Think we had our car fixed? Think again!

We made it up to Flagstaff only after our car broke down AGAIN! It died while barreling down the mountain into Camp Verde and Marcia had to hang out the window with a flashlight so we could see the road in front of us. We took the first exit we could onto General Crook road, a small dark road with no cars in site. We tried flagging down the few cars that did go by but no one would stop for us. Our friend Dana eventually had to drive down from Flagstaff and use AAA to have our car towed all the way to her house as we slept in the back of her car exhausted and hungry.


We knew by now the problem was the alternator, but we weren't quite sure how much it would cost to have fixed or that we could afford. Luckily though, the next day Dana's friend Kyler showed up in the morning and offered to help replace our alternator. What we thought would only take an hour or so became an all day project. We were so thankful to Kyler and offered him money/food/beer, none of which he would take.


Thanks to Kyler we saved money and got the Green Machine up and running with no problems. We saw him here and there all week, forcing drinks and clove cigarettes on him as thanks for saving our trip and reminding us that there are still good people out there willing to help you when you need it.

Tempe, AZ: Party at the Canyon Animal House

We finally made it to Phoenix with a few hours to kill before arriving at the Canyon Animal house in Tempe. In noticing all the stencils around the house, I took to testing some of my stencil on old boards in the backyard to make sure that Homeland Security hadn't ruined anything.




Andreas and DMLH opened the show, followed by some really great performances by Unfiltered, Parable Paul, Hearing Aids, Canyon Animals, and Adverse.












The next day, DMLH and Andreas spent all day recording a track with Adverse and The Canyon Animals for The Canyon Animals' new album. The chorus is all about "watching it grow" and should be available for the public to listen to in the next few months. It's incredible!

Highway 8 out of Yuma: Car Troubles and Border Patrol

After reuniting with Dre in San Diego, we left late in the evening of the 27th for Phoenix. We decided to take Highway 8 most of the way, not realizing how close it really got to the Mexican border. About 30 miles outside of Yuma, the headlights started to dim and we realized our battery was dying. Nothing was around us except for desert and suspicious 4 wheelers on the hill shining huge spotlights( I later found out about all the problems happening along the Mexican border and am convinced those 4 wheelers were Minutemen). We found a gas station a few miles down to buy a new battery which Dan and Marcia installed with no problems.




Relieved to have a fresh new battery in the old Green Machine, we headed back out on the road straight for Phoenix, or so we thought. Before we even hit Yuma, the car started to die again and we realized this problem was bigger than just the battery. We pulled into a gas station in Yuma where Berl, the cashier who was obviously high on speed, told us of a 24 hour diner where we could drink coffee until the morning came and the auto shop opened.

We spent hours at the diner playing dominoes as the cook told us about all the good drugs he's had that came from Oregon. At dawn, we returned to the car and got it to start. Instead of waiting around Yuma for a mechanic, we decided again to get back on highway and head for Phoenix where we could deal with the problem and have time to make it to the show.
...
If the pictures below aren't obvious enough, the car died again, and we spent the night sleeping at a rest stop.

The desert sun came beaming through the windshield around 8 in the morning, waking Dan and I up in the front seat. We started the car again, but weren't on the highway long before seeing a sign on the side of the road that said something like "Border Patrol 1 mile, be prepared to stop".
I dont want to get into the details of this story seeing as how some of us havent even gone to court yet, but our car was searched and some of us were detained in the van below.




All I can say is that we did make it to Phoenix that day, but the first 12 hours spent in Arizona were tiring. After all the jokes we made in the car about "finding our dreams in Yuma" before we even left California, it is Yuma that gets the last laugh as we spend this next month figuring out how to make it to back there for court.

Vista/San Diego, CA

After spending over a week moving from town to town, highway to highway, it was nice to finally spend a week relaxing by the beach. We got the chance to see some old friends, and make new ones at a small coffee shop in Oceanside.



Before leaving San Diego, we visited this community center called Writer's Block. Its a legal graffiti yard where anyone is welcome to come and paint on the walls. Everyone who works there is really friendly and I got the chance to talk with other artists about techniques and inspirations.



We spent almost 2 weeks in California and now it's time to head to the Desert!

Riverside and the City of Angels, CA

We drove from San Francisco straight down to Riverside, CA for a show at the Pharaohs Den cultural art space. This place is rad.
Run by a bunch of positive hip hop heads, they have a fully functioning recording studio with a wide range of instruments, a huge performance space with a stage and a decent sound system, as well as visual art from a number of artists hanging on the walls. This show was a little sparse in terms of attendance, but that didnt stop any of the acts from giving their all. We saw great sets from Okerason, Dropjaw, MC Homeless, and Cadillac Ron. Everyone had really distinct styles, and we got a wide sense of all the different work being created under the banner of indie hip hop. After the show we stuck around for a bit to talk and chill, but ultimately left to find some rest with our friend Jordan in Murrietta, before heading into LA the next day.

