6/22/18

And the second two shows were at Kick-Butt Coffee. I’ve been there for a couple of shows but I’ve never played there. And on this night I did twice!

Beautiful Delilah’s were first. Great as ever. I love playing with Trey but it’s really fun watching him rock out with someone else. And rock it they did!

Bigfoot went next. Our 25th anniversary show. It was pretty cool and a little redemptive after that last set at Sahara... we put out a cassette with a bunch of leftover stuff from the past and a couple of new ones that we did with Cris last month. It actually sounds pretty good, the new ones in particular. Couple of the old ones sound awful. My bass is mixed OUT of one of them...  bad bad production. Even for a cassette.

So we got Ted Roddy to sing a couple and Angele got up and played bass on five. In the past I’d get down and watch but this time I played some guitar and it felt really good. I played guitar on one recording back when I started and that was it.  After 20 years of waiting, finally I get to strike!!

Hickoids were last. Our set was somewhat subdued by Hickoid standards. But there was lots of time for bullshitting with the crowd and I even got to gear a story about Davy I’ve never heard before. THERE IS STILL GOLD IN THAT HILL!!

9/14/18

It was a rainy Friday night but the roads were pretty clear for the drive to Houston.  It’s Swishbuckler time again. Ahoy!

We were at Rudyards with the Poor Dumb Bastards. Our set was a messy ball of fun. We were a little all over the place, only one rehearsal since last year.... what do you want. Good thing the set doesn’t change much (or all!) 

Tommy is back so we are a two guitar band again.  It’s a thicker sound with two of us. And on occasion there are some harmony parts!!

We wrapped it up and PDB went on, they were playing the next night in Austin, see y’all then. We took off and made it home a little after three. 

9/26/13

Last night it was me and the ladies at Club deVille. We got started at half past nine to a semi-decent crowd. The bands played inside, not outside, so we weren't backed up against the cool rock wall behind the stage... My favorite thing about playing there...  At first I was kinda bummed, but the soundguy was really on it and we sounded kinda amazing so I got over it fast.

Small stage so we had to build it back to front. As in lets put all the drums up and decide if there is room for any other crap. There was.. we all fit.

For some reason I thought I was gonna pop a string during the set. I brought a backup guitar to be safe. I popped one but it was in the middle of the solo on the last song. I was pounding away on the low E and it gave out. I yanked on it to get it out of the way and the solid core "jumped" out and right  in to my finger! That's how you get this... Blood on the Tele.

It's amazing how different that guitar sounds with no low string. It looses most of it's grunt and punch and sounds really flimsy. Luckily we only had about 45 seconds left to play so no big deal. I am not looking forward to cleaning up the tele, it's one nasty mess.

We finish up and get off stage and Lost In A World Of Color was up next. They dressed in Jackson Pollack's used drop cloths and were really good. Like shockingly good. I know we have a ton of talent in Austin, but LIAWOC was one of those "Holy shit!" kinda bands. They had the typical two guitars, bass and drums setup and most of the tunes were straight forward sounding, but there was enough Math/Art rock hiding under the surface to make it extra interesting. Great stuff!

I missed the last band (Jamey Simms ) because I am lame and I wanted to head home for the night.

At least I'm honest about it.

Popped a string...

On the last song at Club deVille. And popped my finger right after...

Blood on the Telecaster!

Gear nerd

That is a picture of my new and old favorite toy, the Electro Harmonix Linear Power Booster (LPB-1).
I picked up the old one years ago when I was playing solo all the time. I needed a preamp for my acoustic, most PAs don't have enough gain for a straight acoustic and I found that thing used, in a guitar store and fell in love. After a while I used it so much I got tired of changing the battery (notice the four screws on the top, total pain in the ass) so I added the wall wart. That made it sound like shit so I moved on.

Just the other day I saw the "new" LBP and I said to myself "GET IT!" so I did.

I don't use it for solo stuff anymore (hollow body and an amp for solo now) but that thing does some amazing things to the electric. I've been using a modded blues driver and a compressor for a long time and they sound great, but putting the LPB in front of those two takes me to supersonic delight! I'm a guy who never used a pedal until a couple of years ago and now I have (and need!) three. What a cool toy.

New/Old

The new one beats the pants off the old one. The fact that it has a foot switch alone makes it better. The only bad things I can say about it is the case is cheap and the battery that came with it was total crap (but who would actually use that thing anyway). This thing sells for about $25 and that is one hell of a steal.