were very friendly afterwards. I had a bet that no one would get the cover song and fucking two people got it that night, so I have to buy Casey two bagels. The DJ for the night was awesome, he was playing some cool shit, we all really dug him.
I really liked Philly and would love to go back some more. After the show, we got some food from a very stoned women at the local Wawa and headed out to crash for the evening. We've got a day off and I get to spend some time with my family in VA!!! Thanks to Courtney at 218, she fucking rocked!!

Matt

2005-07-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

"Thank you Cleveland, we love you, goodnight," as thousands of adouring fans scream at the top of their lungs begging for music. Girls and guys throwing personal garments up on stage, people passing out from excitement, legions of people just going crazy to get one more glimpse of Riot-A-Go-Go......well, that's how it went in my dreams in the van, on the way to Cleveland. Cleveland has the distinct honor of being the poorest city in the country, as was pointed out by several people at the show, which was suprising coming from Detroit. Pretty much Cleveland is like Detroit, but with more people, less abandoned buildings and store fronts.
For the evening we played at The Hi-Fi club, a mid-size club in a suburb of Cleveland called Lakewood. We got to the show and did the usual hurry up and wait routine that we're used to by now, chatted with the other bands and Jennifer, who set up the show. After hearing from someone how LA was the hotbed of punk rock and that he was going there to pass out CD's of his band in Hollywood, I wanted to puke. First don't talk about a city like it's the greatest thing in the world when you haven't been there, you need to live there first, not visit, but live because it's a different ballgame when you live somewhere. Second, LA blow's in my opinion and has a derth of pop-punk bands already and doesn't need/want anymore and furthermore, Hollywood hasn't been a hotbed of punk rock since The Weirdos, The Dickies, X, The Screamers, The Runaways, and a coked out, slutty version of the Go-Go's in fucking 1977!!!!
Anyways, I digress....................
So, The Lockhearts went on first and were a cool, local indie/mellow rock band and played very well. They didn't have a bass, just two guitars and a drummer which was interesting. We went on third and played awesome, we totally kicked ass that night. Nova did a phenomenal job of being the upfront rockstar and was always going into the crowd and doing some cool moves and was so fun to watch. Casey's rocked out with some moves of his own and as always was a rock on bass. We had a total blast and was a great fucking night, people dug it and were very cool. The last band were another really cool local band called Kill Shawns Head. We really enjoyed them and they were super cool.
It was a great night for us in Cleveland, the funny thing about the whole night is that we drew more people than the local bands. Which is amazing to me that people in fucking Cleveland a) know who we are b)did the research to find out about us c)and came out to the show to support us. I mean, that blows me away and we're so grateful for that. Thanks so much to Jennifer at Starloft, she rocked, a super cool person/promoter, who actually promotes the shows she sets up, goes to the shows she sets up, and talks to the bands she booked, she definatly gets the gold star promoter award this tour so far. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and helped us out, have a rad day, on to Philly.

Matt

2005-07-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

Detoit rock city!!
Well, after the most uneventful drive of the tour we got into Detroit fairly on time. I'll tell you, Detroit is a desperate looking place, I didn't ever feel like it was this tough place, but it was a hard place, no jobs whatsover there, lots of poverty. We played at this great place called The Old Miami, an old bar located in the Cass Corridor, as it's called. The bar was set up during the vietnam war to welcome home vets and it shows. The guy who owns it, Dan, was one of the only people who would touch that neirborhood because it was so rough. The inside of the place was like a giant basement with a bar and stage. A pool table, several couches, and many cozy chairs lined the whole place. Their was a shitload of things on the walls, everything related to the military, vets, pow/mia stuff etc. From what I hear they get a huge mixture of people from lawyers, doctors to punks, vets, and gangsters (one of the first things we saw when we parked the van around the back was a patron adjusting his gun in has pants).
Nova made some T-shirts and we chatted with the sound guy for awhile who was a killer guy, really smart and friendly. He gave us the lowdown on Detroit's situation and the history of the Old Miami, great guy. The first band was a bunch of really cool people called Bricktown Station, a female fronted soul/rock band. We were on next, only two bands played, and played to exactly 5 people, but none the less put on a great show, I had some technical diffuculties with my hi-hat that has never happened, but overall it went well. Nova was once again a total rock star extroidanaire and did a solo on an excersize bike using the bike itself, I tell you, the shit was dope. Nothing stops that lady, I'm honored to be able to rock with her!!
A bunch of people bought merch before we played and some people got some stuff after. The booker/bar lady really liked us and was bummed noone was there. She told the sound guy, "how come all the bands I like, noone shows up for." Oh well, she gave us some money anyways, which was generous of her because I'm sure they didn't make any money. We hung out out back in their ginourmous backyard area and exploded some fireworks before heading out to Ann Arbor to crash for the night with a future classmate of Casey's. Detroit's on okay town, I wouldn't want to live their, but it's not a bad place, I mean, the MC5 and Iggy rocked Detroit. Next stop is Cleveland, which we are all looking forward to!!!

