Bantam

Change happens. Meteors land, volcanoes blow, love moves on and bands change their names...
We are no longer Rice Moorehead and his Ladies.
We are called Bantam. Our first show is Thursday June 1st at the Hard Luck Lounge. Come and see us.
We are Bantam, hear us roar!

7/7/16

Late, late, late...


The Ladies had a hell of a show the other night. We were at the Hard Luck and we went on a little after the sun went down so it was a little cooler than when the openers went on. Still hot as shit but cooler.



We kinda whipped it. After a couple of months without shows and a couple of rehearsals before this one we were ready to kill. And we did. We even pulled out a new one we'd worked up a pretty cool arrangement on. Right before the peak we layer each instrument on before all of us and pounding away at it while BC and I are howling at full volume.



Good sweaty fun.

2/5/16

The Ladies had a show at the Hole a week ago. There were four bands on the bill and we had the early shift. The crowd was sparse at 9:30 when we went up but there was some improvement by the time we finished. It was a pretty good considering we had one practice so far this year and it was nearly two weeks before the show. Someday we'll be rehearsed... I swear it...

Eric Hisaw Band was next and they killed it. Eric really plays the shit out of that Tele and his tunes are really tight. The third (or fourth) tune in they nailed some Buddy Holly and that is always a good thing.

The third band was Garner Sloan I'm not sure if that's the name of the band or a person IN the band... didn't really get around to that. They had a nice, calm blues/old timey feel with an adorable girl playing fiddle for the leads. Good stuff.

Then the last band went up.... I'm not even gonna give their name, not because they were shitty. They actually played really well (even though it's music I don't like...) but the front man...What a dickbag... The "Sloan" folks hadn't even switched off their amps and that dude was onstage with a big particle board box. He didn't even look at the folks who had just finished playing, he just sat on the stage (with his box) and chatted up some people standing at the front. What an asshole!

So the box is his "stomping box" he sets the mic stand on it so when he stomps his foot it comes through the PA. Nice idea, but the sage at the Hole is a big box the transmits the sound of stomping through the mic without a giant second box that takes up space on the stage WHEN ANOTHER BAND IS ON!!!!!! Not to mention there were eight people in that band including, trumpet, accordion, fiddle, two guitars and on and on... there is no way in hell that "stomping" is coming through.

He also had the attitude that he had the most original music ever imagined... I'd heard that tired-assed, played out shit fifteen yeas ago IN THE SAME CLUB!!!!! Uhhh.... And to wrap it all up he was a dick to the soundman.

Anyway, it was a cool night up until the end, when the last hour felt like ten. The first three were pretty cool.

10/30/15

Played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night. Actually Lance and I played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night and the Ladies weren't even on the bill!

Lance subbed for Trey in Bigfoot Chester. We rehearsed twice (once right before the show) and had a great little set. Not surprising Lance knows what he is doing and the majority of Bigfoot tunes are simple. The only "tricky" parts are the dynamics and those are easy to figure out if your paying attention (The trick is to watch Walter, or be in the band for eighteen years, either way it's not that hard.)

Hickoids were next and it was the pretty standard ass-whipping set. The crowd was happy, drunk, sloppy and a few of them made it up on stage. 

It only takes one and there were several of the usual stage crowding suspects in attendance so it was inevitable. It started when this one girl hopped up in the second or third song and within a couple of tunes she was licking Smitty's chest. Then one of two dudes started putting a foot up, like he was testing the water. A couple of tunes later he was standing on the edge of the stage and he was looking at my microphone like he needed it. Meanwhile, several times during the set the second dude would hop up in front of my mic and start yelling at it from the other side. 

By the end of the night all three of them were on the stage with us and the two dudes were fighting over who go to use my microphone. I was gonna sing my part, but they needed it more than me.

9/25/15

We started the drive to New Orleans around 7 PM. My house was the last pickup spot and we got on the road right after Tom and I loaded our crap in to the freak van. Around 5 AM I hopped in to my hotel bed right after the first beer of the (previous) day. I was exhausted. We stopped five times on the way (including a casino break) that kinda kills the possibility of making good time. Oh well, we weren't going on until midnight so there was no great rush to get up early.

