3/4/19

Redux of Saturday nights show at the Saturn Bar. Except this time it’s across town at Gasa Gasa and the Hickoids take the middle slot. 

Not much to say here. Last show of this mini tour and everything was almost the same. Except I played bass and we were on a stage instead of the floor.  

Oh yeah, and there were a shit ton more people there. That’s the big difference. Folks on the edge of exhaustion one day away from Fat Tuesday, ready to keep getting wild and blow it all the way out. We all did what we could to provide a safe and happy environment to let that happen.  

I always miss this town when I leave.  

3/3/19

We doubled it up in Hattiesburg last night. At the Thirsty Hippo we got there and loaded our stuff to this huge back room where they had a big pile of Mexican food waiting on us. Even had a plate of veg stuff just for me!! This is a joint that knows how to take care of people. 

Space Trash was the opener. Bunch of locals wearing Spacey/Trashy clothes and doing some pretty interesting things with their music.  Even got a little mathy at points. But not in a bad way, it was more of an “oh shit!”

This was the last swish show of the tour. And we had a nice little set. It was definitely the best one since we left Austin. It also sounded good.  The owner of the place is also the sound man. He had his room down!

But everyone there wanted the Hickoids. That’s why they were there and that’s why we were there. And we gave it to them good. You have too, how often do you get to play Hattiesburg? You know you got to rock it when you do!

3/2/19

Swishin at the Saturn Bar last night.  This is such a cool place.  The catwalk that goes around the top is so fucking cool. More clubs could use that kind of elevated seating.

We were middle-ish  DiNOLA was playing with Dave Catching, pretty rocking shit. The crowd was eating them up. Then Dave and Jimmy played a mini set with this gal on bass.  Also pretty solid. 

While they were on I spent some time out front drinking beer and talking with some folks. There was this horrible burning smell coming from somewhere close by.  Mattress fire. No joke. It burned for a while then some cops put it out. Then it started up again and the fire truck came and put it out a second time. Mattress fire. 

Our set was stronger than the night before. I’d left my hat somewhere so I’m just wearing those ridiculous clothes without the topper.  My ensemble was ruined.  

Speaking of ensembles it’s Carnival time here and the variety of over the top clothing was amazing. All night folks walking by in some pretty freaked out styles looking for fun. Yeah!

The Gools were last. All pretty young folks doin that good and loud rock music. I heard that they will play any show at any time. Like “wanna play a house party in New York?” They go!!  Anyway good end to the night. 

3/1/19

Double billin last night in Lafayette. The Swish and the Hick mostly ready to bring it. 

We were at the Freetown Boom Boom Room. And we barely got there before the first band started.  

The traffic was awful along the I-10 corridor. Felt like battle most of the way.  I punched through Houston and Lance took a bad shift in a traffic jam near the TX/LA border. That shit took forever.  

Cool little joint with a nice crowd. Not massive but active!  And they let you bring your drinks outside to the street!!!  Of course there is a police camera on the pole across the street. They let you be free but they want a record if anything goes bad. And they charge bands full price for beer....

We Are The Asteroid  were on second. I thought we had a couple of shows with them this trip but last night was it. Don’t know what I was thinking. They fucking whipped it. No shocker. 

The swish set was ok. I’d been busy climbing a pile of personal bullshit for the last couple of weeks (last year and a half really, but it ratcheted up in a big way these last couple of weeks) so I was way out of practice.  Fortunately I had a little whiskey and beer and it give me the courage to play loud and dumb in my short shorts.  

Hicks were next Cody couldn’t make the first couple of days of this so Tom Rowsey filled in.  He’s been fired twice from the band already so he kinda knows the set.  

Swishin in New Orleans tomorrow! 

2/24/19

Sunday night!....  a little hard to drum up the excitement. We were ready to play but you could tell before we headed out it was gonna be a slow night at The Mohawk. 

We were last of three The Beautiful Delilah’s were on first. Followed by another band of Walters, Polarizado. It was their CD release.  

As I loaded in the first bit of my stuff in to the club, Two dudes were with the door guy, $10 cover. For three bands with barely any pull.... One of the guys said “That’s ok, we don’t even know who those bands are.”  

Right on the nose. 

Anyway the show was fun. All three of the sets were solid, but my guess is there were five people who paid, so it wasn’t exactly the kinda night where the crowd pushed the bands over the top. Oh well. 

1/4/19

We had a swishifyin time at the Empire Control room last Friday night.  It was free week so no one paid to get in...  but it worked!  Loads of people there for every band. I even think we got paid?! Should that be every week? 

We went up in the middle of five, inside.  Thank god it wasn’t outside. My shorts are shorter than ever and I’d be freezing my ass off. The set was pretty hot. We’d never played for that many people before and we were all pretty amped to rock them. We did. Smiling faces looking up at us the whole set. We were loving it. 

Beautiful night. 

1/2/19

It was cold and damp as hell Wednesday night. A day and a half of nonstop rain and it was in the 30s all day, I knew the Sahara would be dead. I didn’t know that all they have for heat is a few space heaters and window units set to heat instead of cool. They don’t really help much when it’s summer and they blow “cold” but I can deal with sweating... I moved to Texas for a reason.  That damp cold made it fucking miserable in there. 

Danny did his usual killing it. He was playing through an amp that was a pedal (?!) and a speaker cabinet. Pretty cool setup. Technology touches everything nowadays. 

I wore a jacket for most of our set. We played everything too fast and we were sloppy as hell. I think we wanted to get it over and get home and warm. Which we eventually did. 

Looking forward to next month when I hope there is a heatwave. Lord.