01/14/2007 06:00 PM - Point Pleasant Pike Firehall, New Hope PA The First Step, Triple Threat, Lion Of Judah, Pulling Teeth, Strive.
We have been planning on doing a weekend trip with The First Step for quite some time now. Unfortunately, every time the planning starts becoming a reality, things start slipping through the grates. Although we weren't able to make this entire weekend happen, we were indeed able to solidify this show in New Hope with TFS. It's always nice to play shows that are close to home and with a solid line up like this one, it's even cooler. Considering it only takes about a half hour from our general area to get to New Hope, we weren't expecting a long, confusing ride... we were wrong. Apparently there were detours going on due to road work, so our directions ended up sending us in circles for hours. For a show that was suppose to take us 30 minutes to get to, this took us well over 2 hours. It was insane. We got so desperate for proper directions that we pulled off on the side of the road and Jason jumped out and walked up to a total strangers house and asked for help. Within minutes we were directed to the Point Pleasant Pike Firehall. It was ridiculous, we had driven by and around this firehall 30 times, but some how always missed it. Upon arrival we apologized for our lateness but were quickly assured that we weren't the only ones that had trouble getting there. We loaded in, set up merch and watched Lion Of Judah. Because other bands were late, the schedule seemed to get all thrown out of whack, so LOJ played earlier than expected. They were really good and played a solid set. Pulling Teeth from Baltimore went on next and there seemed to be a slight buzz revolving around this band. Kids packed up front to watch and Pulling Teeth did their thing. A definite metallic sound that was done well. I was later informed that the band, minus the singer is now backing Dwid as the new Integrity. Musically I could almost sense a similar sound, so it was not a surprise. We went on next and slammed through our set as usual. The floor was a bit wet and slippery, so it was tough to move around a whole lot. Some people sang along and it was cool being able to play in front of TFS, since they had played in front of us so many times in the past. We planned on covering No For An Answer's "Without A Reason", the same track we recorded for the upcoming Revelation comp, but due to a broken guitar string, were forced to cut our set short. The First Step went on after us and came out with all engines at full steam. This was the first time I had seen them play as a five piece with Aram from Betrayed and Champion on second guitar and Fred Graves of Fired Up on drums. They were tight and sounded really powerful and it was great to see them again. Hopefully we can actually get some full trips together in the near future.

12/17/2006 Pyramid Club, NYC, NY Sub Zero, Inhuman, Triple Threat, Deathcycle, Wisdom In Chains, Scissorkick.
We were asked to play this show by Inhuman's vocalist and all around good guy, Mike Scondotto. Playing NYC is always cool and having the opportunity to play a good club like the Pyramid is always a plus. The absolute and only downside to playing this show was the fact that the Eagles were playing the Giants for a very important game with some serious play off implications on the line. I was on the verge of going out and buying a portable TV to watch the game in the van in between playing, but settled for hitting up a local sports bar a couple blocks down. The entire atmosphere of the Pyramid Club is pretty classic. Nice dark club, great stage, good sound, awesome location. You can't help but think back to all the shows that Cappo and Raybeez put on there back in the late 80's. Pre-set, we watched the football game down the block. When it was time to go on, we jumped up and kicked through the set. The lighting in my eyes kinda kept me from seeing just who was up front and watching us, but that kinda works out to your advantage sometimes. A small crowd can bum you out and drain the energy a bit, but when you can see nothing but lights and faint heads, you just do it like 500 people are watching. The set was fun and we closed with "Without A Reason" by No For An Answer. Just as fast as we played, some of us were back out the door and back in the sports bar watching the closing moments of the Eagles / Giants game. To my satisfaction, the Eagles beat the Giants and I went on to feast on a plate of vegetarian Pad Thai. Turned out that Ed's Barber jersey didn't bring him much luck.

10/22/2006 Club Deep, Asbury Park NJ
We had played here once before with Bold and Verse and it was actually a pretty decent show. This show on the other hand, not quite the same. I had gotten an email from one of the bands playing this show and they asked if we would be interested in playing. Considering it had nearly been a month since our last show, which was in Cali none the less, I figured it couldn't hurt to play. Asbury Park isn't a bad ride and we knew the club was good, so we really had nothing to lose. Wow, guess we were wrong. When we pulled up, it was pretty clear to us that nobody was there. There was literally one band playing, at most one band watching, 2 people at the bar and that was it. After playing the kind of show we had just played in Cali, this was quite the opposite, but you take the good with the bad. I've said it in the past and I still stand by it, you play every show hard and put your all into it no matter how many people are there. By the time we went on, which was last as the headlining band, there were 2 people left and one guy dressed in a beer bottle costume... a beer bottle costume I repeat. One of the guys left was the guy that asked us to play and his friend was the other. Where the guy in the beer bottle costume came from, we'll never know. We played our set, entertained a man dressed as a bottle of lager, got paid, packed up and went out to eat.

09/30/2006 Showcase Theatre, Corona CA Bold, Internal Affairs, Triple Threat, SBV, Knife Fight
The Showcase seems to have become Southern California's premier club for hardcore. All touring bands play there and kids pour out of everywhere to fill the place. Playing there with Mouthpiece back in 1996 was a great experience and left lots of good memories as was the last time I was there for Insted. Pre-show activity included a stop at Jans with Porcell, Brooks and Vinny Panza of Bold. If you're a vegetarian and in Huntington Beach, do yourself a favor and grab a vegetarian turkey sandwich at Jan's Health Bar. The place has been a well known stop for touring veg band members and the non-veg alike. Phenomenal sandwiches, just phenomenal. Anyway, back to the show. We were meeting up with an old friend, x-Mouthpiece guitarist, Pete Reilly, whom I haven't seen in years, so that was cool. Once we arrived, it was clear that this show was going to be pretty well attended. Kids were lined up around the building. We shot to the back for load in and that's where we met up with Pete. Awesome to see him. We talked briefly, then back to load in. Once inside we secured a merch table, stowed our equipment and headed up to the band room for pizza. Matt and Tom from Bold were there, as was Sloth Crew/Insted roadie/Triggerman/The Killing Flame vocalist, Joe Nelson and Jordan Cooper, Mr. Revelation himself, as well as a few others. We ate, we hung out, we watched the opening bands, then it was time for us hit it. Just getting up on stage it was clear to us that this was not going to be any ordinary show. People were packing up front and lining up on the stage with their cameras. Before we went on stage, I asked our roadie Gordo to hand the sound man a CD to play before we played. It was one song off the Halloween movie soundtrack titled, "Unlock The Door". It's a slow, dragging, somewhat spooky sounding track and it goes on for about 2 minutes. Just as "Unlock The Door" ended, we blasted the set open with "Obliterate". It was like a bull being held back behind a solid wooden fence, then the fence breaks open and the bull just starts shredding people to bits. We tore through our set with a little more energy and vigor that usual. Kids obviously fed off it and sang along to just about every single song. It felt like all these mediocre shows we had played before, were all preparation and practice for this one. It was just an incredible set. Since Pete Reilly was there, we had talked about dragging him up on stage and pulling out Mouthpiece's "What Remains" with him on second guitar, but Pete couldn't track down a six string, so we played it anyway and I simply grabbed Pete from the side of the stage and tossed him into the crowd. Kids sang along, dove and just went nuts, so it was a good night to pull this old track out. As "What Remains" ended, I eyed Porcell crouched on the side of the stage. We had previously discussed the possibility of playing Project X's "Straight Edge Revenge" and having Porcell sing it, but knew it was best to play that by ear. Porcell saw how incredible our set had gone over, recognized the vibe of the show and knew it was only logical to grab the mic for a little revenge. Kids started moshing and diving before the song even started, it was clear that the excitement was at an extreme high. I stood up on the drum riser and prepared to witness the mayhem. With a quick introduction speech and the classic opening bass line, kids were now in piles all over the stage. For the most part all I could do was watch in pure amazement. A short as that song is, it seemed even shorter when played. It was over in minutes and there was nothing left but exhausted bodies everywhere. We packed up, loaded off our equipment, shook hands, exchanged smiles and headed back to the band room to wind down and catch out breath. We really didn't even have to say much to each other, it was obvious that we were all still in awe over what had just gone down. It was like one of those rare sets where everything just went right. To date, that was our best show yet. We've had others that were good, but this was just on another level. Internal Affairs went on after us and tore it up. We all stood up on the steps leading up the band room and watched their set. By the time Bold went on, we had pretty much caught our breath and made our way back towards the stage to witness the mighty Bold break it down for California. It was clear that these kids that came to this show had waited a long time to see Bold and they were going to have the time of their lives. Sing alongs and stage diving was as common practice as is visiting Jans when in Huntington Beach. Bold were heavy, tight and on the money and did not disappoint. Watching their set was a fitting way to bring an end to an all ready perfect west coast trip.

