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

3/28/14

It was the thirtieth anniversary of the Hickoids first show so we played a little set at the Lost Well. After all the SXSW, HOF crap we decided to not go over the top with hype, it was a simple night for some good, old fashioned cow punk. No more getting our backs slapped and no more public handjobs from people who only like us because, for the moment, we have a little bit of traction. This show was for rock and roll!

The place was loaded in more ways than one. There were four bands on the bill and I showed up when the second one was finishing. The Bulemics went on to rock the house and by the time we got up the stage was a beery mess. It was expected...

Somewhere during the second song it smelled like an amp was on fire. There was that "electronics gone bad" smell in the air and it stayed for most of the set, but there was no visible fire and the amps worked for the rest of the night. It gave the set this underlying feeling that everything was about to go wrong in about sixty seconds. Granted most Hickoid shows have that feel, but there was this extra element of mayhem/danger in the air with the possibility of fire or an exploding amp.

Speaking of mayhem there was this girl who kept getting up on stage and she was either standing there and staring at Smitty or Tom or she was rolling around on the floor (in all the beer) with a couple of other people. At some point there was a five person pile up on the stage and I jumped in and rubbed my ass all over everyone and I never lost the beat! It felt really good and made a bunch of folks laugh and that's pretty much why I do anything.

12/31/13

It was the big fancy NYE show. We all made the drive separately and took along our ladies. Downtown Dallas was packed with folks ready for the big night. I saw multiple people walking in to our hotel with CASES of booze. These were not employees, these were guests and they were going to party. The drunken stupidity was inevitable.

Our hotel was a half a mile away from the HOB. I hoofed it over to set up my gear (Smitty brought the heavy stuff in the freak) and to check the place out.

The House of Blues in Dallas has three venues in it. One had a grunge show another had an oldies show and the big room had us opening for the Old '97's. I walked in the back stage entrance and off to the Hickoid green room. A lovely place with chips and salsa, a veggie tray, a coffee maker, a second coffee maker (for toilet coffee), a lovely assortment of soda and water.... and no beer... zero... we had to buy our own... NYE and no free beer for the band. Interesting decision since generally a "Blues" club feeds it's musicians booze like it's water and asks them if they want more when they are drooling and laying on the sidewalk (or ground if it's out in the country). We got food so it wasn't all bad but it still seemed odd. I never left the backstage area the whole night. The club looked like a cool place, but by the time I could check things out it was packed so I hid in the back.

RTB2 Kicked things off. They played the Saturday show at Antone's but I missed them then. This show they kicked ass! A little blues, a little rock and a little pop. A lot of sound for a two piece.

We were second and did pretty well. It was obvious that people were there for the '97's and wanted them on NOW! But we did our thing and did it good and by the end they were in to us.

The 97's went on and BOOM! The folks that were all reserved for our set boiled over into the drunken mob I knew was hiding under the surface. It's New Years Eve and these people ain't fucking around.

While they were rocking the Hickoids started drifting off into the night. We left by cab, van, car and foot. NYE would soon be in the past and another year of kicking musical ass is out there waiting for us.

Some BIG opportunities are on the way! Stay tuned.

12/6/13

I am a week late on this one...

Hickoids made the drive to Houston and loaded our gear up those goddamn awful stairs. Good thing Rudyard's is such a good club. We were "Headlining" (last) on a cold and wet Friday night. The forcast kept screaming for ice and/or snow. It was gonna ba a long night. 

The drive there was easy and we loaded up and said our howdys. I got a falafel from next door and went back for the rock.

Shinta was up first. I love a band with a Lady! Good tunes and some screamin guitar. Bring it on! Barkin At Nothin had a splendid trio of songs about love, but their standout was "Get The Hell Out Of Texas". A brilliant piece of stupidity.

We went up and did the Hickoid thing. Finished and loaded back down the stairs... I hate those stairs... Started the drive home and everyone but me wanted food (damn falafel!) So we stopped at Denny's and watched some drunken Houstonians make fools of themselves. 4 AM, Friday night, it's a guaranteed good time.

The drive home was uneventful. The weather was kind and I stayed in the back and slept. Made it back home and into bed at 6:50. I was up for work at 8:45... Saturday was rough as hell. 

8/18/12

Hickoids at the White Horse. This is the second time I've played here and I like it even more than the first. It's the kind of place where they want everyone to have a good time so they can have a good time. You know, like it's a really good bar.

The Poor Dumb Bastards opened up for us and we are gonna open for them tomorrow at Rudyard's in Houston. I haven't see that bunch of fools since last years ACL. It was good to hear classics like "cum drunk" again. Byron didn't do a duct tape mask this time, I'm guessing it's ruining his looks or something...

The Hickoids set was something else. Loads of drunken stupidity. Early on David Nobody got up and sang part of a chorus on the mic. Then three other Hickoid fan/idiots wanted in on the action and they kept jumping up on stage again and again. It was like some lady told a bunch of fifth graders they could touch her boobs. These boys couldn't stop or help themselves.

So the set goes on and the crowd is getting tighter and drunker and we are playing really good and sounding powerful. Smitty is whipping the crowd up in to a frenzy. These four boys start turning my mic around to sing a chorus on one song and I grab it and swing it back, it's my part boys, I can do it. I sing my little part and I guess they thought they shouldn't use my mic or something, so they turned their attention to Davy. Rodger in particular.

Rodger is standing right on the stage about a foot away from Davy when he is singing. He is so drunk he keeps leaning in (he really couldn't help himself, you could see it in his eyes he NEEDED to sing). Davy is getting pissed. Near the end of the tune Davy starts swinging his guitar at Rodger and "stabbing" him with the headstock. Rodger is not getting it. The song ends and Jones starts berating him over the PA! "You don't even play guitar, motherfucker!" and so on for a couple of minutes. It was beautiful.

The best part was after that settled down there was this strangely awkward and anticipatory feeling in the room. Everyone was standing around waiting to see what else would happen. So the next tune comes and Rodger and some other dude (I have no idea what his name is, but he wasn't the guy who took off his shirt after the second song and walked around for a half hour after the show looking for it!) fall on the stage in some kind of bear hug and knock down all but two of the twenty beers sitting around. Smitty jumps on top of them and starts riding them to the end of the song. It was fucking hilarious. We played three or four more and called it a night, ending a pretty amazing set.

Breakdown

We got free beer/booze and we got paid. Hey White Horse, can we play again next week?