12/19/15

Last post of the year and I might as well keep with the theme of 2015, this one is late... Life has gotten in the way in more ways than one...

I was asked to re-join the Gay Sportscasters for a "super" version of the band for a party at the Hole in the Wall celebrating Debbie's birthday. Since she booked me (literally) hundreds of times when she worked there I was happy to rejoin the biggest, messiest band I've ever been a part of.

I played bass and there were drums, keys, four guitars, a singer, two dancers and no room on the stage. The stage was packed with gear and bodies. I barely made it up to a mic to help on some backing vocals. It was a hell of a lot of fun being in the middle of the maelstrom and getting to push it around with my bass.

The room was loaded with folks reeling from the orgy-like sensation of this lovefest. Both stages were going and there was basically a minute in between bands. Pocket Fishermen, Wannabees, Peenbeets, Superego and many (many) others were on the bill. All of them were big bands that people wanted to see. I showed up when the Wannabees were about halfway finished, fought my way through the crowd and stashed my gear. I thought I'd check out the rest of their set, but I never actually got to see ANY of the other bands while they were playing, it was way too crowed for the casual fan. I even had a little trouble getting to the stage when we were going on!

Let's do it again!

10/30/15

Played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night. Actually Lance and I played a couple of sets at the Lost Well last night and the Ladies weren't even on the bill!

Lance subbed for Trey in Bigfoot Chester. We rehearsed twice (once right before the show) and had a great little set. Not surprising Lance knows what he is doing and the majority of Bigfoot tunes are simple. The only "tricky" parts are the dynamics and those are easy to figure out if your paying attention (The trick is to watch Walter, or be in the band for eighteen years, either way it's not that hard.)

Hickoids were next and it was the pretty standard ass-whipping set. The crowd was happy, drunk, sloppy and a few of them made it up on stage. 

It only takes one and there were several of the usual stage crowding suspects in attendance so it was inevitable. It started when this one girl hopped up in the second or third song and within a couple of tunes she was licking Smitty's chest. Then one of two dudes started putting a foot up, like he was testing the water. A couple of tunes later he was standing on the edge of the stage and he was looking at my microphone like he needed it. Meanwhile, several times during the set the second dude would hop up in front of my mic and start yelling at it from the other side. 

By the end of the night all three of them were on the stage with us and the two dudes were fighting over who go to use my microphone. I was gonna sing my part, but they needed it more than me.

10/12/15

Dave, the dude who owned Trophies died a few months back and someone decided it was time to have a memorial for him. It was at C-Boy's which was Trophies but they really cleaned the place up. It's the small things, like not having to stand in someone else's piss when your using the bathroom, that makes the new place feel better...

The tribute had a few bands on the bill and almost no one (other than the bands and employees) in the club. Hickoids were asked to do a little set and we figured we'd do "Stop It" for the whole fifteen minute set (we've talked abut doing the one song set for a while, but it's never happened, thank the lord I don't believe in!!) We get up after Chad Holt told another racially "rough" story about the departed. We did our fifteen minute tune and started packing up, but the two or three actual crowd members wanted more so we did a couple more.

After I started hearing about how the apartment complex next door is now the "grandfathered" business so when they complain about noise from C-Boy's the are actually listened to. Huge change. At points during SXSW there would be three bands at Trophies. Two of them outside! Big loud Marshall and SVT amped bands with distortion pedals and Les Paul's. And the complex couldn't say shit.

So now you can move in to one of the big entertainment districts of Austin and legally complain about the noise... Can I start complaining about the train that passes my house? If you live under the flight path of the Austin airport and you complain enough about the jet noise will ABIA get shut down? The answer to both of these questions is obviously no. But (apparently) it's ok to bitch about the noise of a nightclub you moved next to... That's some screwed up shit.

Ten years ago there were hookers walking on the sidewalk out front and a porno theater a block away. Sometimes I wish that crap would come back. At least then the rents would go back down.

10/9/15

There were four bands on the bill for the second Friday of the Corn Lovers Fiesta, the show was at ABGB and we were on third. I got there as the Surlys were going on They had a tight little set and the crowd was way in to it. I missed the first band... work is lame... time moves on.

Hickoids were next and our set was a dandy. We played mostly the "classic" Hickoid hits from way back before anyone other than Smitty was in the group and crowd was eating it up! Lot's of fast cow punk for people who were screaming for it. It's a symbiotic thing. I don't think I've ever seen that many people at ABGB before. And I know I've never see that many people at the front of the stage while a band I was playing in was there. Really impressive turnout.

