8/30/19

Memphis last night at The Rock ‘n’ Roll cafe.  It’s a semi cheesy place near Graceland that has some of the kindest folks we’ve encountered yet on the tour. 

Unfortunately it was dead as hell when the trio got up. And it stayed that way for the Hicks. We did twoish hours between both bands for a dozen folks. They all stayed for the whole show and they really liked us. But no one else showed up...

Oh well, they fed us and took care of our drinks. And as I said before they were really, really nice to us. Hopefully they want us back!!

8/29/19

Last night it was the Hicks and DiNOLA se dba in New Orleans. It was kinda dead down there. The Saints has a preseason game and it was the Thursday before a holiday weekend. It wasn’t just dba, all of Frenchman Street was similar. 

DiNOLA was first. The sound is really good there and I was in to it in Houston, but this is how you should see them.  That music just flows through them. 

Our set was solid even though the crowd was thin. Smitty was back and happy to be there. It wasn’t as spectacular as we’d hoped, but hell, we got to play New Orleans again!

8/28/19

Pretty great/bizarre show last night in Houston at Under The Volcano. It’s mostly a bar restaurant but on Wednesday nights they have bands. Some really cool bands! The quality is high when you get to be that selective. 

The trio got up and we played pretty great. All of us are still tour lagged and jet lagged and we haven’t played since the last show in Spain, four days ago?  I honestly don’t remember. Anyway the trio kinda killed it. 

Hickoids were supposed to be next but one of Smitty‘ s brothers died unexpectedly when we were playing Madrid. Fucking terrible. And tomorrow is his funeral and Smitty needed to be there and he didn’t want to cancel the show, so...  we did a little Hickoid karaoke. 

This dude, David got up and sang four tunes. He’s been a huge fan since way before I joined the band. He makes every hick or swish show and he’s enthusiastic as hell. He hopped up and shoved the mic down his pants and the room went wild. It was incredible. He’s not a singer and he’s never been in a band as far as I know, but he more than made up for it with his enthusiasm. It was truly awesome. 

So we kept asking around for someone to sing some of the covers and Sue from Dinola hopped up and killed!! I mean absolutely killed on Benny and China Grove. We’ve got to get her up more in the future. And the Hickoid family expands. 

Speaking of... Harvey sang Burnin Love to close out a surreal as hell night. It was pretty awesome. 

Then Dinola got up... oh right!! We are playin with them the next two days!!  As always, fucking awesome. And we get to see them on their home turf tomorrow at dba. And Smitty will be there for it.   

8/24/19

Well the last day of this segment of the tour was at Bar Ailioli in Jimera De Líbar. It’s a tiny section of the town that’s down by the railroad tracks a couple of kilometers from the actual town. Southern Spain in a nutshell there. 

We played outside in the square, both bands and it was pretty terrible....  there were only two mics so when the hicks went up I just played bass. Believe it or not it’s harder when I don’t sing. I know that seems weird but it’s true. 

It being our last show on this bit and all of us riding so high from the night before it was almost inevitable. That’s how shit goes. 

8/23/19

Great night for both bands in Aracena. It was a sold out show at Anunnaki’s Club! It’s a small place that was packed with folks ready to party. And they are up everything we could give them. 

The trio had people dancing. The Hicks has people dancing. The beer and mojitos were flowing with abandon. After we finished playing it was hugs all around. Everyone was incredibly kind and kept asking for us to come back!  Uhhhh ok!!

And there was a fiesta in town. It went all night. As in around noon the next day there were brass bands walking through the streets  Crazy and cool as hell. 

9/22/19

Last night we were in Madrid. What a beautiful place. I had a great time getting lost multiple times before we went up to play. One of my favorite things to do when I’m in a new place. 

It was both bands at the Wurlitzer Ballroom. The trio went up first. Pretty solid set even though we haven’t played in a couple of weeks. The crowd really dug us. There weren’t that many folks but they were right up front with us. 

The Hicks set was pretty solid until the end when the alcohol crept in and semi tanked us. It happens. Especially when we get two cases of beer in the band room. But the crowd couldn’t tell and they ate our bullshit right up!  Fun night! 

8/21/19

We spent the last couple of days recording in Barcelona. We had a couple of days and Mike Mariconda has a couple of days open at Studio Sol De Saints. Well alright, let’s do this!

We’d been kicking around a couple of new tunes for a while now that haven’t been played live or recorded. A couple that Smitty’s been sitting on and two covers. That was enough to do some work with. 

I’ve never worked with Mike like this in the past. He’s mixed a few Bigfoot things I’ve been on and I think a South Filthy thing. It was great having him do all the front end stuff with us. Great tracking session. 

We got most of the tunes finished. Some overdubs and mixing will be coming soon. But we will be doing that back home!!

