12/30/11

Last show(s) of the year! Me and the girls and the Hickoids (and Glambilly) at the Mix. San Antonio is the perfect place for a pre NYE show.
We all shared gear, it was a genuine love fest.

Breakdown

I can't say enough good things about the Mix. Free booze (!) and a whole bunch of happy drunken people. The "girls" and I whipped it good. We played "The Boyds Creek Breakdown" for the first time and it rocked. I even came up with a new intro for "You Make Me Feel...", it was beautiful.

Hickoids had Tony on drums and Lutz on fifth man duties. Luts had just finished a 15 hour shift at a fireworks stand. Hickoids!

(I know it's a lame joke but I can't help myself) See you next year...

12/28/11

I guess this falls under the headline of "interesting" topics, interesting to me at least...

The girls and I practiced at Music Lab last night and it seemed like they were having a prom. Lots of young attractiveish people loading gear really dressed up. I mean, one guy was wearing a tie. He wasn't just picking up something and was dressed for a show. He was dressed for rehearsal. Odd.

I did notice a bunch of cute girls going in to the same practice space and I thought about joining them but I don't want to prove I'm a creepy old man. I'll just let them think it for now...

12/16/11

So it was a standard Friday night, you know a (Minor Mishap) marching band and some Gay Sportscasters in a "former" lesbian bar. There was an abundance of nervous energy and no place for it, so it crapped it's self all over the stage and the dance floor. A little sad, a little standard...

Breakdown

No beer tickets and I played through the house rig which I think was a fancy ashdown head through some cheap PA speakers. It sounded muddy and compressed with no attack... At least we have dancers to keep people entertained.

Mojo Nixon!!!

I saw Mojo last night. He is still a big fat idiot genius.

12/2/11

Casters at the Scoot with the Pocket Fishermen, a guaranteed good time, but when it's Lance Farley's birthday the place could explode That badassed fucker turned 50 and whipped the drum kit like a rented mule.
The whole night was a real love fest, everyone there was drunk and happy. I got hugged and kissed countless times by members of both sexes and I didn't really mind it at all.

Breakdown

Buff from EL Pathos used my rig and it sounded real good from the audience. It sounded better when we played...
I only got two beer tickets (lame) but Schlitz was $2 a can. Not too horrible. I had plenty. The crowd was extra randy after we played, I think scantily clad dancers set a certain kind of mood and people get horny. It's perfectly understandable.

12/1/11

Last night it was the Hickoids at Emo's. It's the last week of business for the original location on 6th street. They are shutting it down so they can run "super  Emo's" which is in the former location of the Backroom (Oh what a glorious shithole that was!). The place is pretty diffrent now, no stairs to the former office upstairs, no "outside" stage and for some odd reason the urinal wasn't leaking piss all over the floor. I'm gonna miss not standing in my and others urine while I add more...

Breakdown

The sound guy, Tom, is one of the best in town. He can take any batch of half-assed idiots and make them sound like a practiced combo. It's a skill developed over thousands of nights of mixing three to eight bands each evening. He almost makes it look (sound) easy. He told me someone (from Emo's)  told him not to worry he would have a job. Somebody needs to snap that dude up and give him some serious $.

No Johnnie Hell, but we had Jacob and Scott. Even I don't know who I'm gonna be playing with. I got three beer tickets and that was all I needed.

I'm kinda gonna miss that shithole.

11/13/11

Another day at Jovitas. My buddy Ken Jones (aka Poetken) asked me to join him in a little round robin songwriter swap. I did and it was fun. I am not into the whole four songwriters on the stage playing one song each going around and around (I've played this way and it's been called a guitar pull, one of the worst names). Most of my songs are two and a half minutes long and when your followed by three others that have songs four to five minutes long you get kinda bored. The "mini set" route is so much cooler. Three songs each and switch. It gives you time to build a little something. Three songs about murder, love or sex. Or some of each really changes the dynamic of a boring songwriters night.

Breakdown

The staff was the same as the last show so everything was great there. My solo setup Is so good it hurts. My Guild jazz box into that Top Hat portly cadet is so sweet I could explode. 5 Watts of dreamy goodness.

