ROUND I
September 20th T.T. the Bears – Cambridge, MA
Missed the set of our good friends in Devil Music because we weren’t aware they were playing but managed to take in a blistering set by Boston’s Neptune.
Regenerated in more ways than one but still cranking away at the home-made instruments, they’ve picked up a lot of intensity and punk since we saw them last in 1998 or so. Loved them then for their atmospheric and spooky garage sound, love them now for their explosive destructo aesthetic.
After the show we found Jane to be puking intensely in the bathroom. “I’m not even drunk,” he complained bitterly. And deservedly so. We were about to drive all night to London, ON—no one should be forced to drive for 10 hours straight after 6 pukes. We’re betting on the roast duck that he ate earlier in the night.
He’s OK now ‘cause by dinner that evening he was drinking a crazy shake at a Thai place where we ate.September 21st Call the Office – London, ON
After an all night drive that I still haven’t recovered from, we arrived in a desolate example of Canadian architecture. Met up with The Constantines—a great Canadian band who we shared some shows with in the US in August.
As we were setting up on stage for sound check, Bobby grabbed his knee and screamed in agony. Another man down? Looked like it. It gave him an excuse to sit out on the driving and loading of gear—but we’re looking out for him.
We played with The Black Halos, a Vancouver-based band on Sub Pop who impressed us with their young fans. They arrived early and bought much of their merchandise.
The drummer for the Japanese opener Electric Eel Shock played one of their songs with four drum sticks.September 22nd El Mocambo – Toronto, ON
Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and Oneida? Naw—we saw the room where they performed last time we were there. The booking guy, Dan Burke, showed us the room after we played in front of a whopping 12 people. We tried to give him back his guarantee but he refused. We compromised and eventually gave him $40 back. This was in 1999.
This time with the local heroes The Constantines drawing many women with bangs, the place almost sold out and Dan B. gleefully approached us after the gig and returned that $40 we paid him back last time. Wow. Apparently we were the only band he’s ever dealt with who returned some of the guarantee when we didn’t draw very well. “A perfect end to the story,” he said. Sure ‘Nuff.
September 23rd Trasheteria – Guelph, ON
A particularly drunken set, fun at times, not so fun at others.
We emerged relatively unscathed to a largely indifferent crowd, but it was a crowd nonetheless thanks to The Cons—I think this was their best set of our short tour.
During “People of the North,” Molly poured a beer on my head because I hit her in the face with a piece of lemon earlier that evening. I didn’t mean to hit her in the face but I did mean to hit her. Oh well. I was sticky even after a shower.
Watched a lot of "Groundhog’s Day". Bill Murray is a genius.September 24th The Raven – Hamilton, ON
A night of madness, especially since it was a Monday.
The opening band, ZYON, was truly a mixture of all that is terrible and ineffable about goth and emo and “ambient Goth” or whatever the fuck you want to call it. Smoke machines, 40+ candles, “my Daddy bought this” gear, and Hugo Boss black T-shirts, and a Neal Peart inspired drum set all competed with what? The music? I can’t remember it—I was too busy laughing.
But seriously. I guess they got into a fight with the promoter afterwards. And I’m sure they hated our set as well, I could hear them making fun of The Constantines when they started their set. No matter, because once Bryan stepped out onto stage, totally naked with an “Oneida” markered across his chest I knew they’d been outdone.
Anyway— that was our last show with those guys and I loved them all. Hopefully we can do it again…
ROUND II.
September 25th Kingston
This college show was dead to the world but we were treated well by the booking guy. We got paid well, got money for food, had a great meal at this place in town and were given a motel room. So much for rock ‘n roll lifestyle—we ate ice cream and watched E! when we got in from the show. I fell in love with Erin, a staff member of the college activities board. Her favorite bands are the Stones and Sloan. That’s Canada for you.
September 26th Zaphrod Beeblebrox – Ottowa, ON
When we pulled into this beautiful city we could hardly believe our eyes. After a week of lousy Canadian architecture Ottawa blew everything away, including most American cities. So what’s wrong with Ottawa? I guess they don’t like rock. There were about 15 people at the show and we weren’t listed on the fliers. Not that it would have made a difference. A dance party ensued after More Plastic’s fine set finished up. In Canada they dance to Pavement. We drove to the border after the show and were too tired to buy duty free Canadian whiskey.