Matt

2005-07-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

So, this is Chicago!!
After some food and the appropriate amounts of caffeine we were on our way to Chicago. Chicago's a cool town, a lot like Minneapolis, but bigger w/ a little NYC thrown in there, we all loved it there. The show was at The Big Horse, in Wicker Park, an area that is a little like The Haight meets The Mission. The "venue" was behind a mexican take out restaurant, medium sized place, a very big dive. We strolled around a bit and checked out the neirborhood, really cute, behind the venue the L (el?) train was running overhead which freaked me the fuck out.
Their was mass confusion about what the hell was going on becuase the show was supposed to be at The Studio and got moved due to some electrical damage. The order of bands got switched around so many times it was making my head fucking spin until we just took over and worked it out between all the bands. Also, halfway through the second band a band from Long Island showed up and said they were booked their originally, so they got thrown on the bill, making it a five band show. We went on third and played very well and people were receptive. The guy doing sound really liked us and wanted us to come back to Chicago so he gave us $60 of his own money!!!! How fucking cool is that, first someone doesn't have cash so they put gas in our huge tank and then this guy gives us $60, fucking amazing shit!!!
The band after us, The Skeeballs, were great, kind of punk/rock/rockabilly all mixed up, really cool guys, very supportive. We really liked them and hope we can play with them next time. The fifth band, from Long Island, were called Trashed on Fiction, they were great, we also enjoyed them very much. The guitar player was totally like D Boon from the Minutemen, the bass player was amazing and the drummer was awesome, very Stewart Copeland. They mixed Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, The Police, and The Minutemen all together, really cool.
So, we hung out, said our goodbye's and went out to Andrsonville (Chicago neirborhood) to stay with this amazing women named Brittany. She has this insane apartment decorated with cool 1950's stuff. I cannot stress to you enough how amazing that neirborhood was and how great her place was. Nova and I went with her down to the local gay bar and hung out until closing time, around 4AM. Lots of cool people and intense gay porn playing on the TV's. We got up, geeked around and hit up the local Target to get some more T-shirts because we already ran out of a couple sizes!!! Next is off to Detroit rock city motherfuckers!!! Maybe I'll see Wayne Kramer and he'll want to play a song or two..... or maybe not.

