Show was our 3rd time at Smiler Coogans. It was promoted by Rebel Radio as ‘Inkfest’. Tattoo parlors had artists on hand representing, giving tattoos right there. I considered getting one a couple weeks in advance then decided against it 2 days before the show. The headliner was Ace of Spades, a Motorhead tribute. Another band that played was Chainsaw Johnny. They played old school hardcore like G.G. Allin. Speaking of which, we had our G.G. tribute song, “Excessive” in the set list. As we were playing I could see that someone in the crowd was wearing a G.G. shirt. I gave a speech about G.G. and him and his crew were all cheering. Half way through, during a break in the song, I called the guy up (who later ended up to be in Chainsaw Johnny) to say the line, “…and then he burned her!”. He sang it after some instruction but then held the mic into the breakdown. He started repeating the line and it was good then I motioned with my head for him to replace the mic in the stand for me. He did and we finished the song. Set was great. Met a guy from Ace of Spades later and he gave props. Many people did. It was a great crowd. I got the guy from Ace of Spades address to send him some CD’s for him and a friend. Lonnie, the owner of Skin Gallery in Downers Grove and the guy who later tattooed me, reeled me in like a fish with the line, “Oooohhhh…look at that virgin skin! You need some ink, baby!”. I told him what I wanted and he said $100 which I thought was very fair. I got a card from him and said maybe I would come to get it done. Within 2 minutes I was getting cash from an ATM and getting the shit done right there. Came out great.
Category: hanson park
Show #8: Smiler Coogan’s, Chicago
This was Leo Toal’s (the drummer for Eternal Bliss) birthday. Looking back, we still sucked pretty bad at this time. I have the video and we are very boring on stage, or at least I am. Of course Farmer played with us and that got the place screaming. Yellow Snowmen were totally nuts with 2 singers. Since then they have become more ‘punk’ and got rid of Tony Ridzon who was one singer. Bad move on their part. But they’ve played the Fireside and other shows with bigger bands like Apocalypse Hoboken and Operation Cliff Claven so what do I know.
We opened with Raymond and Rob’s snare was loose and fell apart right away. I never have really felt stupid on stage before but that was pretty fucking bad. I wanted to yell at Rob and still do but I guess it’s not really his fault.
Eternal Bliss played their last show that night despite numerous attempts to get back together. Personally, I hope they never do. Rob made the very good analogy of trying to get back with an old girlfriend so many times and you just break up again and argue and fight. It’s very true.
At the end of the show, we wanted to get paid and a lot of people had showed so we figured we would. Sabu told me that he needed a certain amount for himself which I have no problem with and that he had only made $15 over that amount so he wouldn’t pay us. I still know that he was lying but I told him to give me the $15 and split it $5 a band and although he was very shocked and pissed off, he gave it to me. We bought 2 Gatorades and a Snapple or something and it was gone. Joe and Washburn from Pie in the Sky also came to this show which I thought was weird. It was cold and Washburn didn’t wear a jacket for some reason so I gave him my sweater and I still laugh when I see the photos with him in the crowd wearing my sweater.
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.