…the quiet before the storm.
It’s a month until the Nerd Revolt EP comes out, and our brains are exploding with inspiration and excitement. A big part of this is my new Virus!
m.0 and I had been working non-stop since the winter of ‘09– writing tracks, a live set, and our EP… Baby Virus was stationed at Command Central® semi-permanently, furiously cranking out the waveforms and LFOs. Having the SkriLLascope at home has cured my synth withdrawal, and some intense shit has been coming out of the speakers.
Watch out world… the true Nerd Revolt hasn’t even begun.
“DJs are a dime a dozen. I could get on my computer and play iTunes too, ya know. If I wanted to, I could replace you in a second and send you home… and you don’t even know where home is.”
Okay, so I broke her explicit “No hooking up with busmates because of inevitable drama” rule that she laid out on the first day. Aright, I broke it twice (along with a little blacking-out-and-puking-in-my-bed episode). But did I deserve such harsh punishment?
She made me formally apologize to all my busmates (who really didn’t care, and were cheating on their boyfriends with stupid emo boys anyway). She suspended me from DJing for a couple days, put me on bus arrest, and then got furious when someone tried to bring me food. She wanted me to suffer in every way possible.
On the bus, I’d become an outcast. Everyone was scared of pissing Jenna off, so no one backed me up. You don’t know loneliness until you’re stuck traveling thousands of miles with strangers who’ve turned their backs on you.
Then, after our show in Denver, she pulled me aside.
“I’m kicking you off the tour, Catherine. I’m sending you home.”
Her reasons?
“I gave you a big opportunity, and you took it all for yourself. You gave out your business card and your CD. You should’ve been promoting my label. Giving out my CDs. Selling my merch. You’re obviously all about promoting yourself, and that’s not what this was about.”
Jenna tried some final power trips on me– denying she owed me money, saying that I was banned from all upcoming tour dates, and telling me I was “never gonna make it” if I kept up my opportunistic ways.
Wait… so she was the one with her sugar daddy CEO husband financing the whole tour and paying me less than $5 per hour, yet I was taking advantage of her?
It was all so baffling. Yeah, she was pissed about my fuck up, but she definitely had a personal agenda going on. The night she kicked me off, I was at a bar where everyone was hanging out… including Kevin Lyman, creator of the Warped Tour.
This whole time, Jenna had been on a mission to get his attention, schmooze, and network with him. She met with no success.
My experience was slightly different. He came up to me, introduced himself, and said he’d passed by the tent and dug the beats. He invited me to play some private parties on and after the tour, and I was psyched to follow up with him.
Jenna caught wind of this. Was it any coincidence she kicked me off that very night? After I hooked up with Dudeface, the sound guy Chet’s attitude had suddenly turned hostile. Obviously, he’d been crushing on me and, of course, felt his little penis was rejected. He had his own agenda going on, so when he and Jenna sat down to discuss kicking me off, their decision was too easy.
That night, I was dumped off at a crackhouse hotel outside Kansas City.
I had just enough cash to get on a bus back home.
And she was right…
I didn’t know where home was.
If you were there, this video needs no introduction… if you weren’t, here’s a little taste of Nerd Revolt dropping it live at last year’s Decibel Festival in Seattle.
DBHEproductions did a really amazing job of capturing the vibe at Innerflight’s Red Eye Afterhours party. The Electric Tea Garden was on fire– packed to capacity and everyone getting down to the funky-ass beats all night. We were totally in the zone, and it was a rush to feel so intensely connected with the dancefloor during our set. There couldn’t have been a better send-off to our adventures in San Francisco!
Yesterday was the 1-year anniversary of the blog, so it’s time to pause and reflect on what a dope journey it’s been!
The seeds of this project were in my head years ago, back in my hazy, cracked-out NYC days. The whole concept seemed like a hollow daydream with no promise of ever turning into a reality…
Then, in 2008, I got my Baby Virus, met m.0, and we formed Nerd Revolt. dejaded finally came to life after many late-night conversations at Command Central®… m.0 and I shared the vision of building a platform where we could explore our creativity, express ourselves, and inspire others. In a scene that’s often based on image, polluted by haters, and littered with egomaniacs, it’s been a refreshing oasis of realness.
The blog started out as a way for us to open up and share our stories, but it’s evolved into something much huger than we expected. As we’ve played our first shows, written an EP, and experimented with different types of media, we’ve brought you guys into the vortex and given you a peek into our nerdy world…
We’d like to thank all you readers who’ve connected with dejaded’s vibe and help keep it going.
Here’s to many more candles!
Meet my new synth…
The Access Virus TI WhiteOut Limited Edition.
100 units worldwide. 35 shipped to the US.
Serial number 027/100, baby.
Her name?
The SkriLLascope.
‘Nuff said.
It wasn’t long before I got really jaded.
Tour can make you extremely homesick and miss all the little things. Yes, the obvious stuff like your bed, family, and friends… But it’s also the things you take for granted which are now out of reach.
