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KMFDM vs Angelspit Tour Diary Part 1: Washington to Seattle
By Destroyx | December 28, 2009
Last September I left the sunny shores of Sydney to embark on the scariest and most exciting adventure of my life. My band Angelspit had been invited to wreck havoc in the USA with industrial rock gods KMFDM. The 6 week tour consisted of 33 dates of rock and roll awesomeness, lots of mischief, a crash course in American culture for fluffy naive Australians (and unfortunately not enough personal hygiene. Boo.)
Having the opportunity to tour with KMFDM was pretty much a dream come true. Not only because our bands were aligned musically, but also because KMFDM have awesome taste in typography! (They use my favourite typeface Univers for their logo and pretty much use red black and white for all of their branding! It’s a match made in heaven I’m telling you). It was awesome to be able to tour with a band that has been a great inspiration for Angelspit, particularly in the aspect that they have two lead vocalists, one of which is a strong (and totally badass!) female named Lucia.
Promo graphic for the tour dates
On my journey I managed to take a few photographs, jot down a few observations and stories which I have chronicled below. In general, I’m a terrible journal keeper, especially on tour because the schedule can be so unpredictable. So this journal is comprised more of fragments rather than being a comprehensive account.
SHOW_01- September 23 - Washington D.C. - 9:30 Club
Our rider from the 9:30 Club consisted of cupcakes and fruit. These cupcakes were AMAZING because they had chocolate mousse domes for frosting and cream on the inside. So good.
RANDOM CONVERSATION:
Man walks up to Amelia: I want to have an affair with you.
Amelia: Umm… I don’t know about that but I can sign your poster.
THOUGHTS: Sleeping in a tour bus is difficult, it feels like sleeping in a coffin. Chocolate cake and diet coke for breakfast is wrong but fantastic.
SHOW_02- September 24 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre Of The Living Arts
Outside of the venue in Philly
DAILY DRAMA: Passports and makeup bag went missing for half the day and were eventually found by accident. Lesson: Keep passports close at hand to avoid heart attacks and tears.
SHOW_03- September 25 - New York, NY - The Gramercy Theatre
RANDOM CONVERSATION:
Man (to Amelia): I think you’re pretty from the knees down.
Amelia: Umm…
Man: Oh… and you know that support band, they suck. But KMFDM rule.
Amelia: Awesome.
SHOW_04-September 26 - Boston, MA - House Of Blues
Getting ready backstage at the House of Blues Boston.
DAILY DRAMA: Venue was double booked and was holding a cream pie eating competition at the same time we were meant to be sound checking.
SHOW_05-September 27 - Rochester, NY - Waterstreet Music Hall
Photo of our lighting rig. I love X’s.
THOUGHTS: Rochester seemed pretty bleak, but Dinosaur BBQ was made of win. The BBQ meal caused an eerie silence while everyone in the backstage area was blissfully munching away - this was followed by a food coma of epic proportions.
SHOW_06-September 29 - Toronto, CAN - Phoenix Concert Theatre
We had a day off in Toronto and I had a great time boutique shopping.
Backstage in Toronto and Cincinnati. Zoog and I try to take a ‘before’ photo prior to every gig. We have been doing this for 5 years now (nearly 100 shows).
SHOW_07-September 30 - Cleveland, OH - House Of Blues
I love documenting backstage graffiti. I was super excited to find out that the Deftones had played at the same venue. They are one of my favourite bands.
SHOW_08-October 01 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts
Not much to do in Cincinnati, so I spent the day making perspex jewelry. I made this necklace.
SHOW_09-October 02 - Detroit, MI - Harpo’s
This is the liquor store outside of the venue complete with a camouflaged ute/pickup truck. The sign says ‘Liquor, Lotto, Cheques Cashed, Pizza’. Only in Detroit.
STORY: Last time KMFDM played Harpo’s a few years ago the place was surrounded by security guards with machine guns. The reason for this was because the night before, Fear Factory played the same venue and their tour bus was held at gunpoint and robbed. Consequently, we spent the day inside the venue for our own personal safety.
Backstage in our crusty scary dressing room. It had no windows and only one light source, and probably would have made a good setting for a snuff film. The floor, ceiling and walls were stuccoed and painted glossy black.