The show was at dba on Frenchman Street. I played there with an old version of "the Ladies" back before Katrina dumped her load and things have changed dramatically since then. Frenchman Street was packed and it's a tiny, one lane, one way street so there is very little room to move around. All of the tourist (myself included) were bouncing between the clubs and the brass band out on the street, it was elbow to elbow. Since the economy is up and party people flock to New Orleans it's no surprise that the former "locals" music road is now the tourists "secret" music place. There was money was flowing everywhere. The pickpockets were even donating 10% of their take to charity. Pretty decent of them.

dba has changed as well, but for the better. Now there is a decent sized stage framed out into the room and an extensive backstage with a private smoking patio. Very cool. When I played there the stage was basically a plank of wood that stuck out by the wall. This was a huge improvement. And the hospitality... They are batting a 1000 there. Loads of free beer, booze and mixers. They know how to treat a band at dba.

Alien Knife Fight was first, similar set as the last time I saw them, they rocked it. DiNOLA played the middle slot (and were the folks that got us to come to town). They had a seriously great set! Apparently we played with them at ACL at some point, but I don't remember it at all. Maybe I saw them, maybe I didn't... I saw them on this night. I won't forget that set for a long, long time.

We got up and played the longest Hickoid set in recorded history. I was told we were on for somewhere between two and a half and three hours. I have no idea if that's true, but we didn't end up leaving the club till 4AM. I was so drunk and happy (and loaded with cash after being PAID(!) for playing ) that I rushed over to the casino to gamble with Smitty and Cody until around 8 AM when I stumbled back to the hotel flush with my winnings!

What a great night.

6/21/15

Damn! I totally forgot about this one...

The Ladies and I drove down to SA to play at one of the best clubs, the Mix on one of the worst nights of the week, Sunday. A 10PM start time almost guarantees light attendance unless you are a big road band. We are not... But the turnout was surprisingly good. A number of friends made it out to support our foolishness. 

We tried out a "new" cover, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". I jumped on bass while BC played her French Horn. No joke. The general concept of a stripped down "Papa" has been floating around in my head for years. I'm happy we finally made it a reality. We busted our asses getting it right in rehearsal and we did a nice job of it at the show, but when we finished... Silence... Ouch. It's not dead, but that hurt.

Western Star finished up the night. All of the Ladies had already taken off but I stuck around to watch them whip it. The Mix is a really great club for rockin. And they did.

Short drive home and I was in bed by 4. Not bad.

6/20/15

Last night the Ladies had the opening slot at ABGB. That place really has it's shit together. They feed you, give you great beer, they pay and have parking in the back so you don't have to mess around with searching for a spot down the street after you load in. Hell, they even had enough microphones to cover both drum kits and we still had four vocal mics! Shit! It almost makes you feel spoiled.

Our set was good, a little ragged at times but we were solid. The crowd was on the tame side but they were enjoying themselves, we got solid applause after every tune. It's never a huge, ruckus of a crowd, people don't really go to ABGB to raise hell.

Western Star was up next. They are from Baltimore and we played with them during ACL a few years ago, good bunch of dudes. They had a rockin set, but most of the crowd drifted off during the fist part of it, so they didn't get to play to that many people. Kinda crappy but they still whipped it.

The Casters finished things off. They played the roller derby earlier in the evening and when they showed up to the club (a little before the Ladies went on) they were already coated in sweat. By the time they went on everyone was caked in it (it's been in the high 80's with 80% humidity, it's nasty outside... I was drenched halfway into our first song and I stayed that way until I got to hop in the shower back at home.) They whipped out a "new" tune, "Fistin After Midnight", apparently it got the plug pulled on them at the Derby. But the dozen or so folks at ABGB ate it up.

Tonight the Ladies are opening for Western Star at the Mix. I love the Mix and tonight should be more of the "In your face" type of evening!

