NEWS:


HELLFIRE TRIGGER WINTER TOUR JOURNAL

Dec 1st, 2006. San Marcos, CA
Kind of a strange show tonight, but not that out of the ordinary. California bothers me sometimes with the amount of bands (and therefore the amount of shows needed) in preportion to the amount of all age venues. i read a study once that stated by the year 2010 the ratio of band members relative to bandless show-goers will be two to one. I believe it. The line-up tonight was Hellfire Trigger, Naked Aggression, Angel City Outcasts, and Roger Miret and the Disasters. Stellar, huh? Attendance was minimal. I believe that southern california is so bored with bands anymore. It was good to see the all kids that came out for us, even though we were first on the bill. Good to see ACO again. Good to meet Roger Miret. Always a blast to hang out with Naked Aggression.

Dec 2nd, 2006. Victorville, CA
Today we shared a bill with 25 other bands at the trilogy. The high desert has become a second home for us. this part of california fits the perfect "poverty + boredome + changing seasons = people who listen to and respect/love music" equation i have. almost every band on this fest ripped. there were no filler bands that i saw (although i did get there at 4 when it started at noon), but i will just take the time to write about the gems. Subvert is a anarcho ska outfit, made of the most consciencious collection of kids i know. Spitting On Cops had the crowd eating out of their hand. Naked Aggression was one big sing along. Unfortunately, with twenty-six bands alltogether, the crowd was exhausted near the end, and even the almighty Batallion of Saints had a meager response. To me today was a chance for me to hang out wiht all my friends in the High Desert.

Dec 3rd, 2006. Chico, CA.
We played an over 21 show tonight with Kill Him, Kill Her. Im not going to embelish. I was really more interested in hanging out with old friend Greg Pope and seeing his band than playing this show. Truth be told, we were all frustrated and felt confronted somehow, and it really came out in our set. We played great. It was one of those shows were you picture in your mind a person who annoys you greatly. Then, with every guitar stroke, you envision punching his face.
I dont like bars. Drunk people make me nervous. I felt like a fish out of water. It was great to see Greg, and the vegan burrito he made me was incredible.

Dec 4th, 2006. Kings Beach, NV/CA?
When planning a tour. Keep in mind that 90% of the shows will be dud to borderline dud. You can only hope to play one show on an entire show that will make the ungodly amount of preparation worth it. Tonight was that night. We drove the treacherous mountain path without 4 wheel drive or snow chains on board, finally arriving at a the promoter's house. Chris from Fatality and Kamikaze Attitude had spaghetti and tofurky sausages witing for us. We ate pasta, listened to records, and watched Tombstone with his dad. Heckronomicon, one of the great bands that played tonight, hosted the show at their house. It was a free living room show. I absolutely live for this environment. there is nowhere for anyone to hide in the back. It is shoulder to shoulder, and the crowd to band is chest to strings. 20 degrees outside and 98.6 inside. When the factors collide in this manner, there is no separation between supply and demand sides of entertainment....its not even entertainment, its true unity between strangers. If Hellfire Trigger was ever concieved for a purpose it would be for these seldom moments.
I could write a thesis on this one show, but ill digress. Heckronomicon, Fatality, and Kamikaze attitude are all heroes for the way they treat a touring band like family. Even though it was a free show, they passed around a hat and took up a collection to help us out with gas. Calvin from KA even let us stay at his house.
Shout out to the "Filthy Bilty" breakfast special.

Dec 5th, 2006. Salt Lake City, UT.
The show in SLC fell through, but Blake(Salt Blake,as he's known) from Cool Your Jets, found us a place to stay, anyway. This guy Sias, whom i met briefly when we played here with A18, and Christine, who was a stranger, offered us their place. This is where a lost art called hospitality rears its head. I dont know these people, but they have opened their door; and this wierd panic of paranoia that this is a trap or something starts settling over me. I called a friend of mine in SLC and she informs me that Christine is her sister, and i felt foolish and relieved....but i still feel foolish. Is this where scene and society have ended up? I have let roughly a hundred bands stay at my long list of apartments and houses, and now hospitality puts me on gaurd?
Their house was awesome, and they took us to The Pie for pizza. Trevor from CYJ/Cherum came to hang out, too. With the previous night in Lake Tahoe, and now SLC, we decided to dub this the "Kindness of Strangers" tour. huge thanks to Sias and Christine....sigh...you too, Blake.

Dec 6th, 2006 Denver, CO
We player here at Sox Place when we did the A18 tour in August. before it was Rally the Fray and The Mutiny. Tonight it was Rebuild, Come Forth By Day, Rally the Fray....and the Dead Hearts. Im not gonna lie. We are a punk band who loves hardcore in all forms, but we play the forgotten roots of hardcore. We knew going in, that we may bomb but we love to hang out with the hardcore kids in Denver. They are supportive, even if you are not their cup of tea. Mark and Food-Friends-Hardcore are absolute heroes. They dont keep any money from the door for themselves, and they even supplied us with pizza.
Rally the Fray has improved so much in the last 4 months its unreal. Sox Place can be a tough crowd, even if they like you, but a wild as hell couch cushion fight broke all ice and every face had a smile on it. Dead Hearts ruled this night with an iron fist, and were unbelievably cool. It turns out their drummer, Josh, knows some of my friends form back home in Illinois and OKC. Small world.
After the show, a managerie of us went to a middle eastern place and then stayed at Mark's pad with some Omaha kids. Even though it wasnt our most responsive show, tonight is bookmarked as a triumph for the tour.

