My trip to California was awesome: I spent time with Bradlea's family, met her sister and hung out in her gaming command center of an apartment, spent time with the four resident cats in Bradlea's mother's house (Orange Kitty, Antwon, Panathinaikos, and Spoilsbury, who actually lives in New Jersey most of the time, but got to go back to San Diego to visit too,) went to Disneyland, traveled around LA, San Diego, and San Francisco, and got enough authentic Mexican food to hold me over for at least 6 months.
As great as all of that was, I am still able to say that, quite possibly above all of that, my shows were the best part... life changing even!
First up was Los Angeles.
The venue used to be called Vlad The Retailer, or something to that effect, but was converted in under 24 hours by
Emily Blong into the Broken Velcroe Carnival.
There is no way to entirely do the venue's transformation justice, but here are two pictures from the place to give you an idea:
(I don't know who took these photos, but
the entire set these come from is fantastic!)
All of that was hand-made by Emily, and that's just a small portion of everything she did.
It's been since Bubblegum Octopus' very first show in 2006 that I've wished for something comparable to that set-up for a performance, so that in and of itself was really special for me. It's only made better by the fact that the big pink guy in the second picture was apparently made specifically for my performance.
(We took some promotional photos with me leaning on that guy, but they are a bit blurry.)
My set was met initially with some problems... the amount of power strips being used created some grounding issues, preventing my theremin and the rest of my noise rig from doing anything except electrocuting me, so I just disconnected everything and played with just the KP3, my laptop, my mic, and my DD3.
Throughout the course of my set I managed to spill coke on a power strip, have my table of equipment and my theremin knocked the fuck over, and got so hot and tired that I actually had to take off clothing (I hate taking off clothing in public. It's not a self-conscious thing, I just don't like it for some reason.)
All of it was worth it though, because the audience made it probably my best set so far.
To me, having your shit knocked over by an uncontrollable and enthusiastic crowd is a milestone, so I was actually not angered at all by it... unlike Bradlea and a few other audience members.
(Nothing was broken or even hit the ground, so there was no reason for any ill-will, really.)
Here are some pictures Gabe Bautista took of my set:
I guess it was just the combination of factors that made this such a memorable and truly magical night.
The decor, being across the country, the joyous atmosphere, and the unusually appropriate line-up would have been enough, but I think it was the company that made it extra special.
The crowd was full of characters.
Not your typical weirdos and creeps, nor a group of unremarkable fellows with names I can recall; this was a party where almost everyone invited had a distinct personality that could almost be read off of their faces alone.
People from the internet that only existed as messages, comments, and pictures in my mind came to life before my eyes.
Taylor, D. Bene, Emily, Peet, and a handful of other people all felt like old friends or classmates to me too, right from the start.
I managed to be very anti-social throughout the show, as I often am, but I feel like I could have just hung out with all of them without a second thought if they'd asked me and if I wasn't in such a glorious daze.
I think it should be noted that the fact that I'm able to say that about Peet is indeed a noteworthy thing that I shouldn't let go unaddressed... I think enough people know about the semi-sordid past.
There was a time when he would have called me an uninspiring joke and I would have called him another Nintendo fanboy, digigrind wannabe chump, but all past quarrels and ill-will have been resolved and mutual respect and friendship are finally instated... and I love those things!
He really is a good guy.
The same can actually be said for almost everyone at that show, actually (with a few exceptions that probably aren't worth mentioning.)
I dunno what it is, but I just wished the show would have never ended.
It really does, by the way, feel like, between that and the dozens of other valuable connections, friendships, reconciliations, severance from toxic influences, immense life changes/decisions I've made this year, and strides I've made to curb my negativity and cynicism, that I'm transforming myself into quite a better and different person and that I really might have a happy future ahead of me.
Anyway, San Diego was pretty damn fantastic too.
There were a few fans who came for me specifically, including someone who I knew from some fan-art submission, but none of them were the people I was expecting.
Some last.fm users I've seen around the site who came specifically for Nero's Day ended up totally getting into my set, too. I really love the feeling of winning people over, especially those with good taste.
Sam, the guy behind SD Noise and Zsa Zsa Gabor, was an extremely kind host, and all artists played outstanding sets.
Take Up Serpents played a pretty entrancing ambient/drone set, Nerfbau destroyed ears with extremely harsh noise, Mincemeat Or Tenspeed rocked an extremely mental all-pedal/sampler/sequencer dancey/trancey/noisy set, and Nero's played his brand of wacky, sickening breakcore with live drums (the crowd was pretty massive for his set. Apparently SD is his home town.)
I wish I had some pictures or video to show for it, but all I have for now is the awesome poster for the show:
Last night was my first show since I've been back in NJ, and my first local show since January.
An extraordinarily short-notice show in Brooklyn at "Party Expo" with friends from Florida (Lissajou and Strangelette,) and Beta Club Field Trip.
Attendance was small, but the crowd did include chiptune all-star Bit Shifter, friend from the Take Control Tour, Rhinostrich, Dylan Sparrow (of Giggle The Ozone and other bands,) some other friends of mine, and random passers-by who were terrified by or enamored with what I was doing.
The sound guy/girl (dunno who was doing it) was kind of fucking with me I think, which I'm not so cool with, but there were no real problems, just some completely ridiculous shifts in the frequency spectrum (treble being shaved, bass blasting and then dropping off entirely, etc etc etc.) but the beginning and end of my set sounded really heavy and clean.
No pictures yet except for this wacky one with Strangelette and Lissajou, but more will exist!
In other news:
• I have more shows in Brooklyn on the 19th (Ultra Death Men @ Bar Matchless w/ Palmyra,) the 26th (BgO @ Goodbye Blue Monday w/ Xrin Arms and Speak Onion,) and the 27th (BgO @ Port D'or w/ Xrin Arms and Speak Onion.)
• The split with Les Trucs will be out pretty soon on CD instead of 7", and their side rules.
Hopefully mine will match! (out on Solace Media Corporation.)
• I will be releasing the Les Trucs split, the Scissor Shock split (remastered,) Take Control (remastered,) My God Is The Cat King, and a bonus track or two together as an iTunes only album. I don't have a name or art yet, but I will soon!
• The Ultra Death Men album (Muscles) is still being mixed
• I'm in the midst of recording Bad Happy and it's going decently. Send me good vibes so it goes perfectly!!
• Trying to do another mid-west stint in September. I have the projected schedule on
Facebook. Help me out!!
West coast, I mean it now... I will be back soon... and in full force.