5/22/15

There was barely any traffic on the drive to San Antonio. I made it to Hi Tones in no time. Chief Fuzzer was on (you could call them three-fifths of the Beaumonts.) I caught five tunes and I dug the hell out of it. I love being impressed in new ways by people I already like.

The Grannies were up next! That's right, Grannies! They played their first show of this Texas stint Thursday at the Triple Crown. I missed that one because I knew I'd see the next three. They did a bunch of stuff they played with us over in Europe a couple of years ago. I love shouting "Meet me at the corner, the corner of fuck and you." Makes me feel like a real tough guy...

Those Goddamn Beaumonts were next. At this point the amount of gear that was being moved around was ridiculous. Chief Fuzzer had a guitar amp, drum kit and the bass rig for the night on stage. The Grannies went on and they moved the guitar amp and drum kit and moved another drum kit and two guitar amps on to the stage. When the Beaumonts went up they moved both the guitar amps and the drum kit then set up two other guitar amps, a drum kit, the steel rig and then put the bass amp to the other side of the stage. When the Hickoids went on we moved the steel rig, drum kit and one guitar amp off the stage and put two guitar amps and a drum kit back on to the stage.

We left the fucking bass amp where it was, there was already too much gear moving going on. Thank the lord I don't believe in the Ladies weren't playing. If another drum kit was moved around I'd...

Beaumonts kicked it in their usual fashion and we did the same right after. We finished the set after the lights came on and they started booting people out immediately. No talking, no handshaking, just go. I said a couple of quick goodbys and headed home.

We've got two more days of these shows coming up including Plaidstock! More to come!

3/21/15

The last day of SXSW, this one was a doozy, four shows!!


#1 Hickoids in a parking lot downtown

All of the Hickoids met up at the 04 Lounge (where sets two and three would happen later) and we hopped in the freak to make the first show. It was in a parking lot behind where Lovejoys use to be. There were two big stages set up side by side and as one was rocking the other had another band breaking down or setting up. Everything was backlined so there wasn't much to haul, but it was right in the middle of all of the SXSW mess and it was cold and raining.

Our twenty minute set was ok. The best part was when some folks with kids were watching and Smitty yelled "Kiss my pussy now!" and you could see the parent's smiles fade as the kid's perked up.


#2 Hickoids at the 04 Lounge

We freaked it back to the 04 and eventually got up and played. This set was better. We were close to the crowd and not getting wet, a huge advantage over the previous set. Also the crowd was a lot better. Being inside on a chilly, rainy day means more people IN the club.


#3 Rice Moorehead and His Ladies at the 04 Lounge

That's right, the Ladies are back! Lance is in as the newest "Lady". He doesn't cut the same figure in a dress as the gal he replaced, but he sure can whip them drums! Our set was pretty good. At this point I was kinda delirious and mildly drunk so there was no holding back. The crowd seemed to like it. There were lots of laughs when I was spewing dumb jokes and lots of rocking when we were... uh...rocking! More from the Ladies soon!


#4 Hickoids at the Mix.

Nice way to end the festival. I made the drive from the 04 Lounge. This morning I came prepared with everything I could possibly need to spend the night (including a six pack). I got some food and checked in to my hotel for the night. It felt so good getting those wet ass shoes, socks and jeans off. I sat around for a bit, smoked out and watched some Sarah Silverman on HBO (hotel!) and eventually dressed myself in dry clothes and made my way down to the Mix.

Roky Erickson was playing across the street so the neighborhood was packed, but inside the Mix was kinda dead. I got there as Trixie Trainwreck was going on. I figured I would have seen her play twenty times at this point, but this was only the second, glad I made it early!

About half way through Pony's set the Roky crowd came over and packed the place. The were eating that German rock up!

Then we were up. The place was still crowed as hell and the five of us were running on fumes, adrenaline (and a few of us were also a little bit tipsy.) What an amazing set. I can't really remember too many specifics but there was an overall vibe of "let's have the best night ever!" coming off of everyone in the room. Whatever we gave them, they gave it back and we threw it right back at them again. It was one hell of an hour.

