Another day at Bernie's

Bernie's - Tuesday September 6th, 2005
VERBAL ABUSE - IN DEFIANCE - FANG - Devil Cake

I don't remember exactly the last time we played Bernie's. I think it might have been the New Years show with Tom Foolery. Or not. (I just checked... it was with Tom Foolery, but instead it was Wednesday, April 30, 2003) Anyhoo... who cares about that show.

I got to Bernie's around 8pm. I thought I was pushing it a bit for parking since it was to be an all ages show and supposedly we were the first band and were going on at 9pm. MCB and Gourley were there already. I got lucky and there was a space available. One of the real problems with playing at Bernie's. The parking sucks. And it's not their fault really. It's just campus.

So MCB, Gourley and I sat around and chatted about why Metallica sucks. Additionally, we watched as some 'painters' worked on a house behind the parking lot. They got into the house by crawling into an upstairs bedroom window. Hmmm.... Whatever. I looked and the place did indeed appear to be empty, so there ya go. We also watched the tow trucks from Shamrock pass by multiple times and attempt to tow the same car three times. Each time the guy who owned the car came out and said 'This is a Buckeye property and I work for Buckeye Painting'. Eventually, he just moved his car to the free lot that we were in... though he got stopped by the cops cause he drove 10 feet the wrong way down a one way alley to get the the spot. I think he had to explain that he literally was coming from the parking lot next door.

Anyways... soon it was 8:30pm and Ian and Steve still were nowhere to be found. Nor were the other bands. Nor was the guy from Bernie's who books the bands. Of course, I am freeing out. MCB punched me in the face and told me to chill out. Ok... so he didn't punch me in the face... but he did tell me to chill out. Around 8:45pm the booking guy showed up and said he had heard from the two touring bands and that they had just left wherever they were and that it would be a little while for them to get there. Around that time both Steve and Ian showed up. Everyone pitched in and helped carry my dumbass drums (complete with new bass drum head that I had broken at the previous practice) downstairs.

I set up. Everyone mulled around or tuned guitars. Ian remembered a few Kiss tunes on his bass. I forget which ones they were already. One was a Gene Simmons song. The other, if I remember was a song that Ace sang on. But all the names are escaping me right now.

Around 9:45, I asked Gourley what time it was. He said 'a quarter to ten. Were supposed to go on at 10'. Ok. About 5 minutes later the sound guy says to me, 'Let's get this thing going'. So I told Gourley 'Let's rock'.

We all took our places... and rocked. I don't remember much of it. We played and then it was over. I know I was a bit tired half the way through, for no apparent reason. I don't think I fucked up too much. A little, yes. Alot, no. I missed a few cymbal crashes and my double bass flams have seen better days. But in my defense, the floor around the drums had a few holes in it. Or something.

Steve taped the show. It will be interesting to watch that since I honestly don't have much recollection of it. I know that it wasn't horrible and that there were no real trainwrecks. It was DARK in there (a whopping 3 colored 60 watt bulbs and the lighting from the rest of the bar was all that there was... but it is very good for mood... it's nice and dark), so hopefully the video came out. Actually, it might not be a problem at all since, now that I kinda think about it, they left the house lights on. I think. Or maybe not. I dunno. STEVE, BRING A COPY OF THE GIG TO THE NEXT PRACTICE SO I CAN RELIVE THE EXPERIENCE SINCE I OBVIOUSLY WAS BRAIN DEAD.

All I know is that by 10:30pm, I was already on 315 and heading home. I had no interest in seeing the other bands, which is sad. Honestly, I don't think I was mentally at the gig. Or something. Words.

The set list was:
Pizza Party
Wienermobile
Salad Bar Man
Hands Off My Oreos
Burn Sandwich Burn
Red Pop
Cereal & Beer
Primavera Primadonna
Fribble


Sorry you weren't there. :-P

----fin----

SON OF THE RETURN OF MORE UNNECESSARY DETAIL 3

Around dinnertime, MCB called to say he was too sick to go to the show. Too sick to rock. I couldn't remember what time we were due to converge at Ruby Tuesday's so I lingered uneasily at home until 8:30pm. I must've gotten there a little before 9. I saw Mark Ward at the bar, he of Ramsey and...drummer in my first band in high school, the Uncultured. Little piece of trivia for you. Darrin & Maryann were already making themselves at home. Gourley showed up, followed eventually by Steve & Rachel.

The first band set up slowly & did a quick soundcheck. Then began the truly interminable lingering. Holy hell. I'm still not sure how I held out. After 30-45 minutes, Phantodswent on. The guitar, bass and drums were locked in on some kind of Fantomas/Mr Bungle/King Crimson/bright-twang preset that, for me, destroyed as it created. They'd play a thrash thing into a doom riff off the back of this fucking clean guitar tone and then just slam to a halt. One of the songs had some truly insane, inspired syncopation that just blew me clean away. Personally, musically, emotionally, Fantods' set was devastating. And I haven't even mentioned the singer's voice & her two keyboards. The singing was intelligent & tuneful and somehow brought the melange of sounds & moods to a catchy, near-pop fore. Which is no easy feat. Their sound is unique. And, yes, I'm in love.

Ramsey went on at midnight & hogged the stage forever. They were nice guys but fucking hell. This pushed everything for us back even further...we went on around 1am! What is the point of that, I axe you. I mean, really.

I was dead tired before we even started and tried to make up for it by pushing myself harder. It was pretty terrible. We opened with a bunch of new songs which proved to be my undoing because oops I forgot how they went. It was shambolic and there was nothing to hide behind but shouting, belligerence and being infantile. I don't know if we ever got on track, musically. Steve was/is/always will be a professional, a rock, the beacon of calm confidence, a ROCK island in a sea of lame futility. The rest of us couldn't even remember the old songs most of the time. Our old songs. That we wrote. Yeesh. I got home around 2:30am, charred beyond recognition. And I have Steinberger shaped bruises around my torso.

Pics from Ruby Tuesday 8-12-05

My wife Maryann brought along the digital camera. The lights were low, and in order to not look like we were playing in a basement, she didn't use flash much. That means all the photos will look like a painting by Salvador Dali. So, enjoy.


Here is a very nice poster someone had made up for the show.


Our name on the chalk boad at Ruby Tuesdays


This is me in my kick ass black Kiss Creatures bootleg T-shirt


Ian says "Metal."


Setting up my crap.


In order to play metal, I must be entranced by the underworld


Ian face says it all, "Why are you doing this to me?"


Ian is ready to rock with his cowboy hat and black cape!


We are Devilcake. And we rock. (this is my fave foto by the way)


Maryann spotted a Two-Headed Ian and quickly took a picture of it.


More rocking at Ruby Tuesday's


Steve shreading with his cowboy hat on


And now, Devilcake performs the world's best stage trick eva...


...Double-Headed Devilcake!!!


We rocked until 2am...


...and in a puff of red smoke, we were gone.


-fin-

D's account for Ruby Tuesday 8-12-05

Ruby Tuesday's - Friday August 12th, 2005
THE PHANTODS - RAMSEY - DEVIL CAKE

The last time we played at Ruby Tuesdays it was my first gig with the band, way back on May 21st 2001. Wow. Not sure why my brain thought it was 2002, but so be it, it was 2001. I barely remember that gig at all now. I remember the excitement of doing my first sound check which is on a camcorder tape somewhere out there. I actually think I have the VHS copy of that show. How about that.

(if you want to get to the gig stuff, jump ahead like 10 paragraphs)

Anyways, this was Devil Cake's show tonight. We were headliners, which usually means we go on really really really late after being there for 6 hours. Tonight would be no exception, and I even left late by my standards. Maryann and I went to BW3s and had some awesome chicken fingers (since I've determined you get more bang for your buck by eating chicken fingers rather than boneless wings). It was good eating and we also played a little NTN trivia while we were at it. Very relaxing. No freaking out, just calm and will a belly full o chicken. Gots home around 7:30. I checked to make sure that the new hi-hat clutch would work (since my originally Yamaha was completely stripped). It did. Yay! That's one less thing I have to worry about. I also installed a new cymbal protector (it prevents keyholing) for Ian's old Sonor stand. That installed with a slight modification as well. Word. With all things in working order, I dismantled the drum kit and got it packed into the car. By 8:15pm, we were on the road.

By 8:40ish, we were driving around the block that Ruby Tuesdays was on. The parking for this place sucks worse than any other bar we have ever played at. They are basically right in the middle of a large area of campus apartments and they have no actual parking lot. (I've heard rumors of a parking lot behind Ruby Tuesdays, but all I saw in the alley was triple deep parking for the apartments). After the 3rd time around the block, I parked and was basically on the opposite end of the block (but still on Summit Ave) that Ruby Tuesdays was on, which was do able since it seemed to be a short block.

I was happy to see that there were actually people at the bar tonight. Seems that RTs was having a lil ol cookout. I did not partake of any said bbq though. So anyhoo, we went in looking around for some of the DC peeps. Mike Bill had mentioned that he would be showing up around that time, as did Ian. However, there were no peeps. I showed Maryann around the bar. It was a little bit cleaner than I remember. Course, then I showed her the basement. When we played there, part of the basement section was still open with a pool table. This was no longer, like due to health violations. And the bathrooms were atrocious. But it is a bar, what the fuck do you want? I picked up a couple of bottles of Miller Light and we sat in the room with the stage, which, while not quiet, was away from the rest of the inhabitants who were drinking away and playing pool.

