Halloween 2011

This photo is just about the coolest thing ever.

It was pretty insane, but I managed to make it through this double header show. I did not play the Blondie set my best. I was dropping sticks a lot and was nervous and just missed some things. The kit was not exactly like I was used to...the cymbals too far away. I switched to longer sticks part way through and stopped dropping. Spaced the tempo on one song...we had to start 2 or 3 over. I'm sure it all went fine and I'm just frankly glad it is over. I'm also glad that I know that I played the songs flawlessly a few weeks ago in rehearsal. Think I had two or three beers between 4pm and 8pm when we took the stage. Alcohol was not a factor.





Here's a video of Call Me:


Went and ate dinner at the Brass Ring, changed costumes, and came back for Flaming Lips. The show was running maybe a half hour late, but not too bad. Learned the lesson that when you throw 30 three foot balloons at an audience they do not play with them peacefully, but throw them back at you violently. I was not prepared for this and was glad I'd practice Race for the Prize hard enough that I could stop and start playing my part as I dealt with balloons. Still...the balloons were cool and people loved them.

I made some mistakes in the set...spaced guitar chords on Yoshimi a bit, forgot to turn off the tuning mute going into Do You Realize...amp maxed out and cut out on overdrive part of Pompeii. Overly the amp held up well with all 5 bands playing through it. One of the other bass players complimented me on how great it sounded. It seems to have survived. I think that it cutting out on Pompeii probably had something to do with the way I had it set and the fact that it was just over the top too much signal. I had one more beer before FLIPS and two more after. The next day I was tired, but not at all hung over. I was drinking low grade 12 oz beers the whole night.











There were many technical glitches with the sound check (RS's vocal effects mostly) and the video (don't under-estimate compatibility issues)...but overall it came off as we'd intended (minus the confetti, which was vetoed by venue owner a week before the show). The dancers worked out really great. We had pro sound and pro video on hand. The show was captured and then some.

It was all well worth doing. But the herding cats (and trying to learn drum parts above my skill level) for Blondie and the dealing with all the extras (including harmony vocals) for FLIPS ended up being pretty exhausting over the 8 months of prep. I grew weary of it all and am glad both projects are over. There is some talk of reprising the FLIPS set and we've have an offer on the table to do so...but I think it took so much out of all of us that I'm not sure if it will ever happen. I kind of just want to go back to playing the Pixies. This was hard (my drumming on Blondie and FLIPS as a whole), no doubt about it, and a strain on all involved. It was an accomplishment and I fear we'll forget that too quickly...but I'm tired and ready to move on. I think that we all are.


Blondie Setlist:
Heart of Glass
11:59
Call Me
Dreaming
Rip Her to Shreds
Sunday Girl
X Offender
Denis
Tide is High
Hanging on the Telephone
One Way or Another
Detroit 442

Flaming Lips Setlist:
Race for the Prize
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 2
What is the Light
Fight Test
Bad Days
Do You Realize
Kim's Watermelon Gun
The WAND
Pompeii and G
She Don't Use Jelly
Turn It On

The Next Thing (s)

So in 24 days the Halloween show will be done and that's the end of Peroxide, my Blondie tribute. In theory it is also the end of Labia in the Sunlight, my Flaming Lips tribute (though I suspect there will be more Labia shows to come). Hopefully Crackity Jones will continue to crank along...and The Drain and Seven Stone Weaklings. But I'll want a new challenge.

On Sunday I was asked to play in a Queen tribute (I think this was a joke) and a Heart tribute (I think this was semi-serious).

I'm just going to assume Queen was a joke.

But Heart. Well...Heart.

I'm not a Heart fan, but I know that they had some seriously hardcore drum stuff going on. It would be a challenge even more so than Clem Burke's Blondie. So who was Heart's drummer? I'm glad you asked:


Again, I don't know much about Heart, but the drumming was more than basic rock.

All that said...we didn't talk specifics...so I suppose that I could also do bass...or something else entirely. Or that it was all bullshit and wine and beer and good times and we will never speak of this again. We'll see.

In the meantime I should maybe look into the band a bit...

Lately

I am feeling better about my contribution to FLIPS. I was pretty down on the whole thing, particularly my vocals, but it seems to be getting slowly better...though I'm not putting in nearly the effort that I ought to be with practicing. It just isn't as much fun as the Pixies.

Blondie has caused physical problems with my right hand because I'm trying to push to hard and fast too soon. My technique is for crap. I basically haven't been practicing at all while I try to calm down both my carpal tunnel/tendonitis and also my depression at realizing that I am going to have to take a few of the songs down a notch. I'm hurting myself and not having any fun...so what the fuck. Make them easier to play by a hair. It makes me sad, cause this whole project was about me learning to play these songs right and do things that I couldn't do before. But it just isn't worth all the injury and self-hatred and frustration. I give up. I'm doing it the easy way.

TD has also been on my poop list. It isn't that much fun anymore either. It is a strained scene on many levels...which I knew going in...but now that I know the songs as well as I'm gonna know them it feels a little boring. So I don't practice and then the songs go to hell and then they aren't fun to play cause I suck at them.

SSW isn't playing out at all and hardly practicing and I'm actually relieved for both. Another case of knowing the tunes...getting bored...not practicing...starting to suck at the tunes...and growing to hate it.

So...

In summary...most of the stuff that I am doing isn't fun anymore.

And maybe that's why I haven't been around the blog much lately. Of course, I'm also trying to quit drinking and that makes everything feel different too.

But you know what is still fun? Pixies. Just really the best thing ever. We haven't been playing much because of all the other stuff going on...but I really hope that we get back to it after Halloween. I feel like I do a good job and that the band sounds good and that people enjoy it and that even if I know the songs that I still like playing them. It feels easy and fun but still like I'm accomplishing something.

For no good reason at all...right in the middle of playing in 5 bands...I've started trying to learn to play Breeders tunes with an eye towards making an all-me ep like I used to make in the old days. Even dusted off the multitracker and got it working. Just a pointless exercise with so much else to do. But it is fun. And I miss that.

Not sure what post-Halloween holds...feels like a turning point though. I need to power through and not make any rash decisions in the interium. There's a lot of change happening in my brain of late and probably best to just hold the line and try to be gentle with myself.