Everyone, check out our main profile for a big-font announcement about Patrick's guitar. We really would appreciate anyone helping us out with it. Guitars are expensive, and unexpected $1000 costs are tough for anyone to deal with.

-RKRO

Here's where you're welcome to post ANYTHING you want to say to us. Do you want us to play a show in a certain city? Do you want more shirts, buttons, stickers? Do you have something to say critiquing our music? Do you just like what we're doing? Say anything at all, and don't be ashamed! Your input is appreciated!

-Riker Out

A quote first from Trent Thomas, the sound guy at Cave9 and member of Ex-Members of the Holy Trinity, in addition to Now I Have a Machine Gun.

"So, does Cave9 have cooties, or does everybody just not give a shit anymore?

I'm not trying to be a dick (truth is, it comes naturally), but if people don't actually come to shows, rather than friending Cave9 on myspace and acting like that's support, then the venue won't make enough money to pay off the state and keep the landlord happy. Then one of the most highly-regarded legitimately DIY venues anywhere will be lost, and Birmingham's scene will prove that it's not worth the effort of every booking agent, band, and record label to try to route their tours through here.

I apologize for being so righteous, I understand that many people have other engagements, but I know damn well that a lot of you haven't had shit to do for the past few weeks and easily could've come seen some incredible bands, and helped Cave9 pay the bills."

I found this while spelunking the bhamkids livejournal community. Bookmark that page, get a livejournal, something. It's a useful place that tells you when shows and other events around town are happening. Birmingham's not dead, you just think it is. There's always something to do, and if you go somewhere like Cave9, you'll be able to get in even though you're not 19 or 21 yet.

What you guys need to do is start going to shows. I went when I was in high school. It was fun and I found out about a lot of bands that I would have otherwise missed. Granted, I was not quite a socialite until senior year, but I still liked what was going on.

We're huge advocates of show attendance. The chemistry of a show completely changes with each quantity of people there. Not only that, but going to shows at a place like Cave9 (Who's been financially troubled for a while now) helps keep them there, in turn keeping a place to play for all the bands in Birmingham, as well as touring bands from everywhere else (Keep in mind that we're one of those now that we've moved). Cave9's the best venue we've ever played. Everybody that VOLUNTEERS there is friendly, helpful, and all around awesome. They've worked really hard so bands can have a place to play.

I don't care if you think you're a badass or anything like that. Your taste of music is no better than the next person's. Drop your pretenses and go to some shows. All the bands that play there work hard. They're not going to be Led Zeppelin, but you shouldn't expect them to be. Give them a break, like you did for us in our earlier days. You may be pleasantly surprised.

If you think you can't figure out when shows our, you must be walking around with your eyes closed. The Birmingham Weekly and Black & White both have show listings, as well as Cave9.com, Bottletree, Purevolume, Myspace Music, bhamkids, and each band's myspace, website, etc. It beats the hell out of rotting away at the mall.

And if your parents don't like you being downtown... well that's not too hard to figure out. Use some of that high school ingenuity.

Go to shows. A lot of them. We'll see you next time we come back down.

-Hunter

Hey everyone,

We're just curious... What bands/artists/etc do you think we sound like?

-RKRO

Check these out now!

Give this guy mad props, he deserves it!

-RKRO

Sup?

The official RIKER OUT t-shirts are here!  We're selling them for $10.  Contact one of the band members (probably Hunter) for more information!

-PATRICK OUT!

Hello everybody.  Having a good day?

I'll start off by saying thanks to everyone who came to the cd release show!  That was one of the most fun shows I've ever played, and I loved listening to the other bands (which you guys should check out and support [Blue Moon, Afterawhile Crocodile, and Heroic Me]).  Right after that show we were ready to play about a thousand more...but alas.  Scott has scholastic endeavures which he must pursue. 

So, the question is, when will RIKER OUT play again?  Soon, is the answer.  We're going to play an impromtu show at Hunter's which should be fun, and then we're gonna play on the 21st at Hoover High.  I'm totally jazzed about both of these shows!  We're also in the process of planning a summer tour which will last a couple weeks...though we haven't really gotten into any details........yet.

Lastly, thanks to everyone who bought a copy of THE WHITE WALL.  It's so awesome that you guys are showing your support.  We've almost sold every copy of our first order...but if you haven't gotten one, don't fear!  Just contace one of the band members, or, if you have a paypal account, you can order it on our online store.  I can't garuntee when it'll get to you, but rest assured, 13 tracks of awesomeness will get to you ASAP.

Thanks for the support, and tell us what you think!  We love reading your comments!

-Patrick (Guitarist-RIKER OUT)

PS:  RIKER OUT's line up is FINAL!!!  We are not getting a new singer or bassist.  We are getting an interum bassist so we can play more shows while Scott is gone, but are in no way replacing any members.

I can't believe it. We've done it. We're done. The album... it's done.

That's one obstacle past us. Expect a new website up really soon.

-Hunter

Hello, friends:
So, basically, what happened was...
We finished recording instrumentals for all the songs that will be on our debut full length album (Finally). The album's working title is "The White Wall" and will have fourteen songs on it (kablaam). We're still recording vocals, so be patient...curz its gonna be awesome to the max.
Also, don't be afraid to download our songs from myspace...and don't be afraid to tell/show/bring to show/ about us to other people so they can bask in the coolness of RIKER OUT (byeeah!).
We now have the RIKER OUT EP (whammy) that we'll be selling at shows for like $2...which isn't much at all...so, yeah. the EP has four songs on it so that's like two songs for a dollar...pretty sweet, eh? (oh, yeah)
So, if you like our music, cool, let us know, we relish your opinions (isn't relish a tasty word?) so tell us...
If you're interested in booking, hit up one of us (probably Hunter) or ask over myspace.
So, you guys have a nice day, listen to music, have fun, stay in school, etc.
Love,
PATRICK.

Alright. Yesterday I woke up at about 11:30ish. I walk downstairs and hop on the computer, check my email, turn off my away message. At about that time, James from Blue Moon IMs me, notifying me (the day of) that they will not be playing the show. So what do I do?

Go into panic mode. I still had things to do that day too, which means my list of things to do was:

1. Completely rebook a show that night
2. Go get a duplicate driver's license (how'd I lose that in the first place?)
3. Run through our set
4. Play the show

Ok, I'm sure you're like "Oh, that's only 4 things," but then you've gotta realize that each little point on there takes a hefty bit of time. I had to get the first three done before about 7 PM, and the show started at 8 PM. It was high noon...

So until about 3, I'm sitting at home asking everybody and their moms if they knew a band that could play. Luckily, Red Dog Alley and Joey Wilson are all awesome people, and they ended up playing with us. Scott then drove me to the DMV, which surprisingly only took about a half hour. Afterwards, we went to Krystal, which it turns out had a 78 health rating. I spent the next few hours thinking I was going to get sick, but luckily I did not.

After that, we drove back to my house and got everything ready to go. At about 5:30, we headed over to Brandon's. We ran through our set. Right on time, am I right?

The show was awesome, absolutely. No matter how small the crowd was, everybody liked us. Now if we could just multiply that times ten...

We then proceeded to eat at the old POnion, and then Scott and I spent the night at Brandon's. We shared some bitter rounds of Wii Tennis and Wii Baseball before finally going to bed at 4 AM. I then woke up again at 11:30 this morning, and I went home.

And I've been sitting here ever since, save a trip to Guitar Center to pick out my Christmas gift.

Speaking of which, the day before Christmas eve has got to be the least eventful day of the year.

-Hunter