This is my tour diary from the tour my band, NERO, went on over the summer 0f 2004. We were travelling with our 'brother band', ape. Some material has been 'borrowed' from other band members for the sake of completeness, and some has been edited for accuracy.
(all praise Ian)

This page will be updated at my own convenience. Ian's original diary can be found at Ian's Tour Diary on Nero's site.

Nero Summer '04 Tour Notes/Setlists. All shows with Ape.

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worthy of note: we toured in a 24 foot bread van running on waste vegetable oil. the masterminds behind this venture are the band ape. go visit them for info on veggie oil conversion and their music. our other vehicle was a honda civic hatchback, for use when moving the van would have been wasteful, or mechanically impossible (i.e. to get parts for the van) to move.

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also, thanks to all the venues who let us play, and to all the folks who let us crash at their homes throughout the trip. you are our heroes.

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6/23. Davey Jones' Locker. Portland, OR. with The Mist Beets.

set: violin improv. the gift. handicapped. entropy. king savage. state of the union.

notes: alright. first show! tiny concrete block in industrial se portland. smells like trash. played the gift for the first time. nifty violin jam to open the tour. played for 3-4 people. ape on stilts and barefoot in the streets. due to stalling beast, drove to portland on diesel. this place was a dive, but it was a start.

dave's comment: "it probably can't get much worse, so it must get better from here"

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6/24. U&I Bar and Grill. Portland, OR.

set: entropy. the gift. the dreamer. the cynic. the philosopher. the scientist. the prophet. untitled. precious. where red apples grow.

notes: although we only played for a few barflys, the show felt great. more 'on' than last night. dingy little bar in ne portland. the beast had a cracked hose. replaced it. back on veggie. prophet and red apples were highlights.

dave's comment: not the most hip location, but they were kind enough to at least spring for fries - better than most of the other venues. a philosophical debate on the subject of feminism also enlivened the atmosphere.

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6/25. New Paris Theater. Portland, OR. with Awakened, Somber, The Worthless Children.

set: king savage. state of the union. handicapped. entropy. the dreamer. the cynic.

notes: our first crowd of the tour! thanks to family and friends who drove up from the valley. good sized younger crowd there to see other bands. we seemed to go over alright, despite technical problems. our biggest show since the wow hall.

dave's comment: good logistics made this gig possible, but if the logistics had been better, this would have been the first show recorded on the tour. technical issues were not confined to the on stage variety. parking in downtown portland with a 24 foot van is a challenge. lost my only piece of gear for the tour (the shoulder strap from my amp).

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6/26. Le Voyeur. Olympia, WA.

set: the dreamer. the cynic. the philosopher.

notes: rather not say much about this one. due to lack of crowd, we were kicked out by the bartender after three songs. cool town and cool venue. but no crowd and bad energy. saw the band sugar bush at the experimental music festival. good band. remind me of old time relijun (their singer was at the show) with more 80s alternative influence.

dave's comment: shortest Nero set in history, due to extended ape jam and early closing. first attempt at using flyers to promote a show.

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break: camped in the beautiful mt. st. helens wilderness area. wonderful sunsets and moons. then stayed at "the farm" commune-ish place in portland.

dave's comment: trip made to corvallis/jefferson for brief respite - band reunited with renewed enthusiasm. pictures of St. Helens before the recent eruptions.

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7/1. Arnada Cafe. Vancouver, WA. with LKN.

set: king savage. handicapped. the gift. the scientist. the prophet. love is not suicide. camera angles. metamorphosis. the beauty of being alone.

notes: once again, only a few in attendance. still a fun show. LKN played some badass rock and roll. and they let us sleep at their house. LKN, you rock.

dave's comment: pitchers of beer but nobody's here. they said they liked us, but we just couldn't make it back for our second appearance here.

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7/2. Neener's Pub. Tacoma, WA

set: the dreamer. the cynic. state of the union. machina. on vacation. untitled. where red apples grow.

notes: weird town and weird venue. no one was there. everyone was getting free food and listening to christian music under the bridge. first time playing machina (it was quite sloppy) got a recording of the show.

dave's comment: the soundman here was great - had everything ready to go, and provided our best recording of the tour, aside from our own malfunctions. extensive publicity was lacking - the paper had our name misprinted as Neelo. go Neelo!

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7/3. Jimmy Z's. Everett, WA. with Psylem.

set: handicapped. the gift. king savage. the philosopher. camera angles. metamorphosis. the beauty of being alone.

notes: nice sound system, and trilogy was very tight, but - guess what - no one was there. except forrest and dana (thanks for coming). played with some young buttrockers.

dave's comment: another venue with a workable soundboard, but unfortunately an otherwise decent recording was marred by level adjustments mid-song that make most tracks unusable.

