| April 15 2000 |
| @ Steve's Garage in kamloops w/ The Hextalls, The Radfords |
| A cold, but sunny night. We arrive very, very early, and wait for hours. The show starts, we are very cold. We played a half hour or so set.... Jack broke a string. We got Devin Tanner to sing a song for us called "Ryan". About 10 people were there. Jody Dunn video taped it.... Kelly Black did sound. This was our first show. We played songs that we may never play again.... |
| July 6 2000 |
| @ The Elks Hall in Salmon Arm w/ Frontline and Closet Monster |
| We Arrive in Slamon Arm Very early... We see cody at the hall, load our stuff in and head to wendy's. We drive Jack up to the skate park as it begin's to rain, he leaves 30 seconds after... as he gets into the van he points to "Mr Sparkle" on a gig poster and tells a kid "those guys rock". We begin playing. We play a song, there is a small mosh pit. Jack breaks a string.... pulls out the holow body, we finish playing, JP smashes it. At the time this was the Funnest show i have ever played. |
| July 11 2000 |
| @ Gary's Collectables in Kamloops w/ Sideshow and Junto |
| Me and JP got there super early as usual. We played first, for about 35 minutes or so. Jackson continued his streak of breaking a string every show. Only like 15 people showed up, most of them came to see sideshow. We sold our CD to about 4 people and made 20 bux. |
| August 4 2000 |
| @ The Cobalt Hotel/Bar in Vancouver w/ Surrounded By Idiots and The Bombermen |
| The old John Paulster was affriad to play here because of stories of people dying at this bar... but that was in the 70's and times have changed. This was the tour kickoff show, The people here were really nice especially the rockstars in Surrounded By Idiots. We played after them and it was a really great show.... The Bombermen were also very great and nice, we got free coke. |
| August 5 2000 |
| @ the Java Joint in Surrey w/ Feur grissa Ost Druaka and Frontline |
| Not a really great show, i guess thats what you get when you mix pop punk with hardcore. Only 10 people payed for this shindig, we didn't play all that great and all the people there were spiked and dyed. Feur Grissa was super funny though, their morbid death metal was just what I was looking for. |
| August 7 2000 |
| We played bad, the sound was bad, our van broke down, it was a great show! I wouldn't realy call it a show, it was for a guy's birthday and we were the only band that played. Eventhrough all our heart ache, we still had some fun. What a happy birthday it was. |
| @ the Warf in Salmon Arm |
| August 9 2000 |
| @ The Vancouver Direct Action Network w/ the Scenic Highrise, Operation Makeout and Esperanza |
| After the Scenic Highrise delivered their performance we came up. Some weird/cool guy named Adam, who aparently was sitting on a bus for 6 hours and had to get his feelings out, came up to the front and claimed he was in our band, wrote the songs/setlist, was on the CD, had the CD, went to every mr sparkle show, drove from Vancouver to Kamloops to practice, and so on. This guy was a dancing feind until about 3/4 through the happiness when he announced he was quitting the band because Jackson was singing his parts in Rockstar Mustache. Sad. We had to split after our set 'cause we had to make it back to kamloops that night. This was a very great and fun show, i'm glad that Todi put it on and let us play, it was well worth the trip. On the way back we stopped at a rest area and threw rocks off a hill in the middle of the night, it was eerily fun. We then proceded to make some prank collect calls from a rest area just outside the toll booth at 2 in the morning. |
| November 18 2000 |
| @ The Yacht Club in Kamloops w/ Tomorrow, Ripping Chaos and The Fringes |
| With Colin on bass and starting to get moldy from not playing since Vancouver, Mr Sparkle rips it up on stage! This was pretty fun, met Jacen and Chris, oh yeah they are the kings of hardcore... *cha ching*. We played 3rd, some new stuff, some classics, some inbetweens... there was even a pit, to pop punk? Only Mr sparkle, only Mr Sparkle. |
| April 13 2001 |
| @ The Cobalt Hotel/Bar in Vancouver w/ Marlinspike and Nectare |
| Craaaaaaaaaaazy! On this trip to BC's largest city I made sure that we wouldn't be playing with any hardcore or metal bands, it's just so much easier to play after a group of the same genre. For the first time, we headlined, what a privilage. This was without a doubt the rockinest show to date that Mr. Sparkle has played. There was like no one there at the start but by the time we got up on stage the place was quite full. There were fights and everything, it was fantastic. We didn't play all too well though, good thing everyone was drunk and couldn't tell. We kept trying to leave but we were encored about 5 times, so we kust kept playing and playing. Some man exposed himself in the heat of the moment. It was great and we made a large sum of money aswell. We'll definately come back to the Cobalt again. |
| April 14 2001 |
| @ The Java Joint in Surrey w/ Nectare and Studdder |
| There were only like 7 people in the audience. Marlinspike was supossed to play but they were non-existant. We played first and then we left. I hate leaving after we play, that's lame. We, or I at least played better at this show. We got home at about 1:00 am. Even though no one was there we still had some fun. |
| July 6 2001 |
| @ The Just For Kicks Studio in Salmon Arm w/ Nakitomi Plaza, All Points North and Less Than Nothing |
| Right before we played I hit myself in the eye with a drumstick so my performance was lowered a little. After watching the video I realize there are some things to work on (mostly guitar and vocal settings) There was a pretty good crowd there. The backup vocals were way too loud. We sold the limited edition "kelsey thinks that I like boys singles". My eye still hurts. |