09/29/2006 Casa De La Raza, Santa Barbara CA Bold, Internal Affairs, Triple Threat, Hit The Deck, Bad Reaction
Way back, early summer, Bold started talking about doing a quick but sweet California weekend. They had been playing up and down the east coast, hit Europe, but hadn't played out west since their return. Although I had been to Cali a couple of times over the past few years, once for a few BL'AST! shows and once for Insted, it wasn't since 1996 that I played their with Mouthpiece. So to say I was eager to play California would be a bit of an understatement. Igby, the guy booking the Bold west coast weekend, approached us about possibly doing the weekend with them. At first, the dates weren't working for us, then somethings ended up getting shifted around and a whole new set of dates were put in to play. The new dates fit our schedule and I quickly get back in touch with Igby and started making the arrangements. We were pretty much told that since there were so many bands playing and Bold was being flown out for the shows, we wouldn't be able to secure ourselves any guaranteed money. We decided to scrounge up the money ourselves and just make it happen. We were long over due playing Cali and doing with Bold was just too cool of an opportunity to pass up. The first show of the west coast weekend was in Santa Barbara at this place called Casa De La Raza. I had been to Santa Barbara before when I was out to see BL'AST! and it was a nice little town, but this area was pretty different and sort of ghetto. When we arrived at the venue we caught up with the Bold guys, hung out and talked for a bit, then met up with our long time Cali friend, Fred Hammer. I had known Fred forever and his zine "It's Alive" was one of the earliest zines I remember checking out back in the mid to late 80's. As a matter of fact, Fred allowed me to use a BL'AST! interview that he had in one of his early issues and put it in the first fanzine I had ever done, which was sometime early 1987. Fred was also etched in the history of hardcore by Schism's quote, "It's Alive Poses Hard" which was a reference to a little beef Fred had with the YOT guys back in 86' or 87'. They've all since made peace since way back then, but it's still a funny thing I think of every time I talk to Fred. So when we met up with Fred at the show, he was eager to grab some food with us and that's exactly what we did. Of course Mexican food it was. Post meal we headed back to the venue, where at this point bands were getting ready to play and kids had started to arrive. We set up our merch, which was brought by Fred since it was printed in Jersey and shipped to Fred's house in Cali and hung out. Bad Reaction were a cool band. Their guitarist, Ben Edge is a good kid that I've known for awhile now. Ben had previously sent me a Bad Reaction demo and I was definitely impressed. It was cool to see them, very early Cali punk style written and played extremely well. When we went on, a decent amount of kids came forward and stood up close to the stage. Of course there's always your standard vast empty space between the front row of kids and the pile standing in back of them, but we broke into our set as if the place was mobbed. People seemed to know the lyrics, which was awesome to see on the other side of the country, but they also started circle pitting for us as well. A couple straight up mohawked punks skanked it up and for a moment a little fight broke out. I didn't really see what exactly happened, but I seem to remember seeing some kids dressed up with a suit, tie and cigarette getting hit. Over all our set was good, seemed short, but done well. When you're playing somewhere you never know when you're going to play again, it's vital to leave it all out there on the stage. Not that I don't try to do that every show we play, but you definitely want to leave people with a feeling that they just witnessed something special and hopefully they've taken something with them from the set, the songs and the between song banter. Bold rounded out the night with their first Cali show since playing Youth Of Todays final show at Fenders in 89'. They played as tight as always and really seemed to impress some kids. By the end of the night and finish of the show, we knew we were all in for a big night down in Corona the next night.

08/19/2006 CBGB, NYC NY H20, Danny Diablo, Triple Threat
I received an email from Matt Pike of The Kenmore Agency and it simply read, "CBGB's one last time?". Without even double thinking it, I replied, "The answer is YES". Matt was putting together an H20 show and needed an opening band and he was cool enough to come to us with the opportunity. Considering the fact that CB's was literally preparing to close it's doors forever, one last chance to play this historical club would be an honor. When we first pulled up to the club, we see a familiar face, not your ordinary face in the hardcore crowd, but none other than Max Weinberg of Conan O'Brien's The Max Weinberg 7 and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Apparently Max's son's band was opening the show, so he was there supporting his son. I personally didn't talk to Max, but some friends did and said Max was pretty cool. He seemed super laid back and friendly. As for his son's band... not so good. I mean, they were young kids and hopefully time helps, but I wasn't quite sure what was going on. We played next and although people were eagerly awaiting Danny Diablo and H20, they all seemed to focus on us and give us a chance. As usual we opened with "Obliterate" into "Something More". Of course leave it up to me to totally fuck up the lyrics to "Something More". As I was introducing the song, I found myself a bit wrapped up in the introduction and ended up losing my place. It was a little embarrassing, but considering the majority of people watching us weren't all that familiar with us, nobody seemed to notice. Either way, I knew what I did and luckily was able to correct it a quarter the way through the song. The rest of the set went without flaw. The sound at CB's is nearly always perfect and the stage set up and lighting is flawless as well, so it really doesn't matter if you're playing to 300 kids or 3, it's CB's and it's still cool. We ended up paying the sound man to record the set and on the ride home discovered that we found ourselves with a damn good live recording documenting our last CB's show ever.

08/18/2006 Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia PA This Is Hardcore 2006 Betrayed, Guns Up!, Internal Affairs, Triple Threat
This show had been in the planning stages for quite some time. Joe Hardcore, a staple in the Philadelphia Hardcore scene, along with a few friends, decided to combine their efforts and put together this fest in order to try and fill the void left by Posi Numbers. A show like Posi Numbers was such a huge event and kids looked forward to the next one every year, so hopefully the "This Is Hardcore" fest can continue into the coming years. As for the venue, the Starlight Ballroom is an excellent place for shows. I had just seen Gorilla Biscuits play their Philadelphia date at this venue on their reunion tour and I have to say, the place was perfect for a hardcore show. Nice sized space, perfect sized stage, great sound, very reminiscent of Trenton's own City Gardens. Upon arrival, there was a band on stage all ready and we were to go on next. We quickly loaded in, set up our merch and got ready to set up on stage when the first band finished. I was expecting a pretty impressive turn out for this and I definitely wasn't let down. I'd guess that their was close to 400 people in attendance when we took the stage, but considering the club is so large, people were spread out and it was hard to get an accurate count. Some kids came up front for us and it was cool to see a few different faces. We blasted into the set and played fairly solid. I recall the heat starting to get to me somewhere mid way through the set. Heat can be a natural energy drainer, so you really have to force yourself to maintain it. I used the drum stand like a launching pad and at one point I nearly jumped straight over Ed. Through all the heat, it's amazing what a drum stand can still push you to do. We had some pretty good crowd participation going on and when we closed the set with SSD's "Glue", kids really came together. We went on to sell a fair amount of records and shirts at this show, so it was definitely cool to play a show of this size and have the opportunity to introduce ourselves to some new people. Hopefully we can be apart of it again next year.

8/2/2006 - Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ Gorilla Biscuits, Comeback Kid, Murphy's Law, Set Your Goals and Triple Threat
Rolling up to the club, the first thing we see is the GB tour bus with a huge trailor in tow. Spilling out of that trailor were boxes upon boxes of GB merch, Steve Reddy printed all of GB's merch, so they were going through it and starting to pack some of it away. The amount of merch that was printed was sick. After a quick talk with Steve, it was into the club and in with our equipment. Right from the start we could tell that the security guys all seemed pretty cool and laid back. We all got stamped, loaded in and no questions or problems with all the guests we brought along with us. We were the opening band tonight, so doors opened at 6:00 PM and we went on sharply at 6:30 PM. Although there was still tons of people outside standing in line and tons more to even get to the show, there was a fairly decent crowd inside by the time we went on. There was a barrier, but it really wasn't all that intimidating. In front of the barrier kids lined up all the way across. We opened up with "Obliterate" and all eyes seemed to be focused on us. I'm guessing there were about 400 people in the club at this point. Going into "Something More", our second song of the set, Ed's head went out. It was pure Triple Threat luck. Here we are playing a great show with a ton of eyes watching us and we're forced to play the remainder of the song with no guitar. One of the guys from Comeback Kid came to the rescue and hooked us up with a new head. By the third song we were back in order and continued on as if nothing had happened. The Stone Pony has an excellent sound system and honestly one of the coolest stages I've ever played on. The stage is big and has a drum riser, which naturally compels me to jump off of it. This was my third time playing here, first with Mouthpiece, second with Hands Tied and now with Triple Threat, all awesome shows. Other than the technical issues with Ed's head, the set went over really well. I think we played solid and people seemed to be into what we were doing. It's always a plus when you finish your set and people line up to buy your record. After the set, the majority of us shot out to the boardwalk to grab some food. I hung out and watched Set Your Goals. After their set I headed off to the boardwalk, tried to get back in time to see Murphy's Law, but got back just as they had finished and right in time for Comeback Kid. Comeback Kid played a good set and kids seemed to be super stoked on them. Being that this was the first GB show on the tour, there was an extra sense of excitement in the air. When GB took the stage, the trumpets of "New Direction" started and kids all ready started climbing up on top of the crowd. Walter came out wearing a make shift GB cape with a giant gorilla head screened on it. They tore into the set and hardly let up for breaks. The bouncers continued to be cool, let kids do what they wanted and the set really went over without a hitch. Jimmy Gestapo was in rare form and stage diving like a maniac. At one point Jimmy dove into the crowd that was nestled on the stage and ended up taking out about 5 people. The dude is a true character and NYHC legend, good to see him having fun. After the show we hung out outside the club for awhile, watched Jimmy continue to entertain and eventually packed up and split.

