How'd ya get built like that? You ain't been here that long.

"So do you wanna fuck?"

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Thursday :

When we were in Pittsburgh last week , one of the more hilarious things (((microwaves))) drummer , host with the most and general bon vivant , John Roman , said was (more or less) "sooner or latter every weird n' heavy band gets compared to Dillinger Escape Plan " . Thanks to local blog , Midnight Poutine , we too join the ranks of bands that sound nothing like D.E.P being compared to them. M.P. DID play us in their podcast so the youth can decide , Dillinger or not.

The show at Sala was fun , but like all local shows nerve wracking as all fuck. Personally , I find when we play Montreal , I'm just WAYYY too aware of what's going on. Thus , it's harder to get into "the zone". Things got off the a late start because of the hockey game and it was 1:15 by the time we played (and almost 4 when we got home!). Despite the lateness , things were more or less perfect. I was well chuffed at the line-up we chose and none of the bands disapointed. I thought that each brought a different take on what could loosely be described as "noise rock" , while still leaving a large margin of variety.

As usual , it was a joy to see Japanther and Sightings + Black Feelings are on the list of Montreal bands worth keeping an eye on. It was my first time seeing them but Andre's praise was right on.

I noticed tons of fresh faces , which is nice. As much as I love my friends coming to our shows , it's nice to know they aren't the only ones. One thing that was especially heart warming , was to read so much praise about our set on the local scene msg board. As a band , we've always felt a lil' outta place here , it feels good to see we aren't as alone as we thought.

a review , en francais + pics




Pics above and in link are by Sandra Lynn Belanger

Notable event: several couples making out HARDCORE during Sightings set , a couple fucking in the downstairs men's washroom (thanks for the tip Kyle) . I guess other people think the slow grooves are sexy too.

Friday :
Woke up at 8 to grab the guys and DRIVE, after packing it made for exactly 3 hours of sleep. RAD. Our van started dying once we got into the city and it took us a million years to arrive at the Knit so we missed soundcheck.

We ran out grab some food and were spotted by a few young fans who seemed really excited about the show , screams and all , giving us a nice boost of energy. On returning the same kids were crying , telling us their dreams were shattered (no , I'm not making this up. We s attract some pretty intense folks and we love 'em to death). Turns out a guy they were chilling with was getting drunk on the sidewalk and the bouncers weren't gonna let any of them in. Jake said he'd put in the word and we went inside to watch 2up.

And had our brains blown. 2UP , for those not in the know are a Japanese noise rock duo featuring our good buddy Tetsunori , also of Dmonstrations.


Got changed , played . The super fans were in the house (managed to talk their way in it seems) and by our 5th song the girl who was bawling just 45 mins earlier had her shirt off and was licking my boots! I got rowdy with several kids in the crowd and felt a surge of great vibes the entire show. Faces were grabbed , legs were bit.

Watched Pissed Jeans (great!) , banged my head HARD , chatted with a few friends and we were OUTTA there. Early shows and late arrivals don't leave much time for bro-downs , sadly. I only met 2 of the dudes from Pissed jeans and BRIEFLY. They both seemed sympathetic to my begging that they play Montreal , if for no other reason than to please Blam Blamerson , their super fan.

the word "Pissed" is a no-no?














All posted pics of AIDS Wolf at the Knitting Factory by Todd Fisher.

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CMJ review + pics + DRAMA.

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More photo documentation.

Notable : No , I will NOT sit on your face. (Do today's kids have no shame?)



Still Friday (show no.2) :

Arrived at the Market Hotel for the not-so-secret-secret Todd P party , our ex-bandmate , Christopher was already waiting for us at the back door to help load in.
By this point fatigue was setting in BIGTIME and I'm surprised I actually made it through our set. Most of the night I just got caught up with Christopher and my buds Josh and Harrison. Unfortunately , I was too tired and the venue was too smokey ( I've got wicked bad asthma ) to really watch the other bands. And I'm bummed 'cause I had zero clue Knyfe Hyts were most of Ex-Models , who I LOVE. My bandmates taunted me for missing the good stuff but I've only got so much juice in me. Instead I stood around with my eyes half closed (looking like a junkie on the nod) and got hit on by really hot , really young guys.

I met Josh from Deerhunter (and the lamented SIDS) and we had a nice chat about neo-no wave + Mark Mclean.

Zack from Knyfe Hyts seemed in worse shape than me as he slept under the merch table most of the night. Wish I had a photo!
Got Back at 5 am , crashed hard!

