Chilled Monkey Brains

So it's been a few days since we've arrived home from tour and we really needed those days to rest and relax after a kick ass tour! Last I left off we had just played at The Courtroom and we were relaxing at Earnest's house in J-actionville.

7/28:After a much deserved rest, some magic games, and a couple cases of Busch Light we wound up at Landshark Cafe for our show. I've been trying to get a show there for awhile. A few years ago at their old location I had the pleasure of playing there when I was in Call For Fire. It was a sweet show consisting of Fatter Than Albert and Safety (Intensity in 10 Cities Tour) and our show there was pretty awesome. The free fish tacos and beer was probably the biggest contributor to the awesomenity of the show but just the same it had kept me wanting to go back there since. While I didn't order food this time, the beer flowed like water and the tunes jammed like a rain of audial boners! At this show we tried rolling out a fun little Iron Maiden intro we had messed with but it didn't work out as well as we wanted. The set started out great but I felt confined by the proximity of tables and chairs. A few songs in, Earnest and Ian started moving them out of the way which facilitated some fun dancing. What I thought was a great idea turned awry as Earnest and Ian formed a small circle pit whose main focus was ball thwacking (if you don't know what that means just use your imagination!) It's hard to be active on stage when you have to constantly protect your shield generators but they remained intact (thank God!). We're definitely going back to Landshark (maybe with a sports cup this time).

7/29: It was kind of sad leaving Earnest's house. We stayed there two nights so it was kind of our home away from home. We were excited about heading down to The Junkyard though, and for good reason. We've generally stayed away from Orlando, opting instead to visit the surrounding cities of Sanford, Deland, and Deleon Springs. Why do we do this? Because the shows are nucking futs and this show was no different. Andrew Buchman from Swamp Cabbage records booked us at The Junkyard Saloon. It was a cool biker bar that had a back "yard" that was basically a junkyard. There was a stage under an improvised carport that looked to be made of garage doors. There were random picnic tables and cars cut in half and made into couches. We played with The Hoverounds, Cerephesis, and the Dead Yetis. The Dead Yetis were this awesome ska band with a phenomenal horn section. They got the kids out and skanking right off the bat. We followed up and the set went extremely well. With the help of some medication I was able to move more gingerly than before. I was also stoked that we were playing extended sets on some dates and this was one of them. After we finished it was discovered that there was a big industrial sized fan pointed into the crowd that needed to be turned on. Cerephesis got on stage with a lot of new material that I really enjoyed. These guys are a really good mix of metal influenced ska flavored punk a la Choking Victim and are probably the one band I've played with for almost every visit we've made to the area. The Hoverounds (formerly The Sweet Kings) closed the show right. When a band is born of another band you tend to think they are similar but listening to the Hoverounds I discovered their style is pretty different from The Sweet Kings. They were more aggressive and jumpy. It reminded me of suicide machines a couple times which I really liked. They also did a punk cover of "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul (later performed by Harry Belafonte and The Coasters) which was totally awesome! One of the guys from Gnarly Whales put us up at their house which was wayyy cool. Pancakes!

7/30: We made the trip down to Ft. Lauderdale liesurely. I really wasn't sure what was going to happen with the show we were about to play. It was a Plea For Peace benefit that had moved a couple times and it was the same day as Warped Tour so I wasn't expecting much. We got to the house where the show was and were pleasantly surprised to see members of King Rooster who we had played the Ska Fest series with in Pompano. They were playing in a band called Van Gogh Sky and the name really fit their style. It was really proggy with timing changes and riffs that make you wanna ponder the heavens. Really fun to listen to and they performed it really well. We went to work and just as we did in Auburn, we set up the strobe light, put the headlamp on, and went crazy. Afterward we were treated to some delicious food by the Amors and made our way to our friend Travis' house (it has a pool) where we swam and listened to old ska records until the wee hours of the morn!

7/31: It's at about this point where I really get the feeling we're being totally spoiled. I've been able to shower every day, we've had great food cooked for us so we haven't depleted our tour food stock. Things are on the up and up! Getting moving the next day we found another free food opportunity. A band named Resolver had organized a monthly beach clean-up followed by a cook out. We climbed into the back of Travis' pickup ready to philanthropize! We got to the beach and immediately realized we were the fattest dudes there. Picking up the trash was tedious but felt great. I was stopping every foot or so to pick up cigarette butts. They didn't make my bag look full but there was plenty of other trash items that did. We decided to go jump in the ocean to refresh ourselves only when we jumped in the water was only a degree or so cooler than the hot air so not as refreshing as we thought running in. Returning to the clean-up base I held my bag up with pride, chucked it into the dumpster and lined up for some burgers! I felt bad for Biscuit, being vegetarian is sometimes more of a hassle than you'd think. It's easy to get food but on tour convenience is king so he'd usually have to run across a street or we'd have to make an extra stop which sometimes resulted in him being hungry as hell with no sympathy from the carnivores. After re-grouping back at Travis' we headed down to the Monterey Club. It was a cool little bar for a Sunday night show. We played with Here's To Nathan and Dead Right and I believe we were scheduled to headline. At about 11pm no one had loaded onto the stage yet. Since we had some friends who came out to see us but had to work early I asked if we could just rock it out first. We had a amazing set inside that little bar and the guys who worked there smacked our sticker center mass on the outside window. Big thanks has to go out to Mike from Break On Through for getting that going for us, it was way cool.