Ian showed up right around 9pm. It was at this time he informed me that MCB would not be playing with us tonight. Seems he had been puking up his guts for nearly 24 hours. That sounds like fun. We sat around and chatted a bunch about anything that popped into our heads. I believe Gourley showed up next around 9:30 I think. He was helping move in gear for one of the other bands. I thought it was the Phantods, but wtf do I know. *shrug* So anyways, then Steve and Rachel showed up around 10pm. By this time we were worried that Steve wasn't going to show up and pondered how we would go over as an acoustic jazz trio. It actually sounded amusing enough to consider.

Around 10 or 10:15, The Phantods did their sound check. Yay! About this time I put in my ear plugs. After the last Little Brothers gig, where my ears rang or felt muffled for 2 days after, I decided that I needed to protect my hearing a bit better. I already have a little bit of tinitus (rrrriiiiiinnnggg) now, and if music is something that I really enjoy listening to, I need to do what I can to at least slow down the process of me going deaf.

The Phantods took the stage around 11pm. By this time, Ian already wanted to go home. He doesn't do well sitting around for 2 hours doing nothing and also knowing that it will be a miracle if we go on anytime before 1 am. They played their set and I was very pleasantly surprised. Everyone I talked to kept reminding me that this was a big ol hippy bar. And there were a few locals hanging out that would have supported that stereotype. But The Phantods, in my opinion, were not playing hippie music. I don't know what you would call it. The closest I can come is saying that it was like listening to what would happen if members from The Police and Voivod formed a band and hired a female vocalist / keyboard player. I'm sure Ian can actually name a band that they sound like but I am not that well-versed. Their drummer was a frickin' monster on the drums. Kudos to him if he be reading this. The others weren't so bad either. At certain times during the set, when they were just pulling of some insane shit, I looked over at Ian and he was just laughing at the insanity. So was the drunk guy who was practically drinking out of a pitcher. They wrapped up their set around 11:30ish. They had free CDs, but I was not quick enough to nab one, which is too bad 'cause I pretty much liked everything they played.

Ramsey started to set up and that is when I realized that said drunk guy was in the band. And setting up both a keyboard and guitar rig. Then the singer guy was setting up a guitar rig and a keyboard rig as well. And the bassist was sporting dreads and a Soundgarden Badmotorfinger T-shirt. Huh? I dunno. They finished setting up, got more beers and waited for midnight to roll around to get started. What occurred next is really a scarring blur. For the first song, both the singer and drunk due took their places behind their keyboards. The singers keyboard was in tune. The drunk dudes was an old analog Roland. It was not in tune. It's like hearing fingernails across a blackboard. And he had no idea how out of tune he was. After that song, they made an attempt to tune his Roland, which did not go well. They would almost have it and then the guy would crank it way off up or down. It was torture. I don't think his guitar was in tune either, well, at least it didn't seem that way. I believe he could be a decent guitar player if he sobered up. They also played 'Hold On Loosely' by 38 Special which was about the only thing I could remotely stomach, even though some of the singing was strained.

At 12:30, while they were still playing, Ian and I left to go load up the drum gear. It was a much needed break. I pulled the car up to the bar and we unloaded. By the time the last drum was loaded into the building, they were done. Thank goodness. It took a while for the drummer to take his stuff down. He seemed nice enough (and appeared sober enough) and was very apologetic about taking so long. I told him not to sweat since I too was a drummer and understood that it is almost always the drummer that takes the longer to set up and tear down. We just have more shit to deal with.

By 1am, it was our time to rock. I changed into the killer black Kiss 'Creatures of the Night' bootleg t-shirt that my wife bought for me, and took the stage. We kicked it off with a couple of new MCB tunes 'Burn Sandwich Burn' and 'That's When The Onions Attack'. Those actually went fairly well. Up next was another new one that I wrote called 'Peaches and Cream'. So far so good. I was trying to stay loose and not flail around a bunch since we had 11 MORE SONGS TO PLAY. Yeah, it was a long setlist since we were the 'headliners'.

'Pizza Party' and 'Salad Bar Man' were up next. Those didn't go too badly I don't think. Then came 'Fribble' in the middle of the set. It officially has been everywhere in the set (the usual closer, the opener at the last gig, and solidly in the middle of the set for this gig) which is amusing. I was also starting to get a bit tired and fuzzy minded by this point. I sorta forgot the beginning of Fribble but quickly recovered after a few bars. Up next was 'Hands Off My Oreos'. Good think I didn't have to start this song 'cause my memory was getting fuzzier. Steve kicked in the initial guitar riff (which I don't have to play during) and it all came back to me. Halfway done, and already on shaky ground.

Up next was 'Marshmallow' which was the first real train wreck. I remembered the initial cymbal roll part and that was it. I counted off 4 and... had no idea where I was or how the song went. I was looking a Steve to try to desperately remember how the song went. This is a song that has been included in practically every set I have every played and I drew a complete blank. After the gig, when I was talking to Steve, it turns out he was completely lost. He was looking to ME to remember how to play it as well. By the second verse, I finally figured out what the fuck I was doing, but it dealt a severe blow to my confidence in completing the friggin show and we were only half done.

Up next was 'Wienermobile'. I did an okay job of staying relaxed during that song. Only the fills at the end of the song were completely cruddy, but decent considering how tired I was feeling. After that was another new one I wrote called 'Primavera Primadonna' which went okay. After that was the fast and always crowd pleaser, especially at bars, 'Cereal N Beer'. Somehow, regardless of how fast that song is, it tends to loosen me up for some reason. I don't know why.

Then came 'Red Pop', another blistering song. There is one part where I get to just hammer on the cymbal like it was a ride. Tonight it decided that it would start spin like a wounded UFO. Eventually the nut came off and at the last crash of Red Pop, the cymbal nearly fell off the stand. I got up from behind he drums to reposition the cymbal and realized that I had no idea where the nut was. Without it, the cymbal can practically fall right off the stand.

The next thing I know, Gourley is introducing 'Sacrificial Leg Of Lamb', so get back behind the kit. For some reason, as of late, I cannot seem to play this song to save my life. And the sad thing is that I'm the person who wrote it. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to wrap my head around the drum part. I am just clueless. It's fairly simple, just keep time with the high hat until the second part of the verse. How hard can that be? Well, tonight, it was impossible. I had no idea what I was doing and it was one of the most horrible sounding things I have ever heard me play. Horrible. I can't express my frustration with not being able to play this fucking song. It's a fucking Devilcake song. It's not quantum physics.

After the destruction of that song was over, I was looking around to see if I could find that fucking nut for the cymbal stand. I leaned over my drum kit to see if it fell in front of the drums. The next thing I know, I have a big ol' face full of Gourley ass. He can't see for shit without his glasses, so he was bending over to read the set list. Steve was video taping this show, so I am sure that moment looks, well, interesting. Finally we capped off the night with 'Pilot Light' which went fairly well, I think. I was a bit hindered since I was worried about the other cymbal flying off, but overall, it well alright. And like that it was over around 2am.

I have to say, I'm not fond of Pilot Light being the closer. I was never fond of ending the set with Fribble either. The final song, to me, should have that thing at the end where everyone holds the last note and basically beats the crap out of their instruments which the singer says, 'We are Devilcake. Thanks for showing up and not throwing shit at us. Goodnight!'.

So back to the evening, Maryann went and moved the car to the side of the bar. I was breaking down the set when Ian said, 'Hey, your wife pulled up the car around back. I'm fucking outta here'. Ok... that's not a direct quote, but I do appreciate that he came in and told me my wife was waiting on me. He could have just fecked off like I know he wanted to. Gourley and Steve helped take the rest o the shit out the car. We hung out a little bit and talked about the $37 dollars we made that night. (Actually, I think the owner or the singer from Ramsey or someone said that it was $37 for everyone, meaning that the 37 dollars would be split three ways, but Gourley insisted that it was $37 dollars for us. Oh well, as we discussed, it'll be money for printing up a new batch of t-shirts. Gourley had an idea where the pentagram would have a bite out of it. I think that is frigggin hilarious.

They we all said 'Later!'. Maryann and I stopped in at ol' White Castles and picked up a #1 combo each. When we got home I realized the motherfucker didn't pack my onion chips. Oh well. I didn't need them anyways. We ate, starting watching Iron Chef @ 3am, but soon the exhaustion set in and we went to bed.

The set list, in case you didn't piece it together (you lazy punk) was:
Burn Sandwich Burn
Onions (s.o.s.o.n.i.o.n.s)
Peaches N Cream
Pizza Party
Salad Bar Man (Fuckin eh, dude)
Fribble
Hands Off My Oreos
Marshmallow
Weinermobile
Primavera Prima Donna
Cereal N Beer
Red Pop
Sacrificial Leg of Lamb
Pilot Light

THE END. (pictures soon to follow)

Pictures Phase II

Hang on to your hats... It's Devilcake!
















Gourley is such a great singer with the audience. Someone yelled "Show us the top of your head!" and he did. True story.

















"Ladies and gentlemen, on the bass - Stu Hamm uhhh... Ian Stewart!"
















Proof that Darrin uses giant strawberry Twizzlers as drumsticks.
















I'm a pickin'.















Among other things, Gourley and Steve can stand on walls while playing.
















I like this one. It looks as if Ian has donned his special "goggles."
