At the end of the night there a lot of hugs and goodbyes and I made it back to the hotel cleaned myself up and drank the six pack, smoked and watched some more HBO. Nice finish to a busy ass week.

3/15/15

Around 11 AM folks started getting to my house. Hickoids and Trixie Trainwreck were heading to Bend TX to play at Bob's. Once Smitty pulled up in the freak we started loading and he told me I should bring a guitar... Uh, I haven't played solo in a couple of years, but OK!

We made the drive, loaded in and bullshitted around for a bit before it was time to get noisy. Then I got up and did forty-ish minutes. Mostly I played a tunes I've been doing with the Ladies but I also threw in a few that don't generally get played outside of the house, including a couple of covers. It was fun, but I prefer the full band, I'm not going back to solo more than occasionally.

Trixie got up next.  She plays the acoustic, stomps on a kick drum and wails on a kazoo when she isn't singing. I think I met her three years ago at SXSW, she is from San Francisco, but lives in Germany and is partnered up with the Pony named Olga folks. She had a whipping little set and I'll get to see it a few more times this week!

Hickoids got up and played a decent first set. There weren't many people, but it was a great afternoon warmup for the big festival and we got free food and beer! Bob joined us (again) for a few tunes in the second set. It was good playing with him, but next time we need to plan out a couple of songs for him to play with us before we are on stage. There was a lot of standing around talking about what we were gonna play next. Maybe we'll start planning next time...

Mixing the Ladies

There have been a couple of good mixing days on the new "Ladies" recording. Everything is at the tweaking stage and we (may) have something out soon.

The recording process is pretty cool. You put down layers and layers until you get some you like then you massage them in to a coherent track. Inevitably in the middle of all that there are some moments where your thinking "umm, we thought that was a good idea?" But after a little finessing you can generally make the pieces fit into something cool. Just like life, working with what you got is all you got. We got something pretty cool with this one.

It's possible that we are riding on the creative edge of music and we may have invented a new style, Jungle Soul! All of those drums (that really come out heavy on the recording) mercilessly beating away with sweet soul rhythms gliding over the top. It's a powerful sound that makes your ass bounce at the same time. That is art to me.

Kurtis is still a lot of fun to work with. There are definitely times when we are fucking around and not getting much done, but that's balanced by knocking shit out fast and right. It's all about knowing what your doing.

4/11/14

This one is way late, it couldn't be helped. 

The ladies and I had a couple of sets at the Carousel Lounge. I haven't played this place in years. I've always liked it, but it's a little hard to get a crowd in there. The location could be partially to blame, or the lack of liquor but most likely it's the lack of a given bands draw. 

Anyway we had a really nice crowd of folks and their sole purpose of the night was to see us and have fun. That's pretty much guarantees a good show. 

Draya and I set up on the side where the women have to walk by when they go to the bathroom (!) that's by design. Occasionally it's fun to stop them on the way in or out. You have that power when you play guitar and have a microphone. At least for a couple of seconds. 

We finished up and the crowd took off. There were three other bands on the bill after us. I felt kinda bad cause suddenly there were eight people in the place and the bartender was telling them they were too loud. That was us not too long ago. 

Studio and Euro updates

I went back to Million Dollar Sound to knock out the vocals with Kurtis last night. Almost got everything done in one take which is a very good feeling. Kurtis said I must have been ready to nail it for a while, I don't know if I'm that impressive, but he is that kind.

We still need to proof it all before we get in to mixing it, but it's sounding really good at this point and I can't wait to hear what happens with it next. The ladies whip ass.

In other news I am not joining my fellow Hickoids for the European tour this summer. I know I said I was going for part of it, but when you compare the price of flights with the current state of the Hickoid band fund, it isn't worth it to fly someone out half way to replace me. That could literally be the difference between losing and making money. My ego isn't so big it's going to put the band in to bankruptcy. So I will "take the hit" and stay home for one tour.

