Profit Prevention Tour (Australia) - Leaving the U.S.

So I've left San Diego, and in about 32 hours I'll be leaving the country for my first international tour. I can't explain how excited, anxious and nervous I feel! But I will say that I'm most looking forward to traveling across the country and getting to see Uluru (Ayers rock), the great barrier reef, the rainforest on the north coast, and (hopefully) get to see Kangaroo island off of the southern shore. Let alone all the amazing people and animals I will surely meet along the way as well.

I've been stressing myself out big time about making sure I have everything ready, so much even that I pace around the room thinking if I have every angle of my travel plans covered. I don't want to jinx it, but for the past few weeks I kept waking up in the middle of the night TERRIFIED that I missed my flight, forgot my passport, lost my guitar etc. etc. the day I was supposed to leave - thus preventing me from reaching the first few dates of the tour. I think some of the stress might be due in part to the fact that I haven't booked any of the shows for this tour. It's strange not to have control over the itinerary, but I'm in the trustworthy hands of my friend Lauren so I'm sure everything will go fine.

It will be awesome to meet other xvx, vegan, anarchist, atheist, straight edge and/or feminist people on another part of the planet and see what their community is like. It will also be awesome to meet animals of a species that I've only seen photos of (koalas, kangaroos, deadly snakes etc.), and immerse myself in a culture and climate I knew next to nothing about when I originally planned this trip. and now after researching it's biodiversity I can't wait to go and experience it all! Even the bad stuff!

I will greatly miss all my friends in the U.S. over the next two months, and if any of you miss me too feel free to send me an email: mikexvx@gmail.com

Love always,
Mike XVX

Fall tour '09 Recap

santa cruz, ca

all I can say is: vegan milkshakes, beautiful river spots, epic power outages, late night french fries, dog walking, Miguel playing and good time having. Thank you Santa Cruz for hosting my first ever great day there!


oakland, ca

The show was hosted in Holly's (small) living room where about 30 people had to be crammed into this tiny space. I played in front of an incredibly rambunctious group of people, and it probably made for the most hilarious show of the tour. Before anyone set up one of the roommates was playing a video game, and while her character would walk past another character everyone would scream "RIP HIS HEAD OFF!!" regardless of the context. needless to say she was NOT happy about this, haha. (I would explain this better but I don't understand video game terminology. sorry)

aside from that, I love just sitting and watching people yell at each other from across the room when I'm supposed to play (not being sarcastic at all, I swear), and I have to wait for their argument etc. to be over with. so funny!

I was so psyched to be playing with Miguel again, one of my favorite people to see when I'm out and about. His set was hilarious as usual, and included a rendition of "remix to ignition" by R. Kelly. so fucking good, I promise.

reno, nv

Played a show at the Hen Den with this AMAZING band called My Flag is on Fire (go check them out: http://www.myspace.com/myflagisonfire). I missed them last time because I got altitude sickness so badly I threw up everywhere (not even kidding) and this time I actually got it again, but not so bad that I couldn't play/enjoy the show.

Stayed with the SWEETEST people ever. ever ever ever. Made a frustrating and delicious raw pie with danielle, drank some tea and hung out with some adorable kittens. Oh, and I had to strategically place my bag in a way where the cats couldn't pee on it. that's always fun too.

lincoln city, or

The drive out here was insanely long, so we stopped at a lake out in the middle of nowhere and swam for awhile, and then spent a night parked out in the woods in Oregon instead. as we were pulling up to our sleeping spot Andy started yelling "What the fuck are you!!!" out the window. Startled I shot a look outside to see 2 deer running alongside the car through the weeds. They probably thought we were idiots.

Played inside of a record store in Lincoln City, but it wasn't an actual show. I sang for about 45 minutes while people walked in and bought things, pretty strange! I'd never done anything like that before.. well actually, I played inside an indoor mall once for $50. I'd say that was probably more weird than this.

Afterwards our wonderful host Zelan took us to the natural food store where I had the most amazing hummus of my life! (Made by the womyn who owns it, and prepared fresh daily.) He then treated us to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant/porn shop/head shop/bar respectively called "The Filthy." interesting? I think so.

afterwards we skated the most rugged and amazing skatepark I've ever been to. Everything was super steep and treacherous, and the rain made it extra scary. not to mention the 3 or 4 drug deals we saw go down while we were there.
also, at the park there was a dad trying to aggressively "teach" his son how to skate, while the whole time yelling to "stop being a pussy and drop in" which we thought was a bit inappropriate. I don't respond well when I see child abuse, so on our way out I encouraged the child to make a positive change in his life by saying: "hey kid, you should kill your dad!"
We'll see if he takes my advice.

