EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

1919 Hemphill, the venue, is a great community center with a library, regular shows, art activities, indoor graffiti, couches, and wifi that does not really work. It’s funded through donations and happenings. Too bad there weren’t so many people out on this Thursday night.

I was able to sit down before the show and hammer out some software work on expanding the visuals.

We played with Alex Atchley, The Scurvies, and Boogdish. The Scurvies, an Alaskan punk band on the road, added at the last minute. Alex Atchley had the beats and tones movingand Boogdish was just plain awesome. Brandon said that wasn’t the best he’s seen Boogdish, but if that is the case then he can only be better.

The PA was a little weird or something, I couldn’t get my microphone to turn off and had some resulting feedback issues. Overall I thought my set went quite well and people were into it. Laromlab’s set went well and I danced the good dance with the visuals until the power cord on my wearable was unplugged … it didn’t have much battery power so the machine froze.

Good show, some money, but not as many people as we hoped. We stayed with the promoter, Rick, at his warm house full of all the movies you need ever watch (Death Race 2000, MST3k, etc).

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

We got to town early and relaxed at my college friend Russ’s apartment (where we spent the night). I was able to buy a new router to replace the one I left in Huntsville and we all grabbed tacos before the show.

We played at The Mohawk which is a pretty great bar/lounge/venue etc with multiple stages and outdoor seating. The Calm Blue Sea opened for us and they had lots of people and stuff.

My set went fine with a few hiccups here and there but largely successful. Brandon’s set went well also and my visuals worked but it seemed like people left halfway through … mabey early bedtimes for work the next day?

For some reason, the venue thought I was “Cowboy Robot”, Irish indie band, and there was some online press with this other bands videos and pictures sent out. Also, the pay envelope I received has their name on it.

All in all it was a good show with some people coming out for us and we got paid well.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

The venue, Super Happy Fun Land, has moved since we wrote down the address so we were a bit surprised to roll up in front of an abandoned building. Luckily the new address was written on the door and we made it to a much larger and nicer location: an old warehouse.

We played with PLID and Pavmire. PLID is a duo of belting singers and lots of confetti. All of my equipment worked this time but there were a few cuts from the sound board. There was some problems with the PA and everything was in mono.

Brandon’s set went well and my visuals worked. It was a warm night in the 50’s but not so many people on a Wednesday.

We stayed with my old college roommate who now lives in Houston: Rich Luckritz.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

Before we left, I got an eye exam, my pupils dilated, and a new set of glasses ordered. I do not want to wear these scratched lenses too long.

After a 7 hour drive, we made it to New Orleans and The Dragon’s Den, a former Thai restaurant turned club after the owner returned to Thailand after hurricane Katrina. The venue “stage” was this weird little corral with sides on it, so people would stand outside and lean on the railing. Brandon met some people from Kentucky but they bailed on us before the show.

We played with DJ Proppa Bear and Blood Red Squid. I had some problems copying over files between computers since I had forgotten my wireless router back in Huntsville. One of the usb ports on my system was still a bit loose so there was some annoying cut out now and then.

Here’s something we learned this night: compressors are bad for us! A compressor basically controls dynamics and tries to maximize the sound level of an incoming signal … apparently when this is applied to my system it amplifies my microphone to the point of feedback no matter what setting its at. Needless to say, I had feedback problems. Brandon’s bass lost some of its oomph as well. Also, the visual program did not work and the fog machine ran out of juice … we are regressing.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

This was a much needed day off at my parents house. We drove from Atlanta immediately after the show and arrived around 4am.

I was able to sit down and fix my equipment:
– replaced the broken usb hub
– added a playstation -> usb adaptor (I had one originally, but it turned out to be flaky)
– fixed the 2 broken guitar strings

The playsation plug is much beefier then a usb plug, so it will withstand live use. I also fitted it facing downward so, if the gamepad cable is stepped on it will pull out and not break anything.

Live and learn hardware wise.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

This was a much needed day off at my parents house. We drove from Atlanta immediately after the show and arrived around 4am.

I was able to sit down and fix my equipment:
– replaced the broken usb hub
– added a playstation -> usb adaptor (I had one originally, but it turned out to be flaky)
– fixed the 2 broken guitar strings

The playsation plug is much beefier then a usb plug, so it will withstand live use. I also fitted it facing downward so, if the gamepad cable is stepped on it will pull out and not break anything.

