12/27/13

Hickoids at Antone's, Austins semi home of the blues. Someone bought it again and they are shutting down for a few months to change things up. It's been a rough go for that place and now a bunch of people are gonna be out of work for the new year... ouch.

We were invited to play with the Old '97's for two of their three NYE shows. So we did this one and we will be doing NYE proper in Dallas at the House Of Blues. Hickoids are getting fancy on ya...

The first act was Sealion from Dallas. The had some sweet poppy tunes and a chick bass player! Always great. One of the guitar players had one of those reissue Fender '68 Princeton amps (I had an original, but it got too old to play out.) He said he picked it up when they were on their way to Austin. It sure sounded sweet with his Tele, no real shocker there.

We were next and did the Hickoid thing. It's always nice to play to a crowed club but a BIG crowed club is even better. There were a ton of people ready for fun and we gave it to them. You could tell that most of them had never heard of us up until then, we should stick in their brains after last night.

'97's were next and since pretty much everyone that was there was there to see them the place went a little nuts. They delivered the Americana Rock and the crowd wanted more, so they gave it to them. It's a very simple formula, but it seems to work every time.

I'm looking forward to Dallas on Tuesday.

Year End Wrap-up!

Shit, I've been busy! Hickoids played a ton and the Ladies and I really started to get things rolling (I really love this band!) We even had three Bigfoot Chester gigs! That's more than we had in the previous five years!

The Hickoids have two shows left this year, both with the Old '97's (Antone's in Austin on the 27th and House Of Blues in Dallas on NYE), and that will wrap things up, about 20 minutes before midnight, for this year.

On the Horizon for 2014, The Ladies and I are headed to the studio in late January (after Wiley has some surgery!). I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do with the recording, no plans yet for ANOTHER record, I just really want to get us on tape so I can hear it for myself!

Hickoids are headed for Europe again! June(ish) we will be hitting the continent (and possibly the UK). Right now everything is TBA, so stay tuned for details.

And as I mentioned here, South Filthy is booked for a festival in Mississippi for October. I am really excited about playing with Jack and Jeffry (and Walter) again. Hopefully we will knock out another record. We are making the drive after all...

That's it for now!

12/6/13

I am a week late on this one...

Hickoids made the drive to Houston and loaded our gear up those goddamn awful stairs. Good thing Rudyard's is such a good club. We were "Headlining" (last) on a cold and wet Friday night. The forcast kept screaming for ice and/or snow. It was gonna ba a long night. 

The drive there was easy and we loaded up and said our howdys. I got a falafel from next door and went back for the rock.

Shinta was up first. I love a band with a Lady! Good tunes and some screamin guitar. Bring it on! Barkin At Nothin had a splendid trio of songs about love, but their standout was "Get The Hell Out Of Texas". A brilliant piece of stupidity.

We went up and did the Hickoid thing. Finished and loaded back down the stairs... I hate those stairs... Started the drive home and everyone but me wanted food (damn falafel!) So we stopped at Denny's and watched some drunken Houstonians make fools of themselves. 4 AM, Friday night, it's a guaranteed good time.

The drive home was uneventful. The weather was kind and I stayed in the back and slept. Made it back home and into bed at 6:50. I was up for work at 8:45... Saturday was rough as hell. 

12/1/13

It was a driving kinda weekend. After I got home from Ft Worth I cleaned up, had a beer and went to sleep around 4. I woke up at 1 and lazed around til 5 then I drove to SA.

HIckoids at Sam's. It was a benefit for our buddy Jerry. There were a bunch of cool bands on the bill, but I saw no more than two minutes of two of them. This weekend I am that asshole....

We had a decent set. Nothing amazing, but nothing awful. The crowd was a little on the sparse side (in a room that big you need a hundred or so people to make it not look empty) but they were spirited and fun to play for.

We finish up and I hung out for a little bullshitting with some folks. Then I hopped in the truck and headed home for some more sleep (after a beer).

11/30/13

The Ladies and I made the drive to Ft Worth. Draya was up there visiting family so it seemed like a good time to go and do a little playing out of town. Traffic was awful. 35 was a post holiday parking lot. It took us over four hours to make the drive, easily the worst part of the trip.

Finally make it to town and head to Fred's Texas Cafe. We are playing three sets and we learned a bunch of new tunes to fill things out. Four of my old ones (two have never been played by a band) I wrote two new ones and we snuck in three covers. We rocked that place.

One of the new ones was inspired by Otha Turner via Walter Daniels. After a Bigfoot show he was talking about doing a drum and fife thing but playing harmonica instead of the fife. I stole that idea in a heartbeat and threw some words on top. Suddenly I'm playing harmonica again. It felt really good, but I am extremely rusty and my mouth hurts like hell. There are many hours of practice in my future...

I won't get in to a blow by blow here, but Fred's is great. The crow was ready to have fun. We got people up dancing in no time and a lot of folks stayed for all three sets. The staff kicked ass and we got fed, free booze and paid. Thank you.

At the end of the night the Ladies and I came to the conclusion that we should play Fred's as often as possible. Before we tried it we were all a little nervous about playing three sets (I haven't done that kind of thing since I lived in Knoxville) but by the end it felt like we were the kind of band that's made for it.

A short recording session

We went in to the studio to knock out a quick track for an upcoming compilation of protest songs. We chose "Kill For Peace" from the Fugs. It's a real simple song with a boneheaded easy chorus that repeats over and over.  We dumbed it down a little more by making the intro and middle section the same. Even idiots like us couldn't screw it up at this point.

Curtis from Million Dollar Sound was the engineer, but we did it in this rehearsal place down south called Space. We got our levels and ran through a pretty good version and went in to the control room and decided it needed a little more of the "Louie Louie" feel. So we dumb it down one more time and it's dead on.

We knock out the "village style" backing vocals and some guitar solos and we are finished with it all in forty five minutes. That's how the pros do it.

Working with Kurtis again got me thinking I need to get the Ladies in at his studio. Soon!

11/8/13

Hickoids at the Triple Crown. I made the drive in 32 minutes! And I wasn't really speeding (much)... I load in and Pure Luck is setting up. They have a Drum Kit, Bass rig with 4 10"s , Orange amp with two 12"s, two Peavy's with 2 12"s each and Cody sets up a Fender pro Junior with 15 screaming watts of power through a 10" speaker. Luckily the sound guy (an out of costume Steve Vegas) knows what he is doing and everything sounded great. Rockin set!!

At some point someone popped a string and Smitty got his out to loan. The dude was playing a solo on it and it came to me that he was touching virgin territory on that guitar. A joke I beat to death by the end of the night...

We went on and had a good set. Not great, but we were fine. I only used one cabinet and it felt a little lean to me. "Steve Vegas" had it sounding good, but I've gotten use to having both cabs.

Mr Lewis and his Funeral Five were last. Good stuff. To over simplify them I'd say they sound like Tom Waits with a clean voice. For a few of the tunes they had a guy playing percussion with the drummer, getting closer to the double thing I love so much. 

The world needs more drums.

10/31/13

Let's talk about a bill payin show.

Bigfoot got asked to play at a Karate school on Halloween. No one had anything else going on so we were all happy to make a little money.

When I got there there a Jazz combo was playing. They were top level musicians who were obviously bored out of their minds playing uninspired standards by request. It would seem like a waste of talent, but I bet everyone of them liked getting paid for a show that was over early enough to play again later.

We were next and played fine. Nothing too exciting. We were fairly quiet and everything seemed to be a little fast. Kinda off for a Bigfoot show.

After us was this really sexy songwriter who was falling out of her extremely low cut dress. DAMN! We all noticed her when she came in to the room. Turns out T-Bone Burnett produced a recoded for her... And now she is playing after Bigfoot Chester at a Karate school on Halloween.. Bill Payin Show!

 When we finished Walter gave me some cash and told me about this. In many ways it was a very successful night!

Shows for a year

Walter just told me about a South Filthy show in October 2014.

That's right I'm currently booked out a year in advance!!

