Autolatry Summer Tour 2012: 8/4 - Bringing Down The Taos!

On Saturday morning, we woke up in Amarillo, TX at Nate’s house. We needed to be up and out relatively early because we were headed into Taos, NM. However we ended up being somewhat leisurely about our departure because Nate’s wife generously cooked us a big breakfast of griddled sausage and eggs. It was damn awesome. It just further reaffirms the enormous hospitality that people have exercised towards us on our tour which we are grateful for. When we hit the road once again, we realized that we’d be crossing yet another time zone. That meant that we’d have an extra hour to get to our destination. We had our usual fun on the road.

The drive to Taos was absolutely amazing. We had to climb up several thousand feet of mountains, and were at first put off by the heat in eastern New Mexico. However, as soon as we started up the mountains, the air immediately cooled off. To make it even better, it started raining! We rejoiced when we felt cold air on our tarnished flesh. It provided a great opportunity to put on our long sleeve shirts for once. The scenery was absolutely kickass. The skies were partly cloudy, so the sun wasn’t even too hot. It was certainly a monumental happening for us. We managed to pull over at a scenic overlook of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range and a kind old lady took a badass picture of us.

Cold mountains....in New Mexico! WHA???!?

Retard clan in the Rockies!

After our reprieve, we pressed on and descended a little bit down the mountains into the lovely town of Taos. It’s a great little area with fewer tourists than the bigger cities in New Mexico. When we arrived at our venue, we realized that this was no ordinary metal venue. It was a fucking tennis resort. That’s correct. A tennis. Resort. But not only that, we were playing in the dining area of THE DELI of the goddamn tennis resort. Absolutely insane. As unbelievable as it sounds, the facilities were amazing and looked like it was well cut out for a concert once the sound guys moved the gear in. The view from the resort was AMAZING. There was a giant mountain right across the road. An amazing backdrop for a night of metal.

This is getting insane

Right on the fucking ground

Pretending that he's happy with his life

Blogging with the mountains

The show got started exceptionally early for a typical DIY show. Starting off the night was a duo called 2 Skinny Dudes who do not have any social media. They were very invested in their instruments during their set. Next up was two of my new favorite people. A two piece band called Work In Progress. They are some of the nicest, most genuine, and funny people I've ever met. They are in the process of building an earthship house in the desert of New Mexico, so they don't have internet access with which to set up any sort of website. They played a progressive (literally) jam band style that was based around a loop pedal. They traded off instruments and were frantically running back and forth in between instruments. Also, they are some of the funniest people ever. Absolutely killer musicians. Much love to Ryan and Sarah!

Next up was a crust punk group called Reference Man. They kicked ass and got the crowd moving. Next up was Willow, a two piece raw black metal group. Randy, the promoter of the show, played drums for them and kicked some ass! We took the stage last, and unfortunately most people had shuffled out of the venue by then. Among the crowd was a man named George who claimed to be the most metal guy in the world, and who routinely would bend over and flex his muscles while screaming at the top of his lungs during a set. Also there was a dancing cowgirl who explained to us that she wants to grow a goatee. It was certainly the most eclectic bunch of people we've played for thus far! We had a great time and met some awesome people.

After the gig, we went to Randy's house and had some beers and popcorn while hanging out and shooting the shit with Ryan and Sarah from Work In Progress. We had a VERY long drive ahead of us though. We had to drive through the New Mexico and Arizona deserts to hit Tempe the next day! So we left Randy's at about 2 o'clock and knocked out a block of driving at night before the noonday heat could scorch us northboys in the desert. All in all, it was a great day! New Mexico is a beautiful place and we intend to return! As much as we wanted to stay in the mountains, it was time to ship off to the next! Tempe, AZ with UNLEASH THE ARCHERS!!!!!!!