We played a lot of great shows at the Knitting Factory before they closed and I have a lot of fond memories.
The first time we played the Knitting Factory in Hollywood was with Order Of The Fly, Murder Land and Back to Zero. It was our first taste of Hollywood. There’s something seedy and desperate behind the façade of the golden stars, plastic movie attractions and gift shops. Most noticeable when we leave the venue at two in the morning when the streets are littered with drunks, homeless, taxies and cop cars.
The Knitting Factory had 3 stages, a small bar room stage, a medium open floor stage, and a large stage that had a balcony. When we started playing there we played the medium stage (we never played the small girly stage). After playing several shows for Church Of The 8th Day promotions we worked our way into headlining the medium stage, our first time headlining in LA.
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| Backstage. |
In 2008 we headlined the Knitting Factory for the first time, and it was one of my favorite shows. They gave us the VIP room upstairs with waters and pizza. And we played with some of our favorite bands Zombeast, Order Of The Fly, and Murderland. I think on the main stage they had some private rap party and on the mini-stage Peachcake played, another band from AZ whom we played with before at a VFW hall.
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| Zombeast! |
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| The magical backstage. |
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| Order Of The Fly |
There have been several festivals where we got to rock on the main stage with bands like 13 Step Rebels, Koffin Kats, Rezurex, and Frenzy.
Logistically it was a pain in the ass to load in when we played the main stage cause we had to unhook the trailer in the small back parking lot then park the van in the underground parking garage, then walk all the gear and merch down the cramped back service hallways about 200 feet. No big deal for most bands, but when we’ve got 12 totes of merchandise it sucks.
Down that hallway I’ve seen fist fights, wasted drunk chicks, instruments get stolen and Nick 13 hanging out, just what you would expect.
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| A view from the stage. |
When we played the medium stage we parked in the loading zone at the side of the venue. It was a perfect spot until we got a ticket for being parked in a loading zone.
I’ve seen many people get stupid drunk and kicked out of the Knitting Factory not sure if it’s - A. that’s just Hollywood. B. the venue gave off a stupid vibe. C. the other venues we play don’t care about retarded drunks.
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| Across the street at a booze shop. |
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| Also across the street. |
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