Tour Diary: 8/3 @ Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco, CA
I wake up in Sacramento to some great bits of news. Will Miller sent me two very exciting links to some bits of press (RCRD LBL Premiere, Synthesis Magazine). After some morning coffee and a bit of roasted tomato soup, I go home and pack up my clothes and what not. Joe met me at my place and then we left. We picked up Mylan and then drove Vacaville and picked up the gear. After some stupid traffic on the bay bridge, we arrived at Bottom Of The Hill around 6:30 just in time for sound check.
After tweaking everything in we went out for a bite to eat at a sports bar down the street. I got this monster turkey burger and a guiness (in honor of my 21st birthday!). We head back to the venue and Dylan Andersen buys me a drink, like a man. Friends and new faces come pouring in and Build Us Airplanes began their set.
We’ve played with Build Us Airplanes a bunch of times in the past but this was our first time playing with this version of the band (they’ve added a second guitarist, presumably recently). The new addition beefed up their sound considerably. Their music has always reminded me of the first few bands in the 80s that defected from hardcore to “emo”, but the new emphasis on melody obscures this interpretation of the band, especially when all three guitarists approach the microphone to bellow out thick harmonized vocals. And it must be said - if you haven’t ever seen them live, Matt Kadi is uncaged fucking animal when he plays drums. During the set he broke, by our count, somewhere near 12 drumsticks and a bass drum pedal. No more needs to be said on the subject.
Next up was Nicolas Wolch, who also recent played under the name Goodriddler. I was not prepared for a couple aspects of his set, the first being that it was his last show as “Goodriddler”. Nick played his entrancing and infectious set behind a monolithic sound system (it kind of defines bottom of the hill as one of the best venues in the Bay Area) that made the experience quite special. His set was spectacular and something many of you should be very upset that you missed. We’re all very happy to have been a part of Nick’s last night before he embarks on one million years of touring.
We closed out the night. Went well, except for my keyboard randomly turning on synth patches at VERY inopportune moments. We then packed up and went to a bar called tempest with some great friends. The place had a dog on a chain at the door, lots of cool looking people, a lease agreement with Charles Vincent and a homeless guy named Jean Jacket Joe who floated around all night. After that we drove back to Vacaville and slept in a motorhome at my GF’s parent’s place.
