Jun 12, 2012

Red Bacteria Vacuum: The Tour 2012 (Debrief)



Red Bacteria Vacuum California Tour 2012


We received plenty of notice from RBV to begin production on booking and promoting this tour. Unfortunately many venues had never heard of the all girl super group from Japan. After months of stressful emails and phone calls the tour was booked and the dates went up!

The girls were excited about this tour because it was their first international headlining experience. They had never toured the US alone (aside from opening the entire "A Perfect Circle" Us tour in 2011)

6/5 San Francisco
We checked the girls into their hotel and let them rest up. Tom and I ran around  San Francisco tying up all of the loose ends. At 7pm we had a welcome dinner for the band at Kyoto Sushi (our "go to" spot for welcoming bands). Dinner was great, we invited Tom Gatewood (of Robot Octopus) Chris Mayrena (Hyper Raje Records) The Coo Coo Birds (musicians opening SF show) and Alicia (SSP coordinator). RBV invited a few friends too :) Dinner ended and then… to the bars. The girls are very friendly and so even though there wasn't a show, they made friends with everyone and turned a regular Tuesday at a dive bar into a dance party!

6/6 San Francisco
The show at Broadway studios was great. We had hoped for a better turnout, but never a better crowd! The venue management tried to take control of the show, but luckily we had a great promoter, Scott, to talk them down! The show was great, with opening sets from The Thunders, and the Coo Coo Birds. The after-party was pretty wild ( I hear) I went home to bed, because I take the first driving shift to LA in the morning.

6/7 LA
We get down to LA in 6 hours with just a few stops. We are so tired from the drive and the night before that we check into the hotel and take a power nap. Then we're up and to the venue. Amplyfi is a great spot run by Kota. An inmate venue gave us the opportunity to hang out and meet everyone comfortably. The turnout was fantastic, and we had the chance to meet our new friends from One High Five and of course many old friends. The after party was small at location we like to go to after the Pillows tours… we ate and drank and caught up with old friends. Then to the hotel for sleep? No… one more beer and about an hour of a laughing fit! Maybe a gas leak?! Then bed.

6/8 San Diego
The drive to San Diego took a long time. Traffic was terrible the whole way down. We quickly realized this would be a problem for our San Diego show. The show was early, we barely had a chance to drop our gear off at the hotel before we had to be at the venue, Bar 11. Ziggy, our San Diego promoter met us with open arms and we set up. He agreed that the turnout would be slim due to the traffic and time of show. We played the show just the same to a group of no more than 15 people. RBV melted their faces anyway! Luckily for us a friend of Ziggy's had a show later in the evening and invited us to join the performance. The girls quickly agreed. We broke down our gear, thanked Ziggy, and headed to The Tower Bar. We didn't have time to promote, we were just  hoping that Friday night would bring a large audience… and it did! The place became packed, and all the bands were in great form. Aside from some very drunk and persistent concert goers, the show was a huge success and a redemption from our ill-fated Bar 11 spot. The crowd couldn't get enough of the band and we had to wait in the venue until 3am to leave. Tom and I woke up early to bring Esal (All Ages drummer) to the airport. He had a previous commitment show in San Francisco, and would drive down to San Louis Obispo to join us at The Z.

6/9 San Louis Obispo
The drive up the 101 was beautiful! We arrived in town a few hours early and went straight to the hotel. We got a call from Esal, there was a problem with rent-a-car place. Time was ticking and we had to find a solution. Tom and I became stressed and took a nap. We woke up to head to the venue with messages from Esal saying he was on his way. His good friend agreed to drive him 4 hours down to SLO. We got to the venue and met the players in Derailed and Blind Story who opened the show! We also picked up a great article written for the girls to announce their show. We have to thank John for setting everything up!! What can we say, this was the perfect place to end the tour. The audience was spectacular, and just the type of people we love to hang out with. The night turned into a party of it's own. There was singing, dancing, and drinking until 2am… when we had to pry the girls away from all the lonely boys and get them back to the hotel.

6/10-6/12 San Francisco
We got back to SF in time for the girls to make an appearance in Japan Town to sign autographs and take pictures with fans. 
Later we met up with Tom of Robot Octopus to begin planning and shooting a new music video for Red Bacteria Vacuum. Shooting continued into the late night on Monday. Today is Tuesday, the girls are shopping and Tom and I are debriefing our team. Tonight is our goodbye dinner… Tomorrow RBV heads back to Japan, with their first headlining tour in the United States under their belt. 

We are just happy to come home safe and we are pleased to have seen our friends again. Now, back to the office to plan the next tour… who will it be for? … tba