I'm gonna miss not going. I understand they are headed to Italy and France, two places I haven't been yet and apparently a couple of the Italian clubs are primo. I'll miss the hell out of that (and all the pretty Italian chicks...). They are playing the Sonic Ballroom in Klon. I played there once on a South Filthy tour and what a craphole! The folks that work there are very kind, they feed you and there is a dorm upstairs so everything is taken care of, but it was the only place on the tour I didn't shower after the show. It felt better being dirty than hopping in that nasty shower.

I'm not gonna miss that at all.

SXSW Wrap Up

Here it is, the big wrap up. As always it was a clusterfuck of a weekend. I had a lot of fun running myself in to the ground and I saw some pretty cool bands, but the festival is just too big for Austin. It's been that way for the past ten(ish) years and it's just continued to multiply. If you've read any of the post-festival fallout (examples here and here) you've probably noticed a trend towards the negative, there are some very good reasons for that. Austin and SXSW are changing and it may not be for the better.

It's not easy to see the changes when your living here, they can be too small and/or subtle. It's like plastic surgery. At the beginning you may notice one or two small changes here or there then suddenly one day you look up and you can't recognize Joan Rivers anymore and it scares the hell out of you. She may have the same personality but something isn't right... That's what Austin is like right now. I still love her and I don't want to move, but the grievances are stacking up. I know I'm gonna sound like a pissed off old man by writing the next few paragraphs, but they are accurate and my grievances need to be aired.

Read this first http://i.imgur.com/KRWNNiR.jpg

Imagine that in the "land of the free". The city is forcing a business owner to dedicate one of it's parking spaces (on private land) to another businesses vehicle. It isn't even an Austin (or US) based company, they are from Germany. I like the Germans a lot, but they should not be able to force another business to store their cars and prevent an actual customer from using a parking space and the city shouldn't be writing policies for it to happen in the first place.  The Car 2 Go folks have also taken a number of the regular downtown street parking spaces and converted them into Car 2 Go only spaces (as in if I park my truck in one I will get towed.) If you drive a Car 2 Go you can park in any of the regular spaces and not have to pay for it... So one Car 2 Go can prevent two regular cars from parking. Are you pulling your hair out yet?

Last year I pad $20 to park, all night,  downtown a week and a half before the music fest. It was a total ripoff, but I justified it because it was very close to where I was playing and I was getting paid. This year I saw signs that were offering $35 parking for three hours. When did this become Manhattan? I parked on the street in San Fransisco for three hours for less than five bucks just a couple of years ago. The last time I checked there are a lot more people in a lot less space in SF and NYC then there are in Austin, why are we paying this much for parking?

We have the metro rail. It was screwed up as a concept when I moved to town twenty two years ago, now it's a screwed up reality. This is a two parter.

#1

They never bought the proper sensors for the trains. They are loaded with the gear that is meant for freight trains. The sensor is different because a freight train travels long distance at a fast speed, so people at an intersection a half mile away will be stopped from crossing the track when a freight is barreling down. This makes sense. Metro Rail trains don't travel at freight train speeds. They also stop at multiple stations along the track, so they need a different kind of sensor. Currently when a metro rail train is stopped at a station you are not allowed to cross the tracks anywhere near it.

On my daily (bike) commute to work I cross Guadalupe at Airport four times a day. This intersection has two stations about a quarter of a mile on either side of it (this is also pretty stupid, it's miles in between the stations on either side of those.) If there is a train at either station I am not allowed to cross the tracks. There have been days where I have literately spent a total of twenty extra minutes out in the sun waiting on the metro rail to leave it's station and go past. It sucks in February, it is misery in August.

