The Accident 
This is here for the people who don't know why the record was delayed for 5 months.

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Millennium Music Conference 1999
Feb. 12, 13, 14  City Island Pavilion, Harrisburg, PA

Every year I look forward to the Millennium Music Conference, because every year we get better and better, the record labels get more and more interested, and the crowd gets bigger and bigger. This year we left from Youngstown at midnight and arrived early Friday morning at 6am. We then proceeded to call or friend Larry Kennedy from the Jellybricks for a place to sleep. We slept in the van and listened to Howard Stern til 11AM and headed off to the conference. The vibe in the conference is a bit odd. Everyone is dressed in their best rock star outfit with glitter and blue hair, and people have this pale stare wondering if you can play as good as you look. This year we took over, as usual, flooding the record industry professionals (well aware of who we are) with promotional items and information about how good we are doing. The thing is, everyone seems to be intimidated by these professionals, which is not good. If you talk to them you will learn that they are simply pure music fans, really cool, and easy to talk to. They will help you and tell you what you need to take the next step forward. I would like to thank all of these people for the help they have given us, and also for helping save the music industry. Lets get on to the show...
After all of our ass kissing and panels, we arrive at our destination. A big garage, and I mean big. We had 20 minutes to play, which is more than enough for us to prove ourselves. We were all a bit nervous, just because it was so long since we were on stage together (because of the accident). We went up there and tore the roof off for approximately 17 minutes in front of 600 kids. It was a blast. After us were a few more bands, including Godsmack, so we stuck around to check them out. I've never seen a band have so many problems on stage as they did. Their poor roadie was running around non stop. They also used our amps and snare drum. We didn't really talk to them, just the roadie because he was really cool, and the best we've ever seen. He was right on top of everything. We have his number if anyone wants it, he's $1,200 a week.
To wrap things up, the conference was fun as hell, and we also got some important things done. It was also better this year because we stayed in a hotel, a lot better than someone's floor.

People in Van: Jim, Sam, Mike, Mark, Frank, and all of our equipment.
Music: We have a tv in the van now.
Quote of the night: (Mike) "I liked that Steve Vai thing you did with your guitar at the end"
(some dude) "thanks, but I didn't get it from him" (Mike) "ok"
Set List: The opposite of what our manager gave us.

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Robin Hood Inn~Kent, OH~Friday, Feb. 19, 1999

It's cool when you walk in a place and you see someone you haven't seen forever that you really like. In this case, it was Brett from Full Blown Kirk,  The Frans (formerly), and like 4 other projects.  We go way back, but never really had time to talk about anything, so it was very cool for us to hang out with him.  The news is you'll be hearing something new from him soon.  Anyway, this club is a really cool place to hang.  There is plenty of room, many places to sit, and the bartenders are very nice (we know them).  The soundman is very cool.  We felt very at home thanks to the guys from Mr. Tibbs, who also posted our flyers around the club.  These guys have done so much for us. We recommend that you go check them out because they really have something amazing to offer.   We are very thankful to have other musicians helping us out.
Our good friends Lirk played before us and rocked, as usual, and it was time for us to proceed to the rock area.  We had all 40 to 50 of these kids freaking out.   All I can say is that we are very happy to be back on stage in front of our fans again.

People in van: Just us
Music: none
Quote of the night:  (in Wendy's) "Do you still have that big thick fat dry ride?" -Mike Roberts
Set List: 2 hours and 30 minutes

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Little Brothers~Columbus, OH~Friday, April 23, 1999

Everyone felt good about this show, even before leaving.   The club was large, not huge, but much larger than most clubs.  The great thing about this club is the backstage area where we had a chance to relax, stretch, and talk while listening to the other cool bands at a perfect volume.  We realized that this is the way it should always be.  Fun, relaxing, and then kicking ass.  We had a lot of fun in that back room, and even learned how we can lift with our equipment.   Curls are easy with our dual rectifiers, military presses are smooth with Sam's bass (in the case), and bench press lofty with our marshall cabs.  We'd like to thank Silo the Husky for introducing us to this phenomenal club.

