Original Iceland Flyer

Show report by Vyan

Over the last few years I've done a lot of shows that have had last minute changes and switches - but I think this takes the cake.

Originally we were scheduled to play at the Iceland Skating Rink in Sacramento with Sinfest, Strangehouse and Slapback Echo. I'd set this show up via Brian Linville of the local band Stigma - who've I've known for a couple years, but the show feel apart due to money disputes with the owners at Iceland. Unfortunately I found out about this from Brian almost immediately after I'd already gone all over Sacramento putting up flyers and posters for the show. I'd placed them at Guitar Center, Dimple Records, downtown on K street at Sub-Q Body Piercing, along Arden and Exposition Blvd during the State Fair at Cal-Expo, along Arden & Del Paso blvd right in front of Iceland itself, at Virgin Megastore, at several skate shops in town, The Beat, Capitol Garage Coffee -- prety much all the prime flyering and poster locations - and all of that effort had been wasted.

Ouch.

But instead of taking them down, we decided to leave them up - because even if people didn't show up for the show, they would notice that this show had been scheduled and that our name was on the bill. In the end, promotion is all about creating name and brand recognition - so it really didn't matter that there wouldn't be a show, all that matters in the long run was that there had been a show, and we had been invited to play it, particularly with bands who are regularly playing and sometimes headling at large Sacramento like the Boardwalk - bands such as Sinfest, Strangehouse and Slapback Echo (which features our good friend and sometimes sound person, Jeff)

Some promotion is always better than no promotion.

Ok, once the show was confirmed as flushed - we soon got an offer from another friend - Scoobie (bassist for the Council), who wanted us to play a party for Cache Creek Casino (where I believe he works) on the exact same date - and that was cool. Originally this new show was supposed to take place in a small California town called Madison, which is just a few miles directly west of Woodland, and north of Davis.

Unfortunately the arrangements at this venue also fell thru, and ultimately the show was rescheduled for it's final destination - Jersey's Sports Bar and Nightclub in Vacaville.

I'd never played in Vacaville before, but it's something I'd been meaning to experience for some time. For those who don't know Vacaville is the home town of Papa Roach, and many of the bands I've had an oppurtunity to play with over the last few years that have come out of Vacaville, such as EMB and Malcontent have definately shown a lot of the same hardcore and hip-hop influences as Papa Roach.

So for years I've tended to call the area "Papa-Roach-ville".

And I have to say that the first band up that evening - the West Coast Villains - certainly lived up to Papa-Roach-ville advance billing. Featuring an old aquitenance of ours, Jace, on drums whose previous bands include Eunuch and Chalkline. "WCV" (as they were refered to by hats sported by a flock of rather devoted fans) meant business! With tight grooves and a clear hard-core edge, they tore thru a set of scortching songs with ease and skill. I was defintely impressed as they managed to move a step above being just-another-rage-against-the-korn-hole kind of band that seemed to litter the local stages during the 90's. I'm sure I'll be hearing more from these guys in the future.

Besides the crowd that had shown up for the West Coast Villains, there was also a large contingent of Cache Creek personnel in the house. As we took the stage, I took good advantage of that fact to help hype the crowd up and get everybody in a party mood.

"What up - CACHE CREEK??! How ya'll doing??"

Typical stage-talk stuff, but still fun. Ya gotta get the crowd into it.

The set went well, even though we haven't really rehearsed lately, a lot of the songs are becoming second nature anyway. We usually only do one special cover song ut this time in order to keep the party atmostphere going, we did not only "Thunderkiss 1965" but also "Round and Round". As mostly a general audience and not neccesarily a metal crowd, I could tell that people were getting closer and further from the stage depending on whether they were feeling the grooves or not - and "Round and Round" hooked 'em for good. I know all the arguments against doing cover songs, but I think as long as you add something to it - make it more than simply a carbon-copy of the original, but make it something of your own, it can be cool - and we certainly do a lot to "Round and Round" to make it ours.

Almost as soon as we finished our set - the guy who books at Jerseys was onstage with us to get our contact information so we can come back.

Now that's how you know you've succesfully introduced yourself to a new venue.

The next band up was Negative Contact, who were a fairly new group - and this was one of their first gigs. They showed a few rough edges, throwing in a cover of Nirvana's "Polly" as well as System of a Down's "Chop Suey" into their set. Not bad, not bad at all.

After Negative Contact finished, Scoobie got up on stage and performance solo peices on electric guitar (using a backing CD for rythm tracks) which had a definately Satriana-ish vibe to it. A fairly simple groove, with a ripping lead solo (played live) on top. Nice stuff, and clearly a change a pace both from the recent releases by the Council as well as Scoobie's previous bands - Eunich (on bass with Jace) and Girth (on guitar with our own bassist and drummer Elias and Mark).

At the end of the night, I think we'd made a few more fans and a bunch more friends, including Tony, Bob and Klink from Negative Contact, Jace from West Coast Villains, Lori (who danced up a storm), Soli, Aaron, Monette, Orlando, Christina, Eric and Will.

Thanks guys - hope to see you all again next time.

Vyan