TOURtillDEATH...

Dec. 4 at The Blue Lamp in Sacramento, Ca
My first solo show.
www.dcoipunx.com

Desperate times call for desperate measures; if returning to school was out of the question I must say returning to back breaking labor would be as well. The first time I put my education on hold I ended up working for a water and fire damage restoration company called Serve Pro, needless to say it was hard dirty work that didn’t pay all that great.

Realistically, hitting the road with DCOI or in any way shape or form would become priority number one. This would also be great for writing topics since traveling is often filled to the brim with inspiration 

If DCOI wanted to take a break from the road it would provide an opportunity to write some different kind of songs, something catchier and mallow compared to DCOI’s abrasive style, which is more like being spit in the face than serenaded. 

The plan would be to work for a solid three months to save up money and book as many shows as possible with in that time.  Then, cash in whatever chips I had acquired.

This would most likely be any music gear I had grown tired of or records I felt comfortable parting with, generally selling off part of my collection would be blasphemous but this would be an appropriate situation.

As far as booking goes, I would start working on a route around the states and Canada. You could easily spend a solid two months playing in North America alone.

Sticking to the coasts has always seemed to hold decent shows compared to the barren wasteland we call Middle America. So we would probably start down California Coast and then head west toward Texas.

Dec. 28 at Java Lounge in Sacramento, Ca
www.dcoipunx.com

Certain cities in Texas have been really good to us in the past, the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area taking the crown. It seems every time we play there at least 50 to 100 kids, who are somewhat familiar with the band, show up and lay on the southern hospitality extra thick. One thing I have learned is good friends’ in good bands throw the best shows. 

While planning out Northern American dates, it would be wise to inform some European contacts that we are interested in coming out. This way dates could be planned and they could also check into getting a tour through Japan setup.

If every thing got confirmed for Europe and Japan, we would finish up those shows and most likely spend some extra time exploring Europe before heading back to the states. This would also be prime time to hit up some friends in bands and see if they wanted to do a small tour together, just to keep things rolling.

Well, if all of that went off with out too many glitches it would be about the right time to head back to the studio to record a new record and then do it all over again.

Holiday Travels

Once again, it was the night before my flight and absolutely nothing had been packed, no flight information had been acquired and my 5AM wake up call seemed to be creeping up quicker than expected.

Finally, around one in the morning I was able to muster some drive, put together a small back pack and hit the pillow.

The clock on my phone and the chatter of my night-owl roommates made certain I didn’t over sleep and miss the joyous occasion of dealing with airport security and the other thousands of travelers. At least there was the new art in the Sacramento airport to appreciate.

The confirmation email said the ticket was through American Airlines but after failing at the self-serve screen the AA clerk told me it was actually through Alaska Airlines. I spent 15 minutes trying three different machines before going to a clerk; I was worried they might try to force me to check the guitar I had brought

.

Although the art in the new Sacramento airport terminal is fairly amazing as well as interesting, the voice they used for the automatic announcements only adds to how uncomfortable airports can be. It seriously sounded like it could have been a cartoon character from some crummy insurance commercial.

As the sliding doors on the train opened to reveal the maze of alleyways leading to the check point, people began to get frisky. Almost immediately nearly everyone began power walking and ducking under dividers, if you have never seen some one power walk it’s that goofy halfway point between a walk and a jog.

It seemed everyone was really in a rush to take off their shoes, go through a body scanner and have some stranger check your hair for weapons or drugs.

What a great experience.

I always seem to be a prime target for TSA to search and push the boundaries of what is comfortable.

They seem to love putting me through the body scanner, which was followed by a rather awkward head massage from a burly TSA agent.

After finally making it to my assigned seat and stashing my guitar in the stewardess closet; the realization hit me, the seat I was in didn’t lean back and it was right next to the restroom.

Hopefully no one forgot to expel their morning coffee before getting on the plane.

Luckily the flight to Seattle was a short one and I was having coffee with the family in no time. Seeing family for the holidays is always worth going through the airport drama, good to be back for the holidays. 

Dad's Loves Sandwiches

Nestled between 13^th and 14^th on S street, Dad’s Sandwiches offers unique combinations for meat lovers and veggie eaters a like, all while maintaining decent prices and healthy options.

This is a no reservation needed, strictly breakfast and lunch joint where the most expensive meal, complete with chips and a drink, tops out around 10 dollars. Though if you’re on a tight schedule you might want to call your order in for pick-up, since patrons line up daily for their fix.

From the moment you walk in the door customers are greeted with rock-n tunes, the aroma of sizzling bacon, toasted bread and friendly faces. Though the Dad’s crew, at first glance, may look like a bunch of tattooed hooligans once you approach the counter you’ll experience nothing but smiles and superb customer service, complete with helpful suggestions and pleasant conversation.