People in van: Sam, Jim, Mike, Frank, Mark
Music: Soundgarden and Bjork
Quote of the night: "This club has been waiting for us for a long time" -Frank Silver

Nyabinghi~Youngstown, OH~Thursday, May 20, 1999

The Nyabinghi is a brand new place in Youngstown, a semi-scary but not so scary part of town.  So far what I have witnessed, it has inherited the same characteristics of the old club I used to do sound at, Pyatt St. Downunder, in a physical way and in a people way, which is good.  This club is a perfect place to see a band.  The club is divided into 2 sections...bar, and stage with small bar---which means---if there is a band you really do not prefer, or if your ears just need a break, just stroll on in to the other half of the club for a frosty imported brew.  Anyway, this show was a benefit for Mindbender Press, a new Youngstown mag dedicated to bringing you closer to local music.  This monthly magazine is extremely cool and we are happy to help them in any way we can.  The first band was a very cool mix of my old friends, which I describe as JA meets slow Sabbath.  We went on second, and it was amazing to look out and see so many people on a thursday night at a new club.  The band after us, kitchen knife conspiracy, was the most perfect modern death metal I've ever seen.  After the show, we headed over to our friend Darren's house and had a few beers and laughs.
People in van: We all drove separate.
Music: I listened to P-Funk
Beers of the night: Heineken...take a Budweiser and put it in the sun, then in the fridge, in the sun, freeze it, thaw it, then drink it.

UNDERCURRENTS '99~Blind Lemon~Lakewood, OH~Saturday, May 22, 1999

This was Undercurrents '99 summed up in one sentence:   We got there, we played, it rocked, and we went home.  The major accomplishment of this show is we have a new place to play in Cleveland.  We just hope the soundman will lighten up next fuckin time.  Our guitars are loud dude, and our bass player almost kicked your ass. The stage manager and new booking agent for the club was very cool to us, thank you.  We thought our photographer was Michael Stanley.  Sorry Bob.
People in van: Sam, Mike, Frank, Mark, Pat "the producer"
Music: Indians Game, Omar hit a grand slam to win it against those Detroit assholes.
Quote of the night: "The microphone goes in the kick drum." -Mike Roberts

Banana Joe’s, Akron, OH~
Thursday, September 9, 1999

This club was a fun place to play. It is very large, and if your ears get a little tired from loud bands, you can find yourself upstairs at the kickass dance club. This room is a little awkward for listening to a loud band because there is a big warehouse sheet metal ceiling, and sound doesn’t really like that too much. The room reverberates and reflects so much sound, it gives an arena feel. Anyway, we were there to release not only our cd, but a compilation that we are on called dogbytes (I think that’s what it’s called). This whole weekend was a good one for us because right after this show we were to go directly to Buffalo, NY to partake in the Buffalo Original Music Blast conference, and from there the Mohican Music Festival. The show went extremely well, mainly because my friend Larry Kennedy was there, and he is basically my guitar hero, which made it a lot more fun for me.

People in Van: All of us and Jim
Music: Stone Temple Pilots

Buffalo Original Music Blast~Friday, September 10, 1999~Buffalo, NY

We love Buffalo. The people are nice, the city is easy to navigate, there are plenty of Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and our fans there are awesome. Not only did they put us up in a dressing room, but we were on the front page of their newspaper! AND THAT’S NOT ALL! They gave us the best time slot, at the best venue!! Thank you Buffalo, we had a wonderful time. We hope our music was fulfilling and entertaining for you.

Mohican Music Festival, Mohican State Park, OH~Saturday, September 11, 1999

I love playing outdoors, especially on a gorgeous day like this day was. The day was extremely hot, but by the time we performed, it was absolutely perfect. Our guitars our very touchy to outdoor performances however, so it is much more work to keep them in tune. Meeting people is half of the fun at shows like this. You get to hang out, drink, and eat food with people who listen and enjoy your music. We went on at dusk, right when a night baseball game starts, it’s still light outside a little, but in like 15 minutes it’s dark. I must say that this was one of the better shows we’ve ever had. We had energy, and unlimited space.

Baggot Inn, heart of the village, NYC~Saturday, September 18, 1999

I wrote 4 segments about our trip to NYC. Check them out here.

Nyabinghi, Youngstown, w/ Sponge and Caroline’s Spine~Sunday, September 26, 1999

We want road cases for all of our gear, a guitar tech, and 12 Les Pauls "just in case". This was just some of the cool gear that is carried by bands that are lucky enough to travel the country. Needless to say, Caroline’s Spine kicked ass. We performed first, of course, but before that we all were having a blast. I met up with Joey, guitar for Sponge, and we talked for about 2 hours about guitars and gear. I love talking about gear, once I get going, I can’t shut up. Anyway, we ended up making really good friends w/ Sponge. By the end of the night we were drinking, showing off each others guitars, and talking about the industry. It definitely was a fun relaxing night after having a very very busy weekend full of shows, and along with it, we made good friends and good contacts.

