12/19/15

Last post of the year and I might as well keep with the theme of 2015, this one is late... Life has gotten in the way in more ways than one...

I was asked to re-join the Gay Sportscasters for a "super" version of the band for a party at the Hole in the Wall celebrating Debbie's birthday. Since she booked me (literally) hundreds of times when she worked there I was happy to rejoin the biggest, messiest band I've ever been a part of.

I played bass and there were drums, keys, four guitars, a singer, two dancers and no room on the stage. The stage was packed with gear and bodies. I barely made it up to a mic to help on some backing vocals. It was a hell of a lot of fun being in the middle of the maelstrom and getting to push it around with my bass.

The room was loaded with folks reeling from the orgy-like sensation of this lovefest. Both stages were going and there was basically a minute in between bands. Pocket Fishermen, Wannabees, Peenbeets, Superego and many (many) others were on the bill. All of them were big bands that people wanted to see. I showed up when the Wannabees were about halfway finished, fought my way through the crowd and stashed my gear. I thought I'd check out the rest of their set, but I never actually got to see ANY of the other bands while they were playing, it was way too crowed for the casual fan. I even had a little trouble getting to the stage when we were going on!

Let's do it again!

10/30/15

Played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night. Actually Lance and I played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night and the Ladies weren't even on the bill!

Lance subbed for Trey in Bigfoot Chester. We rehearsed twice (once right before the show) and had a great little set. Not surprising Lance knows what he is doing and the majority of Bigfoot tunes are simple. The only "tricky" parts are the dynamics and those are easy to figure out if your paying attention (The trick is to watch Walter, or be in the band for eighteen years, either way it's not that hard.)

Hickoids were next and it was the pretty standard ass-whipping set. The crowd was happy, drunk, sloppy and a few of them made it up on stage. 

It only takes one and there were several of the usual stage crowding suspects in attendance so it was inevitable. It started when this one girl hopped up in the second or third song and within a couple of tunes she was licking Smitty's chest. Then one of two dudes started putting a foot up, like he was testing the water. A couple of tunes later he was standing on the edge of the stage and he was looking at my microphone like he needed it. Meanwhile, several times during the set the second dude would hop up in front of my mic and start yelling at it from the other side. 

By the end of the night all three of them were on the stage with us and the two dudes were fighting over who go to use my microphone. I was gonna sing my part, but they needed it more than me.

10/12/15

Dave, the dude who owned Trophies died a few months back and someone decided it was time to have a memorial for him. It was at C-Boy's which was Trophies but they really cleaned the place up. It's the small things, like not having to stand in someone else's piss when your using the bathroom, that makes the new place feel better...

The tribute had a few bands on the bill and almost no one (other than the bands and employees) in the club. Hickoids were asked to do a little set and we figured we'd do "Stop It" for the whole fifteen minute set (we've talked abut doing the one song set for a while, but it's never happened, thank the lord I don't believe in!!) We get up after Chad Holt told another racially "rough" story about the departed. We did our fifteen minute tune and started packing up, but the two or three actual crowd members wanted more so we did a couple more.

After I started hearing about how the apartment complex next door is now the "grandfathered" business so when they complain about noise from C-Boy's the are actually listened to. Huge change. At points during SXSW there would be three bands at Trophies. Two of them outside! Big loud Marshall and SVT amped bands with distortion pedals and Les Paul's. And the complex couldn't say shit.

So now you can move in to one of the big entertainment districts of Austin and legally complain about the noise... Can I start complaining about the train that passes my house? If you live under the flight path of the Austin airport and you complain enough about the jet noise will ABIA get shut down? The answer to both of these questions is obviously no. But (apparently) it's ok to bitch about the noise of a nightclub you moved next to... That's some screwed up shit.

Ten years ago there were hookers walking on the sidewalk out front and a porno theater a block away. Sometimes I wish that crap would come back. At least then the rents would go back down.

10/9/15

There were four bands on the bill for the second Friday of the Corn Lovers Fiesta, the show was at ABGB and we were on third. I got there as the Surlys were going on They had a tight little set and the crowd was way in to it. I missed the first band... work is lame... time moves on.

Hickoids were next and our set was a dandy. We played mostly the "classic" Hickoid hits from way back before anyone other than Smitty was in the group and crowd was eating it up! Lot's of fast cow punk for people who were screaming for it. It's a symbiotic thing. I don't think I've ever seen that many people at ABGB before. And I know I've never see that many people at the front of the stage while a band I was playing in was there. Really impressive turnout.