While in LA we went out for an overpriced meal on Venice Beach, then made our way to a house show at our friend Melissa's house on Longwood (is that west hollywood?) where we got to see Abe Vigoda and a bunch of dope punk bands tear it up all night. The next day we toured Hollywood Boulevard while they were setting up for the Academy Awards and Caustic left a present for the local stripper boutiques. At night we went out to the VoicesVoices tour kickoff show at The Smell, an all ages, community run venue that is getting big props for being the developing ground for the indie noise pop that is taking over youth culture right now. VoicesVoices was joined by some 12 other improv musicians (including Bobb Bruno, minus the rabbit suit) for a collective jam that was pretty damn transcendent.

We left the show and got on the 5 for a straight shot toward San Diego. Adventure!

San Francisco, CA

We had a beautiful drive through the Redwood Highway 101 to bring us to San Francisco, giving us a view of some badass trees as well as a chance to leave a friendly mark on an abandoned building on the side of the road.

A few hours later we crossed the bridge.

San Francsico is such a great time, every time. We were celebrated Marcia's birthday on Monday, and Ethan Clarke's on Wednesday. In between we scoped the local scene, checked out the museum and cooked meals with our friends. With no official shows to play, we spent the last days with our portland homies celebrating the joy of our friendship. For both thrashley and I this meant leaving our best friends, who at the right time in their life would have just stayed on tour, but at this point had to head home. From here on out our caravan of seven turned into a jeep full of four. Onward to LA!

Orleans, CA

We left Eugene in the late morning after breakfast and map viewing at this coffeeshop across from Redundant Cartridge on 13th near U of O. I wish I could remember the name, because they had great italian coffee.

We had a good six hours of driving ahead of us, through southeren oregon on the 5 and then northeren cali on the Klamath River highway, CA-96. This river winds through the Siskiyou Mountains and following it starts to feel like guided meditation after an hour or so. The terrain is rocky with more trees and vegetation as you get closer to the river. We finally arrived to visit our friends Karis and Justin who intern at the Rolling River Nursery, a family-run permaculture farm. These folks are for-real modern homesteaders who live and work with the land, utilizing all resources and working toward being entirely off-grid. Their hot water is heated by a wood stove, the outdoor toilets are composting, and the animals and plants are all selected to work together in abundant synergy. We made pizza with fresh goat cheese, goat meat (on one for the meat eaters) and veggies from the garden. After dinner we did a living-room performance of new Start Fires material including the classic standby "Genocide Tactics"

7 of us slept on the floor of a one-room cabin, and woke up to tour the land before heading to san francisco. Alex got to feed a goat, we walked to the rivers edge and snacked on fresh-picked citrus along the way. We also took a few branches from a felled eucalyptus tree to freshen the air in the green machine.

It was inspiring to see this family living well off the land and making it work financially. They work for themselves and create their level of comfort and enjoyment through the effort. Their dedication to living low-impact and sustainably is activley paying off by reducing their living cost, keeping them healthy and productive, while giving back to the world through the sale of organic tree and plant starts. We left feeling renewed and set off on the journey through the peaks of the Siskiyous to head south on the Redwood Highway 101.

Eugene, OR

Our first day on tour was spent 2 hours south of home in Eugene, OR. A few of us headed out to see if the Factory Fabrics free wall still existed, which it didnt, and on our way back to where we were staying, we were attacked by a mob of drunk people dressed as zombies who got fake blood and grey makeup all over Mady's car. We then decided to take it easy our first night on tour, painting the walls of Devin's cell above Redundant cartidge with colorful abstract paintings and stencil designs.

Eugene, OR

I met this guy at the Tour Kick off party who gave me this letter addressed to someone at The New Orange in Eugene. It is part of an anti mailing service where you write someone a letter and hand it off, person to person, in hopes that it eventually makes it to its rightful recipient. He heard we were headed to Eugene the next day and gave it to me to hand off to someone else when i got to town.

I made sure to add my own little present to the letter before giving it to Devin who was convinced it was some girl that worked down the street at a juice bar. Hopefully the letter makes its way to Christy in some way or another.

Tour Kickoff Party at the Hush - Friday, Feb 13th

We kicked off our tour at our favorite show spot in Portland, The Hush, a chill spot that is community run and all ages. We were also celebrating the release of the Start Fires album "Dedicate Your Growth To The World", which was available in a limited edition hand-packaged version, with a double sided full-color poster insert collaged by DMLH and Shermstixx. We displayed Caustic's art around the room, including painted vinyls, her TV installation piece, and her 3X5 fencing stenciled with a bust of Emma Goldman on stage.

Caustic's TV installation piece

We were joined by several friends performing that night, including garage blues from Orange Jam, and pdx hip hop from Nightcrawlers and Gepetto, with DJ zone keeping the beats live all night.


the first half of the show

Andreas brought a half hour of dope jams that were entirely new to the Portland audience. His topics range between spiritual relationship with the world to getting crunk with fly party people. He really impressed, bringing high energy delivery with crowd-pleasing demeanor. Check out the shirt he collaborated with Caustic on in the beginning of the video!



Andreas live at the Hush

Finally Start Fires took the stage for their last show in Portland for a few months. We tore through a 45 minute set with the energy of a punk band, dancing like disco acid freaks and laughing the whole time.



Start Fires!

We had a great time, sold some albums, and said farewell to our friends to pack up and get ready to head out the next morning! Thanks to everyone who came out to send us off, all the artists who performed, Everyone at the Hush for creating the space for us and everyone who helped us bring all our crazay speakers and art down there so we could get it together in time.