March 18, 2000: Looks Like Rain, Late Start, Splitsecond, Mountain Oyster Cult @ unknown, Westminster, MD

If I remember this show correctly, it was in an old barn that had been converted into a studio on a farm in Westminster, MD. I'm going to need Gus Bowman to corroborate that. I tried to find it on Google Maps, but it looks like it's a golf course now. I also have a memory that Late Start was a pop-punk band from Ohio that also featured JT Woodruff who played in Eyes Upon Separation and would go on to form Hawthorne Heights. No recollection on who Splitsecond were, but the name sounds like a ska band. I remember that Mountain Oyster Cult featured members of Ironboss, though I don't remember who. No idea who booked this. I think I met my friend Kim McCready at this show.

March 12, 2000: Crispus Attucks, Wheelbite, The Control, Daybreak, Looks Like Rain @ the Kaffa House, Washington, DC

Here's a couple flyers for a bunch of fast/thrashy punk bands. I made the flyer on the bottom. Don't know who made the other one, but looks like it could be a Tony Pence flyer. Can't remember why I booked this one at the Kaffa House. The Sushi Cafe, where I was doing most of my shows at the time, may have already been booked. Might also have been at the request of The Control to play a DC show.

*UPDATE: Thanks to Jeremy Smith, who played in The Control, for refreshing my memory. This show didn't actually happen. We all showed up to the venue and the doors were locked and no one ever came to open up. Don't recall what happened but clearly some miscommunication.

February 26, 2000: Innerside Burning, Gamewinner, Emerge, Looks Like Rain @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

Here's a couple flyers for a hot all-locals show at the Sushi Cafe. I believe Alex Dimattesa made the top one and Gus Bowman made the bottom one. I've already covered all the bands on here, so check out their links in the tag list there on the right. Looks like you can still buy the Innerside Burning 7" that was released at this show.

February 13, 2000: Law Biting Citizens, Pale Creation, Eyes Upon Separation, Looks Like Rain @ 123 Pleasant St, Morgantown, WV

Wish I could remember where we played between Pittsburgh and Morgantown. I bet I've got a notebook somewhere with that information. If I remember correctly, Aaron Flanagan was the name of the person that always booked us in Morgantown. Those shows were always fun. We covered "Where Eagles Dare at this show and the place went nuts. The next couple of times we played Morgantown the flyer featured a photo taken during that cover.

Law Biting Citizens were the local hardcore heroes at the time. Pale Creation were a metallic hardcore band from Cleveland along the lines of Starkweather and other tech-ish metal bands of the late 90s. If you've spent any time among Dom Romeo, than you know the "legend" of Nick Fiction. Eyes Upon Separation were an Ohio metal/hc band featuring JT Woodruff who would go on to form Hawthorne Heights. According to Wikipedia, the drummer also went on to join Today Is the Day.

It's always fun to look back at these old flyers and make the connections to bands that featured people that would go on to play in pretty big bands.

February 11, 2000: The El Camino Club of Southwestern Pennsylvania, The Shoddy Puppet Company, Grand Buffet, Looks Like Rain @ The Mr. Roboto Project, Pittsburgh, PA

This was Looks Like Rain's first out of town show, at Pittsburgh's Mr. Roboto Project. As I recall, it was not all that well attended, but I was stoked on Grand Buffet. In the following couple of years, they seemed to have a pretty good run in the indie hip-hop scene, touring with Sage Francis and Sole. I remember them playing at the Ottobar a few years later and picking up their Pittsburgh Hearts EP, which got a lot of play from me for a while. I don't remember anything about The El Camino Club or The Shoddy Puppet Company's performance. The Mr. Roboto Project was a rad little DIY venue that had a huge influence on us a few years later when we started the Charm City Art Space.

February 5, 2000: Looks Like Rain, Red Angel Dragnet, Brace, Seven Ages @ the Solar Haus, Blacksburg, VA

Hey folks. Over six years since the last post. Wow. The last time I posted I was doing so in my spare time at my job at a print shop in Baltimore, MD. Now I'm doing it in my spare time from my job at an ad agency in Boulder, CO. A year and half after moving and we're still pulling stuff from boxes. I recently discovered the box with all my flyers and found some time recently to start scanning them again. Work is a lot busier around here, but I'm hoping to get 2-3 posts up per week. Tell your friends if they're into this sort of thing. Going to be posting them up on my Instagram as well (mikeriley131).

Anyway, in pulling out the flyers, I found some that were in a folder for Looks Like Rain stuff (my old band), so we're gonna get out of chronological order for a bit and fill in some holes for the year 2000. This flyer is from a show that LLR played in Blacksburg, VA with Bryan Flowers's (LLR drummer) old band, Seven Ages, as well as Brace and Red Angel Dragnet. As it's been six years since the last post, my memory is even worse, so forgive me when I don't remember too many details from some of these shows. I do remember that Solar Haus shows were always a lot of fun. Can't remember much about the band Red Angel Dragnet other than Bryan booked them a few times after he moved to Baltimore.

I welcome your comments if you've got any memories of any of the shows I post.