Matt

2005-07-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

I love Minneapolis!!!
That city fucking rocks ass, I really liked it there, it's got a great vibe to it, lots of brick buildings and charecter. We were rocking the Terminal bar yesterday in Minneapolis. After strolling around Uptown getting more CD's and what not we headed to the venue. As a side note, I got Against Me's first CD, which is fabulous, Jawbreaker's "24 hour Revenge Therapy" which kicks major ass, and I had to rebuy my copy of the first Gun Club CD, which is one of my favorites. Anyways, from talking to a number of barfly's at The Terminal I found out that it has been around for over 75 years, is still family owned, and is the olding running liqour liscence in the county. The bar is a total dive bar, mainly for older people during the day and rockers at night. More than a few people went out of their way to tell us their unfavorable opinion about the recent smoking ban in bars for the county.
I don't remember the first bands name, but they described themselves as Incubus meets Ben Folds Five. They were nice and left after they got done playing. We went on next and played excellent, people really liked it and were actually listening. I mean, I know it sounds easy, but when everyone in the bar, even the people in the way back, are facing you and activlly engaged in the music it's a triumph. It was great that people just wanted to hear you, not treat you as background music to their drunken evening. People were very supportive and bought some merch. The next band doesn't have a name yet, but right now they're called The Judy Priests and they were amazing. It was their first show, but they were really good. They were 3/4ths female and kind of a mix between rock with a little punk and some killer tamborine action, we really enjoyed them!!!
We hung out for awhile, chatting behind the bar with some very sweet locals and some people who were at the club next door just on the other side of a fence. A very cool guy named Patrick didn't have cash, but wanted to support us, so he offered to put some gas in our tank, which we gladly took him up on. Before we left Nova distributed some sparklers and everyone made shapes and got goofy over the sparklers.
Background info: On the way to Madison, we had stopped at a firework shop, of which there are many by the way!! Everything in the store was buy one get one free and we gladly stuffed our bags. Nova mainly went for the metal sparklers and black cats and I went for the jumping jacks, bottle rockets and we both were heavy handed towards the roman candles. We told the shop owner we were in a band and he gave us over $60 worth of free fireworks, he was a rad guy, a little creepy, but cool. We dished him out a CD and t-shirt for the genorosity.
Back to Minneapolis: So we got some gas, food, and headed back to Casey's brother in law's house to crash. He's a cool guy and very cool for letting us crash in his place, he had a huge air mattress set up for us and was very sweet. Nova and I stayed up until 4AM watching a DVD about the making on "Nevermind" by Nirvana. A really cool DVD, I'm not the hugest Nirvana fan, but it was great to see the whole process and also it's got me thinking about getting a deep metal snare!!! Like I said Minneapolis is the place to be and hopefully we return very soon,

Matt

2005-07-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well, after an eight hour drive, we got to Madison Wisconsin at around 8PM. Pretty uneventful drive, people who ride motorcycles/mopeds in Wisonsin take a very liberal view of what "motorcycle safety" is, not really believing in helmets, nobody here where's a goddam helmet, it's ridiculous. You remember that scene in Mallrats where Brody is yelling at the mother who keeps putting her kid on the escalator, wishing her harm so that her kid could learn a lesson, yeah that's how I felt!!
We geeked around for awhile, ate some okay Chinese food and went to the club du jour, The Annex. The Annex is a cool place, kind of a mid-size club, like Bottom Of The HIll, but with a bigger stage and a bar in front before you get to the music area. Some cool bands play The Annex, the Soviettes are coming there next week for example. We were encouraged when we got there because they actually had flyers up with the promo posters I sent out. We unloaded all of our gear and chatted with the other bands and with Rich, who is the booker of The Annex. The first band, The Debut, is a pretty new band from what I hear, they got lots of frat girls out to see them and were a good band. We went on next and after three songs, the frat girls left, but there was still a few people hanging out to see us. It wasn't our tightest set and the monitor mix sucked ass so we couldn't hear anything but bass, but I think we pulled it off. There was some people who checked us out online and came to see us, who liked us and helped support us. Once again people failed to get The Avengers cover, if it's not from 1992 people don't seem to have any recollection of punk rock, oh well. The band after us was called A Gnarly Swell, they were a cool band, a nice group of guys.
Rich, the booker, was a fucking sweet guy and kept on offering us beer or whatever we wanted. He really dug us and really wants to book us again, he took good care of us and we really appreciate it!! Afterwards, we went home with a buddy of Casey's in Madison, he lives in this huge co-op house near University of Wisconsin. It's a really great house and people really take care of it, they've got a great system worked out. Usually co-op's look like a complete disaster and no one gives a shit, but they've got 25 people living there and it looked great. We all squeezed into his room, sleeping on the floor, getting up early to head out to Minneapolis, he feed us and we were on our way. Overall it was a good night and Madison is a cool town, next time though we're coming back when school is in session. Have a rad day,

