Journal entries (somewhat augmented):
Treepeople ‘Jaunt Tour.’ August 2023, final shows
8/1/23
The drive up the Columbia River Gorge [on the day before, Monday, 7/31/23] was beautiful, as it always is, traffic was light, it was a gorgeous day. [ok, so this is probably the least scenic stretch of the drive up the Gorge, but I was ya know, driving, and the scenic stretch is the part of the drive where you really have to focus. Even so, I probably shouldn't eh…take photos while driving, period. 'Nuf said.]
Part of getting ready for these shows has always been about listening to the songs of the set over and over again so that a groove is dug into my/our/brain/brains.This method works but it is a bit maddening and tends to make you sick of your own band! A joke between me and Scott (who also applies the groove digging method) is “I am SO sick of Treepeople!”
So on the drive to Boise, I didn’t listen to any Treepeople. I had borrowed Dug Martsch’s van, it worked out well as he had lived in Portland for a short time and had left it there, so he needed it driven to Boise, and I needed to bring my drums (I HATE playing other people’s kits and am very attached to mine, a ‘66 Ludwig, made the same year I was, as I always say, thus the 8 hour drive vs the one hour flight (it takes me the same amount of time to fly to Boise as it does to commute by bus to work in Portland!) so it was a win win.
My babies, purchased in 1990 for $500, made the same year I was; 1966
His van had a CD player, so I listened to some comp CDs I made when I lived in Boston (2003 - 2008), it was a little snapshot of what I was listening to at that time: Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Satisfact, 7 Year Bitch, Flaming Lips, Cheap Trick (the debut lp, of course), Throwing Muses, A Tribe Called Quest, my ‘guilty pleasure’ at the time, Queens of the Stone Age and many other bands. The tunes propelled me through the Gorge and into the shrub desert that leads into Boise proper.
8/2/23
The day of the first rehearsal wasn’t until Wednesday, 8/2/23, so I had a decompression day on 8/1/23, which I needed, as I was coming off a very stressful week at work. I did some reading, took some old man naps, and watched some news. Then off for a nice salmon dinner at a bar near the hotel I often stay at, a new tradition now when I am in town, which also includes a shot of Makers, neat, a tumbler of ice with a few limes from which I mix a cocktail of whisky, some ice, melted ice water and squeezed limes. Though we are only ramping up for two shows in town before hitting the road, this is similar to how one kills time on tour, and interestingly, similar to how one does the same when you retire. On an interesting note, one night I randomly sat next to the driver for The Breeders, who had some amazing stories about her journey as one of the few women drivers in the biz, and the sexist bullshit she has had to endure.
I am about to release a solo EP, a first for me [I have released home recording demos over the years, but that's it]. I am both excited and nervous about it. I mention it, for beyond blatant just self-promotion (which I am allowed on my own fucking blog) as it is the next focus in my musical life. As my friend and producer (who produced this record) Steve Fisk said in relation to Treepeople members and solo music after Treepeople; "No one's heard from you yet."
I did have to chat a few times with the guy who is covering for me at my big, complicated, demanding job, but I have promised myself not to log into my email at all anymore this whole trip. I am grateful for my job, and I don't hate it, in fact I plan to retire in it. But ya gotta disconnect. Rock n roll ain't a bad way to do that.
We rehearsed at a place called The Warehouse in Garden City where a number of local bands rehearse, a nice room. It took us awhile to set up and get going as is often the way the first day; setting up is slow, you need to figure out the best arrangement of equipment for the best sound for the room…Dug had recently toured in Europe with his band Built to Spill, and had recently played some out of town solo shows, so he is a little behind on rehearsing Treepeople songs, he will catch up, he's a pro, and he already sounded pretty good. In fact, we sounded way better than I expected, considering we haven't played together in 4 years (since just before COVID in 2019, when we played at the VAC in Boise). These songs are challenging (especially on drums!) but we were determined.
End of journal entries.
First day load in at The Warehouse
8/3/23?