Spent the night with Zelan watching The Office (duh) and then andy and myself went canoeing in the morning on the GIGANTIC LAKE THAT IS HIS BACKYARD. it took us like 40 minutes to paddle all the way across it. but it was so so beautiful!

portland, or

Portland was the same as ever: Fun, inviting, adventurous and action packed. Got to hang out with some of my favorite people, ate delicious vegan food everywhere I went and hung around the vegan mini-mall for about 1/4 of my stay. Went swimming in Multnomah falls, confronted a sexist vampire, almost got punched several times by dads in line at the circus and spit off the overpass of the freeway (immature... so what?). We also got to sit outside the Roseland theater and watch hundreds of Juggalos and Juggalettes spray Faygo all over each other while waiting to get into an ICP show. Saw a pregnant Juggallette smoking a cigarette as well. not so cool.

victoria, bc

Missed the ferry to victoria by 5 minutes after driving 5 1/2 hours to get there. We had it planned out perfectly but we got stuck in traffic when we were leaving Portland. So bummed! and you think that's stupid? guess what, that's the second time it's happened to me!! Victoria hates me : ( (and I don't mean the ferry system, I mean all the people that came out to see me play and I didn't show up) Hopefully someday I'll make it over.

Instead we spent the day in Port Angeles, which if you follow the Twilight series would know that it's where a lot of the story takes place. So of course the whole town is "twilight" themed, with one cafe boasting to be the "site of bella and edwards first date" with a line out the door and an hour and a half wait to be seated. People love to waste their money, don't they?

p.s. if you like Twilight not only are you not reading a decent vampire story, you also need to get a life. I don't care if that's mean. I don't.

I will say this has been one of, if not the best tour I've been on thus far. thank you to everyone who booked me a show, gave me a place to sleep, fed me, hugged me, high fived me, donated so I wouldn't be stranded and made me feel welcome in your city. I wish tour would never end.

love always,
mike xvx

memorable quotes from this tour:

"I am racist against vampires" -Brian from Scapegoat tattoo

"I don't like it" - Miranda (referring to the wild, angry juggalos)

"Hey you want to hear a joke? BANANA" -Courtney

"are you my friend? My name's Joseph. I'm going to kill you" -Joseph (a random crackhead we met in downtown Portland)

"Rabble rabble SHIT rabble" - some guy on his bike

Sorry!

I feel bad for not updating this thing as often as I should, but I haven't found time to write anything down. there has been too much going on! I promise I will write a long recap of the tour when it's all over with!

stay strong my friends

mike xvx

up the vegan punx tour - Fall 09 #1

San Diego
Riverside
Santa Barbara

the first night of tour was in San Diego at the City Heights Freeskool. It was sad to say goodbye to all my roomates and the friends i've made over the past couple months, but I'm excited to be touring again! The show itself was very relaxed, and i had a nice time just hanging out with some friendly and inviting people.

we made an awesome gluten-free vegan carrot cake for the day i left (which i piped some of the frosting flowers myself!!), but when i woke up that morning to enjoy it before leaving for Riverside i had discovered our kitchen had turned into a BATTLEFIELD. i had walked right into the middle of war between my roomates and a giant rat that's been eating our food and peeing everywhere for the past few weeks. there was a milk-crate corral circling our oven - everyone armed with a broom and our friend barry carrying the compost bucket in hopes of trapping him. now keep in mind, it was not our intention to hurt him - we set up a humane rat trap in the house that he was obviously too big to fit in and as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures. the battle raged on in the kitchen for about a half hour, everyone screaming and running for cover, until the rat finally made a final charge towards me, leaping OVER my side of the barrier and running straight into the downstairs bedroom. we ended up clearing the whole room out, attempted to make our milk-crate barrier again, and even had him trapped in the boxspring for awhile but he still managed to escape out of the room once again and barricaded himself inside the oven. we gave up for now, but he knows he's been in a fight... that's for sure.

the next day was the show in Riverside, which included a set by Acoustic Destroyer, a vegan potluck and a screening of the movie Jesus Camp (which gets scarier everytime i see it). After the show ended a womyn brought over a possum named Harriet that she had rescued which was one of the cutest animals i have ever met in my life! super cuddly! everyone in riverside is always so sweet to me and i look forward to going back there time and time again.