8/1: It was hard to leave our second home away from home away from home, but we managed a quick clean-up and were on our way. We had all the time in the world as Miami lay only a short drive away. A friend of mine from way back said he could probably help us out on some food so we stopped by his restaurant. When we walked up we read the big name on the window and realized my friend owned the joint! This place was an expensive steak place too so the spoiledness was really setting in now. After getting full we went to Aventura Mall and caught Captain America. We treked the remaining distance to Miami and rolled into an area very close to downtown to the Transit Lounge. The place was really cool, awesome sound, nice and COLD, good beers. Mikey from Enough! set the show up for us and even made some sliders on potato rolls for us! This was a reunion of sorts too as the other guys in Enough!, Fabio and Homer, worked with Steve and Quinn when they were in Hopesick. It had been years since we had seen them so it was really nice to re-establish a working relationship with those guys, plus it was our first show in Miami as Chilled Monkey Brains so we were loving it! After a post-set Magic game we cruised over to Twan's house (Twan is in this awesome hispanic punk band Guerrilleros De Nadie - look them up!). He lived in a no shit punk house and I will say that it was the finest "shithole" we've ever stayed in. There was spray paint all over the walls and beer cans/bottles everywhere but he had AC, a big screen TV, and cable and I actually slept really comfortably there! Twan and Fabio are party animals though and would not let us go to sleep until we had consumed large quantities of alcohol and met their party seal of approval which happened around 6am.

8/2: I wish I could say I caught up on sleep during the trip through alligator alley but I just played Mario DS the whole time! Nearing the end of tour brings about two different feelings. Once you pass the half-way point, your blisters go away and your voice comes back. You get used to being dehydrated from the night before and get into the party rythm. Near the end one feeling is bummination: you feel like you could do another week or two now that you've gotten over that hump. The other feeling is jubilation that you'll be back in reality, you'll have a comfy bed to sleep in, AC to not sweat your balls off to, and reuniting with your beloved girlfriend, wife, and/or doggy. Responsibilities be damned until after - we still got a couple shows to play! We rolled up to Rackem Billiards and stood by for our first show on the south west coast of Florida. Tim B from Phenomenom Meets Cookbook set the show up for us. He is a really rad dude with more heart in his pinky than most of the people have in their entire bodies. He is planning a 239 Punk/Ska Fest at the same location that we'll be returning to so it was good to lay some groundwork. Big E and Sugar D opened up and did exceptionally well. I thought Johnny Cash and June Carter were doing a duet up there! We got on stage and destroyed it as usual. The kids were really into it and we had a great time. Phenomenom Meets Cookbook were awesome too. They did a song about their penises which was very poignant and thought provoking. The best thing about Rackem Billiards that we had not experienced at all on tour: FREE BEER! Sometimes the smallest gestures go the farthest - we'll be back to Rackems with bells on! We were fortunate enough to stay with one of Quinn's friends and not have to make the trek to Tampa early in the morning.

8/3: Last day of tour - it's like a holiday that you take to the extreme. At that point in time it is the best and only show in the world, it might as well be the last show you ever play. We were about to blow the roof off of the venue! After our 5th and final Cracker Barrel autograph signing and butt trumpet performance we headed for that city of pirates. We stopped by Quinn's folks house to get showered up. We were to meet up with Royal and for the second to last time on tour, get some free food! I believe we are now corporately sponsored by Cracker Barrel, Outback, and Chipotle! The show was in Ybor City at a spot called Market On 7th, a cool little pizza place in the heart of town. We played with a star studded line-up that included Won't Be Arsed, Unchecked Aggression, The Long John's, and Paranoia Dance Party. Tons of kids showed up, and probably about 20 or so of Royal's friends who, when asked at the door who they were there to see, came up with the most interesting answers (The Monkeys, Chillin Monkeys, Chilled Brains, Chilly Monkey Bang, etc.) - did it really matter? By the time they left they knew our name! It was etched into their brains with trombone rips and booty shaking. Needless to say the show was totally baller. There are tons of videos up at www.floridaska.com in the media section. HUUUUUUGE Thanks to the tampa crew, and every other crew for making us feel like the most loved band in existence! Now we're home, grinning like we just conquered the world, missing the road just a little - but happy to be back in the rear with the gear and amped to get finished with the new music we've been working on. From the land of Chilly Monkey Bang - WE LOVE YOU GUYS - THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES!

XXXXXOOOOO - RJ & Chilled Monkey Brains