3/18/17

Double show Saturday!


First up was the Hickoids at '04. The crowd was sparse when I pulled up, but that meant a parking space up front!! I was told there was a house bass rig so I didn't have to bring much for the early set.



Western Star was about to go on. New bass player and a kick ass set! These dudes can really bring it. In every way except one... the bass rig was a tiny combo amp. I could have brought mine (and they could have used it to rule further.) I'd loaded then unloaded it at home already. Oh well.


Our set was pretty great. The crowd started packing in near the end of Western Star's set and by the time we went on there were a good bunch of folks looking at us. Our set was a wild one. It always works that way, the smaller/more dive a place is the more we turn up the stupid. At some point Smitty, Tom and I were in some kind of Human Centipede configuration with our instruments going off in all directions. I'm not sure what happened or how we got there but I'm looking forward to the next show!



Right before we did our last song The Lar Lar walked up to me and said "Chuck Berry just died." It knocked the fucking wind out of me. Did I mention it was my birthday?... Fuck me... I was down down.


We played Donkey Lady and went on to ABGB for The Swishbucklers.



I pulled up and they were blasting the Chuck. It set my funk bar a little lower. News like that before a show (or during) will set me off...


But then I had a little coffee and started talking with the openers and the rest of the 'bucklers and I felt better. We were joking about playing "My Ding-a-ling" as a tribute. Kind of a perfect tune for a gay pirate band to cover.


We went on after The Ian Quiet Band from Shreveport LA. Holy crap! What a bunch of kick ass weirdos!! Two bass players!!! Drums and Ian on vocals/theremin. Some crazy good, angular punk rock with some surprisingly funky moments added in for flavor. Ian licked the floor at some point. Fuck yeah! They really brought me out of my funk.


We went up and had fun. Our set was short but pretty rocking.



After I hung around for the regular greatness of Pocket Fishermen and Pong. Then The Zeros who put on a seriously rocking show.

Not a bad end to the week.

3/17/17

Bigfoot at the Shangri La last night.

I parked ten blocks away and hoofed it. The walk wasn't bad but looking for a space sucked. I got tired driving around looking so I jumped on the FIRST place I found. Ten blocks away.

The show was put on by these folks from Kansas City called Midcoast Takeover. I don't know why they were in town or putting this on but they were kind and competent as hell so I didn't ask any questions. There were two stages going and they had them running like clockwork. Songwriters inside and the loud bands outside. We were outside on the big stage with the LED screen.

When I walked in there was a Hip Hop band from St. Louis called iLLPHONiCS up there killing it. Really high energy stuff and the lead dude was on his shit. I love Hip Hop with a band, it makes good rapper better and it makes a great one amazing and that's what they were, amazing. And we were following...

I got up when they finished and plugged in to the house bass rig, a full TUBE SVT!! The only way to fly... when you don't have to move it. I was loud, gritty, punchy and clear all at the same time. 350 tube watts and 8 X 10" speakers will do that. It will also crush you at the bottom of a stairwell if you move wrong.

Our set was a quick 30 minutes of Bigfoot goodness. We snuck in an Evan Johns tune as a tribute (sadly no time to work one up for James Cotton, every harp player felt that one.) Walter had a pretty sweet harp battle with the guy from Daddy Long Legs to cap things off.

Afterwards I hoofed it back to the truck and went the hell home!


My final SXSW shows are,
Hickoids @ '04 Lounge 5PM
Swishbucklers @ AGBG 8PM

3/14/17

First day of SXSW and the Hickoids were at the White Horse with a bunch of really good bands. Of course I didn't see them all...



I got there around 10 when Jon Langford went on. What a great set, no crap, just sweet sweet music. They did a bunch of Mekons stuff but it wasn't too punky it had more of a Waco Brothers feel. Really nice. Of course knowing half of the band makes a show infinitely more exciting.


We went on at Midnight and we showed that crowd why we are Austin Music Hall Of Fame winners!!!! Of course we won that a few years ago... don't know if it still counts... and we had an amp crap out on us in the middle of the set so there was a big pause in the action.... It was a Hickoids show. When we were playing the crowd was really in to it and we gave them everything we had.


Zeros were last and they kicked it! Well they kicked the first half of the set, I headed home after that...


