239: 2003
Killer episode this week on the pod. Check it out here, here, or here and check the playlist here or here.
Here are our picks for the best tracks of the year:
2003 was a killer year for hardcore and my most active playing music. That year, I booked two full US tours for my band In Control and we played 70 shows or so total. I found my tour diary from the Spring tour that had the financial details.
That broke down to $25.25 per member, per day. Luckily I had a job at Togo’s making $7 an hour to go back to.
I figured I’d share some selections from the 2003 Spring tour diary this week to give an idea of what it was like for a regular ass, not so popular hardcore band to be on tour in that era. Going through these got me thinking a lot about the friends I made from my time in bands. Some people you just have an instant connection with and even though realistically you only spent a handful of days, or maybe a couple weeks with them at most, there’s a connection that can never be stripped away. This is no doubt still one of the best parts of playing music today and I’m sure kids going on their first tours or playing out of town for their first time this summer are experiences this the same way that I did decades ago. Going through these first couple entries really made me miss Sean Lipinski a lot. If he was in the room, he was always in the pit for us…giving Albert someone to dance with for once (ha ha).
4-4-03 Minneapolis, MN @ Babylon
Holding On, In Control, Modern Life is War, Akimbo
Woke up early so we could drive up to Minneapolis and bro down with the Holding On dudes. It was snowing the whole way there and the roads were pretty sketchy. Bought a suction cup gun at a gas station that would provide lots of fun for the next few weeks. Multiple dudes took a cup between the eyes. Got up to Minneapolis and killed some time at Karl's house, waiting for Andy to get off work.
Picked him up and rolled to the Triple Rock which is a restaurant/bar run by one of the dudes from Dillinger Four. The veggie po' boy is the shit, piled high with vegan sausage, sauce, fried potatoes, cheese, and smashed between two huge pieces of bread. Fuck. Gave Andy his wedding present which was a Happy Fisherman shirt. He was supposed to wear it that night but forgot.
Went to Extreme Noise and did a little record shopping then met up with the Modern Life is War dudes again. Ryan bought the 3rd Slapshot album which he claims is the best. It was pretty amazing out with snow everywhere, something we've never had to deal with on tour before.
Drove to the club and it was an awesome set up. Some band opened, then Modern Life is War took the stage. They were easily the highlight of the night, storming through their set. The band is good on record but is ridiculous live. We played after MLIW and didn't do nearly as hot but it was still good, and it was probably better that we played after them cuz the crowd was warmed up. The show was awesome and one of my major highlights of tour. On the last song though my JCM900 stopped working and Lance said it was smoking. Bumout.
Holding On took the stage and fucked shit up. I was almost motivated to go in the pit, but it was a big surge pit and I felt like I was at Warped Tour so I said fuck it and stage potato'd. Albert is my idol. About 85 kids. Got paid $100, did $156 in merch.
After the show we went on a search for an IHOP but ended up at Denny's. Went back to Karl's house and crashed out. I got my own room and bed. Stoked.
4-5-03 Rock Island, IL @ Eagle Hall
In Control, Holding On, Modern Life is War
Woke up early so we could go to Guitar Center and get my amp looked at. Why I always go there, I don't know, cuz they never know anything. Went to the Triple Rock again for breakfast. Mean Pete had his old amp in the shop still, and said the guy worked till 2 on Saturdays so we went over there to get my amp looked at. Turns out the transformer was blown just like Pete's amp. The problem is they don't even make transformers for the JCM900 anymore. I needed my amp so I said fuck it and we installed a Fender one in there. I'm punk and can't tell the difference anyway so fuck it. It took forever to fix though and we got outta there after 2pm staring a 7 hour drive in the face. Cost $281 to fix...fuuuuuuuuck.
I drove all the way to Rock Island. We walked in and the place was packed. Modern Life is War was just getting ready to go on. They pummeled everyone once again. A couple songs in there was a skirmish in the crowd and some kid in a From Autumn to Ashes shirt got pounded. That sorta mellowed out everyone for the rest of MLIW's set until they broke into "Nervous Breakdown." We were late so we got stuck in the headlining slot.