Phantasy Nite Club, Lakewood~
Saturday, October 9, 1999

If anyone doesn’t know, this was the home club of NIN. Great concert club, but I will tell you this. The motherfucking security guard pissed us off and we almost beat his ass. He came in the back where we were tuning our guitars and started screaming about smoking MJ, and we weren’t even smoking it. So, this dude is screaming and threatening to kick us all out for no reason. I didn’t even smell pot. People like this ruin my night. We took care of the situation by telling the club owner to get, and keep, his ass out of our area. The Phantasy sounds great. It is fun to play, if you can get people there. We have a hard time packing a club in Lakewood, but then again, so does everyone else. The only time I ever saw a club in Lakewood packed was for Undercurrents, the music conference for Cleveland. The band we played with, Not So Blah, kicked ass. They are going to make something happen at the rate they are moving. After the show, the security guard came up to us and said, "Hey, you guys are an excellent band".

Cedars, Youngstown~Friday, October 29, 1999

I was feeling down, we all have been down actually.  All of us have been going to rough trials in life, and it hasn't been much help to the band.  Since we lost our rehearsal hall, practice has not been easy.  We now have restricted hours from elderly neighbors in our newly acquired basement, and have not been able to settle in and get a good practice going, so we were definitely expecting the worst from this show.  Just when you least expect the band to click, the magic happens.  It is a rare a precious moment.  I could not get the smile off my face the whole show, and it had nothing to do with the crowd.  We were on, and we knew it, and it was exactly what we needed.  Following hard times and sickness within the band, you easily forget what you are capable of, what you have done, and what you really want out of all of this.  You feel like the band is slowly coming to an end, but then something comes along, picks you right back up, and puts you back in place.  I was able to breathe a little easier after this show.  We needed this.  The opening band was Ethernet, and they also had an excellent show.  They are very nice guys and we recommend checking them out if you have the chance.

A small garage, Meadville, PA~
Saturday, October 30, 1999

A small garage, I know.  Showing up to a place like this used to make me cringe.  No PA, no beer, no smoking, etc...but there are EXTREME advantages. I will now tell you the advantages. 1. We sell TONS of cd's. 2. there are TONS of kids there. 3. You make PERMANENT YOUNG FANS. 4. You end up having a lot more fun at a small place like this than a regular night at a music venue, and I don't know why, it just happens.  We arrived late, as usual, and proceeded to unpack all of our gear which almost took up the whole room.  We then guzzled a few cold ones in the back of the building, set up our gear, and rocked out hard in front of a lot of cool kids who were screaming the words at us and thrashing about like no other club I've seen.
People in van: Sam, Mike, Frank, Mark, Jim
Music: Slow easy soft rock.
Quote of the night: "WOW, these guys have real equipment" -New ivet fan.

Nyabinghi, Youngstown, OH~Black Sabbath Tribute~
Thursday, November 25, 1999

Greg at the Nyabinghi usually throws a tribute show every two or three months.  The last show was for Queen, where we performed "tie your mother down" and "one vision".  For this Black Sabbath tribute show, we chose to pick "Black Sabbath" and "Sweet Leaf" as our tribute songs.  We learned them that same day, and threw in our ivet twist.