September 27th Beachland – Cleveland, OH
Another pleasant surprise here—Beachland Tavern was a damn special place. Good people, good food, a woman sound person. It was alright. And even some friends of ours from Pittsburgh made the trip out. A nice freaky crowd, nothing to get mad at. I’d love to come back to this place.
September 28th Radio Radio – Indianapolis, IN
We were treated very well by the woman who put on this struggling festival. Only a few people came by to witness the fruits of Chicago prog and emo rock. A lot of bands that just did not make sense aesthetically with Oneida, but I’ll be damned if our label clowns didn’t show up and treat us nice. Once we ate a late nite dinner with them we knew were in fucking trouble, these people are out of there minds—and not only because they put out Oneida records.
September 29th Detroit Contemporary – Detroit, MI
What a great show! Let me begin by saying that we met a wonderful woman at the Cass Cafe who ended up being in Slumberparty. Her name was Leigh and we all fell for her hard. She even came to the show later.
But I think we need to talk about Violent Ramp—the most hilarious rock band ever conceived. True skate punk believers singing songs about Pedro and the Ann Arbor skate sites. They set up a ramp in the venue and people were “launching the ramp” all show. Even Bobby’s heckles were silenced by their drummer John who noted that he wasn’t out there grinding. So I guess Baby Jane had to step up to the plate for the band. After a few whiskeys and whatever else was going on Jane took the ramp outside the venue after the show. He blew out his knee and could barely walk for a few days. Bummer. But I guess someone had to take a hit from Violent Ramp.
Wolf Eyes forwent beats during their set and brought the noise. A great night for us. A highlight.
September 30th 7th Street Entry A – Minneapolis, MN
12 hour drive to this fine city fucked with our minds a bit, but as usual the Minneapolis folks loved the rock. A pleasure—but I was so tired I can barely remember most of the night. The Thai food that the other guys ate messed up their insides —we’re all getting sick. Playing every night is insane but I’m loving it.
October 1st Gabe’s Oasis – Iowa City, IAI think it might be a good idea to change the name of this venerable institution. Oasis it ain’t, but then again I don’t know Iowa that well. Highlight of Iowa City was our friend Lewis and The Hamburgh Inn—the best pancakes we’ve ever had on tour.
ROUND III.
October 2nd Tornado Club Corral Room – Madison, WI
Holy shit, this night was a fucking mind blower. Arrived in town and realized we were playing in a party room below an upscale steak house a stone’s throw from the capital bldg. Though the walls were made of flimsy teak when you tapped on them, it looked like an old gentleman’s’ smoking lounge. So as you might imagine, we were thrilled. The window of the steak house had a hand-screened Oneida poster made by some locals artists—an amazing design with a skull dotting the “i” in “Oneida.” We knew we were in great hands.
The place was called The Corral Room (I think) and our host Carl arrived soon after we began to load in and took us to a great Nepalese joint for dinner, assuring us that there would be people at the show. And even if there wasn’t this would have been one of the most memorable night of the tour—mainly because the first band, Digibot, was an incredible mass of Mid-western inspiration. A four piece with a possessed man in a yellow Hawaiian shirt, long hair and Tevas on vocals, they improvised a number of 70s-style punk songs with lyrics about “martial law” and “nuclear bombs.” Maybe just a fraction behind Violent Ramp in terms of immortality (see the Detroit entry) this band assured us that cold war paranoia and political commentary was still alive and well in Capital City. I also enjoyed the hell out of the band which followed us—I’m forgetting their name right now—I hope they forgive me. But anyway—the place was packed—I think about 100 people were there—and we’re talking a Tuesday night! A perfect antidote to the Iowa City show.
October 3rd River West Commons – Milwaukee, WI
I was kind of excited about this show, I have to admit. I had heard that the band Neon Hunk (who had set up the show) was very cool and I had also never been to the town before.
As we were eating dinner we noticed a huge line of youngish people waiting to enter a theater. “Sold Out” signs covered the doors—so I had to check it out. It was fucking Godspeed You Black Emperor. This did not bode well for our “house show.”