10/19/13

HIcks and the Beaumonts at Riley's. When you make the drive down to Hunter TX you turn right by the "Zone de Erotic" on I-35 to get there. It's about the mid point between Austin and SA. Nice and easy.

We loaded up and played our "country" set. It's not a big arty city's rock and roll club. It's a roadhouse out in the sticks. Leave the punk rock for the next show. We played ok and had a few high points and then we started "Truck".

Smitty picked up five $2 cowboy hats and five pairs of $1 sunglasses at a Halloween store and in the breakdown we put them on and became the Beaumonts! It was glorious. Smitty was waving his hands around and singing just like Troy Wayne. He had all of the Beaumonts were laughing their asses off. Probably the funniest thing I've ever seen on stage.

It's pretty hard to top that so we wrapped it up and the Lads from central Lubbock took over. They'd whipped about half way through their set when I decided to head for home.

Smitty told me they played "Drinkin" and Troy Wayne took his shirt off on the last song like they were Hickoids. I'm not sure If I believe him, but I figured I'd better put it in this post anyway. If it happened I missed some serious gold. If not I hope it happens soon!

10/12/13

ACL Week Two Day Two

It was the last night of ACL, the corn will be scarce until next year. We all played at the White Horse under the threat of the sky opening up and dumping buckets on us. It had been trying to do it all day, but there was nothing other than light rain so far.

First up was Rosie Flores. HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her. I'd never seen her before, but I knew I'd be in to it, I just didn't realize how much! She is a total bad ass with her Bigsby whammy bar on her old as dirt Telecaster. She can play all of that surf stuff that looks (and sounds) really easy, until you actually try to play it. She can sing her ass off and I think she wrote at least 80% of her set. She was backed by an upright and a drummer who were tight as shit and complemented her style perfectly. They even started the set with an instrumental!

This was my favorite show of the whole festival.

Some point near the end she popped the high E string. She made a couple of jokes about sticking with the five string while she re-tuned and then she did a few more! Talk about rolling with the punches, I'd be 70% fucked without all six on my guitar.

Churchwood were up. They really whipped things in to a frenzy (as usual/expected).

We were next and had a good but short set and the Beaumonts were after.

They started in on their first tune and I decided to run my gear out to the car... right when it started raining... HARD! It's dumping rain and my phone is screaming at me that there is a flash flood warning for... NOW! But I'm already outside and not that far from the truck so I go for it.

I'm about to take a left down the sidewalk when I see it's a pothole with two feet of water in it. Since I'm trying to think fast and attempting to stay as dry as possible I head straight across the street. Comal is a river and I step in past my ankle... and then my other foot goes in... It's too late, my shoes are filled with water and my socks are completely drenched.

By the time I made it to the truck all of my gear was wet and I was soaked to the skin. I was finished for the night. ACL was officially over for me and the Beaumonts were probably on their second song...

10/11/13

ACL Week Two Day One

Big night at the Hole in the Wall. I showed up right when Two Hoots and a Holler were going on (I missed the first band) and the place was already crowded. They have a fiddle! I'd never seen them with anything other than the classic two guitar, bass and drums (sometimes one guitar). Nice set, Ricky can still whip it.

Purple Stickpin were next. Dan is not playing guitar with them anymore, sad but they replaced him with TWO other guitars! (Jones is one of them) They were HUGE! Loads of sweet guitary goodness swirling around over Tex's growling.

At this point the Hole was one in, one out. They were at total capacity. The AC was doing nothing in the back and you could barely feel it up front. Too may bodies for a thirty year old AC to keep up with. Most everyone was there for the Old 97's. They were in Austin recording this week and jumped on the bill as the big act. The crowd was PACKED in the back room. It was actually a little on the spacious side up front while they were playing, but completely impossible to stand in the back. Unless you like sardine life or the Japanese subway.

They finish their big rock and roll set and the Hickoids were up. About a third of the crowd took off and the people who were left were primed and ready to party. Lots of drunk and happy all over the place. We punched through Hickoid hits old and new. As usual I took my jacket and tie off after the first song and before I even got a chance to get sweaty on my own someone threw a beer at me. I was soaked and by the end of the set I smelled like warm, flat beer and sweat. I couldn't keep the chicks off me...

In and Outlaws finished things off. What a great band. I'm liking them more and more every time we play with them. The upright and the accordion blend together in an amazing way. Some really interesting and cool sounds played by some serious bad asses. Yeah.

They finished up and it was 2 so the lights came on and we all headed home.

White Horse tomorrow.

A little bit about the new video.

Just a couple of notes about the video for "Wonderful".

It's a pretty good two and a half minute representation of us. Sure the sound stinks, it's a little hard to see that there are four people on stage and I screw up a couple of the lyrics, but I think it's great! It looks and (pretty much) sounds like us. We've been needing some "film" for a while now.

I wrote this tune more than five years ago (I don't really remember when). Back when I was just playing solo and writhing about a song a week. Loads of bad ones but still one a week. Back then this tune had a chorus that came in twice, once after each verse. I decided to ditch the chorus and have the drums come in twice as hard on the solos. It works!

It dosen't always... When I'm writing songs or coming up with arrangements for "The Ladies" I'm sitting around the house with a guitar imagining the two drum parts and the bass part and how they will match up with the guitar part I am playing right then. The end result rarely sounds like what was in my head, but we always get somewhere I like. "Wonderful" is a perfect example of that.

Rice Moorehead and His Ladies-Wonderful

10/5/13

ACL Week One Day Two

It was me and the Ladies (and a pile of other bands) at Infest. This night was the big Gary Floyd benefit and the place became packed, eventually...

We went on second when only a handful of people were there (and after Scorpio Rising.) Since Wiley had his drums up on the riser Draya sat over on BC's side of the stage. Drum risers are really cool when there is only one drummer, but they make it hard when you have two.

We had a really good set. Played another new, old one and we generally kicked some ass the whole show... Except for one song. "The First Time" sucked... Bad... I have no idea what went wrong or how it happened, but it was pretty fucked up. That song was the first tune I wrote specifically for this version of the band and we've been kicking the shit out of it pretty much every time we've played it. I guess the fuck up was bound to come (you will screw up on everything, eventually) it just sucks that we finally did. We finished it up in a fairly "professional" manner, looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, laughed and finished the set. No big deal, just one, little black spot.

Someone shot a video of the newest, old song, details to follow.

Pure Luck was next. Odd seeing Pinkus on guitar but a great set. El Pathos whipped it. The Casters were after. Really strange watching that from the front. Tom did a hell of a job. but my picky ass kept thinking "Nope, that's not how it goes!" The strangest thing was Tom was playing the bass line that Jacob laid down on the recording of "Derby Crush" and not the one I played. I'm in the video playing bass, but it's Jacobs line you hear. The part I came up with was a walking line that moves like all hell. The "Jacob line" is more of a 1/5, almost a country thing. It was confusing to my little brain to hear the song and not hear the "right" part (even if that part is on the record...) See, confusing.

David Yow and the Dicks. I'm certain you can read a number of positive reviews about their set all over the internet. My brief review is... What an awesome show! Absolutely killed it! Yow is an amazing front man (duh) and the Dicks were as solid as ever. I'd like to see that again.

They were finishing up and I got some pizza with my favorite Lollygagger then we got high and went back for the Pocket Fishermen!

The Lollygagger got really high and isn't use to it. She was getting close to a minor freak out when I said "Stand up front and enjoy a pothead's best friend." The Fishermen didn't disappoint. Many classics and my #1 favorite song about monkeys mutilating people ("those monkeys really rip it off!"). Loads of fun. By the end she was jumping around and laughing her ass off. The Pocket Fishermen save the day again!!

They finished and the club started kicking everyone out. I grabbed my gear (no amp, yea backline!) walked to the truck and took a little nap before I headed home.

Fun night!

10/4/13

ACL Week One Day One.