With fans in Detroit. The lovely lady on the left made an Angelspit collage scrapbook- how amazing!
SHOW_10-October 03 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
Outside the venue in Chicago
A typical dinner on the road: Cheeseburger, coke, fries (& ketchup).
With Lou, one of our best and favourite fans!
STORY: The only piece of advice I got from my Dad before the tour was ‘Be careful in Chicago, I was robbed when I was there last July’… and guess what? Would you believe we actually got robbed in Chicago. It was the biggest show we played (it was a huge venue and sold out), but it felt like our worse show because we felt so disheartened. To whoever robbed us, thanks for taking my Canadian, American and Australian bills.
SHOW_11-October 04 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
Outside of the Rave venue which is across the street from the Ambassador Hotel (where Jeffery Dahmer did his thing)
STORY: The Rave is a very special venue that previously used to be an Eagles club. It has a huge unused pool, a maze of underground tunnels, an eerie boiler room and is apparently haunted. We were treated to a ‘ghost’ tour of the venue after the show at around midnight. After we had our tour of the venue, we came across a bunch of teenage girls who were camping overnight in front of the venue (it was freezing). We wondered what band they were so eager to see and found out that they were there to see Hanson. We were confused.
SHOW_12-October 05 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
Outside the famous First Ave venue. (Yes… the Purple Rain venue)
SHOW_13-October 07 - Kansas City, MO - The Beaumont
A fan with a beautiful sketch of the Hideous and Perfect artwork and Zoog and I before the show.
The day before the show we had a day off to do some sight seeing.
Zoog and I were on the lookout for the cheesiest American Diner we could find. We found Fritz’s Train themed diner. It was so much fun. You had to order your food using the provided telephone and your meal was delivered in a plastic tray on a automatically driven train.
I was so excited to find an Andy Warhol exhibition was showing at the local art gallery. He is one of my favourite artists so I had a blast checking out their large format screen print collection.
SHOW_14-October 08 - Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
THOUGHTS: One of my favourite bands The Faint are from Omaha, so I was keen to see what kind of city it was to spawn such an incredible band. The venue was surrounded by an American Apparel store and an Urban Outfitters and there were a lot of flannelette wearing, thick rimmed glasses types in the area which seemed to make sense.
SHOW_15-October 09 - Denver, CO - The Gothic
My friend Micky Finn (who is from the band Jetboy and is the Lip Service rep) made the trip up to Denver to hang out with us at the instore we did at Fashionation. He’s really fun in real life and I’m glad I got to meet him.
I’ve been friends with Zach for years on Livejournal and we finally got to meet in Denver. He brought one of his incredible modded hearses which had a flame thrower on the front.
SHOW_16-October 10 - Salt Lake City, UT
Unfortunately, we were caught in a blizzard on our way to Salt Lake City from Denver and had to cancel the show. Check out the icicle action on the bus wheel.
Trapped a carpark somewhere for 12 hours while we waited for the roads to clear up.
STORY: We arrived in Billings (a small town on the way to Seattle) for our overnight stop. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse which is an Australian themed restaurant which was amusing to say the least, especially with their dishes like the ‘walkabout soup’ and ‘alice springs chicken.’ We had to try the cholesterol inducing ‘blooming onion’ which was basically a battered fried onion… eek.
SHOW_17-October 12 - Seattle, WA - The Moore
The tour bus outside of the venue.
Dunc & Dave - two of the funnest people you will ever meet. This was the first time they actually ever got their own dressing room, so a special sign was made just for their door.
Before the show in Seattle.
With Tess, one of our most supportive fans and all around rad chick.
At the afterparty with Iron Jeff, the best merch guy on the planet. We knew we would have a day off after this, so we all partied pretty hard.
Dave is made of awesome.
On our day off in Seattle. We visited the Pike’s Place market and did lots of touristy things.
Cheesecake… mmm…
We made a pilgrimage to the Experience Music Project and Sci Fi museum where I had to get a photograph next to Michael Jackson’s Jacket and Rhinestone glove.
Zoog playing with a theramin at the museum
I confess, I’m a trekkie.
I absolutely adore this vintage DIY space helmet magazine spread.
A real Klingon bat’leth sword from Star Trek. Woo!
Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 of my tour diary coming soon.
