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!

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!

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...

10/10/14

ACL Week 2 Day 1

The show was at AGBG and I didn't play! Hell, I didn't even show up until the last two bands were on, lazy lazy. The Gay Sportscasters (without Bill) did the Sportscastin thing with all the boobs flying everywhere and they played all the hits (even though it was odd without Bill.) 

The Pocket Fisherman played five new songs! They had enough of the "good old stuff" in the set so the regulars didn't miss out on all of the big hits, just some of them. The the five new tunes were really strong and had the Fisherman sound in spades. Beautiful.

It was a good night. Having some beer and watching some bands is fun. No wonder people do it all the time.

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!

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.

7/14/12

This one is really late. The morning after I hopped in a car and went to New Orleans for eating/drinking purposes. I hope the delay is understandable.

Casters at the Hole. Andy was out sick so it was just the five of us (and the two dancers). It was Michaelanne's five year wedding anniversary, well it would have been if she was still married... She asked if I would wear her wedding dress for the occasion, I did and I looked lovely. I couldn't believe how tight it was. I guess that's what a bodice is for... That thing was so huge, I could barely move around the stage. On a positive note it did keep Smitty's mic out of my face!

Breakdown

The "new" Hole kinda sucks. They finally get that a band tab is a good idea, but you can only get drinks on that tab from the front bar. Not the bar in the room you are playing... It's a small but incredibly stupid rule.
I know I'm showing my age here, but I liked that place a whole lot more when their focus was on music. Time moves on even if I don't.

The Hickoids are playing there next Thursday, so I should probably just shut up and smile. Wish me luck with that.

6/9/12

Two shows in one night for me and Davy Jones. Both the Caters and Bigfoot on a Saturday night.

#1

Casters at the White Horse

This place was an old east side bar that was gentrified by the folks that own the Hole in the Wall. They did a damn nice job of it. It's a big room with loads of cool AC blowing everything all around. There is a little beer garden (or smoking area) with a food truck. Yup, they hit all of the bases with this joint.

They even have a good PA and the stage was big enough for the nine of us. Plenty of space to spread out. Loads of room for the dancers, dancers need SPACE!

Breakdown

At the start I ordered a Lone Star and I was told that one was free so I paid for a second right before we went on. During the second song someone brought a 12 pack of beer and a half dozen waters. Nice touch!

Little things like that go a long way

#2

Bigfoot Chester at the Continental Club

Once again, the best club in town. This was the annual Howlin Wolf birthday party. Lots of slow gritty Blues, Bigfoot fits right in. Davy and I show up about 20 minutes before we went on and the place was packed! It was tough getting up to the bar! Don't worry, I got a beer...

We had Dan Rupa filling in for Bill. Dan and Davy and I have all been "Ideals" in the past so it was good to play with him, dude can pick! It's also neat having a different sound in the band. I like shaking things up if only for a night.

On a "review" type of night there are a lot of special guests. We had Tex Edwards, Texacala Jones, Ted Roddy and Gary from Black Eyed Vermillion. One of many high points was finally getting to play "Insane Asylum" live with the two Texes. I played bass on a duets record with them that it was never released. Doing one of those songs felt great. Nice to pull it off.

Breakdown

Best club in town. Great PA with Jason on sound. My first couple of beers were free and they were $1 past that. A genuine South Austin Lovefest.

I love the Continental Club.

5/24/12

Casters in SA, but down the street from the Mix... It's rough passing that place on the way to High Tones. The Tones is a fine club, but as I've said before the Mix is the best in SA. We oped for a Latin flavored reggae band from Miami. I don't know how the fuck they got to SA on a Thursday night, but they were there and sounded damn fine.

$3 Bill was being a little bitch, not wanting to dress for his band, but Smitty put the screws to him and he straightened it out. Kinda pitiful when the front man doesn't want to "play" in his own band.

Breakdown

Two beer tickets each which is shitty, but Lone Star tall boys and big, heavily poured well drinks for $2, not bad. They have a new stage there, It's fairly big, but I preferred playing on the floor. There are too many casters for a stage that size.