#2

But part of me was ok with it. Since I live near two stations I would head downtown on Mondays and get my mail from the PO box and get a little lunch and head home. It was nice and it was $2 a person to do the round trip. That's all changed. Now it's $5.50. There is no longer any "local" service. If you come in from the Lakeline Mall stop (the northern, end of the line) it's $5.50 for the round trip. If your headed all the way downtown, you will save a lot of money on the 30-40 mile round trip and you won't have to pay for parking or screw around with traffic, it's a great deal when you factor in everything. But when you get on in my neighborhood and your charged $5.50 for the ten mile round trip that was $2 a month and a half ago it can piss you off.

The train is no longer meant for local use. It's only purpose is to move people who don't live in Travis County, or pay taxes in Travis County to and from their Travis County jobs. Sure there is a little less congestion on the roads and that's a good thing, but it does very little for the people who actually live AND work in Travis County. It just makes it harder for the "locals" to get around.  Why are we making it easier for people to use the services of Austin when they don't pay the taxes that fund them?

I am not even gonna get in to the toll road fiasco... it is awful and depressing on a whole different level.

So how do I feel about this year's SXSW? I liked getting to see a few new bands, but I didn't really take advantage of anything. If I wasn't playing I wasn't gonna be in the middle of it. Especially since there was no easy way in or out of downtown (or parking when you got there.) It was too easy to say fuck it and just stay home. So that's what I did.

Hickoids getting in to the Hall Of Fame was pretty cool, but it wasn't that special and we had to pay for booze and food. Sure they had us stand for pictures in front of a banner covered with booze and food manufactures names and now my picture can be used for advertising, but we couldn't get any of those products for free... I would have had more fun if I stayed back at the White Horse watched some music.

One of the stupidest things I saw had to be the SX Subway thing that was set up right next to the convention center. It was a little, fenced in "village" with banners all over the place.  I'm guessing that since there was all the bad press over having rubber in their bread they spent some cash trying to make Subway "hip" and "friendly" again... Pitiful. Don't forget that SXSW let Subway coop part of the name so they got paid and allowed to allow it to happen. Pitiful times two.

So all of this bitching is coming from someone who still loves Austin. I have no desire to move and I have no idea where I'd move to if I did. I am also an optimist (believe it or not). No matter how many times my nose is rubbed in to the figurative shit that is humanity, I still want to believe things will turn around for the better. I'm hoping my grievances are just Austin's (and SXSW's) growing pains and that things WILL improve in the future. Let's just hope that we as a city can grow up enough to fix some of this before our souls are gone.

3/15/14

Yeah this one is late. I'll have a SXSW wrap up coming tomorrow (I hope) Saturday night kinda knocked the crap out of me.

The Hickoids first set started at 6PM at the '04 lounge. The drive was ok, I found decent parking and for the first time during this years fest, I used my own bass rig! We set up and played after A Pony Named Olga, again. Our set was ok, it was a little early in the day and I think we were all in the marathon mindset, as in don't blow your wad too early boy, you got three shows today. 

The '04 is a cool place, but where the bands set up is right where people walk by to go to the bathroom. So your rocking out with your eyes are closed and when you open them back up someone looking at you like "Get out of my way, I have to piss" It's strange.

Johnny Hell was there and he got up for two songs (Lance played a show before this one, so he was happy to take the break) as always it was nice playing with him. He and Lance even did a little double drumming on "Stop It", the world needs more double drummer lineups! After the set we quickly packed up and headed to...

ABGB on Oltorf. We were on at 8. I parked in the back and loaded just my bass and cords in (backline!) I was immediately asked what I wanted to drink and eat. I could get use to this. I had a couple of lagers but I held out for the pizza until after we played. When we showed up DD Dagger was on the stage and whipping ass. I haven't seen Allison blow sax in years and I really, REALLY liked this band. I've got to do a show with them and the Ladies it will be an "Animalistic Rock-A-Thon"! 

This set was a lot better than our first one. All of us were giving it a little extra gas and the sound was really good which makes the job a whole lot easier. It also felt more like a real show, ABGB has a stage! We did our thing and the crowd was in to it. We finished the set, ate some pizza and head to...

