1/29/16

It was a fast forty minutes of rock and roll for the Hickoids last night. We were at the Spider House Sonic Ballroom with a bunch of bands I'd never heard of... and Javier Escovedo. Strange night.

When I showed up about 80% of the crowd had the giant, under-age X on their hands. Another 15% were drinking and the remaining 5% had grey hair. Most of the grey hairs were unknown to me since they weren't the usual type of Hickoid fan, these folks were with their under aged kids at the rock show.

Speaking of that.. The seven or eight bands on before us were all unknown to me and since I am/feel like an old man I sat outside and watched the casualties. First was the dude bumming cigarettes with dried blood on his face. Then there was the girl who came out crying with fresh blood all over her face. Her three friends were basically flipping a coin to see who had to take care of her...

Then there was a fight where the kid who got stomped wouldn't throw a punch but kept yelling at the dude who was hitting him. He kept yelling that the other guy was a "pussy and he should try to start something, motherfucker!" Poor dumbass... I wonder if he is just unstable or if starting a fight and not fighting back is some kind of fetish. I'm guessing both. He was kicked out but kept prowling around the front for a while... I don't know why he didn't just ask his mom to take him home.

After we played some girl got rolled out to an ambulance on a gurney. She'd passed out in the bathroom and no one could wake her up...

Eventually most of the kids with the X's on their hands left and the regular grey haired people (most of which I actually knew!) showed up. Our set was pretty crappy. Personally I played like shit and couldn't get any traction going. It happens at times but I don't have to like it.

Javier had a great set. Mosh pit free and rocking. We have a second show with him tonight in SA. Looking forward to another one!

Bigfoot Chester in the Studio 1/17/16

Bigfoot Chester went to the studio the other day. Currently the line up is Me, Bill, Walter and a random drummer... Any drummer that's cool and can play a Blues groove. This time it was Matt Puryear. A couple of special guest showed up for a couple of the tunes. Gary from Black Eyed Vermilion and Scott Biram (from Scott Biram).

Ever since I started playing with them (20+ years ago) Bigfoot has been on the edge breaking out in to the international superstar market and those guys should be the secret weapon needed to send us over the top!!!! That or some people who actually love Blues music (and/or Scott and Gary) will pick up a couple of good singles. One of those two scenarios seems inevitable.

The session went well. We did it with Kurtis at Million Dollar. Five tunes in five or six hours, not bad. It was another relaxed session where we just knocked shit out. The two tunes with the "hit makers" took a longer than the others. There was a lot arranging and learning goin on even after we made a couple of passes at those tunes.

It would have been nice to practice with the drummer (this time Matt) for more than an hour the week before we went in... Gary made it for about twenty minutes of that rehearsal and Scott showed us how the tune was actually played once he got to the studio. Our shit isn't always the tightest and planning is not our strong suit.

I'm not complaining, all of us knocked it out of the park considering the amount of prep involved (and I'm sure mixing will cover most of the "glitches"). Someday I'd love to go in with a few rehearsals under our collective belts. That record could be amazing!!!

12/31/15

t was the grandest night of all. The big, fancy New Year's Eve. The night where all of your hopes and expectations fall flat and leave you thinking "this is it?..." And the Hickoids were playing... As you can probably tell, I don't like NYE. I'd rather stay at home and hide, but if I'm playing...

We were a part of a two stage party at the Spider House. This was the place where I first played a left handed bass. It was during a NYE house party back when the Spider House was just a house and someone had a left handed bass and someone else told me to play it. I was hooked! A couple weeks after I went to Southpaw in Houston and bought my very own. BASS!!!

The big headliner was Roky Erickson but he was going on a couple of hours after us, but I was at home and on the couch by the time he went on...

Hickoids went up on the outside stage. It looks like it was designed by a Fairy in an enchanted wonderland. It's nice, but a little weird looking for a place where Hickoids would play.  It was cold but we've played colder. There was a good crowd who was pumped for the big night and ready the rock and roll. We gave it to em.

We were on for about 45 minutes and hit them pretty hard for most of the set. Finished up and stood around the fire pit until I finished my beer, said some goodbyes and headed home for the night.