3/29/19

Hickoids at the Lost Well last night. It was our 35th anniversary show.... uhhh what?!?!?!  Yup. I honestly can’t remember how long I’ve been in the band. Somewhere in the ten to twelve year range... before I started writing this blog.  

Anyway, typical of me I missed the first band and got there while Mean Motor Scooter was on.  They fucking killed it. Never seen them before and I can’t wait to see them again! They also seemed like a sweet bunch of folks. 

Gringo’s were next. Another fine set of Gringo goodness. 

Then it was us. It was the current lineup, Lance, Cody, Tom, Patrick, Smitty and me. Jacob Schultz played the whole time with us so there were two keyboards and three guitars the whole time!! We were fucking massive. 

Wade Driver got up, Walter Daniels got up. Jonnie Hell (he was the first drummer I played with in the Hickoids!!) and Tommy Rowsey as well. I got to play with ALL of them! 

Lance and I were subbed out for two songs by Hunter Darby and Steve Mccarthy. I had no idea what tunes they were doing until Hunter told me.... “I was hoping to do longer songs to give you guys more of a break!”  I told him I was thrilled I didn’t have to play that fucking Eagles song...

Anyway we ended it with Truck/Donkey, it was a beautiful, drunken love fest. And one hell of a good time.  And  part two is tonight in San Antonio!

3/16/19

Late late!....  oh well. Took a long time to recover from the big festival. Even though I didn’t do that much I kept busy every day. And since I am a very lazy man this is a couple of weeks late!

Swishin at the ‘04 lounge. Ususally this is a gig I look forward to. Hicks (and the ladies/Bantam) have played it a bunch over the years. Generally it’s loads of happy folks having fun with great people working it. I guess half of that is ok?

Bar staff was terrible! Three people working and only one was serving anyone with any regularity. The “non-servers” were acting like they were doing you a huge fucking favor IF they looked your way....  That didn’t mean you were gonna get served but they might look at you. 

It’s the busiest week of the year for bars in Austin, guess they already made enough and said fuck it. 

Anyway we were on after Dinola, I loved their set. They’d played earlier, somewhere in town so they were way warmed up and it showed!

We played the best set we’ve had in a while. I like playing right there on the floor with all the people walking by you.  And some good person waded through the surly bar staffs bullshit and bought me beer!!! He must have gotten it from the one dude who was actually working.  

And that was it. The last day of the big festival. Anniversary shows are next!

3/15/19

My first of only two shows this SXSW. Hickoids were closing out the night at ABGB.  

I’d snuck in two other shows on Wednesday and Thursday. I literally snuck in the back door (no badges or wristbands for me!) to see De La Soul Wednesday. They were unreal.  And the crowd was so happy to be there. Still only about half as happy as I was!

The next night I saw Maseo dj and it was pretty dam cool as well.  I happened to walk by him as he was headed to the  stage, that dude.... too cool!

Anyway back to last night. I got there and Harvey was up, but for only the last two songs...  The Sloths were up next, LA rock and roll. With costumes and magic?!!!  A very pleasant surprise!

There was still a good crowd for us at the end. Those folks ate us up and we gave it good!!  Early on in the set Smitty knocked the mic stand over and broke it. As I saw it hit the ground I wrote up a little short story in my brain that had Paul, the sound guy, putting his worse stands in front of us whenever we played. Sacrificial lambs of live music. I asked him after if that was true, he denied it but I still have my suspicions. 

Only one more set tomorrow!

3/8/19

We’ve been swishin it an awful lot lately, I’m pretty happy about that!

Last Friday we did The Brick at Blue Star. We played there a year and a half ago, I was sick as hell and I am certain I played like shit. I may not have done much better this time, but it sure felt better!

This was a skate deck art show. Lots of nice decks done up in different ways. After our set I got a chance to check some of them out. Not before....  when I loaded in the band before us was rocking it, hard. After I parked Lance was setting up....  I took forever I guess.  

It’s hard to hear in that room.  You are in the middle of the space and the PA can’t really take up the slack.  Oh well, people said we looked good.  

After our set we hung out and watched Sex Pump. Man they had a lot of gear. It took me a while to realize who was in the band, but once I did it all made sense!  Pumpin!

3/6/19

Last night was the first Wednesday, so you know what that means?!! (Except for last month when my schedule was off...). Sahara lounge with Danny B!

Jeff Pinkus has been added to the bill with his solo act, Pink Banjo!!  He played last month but I was off in Hong Kong so Bigfoot (and I) totally missed it.... I missed it last night as well, but I’m gonna try my best next month!!

