Show #1: Smiler Coogans, Chicago

Our first show. I remember putting all of our equipment in a back area of the bar and watching over it until we played. It was interesting that Sabu (the East Indian owner of the bar) had told us not to even be there until 12:00. None of us were 21 either and he could have not let us play. The bar was packed and the only band I watched was Damaged Justice who was a Metallica cover band and a pretty good one at that.

I remember that when we played our set (which was pretty fucking bad, being that it was our first show) I pulled some jumps at some very inopportune times. I only had the one guitar at the time and luckily I didn’t break any strings. I started the ritual of lying down on the ground in front of the stage and playing in a rage. It was especially fun because the ground was very filthy and sticky and I could feel myself being peeled off when I got up. We didn’t even get to start until about 2:30 AM and we didn’t get home until about 3:30. A few people did come to see us though. We made a great flyer with a picture of a guy smoking crack.

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