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.

3/20/15

Friday of SXSW I only have two shows today!

#1 AGBG with the Gay Sportscasters.

I drove down to South Austin on an extended lunch hour from the day job to fill in for this show. Tom (who took over for me a couple of years ago) couldn't make it so I was back in for one. The stage was packed with three dancers, three guitars, a singer, bass and drums. It's a decent sized space, but not with that many people on it.

I was switching between both sides of the stage. When I was singing I was on the opposite side of the bass rig. That's always a little weird, but you get used to it. There were a bunch of kids at the show and they all got eyes and ears full! The 'casters would have been my dream band when I was a kid. All of that jiggling flesh and dirty talk, I would have been in heaven!

We finished up and as I was changing back in to work clothes the rain really picked up. I was soaked by the time I got back in the car. At least the post show shower was taken care of...

#2 Triple Crown with the Hickoids.

After seeing the Residents and 숨[suːm] at the Paramount (!!!!) I made the drive to San Marcos. It was a shitty, drizzly night and it kept getting colder. I made it to the club right when Pony was finishing up. We loaded up and rocked a thin but excited crowd. The Triple Crown is a locals bar and it hard to get the central Texas locals out during SXSW even in San Marcos, but we still had some good, drunken fun during the night.

The most memorable moment was after closing one of the other bands on the bill had a truck with a dead battery (if you keep three iphones plugged in and the overhead light on for hours on end without turning on the car it will drain the battery...) So Smitty pulled up the freak van and got them jumped, but then he locked the keys in the freak!!! Chalk that one up to exhaustion. Tom and I broke in and eventually everyone got to go home home, but now without feeling a little bit stupid first...

3/18/15

The Hickoids had our first show of SXSW last night. We were at the White Horse and there were a bunch of label mates and friends on the bill. Lovefest all the way.

I got there late when the Hares were finishing up. Great fucking set (well, what I caught...) Horns rule. Not much else to say because, Horns Rule!

The Protest were up next. They have a new guitar player who moved all the way from LA to join them. The ever expanding awesomeness that is Pinata Protest is a pretty amazing thing to behold. When I first started in the Hickoids they were just another little punk band from SA. Now they have employees! Well deserved and really cool.

We went on at midnight a bunch of the Protest's crowd stuck around for us and we gave them some of the good stuff. It was a sloppy set filled with our special brand of stupidity and some girl in the front flashed us! That's almost as good as getting paid. Almost.

Beaumonts were last. They finished out the night on a beer soaked stage littered with cans and telecasters. I heard two songs I think I've never heard before! New songs make me so happy!

Rumor has it there were a couple of uber famous people in attendance, one of which was planning an Electric Kool-Aid Acid type of evening. I didn't get invited... Hell they didn't even offer me a beer or ask me to play bass with them! Guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing.

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...

3/13/15

Hickoids were out at Riley's last night. We opened for the Beaumonts to a small and somewhat enthusiastic crowd. I got there after a quick 45 minute drive. Traffic was only messy through the downtown Austin area. Friday night, the first day of spring break and the weekend before the music portion of SXSW. It's the calm before the storm.

Our set was ok. We haven't practiced or played for a couple of weeks and it showed. Riley's isn't a rock club, so we can't play as loud as we usually do. It's weird playing at half throttle.

We finished up and the Beaumonts went on. A fair amount of people showed up for them. I caught the first two numbers an took off for home. That was a mistake...

Fifteen minutes in to the drive 35 was a three lane parking lot that eventually tapered off to one row of cars on the shoulder. It took an hour to go a half mile and two hours to get home. Could have been worse. The truck that had us blocked was crumpled in half and facing the wrong direction. I didn't enjoy the extra time on the drive, but it was better than that.

2/28/15

Once again it was the Hickoids last on a bill of three for a Saturday night at the Hole in the Wall. I got there late. It was cold and wet as hell and the crowd looked like it, it was dead as hell. 

I got lazy and only brought a bass head but it turns out the Hole's bass cab is a broken down piece of shit. When I turned up the low end or hit the string a little hard "flap, flap, flap" was the only sound the big bass driver made... It sounded ok if I was turned down low, but there was an incredible lacking of bottom end balls. I won't rely on the house rig in the future.

Our set was ok, by the time we went on the crowd had fattened up nicely and the were moving around a lot so maybe it just looked like more people were there (also barely anyone was outside smoking because of the shitty weather, another boost to the crowd).

We finished up a little early, got paid and loaded out in the cold cold rain. 

2/20/15

The Hickoids headed to Houston again. This time we went in three different cars instead of traveling the smart/green way... Tom picked me up after work and we made great time getting to Rudyards. Right about when we finished loading up the stairs (a long, single flight of horrible stairs) and parking the van the other guys showed up so we loaded them in as well. Up those stupid stairs...

We were getting paid to play a dog benefit. None of us have any problem with that, but we are all cat people. Pretty soon we are gonna have to do a benefit for some of those lonely neglected pussy's out there.

Anyway, we were middle slot on a line up of three. The crowd was solid and we rocked them for a good forty five minutes. There were no crazy moments, no one got naked or punched out. It was just a really good night of rock and roll. Followed by another three hour drive home...