11/5/11

It's back to me and the "girls". Wiley's first show/ 5th rehearsal/ 2nd time to play with us with a full drum kit and it was pretty damn great. The "band" before us was a couple of older gentlemen with a couple of mics and some weird black tower they sat the computer on. The computer had the music they sang to. They did hits like "The Girl From Ipanema" and "Unchained Melody" and they mentioned something about releasing a cd...

After us was Chuck's Wagon. Three guys from Australia and two from Central TX. Some pretty bad assed straight up country with a little edge to it. Fine stuff. They opened for the Hickoids here.

Breakdown

It was at Jovitas and the beers are cheap and the crowd was decent. The LPB-1 still rules. A nice and simple Saturday night.

11/28/11

Hickoids have been on a little break (and are on one again until NYE) but we snuck one in last saturday.
Uncle Billy's out in the Oasis complex near lake Travis. I haven't been to the Oasis in years, they always hyped being on the deck to watch the sunset, with ALL of the new decks I am certain they have pushed that to the limit.

Breakdown.

Billy's is just one of the may parts of this bar/restaurant complex. It's a brewpub and I am very happy to say the porter was excellent and free! (the first sign of a good place) They fed us (second sign) and paid us (trifecta!). I could get spoiled by this.
Tom filled in on drums (Jonie Hell was in Vegas, bastard) and Lutz filled in on the 5th man duties. The sound guy was really cool, but he had his work cut out for him. Mixing in a glass concrete huge room has got to be the hardest thing, but he made it sound really good.

Truck stop question

So why does a truck stop in Carl's Corner TX have all of these maps for BC?

10/15/11

First mobile post

I'm on i35 sitting in the back of the freak van heading home. Hickoids played at this place called the Kessler theatre and it's one hell of a nice place. The deco front is really cool...

We could hear ourselves on stage which is something we aren't too accustomed to. It's amazing what good gear and competent sound people can do.

Breakdown

I ended up with three drink tickets, not bad but lone stars were $4 each! That is painful to my sensitive Austin wallet.

My rig rules

This is only the second show I've played with it, but It is incredibly versatile. I love turning up the tube tone and makin things "Bootsy"! One hell of a good sound.

Gear nerd

That is a picture of my new and old favorite toy, the Electro Harmonix Linear Power Booster (LPB-1).
I picked up the old one years ago when I was playing solo all the time. I needed a preamp for my acoustic, most PAs don't have enough gain for a straight acoustic and I found that thing used, in a guitar store and fell in love. After a while I used it so much I got tired of changing the battery (notice the four screws on the top, total pain in the ass) so I added the wall wart. That made it sound like shit so I moved on.

Just the other day I saw the "new" LBP and I said to myself "GET IT!" so I did.

I don't use it for solo stuff anymore (hollow body and an amp for solo now) but that thing does some amazing things to the electric. I've been using a modded blues driver and a compressor for a long time and they sound great, but putting the LPB in front of those two takes me to supersonic delight! I'm a guy who never used a pedal until a couple of years ago and now I have (and need!) three. What a cool toy.

New/Old

The new one beats the pants off the old one. The fact that it has a foot switch alone makes it better. The only bad things I can say about it is the case is cheap and the battery that came with it was total crap (but who would actually use that thing anyway). This thing sells for about $25 and that is one hell of a steal.

A little more about "CHiP's"

For background see this.

I finally paid the ticket. They added a $12.95 convenience charge to the total making it $167.95. I could have avoided the charge if I'd shown up in person or mailed in a check, but then California would be out all of that extra money. They could go broke....

9/24/11

San Antonio once again. It really is a great city for music. Austin gets all the press, but the crowds are so subdued. It's like everyone in the audience is thinking "Interesting concept" or "I'd play that differently/better". In SA people get rowdy and are ready to ROCK! This is even more evident when it's someones birthday.

