4/21/13

Fishermen Fish Fry. It's as glorious as the Corn Lovers Fiesta. Sunday, all day at the "new" Scoot Inn. It looks like the old Scoot, but they don't turn the AC on... It was one hot bitch inside that place.

There were plenty of cool bands on the bill, I showed up later than usual and was rewarded with the Fishermen going on. Whipped it. Purple Stickpin, next. Whipped it. Then everything went inside (noise ordinance). Churchwood, Whipped IT. And we finished things off with a fair amount of ass whipping as well.

Decent crowd for a Sunday night. There was a whole lot of that "I'm drunk and it's late, so let's get it on" vibe going on. Not so much a lovefest, more of a fuckfest. A great kind of crowd to play to.

Breakdown

One lame little beer ticket... Oy.

Three Show Wrap-up

I'm late by three shows... Lame Lame Lame...

How can I improve this? By stepping up the lame a little more with a THREE SHOW POST!!

#1

Hickoids in Dallas. We were up to play a scooter/motorcycle fest at Lee Harvey's. We hadn't been back from Europe for a week and we made the drive. Well, I made the drive back and flew up (!) rock star style. Money to burn....

Good, happy crowd. They liked us a bunch and we were still pretty tight (but tired) from the tour.

Near the end of our set most of the bikes started peeling out and the smell of burnt rubber was making me think an amp was on fire. Then ALL of the bikes started up and it smelled like Midland. It was real hard to breathe, but we made it to the end.

We hit the Czech Stop on the way home!

#2

David Nobody benefit at the Longbranch. David fucked up his hand in a nasty way right before SXSW this year. Like most Austin musicians (like me) he had no insurance. So we benefit.

We were right before Churchwood (awesome as always) and after a stripped down Shootin pains (dandy work, fellas). I love the shit out of the sound of an acoustic through a tube amp.

We kicked ass. Still high off the tour it would have been hard for us to mess up.

#3

Two days later at the Mix. Stevie Tombstone was out for a few dates and the night was him solo and us. He did about 45 minutes and we did an hour and a half. It was a long slow build and by the end we were in full on rage mode.

They close the smoking deck at last call so the last fifteen minutes the place was packed and we were on fire. Lots of good, happy, drunk folks with nowhere else to go. Hickiod putty!

3/31/13

Day 10 London


I know it's way late, but here it is, the last show.

It was at the Islington which is a club named after a neighborhood in London (where it is also located). When I told my UK family about it they would say 
"Oh great! Where is it"
"The Islington"
"But what is the name of the club"
And so on...

Country Dirt started things off with a fairly straight forward country set. Straight forward if you weren't paying any attention to the lyrics. Then it's a whole different story! Marianna had some carnival barker level sills. A tremendous ability to sling the bullshit. I didn't hear it at first, but damn!


Bob Collum had a nice, tight set and the Hicks were on. It was a little rough for us (must have been missing those Grannies) but we got through and and the crowd was in to it. They went crazy when we whipped our Gudbye t' Jane on them. Those islanders love their Slade!


That was it. I repacked my bags for the flight home, shook a bunch of hands, gave out some Cds and hugs and the Hickoids headed off towards home. 

Things were about to get rough for us, but that is another post.

3/30/13

Day 9 Bath

As a part of this tour we were added to the BOB festival with our pals the Grannies. BOB because it's bands from Bingen, Oakland and Bath, I'm not sure how central Texas fits in, but we were happy to play.

It was mostly heavy punk bands so by the time we went on and hit them with our act the folks were starving for something different and we delivered in a big way. Hickoids made a lot of new friends. I even had a woman tell me I was like Nicholas Cage if he was designed by Hal Heartly. I'm not sure what it means but she meant it as a complement...

Grannies were supposed to be right after us but they got bumped to the next slot and they had a hellacious set. Dean was wearing an old ladies suit with big, saggy boobs, a giant bush and a huge clit. Lovely. On the last song Sluggo jumped off the stage and smashed the shit out of his "new" epiphone. It was an incredible end to the end of the 300 years of punk rock tour. Two guitars down.

And then the sound guy started bitching. "Any band who breaks anything will be kicked out immediately". Umm... he broke his guitar not anyone else's. so there was about an hour of stupid drama, Dean and Sluggo apologized just to get that idiot to shit up, but he wouldn't. The security guys were called in an they started horse laughing at the sound guy. EVERYONE was saying the same thing, it's a punk rock show and he broke HI'S guitar. That's it, nothing else. What a lame little bitch.

After most of the drama was over we packed up the euro freak and headed out. We gave our Grannie pals some hugs and said goodby. We will have fun at our last show, but we are gonna miss them.

London tomorrow!

3/29/12

Day 8 Kortjrik

At the Pits. I played here a few years ago with South Filthy and it is still a tiny and cool club. SF had six people and the Hickoids (and Grannies) are five. There would have been more room on the stage, but our amps are way bigger (and too loud for the space).

There is a band area and kitchen upstairs with 14 steep and tiny steps. I slipped on the top one and went all the way down. No serious damage, but my lower back is a little messed up and my elbows took a hit. I'm sore as shit, but ill live.

Breakdown

Euro travel tip of the day. Go down the tiny/steep stairs slowly and use the handrail. And bring painkillers, you may need them.

Bath tomorrow.

3/28/13

Day 7 Bingen

Tonight went a little smoother than the one before, no broken anything (other than some beer bottles). The club is a youth center/semi-squat. It was loaded with kick ass graffiti and the members (not employees) were kind and helpful.

Apparently there is some kind of veg/vegan movement with this of community, another boon for me! Chili and salad for dinner (plus beer) and a pretty incredible paprika cashew paste with cheese and avocado on hot rolls for breakfast.

The club loaded up fast. The openers were PJ Franco and the Burnouts, a bass and drum duo from Alaska. Hell of a good set. They are bouncing around Europe and staying out of the Alaskan cold. They told me this when it was snowing outside. At least it was warm enough for snow...

We played second and the Grannies closed things up with an amazing set. It was the perfect crowd for them. Dean can whip an audience like that in to a frenzy with ease. Those folks didn't have a choice. He had control of the room from the beginning and he kept turning the heat up. Amazing.

Kortjrik tomorrow!

3/27/13

Day 6 Hamburg

Well there is really only one thing to say about this night. The club (Goldener Salon) was cool, they fed us well, put us up in a decent little flat next door and gave us beer(!).

Grannies opened and four or five songs in Sluggo smashed his 70's SG. He was twirling it around in his typical fashion and he missed. It hit the ground and the headstock broke. I saw the nut fly off an I was thinking "that can't be his nut". I was wrong, it was.

At this point there are only two ways to go, freak out or go big. Sluggo went big. Two good whacks and the body popped off the neck and there it was, busted. Pop pop. He even knocked out a chunk of the floor.

Sluggo ain't fucking around. Pure rock and roll.