Why does it look like I'm playing an acoustic?
















Steve's a grinnin'.
















Darrin smells something. Two words. White Castle.

















"This is how much you love Devilcake."

Devilcake pics from Little Brothers...

Here's the proof. DEVIL CAKE!

















I told Darrin to make a face, but he refused...

















I'm sure there's a "wearing your cup without a jock strap" joke in there somewhere...

















Classic Gourley. "Scream for me Columbus! Scream for me!"

















Apparently I was about to punch someone. I don't remember doing this at all.

















Proof that Gourley is entertaining to us as well as the crowd...

















Ian and Darrin making "smoochie" faces at each other. The rest of us are doing it too, just so you know...

















Steve's version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" album cover...

















Darrin looks like a midget behind the drums for some reason. Mmmmm... midgets...

















Here I am working too hard on a "G" chord while Gourley is being possessed by Satan.

















Nice shot of Steve...

















Why does it look like I'm wearing velvet pants?

















Here's a shot using the flash, which is just hilarious. It looks like we're playing in someone's basement. The look on Gourley's face is classic. Hey Mike, you were looking for a T-shirt design...

vampire cowbwah in natural habitat

LITTLE BROTHERS

POOR ORIGINALS | DEVILCAKE | LOS PEPES
Little Brothers
Friday, July 8, 2005

Gourley got a call on Wednesday asking if we could fill in for another band at Little Brothers. We had an emergency rehearsal on Thursday, which we did instrumentally. Gourley suggested a few uptempo songs via email. The sequence of titles wasn't intended to be a setlist but we made it into one anyway. Hence the weirdest setlist we've ever played, I think. Marvelous.

As always, we got to Little Brothers way too fucking early before the show. The doors weren't open, so we walked to White Castle & back. Then it rained and we all sat in our cars until one of the other bands showed up - Poor Originals. They got a call three hours beforehand to fill in.

Organization! Professionalism! Ha. Whatever, so the administrative end was a little mushy, but, rock & roll and administration have very little to do with each other, right? Right.

Poor Originals soundchecked and then lingered for 45 minutes or so. There was a small clutch of people at the tables in front of the stage. Poor Originals, no shit, every song was the exact same tempo, with the same thrash beat. The guitarist on the right was annoying onstage and made me question my own motivations for wanting to do the rock & roll thing again. Y'know? It's late, it's Friday, we should be having fun, not being subjected to this over-loud, monotonous scree. They sucked the life out of me. The other guitarist literally strummed the same for every song, a technique I'd love to learn, I'm obviously doing it wrong & moving waaaaay too much. After 10-12 iterations of the one sonic blueprint, they vacated the stage. Who's on next? Is it us? Is it the peepees? No, it's us. Phew.

I wouldn't even say we had a handfull of peeps, I'd call it a clenched fist of peeps. The important thing is that they didn't lose patience and they even seemed to enjoy our turn on the stage. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We took our time setting up. It was relaxed, laid back, jovial, comfortable. Usually 'being comfortable' isn't the kind of thing you'd take notice of, but for us...two years (almost to the day) since we last played at Little Brothers, the vibe was important.

Steve gave Tera the new intro CD, which promptly failed to work. He made the intro on his PC, it includes hellish sound effects and the harmonized guitar solo from "Fribble." It reminds me of Slayer "Hell Awaits." I gave a verbal approximation of the intro CD into the mic and then we were off & running. Opening with "Fribble." Unprecedented.

Gourley & I were both kind of rusty. Our voices gave out pretty quickly & we were both winded. I struggled with the backing vocals, not sure if I should just hover over the mic & sing everything or stand back by the drums & just concentrate on playing the bass. In the end, I did a lot of both and eventually loosened up enough to not notice or care.

"Salad Bar Man" was second. Darrin's new "Peaches & Cream" was in there somewhere. And we closed with his other new one - my favorite of his newest batch of songs - "Pilot Light." I waited all day to sing "turn on the pilot light, let's get it on tonight" and finally got my chance. Party! I hope it didn't ruin the song. That's the first time I've ever sung on it. "Hands Off My Oreos" was nice, that's when I finally caught my stride, I think. As usual, I was too busy trying not to kick anybody or otherwise cause catastrophe to notice anything else. Which is a good sign. I think the band is getting stronger, more mature, more fuckin' metal, and hopefully even more entertaining as we go. We've always been good at amusing ourselves but hopefully now we can include everyone else. And:

It's always nice when people clap and respond positively to us onstage and I don't take that for granted. You guys fucking rock! I'd rather have a clutched fist of true peeps than 1,000 hostile GWAR fanatics anyday.

I forget the order but I'm pretty sure we played

Fribble
Salad Bar Man
Pizza Party
Wienermobile
Marshmallow
Hands Off My Oreos
Peaches & Cream
Red Pop
Cereal & Beer
Pilot Light

Been two years gone...

POOR ORIGINALS + DEVILCAKE + LOS PEPES
Little Brothers
Friday, July 8th, 2005

Well, it was almost exactly two years ago that we played at Little Brothers (which was on 7/3/2003 for those keeping track). I got to the venue early as always, as parking is a real pain in the keesters when there are alot of bands playing. Mike C Bill was already there when I arrived. We shot the shit for a while. Ian showed up around 1/2 hour after that. We ran down to White Castles for some grub. I got a #1 with cheese and a RED POP. They should call it a #2 with cheese cause later in the night, that's all it really was. My poor choice in eating a large sized Rally's Double Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburger for lunch and then throwing four Whiteys on top of that was a nearly fatal.

Anyhoo...

We got back, with White Castles in hand and Steve, Rachel and a friend of theirs were waiting on us. Just as we got there, though, the rain started up and we all took refuge in our cars. Another band showed up and somehow got the people inside to open up the doors. DOH! After the rain subsided, I got out of my car and talked to the other bandies. Seems that while we thought we had a tight schedule being called 3 days prior to the gig, they got called 3 HOURS before the gig. They were just hoping that the drummer would show up. He did show up, however he had no drumsticks, which I found amusing. I gave him a pair of the $2 drumsticks and told him to beware of splinters. That of course was prophetic.

Gourley showed up rather early as well, probably by 8:30 or so. Gave him the lyrics for Pilot Light and sent him on his way. Gourley knew the guys in Los Pepes, but they were no where to be found.

Fast forward 2 hours later. Ian had managed drink his weight in water by then. I had managed to get rid of my weight in 'excess'. Los Pepes finally took the stage and rammed through around 10 songs in the punk metal vein. Lots of snare action. The guy was like a drum machine. But it proved to be a touch too much for my taste. Most of the songs were similar sounding. Like I have room to talk, but I am just staing my opinion. I enjoyed the first few, but then my ears starting ringing a little and then it just got on my nerves. Plus I still wasn't feeling so hot, so I can't blame them for all of my discomfort. At some point, Ian went over in front of the soundboard. I followed suit, but I stay for a grand total of 30 seconds because it was so brutally loud that it just hurt. I couldn't really hear the music anymore, it was just painful static. So I retreated to the conforts of the bar where it was a bit quieter. A few songs later, they were done. Oh yeah, the drummer shreaded those sticks I gave him. And this is why I rarely buy drumsticks that cost more than $2 a pair.

They got their crap off the stage, we put our crap on the stage. And then we rocked a set of fairly fast songs. I have to admit that after the first 3 songs it was a bit of a blur. I got tired fairly quickly but tried to hold my own by sweating profusely.

We started with Fribble, which is amusing only to us since we normally close with Fribble. Oh, we had 'intro' music but Tera the sound person couldn't get the CD player to like the intro that Steve burned onto a CD. DOH! No problem. Just kick it and go. The stick in my right hand was slightly warped which threw me off a little bit.

Next up was Pizza Party. I still still going strong at that point. Then came Weinermobile (sp?). I've never liked putting those two back to back. They both involve 'the stop' before each verse. Putting them back to back makes them sounds too similar to me (even though they are not), but maybe it's just me, and that is quite possible.

Salad Bar man was next. I believe I played this one a bit slower than normal. I think this is also the song during which I broke my stick. I still have the top part. Not sure where the bottom part went. We then played Hands Off My Oreos.

Up next was a new one, Peaches N Cream. Fast fast fast. This is pretty close to being pure punk, quite honestly. I missed quite a few cymbal crashes during this song. This song just wears me out, but I still like it... for now ;). And as if I wasn't tired enough, Red Pop came next, which we played at a blistering pace as well. I did get all the floor tom hits right this time (I actually went back and listened to the Shout At The Devilcake album to make sure I got it right). The double bass in the soung didn't sound too bad, but there were a couple double bass fills that left much to be desired. *shrug*

Marshmallow was next, and a nice break to have. It was slow and durgy or something. Words. I was practically passed out by this point, and not from drinking beer either (I had none last night). Then came Cereal n Beer. Super fast version. That quite possibly is the fastest we have ever played that live. Amazingly enough, I could hear Gourley singing the lyrics.

Finally, to end it all, was another new one called Pilot Light. Didn't sound too bad. I really like the harmonics part that the whole song is based around. I'm still not totally comfortable with the drums (since I wrote the guitar parts only) but I think I made a few revelations that might work in the future.

