Rademacher with Aiborne Tour Diary : Seattle to PDX

It is 11:40 am. We are on the I5 heading south to Portland, and tonight we are playing the Wonder Ballroom with TATE and THCP. Should be a fun show, we were originally booked to play Doug Fir, which I always think of as the PDX equivalent of Spaceland, but the show got moved to the larger room because TATE tix sold out so quick.

I find that amazing. We have never had a really good PDX show before. We have played the town several times and have some good friends in that neck of the woods, but we are way more used to playing smaller rooms with smaller crowds and not having anyone show up. A sold out show is a rare treat.

The band scene in PDX is very competitive. There are so many good groups. Some of the folks that I really dig from there are, well, Modest Mouse of course. Malkmus lives there as well. The Joggers are a favorite. But there are tons of lesser known groups that we have shared the stage with that are great musicians. I could see why this might lead to low show numbers. Everyone is in a band in that town and there aren't many "civilians" to support the events.

At least that has been my experience.

Last night I was reflecting on how surreal it is to be rolling in such a tight little crew with so many good friends and playing such HUGE sold out shows. I feel very lucky to be having this kind of musical moment with good pals that I have been on the trenches with for years, and TATE, if you're reading, thanks for sharing this experience with us.

Last night we played an in-store at a record store in Ballard called Bop Street Records while TATE and THCP headed to Portland. Bop Street is right next door to the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. It is a great store, but I limited my window shopping, so I don't have much to report about their stock other than that they obviously have a TON of cool stuff. I didn't really have cash to spend, so instead of perusing, I sat down and did a crossword while we waited to play. Damn it if those crosswords in The Stranger aren't tough.

Our friends, the Passive Disaster shared the bill with us. They play a a weird mix of dance-y numbers with good lyrics. For the last song of their set, a song about dancing in your underwear, the kids in the band all took off their pants. It was pretty cool. I learned a lot about the band that I probably didn't need to know, but it was fun. It for sure convinced me that I should invest in a good pair of boxer-briefs.

After that, most of the kids from the show all headed down to a local watering hole in Ballard. The name of the place escapes me at the moment. Second City? Maybe. It was a fun looking dive. I wasn't really in the mood to drink, and as I mentioned before, I had no cash. So I bailed and our drummer Eden and I headed back to the van to wait while Greer drank. we sat in the front seats of the van and we listened to records.

I didn't bring much music on this tour : an Os Mutante compilation and a copy of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain". I love both of those records. I thought I had brought my copy of this record by a French band called Medusa. Unfortunately, I just brought the case and left the actual disc in my player at home.

On the other hand, that is all the bad news I have to report. We listened to music and texted pals for a couple of hours, picked up Greer, and then headed back to the crash pad that By Sunlight generously offered to us for a second night straight.

2 hours left until we get to Portland. Looking forward to running into some old friends, drinking, and wreaking havoc.