2 things about the Market Hotel: -AMAZING PA. Like holy crap , I can't believe a loft venue has such a great sounding LOUD system.
-Great ambiance , friendly and unpretentious folks running the place.

Clashing reviews (with pics) here and
and here .

Pitchfork hearts Deerhunter.


Saturday:


Woke up at 9 to bring the van in for repairs ( 3 hours of sleep is starting to feel like a theme here) , went broke. Had brunch with Jake and Michelle and Carlos and Chris , and then got locked out of their (j+m's) place for a few hours while they were looking at offices . Met their cute and friendly neighbor and talked about jam bands. Finally got in , put on our shoes and left for Providence. Our van filling with exhaust the entire drive .

Loaded in , ate burritos , hung with buds . Japanther had to bail due to injury (get better Ian!) so the bill was down to just us , Sightings and Trouble vs Glue , our buddy Toni's band all the way from Roma. T vs G is 2/3 of Dada Swing and they played angular , stripped down & noisy weird pop. Toni is also known for being the drummer in Hiroshima Rocks Around and for being an amazing host and wicked cook.


During Sightings set some really drunk , really messed up kid jumped on stage and grabbed the mic. Mark gave him a HARD shove offstage and the fucked landed on me. Ouch! Shaken , I went out side for the next song. When I came back in the same dude insisted on grabbing me in inappropriate places several times over . Harsh words were said and he left.


I got asked to fuck several times by a very good looking young guy (another theme? Am I the punchline to some joke I don't know?) and we played to a smallish but rowdy crowd. Several rows of positive vibes and spastic dancing momentarily cured any fatigue related blues.
After the show , we all went to this bar where Rebecca works and hung out with the crew (minus a few ). I think it's the first time our band has been to a bar after playing. We certainly don't do the party thing.
Crashed a Vik's with the meowers , ate salad and regained a sense of humanity. Some douches tagged out van with inanities while we slept , awesome.

Notable : I can carry Jeff Schneider with relative ease. Deadlifting , try it.

Sunday:
Met up with Dare and Rebecca for brunch at Jillian's (fellow vegans take heed : you MUST try the Saint Jamez Benedict while in Providence , it's heaven in your mouth) did the thing , saw peeps. Had a nice hangout with Quigley that I wish lasted a year. Drove to Boston and caught up with Neptune , ate pizza sat around and talked to dudes.

I had brought a Jean Louis Costes book to read on this micro-tour , in the spirit of offensiveness , but at this show had to put it away. Not because I was OFFENDED but because I couldn't surpress my gag reflex any longer.

White Mice are now a 4 piece and have a new oscillator guy + a guitarist . They sound better than ever (industrial jams are back in a big way) and played a short set. They had a bunch of new gear (helped the sound a bunch) and in general the material they played was "groovier" that the previous times I'd seen them.
Our set was totally frustrating as there was ZERO vocals in the monitors and our stage sound was mud - none of us could hear each other. I ended up staining my vocal chords pretty bad by over compensating - I still can't talk. AT ALL. Meh. . The same thing happened last time we played Milky Way. The PA there just isn't powerful enough for a loud band.

More memorable than PLAYING was grabbing this kid and carrying him around after our set.

Neptune had a few gear issues but played a great set of all new (well new since I last saw them) songs. Kickass , as usual . I got their new record , Gong Lake ( Table of The Elements )and have been jamming it all freaking day.
More bro downs and attempts to get caught up with various friends but the time at a show is never enough and such meetings are often less than satisfying . At 1: 30 we were in the van and drove to our motel in Vermont , to the consternation of our would-be hosts. We needed a head start home so Myles could spend time with his fam before Europe.



Notable : Dan with the mic duct tapped to his face! + Eating raw spinach , straight from the bag + Homemade tats.



Got home saw the doctor , got steroids and horse pills . Was told to stay away from second hand smoke (I wish!) and get plenty of bed rest (YEAH RIGHT) . My lungs are pretty seriously infected and we're leaving for tour in less than a week.








AIDSWOLF aids wolf AIDS WOLF aidswolf.





I'm not quite sure what these are for but we have one anyhow.


I'm making a move to formally start boxing training on returning from tour. I think it would be much more fun , productive and cathartic to fight those who have a problem with our band than engage in circular arguments. Besides , everyone's bored of music. Let's have a good ol' fashioned cage match or 2 , in good fun and good faith , to resolve issues and get our hearts racing and cheeks flushed.
HEALTHY, 'cause health = wealth .