And then they were done. The crowd yelled 'Encore' (well, a least 2 people yelled that, and I'm pretty sure one of them was Rachel, and she could listen to us all night if she wanted to.) But alas, there was no encore. The final note ended and we started packing. The guys helped out, and that was cool of them since I was a bit foggy. I was packing up when Tera came around to move mics. I asked her if the other band was here and she said, 'I don't... know.' I asked Gourley if they were there since he knew a couple of the guys and he said 'I... think so.' About that time a guy with an amp passed in front of me and that question was answered. Not sure why I cared really. *shrug*

So the cars, got loaded up. We went in. Ian said he was splitting, so was MCB as was I. We went to bid farewell to Gourley, who was saying goodbye to Steve who was also leaving. I drove home, took a shower and was in bed around 1:30am.

In case you were too lazy to write down the set as I gave the play by play above, here is the set list:

Fribble
Pizza Party
Weinermobile
Salad Bar Man
Hands Off My Oreos
Peaches N Cream
Red Pop
Marshmallow
Cereal N Beer
Pilot Light

Later. Rock on!

-------------:D

DEVILCAKE + other bands
High Five
Friday August 1, 2003

A waste of a mohawk. The guitar pick harvest was plentiful. I went in with three picks and left with twelve. Including my new favorite pick, a white Tortex "sharp." The short end comes to a point and it gives unbelievable attack on the bass strings. Just like those metal picks, only this thing doesn't scratch up the body and break all the strings.

The set list was something like

Wienermobile
Marshmallow
Cereal And Beer
Hands Off My Oreos
I Can't Believe It's Not Satan
Chicken Nuggets Of Sin
Salad Bar Man (by request)
Fribble

A short practice with a few drunk dudes from the other bands listening in. Am I breaking a sweat for this shit? Fuck no.

Guarding MCB's car out back afterwards, I noticed a van with a U Haul trailer attached to it, indicating that one of the other bands is on tour. And I realized at that exact moment that if last night is what touring is like, then I never want to experience it. It was depressing enough playing to nobody in my hometown. I can't imagine doing that shit in Colorado or something.

I'm late in chiming in on this show...

7/03/03
Little Brothers
w/Tom Foolery and the Mistakes|Everlasting Godstopper

About a week before this show (alright a day), I took the opportunity to rid myself of some musical instrumentation that I didn't consider that I was getting much use out of. I took them into Guitar Center and magically (2 hours later) walked out with a shiny new keyboard amp (oooooooooh shiny). The result was the realization that now that my amp problems were solved (which, I think, had long been a source of my other on-stage mishaps) I got all crazy and thought about all the gear I could now safely play without thought of mishap.

A reality check from Ian "B.A." Stewart brought me back to the realization that "less quite possibly is more" on this night of nights. So...armed with only my shiny new amp and the keys-o (and a spare casio in the trunk as backup). I set out. Our car was packed full of non-instrumentation as well (the cross-which didn't get used, fog machine, tape deck for soundboard recording-which sounds freakin' awesome!, tapes, water...and of course our kick-ass new t-shirts), Nancy and I showed up at Little Brothers about 6:50...way the hell early.

The young'uns, Everlasting Godstopper, showed up (or were dropped off) about 8:30. I was seriously worried that some of them would have to be snuck into the venue (a la Gabe from the Newport show of forever ago). Nancy and I left the amassed posse (of MCB and his friend) and left in search of food. The search turned up fruitless and Nancy wound up with 1/2 of Maryann's sub and I would up with a bottle of water. Good thing...eating would have only led to bm's and there's no need for that before the show, trust me.

I can't say much more than what's already been said about the rest of the evening. I loved the way the keys-o sounded through the new amp...I hated the fact that we didn't have a set list...loved the fake blood from Ian's skull, but hated the dildo on Everlasting Godstopper's Mic (ok...hate is strong...but I just didn't understand what it was supposed to be...other than a dick that he sang into....in front of their parents (who I'm sure were in the audience) and I didn't know what that was all about).
And I hated that I felt like I was going to lose my voice at any second....I think it resulted in me holding back on some stellar backups (which thankfully, Ian jumped in on).

Some other positive things....Darrin's drums didn't move away from him (gotta love the power of a CinderBlock)....the sound mix was awesome. Ian's mohawk was fucking rad!

The T-shirts kicked ass...and I think we even sold one.

Tom Foolery et al continue to blow me away each time I see them. Their set was short and sweet, although they left out one of my favorites, "Oh No You Di'n't," they did play "Lab Partner" (or whatever it's real name is), which makes me laugh my ass off everytime because it makes me think of my lab partners in high school chemistry (Rich Damiano and Andy Mitry...yeah, lucky me).

We took the stage....Gourley and I started Marshmallow sans my significant other...and to be honest, the rest of the boys had me sweating a bit with their "delayed entrance" bit. But it worked out very cool...and felt very, very rock and roll to me.

The rest of the night was a blur of sweat, fake blood, headbanging and the like. At one point during Frankenstein's French Fries, I think Steve was trying to show me the chords (since it was quite apparent that I had forgotten them) and I thought to myself "well, it's not going to do much good....if I knew guitar chords, I wouldn't have traded my electric guitar for a keyboard amp...but such is the case when you're living life on the road).

I'm not going to put the list of songs....Darrin and Ian did a pretty good job...(but Ian did the Skull/Blood act during Chicken Nuggets...).

All in all, it was a great show...I think it was one of our best.

DEVILCAKE | TOM FOOLERY & THE MISTAKES | EVERLASTING GOD STOPPER
Thursday, July 3, 2003
Little Brothers

Whenever we spend as much time preparing for a show as we did for this one, it usually bites us on the ass at some point. Or, as in the case of this evening, some points.

Starting a few weeks back we found ourselves re-learning old songs and other things we've never played live. We practiced them multiple times each and probably could've had a pretty fresh and decent set if we'd have remembered to include any of them other than Chicken Nuggets Of Sin and Spicy Beef Stick.

Nothing makes an old song more tempting to whip out for a live show than it being declared off limits. As is certainly the case with the long-entombed Spicy Beef Stick. It's a stupid song and everyone knows it. We stand to gain nothing as musicians or humans by playing this song. And yet, there it was in the set. Ha.

We neglected to make a set list again and again it bit us on the ass. Oh well. Sorry if I got snippy with anyone (ie Rachel) who thoughtfully suggested songs from the audience. I don't know what my deal is/was.

The evening began for me as soon as I got home from work. The hair clippers were put into action and soon a Mr T cut emerged. The hair wasn't long enough for the cut to be totally obvious, but I think it served the purpose.

I packed my car and found that I was lugging along more props and costume stuff (2 bags, 1 box) than actual musical equipment (1 bag, 1 amp). Hmm. Interesting.

No one knew what to expect for parking at Little Bros, considering it was the Red White & Boom ordeal and traffic was probably going to be pretty uncool. I got there last, of course, and basically sailed right in. No traffic to speak of and there was even one spot left in Little Bros' lot just for me. Then the interminable lingering began.

But it wasn't as bad as it could've been or has been for me in the past. I tend to get overly wound up in general, and milling around an empty rock club four hours before I'm due onstage is kind of a mindfuck for me sometimes.

Fortunately we had good conversation and a relaxed atmos in the Devilcake section of the house. The entourage was in good spirits and it kept me from being too much of a sour-ass. MCB amused himself by taking extremely terrible pictures of everyone in the band and then showing them to everyone else. Ambush photography. Catching people at their worst, revealing their true nature. Very arty. He could have a third career on his hands.

The very young Everlasting God Stopper went on first. They reminded us of us about fifteen years ago. Metal riffs, ghouly keys. Except their singer looks like a young Marilyn Manson. While ours more closely resembles a young Ernest Borgnine. EGS songs were a little samey and somewhat indistinct, and their presentation was a little bit on the pedestrian side, but I thought they were good. Give them some decent lights and a smoke machine and teach the singer one more note and they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Tom Foolery went next and I think that's actually only the third time I've seen them play. We play with them constantly but I always miss them for whatever reason. I dig those guys and it's not just because they're friendly and give us props onstage all the time. Okay, well, maybe it is that.

But their songs are good too, and Kyle's an energetic, spazzzztic frontman and that's really all you can ask for from a band. Jeremy's little micro-drumset is totally hilarious. It's one of those little Yamaha (I think) deals with the little tiny drums. It looks like he shrunk it in the dryer. But it sounds great and the whole band sounded damn fine. They played most of the songs from their new CD. Which comes out in August! On Colossal Thumb! Buy it!

They dedicated a song to our Nancy, even. Then they kept messing it up. So I don't know if that aspect was dedicated to her too or not.

As soon as the Foolerys finished, we invaded the stage with our BS, much of which was never unpacked or positioned by the time we actually started playing. The light-up cross was still beside the stage when we finished playing. The heavy wooden coffin never had its light plugged in and indeed it was still laying flat on the stage when we began the set. And there was a chair on the stage, near Gourley, and I still don't know why. Kyle had his amp on it, I think. And we never thought to remove it.

Because I guess the stage was probably starting to look a little barren. We have to have things like chairs on the stage. To take up space. Because there's only six of us up there, with all our amps and drums and stuff. Bumping into each other and shit.

Todd went out first and started a Nancy-less Marshmallow. Gourley went out next. I told him to ask the soundperson to turn out the stage lights. And I didn't mean for him to ask this from the stage, through the PA. I meant for him (or anyone) to walk over to the soundboard and deliver the request directly. That way we wouldn't be trying to rock in the full glare of all the lights, and our little ghouly effects would look better.

