Wow. The "Tooth Fairy" tour was amazing! The first Dental Work tour. I never thought I would see the day! Everyone was so hospitable and awesome!
Big shout out and much love goes to everyone, especially Lob & Bill from Norcal Noisefest/The Instagon Foundation, Mike, Jason, and Dre from Sabreteeth, Ratskin Records, & The Razorwire Compound in Oakland, CA and all the dudes from Actuary, Phog Masheeen, and Audiometic for the rides throughout California! Good Karma is coming your way dudes!
Ok, so here is a run down of the dates, places, acts and all that jazz....
10/08/09 - Chicago, IL @ WZRD FM Station - Live Set/Interview w/ Billy Sides
10/09/09 - Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club - WZRD's 35th Anniversary Show Live Set w/ Right Eye Rita, Eyes, Realicide, William Sides Atari Party, The Effigies, Skarekrau Radio, New Colony 6, Mark Shippy, Heartbreak Hate, and Illusion Of Safety
10/13/09 - Omaha, NB @ Train 5 - Improv Set w/ Reid, Mo, and Richard
10/14/09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Improv Set/DJ Set w/ Braz1l & Silkkluv
10/15/09 - Oakland, CA - @ Razorwire Compound - Live Set w/ Sissisters, In The Age Of Terminal Static, Tom Hall, and Actuary
10/16/09 - Oakland, CA - @ Razorwire Compound - (Live Jam w/ Renaldo)
10/17/09 - Sacramento, CA - @ The Greens - Norcal Noisefest XIII (Live Jam w/ Sabreteeth), w/ Jolthrower, Actuary, Vertonen, Instagon, XOME, XDUGEF, UEM, +DOG+, Lords Of Outland, Phog Mashhen, Cerebral Roil, 15 Degrees Below Zero, + More
10/18/09 - Sacramento, CA - @ The Greens + EMRL - Norcal Noisefest XIII Live Set, w/ Laces, Sabreteeth, Aubrey, Sissisters, Gohger/Aural Antithesis, Shrew Florist, Nuberkunst!, Kawaiietly Please, Al Qaeda, Noisepsalm, Rubber O Cement, and Big City Orchestra
So yeah, a few unexpected dates were thrown in there, and Im happy that they did! My 3 favorite shows were Chicago Day 2, Oakland Day 1, and Sacramento Day 2.
Here is a recap of the trip:
Chicago:
Chicago was awesome.....I got to do a live Dental Work set and an interview on WZRD FM (the coolest station in Chicago). After the radio thing, Billy Sides and I got some awesome Indian/Pakastani food from a little restaurant in his hood. Awesome Lamb Biryani for $5!
After "getting our heads together" we passed out. The next day I explored the city of Chicago from the north side near the college to the southside of downtown. I loaded in to Reggie's Rock club, hit up "The Green Room", and waited for the night to begin.... I ended up opening the night,
followed by Right Eye Rita, and awesome performer and friend of Mark Solotroff from Bloodlust!. After her set, Heartbreak Hate and Illusion Of Safety played....I only heard their sets, I was in the green room again! Eyes did an amazing set followed by Skarekrau Radio....Awesome..After that I think Realicide played, and I really enjoyed his set and hanging with him and talking at the merch table.....William Sides Atari Party played next, he was a blast! The night closed with New Colony 6, The Effigies, and DJ Taco Punch. I had a wonderful time in Chi-Town....Awesome Pizza I must add!!! I cant wait to come back here and hang again! Thanks to Billy Sides, WZRD FM, Ray P, Reggie's, the City Of Chicago, and all of the wizards!
The Train Ride West:
There was a 2 hour layover in Chicago, I got some pizza hut and headphones and hopped on the train. From Chicago to Burlington, Iowa it was flat boring corn and farm country. Lame! We crossed the Mississippi River in Burlington, my grandpa's birth town!
That city is lost in time, old buildings and diners, movie theatres, everything looks like 1952. I met some really cool people on that ride, including a lady named Elizabeth, a dance choreographer from Kalamazoo. She and I shared an interest in obscure music and cats.
I found out that her cat actually plays the piano, she is going to record it and send the sample to me so I can chop it up and make an album out of it! So yeah, Elizabeth found out I was a musician and hooked me up with a few other musicians on the observation deck of the train.
