9/16/11

Corn Lovers Fiesta day 2, Hole in the Wall. One hell of a good night, music on both stages and a decent crowd to watch it all. This was the big out of town band night with Glambily, Billy Joe Winghead, Poor Dumb Bastards and many others. Byron from PDB did his usual duct tape thing, black tape gloves, tape X's on his nips, a taped on goatee, and a black tape wig with a corn cob mohawk. So pretty. At one point all the cobs were off but the one up front making him a uni-corn (sorry). He even stuffed his pants with a cob. Then he took it out of the front and stuck it in the back than threw it in the crowd. God bless America.

Breakdown

The Hole actually did right this time, the band tab was open and free. It was almost as if we were appreciated!
Used the SVT again, it looks like I may not get to use my new head this weekend which is kind of a bummer, but I got next week for that...
Day three tomorrow!

9/15/11

"ACL" day one. It was a wonderful night for corn lovers of all ages, and the ones who were legal drinking age got in to the club. Lovejoys, one of the few decent place to play/drink in Austin's douche bag mecca known as 6th street. Things always get a little boozy/sweaty around there... Hickoids were in the middle slot and Churchwood closed things out. The 'oids played as a seven piece for the first time ever (as in we never even had a practice with all of us). Four guitars, kinda insane especially on such a little stage. I had fun, it was like steering a barge around a shit swamp, fun! The rest of the schedule is here http://www.saustexmedia.com/AUSTIN-CORN-LOVERS-FIESTA-2011.html .

Breakdown

Lovejoys is great. The bands get a $50 beer tab each and the beer they make is $2 a pint. Classy. Thanks to the new parking laws it was $1.86 to park in a metered spot from when I pulled up to the expiration time (11 PM). It's a racket.

I played through a full Ampeg SVT, one of the 4 x 10" with a 15" cabs. It sounded pretty good, better after I learned how to defeat the limiter. It was loud but kinda crappy. I think a similar thing could be said about the Hickoids...

9/14/11

Two practices in the same room (15 at music lab Oltorf one of the worst practice rooms for bass acoustics with loads of standing waves and slap back). The first one my bass sounds lumpy and mushy. The second it has punch and clarity. It is much louder and lower. What a difference a good head can make.

TC Electronic, you do some amazing things with an 8.8 pound amp head. No joke. It weighs four times less than the Ashdown I was using and it KILLS it in every way. The first thing I noticed was the control. Loads of punchy clean power and when I gave the bass knob a twist it gets thicker and adds some meat. The tube tone fuzzes up nicely and adds some slick sustain to everything. At one point in the middle of a song I thought it was lacking some grunt so I drove the gain a little harder and suddenly it slammed way harder than ever before.

The only problem now is I'm borrowing this head and now I'm gonna want to buy it (and some cabs to go with it...) I'm gonna have no money...

Hickoids ACL fest is this weekend, so you can look forward to lots of tales of stupidity for the next few days.

9/1/11

My bass amp history.

I know, real exciting stuff.

When I bought my first bass from Southpaw I picked up a cheezy Peavy combo amp to play it through. It was so crappy, but it was that "Peavy" crappy. You know, sounds kinda ok, but you can throw it down a flight of stairs and pour a six pack on it and it will work fine. I never even used it in public.

Soon after I picked up a GK 400. They were all the rage back then and for $350 it worked ok. I played it through a Dietz 15" I'd picked up for Ray Henning for $125. That combo worked well for a few years. I used it in all kind of clubs and for many nights until my neighbor lent me an SWR red head. The GK lived in a closet for the next year and a half and I used that SWR until it died. It was well used when I got it and I beat it in to the ground. So for four or five months I went back to the GK, I was not happy...

I picked up an Ampeg B-2 and at first I pared it with the Dietz, then I picked up an Aguilar 15" cab and I was swinging. That was one punchy combo. Eventually I found a deal on the Ashdown I've been using for the past couple of years. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but I really liked the combo of the Aguilar/Ashdown. Not only did I do the usual gigs all over Texas, but The Hickoids took it out west and it rocked all up and down the left coast.

Then I popped the driver in Houston (opening for Dash Rip Rock) Aguilar wanted $250 for the cheezy stamped metal replacement. I ordered a "generic" 15" driver and replaced it, then sold it with the Ampeg head.