So Gourley goes out and the crowd starts clapping and he right into the mic he asks "can you turn out the house lights? thanks." Which, the house lights had been off the entire time. So, um. Yeah. Stage lights full glare the whole time, which I love.

Gourley started Marshmallow and Darrin, Steve and I were all lined up on the stairs behind the stage. We finally ran up into our positions and waited for the song to kick in. I didn't even notice MCB wasn't there until Darrin gave his little intro kick-flam thing and we hit the first big E chord! Then MCB came running across the stage with a full face of makeup, threw on his guitar and started playing. Classic!

I unplugged my bass at least twice, maybe three times, during Marshmallow. Just by stepping on it! I finally remembered to wrap it around the strap to keep it in place. Even that didn't help. I was throwing down wrong notes, losing picks, trying not to trip over the coffin, trying not to over-exert myself and use all my energy during the first three songs. All that trying was for naught because that's exactly what happened. Not to mention losing the middle knob from my bass. What a great way to treat an instrument on its maiden voyage. Beat the fuck out of it, douse it in fake blood and scatter its pieces to the wind. Er, the audience.

We plowed into Wienermobile and I was already having issues with the cape. Which I knew was going to happen. That thing is like wearing a wool blanket with a neckstrap.

After Wienermobile was the first "oh shit, what are we going to play next" moment. Unfortunately, not the last either. I knew we were going to forget to play something. And we did.

I also wasn't sure beforehand when to break out the skull and fake blood, so I'm pretty sure it went down during Pizza Party. The blood wasn't very tasty and I'm sure it looked like the dorkiest thing in the world, but it did seem like a good idea at the time. Next time I'll figure it out beforehand and even bring a tarp or something to prevent it from getting all over everybody else's stuff. It's not very rock 'n' roll of me to be concerned with leaving fake blood stains everywhere I go, is it?

We got derailed on Fribble but we pulled it back together. And then we ended the set with a request. No, not "Cold Gin." ... Stromboli Fever? That's an odd one to close with, which is why I approve. We have other, more bombastic number that we prefer to leave the audience with. Shit Down Your Neck is one. Fribble is the other. Something heavy and riffy and with an ending that can be played by hoisting the bass overhead. Stromboli is the anti-closer. Word. Maybe next time we can close with Guacamole Damn It. I don't recall anyone else having issues onstage. I just had my head even further up my ass than usual so I wasn't really taking note of anyone else's shenanigans (or lack thereof).

Not sure of the order but I'm pretty sure we played
MARSHMALLOW
WIENERMOBILE
SALAD BAR MAN
CHICKEN NUGGETS OF SIN
PIZZA PARTY
CEREAL AND BEER
SACRIFICIAL LEG OF LAMB
DEEZ NUTS
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
PIE HAIR PIE
I WANT A BIG MAC
RED POP
SPICY BEEF STICK
FRIBBLE
STROMBOLI FEVER

KILLER SHOW!!!!
====================
Everlasting Godstopper | Tom Foolery & The Mistakes |Devilcake
Little Brother's
Thursday, July 3rd 2003

I first want to say it's amazing that I'm even posting this since I got to bed around 4 am. I all groggy and shit, but my body is not cooperating with the sleep thing, so I am up and barely functioning.... with that said:

Devilcake rocked the house last night at Little Brothers.

The night started off with me going to get dinner for Me, Maryann, MCB and E... (shit, I forgot her name) at Subways. However I get to the Subways and THEY'RE FUCKING CLOSED!!! WTF!!! So I had to go to Jersey Mike's to get everyone's steak and cheese sandwiches.

Got to the parking lot around 7:30/8-ish. MCB and Todd were already there. Todd showed me the t-shirts that he had made up and they were SWEET!!!! Black with a red Devilcake logo. They look awesome. (You should order one from Ian, you know. They're only $10. check out the killer logo at http://www.twistedzen.com/devilcake/.)

(I could go on about sitting around until 10pm but I won't. Nothing that interesting happened). We watched the downtown fireworks from outside Little Brother's. They were cool, but they shot off all the finale fireworks so low that I we couldn't really see any of them. We heard the finale though. :P

Everlasting Godstopper (no, that's not the jawbreaker from Willie Wonka. It's GOD stopper). They had a nice goth / death metal look about them. I have to admit the sound was good. We hired a girl named Tera to do the sound and she just fucking ROCKS!!! She's got mad mic skills. They brought in a few fans and that is good. They played for about 30 to 45 minutes. Not too bad I have to admit. The drummer had a rack-mount drum kit. He had cymbals all over the place, which was cool. He had a 10" or 12" china splash/crash thing which sounded awesome. I'm not sure where that sound would fit into the Devilcake realm of music, but I think I might have to get me one of those.

The great Tom Foolery and The Mistakes took the stage around 11:30. (I wasn't looking at my watch so I am completely clueless as to what time it really was.) They rocked the house as usual. They gave us multiple props which is totally cool. We're fans of them and they're fans of us. It works out well. They even dedicated a song to Nancy (our operatic screamer and Todd's wife). Nancy loves their version of Cyndi Lauper's 'Time After Time' and they added it to the set list just for her.

We got on stage around 12:30. Tonight we pulled out almost all the stops. We had the coffin and cross (although I have to admit I never saw them in place or lit up... I was too busy putting together the drum kit). We had the smoke machines. Ian had a hat on. He had his wife do a special haircut just for this show... a Mr. T mohawk!!! I hope to goodness that _someone_ got a picture of it. I don't care who, just someone. Ian also wore a big black cape. MCB did some gothy corpse makeup. Todd was dressed as a butchering coroner complete with blood splatters. Me? I just wore black shorts and a black t-shirt. I sit behind the drums and ya can't see me anyway.

Gourley and Todd started off the show with Marshmallow. Just them two on stage which was pretty cool. The rest of the band went on when it was time to rock. And rock we did! The sound (at least from my seat) was great. Hopefully Tera was able to get a good mix fast since we didn't give her a sound check. (oops!)

I can tell you that I had a great time. I didn't get super tired. My equipment didn't give me pains. I stuck a big fuckin' cinder block in front of the double bass pedal. it usually moves on me during the show, but tonight it had now chance at all.

Ian was all over the place which was cool as hell. He was doing some excellent backing vocals (Todd too!). He pulled out all the stops when, during the breakdown of Chicken Nuggets Of Sin, he drank blood from a SKULL!!! It was sweet. I hope Steve's videotape comes out!

Everyone else was rocking as well. Todd's new amp sounded great with the cheez-o-keyz! As far as I could tell, he didn't have any of the cut-off problems which have bothered some of his performances. MCB and Steve were musically playing off each other in a fantastic way.

I think it is safe to say that this show was also the longest ever in Devilcake history. Todd brought in a tape deck (and Tom Foolery brought in a 4-track) which Tera used to record the show. The plan was to play every frickin' song we knew and then some and we were darn close. Below is the list of the songs we played. The order is all kinds of fucked up, but I'm pretty sure I got them all listed.

After the last song, Gourley said his usual thank you's to the other band and to Little Brother's. I got up and was milling around to mention the CDs and t-shirts we had for sale. But before I could do that, Ian got on the mic and congratulated 'the little drummer from Devilcake' (that's me... der!) on getting engaged. I thought was pretty fuckin' cool of him... and embarrassing for me. :P Then I got on the mic and mentioned that we had t-shirts for sale and also CDs for sale... however I was botching up the titles of the regular CD and the box set... after fumbling around on the names for what seemed to be a 1/2 hour, MCB stepped in an told me to sit down!!! ha ha ha!!!

After the show, it felt great to know that I didn't have to rush around and tear down the kit so the next band. I walked around and talked to Kyle from Tom Foolery. He swapped shirts with us which I thought was cool. His band has a show in New York next weekend and he was talking that he might wear the Devilcake shirt for that show. I told that if he did he HAS to get a picture of it so I can say that Devilcake was in New York!

There was one guy in the audience who kept screaming our name out (even during Tom Foolery's set) who said he was from Austin and was trying to put together some music festival. I don't know who he was or how legit he was, but he had his wife/girlfriend buy him a boxset and a t-shirt... and that for now is all that matters. We sold some stuff. Unfortunately, I think that is all we sold. Oh well. It's still money for the band fund.

I finally got the car loaded around 2am. I was hungry so Maryann and I drove through Steak and Shake. It was 2:30am by that point and all the bars had just closed. There was a car with two completely drunk guys in front of us. Hearing them try to place an order was a laugh. "I was want one... no, two cheese burgers with no cheese or onions... no wait, one with cheese and the other with no onions. No wait... one with two cheese and no and onion and... wait.' You can see where this is going. 5 or 10 minutes later the drive-thru dude had to tell the drunk guys to just pull around. The line was SLOW, but there were tons of drunk people ordering tons of food. I got home with my double-bacon cheeseburger, onion rings and vanilla coke around 3 or 3:30. And was probably asleep by 4am. Ugh....

Anyways, here's the killer setlist. Again, the songs are right... but the order of them is nowhere close.
(ed. - According to Todd who taped the show, the set list below is accurate and complete.)

MARSHMALLOW
WEINERMOBILE
PIZZA PARTY
CEREAL & BEER
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
DEEZ NUTS
SALAD BAR MAN
PIE HAIR PIE
BIG MAC
CHICKEN NUGGETS OF SIN
FRANKENSTEIN'S FRENCH FRIES
RED POP
SPICY BEEF STICK
SACRIFICIAL LEG OF LAMB
FRIBBLE
(encore)STROMBOLI FEVER

WE ARE DEVILCAKE!!! GOODNIGHT!!!!