When we arrived at the Neon Hunk house, I met the band for the first time—a friendly couple—Jennifer and Andy—who informed us that they had decided that day not to set up anymore shows in Milwaukee because no one really cared about their band. Unfazed, we loaded into the Riverwest Commons a little after 10pm, an empty bar with a stage and a small PA. Andy started off the night with a barrage of electronic noise which puzzled the few patrons at the bar, but they stuck around as we set up our gear.We proceed to play our insanely loud set and drove everyone out of the bar including the owner/bartender. I guess that was kind of a victory of sorts. After we finished he informed us he was closing the bar for the night and Neon Hunk could not play.
I was disappointed mainly because we hadn’t seen their set—but we went back to the Hunk house and watched a video of a recent show they had played in Chicago. They are a great band and need to be seen—a drums and electronics duo of extraordinary freakish originality, described to me as “Japanoise.” Not really accurate but their costumes seemed to come from the set of “Godzilla Vs. Megalon.”
Milwaukee —shame on you for supporting Canadian symphonic emo. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
October 4th Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
Alright— this made up for the chaos of Milwaukee.
Was pissing cold rain when we arrived and Crazee wiped out as we rushed to load our gear through the downpour. A big hairy cabinet fell on his hand and now it turns out that I’m the only member of Oneida without a debilitating injury. But everyone is getting better, I swear.
Played with Baltimore’s fantastic Lovelife and was thrilled because they seemed to like us as well. They do a punk, Goth thing—great front-woman with a nasty range and tough rhythm section—just fucking hard rock. Victory at Sea opened the show with a hard and fast set, and we followed them up with one of our best sets of the tour.
Afterwards I met up with Plastic Crimewave and his rhythm guitarist Caryn (this is not her “stage name” and I might have spelled it wrong but whatevs). Played with those folks in BKLYN with Acid Mothers Temple and enjoyed the hell out of their set. Glad to see and chat with them both. Plastic hand draws a mind-blowing psychedelic magazine which is in the van right now and I’m an asshole not to remember the full name of the mag, but it includes “Zoo” in its long title (maybe enter the keywords “Zoo” and “psychedelic” into Google). Mojo just ran a feature on him and the incredible mag. Think guitar god trading cards and you’ve only cracked the surface.
90 Day Men transcended the Chicago math/prog ghetto with their set. A highlight for sure.
October 5th Second Story – Bloomington, INRolled into Bloomington (home of our label Jagjaguwar) after an amazing meal of fried chicken and strawberry shortcake at Gray Brother’s Cafeteria and saw the label’s new warehouse, which they bought with the money they stole from our record sales.
We only had a few minutes to decompress before we were shuttled over to the college radio station to blast through a set on the air—cool thing about it was that it was also a free show that about 80 kids showed up to see. I think we didn’t fuck up too bad.
Then we loaded up our gear and went immediately to the club to play our show with Trans Am and Pines of Nowhere. Damn, what a bill. Pines rocked hard and fast straight off and Trans Am encored with my fave “Play in the Summer” from the recent Red Line. Great show which only made for a better dance party which went respectively from a club to the street with our van as the sound system, to Casey’s house (a Jagjag intern who really represented with a “Marc Bolan Lives” T-shirt and a cassette copy of “Power, Corruption and Lies”). By the time I returned to Jonathan’s house to crash I had danced to Roxy Music and Brian Eno —with much pleasure. It was 5am.
We woke up at 9am the next morning to play a set for a video. That was so fucking hard. So hard. We were trying to rock as hard as Elvis Costello and the Attractions but ended up being so damn burned out that I barely remember what the hell happened. I know that we had a little bit of breakfast and that we drove 6 hours to:
October 6th Riback Ranch – Columbia, MOOur great friend Tripmaker set this show up and it was another triumph of his twisted psych-damaged mind. His band Rocket Drone ruled the hell out of the opening set—a little bit of Suicide, a little bit of Hawkwind and a whole lotta love went into that shit—and I still want to hear more.
