It's turned out to be an interesting week so far.
Tuesday, The Shards played at The Scene over in Glendale. It was anticipated to be a painful show since we were booked in the 11:30 slot on a Tuesday night, but it ended up being OK.
The other bands were Birdie, & Breakfast in Japan. Birdie was a folksie outfit with keyboards, drums, and acoustic guitar. Interesting harmonies and nice voices, but not my thing. There were Mighty Wind jokes abound. Amazingly enough, they played a short set. I guess the guitarist's mother was helping them unload. I fortunately caught her at the front door because she was about to walk out with my case that has all my cables, strings, tools, tuning pedals, and the set lists. Too funny.
Earlier, while smoking outside, I asked the promoter, Carl, how they made a Black & Tan since they only have Guiness & Pabst on tap. I said that I prefer a Half & Half (Guiness & Harp) which you could actually do with Pabst. He thought I was joking. I wasn't.
Later on, Carl's bored so he tries it and is just amazed that it works and the Guiness stays on top. He gives one to one of the regulars. He gives one to me since it was my idea amd says he's going to call it "The Trailer Park". The guy comes down from the other end of the bar to shake my hand. The other bartender says he wants to call it the "Green Ribbon".
Breakfast in Japan, still don't get the name. The singer had a nice voice. All the songs kind of sounded the same except for the one that had it's A section as a note-for-note rip of "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies. E - C#m - Ab - A. They also played for ever. All their shit was set up back stage when we arrived, including one of those big-ass rack drum kits with all the plumbing like an 80's hair band. There was no room for us to load in so we had to put our shit in the hallway.
It was a little after 12 by the time our turn was up, everyone was gone but four people. We've had our comp drinks and few others. We're not drunk, but we're primed. You have to understand, two of my band mates are in their late 40's. It helps if you loosen them up a little.
We actually played a good set. Everything was in tune and relatively done well. There was one song Nick got confused and was playing the intro from another song, but that was more entertaining than anything. We ran out of songs at about 1am so, I started playing "Dirty Old Town" by the Pogues. It's been in my head a lot lately. Nick refused to play drums on it, but Kyle was in the audience and he ran up on stage to sit in. The bartender, Zack, had brought us up a round of shots by then.
One thing I've learned over the years is that no show is a write-off. Even if there's two people there, they will tell all their friends if you kick ass especially if there was a dead room.
Afterwards, there were more shots waiting for us at the bar. It turns out that Zack the bartender is our drummer's roommate's band manager. (?) Carl was long since gone because he smoked a joint and had to leave while he could still drive. We were reassured that the bar keeps a notebook on the bands and that we would get a stellar write-up. Meaning, we should get a better slot next time.
You have to work your way up. You have to build a following. Everyone was bitching about this show ahead of time, but it couldn't have gone any better. I had the van pulled up & ready to load out, but no one else wanted to leave just yet and *they* all had to go to work the next day. I didn't get to bed until about 3:30 and it hurt.
These are some of the silly experiences you have as a musician that I am so fond of that it's hard to describe sometimes. Yet another longwinded post.
Support live music.
Tuesday, The Shards played at The Scene over in Glendale. It was anticipated to be a painful show since we were booked in the 11:30 slot on a Tuesday night, but it ended up being OK.
The other bands were Birdie, & Breakfast in Japan. Birdie was a folksie outfit with keyboards, drums, and acoustic guitar. Interesting harmonies and nice voices, but not my thing. There were Mighty Wind jokes abound. Amazingly enough, they played a short set. I guess the guitarist's mother was helping them unload. I fortunately caught her at the front door because she was about to walk out with my case that has all my cables, strings, tools, tuning pedals, and the set lists. Too funny.
Earlier, while smoking outside, I asked the promoter, Carl, how they made a Black & Tan since they only have Guiness & Pabst on tap. I said that I prefer a Half & Half (Guiness & Harp) which you could actually do with Pabst. He thought I was joking. I wasn't.
Later on, Carl's bored so he tries it and is just amazed that it works and the Guiness stays on top. He gives one to one of the regulars. He gives one to me since it was my idea amd says he's going to call it "The Trailer Park". The guy comes down from the other end of the bar to shake my hand. The other bartender says he wants to call it the "Green Ribbon".
Breakfast in Japan, still don't get the name. The singer had a nice voice. All the songs kind of sounded the same except for the one that had it's A section as a note-for-note rip of "Where Is My Mind?" by the Pixies. E - C#m - Ab - A. They also played for ever. All their shit was set up back stage when we arrived, including one of those big-ass rack drum kits with all the plumbing like an 80's hair band. There was no room for us to load in so we had to put our shit in the hallway.
It was a little after 12 by the time our turn was up, everyone was gone but four people. We've had our comp drinks and few others. We're not drunk, but we're primed. You have to understand, two of my band mates are in their late 40's. It helps if you loosen them up a little.
We actually played a good set. Everything was in tune and relatively done well. There was one song Nick got confused and was playing the intro from another song, but that was more entertaining than anything. We ran out of songs at about 1am so, I started playing "Dirty Old Town" by the Pogues. It's been in my head a lot lately. Nick refused to play drums on it, but Kyle was in the audience and he ran up on stage to sit in. The bartender, Zack, had brought us up a round of shots by then.
One thing I've learned over the years is that no show is a write-off. Even if there's two people there, they will tell all their friends if you kick ass especially if there was a dead room.
Afterwards, there were more shots waiting for us at the bar. It turns out that Zack the bartender is our drummer's roommate's band manager. (?) Carl was long since gone because he smoked a joint and had to leave while he could still drive. We were reassured that the bar keeps a notebook on the bands and that we would get a stellar write-up. Meaning, we should get a better slot next time.
You have to work your way up. You have to build a following. Everyone was bitching about this show ahead of time, but it couldn't have gone any better. I had the van pulled up & ready to load out, but no one else wanted to leave just yet and *they* all had to go to work the next day. I didn't get to bed until about 3:30 and it hurt.
These are some of the silly experiences you have as a musician that I am so fond of that it's hard to describe sometimes. Yet another longwinded post.
Support live music.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
In my last case, they didn't...
I woulda seen your show had I known about it & I'm not such an old lady that 12:00 is my bedtime.
Thom Yum Gai? Please expand...