R-n-R Stories

		7
	Ok everyone, We are using this page to relate some experiences we have had along this rock-n-roll road. Basically to share what it is like to be a struggling band and how insane life in Romeo's Dead can be. There are no expensive hotel rooms or high-class hookers (we cant afford either one) but an insight into club band life. No names will be changed to protect anyone!!! For the first installment I would like to tell you about one night at the old punk rock dive the Tip Top Inn (RIP) in San Francisco. I believe it was in February of 98'. We were scheduled to headline a show at the club with a couple other bands. I cant remember who. First off in club land headlining sucks. Headlining sounds cool, but in the real world it means going on last!!..And if its not a weekend that blows!!!..1:00 am on a Tuesday is a lonely place to be. This was a Saturday night so we knew it wouldn't be too bad. It was a typical rainy night in SF. Loading gear in the rain is nothing new to SF bands. We get to the club and as always at the Tip Top there is no fucking room to put your gear and the promoter wasn't helping anyone out. We actually were lucky to be playing there because we were banned from the club the year before because of a bullshit misunderstanding the promoter had with us (I wont get into that here). Lets just say we like to talk a lot of shit or really Jay likes to talk shit and his mouth gets us in trouble from time to time. Anyway, The club is packed!!! Not hard to do when the room only holds 50 people max!! But it looks cool no matter what. The first two bands play and the room is still amped up (i.e.: drunk). We start our set on the tiny stage they had at this place (if you moved you would knock over an amp or something). It's a hometown crowd so most of the audience is familiar with us and our songs so the mood is good but getting out of hand. Beer is being sprayed all over us from the crowd. My fault really, as I used to spray the crowd with booze at the beginning of every show. So the crowd usually would retaliate with full glasses of some cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon or something. How no one in the band was ever electrocuted is a miracle. Well we are about half way thru the set when some extremely drunk guy comes rushing towards the front of stage. I recognize him as the bass player for another SF band SisterKissers (rip) (a notorious band known for reeking havoc at their shows. LOVED THEM). His name is Ray (aka: Lotsa Poppa). He decides to start fucking with us just for the hell of it. He unzips his pants a whips out his dick. We are playing the Psychedelic Furs song "Pretty in Pink" and Lotsa Poppa starts pulling on his dick saying "I want some pink"!!!!.."Come on gimmie some pink!!...We just laugh it off and keep playing. Meanwhile I start to feel the bottom of my pant leg getting wet. I look down and Lotsa Poppa is pissing on me!!!...I try to move from left to right on this tiny ass stage to avoid the piss and he just follows my feet with his dick spraying like a fire hose!!!....The front of the stage and my feet are now covered in piss!!...Security comes rushing in and takes Lotsa Poppa away. Not to my urging, other than the ruined shoes I thought it was pretty funny. Must have bothered some girl up front or something. We finish our set and the promoter is not pleased with the urine covered stage and is really irritated with us cause we don't offer to clean it up. I don't think we were invited back to the Tip Top for over a year again!!!...I ran into Lotsa Poppa a couple weeks later at the Lucky 13 club and he had no recollection of the incident but apologized anyway. We ordered another round of drinks and talked about how fucked the scene is. Piss on it all!!....Stay tuned kids, back at you later....Zane 7/25/02 OK..This month I wanted to tell you all about an experience we had on the road in the wonderful town of San Diego (a town that has always been good to Romeo’s Dead). …This show was a last minute addition to this little tour we were doing of the west coast back in 99’…For those of you who have never toured if you are a small band like us you want as many dates possible playing. Days off are for rockstars who have money..A day off for a club level band like us means a day without getting paid and for a band living in motel 6’s or on peoples couches ion the road getting paid is more important than rest or blowing out my voice or any of that shit (Metallica can take days off..Romeo’s Dead cannot!!!)…But I am getting off track…The gig is at a club we had played many times before called The Crow Bar (RIP). We knew it was gonna be sketchy cause we were added onto a bill with bands we have never heard of and it was supposed to be birthday celebration for some girl we have never met…We were styled out pretty good in San Diego this time due to Aaron dating a girl a down there (now his fiancée) who work for Sheraton Hotels..She hooked us up with a total rockstar suite that we kept calling the Keith Richards Room. They had fruit and cheese baskets for us and everything..God bless women cause without them musicians would fall apart..We spend the day eating free snacks and yelling at the girls at the pool (we had a balcony overlooking the pool area)..It is a great day!!!…..Fast forward..We get to the club and right away we know this is gonna suck. The other bands are there and their fucked up redneck fans. They are punk bands but the worst type. No talent crusty low IQ fools who need to take a bath. We come strolling in with our glitter and eyeliner swagger and instantly know they hate us…Whatever..we have played in front of hostile crowds before and managed to win em over so we aren’t too stressed…Then shit hits the fan..The second band was playing and all of a sudden there is a major fight breaking out in front of the stage (apparently somebody groped some guys chick or something) and these drunk crusty fucks just start wailing on whomever is in reaching distance..Somebody throw a glass at someone else and there is blood and chaos (meanwhile we are just trying to stay out of this shit)..The owner of the bar comes out with his baseball bat and starts screaming everybody GET THE FUCK OUT!!!!!…He kicks everyone out of the club and announces the show is over GO HOME!!!!…Then his lovely wife/bartender comes over to us and tells us to wait in our van and tell everyone we know who came just to see us to hang around and they will re-open for a private show. We tell the regular tribe of Romeo Heads that come to see us in San Diego just to chill out until the club gives us the signal…So after about a half an hour the owner comes out (the fighting dumbfuck crowd has since vacated the area) and tells us to roll in with our gear and all who came to see Romeos Dead to come in..Tonight will be just about RD!!…We were stoked that we still could do the show and the 25 or so people that hung around to see us could enjoy the band up close and personal..This turned out to be my favorite show of that whole tour…Granted it was only 25 people but it was so informal and fun..We joked with the crowd, took requests, flirted with some choice Romeo Girls (one in particular that would play a much larger role in my life after that night)…It was great and total fun..It was that unrehearsed casualness that made this particular show so memorable..Its just goes to show ya that a bad situation can turn into a positive one very quickly (and vice versa but that’s another story)….We load up after the show, chat with some very cool and dedicated Romeo fans and head to the van…The owner of the bar comes up to us and says thanks for saving this night and hands us a 12 pack of Fosters along with our gig pay and we are off to the Keith Richards Room.. This night was a good night…Peace out..Zane