Austin’s Zulu as Kono played an intense set and we tried to bring the psychedelia to the people—I hope we succeeded. Friendly band She-Bangs was nice enough to leave Mojo’s where they were playing with Nashville Pussy and catch our set. The band played with them in Richmond when I was sick—but they didn’t introduce me to them. Sometimes I have to remind these guys about their manners.
Later that night there was a party at Trip’s house so of course I didn’t get any sleep because we had to drive 11 hours the next day to:
October 7th Rubber Gloves – Denton, TX
I am writing this at 3:30am—the fellas are watching "Stargate" and the show went pretty well. I think this “no days off” policy is slowly eating away at my reserves of whatever I have, but tomorrow our drive is short.
The opening band tonite was called Faux Fox and the synth/pop/Goth was hilarious— the beats were truly stern and the stage presence was nice and awkward (on purpose). Enjoyed it mucho but my mind was on the war so shit was kind of fucked up in my head. Hard to gear up and play rock and roll when I’m hearing about all the shit on the news. . .
ROUND IV.
October 9th Emo’s – Austin, TX
Yeah— so I leave Denton with good memories and a couple of Julian Cope books under my arm. After reading much about Julian’s adventures in mid-70’s UK punkdom I take the wheel to finish the drive to Austin. In horror I feel the acceleration drop from 70 to 0 in about 2 minutes all the while announcing to the rest of the boys that “We’re fucked.” “What?” says Jane from a reclined position in the back seat. “We’re fucked,” Bobby enlightened. The van rolls to a clumsy stop off the nearest exit, we call AAA and expect the beginning of a disaster like our punted “Come On Everybody Let’s not Tour” Tour in late 2000. Even though we had just learned that Dave Davies of the Kinks receives alien visitors these days, we weren’t expecting our own angels to arrive this time. Bobby’s miracles had been many so far and he had already explained that he had no more deposited up his ass so we left it all to the fates.
And the fates wove a pleasant tapestry that day, I’ve got to admit. Our tow pulled us to a town called West a few miles north of Waco, a Czech enclave with so many mom and pop eating places that we felt at least in decent hands in that department. The folks at the garage went right to work on our van, put in a new battery and we were soon sitting down to a meal of kraut, schnitzel and chicken and dumplings that rated quite high in our roadfood ratings system (maybe more on that later). It was the beginning of what has been an epic and storied birthday of Baby Jane which ended last night at the emergency room of Georgia Baptist Hospital but that’s another story.
October 10th Rudyard’s – Houston, TX
The Those Peabody’s show that never was. . . those poor guys didn’t get out of Austin in time to make the three hour drive to Houston and ended up being barred from playing by the promoter when they arrived. In the mean time we had gotten a great meal, watched “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, and been told that since they never did shows on Wednesdays, they weren’t surprised that no one was there.
Well— there was one head at least—he bought all of our stuff, invited us back to his house to crash and gave, yes GAVE, Jane a Memory Man (basically the Oneida signature pedal) because we paused to admire it when we arrived. Just another bit of kindness for Jane’s epic birthday celebration. I’ve got to say, it beats being stuck in Panama City Beach, Florida with a broken van which happened last year during my birthday, but then again, my knee isn’t in a pressure cast so I’m not going to complain anymore (oh wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here).
We left the club after telling Those Peabody’s that we’d see them in Jackson the next day. Little did we know that we were being a bit optimistic about the health of our van. . .October 11th Martin’s Lounge – Jackson, MS
So we left Houston in great spirits, sometimes a augur of bad things to come. Eric Burdon was singing about young cop/old cop on the stereo during a torrential rainstorm, we were quizzing ourselves on hit songs from our Billboard Top 40 book and we were still feelin’ good about our great breakfast when I felt the van begin to die again. The battery was dead, the alternator was bad and Bobby had been right all along about it. Of course I thought he was being paranoid about that loud clicking sound which emerged from beneath the hood everytime we accelerated. But I was just ignoring the truth. We found ourselves about 40 minutes outside of Houston with an 8 hour drive ahead of us and no time to spare. We were fucked, the show was a bust, spirits hit the ground and we wrote off Jackson like it never was gonna happen. But we went ahead with calling the tow truck and waiting for the debt to start to climb.