The options may seem overwhelming when you first set eyes on the giant menu mounted next to the register, showcasing cold and toasted sandwiches, salads and breakfast till 11AM, it seems nearly impossible for someone to not find a desirable choice.

After ordering your sandwich it generally takes between 5 and15 minutes to receive your food, on the longer side if you order a hot sandwich since they take longer to make.

The shops “Hot Blonde” is an amazing mixture of chicken, avocado, Swiss cheese, tomato, red onion, spinach, cucumber, garlic aioli, brown mustard and pepper plant sauce all melted together and toasted on fresh sourdough bread.

The pepper plant sauce gives the sandwich a distinct spice that does not over power its fellow ingredients but accents the over all taste and experience you wont find anywhere else.

In addition to its normal menu, daily specials are conjured by the creative staff and range from a cheese steak sandwich to vegan specials that are run on Saturdays.

The meat, cheese and vegetables are cut fresh daily and the quality of the sandwich is proof of the shops passion for serving excellent options along with friendly service.

If you have never been blessed by the sandwich gods or had the opportunity to cram one of these amazing creations down you throat, your missing out.

Drop what your doing and get to dads before they close at 4PM, never settle for wonder bread and shrink-wrapped turkey when you can treat yourself to the sandwich you really desire or with seemingly endless options and distinct individual flavors, try something new that is bound to shock and amaze your taste buds. 

They're Back!

Attempting to score chicks while head banging to the Melvins, Crowbar or Metallica, Beavis and Butthead are back in the classroom, back on the couch and back in your living room.

In all its glory and comical genius, Mike Judge’s animated series has returned after a 14-year void of the duo’s tomfoolery and commentary.

The show is based around the two teenagers who sometimes attend school only to contribute snide comments to their devoted hippy teacher, Mr. Driessen. Mostly the two sit around on the couch and comment on music videos or in case of the newest episode, the unfortunate addition of a Jersey Shore segment - like the world needs more Jersey Shore.

David Hinckley of www.nydailynews.com said it was no surprise that Jersey Shore appeared on the show since MTV airs both series.

“Meaning a double dose of Snooki,” Hinckley said.

Wonderful…

Though Jersey shore is ragged on in the episode, it would have made the show so much sweeter to not have the orange cast members of the Shore invade a 90s animated classic.

The format and animation of the new episodes hold true to the original seasons complete with two short stories broken up by music videos and TV excerpts.

The animation for the show has always been rough at best, which is part of the appeal. Hard lines, which outline the characters, often seem to be doubled and blurry, as if you made a flip book with stick figures in your ninth grade composition notebook to pass the time.

The unfamiliar viewer would most likely compare the two troublemakers to Bart Simpson but the truth is while Bart is rowdy and mischievous he is also a scared fourth grader who often cries. Beavis and Butthead never cry and make Bart Simpson look like an infant.

Regardless of the Beavis and Butthead being off the air, Judge also created the shows Daria and King of the Hill. The main characters originated in the original ’93 Beavis and Butthead season.

King of the Hill still airs on Cartoon Network but Daria has since been discontinued as Beavis and Butthead was.

Over all, it is refreshing to sit back Thursday evenings, watch a new Beavis and Butthead episode and zone out after working all week. Lets go back to the 90s, forget about the Internet, grab a skateboard, drink a tall can and throw on a long-sleeve flannel.

When History Repeats...

We have all heard the saying “good things come to those who wait.” Duh, if you wait long enough something is bound to happen and hopefully some of it is decent.

Most punk or hardcore bands start off by releasing a demo tape or CD and yes tapes are still manufactured. Then if the group can pull it together they might release a 7-inch or two, by this time in many instances this is where the band calls it quits and members move on.

After making it past the break up hump and keeping a steady rotation of writing, recording, and playing, a full-length LP became a discussed goal. We just didn’t want to pay for it.

The new DCOI record, “When History Repeats,” was released in Europe in August. Fortunately Voltage Records from the Czech Republic offered to foot the bill.

Our cut of the records had been shipped by the end of August but it seems as though international postal carrying services just despise a decent price with timely delivery.

Turns out it cost over one hundred dollars to ship 50 LPs from the Czech to West Sacramento, quite unfortunate.

The wait became so obnoxious that the records were pretty much written off and discarded as irrelevant, but Thursday morning turned out to be particularly sweet and offered a pleasant surprise.

DCOI singer Jason and drummer Lee were laying in the living room after a birthday party trying to sober up from whatever happened the night before. Guitarist Justin was in his room sleeping, no one expected to see him till about 4 or 5pm, when he normally crawls out of his lair.