8/2/2006 - Warped Tour, Fitchburg MA
We started this trip on Tuesday night, left around 7PM for a 5 hour drive up to Fitchburg Mass. Crashed at a Motel 6 that was about 5 miles outside of where the Warped Tour was being held. When we pulled into the motel parking lot you could tell right off the bat that there were tons of Warped Tour goers in our company. Lots of vans with trailors in tow. Lots of cars covered in punk stickers. Goofy looking punk / alternative kids hanging out. We jumped into our room, watched a little Shark Week and called it a night. The alarm went off at 6:00 AM. Our plan was to get some breakfast, head over to a grocery store for water and be at the Warped Tour by 8:00 AM. Things took a little longer, we got ourselves a little lost and we eventually made it over to the sight by 8:30 AM. When we pulled in, I asked where do the bands park, some jackass directing traffic said, "right here buddy... if it's good enough for NOFX, it's good enough for you". I'm thinking, "who the fuck cares where NOFX park, I'm not impressed and could care less about NOFX". Anyway, we parked, loaded on the sun screen and walked down to meet up with Karl from Bridge 9 to give us the scoop. Walking through the grounds I felt like I was at a circus, so many clowns. So many of these new up and coming emo/alt rock bands are so ridiculous looking. I saw enough 80 lb. dudes wearing skin tight cut off jeans, skin tight spaghetti strap shirts, flip flops and fem hair dos to last me a life time. Seriously, it was like a fucking circus. Once we finally met up with Karl and found out our set time, we unloaded our equipment and spent the next 5 and 1/2 hours sitting in our van and waiting. The line of kids rolling up to this thing was like watching a parade. I think for the most part we stayed entertained for the entire 5 and 1/2 hour wait, just watching these kids roll up. At 2:00 PM we hit the stage. The sun was beating down hard, all 110% of it. When we went on, Helmet were playing one stage and I Am The Avalanche we're playing another. The kids that lined up to watch us were pretty few and far between. Didn't matter, we were going to give it our all either way. As we started the set, the heat became unbearable. The water we brought up on stage with us was so hot that it tasted like it was boiled. For the most part we held it together and powered through the set. As the set winded down, the heat really took it's toll on us and Ed's guitar. Ed went out of tune and despite all his efforts, he could never bring it back. At times I thought he was going for some odd Greg Ginn effect, only it wasn't working. We decided to cut the set short and finish up with SSD's "Glue" as a closer. As the last note sounded, we broke down the equipment and loaded it the fuck out. The idea of playing the Warped Tour sounded cool in theory and probably was an overall good move, but sucked never the less.

5/26/2006 - The Barbary, Philadelphia PA The Turbo A.C.'s, Triple Threat, Fell Far Behind, One False Move, Stradlatter
We were asked to play this show through the contact of our MySpace page. Had never heard of any of the bands playing, nor had we heard of the club. It was a Friday night, not too far and the guy setting up the show seemed pretty cool. Like we all agreed when we started this band, we'd play anywhere with anybody. When we arrived at the show, there was a decent little crowd starting to hang out in front of the club. Nobody looked remotely familiar, but that was cool. There was a pretty major hardcore show going on at the Church in Philadelphia. Ignite were headlining along with Philly's own Blacklisted. Because of that show, we weren't expecting much of a hardcore turnout for ours. The club was a cool space. Nice stage and a decent sound system. There was a punk DJ playing Black Flag, T.S.O.L., The Germs and some other old punk stuff. The crowd seemed pretty mixed. There were some punks, some skins, some normal Joes, some odd balls, a little bit of everything with the exception of hardcore kids, I don't think I noticed one. If I had one complaint, it would be about the amount of smoke that was filling up this club. It seriously seemed like every single person was smoking. We were suppose to go on third or fourth, but asked if we could just go on second. Once we went on, I'm guessing there was about 80 to 100 people there. People didn't necessarily pack up front, but they did move up a bit and actually tune in to what we were doing. As we had been doing lately, we opened with "Obliterate". Half way through the song, Kreep's bass appeared to completely drop out. We kept sailing through the song with hopes that he'd get it fixed on the fly. Instead of sliding right into "Something More", we stopped and waited for The Kreep to get his bass head in working order. After a few minutes, we realized that the bass head was shot. Nothing was working and the crowd was beginning to grow a little restless. We asked to borrow a bass head from one of the other bands and eventually got back in motion. From there on we gave it everything we had. I guess we sorta felt like the down time between switching bass heads was such a downer, that we'd really go balls out for the rest of the set. Not that we don't usually try to give it all we have, but we just pushed it a little harder this time. I was screaming so hard that my throat was beginning to tear apart. Ed was smashing into walls, literally. Jason pounded like a mother fucker and Kreep played it hard. After each song the crowd really showed their appreciation with solid applause. By the end of the set we were all hot, soaked with sweat, sore and beat. I think out of all the shows we've played, I got the most post-set "good set" comments I've gotten in a long time. We loaded out and into the van, said our good byes and thank yous and called it a night. The smell of smoke was so thick that we could actually smell it on the equipment. We hit the Crystal Dinner once we got back to Trenton and I completed my night with a grilled cheese.

5/21/2006 - Club Deep, Asbury Park NJ Murphy's Law, BOLD, Verse, Triple Threat, Ambitions, Flashlight Arcade, The Harletts
This was one show that had been in the works for quite awhile. Karen and Rajon from Define The Meaning Fanzine have been doing a lot to help push their zine and the Jersey scene in general. From first word of this show, I could tell that Karen and Rajon we're going to do their best to promote the hell out of this show. Flyers were being handed out at the 108 show we played in Jersey and I know they flyered up a few other big shows as well. My hopes were pretty high for this one. Since we hadn't practiced in a couple of weeks, we all agreed to meet up early before the show and run through the set. Practice went well, we packed up the van and rolled out towards Asbury Park with 3 car convoy. The directions were a little screwy, so we ended up getting slightly lost for a little while. We gave Matt from BOLD a quick call and compared directions, turned out we had the wrong street name. Upon arrival, we were about 2 bands into the show. We missed The Harletts and Flashlight Arcade was just finishing up. Ambitions went on next and played a solid set of slightly melodic hardcore with some hard stuff mixed in. I believe they were from CT. and mentioned that they had a record coming out on Think Fast Records. We went on next. Opened the set they way we've been doing as of late, "Obliterate" into "Something More". The sound at this club was pretty good. Nice stage, nice atmosphere. The club was actually right on the boardwalk, so while we were playing I'd find myself staring out the open doors and into the pounding surf and waves that weren't too far off in the distance. The stage seemed pretty roomy, so we all made use of it and moved around as much as possible. I remember looking back at Ed and watching him throw his guitar around like it was a jackhammer smashing the wall. We were supplied with plenty of water, so that's always a plus. The energy level stayed consistent through out the set. The crowd stood and watched, a few sang along and danced, but the majority just stared. Doesn't matter to us, we play, we do it as hard as we can and we leave it up there on the stage. if people dig it and catch on, cool, if not, we still get out of it what we want. Verse went on next. Always cool to see them. Good guys and a damn good band. They played a quick but solid set and really got the crowd moving. Kids packed it up, sang along and danced hard. BOLD were up next. This was their first show back since their European tour. They had just come off playing three long weeks, so you knew they were going to be tight. They tore through all the classics and pulled out one brand new song called "Kings Ransom". Awesome song and fits nicely along side the other two new tracks I've heard them play in the past. can't wait until these guys get into the studio and lay these songs down. Very cool to hear "Still Strong", which has always been one of my personal favorites and one I don't recall hearing them play since the return. Right after what appeared to be their last song, the band walked off stage and returned in a few minutes for a 2 song encore. This time Porcell's got the mic in his hand, Matt's on guitar and they blast into "Nailed To The X". Porcell went fuckin' insane! So cool seeing that dude front a band. So much energy, so much passion, so much heart. The crowd ate it up. Matt and Porcell switched off and Matt went on to finish the set with "Wise Up". Again another solid and incredible set by the saps from New York. As BOLD finished up, we started packing up. As much as we'd all like to see Murphy's Law, it was starting to get late and considering it was a Sunday night, the majority of us had work early in the AM. We loaded out, packed the van, grabbed some food on the way home and called it a night.

4/17/2006 - Bloomfield Ave. Cafe Montclair, NJ 108, Most Precious Blood, Ensign, The Fire Still Burns, Triple Threat, Killed By The Bull
Had been looking forward to this show for quite some time. After spending the entire month of March in the studio, recording for our LP, it was nice to know there was a show to play. Rob from 108 asked us to play this one, which was very cool of him and 108. This show had been booked, promoted and well talked about, so we were expecting a good turnout. There was a pre-show date switch up at some point. Originally the show was set to happen on Easter, but because the promoter thought doing a show on Easter was a bad idea, the show was switched to Monday, the following day. We all had work, but took the day off, in order to get to the show on time. The show was to start at 6:00 and surprisingly enough, we showed up close to an hour early. Kind of cool considering we're usually showing up late, loading in through a pile of kids and having no place to set up merch. This worked out well for a change. There was an opening band, but for the life of me I can't recall their name. They played while a few of us were out grabbing a bite to eat. When we got back from eating, Killed By The Bull was about to go on. Justin, who played in The Judas Factor plays in Killed By The Bull. I hadn't seen Justin in awhile, so it was cool seeing him and checking out his new band. I was impressed, kinda had a Fugazi vibe, kinda punky, I don't know exactly how to classify their music, but it was cool. After their set I walked to the back of the club to talk to Justin and compliment him. There was a dude standing next to him with a zipped up Puma running jacket on and a mesh hat. The dude said what's up and shook my hand, but I had no idea who he was. I shook his hand and continued to talk to Justin. I then walked over to my wife, who was sitting about 20 feet away and she asked me what Rob had to say. I told her I hadn't seen Rob yet and she said, "sure you did, you were just over there talking to him". I then looked back to the dude who was standing next to Justin and realized that the guy that said what's up and shook my hand was indeed Rob Fish. I felt like an idiot, straight up didn't recognize the guy. Saw him last summer when 108 were out here and playing Philly because of the doomed Hellfest date, but for some reason he just looked different than I recall him looking then. I quickly ran back and apologized, told him that I didn't recognize him. I use to see this guy every weekend back in the early 90's. Ressurection and Mouthpiece played a ton of shows together over the years. Rob was a staple in the New Jersey hardcore scene. Good guy and one that's never been afraid to speak his mind. After a brief conversation with Rob, it was time to hit the stage. The rest of the band was all set up, tuned and ready to go. We opened the set with "Obliterate" into "Something More", both of which are new songs and the two opening songs on the LP. Fun songs to play, two of my favorites as well. People were fairly packed in the club, but hesitant to really move up front for us. Didn't matter to me how many people were getting down, as long as they actually watched and listened, that's cool by me. There seemed to be a pretty solid round of claps after each song, so that's always good. We played the title track off the LP, "Into The Darkness", it was our second to last song. This was the first time we'd played this song live and it was a lot of fun. There's a pretty heavy part towards the end of the song and all of us really connected with it and went off in our own ways. The applause roared after that song, seemed to be a crowd pleaser. We finished the set with "Break It" and that was that. Those ten songs seemed to fly by. It's crazy how you look forward to a show for months, then the set is done and over in 20 minutes. It's history. The Fire Still Burns picked up where we left off. This was the first time I'd seen them in a while and the first time seeing them with the new lineup. They seemed pretty heavy tonight, a very solid set. You could tell that they had been out on the road and playing together with each other for a few days. Ensign went on next and honestly I forgot that they were on the bill. I hadn't noticed anyone from the band walking around earlier and it just slipped my mind. Good seeing them either way. They've stuck it out for years now, through thick and thin. They played a tight set, threw in some covers by Infest and Judge and tore through their originals. Most Precious Blood went on next. I'd never heard these guys, but seen ads for them in just about every magazine from here to the other side of the world. I knew Rob, who sang for One King Down and toured Europe together with Hands Tied and Ten Yard Fight. It had been awhile since I last saw him, but unlike Rob Fish, I recognized this Rob right off the bat. Most Precious Blood play a very heavy, metallic brand of hardcore. They do it well and really seem to demand the crowds attention. Kids were eating them up, diving, singing along, it was cool. 108 played last and man were they fuckin' great. They raged through a set of older and later recorded material, all was awesome. One of my personal favorites is "Opposition" into "Death Bed". The crowd was thick and the participation was heavy. At one point I dove and nearly felt like I was stuck up on top of the crowd for half a song. A welcomed mix of great songs and inspirational between song banter. All in all another solid show for the memory banks.

