Tied For Last

So bassist John B decided that he wanted the band to play his backyard barbeque, and, seeing how free food and beer was involved, we happily accepted the offer.

We had the opportunity to pretty much do what we wanted (‘cause what was John gonna do – fire us?), so we decided to learn a few quick cover tunes so that we would have enough material for two full sets. With a couple of cheat notes here and there, we were ready.

Lucky for us, John had put up a tent so that we could play underneath and not have to stand in the hot sun the whole time. We set up all the equipment and John G under the tent, and John B, Tom and I stood at the lip of the tent to perform.

I learned something from watching the Heaves play outdoors a couple of years back: The only way for a band to sound good outdoors, barring miking each individual instrument and amp, is to keep all of the amps tightly together, and close to the drums. This way, there’s no sound separation. No separation means no weird echoes or sound balances for band or audience. This worked out well, and provided an extra added bonus when it rained a bit between sets, and we were forced to gather all equipment under the tent.

Performing in daylight is weird. In clubs, because of spotlights and dark surroundings, we can barely see the first row of faces, and if a crowd is farther back, we can’t even see them. In daylight, however, we can see everyone’s reaction to every word. Seeing as how it wasn’t our usual raucous crowd, and that there were some older folks there, I almost felt self-conscious about singing songs about performing lesbians and menstruating girls. Since we were performing for John’s family and friends, I promptly blamed John for such lewd songs, and all was better.

From playing with other bands, I’ve noticed that when you play a party, there’s a good chance that you will become either the “background music,” or that you will be avoided by people not really enjoying your work. Neither seemed to be the case as we played - and that was a very good thing. Most in the crowd seemed to enjoy the band a lot, and the whole party atmosphere made us pretty loose in a good way.

Everyone in the band made a few mistakes here and there, but it was so completely different than playing in a club that it totally didn’t matter. We weren’t trying to convert anybody or try to win new fans, we were just trying to entertain…and we seem to be very good at that – even with the rare mistakes.

The covers that we learned especially for the show were “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie, “Creep” by Radiohead, and “Santa Monica” by Everclear (which we played as an encore at our very first official gig in 2002). “Santa Monica” was somewhat sloppy, but both “Ziggy Stardust” and “Creep” turned out quite well. Much to my surprise, I nailed the falsetto part in “Creep” and I felt like a damn genius.

The coolest part of the show came when, just before we closed the first set with “Burning Love,” Rev. Caroline came out and blew an awesome ball of fire in front of the band. I don’t think anybody realized how awesome a sight it was going to be until she actually did it. Both John B and Tom were a little stunned by the heat of the big fireball in front of us. She was gonna eat fire, too, but it was too windy. No matter – she totally stole the show.

As an extra added bonus, shortly after we finished our second set, the guys in Dick Van Dick came on to play a few songs. After sitting around eating and drinking all day, they played quite a boisterous set, which culminated in an extended version of “Salami” (a vamp of “So Lonely” by the Police with an obviously substituted lyric). Fun was had by all.

Set List:
FIRST SET:
American Girl
Party Dress
Lead You On
Beautiful In Black
Rave On
Achiever
Superstar
Bloody Tuesday
Ziggy Stardust
Got No Life
I'm Not Fine
Burning Love

SECOND SET:
Stay Up and Talk to Me
She Was Just a Girl
We're Alright
Eve of Destruction
Lesbian Circus
Creep
Wasted (Tom on vox)
A Song for the Ladies
Best Friend's Girl
Sailor
Santa Monica
Take Janine Away