Before we left Chico in the AM we went on hotels.com to search for a place to stay in Reno. We saw in one of the banners on the website that Credence Clearwater Revival was playing in Reno the same night as us. But un-intimidated we booked a room in the same hotel, or should I say casino. It was our plan to find Credence and party with them. However, much to our dismay, Credence was not available to party. Several people in the hotel said they saw Credence and the show was sub-par. If you can’t trust people at a casino in Reno, whom can you trust?

A note about booking hotels on the internet: internet reservation sites (airplane tickets included) use scare tactics to bump up prices and increase split decision purchases. When you go onto a site and choose the room you like and discover a reasonable rate, what do you do next? You leave the computer to call your mates and make sure they’re okay with the price and the location, or you call the hotel to make sure they have ample parking for your tour van… of course the hotel won’t offer you the same rate you saw online, but rather they remind you that its an online special and you will have to book it their website. Then you return to your computer and enter the exact same information and look for the exact same rate… only to find an increased rate (in our case the room rate jumped from $89 a room to $125) The rate you originally saw is magically no longer available. This happens because reservation websites put cookies onto your browser and when you return they know what you’ve already looked at. The rate automatically increases and you think, “oh shit! I better get this room now before the price goes up any more.” You go into an anxious frenzy and buy buy buy! But wait… my dad taught me a trick – If you delete the cookies from your browser (usually in preferences) and empty your cache (usually an option under the menu ‘file’) the price magically drops to the original rate… and that’s how we got to stay with Credence for only $89 a room.

It’s not unlike a good dream.

We were only a few blocks from the bar we were playing at, so we headed over (The Satellite Bar). Upon arriving we learned there were two opening bands and WEINLAND would go on at midnight and Norfolk would go on at 1am. Of course we worried about the late hour of the show, but the lovely bartender assured us that Reno doesn’t close down. Later we found her sage-ness to be valid. This was a crazy night—putting our experience into words would be lengthy enough to rival a Nick Jaina entry so I’m going to give you bullet points and send you some videos to give you a good idea of what went down:

· The kids in Reno come out for music. It was a great turnout.

· Norfolk and WEINLAND decided if we were going to truly get wasted on a particular night of tour, it should be in Reno. So we set a goal of 11 on a scale of a 1 – 10 drunk.

· The kids in the opening bands were super nice.

· The first band sounded kind of like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and had really long noise endings to most of their songs—you know, big drum rolls that almost end ten times before they actually do. A lot of good energy, I think they’re on their way to becoming a fine band.

· The second band sounded alarmingly like Bright Eyes. Of course I’ve never heard Bright Eye’s myself, but that’s what folks said… especially Rachel (Norfolk - drums) who recently did a tour playing drums for Bright Eyes. They sounded so much like Bright Eyes that Rachel wrote Connor (Bright Eyes’ bright eye) a text message to tell him about it. Shortly after that someone in the audience dubbed the band “Light Eyes.”

Coincidentally the band broke up during WEINLAND’s set. Their drummer said there already was one Bright Eyes and there doesn’t need to be another. After the show Dave Depper (Norfolk – bass) got an exclusive interview with the drummer regarding the incident. The video is absolutely hilarious, but Dave swore he would not share the video with the public and I cannot talk him into going back on his word—so it remains in the vault.

· I felt bad for them because they were super nice (and give it a few years, they’ll be badass musicians), but it was pretty dramatic. I wish you could see for yourself.

· WEINLAND and Norfolk rocked. It was a really fun show. We played our new rock song which has a riff in it that sounds exactly like the theme song from People’s Court.

· At the end of Norfolk’s set (during Barrel’s on Fire) WEINLAND spontaneously came onto stage and started playing with Norfolk. It was a 1960’s moment in the best possible way. This will become a theme for the rest of the tour. Any chance we get (depending on how many drink tickets they give us) we’ll share the stage on one or more songs.

· Loading our gear out of the club was harder than playing. It was like corralling the world’s drunkest cows and getting them to carry 50-pound amplifiers while they climbed into the trailer.

· We went to the casino. We didn’t find Credence.

· I pulled out $100 to gamble. After about 30 minutes I was way way up. I was betting $100 a hand at black jack for several hands. It was very exciting, all the way until I left $100 in the hole. But I drank lots of free liquor and nearly peed my pants out of excitement and anxiety about 19 times.

· Thunderbolt (piano) left $300 up because he played safe…like a weenie.

· Dave (Norfolk - bass) and Lyly-Bear (drums) got lost and video taped their experience. The video is here so you can see for yourself (it’s not unlike that show on the Discovery Chanel where the British guy is always looking for a glacier):

· Selzer (Norfolk – singer/guitar) bet Norfolk’s cut of the door from the show, but luckily he has restraint and came out even.

· The casino continued to deliver free drinks until bedtime… which was 6am.

· We got up at 8am to drive to Sacramento.

· Paul (piano) went to collect the van from the casino parking lot. The Weinlander (van) immediately broke down in front of the valet parking… we were thwarted. Casinos don’t like it when you block their rich customers from the valet with your 1974 tour van (affectionately called the Weinlander).

· We cracked the engine open and opened up the carburetor. It took us about 40 minutes to assess the problem. Once we were sure we had no idea what the problem was we sprayed some Engine Starting Fluid (which is similar to an explosion in a can) directly into the carburetor and with a puff of hesitant smoke and fire she turned over!

· We drove to Safeway to get a deli sandwich.

· When we returned to the Weinlander to head on our way to Sacramento, again she wouldn’t start. We were now out of starter fluid. This time we decided there was something wrong with the choke in the engine, so Rory (bass) put on my dad’s old leather driving glove and shoved his hand into the choke. With even less muster and after multiple tries, she turned over and we were off.

Reno is a town. We (Norfolk and WEINLAND) are bands. The mix is exciting, dangerous, and unpredictable.

XO,

WEINLAND

More Photos:

Links:
WeinlandSpace

NorfolkSpace

Photos courtesy of Weinland