2/19/2006 - Wallingford American Legion, Wallingford CT Our Final Say, Triple Threat, Check Your Face, Cash In, On Three
We ended up staying with the Wrenn family after the Mass show. Incredible hospitality and phenomenal chocolate chip muffins in the morning. Watched hours of "The Office", which was pretty cool. We sort of got off to a slightly late start getting out of the Wrenn house, then found ourselves a little lost on the way to the Wallingford CT show. By the time we arrived at the show, the majority of bands had all ready played. Kids thought we weren't showing up. Apparently a band or two had cancelled, so the show moved a little quicker than anticipated. When we got ourselves inside the venue and our equipment loaded in, Our Final Say was playing and we were to go on next. The venue is a small American Legion Hall, we played here once before with The First Step and Fired Up. It's a cool place because it's so small that 100 kids easily packs it tight. We ended up being the last band to play, so of course some of the younger crowd thinned out as curfew rolled around. I'd guess that there was probably about 50 kids left, but they all stood right up front and watched us closely. Again we opened with the new track, "Obliterate", tore through our set and had a real good time. There's something cool about shows like this where the pressure seems off and it's all about having fun, playing well and leaving it all out there on the floor. The crowd was responsive and we really enjoyed ourselves. As we finished our set and began to pack up, a lot of kids came up to us and had cool stuff to say. We met some good dudes from Maine and agreed that we should try and get ourselves up there at some point. Overall a very fun and worthwhile weekend. Look forward to many more like it.
2/18/2006 - Club Lido, Revere MA BOLD, Guns Up, Triple Threat, Cut Throat, Generations
This was the start of a back to back show weekend. We packed up the minivan and headed north. Made pretty good timing up until an 18 wheeler flipped and royally put a hault on the moving traffic in the Connecticut area. Our plan was to drive directly to Salem Mass, which is the hometown of Bridge 9 Records. We had plans to meet up with Chris Wrenn, get a tour of the B9HQ and sign our record contracts. We were all really looking forward to getting a look at the operation that's called Bridge 9. We rolled into Salem sometime around 1:00 PM, the show was happening in Revere, which is only about 15 minutes South. Had some trouble finding our way to B9 once we got into Salem, but after many cell phone calls to C. Wrenn, we arrived at our destination. I had met Chris before, but the rest of the band had not, so it was cool to have this opportunity to introduce one other. Once inside B9, we were all pretty impressed. The warehouse is shared with Deathwish Records as well as The Kenmore Agency booking. Jake from Converge and Deathwish had all kinds of cool stuff around his area of the office. Artwork, an old vintage motorcycle, a goat skull, you get the picture. The B9 section of the office has a massive collection of B9 released colored vinyl up on the wall. Pretty cool idea to display the vinyl like that. Nice place, clearly a well run operation and one that we were happy to be joining. We signed on the dotted lines, checked the rest of the place out, grabbed some free B9 swag and headed out for the show. We followed C. Wrenn to the club, so his assistance was nice in getting ourselves out of Salem both quickly and painlessly. When we got there, Generations were just getting ready to take the stage. Generations is a cool new band out of CT., which is fronted by Jim bach, the same guy who booked us in Cromwell CT with BOLD and Outspoken. They played a very energetic set and were clearly enjoying themselves. Cut Throat went on next, they were pretty heavy. Lots of moshing persued. We went on next. Opened the set with "Obliterate", which is a new song that we've never played live before. It's kind of a fast, in your face type of song, nice opener I guess. Played another new song called "Something More", felt good playing new material. You get slightly bored of generally playing the same 7 or 8 songs every show, so it's nice to debut new stuff. I think we played pretty well, maybe a slight screw up once or twice, but the sound system at the club was really good and elevated all the bands sets. We hadn't practiced for close to a month, so to pull off the set as well as we did was pretty impressive to us. The BOLD guys seemed especially impressed, so that was cool to hear their encouraging words. Guns Up played next and they were really good. First time I had ever seen them and I was impressed. The crowd was way into them as well. Dan, their singer, had some really nice comments to make about Triple Threat and us as people involved in the hardcore scene. It was really cool to hear and very much appreciated. I definitely made it a point to thank Dan once I caught up with him after their set. BOLD went on last. Porcell showed up as the rest of BOLD was setting up their equipment. They opened with "Having My Say", then did "Looking Back" into "You're The Friend I Don't Need". I seriously can't get enough of "You're The Friend", what an incredible song. The breakdown makes me want to lose my mind. So good to have the opportunity to see this band again. Over the year that they've been playing again, they've really become a full on solid unit of power. They were so good tonight I just couldn't believe it. Aside from playing the new track "Open Season", they also played a song called, "Don't Bury Me", which is another sick new Porcell written song. Fun show, well put together, hats off to Craig Mack for trying to bring hardcore back to the Boston area.

12/17/2005 - The Conduit, Trenton, NJ Can't remember one band's name.
So this was our second show of a two show Trenton day. We were calling this our Black Flag day. Black Flag would play multiple shows in the same day, so there you go. After splitting from the Mill Hill show earlier in the day and grabbing some Taco Bell in between shows, we were all fueled up. We rolled into the parking lot of the Conduit and were impressed by the amount of cars that seemed to be there. We were kinda looking forward to this show just for the fact that the venue was suppose to be pretty cool. They owner apparently bought some of City Gardens old sound equipment and the place was just rumored to be set up really nice. As we walked up the club, we popped our heads into a small coffee house that's directly next door. Their was some sort of emo type show going on there. Maybe about 80 kids, all wearing tight clothes and looking oh so full of emotion, or maybe just thinking about their high school gym lockers, I don't know. Some dip shit told us to pay or beat it, so we undoubtedly beat it. We made our way next door to the Conduit. The girl working the door was wearing the same Misfits shirt that I was, I felt kinda stupid. She probably bought hers from the local Hot Topics, mine on the other hand was definitely not a mall product, still felt stupid either way. We also encountered a bouncer / door guy who was huge and looked to be a sketchy biker type. He directed us to where we should load in. I noticed a Danzig tattoo on the dudes forearm and expressed my appreciation for the Glenn as well. The guy didn't have much to say, just nodded and ushered us along. As we roll our amps into the club, I look up at the stage to see some full on metal band jamming away with a 3 year old playing guitar. I'm not exaggerating, this kid was easily younger than 4. He didn't appear to be plugged in, but man was this little kid jamming. Some dude walked up to me and said he was the guy doing the show, said that this band asked if the show was all ages, but he didn't expect one of the band members to be in diapers. I'm still not sure what was going on, it was a sight to see I'll assure you of that. When the metal band finished playing, we were up next. I think every single person that was hanging out in the club filed out with the 3 year old. Kreep's wife made it out to this show, this was her first time seeing us. A couple of other friends rolled up as well. We cruised through our set, Ed tossed in some hot licks, I made some silly comments, kreep wanted to play a bunch of new songs, but we shut it down. The crowd was way too intense to continue, the sound man was way too cool and that was that. We finished, packed up and went home. I guess the Trenton music scene packed up and went home when City Gardens shut their doors. Maybe next time.

12/17/2005 - Mill Hill, Trenton NJ Way too many bands to mention or remember.
Ok, so I had gotten a message via MySpace to play this show. I hadn't heard of any of the bands, except for 25 Ta Life, but thought it would be cool to play since it was practically in our own back yards. It was to be a Toys For Tots benefit show. I told a ton of friends to try and make it out. Told my parents as well. We were asked to be at the show by 4:00 PM, we were suppose to go on around 4:30 PM. The show was suppose to start at 2:00 PM, but we couldn't get there any earlier because Kreep had to work and couldn't get to my house until 3:30 PM. So we roll up to the venue at 4:00 PM and there's hardly any cars around. I'm driving the van, so I ask Jason and Kreep to pop out and find the kid doing the show and see where we should load in. Five minutes later Jason and Kreep come back with a whacked out look on their faces. They said that there was literally nobody at the show. I parked the van and popped in to see this for myself. They weren't kidding. There was one band playing, one friend watching them, a bar tender and Alf from The Fire Still Burns... that was it... period. The bartender asked if we were Triple Threat and if we wanted some booze, we told him we were TT, but no thanks on the booze. The guy wasn't giving up, he offered drinks on the house. Alf laughed and we politely turned the guy down again. I asked where the kid doing the show was at and where the rest of the bands were. The bartender said that the kid doing the show called and was going to be late, 25 ta Life cancelled, nobody else has shown up aside from the band that was playing and that was pretty much it. My parents walked in and I was slightly embarrassed. Out of 16 years of doing bands, they had never seen me play live. Here was their chance and this was what we were dealing with. We decided not to play. The band that was playing finished up, packed up and left. We weren't about to play to the bartender and Alf, sorry Alf. I have no idea how you can do a show, not promote it and not even show up to the show you put on. We figured that if the kid doing the show couldn't get there, we might as split.