Next up for me is Bigfoot Chester at Shangri La, Friday 7PM.

2/18/17

Another nice night at the Nomad with Bigfoot Chester. Have I mentioned how much I like this place?!!!


We were second out of three. Jeff and Ethan were first, really great stuff, but Jeff plays saw and there aren't that many options for amplifying a saw with out killing it's dreamy sound. They played quiet and the crowd wasn't... Sad, it was a really cool set.


We went up and were way louder, so that worked. We added a new tune "Rat Fink". Walter and I literally sing "You are a Rat Fink na na na na na na." Ridiculous... It's about the stupidest song ever written and it's fun as hell! We actually had a rehearsal before this show and we worked on that silly-ass tune for a while. I don't think any of us expected to like it as much as we did. It's good when dumb is fun and not a chore.


Pie Hole was last. I'd seen them the week before so I cut out early. Fun night!

1/28/17

I got a voicemail from Mike Nicolai asking if I could play the 20th anniversary show for the Hole in the Wall's "Unplug This" cd. I almost shit myself when I realized I was on a 20 year old compilation. Then I started doing some math, then I was feeling grateful I wasn't already dead. Sometimes you got to face reality no matter how cold or hard it is.



It was a disc from the weekly songwriter show at the Hole in the Wall. Monday nights were songwriter nights and to me it had always been about trying new, partial or almost songs, seeing what worked and what didn't. You know, songwriter stuff.



I did Mondays a few hundred times during the "Unplug This" run and it felt good to be back on the front stage all alone, staring at friends while I shouted. A little surreal standing on the same spot and looking at older versions of the ones who were left. But I was glad they were still there.



There were a dozen folks on the bill and we all got fifteen minutes. I snuck five tunes in for my set. Three new ones, a "classic" and something from Henry James. I go old when I do a cover. I'm really glad I got the call, it was great seeing folks I see all the time and some I hadn't seen in forever.

And apparently I really miss playing solo!

1/26/17

Bigfoot Chester was asked to play a last minute birthday party for our friend Ray from the Crackpipes. We wouldn't say no to that. It was at the Aristocrat, another club thats close to my house that I'd never been to because of sloth.

We were the only band, set up and breakdown couldn't have been easier. And I scored a couple of whiskeys during the evening. We were on a tab, the Dj tab. Not the band or music tab...

Anyway the crowd was decent and we played pretty good for a rehearsal... Onve again no practice before the show. We did a Crakpipes tune, "Record Player Party" for the first time (I think it's for the first time. Trey said we recorded it a few years ago, Bill and I don't remember that.) Ray got up and sang it with us and we kinda pulled it off.

Overall it was a pretty low key night with some good folks coming out for a bit of fun. Just like it should be.

1/7/17

You know what happens when you play three nights in a row? You can't help but slaughter it. Fuck ups be damned! Nothing is getting in the way of the Hickoid, three day freight train. We were even stronger than when we tour because we'd all slept in our own beds every night. I could tour like this forever.


It was a big pile of a lovefest at the Lost Well. It was Tub Rex from the Gringos' birthday and folks from all around made it out. I've never see the Lost Well that packed before. It didn't hurt that it was still cold as hell outside so there wasn't that much "going out side to smoke" going on.



Rio Jordan started it off. Holy shit. I missed them at ACL so glad I chance to make up for that. It seems real traditional at first, but that quickly changed when they started mixing up some pretty serious Jazz in the middle. And they didn't do it like they were showing off, they just whip that shit out whenever they want. Got to see them as much as I can.


Me Thinks made it down for their first show in Austin ever. Hard to believe I saw them for the first time nearly ten years ago and they've NEVER played Austin, crazy. Anyway they kicked ass, hard. So hard it made us step up our game when we went up next.



Gringos did a mini set after us. They were wearing pig masks when they did "Nurture My Pig." It was pretty disturbing. The mouths moved just a little and it looked like some kinda shitty animatronic doll that Disney scrapped in the fifties. Thanks for the nightmares fellas...


Beaumonts and Cunto finished things off. I was loading out and chatting folks up while the Beaumonts were on. I caught a fair amount of the set but I wasn't paying too much attention. I was so whipped after the last three days of working and playing I was gone with an Irish goodbye before Cunto even started.