The Viper Room

Recently we got home from a bunch of dates on the west coast and also many dates on the east coast touring with blood brother Joshua James and his crew of ruffians. We have many a tale to tell...

Show 1 happened more as a surprise than anything. Driving through Vegas on our way to LA, we got a call from our booking agent saying that there was an opening at the Viper room that night and they wondered if we could fill it. We looked at the clock, laughed at the idea, and decided to try to make it. The next six hours involved us driving near full speed and stopping only for those of us that needed relieving.

We made it to The Viper Room. We were greeted (if you can call it that) by a lovely, very large man who cared less about us then the fruit checker at the Nevada/California border. He let us in, we got our wrist bands, unloaded the gear and got familiar with our new surroundings. We had no idea what to expect of The Viper Room. Dark, very dark. Red and black vinyl seats, carpet stairs, mirrors every where, strange doors leading to nowhere, women greeting you naked other than a small piece of fabric that would be considered more of a doily than a piece of clothing. The women there were like the women you might see on American Gladiators, muscular, man-like, large shoulders, hairy feet, in fact it is yet to be decided if the women there were actually women. We had a hard time deciphering, it was dark. We had a small amount of time to kill and went around looking for food. Found some at a small sushi place next door to The Viper Room and ate sushi from a hateful, Japanese chef.

While eating, you could hear the sound from the band before us on stage, but you couldn't really get a feel for what kind of music it was through the drywall and rice paper. We left to investigate, which turned out to be a mistake.

The band before us was literally a full-on-heavy-metal-hair-band.The lead singer was man-handling with the mic so hard that sweat was dripping from it. After a while you kind of got used to seeing them on stage, and in fact, they very much fit the vibe of the place. Purple suede elven boots, tight pleather pants, leopard skin and studded leather vests combined with synchronised movements and an occasional outstretched tongue directed at the crowd, fit The Viper Room scene better than you could have ever imagined. Soon you realized however that you had to take the stage after them. The young group of gentlemen that we are. I can see this story growing even funnier over time.

At the time it took place however, it was not funny at all that we had to take the stage after Bon Jovi and play to their group of Hells Angels and many manly female fans. Surprisingly they liked us, or pretended to anyways. We drove away laughing, much like how we laughed when we decided to go through with the show passing through Vegas. And that was show 1...