The Triple Crown. "Olga" was up when I got there. I settled in to the back and hung out with the Grannies and a Beaumont until they finished. Grannies were next, I hadn't seen a whole set from them since Europe last year so I caught every song. Sluggo was playing a cheap SG copy and I knew it wasn't gonna last. During the solo on the last tune of their set Sluggo jumped up on the bar and started playing the guitar with an ashtray. Then he hopped to the ground, took it off and started swinging. Pop, Pop, Pop. The satisfying sound of a cheap guitar hitting linoleum. 

We were next and we played fine. I used Tom's bass rig because it was still on the stage and no one, including me, felt like moving it. There was some definite ass dragging going on in our third set (fourth for Lance!) But we survived the full 45 minutes and broke our shit down. SXSW was over for us. Now all we had to do was watch the Beaumonts! They were great as usual. Nothing new, just regular old, bad ass Beaumontin'.

After that Smitty and I went to IHOP and got some food. I drank almost a full pot of coffee and I was still buzzing from it after the 45 minute drive home. I drank three beers after a shower and finally went to bed around 6AM, twelve hours after the first show started (and that doesn't include me being at the day job from 10-4). The next day I woke up around noon, ate and managed to stay awake for a couple of hours before I fell asleep again. When I woke back up it was Monday afternoon and I was still on the couch. It's kinda a SXSW tradition.

3/12/04

Day one was pretty interesting. It stared with a thirty minute drive to the White Horse, it usually takes ten in normal traffic... Needless to say SXSW traffic is awful.

The Ladies and I got up and did our thing. There was a decent crowd of people who had been day drinking and they were digging our sound. It's easy with folks like that, all we had to do was play "Bouncin" and they were hooked. "You Make Me Feel..." and "Selfish" just put them over the edge. Day drunks love songs about sex and drinking and we have a lot of songs about sex and drinking.

We finished up and I said goodbye to the ladies and Smitty, Tom and I hopped in a pedicab and went to the convention center. It was really nice that the Hickoids were inducted in to the hall of fame and on paper it seemed like it was gonna be really cool, but...

We go to the check in desk and get our passes then we were escorted upstairs to the green room. Escorted, as in they stuck some poor, adorable 20 year old intern with us. She led us up the escalators and over to the place where they gave us some wristbands. I'm pretty sure we could have gotten there ourselves, but this is a classy affair and they don't want to leave us to our own devices for too long. After that we just hung out in the green room for about an hour and a half bullshitting with folks.

The green room was pretty big and probably had a hundred people in it. They had a bar! But after we waited in a twenty minute line there was a cash register... My Hall Of Fame winning ass paid $14 for a rum and coke. They had food and I got excited about it until I heard they were charging for it as well... Pretty lame stuff.

We were told it was time to get ready and we were posed for pictures in front of a big banner (they were really trying to make it like the Grammy's or the Oscars with all of the silly pomp, but it doesn't work at all, this is Austin not LA) then we were told to wait. About thirty minutes later we were escorted by a different escort from the green room to a staging area. Then we waited in about three different places for about ten minutes each before we finally got up to the stage. In other words, there was a whole lot of hurry up and wait. And we were escorted every step of the way.

We accepted the award then they had us step down to a second stage that is right in front of the real stage so the same people who took pictures of us in front of the banner could take more pictures of us again. Then our escort (yes, she was still with us) walked us off the stage as they were announcing that Blondie was next! Holy Shit! That's Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke!!! I had no idea that was coming and neither did our escort. As soon as they were announced we looked at each other and she said "Well that's about the best fucking thing in the world!" She was right, it was pretty exciting.

Since we were finished with the awards show it was time to head back to the White Horse. Got there and the Grannies were on! They whipped it and we went on after. Our set was pretty short, but the place was packed and really in to us. It made the whole ordeal of the Music Awards worthwhile.

This probably isn't shocking to anyone but it's a lot more fun playing music than it is being awarded for it.

SXSW week

SXSW is here. It's been here, but I'm just now writing about it. The music side of things starts today and that's all I really care about/all I am involved with. Here is my general schedule.

