This was a show that the Perps got us. We were pretty excited to play a show in a far away of a place as Rockford and it paid off. Hilger stole (borrowed) his company truck and it easily fit all the gear inside. We had a bit of trouble finding the place but we left really early and got there with plenty of time to spare. All we were told was that the ‘club’ was called ‘That One Place’. We were right nearby and we finally decided to ask someone for help. I walked up to a guy on the street with a huge Robert Smith haircut. Before I could even finish asking him my question, he replied that it was right down the block. He turned out to be James, the owner of the club. It was a very small storefront in a commercial district and there was a huge black nightclub next door. There were plenty of punk kids all around and since it was a Friday night, the club was open and there was a great mix of people. We saw some original graffiti on one wall outside –‘Korn is God’. We still joke about that one. The people at this place and in Rockford in general were so nice that I was a little scared. There was the doorman Russell who was a bit intimidating at first in an army fatigue jacket but he turned out to be real nice. The people out there were older but strangely very into role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. At one point we were standing outside and a group of guys was walking down the sidewalk past us. One of their friends who had been left behind asked where they were going. Someone in the group yelled out, “To play RPG’s!”. It took a minute for me to figure it out but when I did I was really concerned. These people were weird. The Perps failed to mention that we were expected to bring mics and a PA and we did not. Luckily, they found something for us to sing out of. There was another guy named George who worked there and was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He was hugging me and tackling me and shit during the Perps set — who rocked of course. He was like an old friend and I had only known him for a couple of hours. I was a little hesitant and scared when we got there, but we soon felt right at home. The Perps closed with, “Rockstar” and everyone was on the 1 inch high stage yelling and getting crazy. Totally intense. One of the opening bands was called Absolute Zero. That’s a pretty cool name but this band was awful. The guitarist sang and they covered “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. They had a very obese (about 400 pounds) lead guitarist. His guitar was normal but looked like a toy against his huge body. Their drummer seemed like he maybe had played about 10 times before the show. When they started, we were outside the club, they started and someone commented to me that the band sucked but their bass player was very experienced and really good. He played a 5 string and used a pick and sometimes his hand. He was so bad it hurt. He didn’t seem to know the songs at all and sometimes would play an open string about 1 minute of a song. At one point he just stopped playing to drink from a can of pop. Very weird. After the show we were starving so we stopped at a Ground Round restaurant. There aren’t very many of these left; I didn’t think there were any at all until I saw this one. Of all the places in the world, I should have known I’d find one in Rockford. Our waiter was equally as nice as everyone else in Rockford and may have been gay. I’m not sure. To top it off, I exchanged information with James, Russell and George but have not heard from them since. My attempts to contact them all failed. Maybe it was just a dream. We gave out a lot of CD’s to the locals though and I wonder if they still listen to them.