I found a good deal (Bass Emporium) on an Ashdown 4 x 10" cab figuring it would be a perfect match. I have never been happy with the all Ashdown set up. It has never punched like a 15" cab and it has very little attack and mushy tone. None of that is good.

The cab is poorly built in many ways. It's front heavy and the handles don't counter balance that at all. The input plate sticks out too far and you could easily shear off the connectors in a van. The inset boxes behind the handles came off on the Hickoids last tour. When I  emailed Ashdown they confirmed they were held on with silicon caulk. No screws, just silicon. I had someone build a little frame around them and we silicon caulked/screwed them back on. I think it might stay this time...

I've used a TC Electronic 450 head with the Ashdown 4 x 10" in the past and I remember that sounding really nice. I'm borrowing one for the Hickoids ACL, I'll update after.

8/20/11

Last night it was the Casters in San Antonio at Boneshakers. It was Glambilly's CD release and to celebrate the occasion they had a fire eater. A tiny tiny woman doing the "regular" fire tricks. I know I sound like a complete idiot when I say "that fire sure was hot" but when she was playing with the fire, by the stage and we were playing, it was really hot...

The Lollygagger's we out and in full force, supplying the mammarian force field whenever it was needed. It's good to be back to normal.

Breakdown

Boneshakers is a pretty cool club (add it to the list of cool SA clubs). It's a cinder block building that has a taco stand, a broken atm and a bike shop upstairs. They serve beer and as a special treat, last night they had water. We were told we got  three Lonestars per band member, and none for the dancers. As it turns out they were really cool and the taps were flowing freely.

I used Hans' rig. It's an SWR combo and usually I think they suck, but last night it was working pretty well. It's a single 15 so I actually had some punch. Nice!

8/19/11

This may be a little off topic...

When the Hickoids were out west I got a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. The "CHiP's" officer noticed us (Tom and I) sleeping on the bench seats and assumed (correctly) we weren't wearing seat belts. She pops open the side doors of the van and starts searching an open box right by the door. It was the typical "Cop trap" EVERY band should use.

You have a semi closed box near the door and you fill it with various piddly things (this one had cds, stickers, stamps and a half eaten bag of almonds). Generally a cop looks in the box and if the don't see weed, coke, or paraphernalia they are cool and let you go on your merry way.

Not this cop, she gave us tickets.

I'm not one for conspiracy theory kind of crap, but I believe the seat belt law in California is not about saving lives (I'm sure it does) but is more about making the state some money.

My ticket was $155.

This was my first offense. There is zero kindness in the California Highway Patrol.

It's a pretty sad, I didn't even know where we were. When I fell asleep we were leaving Vegas. I wake up and get fined $155...pitiful.

I was speaking with Curt from the Meat Puppets and it turns out two of them got hit with the no seat belt fine on the same stretch of the 5 the week before it happened to us. Different cop, same result.

The moral of the story is they profile white vans, especially if you have Texas plates. So keep a "cop trap" right by the door an wear your stupid seat belt.

8/9/11

This was a last minute gig. Smitty texted me on Sunday for a Tuesday, quick.

Get the Hickoids for a night was some kind of a prize for some kind of radio show for some kind of legal fees for someone I don't know. Just how you want a blog post, loads of detail...

On Tuesdays, Headhunters has Ta Ta Tuesdays. A bunch of strippers show up and dance to the bands. It's a hell of a gimmick and it works, they had a lot of folks packed in to that tiny room. At one point I was outside and some girls walked by and said "Eww, strippers!". The door girl said "No, they are burlesque dancers!" and then she gave me a conspiratorial look and said "they're really strippers". Funny chick.

Breakdown

$2 double vodka tonics, not bad, but not free. I'm guessing some of it was a tax for the privilege of having a tiny-bikini clad, giant breasted, "suicide girl" esque bartender serving them. I'm not angry.

I used my rig and it sounded pretty good, but the room is so small it doesn't work all that hard.

Hickoids have a lot of trouble on a stage that small. Lots of  bump in to that, hit this, "watch it, that's my head!" kind of moments. And they are all balanced out with the stinkiest microphone on the planet being shoved in your face. It's one cramped, sweaty, stinky, noisy mess. Just like it should be.

The sax player in the band after us was barefoot on stage. oy...