Rainfest

Recap Time! This is going to be a super long blog with lots of writing...if you don't read it all I won't be bummed.

Me, my bro (Connor), Sean Cromie and Ryan Ramsay just got back from Tacoma last night and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it was by far the best weekend of summer so far.

Sean and Ramsay came over Thursday night and we all woke up early on Friday to head to Tacoma. The trip was poorly planned from the get go, we didn't even have a map or any idea how to get to Tacoma until midnight the night before and a place to stay once we got there was non-existent. We didn't care though everyone was just hyped for the show.

We opted to drive through Osoyoos rather than going through Vancouver cause we thought it was save us some time since it was the U.S. long weekend and we figured the border would be super busy. The drive was a good time, Lyrical C (Connor) was spittin' some hard freestyle raps and the Wasp crew came into existence. We got to the border and the officer there seemed to be pretty down with us and I thought it was gonna be easy going getting through the border but he turned on us and made us pull over so some other border guards could search our car. While they were searching our car we were taken inside and searched which was pretty sketchy even though we hadn't done anything wrong. They made us sit there for like an hour while they searched our shit. Finally they let us go and now I hate all those border cocksuckers forever. After that experience the drive seriously took a turn for the worse. The road signs in the U.S. suck tons of dick and we got mixed up a bunch and didn't ever know if we were going the right way. About two hours away from Tacoma we started running out of gas on some stupid road in the middle of the goddam forest and had to take a detour so we could find a gas station. We ended up in some small hick ass town which was about 45 mins out of the way. The car got filled up and we hit the road again taking a different route to Tacoma than we originally planned. Once we near Tacoma we hit tons of traffic and it took us about an hour and a half to move 10 miles and finally get into Tacoma. I fucking hate driving in the States.

So after about 10 and a half hours of driving we finally made it to the Viaduct (venue where Rainfest was at) and headed in. We only missed one band (Sean bought one of this bands shirts even though we didn't see them or know who they were...weird). Friday's highlights were Cruel Hand's set which kids went off too and moshed super hard, Owen Hart being super metal and having a gnarly ass singer, Sinking Ships set was nuts as it was one of their last, Outbreak played a crazy set and everyone was into them. Stage diving and singing along during them was mega fun. Verse headlined the first night and got a super crazy reaction, it was definitely the best set I have ever seen them play.

During the show Sean, (being the super smooth dude that he is) talked to a female who hooked us up with Josh who is one of the guys that runs the Viaduct. He told us he had a place with 2 of the other Viaduct guys (Ryan and Donny who are brothers) and that they would be down for us staying there, which was rad and everyone was hyped. So we stayed after the show ended and helped clean up with the guys, met another one of the Viaduct dudes named Scott who is an awesome guy, and then headed back to their place to sleep. This was also when we first met Clarke.

Clarke is a legit Wasp. He trooped it from Salt Lake city solo with some random ass people from Salt Lake who were going to a different concert. He didn't have place to stay either and is much more of a man than any of us Vernon kids. We got set up for bed in the guy's garage, which they had turned into a bedroom. The sleep was super comfy and in the morning we befriended Clarke and he joined us in getting breakfast.

Saturday was fun, a bunch of friends from Vancouver showed up and a bunch of good bands played. Set Foot played early in the day which I thought was kinda wack since they were better than most of the bands there but what can ya do. Their set was fun even though it got cut mega short. Other Saturday highlights included Pressvre, Shook Ones and definitely Trash Talk who played the craziest set of the fest by far. I was scared for my life the entire time and some kid got KO'd by a fat kid in a tie dye shirt. That shit was badass. After the show ended we went out for dinner with a bunch of guys from the Viaduct, some very legit dudes from Bremerton and a couple members of the band Knucklepuck. They all stayed the night in the garage with us, which was cool but also sucky cause one of them was pretty much a Snorlax and kept everyone up.

Sunday was the best day of the fest for sure. So many good bands. I was hyped on seeing Life Long Tragedy, Killing The Dream, Dangers, Vanguard, Sabertooth Zombie, and of course Ceremony. All those bands had wild sets, especially Dangers and Ceremony. I'm pretty sure the entire venue knew the lyrics to Dangers and was singing along, Connor is apparently a closet Dangers fan as he was singing along the entire time. Ceremony headlined the last day and that was the band that we were all the most hyped to see. It was crazy, they played a couple new songs with sounded wicked and at one point during their set us kids from Vernon plus Clarke were the only ones moshing, it was cool.