Pong finished things up. Such a good band. They are still rocking the (mostly) one cord jam/modal tuns they've been know for. There were lots of smiling, ass shaking people enjoying a fucking great set! Pong!

10/3/15

It was day two of the Corn Lovers Fiesta and the evenings festivities were at the White Horse. The place was jammed with people most of the night. At some points there was a line from the door to the street, about fifty people deep. ACL really brings them in. Everyone loves that corn.

There were five bands on the bill and a whole lot of ass kicking top to bottom. I'm not even gonna get in to specifics here, I was too busy having fun to pay too much attention to anything other than the set I had to play. And getting drunk, stoned and having as much of the aforementioned fun as was possible.

We went on at midnight and it was PACKED! Packed like it usually is for the Beaumonts, but this time they were looking at Hickoids. Our set was short and punchy. I had to ask for a little extra vocal when we did Driftwood. The little bit of monitor I had for the first few songs was fine, but when I really got to "sing" I need a little clarity. Picky son of a bitch...

When the Beaumonts went up the crowd thinned a little and the line at the front was down to nothing. Lance and I snuck out when those boys from Lubbock had around fifteen minutes left. We were attempting to beat the 2AM bar closing time cluster fuck that had been leaning down on us with an ever increasing pressure. Fail. It took twenty minutes of dodging drunken morons to get five miles down I-35. Yuck.

9/26/15

Then it was Saturday and we were still in New Orleans. Well most of us were, Cody had to jet off to play a show somewhere in Central Texas, but the rest of us were there and so was Rowsey. And the folks over at Siberia casually  mentioned that their happy hour band canceled on them. I just happened to have my Les Paul and Tom had his Bass. By some miracle of chance (i.e. planning) all of us had our Swishbuckling gear, so we strapped it on for one more round of pirate rock.

The crowd was thin, but since we finalized the the show a couple of hours before it happened you can't expect a huge turnout. It's a little bittersweet, we probably played the best show of the year (for the 'bucklers) to ten people. You could tell that we all knew the songs better and the confidence level was high. Smooth sailing would be an appropriate metaphor here, or a half assed pun...

I played through Cody's rig, a giant Marshal head on a 4X10 Orange cabinet. I went through the second input and kept the volume on one and a half. When it went to two it was way too much. His rig has no tremolo (I've come to rely on it) so I had to screw around with my delay pedal to try to mimic the sound the best I could. I eventually got something decent but I couldn't help thinking I sounded a little like The Edge...

After the set we packed up the Freak Van started the drive back home. We really got on the road around 11PM after a dinner at America's shittiest diner and we made it to my place around 7AM. Not a bad little drive.

9/25/15

We started the drive to New Orleans around 7 PM. My house was the last pickup spot and we got on the road right after Tom and I loaded our crap in to the freak van. Around 5 AM I hopped in to my hotel bed right after the first beer of the (previous) day. I was exhausted. We stopped five times on the way (including a casino break) that kinda kills the possibility of making good time. Oh well, we weren't going on until midnight so there was no great rush to get up early.

The show was at dba on Frenchman Street. I played there with an old version of "the Ladies" back before Katrina dumped her load and things have changed dramatically since then. Frenchman Street was packed and it's a tiny, one lane, one way street so there is very little room to move around. All of the tourist (myself included) were bouncing between the clubs and the brass band out on the street, it was elbow to elbow. Since the economy is up and party people flock to New Orleans it's no surprise that the former "locals" music road is now the tourists "secret" music place. There was money was flowing everywhere. The pickpockets were even donating 10% of their take to charity. Pretty decent of them.

dba has changed as well, but for the better. Now there is a decent sized stage framed out into the room and an extensive backstage with a private smoking patio. Very cool. When I played there the stage was basically a plank of wood that stuck out by the wall. This was a huge improvement. And the hospitality... They are batting a 1000 there. Loads of free beer, booze and mixers. They know how to treat a band at dba.

Alien Knife Fight was first, similar set as the last time I saw them, they rocked it. DiNOLA played the middle slot (and were the folks that got us to come to town). They had a seriously great set! Apparently we played with them at ACL at some point, but I don't remember it at all. Maybe I saw them, maybe I didn't... I saw them on this night. I won't forget that set for a long, long time.

We got up and played the longest Hickoid set in recorded history. I was told we were on for somewhere between two and a half and three hours. I have no idea if that's true, but we didn't end up leaving the club till 4AM. I was so drunk and happy (and loaded with cash after being PAID(!) for playing ) that I rushed over to the casino to gamble with Smitty and Cody until around 8 AM when I stumbled back to the hotel flush with my winnings!

What a great night.