I used the new TC rig for the first time. It took a little while to get it dialed in, but it was sounding pretty mighty. Those TC folks aren't kidding. Stacking the 2X12 cabs makes it deep and punchy. I can't wait till I get a few more shows in with it.

4/27/12

This was a total 180 from the last Casters show. I think it's San Antonio. There must be something in the water that makes me play better. Or maybe it just makes the crowds happier to see us. The specifics don't matter, I love playing in SA.
The Swindles opened up for us with my buddy Joe Reyes on guitar. He might be the best guitar player I know, a regular six string monster. And Moses Roses, nice joint. Just around the corner from the Alamo, I was gonna go see it (it's been a  couple of years) but I never made it down the block! I did see the sign for the Crockett Hotel so that should count for something.

Breakdown

Steve was kind enough to drive so that was easy for me. The Moses Roses folks fed us and bought our beer! How very kind.

4/22/12

It was the Pocket Fishermen Sunday fish fry at the Scoot and boy was it fun. A shit load of bands on two stages with the usual lovefest vibe. Bless those fishermen, except the drummer (Biff?), I ain't too sure about him.

The Casters were kind of a cluster fuck. The only chance we had to rehearse was an hour before the show. Bill showed up sick (st least that is what he said) and started jumping around the room. I told him he might want to take it easy because we have to play the SHOW in a little while. He didn't listen. Five songs in to the set and he wanted to quit.

It's sad giving unused advice to people who are older than me...

Breakdown

Two free beers and a couple extras given by friends (once again, lovefest). Even with Bill's problem we had a pretty good set. We were inside so we PACKED the stage and that always looks cool. I had dancers flanking me, always a good feeling especially after a few tunes when everyone if getting sweaty. Fun!

3/15/12

Busy day. Three shows.

#1 Casters at the Dog and Duck. Tom was filling in on drums. Now he has filled in on bass, drums and guitar for that band. We did our set under the big tent and we rocked it pretty well. The crowd seemed to enjoy it. Bill was telling folks we were Canadian and we were gonna move to Austin and get on unemployment. I think someone booed.

#2 Me and the Ladies at the Local. Hell of a good set. The old drummer, Jill was there and she got up on bouncin. It was lovely. I popped a string on Boyds Creek and was ready to call it quits (we'd been playing for 45 minutes at that point) but the crowd made up play two more. Didn't do too bad, especially with a five string guitar.

#3 Hickoids at the Karma Lounge. This was an official showcase for Saustex and we played with some of our old friends from the left coast, the Grannies and Pat Todd. BIG rock and roll night. I know it wasn't the Springsteen extravaganza (which I would have loved to been at) but the "little room" rocked. Pat always looks me dead in the eye when he's singing. Imagine that, a connection with your audience!

More to come.

What time of the year?

I have five rehearsals this week. Four are with Davy Jones! He is still alive and "well" in Austin TX.

It must be that time of the year when all those people come to town to look at people play music... what's that thing called?

Derby

So the roller derby...

I/we played it twice, once with the ladies and then with the casters. Let me start out by saying I knew what we were getting in to and I am NOT complaining even if it sounds like I am. I get that the bands are maybe 3% of the reason people go to the thing and that everyone (myself included) just want to see cool chicks wail on each other. But, the city wide garage sale was in the main/larger section so the derby was relegated to the other hall.

The smaller hall...

So small the stage was at the side of the grandstands. As in half of us were playing to the the room and the other half was playing to what was under the bleachers. No ones fault, just bad circumstances. And no free beer or even water.

Oh well, both bands kicked some ass. The ladies and I did the usual whip it thing and the casters are more on the money than ever with the new drummer. I'm looking forward to playing in a club soon.

1/22/2012

Last Sunday I had both Casters and Hickoids rehearsals. Nothin is to spectacular with that, both bands have three members in common,  the strange thing was both bands have new drummers.

Lance Farley is now a Hickoid. Jonie Hell is out for the season and we needed a fill so it's all Lance. We "stole" him from the Fishermen. He will make a fine Hickoid.
The Casters situation is a little sketchy but Steve McCarthy is in with that combo. He was one of the original drummers from 15ish years ago and one hell of an improvement.