Matt

2005-07-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

Hello from Fargo everybody!!
Well, after a 16 hour drive we made it from Laramie to Fargo, ND at 2 in the morning on Sunday. We parked to find a Pheasant that I hit earlier in the day lodged in the grill of the van, but that had to wait until we got some sleep (the fucker cracked the grill of the van, but I got the last laugh). We are crashing with Casey's parents here and had the day off yesterday. We did absolutly nothing productive and got pampered like gods by Casey's parents. We stayed in their lake cabin in Minnesota, a short drive from Fargo, which was absolutly amazing, everything about that place said, "well young fellow, why don't you just relax and read or perhaps take a nap." We were fed to the max with amazing food that Casey's mom made (insane meal with cream/mint peas, baked potatoes, and one of the best Turkey's I've ever had!!!), taken out to another amazing dinner tonight and overall just treated with an amazing level of hospitality, they have raised the bar for the rest of the tour and we are eternally gratefull. We really had to focus tonight because we had spent a day and a half in total relax/pamper mode.
Tonight we played at The Eastgate Lounge in Moorhead, MN, just 2 miles from Casey's house in Fargo. Kind of a big rocker bar, with an odd layout, but definalty for those who love to rock. We got there a little early so we could hang out and get ready to rock. The show was supposed to start at 10, with an opening band and us going last. Well, by 10 the opening band hadn't showed up yet and were getting flashbacks to Laramie. So, being the rockers that we are we said "Fuck it, we'll just play two sets, no problem." The bar guy wanted sound from 10-1 because that's how long ladies night lasted. He found a guy who played some acoustic stuff and he would play in between us. We played the first set and rocked the shit out of it, people really dug it and were really enthusiastic about us, people were so happy we were not some shitty Metal band, which is becoming a common theme on tour. There was lots of ladies there and I think they were so excited someone as great as Nova rocking the guitar and vocals. The acoustic guy went up, then we rocked another fine set for the folks of Moorhead. People were stoked and we hung out for awhile, playing pool and chatting with people who were so friendly. I kept on hearing the term "apehangers" for the level that I put my cymbals at, which will make it into my vocabulary for sure.
The good feelings we have been getting are amazing, people have been great to us and Moorhead was no different. People were so excited and just wanted to hang out and chat with us about whatever, they didn't just bail after the show, they wanted to play pool and have us sign shit and it was rad (Jenna, Sara, and your crew were all amazing). People in this area are very nice and very sweet people, with great accents!! I've found people here are very genuine and just great overall. I don't mean to be all gushy, but it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm really touched by those fine people in Moorhead and Casey's family and friends in Fargo who came to the show, it meant a great deal to us all. Well tomorrow we drive 8 hours to Madison, WI. Another adventure for tomorrow, have a rad day, I'm going to sleep for a couple of hours.