Tonight the Ladies and I go on at the White Horse at 7. After that Hickoids run off to the music awards to be showered with love and inducted in the Austin Music Hall of Fame. Then we head back to the White Horse to play at midnight.

The bill at the Horse is pretty amazing, but I'm gonna miss most of it because of the HOF thing... That's what "sucks" about SXSW, I'm usually too busy to enjoy any of it. (Disclaimer, the traffic, parking, price gouging and general drunken stupidity also sucks, but what you gonna do.)

I only have one show each on Thursday and Friday. Hickoids play at the 29th St Ballroom/Spider House around 5 on Thursday and Bigfoot Chester is playing the Peelander Z party at the Grackle on Friday at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Saturday there are three Hickoid shows. The 04 Lounge at 6. ABGB at 8 and The Triple Crown in San Marcos at midnight.

That's it for the moment. Details will follow. Be prepared for action.

3/7/14

Friday night I played at the Local with the ladies. We were the band for the night and played from 10-1. When I got there all if the ladies were set up and already drinking. I had some catching up to do...

I got my rig together and hit the bar. Both of the (lovely) bartenders were old pals of mine, it was great seeing both Janna and Tiffany again and having them give me beer all night!

We got up and did the first set. My old drummer Jill was there and she brought some friends, good to see her and she loved seeing the double drummer lineup. There were a number of other folks who were watching us and enjoying themselves and we played pretty well. Nothing glorious, but nothing shitty. 

Second set Jill left and took her pals. The other folks slowly dissipated all over the place and our quality started slipping... Nothing awful just some overplaying here and there and we were missing some of the stops. It happens, we moved on. 

Then set three happened. I don't want to be too melodramatic here but it was pretty bad... I'm pretty sure it was the booze. I wish (and planned) for it to go better, but it didn't. No excuses. It kinda sucked. 

After everyone loaded out I had a beer at the bar talking with Tiffany and Janna. They noticed the sloppy but they didn't seem to care about it too much. Janna books the place and she asked if we wanted to do it again. I'm up for that, but we got to do better. 

Wiley on recording

One of "the ladies" wrote a blog about the first recording session.

Check it out!

More ladies in the studio

BC and I went back to the studio last Saturday. She knocked out all of the keyboard parts and I'm pretty sure, I knocked out all of the guitar.

We got there around eight and BC set up in the control room. She'd never played keys on anything with me, just bass. So there was a fair amount of figuring things out in the early stages, but she quickly got past that and moved on to whipping some keyboard ass!!!

It was my turn so I set up the vibroluxe and got my rig ready. We started with doubling my earlier rhythm parts and then nailing each of the solos before we moved on to the next tune. Usually I would do all the rhythm then all the leads, but I guess I was kinda feeling it when I was playing the rhythm parts so we just went ahead and finished all the guitars on each song before moving on to the next one. 

I did a bunch of the guitar parts on the Tele (it's what I play most of the time with The Ladies) but I did a couple of them with my hollowbody Guild. Kurtis had a mic on the amp and a mic on the room so I stood by the room mic with the Guild, getting the sound out of the amp and right off the wood. It sounds extra thick and glorious.

I did a solo that was four bars of call and response on "First Time, Next Time". The odd numbered solos were slide on the hollowbody and the even ones were straight on the Tele. I nailed that fucker in one take for each part! That really feels good, like I know what I'm doing.

When I took a pass on the solo in "Wonderful" Kurtis really like what I did and he asked me to double it. I told him I had no idea what I'd just played, but I'd be willing to give it another shot. I did and failed miserably. I had no recollection of what I'd played just a minute before! We laughed for a couple then moved on...

This is why you work with someone like Kurtis, his only agenda is to get your music on tape. He doesn't have a specific way it "needs" to get done (although he is great with suggestions). If you say "I have and idea" he says "let's try it." That is the most important thing in a recording engineer. 

I'm headed back this Saturday to do the vocals. At that point we should have a nice little EP.