by Moe Staiano

A bit of pre-history (and if you want to skip the boring mumbo-jumbo and straight to the tour stories, skip two or three paragraphs, will you?) This just so happens to be the first ever tour of Surplus 1980. It also was joined by the Nightingales, our touring mates, who happen to be from the United Kingdom, which is the reason why I started to organize a tour in the first place.

The Nightingales are a band that was formed during the start of the post-punk era in 1979, (previously known as the Prefects, who were also a part of the Clash/Subway Sect/Slits tour in 1977. The Nightingales had three albums released in the 1980's, and a handful of singles before disbanding in 1986. They reformed in 2004 for good, releasing a series of four 7" singles to start off their return. I am not sure of the actual year I started my fandom into the Nightingales' music, but it had started when I bought the "Communicate!!!! Live at Thames" Poly CD compilation. I bought it because I was looking for any compilations that had exclusive tracks by the Ex and Dog Faced Hermans. The Ex had a live track on this comp, MMM Crisis. Sonic Youth was also on it, as well as Ut, who were the only bands I knew. (Also on it were the Creepers, the June brides, Big Flame, the Very Things, and Bogshed (whose song 'Excellent Girl' I'd later cover on Surplus 1980's first LP, "Relapse in Response.") Through this compilation CD, I'd learn of these bands and end up liking them all very much. The songs that really stood out for me was a pair of tracks by The Nightingales. One was the solo crooning of "Only My Opinion.' But it was a fierce fast track, 'Craft Fag,' with its jangly angular guitars and fast drumming, that did it for me. I admired it. Soon after, I found the 80+ minute 'What A Scream' CD compilation (which, coincidentally, has that same track from "Communicate!!!!"). There was not a bad track on the whole album, save for the four lo-fi live tracks, it was an ace compilation album that has always been my favourite.

Not long after, and somehow two or three years later, at this point I am not sure how, Robert Lloyd--the Nightingales only constant member and lyricist--and I connected. This so happened to be on none other than the defunct MySpace. I am not sure if it was Robert who contacted me or vice versa, but there was a mutual admiration. Well, I like the Nightingales, but the MySpace page on which Mr. Lloyd got through to me was my more experimental MOE! STAIANO/MOE!KESTRA! page. The Mute Socialite (my previous band) page would yet to be made up. But blahblahblah, whatever the series of events of our communication, it would eventually lead to me organizing a gig with the Nightingales and Mute Socialite in 2008. Hard-pressed to find a venue, I eventually landed a gig at a shoddy (unlicensed) venue called the Fishtank. It was a place that was occupied by one Aaron Seeman, who opened the show as Duckmandu, playing accordion-fused punk cover versions of Dead Kennedys tunes. We did our set which also included my solo cover version of the 'Gales' 'Only My Opinion,' the Robert Lloyd solo crooner that I was first exposed to on the "Communicate!!!!" CD compilation. I think it went over well and hope Robert appreciated it. Prior to our set, I met everyone. Robert was a kind fellow and easy to talk to though, as per my usual mental self, I was shy and introverted at times. Christine Edwards was one of the guitarists who I was also communicating with beforehand. Alan Apperley (who was the original guitarist way back with the Prefects) was the other guitarist. Newly joined bassist Andi Schmid was also in tow, although I don't remember much but maybe a couple kind exchanges. Ex-Pram (and later to The Fall) drummer Daren Garrett used my kit (and which I think the rest of the members used the rest of our gear). I had my kit all nicely set up and ready for him to use. "Thanks mate! Let me just put this here, and move this there..." Daren rearranged my kit completely as I suddenly found out that he was a lefty! Everything had to be moved to the opposite. They played a great set and I was into it. The rest of Mute Socialite wasn't too into it. I don't think they realized who the Nightingales were and that they were around for a while. They thought the Nightingales were a new band. Talk about not paying attention!

Fast forward some years, and me and Robert kept in touch here and there. There was always talk of doing something together, playing live, again. One was about doing a tour. "If you can book it, let's do it!" And how hard could that be? I had booked shows (along with Ava Mendoza and Alee Karim) for Mute Socialite mini-tours up and down the West Coast a couple times as well as some solo shows (though small two-three day date tours). Yes, indeed. How hard could it be? Well, very. First off, Surplus 1980, even barely four years old, does not have a huge fan base. So getting into clubs who want a good crowd draw wasn't an easy sell. Even being a former member of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (not surprisingly, I was the least-liked SGM member) didn't gain a booked gig. I asked advice and eventually got a hold of someone who gave me a helpful list of venues, contacts and some small do's and don't's, and that if I was to get a tour in January 2015 completed, I had better start now because it was already August, 2014. That was the hardest start of getting a tour together. So hard, I had to bag it the first time around. Not wanting to disappoint Robert (though I knew he'd be disappointed anyway that it didn't work out), I thought I'd try harder the second time around and ask him of needing more time and was given a choice for something early in September.