Matt

2005-07-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." That's the saying right? Well, we got a giant excersise in that on Saturday night in Laramie, WY.
We left Ft. Collins at around 1:00 or so and headed for Laramie, which is just a short two hour drive from Ft. Collins. The drive was amazing, indescribablely (sp?) beautiful, amazing rolling hills, puffy clouds and snow capped mountains in the distance, very serene. We rolled into town very early and headed over to The Parlor, the venue, to check it out. The Parlor is a bar/arcade/dance thing above The Buckhorn Bar, the only bar in Laramie. The place was closed, but someone was supposed to come later to open it up. So, we chat with some locals at the bar and start walking around the town. Kind of a cute town, very old and very small, the total population including the University of Wyoming was 23,000 we were told while getting bagels. We walked around for awhile, got some belt buckles, post cards, and other goodies like the good consumers we are. Also, hit up the local record store and picked up some CD's (The Queers "Love Songs for The Retarded'" which is great, Leftover Crack's "Fuck World Trade," which I haven't decided on and Rocket From The Crypt, I forget which album, but it was a tasty choice.)
We are a little concerned at this point because we have failed to see one flyer in town for the show. About a month ago I was told by some friends of ours that are in a big punk band in Laramie that the show was set up, flyers were made and a guy named Justin was going to handle it because they were going on an amazing tour. They're great guys so I don't doubt that it was all set up, I had failed to hear anything from Justin even after contacting him several times, but we continued with the optimism.
So, we're hanging out outside the Buckhorn, talking to some really nice, drunk locals and just chatting it up. We were told that the guy who runs the Parlor usually shows up around 8. So we wait and 8 comes and goes and heads into 9. A really nice, drunk local named Dave from Richmond, CA talks to the guy who runs the Buckhorn and he says that we can set up downstairs if we wanted to and he'll charge $2 at the door and we get to keep whatever we make. The guy who ran the bar was a very surly, tattood (sp?) older man, with a long grey haired pony tail, but really liked us because he was from Sacramento. So, the guy who runs the Parlor gets there at 9:30 and knows nothing about the show and can't get a hold of Justin, so we go into super ninja DIY show mode. We had heard from the doorman that some Meth dealers were there last night and theatened to come back to shoot up the place, but we were determined.
We haul all of our stuff in, clear off the "stage" and begin to set up. The have no PA, so we plug the vocals into the guitar amp and have only one mic setup. They started collecting money when we start playing, so we get it going around 10:30. We rocked it, me playing as quietly as possible because the drums were blowing the bar out. Overall a few people were interested, a few people loved it, and most people just didn't give a shit, but in general it was a success and people were happy we weren't a cover band. Justin never showed up the whole evening. We collected our money, loaded up the van, said goodbye to the wonderful locals, the lovely bar owner, and headed out of Laramie. I'll have to sleep on whether or not we'll be back in Laramie again.
Tomorrow is a very long 14 hour drive to Fargo, where Casey has a place for us to relax and rest our pretty heads. Next show is in Moorhead, MN on Tuesday, hell yeah!!

Matt

2005-07-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well, another long drive for Riot-A-Go-Go. We got up early and after showering, primping, and deorderizing at Dan's house we were on our way to Fort Collins. I'm not sure if we went over the rockies or around them, but it was a great 8 hour drive to Fort Collins, Colorodo. Once again another scorcher, but the van has got killer AC so we did not melt.
Fort Collins is a pretty cool town, kind of like Santa Cruz, but cleaner and with more trees. A little like Eugene Oregon if you've ever been there, a college town, I think University of Colorodo. We got to The Starlight pretty early, around 7 and were greeted by Kevin, who helps run The Starlight and the sound guy, who's name I can't remember, but is really rad guy as well. The Starlight is a club, kind of a mix between Bottom of The Hill and Slims, pretty big with an amazing sound system. We were very excited about this show, it looked like it was going to be a good one and it was all ages. As were finding out going cross country SF is really weak with all ages venues compared to most towns. I guess it's the high rent, so you need the bar money, but it's amazing to be playing these all ages shows and meet all these great kids who are so stoked to hear music.
We ended up having to go up first, even though we were the touring band, but that's okay we here at Riot-A-Go-Go are not rock stars and will play anytime. There was a good amount of people there for us and we played great, people were into it and were very friendly. The next band, Heartfelt Bastard, were a local band and were having there CD release party. The headlining band were from Colorodo Springs, about an hour from FT. Collins, they were called The Mansfields. They were great guys, really down to earth and sweet, we wish them nothing but the best of luck. They killed, with a sound that I guess is like Social Distortion meets The New York Dolls meets The Ramones, a mix of punk, rock, and trash. They had the fog machines and strobe lights out in effect. It was great to play with them and to play at The Starlight, great venue and amazing people.
After the show we went across the street to grab some grub and I saw Karl Alvarez from The Descendents/All, I didn't say anything because I'm a huge pussy, but evidently I found out this morning that he was at the show the whole time. We crashed with Kevin, who was very cool. He has a cool house nearby with all these cool posters and a huge amount of rad CD's. He made us a big breakfast and let us take showers and was overall an amazing guy and is doing some cool shit at The Starlight. Fort Collings is a cool town, thanks to Kevin and Jeremy for booking the show, I hope we can return soon and maybe meet all of The Descendents. Today were chilling here and have a short drive back to Laramie, WY. Have a rad day,

