9/19/19

This ended up being an “only in it for the money” gig. God it was awful...

It was Talk Like A Pirate Day so the Swishbucklers got asked to play this place in north San Antonio. I’m not even gonna name it. It’s a big rambling “fancy” joint, not the kind of place we would usually play. They don’t even have bands regularly. 

But we were all in for it. Two sets and we were told they were doing a bunch of cool stuff for the “holiday”. When we got there there were 300-400 people there. And less than 10% of them were dressed for the day. And the rest of them were there for turtle racing...  as in making a turtle “run” in the middle of a bunch of screaming folks so the owner can get a free beer if it won. 

Gross. 

We did our two sets. Got paid and got out. 

100% for the money. 

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. 

6/5/19

Rough set last night at the Sahara... Bigfoot was back in the monthly slot. Usually Danny B would be there but he didn’t make it this time. No idea why....  I pay very little attention to anything other than the music. 

I missed Pinkus (of course...) but got there to see Henri playing a really good solo set. He sat in with us as well... probably not the best time for him to do it but you can’t really plan when the shitty set comes.  

And it came hard and heavy. What a mess.  Kinda epic in its awfulness. That’s how it goes, the only thing to do is move on and do what you can to make it not happen again.  

Wish us luck. 

5/9/14

I knew it was coming and it had to happen eventually and now that it's done it feels a little weird. Last night was my last show with the Hickoids before they head off to Europe with the temp bass player.

The show was at the Dirty Dog, it was some kind of a rock fest with a bunch of bands on the bill. The "fest" had a girl with steel plates on her clothes and a grinder set up on the stage. During our set she spent a couple of songs spitting out sparks for the crowd. It was cool and she was really cute, but that kind of act was news in 1996 in New York city... Austin is a little behind the curve.

They had an SVT with one of the big solid state heads on stage ready for me to use. It sounded really bad on stage (why are these so hit or miss?) but I was happy I didn't have to load my rig and carry it to 6th street.

We did our 45 minutes and the whole time I was thinking  "this is the last time I'm gonna play "Stop It" for almost two months."  I was thinking that after every song. After almost seven years of playing in the Hickoids it's grown on me. Like a fungus or rickets.

The band after us played and they paid for everyone's drinks during their set. It's a kind gesture and a good gimmick to get bodies in the door, but barely anyone was paying attention to them. It was kinda sad to watch... and I'm not even talking about their set...

After the free beer tap was shut off, I said goodbye to the fellas, grabbed my crap and headed home. I'll be back to playing obnoxious music with the Hickoids in no time (Next show is at the end of June with Mojo Nixon!) but on this side of the break it's seems like that is forever away.

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.