favorite show(s) you played this year

what were your best music-performing experiences of 2008?

best for us was probably the big comptroller records party - loft show, assembled by friends with some help by us and everything worked the way it was supposed to, lots of people showed up, no cop problems, made money, played well, it was hot as shit and i took off my shirt, got to play with my favorite friend bands, didn't have to pretend to like any shitty bands because there weren't any playing, it was perfect

no. 2 was the red & the black in DC for being a rare out-of-town show for us and in a city where lots of family and friends who hadn't seen us play could come out and visit. fun room - small enough that it felt packed - and we played well. first night of minitour with the pra1r1e sp1es so the vibes were positive and we got to watch them play too

"minitour" reads a lot like "minotaur"

Hm, favorite this year was playing with um...this band with the drummer from the Yuppies, I'm blanking massively on their name, but anyway. Accidentally got too drunk but played what was probably our best show, had more fun on stage than I had in a real long while, guitar fights etc. Good time.

Worst was probably...the time we played at the 400 Bar in mpls when they mistook us for a completely different band (long story kinda) and we just awkwardly showed up, said we were this other band and played anyway. I was really really sick and played like complete shit, didn't look at the audience and just focused on the drummer so I didn't get lost. And like ten members of my family showed up and it was just awkward. We were told we sounded better than usual, I think I was just a sack of nerves and too self conscious of my minor flubs.

Oh and also it was my Birthday on the bad show.

I have played at The Red & The Black and enjoyed it.

Alas, I did very little gigging this year onnaconna making a record and then having half the band quit for one reason or another immediately after releasing it. And now it would just be weird to try to promote a record that no longer represents the lineup.

opening up for weezer @ a hockey arena. buffet table! plus, we played really well and they let our buddy run sound for us on their crazy computerized mixer

what ... that's crazy. biggest band we opened for this year (and ever) was mudhoney, which was a fun show too

it was definitely kinda weird for us, but really fun. our 'band room' was the visiting teams locker room LOL. playing w/ mudhoney would be neat, did they play 'touch me i'm sick'?

some other fun ones:

arts fest - always fun + the sound guy (not really a personal friend but likes the band) snuck in a bunch of beer and shared w/ us. free beer > $5 beer! we always get paid well at arts fest too

opened for liars & no age - crowd was amped up and into us, angus sang most of the liars set while sitting down, (hurt back) yet still ruled, and no age was pretty good. liars dudes were also really really nice

opened for swervedriver - this was cool because this venue (now RIP) had the best on-stage sound i've ever experienced. i could hear everything really clearly (esp our voices) and as a result, we played awesomely. great stage sound was also due to previously mentioned soundman, who happened to be working this show. it's such a great feeling to turn up to a show and see this dude, seriously, i feel like i should at least send him a christmas card or something <3 <3 <3. swervedriver was tight, yet super-boring so we left w/ friends and got tacos. tacos were A+

played a couple songs on stage at a swiss jazz festival after toto bona lokua and got filmed for swiss tv with remote control cameras and shit (unfortunately i never saw the broadcast but heard you could see up our noses), then paraded off right when it started raining. we went on the sidewalk under a roof and had a huge block party going for about four more songs.

we played a basement show for our friend's record release party (sleepy sun). everyone was trashed and had a great time even though some jerk ran off with some of the door. regardless of the bullshit nobody gave a fuck which is why it was so good.

the next show we played was with clipd beaks & indian jewelry at a really deluxe oakland loft (the barn). we didn't play our normal set, opting to drone out instead. people were into it and thought that we should do more shows like that. i agree.

another good one was playing a warehouse show with dml, where they surprised everyone by breaking out an awesome cover of can's "mother sky". go figure?