8/16/19

We played Marseilles the other day in this tiny club called La Salle Gueule. It a two level club that can’t be more than 800 square feet total and that includes the toilet and stairs. The shows are down in the basement, a windowless cave that is a sweat factory as soon as six people are in it. I had a sport-coat on...

We were last on a bill of three. First off was a trio of folks from Russia!!  I wish I could remember their name (not that I could spell it if I did....) they were down here on holiday and were added to the bill last minute. Did some really nice noise rock I was digging hard. At least for the three songs I saw... sweaty in that jacket. 

The Dirtees were next. Apparently they lost their drummer a while back and they’ve been playing with a drum machine for the last month. It wworked! Rockin stuff with a lot of energy. But I was able to make it for three tunes. 

We went up and it was pretty crowded. We had a great set. The crowd was really into it. At the end the floor was soaked with sweat. The humidity in the room must have been 90%. I was drenched through. I went outside and took off my shirt to cool down. When My body dried off I put it back on and was freezing. After we watched a dozen or so rats running around the street. Huge fuckers that did not care. Marseilles!

8/15/19

Yesterday was pretty much a day off. We drove from Bilbao us to Toulouse in France to hang with our buddy Misty White. And by “we drove” I mean our driver Flo did the driving. He’s a really cool guy that grew up in Columbia and moved to Europe twentyish years ago for work. We are lucky to have him. 

So we end up at Misty’s place and hang for a bit.  She had contacted the local radio station about having us on to play. And even though we don’t have a show here they had us on!!

99.2 Radio Canal Sud has a nice little studio and they were playing lots of good rock and roll before it was our turn. Did three tunes sitting around a desk. It was pretty frenetic but fun. Good day off!

8/14/19

In Bilbao last night. It was just the Hickoids on the bill at Shake!  A cool little club just across the river from the old town. 

So this is vacation season in Spain (and France) we had some trouble getting stuff booked because a lot of places shut down for the break. That’s why the Rock Beer in Santander did their remodel. Anyway the guy that runs Shake(!) opened the club just to host us and see the show. It was a little hard coming on this tour thinking we were gonna have a lot of time off. But we are all booked up we are finding there are a bunch of folks that really want to see us. Hell yeah!!

The stage was tiny so Smitty and I were down on the floor. That leads to a little more messing around with the crowd than we usually get to do. I was right beside the path to the bathroom so there was a “tax” on using the toilet. Dealing with a goofball bass player. 

By the end the crowd still wanted more. We gave them an encore. I think we could have given them everything we had and it wouldn’t be enough. Yeah!

8/13/19

Only the hicks played last night in Santander. We were at the Rock-Beer. The New (or The New Rock-Beer..)  either way it was a cool joint and they just put it back together before we got three. A whole remodel apparently. 

And I’m kinda lying... the pa was not together at all. We were up there for 45 minutes waiting to start while they figured it out!!! Longest. Soundcheck. Ever. Literally dudes sliding under the stage trying to get it going the whole time. You could tell they were frustrated but tenacious as hell!

Eventually we got there and started playing.  Just like the club it took us awhile to get going...  little sluggish out of the gate but we got there.  The twenty or so folks were right up in the front and having a blast!  Made all the work worth it!

8/12/19

Had a double up last night in Zaragoza. We were at La Boveda, a club that’s beneath a hostel near the square. In 1470 it was a jail!!  Really cool room. Nothing but exposed brick and a curve ceiling. toy don’t find this kind of place in Central Texas.  

Good crown of 20-30 folks were there to see it. We went on as the trio first. I finally learned the right bass line on one of the tunes.... been playing it wrong the whole time. The crowd seemed to like the set. There are videos of it up on the Internet already. 

Hickoids set was pretty solid the stage was kinda small so I spent a lot of time on the floor. And when we did the breakdown in “Truck” I went and sat with a couple on a couch.  I’d stand up when the dynamics got high but I was back on my ass when we went back to the quiet. 

8/11/19

Last night of the fest. We were in Grazalima and we were last on the bill.  It was another beautiful town. We played near the top in a plaza that was setup for all kinds of performances. It had an unreal view, looked like the locals came up for a nightly peek   

Maf E Tula and Jake Levinson were on with us again. After playing with them for four days straight I’m really gonna miss them. Maf’s tunes are amazing. I have no idea what she is singing about but I love it. And the dudes backing her do everything they can to push her up so she can kill it. 

Our set was good. Not nearly as many folks as the night before, it’s a way smaller town but the folks that were there were in to it and we gave them the good stuff. 

8/10/19

Day three and this is why we came. Killed it. We were set up correctly from the beginning, middle slot a crowd of a few hundred folks who were ready for a good time at an unbelievably beautiful venue in Ronda. 