we (my friend andy and myself) drove into Santa Barbara last night to skip the heat and LA traffic, which was a huge relief. i didnt have a show today so we spent the day eating Thai food at my all time favorite restaurant here in SB, and jumping off the goleta pier.
while leaping off the banister of the pier, a guy that works at the bait shop approached us trying to "suggest that we leave" because the lifeguard was watching and we'd be getting tickets if we didn't stop. I had just jumped off at the time while doing a 'flying squirrel'(which is a move where you grab your ankles and look straight up at the sky while falling), so our friend scott asked him what he thought about it... with no reply, haha. so once he turned his back of course scott jumped off immediately - resulting in the man getting in my face asking for my name while i laughed at him. once he walked back to his shop we had past on the way out asking once again what he "thought of the flying squirrel" and once he didn't respond, i exclaimed "it was nice, huh?" and then asked for his name repeatedly in a voice that mocked his own. hahaha.
for all of you that already thought i was a smartass - this confirms it.

hope to see you soon my friends

love always
mike xvx

For Love and Liberation

So I've finished recording my new EP: "For Love and Liberation". It's a little over 8 minutes long, but I have to say I'm pretty satisfied with the recordings. I'm just waiting on the artwork, and I'll be setting a release date soon after.

there are only 2 songs on this release with 'official' lyrics, but I'll post them for you here to read:

I see the life that I want

sometimes i think of all the things that fire can consume
sometimes i dream of molotovs and all the good that they can do
sometimes i'm eager to live in a world where all the cops are dead
discard the system that demeans us all and police ourselves instead

i can tell that you're searching my eyes
and you can see that i'm not satisfied
what excuse will they offer this time
let's stand up and take back our lives
this time

sometimes i think of all the different people i have met
sometimes i think of all the different places i have been
i see the life that i want to live, and you can be there too
'cause i don't think i'd be as scared if i was next to you

tonight we ride

tonight we're riding swiftly through your darkened one way street
busting out the tinted windows of your lifted SUV's
we are warriors the moment that our asses touch these seats
and we are free

We pass the family pets whose needs are often overlooked
just another piece of property in this wealthy neighborhood
seen as objects, not as friends, they're not respected like they should
and if i could
i'd save them all
maybe i should


everyday the sun sets and you dread when it goes down
we'll use the cover of the darkness to take back our fucking town
our anger fuels our battle-cry, you'll shiver at the sound
when we're around
tonight we ride
we'll tear it down

tonight we'll ride
and tear it down

we're riding past a farm where migrant workers harvest corn
and the products of their labor often sold in fancy stores
but the cost is too expensive than their families can afford
yet you abhor
the working class
the working poor

we won't ask for liberation, we won't bother with demands
not accepting what you offer, not accepting what we have
we'll build the world we want to see, i'm positive we can
won't ask again
we'll take it all
won't ask again


I'm one song short of recording my next EP which will be a small collection of songs that are as far away from social and political issues as I'd like to stray. it should be interesting!

I love my bike, my friends, and my life,
Mike XVX

In case you were wondering...

Hey friends, just writing to let you know what I've been up to recently. we'll do this with bullet points to save us time:

*yes, I am still taking a break from shows.

*no, I was not able to make it to the show in Portland for personal reasons. being super stressed out was exactly what I was trying to avoid this summer. I scheduled a show in Washington because I wanted to support the organizations that the show benefits, but I'm still not 100% sure I'll be able to make it.

*yes, I am recording a new e.p. early next month and I'm almost done writing another. They both are something unique that I've never done before, so be on the lookout for that!

*no, whatever rumors you've heard about me playing such and such place probably aren't true. some shows may pop up here and there but you'll more than likely hear it from me if it's actually going to happen.

I am sorry if this post sounds a bit short (in manner, not length) but I have limited time to write this and I have been trying to avoid contact with any computers, televisions, or people who are obsessed with either or both.

Keep it vegan homies!

love always,
mike xvx

a little matter of genocide

white lies written in red blood
fill our textbooks with denial
they say "genocide" too harsh a term
a dismissal of their struggle

the Chickasaw
the Cherokee
the unconquered Seminoles
the Muscogee Creek
and the Choctaw speak
but their story goes untold

driven from the swamps and plains
Oklahoma's not our home
assimilated and annihilated
in disgust we march along

5 rings embody poverty, fascism and corruption
displacement of indigenous tribes
and ecological destruction

dehumynized and victimized
marginalized and cast aside

olympics in 2010
the tears of 1838
we won't back down, we'll protect this land
I'll use your blood to paint my face