Sunday, February 15, 2009
STUFFED
Ugh don't feel like doing a rush load-in right now. Always a pain doing a House of Blues on a Sunday. Gospel Brunch. At least the omlettes are good....
Monday, February 9, 2009
RANDOM RANTINGS (MORE TO COME I'M SURE)
IF YOU ARE A QUIET SINGER NEVER EVER HAND OFF YOUR MICROPHONE TO A DRUNKEN IDIOT IN THE CROWD TO HAVE HIS SAY. YES THE MONITORS WILL BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF IF I CAN’T REACH THE FADER IN TIME.
OH AND IF YOU’RE A GIRL DON’T POSE LIKE A PLAYBOY MODEL WHILE CROWD SURFING. CAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT VENUE I’LL BE AT AND THE NEXT TIME I SEE IT I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL WOMAN CAN DO IN A MOSH PIT…
OH AND IF YOU’RE A GIRL DON’T POSE LIKE A PLAYBOY MODEL WHILE CROWD SURFING. CAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT VENUE I’LL BE AT AND THE NEXT TIME I SEE IT I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL WOMAN CAN DO IN A MOSH PIT…
IS THAT A VENUE IN YOUR POCKET OR ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO SCREW ME
So Seattle is the birthplace of grunge. Noisy, sludgy, distorted, angry music - don’t get me wrong I’ll blast The Melvins any day. If the venue we were at yesterday opened in the mid-80’s than in no way was the movement any musician’s inspiration. That’s just how everyone thought it should sound.
Bad enough the sound system being far more work than it should be just to get something the band could even hear. Didn’t help being a couple feet from the cymbals, using a spirit monitor board (cue gagging sound effects) and just for fun having the EQ’s in a rack that I had to stand on a wobbly stool even to reach. Oh year and there was only one production person total. To top it off the place was more nazi mouse than Disney itself. First time EVER we all had to show our passports at a rock venue just to get into the dressing rooms. AND they wouldn’t let us have drinks on stage even in plastic cups. I had to be practically cavity searched just to bring water and towels on stage.
Top all this off with a dressing room that was sweating and 800 people in a room that should only hold 500 – serious heat wave. What type of scum do they breed on this coast that requires this type of security and puts up with this crap? Oh wait, I know, I met the promoter....
Bad enough the sound system being far more work than it should be just to get something the band could even hear. Didn’t help being a couple feet from the cymbals, using a spirit monitor board (cue gagging sound effects) and just for fun having the EQ’s in a rack that I had to stand on a wobbly stool even to reach. Oh year and there was only one production person total. To top it off the place was more nazi mouse than Disney itself. First time EVER we all had to show our passports at a rock venue just to get into the dressing rooms. AND they wouldn’t let us have drinks on stage even in plastic cups. I had to be practically cavity searched just to bring water and towels on stage.
Top all this off with a dressing room that was sweating and 800 people in a room that should only hold 500 – serious heat wave. What type of scum do they breed on this coast that requires this type of security and puts up with this crap? Oh wait, I know, I met the promoter....
Friday, February 6, 2009
HOW DID I GET HERE?
Never realised how much Washington looked like Dorset. If I didn't know better I would think I was traveling down the A30. It even comes with the rain and sheep.....
Oops a little update we were actually still in Oregon. Less than a week in and I'm already getting confused where I am. Oh dear
Oops a little update we were actually still in Oregon. Less than a week in and I'm already getting confused where I am. Oh dear
I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT A PARKING LOT ALL DAY
Annoyingly I am writing this in word in hopes of copying and pasting later. The wireless internet on the bus has been absurdly slow all day and in lieu of throwing my laptop through the windshield….
Of course this had to happen on our day off. Wouldn’t be so bad, but there isn’t much to do in Medford, OR other than, shower, do laundry and go to Shop4Less and stock up on munchables. Sadly not being a stoner it only took me fifteen minutes. Others seemed to spend half the day there coming back with a plethora of dr pepper, brownies and white castle microwavable burgers (which by the way smell terrible).
And just to give you an idea of where I’ve been whiling away my time – including starting my father’s book finally:
Anyway, the last two shows both went incredibly well I am pleased to say. The band is getting much tighter than the first two shows when they were still learning the songs and I’m getting into a good rhythm as well. The LA show particularly had the hairs on visiting musicians arms stand up and had the crowd f’in pumped. Yes, quite quickly we have gotten to the stage that most of the time the reason they come over to the monitor board is to make off-the-wall Swedish remarks. Several times I have nearly spurted water all over the console. Not good as I know how I would react if someone did that at my house gig.
And sadly, yesterday we had to say goodbye to Karine. An uber fan from France who flew all the way over to go to the California shows. Compared to the cum-buckets, Texas airheads and stalkers we had around on the last tour I did she was not the norm. Classy, not interested in sleeping with anyone, plus she had a car and a hotel room, which meant she wasn’t an extra body in our slightly crowded bus.
Now my part of the tour might be starting to gel quickly, but I do feel sorry for our tour manager dealing with these stupid ass openers we got laden with. Little self-entitled bastards. Direct support is a band on their “yes we still exist” tour who think they’re rock stars. If their bus is sitting in the parking spot outside the venue one more time when we pull up to load in I say we see what happens to a bus if you stick a banana in the exhaust.
The first act is the exact opposite. Easy for them to travel in a van, I guess, as I doubt any of them have started to shave. Eating our food while we are sound checking, complaining about stage space (though part of that is due to primadonnas above), loaders, etc. Talk about green, you just want to shake them by their metal studded guitar straps.
