Wednesday, December 6 1995 San Francisco Bottom of the Hill

Zeph - Our first show since making Destroy. It was me, Carol, Matt, Sean and Winston. We weren’t great yet. Winston had only started playing the bass a couple of months before and Carol had never been in a band. We were all right though. The first touring band was Winston on bass, Sean Griffin on guitar, me on drums and Matt singing and playing guitar. We drove about 1200 miles for the first show.

Winston - I was struck by how clean the floors were. The sound wasn’t great. The stage was high. We played ok, considering it was our first show. I made some small mistakes but I don’t think anyone noticed. It felt weird being on stage and not behind the drums. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I tried some moves.

Thursday, January 18 1996 El Paso TX The Attic Matt - The first stop. Maybe six people were there, including the staff. We were the only band. I remember, during our set, as a guy was leaving, he went up to Winston and shook his hand. We got paid $10. We left for Dallas and I drove. Border patrol was about two hours east of El Paso.

W - I was really glad to be out of the van after our first around-the-clock drive together. We played a little better than we did at Bottom of the Hill, but we still didn’t have it completely together yet. The audience seemed confused. One guy liked my moves.

 

Saturday, January 20 1996 Austin TX Emo’s

W - We got there early so we had a good parking spot right out front. Ate some food and admired the painting of a teenage Pebbles in leather doing a dom-session with a ball-gagged Dino. We were a lot more relaxed and comfortable on stage this time, and it showed in how we played. People dug us and it was a beautiful night for playing outside. Austin was my kind of town.

M - We drove to Austin and we were in good spirits. We played first and people liked it and talked to us afterwards. Had a lot of fun. We met some people from Oklahoma. Emo’s has good drink and a lot of aggro graffiti on the bathroom walls. Played with a band called Kepone. We stayed in Austin and the next day went to a dry creek bed looking for adventure and didn’t find any. Was anxious to leave Texas, though had no idea what to do for a week.

January 21-26 1996 Atlanta GA M - I drove through Louisiana, found the best radio station ever playing soul music(wish I remembered the call letters!). We arrived in Atlanta the next day. Zeph went to his girlfriend's and the three of us went to my cousin's for a couple of days. The rest of the week, Winston, Sean, and myself got a Super 8 motel room. Ate away at our credit cards. We were completely trapped and pissed to be stuck while Zeph was getting attached to some chick. Watched TV. Waited.

W - It was a long overnight drive to Atlanta.  I stayed up and drove the early morning shift through MS and AL. I was surprised how cold and damp the South was in winter.

Matt and S and I stayed a night at Matt’s cousin’s place in the outer Atlanta suburbs. He was very nice to let us stay over. S dropped acid and we both got weirded out by all the deer heads on the walls. It was way too dark and quiet at night.

Z - 3 shows got canceled on us this week.

Wednesday, January 24 Athens GA

W - We made a day trip to Athens. The show fell through, so we bummed around town.  At an all ages place where teenagers and Michael Stipe hang out I sat in a corner and drank coffee alone. We got White Castle from the drive thru and it was remarkable.

 

 

Saturday, January 27 1996 Augusta GA Squeaky’s Tip-Top M - Finally we get to play a show. Squeaky’s is a cute little hang-out spot that’s been there for a really long time. James Brown’s hometown. The crowd is the most mixed we’ve seen. Nice people. We play first of three bands and I remember that we played good that night, back in the corner. We meet up with two guys Brian and Dave from the last band and they offer us a place to crash and they have this big old house just across the border into South Carolina. We parked next to a church and the next night the cops follow us to Waffle House and take down our info. The church people were paranoid. I guess they didn’t like the impromptu pentagram Sean fingerpainted in the dust of a filthy van window. When the cops were questioning us, Sean was tripping on acid.

W - Squeaky’s was a very friendly, intimate setting—it was more like playing a party than a rock club. I was glad to finally have some productive task after a long week of languishing. A really fun night. For a few days afterwards we stayed at Brian and Dave’s place just across the river, and they had the most impressive collection of Details magazines I have ever seen. I still have their X’s-4-I’s sticker on my bass case.

Z - It’s an old shack that used to be a gas station before it became a bar in the 40’s. The people that go there appreciate the bands.

 

Wednesday, January 31 1996 Chapel Hill NC Local 506

W - Driving into town I decided I hated everyone associated with Superchunk.

M - Played with some kids. I think we played pretty well. The bartender Monica was really nice. I think we stayed at a farm outside of town and I slept in the van. The weather was really nice and oddly warm for this time of year.

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