I ended up doing a live collaboration in the middle of the night with complete strangers in Omaha, Nebraska...I played glitched out samples and cats meowing and black girls having sex while Reid played banjo, Richard played guitar, and a guy named Mo from Egypt played the harmonica for the first time.
It was kind of like a noise folk glitch type thing, I recorded it too! After that set, a girl named Jenn and I talked about life for about 6 hours straight! She was going through some tough times, and I think she needed a good listening ear and some advice....Great conversations.
Mo was the guy from Egypt and he had alot of really interesting stories about traveling the world. He told me about a plant in the Arab world that will clean out any drugs in your system so you can pass a drug test; called "Hilba"
After a few hours of sleep on the floor, we finally made it to Denver. By this time, a rapper that goes by the name "Silkkluv" from Detroit realized I was a producer, and he really wanted me to record his vocals, make him beats, add him to my label, and pretty much be the brains of his operation.
I made an album for him on the train. I met a couple of really interesting ladies on the train, one of them was calling herself "Braz1l". She was moving back to Fresno, CA. I talked with her alot, and I let her loose on my laptop.
Braz1l actually put together a killer DJ mix, I recorded it, I think I am going to put out a small run on Placenta..Sage was the other girl I met on the train. She was leaving Denver and heading back to Humboldt County, CA....She was awesome, she ran a medical marijuana clinic for AIDS/Cancer Patients, and of course the feds busted her and made her jump through some hoops....Bastards. She invited me to play at a benefit show for the clinic next summer!
....All in all I went the the Rocky Mtns, The Sierra Nevada Mtns., and Donner's Pass. In Reno, Nevada I was racially profiled and searched by a whiteboy undercover. Do I really look that suspicious?
I said goodbye to my new friends and continued on to the Bay Area!
Oakland, CA:
I arrived at Jack London Square in Oakland about 4pm. Mike, who I had only previously met online or on the phone came to pick me up with his roomate Renaldo. Awesome guys. Anyway, we went to Office Max so I could pick up some blank cds, followed by a nice "mental cleansing" session back at the Razorwire Compound. Oakland is pretty rough. My kind of city. It reminded me of Detroit with palm trees and sun. Detroit is still the worst though baby, and I love it!
We hung out at the Razorwire Compound, it is an apartment building that Mike and 5 friends share, and it is also an awesome DIY performance center...They have a bunch of breathtaking artwork (done by Mike and Jason) surrounding the walls, tons of flyers and obscure stuff on the walls. The table we performed on is actually an old stretcher from a hospital, it produced a haunting noise for everyone. I am sure plenty of people spent their final moments on that thing, and it really puts out an intense vibe.
Mike made some vegan pasta and spring rolls for all of us, really good stuff! Tom Hall, an awesome noise artist from Australia opened up the evening, followed by In The Age Of Terminal Static from Washington. I have made plans to do a split with Tom Hall, and ITAOTS and I knew alot of the same people. Sissisters played a brief mind bender next, followed by a brain melting visual piece of destruction by Actuary from L.A. The night was a blast, I got really fucked up on some of Oaksterdam's finest and slept hard!
The next morning, Renaldo and I decided to go to San Fransisco....A Beautiful city. I absolutely loved Oakland/San Fran. Anyway, I went to an internet cafe and hung out for a few hours while Renaldo went to run some errands. I checked my mail and ate an awesome Veggie/Falafel wrap, and had an excellent smoothie and iced coffee. We went back to Oakland and got some fried chicken from a place down the street. Renaldo showed me his keyboard/Reason program, and we just sat around smoking/making some sounds.
Mike got home and we watched a bunch of Renaldo's videos and some Rubber O Cement vids online. Another solid night of sleep! The next morning, the guys from Actuary picked me up and we started to venture to Norcal Noisefest in Sacramento.
Sacramento, CA:Actuary, Sissisters, and I arrived in Sacramento and made our way to The Green's Hotel on Saturday around noon. We settled in to our rooms while the fest began with Jolthrower. I went and checked out the fest, a pawn shop, then I walked down to "the ghetto" (nothing compared to midwest ghettos), and hit up a rite aid for blank discs and a little ceasers for some cheap eats.
