| DATE | VENUE | BANDS | COMMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 25 2005 | Sin-é Brooklyn NY | Oneida Wilderness New Beirut Holiday | Our first show after our longest layoff ever. Stage-rust combined with playing some songs live for the first time made for a somewhat uneven set, but playing with Oneida was a great way to start our year. |
| Feb 26 2005 | Eclectic House Wesleyan U. CT | Oneida Dirty Faces Trophy Wives Man vs Beast La Spanka | Our second show at Eclectic House. Not quite as great as our first time there, due to the same reasons given above for the Sin-é show, but still fun. Oneida was hypnotic, and Dirty Faces from Pittsburgh were raw rock with that feeling of danger you don't see much these days. |
| Mar 14 2005 | Long Branch Saloon Knoxville TN | Fangs Supersystem | The Pilot Light, where this show was supposed to take place, was in the process of replacing its ancient and inadequate plumbing system, so the show was moved to the Long Branch. It was actually a pretty cool venue and in some ways a better setup than Pilot Light. Despite the minimal PA, Supersystem sounded killer and Fangs have brought their somewhat sinister, off-kilter rock to a new level. |
| Mar 15 2005 | Martin's Jackson MS | Supersystem | We were looking forward to this show (our third time at Martin's), but it was kind of a disappointment. Not many people showed up on this Tuesday night. Despite the fact that no one was there to work the PA and we had to bumble through hooking it up ourselves, the room actually sounded really good, and the place seems more like a "real" club now than it has in the past, when it seemed more like one of those bars that happens to have bands play there. |
| Mar 16 2005 | Club de Ville Austin TX | Modey Lemon Gris Gris Brother JT Time Flys Selfish Cunt | Another awesome Birdman showcase at SxSW. The venue was interesting: the bands played outside with their backs to a small cliff wall, with a canopy overhead and trees nearby (as Anders St. Anders announced before Modey Lemon's great set, it was kind of a "half-assed Red Rocks"). All of the bands delivered great sets in their own highly distinctive ways. Sound was suprisingly not bad for an outdoor setting; I don't think we were as good as we were last year at Beerland, but our new songs seemed to go over well. |
| Mar 17 2005 | KVRX Radio Station Austin TX | - | A brief set and interview in another student-run radio station. For the first time, the sound and mix were actually good, thanks to Andrew's engineering. |
| Mar 17 2005 | The Back Room Austin TX | Modey Lemon Grand Buffet Watchers The Holy Ghost Some Girls 400 Blows Those Peabodys The Robot Ate Me | Very odd show. Skyscraper Magazine put this on as one of SxSW's many free day parties; unfortunately, the venue was in a strip mall well away from all the rest of the downtown activity. The Back Room is a big metal club; the sound was great and the stage was huge, but due to its location the crowd was small. Plagued by technical difficulties, Modey Lemon's Jason eventually wrapped himself in a Pittsburgh flag and assaulted various audience members and rode Erick's back through the club. Grand Buffet ruled the world. If they play near you, run, do not walk, to see them. |
| Mar 18 2005 | Young Avenue Deli Memphis TN | Vending Machine The Klopecks | Fun show to a good-sized weekend crowd at the Deli. A half-dozen indie kids were sprinkled amongst the general Friday night bar-goers, and everyone seemed open to be entertained. |
| Mar 19 2005 | The Earl Atlanta GA | The Liverhearts Teen Wheat Lay Down Mains | Our first good show at the Earl in a long time. The club is great, but we're usually cursed with a small crowd there. This time, thanks to the draw of the other bands and the fact that for once we were there on a weekend, there was a substantial crowd. Performance-wise, I was happiest with this show out of this whole mini-tour. The one sore spot was that. after announcing our first-ever live performance of "What We Do Best", a bass-heavy tune, Erick's bass head fell off his speaker cab moments into the song. Luckily, it was undamaged, but by the time it was back up and running the song was almost over. Maybe next time. |