Pong finished things up. Such a good band. They are still rocking the (mostly) one cord jam/modal tuns they've been know for. There were lots of smiling, ass shaking people enjoying a fucking great set! Pong!

10/3/15

It was day two of the Corn Lovers Fiesta and the evenings festivities were at the White Horse. The place was jammed with people most of the night. At some points there was a line from the door to the street, about fifty people deep. ACL really brings them in. Everyone loves that corn.

There were five bands on the bill and a whole lot of ass kicking top to bottom. I'm not even gonna get in to specifics here, I was too busy having fun to pay too much attention to anything other than the set I had to play. And getting drunk, stoned and having as much of the aforementioned fun as was possible.

We went on at midnight and it was PACKED! Packed like it usually is for the Beaumonts, but this time they were looking at Hickoids. Our set was short and punchy. I had to ask for a little extra vocal when we did Driftwood. The little bit of monitor I had for the first few songs was fine, but when I really got to "sing" I need a little clarity. Picky son of a bitch...

When the Beaumonts went up the crowd thinned a little and the line at the front was down to nothing. Lance and I snuck out when those boys from Lubbock had around fifteen minutes left. We were attempting to beat the 2AM bar closing time cluster fuck that had been leaning down on us with an ever increasing pressure. Fail. It took twenty minutes of dodging drunken morons to get five miles down I-35. Yuck.

9/26/15

Then it was Saturday and we were still in New Orleans. Well most of us were, Cody had to jet off to play a show somewhere in Central Texas, but the rest of us were there and so was Rowsey. And the folks over at Siberia casually  mentioned that their happy hour band canceled on them. I just happened to have my Les Paul and Tom had his Bass. By some miracle of chance (i.e. planning) all of us had our Swishbuckling gear, so we strapped it on for one more round of pirate rock.

The crowd was thin, but since we finalized the the show a couple of hours before it happened you can't expect a huge turnout. It's a little bittersweet, we probably played the best show of the year (for the 'bucklers) to ten people. You could tell that we all knew the songs better and the confidence level was high. Smooth sailing would be an appropriate metaphor here, or a half assed pun...

I played through Cody's rig, a giant Marshal head on a 4X10 Orange cabinet. I went through the second input and kept the volume on one and a half. When it went to two it was way too much. His rig has no tremolo (I've come to rely on it) so I had to screw around with my delay pedal to try to mimic the sound the best I could. I eventually got something decent but I couldn't help thinking I sounded a little like The Edge...

After the set we packed up the Freak Van started the drive back home. We really got on the road around 11PM after a dinner at America's shittiest diner and we made it to my place around 7AM. Not a bad little drive.

9/25/15

We started the drive to New Orleans around 7 PM. My house was the last pickup spot and we got on the road right after Tom and I loaded our crap in to the freak van. Around 5 AM I hopped in to my hotel bed right after the first beer of the (previous) day. I was exhausted. We stopped five times on the way (including a casino break) that kinda kills the possibility of making good time. Oh well, we weren't going on until midnight so there was no great rush to get up early.

The show was at dba on Frenchman Street. I played there with an old version of "the Ladies" back before Katrina dumped her load and things have changed dramatically since then. Frenchman Street was packed and it's a tiny, one lane, one way street so there is very little room to move around. All of the tourist (myself included) were bouncing between the clubs and the brass band out on the street, it was elbow to elbow. Since the economy is up and party people flock to New Orleans it's no surprise that the former "locals" music road is now the tourists "secret" music place. There was money was flowing everywhere. The pickpockets were even donating 10% of their take to charity. Pretty decent of them.

dba has changed as well, but for the better. Now there is a decent sized stage framed out into the room and an extensive backstage with a private smoking patio. Very cool. When I played there the stage was basically a plank of wood that stuck out by the wall. This was a huge improvement. And the hospitality... They are batting a 1000 there. Loads of free beer, booze and mixers. They know how to treat a band at dba.

Alien Knife Fight was first, similar set as the last time I saw them, they rocked it. DiNOLA played the middle slot (and were the folks that got us to come to town). They had a seriously great set! Apparently we played with them at ACL at some point, but I don't remember it at all. Maybe I saw them, maybe I didn't... I saw them on this night. I won't forget that set for a long, long time.

We got up and played the longest Hickoid set in recorded history. I was told we were on for somewhere between two and a half and three hours. I have no idea if that's true, but we didn't end up leaving the club till 4AM. I was so drunk and happy (and loaded with cash after being PAID(!) for playing ) that I rushed over to the casino to gamble with Smitty and Cody until around 8 AM when I stumbled back to the hotel flush with my winnings!