Then this tow fella arrived who decided to be cool, he charged up our battery and told us to drive hard to this town about 10 miles up the interstate which specialized in electrical work. Maybe we could make the show after all. . .
Sure enough, a bad alternator was the diagnosis. Bobby remembered it costing about $500 to replace in his other car, we were seriously bummed. The shop was busy, the guy said it would be hours before he could work on the van and he could give us no good steers for food. So we started down the road towards this Mexican place and . . . ran into a hand painted sign for Duke’s B-B-Q. OK. Prognosis good. The place was amazing and hidden by the railroad tracks.
Stomach’s full, we figured if the van was finished we could maybe make the show if we drove like idiots. And. . . the van was finished and cost us $70. Where the hell are we?
Driving long and hard we arrived at Jackson at 10:50pm – with an hour before our set. After the show a good old boy was yelling “Sheets of Easter” back at us and saying “If I could fart on stage and yell “Blah, blah, blah, blah’ I could make some money too.” We all agreed that we’d pay a shit load to see this bearded weirdo play “Sheets of Easter” and fart on stage. Can’t wait.
October 12th Splash – Mobile, AL
Erik, our booking agent at Kork, had already informed us that this show was canceled but there was word that XBXRX might be having a house party that Those Peabody’s could play, so at the very worst, Wintzel’s Oyster House would serve as our food destination and a party would be our desert. Not a bad scenario —so we drove to Mobile to take our chances.
Turned out that the house party thing was a rumor but Splash was willing to have us play despite the fact that had already canceled our show. It was so weird that we went ahead with it. Maybe we’re perverse.
Splash was an unremarkable place in downtown Mobile, as quiet as a morgue but staffed with a nice bunch of people. Chris and Steve from XBXRX and their father showed up at the club to watch our set, which brought the total attendance to about 5 or 6 people. We still put on a good show, as did Those Peabodys. Of course we play the best when the stakes are lowest. The club owners loved the sets and promised a serious oyster bash the next time we’re in town.
We then spent the night at Chris and Steve’s dad’s house, which was large and clean— unusual tour sleeping arrangements. Thanks to all of the XBXRX clan.
October 13th Echo Lounge – Atlanta, GA
Bobby and I attempted to become “Wizards, true stars” by answering questions in the Test Your Rock IQ—The 70’s by Ira Robbins but only managed to squeeze 1976 points out of a possible 2500. Not a bad score, but our classification was so degrading—I guess we “have the music in us.”
We passed the book onto Jucifer—who were a pleasure on all fronts—as people and rockers—their set was amazing. Ed, the drummer, was seen jogging in place before he hit the stage—with a bandana wrapped around his head. Who would have thought that they were also hippies?
The set seemed to go over pretty well, but as I was rocking the final section of “Double Lock Your Mind” to its inevitable, mind-numbing conclusion, I saw Baby Jane jump headlong into the crowd and then a few minutes later he gave me the throat cut sign from in front of the stage.
I ended the song and began breaking down my gear, but Jane had disappeared without breaking down his gear. Even though he’s on the injured list, he always packs up his equipment for us to move off stage. I wondered if he thought the set terrible or if he was manning the merch table. As I exited the stage I stumbled across his bent form clutching his knee with a pale and agonized expression.
“It really hurts,” he explained needlessly.
We decided we needed to get him to the hospital right away, which for a handful of drunken idiots means about an hour and a half of debate and another half hour of missed connections. I volunteered to accompany Jane to the emergency room—I think it was about 2:30am by the time we piled into a taxi in the pouring rain. Despite it all, our visit to the hospital went off without much of a hitch. Jane was fitted with crutches and a velcro splint type of thing and was told that he needed to stop being stupid about his knee, you know, like stop jumping off 8 foot stages and such.
We arrived back at Jason W’s house to a loud improv rock set by Jason, Crazee and Bobby (it sounded amazing) and a kitchen which was filling up with the smoke of burning hamburgers. A large bottle of Makers Mark lay opened on the counter. “I’ve decided to take it easy on the partying lately,” our friend Jason explained to me earlier, while his bemused cousin looked on with a grin. “But now you guys are in town.”