It was the Hickoids at the Longbranch. I got there as Black Salve was finishing up. Great crowd for for the first day of the fest. A pleasant surprise. You could tell there was a lot of out of town "talent" in the club. Folks keeping the party going all weekend. Why not, it's a music vacation and one of the best things to do in Austin.

 Can you say my favorite word? Backline! The only gear I carried was my bass and some cords. So easy. And parking is FREE in East Austin. Ahhh...

The Bulemics were up next they whipped it for a quick half hour. Followed by the Dolly Rockers. They have a seriously good looking singer! And a couple of the Poor Dumb Bastards in the group. They brought the ugly, she brought the hot!

PDB were next. They started out the second song and it was all screwed up. Byron stopped then restarted and whipped it. I love it when a band restarts a song. I know it can look "unprofessional" or something, I look at it as humans make mistakes and they can get past them.

We went on a little after one. Our theme for the night was classic Hickoids. All old stuff, nothing from the new records. It was a drunken orgy of stupid. Smitty started saying "Show us your tits!" A couple of ladies whipped them out (yeah!) and then several guys took their shirts off and started rubbing on each other and kinda wrestling and bro hugging (no!) Bringing it back to ancient Greece when men could stand shirtless with other shirtless men and make the band feel uncomfortable...

Infest with the Ladies tonight.

9/28/13

Hickoids at Hi-Tones in SA. The weather was awful. It was raining so hard on the way down I stopped for a half hour just to get out of the mess. It took two and a half hours to make it to the club, double the normal time. Nasty drive.

The opener flaked out. Smitty had asked me to do a little solo set and I was up for it even though I knew it wouldn't be as fun as playing with the Ladies. I was the last one to the club and when I was loading in Smitty said Hickoids were going to play long, no solo Rice... No big deal. I can play one show and be ok with it.

We played a very loose two and a half hour set straight through. Not in the Springsteen knock them out bam bam bam way, more in the old men bumbling through two and a half hours of music kinda way. It was a pretty good/sloppy set. I'd really prefer two sets with tight (or tighter) spacing between songs. That way the break is all at once and not spaced throughout, three to four minutes at a time... Very annoying. Just this one man's opinion.

We finish, load and head off to the interstate towards home.

The rain was really coming down. I was going thirty miles an hour for long stretches and people were still driving like assholes. I made it to the Buc-ee's at Canyon Lake and filled up. When I finished Lance pulled up next to me. We went inside and grabbed some snacks and looked for a place to hang out. There is zero seating at the Buc-ee's (other than the toilet)... they DON"T want you to stay. You can fill up, take a crap and get some snacks, but then it's time to get the hell out... of Buc-ee's.

I made it back to my truck and drove to a secluded part of the parking lot, got stoned and napped for a bit then I finished the drive home.

Long night.

ACL next!

9/26/13

Last night it was me and the ladies at Club deVille. We got started at half past nine to a semi-decent crowd. The bands played inside, not outside, so we weren't backed up against the cool rock wall behind the stage... My favorite thing about playing there...  At first I was kinda bummed, but the soundguy was really on it and we sounded kinda amazing so I got over it fast.

Small stage so we had to build it back to front. As in lets put all the drums up and decide if there is room for any other crap. There was.. we all fit.

For some reason I thought I was gonna pop a string during the set. I brought a backup guitar to be safe. I popped one but it was in the middle of the solo on the last song. I was pounding away on the low E and it gave out. I yanked on it to get it out of the way and the solid core "jumped" out and right  in to my finger! That's how you get this... Blood on the Tele.

It's amazing how different that guitar sounds with no low string. It looses most of it's grunt and punch and sounds really flimsy. Luckily we only had about 45 seconds left to play so no big deal. I am not looking forward to cleaning up the tele, it's one nasty mess.

We finish up and get off stage and Lost In A World Of Color was up next. They dressed in Jackson Pollack's used drop cloths and were really good. Like shockingly good. I know we have a ton of talent in Austin, but LIAWOC was one of those "Holy shit!" kinda bands. They had the typical two guitars, bass and drums setup and most of the tunes were straight forward sounding, but there was enough Math/Art rock hiding under the surface to make it extra interesting. Great stuff!

I missed the last band (Jamey Simms ) because I am lame and I wanted to head home for the night.

At least I'm honest about it.

Popped a string...

On the last song at Club deVille. And popped my finger right after...

Blood on the Telecaster!

9/21/13

Hicks and The Beaumonts at the Triple Crown. San Marcos here I come! We went on around 10:30 to a pretty decent crowd. It's really odd being in a smoking bar nowadays. Another small town anomaly.

I borrowed "Don E. Rosewood's" rig so all I brought was the bass and some cords. Easy in and out. We were in the middle of "Stop It" and Smitty ran out in to the crowd and started wrapping them up in the mic cord. I was ready to jump in to start rubbing my ass on them and then I realized I was using a short cord! If I jumped Don's bass head would have come with me... I'm glad I thought about it for a second.

We wrapped it up and The Beaumonts went on. I watched them kick some ass for five or six tunes then headed back to Austin. I like being the early band.

ACL!

ACL is coming!!

Got your corn?

9/19/13

The Red Eye Fly on a sweaty Thursday night. It was raining enough to make it disgusting outside. No relief from heat when you've had thirty minutes of spitting rain. It just becomes a pressure cooker. I was drenched with sweat before we went on.

In the old days (last month) the REF's neighboring parking lot was a hell of a good deal. $10 for all night on a weekend, $5-$7 during the week. Apparently someone new owns it because they jacked up the rate to $12 for three hours!!! I know I'm an old, small town guy, but DAMN! What a scam...

I paid for parking on the street... $3.50 for the rest of the night a deal in the current economy of Austin parking. I know this was (and still kinda is) one of my big bitches. Years of seven-days-a-week free night time parking conditioned me to expect it... I guess it's my fault I "miss" it (also see small town/old comment above...) Parking is big business in the ATX.

Me and the Ladies played up front while three or four "younger" bands fought for rock star status out back. Tough gig out there, you get paid, but only from what you bring in. As in if three of your friends paid $5 each to get in, you get $15. You don't get much more than that if you are playing up front, but there is no cover and your friends spend their money on beer (and maybe buy one for you!) not on a cover to see their friends band... again... It's nice to not give a shit about being a rock star. It really allows you to concentrate on the playing of the music and not stressing yourself out because only two people showed up and you owe the drummer $20 for posters.

We did two "New-Old" songs last night. The first is "59" which I wrote five or so years ago and never really played until now. And "When The Money Gets Big" from the "Get So Little" Cd I put out tenish years ago. The new versions are really good. Have I mentioned how much I love this lineup? We aren't just good, we are ass-whippingly good!

9/15/13

We made the drive through San Saba County and on to Bend Texas to Bad Bob's Bend Store. We spent the night in San Angelo. Not only is it a shorter drive, but you can get a hotel room for cheap and it won't be covered in mud. Midland motel/hotels are terrible. Way over priced and usually nasty.

Bob's is run by Bob. It's out there by the Colorado river north east of Austin. He has a little stage built out of reclaimed wood from a church (or a barn depending on who you are talking to.)

The Beaumonts were going to be first, but Troy Wayne's voice gave out on him again. I think it's all the goat fucking. It must make him grunt in a way his voice can't deal with. We are gonna have to start calling them the No-show-monts...

We unload for a quiet set. I'm using one cabinet, no gong for Lance  and Davy left the 4 X 12" in the van. Easy. We played for an hour and someone in the crowd asked "Are Y'all gonna take a break?" The only answer to that is "Is that a request or a question?" We took a little break then hit them with a few more, loaded the Freak and headed home.

Another successful weekend behind us.

9/14/13

I made it home at 4:50 in the morning and was at work at 10 am and back on a plane to Midland by 3. I was already exhausted. 

A couple of facts about the Midland international airport, it has five gates and I was on the last flight in at 5:30. Small town. 

I got picked up and we headed to the Blue Max and the "white trash bash" was already in full swing. We pulled up and parked and were ready to unload. Headed to the shade for a break from the sun and a Sheriff was talking to the owner, Erika.  Rarely a good thing. 