The aftermath of the party was quite telling of what happened through out the night, all the way from the first few beers to the McDonald’s breakfast wrappers strewn about that a small army must have stayed up for. Actually, there is a good chance neither Jason nor Lee had slept at all.

Finally, when all anyone wanted to think about was the prayer for a possible chance to sleep, the U.S. postal service was knocking on the door not only with DCOI records but birthday presents that had also failed to come timely, ironically also records and shipped from Europe.

Like Christmas, the records were promptly ripped open and distributed around to the small circle of people who still remained awake. Almost as quickly as the records were opened the house was emptied as everyone retreated to their own homes for a listen and sleep.

Satisfaction is king, especially when all it cost was life, two years of writing, 48 hours of recording time, but not pressing or shipping costs.

Occupy

On Thursday Oct 6, I was on the hunt for a story to meet my Friday deadline, which had already been extended from Wednesday. I heard over breakfast there was a protest going on in downtown and felt it could work out for a story.

That is all the information I had, so I began combing the grid to find this group of unsatisfied citizens.

After finding a fire drill near the capitol and circling numerous blocks, the line of protesters finally crossed right in front me. This was "Occupy Sacramento" an extension of "Occupy Wall Street," which has been going on in New York City for weeks now.

I had found my story and even though I had no idea what the protest was about, I would soon find out.

After parking, feeding the meter and running across Capitol Park I caught up to the march and was able to interview a few participants about what was going.

“We lost our home due to unfair lending practices caused by the big banks,” said protester Carlos Fernandez. “I am exercising my voice to speak out against the corruption on Wall Street and the unfair distribution of wealth in our country.”

A lot of participants seemed to be there in the name of future generations, the need for jobs and benefits.

“I am a grandparent,” said protester Chris Niehaus, “My son-in-law works 40 hours a week. He’s got no pension, no health benefits and my daughter had to drop out of state university because the tuition is too high. I am down here for my granddaughter.”

Interesting enough the protest has been popping up in hundreds of cities all over the Unites States and lacks any real leadership. Many protesters said they found out about the protest though Face book or other social media; much like the protests in Egypt.

Over the next few days the protest seemed to die down and lose its momentum, in Sacramento anyways. By Friday around noon there seemed to be only about 50 people “occupying” Cesar Chavez Plaza, some with tents and families while others attempted to rally the crowd with bullhorns. Sometimes it seemed there were more police officers around than protesters.

Though I may agree with many of the reasons for protesting, it seems the time could be used to work shop ideas for fixing problems rather than simply marching and occupying a park.

It would seem that this could be another one of those protests that happen every year, protesters get together, say they are unhappy with the way things are and then go back to work.

Maybe this will work out though, maybe the protest in all it’s various shapes and forms will pan out our for the 99 percent. 

Moving and Joining

DCOI started in 2003 and released two full length CDs, two seven inch EPs as well as two bass players by the time I joined the band in 2008.

In 2007 I was living in Washington State while being thoroughly depressed and discouraged after both bands I was in at the time came to a screeching halt and disbanded.

So when I received a call from DCOI guitarist Justin asking if I wanted to fill in for their bass player and join them on a Canadian tour, of course I said yes right away.

Prior to going on this tour I had only met Justin once or twice through our separate travels and really had no idea what to expect.

They drove 12 hours straight after playing in Berkley and picked me up at my house before continuing the rest of the drive Canada.

After five minutes of being in the van I felt at home.

The first show we played together was at a venue called the Cobalt in Vancouver, B.C. We had never practiced together and I had learned about half of their songs on my own by playing along to the CDs in my small apartment.

The venue was not what you would call a pleasant place by any means; the alley behind was frequented by all sorts of drug users and was riddled with hypodermic needles and broken crack pipes. This was defiantly not the ideal place for Darby, the resident band dog, to run around and play with his ball.

As we got deeper and deeper into the tour the guys and I became more familiar with each other while becoming better friends. We literally spent about 95 percent of the trip together, sleeping in the van, indulging in substances and cracking weird jokes that made no sense to anyone unless you were delusional from staying up for 30 plus hours.

The biggest shows on this particular tour were in Calgary and Edmonton, where we were scheduled to play with some old friends, unfortunately they had to cancel because half of the group decided to go on a team building camping trip; they received some severe hassling next time we crossed paths.

By the end of the tour I was so incredibly stoked on these guys, the music they were making, and where they wanted to take their band (everywhere).

I mentioned to them that I was moving down to California in hopes that they would just ask me to join. About three weeks later I was receiving “love letters” telling me to hurry up and get down to California so I could join their band.

In August of 2008 I was living in California, commuting about 80 miles three times a week and playing music full time again.

I would go insane with out this band. It keeps me productive, creative and happy. Long live DCOI and the friends I have gained.