| Mar 22 2005 | Southpaw Brooklyn NY | Go! Team Harlem Shakes | Somehow this was our first time playing at Southpaw, though it seems like we've played everywhere else in NYC a hundred times. The venue is cool: good size, good stage, good sound, cool people. The set was a little weird; the drums had to be set up all the way at the front of the stage because of Go! Team's two drumsets taking up the back half, meaning Erick was squeezed into a two foot square between the wall and the hi-hat, while Paul was teetering out on the front monitors. Still, it went pretty well and people seemed into it. |
| Apr 18 2005 | Little Brothers Columbus OH | El Jesus de Magico Meta4ce | This was one of the rare first-shows-of-tour that went very well. We played well and the crowd seemed into it. Columbus seems to be a vinyl-buying town, as we sold only one CD and quite a few LPs. El Jesus was excellent as usual. |
| Apr 19 2005 | Little Nikki's St Louis MO | Phonacopters | Very nice space with a great sounding stage and room. We were a bit off and I was plagued by a suddenly-broken hi-hat stand that put me into a rage. |
| Apr 20 2005 | Eastside Tavern Columbia MO | Bald Eagle Warhammer 48k | Fun show. Eastside is the classic dark rock bar, with a nice selection of Maxims and FHMs to read. |
| Apr 21 2005 | The Brick Kansas City MO | Roman Numerals | Erick thought this show "felt weird", but in any case, the venue is awesome. It's the perfect size and layout, and the stage has enough room to move around and enough height so you can see the band from most of the spots in the room. Sound was fantastic. Roman Numerals (ex-Dirt Nap, Seasons to Risk) were excellent and superhumanly tight. |
| Apr 22 2005 | Rock Island Denver CO | Q & Not U Food for Animals Manhunter | Very nice club, and a packed house for the show. Amanda's keyboard went out seconds into our intro, leaving us with a painful five minutes or so of non-rocking to fill while she tried to figure out what the problem was. A short set and far from one of our best, but a lot of kids still seemed to like it. |
| Apr 23 2005 | Jackpot Saloon Lawrence KS | Q & Not U Food for Animals Manhunter | After years of trying, we finally managed to have a good show in Lawrence. Not an amazing show, but one for the books simply because for the first time in this city, the vocals worked. The club was significantly re-vamped since our last visit, and had a good PA at last (which apparently they bought the day after our last show here). |
| Apr 24 2005 | Sokol Underground Omaha NE | Q & Not U Food for Animals Manhunter | We played a pretty good show to a decent -- but completely dead -- crowd. Even for Q & Not U they were weirdly passive. The club itself was great; nice layout, big sound, good stage. |
| Apr 25 2005 | Logan Square Auditorium Chicago IL | Q & Not U Food for Animals Manhunter | Huge, beautiful venue with lots of big windows, gilding, draperies, and a sweet balcony. Big, boomy sound. Not the most fun load-in (several flights of stairs). Show was good. |
| Apr 26 2005 | Grog Shop Cleveland OH | Q & Not U Food for Animals Manhunter | Fun last show of our little DC package tour (actually, it was the last only for us, as the rest of the bands were continuing for another week or so). Cool club that reminded me a lot of The Cavern in Exeter, UK, both in layout and location. |
| Apr 29 2005 | MIT University Boston MA | Major Stars Flaming Fire Radar Eyes | Another year, another Steer Roast. This one was even weirder and more fun than the last. Flaming Fire was the rare band that beat us handily on the theatrics front. We were a bit worried as the crowd seemed to dissipate a bit as the night wore on, no doubt worn down by the bacchanalia, but once we started playing, we were gratified to see an enthusiastic, dancing, probably drunken crowd materialize to egg us on. A great time, once again. |