Note that I don't have a journal entry for 8/3, but our friends Meredith Swassing, Daniel Yoshida and Kenneth Cole were there, and Kenneth & Meredith recorded some great videos of our rehearsal that day.
Treepeople rehearsing Fishbasket, 8/3/23, in Boise, Idaho ~ Filmed by Kenneth Cole
Snippet of Treepeople rehearsing the song Handcuffs, 8/3/23 ~ Filmed by Meredith Swassing
Boise, 8/9 & 8/10/23
We played 5 shows with only a week's worth of practice, 4 years since playing together last: Two shows in Boise to kick it all off at the fabulous new arcade Realms, the first show opened by State of Confusion, the hardcore Punk band 3 of us in Treepeople formed in the mid '80s (then the band morphed into Treepeople). Incidentally, SOC had the honor of playing the first ever show on that stage, at a party at the end of our week of reunion shows in April of 2023. Thank you, Meredith, for your persistence and insistence on that happening. It's a family biz, you see, opened by her son and ex husband.
One interesting thing that happened at this show was that the guy in Boise who makes and sells merch for both Treepeople and State of Confusion also road-manages the legendary LA Punk band FEAR and he asked if State of Confusion wanted to play a show with them the following week; “Um, yes, please.” (more on that later in a separate entry on the State of Confusion reunion shows).
All the shows were supported by the mighty Prism B*tch (who did their first ever tour with us back in 2018).
Photos of Prism B*tch and all other photos are by the author, unless otherwise noted
The second Boise night our direct support was our sister Boise band Dirt Fishermen, who we came up with in the early days in Boise and played many shows with. It was perfect that our last Boise show was with them. They ripped it up, as usual.
We got our sea legs with these shows, and people had a lot of fun, but also, as with all these last shows, it was bittersweet; Boise spawned us and has always been good to us and we thank you.
Then Treepeople hit the road. Our old friend and Merch Guy Supreme, Dave Wall, ate ice cream with a Buck knife. I was impressed enough to take a photo:
Portland, 8/11/23
Portland was up next at the beautiful old theater The Aladdin, where we played to a nearly full house of warm and friendly Portland fans with Seattle's Patrons of Husbandry, featuring one of our favorite Seattle songwriters, Rusty Willoughby. They played a beautiful, flawless set, Portland loved it and so did we.
Prism B*tch was up next, and they were made to play on a stage like that and killed it that night.
Prism B*tch in action, click for video ~ Filmed by the author
The Aladdin begins to fill up. A wonderful show, thank you Portland!
Fan filmed 'medley' of Treepeople set at the Aladdin, Portland, OR, 8/11/23
~ Filmed by Rezellen
Seattle, 8/12/23
We were asked by the Seattle radio station KEXP to play on their live room show, so we left Portland about 7 am to make load in. As often happens after playing a show, I took forever to unwind and be able to sleep, and thus I got a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep before we hit the road.
When we rolled up in Seattle at KEXP, and began to unload, Scott realized he left his guitar in Portland! Oh shit! Luckily Doug had a spare guitar, Scott played his familiar red Stratocaster. The staff at KEXP were lovely to us and it was super fun! Thank you KEXP! (Note: As of this writing this has not been released, but will be soon, and I will of course post it here).
A note about KEXP: When out of towners bought the beloved college radio station KCMU years ago, we in the Seattle scene were bummed and assumed they would ruin it, but they sure proved us wrong!
Dug showing Lilah Rose of Prism B*tch how to play the Treepeople song Funnelhead @ KEXP
Click here to see Treepeople on KEXP, 8/12/23
The Seattle show on 8/12/23 is being described by many folks (old friends from our Seattle years who we trust and who don't blow smoke up people's asses) as 'epic.' As I have written on social media, I agree (and as you may know about me, I also don't blow smoke up my own…nevermind).
It felt great playing in our second home town to so many dear old friends, including people to whom we owe a great debt, like Steve Fisk, John Goodmanson and Stuart Hallerman.
