We wake up, and the dogs are all walking around me and being annoying. Billy is up too, and he makes people coffee. His roommate asks if he’s heard what’s happened. Billy says “no” and his roommate says “someone flew a plane into a building in Austin.” It takes me a second to remember that we’re like 5 miles away from Austin. We turn on the TV and it’s all over the news. Some guy intentionally flew his small plane into an IRS center in Austin. Cool? I dunno. No one was kiled, so I guess that’s good, although impossible. I make a joke about how “this is what people get when they let the Atom Age play in cities” and say that we should tell everyone that that guy was at the show last night. For those people who don’t know, that guy was at the show last night. He really was. Promise.
We pack up and get ready to leave. I get to take another towel less shower. Doing jumping jacks in the bathroom is an effective way to dry yourself, but it takes awhile. We thank Billy for everything, and we head out. In the van, we say that if we would want anyone in the world to be our manager, we would want Billy. Our drive is to Houston today. Also, today is the day we get the album. Finally. The drive to Houston is only a few hours, nothing terribly exciting.
We pull into FedEx parking lot, and Ryan goes inside and comes out a few minutes later with a box. We bust it open in the van, and there it all is. 150 copies of our first release. We all grab a digipack, and Ryan opens up one and puts it in the car stereo to check to see if the tracks are all correct. They are, everything seems to be in order. Ryan ejects the disc and says “if you guys want to listen to this, you can. I almost committed suicide mixing and mastering this, and I never want to hear it again.”
We head from there over to the venue. Walter’s On Washington. Tonight is our first ska show of what will soon be many. We’re also playing our first show with “The Real Deal” from Canada. We go inside Walter’s, and there’s a pretty big stage and a bar and a place for merch. It’s not a big space, but they use the space well. You could fit a few hundred people in here, but the max capacity says something ridiculous like 150. We load in and set up merch, and sit around for awhile. I sample my new hot sauces, and encourage everyone around me to, as well. People start showing up, and I guess we’re playing first, so we set up. I get a mic tonight. Joy!
We play our set, and I think we’re sounding good. The past few nights have been solid; I think we’re basically in tour mode so the playing won’t vary too much from here on out. Playing first sucks, and the crowd is small. But, someone’s got to play first. There’s only 3 bands tonight, anyways. We seem to get a good response, some people pick up the brand new CD. Hooray!
The Real Deal are setting up, and Peter tells me that they’re a pop punk band, so I should like them. Ok, cool. They play sort of an MxPx-style skate punk, and they are completely ridiculous on stage. The lead guitarist is the most goofy guy I’ve ever seen play ever. It’s to a whole ‘nother level. They do the whole Blink 182 stupid stage banter stuff that lots of these types of bands do. But, I like them. I miss skate punk, and their songs are good and it takes me back in the day. The rest of the band can’t take it though. They think it’s the cheesiest music, ever. Ryan says that this makes The Leftovers look like 3 Inches Of Blood. We have at least 5 more shows with these guys, which I’m excited for, but the rest of the band isn’t. Sucks to be them. After their set, I thank them for playing and told them that I really liked them and I was glad that we would be having a few more shows together.
I go outside to talk to Danny. I talk to her for longer than I originally thought, and I missed the ska band that played last. This is fine, I’m seeing them tomorrow, too. After I get off the phone with Danny, I help load out, and ask if we’ve got a place to stay tonight. Peter and Ryan say we don’t. I kind of roll my eyes, and think “there’s got to be someone here that will let us crash with them”. The reason we don’t have a place to stay is because we don’t try at all to find a place. I go inside and talk to a few people, and they direct me to the bass player of The Failed Attempt (the ska band I missed). She tells me that we can probably stay with her brother, and she gets a hold of him and works it out. Awesome.
So we finish loading out before we all hop in the van. The guy gives us his address, and because we have GPS, we get food before we follow the directions to his place. He lives in a gated apartment complex, and Ryan is worried about leaving the van inside overnight, because there are signs saying “We Will Tow You” and the van and our trailer take up like 4 parking spots. The guy meets us outside, says that the parking situation is fine, and we head inside his apartment. It’s a small place, and we all get setup in the living room. The guy says that we have to be out by 9:30 the next morning. That’s insanely early for us, so we decide to get some sleep.
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