Outside the show in Portland, 8/15/05
Live the Chaos, pt. II (1.91 MB)
from Live in an Oakland Kitchen
Music Video for Down! on our MySpace page.
(Just hold your nose.)
« Mish Rex Wrap-up, Throw-up | Main | So when's that record coming out again? »
October 27, 2002
After Benicia
Good bands, good people...Benicia is just the nicest place to rock. We've never had a bad time at the 789 House (789 Military East) which is probably why this was our third show there. Yes, it's official: OFR loves playing at 789 in Benicia.
Before OFR, house band The Accomplices played to a living room just starting to heat up. After that, OFR bassist Paul, zine-machine Sara, and Portland's Erin Yanke, surprised me with Nowhere. To Paul, I cried, "Side project!" but he told me Nowhere predates OFR by years.
So...OFR is the side project?
Well, side or center, it was pretty thrilling to play a show with so many people crowded before us, from the apathetic guy at the back who didn't think we were punk enough, to the naked, sweaty mosher gyrating in front of me the whole time. (Welcome to the Bay Area, Justin!) Although I could swear I was going to die while playing in that heat at our breakneckingest pace, it was really just about perfect. Here's proof: I nearly always break at least a string or two during our show, but for that show, I didn't break a string at all...until the very last note.
After cooling off outside for a while, I headed back in to catch Allergic to Bullshit, which features Iggy on guitar...and makes OFR a side project for him, too! Doesn't matter, any band Ivy sings in is worth listening to. Even if she drank most of my beer in between songs.
Driving home that night, I felt the usual ambivalence about the Rock: I couldn't wait to play again, yet also feared we could never play another show that even approached that one's perfection.
