Eric says:

It was a strange night in Eugene this time around. Last time we were here we got a huge reaction from the crowd, this time not so much. The first band left immediately after they played and took more than a few audience members with them. How to describe the first band, let’s see, the bass player had a shaved head, was shirtless, and had a leather vest on. Both guitarists had bandannas. Not the best fit with us. There was a guy that cornered Dan who was from North Dakota, so Dan got hear his life’s story – HE was really into us. Buddha from that old Grand Forks band The Phreeks was at the show. I was not expecting to see him, especially in Eugene Oregon, apparently he now lives there. There was kind of a weird vibe this time around, The woman who booked our show quit about a week before because The Black Forest is under new management, but she still showed up to see us, which was awesome, but you could tell that she was a little uncomfortable. She assures us that we will be more than welcome at the new place she moved over to when she starts booking rock shows. Ashley ran sound for us again and even met up with us before the show, she is jumping ship from The Black Forest also. I guess that this is kind of like The Bismarck sinking a club. The Black Forest managers seem to be trying to turn it into some sort of jock bar it looks like, they had flat screen TV’s up and everything. Despite all of this, I think that we played very well. On another note, there was a guy claiming to be C.C. Deville from Poison at the show. Of all of the people to claim to be, why C.C. Deville? I would go for Izzy Stradlin myself.

Eric says:

Excellent beginning to a new year. We played with Police Teeth and Lake of Falcons. I managed to sell a few CD’s, we got paid, we had fun. The shows are free at The Blue Moon so people were actually there. Police Teeth made constant Bismarck references on stage and even ended one of their songs with the ending lines from "Trying to Keep My Dick Hard in a White Man’s World" which we actually dusted off and played that night coincidentally. James also played the bass part from "To Hell for the Company" before they played. People in the audience actually did a little singing along with us, which is a Bismarck first. Why can’t all of our shows be like this? Great show.

Eric says:

Well, here we are at The Crocodile again. This one was a little more in line with a typical Bismarck show. We played with The Withering Stares, the last band didn't even show up, and there were very few people there. We passed around the set list and had people yell out titles of songs for us to play in whatever order they felt like. I totally screwed up "The Silkworm Song" (and I made it up for shit's sake!). To cap it all off on the way back from the show we all remarked that The Crocodile must be desperate for acts if they keep asking us to play and jokingly suggested that maybe they were going out of business. Guess what? THE BISMARCK STRIKES AGAIN! - The Crocodile closed. Thanks, Bismarck, thanks.

Eric says:

We had very low expectations rolling into Eugene after the last debacle we had here back in '04. Let’s re-enact that scenario:

Chris (on the phone):

"Hi, is this the Samurai Duck?"

...

"This is Chris from The Bismarck."

...

"The Bismarck."

...

"We're playing there tonight."

......

"Yes, I did book it with Josh - why?"

...

"A month ago?"

...

"Quit, huh?"

...

"So there's a hardcore show tonight?"

This trip to Eugene actually ended up being one of the best, if not the best show of the year. The audience was responsive, the people were very friendly, and the band that we played with (named Gloria) was great, plus we sold some more CD’s and shirts and also got paid! We have got to play here again - soon.

Eric says:

The Bismarck strikes! Our mini tour ended up being a little smaller than we had anticipated. First of all, our first show got cancelled because nobody was able (or possibly willing) to fill the bill in Portland. Turns out that we wouldn't have been able to play anyway because part of I-5 was flooded and we had to make a detour to avoid it that put us about two hours off of the straight path. We ended up crashing at Dan's mom's house, woke up the next morning and drove to Eureka where we discovered that THE BISMARCK STRIKES AGAIN! Turns out that the two bands that we were playing with both had to cancel, however, we still ended up playing for about 7-10 people, about three of them actually bought some CD’s and shirts, plus we actually got paid a little so I am chalking this show up as a success. The Vista had the odd location of being attached to the ass end a seafood restaurant. Interesting. We also premiered our new song simply entitled (so far) "The Silkworm Song."

Eric says:

For the second time in less than two months we are playing at The Crocodile again, this time with some of our usual pals - Lake of Falcons and Police Teeth. This has turned into some sort of annual pre-Thanksgiving tradition of sorts. Fairly large turnout and a lot of friends from town. Kind of an odd bill with Juhu Beach, Lake of Falcons, and Unlearn playing third, and us playing last. Unlearn was a good band, but seemed kind of out of place. They really should have played either last or first, wedged between three rock bands was a little awkward. Great show.

Eric says:

Another in a string of awesome shows. Reviewing this year, I discovered that there are only about two turkeys in the whole bunch. These last three are three of our best shows of the year. We played with Police Teeth who just added another guitarist so now they are even better. We called one of our songs "Tetsuo 2: Body Hammer," and they called one of their songs "Trying to Keep my Dick Hard in a White Man's World." One of these days we are going to get one of these bands to do a cover of a Bismarck song and I think that most likely Lake of Falcons will be that band, especially since we now sing the lyrics of the Lake of Falcons song "The Smiler" over the top of "Thank You For Not Dancing." Something tells me that they have something brewing for us. Can't wait to see what will happen next.

Eric says:

Nooooooooooooo! We played the second to last S.S. Marie show. The place is finally closing down for good. Now I need to find a new favorite venue to play. We did our backwards set for this show, something we have been threatening to do for about a year - I don't think that anyone really noticed. I got shocked quite terribly by the mic, I actually saw a blue arc and I blacked out for a second. Nate warned me, but I am an idiot. We only had two mics so Chris and I shared for a few songs, and I got a face full of Chris spit. We sang the lyrics of the Lake of Falcons song "The Smiler" over "Thank You For Not Dancing," the Falcons were amused. Didn't sell anything or make any money, but we all had fun - lots of it. One of the better shows this year. Ran into Taylor and Chris, two Olympia peeps at this show. Turns out that they live in Seattle now. Go figure. We were told that we were loud. We were. Gloriously loud.

Eric says:

Well, this was a surprise! The Crocodile actually contacted us for this one and the week before the show The Stranger featured a picture of us and a small description in their Up and Coming section. There were a lot of people there to see Ladybird Unition, a band that was playing after something like a ten year hiatus. Not exactly the best fit for us, but hey, the people didn't exactly run screaming when we played. Also on the bill were Police Teeth who are an excellent fit for us. Love those guys. We will have to go up to Bellingham sometime soon to play with them. We also got paid! Is this some kind of dream? We sold one album and a shirt. There is our reality. All in all, a great show - we heckled Police Teeth (a sign of affection) and for some reason Dan and I kept throwing Conan the Barbarian quotes to each other the entire night.

Eric says:

Well, it was nice to get out of town for an evening, but we didn't seem to be impressing anyone in Port Townsend this time. We played with Chris's other band, The Withering Stares (with Lindsay from the Histrionics), and also with The Histrionics, who actually were not scheduled to play, but since they were all in the audience and the third band on the bill didn't show... It kind of felt like a Grand Forks show where all three of the bands playing had members in common. We unveiled our new song (working title "The Council Bluffs Butcher"), and I managed to coerce someone into buying an album by betting him that he couldn't read our song titles without laughing- he lost and bought a copy of What Price Victory. I think the song title that pushed him over was "Trying to Keep my Dick Hard in a White Man's World." There was some guy reading Enders Game while we were playing and I started out a song by telling him that Ender blows up the alien planet at the end. Cold.

Eric says:

After about a month long absence in both practicing and playing shows, we end up playing one of our best performances of the year. Not many people there, we played last so by the time we went on the room was pretty clear, but for some reason (possibly because we can all play these songs in our sleep) we played one of the tightest Bismarck shows ever. Well, it's nice to know that we can still bring it. Once again the audience was comprised of Bismarck regulars: Josh Engelhardt, Bryan, Bryn, Hilary, Casey, and just after we finished, all the members of Police Teeth showed up. I guess that they were in town recording and had some sort of car trouble so they were late to the show. Crap. I sold two CDs and Nate gave two away, so I guess we broke even on that. The club next to us was having some sort of funk band playing. When we were unloading all of our gear we managed to do it in the space of one of their songs. It was a bangin' time.

Eric says:

Our "official" CD release show. We played with Lake of Falcons, Police Teeth, and The Assailant. Great show, we got all dressed up in our Sunday best to promote our new album although when I showed up at Nate's house he said that my off-white shirt looked more like tan and that it made me look like a Nazi. Hmmm, I am in a band called The Bismarck, we sell shirts with a very German image on it, and I look like a brown shirt; I hope that nobody gets the wrong idea. We played a loose (and short) set. During "Death is for Heroes" the power went out so that kind of threw us off. I think that we only ended up playing six songs. All of the Seattle peeps showed up in full force and we actually ended up selling plenty of shirts and CDs. If only all of our shows could be like this. I would love to play here again and since Chris and Dan helped build the stage to the place, hopefully that gives us leverage to do so in the future. No shows on the horizon and the album is done and officially out so it looks like it is time to start making up new songs...

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

This show is covered in the Spring 2007 Tour Journal.

Eric says:

Shaky start to the year, we spent the last month and a half working on our second album so The Bismarck were not quite up to our fighting weight for shows, it also didn't help that Dan had the flu (which now I apparently have). Still not that bad, people seemed to like us. Nate took over singing duties for "Death is For Heroes" and I sang the last half of "Tonight We'll Make History" for Dan. One of our loosest shows ever. The band that played before us, Police Teeth, did a version of "Final Solution" which is hilarious because WE just played that song (disastrously) at our last show, Chris, Dan, and Nate wanted us to play our version, but I begged out of it (I don't remember how to play it at all). In hindsight, I actually think that it would have been funny, I could have just made noise or something. I don't think that we got paid for the show, the guy said that he would send us a check, we will see if that pans out or not (as of 4/14/07 it has not).