And later, Scott and I discussed how we both felt our departed member and Scott's brother Pat in the room that night.
Pat 'Brown' Schmaljohn, ripping it up at the very beginning of the band at rehearsal in 1988, playing my gone but not forgotten State of Confusion bass
On a negative note, we had already scheduled an early show, starting at 7 pm, but The Crocodile informed us last minute that there was a 'dance party' scheduled after our show and we had to start at 6 pm! While we love the Crocodile staff, always, and the new room, while austere, sounds killer, this was bullshit and our aforementioned old friends were kicked out! Boo Crocodile! (though in full disclosure, many of our Seattle fans are older, like us, and some were happy about an even earlier show!)
Seattle friends from way back at the Crocodile show (Left to right behind me, in the center): Film score composer/drummer Steve Cavit, Cedric Ross (AKA Fred Roth) of the bands Imij, TAP and The Fred Roth Review), Stuart Hallerman, owner Avast Studio. Note that, nope, I was not high, quit that stuff years ago, but I do have neural issues on my left side and thus my left eye is droopy! ~ Yours, Self Conscious Wayne).
Seattle friends from way back at the Crocodile show: (Left to right behind me, in the center):
Cedric Ross (AKA Fred Roth) of the bands Imij, TAP and The Fred Roth Review, John Goodmanson, producer/musician, Steve Fisk, producer/musician
This show was opened by our favorite Seattle band, whose studio Electric Eel we rehearsed beneath in the '90s, The Purdins. They tore it up with their introspective, sad but humorous pop Punk.
Prism B*tch brought it again, as they do every night, and as I have mentioned, they won many new fans that night.
Sadly, I have no live Prism B*tch photos from this show as during their set I was taking a nap upstairs in their hotel room, which they graciously offered me, as I only had 2.5 hours of sleep the night before, so I will just use this awesome photo from their Instagram:
Treepeople, playing the tune Handcuffs, Seattle, 8/12/23 - Scotty was on fire that night! Seattle was our best performance for sure.
~ Screenshot by author from Janet Crisp's video, see actual video here
Bellingham, 8/13/23 - Last Treepeople show ever…😕
Bellingham was fun, a smaller show like the ones we came up playing. We were conscious of the fact that it was our last show ever, but it was a chill night, and a relaxed, looser set. The crowd had a great time and so did we.
[in the first post of this entry somehow this next section on the openers got cropped, apologies to the bands!]
Opening was the mighty band from Spokane, Washington who we played with at Treefort once, Itchy Kitty. They were incredible and topped it off with a killer, intense version of Talking Heads' Psycho Killer.
Prism B*tch were relaxed and in the zone and had people dancing. A great show all around!
The always killer Itchy Kitty, who murdered it that night
After the show we drank and laughed and partied like we were young again, complete with wacky antics and a trading of stomach punches and face slaps between Dug and Teresa, some ritual, and then the throwing and catching of peanuts in the mouth, while the slow realization that this was it settled in; the long journey, that started with the forming of a hardcore punk band called Dissident Militia in Boise, Idaho in 1983, had ended. Then, sipping whisky in the hotel and telling tales and finally, sleep.
Wayne and Teresa, drummer friends for life!
Group shot of the whole 2023 'jaunt' tour crew. Photo by Lauren Poole
The next morning we had a nice breakfast with our road crew and Pr*sm Bitch and then we all went our separate ways....✋
The last breakfast with the whole crew. ~ Photo taken by our wonderful waitress (on a personal note, it blows me away how much I look like my dad as I get older. RIP)
What a ride. What an honor. Thank you friends and fans for all of your support over the decades!
❤️ Treepeople
PS - Why the last shows? I have a disability, a numb left leg and partially numb left arm and hand, and it is getting harder and harder for me to play punk drums. I want to go out while I still sound good! This doesn't mean I am done drumming or playing music! I just can't play fast drums or bass anymore (and that is also partly why the State of Confusion shows were also the last). ~ Wayne
