Final Gasp headed out on a North American run just as “New Day Symptoms” came out February 27 on Relapse Records, produced by Arthur Rizk.
First proper headline stretch for the record, following a run of tours with bands like Abbath, Gatecreeper, Fiddlehead, Poison Ruin and Imperial Triumphant. The expectation was there and the diary they kept doesn’t try to match it.
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The run started strong — hometown show in Cambridge, good turnout in Philadelphia — then quickly leveled out into something less reliable. Some nights worked, some didn’t.
They bounced between empty rooms and solid ones, long drives and short resets, sleeping in the van, crashing with friends, catching other bands when they could. There were moments that stood out — a chaotic Salt Lake City show, a last-minute outdoor set at Giant Rock in Joshua Tree — but just as many that didn’t leave much behind.
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By the end, it evened out again, closing on better shows, with everything else in between left as-is in the diary.
Final Gasp is Jake Murphy (vocals), Alex Consentino (guitar/synth), Sean Rose (bass), Peter Micanovic (guitar), and Kevin Ordway (drums).
Day 1. Cambridge, MA at Sonia with Eternal Champion, Sumerlands, and Concilum.
This was the first show of our tour for New Day Symptoms.
Hometown gig with all friends, we did a cover of Solitude by Candlemass with Paris from Concilium. It was awesome, people were hard dancing to it. Every band killed it and it was great to be back.
Day 2. Philadelphia, PA at The First Unitarian Church with Eternal Champion, Sumerlands, and The Virgos.
Philadelphia is my second favorite place on earth. Boston is always going to be number 1. I was excited to see The Virgo and I was not let down at all.
Day 3. Day off.
Hung out at our homie Mikes house in New Jersey because we stayed with him after the Philly show.
Him and his partner made us this massive breakfast platter and Peter fixed a guitar for him. We went to Pittsburgh on the way to Cincinnati to hang with Jarhead Fertilizer since they were playing the Rock Room.
Day 4. Cincinnati, OH at DSGN CLLCTV.
I don’t think I had ever played Cincinnati before. The part of town where the show is seems to be really cool. A little bit of a college town. This show was not great. We did find a hidden note in the hall though.
Day 5. Kansas City, MO at Howdy.
We’ve played here before in the summer of 2023.
It’s a real ghost town setting out here I love it. It looks like a movie set for a western movie or something. This show also was not great at all.
Day 6 day off.
Drove to Denver after Kansas City and we parked the van in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Slept in it over night and woke up to some fresh mountain air. Checked out the Stanley hotel and got some groceries then headed to the area where the show was.
Day 7. Denver, CO at Bar 404.
This spot was cool. It’s on the same street we’ve always played with venues like Bluebird Theater, or Hi Dive. Newer venue having shows. Staff was amazing and fed all of us like crazy and the show was great.
Day 8. Salt Lake City, Utah at Aces High Saloon.
A lot of these places I would say are maybe our 5th time going to. Aces High is always a great time and everyone here rocks. Show was amazing and Skin Show and Recidvist were bad ass. Someone got into a fight during Recidivist and a fire extinguisher went off, place was smoked. They put some fans out and opened the door though it was fine.
Day 9. Day off.
Long drive to Portland today.
We hit a chillis and drove to an ACTUAL ghost town in the middle of the forest somewhere in Oregon.
We parked the van here and slept here over night. It’s pitch black and there’s no service.
Place was abandoned in 1947.
Day 10 Portland, OR at The High Water Mark.
This show was awesome. It was with At The Heart Of The World, Vueltas, and Smearing. Industrial, Deathrock and Grind. Something for everyone. Got to hang out with our friends in Unto Others for the night too and that was a blast.
Day 11 Vancouver, BC at The Cobalt.
We played here before on the tour we did with Devil Master and Fuming Mouth and it was a bit underwhelming. Same thing this time. Vancouver is a depressing place but there are some great people there that we’ve become close with so I guess that was cool.
Day 12 Seattle, WA at The Funhouse.
We also played at the spot next door to this on the Tribulation and Unto Others tour, El Corazon.
This show also rocked. Monday nights usually suck but Smearing played this one as well and I think helped book it. Filth Is Eternal also played.
Day 13 Sacramento, CA at Cafe Colonial.
Very cool spot. Bands we played with were cool as well. I guess this used to be an old movie theatre and they have shows where the lobby used to be. Neurosis played here a while ago.
Day 14 Oakland, CA at Thee Stork Club
Oakland is notorious for having your shit getting broken into. Just the Bay in general. Luckily that didn’t happen to us. The venue had all these crazy John Waters decorations everywhere and dollhouses it was awesome. The show got booked 2 days before we got there, so you can do the math.
Day 15 Los Angeles, CA at Knucklehad
There was a DJ night after our show so we had to have the gig start early. I was a little worried but people really turned up and it was maybe the best show we had in our run of California shows. It was the first night Sympathy Flowers met up with us for them to do the weekend with us.
Day 16 Joshua Tree, CA at Giant Rock
Unreal. The show was supposed to happen at a bar in Twentynine Palms but it was shut down for some reason.
The promoter said it was warm enough for us to do the show out in the desert at Giant Rock and we happily obliged.
It was the coolest experience this band has had. Shout out Bill for being the best.
Day 17 San Diego, CA at Brick By Brick
I love this place. The staff have become good friends and it feels like a second home when we come here. In Covert was heavy as hell and completely surprised me. Great band.
Day 18 Mesa, AZ at Nile Undergound
We’ve played here before both upstairs to a sold out crowd and downstairs to a packed house. One of the opening bands were very young kids and they came up to me after and thanked me for having them on the show. They said it’s been a dream for them to play here and we were the reason why. That rocks.
Day 19 Day off.
We drove all day today to make our way towards Tulsa.
We went to the Grand Canyon and hung out there for a bit. We saw some elk and made our way to a rest stop and crashed for the night.
Day 20 Day off.
After waking up we got some coffee at a small mom and pop shop off the highway.
Then we kept driving til we got to our hotel in Oklahoma. It had a hot tub and a pool so that was dope.
Day 21 Tulsa, OK The Whittier Bar
Abysmal. The promoter booked the show 2 days before we got there. Don’t really have anything positive to say about this one.
Day 22 Austin, TX at The Lost Well
Hells Heroes is happening at the same time in Houston as well as Crowbar and Eyehategod an hour away so I don’t have high hopes. I’m watching this band Tortures play right now and they’re the best band that has opened this tour. We hit a steak house on the way.
Day 23 Dallas, TX at Dusty’s
Another spot we played on the Devil Master run.
We played outside in the back and it was raining and freezing. It’s nice out this time and our friends in Saintpeeler played last night in Austin and play with us here tonight. I got some BBQ and It wasn’t that good. Been feeling like this.
Day 24 Little Rock, AR at Vinos
This was a blast. The staff was awesome and the kids thst came were stoked for the show.
The promoter and I actually realized our old bands had played with each other in the past, because I said on the mic the last time i had played here I met a girl that ran away or was running away at the venue and hoped she was doing alright today. We checked out this park and it was beautiful.
Day 25 Indianapolis, IN at State Street Pub
Just got to Indy. We’re at the bar now it’s a very cool small dive spot. Him Horrison was awesome, very cool alternative country band and Pat and The Pissers played. They were a blast to watch. This was the last show and we’re going to start making our journey home tomorrow. We sold out of the rest of our vinyl at this show.
Day 26 Home.
Derek is a trooper and just decided to drive straight the whole way home.
The guys don’t like when I drive because I have to stop every 30 minutes to use a bathroom. I should probably get that looked at. That’s all folks!
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