Yes, Jason was still drunk the next morning at 2pm when we got up to get some “breakfast.” But he’s still a charming fella, even in an impaired state.
October 14th Red Rose Cafe’ – Murfreesborough, TN
A lightly attended set was made all the more pleasant by the enthusiasm of the few people at the Red Rose. It included a nice guy from Nashville who had seen our strange 1999 set with Brother JT in Memphis when Bobby was at his grandmother’s funeral and we played only Ramones songs. If that turned his head around I’ll never take a show lightly again.
Jane probably played his first ever seated rock show—and it didn’t seem to affect his performance. After the show a nice young man asked me if we had the album with the choir on it—our first knowledgeable purchase!
He also wondered if it was true that we “hated Tennessee” like he heard. Well, my dear friend, let’s just say that the story resides on our Steel Rod EP in the song creatively titled “Tennessee.” And we’ve got nothing against the state itself, I guess it would get a bit clumsy saying we have something against “Wilson County, Tennessee.” We love the state, trust us.
This was our last show with Those Peabody’s—and I’ve got to say—they got better each show (as is often the case when you tour)—and they always inspired me to rock, even in the most adverse situations (Mobile being a good example). Thanks to those guys and best of luck but they still have a lot to learn about eating good food on the road. Look back to the website in the future for a complete column about eating properly on the road.
ROUND V.
October 15th The Map Room – Memphis, TN
After playing in Memphis about 12 times over the last four years, we’ve finally begun to make an impression with the local rockers—but we’ve never managed to eat barbecue. Determined to sample the notorious Payne’s BBQ sandwich before we played an in-store at Shangri-La Records, we took off early from Murfreesboro and drove deliriously through some Tennessee mountains that morning.
We’d read about Payne’s in a number of different places—our reference book "Roadfood" being one and the liner notes of Sonic Youth’s "Washing Machine" being another—so we figured it was at least worth a visit.
Residing in a converted gas station in what was described to us later as "the ghetto" (seemed nice enough to us), Payne’s delivered on all levels— atmosphere (a dull red painted dining area, smokey and almost windowless), charm (a server who loudly hacked up the pork shoulder with a cleaver after we ordered) and of course good old meat (savory pork with vinegary slaw dumped onto a slightly toasted white bun).
A couple of sandwiches later we found ourselves at Shangri-La for a misleadingly named "in-store."Treated very well by the staff, we were told to set up on the porch facing the street —a much better option then playing among the stacks. As we played the sun set in Bobby’s eyes and a few cars slowed to take in our flailing.
Our friend Chris W. called us at the store and told us he’d scored two tickets for us to go to see the Memphis NBA team—but we didn’t go. Instead we loaded into The Map Room basement as the night turned bitter cold. Before the show a man in a wheelchair came into the club and told the bartender he was having a heart attack. Then he went back outside while the tender called an ambulance. A few minutes later he was back asking for a light for his cigarette—having forgotten about his emergency.
For a Monday night there was a sizable, enthusiastic crowd—and I found that despite being totally exhausted, we were able to muster out our second decent set of the day. We then headed out with friends and closed a local brewery. We’re stupid. Though I was the designated driver as usual. A few days later we received an email from one of the people we were partying with, telling us that he had blacked out after we said goodbye and woke up naked with a girl. Should I be telling you this?
October 16th Pilot Light – Knoxville, TN
The last time we played in Knoxville, we were limping through our notorious fall 2000 "Come On Everybody Let’s Not Rock Tour," with a broken van and the embers of 6 canceled shows at our back. The show was a pleasant surprise— nice people, a good band, an enthusiastic crowd—so we assumed it was a fluke and prepared ourselves for the worst this time around.
We needn’t have worried. Miraculously, Jason, the owner of The Pilot Light, turns out to be a big fan of Oneida. We were booked with a great and popular local band called Bitter Pills who obliged us when we requested to open for their crowd. After our set, which seemed to me to be a little haggard, Jason jumped up at the mike with a prepared speech in hand—the gist of it being that Oct 14th would always be "Oneida Day" in Knoxville. I don’t think I could have come up with a better compliment. Plus, the club bathrooms were covered with graffiti which read, "Chicago Sucks." Strange sentiment but true enough.