Giggy Dierrearery Derrierreiary
DEVILCAKE | Tom Foolery & The Mistakes | two other bands
Bernie's
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
This was a stripped-down, pared-down, sectioned-off, cordoned, abbreviated, obliterated reprise of our last Bernie's appearance, in December 2002. Similarly reprised was the concept of the Summer Set from last year. Which in this case entails only the most sprightly and lively numbers from our catalog.

It was strange before it even began, due to the noticable absence of Michael Bill, who was unable to break free from work. It's the first Devilcake show he hasn't played at since the reunion in 2000. So the guitar sound was thinned out a bit. Otherwise it was business as usual. I got there late, blah blah, soundman was running behind, blah blah, we started late blah blah and played for half an hour or so.

And the main lights were off when we played - and we rocked the tits off the place. See, I told ya. Give us some darkness to play in, and we'll turn this sombitch out.

I thought Todd was going to have an episode when one of the strap buttons on the Keyz O Death broke off completely. But what seemed like a real pisser when it happened turned into a really cool thing that kind of set the tone for the rest of the set. And indeed our approach to the set itself. Which was to duct-tape the fuck out of the Keyz O. Rather than not playing the Keyz, Todd was able to tape the sombitch up, and actually improve upon it by doing so. It's wounded, it's vilified, it's had its ass kicked, and now it can rise like a Phoenix. To the extent that the Keyz O were louder in the final mix than the bass. My fucking bass amp was the weak link last night.

We had a partial-band practice/cookout last week and it was determined that the stupidest song we could possibly open with is Red Pop. The idea being that the idiotic, three-chord song would be the worst choice to start with because it is in no way indicative of the band's sound or interests or tastes or anything really. It's just this song - half a song, really - that we wrote in 1992 that continues to haunt us.

So it was good to have another "first" onstage last night, it's been a while.

Red Pop to open with. Bah. It was hysterical and awesome and I don't think anyone apart from Darrin and maybe Steve saw it coming. But once they heard the strained bass notes at the wrong tempo, they knew ... it was on... OOF!

Red Pop into Salad Bar Man... ehhhh.. Salad Bar Man was maybe not the perfect choice for the second song. We should've splatted into Flesh Feast there, to keep the momentum up. Oh well. It's okay to get our glam rock on too, I suppose.

Steve stepped up his guitar game to fill in the vacant frequencies and extra bit of stage space left by MCB's absence with verve. Steve is the quiet, cool, level headed, subdued dominator onstage, as he skilfully and stealthily snuck into "Hands Off My Oreos." Oh! My skull!

We could've just as easily done the other 1-2 punch, Pie Hair Pie into I Want A Big Mac. But instead we went with Marshmallow/Wienermobile.

I didn't spend too much extra time hovering around the mic, so I must've been more relaxed than the last show. The whole set was just like when we played there in December, it was short, abrupt, slappy and to the point. I thought the set ended nicely after Wienermobile, but the peeps demanded one more song. In return, I demanded that they name the song they wanted us to play. They demanded Sacrificial Leg Of Lamb. And it was served - sacrificially.

In that situation, I want to try to reason with people. I want to say - "look, Sacrficial Leg Of Lamb is a slow, grinding, epic metal monster masterpiece. You don't really want that right now, at the end of the set, hovering over you for five minutes like a storm cloud. Think about what you're asking for. Search your hearts, I think you know you really would rather hear Flesh Feast."

But it seemed like it would be quicker to just play Sacrificial. So we did. More or less. I don't usually sing backups on Sac-Leg either, but what the hell. Sometimes my voice surprises me coming through the PA. In my mind I have a low voice, something like Billy Idol. But when it comes blasting out of the speakers it's all high and crackly and demented.

I probably always say this in gig diereearrrys too, but I would always prefer to leave the audience wanting more Devilcake than to overstay our welcome. I know what it's like to have a short attention span, and I hate it too when boring-ass bands get up and play forever. I also know that, no matter what, we're always going to be that boring-ass band to somebody else - so I want to minimize their suffering. I'd rather have our set be like a quick chat in passing than an hour-long lecture. And we definitely had that last night.

Leave the audience yelling for more, not yelling at you and flipping you off and telling you you suck!

Red Pop
Salad Bar Man
Hands Off My Oreos
Cereal And Beer
Marshmallow
Wienermobile
Sacrificial Leg Of Lamb

DEVILCAKE | TOM FOOLERY AND THE MISTAKES | MARVIN THE ROBOT | SUBURBAN FABULOUS
Wednesday April 30th, 2003
Bernie's Bagels and Distillery

Kid Chill, KeyZ O playah checking in.

Wow. There's something about rocking out in a basement that should be condemned that is beyond words.

other than, Word.

We were Devilcake Minus Two tonight (MCB had to work and Nancy stayed home). We decided early on that we were going first and secured our spot by setting up on stage. As I was fiddling with the strap, the Keys O Death slipped free and plummeted to the stage. The strap bolt and a good chunk of the case at the end cracked and that was the end of the strap.

Luckily Darrin had some duck tape in his bass drum (don't ask) and in a Punk Rock meets Dusenbury-inspired moment, the keys were again ready to rock.

but enough about me.

The sound man apparently had issues..of the psychological kind which culminated in him asking us to check a mic that he had not yet provided. No problem. Two vocal mics is all Devilcake really needs. We (Ian, Steve, and I) each rocked through our respective amps.

Ian led the attack with Red Pop...an XTC inspired ditty that we hadn't rocked on stage since Carter carried his own clubs.

Then came Salad Bar man...and the sweat onslaught had begun.
Ian and I shared the second mic while Gourley worked the other one like a college kid at a high school prom.

The set as I remember went a little like this:

RED POP
SALAD BAR MAN
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
CEREAL AND BEER
MARSHMALLOW
WEINERMOBILE
(shouts for more)
SACRIFICIAL LEG OF LAMB

I'm sure I'm missing one.
Afterwards we gathered our shit up and got the hell out.

The vibe was decidedly better this time 'round at Bernie's.
The whole vibe of the set was just balls to the wall-sweat overload-fuck you we're rocking here, but thanks for letting us...kind of thing.

It was a good show...and the keys'O actually sounded better tonight than they have in the past year. Partly because I was rocking straight out of the amp...but I think the duck tape helped a little.

Hell, everything sounded good tonight.

I was just jazzed that the show went so well.

If you're keeping score, the next confirmed Devilcake Show is July 3rd at Little Brothers.

DEVILCAKE | BLOODCLOT | DD & THE TTs
Thursday, April 17, 2003
High Five

The first gig of the 2K3 and what's become something like an annual appearance at High Five for us. Seems like we play there once a year, usually during the summer. And that suits me just fine.

On the evening of show I arrived late (as usual) but not as late as some were predicting. I've found that hanging around at High Five is something I really need to be in the mood for and I definitely wasn't in the mood for any shenanigans on this particular rock 'n' roll Thursday night. So I got there as late as I possibly could. Which worked very well for me because everyone else in the band was already set up and ready to rock. All I had to do was plug in my amp (easier said than done on the dark stage when all of the electrical outlets were already claimed by bigger amps), plug in my bass (easier said than done when the soundman is crawling all over my paltry "rig" and plugging in the DI box) and tune up (which was easy because I used MCB's tuner pedal.).

My arms will still wobbly and my head was slightly spinny from carrying in that ungodly heavy bass amp several blocks up 5th Ave, and I never really regained my bearings once my shit was set up and we were on the tractor beam to showtime. Mentally, I was extremely hyper but I just couldn't seem to focus on anything.

Playing fretless bass onstage is almost like work because I have to look down at the neck all night. It's not like a regular fretted bass and my aim is impaired by the stage lights and an overall lack of technique (which is required of any Devilcake bassist). And anything resembling work onstage with Devilcake is not cool. Not for me anyway.

So even before we played a note I was already wobbly, unfocused, tired/wired and extra shaky from being such a wimp. Showtime was called and we made our way to the stage.

And again, I know I say it in every gig diary because I either forget at the time or it just doesn't seem important, but for me, rocking out with all the stage lights on is a losing proposition. Note to self: see previous notes to self about onstage lighting.

So um, all the lights were on and they stayed on the whole time we played. I feel really self-conscious when there's no darkness to disappear into between songs. I feel like a science project on the stage, like everyone is looking at us through a microscope. Feeling self-conscious onstage usually translates to me spending waaaaay too much time at the microphone between songs. I try to make myself loosen up by making a bunch of typically useless and retarded observations into the mic - and it usually just makes me feel more awkward and distanced from rocking out. But at the time it feels utterly necessary. I see holes in the performance and I want to fill them. All at once. It's futile and stupid but that's where my head was on this particular rock 'n' roll Thursday night.

We started with Marshmallow in the full glare of the lights. Then I think we did Wienermobile. The bass chords on the chorus are hard enough to play on a regular fretted bass, but on the fretless it's always a mess. And it wasn't rocking me to play, despite my best efforts. I was making the motions but I wasn't feeling them.

We've played the exact same set before, to much smaller audiences and I've felt every note of it. And that's nice when it can happen but that wasn't the case for me at this show.