After the show ended we said goodbye to a bunch of Vancouver people and the people we met and headed back to Ryan and Donny's place to have a hot tub and hit the hay. I give lots of props to Clarke for coming up with the hot tub idea. In the morning we said goodbye to Ryan and headed out. We dropped Clarke off in Seattle and had a sad goodbye. Then we hit the road and took about 8 and a half hours to get home. Highlights of the trip home were: Applebee's + the Cowboy Burger, Sean and Connor drinking the biggest Monster energy drinks ever and Connor trying to pee in a bottle and failing miserably.

That was alot of typing, but I believe it all needed to be said. The trip was super fun and I can't wait to do it again next year. I give alot of thanks to the dudes who run the Viaduct for putting the fest on and a super special thanks to Josh, Ryan, Donny for letting us stay with them and Scott for being a rad dude. Also, Clarke is the best ever.

Thanks for reading! Maybe some more exciting stuff will happen and I can write another blog.


Ps. Tickets for Haustfest 2009 are on sale now.

Summer So Far

So my friend Cam recently created a blog and he convinced me that it was a good way to remember things so I can look back and "reflect" on it later. It may sound lame to some people but I'm pretty hyped on the idea, I don't think anyone but me is going to read this anyway.

Now that I am done explaining myself I'll get to the first post aka blog entry. I recently moved back to Vernon after spending the year in Vancouver going to school. I'm pretty excited to be back home cause summers in Vernon are rad and I missed my family and friends here while I was gone. That being said, I am already starting to miss Van. I met alot of cool people there and made some good friends. Hanging with Lennea everyday and having shows to go to all the time was also a plus. When I got back in Vernon I bummed around for a few weeks, hung out with friends and skated a bit while being super poor. Eventually I found a job cutting down trees and worked a couple days but it was super wack and they made me shave every morning so I decided to quit and told them I got a new job. Another couple weeks of doing nothing and being broke was the result. I ended up getting the same job I worked last summer painting houses. It's not bad, I get to listen to tunes all day with no stress.

We had the show in my garage on the 11th, lots of kids came out and it ended up being really fun. Bodyguard started it off and played a fun, fast paced set. Leave It Behind played next which was fun. I always love having the Edmonton dudes come play shows in Vernon because those guys are awesome! Crusades/Nick Gibson played next and ripped it, you can watch a video of their set on their myspace (http://www.myspace.com/crusadeshc). Slingshot played fourth and as always they were super fun, lots of kids were singing along and getting into it which was good to see. Set Foot played last and it got pretty rowdy. A couple kids got banged up but nothing serious. It is stressful puttin together shows and having them at your house but they always end up being fun, hopefully me and Connor can set up some more.

On to the second show review of the blog entry. Last night I headed out to Kelowna with Connor, Ramsay, Sean and Steve to go see Grave Maker, ACG, Horizons and Saints. The new venue in Kelowna is sweet, props to Lindsay for getting it. I was pretty surprised to see how many kids were at the show. Usually at the Vernon/Kelowna shows its the same handful of kids but it seems like there is a bunch of young kids who are starting to come out now which I'm hyped on. Saints was playing when I got there and sounded pretty decent, some kids were getting into it and having fun which is always good. Horizons played their first show and it was awesome, I'm hyped on this band, I know they will put out some good stuff. ACG's set was fun and heavy, kids were moshing. Grave Maker is super sick and lots of kids were getting into them and moshing. It was a fun time and Sean Cromie mosh is the best ever.

Vernon has been a good time so far I guess and I think it will get better as the summer progesses. I'm looking forward to swimming, wakeboarding and hangin with my friends here. Next on my agenda is Rainfest. Ramsay, Sean, My brother and I are heading out to Tacoma on Friday for it and I am so hyped for it. I know it will be one of the best weekends of the year.

Thats it for now I guess, my life isn't that interesting so this thing will probably get updated like once a year so...yea, see ya!

- Dan