CJ, Frequency, 3/17/2012

Mad Rollin Dolls after party with Sexy Ester. I'm getting a head start on the redux (show is tonight). This has been an odd show to set up...we were only asked a few weeks ago and the details have been very...fluid.

In a perfect world there would be contracts for shows that spell out all of the details ahead of time so that everyone is on the same page with expectations. But that never happens in the world of shitty bar gigs. And to be fair...we as a band entity have our legal heads up our asses too...because we get paid in cash usually and have no proper mechanism to accept such payment (that is to say, the band ought to have a LLC or other structure in place). Anyway...going into a show we rarely have full details. We don't REALLY know how much we'll get paid or how long we will be allowed to play or what time we go on or what time we are supposed to be there. Usually you know a couple of those things...but rarely all of them. The flip side of all of this is...I've been shocked to find out how often bands book gigs and never show up. So the venues and the promoters probably figure there's always good odds of that happening...so why bother to nail things down.

Sadly, we are responsible to a fault. And good guys finish last.

So tonight we're playing somewhere between 45 and 75 minutes...in theory first...and I'll be interested to see what really ends up happening. I suspect we'll be calling some audibles with the setlist. The other band that is playing actually draws well...but wasn't featured in any of the show listings...so that draw may not happen because people may not know they are even playing. And the after party gig is also supposed to draw well...but we found out that the after party is actually at three different bars...so who knows if they'll come to ours. And...it is St Pat's day.

Here's hoping for positive star alignment.

UPDATE POST GIG:
We played really well. The set pacing got a little weird towards the end, Tame and Gouge both had to start over because RS wasn't ready. Someone requested Into the White and we played it and that was nice. I still hate that song and how my voice sounds on the low notes...but at least I remembered the words without notes. The set did seem to run about 75 minutes and that was just fine because Sexy Ester played their 45 and we were all still out of there really early. Dustin was the sound guy so was able to tell him we were going to play long. Darwin was happy to hear SE was playing though bummed that he didn't know ahead of time to promote.

We drew people into the room...it was empty when we started and full when we finished. But they were kind of low key...they seemed to enjoy themselves but didn't really dance and act crazy the way that the Mickey's crowd usually does. A fair number of people left after we finished playing. I had three different people tell me that we sound just like the Pixies. Gave out a good pile of stickers. SE was of course awesome. I felt a little bad that we made them go second since they had a show in LaCrosse the night before, but like I said, we all finished up early anyway.

We got $100. No alcohol for me...drank a coke with no ice and 2.5 bottles of water during the show. Cough was bad during the day but resolved by show time. Had a nap in the afternoon and ate a decent dinner though I don't remember what.

Setlist as Played:
Wave
Bone
Break
Something
Broken
Holiday
Allison
Ed
Here Comes
Monkey
Bird
Cactus
River
Gigantic
Manta
Isla
Crackity
Head
Caribou (dropped on fly and played requested Into the White instead)
Debaser
Nimrod
Vamos
Where
Hey
Tame
Gouge