Nyabinghi, Youngstown, OH~Friday, November 26, 1999

Shit happens, this time a lot more than I expected.  On stage, we were playing our third song, "tear it down (bring it home)", and right during the part where the band stops and I play all by myself, my amp sounded like a stalling 1973 bug.  I immediately put my guitar down when the band re-joined, and proceeded to my amp to see the trouble.  From the front grill, I saw that 2 of my tubes were glowing bright red, and when I took a closer look, they looked as if they were filled with molten lava.  I was scared.  I didn't know what to do, so I went to the back of the amp and saw what happened.  A damn beer had dripped from the top grill and seeped into the tube sockets, shorting the pair.  I immediately went to the other side of the stage and grabbed sam's shirt to pull the first and third tubes out and run it as a 50 watt instead of 100.  as I wrapped my hand in the shirt and attempted to rip out the tubes, the shirt was smoking.  These things were like a damn stove burner on high.  I took them by the base and took them out very quickly...meanwhile, the band played the "we have a problem" tune.  I switched my amp back on, nothing. I thought the show was over.  But then I realized my volume was down, I turned it up, and I was back in business, but at half power.  I was so nervous and pissed, I decided to drink all of the beer on the stage.  I thought this choice was wise, because thinking about what happened was making me fuck up. I took a sip of the Rolling Rock I was given, and set it carefully on my amp.  I then saw what happened.  Those damn rolling rocks are over carbonated or some shit, because I set it down gently and it overflowed like a volcano.  So twice I spilled beer on my amp, but the second time I wiped it up before it caused trouble.  I was blasted, but the show never was a good time for me.  I had a terrible night.  Shit happens, but no one really noticed!  I guess I learned my lesson: Use my amp as a coaster unless it is a Rolling Rock.
Quote of the night: "Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael Roberts is trashed." -Frank

PSU Shenango Campus~OH~Saturday, Dec. 4 1999

When it comes time to play a show in the day which someone put together on a low budget in a rented public or campus hall, we used to cringe.  But again I say, these shows turn out to be the absolute best ones.  The crowd was restless the whole set.  We felt good today, played well, and raised a couple hundred bucks for kids with cancer.

The Avenue~Kent, OH~Saturday, Dec. 11, 1999

It has been a long time since we played this club, but we definitely have had our share of seeing bands here.  Every Tuesday we used to come and see Mr. Tibbs play.  We're here again, and the place is a little different now.  The sound is different, the stage is in a different area, and it seems the crowd has changed a bit.  When we started the first song, the stage was very loud, and halfway through the first song, all the lights went out, and Mark was playing in the dark by himself.  We blew the breaker(s).  I put my guitar down and chilled a bit while Mark and Frank performed a small drum solo so people wouldn't leave.  After the problem was fixed, we proceeded to the stage to finish our set.  The very end of the last song, the place goes black again.  We didn't mind, it was actually cool to rock so hard that you blow the breakers.

Nyabinghi & Ground Zero~Youngstown, OH~Friday, December 17, 1999

We needed an opening band BADLY.  I used every connection I had, because we didn't want to cover the whole night ourselves.  I called Kitchen Knife Conspiracy.  Not only do they kick ass, but they covered our ass, as we did theirs at the same time.  Let me explain.  They were playing a club right down the street, and they needed an opening band also, so they opened for us, and we opened for them.  It took some careful planning, but worked out perfectly.  As soon as they finished their set, we were right there ready to go and they were off to the club we just finished at to begin setting up for their show.  This all worked out well, and was kinda fun all at once.  We also kept all the door money at Nyabinghi, and they kept all their money at Ground Zero.  Anyway, KKC is definitely worth checking out.  Please follow the link above and support the local bands around here.  Thanks to our friend Matt Himes for helping hook the shows together.

Classic Rox~Buffalo, NY~Saturday December 18, 1999

I wanted to try something new.  I'll get back to that in a bit, but first I would like to say some things.  We always talk up Buffalo.  It is one of our favorite places to be, simply because we are treated like humans.  We arrived on time (very unusual for us) at this all-ages benefit for "Toys for Tots".  The bar was very interesting, very long.  I really hated being there as early as we were, simply because I get excited and I want to get up on the stage as soon as I see it.  The longer I wait, the more nervous I get, the more I drink, the more I am drunk on stage, which is not good, and I know that, so I took it a little easy.  I can't go up there wasted, but I can go up buzzed.  Anyway, I wanted to try something new.  I never look up, I'm always too busy and into what I'm doing, plus, I think I hide a lot by not looking.  I chose a few from the crowd, and looked at them.  I didn't realize what I have been doing.  All this time at all these different places and clubs, it was all just a practice to me, until tonight.  I watched these people and their faces.  It was fun, because people look at you differently when you're doing something like I was doing.  I'm going to do that a lot more, I think it may be important.  It may make people feel more "involved with the song."  If that's the case, great.  It may have worked, because we met some great people after the show, and that makes life a lot better.  Meeting people is important.  Hearing the things they say after a show is important.  I'm learning a lot about people being in this band.  People you would never even think about talking to in your lifetime will come and talk to you, and it is a learning experience.
Quote of the night: "They have to be good if their name is SUPERPIMP" -Mark