LEARN NOTHING - Tallahassee Trip

For those that aren't familiar, I sing in a disorganized, cluster fuck of a band called Learn Nothing. We've been around for almost a year and have been consistently playing shows mainly in the Tampa/Orlando area. This past Friday we made a trip up to Tallahassee to play a show with 1984, No Excuses and DEA. We all met up at my house around 11:30 and from there we headed out to pick up Gil Sayfan of Think Right/Triple B/Ill Mosher fame. Gil is taking a little break from the streets of Boston to come visit us all in Florida. This trip wouldn’t have been the same without him and anyone that knows Gil knows the truth to this. From Gil’s place we embarked on our journey, which started out with me giving the wrong directions and Nick getting pissed off like he always does. What a guy. We got back on track and Nick’s nerves slowly started to boil down. We jammed some classic NYHC for awhile, most notably Warzone, Breakdown and Straight Ahead. Gil, Matt and I car moshed hard as nails for the duration of these songs. Sing alongs were of course included with invisible mics. Eventually we made a stop and I was thrown out of the “navigator” position and was replaced by the poser navigator, Danny. The car ride was long, long and long so I’ll skip ahead to when we were closer to our destination. About 50 miles out from Tallahassee we hit some hard rain. Unluckily for us, Nick’s windshield wipers fucking suck and barely work. We had to pull over at a gas station until it died down. When it finally did we piled back in the car and continued on.

When we first got into Tallahassee I wasn’t impressed. The downtown area and University area are pretty nice but mostly everything else is a giant shit hole. We finally arrived at Jack’s house sometime after 5. Jack was the one putting on this show and he plays bass in DEA. We were introduced to his drummer who’s name I forgot but he was a really cool kid. Immediately we left Jack’s house and headed to a local Chinese buffet. It should be noted that we are huge Chinese buffet fans. We hit the buffet hard and I instantly knew that later on I would regret eating here. From there we swung back by Jack’s house so he could pick up DEA’s merch and then headed to the show. The show was at a place called The Shed and when we pulled up it looked pretty interesting. There were already about 20 people there and it was looking to be a good turnout. We headed inside, met the people that ran the place and checked out the space. It’s a perfect place for small hardcore shows.

1984 are from Tallahassee and were the first band to play. Apparently their drummer was in some old hardcore bands back in that era. They were good but his talking cut into their performance. Kids were standing around and not much was going on. Midway through their set I had to leave because the Chinese buffet was starting to haunt me. I had to run across the street to a Popeye’s to properly dispose of my buffet waste. By the time I got back, the second band, No Excuses, were starting to play. They too are from Tallahasse and kids were going off for every song. By this time the place was fucking packed, 50-60 kids. I missed the last few songs they played to help get everything ready since we were on next. They finished their set and we started loading our shit in. Speaking of shit, I had to make a second run to Popeye’s right before we went on to dispose of more buffet waste. By the time I ran back the rest of the band was checking gutairs/drums. Kids started coming inside and the place was packing up. We had a special intro planned with the help of our fellow coreman, Gil Sayfan. We brought Matt’s boombox and started to blast “Born In The USA” by Bruce Springsteen. We got everyone in the room clapping along while Gil cleverly introduced each member of Learn Nothing. I really wish someone would have got that on film, it was ridiculous. We cut Springsteen and I took the mic from Gil. There was a good vibe in the room and kids were moving around instantly. We got through half our songs when this drunk idiot stumbled in. I could tell it would be a problem. We played a couple more jams and kids were still moving around for us, it was fucking awesome. During the last song the drunk idiot decided it would be a good idea to throw beer all over me. I responded by spitting in his dirty face twice. Kids pulled him back to prevent anything else. We finished the song and kids demanded covers. People were shouting "INFEST!" and I really wish we could have delivered. Next time guys, I promise. I thanked everyone and the kids were really nice to us all. Everyone had a lot of good things to say to us after our set and it was much appreciated. It was probably the best show that we have played and I can’t wait to play there again. DEA played after and kids were still going off. They played a good set and busted out a Cro-Mags, Floorpunch, and In My Eyes cover. All good in my book. It should be noted that Gil’s mosh was harder than nails during this set. King of the pit.


After DEA’s set we sold some shirts and started to pack everything up. Jack hooked us up with a very generous amount of money to make it back home and it was greatly appreciated. Soon after we headed out, made a stop at the gas station and got back on the road home. The car ride home was out of control for the first hour or so. We recited lyrics from some classic songs. Bare Naked Ladies, Coolio and Will Smith to name a few. After this choir session we all started to fade in and out of sleep, minus Danny who was driving aka swerving. 4 hours later we were back in Orlando, safe and sound. It was a great time and was one of those shows that really makes you want to keep playing. Big thanks to Jack and DEA, No Excuses and all the kids that came out to the show, it means a lot. We’ll be back soon. Punx.

-Nick V