Third band of a five-band night
I was concerned about the show for three reasons.
First off, Monday night shows have not traditionally seen our
largest audiences. Secondly, our last gig at the Continental
saw our start time pushed back well into the next morning. Lastly,
my regular guitar (the sparkly red Gretsch had a small problem
and was in for repair, so I had to use my fall-back guitar.
Things started to look up. When I got to the venue,
I saw that there was no cover charge. That’s a nice little
bonus for our friends who decided to trek out on a Monday night
to see us.
Also, we got a pretty strong crowd for a Monday
night. I was able to bring a few regulars and John B brought
a lot of new faces, so it worked out well. We even had the chance
to do an impromptu photo shoot with the Rev. Caroline before
it was time to set up.
The band that was on before us had two marks that
pegged them as rank amateurs. They had HUGE breaks between their
songs – sometimes as much as 2-3 minutes. Nothing disperses
a crowd’s energy more than extended periods of dead air
from the stage. Even worse for us, when their set was over and
it came time for them to clear the stage, they were the slowest
band with the biggest attitudes we’ve ever seen.
Most bands we run into are pretty damn cool. There
tends to be an unspoken rule on the NYC scene that, regardless
of a band’s style or the ability, we’re all in the
same boat, and therefore, we all treat each other with a lot
of respect. Some bands, however, apparently never got the memo.
Eventually, they cleared the stage of crap and
we set up. We decided to record the show, and, thanks to a really
cool sound guy, it came out quite well. We’ll probably
be posting some mp3’s from this gig on the site real soon.
We started the set, and it was pretty solid from
where I was standing. The sets at the Continental are fairly
short (35 instead of 40 minutes). That, plus a lot of pent-up
energy meant we played our songs a bit faster than usual. It’s
a punk club so that was only fitting.
The set went really well. The audience responded
to all of the songs, and, in the case of “Burning Love,”
they made so much noise that they damn near caught me off guard.
I guess they liked it!
The guitar I used is a big, Stray Cats-style hollow
body Guild guitar that was made long before I was born. It’s
a bit unwieldy, but it looks and sounds awesome. The only downside
is that I couldn’t move around as much. John B seemed
to take up a bit of the slack, by moving around more than usual.
Tommy sounded great, and even covered for me vocally once or
twice (I had a bit of a cold). Geller just sat in the back and
played faster and faster. All was good.
All was going so well, in fact, that the sound
guy even gave us a few extra minutes onstage. We go to play
the entire set that we had intended.
The band that followed us were the exact opposite
of that which came before us, but no less rude. In rushing to
set up their equipment onstage, they blockaded the whole front
of the stage and left us no room to take our stuff off. It was
like a game of chicken against the feeble-minded.
Once we got our stuff offstage, I saw why. The
poor schmoes only had one audience member. Now for that, they
get nothing but my empathy. I’ve been there before. But
if they hadn’t been such jackasses, I might’ve stayed
to listen to ‘em for a few songs. Oh well...
Stay Up and Talk to Me
She Was Just a Girl
Burning Love
We’re Alright
Lead You On
A Song for the Ladies
Superstar
Sailor
Eve of Destruction
Got No Life
Take Janine Away
