Number Zero
Philadelphia, PA / Grenoble, FR 05.25.26
In June and July of 2006, we (Robert Francisco and Nate Davis) toured Europe with our solo noise projects: M Ax Noi Mach and Unchained. The tour went down in quintessential mid-00s underground style, with a shaky itinerary, weird spaces, small crowds, and no money, but lots of generosity, chaos, and fun. During the tour, Rob sent periodical updates to about 100 or so friends on his Myspace blog. This was before Facebook, Instagram, etc., smartphones didn’t exist, and Rob usually tapped these posts out on a borrowed computer or in an internet café. The tour journal that these posts comprise provides a snapshot of an era of DIY touring that doesn’t exist anymore; twenty years later, we thought it would be a fitting tribute to that tour (which we both consider a certain high point in our lives) to republish it here.
For those unfamiliar with the early-aughts underground music climate—basically, you would go to local underground shows and meet people touring from other cities (countries), make friends with them, exchange contact info, and then write or call when you wanted to tour, asking if they could set up a show for you. If you didn’t know anyone in a particular city, you would ask a friend if they had a friend, and then write those people saying you’re a friend of so-and-so, and if they could possibly hook up a show. Often, these people in other cities (countries) would organize shows without ever hearing your music—it was more important that you were friends with people they knew. The show might be in a basement, loft, art gallery, warehouse, or bar, with an audience of anywhere from maybe three to forty people (most of whom had no idea what your music sounded like). With luck, there would be enough money to pay for gas (travel), and you could crash at someone’s house. If all went well, you may even become lifelong friends. There was no goal of making money, and no illusion of getting famous; the only expectations were to have fun (rage), freak out (inside and out), share your music with like-minded people, make new friends (enemies), and see a bit of a foreign land. In general, to be somewhere else, doing something else. While something resembling this social structure might persist today, social media, digital music distribution, and COVID have disfigured the landscape to such an extent that today’s tour and show experience is a different proposal.
We met when we played a show together in a West Philadelphia basement in early 2004. The line-up was Dreamhouse, Darren Finizio, Vincibus Eruptum, and M Ax Noi Mach. We became close friends when Nate moved to Philadelphia later that year. We did a few mini-tours on the East Coast and started the power electronics band Angeldust. In 2005, our collective living space (the South Philadelphia Atheneum) got evicted. Life in Philly had gotten harder and a bit darker. In 2006, Nate jumped ship to NYC and Rob was working at the Route 66 Diner in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the time of the tour, we were both, to different extents, burnt out on American life. Europe provided a stimulating environment of comparative freedom (no one had jobs and you could drink on the street!), openness, and exoticism that was a healing elixir. We were ragged, scuzzy American noise freaks wandering through the picturesque streets and squares in an admiring stupor, drinking in the sights (as well as the beverages), awed by people’s laid-back kindness and nonchalant elegance, but also nursing a swaggering confidence in the power of our hi-octane noise music to really make an impression.
Our sets were loud. M Ax Noi Mach was based around a sampler, drum machine, and vocals. Booming beats and distorted samples mixed with aggressive vocals and bizarro-comic performances. It was a rough, blurry sketch of what the later LPs came to be. Unchained at the time was a noise wall of psychedelic guitar, epic with a touch of the blues. Loud and fuzzy, buried melodies. Guitar, tapes, and voice sent through a no-input mixer, either plugged straight into the PA or split between two guitar amps. We blasted hard, but replaced the gothic gloom or academic seriousness of much European noise with a more freewheeling and improvisational sense of American psychosis. People seemed to respond.
Nate arrived in Berlin in May and then did a short tour across England with Birds of Delay before meeting up with Rob in June. Rob had flown in to Barcelona, and then played a few shows around Milan before joining Nate to start the tour near Venice. Originally we were going to tour with an Italian band, Mondo Cane. However, as we were about to leave for Europe, Rob got word that one of the guys in the band—the one with the car, who had just visited Nate in NYC—had a mild nervous breakdown on returning to Italy, quit the band, and never wanted to see a single American ever again. So, we set off for our tour under a cloud of uncertainty, denied our main source of transportation. Undeterred, we figured out new arrangements and continued forth, from Italy, to Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany.
Over the next few weeks, we will be publishing Rob’s posts in chronological order, each one exactly 20 years to the day of its original posting on Myspace. The original text has been almost completely unedited. Nate has added reflections to complement Rob’s account. We have added photos from the trip, most of them film pics taken by Rob with a point-and-shoot, others taken by Nate with a small digital camera.
There will be sixteen posts in all and maybe more if we decide to repost our second tour in 2007. Please subscribe or check back as the entries are posted!
SHOW DATES:
05.17 - Cambridge, England. Portland Arms, w/ Birds of Delay, Magik Markers, Bologna Pony *Only Unchained
05.19 - Sheffield, England. Matilda Social Center, w/ Birds of Delay, Kylie Minoise, Ashtray Navigations, Culver, more *Only Unchained
05.21 - Newcastle, England. The Telegraph, w/ Birds of Delay, Kylie Minoise, Jazzfinger, Noise Bastard, more *Only Unchained
05.22 - Leeds, England. The Fenton, w/ Birds of Delay, Kylie Minoise *Only Unchained
05.23 - Manchester, England. 31 Albert Road, w/ Birds of Delay, Kylie Minoise *Only Unchained
05.24 - Nottingham, England. Raffles, w/ Birds of Delay, Kylie Minoise, Family Battle Snake *Only Unchained
06.03 - Milan, Italy. 65mq. Bizarro Night w/ Madame P, Claudio Gavina, Elsa Dorella, Lukha Kremo Baroncinij, Fetisch-Art *Only M Ax Noi Mach
06.06 - Berlin, Germany. Raumerweiterungshalle, w/ Fancie, Super Bompers Band, more *Only Unchained
06.08 - Vigevano, Italy. Lab 12. w/ DJ Afeman *Only M Ax Noi Mach
06.10 - Castelfranco Veneto, Italy. Buenaventura Angeldust.
06.12 - Castelfranco Veneto, Italy. Buenaventura w/ Mondo Cane
06.18 - Barcelona, Spain. Sala Castello. Cap Sembrat Festival II Day One w/ Fasenuova, Les Aus, Mondo Cane, La Defensa, DJ Dani Blue
06.19 - Barcelona, Spain. Sala Castello. Cap Sembrat Festival II Day Two
06.24 - Rouen, France. Courtyard
06.26 - Tienen, Belgium. Live In De Living
06.27 - Antwerp, Belgium. Roktop Atelier
06.28 - Den Haag, Netherlands. La Garaje
06.29 - Brussels, Belgium. The Bunker. Fireflies Festival
06.30 - Brussels, Belgium. L’Atelier
07.01 - Antwerp, Belgium. Live on Radio Centraal
07.07 - Fredericia, Denmark. Forma Nova Festival Day One w/ Birds of Delay, SOYC, Tape Salad
07.08 - Fredericia, Denmark. Form Nova Festival Day Two Angeldust w/ Martin Klapper, The Last Taboo, Bad Turban, Klub Argot
07.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark YOYOOYOY Festival Angeldust w/ Monno, Forkert, Ts Hoeg Ensemble
07.14 - Gothenburg, Sweden. Club Koloni w/ Birds of Delay, Tape Salad, Surreal Lovers
07.15 - Copenhagen, Denmark w/ The Last Taboo, Hungover Breakfast
07.16 - Berlin, Germany. Die Alte Buchbinderei w/ Birds of Delay, Super Bompers Band
16.07. that’s when we met for the first time