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7/4. Bothell Hell House. Bothell, WA. with The Potty Mouth Society. Strike One. The Plankton Beat, The Swineholes.

set: state of the union. the cynic. the scientist. handicapped. the prophet. entropy. king savage.

notes: fun, crazy, scary show. a packed little concrete block in the woods. tons of drunk firework weilding hellions. anarcho-rednecks. the house was about to be knocked down and replaced with condos. long live the hell house! anyway - the kids decided to burn all the couches. huge fire while nero played. nero fiddles as...umm...bothell burns. thanks to the hell house folks for letting us store our veggie supplies there.

dave's comment: no hope of a recording here - we were happy to make it out with our equipment and our lives. it was great playing our set while flames licked the sky, with bombs bursting in air all around. quite surreal. they're good people.

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7/5. The Factory. Bellingham, WA. with The Hillstreet Stranglers.

set: the gift. the dreamer. the cynic. the philosopher. on vacation. where red apples grow. king savage. handicapped.

notes: decent turnout for a bar on a monday night. trendy bar. lots of solos. bellingham area is absolutley beautiful. special mention for our hero, John Johnson. "there are some shitty fuckers out there."

dave's comment: John Johnson took the cake, but the Stranglers made for some serious entertainment as well. lead singer began to ram his head into members of Nero at conclusion of show in a display of affection. bellingham is very much like eugene, and there were friendly locals along the way who took us in and made us feel at home.

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7/8. D Street House. Bellingham, WA. with Federation X, Ghost Mice, Big Business, The Narrows.

set: entropy. handicapped. king savage. the dreamer. the cynic.

notes: unexpected show. decent little set with a bunch of good bands. good turnout. the venue is a straight edge, punk basement. run by the cleanest anarchists ever. they were also very generous with payment.

dave's comment: we were able to book this show with little notice, and they seemed happy to have us. except for drinking on the lawn.

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7/9. Coffee Messiah. Seattle, WA.

set: half asleep. the philosopher. masters of war. where red apples grow. the gift. love is not suicide. violin improv. entropy. handicapped.

notes: first three songs are acoustic. weird venue - no one there but the occasional customer. show is tight, but lacks energy.

dave's comment: debates over electric vs. acoustic set due to intimate nature of coffee house. settled on a mixed show - not our most convincing effort, also hampered by the confined space. with our gear, merch and diehard fans, there was only room for a few customers.

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7/11. Rendezvous Jewel Box Theater. Seattle, WA. with The Christmas F's.

set: king savage. the dreamer. the cynic. handicapped. on vacation. entropy. untitled. state of the union. camera angles. metamorphosis. the beauty of being alone.

notes: very classy venue, but we'll never play it again. this venue has a pay to play policy (of which most of us were unaware until half way through the show). we lost $30 at this show.

dave's comment: found out at the end of the show that we were actually renting the space - and the crowd provided was not nearly enough to recoup the investment. oh well. plus they refused to feed us. ouch.

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7/12. The Graceland. Seattle, WA. with Revolution Smile. Pistol for a Paycheck. The Snake the Cross the Crown. The Fall of Troy.

set: handicapped. king savages. camera angles. metamorphosis. the beauty of being alone.

notes: holy mother of christ this was a fun show. our biggest venue and turnout yet. played a really tight, energentic set. the other bands were more 'legit' than we're used to - really nice equipment, record contracts, agents, etc... Fall of Troy was especially good.

dave's comment: okay, hell house was fun, but now we have played the graceland! good crowd, and good response, sadly there was no facility for recording this show. one for the history books.

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7/13. 2nd Avenue Pizza. Seattle, WA.

set: mad world. the dreamer. the cynic. the philosopher. the scientist. the prophet. where red apples grow. entropy. untitled. handicapped.

notes: another show for forest and dana. cool venue but no turnout. paid in old pizza.

dave's comment: they were nice enough to feed us, but the 'drink tickets' were only good for a discount - we had to buy our own beer. what is the world coming to?

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7/15. CITR 101.9. UBC Campus Radio. Vancouver, BC

set: the dreamer. the cynic. the philosopher. handicapped. entropy.

notes: very fun radio gig. 2 cool girls were running the show, and one let us crash at her place. canada was a blast. everyone was so friendly and generous. went to a nude beach, drank lots of canadian lager.

dave's comment: BC rocks. thank you canada.

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7/16. Pub 340. Vancouver, BC. wih Random Blind.

set: handicapped. king savage. where red apples grow. camera angles. metamorphosis. the beauty of being alone.

notes: the tour ended on a really good note. our last show had good energy and a good turnout. we were treated very well in canada. trilogy and red apples were inspiring. the tour was a great learning experience and tons of fun. thanks to everyone involved.

dave's comment: one last recording here, and then we hit the trail back home. due to drummer fatigue, anticipated shows for return leg were cancelled. Chris deserves another round of applause! (thanks for providing the set lists and notes goes to Ian)

Coded by David with Love. Last edit July 25, 2008
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