This was a very eventful day. We had set up this free show in advance through a guy named Matt who is actually the founding member of Low Profile and also the guitarist of Eternal Bliss. He had started another band at the time which was called Union Jack. They had Dave on bass (also from Eternal Bliss) and the drummer from Yellow Snowman (since replaced), Randy. He asked me about 2 months in advance to play this show and I readily agreed. I checked back with him multiple times and again about 2 days before the show and he assured me that everything was AOK. We were also supposed to play with a band called No Style who was actually Rob’s original band. We got down there and were sitting outside with No Style. I volunteered to go inside and find out what was happening. I told the first person I saw inside about my situation and he asked me to wait while he got Jose, the manager, to help me. I waited about 5 minutes and decided that that was long enough. I boldly walked into the door marked ‘Employees Only’. I wandered around for a bit and found ‘Jose’ and 2 others in a small office. I had never met Jose before but I had a feeling that this was him. Jose was trying to explain and one of the others started freaking out and kept repeating that I could not (should not really; I was already there) be in this office. I ignored him and addressed Jose but he would not stop and then grabbed me by the arm and attempted to escort me outside. At this point I realized that the show was not going to take place but I was also trying to deal with the idiot grabbing me. I shoved him and told him not to touch me. He kept complaining and I simply told him to shut up. At this point, Jose said that maybe we had better talk someplace else. I agreed and when outside the office he explained that he had tried to call his only contact — Randy — and tell him that the show had been canceled. He never got through to him. I was pretty infuriated. I went outside and explained and Rob volunteered to have the show in his basement where we rehearse. A lot of people were beginning to show up and it would have been a major disappointment for them and us if the show could not go on. We also asked No Style if they would like to play and they agreed.
We went back to Rob’s and cleaned the place out. The whole basement was filled. We tried to go back and forth song for song with No Style but they weren’t very tight and eventually we ended up just playing by ourselves. This is one of the first shows I can remember where I really went for broke. I got wild and scared the crowd as we whipped through a lot of covers — Gorilla Biscuits, ‘Hope’ by Descendants/Sublime and ‘Nike a-Go-Go’ by the Misfits during which I broke a string and got very crazy. I insulted the crowd very often and rapped ‘Knocking Boots’ by the Candyman and the crowd dug it. Right before we started, Union Jack and their crew showed up. I don’t remember if Matt asked to play or not, but I told him that he had better leave. He did so promptly, and the show went on.