Topics: Amelia Arsenic, Angelspit, Music, Travel |
December 28th, 2009 at 2:48 am
hey girl!! how are you?? how is NYC treating you…hope you are loving it…must go to Ricky’s…you’ll love that drugstore…anyhoo love the tour diary..read zoogs but yours is nicer and with pics…glad you had a blast even though there were some bumps in the road…howd you like Outback…i love that place…their Margaritas rock!!!!
December 28th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Harpos scary even to us natives. Not really a place you want to hang out, so you’ve got some badass fans if they showed up there. Hope you get to play somewhere better next time you’re in the city!
December 28th, 2009 at 3:23 am
I’m so glad your US tour went well!! and i am so upset that i was unable to see you guys perform.. as i’ve been waiting for you to come to the US since Krankhaus came out all those years ago.. T^T .. it was awful because i am incredibly familiar with the venue you guys played at in Chicago, but i was unable to be there because i’m now at school in nowheresville, Indiana.. grahh. one of these days, one of these days (*shakes fists towards the heavens*) i will make it to an angelspit show!!
December 28th, 2009 at 4:28 am
I love tour diaries, I’m glad you’re posting entries! Can’t wait to read more. Sorry to hear about the jerkface in Chicago, but it seems like the rest of the tour was pretty fkn awesome.
<3
December 28th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Iv always loved reading peoples journals (ie Sylvia Plath, Anne Frank) soi thanks for posting this cooooool blog :D
btw I love your face in the photo with the caption “Dave is made of awesome.” ;)
December 28th, 2009 at 5:36 am
Awesome photos! Cupcakessss! *.*
The most interesting thing to read was the “Ghost” venue that found itself on zoogs blog too :D
hehe.. and I like random conversations you had haha..
December 28th, 2009 at 9:58 am
You look to different without makeup and wigs! That’s not a bad thing though XP I love the pictures you have.
I really wish I could have seen you live, that would have been sweeeet. Maybe next time ^_~
I love the jewelry you’re making! It’s all wonderful <3
December 28th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Ah my god that looks awesome! I can see why you didn’t get the chance to blog much =P
such a shame you got robbed! wtf?
but my… can’t wait for the jewellery line! Goodbye christmas money =D
December 28th, 2009 at 11:06 am
looks and sounds like you had a great time!! Well besides getting robbed, that sucks! I was so happy to get to see you guys!! Loved the Rochester show!! Nice photos!! You look just as amazing in street clothes~ your a beautiful young Lady!!
December 28th, 2009 at 11:23 am
You look absolutely gorgeous~! That’s terrible somebody robbed you.
You guys should come back to Omaha on your next tour, I missed you guys. :(
There’s a lot more to Omaha, particularly the artistic things, but people never see it unless they stay a while. XD
It looks like you guys had an awesome tour! :D
December 28th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
lmfao wtf does “you’re pretty from the knees down” even mean? I love how they failed on two accounts there. xD
Anyways… you went to the Andy Warhol museum too? :] Love that exhibit!!
December 28th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Looks like you had fun!
I went to the Seattle show. I thought about approaching you at the merch table, but I was too intimidated. ^.^
You stayed a day over in Seattle, yay!
December 28th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Looks like you guys had an interesting trip! Thank you so much for coming to NYC. I was so happy to be able to attend the show. My best friend and I loved it.
And we were even more pleased to be able to meet you after the show! I’m wearing an autographed bracelet from you right now. Hehe.
<3
December 28th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
“Backstage in Toronto and Cincinnati. Zoog and I try to take a ‘before’ photo prior to every gig. We have been doing this for 5 years now (nearly 100 shows).”
-Now I´m only waiting for blog entry with all of them :D
Awsome diary, looking foward to see you in Prague, Czech Republic :P
December 28th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
looks like you guys had a blast! :) glad to see you back blogging… *hugs*
December 28th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Wow that looked amazing! I can’t wait for you guys to tour again. Will you be selling your ties and other merch online?
December 28th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
omg this is like such an awesome blog post!
very interesting! hehe
xx
December 28th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I can’t believe I missed you guys in Seattle. I would’ve loved to go. When are you guys comin’ back?
