1/31/18

Hickoids had a nice rehearsal last night at in San Antonio at High Tones. That's right, rehearsal... it wasn't much of a show. But we went up and did it. Our next set in Austin should be great.

We went on after the Goddamn Ranchhand Band. a couple of guys from Alaska the fellas hooked up with when they went up there without me last year. Mandolin, guitar and all the dumb jokes you need.

Harvey went up after us but Lance and I snuck out right after we finished. Boring old men with day jobs.

1/30/16

San Antonio Saturday night!

It was a glorious drive, the traffic was very light and I made it to Hi Tones in no time. We were on first, It's been a while since that's happened. Harvey mac Laughlin and the Bottom Feeders were next, they had a single release and made up a really cool silk screened poster. I love that shit! Javier Escovedo finished the night up. I'd never see a song of the other bands, my lame ass needed to be up for a flight in the morning so I headed home right after our set.

This show was pretty much the opposite of the night before. We rocked hard with very little effort. It might be because we were in San Antonio or that there were no bleeding teenagers walking around screaming before the set. It doesn't really matter...

I exchanged a few words with Javier after our set, the dude is cool as shit. Very complementary about the Hickoids and about me as a bass player (aww shucks...) makes me feel good even though I was out the door twenty minutes after our last note. Wish I could have seen his set, if it was half as good as the night before it was something.

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!

10/18/14

The second South Filthy show was up in Memphis at a place called Hi-Tone (not to be confused with Hi-Tones in SA.) I made the drive from down in the Delta and wandered around Memphis for a few hours. It's weird to be touring with a band and your by yourself most of the time. Usually there are a couple of other folks around to help keep you from boredom. Not this trip... I did a lot of napping in a few parking lots around town to eat up some time.

Eventually I hit the club and hooked up with the other fellas. We went on 11ish to a decent crowd and had a set similar to the night before... Not so great, but it had some moments. One in particular was when we did "When the Saints..." and they threw me a solo.  

Bass solos are the worst. Especially if I have to play them. We did that tune seven years ago when we were touring Europe and I'd totally spaced that I was gonna have to step out for a verse until Walter pointed at me and shouted over the mic "Rice Moorehead". I made it to the end and I don't think I was too awful...

We finished up, got paid (poorly, Memphis is like Austin) and Jack offered me a place to crash, but I wanted to get on the road back to Little Rock. On my drive in I saw the interstate headed west had a couple of long construction spots that had traffic backed up for miles so I wanted to avoid that (even at 4 AM all traffic ended up being stopped...)

I got to Downtown LR and found a spot next to a building that would block the sun when it came up and I slept for a few hours. Then I bounced around "the rock" for a bit before I headed home.

Hopefully it won't be another five years before we do South Filthy again. I really like playing in that band. And, maybe, just maybe we can practice once before the show.

5/2/14

Last night it was the Hickoids in San Antonio at Hi-tones, we were in the middle slot between Fea and Pinata Protest. The Protest were doing a secret show and the secret was out, big time.

I showed up about a minute before Fea went on, loaded in and had to park a few blocks away. The place was PACKED, I tried to get inside for a beer and to watch the band, but I could barely get in the door! So I just stood outside with the rest of the fellas.

Fea finished up and people were pouring out of the club. I ran in and scored a couple of beers and got setup. My gear went on the floor. The stage is too small for the five of us and all of our crap. I spent a couple of tunes just standing on the floor by my rig. If I wasn't singing I wasn't gonna keep bumping in to Tom for no reason.

One of my favorite drunks of the night was standing right in the front and he was holding three opened Lone Star tallboys. He was wearing a backpack and you could tell he was camped out for the Protest. But he was so drunk he could barely stand. He was basically on the edge of passing out and I could see him slowly getting a little more "relaxed" and he'd start to slip in to unconsciousness but he'd catch himself right on the edge, just before he was out. Every time he did it he would squeeze the tallboy cans and beer would shower up on him, everything and everyone around him. He did it four or five times during our forty five minute set. Pretty funny stuff.

I don't know how he "thought" he was gonna keep his spot, after three tallboys (and whatever else he had to drink) he'd have to be some kind of a piss-camel to make it to the end of our set and then through another hour and a half of gear moving and Protest rocking. Then again he squeezed eighty percent of his beer out before it got in to his mouth so pissing may not have been much of an issue.

We finish up and load the Freak for this weekend's shows while the main event loaded in. The place was razor blade packed. Crowbar packed. Sardine packed. The place was... packed! The Protest got up and started to whip it, there was no way I was gonna get back in so I took off and headed home. Kinda anticlimactic, but that was my night

9/28/13

Hickoids at Hi-Tones in SA. The weather was awful. It was raining so hard on the way down I stopped for a half hour just to get out of the mess. It took two and a half hours to make it to the club, double the normal time. Nasty drive.

The opener flaked out. Smitty had asked me to do a little solo set and I was up for it even though I knew it wouldn't be as fun as playing with the Ladies. I was the last one to the club and when I was loading in Smitty said Hickoids were going to play long, no solo Rice... No big deal. I can play one show and be ok with it.

We played a very loose two and a half hour set straight through. Not in the Springsteen knock them out bam bam bam way, more in the old men bumbling through two and a half hours of music kinda way. It was a pretty good/sloppy set. I'd really prefer two sets with tight (or tighter) spacing between songs. That way the break is all at once and not spaced throughout, three to four minutes at a time... Very annoying. Just this one man's opinion.

We finish, load and head off to the interstate towards home.

The rain was really coming down. I was going thirty miles an hour for long stretches and people were still driving like assholes. I made it to the Buc-ee's at Canyon Lake and filled up. When I finished Lance pulled up next to me. We went inside and grabbed some snacks and looked for a place to hang out. There is zero seating at the Buc-ee's (other than the toilet)... they DON"T want you to stay. You can fill up, take a crap and get some snacks, but then it's time to get the hell out... of Buc-ee's.

I made it back to my truck and drove to a secluded part of the parking lot, got stoned and napped for a bit then I finished the drive home.

Long night.

ACL next!

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.

2/24/12

This one is a little late, things be crazy...

The Hickoids were playing in SA, first time with the new drummer Lance. Guess what? It whipped ass. We were incredibly tight for a first show. Things were so good when we finally made a decent sized mistake I looked at Lance and said "I don't know if that was your fault, but I'm blaming you anyway". He took it the way it was intended. Sound was decent, but only two mics which means Davy and I share. And that means when I'm singing, I get spit on. This isn't new, It's Jones!

Breakdown

This was at Hi-Tones. I'd never been there before. The folks working were very nice and we got three beer tickets each which is OK (you drive right by the Mix to get there, it was a little hard driving by all that free band booze...). I liked the place, but I'm on loyal dog. The Mix is better. "The Tones" may be a close second.