We can’t wait to return to this town.
October 17th Caledonia – Athens, GA
Ummm— you’re not going to believe this but . . . we spent the night at the bassist from Widespread Panic’s house. Holy shit dude—he has a lot of basses. And surprise—he loves the Grateful Dead!
It’s cool if you don’t believe me, but our friend who works the sound at the Caledonia (sometimes) took us there after the show and after we ate Polish sausage with Comeback Sauce (because you keep "coming back for more"!) and after Crazee met Humpty from the Digital Underground who was playing at the 40 Watt Club up the street and wearing a Jamaroquai type of hat. Some UK, west coast cross pollination? I guess Humpty was too busy hanging with some PYT to give Crazee much face time—but I know he was respecting. And can I just say that I’m bummed out that so many people were at the Digital Underground show? Please. Fucking get a grip.
We also heard some gossip about the sessions for REM’s album "Reveal". Dude! THEY HATE EACH OTHER NOW! I THINK PETER BUCK IS GOING TO QUIT THE BAND! OK —I’ll stop saying "dude" after this entry but I’m serious about staying at the Widespread pad. We need to consider going into this jam band thing. (Note to Oneida: learn "Creampuff War" off the first Dead album.)
Also—saw more Tenacious D videos. I’m sorry if I’m a latecomer to this bandwagon bit I love that shit. Played with our friends Je Suis France—good to see those good freaks again.
October 18th King’s – Raleigh, NC
See photos from the show.
This show is kind of a blur for me. Our friends Cobra Clutch and The Dragstrip Syndicate burned up the stage before we went on. Cobra seemed kind of bummed though because their singer bailed out on the band that day and decided not to play the show. Not the easiest of scenarios to deal with—but they persevered.
I think the road battle was really taking its toll on me at this point. I remember playing some Asteroids, getting schooled by Bobby in foosball and thinking the water tasted horrible—but I don’t remember a lot about the show—or the aftermath.
It was really fucking cold and I just wanted to sleep late, but there was a clanking coming from the van so we needed to get up at the break of dawn to take it to the shop to get fixed. Another classic three hours of sleep kind of night.October 19th Go! Studios – Chapel Hill, NC
See photos from the show.
After getting the van "fixed" for $10 (it was a bad tire), sleeping through most of Iron Monkey (kung fu I think), appearing on WXDU and eating at Bullock’s Barbecue (where a photo of Bullock and Todd Rundgren greets you as you exit the bathroom), we arrived in Chapel Hill in time to look fruitlessly for a Runaways’ record that Jane looked for the entire tour (send their first album to us right away) and wander aimlessly through America’s lamest college town (besides Iowa City, that is).
After we loaded into the club I decided to put in some ear plugs, cover my head with my jacket, and sleep on a couch.
We played with Destroyer, Summer Hymns and All Night—which featured a former member of The Mercury Birds, a band that I love—but who has no official recordings out. All Night is great southern rock, served up unpretentiously.
We returned to Raleigh and stayed with some nice people who had a Great Dane and lots of Blue Oyster Cult stuff. I went to sleep early so I missed the video of BOC’s live show—I guess it was amazing. We used to play "Don’t Fear the Reaper" —I sometimes feel like it was the best hit song on top 40 radio. Of course that’s absurd. The best hit song ever was "More Than a Feeling."
Opening up this evening was a band of lawyers who described themselves to me as sounding like the Replacements. My recommendation to lawyers everywhere: focus on writing briefs and let your clients make the rock.
Of course —a better opener did show up and decided not to play because their show wasn’t confirmed. The JJ Paradise Players Club (I think their name is longer but that’s cool), arrived after a long drive from Ohio and learned that an intern at their booking agency had dropped the ball and hadn’t confirmed the show. Turns out they live in Brooklyn too and are on Tee Pee Records. I’m sure they would have put on a better show than Ally McBeal and company.
Supported by a dude who called himself "braceface" and a nice sized crowd of faithful heads, we put on a show with an encore of our new song "Sheets of Easter." "That’s my jam," said a young looking guy. "Well, I mean you wrote it, but that’s my jam." Cool. I think "Sheets of Easter" is Richmond’s song from now on.
