4/29/16

I bummed another ride with Lance for this last one. It was only to San Antonio but since there was a backline we carpooled like responsible little Austinites.

The show was at San Antonio University. From what I heard it was the final for the RTF students. All I really know is we got paid before we played! Jacob was playing with Javier (who was up next) so he got up and Hickoided it for the set. Nice to have him back for the night. There was a fair amount of "reminding" going on, but he always catches up fast.

Our set was ok. At times we rocked it, but we are always a little behind reality when we play on a big stage and we need to rely on monitors. We are a club band. Someday we may get there...

Javier had a great set. There was a little bit of rain and a lot of lightning, but that added to the kick-assness! Rock and Roll in the rain is fucking great.

We were dry for the drive home and we made it back before midnight! I like easy/early gigs like this.

4/16/16

Basically it was a stripped down version of last weekend's show in Austin, with the Hickoids on last and at the Hole in the Wall. Big difference is I caught the majority of bands AND I didn't play like shit! Woo ME!

I did miss Jesus Christ Superfly, I hadn't seen those guys in a couple of years and i was looking forward to it, but didn't quite get out of the house in time. Lame. Me...

Beaumonts did the Beaumont thing. Funny how I don't even think about those dirty ass songs anymore. They are a part of my subconscious now, and apparently my subconscious is fine with songs about dog fucking. Everything is normal at the moment.

For a part of their set I was outside watching a dude do 7/8's of a card trick. It was one of those long drawn out story tricks (he did a decent job, but you could tell he didn't practice that often (I'm letting the magic geek slip out...) He got distracted near the end and it kinda fell apart. I'd never seen a card trick at the Hole before, wish it was a doozy...

PDB went next with the same shenanigans as last week, in a room a quarter of the size. It's actually more impressive in the back of the Hole. They are right on top of you, at Fitz it's more of a "show over there" Not at the Hole. Byron being right on top of you isn't necessarily the best thing, but it happens...

Our set was pretty great. We pulled out a bunch of tunes we rarely play and a couple we never play. Feels good when you can surprise yourself!  It had been at least a year since we even practiced "Gudbye To Jane", but we did it early in the set and we pulled it off Good work Hickoids! Now go practice for next week.

4/9/16

Hickoids played the PDB anniversary at Fitzgerald's again. It was basically the same concept as the last time they did it (before this blog existed!) but it was expanded to Zelda's downstairs. Extra big and dumb!!

I had just gotten off an extremely relaxing seven day cruse at 8AM that morning. We pulled in to the Houston port and drove like hell back to Austin. Five hours later I was in my truck driving to Lance's to make the round trip for the show. At least I wasn't driving, it's a lot easier to ride/nap.

We played upstairs between the Beaumonts and PDB (so preheadliners? ) and I played like shit. I was told I played fine, but I felt like I was using all of my brain to just barely hold on... And I was listing... Jesus, what a mind fuck that was. I'd turn a little and my whole body felt like it was flying in that same direction, felt like I could puke. The lights weren't helping either. They'd move and my stomach would follow, my brain wanted out! I never heard of seasickness after the cruise, but now I've felt it. Yea for me...

Anyway our set was thankfully short and PDB got up with the same set-up as last time. A "tour through the ages" as it were. We caught a decent portion of the set and slunk off in to the night. I was in bed around 6AM and I slept for twelve hours.

Worth it.

3/19/16

My second and final show for SXSW 2016 was at 5PM on Saturday the 19th at the '04 Lounge. It was the Hickoids and it wasn't the Hickoids... Cody had to leave town for a death in the family, rough...

It was already a mess of an afternoon by the time I got there. White Miles from Austria was setting up and about to whip some ass. I drank some off brand beer (it actually said "cold snack" on the side of the can...) and prepared myself for the evening.

White Miles was pretty on it. I'd been joking with Andy, tour manager extraordinaire before they played "another fucking band with drums and guitar... how original." My snotty ass shut up real quick once they started. Pretty awesome riff-rock with loads of animal drums underneath. How could I not love it!

Our set was pretty lackluster by comparison. We played fine without Cody, but we aren't our best when he's not around. The '04 is a lot of fun. You are right on the floor and folks are walking by when your playing it really gives you the opportunity to fuck with them! I love bumping my sweaty ass up against a total stranger in the middle of a set. Makes me feel like I have power. The power to fuck with the innocents!!! Well... there were nostly non-innocents there at that point.

Fishermen were next followed by Monkey Shines followed by others I missed because I'm lame and wanted to go home. So I did.

SXSW was easy this year, which means it may come back for vengeance next year.

3/16/16

Last night was the first official night of the SXSW music festival/conference. I mostly know that because of the hour it took to get to the White Horse from my place. Usually that's a ten to fifteen minute job. I'm only playing twice this year. I was almost a little upset that I was barely playing the "most influential" music conference in the world, then I pulled my head out of my ass and realized it was gonna be nice NOT going in to the thick of it every night this week.

Hickoids were on at midnight. We've done this festival Wednesday at the Horse for a few years now and as usual it was a lot of fun. Our old pals the Beaumonts and Cunto were on the bill and an"all star" tribute act to Blowfly. Sad that he's gone, but the tribute was even sadder...

We played for about forty minutes to a spirited crowd. There were about half the amount of people as there were for the Beaumonts, but they were twice as drunk. Easy targets for our brand of stupidity. We even did a little Blowfly "Rap Dirty" in the middle of "Truck". It was lame, honky funk, but at least it had some spirit.

I was gone before Cunto started. It took about forty five minutes to make it home... There was too much stupid on the road and closing time hadn't happened yet.

Fucking Austin. Fucking SXSW.

 still love this fucking town...

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.

1/30/16

San Antonio Saturday night!

It was a glorious drive, the traffic was very light and I made it to Hi Tones in no time. We were on first, It's been a while since that's happened. Harvey mac Laughlin and the Bottom Feeders were next, they had a single release and made up a really cool silk screened poster. I love that shit! Javier Escovedo finished the night up. I'd never see a song of the other bands, my lame ass needed to be up for a flight in the morning so I headed home right after our set.

This show was pretty much the opposite of the night before. We rocked hard with very little effort. It might be because we were in San Antonio or that there were no bleeding teenagers walking around screaming before the set. It doesn't really matter...

I exchanged a few words with Javier after our set, the dude is cool as shit. Very complementary about the Hickoids and about me as a bass player (aww shucks...) makes me feel good even though I was out the door twenty minutes after our last note. Wish I could have seen his set, if it was half as good as the night before it was something.