Holding On went on next and there were a grip of people watching but no one moved. Mean Pete was pissed and left stage before their big cover. We set up and I was using one of the MLIW amps...bad New Years Eve flashbacks. We played and it was good times. Ryan gave a speech before the song "Just Can't Win" saying something along the lines of, "People tell you that you can be anything you want to be, but fuck that, I'm never gonna be able to go to the moon!!!" Classic. Tyler from MLIW got low in the pit. 180 kids. Got paid $200, did $140 in merch. Great, that means after gas and my amp getting fixed we made $19 bucks!!!
Nard Curse. Fuck. Ate at an IHOP, then Ryan drove to Dekalb.
4-7-03 Ypsilanti, MI @ Mr. Muggs
In Control, Life Set Struggle, Dead Man's Hand
Woke up and drove to Michigan. There was still snow everywhere, which was pretty awesome. Stopped at some gas station with a Burger King and Taco Bell to each lunch. Drove into Ypsilanti and had a crucial snowball fight right there on the street.
Sikander showed up and it was good to see a familiar face. He was starting to get worried cuz the dudes from the club weren't there yet and was thinking that the show was going to fall through. That's something you love to hear when you're 2000 miles from home. Eventually they showed up and we loaded in.
There was a monster puddle in the back of the club surrounded by ice. Needless to say it was hard navigating a van with a trailer. Graham and Stimpy from Life Set Struggle showed up and we shot the shit for a while.
Grahams oi band Dead Man's Hand opened the show. They were a solid act with Graham busting out solos and their singer actually had a really good voice. Covered "Someone's Gonna Die Tonight" by Blitz that had a crucial two man singalong with me and Ryan. Life Set Struggle played next and rocked out with their solid skate rock styles. Ended with "I'm Not a Loser" by the Descendants.
The show was pretty bleak with only 13 kids paid but that's how it goes. I guess the weather was really bad the night before. Coalition cancelled due to the roads being bad or something, but we drove all the way from Dekalb, IL and didn't hit one problem. Supposedly their singer was pissed cuz he didn't have a ride, Sikander told us. He's a standup dude and I was looking forward to seeing him, but maybe next time. We set up and played our set which went fine. Being on our 7th show and having this be the first small apathetic crowd is nothing to get bummed out on for me, its actually an accomplishment I think and it made me real stoked on the shows we've played so far and the kids we've met. Regardless, 13 kids paid their hard earned cash to see us and we played hard. We actually played one song longer cuz Graham and a couple other kids heckled us to play "Two Towers" which we had in reserve.
The guy from the club was originally not going to pay us but Graham punked him for $20 bucks. Did $134 in merch. Went back to Ann Arbor to eat burritos with white rice in them. It was better this time than I remember them being in 2001. Played video games at the arcade next door.
4-10-03 Albany, NY @ Watervliet AOH Hall
Burning Bridges, In Control, Close Call
Woke up and went to Dunkin Donuts again. Saw a frozen lake on the drive over there so we parked the van and went to play around on it. Ryan tried to build some sort of makeshift bridge with a bunch of logs, cuz it was frozen solid in the middle of the lake but pretty sketchy on the edges. Him and Nick crept out over some logs and walked on the lake.
Drove to Albany and ate at Taco Bell. Lance was spitting game to a worker after she found out we were in a band. She called herself a metal goddess or something ridiculous. She said she was going to come to our show that night. Lance was sporting wood.
Drove to the club over in Watervliet. There was still snow on the ground and we had another snowball fight. I was skating around on Ryan's board and he lobbed this jumbo snowball at me that clocked me right in the head. Lance and Albert almost got into a scuffle. I didn't see the whole thing but I think that Albert threw a snowball from point blank range right into Adams eye, so Adam got pissed off and threw Albert's Death By Stereo hat. Albert responded by spitting on Adam and that's where it ended.
We played a couple games of pool, drank a couple beers at the bar, and watched the Simpson's. Good times. I can't remember the opening bands name but they said something along the lines of "I'm sorry that this show sucks so bad for In Control. On the bright side, Albany has some of the best strip joints in the country."