| Apr 30 2005 | Warehouse Next Door Washington DC | Dawn of Man | Our hometown record-release show. One of the most fun shows we've played, I think, thanks in large part to the lively folk that ventured from their homes despite the bad weather. |
| May 7 2005 | Palace Tavern NYC | Oneida Sightings Pterodactyl | Last minute change of venue, but it all worked out. 250 people crammed into the tiny, suffocatingly hot back room of this bar; one of those venues with no stage, so only the front 10 or so people could see anything at all. All the bands played short sets because of a live-music curfew, but it was a good time. Andrew WK was there to support Sightings, but unfortunately he left before we played. |
| May 12 2005 | Maxwell's Hoboken NJ | zZz Nassau | Our 300th show was laughably similar to our 25th show. Same crowd (dozen or so people). Maxwell's is kind of an enigma: great food, good sized space -- small but not cramped -- good stage, and great sound, but for some reason, no one seems to go to shows there. |
| May 13 2005 | Delancey Bar NYC | Bad Wizard zZz Holy Ghost Shellshag | Another small room with suprisingly stellar sound. Show was fun after some initial technical difficulties. |
| June 4 2005 | The Hosiery Washington DC | Child Ballads Measles Mumps Rubella The Goners | We billed it as the last show the Hosiery would ever put on, but it turns out they're having one more. Oops. Fun show albeit liver-damage-inducingly hot and airless. |
| June 15 2005 | Nate & Wally's Fishbowl Bowling Green OH | Canada's Electric Tiger Machine Picciuto | Decent show to start the tour with a surprisingly good crowd. |
| June 16 2005 | Mac's Bar Lansing MI | Hard Lessons Bobby Conn & The Glass Gypsies | Keyboard/amp/cord problems for Amanda reminiscent of the Denver show with Q & Not U -- i.e., a 5-minute intermission, again at the very beginning of the set, while she tried to work out her problems. The night was saved by Hard Lessons doing an Eddie Money cover. |
| June 17 2005 | Double Door Chicago IL | Bobby Conn & The Glass Gypsies Baby Teeth | Good show in a big, nice club. The full complement of Gypsies were in attendance, unlike the previous night in Lansing, and it made a big difference. Baby Teeth did a truly amazing cover of Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills. |
| June 18 2005 | Points East Milwaukee WI | Bobby Conn & The Glass Gypsies | An inexplicably small turnout didn't keep us from rocking to our utmost, bringing back some old ones we hadn't played in awhile like Black Tears and Apes Got. BC & GG likewise rose above the situation and put on one of the best shows I've ever seen. The room was a small back-bar, but clean and polished. Sound was amazingly good. |
| June 19 2005 | Main Stage Green Bay WI | IfIHadaHiFi Mystery Girls | Our second time in this small, very rock-and-roll bar. Show was good but not spectacular. |
| June 20 2005 | 7th Street Entry Minneapolis MN | Passions | Good show at a perfectly-sized smallish venue. Great staff, great sound and enthusiastic audience. |
| June 21 2005 | Moose Lodge Fargo ND | Egypt The Plainsmen | Unfortunately, Ralph's, where the show was originally scheduled, closed down just before the start of the tour. The show was moved to the local Moose Lodge, which ended up working out great: Huge drum sound and sweet, sweet air-conditioning. Best show of the tour so far, with a very fun crowd. |
| June 22 2005 | Eleven:11 Billings MT | Soviettes Grabass Charlestons | The venue had great food, but the room was too "live sounding" to be really clear -- everything seemed kind of rumbly. Small crowd, but they seemed to have a good time. |
| June 24 2005 | Sunset Tavern Seattle WA | The Makers Rabbits zZz | I broke my snare head on the first hit of the first song. Luckily, it was a two-ply head, so I could limp through on the remaining ply for the rest of the set. Ended up being a good show, and we made quite a few new fans. Rabbits were loud, heavy, and great. |