Live and learn hardware wise.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

The Eyedrum is an awesome gallery space in an old industrial mattress factory right across from the heart of down town Atlanta. It has a great sound system and acoustic space/stage. Also, we found a local pizza place the served a delicious veggie pie.

We played with Ships at Sea and Allison Rentz’s performance “Asstow”. Ships at Sea was an electro acoustic duo who utilized a guitar, tape loop, chimes, and vibrator among other devices. “Asstow” is described as a performance using found noise making objects from the internet. At the time, both Brandon and I were in tired, bad moods and I didn’t give this one a chance … I feel kind of bad for not sticking around and being objective.

After such a resounding success in Jacksonville, my system just didn’t want to work. The busted usb hub turned into a busted usb port on the computer which kept turning the hub on and off which means the control and sound was unreliable. I had to struggle through the first song (ArpeggiateNow) then reboot the machine and tape the plug into the port at an angle that kept the contact working. After limping through my set, the visuals froze before I could use them so neither my monitor or the projector were working. I danced in the dark with a dark face …

We were supposed to play with a chip tunes guy called 8 Bit Wonder, but he didn’t show up for some reason. There were some kids who came out for Brandon and they did some dancing to Laromlab. The promoter wished he had billed the show as a dance show instead of a more experimental art show. Well, it worked out better that it was experimental since all of my gear did not work …

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

We played at Club TSI which is a great electro club/bar with pool tables and an outside lounge with 60’s rock and roll.

This was the first show where EVERYTHING worked … included visual control over the network. I ran the visual program on both my monitor and my laptop hooked to a projector all controlled from the wearable. Brandon picked up some cds sent by his record label and sold them all.

People weren’t sure what to make of me, but were into it. A girl told me later that I was “off the wall” and that the performance was “electronic music but the energy of rock” … good people are getting what I’m trying to do. I was asked several time about cds … but I havent gotten around to burning any yet, I should really do that one of these days. There is a stockpile of recordings from everyday now, I will put them on when I have more time – probably after the tour is over.

Beetlejuice was playing on loop for some reason and we got free hot dogs after the show, I had 3. Also, they listed me as being from Stockholm … not even Göteborg.

This was out best show so far, everything worked, lots of people, and good money.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

St. Augustine is America’s oldest city (1565) and, being on the coast, we went to St. Ausutine Beach and got our feet wet in the Atlantic in the dark.

We played a house show at 160 MLK which was quite awesome. PJ Famicom played first, then me, then Laromlab. This was the first time all of my stuff worked including the visual control with the monitor helmet. Laromlab’s set was tight and people were definitely into it … there was lots of spilled beer which I had to clean off of my cables the next day. Also, my glasses were knocked off of their speaker perch and stepped on, grinding the lenses on the wood floor and leaving some annoying hash marks and the gamepad was ripped out of the usb hub, breaking out the little plastic insert on the port.

Brandon went into a dj set after playing the Laromlab material and was warned by one large dancer: “if you don’t play till at least 12, you will lose a testicle”. Needless to say, the set went to 12.

Being a house party, we asked for donations and everyone was generous. Brandon stayed at PJ house, but I wanted to sleep right away, so I slept in the van. Apparently a rooster appeared in the yard of a neighbor of PJ’s and woke everyone early in the morning: “somebody turn that rooster alarm clock off”.

EDIT: Disclaimer, Laromlab’s music is all stolen. Read here.

The GPS navigator was not able to find any satellites all day, so we had to follow the map the old fashioned way. We arrived at The Sidebar a little before they opened around 7:30pm and set up early. I took the time to fix my monitor helmet and camera. Some emergency surgery and soldering were required, but I now have eyes again. The led mask was fine, I had just forgot to switch on the power the night before.

We played with The Viirus who started up around 10:30pm. His light control box broke down, but his Pro One analog synth and beats were faaaaat. Our sets went well. I ended up pushing some girl who started bouncing on me and Brandon apologized on the pa … later he delivered this memorable quote: “don’t push some girl in a bar full of dudes”. Brandon was really bumping thanks to all the free beer and he djed for 30 mins or so after his set.

The show was promoted well, fliers notices etc, but just not a good turnout on a Wednesday night.

We stayed with Chris from Electronic Sub South who put out the fliers. He let us pick citrus from the trees growing in his yard: tangerines, kumquats, and several others. My dad enjoyed the grapefruit.

You can read reactions from the show on the Electronic Sub South message board.