Matt

2005-07-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

The name is this tour should be "Sweatathon 2005" for fucks sake, it was another insanely hot day in Provo, UT. We got up early to get out to Provo becuase it's a 8 and a half hour drive from Reno. After saying goodbye to Josh and The Born Losers and exchanging warm feelings we piled back into the Mark 3 and rolled out to Provo. Not a bad drive, pretty chill actually. I knew that Utah had a lot of salt, but jesus christ there was salt or salt water everywhere along the interstate, car painting companies must make a fortune out here.
We rolled into Provo around 7:30, we were supposed to be there around 6:30 and we WOULD have been on time, except we failed to plan for the fact that we were changing time zones and needed to add an extra hour to our time. Upon getting to the venue, I immediatly had a gastrointestinal emergency, it seems that the Lengua tacos were a much worse idea than I imagined and my stomach was rebelling.
The first person I ran into was Dan from Drown Out The Stars and the first thing he says to me is, I shit you not, "There isn't going to be anyone here tonight." It seems that there was a little confusion between them and the booker of the venue and who's playing and what not, so even though I set up the show two months ago, it was last minute for the rest of the bands. Oh well, we were not discouraged.
The venue was called Muse Music, which is a small space behind a very weird record store with lots of weird records hanging on the walls. It was pretty cool all ages spot and was about three times the size of the last venue. Despite the opening remarks there was a fairly decent amount of people there. We rocked the show, way better than the last night and people were into it. It was definatly a sweatbox down there and I came equipped with a towel for protection from my own sweat glands. People were over the top nice to us and were helping us left and right.
As we are finding out Metal Hardcore/Screamo has taken over the nation and evidently there is "war" going on between Hardcore/Screamo and Fashioncore. We have no clue as to what Fashioncore is and are determined to find out what the hell it is. Also people went out of there way to tell us that Provo, AKA Happy Valley, is where the mormons are centralized, NOT Salt Lake City, that was stressed to us.
We crashed with Dan from Drown Out The Stars in Salt Lake City and he was over the top nice towards us, a really rad guy. Overall we dug Utah, except for the few religous billboards, it was a killer time had by all and hopefully we can return soon,

Matt

It's crazy, without even trying Riot-A-Go-Go has matching fashion. The day after the Provo show we got up, got dressed, and look like we came from the Star Trek planet of the color dragons. Matt was rockin' this bright yellow shirt with a anatomical heart on it, Casey was rockin' a bright pink Myrtle Beach shirt, and I had on some yellow racing stripe 70's running shorts with a bright green top. It was then that I realized we TRULY ARE A BAND, because we rock the subliminal fashion mind meld. Riot-A-Go-Go was a sight to see in Salt Lake City.
The show the night before went really well: metal band - Riot A Go Go - metal band. It's kinda neat to hear our music in stark contrast to the surrounding bands. We all must've sweated a gallon. The kids in Drown Out the Stars were SUPER FRIENDLY, I am blown away by the hospitality of complete and utter strangers so far on this trip. -Nova