Ok everyone, We are using this page to relate some experiences we have had along this rock-n-roll road. Basically to share what it is like to be a struggling band and how insane life in Romeo's Dead can be. There are no expensive hotel rooms or high-class hookers (we cant afford either one) but an insight into club band life. No names will be changed to protect anyone!!!

For the first installment I would like to tell you about one night at the old punk rock dive the Tip Top Inn (RIP) in San Francisco. I believe it was in February of 98'. We were scheduled to headline a show at the club with a couple other bands. I cant remember who. First off in club land headlining sucks. Headlining sounds cool, but in the real world it means going on last!!..And if its not a weekend that blows!!!..1:00 am on a Tuesday is a lonely place to be. This was a Saturday night so we knew it wouldn't be too bad. It was a typical rainy night in SF. Loading gear in the rain is nothing new to SF bands. We get to the club and as always at the Tip Top there is no fucking room to put your gear and the promoter wasn't helping anyone out. We actually were lucky to be playing there because we were banned from the club the year before because of a bullshit misunderstanding the promoter had with us (I wont get into that here). Lets just say we like to talk a lot of shit or really Jay likes to talk shit and his mouth gets us in trouble from time to time. Anyway, The club is packed!!! Not hard to do when the room only holds 50 people max!! But it looks cool no matter what. The first two bands play and the room is still amped up (i.e.: drunk). We start our set on the tiny stage they had at this place (if you moved you would knock over an amp or something). It's a hometown crowd so most of the audience is familiar with us and our songs so the mood is good but getting out of hand. Beer is being sprayed all over us from the crowd. My fault really, as I used to spray the crowd with booze at the beginning of every show. So the crowd usually would retaliate with full glasses of some cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon or something. How no one in the band was ever electrocuted is a miracle. Well we are about half way thru the set when some extremely drunk guy comes rushing towards the front of stage. I recognize him as the bass player for another SF band SisterKissers (rip) (a notorious band known for reeking havoc at their shows. LOVED THEM). His name is Ray (aka: Lotsa Poppa). He decides to start fucking with us just for the hell of it. He unzips his pants a whips out his dick. We are playing the Psychedelic Furs song "Pretty in Pink" and Lotsa Poppa starts pulling on his dick saying "I want some pink"!!!!.."Come on gimmie some pink!!...We just laugh it off and keep playing. Meanwhile I start to feel the bottom of my pant leg getting wet. I look down and Lotsa Poppa is pissing on me!!!...I try to move from left to right on this tiny ass stage to avoid the piss and he just follows my feet with his dick spraying like a fire hose!!!....The front of the stage and my feet are now covered in piss!!...Security comes rushing in and takes Lotsa Poppa away. Not to my urging, other than the ruined shoes I thought it was pretty funny. Must have bothered some girl up front or something. We finish our set and the promoter is not pleased with the urine covered stage and is really irritated with us cause we don't offer to clean it up. I don't think we were invited back to the Tip Top for over a year again!!!...I ran into Lotsa Poppa a couple weeks later at the Lucky 13 club and he had no recollection of the incident but apologized anyway. We ordered another round of drinks and talked about how fucked the scene is. Piss on it all!!....Stay tuned kids, back at you later....Zane