Eric says:

Well, this has got to be the best "last show of the year" for The Bismarck. We played with The Histrionics and Lake of Falcons, our two favorite bands to play with at my favorite venue. Tim Thomas hosted the show as Anita Goodman, his drag persona. He makes a pretty good woman. Maybe next time we could have Azzeroth host. It's worth a try at least. I recorded the entire show and from what I reviewed of it, it turned out pretty good. Our version of "Final Solution" went disastrously because we could not hear Anita's vocals for half of the song. Very unfortunate because all of the cues are made by the vocals. Well, at least it was noisy so that is something. Good year. Very few terrible shows. We managed to have quality over quantity which I believe was our goal.

Eric says:

Great show. We averted a small disaster when I plugged in and discovered that my speaker had blown. We quickly switched out and used VIA''s guitar amp and I had it sounding good after the first three songs. We premiered two new songs, "Death is For Heroes" and "To Hell For The Company," both of which went very well, which is a Bismarck first. Usually when we debut a new song we inevitably bite it, but we had a good handle on them this time, hopefully this will bleed into the next album which we have to get cracking on to get finished before tour 07. Funny, we made up our last three songs for the next album in the last three months after laboring over the last seven for almost two years. We opened for a band called Lozen from Tacoma who I unfortunately did not get to see, but hope that we get to play with at another time. Wow, I just realized that we haven't played at the Lobo since 12/12/03! Nate and I had to motor right after the show to make it to All Freakin' Night in Olympia, we got there right as the first movie started and predictably sat next to the most obnoxious guys in the theater.

Eric says:

Interesting time. Before we went on there was a circus freak show that "performed" out in the smoking area. I don't know if this was planned, or if they just showed up. They drove nails into their noses, laid on glass fragments and had people step on them. They also sewed objects (like hammers) to their bodies. One of them offered Stephanie to have her staple a dollar to them, she refused. Later they started wrestling and ended up spilling beer all over me. It was chest-thumping fun. We played well according to everyone, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it, though apparently nobody could tell by my lack of "stage presence." I actually made us cut a song. It was fairly busy for a Monday night and Tim Thomas and Tom Kip were there as well as Stephanie and some of her friends, one of which was in the band Me Culpa who we played with in Portland Waaaaaaaay back in 2004. Nothing on the horizon until November. Time to make up some new songs.

Retired:   "All Missouri, No Compromise" (2004-2006)

Eric says:

Well... what can I say, two of the bands didn't show up so The Histrionics (who were in the audience) took stage for four songs and debuted a new one. Kentucky Sound Arsenal sounded great, and very different with a singer. That will take a little getting used to. We played loose even for us and broke in "Thank You For Not Dancing," our newest song. Kind of felt like a practice. Hey, it was better than the Tonic Lounge show that we played two months ago. What were we expecting on a Thursday night for a place that never really advertises? Quarter three of the Bismarck shows inevitably end up being the low energy, low turnout shows. I hope that we have a spike in quality before the year ends.

Eric says:

Show 101. Nothing really spectacular (or terrible) about this show. Well, we did sell a CD, so that is something. The Histrionics showed up (but were not allowed in because it was a bar) after we played. Turns out they had a show on the same night at The Funhouse and dropped by to see how we were. The bar took a Polaroid of us to add to their wall of bands so at least we will leave some sort of record of our existence here. We played with a band called Phobophobe who were pretty cool, I would like to play with them again. Got pressured by The Histrionics to show up to their record release show on the 28th, which I really want to, but there is absolutely no way that I will be able to make it. Nothing on the Bismarck horizon until next month at The S.S. Marie with Kentucky Sound Arsenal (from North Dakota).

Eric says:

Another awesome show at the S.S. Marie. This is now officially my favorite place to play. It was one of three days celebrating the release of the Beep Repaired compilation album (did I mention that we are track #1), we were playing with the "rock" bands (VIA, Lake of Falcons) and two not so rock bands (Correspondents, Joy Wants Eternity). We only played six songs, but we played the shit out of them. Something about the S.S. Marie makes us play better than we usually do - oh wait, I know why, because we actually get an audience response here! This marks the Re-debut of "Tonight We'll Make History" which is a marked improvement over the original version (that we have been playing on and off since 2004). We played loose and fast, just the way that we should, Chris whipped out his harmonica, which I know he only uses on special occasions. When Lake of Falcons went on after us Dan treated them to a light show by flipping one of the indoor lights on and off in synch with a song. This is what all of our shows should be like, it would be nice to get paid and sell some CDs, but we can't have everything. Supposedly the show was recorded, I would love to hear what we actually sounded like as opposed to what I thought that we sounded like.

Eric says:

Boise to Portland. What were we thinking? Got there in typical Bismarck early fashion and took advantage of the free PBR which somehow changed to 50c after we started playing. This place was a little disorganized, at one time Chris and I got completely locked out of the room and had to wait until they opened the place for the audience to get back in. Well, the "audience" ended up being the other bands plus one girlfriend. We got Lake of Falcons on the bill with us so we owe them one now. Kevin and Jerrod showed up right as we were finishing our last song. That's what we get for playing at 9:30. What were we expecting from a Sunday show really? Had to hightail it out to Seattle immediately after we played so I didn't even really get to talk to Kevin or Jerrod at all. I felt like a total shit. Maybe next time I will have my shit better organized before I tell my friends to show up. Drove all the way up to Seattle, then I had to drive back to Olympia from Seattle at 3:00 in the morning. Our name was spelled "The Bismark" on the marquee, we didn't get paid, and we didn't sell anything. It felt like 2004 all over again.

Eric says:

Long haul all the way to Boise, but it was worth it. Played with El Dopamine who were playing again for the first time in something like ten years. Met Tim Cook's girlfriend, how they manage to stay together with her in Idaho and him in California is beyond me, but it seems to work. Got a lukewarm response from the crowd, a few scattered claps and "woo's" here and there. The last band sucked rocks, they apparently got the memo that The Killers are popular. The drummer had a drum set, but was more content to pretend to drum and fiddle with his electronic drums, I guess that he didn't want to look stupid or something. Not surprisingly at all they ended up selling more albums than us even though I did not hear on single clap or even a well placed "woo" for them. We sold two CD's and a shirt and made $100. Rock and Roll I guess. After the show we went out to this restaurant that served hors de rves at dinner prices, The Bismarck went home hungry that night except for Nate who I am sure ate $25 worth. At one point in the night I heard Nate say the phrase "pork pussy" but did not hear the context, nobody seemed offended so now I just want to know when the phrase "pork pussy" is appropriate in normal conversation because I sure can't think of a time. Stayed at Cook's girlfriends house where she kicked her children out of their beds (after much protesting from us) for us, who am I to refuse? In a startling turn of events I actually forgot to bring my pedals and instrument cords which actually turned out to be a happy accident because this forced me to use the Tube Screamer pedal that Dan built which all agreed was a marked improvement on the old RAT. Got advanced copies of the Beep Repaired compilation. It looks and sounds great and I still can't believe that we are track #1. Next month we are going to play at the official unveiling of the comp CD at the S.S. Marie, should be interesting (and warm) this time.

Eric says:

On the way up to Port Townsend a bald eagle swooped down and hovered in front of the van for a moment, if we could have gotten a picture of that I think that it would end up being our next album cover. Just as we rolled up and parked in the alley of the Boiler Room someone tossed a board (not on purpose... I think) in front of our van which ended up having a nail in it and also happened to penetrate our front tire. Now I know why we have a spare. The show went well, we got kind of a confused response from the crowd, like most "music festival" shows we wind up being the odd band on the bill and in this case we were fifth on a bill of nine. We took off before we could see the response that The Histrionics got. We did manage to sell two albums, so I guess that counts as something. On the way back to Olympia we missed hitting a deer by two inches. Suddenly The Bismarck seems accident prone. Sadly, this will in all likelihood be our last show in Port Townsend because the girl who set up this and the last one is no longer doing it, but she said that she will pass on our name to the next booker who I am sure will lose it.

Eric says:

Great show in Portland! We have not played here since 2004 and we were way overdue for it. We played with the Flip-Tops who recently re-formed. The Dunes ended up being one of the smaller places that we have ever played, it had a huge mirror at the opposite end of the bar that I assume was put there to make the place look bigger. This worked in our favor because it made the twenty people in the place seem like a hundred, so I guess we played to a packed house (sort of). Got free beer (the only beer they had was Rainier which fit just perfectly) and we got paid $50 which ended up being only $7 short of how much it cost to fill up our van. None of my Portland friends showed, but many of Dan's did. We have got to play here again.

Eric says:

OK, finally a good show in Olympia. Not great, but good. Played with The Histrionics and another band called The Barnacles. Kind of an odd trio of bands. The Histrionics and The Bismarck go together, but The Barnacles were doing their own thing. What that thing was, I have no idea. Well, anyway, they were nice guys who did a version of "Box Elder" by Pavement. I was fighting some sort of cold or flu or something and was in kind of a daze the whole time. Got a warm reception from the audience. Only Bridget and John Davis were there from camp Fundingsland, but that is fine because neither of them had seen us before. Bryan and Jason skipped the show to see X-Men 3 instead. Tom Kipp showed up; he might as well be an official member of The Histrionics now. The Yes Yes is a great place to play, which of course means that they are going out of business next month. Didn't sell anything, didn't make any money, but fun was had.