Danny and them were ripping through it when I got there. Jesus you get spoiled seeing that all the time. Near the end of the set Danny’s wife got up and sang a few. Nice to see the family makin it!!!

I was a little worried about our set. We haven played at all in two months and that means zero rehearsal... We were fine. More than fine.  I’d say downright acceptable!

3/4/19

Redux of Saturday nights show at the Saturn Bar. Except this time it’s across town at Gasa Gasa and the Hickoids take the middle slot. 

Not much to say here. Last show of this mini tour and everything was almost the same. Except I played bass and we were on a stage instead of the floor.  

Oh yeah, and there were a shit ton more people there. That’s the big difference. Folks on the edge of exhaustion one day away from Fat Tuesday, ready to keep getting wild and blow it all the way out. We all did what we could to provide a safe and happy environment to let that happen.  

I always miss this town when I leave.  

3/3/19

We doubled it up in Hattiesburg last night. At the Thirsty Hippo we got there and loaded our stuff to this huge back room where they had a big pile of Mexican food waiting on us. Even had a plate of veg stuff just for me!! This is a joint that knows how to take care of people. 

Space Trash was the opener. Bunch of locals wearing Spacey/Trashy clothes and doing some pretty interesting things with their music.  Even got a little mathy at points. But not in a bad way, it was more of an “oh shit!”

This was the last swish show of the tour. And we had a nice little set. It was definitely the best one since we left Austin. It also sounded good.  The owner of the place is also the sound man. He had his room down!

But everyone there wanted the Hickoids. That’s why they were there and that’s why we were there. And we gave it to them good. You have too, how often do you get to play Hattiesburg? You know you got to rock it when you do!

3/2/19

Swishin at the Saturn Bar last night.  This is such a cool place.  The catwalk that goes around the top is so fucking cool. More clubs could use that kind of elevated seating.

We were middle-ish  DiNOLA was playing with Dave Catching, pretty rocking shit. The crowd was eating them up. Then Dave and Jimmy played a mini set with this gal on bass.  Also pretty solid. 

While they were on I spent some time out front drinking beer and talking with some folks. There was this horrible burning smell coming from somewhere close by.  Mattress fire. No joke. It burned for a while then some cops put it out. Then it started up again and the fire truck came and put it out a second time. Mattress fire. 

Our set was stronger than the night before. I’d left my hat somewhere so I’m just wearing those ridiculous clothes without the topper.  My ensemble was ruined.  

Speaking of ensembles it’s Carnival time here and the variety of over the top clothing was amazing. All night folks walking by in some pretty freaked out styles looking for fun. Yeah!

The Gools were last. All pretty young folks doin that good and loud rock music. I heard that they will play any show at any time. Like “wanna play a house party in New York?” They go!!  Anyway good end to the night. 

3/1/19

Double billin last night in Lafayette. The Swish and the Hick mostly ready to bring it. 

We were at the Freetown Boom Boom Room. And we barely got there before the first band started.  

The traffic was awful along the I-10 corridor. Felt like battle most of the way.  I punched through Houston and Lance took a bad shift in a traffic jam near the TX/LA border. That shit took forever.  

Cool little joint with a nice crowd. Not massive but active!  And they let you bring your drinks outside to the street!!!  Of course there is a police camera on the pole across the street. They let you be free but they want a record if anything goes bad. And they charge bands full price for beer....

We Are The Asteroid  were on second. I thought we had a couple of shows with them this trip but last night was it. Don’t know what I was thinking. They fucking whipped it. No shocker. 

The swish set was ok. I’d been busy climbing a pile of personal bullshit for the last couple of weeks (last year and a half really, but it ratcheted up in a big way these last couple of weeks) so I was way out of practice.  Fortunately I had a little whiskey and beer and it give me the courage to play loud and dumb in my short shorts.  

Hicks were next Cody couldn’t make the first couple of days of this so Tom Rowsey filled in.  He’s been fired twice from the band already so he kinda knows the set.  

Swishin in New Orleans tomorrow! 

2/24/19

Sunday night!....  a little hard to drum up the excitement. We were ready to play but you could tell before we headed out it was gonna be a slow night at The Mohawk. 

We were last of three The Beautiful Delilah’s were on first. Followed by another band of Walters, Polarizado. It was their CD release.  

As I loaded in the first bit of my stuff in to the club, Two dudes were with the door guy, $10 cover. For three bands with barely any pull.... One of the guys said “That’s ok, we don’t even know who those bands are.”  

Right on the nose. 

Anyway the show was fun. All three of the sets were solid, but my guess is there were five people who paid, so it wasn’t exactly the kinda night where the crowd pushed the bands over the top. Oh well.