Apparently he was saying he was going to arrest anyone who was using crude language on the mic... And the Beaumonts were next. 

Whiskey Dick was on and rockin good wile this was going on.  The cop finished his speech and heads off. And with no prior knowledge "the dick" starts in with "Come on Morherfucker". Sometimes the world is a perfect/beautiful place.  

Beaumonts played with no arrests. We made it through unscathed as well. I think the cop was just blowing smoke up everyone's collective asses... 

We loaded when and headed off to our hotel before things wrapped up. 

We play San Saba county tomorrow. 

9/13/13

Hickoids in Ft Worth with the Gringos and The Beaumonts! It was at JJ Blues Bar, a pretty cool place near downtown that neighbors a police training academy. No joke we were smoking in the parking lot when we figured it out...

The fellas wet up early in the freak, I drove solo and got a call from Smitty when I was a little south of West. "Do you have your bass head?" I took it home after the night before to pack it with the crap I need for this weekends trip instead of leaving it in the freak with my cabs... Apparently they were planning on using it... and I didn't know... Oops...

I make it there right after the Beaumonts finished, as in I didn't hear a single note of their set. They break down and I set up my rig for Tubb. Gringos sounded great! Since I was driving (and only having one beer) I stayed outside and listened. I get that weird "nervousy" feeling sometimes when I know I have a few hours behind the wheel ahead of me and there is another band before we play... I just wanna get things moving so i can go.

We get up and do our thing. The soundguy had all of the guitars up LOUD in the monitors. He turned me down after he was "asked" by Jones for the third time. Tom is blasting out of the monitor in front of us, it was making him self conscious about his playing and fucking him up. We finish the tune I ask for it to be turned down and Tom starts yelling "OFF, turn it OFF!"

It was so bad, it sounded like Smitty was playing...

We finish, I packed up my gear, left it on the stage, said goodby and drove home.

Midland tomorrow.

9/12/13

The Hickoids at the Lost Well. LW is a bar that was the Frontier and now it's run by the folks who ran Lovejoys. Not too confusing. 

There were a couple of other bands on the bill, but I showed up a half hour before we started...  I had just gotten back from an expedition to Costa Rica where I discovered several species of amazing animals and conquered many a land for my home country. But, that is a post for another blog...

We went on a little before midnight and rocked it till about 1:45. Even though we played a long time we were spacing them out pretty far. I felt like I had no stamina. After playing zero bass for a week I was sluggish as hell. No big deal it was still a good Thursday night in a cool bar.

Ft Worth with the Beaumonts and Gringos tomorrow.

8/31/13

Another night in San Antonio. Hickoids, Cannibal Corpse, Cunto and the legendary Blowfly. That's right, Blowfly!

I made it down to Tequila Rock Bar (the little bar next to and associated with Backstage Live) right after the "Corpse" finished. I missed it all... But Cunto was setting up! It was Danny's last show with them. He is going off into some kind of greener pasture and they will replace him with someone, sometime (I'm sure they have a plan, but they didn't fill me in on what it is).

It was our turn next and we had a decent set. It was Davy's birthday so there were a lot old man jokes including (but not limited to) the need for Viagra and living with incontinence. Funny stuff.

The room really sounds like crap. I bet that even if it was packed beyond capacity the bodies wouldn't change the sound much. They need some damping stuff all over that concrete room. It really sounds like a horrible echoy box.

The mighty Blowfly was last. He hit us with several of his classics and a bunch of his newer favorites ("I believe my dick can fly" was pretty transcendent). The Fly gave Davy a birthday curse as he blew out the candles on the cake. Flipping him off the entire time. Jones was thrilled and everyone was right there with him. Thanks for making an old man's dream come true, Mr Fly.

8/30/13

Back at the Hole

Four bands on the bill, we all got 45 minutes or so.

Me and the Ladies kicked things off. It was our first time on the back stage and it felt a little strange. I've played there with a bunch of bands, but never with MY act, the whole time we were up there I was kinda thinking "Why aren't I playing bass?"

We did "Selfish". Davy finally go to hear "His" song. I think he liked it, even the breakdown when I started describing his masturbatory style in graphic detail. I don't really know how he does it and I was using a lot of conjecture, but I'm willing to bet I was fairly accurate.

El Pathos were next. They sat down and were quiet! It was pretty odd, but in a good way.

Hickoids were big and loud. I didn't hit Tom with anything during the entire set (don't worry, he's got it coming...)  We were four or five songs in and we got it worked up to a pretty good lather and this girl jumps up on stage and starts dancing. And then her dog jumps up to join in.

We finish the song and she's up there just looking around. I grab the mic and tell her to pick up Smitty's guitar and start playing, she is a Hickoid now. I also mentioned that her dog would make and excellent addition to the band and once it got wet, the smell of the freak van should improve greatly.

Everybody laughs, she (and the dog) jump off stage and we play a few more and finish the set. We are breaking down and Churchwood is setting up, I'm talking with Bill Anderson and she comes back up to the stage and throws a pitcher of beer at him! Was it aimed at me? Does she now hate us? How did she get so pissy so fast? Everything was a little fuzzy last night, I guess we'll find out what is up with her at practice next week...

Churchwood finished things off (with a half soaked Bill). They brought the horns, it was awesome.

8/23/13

The Hickoids loaded up the freak and made that drive to Houston. More specifically we headed to Rudyards. It was the same old crap from the same three bands from two weeks prior in New Orleans.

Beaumonts were first. Tom was subbing on bass and other than a few screw-ups he did fine. But don't ask him how it went. "Shittiest thing I ever done" or something akin to that. Another dose from the Hickoid king of optimism...  On the last tune I walked up and turned up the gain and the low end on my amp (which he was using). I don't think that made him happy, but the Beaumonts sounded better.

Hickoids next. We kicked it. Adding a couple of extra rays of sunshine to Toms night I ended up hitting him in the head a couple of times with my bass when we were rockin out. It was an accident, I swear!

PDB finished things off in their big, stupid way. Cum Drunk! Live like a Poor Dumb Bastard.

We loaded up the freak and made the drive home. I was in bed by 6AM and up for work two and a half hours later. Useless!

8/16/13

Day two of the HCAS release weekend. This time it was in Austin at the Longbranch.

Misty White was first with a solo set, it wasn't as rocking as last night since Lance wasn't helping out, but she held her own. Talking with her the night before she told me that people would probably listen at the Longbranch so solo was the way to go.

After Misty it was Cunto! Big, loud, dumb and sweaty, just like we like them. Although I was a little disappointed they didn't bring the skillet...

We were last and since there is barely any room on the stage Tom's amp was on the floor. He and I switched who was on stage from song to song. Basically if I wasn't singing I was on the floor, rubbing my ass on the audience. Lance brought the gong, but he set it up on the other side of the room so Jonnie Hell (!) could play it! So cool. We'd be hitting the end of a tune and from across the room GOOOONNGGGGGG!

Another successful night as a Hickoid.

8/15/13

It was night one of the "Hairy Chafin Ape Suit" record release weekend, at everyone's favorite San Antonio club, The Mix.

I got there around 10:30 and Lance was playing drums for Misty White! Pleasant surprise for me and him. She asked him right before she went on. They rocked through a half hour and the In and Outlaws were up.

Always good, always solid. And an upright bass in a bar like that is an awesome thing to see/hear. Hell of a set.

We were last and we tore through it like a group of relatively young men. Lots of good, explosive rocking. We is mega Hickoids...

Finished the set around two, loaded up and made the drive home.

Just north of San Marcos, on the left side of I-35, I saw three cop cars surrounding a car that had spun around the wrong way. There was a girl in a dress with handcuffs on standing there with her head hanging down. Rough way to end your night.

8/11/13

Oh what a joy, waking up in New Orleans and not only does the van work, but all of our gear is still around and not in a pawn shop under someone else's name. It's the little things...