What a great night.

9/19/15

The 'bucklers went on early at Opal Divines. It was finally "talk like a pirate day" and the costumed crowd had gathered for a rocking evening of ridiculousness. And beer (they called it ale or mead... sigh, it was beer).

Our set was spot on. We had no huge mishaps and we kept things pretty tight for the whole set. There were some kids in the audience (sitting right by the stage) so Smitty wasn't as actively verbal with the between song banter as he usually is. You don't really want to explain the double entendre of a song like "The Mast" to a nine year old...

"The wood, the wood, the wood is good..." The rest of the crowd got it, or gets it, that's all that really matters.

The Jolly Garogers and Shoulders finished things off. JG's had to wait a long time for a member to make it (I never figured out if he did, I went inside to the AC and beer and missed their entire set.) I did catch a bit of the Shoulders. Those guys are the same as they were twenty years ago (just in pirate garb for the "special occasion"). They rock so hard and play so quiet it's amazing and I don't know how they do it!

So that's it for the 'bucklin this year. One rehearsal, two shows and it will be another eleven months and three weeks until the next one. That's a hell of a schedule. It's a shame because I love shaking the slide for this band. Too bad the next show is forever away. Unless...

9/18/15

The Swishbucklers are back! We played at Tex Pop in San Antonio for our pal Belle's birthday. We will play together a grand total of three times this year, and that includes the one rehearsal we had Thursday night. 

I drove to Lance's house and we made the rest of the drive together. When I got to his place he was already in full costume AND make up! The man is committed or should be committed, I'm not the person who makes those kinds of decisions. 

The show was decent. I really like playing guitar in a band that isn't mine. It's fun to just wank around with a slide and not worry about pushing the beat all the time like I have to do when I'm playing bass. This band is practically a vacation since I don't even sing in it! What I'm getting at is I could basically just show up, set up and set my slide in motion while I take a nap. It's rare I get to do something this fun that isn't that much work.

Cock in my pocket was last. Here is a little musician math. 50% of cock in my pocket are in the Hickoids and The Swishbucklers. 100% of them are in the Gay Sportscasters. Welcome to the reality of bands music fans.

Cock's set was great until the cops showed up... Smitty was about to get a ticket and they were gonna shut it down, but he agreed to do two more if someone would make sure both the front and back doors stayed shut. I was on the back and did my duty while they finished up with a seriously badassed version of Iggy's No Fun. They really hit the groove in that tune. The cops left and eventually Lance and I drove back home. 

More 'bucklin tomorrow!

9/12/15

We flew up to Denver for a show last Saturday night. We went up late Friday on a flight that was delayed for a few hours and made it to Colorado about ten minutes after the last dispensary closed. Plans foiled.

The next day, bright and early, we made our way over to Wellspring on Broadway where we were HOOKED UP! They gave us (gave, as in no money) a load of bud, edibles and concentrate. Good God it's nice up in Denver... We spent most of the afternoon smoking and munching followed by more smoking and munching and a little bass playing. I'd weigh 400 pounds if I lived there...

Eventually we made it up to the Oriental Theater. Hickoids were the last on a bill of five. Apparently there was a sixth "act" before everything else got started. Some chick played a meditation bowl while she chanted. Maybe all the legal weed isn't such a good thing... You know... Hippies can ruin anything.

We went on around 9 and had a decent set. A big stage and borrowed gear can make things interesting. The boat load of liquor the crowd brought us was what really made things insane. There were a lot of shots. Like a lot. Like to the point where there was a boat load of sloppy on the stage. Not the good, funky slop I usually aim for, but the "what a bunch of sloppy shit"... Not the greatest...

We lost a decent chunk of the crowd when we did "Kung Fu Fighting" Apparently casual racism offends hippies. We should have played it earlier... The folks who came to rock stayed and brought us more shots. That led to more of the aforementioned sloppy and pretty much ended our set.

It wasn't the glorious out of town show we'd hoped for, but I still had a hell of a good time. And I can't wait to smoke my way back to Denver ASAP!

9/4/15

Hickoids had a couple of shows in Bryan TX last Friday night. Usually when people say Bryan they also say (or at least think) College Station. I'm not sure we ever made it in to College Station, I figured we were close, but I never saw a sign, so I guess I've never been there. Once we go to town we made our way through a few busy blocks of one lane traffic. It's First Friday so the streets are packed! Well... small town packed.

