Tour Log 2.0

(re-post from myspace, April 23rd)
The tour is over. I've been home now for five long days, wondering what exactly to do with myself.
I started recording new c@ material, but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's kind of hard to write that stuff when I'm feeling so stable.
You'd think after one of the most stressful situations I've ever put myself through I'd have some sort of ultra-inspiration to write new material like I did when I got back from Take Control, but I really haven't felt it yet.


When I left off in the first installment of the tour log I mentioned how awesome Lansing was. Ann Arbor was no disappointment either.
I got to finally meet Eric of Metal Babble/Hentai Cum Dungeon/etc, making him the first Brokecore Records alumni I've ever met in person(!,) hung out with Jay of Dental Work/Placenta Recordings and his girlfriend, Josh of Little Mack/HCD/etc, Nyarlathotep, Watabou and his brother, and a host of people I didn't really get the names of.

The sound system situation was a bit sketchy, so we ended up with a pretty ramshackle compilation of multiple sound systems, and of course, no one was entirely familiar with the 8 speakers and 3 mixers situation... so when problems came up it was pretty hard to remedy quickly.
In spite of this, I only had to get through one song before the sound was repaired to a level deemed acceptable.
The basement was packed (I don't know, somewhere between 30 and 50 people I'd say. It all looks the same after a certain point) and I was quite well received.
Lot's of amazing pictures were taken, and it's always nice to actually get to talk to fans instead of having them run away and leaving only the crazies and the druggies to talk to.
Dental Work killed it (in the good way) and Little Mack and Syphilis Sauna did the same.


The next day I was in Chicago for a performance and an interview on WZRD 88.3.
I played an awkward set on the air followed by an amusing interview. Both of them will be up on the WZRD podcast eventually, and I'll probably be including the interview on Possible Party.
On the way to Chicago, by the way, I drove through Indiana and saw some of the most surreal skylines I've ever witnessed in my life (not to mention a number of Hell's Angels members.)
I don't think it'd have been out of place if I were... say... in Oil Ocean Zone in Sonic 2, but in real life it was just absurd.

After the radio show I went back to Billy's (William Side's Atari Party/The Kremlin) apartment and we watched a documentary on video games, ate some fantastic food he made, listened to records, messed around with some new equipment of his, and eventually fell asleep.

The day after, I drove to Butterfly Daughter/Little Lamp Light's house in Minneapolis.
On the way, I stopped in Wisconsin for food and gasoline.
In the gas station, an avril lavinge-looking girl remarked "darn that Leroy," causing the older, male cashier to chuckle as I exited to pump gas after paying (you crazy folks and pumping your own gas, pah!)
When I returned the girl said "how ya doin' Leroy, I'll take you over here hun"
I don't know if Leroy is some kind of weird slang, a joke I'm not privy to, or if she has a large haired, colorfully dressed acquaintance from New Jersey that she mistook me for... but it was certainly odd, and she made no indication that she actually knew who I was aside from that.

I got to Ash's house a bit late, but not too late to get food and then stay up until 5 playing various video games systems I don't have.

The next morning I woke up rather late and headed off to the Psychic School of Dream Actualization.
After meeting Max of Unicorn Basement and some other people I began to set up.
Cadette, some sort of girl fronted punk band, played a pretty killer set, followed by an outstanding performance by Mystery Palace.

Many people in the crowd were there specifically for my set, which is still a weird feeling for me.
I got up and played a rather disappointing (to me) set. There is footage of the first song, when I was trying to fix the sound system, as well as footage of the last song, when I was tired and worried about the fact that I'd spilled water on my power strip.
Pictures were taken as well, and I'll post them as soon as they are available.

After my set, Gala and all of her friends were extremely helpful and awesome, and carried all of my stuff out to my car (and they didn't steal, lose, or break anything!)

Then Bre and Brent hung out with me for a little while and Bre gave me a sweet painting that she made for me (did I mention that someone at The Crackhouse made me a really killer patch? If not, someone did)


The day after was Iowa City.
All I have to say about Iowa, is that it couldn't have been more exactly the same as what I expected.
Iowa City itself was a really nice college town and not desolate at all, but the highways went through windmill clusters, billowing dust, and miles of nothing.... not that I don't like that sort of thing, I just have a hard time believing such things actually exist.

The show itself was pretty awesome. It was essentially just the run-of-the-mill college party (something I've willingly never exposed myself to before) and there just happened to be a metal show going on there.

Because I'm so tired I'll skimp on the details, but it's of note that I have never played for so many people who were sitting down... but at the same time totally enthusiastic about my set.
Somewhere in the middle, the cops decided to make an arrest across the street, so for a few minutes I stopped my set and gave everyone a group therapy session, wherein there was a role reversal and I disclosed personal secrets, discussed why I don't like Cattle Decapitation anymore (which I was booed for saying... and I do actually take it back because the new album sounds pretty great from what I have heard,) and played with the Alphabet Apple I circuit-bent with the drunkest people there, before continuing my set.

The next night was in Springfield Illinois. It was a frustrating show because my car began acting like a total fuck-up on my way there, and between my tiredness from the tour, that happening, and the sound system being less than ideal I just got into a really weird funk.
Canceling the Chicago show that day made me feel like total shit, but I couldn't risk my car breaking down and being stuck in the mid-west.
It wouldn't be the first time it happened to an extreme experimental electronic artist, so I know the consequences.

(sorry, the details for each night have dropped substantially. I'm actually getting pretty sleepy while typing this. I started this at like 3PM and let it sit on my computer until now... 5AM)


Over all this was a completely awesome tour.
Dates got screwed up, shows got canceled, I ended up with more days off than I'd ever want, and I wasn't nearly as social as I was on the Take Control tour, but I still met some amazing people, hung out with good friends, played some shows that blew my mind, and continued spreading my weird cat loving, absurdist message to people around the country.

I think a majority of the most humbling and some of the most cathartic moments in my life happened on this tour.
I can't believe how many people came up to me telling me that they've been waiting for x amount of years to see me, telling me that they saw god in my set, and even telling me that seeing me live was on their bucket list and they were glad to be able to cross it off.

Not only that, but just playing for groups of 20 to 60 people who knew the lyrics to my songs and danced with me and legitimately enjoyed themselves blew my mind and brought an insurmountable warmth to my heart.


A huge thanks to everyone who I stayed with, hung out with me, and talked to me. It was seriously a huge treat.



Also, a big thanks to all the bands I played with (this list is not complete as I need to find a few names still:)

Gape Horn
John Zahorian
Dental Work
Watabou
Crochetcatpause
RedSK
Teh Soup Rebellion
The Night Shall Eat These Boys And Girls
OctavialSilver
Mellows
Seagrass Diov
Anontron
Syphilis Sauna
Little Mack
Mystery Palace
Cadette
Shark Week
The Maw
The Sunshine State
Terrapin And The Wolves
Snuff66
Cobra Kai Dojo



Extra special thanks go out to Kayla Catraida, Travis Watabou, Eric Metal Babble, the Crackhouse guys, Billy Sides, Weaver, Jeff from Springfield, and last but farthest from least, Jay fucking Watson.

I'll be back in MI and OH very soon...
Everywhere I missed or haven't been to yet, I will definitely see you all soon, just give me some time.



Love and hugs and candy,
m@ the c@
(^o^!)