| June 25 2005 | Dante's Portland OR | The Makers Rabbits zZz | Nice, fancy club with good sound but kind of a weird vibe. We played pretty well and again won over some folks. Makers were awesome tonight, with the whole fog machine/light show going on. |
| June 26 2005 | Alibi Arcata CA | The Ravens | Decent show in a nice little bar. |
| June 27 2005 | Parkside San Francisco CA | Side on Sound Replicator | Fun show with our pals Replicator and our label guy Matthew's band Side on Sound. We busted out "Lightning" by request. |
| June 28 2005 | Cinespace Los Angeles CA | zZz | Very odd show. The place is a hip bar/club/movie theater with an audience that didn't appear to be regular show-goers. We played all right but the sound was kind of weird. |
| June 29 2005 | Spaceland Los Angeles CA | Priestess Black Angels | No monitors whatsoever for the first song or two. Priestess were a good rock band from Montreal that came down just for this show, as a showcase for label types. Those that stuck around for our set seemed to enjoy it. |
| June 30 2005 | 12 Galaxies San Francisco CA | Gris Gris Time Flys Genghis Khan | Fantastic show with our Birdman brethren. Great crowd, great sets all around, and great response. Very nice club, though apparently they are required to keep the PA to a reasonable (i.e., too quiet) level because of their neighbors. |
| July 2 2005 | Burt's Tiki Lounge Salt Lake City UT | The Rodeo Boys Tolchock Trio | This show had the potential to be a disaster: after spending the morning getting our radiator replaced, we arrived at the club at 11.45 pm (15 minutes after we were scheduled to go on), exhausted and hungry. Amazingly, it all came together and the crowd was super-enthusiastic, having been charged up by Rodeo Boys. Up there with Fargo as best shows of the tour. |
| July 3 2005 | Larimer Lounge Denver CO | Orwellian Math Project Dead Birds Angerthrone | Larimer Lounge has stepped it up a notch, revamping the stage and improving the sound since we were last there. This was a daytime show where we once again arrived right before it was time to load in and play. We played mostly old stuff so that our evening set would be different, and our rustiness at playing some of the songs combined with the uncomfortably early hour made for a less-than-stellar set. Luckily, several friends in attendance made it a good time, regardless. |
| July 3 2005 | Larimer Lounge Denver CO | Mr Pacman The Ultra Boyz | The late show was packed with ultra-high fashion all-agers decked out like extras in a Pat Benatar video. We played much better than we did earlier, and the crowd response was great (it didn't hurt that all our friends had stuck around for round two). |
| July 4 2005 | Cedar Wichita KS | Spirit of the Stairs This Great October | We had fairly high hopes for this show, despite it being put together at the last minute, but it ended up somewhat disappointing. Not much of a response from the crowd, especially compared to our first show here last year. |
| July 5 2005 | Mojo's Columbia MO | Bald Eagle Temper Temper Grand Canyon | Ah, Columbia. Our home away from home. Familiar streets, familiar venue, familiar bands on the bill. Another good show in a great town. |
| July 6 2005 | Lil' Nikki's Grill & Chill St Louis MO | Bug The Choir | A return to the spacious stage, good sound, and good food of Lil' Nikki's. This show was notable mainly because it was the first really good performance Apefriend Mike B. has been witness to. |
| July 7 2005 | Elbo's Dayton OH | Will Cope & the Busted Lovers | We end the tour with a whimper. Plagued by horrific, constant feedback and an unbalanced mix, we limp our way to the end of another tour. Postscript: This ended up being our last show with Paul. |
| Oct 29 2005 | Fight Club Washington DC | The Points VCR Blondsai Death by Sexy | Our first show with Joe. Fun Halloween party at a skate house. Under-powered PA but a good time. |