The Beaumonts were also along for the ride, they went on before us at both shows. The first was at a vintage clothing store/art gallery. Cool place with some interesting art for your funeral home or for fans of the movie "Dinner for Schmucks". Mouse and duckling taxidermy is really cool, sad and adorable. I think I want some.

I was outside for most of the Beaumonts first set. Lots of people would stop and gawk at the "country" band in the store. They would either hang out for a minute and leave happy or they'd stay till they heard a lyric they deemed offensive and moved on. During "If you don't love the Lord..." I saw a family go from "Alright!" to "move along" after hearing only one line in that God Dammed song.

We went up and it was a decent set. Sweaty and packed into a tiny space the Hickoids can sound pretty great. We all tried to make it out to the sidewalk at one point, but we got stuck in the door. So mature. We finished up and loaded out to the next place.

It was only a couple of blocks away and when we got there the opening band was on stage. A couple of the fellas worked their way up to the bar and were told the opener used all of the bar tab for the night...  All of it.

What a horrible decision on managements part. Here is a good idea if you own a club. Let the band have a couple of free drinks for each member. Sure, it cuts into your bottom line, but not as much as a band that's pissed because they get no free drinks! Without proper beverage "accommodations" a band's attitude will quickly become "Oh, you want US to entertain you?" I even made friends with a bartender who said "I'll take care of you!" I thought this meant free beer (or at least A free beer) but when I asked for one he said "$3.50". What a bunch of crap.

The worst part was we were borrowing the openers PA so we couldn't say anything to them about our lack of drinks...

Anyway, Beaumonts played, we played. There was a bunch of going out in the audience and taking a "break" at a table in the middle of a song People love that stuff. A couple of them loved it enough to buy us a couple of rounds! So we didn't spend all of our money on beer, just a decent chunk.

Eventually we finished, loaded out and headed back to Austin. I was home a little after 6AM and up for work at 8:45 the next morning... That was a rough day.

8/27/15

Hickoids were first on a bill of three last night in San Antonio. We played a new(ish) club called Paper Tiger. It was the White Rabbit a few years ago and it's right across the street from the Mix. I got there early and a couple of the guys from the club came out and helped me load in, Damn!

The stage is big and I was told they installed a new bank of monitors earlier that day. This place is nice. SA has a lot of money coming in. People finally figured out that San Antonio is a cool, cheap place to live. For the time being...

The rest of the guys showed up and we sound checked. About a half hour before we started the sound guy asked me how I wanted our mix to sound. Uhhh, what?

"Do you want the guitars on the left to come out on the right so it sounds like stereo? Or do you want it balanced across the front?" I was poleaxed. Never has a sound guy asked me that, NEVER! I didn't know what to say, but I opted for balanced across the front, but it might be cool the other way.

We played our set. It was decent. The crowd was light and in between songs they were silent. I mentioned all the quiet was gonna sound great on the live recording... It got the laugh I expected.

We finished, they fed us some pizza! I loaded up and headed home right after and made it home before midnight.

6/21/15

Damn! I totally forgot about this one...

The Ladies and I drove down to SA to play at one of the best clubs, the Mix on one of the worst nights of the week, Sunday. A 10PM start time almost guarantees light attendance unless you are a big road band. We are not... But the turnout was surprisingly good. A number of friends made it out to support our foolishness. 

We tried out a "new" cover, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". I jumped on bass while BC played her French Horn. No joke. The general concept of a stripped down "Papa" has been floating around in my head for years. I'm happy we finally made it a reality. We busted our asses getting it right in rehearsal and we did a nice job of it at the show, but when we finished... Silence... Ouch. It's not dead, but that hurt.

Western Star finished up the night. All of the Ladies had already taken off but I stuck around to watch them whip it. The Mix is a really great club for rockin. And they did.

Short drive home and I was in bed by 4. Not bad.

6/20/15

Last night the Ladies had the opening slot at ABGB. That place really has it's shit together. They feed you, give you great beer, they pay and have parking in the back so you don't have to mess around with searching for a spot down the street after you load in. Hell, they even had enough microphones to cover both drum kits and we still had four vocal mics! Shit! It almost makes you feel spoiled.

Our set was good, a little ragged at times but we were solid. The crowd was on the tame side but they were enjoying themselves, we got solid applause after every tune. It's never a huge, ruckus of a crowd, people don't really go to ABGB to raise hell.