Eric says:

Great show. We opened for Treasure State who we have been wanting to play with basically ever since we became a band. It was just the two of us so it seemed more like a private party than a show although there were quite a few more people than the last time we played here. It was also a going away party of sorts for Tim Cook as he is leaving for California at the end of the month. Bryan recorded us and the audio actually sounded pretty good plus the video looked great because of the low lighting. I love the stage at this place, it is just the perfect size for us. Not too small and cramped, not too large and open, just right. I hope that we play here often. Tim Cook sang on our version of "The Cigarette Lighters" and Treasure State did their version of "Something Hyper." It was like a prerelease of the upcoming Silkworm tribute album. I did a rare thing and took off with Bryan early to get back to Olympia instead of loading equipment, I felt guilty.

Eric says:

The last stop for The Bismarck ended up being in good ol' Mike's in East Grand. (Both our Anaconda, MT and Bismarck, ND shows fell through.) We played with Kentucky Sound Arsenal who were great as ever. Turns out that Nick from KSA's mother works with mine at UND in the Department of Rural Health. We played great and even took some requests, "Don't Ever Change" for Nate Thompson, "Trying to Keep My Dick Hard in a White Man's World" for Nick, and "Ladies' Choice" for James. I had Paulie tape the show for us. Not a huge turnout, but all of the people who mattered were there. Dan broke his kick drum pedal (the third to go in the course of this band) on the last song. Time for the long trek home.
[No stats available]

Eric says:

Had a bitch of a time getting through Chicago, nothing but road construction, tolls, and confusing signs. Went through Gary, Indiana - now there's a happy town. Factories and decrepit houses as far as the eye can see. Got some video footage of these lane lines on the highway that looked like they were painted by drunk teamsters. Some of them careen off the road and into the ditch. Rolled into St Paul on the return (again) at about 6:00 for a 7:00 load-in. Right away things were off. The sound guy told us to set everything on the stage, then he told us to take it all down, then he told us that our drum setup was "stupid". He wanted us to put it up on this ridiculous riser like we were Trixter. Then he told us to get the drums off the stage saying only "stage gear" would stay. Basically, he was acting like a real prick, and if there is one thing that I cannot stand, it is an asshole sound guy (see 9/6/03, 7/8/05, and 8/5/05 for details). Strike one! In the green room we ran across a sign that stated that "loud" bands would be asked to "turn down or leave." Strike two! Then the other band showed up and played some weird Creed/Matchbox 20 hybrid music. Strike three, we are out of there. I went to tell the sound guy that we were going to be too loud even at the lowest level. I actually plugged in my amp and showed him. After all this, he was actually cool about it. Go figure. We packed it up and went to St. Cloud that night for some sleep.
Miles: 550 (again) | Door: Goose egg! | Merch: Same as door!

Eric says:

Wisconsin, to me, is the most forgettable state in the union. I can't even picture what the state looks like (and I even have a miniature version of it in magnet form). It has cheese, that's for sure. I lost count of how many semis I spotted hauling a trailer with "CHEESE" written on it in huge letters or even better, billboards with nothing written on them but "CHEESE" - nothing else, just "CHEESE" - in black letters with an all-white background. Other than this particular regional flair, Wisconsin looks like the rest of the Midwest, flat with nothing in it. Chicago was nice except for all of the tollbooths along with the drivers who are just as bad as those in Minneapolis, big city driving with small town ability. We have now officially crossed into all of the time zones in the United States on this tour (Ed. Note: This is not true as both Hawaii and Alaska have their own time zones.) I changed my cell phone clock so many times that lost track of what day it was. Minnesota to Michigan seemed like a long way to go for a show, but it was worth it. We played a fabulous show with Wishek (who have now developed into a five piece). Ike sang on our version of "The Cigarette Lighters" and then told us that we were playing it in the wrong key. What is a key? Doesn't that open doors? Whatever, great show, well worth the effort.
Miles: 550 | Door: $200 | Merch: $30

Eric says:

Finally got a break from the long drives (for a day at least). Played a great show with Nic Garcia who was playing by himself although the name of his band was The Darktown Strutters (which has got to be the best band name I have hear for a long time) and a local band called The Deaf, they were both great. There was a really drunk girl who claimed to be a stripper and at one point yelled to us "I want to fuck you all." She took a particular shine to me and asked me for my hand which she promptly bit and licked. Interesting. Then she asked if I had a girlfriend. Nope. I guess at one point her father came in to get her, but not before she hugged me and bit my neck. Good thing I had my shots before I left. Chris missed his opportunity to have her dance on his mic stand like it was a stripper pole. Oh well, maybe next time. Another show where we were asked to turn down, but at least this time we got through our set. Both of the bands waived their portion of the door when they heard how far we were traveling the next day which was very nice of them. Stayed with my friend Paulie who I had not seen for about six years. Tried to get some sleep for the long haul to Kalamazoo tomorrow. We are retarded.
Miles: 220 | Door: $60 | Merch: $15

Eric says:

Got a hefty dose of South Dakota today. Not surprisingly, it is a lot like North Dakota except that traversing the entire state makes the tedious drive from Minot to Grand Forks look interesting. The state seems empty and devoid of anything; it doesn't even have grain elevators or missile silos. Well, anyway, the show ended up being blah as well. We played with The Gossip and Panther thus ending our three year cold war with The Gossip. Nobody was there to see us other than a few stray Grand Forks people, all the others just gave us the Fargo stare. A rough match-up if there ever was one. After the show we went to a bar oddly enough called The Bismarck where we met a guy who was really into the old Grazhny Bratchny scene (the record "label" that Dan and I "ran" way back in ‘92-‘97). Turns out that this guy was also the recipient of one of the three Deliriants t-shirts ever made which he got from me about twelve years ago. My small world suddenly seems a whole lot smaller. We stayed with Kristin, friend of Nate, that night and just when we were all prepared to go to sleep out of nowhere this total train wreck of a girl bursts into the apartment with bleached hair, ripped-up bleached jeans, sandals, painted toenails, fake tan, and a cut-off T-shirt that says "THIS IS HOW I ROLL" on it in gold sparkle script lettering. She was having a party in the apartment next door and wanted us to come over and "sign her book", which we all took as some sort of metaphor. I'm sitting there in my pajamas and all of a sudden more people show up and want us all to go to the party. The woman leaves so Dan, naturally, starts to make fun of her, but Trainwreck hears him from the hallway and comes back and confronts him about it. Dan does not deny that he was making fun of her and she then inexplicably challenges him to a dance-off, yelling "Don't you understand? This - is - how - I - roll," pointing to each word as she says it. Well, now we have to go next door and "sign her book." The apartment is apparently a portal to MTV Spring Break ‘98 with everyone drinking and swaying along to "Tiny Dancer". Trainwreck even grabbed my ass at one point. We signed the book (turns out it was not a metaphor), got out of there and tried to get some sleep. Later the police showed up and busted the party. Silence was had.
Miles: 580 | Door: $30 | Merch: Not so much

Eric says:

St Joe's Pub is a bar that allows all ages shows so long as nobody drinks during the show. Great idea. Played great and got a huge audience response. Starting to get a good feeling about this tour now. Made $175 at the door and $130 in merch. Damn! Set the bar fairly high with this one. The two bands that proceeded us were great also. I forgot the name of the first band (but did get two songs of theirs on video), but the other "band" was called Imaginary Girlfriend (easy to remember, it was written across the back of his jacket) which was a guy who had prerecorded a bunch of songs and ended up singing along karaoke style. Sounds terrible, but it was actually awesome. He did a cover of "Hybrid Moments" by the Misfits (which I sadly did not get on video). This guy needs to move to Olympia, he would make a fortune. I looked at the itinerary of St Joe's and Bible of the Devil is going to be here next week (on my birthday actually). We have got to play here again.
Miles: 530 | Door: $175 | Merch: $150 (no shit)

Eric says:

The Bismarck train stalls at its first stop under the watchful eye of the Virgin Mary. This is not a metaphor, there is actually a statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks Butte, Montana (it even lights up at night). Jim's bar is just about everything that you would imagine from a place called "Jim's Bar." It is run by a guy (Jim?) and you've got your choice of Budweiser or, if you're feelin' fancy, Bud Light. First song went well, a successful debut of "This Train Runs on Two Rails." We were then told (politely) to turn down. OK! Next song ("Logsplitter") goes well. We are told again. We turn down again. Next song we get paid to stop. Well, we got paid at least. $50, that's roughly $16.66 a song, those are professional rates. Hopefully it is all up from here.
Miles: 680 (to Bozeman) | Door: $50 | Merch: $27

Eric says:

Much better show than the night before. We got to Port Townsend in typical Bismarck early fashion and bummed around the place for about eight hours before we played. Port Townsend is like one of those towns that you would read about in a Stephen King novel. I would not have been surprised in the least bit if we'd gotten attacked by ghost pirates - seriously. We played in what was basically a coffee shop that was giving away free food. The place was really cool (and heated) and we played great if not a little loose. After the show someone bought a Bismarck album, but then asked ME if it was the album of the last band that played, which was actually Lake of Falcons. She ended up giving me the album back and taking the Falcons instead, I guess either way she wins. The people working there gave us all of their tip money so I made a point of giving them all CDs. In a way it is like they paid for them. In another way, it's like they paid a lot for them. Princes among men.