A good gesture, but the way this show was shaping up, I didn't think we were going to have much nudie bar money. Lance's lady from Taco Bell never showed up. Actually, neither did anyone else from Albany.
Close Call played and were solid. They opened up with the slow mosh of a Bad Brains song. The drummer from Bane was playing for them and Albert bro'd down with him. We played and it was alright. Lance, Albert, and Ryan had a good time to the Burning Bridges set moshing it up and making the best out of a small show. Got paid $20 and did $17 in merch.
4-13-03 Long Island, NY @ Ethical Humanist Building
Kill Your Idols, In Control, Crime in Stereo
Drove through NYC which was pretty cool. I had still never been there before, but its something to look at for sure. Cost us $14 in tolls to get to where we were playing in Long Island. It was a big hall, and we were there way early before anyone. Threw around the football for a while. Ate at some Italian place that was good but pricey. Headed back to the club and people started showing up. Threw the football around some more. Caught up with Andy from KYI. He was real bummed out about Suicide File canceling off the show.
First band set up and played. They did a Ten Yard Fight cover. Sweet. The next band was a pretty solid poppy punk act with some catchy numbers. They mentioned they were doing a split 7" with KYI in the future. Good band, but they took forever to tear down their equipment, pretty much like every single band we play after on tour. Our set was fun with lots of kids setting it off. Probably the best show reaction-wise up to this point on tour. Definitely good times. We love Long Island.
Kill Your Idols played last and fucked shit up. We hadn't seen that band in a couple years due to bad timing with our tours and it was well worth the wait. They were a 4 piece because Brian couldn't make it, but it was still awesome that they played a full set and looked out for us. They played all the hits, some new songs, an Exploited cover, a Sheer Terror/Jawbreaker combo cover, and ended with "Step On It" since we were on the road. Sick singalongs the whole way through.
After the show Tony smoked out Andy and we hung around shooting the shit for a while. One of the guys watching our set said my guitar tone was "punishing."Fuck yea. Alex Sanchez was going to go out to dinner with his GF, and we were full still from the Italian place, so we went over to Dunkin Donuts to kill an hour or so until he called us. Eventually he did and we rolled over to his place to crash out.
He easily had the coolest room that I've ever seen. Every inch was covered with posters and he had a couple thousand CDs or something completely ridiculous. Me, Nick, and Albert slept in the van.
4-14-03 Bound Brook, NJ @ Hamilton St Cafe
Tear it Up, In Control, Blind Society, My Revenge
Alex had to run some errands in the morning so we headed over to Dunkin Donuts to kill time and have breakfast. Ryan finally got the cheap haircut he was looking for on the way back. He looked sharp.
Picked up Alex and drove into NYC to get all touristy. Drove by the MTV studios, the WWF place, Times Square, and all that shit. Took a while to find a tunnel that we could take the trailer through due to all that terrorist shit. When we found one they had to look into the trailer. We had Albert get out wearing a Terror shirt and no shoes to handle it.
Cost $18 in tolls to get to the club in New Jersey...fuck. Maxim had cooked us two whole trays of pasta. You callin us fat? It was excellent, and you can't argue with free. Steve Martyr rolled out and played the new Murder Weapon for me. Good dude. Can't say much for all his releases but all the 12"s he's put out have been superb.
My Revenge played the show and it was cool to hang with Spencer again who always looks out for us. Their set was fun. He went to throw a fan into the crowd but it was plugged in. Bumout. Covered SSD. I guess they were going to cover Warzone but the band before them, Get Real, beat them to the same cover.
Blind Society played next and were a solid duel vocal punk rock outfit. They brought up a lot of their friends who were having a good time. We played next and it was cool. Ryan stepped on my Morely pedal and pulled out my guitar chord from the back on accident on "Omega Point." I know its not that big of a deal but I dwell on shit like that and like to sound good every night. There were about 60 kids which is awesome for a Monday night show.
Tear it Up played last and turned it out. We've played with them multiple times on the west coast but never back east. Good times for sure. Got paid $100, and did $177 in merch. Everyone caravanned over to the grease trucks to get some post-show grub. Ordered myself up a veggie-fat cat and it was absolutely amazing. Said our goodbyes to everyone and headed off to stay with Albert's sister in the Philly burbs.