I looked over and though the dates starting the first weekend of September and felt confident to tackle a week-long tour, spreading into Portland and Seattle. Now the green light was given for a second time and we had enough time for a tour to be completely booked: 10 months. Plenty of time! Got right on it and got to contacting the venues that the one dude (Erik Carter, Sleepytime's previous booker) gave me. I set out contacting various venues starting off in San Francisco/Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, with further attempts for Santa Cruz. Other cities I aimed for was Sacramento, Eugene, Portland and Seattle. L.A. was the first to respond with a "let's do it" at the Echo, as with a San Francisco date at Brick and Mortar. That's two down. And that was it. Getting responses from any venue in other cities was extremely frustrating. Still, I tried hard at it, determined to get it done this time. For some venues, I asked for help on Facebook (not usually the greatest source for help, really) for places to play or venue contacts that would book us. Some was successful, but Portland and Eugene and San Diego would be hard places to get booked. Eventually, everything was booked, with the exception of San Francisco, who at this time was not returning my messages. Looked for an alternate venue and through the help of someone, got into a (much smaller, with a much smaller stage) venue in SF. And eventually, the tour was booked. Now onto getting all the promo and press kits out to the venue and all the cities local weeklies and whatever else. That was a task Melne took on her own, and more than she bargained for. Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it), she quit her job doing graphic design. Doing that made taking the tour to a more professional level including booking hotels, getting stage plots ready, emailing, emailing, and emailing, and promotional contacts, and emailing and etc., a full-time job itself. What's more, we had to rent a van, too, to accommodate not just us and our equipment, but escorting The Nightengales as well. And with that, we later learned that we had been asked to see if it was okay to use our gear as that would be bringing, well, basically nothing. The Nightingales never had work visas, meaning that bringing any instrument whatsoever would be questioned by any authorities and they would be turned away. So Surplus 1980 supplied all our gear for them, and booked their lodging, as well. But it was okay, I thought. I wanted to tour so badly (being that it was already over a few years since doing a tour), and help out a band I looked up to highly, we would do what we could do make everything as smoothly as possible. We knew Surplus 1980 wasn't going to make any money. The Nightingales knew they weren't going to make any money as well, let along come close to breaking even. But we agreed, forged on and got about with getting the tour booked.

The tour was scheduled for nine days, starting on the 4th September, and ending on the 12th, playing seven dates and having two days off, with the 10th day driving back (and the 'Gales leaving back to home from Portland, as well as our own Steve Lew needing to fly back to make a gamelan rehearsal).

Additionally, there was instability in the Surplus 1980 camp--Amanda, due to health reasons, was only able to play the very first local show of the tour, and our regular live drummer, Thomas Scandura, was having to move from his current home, and his job was also being ery demanding of his time, which sadly prevented him from playing the tour.

A call out for drummers was done via Facebook, and two responded. One was from the recommendation of friend/bassist Neal Trembath. I forgot his name, but he was someone who worked with Sandy Pearlman, which I thought might make for interesting conversation about Blue Oyster Cult, seeing Melne was close friends with BOC and knew Sandy. The other was a drummer who was busy in the East Bay creative music scene, Mark Pino. Eventually, the Sandy Pearlman dude decided he wasn't interested in trying out. So our lone audition was to try out Mark. We gave him a selection of recordings and demos of the desired song list. Mark was more than persistent in practicing and getting the songs down and, after one try out, I thought it would work and Mark got the job! Out of the history of all the Surplus 1980 musicians, Mark was the most direct, hard working and determined player to pass through. He is very sweet and fun to be around, and laid back. I enjoyed his playing overall.

Melne did the hotel arrangements for not just us, but the Nightingales on all the off days, including the few days in San Francisco/Alameda to wind down and rest before the first gig in San Francisco on the 4th. When gig day finally arrived, we would meet the members of the Nightingales at Amnesia, a small dive bar in the heart of Valencia Street near the Mission. We left early to get a parking spot close by and scored a "Kojak" spot right directly in front! We could load in, but there would be another show before us and needed to bring everything downstairs. We could set up and line check at 9:00 PM. A bit later, the 'Gales arrived and we greeted them: Robert, Andi, Fliss, and Jim, who we'd share our road travel (and instruments) for the next nine days. My greeting with Robert was quick as I was running about, as usual I do at shows, but would catch up later.