7/25/02

OK..This month I wanted to tell you all about an experience we had on the road in the wonderful town of San Diego (a town that has always been good to Romeo’s Dead). …This show was a last minute addition to this little tour we were doing of the west coast back in 99’…For those of you who have never toured if you are a small band like us you want as many dates possible playing. Days off are for rockstars who have money..A day off for a club level band like us means a day without getting paid and for a band living in motel 6’s or on peoples couches ion the road getting paid is more important than rest or blowing out my voice or any of that shit (Metallica can take days off..Romeo’s Dead cannot!!!)…But I am getting off track…The gig is at a club we had played many times before called The Crow Bar (RIP). We knew it was gonna be sketchy cause we were added onto a bill with bands we have never heard of and it was supposed to be birthday celebration for some girl we have never met…We were styled out pretty good in San Diego this time due to Aaron dating a girl a down there (now his fiancée) who work for Sheraton Hotels..She hooked us up with a total rockstar suite that we kept calling the Keith Richards Room. They had fruit and cheese baskets for us and everything..God bless women cause without them musicians would fall apart..We spend the day eating free snacks and yelling at the girls at the pool (we had a balcony overlooking the pool area)..It is a great day!!!…..Fast forward..We get to the club and right away we know this is gonna suck. The other bands are there and their fucked up redneck fans. They are punk bands but the worst type. No talent crusty low IQ fools who need to take a bath. We come strolling in with our glitter and eyeliner swagger and instantly know they hate us…Whatever..we have played in front of hostile crowds before and managed to win em over so we aren’t too stressed…Then shit hits the fan..The second band was playing and all of a sudden there is a major fight breaking out in front of the stage (apparently somebody groped some guys chick or something) and these drunk crusty fucks just start wailing on whomever is in reaching distance..Somebody throw a glass at someone else and there is blood and chaos (meanwhile we are just trying to stay out of this shit)..The owner of the bar comes out with his baseball bat and starts screaming everybody GET THE FUCK OUT!!!!!…He kicks everyone out of the club and announces the show is over GO HOME!!!!…Then his lovely wife/bartender comes over to us and tells us to wait in our van and tell everyone we know who came just to see us to hang around and they will re-open for a private show. We tell the regular tribe of Romeo Heads that come to see us in San Diego just to chill out until the club gives us the signal…So after about a half an hour the owner comes out (the fighting dumbfuck crowd has since vacated the area) and tells us to roll in with our gear and all who came to see Romeos Dead to come in..Tonight will be just about RD!!…We were stoked that we still could do the show and the 25 or so people that hung around to see us could enjoy the band up close and personal..This turned out to be my favorite show of that whole tour…Granted it was only 25 people but it was so informal and fun..We joked with the crowd, took requests, flirted with some choice Romeo Girls (one in particular that would play a much larger role in my life after that night)…It was great and total fun..It was that unrehearsed casualness that made this particular show so memorable..Its just goes to show ya that a bad situation can turn into a positive one very quickly (and vice versa but that’s another story)….We load up after the show, chat with some very cool and dedicated Romeo fans and head to the van…The owner of the bar comes up to us and says thanks for saving this night and hands us a 12 pack of Fosters along with our gig pay and we are off to the Keith Richards Room.. This night was a good night…Peace out..Zane