Eric says:

This show ended up being at an actual show space, with a PA and everything. We kind of got the blank stare through most of the night, but it could have been worse. The last band that played was a ridiculous "punk" band with such witty stage banter as "Haven't you guys ever wanted to peed in a chick's butt crack?" Clever. This show marked the debut of "The Cigarette Lighters," the song we are going to submit for the Silkworm comp. We all ended up drinking at a bar in town and ended up staying at Greg from FreeJail's "house" which also ended up having no heat or insulation, sort of a theme for the weekend.

Eric says:

Bit of a false start, it turns out that the "house" that we were playing at was more like an "unheated, uninsulated garage." Lake of Falcons played first because I didn't get out of work until 9:30. The cops shut the place down quick. In a way, I was kind of glad because it was very, very cold (even colder than the S.S. Marie show). A vain attempt was made to move the show to another place, but nothing came of it. We just ended up over at Bryan's place and drank.

Eric says:

Well, this has got to be one of our better shows in quite a while, and it wouldn't have taken much for it to be a disaster, for me at least. We played for Vern Rumsey's birthday party having been recommended by Hilary. He's currently dating a friend of hers and that he remembered that Dan was in a band that he got a single of a long time ago (the first one that we ever made three years back). We opened for Fitz of Depression - talk about a blast from the past. The main problem of the evening came when Dan informed me that there would be about a 90% chance that the guy that my wife (soon to be ex-wife) cheated on me with would be at the show. That did not sit well with me to say the least. Naturally I went through hell the entire week seeing as how I learned of the infidelity only on Sunday, and we were playing this Saturday. In the end I just decided fuck it, I have nothing to run from. I'm not going to let this ruin a potentially great show. Well, turns out that I had nothing to worry about because a common friend of his and mine (small world) knew what happened and suggested to him that he stay away, which he did. We got paid $55 (woo-hoo), sold a couple CDs, and some Olympia friends, who had never seen us before, were there (took them long enough). We also had a Bismarck first: DAN PLAYED FACING THE AUDIENCE! Alternately a terrible (learning about my wife), and great (playing a great show) beginning to the year. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Eric says:

This show felt like the show we played at Jimmy Z's in Everett months ago. We had a great place to play, a great sound setup, we played great... six people were there. We played for Josh, Tim Cook, Tim Thomas, Tom Kipp, Jeff Henry, and the chaperone for The Histrionics. The Histrionics were not allowed in the audience because they were too young, and since drinks are allowed in the room, the space was considered part of the bar. Instead, they had to watch us from the side of the stage, and had to freeze in the green room before they went on. Whatever, at least our friends showed up, and it is always fun to play with The Histrionics (who are now an all girl three piece again after briefly flirting with a second, male guitarist) honestly, what did we expect playing on a Tuesday night? The Bismarck comes full circle, this was the first place that we played at the beginning of the year, and this is the last place that we played at the end. We dedicated "Black Rage" to Tookie Williams.

Eric says:

Another great show, one of my favorites. It was Lake of Falcons's record release party, so we were not selling any merch, but then again when do we ever really? I did have one guy ask for an album, but apparently his girlfriend wouldn't pony up the $5, he did buy a Falcons album though. It was god damn cold. Apparently the show space has no heat, it kind of reminded me of the shows that we used to play at Mike's old skate park in Grand Forks way back in 1997, although that was quite a lot colder. I made an attempt to have Bryan tape the show with my camera, but the end result was not the best, oh well, Lindsay snapped some photos. I recorded Lake of Falcons with better results, but still not the best. We were too quiet and they were just a bit too loud. We played pretty good, very loose, at one point during "You Will Not Survive This" Dan broke out into "Greed," an old Happy Accidents song (the band Nate, Dan and I were in circa 1992), I busted into the guitar part (that for some reason I still remember) and Nate started singing the words to the Big Black song "Cables". The vocals went out midway through the show which was a pity because we were actually singing the whole time. During "Black Rage" (dedicated to Richard Pryor [1940-2005]) we just went all over the place yelling, making noise, and running through the crowd. Uncharacteristic for us, but fun, and people seemed to like it. Remember: passion over precision.

Eric says:

Terrific show! We played with Lake of Falcons and a band called FreeJail. We ended up playing last, but I would hardly consider it "headlining", we actually flipped a coin with Falcons over who would play second (we both wanted to), and we lost. All three bands played great, there were more than five people in the audience, we got paid, and we sold five albums, so I consider it a success. Lindsay took some great pictures and I snapped some off some for Falcons. We broke in the new bass cabinets that Chris and Dan made, they look nice and new... five shows later and I am sure that we will have them scraped and chipped like all of the rest of our equipment. The day before Thanksgiving and we didn't play "Whiskey and Blankets," what were we thinking?

Eric says:

Speaking of playing shows at the same venue more than once, we have played at Scriber Lake four times, and I am sure that we will play here again. The Histrionics have gotten much better since last I saw them, and I will always marvel that the drummer somehow manages to play in a skirt. We played a much better version of "Black Rage" and cut the new song. Basic show, we couldn't even seem to entertain the teenagers this time. The Bismarck has a habit of playing all of our low energy/low turnout shows at the end of the year which is always a little demoralizing. I have high hopes for the show next week with Lake of Falcons.

Eric says:

Once again we are welcomed by the drag queens with open arms. We were the only band that played this night so we did a long set (nine songs wow!). Had all of Lake of Falcons in the audience (Nate, and BOTH Josh's) and Ike's friend Jason showed up from his band Wishek, he recently moved out to the area, unfortunately I didn't get to talk to him, maybe next time. Tonight featured the debut of "Black Rage" which seemed to be a big hit with the audience. Actually we got a fairly warm response this time around. Supposedly we also got paid, Dan had to pick it up the next day because there was no way we were going to sit there until 2:00 a.m. I like this place, the stage is the perfect size for us. Now we just have to beat the two show curse that we have been plagued with over the last three years. The two year curse goes like this, the Bismarck plays at a place once; the venue asks us back, The Bismarck plays there again, either of the following takes place: 1. The Bismarck plays like shit and are not asked back 2. The Bismarck is considered "to loud" and is not asked back 3. The Bismarck plays great, the venue loves us... then they shut down. Lets count which venues have been a victim of the two show curse: The Green Room (reason 2), The Matrix Cafe (?), Lila's (reason 3), The Stanwood Hotel (well, I wouldn't write that one off yet, but for now lets just put down reason 1), The Lobo (?), The Mars Bar (reason 2). If we end up playing at the Vogue again it will be a rare example of The Bismarck playing three times at the same place. Think positive.

Eric says:

Well, it is safe to say that we will never play here again. Everything was going just fine: the soundwoman told us not to blow the top off the place, so we started with our amps at half of their usual volume, no problem. Two songs into the set the BARTENDER comes up behind Dan and yells at him to tell us to turn down more and that it is "not an option". I guess that he couldn't hear the drinks people were ordering. So we struck three songs from our set and blasted through the rest. When I announced the last song both Chris and I went back up to full volume. Fuck them. But this is not the bad part. The NEXT band (who were pretty good actually) get on stage and is WAAAAAAAAAAY louder than us and nobody says a thing. What the fuck? Ok, so now I'm pissed off. THEN the third band comes on, "The Out Crowd", and, oh, these guys are precious. Pouty girl with tambourine - check, drummer with fro' - check, Bass player with cigarette dangling out his mouth - check, singer with sunglasses - check, androgynous spaced-out guitarist - check. Oh lord! By this time I can't even be in the place anymore, but I can't help but go in every once and a while just to watch this band play rock star. It looked like they were put together on some sort of "making the band" reality show. I half expect to see them on The O.C.. I bet they practice in front of a mirror. Ok, so after they are done Chris and I go to see if we are getting paid, well the guy at the door tells us that ONLY the last band is getting paid because they were promised a guarantee. Oh really. So I start in on the guy, where are they from? - Portland, among other questions finally the guy waves me off and states, like it is the most important thing in the world, "Well, their lead singer was in the movie Dig." So what, he sucks AND he's "famous". Whatever. I can almost hear that McLusky song echoing in my head: "One of those bands got paid I heard, one of those bands got fake tits..."

Eric says:

The Bismarck plays another in a string of disappointing shows. The venue had everything going for it. It had a nice stage, it had a great sound set-up, and we actually had a sound check. Nobody was there. We ended up playing for our wives, my friend Kim (who was visiting Nate after 13 years), and maybe three other somewhat interested people. We didn't get paid, but we did sell three albums (Kim, Kim's friend, and a drunk guy - our bread and butter). We played pretty good regardless, now I wish that we could play this well in front of an audience, but as the saying goes - wish in one hand, shit in the other, and we'll see which one fills up first.

Eric says:

The Bismarck gets upstaged by 16 year olds again. The people were really into the first band which was comprised of kids that didn't even have hair on their sacks yet. They were actually really good and had a definite Black Sabbath influence, so I was not shocked when they ended their set with "N.I.B." I wonder, does this band have a song called "N.B.S."? People were less enthusiastic towards us. We thinned that herd like expert shepherds. Miraculously someone (possibly a drunk someone) bought an album and we made $50. Which is what we got paid last time so I suspect that they just give every band $50. We actually played better than the night before (because we could hear ourselves I think) too bad nobody cared. We got to break in our new (currently uninsured) van on its first extended trip. It's weird, it is smooth, doesn't have any road noise, and does not have a death rattle when you turn it off. Everything works. Do we deserve this van?

