Cardigan Loop
After an underwhelming, but awesome because we were playing with friends show in Portland, we spent the day in Portland. It rained throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, but we were happy to be on tour and in an awesome (time-killing) city. So, we ate and traipsed around the Hawthorne area of Portland. Paul looked for switch blades (apparently legal in Oregon, but not in California) and we all spent time in one of the coolest cheapest vintage stores in the country. We also spent some time debating whether to see Borat and/or do laundry, but neither ended up happening in Portland. Midway through the afternoon we decided it would be a good idea to drive to Olympia before it got too dark, so we hopped in Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr.
We made good time, found the house we were playing that night, and decided to do laundry before the show. After asking for directions to a laundromat from multiple people and doing our laundry, we drove to the Cardigan Loop, the site of our one and only house party of the tour.
As a band, we never know what we are going to get from a club we have never played, but we REALLY never know what we are going to get from a house party show. Our first trip to Cardigan Loop had confirmed, in our minds, all of our greatest fears--that we had driven all the way to Olympia to play in a very quiet, residential area, at a nice family house, and for 14 year old underage drinking girls and boys who we would be held responsible for when the cops inevitably showed up.
Once we parked we gathered ourselves, stepped out of the van, walked in a downpour, and knocked on the door of Cardigan Loop. We let out a sigh of relief when the door opened and we were greeted by Evergreen State students. From that moment, the night went better than we could have expected. The people hosting the show were welcoming and accommodating. The band that booked us was friendly. And people showed up and continued to show up on a Monday night, a notoriously rough night for shows.
The opening band was a young man named Shelby who sang along to prerecorded tracks on his iPod and performed a cover of the Cardigan's "Lovefool"..."Love me love me oh say that you love me. need me need me oh say that you need me. i don't care bout anything, but you!" He was energetic, confrontational, and at points crowd pleasing. After his set, he proved to be a very nice young man danced throughout our set.
Anticipating the cops visiting the house party and shutting it down, we asked the other band, Horses and Orcas, who had setup the show if we could setup on the right side of Cardigan Loop's living room and they could setup on the left side, so that we could play at the same time (one band play a song and then the other play a song, so both bands got a chance to play before the cops showed up).
After a coin toss in the center of the room, we played first and tore through our shortest song after which Horses and Orcas tore through their awesome mix of My Bloody Valentine and Bay Area favorite A Pack of Wolves.
It was one of those situations that could have been a terrible idea and taken any momentum out of the night, but, in practice, achieved the opposite. We were up in their faces cheering them on through their set and they did the same. Throughout the combined set more and more kids showed up--about 5 times as many as the previous night. By the time we reached the middle of the set and our longer songs, we switched to one of our songs followed by two of Horses and Orcas. Thankfully our fear of the cops breaking the show up never materialized and we ended the set with a huge crowd with smiling faces in a small space.
After we finished we were inundated by the kids who had just watched us play and met a number of amazing kids. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, we decided to stay. Another good decision. We talked about music and tour and the East Coast and ate and drank and eventually slept in the living room we had played in. Four boys on the floor going to bed at 4. We were joined by a random fifth at 430 who had not attended the show and didn't live at Cardigan Loop. You got to be ready for anything at anytime.
We woke up, bullshitted with our hosts, and said goodbye.
Thank you to everyone at Cardigan Loop. We will name no names though so they don't get shutdown. Thank you Horses and Orcas and Shelby. Thank you to everyone who came out. You know who you are. Another stop on our tour that confirmed that this country and its people are good!
Next Stop: Music Department LIVE! on KAOS, Olympia Community Radio before our show in Portland on Tuesday.