We stayed with our friend Ron, currently of The High Tone String Ticklers, who owns a house and was asleep by the time we got back. Of course, a couple of his friends arrived with us ready to party. Instead, we read the new Onion book. Seems like we always end the evenings with comedy—whether it’s planned or not.
October 21st Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
Well— it turned out that we were playing with some big name bands—or at least we were told they were big names. And yes, it turned out that they were really big. The Anniversary was the headliner and Superdrag was also on the bill— I guess the package just played Bowery Ballroom here in New York.
It was an early show and by the time we hit the stage at 6:15pm, the small club was packed to the gills with kids! Holy shit, we hadn’t played to an audience this young in a long time and when we said "Hello, we’re Oneida from Brooklyn, NY." A HUGE WALL OF WOOPS AND CHEERS CAME FROM THE AUDIENCE!This was gonna be so fucking huge! YES!
We launched into Richmond’s famous jam, "Sheets of Easter," which if you must know, is one note played for 15 minutes—and we took it out and fucking crushed the thing! Yeah! And we were met with the blankest stares I think we’ve ever received. Polite applause followed the song. Woah. This was a tough crowd.
We blasted through the set, played our hearts out—and realized that people cheered more loudly for "Brooklyn" than for our songs. Fair enough I guess since Brooklyn must have its share of emo bands. We got the picture when the following band hit the stage with a song called "Settle Down." I guess we had opened for an kindercore/emo type of thing.
But Superdrag was a rock band—and they were very well received. Well, I realized that I really couldn’t begin to understand kids—so I started drinking and finished the night downing an "Irish Car Bomb" (Guinness with a shot of Baily’s) with the rest of the bands. After that I called Bobby "Bobby Weir" and he literally tried to punch me. I jumped out of the van and ran around for a minute while he cooled down. In retrospect, I think he’s more of a Keith Godchaux.
We drove to an all night diner and I had three cups of coffee and a waffle and wondered why I had such a restless and anxious sleep.
October 22nd The Black Cat – Washington D.C.
After a wonderful day at Jane’s mother’s house in Fairfax, VA, we headed into our nation’s capital with low expectations.
The new space of the Black Cat had pretty terrible sound, but the people were friendly. We managed to drive away a sizable crowd who seemed to be there to see us. Oh well. I don’t know how this stuff works.
I think I remember more about the cable TV at Jane’s house then the show—but that’s how things are after 38 shows in 34 days.
October 23rd Tokyo Rose – Charlottesville, VA
I think of this town as a kind of home away from home—great people, freaky bands, great food. They always seem to indulge our best and worst qualities as a bunch of guys on tour. Haven’t showered in a few days? No problem—here’s some great sushi and free drinks all night.
The opening band needed to turn down the sucking by a factor of ten—which I didn’t really mind at that point in the tour—it was the fact that they filled the basement room with three or four cans of air freshener which really pissed me off. Of course, I just sat on a couch and just breathed the shit in, but whatever. The High Tone String Ticklers actually opened up the night with their great old time blues and folk songs, performed with great heart and authenticity. The next band was really cool but their name kind of sucks: The Order of the Dying Orchid. OK. But they rocked with ferocity.
Most of the band seemed to feel like we had a great set—I couldn’t tell—I was too burned out. We played a thirty minute improv encore which just about did me in.
Back at our friend’s house, I crawled into the basement for some sleep just after I heard some breaking glass and saw gouts of blood pouring out of Padow’s foot. I just didn’t want to know about it. (She was fine by the way—lest you think me callous).
I was kicked awake at 8:45am the next day (with tough love, of course) to drive back to NYC. Armed with a box of Spudnuts (a Charlottesville favorite—donuts made with potato flour) and a gut full of coffee, I drove a sleeping Oneida back to the arms of BKLYN—without much traffic the whole journey. Even when we arrived in NY at about 4:30PM!
Thanks to everyone who came out to these shows, thanks to Erik from Kork agency for making it happen and to the fellas and ladies at Jagjaguwar for looking out for us on the road. The tour officially ends this Sunday at NYC’s The Frying Pan with Erase Errata. Don’t miss it.
Spring 2002 (Part 1) »