Eric says:

Well, we got to the show in typical early Bismarck fashion and they made us go on about ten minutes after we got in the door. Basically we just loaded up on the stage and started playing. The damn sound guy (God, how I hate them all) told us to turn down at least five times, I swear that by the time we were done I was so low that I had my ear to the amp. We also got the cut-off from said sound guy (kill, kill, kill) so we struck "Don't Ever Change" from the set (which we were going to do anyway, HA!). Everyone who was there (who were friends of ours anyway) said that we sounded good, but that they couldn't hear the vocals which actually shocks me seeing as how low we were. I guess the sound guy (bitch) REALLY didn't know what he was doing. Nate from Lake of Falcons showed, but we played so early that he missed us, Lindsay and Hilary missed us too, oh well. We played well enough and premiered "Sandbar Knifefighter Blues" so it wasn't a total loss. Plus, we sold an album and made $30 which will be just enough money to get us to Stanwood tomorrow. We are supposedly playing here next month, but I keep expecting an e-mail soon canceling. Time will tell.

Eric says:

This show was primed to be a fucking disaster. We were supposedly the only band opening for a transvestite burlesque show. I know, it sounds like a joke. Turns out that we were not the only band and it was more like someone's birthday party. We played really well, so maybe there is something to be said about having monitors. The other band was playing their 3rd show (which was apparent by how well they were dressed) and they had only been a band for two months, but played for a fucking hour! Do these people have jobs?. We did a better version of "If You Should Survive This," which has been giving us some difficulty lately. This was its "official" unveiling as the show in Moscow, ID does not really count. The Seattle crew was in full force, the Tims, the Toms, and even Nate and Josh from Lake of Falcons showed up. It turns out that Lake of Falcons actually played in Olympia at someone's house on the same day as our show last week, go figure. They charged seven dollars at the door so we made $50 dollars, I had some carrot cake, and only Nate and I were out gas money so nobody complained.

Eric says:

We try, we try, we try to put on a good show in Olympia, but despite our best efforts we just can't seem to get it right here. Oh well, it was good to get away from The Voyeur - for once at least. Most everybody at the show said we were good, but I just know that we can be better than this. Sold some CDs which means that I have officially sold a copy to almost everyone that I know in Olympia. Played with Jacob and Chris's band, Redheaded Judas, Aarons "band" Acre, and a band called The Shotgun (formerly The Crazy 88's) who were really good. We did a passable rendition of "My Baby's A Blackout Drunk", an old They Drive By Night song. Not a terrible show, not a great show, just a show. Maybe next time, maybe next time...

Retired:   "Ladies' Choice" (2003-2005)

Eric says:

The Bismarck played their last show of the tour. The Bismarck played well. The band before The Bismarck would not get off the goddamn stage, they played ten songs in an hour and mostly they told bad jokes. The Bismarck was pissed. The Bismarck broke their glasses, The Bismarck dropped their pick, but The Bismarck played well. The Bismarck got $50. The Bismarck sold 3 CDs. Six bands played with The Bismarck, two of them were good. The Bismarck had their show for the next day cancelled. The Bismarck has to clear 700 miles to Missoula tomorrow. The Bismarck has been in the van too long. The Bismarck are all still friends. The Bismarck will do this again...

April 16, 2005 - Just outside of Forsyth, Montana, The Bismarck's touring van broke down. Luckily, there were no injuries and the survivors were fished out and transported along with the hulk of their ship to a Motel 6 in Billings where The Bismarck would celebrate Eric's 29th birthday and plan their next move.

April 17, 2005 - Deciding that their vessel was not worth repairing, Cock of the Fleet, once the pride and joy of The Bismarck, was scuttled and left to rust in a junkyard. The Bismarck booked two of their members on a Greyhound back to Seattle while the other two salvaged what they could of the van, loaded their equipment into a U-Haul and braved the "Crazy Mountains" through the night.

R.I.P:   Cock of the Fleet (1977-2005)

Eric says:

Dicked around in Grand Forks before the show. Jury and I went to the I-29 with Big Angry Nate and Jason Lay and had some cheap midwestern food. Took the van into Odin's for a little maintenance and then had to take it to Exhaust Pros to get the exhaust hangers fixed which they ended up doing for free! MIDWEST! I picked Lindsay up ten bucks' worth of Village Hot Sauce. Had to be at the Empire by 6:30 p.m. to load in, which was kind of silly as the show didn't start until 8:30. The Empire is huge and, as it turns out, totally non-conducive to the rock. We got our name on the marquee (plenty of pictures were snapped of that) and finally got it spelled right. The fact that it's the state capital can't hurt. A band called Kentucky Sound Arsenal played first. They were 18 and way better than I ever was at that age (or at my current age). Nic Garcia's new band The Plainsmen played with us also. This wasn't exactly the best Bismarck show ever but certainly not the worst. I think that compared to the night before it was weak but that's all. This did end up being our most profitable show ever. We made $175 at the door and sold 15 CDs (due in no small part to the cajoling of the Kentucky Sound Arsenal crew). After the show Nate, went to try to score and Dan, Jury, and I stayed up with Tom and Peggy and showed them some of the pictures from the tour. Tomorrow it's off to (what would turn out to be) our last show.

Eric says:

Got into Grand Forks, dropped off Nate at his parents' house, dropped Dan off at his dad's. Jury and I went out to Buffalo Wild Wings with Ike, Big Angry Nate and Gohman. I actually ended up beating everyone at trivia because most of the categories were movie-related. The show was fairly busy. We convinced Straphanger to play last instead of us which was the right way to go. We played great, possibly our best show ever (Dickinson is close). Jessie (my sister-in-law) showed up, her boyfriend Chad showed up, Greg was there, even Rob Buzzkill was there. However, none of the O.G. Grand Forks crew (Swisher, June Panic etc.) showed. Joe Bailey was there, but he doesn't count (just kidding, Joe). During Straphanger's first song, Ike broke a stick, then threw it out in the audience and hit a girl in the head. Then he broke his drum stool. At the end of the show his lily white college hands were all blistered up. What can I say? We brought it. We fucking brought it. We sold at least 10 albums and a few singles; we also made a ton in donations which is a Bismarck first. Tack on free pizza and beer (courtesy of Big Angry Nate) and you've pretty much got a perfect night.

Eric says:

Finally completed my collection of state magnets at a truck stop in Bismarck where they had ALL of the states and even some Canadian territories. Hung out at Chris's parents house all day. We read a short blurb that someone wrote about us on some sort of North Dakota indie Internet board. Someone posted, "Imipolex-G sucked balls. Let's hope that The Bismarck is better." Funny. Another opined, "They're doing a tour of North Dakota? I'm surprised they aren't more popular." True. Got to play with four other bands, all of which were very metal and did not fit us at all. Naturally the audience seemed to dwindle when we went on (4th out of 5, the death sentence). It also didn't help that the band that played before us, Kylesa, was really, really, good and really, really loud. Tough act to follow. While we were playing, I noticed that we lost about ten audience members per song, by the end there were only about twenty left (I really felt bad for the last band). It also didn't help that we played rather poorly. Oh well, it was the midway point in the tour so we were bound to play bad at this point. During the first song, one of Dan's crappy-ass sticks broke and a piece of it flew and almost took my eye out (now there would have been a tour story). After the show we did sell some CDs and this girl told us that she thought that we were really good and that she just did some modeling for SuicideGirls.com, Nate's eyes lit up and he immediately asked what name she be listed under, making a note of it. Despite how we played, we somehow managed to make $100 at the door. I hope that this will not encourage us to play worse. We get to play here again in three days; I hope we bring it.

Eric says:

Off to a better start today. Went to see Gene at the visitor center in Watford which was a lot of fun and made up for last night (a little). The place was lot bigger than I was expecting and it was really cool. I am glad that I got to see Gene while I was in ND. Noticed a small leak in the gas tank, no problem, just don't fill it up to the top. The place that we played at in Dickinson was sponsored by S.A.D.D. (Students against Destructive Decisions). They had loads of motivational stuff tagged on the walls of the place, but much of it was undercut by rampant misspellings ("no smocking," "suger"). Anyway, it was a great place to play a show, especially for a town like Dickinson. I wish that there had been a place like this in Grand Forks when I lived there. Naturally, the guy who ran the place told us that Dickinson was actively trying to shut him down - no shock there. Got a heavy dose of North Dakota wit at this show from the locals. I miss cynicism. We played great and the audience loved us. One of my favorite shows ever. We sold out of shirts and sold a lot of CDs. The owner gave us $20, which we felt bad about taking, but we did. We played this show "clean" again (no swearing or, as was written on the walls, "no profanty.") Drove to Bismarck after the show and stayed with Chris's parents. We finally got to get some sleep.

Eric says:

Got up at 7:00 a.m. to haul ass across the state to Poplar, Montana. Paul (Dan's step-brother) put us up for the night. He left us a care package which included a half rack of PBR. We head out at 7:30 and Nate asks, "Ok, who wants a beer?" Morale seems a bit higher this time around. I guess actually playing shows AND getting paid might have something to do with it. Poplar ended up being on the Fort Peck Indian reservation. Suddenly the song "Whiskey and Blankets" has lost its appeal. We decided not to swear (little kids present), not to sell our album (song titles) and not to hand out the matchbooks. All were good choices. The people were really nice. We sold some shirts. The show ended up being far better than we expected it to be. We stayed at a Motel 8, which is stupid because I know that we could have stayed at my in-laws house in Watford, which is just as close, for free. I told everyone this, but it fell on deaf ears. So basically everyone gets to visit all of their relatives on this trip except for me. Whatever. Chris forgot the gas cap to the van, but we luckily had another.