12/10/2005 - Patterson Rec Center, Patterson NY Righteous Jams, Triple Threat, Down To Nothing, Generations and more.
I was pretty excited about this show. Originally it started off to almost be a fest. There were a ton of bands that were slated to play. As the date got closer, more and more bands seemed to be falling off the bill. As far as I knew, Righteous Jams was still set to play, so that was cool. Upon arrival, we discovered the venue to be a very large recreation center gym. You walk in and there's this massive basketball court, a handful of kids and a band playing off in one of the corners. We set up merch, brought in our equipment and hung out. Tom Capone rolled out to this show. He wanted to check out Generations, which was a new band that he was going to be producing. We hung out with Tom, went out to eat pizza, watched Generations, discovered a Warzone tattoo on Chris, one of the guitarists from Generations, forearm. The tat was done by Civ, looked pretty cool. Down To Nothing was pretty sick, kids went nuts, I was impressed. We played after Down To Nothing, which was a hard act to follow. I think Down To Nothing had another show in CT., so they played and split. Seemed like a few kids followed them out. We went on and played fairly well. There was no stage, so there was a lot of room for us to move around. A few kids sang along, Capone grabbed some mic action as well. Not a bad set, but nothing all that great either. Righteous Jams went on and killed it. Kids seemed to climb out of the walls. RJ had a fill in drummer and were short another member as well, but pulled it off none the less. It was cool seeing them, they always seem to put on a good show.

11/18/2005 - The Globe, Bethlehem PA Ensign, Carpenter Ant, Triple Threat, Final Chapter, One Last Enemy
Unfortunately I don't have much to say about this show. Jason and myself were suppose to meet Kreep at the show. Ed was suppose to drive down from Brooklyn and ride with us. On Ed's ride down from Brooklyn, NY to my house in New Jersey, Ed got caught up in traffic on Rt. 1. The word was that an 18 wheeler slammed into the back of a car, which slammed into another car and ended with five cars destroyed and one person dead. Ed sat in traffic for 5 straight hours. Jason and I ate vegetarian food. I called into the show and let them know that it didn't look likely that we were gong to make it. Eventually Ed was able to turn around and head back to NY. Sorry Bethlehem, this one was out of our hands.

09/01/2005 - Connecticut Posi Fall Fest Cromwell, CT Outspoken, BOLD, Up Front, Good Clean Fun, Have Heart, Lion Of Judah, Triple Threat, Fired Up, Upper Hand
Upon first hearing that this show was coming together, I immediately got in touch with Jim bach, the guys booking it, to see if we could be added to the bill. Jim was an old friend who booked my first band, Mouthpiece, up in Buffalo NY, many years ago. Unfortunately, by the time I got in touch with Jim, about a dozen other bands had done the same. Jim wanted to put us on the bill, but kinda didn't have room at first. He did assure me that if any bands dropped off, we would definitely be added. To our luck, Followthrough ended up not being able to play. Jim contacted me and we were instantly on. We were psyched to say the least. When we arrived at the show, there were loads of kids hanging out around the hall. The first band I saw outside in the parking lot was Up Front. I hadn't seen some of those guys in quite awhile, so once we parked I got out and said my hellos. Lots of old faces here tonight, lots of new ones as well. We went in, got stamped, set up our merch table. We had just missed Upper Hand, but got inside in time to catch Fired Up. Solid set by these guys, I'm always impressed anytime I catch them. Caught up with Hartsfield and the Outspoken guys, it's been a long, long time since I've seen those guys. Good to see them though, we definitely had some catching up to do. We went on pretty early into the show. I'm sure there were still some kids on there way, but there was a good crowd needless to say. Kids moved around when we opened with the intro into "Obsession". It's clear that "Obsession" appears to be the favorite off the 7". We usually get some pretty solid sing alongs and crowd action at the opening of our set and a lot of that is due to "Obsession". Somewhere early on into the set, Jason put his pedal through the bass drum. Of course the set had to come to a complete hault while we found another band to lend us one. Anytime some sort of technical problem arises, it's kind of a momentum killer. I had thoughts of our very first show and images of Ed breaking his strap during the intro, man that sucked. Eventually we resolved the drum pedal situation and picked up where we left off. Overall, aside from the bass drum breaking, it was a pretty solid set. Got a lot of compliments after the set, so that's always nice. It was cool hearing praise from some old friends as well as the newer people. Lion Of Judah went on next. They played a great set and are one of these bands that keeps getting better and better every time I see them. Their new songs were real good. After their set we shot out to grab some pizza down the street from the venue. We ate in the parking lot and shot back inside to catch as much as we could of Have Heart. At this point in the show, Have Heart easily seemed to steal it. Kids were just going insane. Lots of sing alongs and diving all over the place. Have Heart, like Lion Of Judah, are another band that seems to get better and better every time I see them. I look forward to hopefully playing some more shows with these guys. Good Clean Fun were up next. All these years that GCF have been together, I can honestly say that I had never heard or seen them. I completely knew what they were all about and knew Issa, their singer, for years, but for some reason or another just never caught up with them. Maybe it's one of those deals where the band tours so much, they're just never around. Either way, kids were stoked when they went on. Everybody was packed up front and singing along like crazy. Issa had a lot of funny shit to say and the kids seemed to eat it up. Something about their set made me think 1993. It wasn't their music, it was just the crowd response and vibe I got for some reason. Could have been Issa's talk about veganism and other early 90's popular topics. Up Front went on next and played a great set. They really sounded about as good musically as I can recall from seeing them back in the day. It was cool to catch them again and they were obviously having a good time up on that stage. Jeff and I made eye contact during the "Nanny, nanny, boo, boo" part and that's all that matters. BOLD were up next and damn did they shred. Kids packed it up again, such a great crowd response. BOLD pulled out a new jam called "Open Season" and wow was it freakin' great! I was so looking forward to hearing some new material and I wasn't disappointed in the least. If that new track is a sign of what's to come with the other new stuff, we're all in for a killer new BOLD record. Man alive do I love BOLD! After BOLD's set, the crowd seemed to thin out a bit. I was surprised because Outspoken hadn't played the east coast in like 10 years or more. Either way, all the die hards who loved Outspoken packed it up and had a good time. They played an awesome set, all the classics. The band really got into it. You could just tell how much it meant to them to be playing those songs again. John Coyle was like a crazed madman, he was all over the place. Definitely a very memorable show to have played and attended.

07/30/2005 - Posi Numbers Fest @ Roller King Kingston, PA BOLD, Underdog, Cold World, Crime In Stereo, Charge, Final Word, Internal Affairs, Iron Boots, Kill Your Idols, Lights Out, Lion Of Judah, Mental, Paint It Black, RNR, Think I Care, Justice, Triple Threat, Wrong Side
This was one of those shows where you basically roll up, find out your own next, set up as quickly as possible and then tear into the set. No time to walk around, hang out, talk, set up merch, you just go straight to work. Sometimes I don't mind this kind of situation, but for a show of this magnitude, the rushing made us all a little uneasy. You pretty much wait all year to play this show and you want everything to go right. I think we were the second band to go on and apparently things were running behind schedule. There were a ton of kids there, but you know how it goes when you're one of the first bands on a huge fest like this, a lot of people just aren't warmed up yet. No time to waste or think about what could have been, this is our opportunity, so here we go. As always, we opened up the set with the "A New Chapter" intro and went straight into "Obsession". Kids were into it. Lot's of moshing during the intro and when "Obsession" started, a wave of kids packed the front of the stage and sang along. Definitely a welcomed sight to have kids stage diving and singing along. It's not a regular thing to have this much of a crowd response, so I was psyched on what I was seeing. It was insanely hot up on stage. The venue was a indoor football practice space that was enclosed by a huge hot air baloon type of material. Fresh cool air definitely wasn't something that there was much of. The heat was extremely draining. I basically felt like my head was going to pop under the heat and pressure. About 3 songs into or set, the sound man signaled to us that we could only play one more song. I think we had gotten in two of the songs off the E.P. and a new song and we were now being told to cut it. We were able to get about 3 more songs out and then we just shut it down. Definitely a bummer considering we were looking forward to playing more of new material, plus we had practiced covering Agent Orange's "Bloodstains", which we had no time to play. Like I said, with a show of this magnitude you really want put it all out there, unfortunately that didn't happen. It was still great to even have the opportunity and I think we played a pretty solid set never the less. After we finished playing, I headed to the back of the stage and sat down to catch my breath and swill down some water. I needed about 10 minutes to just sit there and pull myself back together. Justice were up next. I had been hearing a lot about this band, so I was totally interested in checking them out. Because I was so exhausted from our set and the heat, I stood behind the stage and watched Justice's set. They were incredible. I couldn't believe how good they were and the crowd response was completely insane. I made sure to get myself one of their CD's later that day. After Justice's set, I headed back to the merch table. I caught a few more sets, Paint It Black, Charge, Mental, Lion Of Judah, Underdog and BOLD, all of which were great. Outside of our shorted set the heat, this was one hell of a hardcore show. Hat's off to Bob Mac and company for another stellar job.

