Team Robespierre just returned from a month long, country-wide tour. Here’s their story.
We spent the first leg of tour with our good friends Roxy Pain. Our bands are way different but we optimistically likened it to the first time Black Flag and The Minutemen toured together, and fortunately most folks “got it”.
The Midwest was a blaze of corn fields and Chick-fil-A. The kids out there definitely lived up to their reputation for hospitality. We played crammed in the corner of a skate shop/art gallery in Pittsburgh with free beer and a seemingly unplanned block party outside. Legion of Doom in Columbus is one of our favorite all ages venues, a sweaty basement that always brings the party-core. In Cleveland we agreed to play on stage at the Beachland Ballroom with our friends Pterodactyl and Jerk. By the middle of the set we couldn’t keep ourselves up there away from all the action on the dance floor.
The next stop was Chicago and that was definitely one of the tour highlights. We had the honor of kicking off the Mauled By Tigers fest, now in its second year. Some of our favorite bands played including Japanther, Dynamite Arrows, Toys That Kill, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and again, Pterodactyl. The energy at People’s Project (a DIY art gallery whose name says it all) was off the chain. Kids and bands from all over getting wild at 6pm. It was dope!
After spending a day barbequing and getting drunk at MBT fest we headed north for Detroit and Kalamazoo, MI. Detroit has this incredible house/show space called the Trumble-Plex with gardens and a chicken coup. Vivian Girls and Roxy Pain were on the bill and all these spikey punks went wild in the mosh pit. I seem to always get bruised up at the T-Plex. Folks from the band Bad Party (ex-members of Wolf Eyes) set up the show. They were awesome and partied hard with us. Kalamazoo has an incredible scene full of colorful kids and we met up with The Deathset for a show at the Rocketstar Cafe, which is owned by this great young dude named Clay. It was an afternoon show but luckily everyone was still in the mood to dance. With the show over by 7pm we had plenty of time to kick it in the apartment above the cafe and get drunk with the well dressed locals.
Minneapolis was next. Our friends from The Black Label Bicycle Club threw us an awesome house party. We played in the living room and the kids went crazy. The party went completely out of bounds and the folks who lived in the house seemed very excited to have something a little different then the usual MNPLS punk/metal/crust fare. Our friends Doric played also, they’re an incredible boy/girl duo with a crazy singing drummer named Elliot.
Next was the long journey across Idaho, Montana and Washington state. We stopped off in Missoula for a show which coincidentally included our friends Archaeopteryx and Animal, put on by Josh Vanek and Niki Peyton from Wantage Records. The ride through Washington state towards Olympia and Seattle was beautiful. In Oly we rocked this gay bar called Jake’s, marking the first time we’ve played a stage with a “cat walk”. In Seattle we played at The Funhouse, a super punk dive bar with our friends Eyes and Ears, who joined us for a few shows along the west coast. In Portland we played with an excellent GSL Records band called Attractive and Popular. They had cool sunglasses.
San Francisco was another tour highlight. Our first night in town we played on “The Bus” which is a bio-diesel powered bus that has some of the best shows in the Bay Area. This time however the bus was parked in a totally run down parking lot near the SF city dump and was part of a three-ring circus that included a Critical Mass after-party, a show by the bike circus “Cyclecide” and a sort of bike-burlesque review by the amazing Sprockettes. We played late in the night and the bus was overflowing with kids inside, outside and on top. The ceiling was probably only seven feet tall but that didn’t stop the crowd surfers. The next day we played at Thrillhouse Records, which is a rad new space akin to the old Mission Records. It’s a record store where these kids live and throw shows in the basement. That show was excellent as lots of folks from the night before came back to keep the party going.
The drive to LA was tough due to some car troubles but we made it just on time for our show at The Smell. Another favorite venue of mine. The Smell is a totally pro-run DIY space. It’s
big and sounds great but has all the ideals and grime of a punk house. The lineup that night was incredible, with Anavan (amazing GSL band), Foot Village (four drummers and folks from the legendary Friends Forever), La Coste (Death Bomb Arc electro stuff), Eyes and Ears and us. It was a Sunday night but a ton of folks still came out and we had a great time. Josh Taylor from Foot Village set up the show for us and he did a super job.
Our van died somewhere in the California desert and left us stranded for a couple days but we still had a good time. We ate a lot of Denny’s and got sloshed with the local railroad workers. We missed our official show in Denver but were able to reschedule it for the next day. With three hours notice we were totally thrilled at how awesome the show went. It was free and a few of the same friends’ bands were still able to play. It was at this total punk bar called Bar Bar and was super packed. We had a blast even though we could barely move during our set.
After Denver we hauled across the country and landed in North Carolina for three shows. Asheville, Greenville and Raleigh. Asheville kicked ass. We played in a vegan restaurant called Rosetta’s Kitchen. Tons of kids came out and requested songs and even sang along. It was so cool! The next two nights in Raleigh and Greenville were pretty much the same deal, lots of kids hanging out and having a good time. This was our second time in these towns so we were stoked to see that folks came back and even brought their friends. We drove straight home from North Carolina but that wasn’t quite the end. We had a little tour reunion on August 18 that consisted of a day trip down to Philly for Danger Danger’s annual birthday bash. It was a total fest with 13 bands including Mika Miko, Ill Ease and Capillary Action. Good times were had as 200 kids turned that little house upside down. Definitely my favorite show spot in Philly. Now we’re back home catching up with friends and have some pretty cool shows lined up with Japanther, VHS or Beta, Deathset, Numbers, Pterodactyl and others. The plan right now is to head down the east coast and make it all the way to New Orleans and/or Austin this winter time.