Nice blog though. Looks like you had fun. :)
December 28th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
YAY! Your back!! I thought you had given up on your blog D’=
“I think you’re pretty from the knees down.”..What a douchebag. Your pretty all around :D
December 29th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Jennie- Outback was fun to eat at… but kinda unhealthy I think. I live just around the corner from Ricky’s. It’s so awesome.
Sarah- I know! All the people that turned up at Harpo’s were awesome. We love you all for risking your lives to come to see us.
Rae- Damn… I wish you could have made it. Maybe next year late 2010?
Gally Lines- The tour was amazing… I have more funny stories and adventures to post… just you wait!
Videokid- Hah.. that was my I’m having so much fun face. I make it a lot.
Natan- Those cupcakes were so awesome. I still dream about them.
Charvelle- I know I do look different without all of my attachments.. that’s what I like about being able to transform myself =) Thanks for the compliment about the jewelry… there’s more to come!
Rebecca- Damn those robbers. I was pretty pissed about it, but I think that karma gets those people back in the end. Perspex jewelry is coming in a week or two… yippee…
chris/devntone - Hey sweet heart! I remember you from Rochester. I signed your shirt =)
Anna- I hope we can get to Omaha next time! Maybe I will have some more time to check it out properly.
Sky Sunday- I know! What a weird thing to say huh? I thought it was super funny though!
Disposable Darling - aww.. you should have said Hi. I really don’t bite! Yes we actually stayed 2 days in Seattle (because most of our crew are from Seattle). I really liked the city actually!
Katie Hazard- I totally remember you guys, you were really cute. Hehe.. Thanks so much for coming out to see us…
Marcus- Prague maybe next year… I hope… I have a hot date with some Absinthe.
Bianca- Hey sweetie! *hugs* Man.. I gotta get me a copy of your book, it looks freaking awesome!
Renee- We probably won’t be touring until late next year in the USA if at all. It’s undecided as of yet. We have discontinued our tie range to concentrate on jewelry and makeup at the moment.
Tae Dark- Damn.. we won’t be back for another year at least…
Ashley- I’m glad to be back. I’m sorry I was away for so long!
December 29th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Ahh, that tour. Wanted to go when y’all came to Houston, but alas, I had no $$$ or ride to get there so… :sighs: (I missed Emilie Autumn as well, y’all were playing at the same month, at the same venue… Damn was I broke and stupid.) But I take pleasure in the fact that you and Zoog had an epic adventure.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:07 am
oh boy that means I’ll still have money so can really go to town…. my attire definately lacks perspex. yeah karma is totally gonna kick their asses.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:24 am
lovely! i love tour/travel photos = vicarious..
thanks, keep it up :D
December 30th, 2009 at 1:39 am
The pictures from Harpo’s look kind of freaky. I’m glad everything else went okay there. It looks like you got to meet some neat people. That one pic of Zoog looking into the mirror is creepy as hell if you take it to black and white.
I can’t wait to see the next installment of the tour.
Have a wonderful and fun New Years!
December 31st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Wow! How fun all of this seems!!
January 4th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
“Not much to do in Cincinnati, so I spent the day making perspex jewelry. I made this necklace.” - Its sad but true, I hate this city
January 4th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Beautiful blogs DestroyX! I can’t believe some of the asinine comments you got, or the fans waiting in the cold for Hanson… but what can ya do? Rock the fuck on!
If anyone is interested in seeing the photos and videos I did at the Angelspit show in Phoenix, AZ, click on my name to go to my blog!
January 5th, 2010 at 11:23 am
You’re so pretty!! I love your style girl!
January 6th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
The Gramercy crowd was… um… to say the least, kind of brain numb.; Next time you visit, I bet it’ll be better. ♥
January 8th, 2010 at 1:40 am
Awww, didn’t see this till just now- I made it into your blog! -sniff sniff tear- I’m touched. ;P
I’m glad you got some time to see the city, if things hadn’t been so busy I’dve loved to show you Olympia- it’s a kitschy artsy new age mindedy place that I love dearly.
January 8th, 2010 at 1:56 am
Also- Star Trek RULES.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:18 am
[...] KMFDM Vs Angelspit Tour Diary Part 1: Washington To Seattle The 6 week tour consisted of 33 dates of rock and roll awesomeness, lots of mischief, a crash course in American culture for fluffy naive Australians (and unfortunately not enough… [...]