Reunion indeed

Ah, the proverbial shout out: give it up for Fractious!

Our buddies from Austin, TX took time out of their own east coast tour to met up with us Friday night in Orange, CT for a show at the Corner Pocket. Though the lineage of both bands is very much intertwined, this was the first time we had shared a stage in quite some time (first time this version of SANCTION had ever done so, actually). Needless to say, sufficient ass-kicking and face-rocking took place over the course of the evening. All the obligatory cliches were met: guest singers, frontmen launching themselves into the audience mid song, chair climbing, and of course just enough curse words to piss off the parents (mine were in attendance!). What a way to close out the east coast part of the "Vicious Truths..." tour!

I am a little sad to leave the east coast (we leave for North Dakota tomorrow). This is where I grew up, after all, and I really do love it here. For now, however, I will bid thee a fond farewell. Thank you to EVERYONE over here who made us feel welcome and to all the new friends and fans that helped make this leg of the tour a huge success. You guys are simply amazing. Not to be redundant, but we had a f'n great time and we will definitely see y'all in the fall!

- Jay

April 15th: Tax Day aint got nothin' on the post show drive!

So... as Dusty clamored in search of his due praise for surviving yet another year, we piled into the RV and headed to Allentown, PA for a duel celebration show. With one minute left of Dusty's birthday, we hit the stage in Dave's hometown and rock the shit out of longtime buddies and new friends alike. It was a great show at the famous Sterling Hotel. Though the drive back up north was painful this morning, it was well worth the trip. Allentown was everything Dave promised and we look forward to seeing you all again in the fall!

Until then...

- Jay

good times ahead

happy birthday to me.

dusty, aka captain self-indulgence

beantown, take 2

Our 3 shows in Boston brought the band full circle. For those of you who don't know the back story, the modern incarnation of Sanction arose from our time here in Boston last November. I was filling in for several dates in the greater Boston area, and we four gelled so well that upon returning to Los Angeles, I quit my other projects and made Sanction my home.

It was during one of the November dates - the Northeast NACA Conference - that we met the amazing Jackie and her Northeastern crew. Jackie took us under her wing, talking for hours with us about our music and the music industry in general. She invited us out to play her on campus club - afterHOURS - two nights in a row, and we jumped at the chance. A third show, at BU - Jay's alma mater - was added for the Beantown Trifecta.

We found that Boston is a lot like Los Angeles in many ways. With all the music schools out here, the clubs are flooded with talent of all styles. In three days, we shared the stage with a latin-jazz band, a 10-piece orchestra, a hip-hop act, and a couple country-esque acts, on top of the normal smorgas-board of rock acts. Though we're a hard rock band, we all come from different backgrounds, and we were stoked to be grooving with so many different acts.

At Boston University, we were the closing act of a music festival celebrating musical diversity. As word of this was passed down to us, the message was slightly jumbled, leaving us thinking it was really a multi-cultural fest. "So uh, do we represent white people then?" we were asking ourselves. Incidently, the drummer from one jazz band playing that night was also in a band sharing the stage with us at afterHOURS the next night.

Friday and Saturday found us at Northeastern's afterHOURS. We tried to promote the shows online, only to find that a couple kickass mofos had beaten us to it: flyering every myspace page in sight and making sure everyone knew that afterHOURS is where the cool kids will be. They (Kirstina y Michelle) even came to meet us early Friday to walk around campus with us, passing out flyers to everyone. We found that guys in Boston don't like taking flyers from other guys, only from girls. Not even when we disguise that it's a rock show by asking, with flyer extended, "Hey man, you like porn?" Buncha liars in this city ;)

The staff @ afterHOURS was just as cool, making sure we were right at home. The food rocked, and being able to store our gear overnight in the club saved a ton of time and effort. Night 2 had a large repeat crowd from night one, which was encouraging. Someone enthusiastically showing up two nights in a row is worth a thousand glad-hand "good jobs."

Night 2 we judged a battle of the bands after our set. Look up the Cassavettes and Left Handed Thieves. They rocked bigtime, and we think you'll love their show.

A big thanks to the staffs of Northeastern and BU (paul, john, josh, erica, molly, alli, michelle, kristina, jackie, etc etc) for taking care of us bunch of hooligans. We'll see y'all in the fall for round 2.

D.