Tied For Last

Third band of a 4-band night.

Tommy, Rev. Caroline and I had gone to see The Heaves' first gig since reforming. The show was great, and while hanging out with them, and agreeing that our bands should play together sometime soon, they offered us this show. We were only too happy to confirm.

The Hook is a really interesting club. It's pretty big. It's a great looking room with a big stage, and it has pretty good sound. The only downside for us is that it's in a warehouse district in Brooklyn, so we didn't know how many folks we'd be able to draw there. It's near the Heaves' neighborhood, so we knew they'd have people, and the fact that they were playing brought out more TFL people than might otherwise have made the trip, so that was cool.

We were playing as a three-piece with me handling most of the bass duties. Oddly enough, the only other time I played that room, I was on bass as well - as the substitute bassist in Atomsmasher in 2004.

The two bands that came on before us - Gutenflower and Solid Ground - were also friends of The Heaves. Gutenflower were an acoustic duo (although they have more people on their website, so I don't know what the full lineup is there). They played some catchy, country tinged originals. Solid Ground were a female-fronted cover band. They were damn tight, sounded great, and they had some pretty interesting choices for songs (who else plays Del Shannon, Weezer and Ace Frehly in the same set).

It took us a little longer than it should have to set up 'cause Jon was having some problems with the drums. He later told me that he couldn't hear me and Tommy in his monitors at all, and because of that, the tempos were a little faster than usual for a few of the songs.

I'm definitely improving on bass, but I don't know that it showed during this performance because I was having trouble keeping up with some of the tempos. Also, since singing and playing bass simultaneously is a bit difficult (for me, at least), I'm far less confident in my bass-playing than in my rhythm guitar work. This results in me being a little less animated on stage than I normally am, and I have to look at the fretboard a little more which means a little less eye contact with the audience.

My goal for the night was to not let the audience see what I felt were my weaknesses. Lucky for me, my voice has been holding up better than ever - even with allergies, so at least that end of it was going quite smoothly. Luckier still, Tommy played and sounded great, and Jon, even when playing fast, is a monster drummer, with a real knack for punctuating and accenting particular parts of songs (and even stage banter). Best of all for us, the crowd were already drunk, and VERY supportive.

We were a little sloppier than usual, but I think we more than made up for it energy and fun, and I was definitely having a good time. Of course, I say that, knowing that I'm the slob who actually had to stop a song halfway through its intro because I read the setlist wrong. Duh! The microphone stand was covering up "Eve of Destruction" on the setlist, so I was prepared to play the next song, "Party Dress," instead. I caught the mistake immediately, but not in enough time to not have to start over. Sounded great the second time tho'. ;-)

All in all, I think we were good and fun, but maybe too much fun and not quite as good as we normally are. Thank god for the drunken audiences who judge you more on whether or not you're giving 'em a good time than musical technique. Those are our brethren!

… Of course The Heaves sounded great, as usual. They've got a new drummer (Jimmy moved from behind the kit to rhythm guitar), a bunch of new songs, and Pat has his goblet, and a table lined with beer bottles. Thanks again to Eddie, Jimmy, Pat, Georgie and Richie! We had a blast!

Set List:
TAKE JANINE AWAY
SHE WAS JUST A GIRL
WE’RE ALRIGHT
EVE OF DESTRUCTION
PARTY DRESS
BEAUTIFUL IN BLACK
SAILOR
SUPERSTAR
ACHIEVER
WASTED
BAGHDAD
STAY UP AND TALK TO ME
BURNING LOVE