All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin

We’ve got our first show of the year! It’s at the Airliner Club in Lincoln Heights (Los Angeles). Please come and partake in our latest music on Sunday, February 10^th, 2008 at 4:45pm.

Update 2/6/08 - Here’s the Upcoming event link.

Photo by Bryan Villarin. Finch concert, The Glass House, Pomona, CA.

After a 21-month hiatus, Finch is back! They put an awesome show Friday night and I’m looking forward to their new stuff. It was definitely another event to add to my fun Thanksgiving weekend.

Over the weekend, I went to the Long Beach Convention Center to see Comeback Kid, Silverstein, Strung Out, Lagwagon, and Rise Against.

• It was awesome. Every band put out a ton of energy and the crowd felt it.
• Nostalgia set in when I heard Lagwagon because I loved them back in high school ten years ago when Andy first showed me their music. (The first song I learned on electric guitar was “Sick” from their album, Hoss.)
• I’m not a hardcore fan of Rise Against, but they put out an amazing show. I wish I could’ve enjoyed them more, but I was in the pit protecting myself and…yeah.
• It was great to hear Silverstein again. I saw them at Warped Tour a couple years ago, but I liked them better up close.
• I was in the pit - alone - because Darren and Fred thought they got floor tickets. They paid the same price I did, but they had seats instead.
• I hate large moshers because they have no common sense that their size could kill someone.
• I would’ve put my pictures up, but it turns out that Jered Scott and Rich Gaccione put theirs up already. They look way better. I love this photo of Tim McIlrath.

If you want a mellow place to hang out, you should drive out and see our band on Friday night! (Upcoming event link)

No Future Cafe
1500 E. Walnut St.
Pasadena, CA 91106

Cost: $4.00
Perks: Free coffee, hot chocolate or hot tea. All ages. Awesome environment. Great staff and volunteers from the local church.

8PM - Bella Fontaine (I can’t find their website)
9PM - Phantom Scream (my band)
10PM - A Midnight White

Will you take photos and upload them to Flickr? Please tag them with “Phantom Scream” and “No Future Cafe“.

If I convinced you to come and see us, please stop me, say hi, and take a picture with me! See you Friday night!

For me, five words sum things up for me being at Warped Tour last Friday: hot, packed, confusing, messy and insane.

Hot: Temperatures in Pomona got up to 93°F (Weather Underground). Non-existant clouds and hard-to-find shade made it feel even worse. My forehead is burned right now.

Packed and Insane: If you’ll look through my Flickr set of Warped Tour 2007 photos, I took a few panoramic photos to show the mass of people that drove out there. My eyes couldn’t rest on any empty space, except for the sky.

Confusing: One of the stages’ schedule was off compared to the board. We had to annoy the workers at the sound booth. We missed Chiodos because of this.

Messy: There was trash on the ground everywhere. I’m not sure how many trashcans you’d need to improve the situation. I feel bad for the cleanup crews.

What’s tough about festivals like these is that some of the bands you want to see overlap each other. I’m left with sacrificing seeing one band over the other. Also, since the heat drains you immensely, you never really end up staying until the very end. For these two reasons, I missed Pennywise, Bad Religion, Escape The Fate, Haste The Day, New Found Glory, [most of] Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Yellowcard.

Overall, I had a blast!

Is anyone reading this going to the ten hours of musical awesomeness that is the Warped Tour 2007? If so, add me on Twitter! (twitter.com/bryan) You can also text or call me directly at 626-485-5484. I’ve got Verizon Wireless, so I love using my unlimited IN-messaging plan with that.

If you’re taking photos, upload them to Flickr or Zooomr, then use at least the following tags: warpedtour, warpedtour2007, Pomona, [band name], [band member]. Should I create a Flickr group?

Rock on!

Photo of Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie taken by cmcentral.

Update 6/30/2007: I uploaded all the photos I took yesterday to my Flickr account. Here’s the photoset.

If you’re in Los Angeles, I hope you’ll come and listen to our show this evening!

• What: Rockfest (Cherri Mob, Phantom Scream, Rot Evilution, The Hollywood 77’s, Symantic, more TBA?)
• Where: The Airliner Club (between CA-110 and I-10 freeways, east of I-5 and 1.5 miles of Dodger Stadium; Chinatown; please see the map)
• When: Starts at 4PM; Phantom Scream is supposed to go on-stage at 7PM
• Cost: $5/door (important - mention “Phantom Scream”)
• All Ages!

I just found the Myspace page for The Airliner Booking, so that looks recent and reliable.

Text “phantomscream” to MOZES (66937), especially after 1PM! I saw some comments from Symantic indicating that they’re set to play at 7PM, but their Myspace page says they’re on at 6PM. Grr! Bill or myself will hopefully confirm before the afternoon.

If you’re coming, do me a favor and text me on my cell phone so I know! 626-485-5484. Thanks, and I hope to see you there!

I’m going to see Armor for Sleep, Underoath, and Taking Back Sunday. Tonight. With Mystery James. Orange Pavilion, San Bernardino. Photos to come if I get close enough.

We (Phantom Scream) were going to have band practice at Unchained Studios last night, but due to miscommunication, we couldn’t reserve a rehearsal room.

After a plethora of phone calls during my commute home, the majority of us (plus James Umemura) went to No Future Café in Pasadena. We had no idea who was playing there, because the website said “T.B.A.” Grr.

We were pleasantly surprised to Folk Rock and Contemporary night, consisting of Erin Wurtemberg, Mike Barnet, and Rande Vick. One cup of hazelnut coffee and one cup of hot chocolate and I was mellowed out. For those who know me, that kind of music is 180° compared to some of the music I listen to (which contains guitar riffs, crazy drum beats, and some screaming).

I tried to record each set with my iRiver iFP-899 (just for kicks), but I later found out that the Line-In Recording Volume was set too high (even at 12). Then again, we were at the front, so I’m not sure if even the lowest setting would prevent clipping.

This was my second time going to the No Future Cafe. Have I ever mentioned that I hope we get a chance to play there one of these days?

Last Thursday, I went with James to see a bunch of bands at the Taste of Chaos in the Long Beach Arena. I took pictures as best I could, and I tried to tag the ones I could recognize. With the distance from our seats to the stage, it’s probably pointless.

(see more distant photos)

The following played there: Evaline, Aiden, Chiodos, Saosin, Senses Fail, 30 Seconds to Mars, and The Used.

Awesome? You betcha! I didn’t know how bad the seats would be until I got them. Last time I was there, it was insane on the floor! James insists to just get general admission tickets next time. Okay…