| Oct 30 2005 | DC9 Washington DC | DMBQ An Albatross 31Knots | Aside from some technical problems with the bass amps, this was a pretty good set. Of course, we were still blown off the stage by the insane majesty of DMBQ. |
| Nov 6 2005 | Horseshoe Tavern Toronto ON | Modey Lemon Nick Flanagan | We finally made it to Toronto for the first time in our band career. All of 15 people showed up to witness this historic occasion. Nice venue, though. And the comedy stylings of Nick Flanagan, including the only joke I've ever heard a stand-up comedian make about Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight, made the evening worthwhile. |
| Nov 7 2005 | Red Dog Peterborough ON | Modey Lemon Electrashine Minus Two | Everyone in Toronto seemed surprised at and confused by the fact that we were playing in Peterborough. The show ended up being fun despite the doubts, and we played much better than the previous night. |
| Nov 8 2005 | Cafe Campus Montreal QBC | Modey Lemon | Very nice club, very nice promoter, utterly lifeless crowd. |
| Nov 9 2005 | AS220 Providence RI | Modey Lemon The Terribles Lying in State | Nice venue. Total paid attendance: One. |
| Nov 10 2005 | Tommy's Tavern Brooklyn NY | Modey Lemon Victoria Lucas | Possibly the smallest venue we've ever played, and massively loud as a result. Good time. |
| Nov 11 2005 | Cake Shop Manhattan NY | Modey Lemon Standing Nudes | Great show. We finally started hitting our stride. Enthusiastic crowd, and we loaded out past Ms Joan Jett herself, who was playing a later set after our show ended. |
| Nov 12 2005 | Mojo Room Baltimore MD | Modey Lemon | Kind of weak show in the former Cafe Tattoo, a little bar a good ways out past Baltimore city proper. Modey had a small crowd of hardcore Lemon fans waiting for them. |
| Nov 14 2005 | Warehouse Next Door Washington DC | Modey Lemon Chris Brokaw Big Bear | Very fun show, as we've come to expect from our Warehouse gigs. |
| Nov 15 2005 | High Five Columbus OH | Modey Lemon Evil Queens Askeleton | Unfortunately, our friends El Jesus de Magico couldn't make the show, but we had a good time anyway. Crowd seemed pretty into it. |
| Nov 16 2005 | Elbo's Dayton OH | Modey Lemon | A much better show than our first time in Dayton. This time it was a free show, school was in session so there were more kids around, and we played much better than that show. |
| Nov 17 2005 | Comet Tavern Cincinnati OH | Modey Lemon Mr Madness | We had some doubts going into this show, since Modey had played here a few times previously and not had a good time, but after being fueled by ample burritos, we had a great time. The crowd was enthusiastic and everyone played a good set. |
| Nov 18 2005 | The Rudyard Kipling Louisville KY | Modey Lemon Glasspack Nixon | Nice space, though laid out a bit oddly (it was a long, narrow room, but the stage was on a long side rather than a short side, meaning there were acres of space on either side of the stage for people to stand, but very little in front of it). The show itself was okay, not too remarkable. |
| Nov 19 2005 | Lime Spider Akron OH | Modey Lemon Goodbye Ohio | Fun show to close off the tour. We had a few fans there, which is always nice. Sound was good, food was good, people were nice. |
| Dec 1 2005 | The Coffeehouse Duke University NC | - | Leg two of the fall/winter tour kicks off with a bang. Modey pulled out of this show to play with Dinosaur Jr in Pittsburgh, and the other band on the bill cancelled, leaving only Apes. Very, very nice space -- big PA, fancy lighting rig, sofas, big screen tv with Playstation 2, etc -- and virtually nobody there to enjoy it. Amanda extended her intro monologue to almost ten minutes. |
| Dec 2 2005 | The Werehouse Winston-Salem NC | Modey Lemon Brightleaf | The space formerly known as PS211 has improved. Fun show to a small but appreciative crowd, and best of all, we were able to crash in the living space above the club. |
| Dec 3 2005 | Milestone Charlotte NC | Modey Lemon Elevator Action | Classic small rock club. Good crowd. |
