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

We're In Olympia

Yes we have made it to our show in Olympia. We will be playing music here at some point tonight I hope.

Seattle was nuts last night. More of an update later.

If you need to contact me (alex) call ryan or tim since my phone died a watery death in seattle this morning.

From Texas to Colorado (via Missouri)

So here we are in Boulder, Colorado at The Danger Zone, formerly the Soulquarium. These kids here are super chill and just do awesome house shows in their backyard showspace which was padded and sound proofed. The road to get here was not a short one however.

We leave Abilene for Granbury, Texas. We arrive in this bedroom community/way out suburb of Fort Worth. It's New Years Eve so we partied with the people living there who were, at least some of them, self-proclaimed rednecks. They showed us a good time lighting fireworks till 4 am, lighting their lawn on fire, and peeing in the freezing backyard. We played a fun little show for the few people that watched the music and then we rang in the new year by playing Auld Lang Syne!

We took off for Plano the next day to hangout with my buddy Korok. He showed us a great view of Plano, Texas at this huge tower in this park. We then went to 5 Guys Burgers which was INSANELY GREAT! We had huge burgers, great fries and peanuts! We then preceded to Fayetteville, AR where we met the awesome Stuart and Christie. They were super accommodating and great to us. We then explored the University of Arkansas before our show and it was quite crazy. Their sports facilities were insane! We played a pretty cool show and then had a great chill sesh after the show with the people hwos tuck around. They told us how crappy arkansas was but how happy they were that they kept something good alive via their college radio station and the house shows. We went with them to Waffle House at like 1 or 2 in the morning and then settled in for the night.

In the morning (or around noon) they brought free hot dogs and polish sausages for us! Then we departed Fayetteville for Kansas City and our tourmate JB/All Blood. We passed Walmart-ville (aka Bentonville) and then we rolled into snowy Kansas City. We hung out in JB's house all night which did encompass a show in someones bedroom! We rocked the bedroom with delayed vocals and effected acoustic guitar. We got some cool comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel and people loved the performance. We stayed up playing video games and hanging out till like 2 am till we all passed out.

The next morning we woke up really early and started the arduous job of figuring out a new packing scheme. We did this fairly successfully although everyone was barricaded into their seats and stacked with stuff. We made the hell drive through snowy Kansas City to the open road where we preceded to drive to Boulder.

Here in Boulder we arrived at the house and it was cool and laid back. Little did we know it would amp up when show time started and it turned into a good old fashion anarchist/radical kickback. We hung out and played card games and stuff with the people still at the show. We also did some jamming and watched some King's Cup which is really quite a fascinating game.

Today we head to Salt Lake City where some more punks await us and a nice mormon family has a house for us to stay! Hopefully we'll make a video update later today or tomorrow.