2005-07-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

"Even worse than puking is cleaning up puke." That's how we got started on our first show of the tour, with Nova trying to puke up hours old rice noodles out of the small side window of the van. You know those windows that only pop open about two and half inches, yeah, great picture huh. Being a women can be a real drag, not only do you get monthly blod letting, but sometimes it also makes you puke. It definatly contradicts the theory that God is a women.
Anyway, we left SF at around 5 and ended up getting to the show right before the first band started, due to some traffic. The show was a basement show at this guy named Josh's house. We've played there before and have played with a previous band of his called Dick Bob and the Knobs. The space is about the size of a bedroom and people crammed in. I cannot empasize enough how ungodly hot it got down there, it was like Santan's crotch.
The opening band was very, very, Metal, they had an insane drummer though. The second band was fucking rad, these guys from Portland called The Born Losers, they fucking rocked it. We played pretty good, hard to tell if people were into it, but we rocked it, stobe lights and all. Josh's band, the Young Lions rocked the shit out of the place after us, they were great.
After the show we hung out a bit and chatted with the locals who were all really rad people. We ended up at a mexican restaurant with Ryan from the Born Losers eating some yummy grub. I personally went for the Lengua (beef tounge) tacos which were scrumptious. We crashed out at Josh's pad at around 2AM. He's got a really cool little punk rock collective house going on and they were very hospitable towards us staying there. The Born Losers had a ginourmous RV and stayed out in the RV.
Reno is a great place and hopefully we can make it back there soon,

Matt

The best part about Reno, aside from getting to ralf out of those little van windows, was getting to hear the other bands. The Born Losers were awesome! Their sound a crazy mixture of rock, punk, hardcore, and sweat. . . 2 guitars, bass, a rad singer who made everyone in the audience feel like pals, and a kickass girl drummer named Lauren. We hope they come to SF sometime soon. They rolled up to the show in a RV with a trailer for their equipment. We learned that RVs are like limos, you can have open alcohol in the backseat. Their wheels made 'em seem like a twisted rock family on vacation. The local band the Young Lions were also AMAZING, it was their first show, they had some great songs. Check 'em out folks if you get to Reno! -Nova

2005-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks,
we're just bubbling over with glee to be leaving for our first cross country tour in a mere two days. The tour will be about 16 shows, from here to Boston. We're so stoked about it and are all running around like little monkeys trying to get all the last minute things ironed out. Nova is silk screening like crazy, getting all of shirts and patches done by hand as I write this!!! I'll put all the shows below and you can get more details by going to www.myspace.com/riotagogo or www.riotagogo.com as well.
Thanks to everyone who came out to our kick off show at Balazo on Saturday, it was a blast, all the bands rocked and were great people. Nova got three pinatas for people to bash in between the bands and it was hilarious to watch people go for it. Normally drunk people with sticks is a recipe for disaster, but this was great. Everyone seemed to hoard the condoms, lube, and Ozzy Osbourne dolls, I hope there is no weirdness involving all three together, but that's there business. Nova rocked out even though she is using a cane from fracturing her foot, something involving a russian trapeze artist, spelt bread, and stilleto heels, but her phone kept cutting out, so I didn't get the rest.
We'll try to keep this updated every day, to keep you eager beavers informed. If you guys know anyone in the towns we'll be rocking, please get the word out, thanks so much and have a rad day,

Matt

July 13th Reno, NV @ Josh's Basement 351 E Taylor St. , 9PM, all ages
July 14th Provo, UT @ Muse Music www.musemusiconline.com
July 15th Ft. Collins, CO @ The Starlight www.thestarlight.com
July 16th Larmaie, WY @ The Parlor
July 19th Moorhead, MN @ The East Gate Lounge www.eastgatelive.com
July 20th Madison, WI @ The Annex www.intheannex.com
July 21st Minneapolis, MN @ The Terminal Bar www.terminalbar.com
July 22nd Chicago, IL @ The Studio www.roseredproductions.com
July 23rd Detroit, MI @ The Old Miami www.theoldmiamidetroit.com
July 24th Cleveland, OH @ The HI-Fi Club www.starloft.com
July 25th Philly, PA @ Club 218 www.club218.com
July 27th Washington, DC @ The Velvet Lounge www.velvetloungedc.com
July 28th Richmond, VA @ Nanci Raygun www.nanciraygun.com
July 29th NYC @ The Rock Star Bar (Rocky's)
July 30th NYC @ Scenic www.scenicnyc.com
July 31st Boston, MA @ The Paradise Lounge www.thedise.com