4-15-03 Baltimore, MD @ CC Space
Worn Thin, Murder Weapon, In Control, In Your Shadow, Crime Spree
Hung out all morning playing video games, taking showers, etc. Headed down to Baltimore. Ate at a Waffle house. I love that place. Went down to the waterfront in Baltimore and it was cool. Took up 3 parking meter spots. Hung out for a while. Went to Reptilian Records and sold some IC shit. Nice to get the merch sales started off early. The dude working there was playing Verbal Assault "Trial" so he's alright with me. Usually the music they play at record stores is so bad that it makes me want to leave after 5 mins of shopping. Throw on that LP and I'm there for the duration.
Headed over the the club and it was tiny, but awesome. Loaded the gear downstairs and put the merch upstairs. Caught up with Eric Mann who did our show the previous year too. Some dude asked if he could borrow my guitar cab but I told him no. Maybe I'm an asshole for that, but a local band should never borrow equipment off a touring band who's 3000 miles away. If you don't have equipment, don't play the show, or give us a cut of your money from the door/merch sales. My equipment cost a lot of cash to buy and so did the means of carrying them around the country (buying a van, trailer rental, gas, tolls.)
All the bands were good though, which is a tour rarity. When it was our time to play, my JCM2000 turned on but wouldn't produce any sound. Another amp problem. Ended up having to play the show with just the JCM900 which is a loud amp but not really that heavy at all. It was a bumout cuz I don't care about playing small shows but I want to represent our sound every night. The crowd was still way into it and it was a good time. Ryan from Desperate Measures came out and was dancing it up. The show was a blast, but I was real nervous about my amp, cuz the last time a head blew it cost almost $300 to fix. Murder Weapon and Worn Thin both played awesome short sets which is alright by me. Leave me wanting more instead of wanting to go lay down in the van. Got paid $75. Did $209 in merch.
Mike Riley offered to put us up again, so 4 of us headed over there, and Tony and Lance went to a diner with some of the locals. They rented this huge warehouse and had a bunch of dudes living up in it. Pretty punk. I brought my blown head in and took it apart trying to see what was wrong with it. I couldn't see anything. We decided that our best bet would be to drive through the night to VA Beach so I could have all day to deal with getting it fixed. We waited till 1 or so until Lance/Tony got back from the diner, then Ryan drove through the night to VA Beach.
4-16-03 Virginia Beach, VA @ Hooplas
Revenge Therapy, In Control, Cast Aside, Victim
I woke up bright and early. We were in the parking lot of the club, and there was a Hardee's next door, so I went over there and got some coffee and asked to use their phone book. I looked under musical repairs and called every single place in the phone book. Everywhere said that there's no way to get an amp fixed in a day and they were backed up for a week. Fuck. I started just calling normal music stores asking anyone for advice cuz I need my 2nd amp.
After being on tour for a week or so, I can start to tune out the crowd and all that and just concentrate on my performance and how I sound. It's the only way to not get completely bummed out when you're playing for 5 kids paid in Albany, NY and the only way to not get caught up in playing amazing shows. I like to be consistent and that's one of the things that I respect the most in this band is the fact that if you pay the door price to get in to see us, you're going to see the same show every night if there's 5 kids or 5 hundred. In fact, in Ypsilanti, there were only 13 paid and we played an extra song for them.
Finally, I caught a break and someone told me about an electronic repair service. They did mostly car stereo amps and stuff like that but I guess the guy was real good at what he did and knew a lot about amps as well. I took my amp over there and we were all hoping that it would be less than $280 this time around. I had to pay the rush fee which is where you pretty much get fucked if you need your amp the same day.
Went to a mall down the street to kill time. They said they'd call me in an hour. Lance and Albert got food. Went to the Wherehouse cuz it was closing down and everything was like 75% off. Albert bought the Andrew WK cd. Finally I got a call from the place and they said my amp was fixed. Big sigh of relief. It was $171 to fix...bumout. Turns out some of the soldering came loose so they had to redo that.