Dec 7th, 2006. Wichita, KS
Okay. Like I have stated a million times: I am not comfortable in bars. Tonight was different. Lance, the guitarist for Diatribe, set us up with this tour stop. Everytime we play a show someplace new, I always think that "everyone is going to hate us, but so what?". I am a straight edge guy who has never been around a drinking crowd and I stick out like a sore thumb when doing so. My expectations for tonight were to see Diatribe and maybe luck out and get a twenty from the owner/bartender...followed by the usual "it isnt much and no one was here, but you guys were real good". Tonight i was shown that i dont in fact know everything. Diatribe was great. New singer. When we played i noticed people filing out the door, but no matter...we were having a great time. When we were done, Lance hands us a bucket of tips people had left for us, and people actually bought shirts and cds! What the hell?!
Lance's wife offered us a place to stay, but we have to be in Champaign, IL tomorrow. We decided to drive all night to Hank and Erin Patton's and see if we can rest for a bit when we get there before the show. Thumbs way up, Wichita.
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I suppose every tour needs to have a gimmick to separate it from the others. Our first tour was the "everything went wrong tour", and we had a "popsicle sticks thrown at the television tour" through the desert. This tour quickly became the "kindness of strangers' tour". You can read all about it in CJ's tour journal on the Hellfire Trigger myspace, but I am here to write up the thank you letter.  

Dec 1st : San Marcos, CA. The North County kids, Sulo King, Naked Aggression, Angel City Outcasts, Roger Miret and the Disasters, and the Jumping Turtle.

Dec 2nd . Victorville, CA: Zach and Jacob for setting up the show, Trilogy Travis, the high desert kids, Naked Aggression, Dirtbag, Spitting on Cops, Heretics, Subvert, Powder, and Battalion of Saints.

Dec 3rd . Chico, CA: Greg Pope, Taylor, and Kill Him, Kill Her.

Dec 4th . Kings Beach, NV: huge thanks to Chris, Fatality, Kamikaze Attitude, Hecronomicon, X-Wing(rip), Calvin, the Filthy Bilty, Travis, McCure for buying too much merch, Monique, Kyle, Denny, and all the rest of the Kings Beach Kids that I didn't get to talk to. Thank you all X 1000.  

Dec 5th . Salt lake City, UT: Salt Blake, Sias, Christen, and Trevor.

Dec 6th . Denver, CO: Rebuild, Come Forth by Day, Rally the Fray, Dead Hearts for giving a damn about old records, Sox Place, Food Friends Hardcore, especially Mark, Dave, Jordan, Steve, Darcy (Goldie) Omaha, Tyler Hercules, Patrick, Tommy, and all the Mile High Kids who were cool to us.

Dec 7th . Wichita, KS. Lance and Diatribe, Kirby's, National City John, Paul, and all the nice folks who gave us tips.

Dec 8th . Champaign, IL: Greg and Amanda for setting up the show, Hank and Erin Patton for housing us, Carbomb Lottery, John Doe Project, Carbomb Lottery, Stacia McClure, the Champaign kids, and heavy coats.

Dec 9th . Springfield, IL: huge thanks to Luke and Suzie Tarter, Breadstretchers, Pound For Pound, big-huge-colossal thanks to Kentucky Knife Fight for letting us use their trailer, xKick to tha Headx, Jeremy Puyear, Jerry and Evan at the Boot Party Radio, all of the Capital City kids, the Taylorvillians, and all my hometown pals.

Dec 10th . St. Louis, MO: to Mr. Big Drawls Mike, Chris at the Slaughterhouse, Dave the Grinder, the Band from Italy whose name I cant pronounce or spell correctly but it translates into "the Octopus", the Arizona Bowl, Megan J., and "Granny" Amelia, Fitz's, Vintage Vinyl, Forrest Park, and the St. Louis Zoo.

Dec 12th . Johnson City, TN: the Pigs, the Hideaway, Finn, Dr. Enuf, Marcus, Dave, Angela, and more thanks to the Pigs.

Dec 13th . Kansas City, MO: a million thanks to Mary Cookies, the Anchor, SYM, Come Undone, Helium Head, Nothing Else, Jesse, Jackson, Shrout, Erin, Amy for driving us to get stuff to drink, Brett, We're Fucked, Tubby's, Ryan and Jency(sp?) for the place to stay,   and all the amazingly nice KC kids. What's with all the Scientology stuff, KC?

Dec 15th . Oklahoma City, OK: humble thanks to Dave and Kelly and Evan and Anna Klein, I Resign, Had Enough, much thanks to Kale Resigns and T-Mac, T-Mac's mom, the Red Cup, Sherman, Jessica, Stephanie, the rad -as-hell kids of OKC, Waffle House, the deadly Ice Skating Rink downtown, and 75 degree weather in December.

Dec 16th . Santa Fe, NM. High Octane Hell Ride, Caught Between Worlds, Savage Wizdom, Nick, Estephan, Chris, Jeremy, Jessica, Kevin, Newport Mike, Morris, Steve, and everyone who donated a couple bucks. Squeeze it out!