The stage backed up to the edge of a cliff that overlooked rolling hills and farms. We played in a postcard. No joke. At some point a wedding party walked by.... picturesque does not come close to describing it 

Early in our set I walked up to the edge of the stage and started yelling “come closer!” And they did. We could all feel it. These folks were ready for us and we have it to them. Amazing night. 

8/9/19

Day two of the fest. We were playing in our home base of Montejaque. All we had to do was walk downstairs and we were at the gig. Yeah!

DJ Scratchy got up in between all the bands. He played loads of great tunes from all over the musical landscape. He was also telling us about his time touring with the Clash!! Loads of great stories. 

We went on first and the set was way better than the night before. Not the best, we really aren’t use to being the the opener and it took us a bit to get rolling, we got there eventually. Crowd was decent for us but it really picked up later for Los Skarnales!!

But right after us was Maf E Tula. She is this gal from Costa Rica plays acoustic guitar does some throat singing and totally rips it. She backed by the rhythm section of the Jake Levinson band (who also rips it but in a very different way!). We are lucky enough to be in the bill with them every day of the fest. Really lucky.  

Then Skarnales got up... I was hanging with these dudes the first night. We got all drunk and stayed out late as hell (apparently I was singing at the top of my lungs in the square at 6am...)   Their set was unreal. I’ve not been the biggest ska fan but these guys totally changed my mind. Unreal. And some of the most charming folks I’ve ever met. 

Oscar Ornelas and Tamara Mack were the last two acts of the night. Both did some pretty great blues/rock and roll. They shared the same band and those dudes were on fire. Kind of a theme here. 

8/8/19

Well we made it to Spain! And to the Pueblos Blanca’s music fest. It take place in four towns up in the mountains and it’s a rotating fest, you play in a different town every day.  Pretty cool setup and you don’t have to move all of your shit every single day. A beautiful thing!!

Last night we were in the bill at Villaluenga  Del Rosario. A cool little town that’s as cute as it is hilly. A totally out of breath hike from where you can park to where you play.  

Our set was pretty awful... none of us were rested or ready for it so it was kind of a guarantee we weren’t gonna be good. It was as if we were in six separate bands all trying to do something different. I’m betting we just got the bad set out of the way. 

8/5/19

The Brooklyn shown last night was pretty good. We were at Our Wicked Lady and I played with both bands on a dying bass rig... guess it’s gonna be my dream to someday play the city with a solid rig and mic. They also didn’t have enough inputs for my mic. 

Anyway we had a hell of a good time in spite of the bass issues. Both bands played really well and the crowd and the club were really in to it. The best feeling you can get when your out on tour. 

Spain is next!! 

8/4/19

DC last night. We were at the Black Cat which is a pretty cool club. We played upstairs in the little red room at the front. They have a freight elevator. The best fried to the musician with gear playing a second story club. Yeah!

The turnout was better than the night before but it was still pretty light. I think almost all of the folks that showed up were actual fans, that helped. 

The Harvey trio went first. Nice little set. And it was good to learn that my at home practicing was mostly correct. No massive screwups. A good feeing. 

Hicks were last and we rocked through our set pretty hard. Other than our typical “what do you wanna play next?” stuff we packed it in nice and tight. Nearly professional operation here. 

Brooklyn tomorrow. 

8/3/19

Last nights show was way better than the night before.  We were at the Waverly Brewing Company in Baltimore. Max from Western star opened for us and even brought a backup bass head for me to use.  I was back in action!!

Max did his solo set first. It sounded pretty different than how I’m use to hearing those tunes but he killed it.  I really enjoyed his set. 

We went up and played pretty well. The crowd was thin but we gave all we had. After the night before it felt like a really good, much needed rehearsal. 

DC tomorrow. 

8/2/19

First night of the first leg of this Hickoid tour. Tom, Lance and I flew up to New York last and made it to Home Sweet Home after Teenage Cavegirl had finished....

It went downhill from there... when we went up the bassrig didn’t work at all. We tried all kinds of cords and combinations of things and got nothin out of it. Fuck. Add on the fact that my mic stand wouldn’t stay up...

The les said the better. We played to a room full of people and I felt like I never got out of the starting gate.  

Hopefully the next one will be better. 

7/21:19

Late late late...

Lance, Harvey and I did it again the next day at our rehearsal space. That’s right. There was a little show on the little stage at the practice space.  It’s Austin, they sneak music in everywhere. Even if it’s inappropriate. 

Set was good. There were only a few people there, all of them were associated with the space and or us so it was a real friendly time.  Turns out we turned down another gig for this one. We would have played for more folks and made some money but this was a real nice way to spend an afternoon.