Eric says:

Almost had a case of "The Bismarck," when we finally got a hold of the promoter she said that the club that were going to play at got shut down. Luckily the show was moved to the Union Hall. We had a small scare because of a weird clicking sound in the van. It ended up just being the alternator bolt which had come loose sliding forward and nicking the engine fan. The guy at the service station we took it to when we couldn't figure it out looked at for two seconds and turned to Dan: "Did you even LOOK under the hood?" The Bismarck are obviously not mechanics. Everyone at the show was 18 at the oldest and 14 at the youngest (judging by the lack of tattoos). It felt like playing at the Till 21 club back in Grand Forks circa 1994. I felt really old. We did make $45 at the door and Nate managed to sell $52 in merch (mostly shirts). Most of the merch went to the bands playing with us, in fact right after we played a guy came up to talk to me and he was wearing one of our shirts. I will never dispute Nate's ability to sell merch. Gotta wake up at 7:00 tomorrow to clear 675 miles to Poplar, Montana. Shit.

Eric says:

"The Bismarck" strikes again. First show out and they technically cancelled, though they said that we could play - by ourselves. Fuck it, why not? We need the practice. We played to an audience of - literally - two. Didn't sell any albums, gave out a lot of matchbooks. Stayed at the Shiloh Inn up in Coeur d'Alene which charged us $80 and put us on the third floor (which made moving equipment into the place interesting). We paid for three adults so we only loaded 3 at a time while the other hid in the van. Hopefully this will be our worst show this time out. Remember - whatever happens in Moscow, stays in Moscow...for about six months.

Eric says:

"Opening Band" redux. We played a little longer this time (eight songs) and played a little better than the night before, but it was basically more of the same. We did, however, get paid $50 woo hoo! The sound guy was baffled by our drum set-up - "So, you mean the drummer is going to have his back to the audience?" They gave us an ungodly amount of drink tickets (24??!) but we showed restraint.

Eric says:

We ought to have a sign on our van that says "Opening Band." Basically, that's what we usually are and this was an extreme example. We only played six songs but we did play them well. We opened for Snitches Get Stitches who we had played a show with a long time ago at Zak's and it was their album release party, so it was more about them. We also played with two other bands who had been crammed onto the bill (from England and Japan respectively) so we cut it short so people didn't have to wait as long for them. We also had a Bismarck first, our name was spelled correctly on the flyer.

Eric says:

Another impromptu show. I had to bust ass just to get there after work. Luckily nothing really started until about 10:30 - We played 3rd. We were originally set to play last, but we talked our way out of it. We played with Triceratops, minus the name Triceratops (and their junky drummer). Turns out that their new drummer was in the band the Brass Tacx that we played with way back in '03 at the Green Room. Didn't sell anything or make any money, but we got a good response and hopefully spread the Bismarck name around. The Lake of Falcons drummer Josh knows the booker for McCoy's (in Olympia) so hopefully we can get a show there through him since none of us have had any luck. It would be great to play in Olympia and NOT at Le Voyeur.

Eric says:

Well, this was an impromptu show, we got the notice for this show two days before we played it, apparently one of the bands fell through. I am amazed that Chris agreed to play, but there didn't seem to be a problem. Not many people were there, but a lot of friends of mine from work showed up which was really cool. The Voyeur has slipped even further into shit if you can believe it. I felt like we were playing in a junkie house. Dan and Chris were not into it, but they put on their best game faces and I would say that we played fairly well. Everett requested an encore of "XXX Live Action", but Dan and Chris said no. We really should have played it for him since he is the only person I know that has bought all of our music. We sold two albums. I know that Chris and Dan were disappointed, but I don't see how this show was any worse that the one we played last night. We drove two hours and a half hours yesterday to play basically the same show and we considered that a success. I think it is just because this show was in Olympia. Basically, I don't think that Chris and Dan will ever be happy with any show that we play in Olympia even if we get paid a hundred bucks and sold thirty albums.

Retired:   "Shape of A Bear" (2002-2005)

Eric says:

We almost had another case of "The Bismarck" for this one. We found the place that we were playing, which ended up being a dirty punk house, I heard a band practicing in the basement so I thought that I would just walk down there and introduce myself. Well, they looked at me like I just broke into their house. When I asked if this is where the show was they said the all-too-familiar phrase "what show?" I followed up by saying I was in The Bismarck which got the other typical response: "Who?" Yeah, I got out of there. We all jumped back into the van and decided to wait it out. Turns out that we were in the right place, just three hours too early. We played in a wet basement for about 15 (maybe) people all of which looked like they were 15-19 years old except for the guy who put on the show who looked about 34. We played pretty good, sold three albums and decided to leave early because Nate agreed to help a punk rock girl cut off another guy's mohawk. I don't know if he was kidding or not, but we didn't want to stay to find out if she was serious.

Eric says:

Finally the day has arrived, the Bismarck played a good show! This marks the first time that we have ever been asked to play an encore, which ended up being "Stick It In..." The place we played was cool, it was like a bar with a little theatre attached to it. We played on a stage that was actually big enough to accommodate us. The sound was good, we played great (if anyone screwed up it was me) and everyone seemed to like us. We didn't sell any records, but when do we ever? The second band, Triceratops, was having a horrible time due to a drummer who was drunk or high or all of thee above. After the show he was sweating really bad so I suggested that he take off his sweater to which he replied: "I don't want anyone to see my track marks." I don't think he was kidding. The last band, Lake of Falcons, was great. They had possibly the best advertising gimmick I have ever scene: matchbooks with their logo, band name, and web address on it. We have got to do this. Supposedly we will be playing with them next month. I hope that this show was not a freak occurrence, I want to play this well every time. The motherfucking Seattle crew was in full force, Tom Kipp, Rob Mercer, Tim Cook, Jeff Henry, Tim Thomas, now if I could just get some of my Olympia friends together and not have Dan and Chris rip on them.

Retired:   "Stick It In (and Break It Off)" (2002-2005)

Eric says:

Well. we finally got to play at a real venue again, but we did not exactly play the best. It was Nate's 30th birthday so he was a little out of it. I don't know what was up with Chris, but he sounded out of tune the whole time. We really played like ass. The Funhouse is just Zak's with a different name. Jimmy Flame was there, and so was my old roommate Jeff. It was cool to see him, and really cool of him to come out to see my band. I just wish that we could have played better for him and for the eight other people in the audience. The really sad thing is that I actually had two people who wanted CDs, but I forgot to bring the merch when we packed the van. I suck. If this is our last show of the year, it will be a bad end. Maybe year three will be gold.

Retired:   "Who Fucking Wants Some?" (2003-2004)

Retired:   "Cock of the Fleet" (2003-2004)

Eric says:

Ok, no more shows here, seriously. We played well and all and I sang my lyrics for Chris' new song finally, but I am tired of playing for 16 year-olds. I was embarrassed to play for 16 year-olds back when I was 21, imagine how I feel now. The show was outside and it was cold. Not many people were there. One of the bands was a Nirvana cover band that could not play any of the songs right. It was almost like watching someone's practice. It is time to start booking some real shows. I don't care where.

Eric says:

Ouch! this has to rank as one of the all time Bismarck stinkers. We played so bad at this show that a chubby 16 year old came up to us and said "Wow, you guys really sucked!" We did not disagree. A combination of things. 1. We have not practiced in over a month. 2. We got our drink tickets about twenty minutes before we played, and since we were playing last we had to down them (three each) before we got on stage - not a good idea. I personally had just one Rolling Rock, but Nate had so many he was playing like Tommy fucking Stinson the rest of the night. Is it possible that we brought the weak shit? It seemed that we had an audience to start with, but we seemed to lose two people per song until just the promoter, the sound guy, and Bryan were there. If I were not in the band I would have left too. Ouch.

Retired:   "Hellgate High Fight Song" (2003-2004)

Eric says:

Played a pretty good show. Not much else to say about it. The sound in Lila's is really weird, it echoes so much that everything sounds like distortion. Nate's bas was so far out of tune that on the first song he just stopped playing, but he figured it out. We played with a band from Canada that sure was selling the fact that their singer basically just jumps around in a miniskirt, they are playing in two days in Olympia where I am sure they will be a huge hit. Two of the Histrionics played a short acoustic set after us. We had a band meeting after the show to clear some of the bad blood of the tour - group hug time guys.

Eric says:

The heat here is unbelievable, it is literally 100 degrees out. We got a motel room first thing so we could shower. Gas is so fucking expensive here, it cost $50 to fill up in San Francisco. We were not in the mood to play and it showed, we played a bad set (not terrible), got screwed out of money (even though we were playing in a bar), tore down our shit, and got the fuck out of there. Fuck Chico California and fuck this god damn 110 weather! Not a good end to our tour.**

Retired:   "Orc Army" (2003-2004)

**We had two more days planned, Crescent City CA and Eugene OR. We decided to skip the show in Crescent City in favor of fixing our van, and when we got to Eugene the place had never heard of us but they were having a, you guessed it, hardcore show that night. The Bismarck officially threw in the towel right then and there.

Eric says:

I think Dan has an anger problem, he is constantly yelling and ordering us around. I am getting a little sick of it. This particular part of San Francisco is a shit hole. I saw a whore with her shirt open, full boobs exposed, later Chris told me that when he was doing laundry the same whore met her pimp there and gave him his cut. Dan and I watched our van like hawks that day. The show went fine, there were only two bands that night, us and some number band (Romeo 69 or something). They were pretty good, but I could tell their drummer was a complete ex-hesher because of the way he twirled his sticks, dead giveaway. My friend Ursula, who I have not seen for like 8 years, was at the show. That was really cool. We got to spend the night at her place, once again we are extremely lucky to have a place to stay. We stayed up all night and talked Grand Forks. I think that Chris felt a little left out.