Western Star was up next. They are from Baltimore and we played with them during ACL a few years ago, good bunch of dudes. They had a rockin set, but most of the crowd drifted off during the fist part of it, so they didn't get to play to that many people. Kinda crappy but they still whipped it.

The Casters finished things off. They played the roller derby earlier in the evening and when they showed up to the club (a little before the Ladies went on) they were already coated in sweat. By the time they went on everyone was caked in it (it's been in the high 80's with 80% humidity, it's nasty outside... I was drenched halfway into our first song and I stayed that way until I got to hop in the shower back at home.) They whipped out a "new" tune, "Fistin After Midnight", apparently it got the plug pulled on them at the Derby. But the dozen or so folks at ABGB ate it up.

Tonight the Ladies are opening for Western Star at the Mix. I love the Mix and tonight should be more of the "In your face" type of evening!

5/24/15

I rode to Dallas with Smitty and Lance. We left Austin a little after 10 AM, about six hours after Plaidstock finished. We were all running on fumes. In theory this should have been a short day, the last band on the bill for Gringopalooza was scheduled to go on at 10 and we were playing around 7. Things didn't really work out that way...

As we drove north the evidence of previous night's storm was all over the place. Every few miles there was a missing roof or a sign across the street from where it was originally located. Loads of destruction. The worse we saw was a little north of my house on I-35. A storage place had about a third of it's top floor ripped off. Walls, roof and people's boxed up houses were gone and everything that was left was an absolute mess. More than a little sobering.

Anyway, the drive was easy, and we got to Dallas early. Tubb from the Gringos booked an extra room near the club so we went there and hung out for a bit. Then things got strange.

We were playing at the Gas Monkey on an outdoor stage and it was billed as a rain or shine show. But their power transformer is located under the stage and for the last fifteen hours it was under a couple of feet of water. Rain or shine my ass.

So some Dallas folks scrambled up a new venue, Club Dada in Deep Elum, a neighborhood that was once famous for legal gambling AND legal prostitution! By the time things got moving and the Me Thinks were going on it was after our original start time. It was gonna be a late night...

We went on third, after the Grannies and before the Beaumonts. Yup, more with both of them! Poor Dumb Bastards and The Gringos (duh) were also on the bill. Lots of love from lots of friends!

About half way through the Gringos set Tom was itching to go. Smitty and Lance were staying back at the hotel so I took the first Hickoid I could home. Tom drove the first shift and got us to Waco, I slept. We stopped for gas and I coffee'd up and drove the rest of the way home. After a shower and a beer I was in bed by 5AM. It felt good sleeping in on Monday.

5/23/15

Plaidstock!

Wow. What a great night. The Hole in the Wall was packed the whole evening with with people hoping to see Davy Jones get up and rock the guitar. They weren't disappointed!

I played three times. The first was with an old college buddy of Davy's, Dan Hill. I met Dan about twenty minutes before we played. It was a total seat of the pants set, I even had him show me the progression of a tune on the stage right before we went on!

About a minute after that the room packed out and then Davy showed up, total rock star style! Dropped off at the front door with EVERYONE in the room cheering him on. Yeah! He got up with us and jammed on "One Meatball". I haven't played with Jones in over a year and the last show was this crap gig we did with that lawyer....

Anyway our little set was pretty good considering we'd met minutes before.

My second set was with Bigfoot Chester. And we whipped it good.

My third and final set of the night was with the Hickoids we also backed Frontier Dan from the Frontier Circus. One of Little Rock's finest. It was a beautiful mess of a set.

About ten minutes before we went on the city of Austin was hit by a tornado. No joke, a tornado. They had a silent auction on the porch and it got nailed. As in the tent it was under was picked up and slammed in to the ground. Everyone was soaked and the inside of the club was basically a swamp. Water was all over the floor.

Then we went on. Yeah!

Davy didn't get up with us, but he was there. Turns out I'm the only Hickoid who got to play with the man... Lucky me!

So that was just my little part of the fest. There were around twenty bands on the bill and a shit ton of people at the show. Over ten grand was raised for Davy. I was hoping for four. Glad my estimate was way off.

More tomorrow!

5/22/15

There was barely any traffic on the drive to San Antonio. I made it to Hi Tones in no time. Chief Fuzzer was on (you could call them three-fifths of the Beaumonts.) I caught five tunes and I dug the hell out of it. I love being impressed in new ways by people I already like.