07/09/2005 - The Pyramid Club New York City, NY BOLD, Vision, Triple Threat and Inhuman
For those who aren't familiar with The Pyramid club, it's a club right near Washington Square Park and the old A7. Raybeez and Cappo use to put on hardcore shows at this place during the late 80's. The place is sort of legendary in certain circles. Anyway, when asked to play here, we were pretty psyched. Driving a van into the city is a real pain in the ass, so we decided to drive a couple of cars in for this show. Once again we arranged to borrow some equipment. Both BOLD and Vision offered to let us use their stuff, so that was very cool of them. Of course we brought all the basics, guitars, heads and minimal drum equipment, the rest we borrowed from BOLD. We so much prefer playing clubs, I'm sure most bands do. The stage at this place is kinda tight, but still nice. Sound was clean. We played this show as a four piece. At this point Aaron's sort of taken a leave of absence from the band. He's been so consumed with the TFS recording and other shit going on in his life, we both decided that it might be a better idea to let him do his thing. Although we all want him in the band and he wants to be in the band, the three hour drive to practice and his busy schedule tend to throw a wrench into the works. We'll see what happens in the future with Aaron, but for now we're going to keep this machine on course. Four piece or five piece, we just have to keep it in motion. This was probably our strongest performance as a four piece. We were all in sync with one another and the set felt really good. It was one of those sets where I didn't really even pay attention to the crowd. I simply focused on the music and the lyrics and tried to hit it as hard and tight as possible. No pressure, no stress. Vision hit the stage after us and sounded awesome as always. Would have been dope if more people packed up front and had fun, but what ever, I can't worry about the kids leaning up against the wall. BOLD took the stage as a five piece, the first time since the reuniting. Porcell has now been added to mix. The wall of power is now complete. Holy fuck, they sounded incredible. I was psyched at the last two shows, but the addition of Porcell has added a whole new dimension to an all ready great band. They blazed through their set with such intensity and vigor, it was hard not to feel exhausted by the end of their set. This show only left me looking forward to Posi Numbers, which is only a few weeks away.

04/23/05 - The First Unitarian Church 2125 Chestnut St, Philadelphia , PA Bold, Bones Brigade, The First Step, Triple Threat, Let Down
This show was originally going to be backed up on the same weekend as the CB's show, but things got switched around. Robby had a hard time solidifying the line up, but things finally came together in the end. The church is an excellent venue for shows. There's a great stage, usually a good sound system, the room is a good size and you get a consistently strong turn out for a majority of the shows that are held there. We were originally set to play second in the line up, but due to Aaron driving down from Canada with TFS and getting stuck in traffic, we had to hold off playing. Luckily Bones Brigade were cool enough to go on before us and give us a little extra time for Aaron to arrive. Bones Brigade were damn good too. This was the first time I ever saw them. A nice mixture of thrash and metallic hardcore. They even closed their set with a cover of Metallica's "Whiplash", very cool. Aaron finally showed up and before we knew it, we were up on stage. Kids lined the front row, but of course there was that ever present empty horse shoe area in the pit. This horse shoe shit is for the birds, I just don't get it. Why people come to a hardcore show to stand 50 feet away from the stage while watching the band, is just something I'll never understand. We played well though. The kids that were up front seemed to have fun and I know we did. We closed our set with a cover of DYS's "Wolf Pack" into our last song, "Break It". Since TFS showed up late, they were forced to rush through their set. I think they got about 10 minuets to play. They kicked ass never the less. The crowd responded and made the best of the short set. BOLD went on last. From the first song, things appeared to be on track. Kids packed up front and the excitement level was pretty high. The more songs BOLD played, the more obvious the good old horse shoe was opening back up. It almost seemed like kids got scared from the stage diving, so backed off to stay out of the line of fire. At this point I made my way off the stage and right up front. From there on out I paid no attention to who or what was in back of me. It could have been 300 kids, it could have been 30, all I know is I was up front and enjoying BOLD. They finished the set with a couple of Crippled Youth songs. After the show a shit load of kids headed off to Cherry Street for vegetarian Chinese food. Great way to end a great day.

04/17/2005 - CBGB New York, NY BOLD, Mental, Triple Threat, Have Heart and The Fire Still Burns
So I get this call at work one day. Matt Warnke (BOLD) tells me that he just got a call from Tom Capone and he want's to get BOLD back together. Matt asked me what my thoughts were, I simply said, "I'll be there doing back flips". BOLD have always been one of my all time favorite hardcore bands, to get a chance to see them again would be welcomed for sure. Matt asked if we wanted to put together a BOLD / Triple Threat weekend and if I could help get some shows together. My initial thought was to get in touch with Robby Red Cheeks. Robby has always done a good job booking shows and I felt like he would be the right guy to turn to with this. CB's came to mind right off the top. With all the rumors and talk about CBGB's closing this summer, you better believe I wanted to get another chance to play that place. Robby and this guy Rich put the show together. We were all really happy with the line up. When we got to the show, we got there really early. We were interested in checking out BOLD's sound check, so we made sure to hang around for that. The sound check was incredible, they sounded perfect. We were all super psyched for what was to come as the night rolled on. The Fire Still Burns opened the show and they sounded really tight. It was cool getting a chance to play with them on a great show like this. Have Heart played next and they put on a great show as well. Lots of energy, kids singing along. We went on right after Have Heart. I'm always partial to playing smack dab in the middle of a show. You've got the first couple bands warming up the crowd, then you get to do your thing. Capone hooked us up with BOLD's sound man, who was Quicksand's old sound man. We paid the guy to make sure we got ourselves a good sound. The sound man thing was a smart move, he really enhanced our overall sound. When we played, we thought we played well and sounded good, but once we heard the live recording, we discovered that things went even better than we thought. We definitely picked the right show to pull it all together. CB's was packed and us playing on this show was an excellent opportunity to play to a lot of people who had never seen us play before. We had kids singing along and diving, we played a solid set and it all went down at the legendary CBGB's, you can't ask for much more. Mental took that stage right after us and kept the show rocking at a high level, they were freakin' incredible. I've seen Mental a few times before and they're always good, but they just sounded great tonight. Their new songs were awesome. People were going crazy, diving and singing along. You even had Rat Bones tearin' shit up during their set. If the crowd wasn't warmed up for BOLD at this point, I don't know what would have done the trick. Of course with the opening of BOLD's first track, CB's erupted into a frenzy of stage diving and sing alongs. Everybody really seemed to be enjoying themselves, the band included. It was great to see a band like BOLD come back after all these years and still be able to rip the place up. Aside from a few technical problems with equipment being knocked out of tune and unplugged, BOLD's set was everything and more than I expected.

03/26/2005 - The Oasis Fulton, NY The First Step, Charge, One Up, Triple Threat, The Risk Taken, No Trigger, Marathon, No Idols, Learn, Our X Times, Walk The Line, Savage Edge, The Triumph, Earthquake
This was the second show on our weekend with TFS. It's been a long time since I've played the Syracuse area. Last time must have been with Mouthpiece sometime in the mid 90's. I have a lot of good memories from both playing and going to shows in Syracuse. This show was at a space called The Oasis. Honestly I don't even know what the place was. It was a huge room, no stage, tables all over the place. There wasn't much of a crowd, at least not for this huge room. A smaller venue would have done this show justice. We got to the show pretty early, so we decided to explore the town a little and search for a pizza place. Usually you can find a pizza shop on every corner in every town you go to, not the case here. The closest thing we could find that resembled a pizza shop was a Little Cesar's in a K Mart. Definitely not the most ideal eatery, but we were hungry and it was gunna have to do. We ate and shot back to The Oasis. Set up merch, hung out a little, watched One Up. We went up next. Took our time setting up in hopes that more people would collect, it worked a little. Once we started, I felt like more than half of the crowd was just standing there staring at us. It was like they had no idea what to make of us. In an odd way I kinda liked the response. People could have been walking around and paying us no mind, but for the most part they were really watching us. Once again, no stage, so I had free roam of the floor. On the ride back home we happened to have a DVD player in the van we rented. We bought a copy of Metallica's "Some Kind Of Monster" and pretty much watched that the entire ride home. It felt good to have spent a weekend on the road, looking forward to many more of these.

03/25/2005 - Wallingford American Legion Wallingford, CT The First Step, Triple Threat, Lion Of Judah, Signs Of Hope, Fired Up
I've been talking to Fred from Fired Up about playing Connecticut for quite awhile. For some reason, every show we tried to get together on ended up falling through. I was hellbent on making this show happen. I had just gotten the Fired Up demo a few weeks earlier and was really looking forward to checking them out. The demo is great. Very tight and sold hardcore in the vein of Floorpunch. We were looking forward to playing with The First Step as well. We set this little weekend swing up with them. The hall was really small. 100 to 150 kids would really pack the place. We got to the show a little early, but there was all ready a nice crowd hanging out. Fired Up opened the show and they were all that I was expecting. Just like the demo, they were tight and solid and ripped through their set. I was impressed. Signs Of Hope played next. They must have been local favorites, because kids went insane when they played. I had never heard of them up until then. Lion Of Judah went on next. I was really looking forward to seeing these guys as well. I heard a couple of tracks on line and was into it. They played a good set and left me wanting to hear more. Definitely a welcomed breath of fresh air. We went on next, this was the first show in a couple of shows that Aaron was able to join us again. It's always good to play as a full 5 piece band, so we were psyched that Aaron was here tonight. We opened the set with "Our Day", which was a first. There was no stage, but kids were moving around and having fun. I think we sounded ok tonight, but other guys in the band seemed to think something was a little off. Sometimes your on, sometimes your not. TFS hit it next. They were great as always, the crowd went nuts. Can't wait till the LP is finally finished and out.

