To The Northwest!

So we arrived in Salt Lake City in the dark of night where we preceded to Dominos for pizza and the Boing! Collective for the show. It was a quiet show and everyone was a bit tired so we kept it quiet and subdued. That might have not been the best option (since we didnt get much in donations and didnt sell a CD) but it was a nice atmosphere. We took off to Ogden with Alyson after the show and had a fun night at her families house! In the morning we hung out till like 5 or 6 in the afternoon/evening after sledding, making food and playing video games. It was wonderful and we even left with a couple scrapes and bruises as well as an array of school children wondering who the hell we were. We then took off to Boise where we stayed with one of the members of the band The Very Most.

We don't think they took too fondly to us but were kind and accommodating (especially considering how late we arrived at the house). We also found out that Phil Elvrum from The Microphones played in the room we slept in! WOWOWOoWOW! We then preceded to drive all the way to Seattle with a quick stop off in a foggy truck stop. This was the most beautiful drive on the whole trip and despite the cramped car, weird driver changes, we still had a good time.

We arrived in Seattle ready for a killer show. And a killer show we received! We played a quick game of basketball (me and ryan won) and then geared up for the show. The bands that played were all wonderful! JB played great and had ladiezzz all over him. We played a killllllller set that had the audience skanking, swing dancing, waltzing, crunking and all sorts of other crazy dancing! We got Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons again and it was just awesome! The closing bands were amazing as well. Nettle Honey played great folk dancing music and even a waltz in which a cute seattle girl taught me to dance. There were so many cute girls and well dress guys and awesome people. We had a crazy night which ended with some folk jazz/punk jazz/gypsy jazz whatever you like to term it. People were swing dancing but I was too timid to ask this one cute girl that I kept catching the glance of to dance.. We were so disappointed when the night ended but luckily we made popcorn and more food whie watching Pokemon! So fucking cool!

The next day we explored the U-district of seattle and ran some errands with a girl that lived at New Crompton (the house we played at). We at awesome Mongolian BBQ and then packed up for Olympia. We sat in traffic in downtown Seattle (which was nice since we didn't see much of the city besides the U-District) then we went to Olympia.

We were nervous about the show in Olympia. We had heard cool things about the city and obviously it has a huge DIY history dating back to K Records in the 80s. As people started rolling into the show we got some distinctly Washington/Olympia vibes and then went on and played a awkward set (at least by our standards) since we didn't have a PA but had a drum riser haha. We then preceded to hang out and observe their mini-sub-culture. It was really interesting since they had such a distinct sub-culture (within the whole DIY culture which share similarities across the country). They did some killer swing dancing and some of the old traditions, styles and attitudes from the 80s olympia culture still continue, which was wild to see them/experience them in person after reading so much about it. We even got interviewed in a sneaky way by this girl who was walking around with a tape recorder all night. We finished off the night with toast.

I woke up today around 10 and chilled out for a while then went downtown with Tim. It was a quaint small town vibe but yet the city is still important to DIY culture and to washington in general since it's the state capital! Now we're chilling here with Simon and friends playing guitar and ukulele. We're showing off some covers and playing some original songs and teaching each other. Later were going to head to Portland and get some Voodoo Donuts and play with Silly Rob Childish at Full Life Coffee House again! Woohoo!

-alex