Last week we headed up to Vancouver BC to set up the Ray Gordon “Throttled” show. Since we were driving up we decided to bring along COMUNE/Drop City contributors Plague Vendor or PLG\VNDR and have them play a couple shows along the way. Needless to say PLG\VNDR is one of the best new bands out and can crush any venue they play whether it be a venue, a house party, or an art gallery. We decided to title this impromptu tour the “Killing the Game” tour as part of an inside joke about how unplanned the trip was. No plans, no problems…
The PLG\VNDR guys met me at COMUNE and we packed up the RV and U-Haul trailer. We lucked out with the Redondo Beach “Rollerblade Dad” graphic on the U-Haul. This provided entertainment at every stop. Plague Vendor being a new band didn’t really pack for the trip. Snacks, Source Magazine, one pillow, maybe a tooth brush and the band gear is pretty much all they brought with them. We stopped at a couple truck stop gas stations and picked up some supplies. We got some sleeping bags on sale, some candy, and the mandatory six packs of tall boys. The sixteen hour drive to Portland was relatively uneventful. Beers were terminated, snacks chomped, cigs smoked, and lots of rap music. Brandon was reading a copy of Source magazine and I asked him why he was reading Source if he’s in a rock band? He replied, “Just seeing what’s out there in the game, how are you gonna kill the game if you don’t know what’s out there?”. This saying provided hours of entertainment and became slang for just about everything. Things were going pretty good until I unfortunately realized that I forgot my passport. In the chaos of getting everything ready and making sure all the band guys had their passports, ID’s, money, etc. I realized that I had left my passport on my desk at the COMUNE office. After a brief internalized anxiety attack and meltdown my awesome girlfriend was able to get my passport same day delivered to me in Portland. So we chilled in Puddlesburg for the night and partied down with some old friends.
Once I had my passport in hand the next morning we were off to Canada land and hopefully able to cross the border with no hassle. Upon rolling up to the border we were greeted by a very friendly Canadian border patrol guy. He gave us a quick verbal shake down and then told us he had heard of COMUNE and let us through no problem. We were pretty relieved after hearing some boarder horror stories and since PLG\VNDR frontman Brandon Blaine just recently resolved some legal issues.
The next day we met up with COMUNE Canadian distributors Wickwinder Dist. Brad, Scott, and the whole crew. They are the nicest guys ever and showed us a good time. Vancouver BC is hands down one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It doesn’t even look real. That day we set up the “Throttled” photography exhibit and the PLG\VNDR guys helped out. That night we had a COMUNE/Color Magazine show booked at the historic Astoria Hotel in Vancouver. Apparently the Astoria Hotel has had a bunch of famous acts play there a million years ago. It was pretty seedy to say the least but the bartender was friendly and I ate one of the most delicious grease burgers I’ve ever had.
Check the yelp review on this spot, pure gold: www.yelp.com/biz/astoria-hotel-vancouver
Anyway COLOR Magazine and Wickwinder provided a bottomless amount of free PBR which we graciously took advantage of. We brought some Personal Pyramids with us and let people try them out. Personal Pyramids always weird people out and get people talking and joking around. Once the crowd was good and sauced Vancouver’s own High Drops played the first set. They were really rad guys and played some surfy psychadelic garage rock that really got us in the mood. Hopefully they’ll come visit us in LA and play some shows soon.
Check out the High Drops at: thehighdrops.bandcamp.com
When Plague Vendor finally came on, no one really knew what to expect. The guys had been cooped up in the RV for a day and a half and were ready to shred. Frontman Brandon Blaine quickly captivated the audience with his Jaggeresque swagger and the crowd went nuts. It’s always a pleasure to see an audience receptive of a new band. I just wanna kick the next arms crossed hipster I see at a show mean mugging the band. Anyway the show popped off and everyone was excited. We had great time and headed back to the hotel to chill for the night. First show accomplished…
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