We made the drive to Lafayette and pulled up to Heffe's around five in the afternoon. They were making Gumbo out front, we are in Louisiana. Smitty , Lance and I crashed out in the Freak for an hour or so then we loaded the gear in to the club and ate. I love a place that feeds you!

We were first and did the old man rock thing. The set was a little slow and plodding, but we touched rock and roll glory more than once.

"Some Kind Of Nightmare" were next. A three piece from San Diego on month five of a YEAR LONG TOUR! Jesus, they made me feel old. Just hearing about it made me want to take a nap. They had a rocking little set with loads of energy and when they finished up they had another seven months left on the tour.

We packed up the freak, said goodbye to our new friends and headed west on I-10.

8/10/13

Looks like the Hickoid Louisiana travel curse is over! No delays with my flights and the new freak made the drive trouble free. 

Siberia is a great little and very sweaty club. It's the second time we've played there and there were about ten times the amount of people as last time. It was extra sweaty. 

Poor Dumb Bastards and the Beaumonts were on the bill. Beaumonts were solid as usual and the PDB brought their A game. Really strong set. We think they've been practicing. 

Norco Lopalco were the openers for the night. In typical New Orleans fashion they were amazing. There were three "chicks" in the band. The drummer who pounded like hell (if she lived in austin...) a kick-ass singer and an astonishing guitar player! A chick ripping it up on a Les Paul is a very cool thing. 

Lafayette tonight. 

Flying to New Orleans

I'm flying to New Orleans for another Hickoids show in a little bit. The rest fellas are in the freak and well on their way, I had to work...

I've been hoping things go better than this time, but I've already gotten four texts about my flight times changing...

I'll keep you posted.

7/10/13

It was me and the ladies at the Sahara Lounge last night. We rocked them in deep east Austin. Ralph White and Kirkland James opened things up. Pretty cool hearing a resonator guitar plugged in to an amp with blues fiddle over the top. There were some extremely cool moments in their set.

The ladies and I loaded up and did our bit. Since it was a blues kind of night we didn't do too many "rock" numbers. We kept things swampy and lowdown. That stage was bouncing in no time. At some point in our set I was jumping around and some of my sweat hit Draya in the face. Disgusting or sexy? You decide.

Kingdom of Suicide Lovers were next. I stayed for most of their garagey set. I love a female bass player, but I love them even more when they are LEFT HANDED!!! We southpaws look out for each other (or we are thinking "I want that bass/guitar").

Breakdown

I love this place. It reminds me of several of the crap holes I played back in Tennessee. The only real difference is this is an actual legal bar. They buy liquor from a distributor they don't make it in the basement.

It's a vinyl kinda week

New hickoids acetate!

6/28/13

Another two in one! This one was easy, the clubs are neighbors and I didn't need a bass rig for the second one (even though I had it in the car).

#1
Me and the Ladies at Red Eye Fly. Another good night at the Fly. Not packed but a nice amount of folks were up in the front to watch us.

It was ridiculously hot on stage. We were all a little off our game and coated in sweat, but we were able to punch our way through to the end.

Played a new one I'd written called "Selfish". It's about Davy Jones getting busted by his father jerking it as a preteen. "David, that's the most selfish thing a person can do..." He told the Hickoids and the Grannies all about it when we were in Europe and each of us were talking about writing a song. This one is mine.

I worked up a couple of beats that seem a little at odds but really come together in a nice way. Added it with one of those "tricky" six cord song that sounds like it only has two. Add a bass part and some 60's style backing vocals (which I make everyone sing even if they don't have a mic!). Beautiful

#2
Bigfoot Chester at Beerland. Continuing the tour of Red River, it was Walter's birthday and Bigfoot was on the bill. We played after Chitlins (which is Bigfoot with Davy and I being substituted by Billy Steve Corpi and Cindy Toth). I dug their set, it was like a bouncier, upbeat Bigfoot.

We played a thirty minute set of ass kicking, thick and swampy music. Ted Roddy was there and right before he got up it was announced that the Bigfoot/Roddy 45 had just arrived from Spain! That's right I showed up to the gig and got a brand new piece of vinyl that I played on... KICK ASS!

Cunto was last and they gave it their Cunto all. I wouldn't expect anything less.

Breakdown

The three free beers I got at each place was more than enough for me (a couple of folks offered to buy me more, but I was fine). Using a house rig is the best. Even though I loaded/unloaded mine it was better than having to screw around with parking and a second round of the load/unload game.

New 45

It's really cool to play a show and get a brand new 45 you played on!  Two colors!! 

Classic me!

Making a video, Hickoid style

Hickoids made a video for "Cool Arrow". We did the majority of filming on Sunday after this. We all hooked up at the Gypsy Lounge early in the afternoon. Lance, Smitty and the video folks did some work earlier in the day in SA and at Lance's place. The rest of us had the morning off.

We met up wearing our regular Hickoids gear shot some stuff in and out of the "Arrow's" car. Headed back to the Gypsy and changed into drag. Everyone but Smitty... I wonder how that one works...

We set up at Third and Chicon in front of the little corner grocery and filmed some stuff. Lots of folks from the neighborhood came out to look and laugh. One dude asked me if we were making a movie, I told him we were working and asked if he was looking for a good time. He laughed and I was not beaten up! Tolerance!

Still in drag we hopped back in the "arrow-mobile" and got some more shots. We made it back to the grocery and Tom says "Where are my keys and phone, I left them on those steps..." at Third and Chicon...

East Austin at it's worst point in history was never as bad as the Ninth Ward in New Orleans or any big city's "ghetto". But it's not the place to leave your phone and keys unattended for any amount of time. Hell, I wouldn't leave that kind of stuff ANYWHERE in Austin!

So I text his phone saying "You have my friends phone and keys, bring them back and you will get $." We are sweating it. Tom's keys had the Freak key with them and it was the only set of Freak keys in town. The Freak was right across the street from the grocery, so it was about to be stuck on the corner and someone had the keys...

Ten minutes later this homeless dude shows up and says "You looking for a phone and keys?" We gave him a $20 and moved on... Drama over and it only cost $20, it could have been way worse.

Back to the Gypsy, out of the drag and knock out a few more shots. Headed home and took it easy.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. It should kick some ass! It was a lot of good, dumb fun making it.

6/22/13

Saturday night at the White Horse. I showed up in the middle of the Lonesome Heroes set and the place was packed, like always. This joint has the best built in crowd. And they love to two-step. It's amazing to see folks that know how to do it right. They float. It's really cool.

When we went on we hit them with "You kneed me" and we got some dancin out of them. We got a little heavier and our normal crown worked their way on to the floor. We eventually played "Driftwood" (Houston's request) and there was a little bit of dancing in between the folks drinking and rocking. We did "Bennie" and everyone just started singing. A real love fest. Harmony between the rockers and the dancers.

Beaumonts finished things off. In typical Beaumont fashion, no goat was left unmolested, no line unsnorted and no pill unpopped. Glorious as always.

Breakdown

House rig and a few free drinks!! Easy and fun night. More like this, please!

Bottom

Eight bass rigs and four more on the other side if the room. Boom!

5/26/13

Day four,

We made the drive to Marfa after an incredibly good and greasy breakfast in Midland. I drank a shitload of coffee and I was jacked up for the entire drive. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got to Padres, said howdy and loaded the gear in. Tonight the Hickoids are first. There are some concerns about the "language issue" with the Beaumonts... I wonder why?

Our set was short and a little underwhelming (at least from my end). It wasn't bad, just not great. It happens.

The Beaumonts were amazing. The sound guy, Hondo had never seen them before and I'd look over on occasion and see him behind the board, laughing his ass off. You really can't help it when you hear "Pour some wax on it baby". I dare you not to laugh (or be offended, but if offends you, should stay away from my blog). That was the reaction throughout most of the crowd, except for some folks who hightailed it after the first "fuck" was uttered. The Beaumonts are not for them.

We packed up and got paid, said our goodbys to the staff, our travel buddy's and Lance drove the eight hours home.

