Mini-tour Key Learnings

First I want to thank every single person that helped me on the mini-tour.
Also, a huge thanks to Emil from the Angelus for EVERYTHING!

Now here are the things I learned while out.

1)    I have FAR TOO MUCH gear. I almost threw my back out on day one.

2)    Sean Carnage shows at Pehrpace are where it is at in Los Angeles. Go to these, make them thrive.

3)    Bambara is an amazing band. If they play live near you, go see it.

4)    The band Health just missed my set in LA. Probably on purpose.

5)    LA traffic is exactly what everyone says it is.

6)    Snow and I don’t work well together. I have no idea how to walk on ice. This is evident from the extremely hard spill I took in front of my hotel. I was told that the fall was “really loud.”

7)    You can’t sleep through New Mexico. The state is deceptively large.

8)    Texas has 2 sides of it. I drove in from the small town side and left in a mess of freeways.

9)    The employee at Lubbock Subway Sandwich is a dick. “How can I help you” is how to properly ask someone what they want. Not “What do you need? A sandwich?”

10) Phillip Roebuck knows how to work a crowd.

11) I got lost in Lubbock Texas 3 times. It isn’t that big of a town but has many, many, many one way streets that turn to freeways and loops. GPS be damned.

12) NX35 is an awesome festival. Still small enough to see a lot of cool bands without battling through millions of people.

13) Monastery is most definitely my musical cousin. I had to miss some of his set, but from what I saw, I am really impressed! He and I should be working on a split together in the future.

14) The Angelus is a phenomenal live band. Everything comes together so well and seems effortless.

15) Emil is one of the nicest people I have ever met.

16) His wife Kiersten made a tofu scramble that I could and would eat every day of my life.

17) Health throws down live. Go see them. Fluorescent colors, dudes, noise, and awesome.

18) “Taxi Driver the Band” is an amazing summary of a duo we saw play live. I see this trend of cute girl vs creepy guy rock sweeping the nation.

19) I am soooo glad I got to see Hotel Hotel play a house show! Amazing music for such a small space. I also was able to see Record Hop the day before at the same place, and they were awesome. Speaking of it, Denton has a great music scene and house shows that don't get broken up by the cops in 4 minutes. I am jealous, and if it wasn't for 100 degree summers, I would probably consider moving to Texas.

20) I met so many cool people this week and realize I am terrible with names. I hope to see everyone again in the future!

21) Big Rig drivers are crazy. 3 accidents in the snow causing me to be stuck outside of Albuquerque for 3-4 hours. Not cool.

22) The drive from Albuquerque to SF should not be attempted alone without mass amounts of caffeine.

23) The trip was far far too short. I had an amazing time and want to get back out on the road now. I need to book a summer tour.

24) I say the word “amazing” a lot throughout this, but it is completely appropriate throughout the trip. I shall now retire it.

Oh last thing. Not enough people yet own Concentric. Please go pick it up here!