Nightrockers. Generally this place is dead (at least when all the bands I play in are there) they have a PA that is about twice the size that the room needs. This can be a problem but for Belle's birthday folks came out. It sounded really good in there. The bill was Born to Lose, Los Number 3 Dinners, Churchwood and the Hickoids. Lots of sonic ass kicking and plenty of folks eating it up. Very nice.

Breakdown

Two beer tickets, lame. But enough folks wanted to buy me drinks that I was able to tie one on without hitting my wallet too hard.

Finally got a chance to use the new rig, it is so damn good. That TC is really powerful. I was next to a Fender twin that was cranked, LOUD and I still had no problem hearing myself. Number 3 and Churchwood used it too and both bass players said "And it has a built in tuner!"  It was in use for three bands and it never gave any trouble. Hell, it never even got hot! I now understand how it's got such a great reputation. What I really don't understand is how my old Ashdown head was supposed to be a match for that cabinet I've been using.

The TC killed it.

9/18/11

ACL day 4. The last day of the Corn Lovers Fiesta, it's a little sad it over... I played first with the girls and we kicked ass! It was our last time playing with Jill (new job and life stuff) but we have a new drummer we are gonna start getting whipped in to shape this week. Cunto was next, those guys have come a long way, really tight and strong. They said they were recording with Cris Burns, I can't wait to hear it. Hickoids were next and we continued to dominate. With seven pieces it's hard not to.

Then something weird happened. The next band, the Swindles showed up, I even saw Joe from the stage while we were playing, but by the time we finished they were gone. Apparently the drummer didn't want to do the show, so they all piled back in to the car and drove back to SA. Weird.

The Pocket Fishermen did the usual ass kicking later in the night. Brandt was dressed as, as... uh well, just look at the picture... Nightmare clown?

Breakdown

All this went down at the Scoot Inn and I was there all day drinking free beer (thanks to playing twice and getting some drink tickets from some non drinkers) it's nice to get treated like a human. I wish I could remember his name, but the sound guy was great. He had the room dialed right in.

I used my guitar rig and the SVT for bass. BC had a lot of fun playing a huge bass amp.

Damn, I love music.

The Big O

Otis...

I can't stop watching this!

Good God I don't believe in, thank you for the greatest music ever, thank you...

9/17/11

ACL day 3.

So much corn... I don't know how I'll deal...

Trophy's

One of the few Austin bars located across the street from a middle school...
That might not mean much anywhere else, but it's kind of a(nother) Austin anomaly. That scheme is currently illegal.

There were two stages one in the front and one in the back. You know, not in the back, but on the stage...

If you've ever been there you'd understand...

Breakdown

No free beer (I believe they call this lame...) but a really cool and enthusiastic bar staff. some really cool folks.

SVT, blah blah blah..., we whipped it, it was a hell of a lot of fun, casters and Hickoids. My ashdown rig was on the front stage and this gal asked me how to make it make noise (does it have a broken fuse?!?!?!?!).

"Just push that button by the blue light". The mute works wonders.
This might be some kind of an analogy...

9/16/11

Corn Lovers Fiesta day 2, Hole in the Wall. One hell of a good night, music on both stages and a decent crowd to watch it all. This was the big out of town band night with Glambily, Billy Joe Winghead, Poor Dumb Bastards and many others. Byron from PDB did his usual duct tape thing, black tape gloves, tape X's on his nips, a taped on goatee, and a black tape wig with a corn cob mohawk. So pretty. At one point all the cobs were off but the one up front making him a uni-corn (sorry). He even stuffed his pants with a cob. Then he took it out of the front and stuck it in the back than threw it in the crowd. God bless America.

Breakdown

The Hole actually did right this time, the band tab was open and free. It was almost as if we were appreciated!
Used the SVT again, it looks like I may not get to use my new head this weekend which is kind of a bummer, but I got next week for that...
Day three tomorrow!