| Dec 5 2005 | Jack Rabbit's Jacksonville FL | Modey Lemon Hors d' Ouevres | Our second time at this fairly big club. This place doesn't serve liquor and I could have used some. Show wasn't bad aside from my snares giving out halfway through the set as usual and my 4th DW kick pedal breaking a few songs before the end. |
| Dec 6 2005 | TSI Jacksonville FL | Modey Lemon | A day off turns into the second part of a two-day engagement in Jacksonville, thanks to quick work by Hors d' Ouevres' Brendan. Raw-sounding sets in front of a rowdy crowd at a dance club made for a good time. |
| Dec 8 2005 | New World Brewery Tampa FL | Modey Lemon The Peabodies | Cool bar with an outside patio where the bands played. Great pizza and a very appreciative crowd. |
| Dec 9 2005 | Churchill's Miami FL | Modey Lemon Downhome Southernaires The Remnants Entropy Shuttle Lounge Arsonist Citizen Contact | We were surprised and delighted to find out this was going to be an 8-band bill. Despite no other bands showing up until 8pm or so, things actually moved along pretty efficiently. Weird, weird mix of bands in a big space with loud sound. |
| Dec 10 2005 | Beta Bar Tallahassee FL | Modey Lemon Bullneck etc | Kind of a ho-hum show. |
| Dec 11 2005 | The Nick Birmingham AL | Modey Lemon | Everyone loves the Sunday night shows. This was a tiny dive bar but had fantastic sound and lots of cool people. Modey broke out the enormous Pittsburgh flag for their set in honor of some Pitt professors in attendance. |
| Dec 12 2005 | The Earl Atlanta GA | Modey Lemon Deerhunter | Our sixth or seventh show at the Earl. This place is always a good time and the food rules. We played decently, but from audience comments afterwards, the set suffered from a bad mix (no vocals or keyboard). Lots of cool people and Deerhunter were really good. |
| Dec 13 2005 | Hi-Tone Memphis TN | Modey Lemon | Despite the bands being a seemingly not-entirely-welcome interruption in the stream of 80's hits being played, we had a really fun set. And the club had the Tron coin-op (though the dial and trigger were messed up). |
| Dec 14 2005 | RecordBar Kansas City MO | Modey Lemon | Really great venue: A good-sized bar with great sound (and a great soundman), good food, drink tickets that are good for liquor, and lots of cool people. |
| Dec 15 2005 | Canopy Club Urbana IL | Modey Lemon Fireflies Infinity Room | Neat little club -- actually, while the room we played in was little, the other side of the venue was a large-capacity room -- in the midst of the U of I. We had a great time, probably due in no small part to lots of drinking. |
| Dec 16 2005 | Subterranean Chicago IL | Modey Lemon The Camaro Rouge | We were really looking forward to this show and it ended up as something of a disaster. The club itself is great, as were the people working there, but Erick broke a string on the third or fourth song and it was downhill from there. He had to switch from his baritone guitar (regular-sized, six-string guitar that plays in bass octaves) to his back-up full-sized bass and was so out of practice on it that the rest of the set was a mess. We tried. |
| Dec 17 2005 | Magic Stick Detroit MI | Modey Lemon The Cyril Lords | Last show of the tour and the end of a great (in terms of fun, not necessarily shows) tour with Modey. Ultra-nice club, big sound, and cool people. |
| Dec 29 2005 | Black Cat Washington DC | Trans Am Rah Bras | Really fun show. Big sound and everything went well. Lots of smiling faces up front. |
| Dec 31 2005 | Wonderland Washington DC | Dawn of Man Partyline | Possibly the sloppiest show Apes have ever played. Bum notes, broken sticks, false starts and missed cues. Luckily, the audience was mostly completely wasted, so responded as though it was our best show ever. I think there was even a pit at one point, and Erick did the first stage-dive of his life. We even got Brian Clancy from Dawn of Man to join us on the outro for some guitar shredding. |