5/25/13

Day three

We hopped in the freak and made our way to Midland. We played at the Blue Max last year with our short-penised friends, the Beaumonts and it's good to do it again. 

Erica, the club owner always takes care of us. Right after we got there she said "Rice, I got a whole cow out there ready to grill for you". I said "uhhh...."  And she laughed and told me "I made you some veggie pasta, you'll be fine".  

I love this place. 

Beaumonts were first. After a couple of songs Troy Wayne was tuning and there were a couple minutes of "uncomfortable" silence. Followed by a couple of minutes of comedy gold. Those are some seriously funny fuckers.  

We didn't want to be outdone so we had a couple of awkward silences in our set, followed by attempts at hilarity. We tried, but we ain't no Beaumonts. We are much younger and WAY more attractive. Not as funny, but its a trade off I'm willing to take. 

Marfa tomorrow. 

5/24/13

Day two

Friday night at the Grotto in Ft Worth. Our old pals the Me-Thinks were the big headliner we were right before them and the Beaumonts  were before us. 

It was a bitch of a drive from Austin. Nonstop rain and a bunch of wrecks, but the freak 3 did beautifully. She drives like a dream. 

Beaumonts are KILLING it live. They have a knack of controlling a crowd in a truly bizarre fashion. During their first song some dude in the crowd looked at me and asked "Did he just say stick my pecker in a dog's behind?"  Yes, yes he did.  

When we were setting up this dude was standing there saying "I bet you won't have half the fun I'm gonna have". I accepted his challenge and monitored his "fun level" for the rest of the night.  I believe I hovered in the 60%-70% range of his enjoyment level. I win!

Midland tomorrow. 

5/23/13

It's day one of the latest Hickoids mini-tour, four days with the Beaumonts. It's a themed tour, I don't really know what the theme is, but I know it has something to do with goats or sheep... We are starting off close to home and will end things up in Marfa on Sunday (we are told the livestock will be there, in force).

I know I've said it before, but I love spending the night in my bed on the first day of a tour... It's rock and roll, old man style!

We were in San Marcos at a former massage parlor know as the Tokyo Spa. They call it the Triple Crown now. Hickoids were first, we had a good set. Smitty's playing a lot of guitar at the top of the set. Energy wise we seem to start things off a little more subdued than usual, but we still bring the rock by the end of the set.

We did the Brontosaurs and that always makes me happy.

Beaumonts were on next. I didn't see them (work the next morning) but, I heard the top of the first song as I headed to my truck. Lame, I know, but I'll see PLENTY of them this weekend.

Ft Worth tomorrow!

5/16/13

My first time at the new Antone's. They did a really nice job with the place. Two stories, two bars (and most importantly) two coolers stocked with Lone Star tallboys for the bands. Iced beer! They STILL know how to treat bands here.

Hickoids were in the middle. Black Eyed Vermillion was first. The lineup was different from the last time I saw them (it seems to change a lot!). A couple of the Cunto fellas have joined and that's a very good thing. They held it down while Gary stomped and yelled all over the stage. They were louder than usual, but that makes them rowdier too, another good thing.

Our set felt quick to me, It wasn't, but it proves I have no concept of time when I'm playing. I'm always the person who thinks we've played twenty minutes more (or less) than we actually have... I need a soundman to keep me straight.

I borrowed Marcus's (from PP) rig. I'm liking the Orange gear more every time I use it. There may be a change in my future.

Pinata Protest was last. This was their record release and the crowd came out for the Protest. Loads of drunken people jumping around on the dance floor and having a great time. They always seem to bring the rock and roll beat down. It's expected at this point.

Breakdown

Two coolers of iced down Lone Star (a CASE of tallboys in each). And we got paid! Damn... one hell of a Thursday night.

5/14/13

Tuesday ay 8PM usually isn't the best time for a show. After it's booked your always thinking "No one will come, it's too early and a TUESDAY". That leads to thoughts of the club not wanting you back and other things you shouldn't be thinking if your gonna go rock.

Over the years I've done a pretty good job of keeping away from that kind of thinking. It's easier when your "just" the bass player and you didn't book the show. I didn't book this show either, but some of that thinking drifted in to my brain as I was driving downtown.

Red Eye Fly. I haven't played there in years. We were first of four on the bill and we got up and rocked it. When your thinking "I hope SOMEONE comes out" you are thrilled when twenty folks show up. You get even happier when some of the folks you told to come out actually do!

Breakdown

Two beer tickets each. Nice for an early Tuesday. The Ladies and I had a shot together before playing. I wasn't going to have one, but it looked really tasty when everyone else was gonna have one! I think I'm finally caving in to this peer pressure I've been hearing about...

5/4/13

Saturday night in Dallas, the big D. There were Gringos up there...

Hickoids made the drive separately. Smitty, Tom and Davy went up early in the freak to pick up some LPs from the Dallas pressing plant. Lance and I drove up later. Our time was filled with kolache and coffee.

We made it to Bryan Street Tavern in enough time for Tom to bully us into ordering our free pizza (apparently the Thai food he had three hours earlier wasn't holding him over). We ate and Graceland got up to play. They had a nice set, but they got into a little argument in the middle. Having been in SEVERAL bands that fought onstage (sometimes with fists) it was nice to see someone else do it.

We were next. I was sloppy and a little out of it. The two shows the night before, four hours of sleep, eight hours of work and a three and a half hour drive was knocking the crap out of me. Folks seemed happy with the show. I used Tubb's Orange rig and it's making me think about replacing mine. I am a gear whore.

Gringos go on playing the classics. They were kicking ass and I start dragging it. Lance and I head back to Austin early (lame, but needed). More kolache on the way home to

sleep...

5/3/13

Friday night in Hunter Texas, Yeah! Riley's Tavern has been around since 1933. It's like a lot of joints out in the country, cool as hell. I was playing twice (Ladies and Hickoids) and the Beaumonts were finishing things off.

The Ladies and I were on first. We are an excellent opener... and talented and lovely and...
We kicked some ass.

Hickoids were next. It was the calmest Hickoids set ever. Smitty is playing a lot of guitar and it cuts down on his ability to bounce around. It also saves me from getting fucked with continually, so it's not a bad thing.

I loaded up the truck and ran back inside to get drunk for the Beaumonts. God I love them. At midnight (during last call) the crowd was still pretty thick and they kept going, even after the soundman turned off the PA! Instrumental Ace of Spades. Beautiful.

4/21/13

Fishermen Fish Fry. It's as glorious as the Corn Lovers Fiesta. Sunday, all day at the "new" Scoot Inn. It looks like the old Scoot, but they don't turn the AC on... It was one hot bitch inside that place.

There were plenty of cool bands on the bill, I showed up later than usual and was rewarded with the Fishermen going on. Whipped it. Purple Stickpin, next. Whipped it. Then everything went inside (noise ordinance). Churchwood, Whipped IT. And we finished things off with a fair amount of ass whipping as well.

Decent crowd for a Sunday night. There was a whole lot of that "I'm drunk and it's late, so let's get it on" vibe going on. Not so much a lovefest, more of a fuckfest. A great kind of crowd to play to.

Breakdown

One lame little beer ticket... Oy.

Three Show Wrap-up

I'm late by three shows... Lame Lame Lame...

How can I improve this? By stepping up the lame a little more with a THREE SHOW POST!!

#1

Hickoids in Dallas. We were up to play a scooter/motorcycle fest at Lee Harvey's. We hadn't been back from Europe for a week and we made the drive. Well, I made the drive back and flew up (!) rock star style. Money to burn....

Good, happy crowd. They liked us a bunch and we were still pretty tight (but tired) from the tour.

Near the end of our set most of the bikes started peeling out and the smell of burnt rubber was making me think an amp was on fire. Then ALL of the bikes started up and it smelled like Midland. It was real hard to breathe, but we made it to the end.

We hit the Czech Stop on the way home!

#2

David Nobody benefit at the Longbranch. David fucked up his hand in a nasty way right before SXSW this year. Like most Austin musicians (like me) he had no insurance. So we benefit.

