10/1/16

ACL night two.


Hickoids were last at the White Horse. I got there just as Chrissy Flatt's new group (New Mystery Girl) was going on. Hell of a good set. For years she was doing more of a folky solo (sometimes with a band) set. Now it's a lot more rocking and I think it fits her better. Nice work lady!


Pat Todd and the Rank Outsiders were back in Austin! And of course they whipped ass. Fuck, it's really good to see, hear and play with those guys again. I can't really add much, nothing has changed since the last time we played with them. Other than all of us ageing...


Our set was a good sloppy mess. A decent chunk of the (big) festival crowd stuck around for our stupidity. They were drunk and there was still music.. why not! During one tune Lance broke his kick pedal. I kept playing till he straightened it out, a lame ass bass odyssey that shouldn't have been heard by anyone... But I had no choice. With the show going on and all.


We finished with the lights on. The crowd was quickly tossed and the night ended with a bit of a whimper...


More next week.

12/31/15

t was the grandest night of all. The big, fancy New Year's Eve. The night where all of your hopes and expectations fall flat and leave you thinking "this is it?..." And the Hickoids were playing... As you can probably tell, I don't like NYE. I'd rather stay at home and hide, but if I'm playing...

We were a part of a two stage party at the Spider House. This was the place where I first played a left handed bass. It was during a NYE house party back when the Spider House was just a house and someone had a left handed bass and someone else told me to play it. I was hooked! A couple weeks after I went to Southpaw in Houston and bought my very own. BASS!!!

The big headliner was Roky Erickson but he was going on a couple of hours after us, but I was at home and on the couch by the time he went on...

Hickoids went up on the outside stage. It looks like it was designed by a Fairy in an enchanted wonderland. It's nice, but a little weird looking for a place where Hickoids would play.  It was cold but we've played colder. There was a good crowd who was pumped for the big night and ready the rock and roll. We gave it to em.

We were on for about 45 minutes and hit them pretty hard for most of the set. Finished up and stood around the fire pit until I finished my beer, said some goodbyes and headed home for the night.

1/24/15

This is way late... I've gotten lazy(ier) than usual...

Anyway, I did a pickup gig for a friend of mine, Hilary York, a couple of weeks ago. She needed me to hold down the low end for one of her Saturday night shows at the Continental Gallery so I did!

She and I hooked up a few days before to go over some stuff. At the end of that practice I had three pages of notes for the hour and half set. Loads of info and most of it was correct... The two of us had fun working on her set. We used to to a Sunday afternoon with another songwriter many years ago and we haven't hung out much or played together at all since then. Our little practice almost made me a little sentimental about a smaller, cheaper Austin.

When Saturday rolled around I made it down to the club with my gear and had a chance to meet the drummer (who was also playing his first show with Hilary) before we started to set up. It may sound weird meeting someone right before you play, but after a few tunes you know all you need to know about them.

There isn't much to report other than my notes for the first song were completely wrong... Like dead wrong. I was able to cover but it could have gone shitty fast. Luckily I'm quick on my feet when I'm holding a Bass.

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!

Bottom

Eight bass rigs and four more on the other side if the room. Boom!

The new TC rig

I've had a couple of practices with it now and I'm really liking the way it sounds. It's real punchy and accurate. And at this point I'm louder than two 4x12 guitar amps!!

My first show with it is tonight so I'll see how that goes. I'll admit the cabs are light and I'm wondering how they'll hold up on tour, but right now they sound great.

3/29/12

This is late... I'm getting bad about the next day posting...

Bigfoot Chester at Salute. It was the typical drive to SA, boring with odd spots of traffic. It was just Walter and me on this drive, everyone else had their own rides and or were staying in SA. Amateurs.

We hit Salute right before Chickenhawk was going on. Nice and strong set. Down the street T Tex and Big Drag were playing. It always makes me wonder why we weren't at the Mix. Bigfoot whipped it. Trey's family was there and they were REALLY in to it. Talking lots of pictures and buying us lots of drinks. I was lucky enough not to have to drive home. It's a way easier drive when your drunk! (and not driving...).

Breakdown

I used Chickenhawk's bass rig. It's a Marshall head through some kind of cab. It had the craziest distorto sound with the EQ flat. I got it worked out after a bit. The club gave us free Lone Star, but with Trey's family in the buying mood there wasn't much of a need.

I love playing in that band, I hope we do it a lot more often.

3/17/12

This is late... and I'm still tired!

Hickoids had two shows on St Patty's day aka the day before my birthday/ my last day of sxsw.
#1 Woopsy party at Trophies. It was the standard setup, three stages with bands going on all the time. We were inside and followed by the Grannies. Every time I play here I get up on the first song and remember "oh yeah, I need some glow in the dark fret markers". The stage and lighting is weirdly dark and shadowy. Usually that would be a good thing but I keep missing notes! It's possible that some day I'll fix this...

#2 Nightrockers in SA. Davy and I showed up and Pat Todd was going on! They were just a four piece but they rocked it. Before we went on I walked by Lance and he said "Hi, I'm Trevor" so I said "Hi, I'm Devin". He asked "did you say Bevin?" I lied and said yes. Fast forward and we are playing Bennie and I look at Lance and he is singing "Bevin and the jets". I lost it.

I'll do some kind of SXSW wrap up thingy in the next couple of days.