Shooting Blanks live at Fireside Bowl
Thursday Sept 4th
w/ Squared Off, Smear Campaign and Juzt Nutz

Whoa. What a night. It is 12:41. Just did a shot of Jagr. Got a full bowl packed ready to blaze. Listenin to Digger - Powerbait.

Well, I'm not gonna get into how this whole show got booked and came about cuz I'd fill a page and it would hurt your eyes to read so much.
Anyways. I showed up at the Fireside a lil after 6 and got prime parking right in frong. Dan was already there. So was Cactus Matt from Smear Camp. He said he'd been chillin all day smokin weed and was ready for the show. Matt Hoffman soon showed up and me, him and Dan went down the street to a bar called Bobs and had a big Becks can. We left after that and Brey was walkin down the street to meet us. So we all walked in together.

Later some more band people came. Johnny from the Burbanks showed up which was very cool and unexpected. We all just sat around and waited. No one seemed to know what was going on. Turns out, one band didn't show up. Juzt Nutz were already setting up and doing what seemed to be a 45min soundcheck. So I told Cactus Matt that we'd play second so that Smear Camp and Squared Off could play one after another.

Juzt Nutz were awesome. 4 black guys who totally rocked. The second song they played was Kick Out the Jams. An old school punk song by MC5 originally I think. They ended their set with Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult. They performed that song so well. They were all great at what they did. I'm not gonna get into specifics but they were awesome. The bass player played a real nice 5 string. The drummer played a real nice solo near the end of the set. They brought some people to the show too which was cool. They stayed all night and were very amused by everything that was going on.

Shooting Blanks were up next. I had Rhyno and Hoser set their amps up for me and Matt. Such a nice fuckin rig Rhyno, thanks again.

I asked Matt if I could make up a set list before the show and he said sure, so this is what we played:

Louder
Knee Deep In Shits Creek
Wasted Time
Hypercritical
She Luvs Me Cuz I Rock
Sheila
Ignore Me
Simple Song
Silly Goose
Home Sweet Home (originally by Motley Crue)

I had a blast playing with these guys. So cool to just step in and play a set with them. And then I think, hey, I get to play a few more with them till Deech is fully recooperated. I had Rub A Dub Doggie there as my mascot for support. He seems to amuse everyone.

I thought it was pretty tight. I didn't fuck up at all. I kinda had the anxiety on the drive there, like thinking I would totally forget a change or something but it was all good. I got the songs down for sure. During Sheila, I noticed that there were no vocals and I looked over to see Matt not by his mic but grabbing a cymbal stand that was about to fall over so I took over on vocals and sang the outro. Both me and Brey were playing off each other on Home Sweet Home. He didn't fully know the verse and I didn't know the solo part. Then I started laughing and it totally threw me off. I couldn't help it. Cactus Matt was humping my Rub A Dub Doggie. Funny shit.

So Smear Campaign set up to play next. Cactus Matt seemed a lil drunk and out of it but not too drunk. The past few times I've seen them, he was very wasted and couldn't sing properly but was still fun to watch. This time they seemed a lil more primed. Probably the best time I've seen them out of 4 or 5 total times. Jimmy is such a hard hitting drummer. I luv watching him bang his drums. PVC rips the off the wall solos and uses the whole neck of the guitar for fingertapping and other crazy shit. Dan has a hard pickhand and moshes all over the stage and slams into Matt. They played Pissing Rocks, Kill Somebody, a bunch of others but more importantly, one of my favorites, Hulk For President.

Before the set, Matt had a bowl of banana pudding that Kathy made for him. At least thats what I think it was. It looked real good so I told Matt to start eating it. He had a few spoonfuls but he ended up bringing it on stage and was eating it between songs and some people came up and took a mouthful of it. During their last song which was a cover of the Misfits Where Eagles Dare, Matt dry heaved till he puked on stage. Fuckin A dude. We celebrated. People were patting him on the back and shit. It was so funny. It was just pudding and beer splattered on the stage. Nothing much else in his stomach. Luv ya Cactus.

Squared Off were next. I missed their first song. During the second or third song, Hoser broke a string. First time I've seen him break a string in like 5 shows. So he got a string from PVC and restrung right there while Cactus Matt amused the crowd. They got back into their set. During Porcelain, Hoser got to sing "I'm glued to the ground with Matt's puke all over the stage" instead of the normal line. They had a bunch of us up front singing backups and jumping on and off stage. It was great. All around great set.

I didn't stay too long after that. I said my goodbyes, thanked Hoser and Rhyno for letting us use their amps and that was that.
While driving home, Williams called me to see how the show went. Then I brought my guitars in, showered and got stoned. Now here I am. I'm gonna do another shot, then zone out and then pass out. I always get kinda strung out after shows. I just have to sit and think and try to take the whole experience in. I'm weird like that.

Thanks Matt, Brey and Dan for letting me jam with u guys. I had a real fun night.

-ERIK

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