It saw a sweaty six hours locked away in the music lab, but it was totally worth it.

As an aside the first shows of the year are this weekend at the roller derby. Me and the ladies open it up and the Casters at halftime. It should provide for some decent blog fodder.

12/16/11

So it was a standard Friday night, you know a (Minor Mishap) marching band and some Gay Sportscasters in a "former" lesbian bar. There was an abundance of nervous energy and no place for it, so it crapped it's self all over the stage and the dance floor. A little sad, a little standard...

Breakdown

No beer tickets and I played through the house rig which I think was a fancy ashdown head through some cheap PA speakers. It sounded muddy and compressed with no attack... At least we have dancers to keep people entertained.

12/2/11

Casters at the Scoot with the Pocket Fishermen, a guaranteed good time, but when it's Lance Farley's birthday the place could explode That badassed fucker turned 50 and whipped the drum kit like a rented mule.
The whole night was a real love fest, everyone there was drunk and happy. I got hugged and kissed countless times by members of both sexes and I didn't really mind it at all.

Breakdown

Buff from EL Pathos used my rig and it sounded real good from the audience. It sounded better when we played...
I only got two beer tickets (lame) but Schlitz was $2 a can. Not too horrible. I had plenty. The crowd was extra randy after we played, I think scantily clad dancers set a certain kind of mood and people get horny. It's perfectly understandable.

9/17/11

ACL day 3.

So much corn... I don't know how I'll deal...

Trophy's

One of the few Austin bars located across the street from a middle school...
That might not mean much anywhere else, but it's kind of a(nother) Austin anomaly. That scheme is currently illegal.

There were two stages one in the front and one in the back. You know, not in the back, but on the stage...

If you've ever been there you'd understand...

Breakdown

No free beer (I believe they call this lame...) but a really cool and enthusiastic bar staff. some really cool folks.

SVT, blah blah blah..., we whipped it, it was a hell of a lot of fun, casters and Hickoids. My ashdown rig was on the front stage and this gal asked me how to make it make noise (does it have a broken fuse?!?!?!?!).

"Just push that button by the blue light". The mute works wonders.
This might be some kind of an analogy...

8/20/11

Last night it was the Casters in San Antonio at Boneshakers. It was Glambilly's CD release and to celebrate the occasion they had a fire eater. A tiny tiny woman doing the "regular" fire tricks. I know I sound like a complete idiot when I say "that fire sure was hot" but when she was playing with the fire, by the stage and we were playing, it was really hot...

The Lollygagger's we out and in full force, supplying the mammarian force field whenever it was needed. It's good to be back to normal.

Breakdown

Boneshakers is a pretty cool club (add it to the list of cool SA clubs). It's a cinder block building that has a taco stand, a broken atm and a bike shop upstairs. They serve beer and as a special treat, last night they had water. We were told we got  three Lonestars per band member, and none for the dancers. As it turns out they were really cool and the taps were flowing freely.

I used Hans' rig. It's an SWR combo and usually I think they suck, but last night it was working pretty well. It's a single 15 so I actually had some punch. Nice!

7/22/11

Double trifecta day two. The Gay Sportscasters played The Triple Crown in San Marcos last night. We were sans dancers and even though I thought people wouldn't dig it (I figure most folks come to watch the "mammarian force field") they did. We actually played like a real band instead of some guys who know some songs and play on occasion.

The Reaction was on the bill with Attic Ted (one of Wade's old bands) and the Jocks. When the 'casters were playing "Get Down Tonight" (yes, we do some really awful tunes) an old fried was dancing ala John Travolta right in front of me. I completely lost it and stopped playing for a few bars. It's a little different than Smitty's usual screwing with me, he just sticks that smelly ass mic in my face (or something similar). Seeing "The Travolta" took me by complete surprise.

Breakdown

Got two drink tickets and bought one extra beer for $2.50. Not bad or great.

On the first song Smitty's mic didn't work so while the sound guy was swapping it out Smitty jumped on mine. Nasty!