Hi everybody, i’m Conan Neutron, I play in the band Replicator from Oakland, CA. There are many tour diaries, but this one is mine. Thanks to the SSC gang for asking us to do it here.
Touring involves driving.
A lot of driving…
A whole LOT of driving..
in fact I would say the ratio of driving to your destination vs. actual time playing music would be somewhere along the lines of 10:1. Many times there are times that you’d rather hear anything other then music. This is where modern technology kicks in. In our van, the Supernaut, we can not only listen to mp3 cds, but we have an FM modulator that lets us listen to ipods and SIRIUS among other things.This is a far cry from the last time we came out on tour this far, and didn’t even have a radio.
Todd also managed to get a copy of the audiobook of the brilliant, fascinating, almost maniacal and hilarious Robert Evans autobiography “the kid stays in the picture”. I can’t begin to truly do it justice, but imagine if you will the ultimate hollywood big shot type that has a story about everything, from getting Henry Kissenger to the opening of the Godfather, to which starlet he was having sex with, to which time he “put everything on the line” because he had a hunch that a movie would be a hit. Is it entertaining? You bet!
It turns out that our new friends Screaming Cyn Cyn and the Pons are playing a show in Phoenix as well, at Modified Arts. An old haunt of ours that’s an all ages venue downtown, since another friend of ours is also playing and it’s early show designed to be done in time so people can go to ours (and the Minibosses), then it’s a no brainer for us to check it out, really.
It’s 109 degrees in Phoenix, and boy howdy, can you ever feel it.
It’s Hell’s furnace kind of weather, and you have to do what you can to keep cool.
After wandering about trying to find sundry items and attempting not to melt we end up eating and heading over to Modified for the Screaming Cyn Cyn/Roman Arms show.
The first band is good, Emperors of Japan, drums, bass and synth, they remind me a bit of Brainiac, Early Enon, perhaps some shiner. They still need a little development, but I like what I hear for sure. I would definitely see them again/play with them.
Screaming Cyn Cyn however are badass, the audience seems more receptive tonight and they really tear into things. I have to say that they are a hell of a lot of fun to see live. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but i’ll need to sort through them later…
Roman Arms have a much more mellow sound then Hotfoughtcold, but their atmospherics and spacey effects were a nice counterpoint to the melodic heaviness that they threw down. I wish we could have seen their whole set, but we had our own show to play!
“Hi, we’re Replicator, we’re from Oakland, CA and we’re like a slug of whiskey on a hot saturday night”
Setlist:
King Shit of Fuck Mountain
Fashionably Latent
Payment Www.yzzz.rd
Delicious Fornicake
Warrior Needs Food, Badly
Login With My Fist
Originally we were going to play The Tiny Machines are (still) Out for Revenge, but cut it at the last minute.
So how did it go?
Very, very well, we thranged ‘em (which means we kicked ass in Replicator speak), people were into it, no major fuck ups or anything, and the audience was damn receptive. I stood on a few tables and chairs, there was a lot of jumping around, people were loving it. We were selling cds and shirts hand over fist, and of the many times we’ve played Phoenix, I feel like we’ve at last made a breakthrough.
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
We sold stuff to folks that wanted it, and before you know it, Phoenix’s finest The Minibosses were up and playing. For those not in the loop Minibosses, as the name probably implies, play video game music. As in, the actual music that was made for your favorite 8 bit games. Megaman? Yes! Castlevania? You bet!
It truly has to be heard to be believed as they manage to rock it out and pull it off in a way that really brings such simple (and often anthemic) compositions to life. Think, lots of harmony guitars and the crowd going apeshit.
I like the Ruby Room a lot, it’s a newer place, but it’s treated us very well thus far.
Consider it recommended.
We made our tentative goodbyes to Cyn Cyn and promised to stop in and see them in Madison at least, even if we don’t play again together this tour. Super nice folks and a rad band, go see them on the rest of their tour dates if you can.
We stayed at our friend Chad’s house, who used to play in the excellent band hotfoughtcold.
An actual house to sleep in with a shower is pretty much the picture perfect moment of heaven for an exhausted Replicator.
We made about $200 off the show itself, and another $100 in merch, not bad at all!
Pictures (aka: Sir not appearing in this picture)
An AZ prison that we always pass by, it always reminds me of some kind of futuristic compound:
Also, we write postcards… awww:
Day 3:
“dear texas, please don’t drag me or my bandmates behind you in a truck” -Chris
Since it wasn’t a sure thing that we could play the Atomic Cantina with Cyn Cyn, and we needed the rest, we ended up sleeping in.