Time to get some shut-eye. Want to get up at a decent time tomorrow. It was much nicer the other day to get a nice view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge than waking up the typical view of venue out one window and liquor store on the other.
Of course this had to happen on our day off. Wouldn’t be so bad, but there isn’t much to do in Medford, OR other than, shower, do laundry and go to Shop4Less and stock up on munchables. Sadly not being a stoner it only took me fifteen minutes. Others seemed to spend half the day there coming back with a plethora of dr pepper, brownies and white castle microwavable burgers (which by the way smell terrible).
And just to give you an idea of where I’ve been whiling away my time – including starting my father’s book finally:
Anyway, the last two shows both went incredibly well I am pleased to say. The band is getting much tighter than the first two shows when they were still learning the songs and I’m getting into a good rhythm as well. The LA show particularly had the hairs on visiting musicians arms stand up and had the crowd f’in pumped. Yes, quite quickly we have gotten to the stage that most of the time the reason they come over to the monitor board is to make off-the-wall Swedish remarks. Several times I have nearly spurted water all over the console. Not good as I know how I would react if someone did that at my house gig.
And sadly, yesterday we had to say goodbye to Karine. An uber fan from France who flew all the way over to go to the California shows. Compared to the cum-buckets, Texas airheads and stalkers we had around on the last tour I did she was not the norm. Classy, not interested in sleeping with anyone, plus she had a car and a hotel room, which meant she wasn’t an extra body in our slightly crowded bus.
Now my part of the tour might be starting to gel quickly, but I do feel sorry for our tour manager dealing with these stupid ass openers we got laden with. Little self-entitled bastards. Direct support is a band on their “yes we still exist” tour who think they’re rock stars. If their bus is sitting in the parking spot outside the venue one more time when we pull up to load in I say we see what happens to a bus if you stick a banana in the exhaust.
The first act is the exact opposite. Easy for them to travel in a van, I guess, as I doubt any of them have started to shave. Eating our food while we are sound checking, complaining about stage space (though part of that is due to primadonnas above), loaders, etc. Talk about green, you just want to shake them by their metal studded guitar straps.
Time to get some shut-eye. Want to get up at a decent time tomorrow. It was much nicer the other day to get a nice view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge than waking up the typical view of venue out one window and liquor store on the other.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
LAND OF THE FREE
At least tonight I'm not awake at four in the morning due to first show anxiety or post first show depression, hence I'm actually writing again. After a few bumps at the beginning - language barrier being a main one - things are starting to shape up. Even getting compliments on the sound which makes me more relaxed. So did the beers I shared with the forgien portion of the crew - that always seems to bridge the gap.
Before I get too much into musings over the standings with the band which just make me think about it too much, perhaps a post mortem of the first few days later down the road.
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH AMERICA
So we haven't even gotten to Canada yet and I've been through two checkpoints. The easy one was on the way back from San Diego to LA - a guess a big after the border crossing crossing point. Luckily got through that one without having to say loudly to the back lounge "get out your passports". ie swallow the pot. The only problem I had was trying not to laugh when I saw the "immigrant crossing" caution signs on the highway. Yes I know this is in poor taste,but it was just so astounding to see.
Our other encounter on the other hand was far more of a pain in the ass. Were we playing at the inauguration, Fort Dix....
no goddamn DisneyLand or as it seems to be affectionetly called by people who have experienced it before home of the Facist mouse. Since when, Walt, were a bunch of Swedes and a bus driver from the mid-west communists, when?
Anyway probably should go to sleep now only a few hours before the bus starts moving which is still difficult for me in the early days. Soon however it will become my best friend, the gently rumble masking the sounds of 10 men snoring. Good times, good times....
Before I get too much into musings over the standings with the band which just make me think about it too much, perhaps a post mortem of the first few days later down the road.
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH AMERICA
So we haven't even gotten to Canada yet and I've been through two checkpoints. The easy one was on the way back from San Diego to LA - a guess a big after the border crossing crossing point. Luckily got through that one without having to say loudly to the back lounge "get out your passports". ie swallow the pot. The only problem I had was trying not to laugh when I saw the "immigrant crossing" caution signs on the highway. Yes I know this is in poor taste,but it was just so astounding to see.
Our other encounter on the other hand was far more of a pain in the ass. Were we playing at the inauguration, Fort Dix....
no goddamn DisneyLand or as it seems to be affectionetly called by people who have experienced it before home of the Facist mouse. Since when, Walt, were a bunch of Swedes and a bus driver from the mid-west communists, when?
Anyway probably should go to sleep now only a few hours before the bus starts moving which is still difficult for me in the early days. Soon however it will become my best friend, the gently rumble masking the sounds of 10 men snoring. Good times, good times....
Friday, January 30, 2009
AND SHE'S OFF....
So to the best of my excel list making abilities I am packed and ready to go. Sure I forget something, but can't be as bad as the last tour. This time at least I know I have toothpaste and full length trousers. Plus what a coat I have for the frigid north, barely could keep it on for the photo shoot - interesting to see grandpa struggle holding the camera away from him whereas these days I pick up his camera and wonder where the screen is...Will write again when I get to LA, no coat needed there, as I think my brain is slightly fried by trying to find into what crevices all my chargers and USB cables had fallen. Plus I managed to smash my finger in a door in my efforts to leave the basement somewhat as I found it. Really pissing me off while typing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
