SSW, Mr. Roberts, 10/7/2010

We opened at 10pm for The Media and The Type.

I brought my two new cymbals, new kit (minus snare). I used my new snare bag and an old bag I already had for hardware (heavy, but nice to make one trip). We used their PA with our mics, stands, and cables. We had two monitors (one for vocals and one for drums...the bass was SOL). They had a drum riser, which I don't believe I've ever played on before. It was nice for claiming space...no one could crowd me. Load in, from a parking lot out back to a door close to the stage, was a breeze with the bags and minus my 12" tom.

I don't like the bass spurs on the new drums, they are hard to unscrew. I think that I like the old kit better for gigging for this reason and the reason that I plan to replace my tom brackets for easier set up/take down...and I can probably only find replacements in chrome, not black. So I should upgrade the old kit (which has chrome hardware) and use it for gigs and use the new kit (which has black hardware) for practice. I like the look of the black kit...but this is all about practical matters. Plus...I've noticed the black shows finger prints and the red doesn't. So maybe it's for the best.

We've only had one rehearsal, the night before the gig, in about 4-6 weeks. Considering that, it went pretty well. My playing was fine, though I longed for my bass drum to be mic'ed. The bass amp head died and The Type loaned us theirs.

I ate a good dinner around 5pm. Had two beers before show, one during, and two after. Couple glasses of water. Stayed up late night before but didn't seem to hurt me.

Band brought in $40 ($10 a person). Must have been a percent of bar cause the show was no cover.

Generally, I liked the venue. It is a cozy stage area. Running your own PA sucks, but the sound seemed pretty good considering. I ended up having to stay the entire night cause the other bands didn't bring mics/stands/cables and had to use mine...but it ended up being ok. It was a strange crowd...a mix of friends of each of the bands and who I suspect are the regulars. The regulars were colorful. It reminded me of why I never went in this place when I lived a block away from it. Though I'm much more world-worn these days and bothered less by "scary dive bars." It didn't feel scary last night at all. Just colorful.

The Type was good...they do the angry/sexy grrl thing. Not my cup of tea, but they do it well and the music is decent. The Media was pleasant enough musically...but pretty derivative of lots of 80s rock. And they had a stage presence that was somewhere between "we think we're cool"/cliche/and "douchey" (general term decided upon last night, though not one I'd normally use. About right though). Sunglasses and stage jumps/slides type of thing. If they were being ironic it might have been funny (hell, it was funny anyway) but I think they were serious. Ah well...who am I to judge?

Setlist:
1. WE ARE THE ONE
2. TEENAGE KICKS
3. YOU STUPID FUCKING LIBERALS
4. EVERYBODY'S HAPPY NOWADAYS
5. HATE & WAR
6. I HATE THE RICH
7. MR. SUIT
8. THIS SIDE OF PARADISE
9. BOSCOBEL BREAKOUT
10. DANCE (4X) TO THE RADIO
11. SUSPECT DEVICE
12. WARSAW
13. NEW ROSE
14. MANIAC
15. TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS PLEASE
16. FUCKED UP AND WASTED