We just put it behind us and went to try to have a good time in VA Beach. It was only 1 o'clock or something. Parked the van in a parking garage then made our way down to the beach to get our swim on. Tony went to get lunch. It was cold as fuck, so I didn't jump all the way in. It was beautiful out. Some kid with straightedge ink came up and asked us if we were In Control. We talked with him for a while and he said that he was going to the show that night. While we were walking away I asked the dudes if they thought we stuck out that bad, that you could spot us on a semi-crowded beach.
"It probably had something to do with the In Control tattoo on your back," said Lance. Doh.
Joined Tony to get lunch. Went to a little shop and got some Virginia Beach socks for a dollar. Got in the van and drove back to the club. Ryan ate a microwave burrito from a gas station...a lovely tour dinner. Hung around killing a couple more hours, shooting the shit.
Mike Lawson showed up who's done our shows the last couple years. Good catching up. Everyone went down to Wendy's to eat dinner. Had a conversation with a kid who said "Killers" was his fav Maiden album. To each their own. Cast Aside from Richmond played a solid set which had a lot of people into it. Ended with a Killing Time cover. Can't argue with that. We set up next and it was my favorite show of the tour. Ryan and Lance both go with Dekalb. The place had lots of pool tables and dudes were jumping off them. Good times. Revenge Therapy wrapped up the show and had a lot of local support. Did an Unbroken cover and for once it wasn't "Absentee Debate." About 75 kids paid. We got paid $80 and did $144 in merch. It was a 12 hour drive to Indianapolis, so Ryan busted out another night drive.
4-17-03 Indianapolis, IN @ Festivilla
Strike Anywhere, the Explosion, In Control, Skate and Die
Ryan made it well into the morning and woke me up somewhere a couple hours east of Columbus. I took over and me and Albert drove for a while, then got gas and a Frosty and Wendy's. Drove all the way to the burbs of Indianapolis then stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast. I love the place, its so fucking cheap. Coffee is $1. It shouldn't be legal to charge more than a dollar for a cup of coffee in the first place. You can get two waffles, and two sides of hash browns for 5 bucks.
Wrapped it up there, then went to a library to use the internet. It started raining, so that put the kibosh on our proposed game of b-ball. Drove and found the club then chilled out for a while. I was fucking tired so I tried to take a nap. Then Tony decided that he needed a new snare head so him and Ryan went driving around for an hour or so to find a Guitar Center. They did that then drove back to the club. Met up with the promoter Adam who had been trying to get us to come out and play Indianapolis for a while. I'm glad it worked out so good with us being able to jump on a bigger show, plus its always fun to play new states/towns. I went to lay down in the van for a while. Bad timing cuz that's when they busted out the pizza's so I got assed out of the deal.
The club was cool with two stages. Each one was coming out of the corners at the end of the room with about 4 feet between the corners, if you can picture that. So we set up way early, then chilled out while the first band played. They covered "Youth Crew" by Youth of Today which no one knew. Fuck, Albert didn't even know it. Their singer played guitar too so singalongs were sorta awkward anyway. We played next, greeted by complete apathy. I was stuck on the corner of the stage so I didn't really have any room to move it. It was still fun to play to a bunch of kids who probably wouldn't have seen us otherwise. Strike Anywhere and The Explosion set up at the same time on opposing stages and traded off songs. It was cool and everyone was into it. The Explosion sounded better but Strike Anywhere got a better reaction and were better live. Dudes from the Explosion kept saying it was the "Hardcore Playoffs" or something. I guess In Control got wiped out in the wildcard round. I went out to the van to lay down.
Got paid $77, and did $38 in merch. Ryan arranged an amazing crash pad for us to stay at. Unfortunately, I can't remember the couples name, and there was one other kid there as well. They took us back to their place, then cooked BBQ's veggie burgers for us while the dudes watched the sandlot and I sat and read. Amazing people. I got my own room upstairs with a futon and crashed out.
- ZN
The Boston venue Chris mentions was the berwick institute in dorchester MA lots of great shows happened there. Also the venue of the most iconic stop and think photo ( Joey c flipping off the camera x’d up)