The Grannies were up next! That's right, Grannies! They played their first show of this Texas stint Thursday at the Triple Crown. I missed that one because I knew I'd see the next three. They did a bunch of stuff they played with us over in Europe a couple of years ago. I love shouting "Meet me at the corner, the corner of fuck and you." Makes me feel like a real tough guy...

Those Goddamn Beaumonts were next. At this point the amount of gear that was being moved around was ridiculous. Chief Fuzzer had a guitar amp, drum kit and the bass rig for the night on stage. The Grannies went on and they moved the guitar amp and drum kit and moved another drum kit and two guitar amps on to the stage. When the Beaumonts went up they moved both the guitar amps and the drum kit then set up two other guitar amps, a drum kit, the steel rig and then put the bass amp to the other side of the stage. When the Hickoids went on we moved the steel rig, drum kit and one guitar amp off the stage and put two guitar amps and a drum kit back on to the stage.

We left the fucking bass amp where it was, there was already too much gear moving going on. Thank the lord I don't believe in the Ladies weren't playing. If another drum kit was moved around I'd...

Beaumonts kicked it in their usual fashion and we did the same right after. We finished the set after the lights came on and they started booting people out immediately. No talking, no handshaking, just go. I said a couple of quick goodbys and headed home.

We've got two more days of these shows coming up including Plaidstock! More to come!

5/16/15

Bigfoot Chester had a decent little show at the Carousel the other night. We were gonna be the first of three bands on the bill, but the second one canceled the day of and by the time the third showed up there wasn't much of a reason to play. The already thinned out crowd had gotten even leaner.

We went on after a bunch of short story readings. The Carousel can be a pretty eclectic place, there was belly dancing before the reading. We did a dozen or so tunes and we played fine for the most part but after all of the readers and their friends took off there weren't too many folks around to watch us.

I keep fucking up this one tune, it happened this show and the last couple of rehearsals. For some reason I keep confusing two Howlin Wolf songs (Commit a Crime and Who Will Be The Next One) They have some similarities, but not enough for me to keep confusing them them. Hell, we don't really play "Commit" that much anymore! Doesn't mean I won't keep fucking things up...

Joe from Churchwood was there and he hopped up and did a couple with us (one of which is the aforementioned "fuck up" song). He sang on two "regular" Bigfoot songs but he sings them so differently than we normally do we had to change up the arrangements on the fly. Easy enough on the song I'm not continually messing up on, but I was a bass playing, fuck up, machine when we played my current "nemesis".

Anyway we finished up, got paid and hung out for a bit. Better luck next time kid.

4/4/15

This one is way, way... way late. It couldn't be helped I went to Asia and brought Davy Jones with me.

Anyway, The Hickoids played the roller derby again. This time we played two half hour sets instead of just one and because of that there was a little bump in pay!!!

The derby takes place at a "civic center" so there is a bunch of checking with security and unloading here and parking there kind of crap you have to deal with just to get your stuff to the stage, which was the floor.  You kinda have to show up early to this type of thing.

Our first set was pretty lame. It was before the first half of the bout so the crowd was barely paying attention to us. That's how it works in the derby world, people are really only there to see chicks wailing on each other and I can't blame them one bit. The band is about fifth on the list of things people care about when they go to the roller derby.

Second set was better, around 30% of the crowd was paying attention to us, not bad. There were even a couple of roller girls up at the front and THAT is why we play these things.

When the second half of the match started up we loaded up our trucks and took off in to the night. 

3/21/15

The last day of SXSW, this one was a doozy, four shows!!


#1 Hickoids in a parking lot downtown

All of the Hickoids met up at the 04 Lounge (where sets two and three would happen later) and we hopped in the freak to make the first show. It was in a parking lot behind where Lovejoys use to be. There were two big stages set up side by side and as one was rocking the other had another band breaking down or setting up. Everything was backlined so there wasn't much to haul, but it was right in the middle of all of the SXSW mess and it was cold and raining.

Our twenty minute set was ok. The best part was when some folks with kids were watching and Smitty yelled "Kiss my pussy now!" and you could see the parent's smiles fade as the kid's perked up.


#2 Hickoids at the 04 Lounge

We freaked it back to the 04 and eventually got up and played. This set was better. We were close to the crowd and not getting wet, a huge advantage over the previous set. Also the crowd was a lot better. Being inside on a chilly, rainy day means more people IN the club.