| Self-Titled Debut Tour 2001 |
| Day 1 (august 13th)@ Impressions Cafe in Salmon Arm w/ The Macgeivor Theory, Harbor and St. Tibs Day |
| So the tour kickoff deal huh? Well we had Cody in from Salmon Arm BC to my house for a week of hardcore practicing due to Colin's fantastic vacation timing. We played third at this show and rather late in the night I might add because of some screwy PA gear. I thought we played rather superbly this night. We had to cut our set down a little because it was getting late and there was another act to go on. We video taped it. |
| Day 2 (august 14) in Trail w/ Crystal Trigger and Hidden Agenda |
| Cody's room is comfy. Thanks for the hospitality Spencer family! So we arrive in Trail and decide to set up our tent (which was a rather stupid idea considering we had an offer on a place to stay later on in the evening... oh well, how were we to know?) Anyways, it seems we take bad luck with us... There was some sort of confusion around PA gear at this show. After hours of "ideas that might work" the first band finally started playing their set (late I might add) using one mic, a bass amp and a monitor as the PA. After another band we came on to headline. I thought we played pretty good and I think everyone else thought so too. Dominators-Aquired |
| Day 3 (august 15th) in Trail |
| This morning we had to make some phone calls because we had some plans that were still up in the air. We sort of had something set up in Nelson and the same for a barn in Cranbrook. Neither worked out <Insert sad face here> So we had 2 days till our next show which was in Calgary. We swam a lot in mostly semi-warm water. Except of course the morning of the 17th, when the river that had previously housed us to hours of fun and enjoyment, had turned completely unbearable. Cold! We packed up and headed for Calgary Alberta. |
| Day 5 (august 17th) in Calgary w/ Wise Guy |
| "Why are we so early?" Anyways, we did some shopping and then set up in The Underground (which is a bar by the way... that is relevant to the rest of the story) for a sound check. We saw some familiar faces at the venue. The band the First Day from Vancouver, I thought I'd put that in. Our set started off alright but that didn't last too long. Enough said about that. We opened for Wise Guy. We started our journay to Edmonton that night. We were looking for a hotel somewhere along the way but ended up setting up our tent (again) in a campground in the middle of the night. |
| Day 6 (august 18th) In Edmonton w/ The Lost Action Heroes |
| We showered and left for Edmonton. We were schedueled to play at a bar called 'The Likwid Lounge' that night. We killed some time at the West Edmonton Mall and then went for our sound check which was at 6:00., but this was more like 20 after 5:00. To make a long story short we go there and they say we cannot play because our members are a few months shy of 18 (which is the drinking age in Alberta in case you didn't know) We had never had this problem before. Apparently (in Alberta at least) if you want youngins to play in your bar you gotta do all sorts of paperwork, which is really silly because all it does it make it hard for the little guy (pun intended). So we spend a day, and gas and excitement to go to Edmonton for no reason at all. Hopefully there will be a riot from all the disapointed central Alberta Sparkle fans. We left immediately after we heard the bad news, stopped for dinner at Pizza Hut and then continued on our journey. How dissapointing. |
| November 8 2001 |
| @ Mr. Sparkle's Abode in Kamloops BC w/ Flashlight Brown and Belvedere |
| Definately the best basement show I have had the pleasure of witnessing. Good turn out, great crowd, lots of good times, profit. We, of course, opened. We played for about twenty or so minutes. Played some new ones, played some classics sold some pins. That pretty much sums it up. Flashlight (one of my favorites) rocked the house and I think belvedere did the same. What fun. |
| February 11 2002 |
| @ The Alert in Kamloops BC w/ The Home Team |
| First show in 2002, first show in the month of February... weird. This was Colin's last show with us so that made it a wee bit special. What can I say, medium crowd, medium performance.... these tour diaries get kind of redundant after a while. We had quite a lengthy set due to there only being two bands. Tested out our PA gear for the first time. The Home Team was awesome I thought. Big thanks to Ron for letting us play. |
| June 1 2002 |
| @ 12 Street Studios in Kamloops BC w/ Jumping The Gun, Means To An End, and Ensign |
| We got word of this show last minute, and being the good people we are, managed to throw it together. Ensign was on tour with Hate Breed and a show of their's was cancelled so they had a day off, and what a fantastic day off it was. Let's talk Mister Sparkle. We aquired our van around noon from Frontier auction, went grocery shopping, packed up our gear from our castle and headed to the venue. I was really dissapointed with the turnout... I was actually worried for a while that we wouln't even be able to pay for the venue with the money from the door. Jumping the Gun opened, big thanks to them for playing and big thanks to those of you who did come out. We played second, this was Steve's first show. We didn't play too long (eight songs) because that's all we had worked up at the moment. Means to An End from Vancouver came down and played after us for free, big thanks to them too. Finally, Ensign, from New Jersey on Nitro finished off the night, there was some strange circle pit that spanned the whole venue, knocking the power out of the PA for a song. It rocked, I had a lot of fun. Yes. |