The dudes from Actuary did an amazing set that ended with Stane in a pile of garbage, power tools, broken glass, and chords tangeling him into near death! It was fucking insane, people were actually scared of this performance....I think this kid would have kickked GG Allins ass it was that intense. I enjoyed chatting with Vertonen, Lob, Patrick, and tons of other peeps. I watched performances by Actuary, Vertonen, Instagon, XOME, XDUGEF, UEM, +DOG+, Lords Of Outland, Phog Masheeen, Cerebral Roil, 15 Degrees Below Zero, + More. The dudes from Sabreteeth arrived in the evening and we just got blazed and mingled . When everything was over for a night, a disgruntled and annoyed neighbor couple came over to the fest threatening with a real Samari sword, and it turned in to this big situation with the cops. Crazy shit. Sabreteeth guys crashed in my room, and we made the mistake of trying to get food in Sacramento after dark. There is not one 24 hour delivery service in Sactown...Fucking lame yo! We actually ended up eating packets of dry instant oatmeal in the van and a ration of wheat bread!
In the morning we headed straight to Little Joe's Diner to eat waffles; a California noise tradition I guess. After multiple mental cleansing "band meatings" in the van, we went back to the pawn shop and mike picked up some Numark turntables for $30 each! Aubrey, Laces, and Sissisters played, followed by one of the best sets at the fest, SABRETEETH! They were phenominal! Mikes drumming/electronics melded perfectly with Dre's guitar and Jason's setup of toys. I cant wait to hear more from these guys. Shrew Florist played a good set, and then it was dinner break and time to move the rest of the event to an art space in downtown Sacramento called EMRL. I am really happy to have played here, and especially considering which artists I got to play with. It started with Nuberkunst!, which had electronics, guitar, and a standup bass.
I went on next. I set up all of my gear in a half circle around me while I sat in a corner with a bunch of records out of their sleeves around me. I had my power strips of hate plugged into 2 seperate outlets on each side of me. I began with turntable delay, am radio, animal sounds, dental work tracks, and tape manipulations. I ended my set by pulling all of my electronics and records together into a big pile, and then I proceeded to stab records to death, I stabbed a miraca into dust, almost got my hand in the process with a switch blade, and then I destroyed and raped the am radio with a metal pipe I took from Actuary's aftermath of debris....I built up the noise and then ripped both of the power strips out of the wall at the same time, and people absolutely loved it! I couldnt beleive the crowd response I was getting, it felt great!
Kawaiietly Please played right after me, they were on of the acts I was most excited to see...That show was hot....I fucking loved it....A million fucking stuffed animals ripped to pieces to the soundtrack of Bjorn's Kawaiietly Please.
Next was Al Qaeda and Noisepsalm....Really cool stuff.....Im glad I finally got to meet/play with Al Q. They are awesome, and we are label mates on Scotch Tapes and Love Torture Records.
After a brief intermission, the allmighty RUBBER O CEMENT did a life-altering performance. If you have never heard of this before, you are really missing out. Think of every member from GWAR on a really high dose of LSD and Meth combined, making noise with a homeade bass guitar from space, on a blind path of destruction and hallucinogens. Yay! The fest was almost at the end, and Big City Orchestra closed the night with the most experimental music I have ever seen.
BCO played propane grills and tea kettles. No joke. It was so awesome! All of the water from the teapots was turned into "Noise Tea" and given to everyone in the audience...Insane. After the show, I said adios to my new familia, and got a ride to my hotel from Phog Masheeen and crashed hard. I woke up and got breakfast at Little Joe's again, then Jim from Audiometic/Noisepsalm picked me up and took me to the train station. A very nice guy.
Now I am on the train to Chicago....Ouch. The same undercover guy was in Reno, actually busting somebody this time. I asked him why he searched me, I guess someone they were looking for pointed me out as their partner, just so they could get away from the po-po.
So yeah, this was my first tour outside of Michigan, and I think it was a great fucking time. I met excellent new friends and artists, there will be a huge snowball effect from all of the experinces I encountered on this journey. I want to thank everyone again, and I also want to thank my parents and my girlfriend for helping me with this and understanding my passion for music, and lastly I want to thank myself for getting off my ass and doing something that I needed to do.
-Jay Watson,
Dental Work/Placenta Recordings