03/20/2005 - Froggers Manahawkin, NJ Vision, Ensign, Triple Threat, The Fire Still Burns, Test Of Courage
This is another show that Scott from The Fire Still Burns hooked us up with. Froggers is a roller skating rink with an arcade and a kids play area. Bands play on the floor of the roller rink. Apparently they have a fairly consistent string of hardcore / punk shows here. I had never heard of the place, but it seems to have a strong local presence. The area news paper did a cool write up on the show and talked about all the bands. The girl Leslie, who books the shows, made sure all of the bands got copies of the news paper. The Fire Still Burns played a solid set and kids really seemed to get into them. We played this show as a four piece again, Aaron was unavailable. He was away working on the new TFS record. We played a good set. Again, kids are starting to sing along more and more. There was no stage, so we made use of the huge floor space and moved around as much as possible. We closed the set with Black Flag's "Fix Me" and even had a few genuine punkers, mohawks and all, involved in the sing alongs. Ensign played next, hadn't seen them in years, many years. They sounded really good, even better than I remember. Their new material was pretty heavy, I was into it. Vision closed the show and tore the place up. People were all over the place, singing along, climbing on heads, having a good time. This was a really solid show. Well promoted, good mix of bands. I'd be down to play here again anytime.

03/18/2005 - The Plumstead Fire Hall Pipersville, PA No Joke, War Hungry, Triple Threat, Thumbs Up, Those Who Remain, On Course
Our bass player Tim (The Kreep) hooked us up on this show. Right from the start we knew it was going to be a pretty small one. The ride was probably only about a half hour. Aaron couldn't play this show with us, so we were doing it as a four piece. Got to the fire hall and the place was packed with what appeared to 13-16 year olds. Looked like a high school hang out with a bunch of friends bands playing. I think I heard about 5 Gorilla Biscuits covers. Shows like this are kinda fun to play because there is absolutely no stress. You go in, play and have fun and that's it. You don't expect a million kids to be there and you just roll with it. There was no stage, no sound system, just some cabinets a bunch of young and enthusiastic kids jumping off the walls. Although I felt old enough to be 90% of these kids father, it was a good time.

03/13/2005 - Delaretos Absecon, NJ The Fire Still Burns, Dead Hearts, Triple Threat, From The Ground Up, Test Of Courage, Attitude and Names Of Graves
The Fire Still Burns is a new band out of New Jersey. Scott who use to play guitar in Lifetime and Mouthpiece for a short while, plays guitar for these guys. Scott and I had been talking through emails for a couple of months and decided we'd try and hook some shows up together. I hadn't seen Scott in easily 12 years, so it was cool getting back in touch with him. Good to see him playing hardcore again as well. This show was at a club called Delaretos. Not a bad venue, really nice stage and sound. The turn out for this show was pretty weak, but we really didn't care. The drive was only about an hour, so there's nothing to really lose. The Fire Still Burns were awesome, sounded similar to old Lifetime. They closed with a cover of Dag Nasty's "All Ages Show", which was done to perfection. First time I can remember hearing a band do that song. We played shortly after TFSB. I felt extremely comfortable on stage tonight, don't really know why. Sometimes I have no idea what to say, sometimes I have too much to say, tonight was one of those nights. It was cool though, everybody else in the band fed off of me being lose and comfortable and reacted the same. There was this odd extension on the front of the stage. If you ran and jumped on to it, it would detatch from the actual stage and start rolling into the crowd. Of course due to my comfortableness, I jumped on it and rode the extension like a surf board into the handful of kids. Aside from that, Ed and I looked pretty metal tonight. I wore a Danzig shirt and he wore a Motorhead shirt. It was strictly by coincidence. Names Of Graves were good and played a very energetic set, cool to see those guys. Right after Names For Graves we started packing up and getting ready to head out. 7 Seconds were playing Philly tonight and Aaron, The Kreep and myself were all eagerly looking forward to catching that.

03/05/2005 - Captain Tees Harrisonburg, VA SPRING BREAK 2005 FEST with: In My Way, End it Quick, Van Damage, The Spark, Bail Out, Tarpit, Iron Boots, Fighting Chance, Slumlords, Triple Threat, The Frontline, Direct Control, The Hate Crimes, Kill Your Idols, Violent Minds, Drug Test
Do to bad weather, the trip to RI left us in the hole money wise. We had rented a van, but by no means made enough at the show to cover the rental fees, the gas and the tolls. No big deal, it was just time for another plan transportation wise. For this show we arranged to borrow equipment and I was going to drive the band in my Passat from Jersey to VA. So here we are, five of us packed in a car with merch and minimal equipment, for a 5 hour drive. Nothing all that interesting on the way down, just long stretches of road. We arrived at the show fairly early on. Although this show was promoted as a fest and there were a ton of bands playing, there really weren't all that many people there. There was a strip of band tables selling merch and about 100 or so kids walking around. The place was sort of set up like an arcade and play area for kids. There was a decent stage tucked away in the back of everything. Like most shows I had to hop into the bathroom and take a seat. I guess it's pre-show nerves / jitters, but it's been a ritual over the past 15 years. So I'm in the bathroom and decide to give my wife a call to let her know that I've made it to VA in one piece. As I'm talking on the phone I take notice to some shoes that walk in and sit down in the stall next to me. They looked awfully female. I hung up my cell phone, finished up business and proceeded to get out. As I open the door a girl stands there staring at me... yeah I was in the women's room and I felt like a moron. Hate it when that happens. Anyway, before long we were setting up and preparing to go on. We ran through the set and actually had a handful of kids singing along, definitely a good feeling. I remember finishing the set and hearing people ask for more, that's always a good thing. I think we hung out for a little longer, then packed up the Passat and headed back to Jersey. Can't say it was the biggest or best show I've ever played, but it's cool to get another notch under the belt.

12/26/2004 - The AS220 Providence, RI Verse, Have Heart, Guns Up, Draw Blood, Sex Positions, Triple Threat and The 3rd Death
Going into this show, we were extremely psyched to play. We had played with Verse in Jersey and they were awesome. This was to be Verse's home town show to kick off their tour. We expected a great show and a impressive turn out. We rented a van for this show, as we did for the last show. With the last show we were able to sell enough merch and get paid enough money to cover the van, so we were hoping for the same here. As everyone started showing up to my house in the morning, we were short one guy, Aaron. We tried calling him to check in on his estimated arrival, but no answer. We waited and waited and waited some more. I think we let about 2 hours pass. No luck getting in touch with him, no calls, we were concerned to say the least. At some point we decided to make a band decision and head off to Rhode Island. We all packed into the van and started pulling out of my drive way. In one last ditch effort we tried giving Aaron another call... boom, we got him. He was stuck in Delaware, on his way up to Jersey from Maryland. His car broke down in the middle of nowhere and he had barely any cell phone reception. We talked about possibly driving down to Delaware to pick him up, but there would have been no way we would have made the show in RI. Instead we arranged for my wife to drive down to Delaware and pick Aaron up and we headed off for the show. We'd play this one as a four piece. At first we seemed to be making decent time. Of course we were going to be late, but hopefully not too late. Once we got to Connecticut, all hell broke loose, it started snowing. The further we drove, the harder it snowed, the harder it snowed, the slower traffic moved. By the time we reached RI, it took us close to 9 hours, it was completely insane. We got to the club and there was a band playing. Due to the snow storm, the turn out wasn't too hot. I'm guessing 60 kids. We drug in our equipment, set up merch, then it was time to play. Within a half hour of our arrival, we were on stage. We quickly blazed through our set, seemed like the shortest set I've ever played in my life. A few people seemed into us, we sold a handful of merch, then quickly packed the van back up. Considering it took us 9 hours to get here, we had no idea what it was going to take to get home. As quickly as we walked in and played, we were gone. The trip home wasn't as bad as the trip up, but it was definitely one of those trips where you're pulling into your drive way and it's 7:00 am. That's hardcore.

11/20/2004 - Penn Skate Skatepark Whitehall, PA Atari, Rain On The Parade, Triple Threat, Carpenter Ant, Panic Attack/Rancor and Ready To Rip
This was one show we were definitely looking forward to. Hands Tied use to play with Rain On The Parade and Atari from time to time, so it was cool being asked to play their reunion show. One memory I'll have about driving to this show, was listening to the new Danzig "Circle Of Snakes" CD for the first time. I had been a bit let down by the previous few Danzig releases, but damn, this new CD was pretty fuckin' good. Anyway, pulled up at the show and it was raining. Sucks loading equipment in the rain. Looked like a solid turn out though, the parking lot was packed with cars. Once inside, immediately in front of us were a variety of ramps and bowls. It was one of those times when I wished I still kept a board packed in my trunk, not that I even drove my car, but still. The room that the show was being held in was a huge empty warehouse type space. We were completely surrounded by huge wooden walls. In the far right corner of the space was a three foot stage. Panic Attack / Rancor were just getting ready to go on. As always, Panic Attack were great, as was the collection of Rancor tracks. If these guys could only play out on a more consistent basis, I think they'd be appreciated more. Great band and great guys never the less. Carpenter Ant must be a local band with a pretty big following, they got a great response. At one point somebody in Carpenter Ant started throwing skateboard wheels out into the crowd. Of course one flew all the way across the warehouse and pegged me in the head, while I sat at the Triple Threat merch table. It was one of those moments where you hope nobody saw that. We went up next. I was pretty psyched up to play. There was a good crowd collecting around the front of the stage. There was also a few old friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. Zev and Kingshot from Floorpunch came out, always cool to see them. Definitely added to the late 90's feel that this show all ready had. We played and played pretty well, it was a fun set. In tribute to the whole 90's vibe, we closed with the Mouthpiece song, "What Remains". No plans to make this common practice, but for this show we thought it was fitting. Kids were into it. Nice to have the sing alongs and stage dives back. Rain On The Parade and Atari finished out the show. Both bands got a killer response, it was cool to see. On a side note, this was the first real show that we started selling our 7" at. It's always cool to set up the merch table with your brand new release on it.