Gourley's vocals came off the track a few times but nobody else lost their place. He seemed to be struggling too, I don't know.

There were several lulls between songs. I think it's important to not be tied down to a dogmatic set list because you can't react to the moment. You're looking down and literally playing to the piece of paper. You're mentally checking off the songs and you're thinking about what comes next. Instead of existing in the moment and playing the piss out of the song you're playing.

However, the downside to having no set list is when no one can think of what song to play next. You wind up standing there throwing titles around and it feels unprofessional. So I guess there is a balance to be struck.

We played Pizza Party at some point and Sacrificial Leg Of Lamb, Deez Nuts, um...

Pizza Party was tough because even though all of the notes were there and we played it exactly as it was written, it still felt hollow and weird to me. I can usually dredge up a scream at the end of the song from the depths of my soul but I wasn't feeling it that night. I was considering not screaming at all. That would've been a better course of action.

We played Pie, Hair Pie and I Want A Big Mac. And Fribble at the end.

I was already shaky and out of it before we began, so by the end of the set I was having an out of body experience. I gathered my gear as quickly as possible and got it out the back door.

It was good to comiserate with Kyle Foolery and the others out back afterwards. Even a little bit of support on an evening such as this is extremely rewarding. It doesn't take much. But it's always good to know when peeps who aren't directly related to the band in some way actually get it. And I'm not just talking about enjoying the spectacle, I'm talking about really understanding what Devilcake is.

So I wouldn't say it was a bad show by any stretch. I still think that Devilcake at its worst is more entertaining than the majority of the bands we've played with. No one else in the band complained (apart from Todd sabotaging his keyboard by accidentally unplugging it) and we just kinda did our thing and left. I would've preferred to play a shorter set. I didn't have any "oh hell yeah" moments all night either.

I think I usually feel this way when we play at High Five. Sometimes, in the glare of all those damn lights, it feels to me like we're just pushing a lot of hot air. And that people aren't surprised by us or what we do, and they're not necessarily interested either. And that's fine actually, but at least turn off the fucking lights so I can create the mental illusion of there being a huge audience that's really into it out there. Come on.

DEVILCAKE + DICK DELICIOUS AND THE TASTY TESTICLES + BLOODCLOT
High Five
Thrusday April 17th, 2003

By: Daiwin da Dwummer

We had a gig last Thursday at High Five. We rolled into the joint around 8pm. A few members of the other bands (Dick Delicious And The Tasty Testicles and Blood Clot) were already there. When I asked about the order, they asked if we would mind going on last. I said, "Well, we hadn't planned on that. We were told we would be on first." I knew I had to be at work the next morning, so the earlier the better for me. Getting home at 2 a.m. was not going to make the next day much fun. But, as it went, we did get to go on first at about 10:30pm. It appeared that Blood Clot brought with them a following, so there were actually a few patrons there, somewhere in the area of 20 or 30 people, which, for Devilcake, is a large gathering.

We did a sound check around 10pm or so. Guacamole Dammit, of course. I think this is the first time I ever had the sound man actually put anything into the monitor. I usually just shrug off the whole 'Do you have enough bass in the monitor' deal, but I decided that maybe hearing tonight would be valuable. Anyway, Guacmole Dammit didn't sound too bad for a bunch of guys who hadn't hardly played together for 5 months. The last time we have played was Dec 30th at Bernie's. I goofed up the ending, forgetting that we repeat it. I looked over at MCB and he was just laughing at me. And who could blame him. The look I get on my face when I end a song early is much to laugh at.

We got back onstage around 10:30pm and started off with Marshmallow as usual. We did this one old-school because Nancy wasn't there. The guitars were blaring, the bass was boomin', the keyz were screaming and Gourley was growling. It was good stuff. After that we went into Weinermobile. This song always makes my arms ache. I think alot of the songs were a bit slower tonight for that simple reason. I was out of practice. Funny thing is, I usually play the songs too fast so they were probably at the speed they were supposed to be.

Since there wasn't a setlist, I am going to guess at the rest set list. I think we did: Hands Off My Oreos, Pizza Party, Pie Hair Pie, I Want A Big Mac, Sacificial Leg Of Lamb, Cereal And Beer, Deez Nuts (not sure on this one), Fribble. I swear we played more than this. Someone in the crowd yelled out a song and Ian said 'Really?', shrugged, and then said 'Okay.' I can't remember what song it was though. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a song or two. The set seemed longer than normal.

I remember Ian starting Pizza Party and me doing the hi hat count in. I was, at that moment, in a goofy mood so I was playing the disco hi hat. I looked up and there was Ian shaking his head. Silly me thought he was giving me the 'You big goof-ball' head shake. However, in my oblivion, I failed to realize that Steve was trying to tune his guitar and Todd was working with his rig. So I jump into it and those two were kind-of 'Oh fuck'. But they jumped in rather quickly and we didn't miss so much as a beat.

Overall, I think the gig went pretty good considering we hadn't really practiced at all. I was goofing up songs here and there. Each time MCB would laugh. And of course, I would laugh too 'cause, in the end, we're all up there to have a good time. Might as well laugh along. The look a drummer gets on his face when he drops a stick is priceless. Bwa-ha!

After I dragged all 500 pounds of equiptment out to the car, we all ended up chatting for quite a while. It was kinda nice, really. Everybody just talking about whatever. The ever-supportive and hard-core fan Kyle from Tom Foolery came out and we chatted with him. After our show, he bolted. Now that's a fan, I tell you. About 11:30 or midnight or so, me and the woman and jumped into the car and took off. We hit White Castles on the way home for a midnight snack and all was good.

THE BLUE REVISION + DEVILCAKE + TOM FOOLERY & THE MISTAKES + THE FIASCOS
Bernie's
Monday December 30, 2002

Devilcake's first appearance at Bernie's in about 9 years, and the first ever with the current super-lineup. The evening got off to a scary start when Gourley slid down the stairs on his back into Bernie's. And then it got worse with the OSU campus lunatics, alcoholics, multiple-personality-disorder sufferers, Evil Dead 2 extras, backup dancers in Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video all milling around an otherwise empty Bernie's, dancing to ungodly LOUD country "music," clawing their way around like cave dancers encircling a bonfire. And yours truly kept making accidental eye contact with them. Highly not advisable. I finally took my glasses off, I thought they were going to start thinking I wanted a conversation or some advice from them.

And that's what we get for getting there so gott-damn early. Who ever knows with these things what time is appropriate for a band to show up? Back in the Apollo's days we'd roll up at 10:30pm, hang out for an hour, rock for another hour and then go home and watch a movie.

Then in the Midgard Comics days we'd show up at 6pm and be finished and back home by 8pm. So who really knows.

And we were all there stupidly early. MCB and I wandered over to UDF for H20 (and a new Guitar magazine for me) and we were still up to our eyeballs in time. Hmph.

The other bands all made a mass convergence at 9pm and it was quickly determined that Devilcake was going on 3rd or 4th, which did not bode well - some of us only had babysitters till midnight! So in the end we went on 2nd and played a compact little set and got the hell out like ninjas.

The Blue Revision went on first and let rip with some extremely modern and cool indie-rock activity with noodly bass, Joy Division drumming, early U2 guitar and swish synths that sounded more like jets landing and taking off than a uh... church organ or whatever. Three of the four guys sang and the songs were cool. Like Pavement but not annoying. I thought they were very good, I'd like to hear more of their stuff.

It seemed like we set up pretty quickly - too quickly in my case. I should've been on the other side of the stage near the mic, rather than running my shit back in the corner behind Steve. Darrin even got his drums set up pretty quickly (with a brilliant assist by me on setting up hardware) and pretty soon it was TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS.

Nancy opted out of singing Marshmallow, so we skipped the ghoulish intro and just ran into the song like we useta. At the time I would've preferred to open with a faster song, but in retrospect Marshmallow was perfect, it helped to set the pace and let us sort of establish a groove before we all started spinning our wheels as fast as they would go. Plus that's what we get for not even pretending to make a setlist up beforehand.

And usually I would've preferred to dim the stage lights but I don't think it affected us/me like it did at Little Bros or Midgard. There's something about the lights being too bright onstage that totally kills the mood to me. We don't need to play in the pitch-dark, but if it's too bright it's like we're not even on a stage. I don't know. But it actually wasn't too bad at Bernie's. That low-ass ceiling worked for and against us simultaneously. I couldn't play my bass into the mic at the end of Marshmallow due to the low clearance. But I did it anyway and just tried not to poke the rafters with my headstock (ooer).

By the second chorus of Marshmallow I was physically wrecked. Yet again I forgot to take anything to blow my nose into. The heat onstage mixed with me yelling at the top of my lungs was the perfect combination to free all the snot in my head at once. Which is fantastic when there's nowhere to put it. Then we dove into Wienermobile and let it run amok. Between songs it was kinda like "uh, okay... what do we play now?" Eventually somebody (Kyle from Tom Foolery probably) started yelling out song titles and we happily obliged like a food-metal jukebox. Except Deez Nuts, which we somehow escaped playing.

Sometimes people yell out titles of songs we don't play anymore and that's a little awkward for us because I like to be accomodating, especially when people go to the trouble of learning something about Devilcake. And I want to encourage people to have their own favorite Devilcake songs and to participate in the show in general. But when people yell uh... insert embarassing song title here ... it's just kinda uncomfortable. So it was fortunate that we knew how to play all the songs yelled out, even if we didn't play all of them. We could have. But we didn't.