I troubleshot Chad’s computer to optimize some settings and generally increase their performance.
Unfortunately since it looks like Oklahoma is mostly underwater right now, it’s kind of looking like that won’t be happening show wise. But that’s fine, we have options and are tentatively planning on just going to Memphis from Austin. No worries.
So after we say our goodbyes and hook Chad up with some sweet Replicator swag, we’re off!
As we have a certain image to hold up, we do indeed get on the internets in the Supernaut.
The Howard Stern show keeps us plenty entertained as we look around for a place to eat that’s not fast food. We find a nice mexican resteraunt in… well… hell… I don’t really know, somewhere past Tucson on the 10. Hah. We decide to band fund the lunch, since for the 4 of us, it’s $33. Now THAT I can get behind.
As we drive on, the weather cools down some, and we start to see some lightning in the distance. Exciting.
As an aside, ever since the tour started I had swore that I was going to pick up a hat on tour to wear, for functionality and style.
Luckilly… I found it!
Yup, that’s me with my Sheriff’s hat.
It amazes me too that you can buy fireworks in an AM/PM.
We loudly and vocally marvelled about this, to the amusement of the girl at the register. Hey man, we can’t even buy fireworks in the bay area, too many fires started, hands blown up and eyes put out.
Anyway, it’s not long before we finally make the crossover into the border.
The sign says:
“Welcome to Texas, Proud home of President George W. Bush”
That truly speaks volumes doesn’t it?
After a decent dinner in El Paso, we make the decision to get a cheap motel room for the night since we’re doing ok for money, and all the hotel rooms we seem to see are pretty damn cheap.
we are totally in Texas.
Some pictures:
7 Comments »
Nice guys! We love that we can peep the life and times of our favorite dudes. As an aside, Conan always gives good face. Kudos to you Conan, you should teach those other dudes a thing or 2 about posing for pics. Hummph.
Love,
Eryn & Georgia
Axewar!!!!!
I miss you fellows and especially my Benjamin, though his hair appears to have follicle-linked with that of a member of Avenged Sevenfold’s, somewhere in the desertlands. Weird. I knew there was a reason he was so fond of my Schecter.
Between that and the blue hair…are you guy trying to appeal to the pop punk teen fan base or something? What’s next? Piercings and Ironic Metal T-shirts?
Jamie:
A) damn I wish we had known, that sounds badass!
B) we did encounter border patrol, the exchange went like this:
“Good evening.”
“You guys US citizens?”
“Yup.”
*we get waved on*
easy parcheezi!
C) hahahah, that is rad!
D) I love the movie as well, but the audiobook is even more off kilter because Evans just rambles and rambles, and rambles some more and it’s freaking brilliant.
E) Good advice.
Eryn and Georgia:
i’m trying!! It helps that i’m a total camwhore.
Mandroid:
Hey we got to get some crossover appeal somehow, right??
-C.
hi - it’s tony from emperors of japan (the first band at modified in phx). you guys were great on saturday.
anyway, with regards to the “futuristic prison” in arizona, i always thought that was an old horse racing track, not a prison. maybe we’re talking about two different facilities. but it sure looks like the horse track in the picture. i’m not sure how to resolve this.
ahhh! yeah you guys were rad, sorry that I forgot your bandname… i’ll edit that in.
it’s a good band name, I just tend to get retarded about bandnames sometimes as far as remembering them.
thanks tony, I could have sworn that it said it was a prison or penitentiary or something, but maybe that’s just nearby?
-C.
no worries. and thanks for the kind words.
anyway, i’m pretty sure there’s a prison that’s kind of nearby, but it’s on the other side of the freeway. that whole area was totally desolate like 5 years ago. when i was a kid we’d drive out to california and i remember passing the horse track (which was deserted back then too) and thinking that it would be an awesome headquarters for my army. oh, and my dad was the one that originally told me it was a horse track. i never questioned it.
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Comment by jamie — August 20, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
A. there is an amazing tacqueria in tucson where the owner will bless you when she finds out you are in a band.
B. thank god border patrol didn’t getcha. they take hours off your life. and like to pull vans over.
C. always look at a saguaro and think of marge simpson.
D. the movie “the kid stays in the picture” is amazing as well. i should be distributing my bob newhart audio book to everyone on earth.
E. watch yer back in texas, and thank god for austin. don’t get so drunk you try to grab a cactus to take home. that hurts. not that i would know, or anything.