forced forward 2007 west coast tour: Day 6, pine fresh, bro mosh.

our van just keeps getting meaner. it’s awesome. today was a pretty relaxed day, which was nice because it gave my brain a little time to catch up with some things. we woke up earlier today and got out of LA so we could get to venice beach before we had to go up north. when we got to venice some kids attacked our van and threw apples at it, which I thought was awesome and hilarious. craig chased them down and screamed at them in german to confuse them, and confused they were. blam was pretty pumped on going to the suicidal tattoo shop, so we did that and a few of us got “I want more” tattoos, by some dude named monkey. when we were right about to leave, sketo ran into some punks, who we ended up talking to and then listened to them talk shit on parsons. turns out that they have a band, Rabies, that parsons is doing a show for in the summer. they had a lot to say about his hair, and his accent. it was pretty entertaining.

our show today was in santa barbara, which is a pretty neat town. as soon as we got off the exit it started to smell like a pine tree, and it was awesome. i could get used to being in a place that didn’t smell like shit most of the time. when we showed up klint and i decided it was best to stop our bet of who could go the longest without eating. there was free food, and it didn’t really make sense for the both of us to not be eating anyways. i wish it would have lasted at least two days, something about it only being a day makes it seem like even more of a waste to me. the show was small but fun, and the last band that played was interesting to watch. there were a few bros there, bro moshing it up, while some old man video taped it. cool. our set was the best i think we’ve played while being out here, and also had some good laughs. klint alienated a poor jewish lady by poking her in the head while singing the chain line “it’s a matter of pride!”, and i played the set in my underwear and an unbuttoned shirt that i promised i would wear. i think klint has some real issues with being jewish that he needs to work out.

i’m starting to really worry about rich’s health, he’s been happy for two days straight so something isn’t right. sketo dropped the ball on making sure he was breathing properly but it wasn’t as much of an issue today as it was the previous days. his rash is getting better and is now almost gone, at least on his face. today, he found a lacrosse stick in venice and started shaking it at everyone, while murmuring witch curses on them under his breath. i think he really wishes he was a wizard, but realizes that he never could be, if not for anything else, than just the lack of hair. maybe one day miles.

the drive from venice to santa barbara was pretty nice, and we got to see some cool stuff. klint went into a red lobster while we were stopped at one point, and told everyone he had a bomb and ran out. i’m surprised they didn’t call the cops, and extremely relieved. he seems like he’s in a much better mental state today, and besides that he’s been pretty well behaved. i don’t think it’s intentional, but it seemed like brad was compensating for klint today. ii’ve never heard someone make so many wiener jokes while watching someone eat a hot dog before. brad never seemed like the type of person to do that. while the last band was playing, he joined in with all the dudes bro moshing, and kept screaming, “come on guys, we can all pretend we’re not secret homosexuals like these guys!” at us. those dudes either didn’t hear him, or just thought it was cool he knew their secret. i don’t know.

triple B was not himself today. i don’t know if it was getting tattooed, or what. On the way to santa barbara he got in an argument with blam over punk rock trivia and told everyone, he would not speak until blam bought him a snack as a making up gesture, and got an apology from everyone in the van for not agreeing with him. it surprised me to see him act like this, but later on he was a little more chilled out. fred hammer came out to this show too, and after we were done playing triple b gave him some guitar lessons. he was extremely stoked on it, and kept insisting on teaching him how to play forced forward songs so we could be a bi-coastal band. doesn’t make much sense to me, but maybe i’m missing out on something.

craig is a little bit low on money, if anyone is interested in helping a good soul out, please get in touch with him through here, so he can get you his paypal account address. he said he will repay you with raisins, and pictures that will make you smile for days. blams birthday is in a couple days, and craig has been insisting on doing something nice for him, but lacks the funds.

tonight after the show blam ate 8 burritos from del taco in one sitting, as a forced forward challenge. the man is crazy. i don’t think he’ll feel well tomorrow, in fact, i’m sure of it. part of me thinks he did this just to spite craig, since he has money and wanted to rub it in his face. craig took it as a cheap shot and spent the better part of 30 minutes making the most annoying sound you could imagine to frustrate him. i laughed a few times because of it, and so did the others.

sketo is the sneakiest man on this tour. every time we stopped today, he managed to disappear. he is a true asian, and doesn’t even need the cover of the night to disappear. there are times were i worry that all of our bags and money will go missing with him. as soon as he runs out of either alcohol or money to afford alcohol i’m sure it will happen. hopefully i’m wrong.

i’ve finally gotten the chance to upload a few pictures that brad and i have taken, onto my computer. i wish i had better pictures of the van looking mean, but we haven’t had the opportunity to get pictures all the time.