11/19/2004 - Sacred Ground Fairless Hills, PA Trash Talk In The Kingdom, The Riotones, Triple Threat and Red Team
Yet another show hooked up by The Riotones guys. This one was in a basement area of a church type place. Awesome little venue actually. Cool stage, lighting and a solid sound system. The guy who puts the shows on is an older guy who pretty much does the shows to give kids a place to hang out on a Friday night and to collect a little money to keep the church running. The up stairs was filled with tables and free food. Mostly snack type stuff, but cool none the less. While we were waiting for the show to come together and the first band to play, we were hanging out up stairs, munching on cookies and drinking fruit punch. Next thing I know Ed seems to have lost his messenger bag. The bag wasn't just some ordinary messenger bag, it was his favorite bag and it was completely filled with all his guitar chords, tuner and clothes. Ed was freaking out to say the least. He immediately started to think that maybe one of the kids at the show took off with the bag. For the next half hour, we're all searching franticly for this bag. Before we know it, it's time to go on. At this point Ed is completely enraged. We hit the stage and Ed's ready to kick in the teeth of who ever looks at him wrong. At one point he picks up a mic off the floor and says, " Who ever has my bag, I'd really appreciate you returning it to me and if not, there's going to be some trouble". Kids are searching the place high and low, but nothing. Needless to say, the whole missing bag incident put a slight damper on the set. We played well, but obviously Ed's head wasn't with the music. Probably about an hour after our set and close to the end of the show, it turned out that the opening bands drummer accidently packed Ed's bag up while loading his drums back into his car. The kid appologized up and down. Ed quickly returned to sanity.

10/29/2004 - The American Legion Post 148 The Festival Of The Dead East Windsor, NJ The Cryptkeeper 5, The Riotones, The Checkers, Triple Threat and Skullitor
This is another one of those shows that we set up through Pete and The Riotones guys. It was suppose to be a huge Halloween bash with a mix of some of the bigger local bands. The show was definitely promoted well. I was seeing flyers everywhere, even at Pizza Huts. There was also a nice write up in the local news papers weekend suppliment. On our way to the show I received two phone calls, one from my friend Tony and one from my friend Chris. Both were at the show, standing in the parking lot, not knowing each other was there, but calling to see where we were. It was funny because they both had the same thing to say about the crowd that had piled up out in front of the hall. They said that it looked like a meeting spot for 13 year old hookers. Apparently a large majority of the girls that went to the show decided to dress up like prostitutes in the spirit of Halloween. We were running late for this show, so I was also getting calls from Pete of The Riotones asking where we were. We were suppose to go on at 6:30 and it was about 6:15 and we still had another 15 minutes to go until we were there. As soon as we pulled up we quickly loaded our equipment right up onto the stage. Unfortunately we were still missing Aaron, he was still on his way up from DC. As soon as we got everything set up on stage, I stepped outside and called Aaron on his cell to find out his estimated arrival time. We had a couple hundred kids standing around waiting for us to play and Aaron was still about 15 minutes away. Finally Aaron pulled up at about 6:45, we had 15 minutes to play. Aaron and I ran in, jumped on stage and within 2 minutes we busted into our set. Weird crowd, very young crowd. I remember seeing a few mohawks and a handful of kids slamming. It was actually a pretty damn fun show to play. Of course hardly anybody there knew who we were, but it was still fun playing to a packed room. There were probably a total of 3 hardcore kids there, the rest were extremely young punk kids and mostly normal high school kids. About 5 minutes after we finished our set, a small group of straight edge kids showed up. They were bummed that they missed us, but I was still psyched to see them make it out for the show. For the rest of the show I manned the merch table and talked music with my friend Chris Alpino. After the show we all headed out and grabbed a bite to eat at a local dinner. Imagine that, a show and a visit to a dinner afterwards.

10/24/2004 - The Saint Asbury Park, NJ The Promise, Charge, Verse, Triple Threat and Attitude
This show was fully set up by the Charge guys. Like they were telling me at the Hamilton Street Cafe show, they wanted to start doing hardcore shows on a regular basis. They found this club in Asbury Park. Pretty cool little club, just steps away from the old Stone Pony. When we pulled up there was definitely a nice little gathering of hardcore kids standing around outside, so that was a good sign. Once we got in and got a good look around the club, we all agreed the place looked pretty cool. It's always nice to play a real club with a stage, lighting and a good sound system. We loaded our equipment back into a band dressing room area and sat down to catch our breath. The dressing room had that classic look of a dingy little rock club, tons of grafitti and stickers covered the walls. Once we went on, there was a decent crowd filling the dance floor, people looked genuinely interested in what we were about to bring. We played the set pretty solid. Kids seemed to be down with what we were doing. I had a lot of people commenting and praising us after the set, so that was pretty cool. Verse went on after us and they were really good. That was my first time seeing them and I was really impressed. Charge played a great set as well, totally demanded the attention of all those in attendance. The Promise were another band that I had heard about, but had never seen. It was obvious that the majority of kids that came to the show were psyched to see these guys, as they well should have been. The Promise put on a great set, very tight, heavy and energetic plus a good amount of crowd participation. Two of the guys in The Promise played in One King Down, a band that my old band Hands Tied went along to Euorpe with. It was cool seeing those guys and playing together. It was also cool seeing Jim Winters, who also plays for The Promise. Jim use to play in an old straight edge band from Pennsylvania called Conviction, my other old band, Mouthpiece, use to play with Conviction back in the early 90's. All around a good show, good turn out, good bands. It will be very interesting to see how future shows pan out at this venue, I was definitely left with some hope.

09/05/2004 - Hamilton Street Cafe Bound Brook, NJ Kill Verona, Charge, Triple Threat, The Riotones and A Long Farewell
A friend of mine that I work with is in this band called The Riotones. The Riotones are more or less a rock band with punk influences. The guy's name is Pete. Pete mentioned to me how we should try and play some shows together once in awhile. Pete had some ideas of renting out a space and doing a split show where I would get half of the bands and he would get the other half. We saw it as a nice opportunity to bring together 2 different groups of kids that wouldn't usually see bands like ours play together. Pete looked into doing the show at Hamilton Street Cafe and I agreed that would be a cool place. I decided to get Kill Verona who are on Livewire Records along with us and Charge from NJ. Kill Verona draw a lot of people in their hometown of Philly, probably about 500 kids per show. I figured for them to play in Jersey, they might help draw at least 100 kids minimum. Charge aren't really a new band, but a band that I think is really good and way underrated here in Jersey. I thought they definitely deserved a spot on the show. As the date for this show came closer, we found out that Kill Verona had to cancel. Apparently there were some misunderstanding and communication problems, so the result was them not playing. Kinda left us a little stressed out at the last minute, but the show must go on. Once we arrived at the club the crowd was less than stellar. Although I had printed up close to 600 flyers and had them put up all over Jersey and Philly, it didn't seem to help. I guess without a real headlining band, kids just aren't interested enough to make it out. I'm going to guess that there were roughly 50 people here, maybe less. Either way, we played hard, had fun and chalked it up as paying our dues. Everybody that was there definitely watched us play, so that was cool. We did a cover of Crippled Youth's, "Can't You See", that was kinda fun to do but it was the first and last time we ever played it. My cousin video taped us at this show and it went on to be used for the interactive material on the CD. Charge closed out the show and I thought they were great. After Charge's set, I talked to Shawn and Greg (Bass player and singer) and told them that we really need too play more shows together. The Charge guys were telling me how they wanted to start putting on shows in Jersey on a regular basis. I was totally down with that. Jersey definitely needs a steady venue, that's something we've been lacking for years.

6/26/2004 - Bloomfield Ave. Cafe Montclair, NJ Insted, The First Step, Triple Threat, Worn Thin
So this was our first show. If it wasn't for Rich and Insted and their push for us playing, I'm not so sure this band would have come together as fast as it did. This show gave us a goal and a time frame to focus on. We wanted to get Triple Threat off the ground, we wanted to play our first show with Insted and we made it happen. Although we were able to prepare ourselves enough for the show, we still ran into some pretty embarassing set backs during the set. First song we opened up with our intro "A New Chapter", from that song we're suppose to run right into our next song, "Obsession". Early on in the intro, when the song really starts to kick in, Ed did a jump and came down breaking his guitar strap. He continued to play the song, but played it down on one knee and with Daniel from Damage Control feverishly trying to reattatch the strap. The strap was blown, it couldn't be saved, so Ed ended up having to ask some one from another band if he could borrow a strap. The flawlessly planned merge of "A New Chapter" into "Obsession" didn't happen. We had to sit and wait for a few minutes until somebody brought us up another strap. Finally, Ed's back in business and we start playing "Obsession". Just after I finish the first few lines of the song, I find myself extremely light headed and nearly pass out. I swear for what seemed like 5 minutes, I was blacked out, but managed to still stand. Apparently I sang without taking enough breath and simply left myself on the verge of passing out. Even though it seemed like 5 minutes, it was really only a matter of seconds. needless to say, at the time I wasn't sure what the hell was going on and I was a little nervous. Of course at the end of "Obsession", Aaron breaks a string and we're forced to wait it out while he replaces the string. I guess from there on out, things went rather smoothly, but those first few obstacles during the first two songs were enough to throw me off. We ended the set with a cover of Black Flag's "Fix Me", but kids seemed to just stare at us like they had no idea what we were playing. Got me thinking back to when Mouthpiece use to play "Open Up" by DYS and absolutely nobody but maybe 2 people knew it. Once we recorded "Open Up" for the "What Was Said" LP and continued playing it live, people quickly began learning. Hopefully since we're planning on recording "Fix Me" for the Triple Threat CD, the same will happen.