#3 Rice Moorehead and His Ladies at the 04 Lounge

That's right, the Ladies are back! Lance is in as the newest "Lady". He doesn't cut the same figure in a dress as the gal he replaced, but he sure can whip them drums! Our set was pretty good. At this point I was kinda delirious and mildly drunk so there was no holding back. The crowd seemed to like it. There were lots of laughs when I was spewing dumb jokes and lots of rocking when we were... uh...rocking! More from the Ladies soon!


#4 Hickoids at the Mix.

Nice way to end the festival. I made the drive from the 04 Lounge. This morning I came prepared with everything I could possibly need to spend the night (including a six pack). I got some food and checked in to my hotel for the night. It felt so good getting those wet ass shoes, socks and jeans off. I sat around for a bit, smoked out and watched some Sarah Silverman on HBO (hotel!) and eventually dressed myself in dry clothes and made my way down to the Mix.

Roky Erickson was playing across the street so the neighborhood was packed, but inside the Mix was kinda dead. I got there as Trixie Trainwreck was going on. I figured I would have seen her play twenty times at this point, but this was only the second, glad I made it early!

About half way through Pony's set the Roky crowd came over and packed the place. The were eating that German rock up!

Then we were up. The place was still crowed as hell and the five of us were running on fumes, adrenaline (and a few of us were also a little bit tipsy.) What an amazing set. I can't really remember too many specifics but there was an overall vibe of "let's have the best night ever!" coming off of everyone in the room. Whatever we gave them, they gave it back and we threw it right back at them again. It was one hell of an hour.

At the end of the night there a lot of hugs and goodbyes and I made it back to the hotel cleaned myself up and drank the six pack, smoked and watched some more HBO. Nice finish to a busy ass week.

3/20/15

Friday of SXSW I only have two shows today!

#1 AGBG with the Gay Sportscasters.

I drove down to South Austin on an extended lunch hour from the day job to fill in for this show. Tom (who took over for me a couple of years ago) couldn't make it so I was back in for one. The stage was packed with three dancers, three guitars, a singer, bass and drums. It's a decent sized space, but not with that many people on it.

I was switching between both sides of the stage. When I was singing I was on the opposite side of the bass rig. That's always a little weird, but you get used to it. There were a bunch of kids at the show and they all got eyes and ears full! The 'casters would have been my dream band when I was a kid. All of that jiggling flesh and dirty talk, I would have been in heaven!

We finished up and as I was changing back in to work clothes the rain really picked up. I was soaked by the time I got back in the car. At least the post show shower was taken care of...

#2 Triple Crown with the Hickoids.

After seeing the Residents and 숨[suːm] at the Paramount (!!!!) I made the drive to San Marcos. It was a shitty, drizzly night and it kept getting colder. I made it to the club right when Pony was finishing up. We loaded up and rocked a thin but excited crowd. The Triple Crown is a locals bar and it hard to get the central Texas locals out during SXSW even in San Marcos, but we still had some good, drunken fun during the night.

The most memorable moment was after closing one of the other bands on the bill had a truck with a dead battery (if you keep three iphones plugged in and the overhead light on for hours on end without turning on the car it will drain the battery...) So Smitty pulled up the freak van and got them jumped, but then he locked the keys in the freak!!! Chalk that one up to exhaustion. Tom and I broke in and eventually everyone got to go home home, but now without feeling a little bit stupid first...

3/18/15

The Hickoids had our first show of SXSW last night. We were at the White Horse and there were a bunch of label mates and friends on the bill. Lovefest all the way.

I got there late when the Hares were finishing up. Great fucking set (well, what I caught...) Horns rule. Not much else to say because, Horns Rule!

The Protest were up next. They have a new guitar player who moved all the way from LA to join them. The ever expanding awesomeness that is Pinata Protest is a pretty amazing thing to behold. When I first started in the Hickoids they were just another little punk band from SA. Now they have employees! Well deserved and really cool.

We went on at midnight a bunch of the Protest's crowd stuck around for us and we gave them some of the good stuff. It was a sloppy set filled with our special brand of stupidity and some girl in the front flashed us! That's almost as good as getting paid. Almost.

Beaumonts were last. They finished out the night on a beer soaked stage littered with cans and telecasters. I heard two songs I think I've never heard before! New songs make me so happy!

Rumor has it there were a couple of uber famous people in attendance, one of which was planning an Electric Kool-Aid Acid type of evening. I didn't get invited... Hell they didn't even offer me a beer or ask me to play bass with them! Guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

3/15/15

Around 11 AM folks started getting to my house. Hickoids and Trixie Trainwreck were heading to Bend TX to play at Bob's. Once Smitty pulled up in the freak we started loading and he told me I should bring a guitar... Uh, I haven't played solo in a couple of years, but OK!