9/15/11

"ACL" day one. It was a wonderful night for corn lovers of all ages, and the ones who were legal drinking age got in to the club. Lovejoys, one of the few decent place to play/drink in Austin's douche bag mecca known as 6th street. Things always get a little boozy/sweaty around there... Hickoids were in the middle slot and Churchwood closed things out. The 'oids played as a seven piece for the first time ever (as in we never even had a practice with all of us). Four guitars, kinda insane especially on such a little stage. I had fun, it was like steering a barge around a shit swamp, fun! The rest of the schedule is here http://www.saustexmedia.com/AUSTIN-CORN-LOVERS-FIESTA-2011.html .

Breakdown

Lovejoys is great. The bands get a $50 beer tab each and the beer they make is $2 a pint. Classy. Thanks to the new parking laws it was $1.86 to park in a metered spot from when I pulled up to the expiration time (11 PM). It's a racket.

I played through a full Ampeg SVT, one of the 4 x 10" with a 15" cabs. It sounded pretty good, better after I learned how to defeat the limiter. It was loud but kinda crappy. I think a similar thing could be said about the Hickoids...

9/14/11

Two practices in the same room (15 at music lab Oltorf one of the worst practice rooms for bass acoustics with loads of standing waves and slap back). The first one my bass sounds lumpy and mushy. The second it has punch and clarity. It is much louder and lower. What a difference a good head can make.

TC Electronic, you do some amazing things with an 8.8 pound amp head. No joke. It weighs four times less than the Ashdown I was using and it KILLS it in every way. The first thing I noticed was the control. Loads of punchy clean power and when I gave the bass knob a twist it gets thicker and adds some meat. The tube tone fuzzes up nicely and adds some slick sustain to everything. At one point in the middle of a song I thought it was lacking some grunt so I drove the gain a little harder and suddenly it slammed way harder than ever before.

The only problem now is I'm borrowing this head and now I'm gonna want to buy it (and some cabs to go with it...) I'm gonna have no money...

Hickoids ACL fest is this weekend, so you can look forward to lots of tales of stupidity for the next few days.

9/1/11

My bass amp history.

I know, real exciting stuff.

When I bought my first bass from Southpaw I picked up a cheezy Peavy combo amp to play it through. It was so crappy, but it was that "Peavy" crappy. You know, sounds kinda ok, but you can throw it down a flight of stairs and pour a six pack on it and it will work fine. I never even used it in public.

Soon after I picked up a GK 400. They were all the rage back then and for $350 it worked ok. I played it through a Dietz 15" I'd picked up for Ray Henning for $125. That combo worked well for a few years. I used it in all kind of clubs and for many nights until my neighbor lent me an SWR red head. The GK lived in a closet for the next year and a half and I used that SWR until it died. It was well used when I got it and I beat it in to the ground. So for four or five months I went back to the GK, I was not happy...

I picked up an Ampeg B-2 and at first I pared it with the Dietz, then I picked up an Aguilar 15" cab and I was swinging. That was one punchy combo. Eventually I found a deal on the Ashdown I've been using for the past couple of years. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but I really liked the combo of the Aguilar/Ashdown. Not only did I do the usual gigs all over Texas, but The Hickoids took it out west and it rocked all up and down the left coast.

Then I popped the driver in Houston (opening for Dash Rip Rock) Aguilar wanted $250 for the cheezy stamped metal replacement. I ordered a "generic" 15" driver and replaced it, then sold it with the Ampeg head.

I found a good deal (Bass Emporium) on an Ashdown 4 x 10" cab figuring it would be a perfect match. I have never been happy with the all Ashdown set up. It has never punched like a 15" cab and it has very little attack and mushy tone. None of that is good.

The cab is poorly built in many ways. It's front heavy and the handles don't counter balance that at all. The input plate sticks out too far and you could easily shear off the connectors in a van. The inset boxes behind the handles came off on the Hickoids last tour. When I  emailed Ashdown they confirmed they were held on with silicon caulk. No screws, just silicon. I had someone build a little frame around them and we silicon caulked/screwed them back on. I think it might stay this time...

I've used a TC Electronic 450 head with the Ashdown 4 x 10" in the past and I remember that sounding really nice. I'm borrowing one for the Hickoids ACL, I'll update after.

