I Had Fun, I'm Not Having Fun.

City Mouse - The Focke-Wolves - The Newports - Never Pass Go (8/6/15 @ Til-Two Club, San Diego CA)

The title refers to me today at work, not this show. 

There are a lot of really really good weeknight shows coming up, so I decided to use this show on a Thursday as a trial run to see how the rest of August is going to go. Sorry work, hopefully you weren't expecting August to be a very productive month. But tight shit is happening and I have my priorities. Shows before bro's or whatever. 

Before I get into the show, I have to rant about one thing. Skip ahead if you are not into ranting. So before the show, but after stopping at Home Depot to buy Red Bulls and break a $100, Rich, Devito, and I got burritos from Vallarta's. It being a Thursday, I was feeling adventurous and decided to forgo my typical Mexican food restaurant order of a California Burrito and branch out into unknown territory. They had a chicken teriyaki burrito and for some reason that seemed like a good idea. I get my burrito, carefully extract it from its proper paper home, and marvel at the size of it. I gently take it into my hands and raise it to mouth and take a huge bite. What was the first thing I get a mouth full of? FUCKING BELL PEPPERS. God damn it all to fucking hell, I swear to Jesus or who the fuck ever this is why I have trust issues and refuse to try new things. Now don't get me wrong, it was a decent burrito after i picked out every single red AND fucking green pepper in that thing, but the damage had been done. Bell peppers are the devil's fruit, and taint anything they touch with their hideous flavor. Plus after all the picking at my burrito it eventually just fucking fell apart, and I ended up eating the chicken chunks with a fork like a fucking amateur. It probably would have been really good though, and I won't hold it against the place because I probably should have known the veg that won't be named probably would be hiding within that tortilla prison waiting to spring on its unsuspecting victim. I will eat there again though. Fuck Bell Peppers.

OK, good. Got that out of my system. 

On to the show we went! Honestly 4 bands played (and some guy acoustic) but I was really only there to finally see City Mouse and support my friend Jesse's band The Newports. I did watch snippets of the other bands, but I wasn't really impressed enough to stand there and watch them when 15 feet away was a bar with whiskey. 

The Newports

The Newports are a brand spanking new 5 piece band from L.A. This was officially their second real show ever, but lucky for me I saw them play in a garage a month or so back so I kind of had an idea of what I was in for. Now, I'm going to be brutally honest, because whats the point if your not? They are a new band and it shows. Musically, they fucking shred. I honestly am really looking forward to getting whatever they record down the line. Buuuut, they need to work on their stage presence. It definitely didn't help that the guitar player broke a string during the first song. They did warn the crowd, "We are a brand new band. We don't have CD's, we don't have shirts, and we don't have jokes." There was one point for like half of the last song they played where I went, OK, this is better. The singer grabbed the mic off the microphone stand and she started moving around the stage, the bass player was headbanging, Alex was drumming, and Jesse and the other guitar player looked they were having a lot of fun. It was rad. So yeah, they sound fucking great, and I'm sure once the nervousness wears off, they will fucking kill it. 

No Jokes, No Masters

City Mouse

City Mouse is one of those bands that I have been hearing about forever, but for whatever reason I just never went out of my way to check out. Apparently I'm crazy apathetic and lazy or something. My exposure to them before tonight was always seeing their shirts at shows (The Danzig logo with Mickey Mouse ears) and one song off The Thing That Ate Larry Livermore comp. The fucked up thing is I really really like that song too. As penance for being an idiot, I bought a bunch of their merch before I even saw them play and before I blew all my money on alcohol. Forgive me pop punk father, for I have sinned. They fucking ruled. So good in fact, it kind of makes you feel stupid. Like, god damn it, I could have been into this band this entire time, but instead I'm sitting here with my finger in my ass trying real hard to like boring ass Nothington. First thing I did this morning when I got to work was use the download code that came in the 7" I bought, and then get the rest of their music. Definitely looking forward to catching them again at Fest if not sooner. 

Oh, and Davey Tiltwheel was filling in on bass. 

To bring this story full circle, I was at the bar and Rich and Devito bought drinks off the fancy menu, and myself being a jump off a bridge with your friends kind of guy, bought one as well and was for the second time in one evening disappointed with trying new things. This time it was some kind of tequila tasting alcohol that ended up just tasting like pure unwashed butt hole. Always California, Always Whiskey. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a nap in my car.