The Mighty Fine – 3rd ROAD BLOG from their “Slaters Revenge Tour 2012”

The Mighty Fine is on their “Slaters Revenge Tour” with The Shell Corporation. While on the road they will be writing periodic blogs for us. The third of the installments can be read after the break.

Day 8: Salt Lake City, UT (7/24)

The morning after our show in Boise proved to be a slow sobering welcome to my 26th birthday.   After a late late night, we woke up around 11 and realized we still had a good 6.5 hour drive.  We packed up camp and moved on out to SLC.  Up to this point in the trip, we’d hardly seen any high patrol. That is, until we made it to the Utah border.  After that, it seemed like every 5 miles cars had been pulled over with belongings taken out of the vehicles, being searched.   I know Utah enforces some pretty strict laws and regulations, but this definitely had me a little nervous.  It was also Pioneer Day (a huge Utah holiday), so I’m sure this heightened security throughout the state as well.

Luckily for us, we managed to make it to the Underground with no problems.  Before the show, we enjoyed ourselves with some chicken hot dogs and chili that we cooked up on the sidewalk.  And seeing how it was my birthday, Chris brought out this drum case from our trailer that I wasn’t familiar with before.  He had me open it up, and there were a handful of presents with a card attached.  It was from my darling girlfriend who had Chris sneak them into the trailer and hidden so I can have something special to open up on my big day.  What did I get you ask?   A bunch of rad shit!    A homemade crocheted blanket, a hot water music mug, a couple handful of records (Descendents, Riverboat Gamblers, The Sidekicks, Strike Anywhere, plus more), and some other goodies.  Boy, she’s a keeper!

This is our firs time playing The Underground.  Our friend Konrad who put the show on set us up with a sweet house show back in October.  And he did it again, we and Shell Corp felt welcomed.  Loved seeing some of our SLC friends that we’ve made over the past year.  A couple local openers kicked off the show, followed by our friends The Avenues.  They’re got a cool infusion of ska/punk going on.  This would be the last show we’d play with Shell Corp on this tour, and as per usual I was reminded how great those dudes are, as musicians and as friends.  Even with the fans running, it was quite hot and suffocating inside the warehouse.  Definitely felt the heat while we played.  Great show none the less.  We’d play the Descendents’ Hope one last time with Jan (he even had the Milo Aukerman get up going on).  Last, Konrad’s band Dr. Drug took over.  We’ve played with them a handful of times now, and each time they know how to get the kids skanking, moshing, etc.   Considering I don’t go to many ska shows, it was pretty wild seeing some skankin’ 2 days in a row.

We said our goodbyes to our SLC friends and Shell Corp by celebrating at Dee’s Diner in SLC.  Ordering breakfast at 11:30pm is in every way the best meal before heading out to Las Vegas.

Day 9: Las Vegas, NV (7/25)

We stayed at Konrad’s house, leaving pretty here to get a head start to Vegas.  The heat was rapidly starting to spike on our way there.  We opted for a hotel room for this night, and after some research I got us a descent place for $33.  Not shabby eh?  The next priority was to make sure we scored some buffet before the show.  Luckily our hotel, Main Street Station, had one downstairs.

Chris and I ventured through the 100+ degree heat over to the Golden Nugget where we swam in their large pool that has a shark tank and a water slide that goes to the tank.  Nothing like cooling off from the desert heat with 200 yelling kids.

The show was at Favorites Bar & Pizza.  This really awesome dude named Zabi opened the show.  He plays bass for Vegas’ Holding Onto Sound.  I’d heard a lot of good things about this band.  Zabi played an acoustic bass and sang with passion.  One talented dude.  I look forward to playing with his whole band.  Fredward was up next.  They were bar far the loudest band we’d played with.  Good thing they reminded me of Samiam.  I dug their tunes.  After warming up, we took stage in front of a small but entertaining Wednesday night crowd.  I’d say we played pretty damn well.  The show closed with TheCore.  Our buddy Brock plays guitar and sings in the band.  Sal (the other vocalist/guitarist) was the promoter as well, he’s a solid dude who plays in a solid band.  We’ve been so fortunate this tour to play with like-minded bands who understand what it’s like to be a small fish in a large pond.

After the show, Casey, Chris, Slater and I took to the streets of Old Las Vegas.

Day 10: San Diego, CA (7/26)

A 5 hour night of sleep definitely warrants more buffet.  Slater slept, Casey went to see a friend, and me & Chris pigged out again.  We took our time leaving the city.  The rising heat kicked our ass on the way to San Diego.  Fortunately, it cooled off a few hours before we entered SD.  The show was put on by our awesome friend Ziggy who runs Another Zeke Productions.  He’s one of the most welcoming, considerate, and kind hearted individuals I’ve ever met.  We got to Eleven (named after the Spinal Tap segment where the amp goes to 11).  A couple years ago I heard about this band called The Getdown.  They seem to always play with really good bands when they travel through San Diego.  I met Ryan from The Getdown a few months back through Ziggy, so I was excited to finally see these jam.

Be able to visit our good friends in each city is definitely something we do not take for granted.  Even if it’s just a day together, we make the most with our friends/family.  All in all, San Diego offered us a memorable night with The Getdown, our La Escalera Records family, and new friends.

Day 11: Pomona, CA (7/27)

Top of the morning to ya!  We stayed with Ryan of The Getdown in Carlsbad.  He took us out in the morning for breakfast burritos at a place called Cessy’s.  Hands down the best breakfast burrito I’ve had in years.  If you’re in the area, I highly recommend it.  Following breakfast, we body surfed in the ocean for a bit.  This was probably the only substantial exercise any of us got on this tour.  After Ryan parted, Chris napped, Casey & Slater walked around Carlsbad and I skated around a bit.  A pleasant way to round out our time in the San Diego area.

We got a good head start to Pomona. Since it’s Friday, the rush hour traffic is a truly huge bitch.  We made good time until we we hit the 71 near Riverside.  So many angry drivers.  Once we got into Riverside, we picked up our homeboy Party “Dang Girrrrl” Marty.  Marty puts on some of the best punk shows in the southern California region.  Before heading to VLHS (Vince Lombardi High School), we stopped by our buds in Horror Squad’s house.  Cupcakes, burgers, beer, and hot dogs were presented to us.  Along with those dudes, we got to finally meet Signals Midwest.   I’ve heard great things about them, killer band from Ohio.

VLHS is such a great venue.  It’s a warehouse in the middle of Pomona, where awesome people run it.  They make bands feel welcome, encourage everyone to meet one another and want everyone to have the best time possible.  Horror Squad opened the set, and they played “Pump It Up” by Elvis Costello (one of my all time faves).  Our friends in Dudes Night played a ripper of a set.  We came on for our last set, gave our all, and absorbed the last little bit of our tour.  French Exit and Signal Midwest closed out the show, playing crowd favorites, ending tour on a high note.  Since some of us had to work the next morning, we could only partake in a little bit of VLHS’s traditional post-show dance party.

Exhausted, yet satisfied, I can honestly say I would never trade these experience for anything else. Not everyone has the opportunity to tour, and even though we can’t get on the road as much as we’d like, we managed to make the most of what is offered to us.  I can only count the days before we do it again, bigger and better than the time before.  Cheers!