NATIONAL TOUR (Spring 2001)...

Whew! We've just returned from our first national tour and it was really amazing. We had a crazy, fun-filled first week on the road with our friends Dirt Bike Annie, with awesome shows in D.C., Atlanta, and especially Austin.

Dirty D and P-Girl in Atlanta

In addition to all the cool people we met along the way, our friends Shane, M.C. Chris, the guys from Sick (Pulaski), and Miss Trixie came out to see us on the road. Our biggest challenge was sneaking 8 people into our motel rooms each night and not getting caught skinny dipping afterhours in the pools! Luckily, Dirt Bike Joe videotaped *everything* (including himself in the men's room in Atlanta!), so we've got all the evidence on tape. Some other highlights include the dead guy on the side of the road in Texas, the burning car in the desert, the bottomless-topless bar in New Orleans, dancing/doing aerobics on the motel beds, the Mr. Tickle Button video Dan and Adam made outside our burned-out motel in South Carolina, the party in the parking lot in Atlanta where Dan and Princess dove in the trash, and the awesome motels in Austin and New Orleans. And, of course, stopping in every single Taco Bell we came upon along the way.

with Dirtbike Annie at Emo's, Austin, TX

We were super-sad to see that week end and have to leave Dirt Bike Annie behind (especially Jeanie who we'd become super-close with on the road!), but we had to keep going and they had to get back home, so we sadly said goodbye. Sniff. :(

with Ashod, Aaron, Eric from Earlimart in Seattle

The second week we hooked up with our friends from L.A. Earlimart. Unfortunately, we had partied so hard the first week, that we all became deathly ill the second week and Princess passed out in the middle of our show in Oakland. Luckily, Earlimart is a little more laid back than DBA, so we had a chill week with them drinking and hanging in the vansion, drinking, and drinking. One of the Earlimart guys snagged a plastic skeleton from one of our early gigs, named him Eric, and dragged him around with us for the rest of the week. That was a good thing since some of the West Coast shows weren't so great, but at least Eric was always in the audience. Some cool kids put us up in Chico and we stayed w/P-Girl's man Slim in Olympia where Fon-Lin and Princess and Ashod stayed up all night on mushroom-peanut butter-nilla wafer treats watching VH1 Classic videos and watching the sun rise. We also played a rad party in a basement there after playing our earlier show in town.

with The Disappointments in Missoula, MT

Our show in Seattle was the best one we had on the West Coast with lots of cool kids -- cute underage boys and a gang of girls who appeared to be on hallucinogenics and made Princess lean down and give them hugs from the stage. One of them asked her if she wanted to "get lei-d" and placed a garland of flowers around her neck at the beginning of the show. The night before, Princess had discovered how much more fun it was to play shows without her shoes on, so she proceeded to rock out so hard at the show, she totally busted up her knee. Pete and Aaron (from Harvey Danger) were kind enough to put us up that night, and we all promptly passed out on their floor after making veggie burritos and doing tequila shots while standing on one leg.

with Har Mar Superstar in Minneapolis

We were really sad to end our week with Earlimart and start heading back across the country cause we knew that meant that the tour would be over soon. But luckily, all the shows to come were awesome, especially Missoula, MT, and Grand Forks, ND, where the local kids came out and moshed, then took us home and partied with us til we passed out. Princess tried to break dance at the party in Grand Forks and almost broke her neck, but managed to get up the next day to make it tour our next destination, Minneapolis.

Mistress Gera, The Selby Tigers, and Har Mar Superstar showed up to check out our show, then Har Mar took us home with him for the night. He's a trip. He even has love for Canada. The next night was Chicago--our most amazing show where tons of cool people came out and we played with The Puta-Pons and the girls from The Drag Kings. We rocked it really hard and got down and got really sweaty. It was hot! We also got interviewed and photographed for an upcoming feature in Venus Magazine, so keep a look out for it.

Princess bowling at the Magick Stick, Detroit, MI

The next night we played at this awesome place in Detroit called The Magic Stick which is a bar, pizza place, and bowling alley all wrapped up into one! What more could you ask for? We got free pizza and hung out with the guys from The Witches afterwards in a beautiful mansion and watched Fight Club on a giant wide-screen tv. Fon-Lin and Princess stayed up all night and were pretty bleary-eyed for the video that Top Quality Rock and Roll's Mike D. wanted to make of us. Needless to say, that was a total disaster. Princess gave herself a bunch of new tattoos in black magic marker, including her face, resulting in a very clockwork orange effect. No one at our next show in Akron seemed to notice. I guess they're all a bunch of freaks--except for the door guy Jacob who was really sweet and put us up for the night. He tried to talk Princess into staying in Akron with him, but P-Girl and Fon-Lin wouldn't hear of it and dragged Princess kicking and screaming to their last show in Wilkes Barre. When we pulled up at our last show at Cafe Metropolis, we were shocked and psyched to see Frank (the namesake of our CD "Letters from Frank") standing outside waiting for us. He had driven all the way from New York City to come out and see our last show on tour. That put everyone in a good mood and was the perfect ending to an awesome tour.

We didn't want to see it end and were tempted to just keep driving and driving and never come home, but alas, we had to return to reality. We are already in the process of planning our next tour which will be in August and will include our show at Ladyfest Midwest at The Congress Theater in Chicago on Friday, August 17th with Mary Timony and The Need. We can't wait. Hope to see you next time on the road...

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR TRIP TO CALI (May 2000)...

Basically all we do when we're on tour is eat, sleep, and rock--Here are a few of our favorite spots we stopped to chow while we were on the road...

* The Astro Diner
after our show at Spaceland, L.A.

* The Donut Shoppe (San Fran., 5/10, 3:00am -- while searching for our motel)

* The Atlas Café (San Fran., 5/10, 11:00am -- yummy brunch before our show. P.S. Why do all the guys here still have goatees?)

* Bottom of The Hill (San Fran., 5/10, 7:00pm - fabulous catered spread, open bar, and a fully stocked fridge. Bonus!) [Thanks to rock critic Greil Marcus, Gary from The Hi-Fives, and Ray Lujan from Maximum Rock-N-Roll for coming out to party with us!]

* Ilona & Jorge's house (Oakland, 5/11, 2pm - Brunch, compliments of Jorge. Strawberry smoothies compliments of Princess.)

* Chef Gia's (San Fran., 5/11, 7pm - The best Chinese food in Chinatown. Pig-out!)

* The Astro Diner (L.A., 5/13, 2am - Great, greasy diner food after our show at Spaceland) [Thanks to Kiyoshi (Drunken Master II Zine), Ashod from Earlimart, and The Switchblade Kittens for coming out to the show.]

* Hugo's (L.A., 5/13, 2:30pm - Interview brunch for Drunken Master II.)

* The Derby (L.A., 5/13, Midnight - Old coffee, compliments of Derby bouncer Kiyoshi.)

* Yet Another Trendy Diner (L.A., 5/13, 2:00am - with Ashod and Kiyoshi: Great Mac-N-Cheese, bad P-B-n-J, and the crazy toupee guy who can tell you every actor born on your birthday.)

That's all for now...until our next meal.
xo, The Hissyfits

Almost Midwest Tour (June 2003) | UK Tour (July 2002) | SXSW Austin (March 2002) | L.A. (Jan. 2002) | Ladyfest Midwest (August 2001) | U.S. Tour (Spring 2001) | Cali (May 2000)