We were right before Churchwood (awesome as always) and after a stripped down Shootin pains (dandy work, fellas). I love the shit out of the sound of an acoustic through a tube amp.

We kicked ass. Still high off the tour it would have been hard for us to mess up.

#3

Two days later at the Mix. Stevie Tombstone was out for a few dates and the night was him solo and us. He did about 45 minutes and we did an hour and a half. It was a long slow build and by the end we were in full on rage mode.

They close the smoking deck at last call so the last fifteen minutes the place was packed and we were on fire. Lots of good, happy, drunk folks with nowhere else to go. Hickiod putty!

3/31/13

Day 10 London


I know it's way late, but here it is, the last show.

It was at the Islington which is a club named after a neighborhood in London (where it is also located). When I told my UK family about it they would say 
"Oh great! Where is it"
"The Islington"
"But what is the name of the club"
And so on...

Country Dirt started things off with a fairly straight forward country set. Straight forward if you weren't paying any attention to the lyrics. Then it's a whole different story! Marianna had some carnival barker level sills. A tremendous ability to sling the bullshit. I didn't hear it at first, but damn!


Bob Collum had a nice, tight set and the Hicks were on. It was a little rough for us (must have been missing those Grannies) but we got through and and the crowd was in to it. They went crazy when we whipped our Gudbye t' Jane on them. Those islanders love their Slade!


That was it. I repacked my bags for the flight home, shook a bunch of hands, gave out some Cds and hugs and the Hickoids headed off towards home. 

Things were about to get rough for us, but that is another post.

3/30/13

Day 9 Bath

As a part of this tour we were added to the BOB festival with our pals the Grannies. BOB because it's bands from Bingen, Oakland and Bath, I'm not sure how central Texas fits in, but we were happy to play.

It was mostly heavy punk bands so by the time we went on and hit them with our act the folks were starving for something different and we delivered in a big way. Hickoids made a lot of new friends. I even had a woman tell me I was like Nicholas Cage if he was designed by Hal Heartly. I'm not sure what it means but she meant it as a complement...

Grannies were supposed to be right after us but they got bumped to the next slot and they had a hellacious set. Dean was wearing an old ladies suit with big, saggy boobs, a giant bush and a huge clit. Lovely. On the last song Sluggo jumped off the stage and smashed the shit out of his "new" epiphone. It was an incredible end to the end of the 300 years of punk rock tour. Two guitars down.

And then the sound guy started bitching. "Any band who breaks anything will be kicked out immediately". Umm... he broke his guitar not anyone else's. so there was about an hour of stupid drama, Dean and Sluggo apologized just to get that idiot to shit up, but he wouldn't. The security guys were called in an they started horse laughing at the sound guy. EVERYONE was saying the same thing, it's a punk rock show and he broke HI'S guitar. That's it, nothing else. What a lame little bitch.

After most of the drama was over we packed up the euro freak and headed out. We gave our Grannie pals some hugs and said goodby. We will have fun at our last show, but we are gonna miss them.

London tomorrow!

3/29/12

Day 8 Kortjrik

At the Pits. I played here a few years ago with South Filthy and it is still a tiny and cool club. SF had six people and the Hickoids (and Grannies) are five. There would have been more room on the stage, but our amps are way bigger (and too loud for the space).

There is a band area and kitchen upstairs with 14 steep and tiny steps. I slipped on the top one and went all the way down. No serious damage, but my lower back is a little messed up and my elbows took a hit. I'm sore as shit, but ill live.

Breakdown

Euro travel tip of the day. Go down the tiny/steep stairs slowly and use the handrail. And bring painkillers, you may need them.

Bath tomorrow.

3/28/13

Day 7 Bingen

Tonight went a little smoother than the one before, no broken anything (other than some beer bottles). The club is a youth center/semi-squat. It was loaded with kick ass graffiti and the members (not employees) were kind and helpful.

Apparently there is some kind of veg/vegan movement with this of community, another boon for me! Chili and salad for dinner (plus beer) and a pretty incredible paprika cashew paste with cheese and avocado on hot rolls for breakfast.

The club loaded up fast. The openers were PJ Franco and the Burnouts, a bass and drum duo from Alaska. Hell of a good set. They are bouncing around Europe and staying out of the Alaskan cold. They told me this when it was snowing outside. At least it was warm enough for snow...

We played second and the Grannies closed things up with an amazing set. It was the perfect crowd for them. Dean can whip an audience like that in to a frenzy with ease. Those folks didn't have a choice. He had control of the room from the beginning and he kept turning the heat up. Amazing.

Kortjrik tomorrow!

3/27/13

Day 6 Hamburg

Well there is really only one thing to say about this night. The club (Goldener Salon) was cool, they fed us well, put us up in a decent little flat next door and gave us beer(!).

Grannies opened and four or five songs in Sluggo smashed his 70's SG. He was twirling it around in his typical fashion and he missed. It hit the ground and the headstock broke. I saw the nut fly off an I was thinking "that can't be his nut". I was wrong, it was.

At this point there are only two ways to go, freak out or go big. Sluggo went big. Two good whacks and the body popped off the neck and there it was, busted. Pop pop. He even knocked out a chunk of the floor.

Sluggo ain't fucking around. Pure rock and roll.

3/26/13

Day 5 Copenhagen

After a much needed day off and a boatload of rest we ripped it up in Denmark. Daemonens Port is in the basement of an office building and directly below a baby supply store. We couldn't do a sound check until after six so we wouldn't piss off the parents with their kinder.

Leadfoot Lee's One Man Trash Band opened with an incredible solo set. It's a tough act to pull off and he did it with ease.

Grannies were next. Dean was wearing something that looked like it was stolen from Jane Fonda's closet in 1986. It was frighteningly hilarious.

Then we played. We were working it up to a nice boil when Sluggo joined us to sing on "Queen". Things popped up another level. And then we did "Brontosaurus".

A few months ago, when we were still planning this tour, there was a discussion about all of us playing one together and we landed on Brontosaurus. For whatever reason we didn't do it until last night. It was so amazing it should be the entire act for the whole tour.

Dean and Smitty howling. Sluggo played third guitar, Chris hopped up with a cowbell (and mask and wig) and Drew joined us to do handclaps (in a wig). It was one of the greatest on stage moments in my life.

Amazing.

Breakdown

Free beer! And shots on the stage. It's gonna be hard going home.

Hamburg tomorrow

3/24/13

Day 4, Potsdam

31 steps up into the club. That SVT is stupid heavy. I'm really missing my rig. I think my setup is about half the weight of the SVT's head. The two half stacks and the drum kit weren't easy either.

It was so cold six people came out to the show. Even the locals don't want to brave the weather. Unlike Austin the club folks were apologetic and you could tell they felt bad about the attendance. And they paid us, IN FULL!

Grannies played first, . Both bands did 30 minute sets. Short, sweet and unattended.

Breakdown

A well stocked green room with snacks, sodas, juice and beer (or bier as they say over here). They even bought the twelve of us dinner on a boat that cost over €200!

Taking a ferry to Denmark tomorrow. Other than the drive we have the day off to check out Copenhagen. It should be a good Monday.

3/23/13

Day 3, Berlin

It was 19F in Berlin. Pretty impossible for a boy from central Texas to deal with that kind of cold. All of the locals were bitching about how bad the weather was... Never a good sign.

The club was called Wild at Heart and the folks that own it also have a restaurant next door that made some incredible tandoori tofu. It will probably be the best meal I'll have all tour. It's nice when they take care of the veggie.

There were some city sanctioned rolling brown outs that seemed to be centered around the club. My volume would change in the middle if a song without me doing anything. Very frustrating.

I played like shit and I was feeling kinda bad about it but the Grannies made me feel better by kicking some serious ass. One of Dean's best moves is throwing the mic on the floor and getting down on all fours to sing into it. Brilliant.

Breakdown

Great veggie food and six beer tickets. Not bad for playing like shit.

Potsdam tomorrow.

3/22/13

Day 2, Dusseldorf.

