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.

1/29/16

It was a fast forty minutes of rock and roll for the Hickoids last night. We were at the Spider House Sonic Ballroom with a bunch of bands I'd never heard of... and Javier Escovedo. Strange night.

When I showed up about 80% of the crowd had the giant, under-age X on their hands. Another 15% were drinking and the remaining 5% had grey hair. Most of the grey hairs were unknown to me since they weren't the usual type of Hickoid fan, these folks were with their under aged kids at the rock show.

Speaking of that.. The seven or eight bands on before us were all unknown to me and since I am/feel like an old man I sat outside and watched the casualties. First was the dude bumming cigarettes with dried blood on his face. Then there was the girl who came out crying with fresh blood all over her face. Her three friends were basically flipping a coin to see who had to take care of her...

Then there was a fight where the kid who got stomped wouldn't throw a punch but kept yelling at the dude who was hitting him. He kept yelling that the other guy was a "pussy and he should try to start something, motherfucker!" Poor dumbass... I wonder if he is just unstable or if starting a fight and not fighting back is some kind of fetish. I'm guessing both. He was kicked out but kept prowling around the front for a while... I don't know why he didn't just ask his mom to take him home.

After we played some girl got rolled out to an ambulance on a gurney. She'd passed out in the bathroom and no one could wake her up...

Eventually most of the kids with the X's on their hands left and the regular grey haired people (most of which I actually knew!) showed up. Our set was pretty crappy. Personally I played like shit and couldn't get any traction going. It happens at times but I don't have to like it.

Javier had a great set. Mosh pit free and rocking. We have a second show with him tonight in SA. Looking forward to another one!

Bigfoot Chester in the Studio 1/17/16

Bigfoot Chester went to the studio the other day. Currently the line up is Me, Bill, Walter and a random drummer... Any drummer that's cool and can play a Blues groove. This time it was Matt Puryear. A couple of special guest showed up for a couple of the tunes. Gary from Black Eyed Vermilion and Scott Biram (from Scott Biram).

Ever since I started playing with them (20+ years ago) Bigfoot has been on the edge breaking out in to the international superstar market and those guys should be the secret weapon needed to send us over the top!!!! That or some people who actually love Blues music (and/or Scott and Gary) will pick up a couple of good singles. One of those two scenarios seems inevitable.

The session went well. We did it with Kurtis at Million Dollar. Five tunes in five or six hours, not bad. It was another relaxed session where we just knocked shit out. The two tunes with the "hit makers" took a longer than the others. There was a lot arranging and learning goin on even after we made a couple of passes at those tunes.

It would have been nice to practice with the drummer (this time Matt) for more than an hour the week before we went in... Gary made it for about twenty minutes of that rehearsal and Scott showed us how the tune was actually played once he got to the studio. Our shit isn't always the tightest and planning is not our strong suit.

I'm not complaining, all of us knocked it out of the park considering the amount of prep involved (and I'm sure mixing will cover most of the "glitches"). Someday I'd love to go in with a few rehearsals under our collective belts. That record could be amazing!!!

12/31/15

t was the grandest night of all. The big, fancy New Year's Eve. The night where all of your hopes and expectations fall flat and leave you thinking "this is it?..." And the Hickoids were playing... As you can probably tell, I don't like NYE. I'd rather stay at home and hide, but if I'm playing...

We were a part of a two stage party at the Spider House. This was the place where I first played a left handed bass. It was during a NYE house party back when the Spider House was just a house and someone had a left handed bass and someone else told me to play it. I was hooked! A couple weeks after I went to Southpaw in Houston and bought my very own. BASS!!!

The big headliner was Roky Erickson but he was going on a couple of hours after us, but I was at home and on the couch by the time he went on...

Hickoids went up on the outside stage. It looks like it was designed by a Fairy in an enchanted wonderland. It's nice, but a little weird looking for a place where Hickoids would play.  It was cold but we've played colder. There was a good crowd who was pumped for the big night and ready the rock and roll. We gave it to em.

We were on for about 45 minutes and hit them pretty hard for most of the set. Finished up and stood around the fire pit until I finished my beer, said some goodbyes and headed home for the night.

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.