8/20/11

Last night it was the Casters in San Antonio at Boneshakers. It was Glambilly's CD release and to celebrate the occasion they had a fire eater. A tiny tiny woman doing the "regular" fire tricks. I know I sound like a complete idiot when I say "that fire sure was hot" but when she was playing with the fire, by the stage and we were playing, it was really hot...

The Lollygagger's we out and in full force, supplying the mammarian force field whenever it was needed. It's good to be back to normal.

Breakdown

Boneshakers is a pretty cool club (add it to the list of cool SA clubs). It's a cinder block building that has a taco stand, a broken atm and a bike shop upstairs. They serve beer and as a special treat, last night they had water. We were told we got  three Lonestars per band member, and none for the dancers. As it turns out they were really cool and the taps were flowing freely.

I used Hans' rig. It's an SWR combo and usually I think they suck, but last night it was working pretty well. It's a single 15 so I actually had some punch. Nice!

8/19/11

This may be a little off topic...

When the Hickoids were out west I got a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. The "CHiP's" officer noticed us (Tom and I) sleeping on the bench seats and assumed (correctly) we weren't wearing seat belts. She pops open the side doors of the van and starts searching an open box right by the door. It was the typical "Cop trap" EVERY band should use.

You have a semi closed box near the door and you fill it with various piddly things (this one had cds, stickers, stamps and a half eaten bag of almonds). Generally a cop looks in the box and if the don't see weed, coke, or paraphernalia they are cool and let you go on your merry way.

Not this cop, she gave us tickets.

I'm not one for conspiracy theory kind of crap, but I believe the seat belt law in California is not about saving lives (I'm sure it does) but is more about making the state some money.

My ticket was $155.

This was my first offense. There is zero kindness in the California Highway Patrol.

It's a pretty sad, I didn't even know where we were. When I fell asleep we were leaving Vegas. I wake up and get fined $155...pitiful.

I was speaking with Curt from the Meat Puppets and it turns out two of them got hit with the no seat belt fine on the same stretch of the 5 the week before it happened to us. Different cop, same result.

The moral of the story is they profile white vans, especially if you have Texas plates. So keep a "cop trap" right by the door an wear your stupid seat belt.

8/9/11

This was a last minute gig. Smitty texted me on Sunday for a Tuesday, quick.

Get the Hickoids for a night was some kind of a prize for some kind of radio show for some kind of legal fees for someone I don't know. Just how you want a blog post, loads of detail...

On Tuesdays, Headhunters has Ta Ta Tuesdays. A bunch of strippers show up and dance to the bands. It's a hell of a gimmick and it works, they had a lot of folks packed in to that tiny room. At one point I was outside and some girls walked by and said "Eww, strippers!". The door girl said "No, they are burlesque dancers!" and then she gave me a conspiratorial look and said "they're really strippers". Funny chick.

Breakdown

$2 double vodka tonics, not bad, but not free. I'm guessing some of it was a tax for the privilege of having a tiny-bikini clad, giant breasted, "suicide girl" esque bartender serving them. I'm not angry.

I used my rig and it sounded pretty good, but the room is so small it doesn't work all that hard.

Hickoids have a lot of trouble on a stage that small. Lots of  bump in to that, hit this, "watch it, that's my head!" kind of moments. And they are all balanced out with the stinkiest microphone on the planet being shoved in your face. It's one cramped, sweaty, stinky, noisy mess. Just like it should be.

The sax player in the band after us was barefoot on stage. oy...

7/23/11

Trifecta day three. During the Bigfoot Chester set Wade and Liz were yelling "Trifecta!", it made me happy.

Bigfoot whipped it, Matt from Chili Cold Blood filled in for Trey on drums. He and I did a South Filthy session a few years ago and I haven't seen him since. It was great playing with him again.

Before we played we got in to a conversation about shitty drummers and how a little time with a metronome could straighten them out. It's a conversation I've had with a hundred other bass players, but never a drummer. Matt must be some kind of anomaly.

Breakdown

The Hole in the Wall kind of sucks...

A $50 beer tab for four bands is not enough. I got one free Lone Star and I watched Bill and Matt get get nothing. The Hole could (and in the past, did) do better...