I was robbed. We pulled up to the club (The Tube) to load in and I put my bag on the front seat because it looked vulnerable in the back. I shut the door and start moving gear inside. I made one trip and walked back outside and heard "Did anyone have anything in the front of that van?" I looked and my bag was gone. The GPS and two iPhones were still in the seat... Fuck.

The club owner, Alex and Dean (Grannies singer) and I went looking for it. We scoured the area checking under cars, in doorways and in trash bins. Eventually Dean found it in a doorway. Dean is my hero.

I did an inventory, my earbuds, ear plugs and weed was gone. But not my Harpo jacket, ties, cords, sunglasses or my $100 tuner.

Smart thieves.

When we first started walking around I was pretty bummed and pissed, but Alex started making jokes about how this crap happens all the time and I started calming down a little. We walked by a little canal and he told me "they drain this twice a year and they may find your bag in it. Your weed will be moldy and you might have a fish living in the bag, but I will get it to you". Pretty funny considering the circumstances.

Breakdown

Oh yeah, we played a show. We were the middle slot, Grannies played last. The Tube is a great little club. Dean is from Dusseldorf so a lot of people were out for him. Great crowd.

Six beer tickets each. I was drinking some local dark beer that was pretty incredible. The local beers are generally great over here. They beat the crap out of Lone Star.

Berlin tomorrow.

3/21/13

300 years of punk rock tour day 1. Our first show was at Paradise Park in Amsterdam. I couldn't think of a better way to start things off.

We get there and they have a table up on the stage so we could be displayed while we ate. I had a crepe and beer! After food they moved the table and we set up the gear. Then found a "coffee" shop! Then drank more beer.

We had a pretty good crowd for a Thursday night. Loads of tall, good looking Dutch folks. Amsterdam is loaded with good looking people. I could move here...

The opener was great, local boys who knew what they were doing. Grannies were next. Tom is playing bass with them for the while tour. He held that shit down and sounded like he'd been with them for years.

We were last and whipped it. Kicking rock and roll ass does not need to be translated. People get it.

Breakdown

Lets see, they gave me three beers with dinner and ten chips for more free ones during the show.

I made two trips to the coffee shop to stock up on weed and hash.

Did I mention I could move here?

We rented two half stacks, a drum kit and an SVT. The guy threw in a spare bass head and and a guitar head and didn't charge is for them ("why would I charge you if the other one breaks?"). Can't argue with that.

Dusseldorf tomorrow.

3/16/13

My last full day of SXSW. Two shows!

#1

Bigfoot Chester at the Grackle. Peelander Z asked us to play, we couldn't say no. Especially after Yellow kept calling us "Sexy Boys". It's impossible to say no to that.

There was some transportation issues so our set was pushed back a bit. I'm told that using an Austin Chronicle for a gas funnel is a bad move... I can believe it.

We were gonna play five songs, but they made us do one more! Is it an encore at that point? Or just a slightly extended set?

Run to the truck and dodge traffic to,


#2

Hickoids at the 04 lounge.

I'd never been there before, but like most people who have played in a band in Austin, I've practiced across the street at the Music Lab. I am so happy I don't do that anymore.

It's a pretty cool space. The "stage" is between the main area and the bathrooms so people have to walk right beside you to pee. It made for some comical moments at times.

We did our set and the weight was gone. Boom. SXSW was over (ok I went and saw the Meat Puppets that night) but there were no more shows for me!


Breakdown

Free Lone Star at the 04! And two free beers at the Grackle (more than enough for the hour and a half I was there).

I got to use backline bass rigs the whole fest! That saved me a ton of time and strain. Thanks Tony (and the Dog and Duck and Peelander Z)!

Europe next!

3/15/13

They pulled me back in.

Somewhere around lunch time the day before I got a text from $3 Bill saying I was needed for a Casters set at the Dog and Duck. There was a cancellation and he got the call.

I quit the Casters six months ago. But that's how things work here, welcome to Austin.

We only did about six songs. I remembered most of them. Fortunately when there are that many people on stage (not to mention the mamarian force field!) 95% of the audience will not notice when I correct my wrong note. I'm sure the amount of beer consumed and the level of exhaustion of most people at this point in the festival helps with that too.

3/14/13

Last night it was me and the ladies at Opal Divine's on 6th. It was our official, non-official SXSW showcase. Smitty set the show up and I forced him to stick us on to the bill! We whipped it.

Generally Opals is a sedate place and they try to keep the volume at a reasonable level (in other words, we don't play there too often). But when there are three other bands on the same block they don't mind giving it a crank. We were loud as hell. The double drummers can really bring up the SPL in an instant. I am really happy with the Vibroluxe, the old Deluxe would have never kept up. BC played through a house SVT cabinet with some odd head. We were massive.

More tomorrow!

3/13/13

If you weren't there you missed it. My one official SXSW showcase was last night at the Kama Lounge. It was Smitty's big night for the label and most of his bands were on the bill.

Hickoids went on after another brilliant set by the Beaumonts. I played sloppier than shit. Tom let everyone use his bass amp, but the only way it would fit was off the stage so half of it's speakers were aimed under us. I'd hit the E string it was too much low end and the whole stage would shake. When I went to the A and up I could barely hear a thing. I kinda got it dialed inish by the end of the set.

We had a lot of fun and the crowd was really in to it. We had a couple of hilarious/amazing stage moves that I won't even attempt to describe. You got to see it. The Hickoids are massive.

Breakdown

After we finished Troy Wayne gave me two beer tickets. Have I mentioned he is a very handsome man? Anyway two from Troy and two from the club I was sitting pretty.

Me and the Ladies tonight!

3/11/13

The festival is pummeling downtown. All of 6th street and the surrounding areas are shutdown to cars and parking is $20 in every lot in the neighborhood. I'm sure the trickle down from all of that commerce will find it's way into my pocket... soon?

We got hired to play a private party for a company called Soft Layer. They do web/computery stuff that I don't understand, but they wanted us to play they were happy to pay us! We MADE some money during SXSW! A miracle...

We were in the Treehouse lounge which is above Coyote Ugly. You know that bar that was in NYC and they made a movie out of it and now they are in "party" areas of big cities (like Vegas and Austin...). As awful as CU is Treehouse was the polar opposite. Really cool and friendly staff who appreciated us. Thank you for being human.

I wrote a new song for the ladies and me. Not just chords and words with a melody, I came up with arrangements. First time I've done that with the "new" ladies.  We played it at the party and made it through with very few screw ups. It's a pretty amazing feeling when something you've planned works out. Even at the miniscule level of songwriting for four.

I can be easy to please when things going in the right direction.

Breakdown

On the plus side, we got paid and free booze!!
On the minus, $20 parking, not being able to load gear from the street and $4 pizza for dinner...

3/9/13

Double show Saturday night!

#1
Kicking March off the right way. Hickoids started things off at the http://www.samopc.org/ . The show was going to be us and the Uranium Savages, but age must have depleted the Savages beyond their half-life because they never made it out. A couch can really get a hold of you.

The museum is a pretty cool place with a ton of pictures and gig posters. They even had food! For Free!

We did our thing. Instead of our typical "make it up as we go" we are attempting to play a "set (as in written up beforehand and actually sticking to it). We are getting closer to that being a reality. By the time we get to Europe we will be a machine. A machine with a few old parts that makes a weird rattling sound, but still a machine.

#2
Bigfoot Chester at the Frontier. It's Bigfoot's second show this year (#3 on Saturday!) and we whipped it. Everything was a little fast and leaning towards to the train wreck side of things, but we kept it on the good side of chaos.

While Davy and I were playing the first show the other guys did a little rehearsal without us. Always a bad plan. 3/5 are playing one way and the other 2/5 are playing another. At least there was beer to smooth out the edges.

Breakdown

The museum's bar is donation based. A very fair/kind setup. If you are broke you can just pay a little and if you are flush you can pay off some of your guilt from when you were broke. Nice system.

Frontier was kind with beer once again.

I like free beer.