Eric says:

Long journey to Reno, we had an entire day of driving the day before so we are tired plus it is like 98 degrees out here. Just our luck to be traveling in a heat wave like this. Raj (the guy who set up our show) is really cool, the place that we ended up playing was actually not a real place, it was some girl's clothing store which is about the size of a living room. We were so loud at this show that everyone just watched from outside the window, it was like we were an exhibit at the Experience Music Project. We did, however, get paid ($10 - woo hoo). After our "show" we went to the real show which was, not surprisingly, a hardcore band (the Blood Brothers). We met a girl at the bar who offered to set us up a real show if we ever come back to Reno (not likely) where we could get paid $100 to play. Great. Raj is supposedly going to come to Seattle, so I hope I run into him there. Some rich kid put us up for the night, we have been lucky that we have had a place to sleep almost every night.

Eric says:

First day of the tour went pretty well, I was worried about bringing too much stuff, but all of my worries were unfound after seeing Nate's shit ton of crap. Despite this, the van is packed quite well, all of those years of playing Tetris finally paid off. We got to the show really early and sat on our asses for a long time. The guys at the Twilight are really nice, they remember us even though we have not played here for over a year. The show went well, Dan couldn't hear us very well in the beginning so "Whiskey And Blankets" had to suffer. Kevin, Alberta, Dan, Mike, and Erik Heinzpeter (sp) were all there, but none of the other Olympia crew (Jeremy and Ryan) were in attendance. It is too bad that our other show here fell through, I love Portland and we always get a good response from people here. We made $50 and sold 4 albums plus we gave one to Mike who was nice enough to put us up for two days. A good start.

Eric says:

Jesus. You needed a studded leather collar and a fucking D.O.A. shirt to get into this show. When we showed up the person at the door didn't believe that we were in one of the bands. I am sure that all of these "punk rockers" got all of there clothes from Hot Topic or the Gap, but man were they giving us the hairy eyeball from off-stage. We played with the Histrionics again, this marks the third show with them this year and as ever I feel old whenever I am around them, two of the members have braces for shits sakes. We were loud even for my taste, but it was good. I am ready for tour I guess.

Eric says:

Not as big of a turnout as I was imagining considering our response last time we played here (maybe the American Idol finale had something to do with it), but we played a very good show. We were loud, very loud. This was an actual show as opposed to the talent show of last time. Tom Kip and Rob Mercer showed up so they helped affect the age curve, I didn't feel like the oldest guy around. The other bands we played with were the Histrionics, who go to the school, and a band called Tuk who looked about as old as we are. I know we were playing there because Chris works there, but what was their excuse? Nate sold a lot of merch, something like $30 worth including the shirt Dan was going to wear after the show, whoops. I guess that we might be playing with the Histrionics sometime in the future which will be cool. Hopefully it will not be in a high school.

Eric says:

Well, this had the potential to be a disaster. first of all, it is a Mexican restaurant. Second, it was basically a sports bar. Third, we were pre-empted for a half hour because the Mariners game was not over yet (we won, fuck you Texas). When we started up I noticed on the first note of Shape Of A Bear that I was 100% out of tune and Nate's new head blew. After that we were fine. We were god damn loud. As far as I could tell, we got an ok response, not at all what I was expecting, which was to get hit in the head with a bottle. And to cap it all off, we got $60. Maybe we shouldn't have given Chris so much shit for setting this up.

Eric says:

Ok, if Chehalis makes me feel old, imagine how I feel about playing at a high school. We played really well although I royally screwed up "Don't Ever Change," I just plain forgot how to play it , but I recovered after a couple failed attempts. At least we got a good response out of the audience and hopefully we inspired some people to write original material. All of the music by the kids at the school were covers. What's the point? And we finally got to headline! On a personal note, this easily could have been my chance to be as big a dick as Jury was at that show in Olympia so long ago, this could have been my big chance to alienate some of Chris' peers the way that he did to me, but you know what: WHY WOULD I? I just like to play, and I really don't care where. When this band is over I think that the real tragedy of our existence will be that we only played about a third of the shows that we could have simply because I just didn't want to risk pissing more of my friends off. It's really sad how many shows I have turned down or just not even bothered to set up because of this fact. I know that we don't get paid in Olympia, but hell, we don't really get paid anywhere else we go either. I thought that we played to have fun.

Eric says:

Man. I predicted that I would break a string this show, but I didn't think that I would "Pull a Jury" (Breaking a string on the first song of the set, which he also did this show). It kind of fucked up my whole game. The strat is a good guitar, but not the best replacement for the Stepchild. They are two totally different sounding guitars. I kind of played like shit. Oh well. Not exactly the best ending for the year. Once again we played first even though we were supposedly the "headliners." Maybe year two will bring greater rewards.

R.I.P   "Every Inch Counts" (2003)

Eric says:

Shit. Talk about a close call. I got stuck at work until 9:00. The Bismarck was set to play at 9:30. I finished up at work, picked up Bryan, Mia, and Lindsay, then went straight to the show. By the time that I got a hold of Dan (who wisely didn't have his cell phone with him or on or something) we were due to play in five minutes! I jammed the pedal to the metal and got there just as the first band finished their last song. I plugged in my guitar and played the fastest set since our first show at Zak's. Despite my exhaustion and shattered nerves, I played pretty well. We sold a fair amount of shit, and that sound guy with the weird laugh said that we were one of his favorite "loud" bands. All in all a good night.

Eric says:

This show started out great until I started fucking up the last five songs. Shit, what is wrong with me? I don't think that it really made a difference, the audience seemed to like us and all that, but really! I fucked up "Shape Of A Bear". I can usually play that song in my sleep. It was dark, yeah sure. Nice place to pla. The venue was actually supposedly an art gallery. It was in a loft on the third floor of Darktown in Seattle. It was right by the train station, that's how sketchy it was. We should have all been armed with pepper spray and billy clubs (or at least a potato sack full of doorknobs.) Most of the people were all right. It was fairly obvious that we were the odd ducks in the bunch. Nobody really said anything to us all night. I felt like we were playing an out of town show in like dickwater Montana or something. Is it me, or are we like the only band in Seattle/Olympia/Portland that plays ROCK! I mean loud fucking rock! Is that so bad? At least we didn't play first this time, we played second out of four which is just what I like and somebody (I am assuming that we didn't know) bought a T-shirt and two singles.

Eric says:

Great show, seriously one of our best. We played with Bible Of The Devil and they were amazing. I didn't feel so bad about being upstaged. The place was small, we didn't get paid, and the band that played after us sucked. They were kind of like us except they only had one riff per song and their idea of a change was for the guitarist to use a wah pedal. Note to self: don't use a wah pedal. Hopefully we can play with B.O.D again some time. Fifteenth show that we have played and we still end up going on first.

Eric says:

The thing that I will always remember about this show is that I almost got in a physical fight with the sound man. What a fucking idiot! He was all pissed that people were always stepping on his mic cords all the time - possibly because he moved them around while we were taking down our equipment. Can't the fucker wait until we are done before he decides to stretch the black cords across the stage? Then he gets pissed whenever I stepped on one. No shit, maybe it's because you keep moving them around fucker! Straight to the back of the head, seriously Glock, Glock! Oh Jesus, he also told us that we were too loud. TOO LOUD? Does he not see the drums? He also gave us shit about our set-up (drums on the floor) It's not like we had room for all four of us on stage or anything - besides, we wouldn't want to step on his precious chords - FUCKER! We did get $40 for playing though which is good. The other bands seemed to like us and one of them even invited us to play next October with them. Excellent. We played well, I screwed up a little. Blah, blah, blah. Fucking ponytail motherfucker!

Retired:   "Mercury's Iron Heart" (2002-2005)

Eric says:

Nice place. Friendly people. Small stage. Whatever. It was basically another practice. Chris had some technical difficulties, he broke a string on both of his guitars and had to use mine for the last song. This is some sort of Jury record. Our version of "Orc Army" was shit, but Lindsay said we made up for it by at least looking like we were having fun, which we were. The thing that I like about this band is that we never get down on one another for playing poorly. Really, who cares? We got paid $25 and the promoter liked us. In the end that is all that matters.

Retired:   "Moustache Rides - 50c¢" (2002-2003)

Eric says:

Well, we played great... for about seven people. This marks the first time that we have ever been "cut off" by the sound guy. We ended up playing "Don't Ever Change" last instead of "Every Inch Counts." I actually like "Don't Ever Change" as a last song. The seven people in the crowd seemed to enjoy us, two of them even bought stuff, one even bought two cd's and a shirt. I personally screwed up on only two songs "Don't Ever Change" and "Mustache Rides" of all songs. Hey, it was a good practice...

Eric says:

Well. here we are back at the Twilight, where for some reason we just can't get it right. We have documentation to prove it also. They recorded our last show here and they recorded this one too. The recording turned out great, the performance though... Well, we didn't suck THAT much. We actually played half of our set pretty well, and to be fair I screwed up the most. The rest, not good. This show I just can't wait to hear the live recording because all of the songs that we played well last time we played like shit this time and vice versa. We can put both shows together and have a great live album! We also sold our 2nd single "We Don't Bring The Weak Shit" (although only our friends bought it) I like this recording a lot, but I think that my guitar should have been just a little bit louder on "Stick It In (and break it off)" the other two songs sounded great though. Our version on "XXX Live Action" turned out great. The live version of it was not the best mostly because Nate didn't know we were going to play it. It's all about communication people. I think that I did well "singing." We didn't play "Cock Of The Fleet" because a local Portland band recently had a van crash that killed three of the four members. Suddenly a song about dying in a van is not funny.

