Jeremy Porter Road Blog

Road Blog: Thursday October 15, 2015 - Dayton, OH

Road Blog – Dayton, OH
October 15, 2015

We finally made it to Dayton after mile after mile after mile of construction on I-75 south. We rotate music selection when we’re driving and I chose Tom Waits – Raindogs when it came my turn. Seemed appropriate given the dreary skies and the mild hangover I was still nursing from the Detroit show, but it wasn’t up Patty’s alley so he hemmed and hawed a bit, but he eventually played Weezer to cleanse the pallet. Maybe today I’ll see how he likes The Black Rider! (Inside Tom Waits joke).

Blind Bob’s has become one of my favorite places to play. Our pals Those Crosstown Rivals brought us here a couple times in recent years but this was our first show here without them. We recruited our friends Dirty Socialites, a Dayton band we met last June at the Vibrolas’ Fun Ranch Party, to play and the bar added Grand Mammoth (Dayton) and Bison Machine (Hamtramck, MI) to the bill. When we walked in I was immediately filled with dread and joy as I saw my pal Tyler behind the bar. Joy because he’s such a great guy – seriously one of my favorite bartenders – and it’s just awesome to see him again, but pure dread because he seems to take some perverse delight in pouring liquor down my gullet and watching the gradual decline as the night goes on. His weapon of choice is the Tommy Gun – a shot of Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey with a pickle juice chaser. It wasn’t long before they were being poured. Seriously, though, its guys like Tyler that make doing this so fun for me.

Dirty Socialites hit first and it was great to see our pals Gretta and Derek tear it up again. I’d only seen them once before, in Kentucky, and was quickly reminded why I loved them then. Kinda noisy punk, fast and short, but not short on hooks. Derek had some guitar issues, but the set was solid and a great kickoff for the night.

We were up next and the room was slowly filling up as our set went on. Given the harder-rock nature of the other bands on the bill we padded the set with some faster, heavier stuff and left a couple of the poppier tunes off. We played well and had a blast!

Bison Machine hit next with enough amps for a room 4 times as big and enough hair for 2 bands. They laid down some great almost-Sabbathy grooves and had my complete attention from the start. Great guys we hadn’t met before, despite our Detroit connection, and we had fun hanging out. Grand Mammoth played last and were in the same vein as Bison Machine – loud, heavy, groove and riff based stoner rock. Seriously great band – incredibly tight, great stage show, and guitars for miles. We hung out after and walked out with a lot of new friends and a fun night behind us.

This morning came quick and I woke up not sure exactly where I was or what was going on. That usually doesn’t start happening until a few nights in to a tour, but I guess it speaks to the revelry we had at Blind Bob’s. We took Gretta’s advice and hit The Hasty Tasty Pancake House for breakfast and it was awesome! Gabe got the `cakes and crispy bacon, if you’re keeping score. I take my bacon chewy. Polarizing discussions in the booth. We just crossed into Kentucky and the hangover is subsiding and there’s a blue sky over the blue grass so it’s a fine day. Knoxville tonight!