My rig sounded like shit on the first couple of  numbers. I got it dialed in eventually, but it still needs help.

7/22/11

Double trifecta day two. The Gay Sportscasters played The Triple Crown in San Marcos last night. We were sans dancers and even though I thought people wouldn't dig it (I figure most folks come to watch the "mammarian force field") they did. We actually played like a real band instead of some guys who know some songs and play on occasion.

The Reaction was on the bill with Attic Ted (one of Wade's old bands) and the Jocks. When the 'casters were playing "Get Down Tonight" (yes, we do some really awful tunes) an old fried was dancing ala John Travolta right in front of me. I completely lost it and stopped playing for a few bars. It's a little different than Smitty's usual screwing with me, he just sticks that smelly ass mic in my face (or something similar). Seeing "The Travolta" took me by complete surprise.

Breakdown

Got two drink tickets and bought one extra beer for $2.50. Not bad or great.

On the first song Smitty's mic didn't work so while the sound guy was swapping it out Smitty jumped on mine. Nasty!

7/21/11

Night one of the now double trifecta we were at the Scoot Inn. It turns out that not only are Davy and I are playing three nights in a row (with three different bands) but we are playing all of those nights with The Reaction! Its former Hickoid Wade Driver and his sweetie (Liz!) on bass. They whipped it up! Hickoids played then Churchwood (then a couple of others I didn't see...lazy). It was a good night with a lot of decent folks out to have fun. It's like We live in Austin or somethin...

Breakdown

$2.50 for the one Lone Star I bought, I had two others bought for me, thanks.

First show with the repaired cabinet, it seemed to work just fine, now I'm thinking about a new head. I don't think that will ever end.

7/19/11

Had a Bigfoot Chester rehearsal last night. For the second time we did it at Trailerspace Records. It's a cool record store, but it's a little strange rehearsing there. People are literally shopping for music and we are going over the fine points of a song and playing it again. Not your typical evening.

This week is the Davy/Rice trifecta. Three of the four bands we are in together are playing this weekend, Thursday the Hickoids, Friday the Gay Sportscasters, and Saturday Bigfoot. We would have gone for the superfecta, but we were too stupid/lazy to think about it until a couple of days ago... Oh well.


Broke gear...

I got my bass cab repaired and it seems to be working just fine. I'll do another post about my broken Ashdown 4x10. Right now I'm just happy I didn't have to spend big bucks on another cab. It's small, but I count it as a win.

7/17/11

I did a little studio session with The Gay Sportscasters today. We recorded five songs in Cris Burns place, Summit Recording.
As usual Mr Burns was great (I mean how many grammy winners do YOU work with?) he is tweaky enough to make it sound great and stays out of the way when needed.
A perfect combo for an engineer.

Breakdown

Burns had me play through a preamp he built cascaded in to a GK head in to some kind of cabinet I never saw (It was in a big wooden box). So there was a mic on the cab and a direct from the pre. Fat and pretty
He put a second pair of mics on the drum kit (in addition to the overheads). These were ribbon mics and he put them on either side, that man knows what he's doing.

7/15/11

Salute is one hell of a sweaty joint. Pack sixty or so folks in a room (and AC) meant for thirty it's not gonna be pretty. Add in the 104 degree temps we've been having and it ain't gonna smell any better either.

Hickoids played the middle slot after Pinata Protest and before a German band called The Boss Hoss. Evidently they are wildly popular in Germany. For a seven piece they had a 15 passenger van, an RV, a truck for the gear, some road crew, and some folks filming them. It must be fun having a budget. They appeared to be having a blast...

Breakdown

We bassists used the same SWR 2 10" combo that sounded farty to me on stage. It could my usual problem with low powered combos, my "attacky" style overwhelms them pretty quick. The other two bassist sounded solid, but not very loud. My rig would have sounded better, but it was still being fixed.

I never got a chance to ask if there was a beer deal for bands, the place was pretty packed when we got there and it never eased up. I paid $3 for Lone Stars and someone bought me one on stage (thanks!) not a horrible rip-off, but it's not The Mix.