R.I.P   "XXX Live Action" (7/25/03 - Stillbirth)

Eric says:

Great show. This has got to be the first all ages show I have played in six years. The average age of everyone (bands included) was around 16-19. Certainly made me feel old. We sold a lot of merchandise. Something like six singles and four T-shirts. Remember: teenagers in small shitty towns buy merch. I wish that my peer group had as much enthusiasm as these kids did. One bad thing was that Missy and Lindsay had to pay to get in. No guest list. Lame. I think that we played well, Dan said that he and Chris screwed up left and right, but I didn't notice. The show was fucking hot, I was running sweat like a real rock star. I felt sorry for the guy wearing leather pants (One-he was wearing leather pants. Two-he was wearing leather pants with no shirt.) After the show some girl wanted us to sign her tank top. Jesus!

Eric says:

Much better. What can I say, we played good. We royally screwed up "Who Fucking Wants Some," but that is about it. Played with Wet Confetti who totally upstaged us. The Stepchild passed the Kevin test, he loved it. Chris and Dan thought of a great way to pack everything in the van. Our gear fits like Tetris now - great system. Before the show we had a rock and roll barbecue where we put a garbage can lid on the grill (my idea)to get the coals rolling. Portland is my favorite town to play, I love the people there. I saw Al from Grand Forks. Trippy. I fucked up our set list and forgot to put "Stick It In (And Break It Off)" on. Shit. This marks the first time that we have not played that song. I need to get one of those tuners that Chris has that looks like a distortion pedal, The Stepchild likes to go out of tune (new strings ya know).

Retired:   "Sub-Deb IG" (2002-2003)

Eric says:

Ouch! Easily our worst show. Chris and Dan really weren't into this to start with (even though our last Voyeur show was one of our best) to make things worse the Gossip were playing at the Capitol Theater the same night = Nobody was at the show. It was actually like playing a practice really. We played every song wrong, we just were not trying which ultimately is self-defeating.. Oh well. Aaron's band, United, was good though. I also unveiled "The Stepchild," my new Fender Toronado guitar. It played very well, it was a big hit with the guys, now lets see if it can pass the Kevin test tomorrow. We made plans to play with United in Shelton some time in the future. We will see if that happens. Interesting night. I saw a guy puke into a beer pitcher and Lindsay threw up when we drove home. Also someone put a huge dent in our new car - oh yeah and Lindsay's purse got stolen somewhere along the line... Let's try to forget this show.

Retired:   "Tape It To Your Leg" (2002-2003)

Eric says:

Dan had an Olympia experience at this show. He invited a shit ton of people and NOBODY showed up. At least I don't feel like the only loser now. We played with Wet Confetti which is Mike, Dan, and Alberta. They were great. Mike plays drums a lot differently then he used to, but he is still really good. Bought a CD from them, but have yet to listen to it. The other band sucked bad, I felt bad because they really liked us. By the time they played we were very tired and didn't stand for them. Mike and Nate talked through their set and Hilary and Lindsay read a wedding book. I felt sorry for them, but maybe if they didn't suck so bad the audience would have been more into it. One small snag in our show was that the venue didn't have microphone cords and they didn't tell us until Wet Confetti was just about to go on. Thanks Assholes! Dan and I had to run back to his house, about 40 min away, and get some. Memo: bring microphone cables with us to shows from now on. Shit, even bring mics. Industrial Cafe felt like playing in East Grand Forks. It was right next to train tracks, and an actual train went by. Can't wait to play with Wet Confetti again next week. If we could ever go on tour I would want to go with them.

Eric says:

Another great show at Zak's. This place is slowly becoming my favorite place to play. We always get a good response out of the crowd, even though there were only about 20 people this time. Both of the bands seemed to like us and one of them traded singles with us. Just the four of us tonight, the women are coming to the show tomorrow. Odd for me to be playing two days in a row. We got fucking paid! I don't believe it - $45 straight to the van. Rock.

Eric says:

First time that I had been in "Cock of the Fleet" on anything other than a quick jaunt to downtown Olympia. The cock did pretty well on the way down, we played 1984 by Van Halen to get in the right mood. Show went well for everyone else except me. Don't know why, but I wasn't at the top of my game really. I totally played "Ladies Choice" wrong, but corrected myself mid song. Kevin showed up and he seemed to like us or at least he didn't have anything bad to say about us. He bought a single and asked if that "Don Cab" song was on it (Mustache Rides - 50 cents) which he said was his favorite song. I wonder if he would have changed his mind if he knew that I wrote that song (well, most of it anyway). I also saw Mike from Grand Forks and Jerrod. That was a trip. Jerrod said that I looked younger. Weird, must be the hair. Dan and Alberta from Olympia were there too. I still can't get over how weird it is that they are friends with Mike and Jerrod. We will be playing with them next month. We ended up staying at a friend of Dan's house. He had five hide-a-beds for us. Unfortunately we didn't get to sleep until 5:30 in the morning because of all the people that were there. Chris just ended up pulling the bed out right in the middle of the party - he thinks outside of the box.

Eric says:

Fucking great show. Another show that I thought would go terribly. Chris and Dan had a bet, if there were more than 12 people there, Chris would owe Dan a dollar. My mom counted fifty. Damn. Yet once again only about 4 people that I invited showed up. Lets list those that didn't: Mark, Mia, Stephanie, Heather, Sara, Adriana, Ben, Rochelle, Matt, Warren, Lorraine, Po, Aaron (Davis), Aaron Cansler (which is ok, because he was at our last show), Irish, Colin, Jeremy blah, blah, blah. Jesus! At least Jordan, Eli, Bryan, and even Steve were there. We played awesome. Nate thought that it was our best show so far. I don't thank that Chris wants to admit that it was. We had our single for sale, I don't know who all bought it, but I know " that Steve did. My dad and mom were there too taking pictures. The other bands thought that we were great (The first band called "The Lead Veins" had a fucking great woman drummer, even Dan was impressed) You know when you play really well when as you play more people enter the room and all of them leave when you are done. The third band was good (The Set Up), but there were literally 12 people there to watch them. Have to play there again. Maybe this time more of my "friends" will show up. My amp was so loud that I couldn't tell when my distortion was on or off. I actually played "Who Fucking Wants Some" totally clean. Oh well. There was a guy who kept on dancing like a moron and running into Nate and I. It felt just like Grand Forks. Was that guy related to Ray? I wonder...

Retired:   "A Meaning Accrued Through Duration" (2002-2003)

Eric says:

This show was set up to be a disaster. Played at this place called Zak's in Seattle - a real shit kicker bar. We were on the bill with nine other bands with Gas Huffer headlining. They spelled our name BIZMARCK. We decided that five of our most ass tearing songs would fit the place the best. We set up in 5 minutes and played for 14. We went from song to song so fast that we never even heard any applause until the end (of which there was plenty). We decided to play "Orc Army" to finish. The promoter was fucking blown away. He was behind the venue where the bands were loading in listening to us, waiting for a break in our set. We played our last song, and immediately tore down and started loading out. He was like "You guys are done - shit!" A compliment I guess. Everyone played good - Nate said that he didn't, but I didn't notice. I missed my payment (A free pitcher of beer) because Hilary, Missy and Lindsay wanted to leave the club like right after we played - fuck. I was so damn thirsty that I went to McDonalds across the street and got a soda that was fucking $2.25! - shit. This show had two other interesting moments 1. My first friend from Olympia saw my band Mr. Aaron Cansler. He drove up with us. 2. On the drive back we almost died. A fucking semi hit a pickup in front and to the side of us and sent it flying (literally) towards us. It was in the air upside-down with the headlights pointed right at us. I hit the breaks and swerved to the right (which was thankfully unoccupied). I don't want to know what would have happened if I wouldn't have reacted any differently. We were very rattled after that. Or as Aaron put it: "I'm going to go home and fuck, just to re-affirm my existence." Well put.

Eric says:

Ok, second show was much better. Played at the Green Room in Seattle, which is right next to The Showbox. Naturally when I told my friends about the show I would tell them that we were playing at the Showbox to sound more impressive. As usual none of my Olympia friends showed up. There was an outside chance that Keith and Gina would show, but no such luck. Once again we played well. I wasn't really at the top of my game however, since my guitar kept going out of tune (after the show I discovered that the G string was right on the cusp of breaking). I ended up using Chris' guitar which sounded good, but was based on a quarter scale or some shit like that so I had to actually think before I played. Not good for me. Everyone else played fine. During "Stick it in and Break it off" Dan hit me in the glasses with the shaker and royally fucked them up. It made my rage seem all the more genuine. The audience really liked us. The band that we played with liked us too. Both good. First use of "Cock of The Fleet," our touring van (which we will never use to go on tour).

Eric says:

First show was a bust in Olympia. First of all our show at the Capitol theater fell through on the day. Instead we ended up playing for some of Nate's friends at their house. Basically we played for Missy, Lindsay, Hilary, Amy and like maybe two other people. We played very well, however. NONE of my friends showed up. They all went to Tim's show instead where all of the cool people were. Thanks pals! At least I got rid of some jitters. It has been like four years since I played in front of an "audience".