I got used to showering in public places, like the venue’s locker rooms– usually with ice cold water, since you were the millionth person in line. One time at a truck stop, a hooker and some nasty dude stepped out of the shower right before my turn… yeah, I skipped out on that one.
Laundry wasn’t an option, so I had to keep buying socks and underwear to stay sane. Buying stuff was a luxury in itself– I was either stuck at the venue or on the bus, so the few chances to get things from the real world were precious. Wal-Mart’s a shiny sign of civilization when you’re driving in the middle of fucking nowhere.
Besides the day-to-day grind, I just wasn’t happy with being on tour. The idea of DJing on a national festival, traveling the country, and promoting a female-positive label had seemed like a golden opportunity– a great way to break out as an artist while exposing a different crowd to electronic music…
Instead, I was more like a sideshow. I played all day (often missing lunch) before and after bands’ sets. On the Warped Tour, people wanna see guitars destroyed and singers bleeding from thrashing microphones– not some DJ with a pair of headphones.
Oh, and those turntables that I’d requested? What about those CDJ’s?
They were nowhere to be found. I was given a pair of Radio Shack CD decks and a semi-functioning mixer that looked like it was from a garage sale. A dual cassette deck might’ve had better pitch control…
The internet on our bus never worked, so I couldn’t download new music, and I never had time to anyway since I was setting up or breaking down the tent.
All of this burned me out REALLY quick.
Maybe it was boredom, or the physical/mental stress of touring, or the fact I was running away from all the pain and sadness in my life… most likely, it was all of the above.
Whatever it was, it made me self-destruct.
One night, after getting wasted on cheap beers in the parking lot, I found myself breaking the one rule that Jenna had enforced from the very first day…
I made out with her bass player. On the bus.
And right at that moment, she walked in the door.
“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” - Ansel Adams
Flying from Germany to New York with tons of unanswered questions was beyond nerve-wracking.
How would I get along with 9 other strangers? What was living on a bus like? How would the punk and emo crowds respond to electronic music?
I also felt an incredible amount of pressure from the outside…
My dad was confused and disappointed. I was living like a vagabond instead of doing something responsible with my college degree. Why couldn’t I just grow up and let go of these impractical, foolish dreams?
My mom was concerned that I wasn’t staying grounded, and my older brother was worried that I wouldn’t endure the tour physically and mentally. In fact, I was so hurt by his doubt in me that I cut him off for months.
Still, I moved forward with my decision. I took a train from Penn Station to Baltimore and met the rest of my tour mates there.
These included: Jenna (the label owner); her 3 bandmates; a couple of merch girls (one of them being Sharon, a tour manager of sorts); and Chet, the sound guy.
Unlike mainstage artists who can party, wake up hung over, and show up in time for their set, we were working at least 14 hours a day.
Here’s a typical day in the life…
7am: Wake up to the sound of Sharon yelling at everyone to get out of bed. Crawl from your coffin-like bunk. If you’re lucky enough to get the top bunk like me, you’ll usually hit your head on the ceiling since it’s only a foot away from your pillow. Open up the trailer at the back of the bus.
Lift heavy boxes of merchandise onto dollies. Push dollies across long distances– up and down hills, through grass, dirt, rocks, and mud… Unload at the venue. Build two tents: one for the music, the other for merch. The music tent gets set up with a stage, speakers, and DJ booth, while the merch tent calls for gridwall and pretty displays of T-shirts, buttons, stickers, and CDs…
You were lucky if you had time between setup and the start of the festival to get breakfast. Most days we were working right down to the wire, finishing up just as the gates opened.
Then, at the end of the day, we had to count out merch, tear down our tents, fill up the boxes, strap them onto dollies, and pack up the trailer. After busting ass all day in the sweltering heat, breathing in dust, and using disgusting Port-O-Potties, this was an extremely grueling process.
By the time the trailer was loaded up, you’d sometimes have a few hours to chill. Otherwise, you were back on the bus for a long-ass drive to the next city. Have fun trying to get a good night’s sleep…your only privacy comes from a fabric curtain for your bunk, and you’ll feel every bump and turn in the road from your bed.
Repeat the entire process day after day, sometimes going almost a full 2 weeks without a break.
The first couple days made me realize that this was no glamourous experience…
It was boot camp.
So, let’s pick up from where we left off.
First, a mini recap for those who are just jumping on board…
In Chapter 15, I told the story of how I’d hit rock bottom (one of many along the way). My dog of 14 years had passed away from cancer, but I’d been too busy partying to emotionally prepare for it. Now, all the “friends” I was busy partying with had scattered, and I realized all the club scene bullshit I’d based my life around was shallow, self-indulgent, and temporary.
It was time for a fresh start and to finally become the electronic musician I’d dreamed of being. Living in Europe and making beats were two of my biggest dreams. In Chapter 16, I wrote about how I just went for it. I packed my bags and flew to Germany, where some of my relatives live. I was staying with them for a few weeks, planning to end up in Berlin. That’s when I got the email inviting me to DJ on the Warped Tour.
After being torn on which path to take, I decided to close my eyes and jump. Sure, Berlin would’ve been epic and life-changing, but when would I have the chance to tour the country again?
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