9/26/15

Then it was Saturday and we were still in New Orleans. Well most of us were, Cody had to jet off to play a show somewhere in Central Texas, but the rest of us were there and so was Rowsey. And the folks over at Siberia casually  mentioned that their happy hour band canceled on them. I just happened to have my Les Paul and Tom had his Bass. By some miracle of chance (i.e. planning) all of us had our Swishbuckling gear, so we strapped it on for one more round of pirate rock.

The crowd was thin, but since we finalized the the show a couple of hours before it happened you can't expect a huge turnout. It's a little bittersweet, we probably played the best show of the year (for the 'bucklers) to ten people. You could tell that we all knew the songs better and the confidence level was high. Smooth sailing would be an appropriate metaphor here, or a half assed pun...

I played through Cody's rig, a giant Marshal head on a 4X10 Orange cabinet. I went through the second input and kept the volume on one and a half. When it went to two it was way too much. His rig has no tremolo (I've come to rely on it) so I had to screw around with my delay pedal to try to mimic the sound the best I could. I eventually got something decent but I couldn't help thinking I sounded a little like The Edge...

After the set we packed up the Freak Van started the drive back home. We really got on the road around 11PM after a dinner at America's shittiest diner and we made it to my place around 7AM. Not a bad little drive.

8/10/13

Looks like the Hickoid Louisiana travel curse is over! No delays with my flights and the new freak made the drive trouble free. 

Siberia is a great little and very sweaty club. It's the second time we've played there and there were about ten times the amount of people as last time. It was extra sweaty. 

Poor Dumb Bastards and the Beaumonts were on the bill. Beaumonts were solid as usual and the PDB brought their A game. Really strong set. We think they've been practicing. 

Norco Lopalco were the openers for the night. In typical New Orleans fashion they were amazing. There were three "chicks" in the band. The drummer who pounded like hell (if she lived in austin...) a kick-ass singer and an astonishing guitar player! A chick ripping it up on a Les Paul is a very cool thing. 

Lafayette tonight. 

Transportation Breakdown

This is a blow by blow account of what happened on the last Hickoids tour. It won't be a pretty read because it wasn't pretty to live.

According to Smitty it all started after I told him my flight out of Austin was running 15 minutes late. The rest of the Hickoids stayed in Houston after THIS, the night before while I drove home to work Saturday morning. They were planning on picking me up in the Freak Van from the New Orleans airport a little after I landed.

I get on the plane and just as I was shutting off my phone I got a text from Lance "Serious van problems between Lake Charles and Lafayette." Shit. I finish shutting down and we fly to Houston. I turn it back on and get a couple of messages saying things were looking up. They were in Welsh LA and there was a guy helping with the Freak and they should make it to NO before showtime. It was right about then the SWA attendants told us we were switching planes because the one we were on wasn't big enough for all the passengers... So I jump to the other plane and get some updates and head to NO.

We land and I'm told the Freak won't be making the trip. Manny (the mechanic in Welsh) couldn't get the parts to fix it in time, but he was kind enough to drive Smitty to Lafayette to rent a mini van. They piled all the gear that would fit and headed east. The plan was to meet them at the club.

I took a cab to the hotel. Well, I tried...  We get on the interstate and every lane of traffic is backed up. 45 minutes later we are approaching downtown and there is another problem. This weekended is the "Soul Bowl" and all of downtown New Orleans is packed. He gives me directions to the club (for later) and drops me as close as he can to Canal St and I walk the rest. No big deal.

Get to the room, play a bit at the casino and head to the show. The cab driver told me the club was in the French Quarter, it isn't. But it's not too far away according to the map on the phone. I'm getting closer and I walk by this building that's a Po Boy shop. I remember it from the last time we played here because someone had gotten shot outside... And now I'm walking by it...

Nothing happens and in a couple of blocks I find the club and then THIS. Siberia closes and Smitty and I hit the hotel/casino and the other fellas stay with Jimmy Bradshaw. We meet up the next morning and drive the mini van to Lafayette. It took us a little over four hours to make the trip. Under normal conditions this should take an hour and a half. Not today.

After a boat load of deliberation we decided to pick up a Uhaul and use it to follow the the Freak back to SA. The mini van would have been another $600 to get us there and if the Freak dies the rest of our gear will be stuck on the side of a Louisiana highway. Bad move. We get the Uhaul and take the mini van to the Lafayette airport and drop it off.

There are only three seats in the front of the Uhaul and five Hickoids. Jones and I take the back. It was about an hour to Welsh and fortunately there was a light on in the back of the box. Jones and I talked, smoked and slept most of the way. Not horrible. I was thankful for "my superpower". It really comes in handy at times like this.

 We stop and they open the back and I meet Manny. He says it's the head gasket and he couldn't fix it, but he did what he could. To make the Freak lighter we loaded all the rest of the gear into the Uhaul. Tom and Lance drive it. Smitty, Davy and I in the Freak. It starts up and sounds like all hell IS breaking loose. Like a thousand paint cans stuck in an earthquake. I knew then it wasn't gonna make it.

We hit the road and the check engine light is on. We pull on the ramp to I-10 and the oil light comes on. Then this incredible cacophony comes from the engine. After a hundred yards it comes to a simmer and then rages up to a boil until the engine seized.

The Freak is dead.

We get the remaining stuff (mostly crap and tools) out of the van and say goodbye to the Freak forever, leaving it on the side of I-10.

Davy and I head back to our places in the box and because the third seat is tiny Tom joins us in the back. There is barely any room with all of the gear so Tom takes the "Mom's attic" portion right over the cab. He said it's been a childhood dream to ride up there.

From here on it was pretty uneventful. We stopped a couple of times and made lots of jokes about being smuggled across state lines. Eventually we made it back to SA and unloaded what we could in to Davy and Lance's cars (the rest went in Smitty's house) and we made it  home to Austin after fourteen hours of driving.

It was stupid and exhausting and we missed the show were were supposed to play in Lafayette, but we all made it home. A little sore and tired, but we made it home safe.

11/24/12

It was one hell of a long and rough trip. I'll get in to that in another post, right now I want to talk about Siberia.

Hickoids were there Saturday night with The Unnaturals and Nick Name and the Valmonts. I met the rest of the fellas at the club after hoofing it from my hotel on Canal St. I'll get in to that later too...

I walked in just when Nick and the Valmonts were finishing. I wish I'd caught more, I liked what i heard. I did catch all of the Unnaturals and I loved the hell out of their set (and the CD! Thanks!). Some really inspired punk/surf, very cool. I hope we see more of both of them in the near future.

Hickoids get up and we do our thing on borrowed Unnaturals' equipment. As usual I wish I had mine, but I was really happy to be playing, especially after all the shit that lead up to that point. Once again more on that later.

Breakdown

Three beer tickets and a few free ones thrown in. Siberia is a lovely place.