We made the drive, loaded in and bullshitted around for a bit before it was time to get noisy. Then I got up and did forty-ish minutes. Mostly I played a tunes I've been doing with the Ladies but I also threw in a few that don't generally get played outside of the house, including a couple of covers. It was fun, but I prefer the full band, I'm not going back to solo more than occasionally.

Trixie got up next.  She plays the acoustic, stomps on a kick drum and wails on a kazoo when she isn't singing. I think I met her three years ago at SXSW, she is from San Francisco, but lives in Germany and is partnered up with the Pony named Olga folks. She had a whipping little set and I'll get to see it a few more times this week!

Hickoids got up and played a decent first set. There weren't many people, but it was a great afternoon warmup for the big festival and we got free food and beer! Bob joined us (again) for a few tunes in the second set. It was good playing with him, but next time we need to plan out a couple of songs for him to play with us before we are on stage. There was a lot of standing around talking about what we were gonna play next. Maybe we'll start planning next time...

3/13/15

Hickoids were out at Riley's last night. We opened for the Beaumonts to a small and somewhat enthusiastic crowd. I got there after a quick 45 minute drive. Traffic was only messy through the downtown Austin area. Friday night, the first day of spring break and the weekend before the music portion of SXSW. It's the calm before the storm.

Our set was ok. We haven't practiced or played for a couple of weeks and it showed. Riley's isn't a rock club, so we can't play as loud as we usually do. It's weird playing at half throttle.

We finished up and the Beaumonts went on. A fair amount of people showed up for them. I caught the first two numbers an took off for home. That was a mistake...

Fifteen minutes in to the drive 35 was a three lane parking lot that eventually tapered off to one row of cars on the shoulder. It took an hour to go a half mile and two hours to get home. Could have been worse. The truck that had us blocked was crumpled in half and facing the wrong direction. I didn't enjoy the extra time on the drive, but it was better than that.

2/28/15

Once again it was the Hickoids last on a bill of three for a Saturday night at the Hole in the Wall. I got there late. It was cold and wet as hell and the crowd looked like it, it was dead as hell. 

I got lazy and only brought a bass head but it turns out the Hole's bass cab is a broken down piece of shit. When I turned up the low end or hit the string a little hard "flap, flap, flap" was the only sound the big bass driver made... It sounded ok if I was turned down low, but there was an incredible lacking of bottom end balls. I won't rely on the house rig in the future.

Our set was ok, by the time we went on the crowd had fattened up nicely and the were moving around a lot so maybe it just looked like more people were there (also barely anyone was outside smoking because of the shitty weather, another boost to the crowd).

We finished up a little early, got paid and loaded out in the cold cold rain. 

2/20/15

The Hickoids headed to Houston again. This time we went in three different cars instead of traveling the smart/green way... Tom picked me up after work and we made great time getting to Rudyards. Right about when we finished loading up the stairs (a long, single flight of horrible stairs) and parking the van the other guys showed up so we loaded them in as well. Up those stupid stairs...

We were getting paid to play a dog benefit. None of us have any problem with that, but we are all cat people. Pretty soon we are gonna have to do a benefit for some of those lonely neglected pussy's out there.

Anyway, we were middle slot on a line up of three. The crowd was solid and we rocked them for a good forty five minutes. There were no crazy moments, no one got naked or punched out. It was just a really good night of rock and roll. Followed by another three hour drive home...

1/24/15

This is way late... I've gotten lazy(ier) than usual...

Anyway, I did a pickup gig for a friend of mine, Hilary York, a couple of weeks ago. She needed me to hold down the low end for one of her Saturday night shows at the Continental Gallery so I did!

She and I hooked up a few days before to go over some stuff. At the end of that practice I had three pages of notes for the hour and half set. Loads of info and most of it was correct... The two of us had fun working on her set. We used to to a Sunday afternoon with another songwriter many years ago and we haven't hung out much or played together at all since then. Our little practice almost made me a little sentimental about a smaller, cheaper Austin.

When Saturday rolled around I made it down to the club with my gear and had a chance to meet the drummer (who was also playing his first show with Hilary) before we started to set up. It may sound weird meeting someone right before you play, but after a few tunes you know all you need to know about them.

There isn't much to report other than my notes for the first song were completely wrong... Like dead wrong. I was able to cover but it could have gone shitty fast. Luckily I'm quick on my feet when I'm holding a Bass.