Todd was rock-solid and my man REPRESENTED with the Keyz O Death. Oh, if you people only knew how it warms my heart to see that cheesy, red, $30 (original retail price), guitar-strap-having keyboard being assailed and tickled by Todd in the heat of battle. I like the Keyz O because, among other things, Todd can step up to the mic on things like Pie Hair Pie and Fribble and whatever else. That's what I'm talking about. He can take the reins and throw down the historically-accurate intro to Pie Hair Pie. Plus it just looks cool.

What's surprising about last night's set is that we literally haven't played together since the box set release party in August. No practices, no nothing. (You can't count 4 of us getting together on Sunday with me playing drums and Darrin playing bass either.) And shockingly enough, there were no trainwrecks, there were no missed cues, there were no flubs or broken anything.

Steve's new xmas pedal was sounding damn fine on his Hands Off My Oreos break. Gourley's intro to Hands Off was classic: "This is a song about keeping your hands off my Oreos. It's called Hands Off My Oreos." Pure Gourley.

Speaking of Gourley - perhaps inspired by his ass-tumble down the stairs, he was rolling around on the stage floor before we even started the first song. Talk about getting into character, dude was just BRINGING IT. There will never be another frontman for Devilcake. He is the essence of all that is Devilcake. Without him we're just five (or six or four) nerds with a fetish for classic metal and extremely retarded lyrics about food.

Pizza Party was a hell of a lot of fun. If I had known it was going to be so fun to play I would've extended the intro and the breakdown. I think any time you can get people to clap over their heads in time to your music, it's a victory. If it's on a Rock And Roll Monday Night, so the better. I'd like to get to the point where lots of people know our songs so they can sing along and act the fool too. Even if they've never heard us before, it's fun to try to make people yell I Want A Big Mac with us.

We barrelled through the set and didn't linger too long on the stage, hopefully. We kept it short and somebody said we could have easily played for another 45 minutes and people would've liked it. Which, even if that's not entirely true, I appreciate the fact that people weren't flipping us off and pelting us with coins and chanting for GWAR while we played. I don't take audience reactions for granted and it's extremely kick-ass when people enjoy themselves.

though there's no set list around to remind me, I'm pretty sure we played

Marshmallow
Wienermobile
Pie Hair Pie
I Want A Big Mac
Pizza Party
Hands Off My Oreos
Fribble

This is a belated post on a previous show:
============================
ETHOS + GREAT PLAINS GYPSIES + 7th CYCLE + DEVILCAKE + HARLOW
High Five
Saturday June 8th, 2002
============================
We, Devilcake, played High Five on Saturday night.

Before I get to the rest of the story, I just want to say that Harlow is pretty cool. After watching their set, I hung around trying to get in touch with the owner of the bar and was just hanging out with the other bands and the hot female bartenders. At the very end of the evening, around 3 am, I found Harlow sitting at the bar. I talked to them and told them that I really enjoyed their show. They all said that they loved Devilcake and that they listened to the whole set. Guitarist and lead singer, Amanda, and the bassist, Chimene, both said they had the hots for our singer, Gourley. Chimene said she loved Frankenstein's French Fries. That made me feel pretty fucking cool since, well, I wrote that one. Amanda's favorite song was Marshmallow. I didn't get to talk to Melody, the other guitarist, much which was a shame because she seemed very nice. Rebecca, the drummer, was running about. Us drummers tend to do that a lot. She showed up right as I was about to leave. I got to talk to her a little bit. She's only been playing for 3 years which just totally blew my mind. We talked tech a little bit. She was excited about getting her new drum set. I was looking to go, so I split. Duh me. I should have talked to her more 'cause she, and the rest of Harlow, are just cool cats all together. In fact, Rebecca was the first person to talk to the band after we finished our set. Toddeus gave her a freshly burnt copy of our new album. Way to go Todd. Again, Harlow rules. I just can't say that enough.

=-=-=-=-=-= And now the whole story =-=-=-=-=-=-=
MCB came over to my house to pick up the coffin around 3:00. We ran to Lowe's real quick to get some stuff for his mum and then grabbed a bite to eat. Driving separate cars, we got on the road around 4:15pm. We finally got to High Five around 5:30pm. This trip normally would take about 15 and no more than a half hour, however, there was a horrible wreck that slowed our pace down.

The others followed in 1/2 increments. First Todd, then Gourley, then Steve, then Ian. We thought that there was going to be a cookout and that everything was starting at 6pm, however that was not the case.

We hung out in the parking lot for the next 2 hours because there wasn't anything going on inside either. Some of the other bands were in there, but they were just sitting there as well because the bar wasn't open yet. About 7:30pm, Hex On Wheels went on. They weren't too bad I have to say. The singer and bassist seemed nice. I talked to her briefly when all the bands were wandering around trying to find out the order of the bands were going to play in. I and others in the band were excited to find that we were given the coveted slot right before Harlow. Anyways, Hex On Wheels played and they were pretty good.

Some friends of mine showed up from Cincinnati to check out their show. I haven't seen them (or talked to them for that matter) for practically a year. I think it was cool of them that they came all that way (it's a 2 hour drive) to see my band. They expected that we were going on at 9pm, because that is what I was told. I then had to inform them that they would be sitting through a few more bands before they got to us around 10:30/11:00pm. And they were cool with that.

Up next was Great Plains Drifters from Chicago. Talk about being mismatched on a roster. They were playing country/blues stuff. Ian and MCB were taking bids on who was going to break out the slide first. I'm not sure who won. I was talking to my friend for much of the night before we went on. I liked them. It was a nice change of pace after listening to the heavy sounds of Hex On Wheels. I got to talk to them after Harlow's set as they were sitting in one of the back rooms. They're pretty cool as well.

After Great Plains Drifters was 7 something or another. I went outside at this point and didn't hear much of their set, so no comments on them.

Then came DEVILCAKE!!! That would be the band I'm in. Yeah! It was chaos more than usual because we were trying to cram 7 people and their equipment on this teeny tiny stage. But we got it all worked out. it was hotter than fucking Hades up there. I was sweating up a storm before we were even playing. Those lights are torture but a necessity. The guy in the sound booth asked over the monitor if we wanted the lights dimmed. We said sure. And the show because. Todd did the ultra short intro and Gourley and Nancy went to town on the vocals. When the whole band kicked in at the second verse, the stage lights were going. I was so stoked. For all the other bands that night it was pretty much, lights are on and they are staying on. For us, they were pulling out all the stop. Flashing the lights and the strobes to the beat of the music. It pumped me up big time. We had the coffin strobe going and the inverted cross on with its eerie red lights and tons and tons of smoke. I really wish we would have taped it. It would have been a sight. I didn't cramp up too much thank goodness. We played a few new tunes, Frankenstein's French Fries and Flesh Feast, live for the first time and thankfully so since they made Harlow's hit list. Gourley added some new words on the fly to the end of "Salad Bar Man". He normally would do the whole "S to the A to the L to the A to the D - Man!", however this time he was singing "I know you want me, I know you need me" or something to that degree. I think it sounded pretty good and it was definitely more intelligible that the usual 'rap' ending. With two songs to go, we were told over the monitors 'Last song!'. Damn. Only "I Can't Believe It's Not Satan" and "Fribble" to go. We played through "Satan" and held the last note. I tried to segue directly into Fribble but it was decided that we weren't going to do that so I just let it fade to black and the show was over. Lots of hoots and hollers. I think I had a pretty good show. If I found a groove or not, I'm not sure. It's all usually a big blur. I had my head stuck in my drums as usually, but I did look up a few times to see, well, nothing more than smoke and the rest of the band, but I was consciously trying to make an effort to look up more often. I'm getting a little bit better with each show.

After we got all the shit put away, we talked to Rebecca from Harlow as I mentioned before. Up after us was supposed to be Harlow, but they let the other band, Ethos, go on after us. They weren't too bad either. They were doing a lot of vocal harmony stuff that I like. There were some very good 3 part harmony stuff sounding like Alice In Chains that I thought was pretty sweet.

Harlow closed down the bar with an, in their words, interesting set. The PA kept blowing out in the middle of their songs which was wreaking some havoc. Some songs you would get to hear the beginning and not the end, other times you didn't get to hear the beginning but got to hear the end. The bass amp was up loud enough that you could hear that and I think Amanda's guitar was up loud enough that you could get the gist of what they were playing and you could hear much of the drums, but vocals were inaudible when the PA wasn't working. At one point some guy who obviously knew the words jumped up on stage and was singing with them. At first it was fine with the band and the crowd, however, then he wouldn't leave and was getting in Melody's way, so one of the roadies grabbed him by the waist and carried him away and he was never heard from again. Their set was very good and I enjoyed it tons. They all seemed to be connecting on stage, feeding off each other, melding as a band. It was a good time.

Well, that's all I gots. It's time to go to sleep now. Work awaits me in the morning... BOO!!!!
===============
Set list:
MARSHMALLOW
WIENERMOBILE
SACRIFICIAL LEG OF LAMB
HANDS OFF MY OREOS
PIZZA PARTY
CEREAL & BEER
FLESH FEAST
SOFT BATCH MAMA
FRANKENSTEIN
SALAD BAR MAN
I CANT BELIEVE ITS NOT SATAN
FRIBBLE (did not play this one... they pulled the plug... oh well)