| June 7 2002 |
| @ The Salmar Classic Theatre in Salmon Arm BC w/ All Your Base, Stream Of Consiousnous, and Sarasota |
| This was our first trip in our van. We made it there, we made it back, all in one day! The Salmar is a rad venue, it's a movie theatre. Cody's band opened, they played Spinal Tap covers, it was lovely. Then All Your Base played, I thouroughly enjoyed them, they are good. Then us. Then some crazy metal band. We played the same set as we did at the Ensign show, short. We are going back to Salmon Arm in a month, yay! There were more people at this show than usually show up for us, which is a good thing. There was but one minor set back: on our way home, just before turning onto Highland drive (the road that goes up to Juniper Ridge, where we live), we heard a clangy noise which was the sound of one of our hub caps falling off. So we pulled over and looked for it, but it was too dark. We went back the next day and found it, except this one was missing the inside and later proved to be too small and therefore not our hub cap. We were sad for five hours. Then when Steve came over for practice we saw he had our hub cap, hooray! Due to his insomnia he could not sleep and decided to go out and look for it at 2am. What a guy. |
| July 6 2002 |
| @ The Salmar Classic Theatre in Salmon Arm BC w/ Autem, Self Insignia, The Macgyver Theory, and Fubar |
| This was the third July 6th in a row we played Salmon Arm, what a celebration. This shindig started at 2pm... it was a rock & roll matinee. We had screaming fans last time, what happened? Is Mr. Sparkle already washed up after less than thirty days? Oh well. Autem rocked the house before we came on and, because of time restraints, meshed all of our eleven songs into one symphony of 20 minute madness. Another show well done by Cody the codine fiend Codster. The End. |
| July 8 2002 |
| @ 12th Street Studios in Kamloops BC w/ Team No Pants and Champion |
| Oh good golly, another show well done. For the record Team No Pants, the opening band, is and was Jeremy and Nicole from The Hextalls' ditch effort at rock and roll after all other remaining members of The Hextalls dispersed across Canada and continental USA (that includes kamloops bc). Like I said they opened with an intense rush of bubblegum rock and roll full of melodic violin harmonies and harmonica/vibratone solos. Maybe I imagined that last part. Next we went up and played eleven songs, this time not meshed together, in perfect unison. People cheer for more, but alas, we are not marathon runners, so we fall asleep with our heads on our drumsets and an angry PA feeding back unconrollably. Champion headlines, they are loud. Steve moshes. Many people came out. Thank you beautiful people. "This one's for Wade." |
| August 23 2002 |
| @ The Red Barn in Sicamous BC w/ Deuce, BTS, Boonhang, and The Macgyver Theory |
| We got in our van at 4pm and hauled ass in the eastern direction... but soon we would run into traffic and our lives would be changed forever. We sat in traffic from an accident scene for about 15 minutes before the middle aged woman in the SUV beside us started to flirt with us by saying "hey there, they say it's gonna be backed up for 3 hours". So we turned our asses around to find another route and almost crashed into her. Her plans of talking to a van full of handsome boys for the next 3 hours had backfired. So she sat there crying and listening to all her Mr. Sparkle records not knowing how she could ever go on. This is where it gets good. We pull into a gas station to ask a long haired mechanic about alternate routes to where we were going. Five minutes, a paper scribbled with directions, and a bottle of the gentleman's homemade mind altering drugs later we were on our way. This may have been the syrup our friend gave us, but we think we drove through a high mountain gravel road full of cows to find some mystical bridge that would take us where we were going. We got to the red barn no problem. However, we were an hour late... but so was the PA so it all worked out. We played 3rd, there were about 60 people there, the venue was rad, there is a bootleg of our set, we played a new song that got applause, and sold some of our bad CDs. What a night! The drive back was rather uneventful. Thanks for the time Sicamous! |
| August 31 2002 |
| @ 12th Street Studios In Kamloops BC w/ The Smugglers, The Mark Kleiner Power Trio and Operation Makeout |
| Just soak them in water and they'll peel right off. I think it's safe to quote a dead man and say "Strange days have found us". This was definately a strange day. Never again. So, if you aren't one of the thirty eight people who showed up to witness the meyhem of 8/31, you are most likely wondering what the hell is being written here. So even though you souls are undeserving to hear the tale, you will get it in full detail nonetheless, that is just what the tour diary is about. So here it is. Big night. Big night for kamloops rock and roll. Mr. Sparkle opens, I'm not sure how we played. The Mark Kleiner Power Trio puts on one of the strangest (and best sounding) live performances I have ever seen. Operation Makeout comes up next. Then the Smugglers. Everyone loves The Smugglers! They are great. The turn out wasn't. "How dare you not come to the show!" I yelled for weeks (litterally nonstop) afterwards. [How dare you not come to the show!how dare you not come to the show!how dare you not come to the show!"] My dog looked at me with a confused smile of sorts, wondering why I was yelling at him. All and all the moral of the story is: summer shows suck. Week long depression ensued. |
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