The stage at Amnesia was tiny. And for six of Surplus 1980 members (which now included, albeit tiny, a second drum set), this would be interesting. The drums were set up first, with everyone else setting up somewhere, somehow on the stage. I set my drums in front with my huge Roland Jazz Chorus 2x12 amp to the side with me standing in the middle of the second drum kit (abbreviated as it was with no floor tom) with an awkwardly-placed microphone, which put me facing a stage monitor towards the ceiling, which made me singing in that direction. I don't know how Melne and Amanda managed to arrange their set-up in front (with Bill Wolter in back), but they did. We were squeezed onstage like sardines. Somehow, though, we did our set, which included a new instrumental number, 'Pigeon Obstacle Course,' and the latest choice cover song 'Breakbone' by Death By Milkfloat, which now included an excerpt of Ornette Coleman's 'Theme From A Symphony' as the end bit.

The Nightingales came on next (luckily, with this small stage, we shared gear, making the change over easy). Jim, Andi, and Fliss were helpful in asking if they could help move stuff off stage or whatnot. Fliss seemed okay with my Gretsch Catalina kit, and Jim was using my Roland amp and Fender Jaguar guitar (with Melne's Gibson Les Paul as backup). Andi was fine playing Melne's "Frankenparts" bass and Steve's bass amp rig. They played a blazing set which I had never seen in any band I have seen before: All songs segued into each other, song after song, making it one complete set with no breaks. Impressive. And they were very tight, fine musicians, the lot. The amount of audience was okay--but this would be a hindrance throughout the entire tour: lack of bodies to hear the music. However, San Francisco delivered a fairly good crowd, and it felt like a good start for the tour. Afterwards, we all hung out before loading everything up. Robert seemed to have a liking for Jamison whiskey, which he'd drink often. I had a hard time understanding him when you added in the English accent plus a few drinks, but I did so to the best of my ability. I was happy he was here and that all this was happening. Everyone helped with loading gear into the vehicles. Robert expressed high gratitude for the arrangement of the tour, expressing that they've never had this sort of luxury on any tour and hugged us both.

The next day, Saturday the 5th, was a one day off before the Los Angeles gig, which was basically a day for prepping our tour vehicle for the week, a luxury Mercedes Sprinter van we had rented from Bandago. The afternoon was spent doing gear-Tetris, stocking food, picking up the 'Gales from San Francisco and relocate them to an Alameda Hotel, and maybe fret a bit of the upcoming travels. I figured out where gear was going to be placed in the van (and made a map of how gear should be loaded in every night). Melne thought it'd be fun to play the music of the Tetris game while I worked on the gear-puzzle. Once everything in the van was in placed and noted for its placement, we got our bags ready and went to bed early as we needed to be on the road en route to Los Angeles by 7:00 AM to make a 4:00 PM sound check.

The next morning we were up at 5:00 AM and got ready, hoping the Nightingales would be up and ready. But they are pros, and and when we arrived, they were just finishing up breakfast. They got into their places and we set off to pick up our Surplus 1980 mates. Steve and Mark were next and lastly Bill, and we were literally rolling to our destination at 7:00 AM on the dot!

The driving was handled by either me or Melne. She did the first shift. My allergies were going so at the first spot we did, I bought some allergy pills to help and did the second shift. We stopped at some roadside stop that had a gift shop, playground, wines, cheeses, food, and a huge selection of independent sodas including root beers and sarsaparilla, which is completely unknown to Europeans and the English as it is not available over there. Soda, yes. Root beer and related drinks, no. None of the 'Gales had ever had it. I bought a couple bottles, one brand I knew, Sioux City sarsaparilla, and some complete unknown one (I always loved trying new ones I never tried before) that cost me over $9.00. Better be fucking good! And being the one who is awful at describing stuff and details to people, I tried my best to describe root beer and birch beer and such to the 'Gales. "Here, try it." Fliss had a go and had an instant sour reaction. "Ugh. It taste like cough medicine." Andi tried it, too, and was also not favourable. An acquired taste, for sure, but apparently not for everyone. Fair enough. All the more for me. I took my allergy pill and we rolled. I started soon to feel drowsy when I asked Melne to check the box of allergy pills if there was any indication of MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS. Sure enough, under a flap that you could check before buying, it read that. Despite my best attempts to stay awake, Melne took over after barely one hour of my feeble driving. But no matter what, better to stay safe then fall asleep at the wheel. We want to play and not get killed on the road.

To be continued...